How the Kansas City Prophets impacted Britain.

This article is part of a series. Please see the base of the page for more details.

Church Leaders’ Support

Reference was made last week to the fact that a number of British church leaders rushed into print with a public statement issued in July 1990 supporting the Kansas City Fellowship ministry. The statement was issued from Holy Trinity, Brompton by Sandy Millar, probably in response to the articles in Prophecy Today which urged leaders to be on their guard and to test all these spiritual phenomena according to principles laid down in the New Testament. The statement gave unreserved support to the Kansas City Prophets.

We believe they are true servants of God, men of sound character, humility and evident integrity...We have no doubt about the validity of their ministry... and encourage as many as possible to attend the conferences to be held in Edinburgh, Harrogate and London in the autumn of this year, at which they will be ministering.¹

The signatories included Gerald Coates (Pioneer), Graham Cray (St Michael-le-Belfry), Roger Forster (Ichthus), Lynn Green (YWAM), David McInnes (St Aldate’s, Oxford), Sandy Millar (Holy Trinity, Brompton), John Mumford (South West London Vineyard), David Pytches, Brian Skinner, Teddy Saunders, Barry Kissel (St Andrew's, Chorleywood), Terry Virgo (New Frontiers International), Ann Watson (widow of David Watson), Rick Williams (Riverside Vineyard, Teddington).

All had been 'ministered' to by the Kansas City Fellowship team. This was acknowledged in the statement they issued. The fact that they stated that they believed a man such as Bob Jones to be a 'true servant of God' and a man of 'sound character' is evidence of the extent to which they were deceived.

It was the practice of the prophets led by Cain and Jones to give encouraging messages, supposedly from God, with promises of amazing power and greatly-expanded ministry. They were told they would be speaking to multitudes, seeing miracles, witnessing to kings and presidents and enjoying tremendous blessings. These prophecies resulted in bringing the recipients under the controlling spirit operated by/operating through the 'prophet'.

It was the practice of the prophets led by Cain and Jones to give encouraging messages, supposedly from God, with promises of amazing power and greatly-expanded ministry.

There are always serious consequences of believing false prophecy. It has a polluting effect upon the spiritual life of those who receive it. At best it is taking an alien influence into your life; at worst it is actually receiving an alien spirit. I have personal knowledge of several British church leaders who received false prophecies from Cain and Jones, believed them and then strove to fulfil them. The 'prophecy' thus exercised a controlling influence over the life of the recipient.

The 'use of prophetic gifting for controlling purposes' was tenth in the list of 15 errors acknowledged by Kansas City Fellowship in May 1990,² but there is no evidence that they had abandoned the practice two months later (July 1990). The support of senior British church leaders was essential if John Wimber was to see the fulfilment of those things which the 'prophets' had predicted. He fully expected a mighty revival to break out in London in October 1990. This had been prophesied by Cain whom he believed 'never got it wrong'.

They had foretold the great revival would be accompanied by an explosion of signs and wonders, leading to the submission of church leaders to Wimber's apostolic authority. He would also be given divine power over the enemies of the Gospel to deal summarily with them in the same way as Peter dealt with Ananias and Sapphira. As the revival spread across the UK into continental Europe, Wimber and his 'apostolic team' would assume governmental control of the nations.

All this had been prophesied by Cain and Jones and embraced by Wimber. It is doubtful if many of the British leaders knew of Wimber's expectations, but their willing compliance played an important part in preparing the way for the October meetings. The prophecies of a great revival were repeated from many pulpits and anticipation was high.

Promises of Supernatural Power

The commendation of senior church leaders, plus considerable publicity promising an exciting message and signs and wonders, brought large crowds to the public meetings in Harrogate, Edinburgh and London in October 1990. Prominent British church leaders had endorsed this ministry, so the people lapped it up. Not being trained theologians, they looked to their pastors, ministers and priests to say whether or not the ministry was biblically respectable and should be heeded. Their ministers themselves were enthusiastically endorsing this new ministry and the message, so the people followed their leaders.

The amazing promises given at the Wimber meetings filled the people with excitement and anticipation. The teaching was a heady mixture drawn from bits of all the strange teachings that had run through the charismatic movement since the middle of the 20^th Century: Latter Rain, Manifest Sons, Positive Confession, Signs and Wonders, Power Healing, Power Evangelism, Spiritual Warfare, New Breed and Joel's Army - to mention just a few. Elements of all these teachings came together in 1990 and were injected into the British Church with great hype and all the charisma of American glamour ministries.

The amazing promises given at the Wimber meetings filled the people with excitement and anticipation.

These strange teachings had been steadfastly resisted by most faithful preachers and Bible teachers in Britain for many years. But this latest onslaught was led by a man who was an excellent communicator, who appeared friendly, laidback and trustworthy. He was a man who had been recommended by David Watson and a number of prominent Anglicans as well as denominational and house-church leaders. He came with a popular message attractively presented. This heady cocktail was drunk by leaders, pastors and elders in many of the British evangelical churches, especially those in the charismatic sector.

The mainline churches in Britain were particularly vulnerable due to the years of decline. In fact, the whole nation was labouring under a cloud of status deprivation from loss of empire and world prestige. Here was a message of hope. Here was a message of power to the powerless. Here was a message of light and life to scatter the darkness of moribund inactivity.

But the promises were false. This was partially acknowledged by John Wimber at Holy Trinity, Brompton in June 1991 and again at the New Wine conference in August 1995. What has never been recognised, however, is the extent to which these promises were rooted in false teaching.

Expectations of the End Times

The foundation of this teaching lay in the belief that in the last days there would be a mighty outpouring of the Holy Spirit empowering the saints to perform great signs and wonders.

Some of this teaching was based upon prophetic revelation which Bob Jones claimed to have been given by the Holy Spirit. He said that the 'last generation' would be those born since 1973 and that they would be an elect company of believers of the seed of the apostles. They would be 'omega children'. Jesus was the 'Alpha' and they are the 'Omega'. Jesus inaugurated the Kingdom, and the elect company of omega believers would complete the work and establish a glorious Church on earth reigning over the nations.³

This teaching, which was given by both Jones and Cain, became the basis of the Vineyard/Kansas City Fellowship revivalist preaching. But it has no biblical foundation. The Bible declares Jesus to be both 'Alpha and Omega' (Rev 21:6). New Testament eschatology says that Jesus will come again to complete the work of the Kingdom. The Father will not take this away from his Son and entrust it to human hands.

There is a great need today to study what the Bible actually says about the Kingdom of God and the Second Coming of Christ. This may, in fact, provide the key to bringing the charismatic movement back onto a firm biblical basis. In Matthew 24 Jesus gave a series of signs of the end of the age - none of which promised supernatural power to believers.

Jesus warned those who are his followers to be alert to resist deception; to expect false christs, apostasy and false prophets.

He warned those who are his followers to be alert to resist deception; to expect false christs, wars and rumours of wars, famines and earthquakes, persecution, apostasy, betrayal, false prophets, the increase of wickedness and a lack of love within the Church. He nevertheless promised that the “Gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world” (v14).

The only prediction of supernatural power was in an additional warning about deception!

For false christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect if that were possible. (v24)

This is not the only warning in the New Testament concerning deception in the last days. Paul spoke of a time of great lawlessness which, he said, “will be in accordance with the work of satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders” (2 Thess 2:9); and writing to Timothy he warned, “the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths” (2 Tim 4:3-4).

These warnings, and a number of others, are in the New Testament for our own protection so that we will be alert to the intentions of the enemy to deceive, and to the strategy which may be employed. This is where a knowledge of the Bible is essential. When we move away from Scripture and invent doctrine, however attractive, we are in grave danger of deception. Once we are loosed from the word of God we are adrift on the high seas like a rudderless ship in a storm.

Non-Biblical Teaching

The injection into the British church in 1990 of a package of non-biblical teaching promising supernatural power, signs and wonders and imminent revival, marked a milestone in the apostatising of the charismatic movement in Britain.

The way had been prepared for this by a gradual and almost imperceptible down-grading of the Bible from its place of centrality within the Protestant tradition. This could be seen in the increasing separation between the reading and exposition of the word of God, and the exercise of spiritual gifts. Jesus was perfectly clear in stating that signs and wonders would follow the preaching of the word. This is what happens in the poorer non-industrial nations, where multitudes have been coming to Christ throughout the second half of the 20^th Century.

At large gatherings where the word of God is proclaimed, while the preacher is still speaking miraculous healings occur, many are born again and the signs and wonders of the presence of God through the work of the Holy Spirit are evident.⁴

In charismatic churches in the western nations, by contrast, we have developed the practice of separating word and Spirit. When we reach the end of our act of worship, or service, where there has been singing, prayer and the exposition of the word, then we clear away the chairs or invite people forward saying 'Now we'll have a time of ministry!' Over the years these so called 'ministry times' have gone from the simple praying for the sick to the performance of all kinds of bizarre manifestations as we have moved farther and farther away from a biblical centre.

In charismatic churches in the western nations, by contrast, we have developed the practice of separating word and Spirit.

Peter Fenwick, earlier in this series, has shown how the path to the Kansas City Fellowship 1990 package had been well prepared by Restorationist teaching, at least in the house-church streams. The new factor was the open door into the mainline churches which enabled their teaching to sweep right through the denominations. This was very largely due to John Wimber's acceptability, which in turn, had been due to David Watson's influence and subsequently to the support of several influential Anglican clergy.

A number of prominent charismatic leaders also embraced the false teachings presented in 1990. They were on an escalator from which there was no turning back and which it was not easy to jump off without risking personal injury. Their reputations were at stake and they had taken false promises into their spiritual lives. Many of them also took into their teaching and preaching the false expectations of a great revival. Churches such as St Andrew's, Chorleywood gave great prominence to preparing the congregation for revival and for the expected inflow of large numbers of new believers. But the revival did not happen.

On to the Toronto Blessing

By 1994 it was becoming difficult to sustain the enthusiasm of the people and to stave off massive disillusionment. The credibility of leaders was on the line. The Toronto Blessing arrived just in time to provide a new wave of excitement. With its coming, many leaders cut down or even abandoned the preaching of the word in order to get into the 'ministry time' as quickly as possible.

Thus the move of many charismatic churches into experience-centred phenomena took another leap forward. But the way had been prepared by 25 years of neglect of the Bible and a lack of biblical scholarship among charismatic leaders, which left an open door for the Toronto Blessing.

The eagerness with which Toronto was embraced is an indication of a deep spiritual hunger and a longing for God to 'rend the heavens and come down' and bring a mighty revival to transform the decaying life of the Western nations. But even this longing for revival is a reflection of the values of the world where the whole of our society is looking for 'quick fix' solutions to all our problems.

In the Church we are not prepared for the cost of obeying the 'Great Commission' and “making disciples, teaching them to obey” everything the Lord has taught us (Matt 28:19-20). Instead, we look for supernatural power to create an instant, ready-made reproduction model.

It is this human longing for revival that opened the way for many of the strange things which have become associated with the charismatic churches over the years. This eagerness to see the reign of God on earth and to promote the work of the Kingdom is surely good. But in the Western nations, generally, the Bible has been abandoned. Humanistic and New Age teachings have been widely embraced in an increasingly secularised, post-Christian society and the churches, especially charismatic, have been influenced more then we realise.

The eagerness with which Toronto was embraced is an indication of a deep spiritual hunger for God to 'rend the heavens and come down' and bring mighty revival.

Many evangelicals, especially those who have embraced the charismata, have tended to follow the world in neglecting the systematic study of the Bible and whole-hearted commitment to its teaching and living according to its moral and spiritual precepts. We have elevated spiritual excitement to new heights leaving the door open for non-biblical teaching and lax standards of personal and corporate morality.

Of course this is a generalisation and we would not wish to imply that there are no faithful evangelicals who love the word of God and live godly lives. Neither would we wish to imply that none of those in churches affected by the Toronto Blessing have been blessed by God. As others have clearly stated earlier in this series, God will always honour those who come to him with clean hands and a pure heart, or with humility and repentance. God longs to bless his children and those who come in sincerity will not go away empty-handed.

I personally know many believers who have been blessed by attending 'Toronto' meetings. But this is evidence of the faithfulness of our God, who loves to bless his children. It is certainly not an endorsement of the Toronto Blessing. God does not initiate things which are contrary to his own word in Scripture.

There was, nevertheless, cause for concern regarding this wave of excitement which swept through the charismatic churches in 1994 and 1995. It did not bring revival; neither would it even prepare the way for revival. It proved to be yet another blind alley that actually led the Church away from fulfilling the purposes of God.

There is also cause for concern that, as the charismatic movement has increasingly embraced the experiential, the way has been opened for even more bizarre behavioural phenomena and the embracing of heretical New Age-type teachings and practices. As the years have passed since the Toronto Blessing, what other waves have been introduced – and what does the future hold?

Next week: Our penultimate instalment in this series.

References

1 Published in Renewal, October 1990.

2 Published in Prophecy Today, Vol 6 No 5, September 1990.

3 Vineyard School of Prophecy, Bob Jones, op cit. p 1.

4 See Prophecy Today Vol 1 No 3 July 1985.

Series Information

This article is part of a series, re-publishing the 1995 book ‘Blessing the Church?’, an analysis of the ‘Toronto Blessing’ and a wider critique of the charismatic movement in the late 20^th Century. Click here for previous instalments and to read the editorial background to the series. 

Dr Clifford Hill’s personal encounters with the Kansas City Prophets.

This article is part of the final chapter of our series. Please see the base of the page for more information.

The Kansas City Prophets

When the Kansas City Prophets came, with their popular message of imminent revival, they also brought a teaching about prophecy which was contrary to Scripture and highly dangerous. This teaching focused upon signs and wonders, thus hyping the supernatural and sensationalising the prophetic ministry in a way that is totally foreign to the Bible.

In May 1990, David Pytches published the book Some Said It Thundered, which was timed to prepare the way for the visit of the Kansas City Prophets. The book catalogued their paranormal experiences, all of which were uncritically accepted as being the work of the Holy Spirit. In fact, in his opening chapter, David Pytches referred to his first meeting with these men saying, “It blew my mind”.

This is a very serious admission for a church leader to make. There was a great need for clear thinking and the application of biblical principles to test this new spiritual phenomenon. David Pytches clearly failed to do this and therefore opened the way for deception to enter the Church. His book made no attempt to evaluate the supernatural occurrences reported. They were simply presented as the latest in signs and wonders to sweep across the charismatic horizon.

Typical of the incidents reported was the following account of a telephone conversation between Paul Cain and Mike Bickle. After the opening greetings Paul Cain said, “Why, Mike, you've got a bit of a sniffle and you are all wet. Your hair is standing up on the left side of your head”. Bickle called his wife, Diana, to look at him. “Sweetheart, Paul says I have a ‘sniffle’, I am all wet and my hair is standing up on one side, Am I all wet?” “Yes”, she said. “You have just come out of the shower!” “And is my hair standing up on one side?” “Yes”, she replied, “on the left side!” Paul Cain calls these strange experiences, “little tokens that the line is still open with the Lord”.¹

Pytches’ book ‘Some Said It Thundered’ catalogued the Prophets’ paranormal experiences and uncritically accepted them as being the work of the Holy Spirit.

Pytches simply accepted this as divine revelation without asking the question, 'Why would the God of all Creation, the Father of our Lord Jesus, reveal to a prophet that his pastor had just taken a shower?' This was not merely a trivialisation of prophecy, there was no consideration of the fact that this could have been 'divination' and that this is the way false prophets operate, to confound the unwary and exercise a controlling spirit over them.

Paul Cain and Bob Jones

Cain was hailed in Some Said It Thundered as a “present-day prophet” who received “a high level of revelation from God”.² In the book, David Pytches admitted that Cain was a disciple of William Branham and that “there was always a special bond” between the two men but he failed to mention that Branham was rejected by the Assemblies of God for heresy. His preaching was similar to the Arian heresy that troubled the early Church. Like Arius, Branham denied the Trinity, the divinity of Christ, the person of the Holy Spirit and other fundamental tenets of the Christian faith. He claimed that his remarkable healing ministry was channelled through 'an angel' rather than the Holy Spirit.

Paul Cain still describes Branham as “the greatest prophet of the twentieth century” despite his record of heresy and neo-occultism. Cain himself claims that he is given supernatural knowledge through an angel and it would appear from his own testimony that his bond with Branham was never broken.

Even more significantly, in 1989 Wimber announced that he himself was “bonded to Paul Cain for life”. He did in fact break that bond a few years later, when his own health broke down and Cain fell from favour in the US following his prediction that the election of President Clinton would usher in an era of great blessing and a return to biblical morality in the USA and that Clinton himself would be the greatest president since Abraham Lincoln.

Cain's popularity rating further dropped after a visit to Iraq in the wake of the Gulf War when he was reported as saying that Saddam Hussein was a good man greatly misunderstood and unjustly treated by the Western nations.

Bob Jones, the senior Kansas City Fellowship Prophet, was reported in Some Said It Thundered to receive thousands of angelic visitations, appearances of Jesus and out-of-body experiences, and audibly to hear the voice of God. Jones was presented to the British public, both in the book and in his appearances at Holy Trinity, Brompton in July 1990, as a prophet of extraordinary insight - despite the fact that those who knew his record were aware that his paranormal spiritual experiences began in a mental asylum, to which he had been committed following a lifestyle of alcoholism, violence, fornication and drug abuse.
It was while there that, according to his own testimony, he was visited by demons who in 1990 were still appearing to him and with whom he claimed to hold conversations.³

Bob Jones’ paranormal experiences began in a mental asylum, where he claimed to have been visited by demons.

I visited Jones in his home in Kansas City in 1989 and was immediately aware of a demonic presence. I subsequently told him directly that I did not believe him to be a prophet and that he should cease deceiving the Church. It was very clear to me that Bob Jones was working through an evil spirit which he attempted to pass on to me through a form of 'laying on of hands' which I had not previously encountered.

I was taken to see Jones by Jim Goll, one of the Kansas City Fellowship's pastoral staff, also said to be a prophet. At that time, I had no knowledge of Jones' background, but it was this experience in Jones' home that raised doubts in my mind regarding Paul Cain's prophetic gifting. If Paul Cain really had the spiritual gifting he claimed, why was he not alerted to the presence of an evil spirit in Bob Jones' life?

1989-1990: Bringing Warnings

I was dismayed when I heard that Jones was to be included in the team John Wimber brought to England in July 1990. At that point I was faced with a dilemma. How could I alert the Church to my experience in Kansas City? I had already informed those responsible for the visit to Britain, but my warnings had been brushed aside.

Many years' experience in the pastoral ministry has taught me the importance of personal relationships and I especially covet right relationships with other ministers. I believe strongly in following the principles of Matthew 18 (namely; going first to the brother with whom there is a problem, if it cannot be solved privately then drawing in one or two others and finally as a last resort going to the church).⁴

In December 1989 and January 1990 I had several meetings and telephone conversations with David Pytches, reporting what I and two colleagues (one, a man with an established international ministry) had experienced during our visit to Kansas City. David Pytches had invited me to write the foreword to Some Said It Thundered but when he heard our report and my strong advice against publication, he withdrew the invitation and I was not able to see the book until after it was published in May 1990.

I subsequently learned that John Wimber had also advised against writing the book, saying that it was too soon to expose a new ministry to the public. When Pytches went ahead and wrote it, Wimber again appealed to him not to publish it, but he was determined to have it available before the visit of the Kansas City Prophets who he and Sandy Millar were sponsoring at Holy Trinity, Brompton in July 1990.

After Some Said It Thundered was published, Mike Bickle sent Pytches a 60-minute tape outlining the numerous inaccuracies he had noted. At the same time, I published an extensive critique in Prophecy Today questioning the accuracy of many of the incidents which were sensationalised in the book and using the teaching of the New Testament to question their validity.⁵

Many years' experience in the pastoral ministry has taught me the importance of personal relationships. I believe strongly in following the principles of Matthew 18.

I followed the Matthew 18 principles carefully and throughout 1990 had extensive correspondence, telephone calls and face-to-face meetings with John Wimber, Mike Bickle, Paul Cain, Bob Jones, John Paul Jackson, as well as with David Pytches, Sandy Millar and many other British church leaders. It would not be ethical to reveal the detail of any of these private meetings and I only refer to them to demonstrate my commitment to maintaining unity in the Church and brotherly relationships within the Body of Christ.

There comes a point where, when all private means have been exhausted, false teaching and practice have to be exposed in order to 'contend for the faith' and to protect the Church from heresy. The New Testament shows the apostles constantly struggling to maintain the truth of the Gospel.

Paul warned the Corinthians about the danger of receiving anyone who “comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted” (2 Cor 11:4). John, writing to the Seven Churches in Asia conveying the message of Jesus, did not hesitate to name those who were troubling the Church with false teaching; the Nicolaitans in Ephesus and Pergamon and “that woman Jezebel” in Thyatira (Rev 2:20).

Jones in Britain

Jones was presented to the churches in Britain by David Pytches and Sandy Millar, sponsors of the 1990 tour, as a genuine prophet of the Lord. He was sensationally written up as having accurate powers of prediction in Some Said It Thundered, despite the fact that I had given David Pytches, both verbally and in writing, clear warnings about him before the manuscript was accepted for publication.

In two issues of Prophecy Today I referred to Bob Jones' occult connections. These were never refuted by the Vineyard/Kansas City Fellowship leadership. A report issued by Ernest Gruen (minister of one of the largest evangelical/charismatic churches in Kansas City) with the support of more than 40 local ministers charged Jones with prophesying through a familiar spirit.

Wimber was aware of the demonic influence in Jones' life and because of this he did not allow him to minister publicly with him on the platform in London. He only allowed Jones to minister privately to leaders. It was highly unfortunate that the preachers to whom Jones prophesied were not told of his occult connection. They were therefore not alerted to the possibility that they might be receiving a message which was not from God, and were thus exposed to deception.

The following year, 1991, Jones was dismissed from ministry after being exposed for what Wimber described as 'gross sexual sin' and a variety of other offences. He had been misusing his so-called 'prophetic powers' to solicit sexual favours from women.

The allegations listed by Wimber against Jones also included “using the gifts to manipulate people for his personal desires, rebelling against pastoral authority, slandering leaders and the promotion of bitterness in the Body of Christ”. This was just part of a lengthy list of Jones' moral failures which Wimber and Bickle sent to a number of church leaders and Christian media around the world. Such a catalogue of moral and spiritual failures could surely not have been perpetrated in the one year since his ministering in Britain.

Wimber took an enormous risk in bringing Jones to Britain in July 1990, since he was aware of his occult problem. There had to have been a powerful reason why he was included in the team. Jones was needed because it was his 'prophetic' powers that validated the whole Kansas City Fellowship ministry which had now been embraced by Vineyard. It was he who had prophesied over the fellowship in their earliest days.

There comes a point where, when all private means have been exhausted, false teaching and practice have to be exposed in order to 'contend for the faith' and to protect the Church from heresy.

As a sign that they would have a worldwide prophetic ministry he declared that there would be a three-month drought in Kansas City. That prophecy was given on 28 May 1983 and Jones further said that the drought would end with rain on 23 August. Bickle was embarrassed in 1990 when a minister of another church in Kansas City produced meteorological records showing above-average rainfall for June 1983 (seven inches) and average rainfall in July that year. Bickle still defends the drought story although he has changed the explanation several times. A different version appears in his latest book.⁶

Bickle still held on to the contention that Jones was a prophet despite his moral failings and his occult connections, because Jones gave divine validation to the so-called 'prophetic' ministry exercised by Kansas City Fellowship.

The Turning Point

The publication of Some Said It Thundered and Wimber's promotion of the Kansas City Prophets did immense harm in Britain by presenting a mixture of divination and personal prophecy as evidence of a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit. This caused great excitement among charismatics but it was a major diversion from the purposes of God.

It was also a major turning point in the charismatic movement. It marked a shift away from a Bible-centred expression of the Holy Spirit working through the lives of ordinary believers in the Church and paved the way for the next phase in the drift into experientialism and the acceptance of bizarre manifestations, exciting spiritual phenomena, non-biblical practices and extra-biblical revelation.

From that point in the summer and autumn of 1990 I believe that the charismatic movement actually became a stumbling-block to the Gospel. The charismatic movement, which the pioneers in the early years had seen as restoring New Testament ministries and gifts to the Church to enable her to fulfil her true prophetic function and save the nation, now became a hindrance to the fulfilment of those aims.

A major deception entered the Church very publicly in 1990. It had, of course, been there in a latent form for a very long time. Its roots can be clearly seen in the Latter Rain movement, but it probably goes back much farther than that to earlier heresies. 1990 was a turning point for the British Church because the deception was embraced by leaders - not just a few, but prominent leaders from mainline churches at well as from the house church streams.

The great deception, albeit taken sincerely into the British churches through these leaders, was not simply the acceptance of the false prophecy about a great revival beginning that year, but the embracing of a whole package of false teaching. At the end of the Holy Trinity, Brompton conference for leaders led by John Wimber and the Kansas City Prophets in July 1990, a statement was issued by a number of prominent leaders stating that they had examined the teaching and practice of the Kansas City Prophets and they were fully satisfied with its correctness.

This was despite the fact that one month earlier, Kansas City Fellowship leaders had confessed to 15 areas of error in their teaching and practice and there was no indication given of the way in which they had corrected those errors, neither had they had time to work through those corrections and to establish a firmer biblical base to their ministry.

Apostles and Prophets

At the time of the July 1990 meetings I was not aware of the way John Wimber's ministry had been radically influenced by Bob Jones and Paul Cain. I had not then made a detailed study of their teaching. I subsequently listened to scores of their tapes and read numerous transcripts of their speeches and prophecies both at Anaheim and at Kansas City (some of these prophecies have been documented in earlier instalments of this series).

The publication of Pytches’ book was a major turning point in the charismatic movement, marking a shift away from a Bible-centred expression of the Holy Spirit and furthering the drift into experientialism.

John Wimber's teaching, particularly at the Docklands Centre in October 1990, showed the extent to which he had embraced their teaching. He spoke about Joel's Army, acknowledging that he had got the concept from Paul Cain and Bob Jones and saying that at first he had had difficulty in accepting it. From this one assumes that he must have recognised that the teaching he was giving was a complete reversal of Scripture. In the Book of Joel, the army of locusts is an army of judgment, but Jones and Wimber used it to say that the Lord was raising up an army of 'dread champions'.

This term was one which Bob Jones had invented and has no scriptural foundation (as shown in my previous chapter in this series, ‘The Role of Prophecy in the Direction of the Charismatic Movement). Central to Jones' scheme of 'end-times teaching' was the belief that God was raising up prophets and apostles. The prophets were to herald the way for the apostles who would govern the world.

Power and Authority

Mike Bickle, speaking at John Wimber's church in Anaheim in 1989, referred to the apostolic authority that was being given to Wimber and the leadership of the Vineyard churches. God was raising up prophets and apostles among them who would be recognised by the whole Church worldwide and through them God would give a new unity in the Church under their governmental authority. This authority would be extended into the nations throughout the world.

Prophets would be given the ability to know the secrets of men's hearts, to know what was being said in high places in Washington, Moscow and the capitals of the world. This revelation would give them enormous power which would enable the apostles to exercise their governmental authority to establish the Kingdom in preparation for the coming of Christ when they would present the Kingdom to him.
Bickle reported that on a number of occasions Bob Jones had prophesied,

…that the prophets had been emerging in the '80s and the office [had been increasing] in maturity, we're talking about the mature office of the prophet with full revelation, will be established in the '90s...then the office of the apostle with full signs and wonders will emerge - you know, with Jesus Christ visiting them and commissioning them. You know how that the Lord appeared to the apostles, that kind of level of apostleship, with the signs and wonders of a true apostle 2 Cor 12:12, the full signs and wonders of Jesus, that will begin to take place after that.⁷

Bickle also reported that Paul Cain said that the Lord had spoken to him and told him that:

…in the '90s when the office of the prophet is established across the nations with true revelation far beyond even what he is moving in right now, with revelation of the matters of state and government issues, and the secrets of men's hearts, beyond anything we have ever seen; he said when that becomes common in the body then their mission...will be to build the altar for the apostles. They will go ahead and introduce and establish the apostles, in their place and then the apostles will have government.⁸

As Wimber did not deny or correct these statements given to his own congregation, we must therefore conclude that he accepted them. In fact, these were not new thoughts for John Wimber. The prophets were confirming the conviction he had held for a number of years.

As far back as 1981, at the time Wimber assumed responsibility for the Vineyard group, he was already convinced that his mission was to lead an apostolic team with a worldwide ministry. He referred to it in the context of the mission given by Jesus to the apostles in the early Church.

He said, “the Holy Spirit has put on my heart that I am going to take a group from my church, we'll be ministering in much the same way, we'll be going as an apostolic group. As an apostolic group there is power and anointing far beyond your normal ability to perform.”⁹

When Wimber came to Holy Trinity, Brompton in July 1990 he was convinced that when he returned to Britain in October he would see the start of the great revival which would sweep across Europe. He was so fully persuaded of this that he brought his whole family over from America to witness the great outpouring of supernatural power. This would launch him onto his divine mission of worldwide leadership. He believed that the Vineyard was the true model of the restored end-time Church which he was divinely ordained to lead with his apostolic anointing.

The great deception taken into the British churches in 1990 was not simply the acceptance of the false prophecy about a great revival, but the embracing of a whole package of false teaching.

Change of Emphasis

When Wimber linked with Paul Cain and the Kansas City Fellowship he changed the emphasis of his ministry from signs and wonders in healing and evangelism to signs and wonders through prophetic revelation. The prophets would 'prophesy' that a Church would join the 'new breed' and become part of the Vineyard fellowship. This often led to congregations being split.

It was a practice which had caused deep resentment among the churches in Kansas City, but part of the Kansas City Fellowship's original vision was that there would be 'one church' in the city with one eldership serving under Mike Bickle, after Bickle submitted to Wimber's apostleship and the prophets reinforced and confirmed his authority. This fitted neatly with Wimber's own vision of the new unity coming into the restored Church.

This 'one-city-one-church' concept had been the cause of complaints against John Wimber's ministry in the USA where his visits left a trail of division. Wimber would lead a three- or four-day teaching and celebration event in a city with the backing of several local pastors. As soon as the event was over the Vineyard would plant a congregation in the area and churches which had co-operated would lose members and pastors would feel betrayed.¹⁰

In Britain we were spared the division that assailed many churches in the USA, partly due to the strong warnings given in Prophecy Today which alerted many leaders to the dangers which were threatening to cross the Atlantic.

Another decisive factor was the non-fulfilment of the predicted great revival. If there had been even the remotest sign of that prophecy being fulfilled, it is very probable that many charismatic churches in Britain would rapidly have come under Wimber's control.

Next week: The Kansas City Prophets’ reception in Britain.

References

1 Pytches, D, 1990. Some Said It Thundered. London, Hodders, p27.

2 Ibid, p16.

3 Vineyard Ministries School of Prophecy, Anaheim, 1989, Bob Jones, transcript of tape, p20.

4 Matthew 18 is often wrongly applied. Originally it was meant to apply to situations within a local church fellowship. Moreover, it deals with sin in personal relationships. It was never intended to apply to disputes over teaching and practice, or with any doctrinal issues. Both Paul and John did not hesitate to name those whom they judged to be false teachers and whose doctrine was deviating from the truth and thereby harming the Church.

5 Prophecy Today, Vol 6 No 4, July 1990.

6 Bickle, M, 1995. Growing in the Prophetic. Eastbourne, Kingsway.

7 Vineyard Ministries School of Prophecy, Anaheim, 1989, transcript of tape, p10.

8 Ibid.

9 Wimber, J, 1981, Healing Seminar Series, audio tapes, quoted in 'Testing the Fruit of the Vineyard', Media Spotlight, Washington.

10 James R Loggins and Paul G Hiebert, quoted in ‘Latter Day Prophets’, Media Spotlight, Washington.

Series Information

This article is part of a series, re-publishing the 1995 book ‘Blessing the Church?’, an analysis of the ‘Toronto Blessing’ and a wider critique of the charismatic movement in the late 20^th Century. Click here for previous instalments and to read the editorial background to the series.