Beware of easy prophecies of unconditional revival.

A summary of Latter Rain prophecies.

Dr Clifford Hill concludes his chapter of ‘Blessing the Church?’, first published in 1995. Read previous instalments of this series here.

Perhaps the charismatic stream that has been most influenced by Latter Rain and Manifest Sons of God teaching is 'Classical Restorationism', which picked up many of the elements of 'revelation' teaching, including the restoration of the offices of apostle and prophet, shepherding, discipleship, authoritarianism, the attainment of godhead and immortalisation.

These prophecies have been summarised below by Albert Dager. This shows the extent to which teachings which have no biblical foundation have become accepted in the charismatic movement through the influence of Restorationism.

Summary of Latter Rain Prophecies

1. In the latter days, the offices of apostle and prophet will be restored.
   
2. The prophets will call the Church to holiness and rejection of the world's influences found in the denominational churches. True sonship with God will come through stages of perfection: servant, friend, son, and ultimately, godhood itself;
   
3. The apostles will rule the Church through the establishment of independent churches, unaffiliated with the corrupt denominations. The exception would be denominational churches that leave their covering and join the movement;
   
4. Through signs and wonders wrought by the apostles and prophets, a worldwide revival will break out, and a majority of the world will be won to Christ. The signs and wonders will include blessings upon those whom the apostles and prophets bless, and curses upon those whom they curse;
   
5. The revival will come as the result of the Church defeating demonic spirits through prayer, fasting, and spiritual warfare conducted through intense worship and praise, and by rebuking demonic powers and territorial spirits. The restoration of worship and praise is known as the restoration of the Tabernacle of David, and includes dancing, singing, and exuberant praise in tongues;
   
6. Those who achieve a certain degree of holiness under the direction of the apostles and prophets will overcome all enemies, including death, and will become immortal. They will complete the conquest of the nations before Christ returns. The conquering will be done as Joel's Army, an army of immortal beings bringing judgment upon the ungodly and all who will not accept the authority of the apostles and prophets;
   
7. Some believe that the second coming of Jesus is in and through the Church: the Church will become Christ on earth and rule the nations with a rod of iron. Others believe that after the Church has taken dominion over the nations (or a significant portion of the nations), the Church, glorious and triumphant, will call Jesus back to earth and hand the nations over to him. Those who hold the latter view are willing to over-look the heresy of the former in the interest of unity with the purposes of realising their goal of conquest.¹

Dager’s summary shows the extent to which teachings which have no biblical foundation have become accepted in the charismatic movement.

Widespread Acceptance

The charismatic movement has witnessed an enormous number of prophecies over the last 25 or more years. These have been given in small house groups, church congregations, at celebration events and in many publications of all kinds.

They have come from believers exercising the gift of prophecy, or individuals giving prophetic messages to each other, or from well-known leaders and preachers at large gatherings.

Many of these prophecies have simply been received and forgotten, but others have had great influence. They have been passed from one to another, recorded on tape and published in magazines and books.

The prophecies which have exerted the most influence have not been warnings but have been the popular words promising 'revival' and great spiritual power. This influence can be measured objectively through the amount of publicity given and the number of leaders who quote them. Another objective measure is to note the concepts which come from contemporary prophetic 'revelation' and have become incorporated into doctrine - such as the 'Joel's Army', 'dread champions' or 'new breed' teachings.

The charismatic movement has absorbed all these and many more. They have been highly influential in giving direction to the development of the movement and especially in the formation of charismatic doctrine. The most popular belief to have come from this source is the expectation of a great spiritual revival and the emergence of a glorious, victorious, supernaturally empowered Church.

The prophecies which have exerted the most influence in the charismatic movement have not been warnings but have been the popular words promising 'revival' and great spiritual power.

So widespread is this belief that there can be few charismatics who know that it has absolutely no biblical foundation. It comes from Latter Rain prophecy and is actually contrary to Scripture. Yet it has been enthusiastically adopted by countless preachers and passed on to their people as though it were the word of God.

This is a measure of the deception in the charismatic movement, because even if the people do not know the Bible well enough to test doctrine and to recognise heresy, surely the preachers should be able to do so! Or is it a case of 'all we like sheep have gone astray'? If one well-known leader endorses it, all the other minor leaders accept it, and so the people are misled.

When the promises fail to be fulfilled some new, exciting and entertaining diversion is readily embraced with inadequate testing. It was the great expectations engendered by Latter Rain prophecies popularised by the Wimber team in 1990 which prepared the way in Britain for the ready acceptance given to the bizarre antics of the Toronto phenomenon.

Serious Implications

There is, however, something even more serious than engaging in strange behaviour and believing it to be inspired by the Holy Spirit. The most serious consequence of accepting false prophecy and believing false teaching is that it can cause blindness to the true word of God. It can also act as a major diversion from the purpose of God for his people at a particular time. If God is warning about an impending difficult time and the people are deceived into thinking good times are coming, they will be unprepared when the storm breaks.

The many prophecies of warning have been largely ignored in the charismatic movement, whereas the popular prophecies of good times have been received with joy. It is a sobering thought that in ancient Israel God never sent prophets to announce times of prosperity. It was the false prophets who came with these messages which were always popular with the people, while the true prophets were stoned.
Hundreds of generations later, we are prone to the same errors of judgment. The most popular sins are the sins of the fathers.

Next week: David Noakes begins our penultimate chapter, giving a personal and biblical perspective of renewal.

References

1 ‘Latter Day Prophets’. Special report by Albert Dager in Media Spotlight: A Biblical Analysis of Religious and Secular Media, Washington, USA, October 1990. 

Clifford Hill continues to look at words of revival.

In this instalment of our series re-publishing Blessing the Church? (Hill et al, 1995), we continue to look at prophecies of revival that have been ubiquitous in the charismatic movement. Click here for previous instalments.

Prophecy in the Vineyard Movement

A significant element in the Vineyard/KCF ministry team which was developed in the late 1980s was the way in which the prophets confirmed one another's prophecies and added additional concepts which became incorporated into the body of teaching being given through the ministry.

Bob Jones, for example, confirmed Paul Cain's teaching on 'the new breed' and stated that this elite company of believers would eventually achieve divinity. He saw them,

…progressively going on in this righteousness until you take on the very divine nature of Christ himself and you begin to see Christ in the church. Christ won't come for the church until you see Christ in the church. Papa planted Jesus, he sowed him down here in this earth to have a whole nation of brothers and sisters that looked just like Jesus and he will have it.

My daddy's big enough to have his way and he's going to have him a nation of priests and kings. That's what his heart's desire is to have him a nation of sons and daughters that will talk to him just like his Son did. His son was an alpha son, your children are the omega sons and daughters.¹

Jones believed that the generation of children born since 1973 would form the final generation of believers whom God was preparing as the Bride of Christ to take control of the world and present the Kingdom to Christ on his return. Jones continued, “I do believe what he's beginning to do is a restoration of his very nature down here. Your children will cone behind you and they'll start on your level of righteousness and holiness and they'll take off from there."²

This, of course, is complete fantasy and a denial of the teaching of Jesus who said, “no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again” (John 3:3). Our children cannot inherit our righteousness however much they may benefit from our love, our teaching, and our personal example.

The Vineyard/KCF prophets confirmed one another’s prophecies and added additional concepts – which became incorporated into the ministry’s body of teaching.

Jones went on to say that he had “a literal visitation from the Lord” and that Jesus told him a new version of Psalm 12:1, that it should read “Help, Lord, release the champions, the dread champions”. In the Bible, Psalm 12:1 reads “Help, Lord, for the godly are no more; the faithful have vanished from among men”.

Jones's version³ is completely different and has no other authority except his claim to have had a personal visitation and personal revelation from God. On the strength of that vision he built a whole doctrine which was accepted by John Wimber and incorporated into the Vineyard teaching. This became clear from Wimber's use of the concept.

Appealing to the British Church

In the leaflet advertising the October 1990 meetings there was a personal message from John Wimber who wrote, “God has given us a vision to see the body of Christ move from being an inactive audience to a Spirit-filled army”.⁴

This sounds wholly good and highly attractive to ministers who have seen very little growth in their churches, and to church members who long to break out from the cocoon of traditionalism that has characterised the Church in Britain for much of the 20^th Century. But Wimber continued, “In our opinion God is about to unloose a powerful outpouring of the Holy Spirit of an unprecedented magnitude...He is looking for individuals who will be ‘dread champions’ for his cause”.⁵

The significance of this phrase would have been lost on most of those who hurried to return their booking forms and registration fees. The phrase 'dread champions' was part of the teaching being given by Wimber, Cain and the Kansas City Prophets. It was linked with their teaching about 'a new breed' whom God was going to raise in the last generation before the Second Coming of Christ to evangelise the world and subdue the nations.

Peter Fenwick, in previous instalments of this study, has referred to one of the foundational teachings of the Restorationist movement being that evangelism would no longer be necessary because God was going to do it as a sovereign act. The respected and renewed Church would be so attractive that unbelievers would flock to it.

Wimber borrowed phrases from the Kansas City Prophets that showed his allegiance to their teachings.

This teaching was at the heart of the Wimber message in 1990. But by this time he had added a significant new dimension to 'restorationist' teaching. Wimber believed that signs and wonders performed by an elect company of leaders through a mighty impartation of supernatural power would sweep unbelievers into the Kingdom. In essence, this belief lay at the heart of his teaching on 'power evangelism'.

Confirming Each Other’s Words

A few months before they came to Britain that year, Paul Cain had been teaching at Anaheim with John Wimber, setting out his beliefs. He said that God was bringing to birth a new breed of Christians who would actually be the incarnate word of God and through them the Gospel of the Kingdom would be proclaimed, not simply by their words but by their lives. Cain said: “God's strange act is going to bring a new order of things and bring a new breed in and bring a transformation.”⁶

Amid much clapping, shouting, whistling and cheering he told the crowd,

There's going to be something in the wave of power and evangelism in these last days. Little children are going to lay their darling little hands on the sick and heal multitudes...We are going to be just like the Lord in that respect. They're going to say, 'Here comes that dreadful, fearful army of champions. Here comes those with a word of knowledge, the word of wisdom, the working of miracles, with a healing ministry, with the power to heal the sick and raise the dead, with the power to know what's going on behind the Iron Curtain.' You're going to really be a fearful group before this thing's all over with and I am resting in that.⁷

It is noticeable that Cain had picked up Jones's phrase about an 'army of champions'. This is another example of the prophets confirming each other's words. This is a highly dangerous practice which was roundly condemned by Jeremiah:

‘Is not my word like fire,' declares the LORD, 'and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces? Therefore,' declares the LORD, 'I am against the prophets who steal from one another words supposedly from me. ‘Yes’, declares the LORD, 'I am against the prophets who wag their own tongues and yet declare, "The LORD declares".' (Jer 23:29-31)

In ancient Israel the law required that the testimony of one witness should be confirmed by that of at least one other. If several prophets came declaring the same message it was regarded as divine confirmation.

The practice of prophets confirming each other’s words is highly dangerous and was roundly condemned by Jeremiah.

In Jeremiah's day the false prophets were picking up popular prophecies from each other saying that God would not allow Jerusalem to fall to the Babylonians, that the Egyptians would come to their aid and that no harm would come to the people. This encouraged them to continue living in the kind of idolatry and immorality described in Jeremiah 7:1-12 and it closed their minds to the warnings God was sending through the true prophets.

Bob Jones, Paul Cain, John Paul-Jackson, Jim Goll, Mike Bickle and Jack Deere (the Kansas City Fellowship School of Prophets) all confirmed each other's prophecies, adding bits out of their own imaginations. These all sounded good to the people so they were readily believed, even though they were contrary to Scripture. But the Word of God does not change: “How long will this continue in the hearts of these lying prophets, who prophesy the delusions of their own minds?” (Jer 23:26).

Flights of Fantasy

Cain's prophecies were highly popular and the crowd got even more excited when he told them that God was about to give them this supernatural power which would transform their lives:

God is saying 'Arise and shine, for your light is come, behold the darkness will cover the earth and deep darkness, but the Lord will raise you up, the Lord will rise upon you and the nations will come to your light. You're going to shine, shine, shine! You're going to be the light of day and the light of life!...

God's going to have a whole company of people that are going to be like that and then the world will see the light and they are going to come to it, they are going to see it, all nations will come to your light and that's the way we are going to get world evangelisation.⁸

This teaching, which so excited the people, was utterly false, but John Wimber endorsed it so the people accepted it. They probably did not know the Bible well enough to know that it is Jesus who is the Light of Life and the words from Isaiah 60:1, “Arise, shine, for your light has come,” are part of a prophecy about the coming of Messiah.

Surely God will not share his glory with anyone else and nations will come to his light not to ours. It is surely a wicked deception to say “the nations will come to your light”! It is also interesting to see how Cain used prophecy to confirm the Latter Rain teaching that world evangelisation would result from the supernatural power which was going to be given to believers. This teaching was central to Wimber's message.

In Jeremiah’s day, false prophets were picking up popular prophecies from each other which worked to close the people’s minds to God’s true warnings.

In the same speech Paul Cain prophesied that the new breed would possess power to overcome the enemies of the Gospel and strike terror into them: “There's going to be an awesome, reverential fear and respect for the church because the church is going to regain her power, lose her restrictions, lose her weakness...you're going to be called upon by presidents and kings of nations, heads of state…"⁹

He then went on to say that believers would be given the power to strike dead those who opposed them, as happened to Ananias and Sapphira. He said that he knew two men who possessed this power, they were William Branham and Mordecai Hamm. He said, “If I had a hero, I think it would be William Branham or Mordecai Hamm.” He continued:

God is going to have his army and they are going to be a fearful bunch and they are going to go to every place on the face of the earth. All we have to do is see two people so anointed, two people here, two people there, two people over yonder and they will go forth and take that part of China, that part of Africa, that part of that island, or that whole island, or this nation or that nation, for one can set a thousand to flight and two can set ten thousand to flight.¹⁰

It is amazing what flights of fantasy people will absorb and actually believe if their respected leaders tell them it is true.

This is what has been happening in the charismatic movement, yet we scornfully dismissed the Hindu 'milk miracle' in September 1995. The Times reported that throughout Britain Hindus “gripped by a devotional frenzy” queued up at the local shrines to offer spoonfuls of milk to their gods. “It began with rumours on Thursday that the elephant-headed Gamesh idol in a New Delhi suburb had drunk half a cup of milk and within 24 hours millions of Hindus around the world seemed to have heard of the 'signal from the gods'" (The Times, 23 September 1995).

Some of the things we ask people to believe at charismatic celebrations are almost as unbelievable as the Hindu milk miracle. In the same speech as that reported above, amidst much cheering and clapping, Paul Cain promised:

You just wait until God does this strange act. Well, they'll fall all over you getting to God. All we have to do is seize what we are talking about tonight and they'll fall all over you getting to God! You are going to employ the tools of the trade after the impartation comes.¹¹

He went on to say that John Wimber was going to give that impartation: “When brother John Wimber stands here and gives that impartation, you're going to see more signs and wonders.”¹²

Teaching on Impartation

This teaching on 'impartation' is another doctrine which comes from the Latter Rain movement. Franklin Hall taught that he was given by God the power to impart immortality. He was giving this teaching in the early days of the Latter Rain movement in the 1940s but as recently as 1988, 40 years later, he was still giving the same teaching. He said at that time that at the moment he only had the power to give partial immortality from the feet up to the knees but gradually this would extend to the whole body.

It is amazing what flights of fantasy people will absorb and actually believe if their respected leaders tell them it is true.

This teaching on impartation has been picked up by others in the charismatic movement. For example, in the March 1995 newsletter sent out from Kingdom Faith Ministries by Colin Urquhart, he writes:

Dear friends, REVIVAL IS HERE! Praise God! The revival breakthrough has come to us at Kingdom Faith, by the grace of God. This month's tape tells you of the anointing that has caused this to happen. It is a word of personal testimony of what happened when Hector Gimenez was told by God to impart to me the same anointing that was on his own life.

This teaching on impartation is contrary to Scripture. As David Noakes will show in future instalments of this series, the teaching of Haggai 2 shows that we are able to pass on corruption, but not blessing. Blessing comes down directly from God. We can of course pray for God to bestow blessing upon someone, but we cannot impart that blessing ourselves. That authority is not given to us as human beings.

This is just one of the many aberrations and errant teachings that have got into the charismatic movement through false prophecy which then becomes incorporated into doctrine and forms part of a body of false teaching.

Next week: A summary of Latter Rain prophecies and some concluding thoughts for this chapter.

References

1 Paul Cain, speaking at 'School of Prophecy', Anaheim, California, USA, Vineyard Ministries International, November 1989; transcript of tapes published by Holly Assembly of God, Missouri. Session 7, Part II, p1.

2 Ibid p9.

3 Ibid p14.

4 Leaflet issued by Vintage Ministries, Edinburgh.

5 Ibid.

6 See note 1, p9.

7 Ibid p9.

8 Ibid p11.

9 Ibid p15.

10 Ibid p19.

11 Ibid p21.

12 Ibid p21.

Clifford Denton concludes our series testing prophecies about Britain's future on the run-up to the EU Referendum.

The Referendum on 23 June is pivotal for the UK. Politicians themselves agree that this is the most important decision for the UK since the Second World War. Political logic alone, however, is proving inadequate, based as it is on human opinion more than listening to God.

It could be the making or breaking of political careers. More importantly, it could be the making or breaking of our nation – a nation much loved and used of God. How much we need to know what God himself is saying and how reasonable it is to expect him to be speaking to us!

This is why we have been seeking to encourage our readers to lead the way in testing prophecies on this topic to see if we, together, can discern what God is saying. This, my last article in the series, is not meant to over-ride all those discussions that have been going on in prayer groups around the country, but to add an overview - which itself can be tested to see if it is a valid summary.

Political logic alone is inadequate – based as it is on human opinion, more than listening to God.

Summary

Expecting Human Bias

We all have a mindset through which we filter what we hear. We have all come through a certain educational process, responding to the world around us, the media we follow, the books we read, the schools we attended, and even the way we may have been taught to read our Bibles.

That is why we can expect some human bias even in the way prophecies are received and passed on - and why we must together always carefully and prayerfully test what we hear to discern more clearly what God is saying to us.

Expecting God's Guidance

We, the family of God, should always expect God's guidance in times of need. Ours is a walk with God (Rom 8). As Amos pointed out, we must walk together in agreement with God (Amos 3:3), expecting to hear the prophetic word (Amos 3:7).

The expectation of hearing the prophetic word is reaffirmed in the New Testament (Eph 4:11). Especially in our times of fellowship we can expect to receive from God more than enough to share (1 Cor 14:26-33).

Expecting Continuity with Scripture

Any contemporary prophecy must stand up to the test of the Bible. So let us first recap on where we believe we are in the fulfilment of biblical prophecy. The leaders of Prophecy Today have, since 1986, been convinced that the world in general is experiencing fulfilment of the prophecy of Haggai (Hag 2:21-22; Heb 12:25-29).

This was tested on Mount Carmel and in Jerusalem in 1986 at the major gatherings of those with prophetic ministry. The magazine Prophecy Today was published soon after and many issues in the world have come to pass since then to support the view that this was a current word from God to impact the entire world.

As the family of God, we should expect to hear God's guidance in times of need.

What then of the UK in particular? With the biblical pattern of warning signs (for example in Deuteronomy 28 and Amos 4) as our reference point, we understand that the UK over the last few decades has had warning signs from Almighty God. And should we not expect this with the rapid decline in our nation measured by the standards of the Bible?

This is not to say that the prophetic warnings to Israel are directly relevant to the UK, but that the biblical pattern of signs of increasing magnitude in nature, the weather, on our crops, in our society and in our families indicate that God's protection has been disappearing in increasing measure.

Expecting Conditions...or Not?

There is an aspect to the 'big picture' that we all find hard to assess: how to fit contemporary events into the fulfilment of prophecies found in the Book of Revelation - in particular the rise of the anti-Christian world system (Rev 13-14, also 17-18).

Whilst most contemporary prophecy has conditions – for blessings or for difficult times from the hand of the Lord - some things are not subject to such conditions. One is the Covenant that God made with Abraham (Gen 17:1-8) that a covenant family will be gathered from all nations. Another is the general outworking of the end-time prophecies of Revelation (N.B. Rev 21:18-19).

Surely the prophecy of Haggai fits within the latter times foretold in Revelation. I wonder if we have taken this as seriously as we ought! The decision as to our continued membership of the EU must be somehow related to the era foretold by Haggai.

Expectations of Timing

Another difficulty facing us in testing prophecy is timing. That is a reason why we need the particular help of God at decision points in our own lives and in our nation's life. He helps us to understand when the right time is reached for a particular prophetic fulfilment of Scripture.

We certainly need God's help regarding our place in Europe. God alone knows the timing and the relevance of our decision to the outworking of his own plans and purposes in these end times. That is one reason why the political arguments being bandied around by the media look so inconclusive in isolation.

An aspect of the big picture we all find hard to assess is how to fit contemporary events into the fulfilment of prophecies found in Revelation.

Prophecies of Revival

Some of the prophecies we tested give expectation of revival in Britain. The sermon of Peter in Solomon's Portico (Acts 3:19) encourages us that in the era before the return of Jesus we can pray with confidence for times of refreshing. Believers need such spiritual refreshment especially in times of pressure growing from the world around them. We are encouraged therefore to keep praying for such times – with confidence.

Whether the moves of God's Spirit in the lives of his people will result in a major national outpouring or not has the condition of repentance outlined in Jeremiah 18:9-10. Whilst we might hope for the fulfilment of the Mother Barbara Prophecy and the visions of Jean Darnell, we must also realise that this condition is in force for Britain as a whole. This is reflected in the prophecy of Paul Slennett. Christians are called to prayer and the nation is called to repentance.

Prophecies About the EU

And so to our main focus for this time - consideration of our membership of the EU. The signs of our times put alongside the dramatic expectations of the end times from a biblical perspective, indicate that the decision we are about to make relating to the EU is extremely important.

We have considered two major contemporary prophecies over the last few weeks that exhort us to come out of the EU. Let's pause and consider this. If God himself is saying this, then we must take it very seriously.

David Noakes' prophecy speaks to Britain in very earnest yet loving terms. The promises of blessings to the nation as a whole are conditional on repentance in the nation after coming out of the EU – a condition, as stated above, included within the second of the major prophecies, that which was passed on to us by Paul Slennett.

Paul Slennett's prophecy covers more ground than the others we have tested. A difficulty lies in the emphasis on an earthquake related to the City (which we interpret as the City of London). If we believe that we are in the days of the fulfilment of Haggai's prophecy, within the overall end time picture, then we should not be surprised that the Lord is warning about the collapse of financial institutions and of some cities within the context of a revived Greco-Roman-Babylonian world empire. The financial shakings of recent years will be small compared with this and could be seen, therefore, as warning tremors.

Some recent prophecies give expectation of revival – but such moves of God's Spirit have the condition of repentance.

Did Paul Slennett, through his prophecy, therefore, foresee both early financial tremors and the greater collapse of the city of London within the end time perspective of the Book of Revelation? We should not be surprised at this if the timing is near for all the major shakings foretold in Scripture.

Also within this prophecy is an injunction for the Church to wake up and become prayerful.

Conclusion

With these two major prophetic words, there is apparent agreement that we should come out of the EU, for God's own good purposes in our nation (subject to other conditions) to be made possible. The rest is for continued prayer. Consequences will follow for the nation and for the Church, whichever way we go.

Here at Prophecy Today UK, we believe that God is warning us to come out of what will eventually develop or merge into a growingly anti-Christian world power.

If we go back to the 'big picture', we recall that God divided the nations into manageable portions so, as Paul taught in Acts 17:26-27, mankind would earnestly seek him. His priority over all history is the outworking of his covenanted promise to Abraham to draw a family from all nations. The possibilities are very wide, such that an entire nation could be included, if we consider Jeremiah 18:9-10 in the context of the Great Commission (Matt 28:19-20).

There is no doubt that Britain has, over many years, been blessed, used of God and guided by him, but now that the return of Jesus is close, new and high standards are required of us, not slippage into the ways of the world. The UK is at a decision point, perhaps the most important decision point in our history. Coming out of the EU could be the beginning of a turning back to God such that he will guide our entire nation through these end times. The prophecies we have tested offer this hope, impossible though it seems in human thinking - so far have we slipped.

Coming out of the EU could be the beginning of a turning back to God. Impossible though this seems, the prophecies we have tested offer this hope.

There may be many things for us to clarify through prayer and study in the next few years, but surely the balance of the prophecies we have tested over the last few weeks is that God, in his mercy, has spoken to us. There is a future that he can see more clearly than us. He has shown us that we should not allow ourselves to be swallowed up into the coming ungodly Empire. We should regroup as a nation in step with his purposes for us.

Let's continue to weigh this together in our fellowships and communities over the next two to three weeks leading up to the Referendum.