From hyper-grace to healing vibrations: how the NAR is leading charismatics astray.

*Longer article*

“Teach me to do your will, for you are my God; may your good Spirit lead me on level ground.” (Psalm 143:10)

At Prophecy Today UK, we believe that the Pentecostal movement of the early 20^th Century and the charismatic renewal movement of the 1960s and 70s were moves of God to equip his people with a greater understanding and appreciation of the Holy Spirit. We have often said that this equipping was intended for a specific purpose: to prepare the Church for effective witness in the 20^th and 21^st Centuries, during which time the global population has boomed and the religious map has changed dramatically.

However, we recognise the danger of such moves of God being hijacked and corrupted by human sin and satanic deception, and that this danger is no less today than it was in the days of the early Church. Then, the infiltration of the new-born Christian community by false teachers and false prophets led Paul and the other Apostles to speak often and passionately about the importance of guarding against deception.

It is in this context, and with regard for recent concerns surrounding David Hathaway’s January prayer day at Wembley Arena, that we feel a broader statement (perhaps the first of several) is also necessary on a particular movement infiltrating the Western charismatic Church.

We believe that this cluster of ministries, teachings, practices and attitudes, often referred to through the short-hand phrase ‘the New Apostolic Reformation’ or ‘NAR’, has the potential to steer charismatics completely off course. But what is the NAR, and how can we combat its teachings with biblical truth?

A Brief History

The NAR is today’s expression of the same teachings that birthed the Latter Rain Movement of the 1940s, the subsequent ‘Manifest Sons of God’ movement, the Kansas City Prophets, the Toronto Blessing (1994 on), events at Brownsville/Pensacola (1995-2000) and the Lakeland Florida ‘outpouring’ (2008).

During the mid-1990s, Dr Clifford Hill together with several other British church leaders joined to sound the alarm about events in Toronto, the outcome of which was the 1995 book ‘Blessing the Church?’, serialised in 2018 on Prophecy Today UK.¹ But though the alarm was sounded, the NAR movement has since only grown in reach and influence. Through the 2000s and 2010s, teachings that were once the domain of fringe itinerant revivalists filtered into the mainstream charismatic world.

The NAR today encompasses a loose collection of charismatic ministries, leaders and teachings without a central organising body or statement of beliefs, and defying traditional denominational categories. Many within it do not recognise the term ‘NAR’, though it was coined by one of the movement’s core founders, C. Peter Wagner.² It has also been termed ‘network Christianity’³ because of its nebulous, relational nature.

Today, NAR power-houses include Bill and Beni Johnson’s Bethel Church in Redding, California (formerly AOG, now independent), Hillsong Church in Australia (also formerly AOG, now independent), Catch the Fire in Toronto (formerly Toronto Airport Vineyard, now independent), Heidi Baker’s Iris Ministries and Rick Joyner’s Morningstar Ministries, amongst many others. You will find songs, teachings, books and events connected with these and other NAR ministries being promoted in most charismatic churches in Britain, at inter-denominational conferences, in Christian bookshops and on Christian TV and radio.

This ‘networking’ has been accomplished through a combination of music, literature, sympathetic publishing houses and media platforms,⁴ training programmes, social media use and platform-sharing/collaborations with well-respected ministries and leaders. The NAR now also has its own Bible ‘translation’ to boot.⁵

The global reach of this movement and the endurance of its core beliefs through time seem all the more insidious because of its lack of official organisation, prompting many to see a spiritual driving force behind it. So, what exactly do NAR proponents believe?

What are NAR Beliefs?

In many ways, the NAR borrows from biblical Christianity and most within the movement would still accept the basic tenets of the Gospel. It is evangelistic and charismatic; it believes the Bible is the inerrant Word of God. It also usually takes a conservative stance on moral issues, values prophecy, promotes social action and can encourage support for Israel. However, there are important aspects of the NAR which are inescapably unbiblical, which pollute and redirect genuinely-felt love for God.

Indeed, while we are not disputing the sincerity of ordinary believers caught up in the NAR movement, we believe that, followed thoroughly and consistently, it promotes ‘a different Jesus, a different spirit and a different Gospel’ (2 Cor 11:4).

The US General Council of the Assemblies of God wrote in their official denunciation of the Latter Rain Movement in 1949 that its theology “claims prerogatives to human agency which belong only to Christ”.⁶ This remains a good summary of the NAR movement today which, though now evolved beyond these roots, still bears similar hallmarks.

In short, the NAR movement encourages believers to claim for themselves things that belong only to our sovereign God and remain His to bestow as He wills: things such as power and authority, control and dominion, supernatural ability, blessing and success, health and prosperity. It is a Christianity that doesn’t know when or where to stop: an over-zealous movement of theological and spiritual excess characterised by a lack of biblical checks and balances.

With the caveat that the NAR is a loose movement that encompasses a lot of internal variation, and to which proponents may only subscribe partially or inconsistently, core NAR beliefs include:

1. The leadership of modern-day ‘apostles’ and ‘prophets’
   
2. Dominionism: the teaching that ahead of Jesus’ return, the Church will become all-powerful on earth and make it ready for the Lord⁷
   
3. The belief that unlimited divine power and blessing is available to believers to equip them for this task
   
4. An over-emphasis on the supernatural and extra-biblical revelation
   
5. An over-emphasis on power and human agency
   

In the remainder of this article, I will take these five NAR creeds and discuss briefly why each is attractive, deceptive and contrary to Scripture.

1. The leadership of modern-day ‘apostles’ and ‘prophets’

The NAR movement distorts Ephesians 2:20 to claim that God is raising up end times ‘super-apostles’ and prophets – equal to or greater than the original Apostles commissioned by Christ - who will lead the Church to this-worldly victory. The appeal of strong, charismatic leadership in an increasingly uncertain world, particularly to young people, should not be underestimated.

While Christians disagree about whether the biblical offices of Apostle and Prophet are still current today, what is certain is that an elitist movement of self-appointed, celebrity leaders claiming divine authority is thoroughly dangerous, as well as antithetical to Scripture.⁸ The cult-like focus on personality in the NAR has led some believers to travel the world in order to sit under the teaching of specific people, desperate to receive some personal blessing and accepting their words unquestioningly.

The highly concentrated power of this relatively small group of men and women – now commanding global influence and millions of dollars every year, while being treated as infallible superstars - can easily be (and has been) abused, as with the well-documented examples of Paul Cain and, more recently, Todd Bentley. Both of these men fell from grace spectacularly but were quickly ‘restored’ with a conspicuous absence of deep grieving and true repentance.

All this is a world away from the New Testament ekklesia, the community of faith built on one name alone: that of Jesus Christ. The original Apostles were team-playing ambassadors of the Gospel who placed high premiums on humility and servant leadership, not self-promotion and gaining a following (e.g. 1 Cor 3:4; 15:9). Their teaching emphasised the importance of weighing and testing all things (e.g. 1 Thess 5:21) and watching keenly for false teachers and prophets, as Jesus commanded (Matt 7:15-20). Those in positions of leadership knew they would be held to a higher standard because of their greater influence (James 3:1).

“I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace, given me through the working of His power. Though I am less than the least of all the saints…” Apostle Paul, Ephesians 3:7-8

“He must become greater; I must become less…the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks as one from the earth. The one who comes from heaven is above all.” John the Baptist, John 3:30-31

2. Dominionism: the teaching that ahead of Jesus’ return, the Church will become all-powerful on earth and make it ready for the Lord

Popular within the NAR movement are teachings like the Seven Mountain Mandate (the idea that Christians are supposed to take over the ‘seven mountains’ of culture in order to transform the world) and the concept of ‘bringing heaven to earth’, reclaiming society and Creation for the Kingdom.⁹

The biblical hope that believers will become bearers of light and blessing to their communities and nations through the transformative power of the Gospel and the Holy Spirit, and the understandable desire for revival, are extrapolated to such a degree that the responsibility for establishing a physical Kingdom of God on earth is transferred from Christ onto the shoulders of the Church.

The goal of re-establishing Christendom has obvious appeal to Christians in the West, who have hitherto watched their nations despise God and spin into terminal decline. But dig a little deeper and NAR Dominionism usurps Christ’s Lordship, wresting from him the mandate to redeem, restore and judge.

Indeed, the ‘Kingdom Now’ culture promises the victory of Christ’s return and the blessings of Heaven to believers in this life, creating false expectations that ‘things can only get better’ and that the next big revival is just around the corner. This stops people from truly seeking the Lord and understanding his purposes. It also blinds them to vast swathes of Scripture which speak of dreadful days of deception and persecution ahead of the Lord’s return.

When difficult times do come, or when wild predictions of revival don’t come true, expectations are disappointed and believers can be driven either into denial, or away from faith altogether.

“Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come” Jesus, Matthew 24:12-13

“But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Saviour from there, the Lord Jesus Christ” Apostle Paul, Philippians 3:20

3. The belief that unlimited divine power and blessing is available to believers to equip them for this task

Taking its cue from the Manifest Sons of God movement, NAR teachers emphasise that as God’s children destined to do great things in the world, believers can claim in faith lives of abundant blessing, health, supernatural power and infinite grace from God.¹⁰ Some, notoriously, have even argued that believers are ‘little gods’ who can attain to divinity and physical immortality.¹¹

The fleshly appeal of such promises of abundance is obvious (cf. Genesis 3:5). Deceptively, they take truths about the love, goodness, grace and blessing of God and blow them out of all proportion, well beyond scriptural boundaries. The life of faith is reworked around pursuing and ‘claiming’ this promised abundance, more than around growing in maturity and holiness. As such, NAR teaching de-emphasises concepts like discipline, judgment, sin and human weakness. It blurs the fundamental differences between God and humanity, exalting believers far above their given place.

Believers are told that illness and suffering are always consequences either of a lack of faith or of spiritual attack (rather than for any other reasons) while concepts such as repentance and denying one’s flesh are side-lined, as are scriptural injunctions to admonish, discern and warn.

The result is an entitled, spoilt Church culture – congruent with the consumeristic West at large. The NAR is known for its insatiable cry of ‘more!’

“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” Jesus, Matthew 16:24

“But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.” Apostle Paul, 2 Corinthians 4:7-10

4. Strong emphasis on the supernatural and extra-biblical revelation

The NAR movement puts a premium emphasis on an experiential relationship with God, including miraculous healings, the imparting of spiritual gifts/anointing through the laying on of hands, tangible experiences of God’s glory, words of knowledge, angelic visitations, supernatural manifestations and miscellaneous signs and wonders (notorious examples of the latter include the appearance of gold dust, gold teeth and feathers).

Biblical accounts of Jesus and the Apostles speak of miracles which are rarely seen in today’s unbelieving, hyper-materialist West. Ordinary Christians are understandably hungry for the supernatural – not only for proof of God’s existence but in order to ‘walk as Jesus walked’. However, this biblical desire for authentic New Testament Christianity is taken too far by the NAR, with cries of ‘relationship not religion’ quickly becoming a reaction against all forms of biblical authority, order and structure (save for the authority of the ‘anointed’ apostles and prophets!) and a privileging instead of the spontaneous, the ‘reckless’, even the ‘out of control’.

Such a postmodern theology of experience fits right in with millennials, but comes with a low regard for Scripture and the basic tenets of the Gospel, as somehow insufficient. Instead, a gnostic pursuit of the spiritual and of ‘new’ knowledge opens believers up to spiritual influences and grand prophetic claims that are simply not of God. In the name of faith, discernment is abandoned and thinking is suspended.

Unsurprisingly, the NAR movement has been marked from the start by strange manifestations, esoteric experiences and an abundance of provably false ‘prophetic’ words – all encouraged by a church culture predisposed to unquestioning acceptance, with criticism shut down as ‘judgmentalism’.

“Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” Apostle John, 1 John 4:1

“…there has emerged a famine of the Word of God…[which] has left large numbers of Christians without the capacity to judge for themselves from Scripture whether a thing is from God or not. They are defenceless from error, both in the form of doctrine and practice…” Peter Fenwick¹²

5. Therefore, given the above, the NAR places a strong emphasis on power and human agency

NAR-influenced church culture today emphasises the spiritual ‘authority’ of believers and NAR teaching often purports to help people ‘trigger’, ‘activate’ or ‘awaken’ blessing, revival and supernatural experience. NAR language is suffused with authoritative terminology such as ‘releasing’, ‘imparting’, ‘anointing’, ‘activating’, ‘breaking’, ‘declaring’ and ‘pronouncing’.

Being clear on the nature and limits of our authority in Christ is vital if we are to avoid usurping his role and claiming power for ourselves that is not ours to claim. In the NAR, this desire to wield spiritual power sometimes fosters a militant emphasis on spiritual warfare, particularly the practice of ‘taking’ territories for the Kingdom in prayer by engaging with territorial demonic spirits.¹³ Faithful proclamation of the Gospel is superseded by a dangerous desire to engage with spiritual principalities, while a concern to deal with sin is replaced by a pre-occupation with enemy activity.

Without discernment, these kinds of attitudes can worsen the ‘name it and claim it’ culture described previously and lead to all sorts of self-interested, unwise actions. Bethel Church in California provides plentiful examples of such behaviour: e.g. pacing around Temple Mount declaring ‘victory’ over the enemy, praying for a friend who fell down a cliff instead of calling the emergency services, and trying to stop the California fires by prophesying rain and commanding the wind.

We are not in any way denying the possibility of Holy Spirit-inspired declarations, or divinely-prompted acts of faith, or the power of intercessory prayer. However, NAR teaching wrests these things away from God and puts them solely in the hands of humans, as if the Holy Spirit is a force that man can learn to wield and bend to his will. This unhealthy attitude towards control, combined with the aforementioned preoccupation with the supernatural, opens a door for the New Age.

New Age terminology like ‘shifts’, ‘alignment’ and ‘destiny’ are common within the NAR, as are hypnotic music and mystical practices borrowed from the occult. One well-known example is The Physics of Heaven, a 2012 book by authors including Kansas City Prophets Bob Jones and Larry Randolph, with contributions from widely-followed NAR personalities Bill Johnson and Kris Vallotton.

The book purports to ‘reclaim’ practices from the New Age like vibrations, healing energies, ‘dolphin therapy’ and ‘quantum mysticism’ to reveal secrets about how to achieve ‘personal transcendence’.¹⁴

“Many who had believed now came forward, confessing and disclosing their deeds. And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books and burned them in front of everyone.” Acts 19:18-19

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’” Jesus, Matthew 7:21-23

Conclusions

The above overview is not comprehensive, as anyone who has looked into these matters will know. However, it is intended to clarify Prophecy Today’s position on this movement. Our assessment is that it ducks and weaves through biblical Christianity, blending truth with dangerous distortions and downright falsities.

It is thus a prime example of a movement of ‘mixture’. Nobody is saying that NAR teachers don’t ever say anything true or worthwhile – that’s precisely the point. They sometimes do. It is extremely difficult to critique their material without appearing uncharitable towards the truth contained within it. More discerning Christians have therefore tended to be divided by the influence of the NAR - some see the good and are unwilling to throw out the baby with the bathwater. Others reject it completely as outright deception (2 Cor 11:4). Many are simply fearful of speaking out against a movement that may include things ‘of God’, in case they accidentally blaspheme the Holy Spirit.

As I said at the start of this article, we are not disputing the sincerity of believers caught up in the NAR movement. However, broadly speaking, when NAR teaching and culture is held up to the light of Scripture, it fails virtually every single test. The problem is that it has intermingled with and now suffuses mainstream charismatic Christianity in Britain, which is one reason why so many faithful charismatics find themselves unable to find a sound church fellowship.

The growth of the NAR must be weighed before the Lord, especially in the light of scriptures forecasting deception during the times of the end. I do not believe, however, that ‘retreat’ is the only option left for faithful believers. A systematic critique is desperately needed and we must search the scriptures carefully to find out the truth, and be ready to defend it, contending earnestly for the faith (Jude 3). If the NAR really is as deceptive as it appears, the future of the Western Church and its witness may just hang in the balance.

Paul’s instruction to Timothy is particularly pertinent for us today:

“In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when people 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. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.” (2 Timothy 4:1-5)

Our thanks to the many readers who have raised this issue with us.

References

1 Click here to read our serialised version, which provides a useful history of the whole movement.

2 Wagner, CP, 1998. The New Apostolic Churches. Regal, CA, p18.

3 See Christerson, B and Flory, R, 2017. The Rise of Network Christianity: How Independent Leaders Are Changing the Religious Landscape. OUP USA.

4 E.g. Destiny Image, Charisma Media, God TV and TBN.

5 The ‘Passion Translation’, though it is really a paraphrase. Read critiques here and here and note its NAR connections here.

6 See chapter by David Forbes in Blessing the Church?

7 There are other streams of Dominionist theology that transcend charismatic circles. Not all have the same perspective on the end times.

8 Some, like Bill Johnson, do not claim these things overtly. But neither does he stop people from claiming them for him.

9 This end goal of subduing the whole earth can precipitate some strange alliances, at great doctrinal cost.

10 This overlaps considerably with the ‘Word of Faith’ movement/the idea of ‘positive confession’ and has synergy with the prosperity gospel, also secular psychology.

11 This is a misappropriation of Psalm 82:6/John 10:34 and stems especially from Manifest Sons of God teaching. It can shade into New Age assertions about ‘the divine within’ and be coupled with a down-playing of Christ as the first of many sons, or as a human endowed with divine power, rather than THE only begotten Son of God, fully human but also fully divine.

12 Blessing the Church? p50.

13 We are not saying that prayer is not important or spiritually significant, nor that believers cannot be led by God to pray strategically – but this must be led by God and not assumed.

14 Bethel Church in California recently hit the news for supporting the use of Christianised tarot cards as a form of outreach, and are known for the practice of ‘grave-soaking’: visiting the graves of Christian heroes and physically trying to ‘soak up’ some of the ‘anointing’.

After the Latter Rain movement.

After charting the outbreak and growth of the Latter Rain Movement, David Forbes now examines how it declined – and what happened next.

 This article is part of a series. Click here to read previous instalments.

The Movement in Decline

The influence of the Sharon group soon began to wane, largely because of the increasing criticism of their methods and practices. As early as November 1948, The Sharon Star contained an article by Ern Hawtin which appeared to be in response to the growing unease and in it he complained that “whenever God sends a revival, the enemy, who is the author of confusion, will move, either to hinder its progress, or force its followers into some extreme, that its power might become a reproach to the world or the Church”.

The main accusations being made against the Sharon group concerned their authoritarianism, their insistence that only they, or those appointed by them, had the right to lay on hands for the reception of spiritual gifts, and also their growing tendency to try to influence fellowships and individuals through directive prophecy. They were also accused of allowing novices to prophesy, and general spiritual fanaticism.

However, others who had attended the Sharon meetings in North Battleford took the Latter Rain message to many of the North American cities during 1948 and 1949. Many pastors left their denominations as a result and independent churches began to spring up across the continent. It is interesting to note that in 1950 George Hawtin, who by this time was no longer a major figure in the movement, wrote, in the September issue of The Sharon Star, “A few weeks ago I was presented with a list of almost one hundred LATTER RAIN CHURCHES. I do not know where the list came from, though my own name was upon it...this is fundamentally and foundationally and scripturally WRONG”.

As the 1950s progressed the Latter Rain movement began to lose its high profile, although undoubtedly many continued to follow its various beliefs and practices in independent churches across the North American continent. Its influence did move outside North America, largely perhaps because at a convention held in October 1950 in Toronto, leaders were encouraged to take the 'Latter Rain' message abroad. As a result, various leaders visited India, East Africa, Ethiopia, Japan, New Zealand, and various countries in Europe.

A main accusation against the Sharon group concerned their authoritarianism.

It is difficult to gauge how far the Latter Rain movement impacted the Church in England beyond its introduction into the Apostolic Church. Cecil Cousen and George Evans, pastors in the Apostolic Church in the UK, had gone to North America in 1949 where they both became involved. However, Cecil Cousen appears to have been wary of the Sharon group since, while stating that “the Latter Rain was a real move of the Spirit”, he also said that “the Hawtin brothers very quickly got into very strange doctrines”.¹

Fred Poole, who was an Apostolic Church pastor who had emigrated to North America from South Wales during World War II and had become superintendent of the Apostolic Church in the United States in 1947, also became an active proponent of the Latter Rain movement. Cousen, Evans and Poole all returned to England during the course of 1951 and ministered at a Council Meeting of the Apostolic Church in Bradford. Cecil Cousen's report on that meeting was that “the people accepted the Latter Rain ministry with open hearts…People were baptised in the Spirit, many were healed and filled with the Spirit and demons were cast out, and the blessing of the Lord was there”. Fred Poole recorded that:

The brethren had heard many things about this Latter Rain visitation, but as we gave them first-hand news of what God…has done in our own hearts, there was a melting, a breaking and a crying, as the Spirit witnessed to our simple word of testimony...Latter Rain choruses...were quickly learned and sung, both in council and public services, the Spirit bearing testimony to the precious truths of this 'end-time' visitation.

There was much controversy in the Apostolic Church as a whole over the Latter Rain, which led eventually to Cecil Cousen being asked to resign as an Apostolic pastor. He went on to become a prominent leader in the charismatic renewal movement in Britain and wielded considerable influence within the Fountain Trust.

The Manifest Sons of God Movement

Increasingly many Latter Rain followers went underground as some of the leaders began to promote more and more spiritual excesses. Much of the excess had to do with the Manifest Sons of God movement.

As the 1950s progressed the Latter Rain movement began to lose its high profile.

First set out by George Warnock in his book The Feast of Tabernacles, it was obviously being taught much earlier by some of the Sharon group. In fact, at the beginning of 1949, James Watt felt he had to leave North Battleford as a result of what he described as “teaching, revelation and practice” that was departing from the Scripture, specifically “an extreme position on the manifestations of the Sons of God...”.² However, as the 1950s went by, the doctrine of the 'manifestations of the Sons of God' was carried to ever-increasing extremes by, for example, Bill Britton.

Britton was an Assemblies of God pastor who embraced the Latter Rain movement in 1949 and became one of its aggressive advocates. His teaching focus was very much upon the Manifest Sons of God and the Man Child company of Revelation 12 theories. He believed that the Man Child company represented the end times overcoming Church and was quite scathing that any who did not receive this revelation were doomed as belonging to 'Babylon'.

To become part of this ‘overcoming Church’ one needed to become a 'son' which involved a process of maturing in character, in spiritual gifts and in ministry. This led to immortality as one became a 'manifested son'. Britton wrote many pamphlets and sent out a regular newsletter Voice of the Watchman from his headquarters in Springfield, Missouri. Through these publications Britton influenced many in the Pentecostal and charismatic movements for over 30 years with his promises of a victorious, perfect Church on earth. In a booklet titled The Branch, he writes:

All mankind and all creation is on tiptoe, waiting to see right here on earth the manifestation or the revealing of the sons of God, a church without spot or wrinkle. We will see a perfect church on earth. Can we live for ever? The subject of immortality has disturbed the heart of man for many ages, but only in Christ is this realm of life possible. Fountain of youth, vitamins, water baptism and all other gimmicks to obtain immortality can only fail. He came and overcame, he alone could open the book of life. He alone has immortality, but as joint heirs with him this is our inheritance. This mortal [body] must put on immortality and this corruptible [body] must put on incorruption. We must go after it. We must press towards the mark, defeating the enemy, putting down every spirit that would deter us. This earth must have a witness of this goal being reached. God will put his people on exhibit. People who cannot die, cannot age and against whom no disease can have effect.³

Many found the seduction of believing such powerful and attractive promises more than they could resist.

The 'manifest sons of God' movement promoted teaching eventually attaining to immortality on this earth.

By the time the 1950s ended and the 1960s began, the Manifest Sons of God movement, which had taken in many hundreds of churches and thousands of Christians in America particularly, began to be hit by a number of scandals of one sort or another. The result of this was that many of its adherents simply stopped actively teaching and sharing their beliefs and went underground.

However, most of them did not forsake what they believed and many people who were part of both the Latter Rain movement and the Manifest Sons of God movement surfaced years later in the charismatic renewal movement. They had not changed their beliefs and their teaching but brought them lock, stock and barrel, into the charismatic movement.

Infiltrating the Charismatic Movement

Richard M Riss who wrote what may be described as the definitive history of the Latter Rain movement, and whose research I have used as a primary source, records that “various beliefs and practices of the Latter Rain found their way into the charismatic renewal, including spiritual singing and dancing, praise, the foundational ministries of Ephesians 4:11, the laying on of hands, tabernacle teaching, the Feast of Tabernacles, and the foundational truths of Hebrews 6:1-2. In addition, elements of various eschatological views of the Latter Rain movement were adopted by many charismatics throughout the world.” He then lists 19 ministries in the United States which flourished in the charismatic renewal and openly espoused Latter Rain teaching.

Although the Latter Rain movement may have started as a sincere desire to see God move in revival and it would be wrong to say that, amongst all that went on, God did not touch people's lives deeply, it and the Manifest Sons of God movement were characterised by considerable spiritual excesses. This included:

• experience-orientated theology based upon a false interpretation of Scripture,
  
• an over-emphasis on the gifts of the Spirit - especially prophecy and 'words of knowledge' which were used in directive and manipulative ways both in the lives of individuals and churches,
  
• authoritarianism,
  
• a 'signs and wonders' Gospel,
  
• over-realised eschatology.
  

Also an elevation of particular men (i.e. God's new apostles and prophets) to positions of great power and influence amongst God's people, and division and schism in the mainline denominations and sects leading to the setting up of independent churches.

It would be wrong to say that amongst all that went on, God did not touch people's lives deeply, but both movements were characterised by considerable excesses.

Of course, not everyone in these movements believed everything to the same extent but undoubtedly everyone was to some degree party to these excesses. It is, therefore, very sobering to reflect in retrospect that since many Latter Rain and Manifest Sons of God adherents automatically signed up for the charismatic renewal movement, variations of these aberrancies became part of charismatic doctrine and practice from quite early on.

For example, the Restoration stream within the British charismatic Church was founded on the principle of its leaders being the apostles and prophets 'anointed and appointed' to carry the Church forward to its victorious destiny of the end times. This was the root cause behind the tragedy of 'Shepherding/Discipleship' which decreed that no Church fellowship moved without the direction having been indicated by its 'prophet' and no individual believer made any decision regarding how to live his life without the agreement of the Church 'apostle' or his designated subordinate.

Next week: David Forbes moves on to the 1980s and the emergence of the Kansas City Prophets.

References

1 Riss, R, 1987. Latter Rain. Honeycomb Visual Productions Ltd, Ontario, p95.

2 Watt, JA, 1972. A Historical Analysis of the Development of Two Concepts of "'Presbytery". Seattle, p4.

3 Britton, B. The Branch. Springfield, p4.