David Forbes finishes his chapter on the roots of the Toronto Outpouring.

This article is part of a series, republishing the 1995 book ‘Blessing the Church?’ (Hill et al). Find previous instalments here.

The British Connection

The charismatic Church in Britain was fully exposed to the Kansas City prophets with all their aberrant 'revelation' teaching and their directive personal prophecy.

They were first introduced to this country by way of a book entitled Some Said It Thundered, written by Bishop David Pytches and published by Hodder and Stoughton in the spring of 1990. David Pytches had made a visit to Kansas City the previous year and his book was an encouraging and sympathetic account of the history of the Fellowship and its prophets. John Wimber then brought a number of them to meet British charismatic leaders at a series of meetings arranged by Holy Trinity, Brompton, where he sought to convince them of the authenticity of their prophetic ministry.

Despite the fact that warnings had been given, specifically by Clifford Hill, that much more time and research needed to be put into verifying the Kansas City Fellowship ministry, the majority of British charismatic leaders happily embraced Cain, Jones and the other prophets as truly spiritually credible. In fact, a number of them went so far as to sign a statement endorsing the ministry of the Kansas City prophets as being God-given.

It is difficult to understand why so many British charismatic leaders were prepared to underwrite this ministry given the bizarre teachings which lay behind it. It can only be assumed that they saw a need to inject into their churches and fellowships the kind of excitement and promise which this prophetic movement generated.

The Kansas City prophets were first introduced to Britain by way of David Pytches’ book ‘Some Said It Thundered’.

It was obviously exciting to many charismatic Christians to be given a glimpse of super-power and great signs-and-wonders ministry, where a powerful church would rule the world for Jesus. This was a glimpse of the fulfilment of all that had been promised to them by their leaders for the previous 20 years. They even had a glimpse of possible earthly immortality. There may also of course have been a sense that the love and respect in which John Wimber was held by most charismatic leaders in the country simply covered a multitude of sins.

Expectation of Revival

David Pytches' 1990 book on the Kansas City prophets.

One of the important aspects of the visits which John Wimber and the Kansas City prophets made between July and October 1990 was that they raised the expectation for revival in the United Kingdom.

In fact, Paul Cain went so far as to prophesy that revival would surely come to Britain in October 1990. It was in the expectation of the fulfilment of this prophecy that the London Dockland Conference was arranged that October, and so high was the expectation that revival would come that John Wimber brought his whole family from America so that they could be there on the last night.

Sadly, no revival appeared, which brought disillusionment and discouragement to many in the charismatic Church. John Wimber himself undoubtedly returned to the United States a very disappointed man. He subsequently distanced himself from the ministry of Paul Cain and there even appeared to be a waning of his promotion of the whole prophetic ministry. Although Paul Cain was taken under the wing of Dr RT Kendall, of Westminster Chapel, he did not again appear to have prophetic influence over leadership in the British charismatic Church - which also appeared to put the whole question of prophecy on hold.

It needs to be stressed that the foundation for the teaching and prophetic ministry of the Kansas City Fellowship, including Paul Cain, was the tenets of the Latter Rain and Manifest Sons of God movements of the 1940s, 50s, and 60s. Despite the protestations and denials that there was any association with these movements, there has never been formal renunciation of their belief in the classic Latter Rain doctrines:

• The end times restoration of the Church through specially-chosen apostles and prophets, bringing her to perfection and the 'overcomers' to immortality,
  
• A great signs-and-wonders ministry surpassing that of the Acts of the Apostles,
  
• A great worldwide revival.
  

Similarly, there has never been any statement made by British charismatic leadership as to where they now stand on their signed affidavit of July 1990 on the authenticity of the ministry coming from Kansas City. Consequently, many are left in confusion as to what is the truth about the prophetic ministry. The lack of solid biblical teaching and honest examination of these experiential events in many charismatic churches simply adds to the confusion.

There has never been any statement made by British charismatic leadership as to where they now stand on the authenticity of the ministry coming from Kansas City.

A New Disguise?

At the same time, undoubtedly there were many adherents (especially in the United States) of these movements who, although now part of the charismatic movement, hung on to their original agendas and rejoiced at whatever progress was made in fulfilling their visions.

Although both Latter Rain and the Manifest Sons of God movements lost their overt credibility by the early 1960s it appears that an underground movement for these beliefs was sufficiently strong for serious attempts to be made from time to time to hijack the charismatic renewal movement. I would contend that one such attempt was made by the prophetic movement as epitomised in the Kansas City Fellowship. I would also contend that what has been dubbed the Toronto Blessing may have been an attempt by some to resurrect the old Latter Rain and Manifest Sons of God visions.

The foreword to Richard Riss's publication on the Latter Rain movement was written in 1987 by James Watt - the same James Watt who had been part of the Sharon group at North Battleford and had inspired George Warnock to write The Feast of Tabernacles. Watt says,

In a sense, the fulfilment of the Feast of Tabernacles came forth with the blowing of trumpets from North Battleford...the Church has been in part exposed to the day of atonement. The Harvest, or Booths, is now upon us, and the time of the restitution of all things is about to take place...The early and latter rain are about to be poured out in the same month! According to Paul Yonggi Cho of Korea and twenty other prophets, the last great move of the Spirit will originate in Canada, and by seventy Canadian cities will be brought to the 210 nations of the earth before Jesus returns.

Marc DuPont, of the Toronto Airport Vineyard, who is considered to have a prophetic ministry, had reported that the Lord gave him a two-part prophetic vision in May 1992 and June 1993 of a mighty wall of water rising in Toronto and flowing out like a river into the rest of Canada.¹

DuPont believed this to be the start of a revival beginning in Toronto and reaching its climax worldwide between the years 2000 and 2005. DuPont also stated that, “This move of the Spirit in 1994 is not just a charismatic and Pentecostal experience, concerning power or gifting. It is one thing to be clothed with power; it is another to be indwelt with the Person of God”.²

DuPont did not enlarge on what he meant by being 'indwelt with the Person of God' and therefore the question needs to be asked whether he envisaged 'this move of God' as being the final fulfilment of Latter Rain and Manifest Sons of God visions.

I would contend that what has been dubbed the Toronto Blessing may have been an attempt by some to resurrect the old Latter Rain and Manifest Sons of God visions.

George Warnock was of the opinion that the manifestation of the sons of God, which would take place at the fulfilment of the 'Feast of Tabernacles', involved the Lord coming to physically indwell his people on earth. His thesis was that when this happened we would no longer have a Head in heaven and a Body on earth but we would have the one new Perfect Man who would fill both heaven and earth. This would be the fulfilment of the Second Pentecost, the early and latter rain of Joel 2. Warnock also believed that there would be a 40-year wilderness experience for the Church from the time of the late 1940s Latter Rain revivals until the Second Pentecost.

Prophesying Toronto?

Randy Clark, who introduced the 'new move of God' to the Toronto Airport Vineyard, said that the Vineyard churches had a 'prophetic foundation' for embracing the Toronto Blessing.³ He said:

We are looking for revelation from God as to what he now wants us to do with our lives and in our cities. The prophetic revelation has already been given as a foundation. This is the beginning of a great revival...But it's a fun time, a time of empowerment. There will be ebb and flow, there will be a number of waves. There is a time for an initial inflow, an initial outpouring. Then a time when God is maturing us, then a time of persecution, then a major outpouring. This is a low power time right now. Someone in Toronto prophesied: ‘I'm giving you my power now in weakness, but there's more coming’.

Clark also told us that what happened in Toronto had been prophesied by the Kansas City prophets over ten years previously. He said that in 1984, to Mike Bickle “in visitations from the Lord, the audible voice of the Lord said ‘In 10 years I am going to visit my people’".

Later, he said a prophecy was given to the Kansas City Fellowship (subsequently renamed the Metro Vineyard), “The rain is coming”. He further quoted prophecies from Paul Cain and from John Paul Jackson, another of the original Kansas City prophets, that had been given to them in the 1980s, that 1993 and 1994 would witness “this great outpouring from God”.

Clark also quoted Paul Cain as saying that at this time God was giving “sovereign vessels” who were bringing in “an outpouring of the Lord which is such that it goes beyond anything anybody alive today has ever seen or ever heard or read in church history”. Bearing in mind the prophetic record of the Kansas City prophets regarding previous revival dates, how should these predictions have been evaluated?

Rodney Howard-Browne, a South African from the Faith/Prosperity stream (he was a lecturer at Ray McCauley's Rhema Bible School) and often cited as one of the initiators of the Toronto Blessing, was fond of using the old Latter Rain and Franklin Hall 'Holy Ghost fire' imagery. Here is an example of one of his prophecies concerning the Toronto Blessing, given at Kenneth Copeland's church in September 1993:

This is the day, this is the hour, saith the Lord, that I am moving in this earth...This is the day when I will cause you to step over into the realm of the supernatural. For many a preacher has prophesied of old that there is a move coming. But it is even now and even at the door. For the drops of rain are beginning to fall of the glory of God. Yes, yes, many of you who have sat on the threshold and have said, 'O God when shall it be?' O you shall know that this is the day and this is the hour when you shall step over into that place of my glory. This is the day of the glory of the Lord coming in great power. I am going to break the mould, says the Lord, on many of your lives, and on many of your ministries and the way you have operated in days gone by. Many shall rub their eyes and shall say, 'Is this the person we used to know?' For there is a fire inside him. For this is the day of the fire and the glory of God coming into his church. Rise up this day and be filled afresh with the new wine of the Holy Ghost.

It is vital for the health and growth of the charismatic movement that we diligently go back to searching the scriptures like the Bereans.

Search the Scriptures

It can be clearly seen that there are blatant associations in this prophecy with the teachings of Franklin Hall, with the teaching of the Latter Rain movement and with the teachings of the Manifest Sons of God groups. So, we seem to have come again full circle to a further attempt to involve the Church with these non-biblical doctrines.

All of us who are sincere and committed believers, not only in God the Father and God the Son but also in a living Holy Spirit who lives within the Church as Jesus promised so that he might 'teach us all things', must rejoice when God moves overtly in the lives of his people. According to the scriptures, God is in the business of blessing us and reviving us and if we seek him we will surely find him. However, questions need to be asked regarding both the spontaneity and genuineness of much that has happened, and is happening, in the charismatic renewal movement today. How much is there of an agenda that is sweeping many of us along without us really being aware of either its beginning or end?

I would seek strongly to counsel that the time may be upon us when it is vital for the ongoing health and growth of the charismatic movement that, like the new believers in Berea, we diligently go back to searching the scriptures to see if the things we are being told are true (Acts 17:11).

References

1 Dupont, M, 1994. The Year of the Lion. Mantle of Praise Ministries Inc, Mississuaga, pp1-2.

2 Ibid, p3.

3 Randy Clark, 1995. 'A Prophetic Foundation' (audio tape message).

An overview of the Kansas City Prophets.

We draw near the end of David Forbes’ assessment of the forerunners of the Toronto outpouring, turning this week to the Kansas City Prophets. This article is part of a series, re-publishing the 1995 book ‘Blessing the Church?’. Read previous instalments here.

The Kansas City Prophets

By the end of the 1980s, the charismatic renewal movement had become used to so much extra-biblical experience and had become focused on the fulfilment of so many eschatological promises, that it was possible for thousands of British charismatic Christians and their leaders to be affected and influenced by the 'prophetic movement' as epitomised by Paul Cain and the 'prophets' from the Kansas City Fellowship in the United States.

This movement came to prominence in America as the result of first a sermon and then a published report by Ernest Gruen, a Kansas City pastor, criticising the way in which the leadership of the Fellowship were seeking to take control of the spiritual life of the city.

The situation was further promoted by the fact that John Wimber and the Vineyard churches decided to take the Kansas City prophetic movement under their wing and assume responsibility for its future behaviour.

The basic complaints being made against the Kansas City Fellowship were the use of directive prophecy to control the lives of believers and take over other fellowships, the use of 'new prophetic revelation' to determine doctrine and practice, and the promotion of an elite group of apostles and prophets centred on themselves. Part of the accusation regarding their 'new' doctrines was that it was simply a return to the old Latter Rain/Manifest Sons of God tenets.¹

By the end of the 1980s, the charismatic renewal movement was used to extra-biblical experience and had become focused on the fulfilment of many eschatological promises.

A feature of John Wimber's strategy, with regard to taking on responsibility for the Kansas City prophets and their senior pastor Mike Bickle, was to send in a team of his senior leaders including Dr Jack Deere, a former Professor at Dallas Theological Seminary and now the Vineyard's chief theologian. They examined all the complaints of biblical malpractice being made by Ernest Gruen and published a report acknowledging certain errors which in retrospect to a large degree simply papered over the cracks and allowed the Kansas City Fellowship to continue virtually undisturbed under the Vineyard aegis.

The errors which were acknowledged and by implication would not recur included “the attempt by some prophetic ministers to establish doctrine or practice by revelation alone, apart from biblical support”, “the use of prophetic gifting for controlling purposes”, “using types and allegories to establish doctrine”, and “using jargon that reflects the teaching of groups that we do not wish to be identified with”.

This last confession referred specifically to the accusation of promoting the Latter Rain and Manifest Sons of God doctrines. However, it must be said that irrespective of how sincerely these errors were acknowledged initially, subsequent events showed that little attempt was made to learn the necessary lessons, especially with regard to the use of establishing doctrine by revelation and the continued teaching of Latter Rain and Manifest Sons teachings.

Paul Cain

The decision by John Wimber and the Vineyard churches to support the ministry of the Kansas City prophets was undoubtedly the result of the link-up which they had made with Paul Cain.

Cain had an early history not unlike that of William Branham. Born in 1929, he had been aware of supernatural power guiding his life from its earliest days and had experienced what he believed to be direct communications with the Lord through audible messages whilst still a small boy. He became part of the Pentecostal healing movement which arose in North America in the 1940s and 1950s, led by William Branham, Oral Roberts and others, and began an itinerant ministry as a healing evangelist in his early teens.

The Vineyard movement took responsibility for the Kansas City prophets and initially acknowledged certain errors in their conduct, but in retrospect this simply papered over the cracks.

According to Paul Cain's own testimony he was much encouraged in his ministry by Branham who allegedly saw in him a similar kind of 'anointing' to his own. It is said that there was a particular bond between William Branham and the young Paul Cain, that they frequently ministered together and that Cain would often stand in for Branham at meetings which he was unable to take, although for some unknown reason Cain's association in ministry with Branham has been vehemently denied by the Branham family.

However, Cain's healing and evangelism ministry was undoubtedly marked by the same kind of ‘revelation knowledge' of people and their personal circumstances that had characterised Branham's, but by the early 1960s, disillusioned by the 'stardom' status accorded to him and his contemporaries and the general lack of integrity in the ministry, he withdrew from public life and lived as a virtual recluse until he went and met the Kansas City prophets in early 1987.

He believed that the Lord was re-commissioning him for ministry with the special purpose of restoring the prophetic ministry to the Church worldwide and that to that end he needed a public platform. His strategy was to be that of taking a prophetic message to every significant evangelical leader in the United States. The leader who responded by accepting him and his message would be the one whom God had chosen to give a platform for his ministry.

In 1988, Paul Cain felt he should contact John Wimber and following a visit from Cain, Wimber decided that the Lord was calling him to be the leader who should give Cain his platform.

Joel’s Army Teaching

Paul Cain consistently denied that he ever subscribed to the Manifest Sons of God movement. However, although there is no reason to believe that he was ever a card-carrying member of the movement, his 'prophetic' preaching clearly promoted the ideas of immortality for overcoming believers here on earth in these end times and he used the same spiritual jargon as the Manifest Sons of God exponents.

This came over in a very specific way in, for example, his teaching on 'Joel's Army'.² This teaching, based on the destructive army mentioned in Joel chapter 2, was claimed to be the result of revelation which he had received at the age of 19 when he had a visitation from the “Angel of the Lord, and he was standing in his majesty like a warrior and he had a bright shining sword and he pointed up to a billboard like that, and on the sign it said, ‘Joel's Army in training’".

Cain had not understood and had asked, “Lord, what does this mean?”. He had from then on received divine revelation as to the meaning of the book of Joel for today and on this he based his prophetic message.

According to Paul Cain's own testimony he was much encouraged in his ministry by William Branham, who allegedly saw in him a similar kind of 'anointing' to his own.

The basic theme of the teaching was that God was about to raise up out of the Church a Joel's Army. The purpose of this army was to bring in the restoration of the Church and a great end-times revival accompanied by signs and wonders the like of which had never been seen before, not even in the life of the early Church. These signs and wonders would be accomplished by the 'new breed', the 'dread champions' whom the Lord would raise up to form this mighty army.

The purpose of this army was in fact twofold, for not only would it be the vanguard of the great signs and wonders revival, but it would be responsible for the purging of the Church and the destruction of all those who are unworthy to be part of the Bride. Cain taught, in true Manifest Sons style, that:

If you have intimacy with God, they can't kill you, they just can't. There is something about you; you're connected to that vine; you're just so close to Him. Oh, my friends, they can't kill you...If you're really in the vine and you're the branch, then the life sap from the Son of the living God keeps you from cancer, keeps you from dying, keeps you from death...Not only will they not have diseases, they will also not die. They will have the kind of imperishable bodies that are talked about in the 15th chapter of Corinthians...This army is invincible. If you have intimacy with God they can't kill you.³

Paul Cain was, of course, giving this teaching to the Vineyard churches before the Kansas City Fellowship report acknowledging errors, so it could be assumed that following the publishing of that report no further mention would be made of this kind of teaching.

It may be of interest to note that at a meeting between John Wimber, Paul Cain and Mike Bickle with Clifford Hill, I asked John Wimber and Mike Bickle if they could specify which teachings were being referred to in the errors acknowledged by the Kansas City Fellowship. Neither was prepared to answer my questions clearly on this subject. It was therefore perhaps not surprising to find that after the Kansas City report both Jack Deere, the Vineyard theologian who had been given the job of checking and verifying the biblical soundness of their teaching, and John Wimber, took up the Joel's Army teaching. Wimber propounded it at the London Docklands Conference in October 1990.

In Deere's version of the Joel's Army teaching he underwrote the divine revelation foundation of the teaching and extended Cain's tenets by an extravagant use of hyperbole. He made the point over and over again that this Joel's Army would be composed of believers who would outshine in their service anything that God ever accomplished through any of his servants in the past.

Deere taught that, “This army is unique...When this army comes, it's large and it's mighty. It's so mighty that there has never been anything like it before. Not even Moses, not even David, not even Paul. What's going to happen now will transcend what Paul did, what David did, what Moses did, even though Moses parted the Red Sea.”

Paul Cain clearly promoted the idea of immortality for overcoming believers here on earth and used the Manifest Sons of God jargon.

Deere went on to equate this army with the 144,000 in Revelation 7 who, he said, “follow the Lamb wherever he goes, and no one can harm that 144,000”. Most extraordinarily, he taught that 144,000 is a multiple of 12 and that since 12 stands for 'apostolic government' then 144,000 is the 'ultimate in apostolic government'.

In his version of the Joel's Army teaching, as given at the London Docklands Conference, John Wimber was much more cautious in his use of language, although he undoubtedly underwrote in principle most of both Cain’s and Deere's teaching. With regard to the great signs and wonders which this army would perform, Wimber simply said: “This army is large, powerful, unique, unlike any army that's ever existed before or will again. Even as the Lord started this thing with a bang, (Acts 2) he is going to end it with something so incredible that we'll talk about it throughout eternity. It will be the buzz for ever”.

However, on the subject of immortality Wimber did not fully support Cain and Deere, saying of the army: “anyone who wants to harm them must die”.

Bob Jones

The leading prophet in the Kansas City Fellowship in 1990 was Bob Jones and it was his prophetic utterances and revelation-based doctrine and practice that were behind most of the controversy that surrounded them and had occasioned Gruen's outbursts.

Jones came from Arkansas and in his young days had been a member of the Baptist Church. His spiritual life had, however, been fairly non-existent and he had engaged in petty crime. Nevertheless, his testimony, like Branham and Cain, was of boyhood and early teen 'angelic visitations' including an out-of-body experience at the age of 15 when he says he was taken before the throne of God.

With the advent of the Korean War, Jones joined the US Marine Corps where he became heavily involved in drunken brawls and gambling. With his life in an obviously downward moral and physical spiral he left the Marine Corps and moved to Oklahoma State where he opened an illegal liquor store - Oklahoma being 'dry' - with considerable financial success.

However, his life of debauchery brought him to the point of a complete breakdown which not even drugs appeared to alleviate, and he ended up in hospital in Topeka near Kansas City, where it appears that following a combination of good psychiatric treatment by a Christian doctor and a number of visitations, both divine and demonic, he was discharged.

Bob Jones then started to attend church and read the Bible again and after a number of further 'visitations' he was converted and baptised in the autumn of 1975. Because of the visions and prophecies which he brought to church leadership he found himself often becoming unpopular and ended up being rejected and unable to fit into normal church life. Eventually in the early 1980s Jones found himself accepted by the Kansas City Fellowship, even though Mike Bickle had originally believed him to be a false prophet, where he began to be valued for his prophetic utterances.

It was the utterances and practice of Kansas City prophet Bob Jones that lay behind most of the controversy which surrounded the group.

These were often bizarre and spiritually extravagant. Jones was very much 'into' seeing both demons and angels on a regular basis and having strange nightly visions and out-of-body experiences. According to both Jones himself and Mike Bickle, “Bob normally gets five to ten visions a night, maybe sees angels ten to fifteen times a week”.⁴ Apparently he had been doing this since 1974 and it does not take much mathematical skill to conclude that these supernatural experiences far outweigh all of those recorded as being given to people in the scriptures!

Jones was also very much the initiator of spiritual elitism for the Kansas City Fellowship based on 'prophetic revelation' and it seems that the more bizarre his 'prophetic utterances' the more they were promoted by the leadership. For example, he introduced the concept of an 'elected seed generation'. In this he taught that the children born since 1973 to members of the Kansas City Fellowship were the “elected seed” who had been especially chosen by Jesus and the angels from “billions of little round yellow things” floating around in heaven to be the “end time Omega generation”.⁵ These 'little yellow things' were the seed from actual blood lines and they were from the “best of every blood line there has ever been Paul, David, Peter, James and John the best of their seed unto this generation”.

This elite group were described as “the chosen generation of all history” who would “possess the Spirit without measure”. They were also described as 'the Bride of Christ'; the man child of Revelation 12; the ministry of perfection; the Melchizedek priesthood; the manifested sons of God; Joel's Army; and many other biblical epithets.

Jones taught and Bickle underwrote (as senior pastor of the Kansas City Fellowship) that this "end time, Omega generation super church” would do “10,000 times the miracles in the book of Acts”. They would also conduct meetings of “a million or more” where they would “move their hands and the power of God will go like flashes of lightning, and as they go like this over a million people, if a person is missing an arm…it will instantly be created”. Jones claimed that 300,000 of Mike Bickle's generation and their super-children would be last days' apostles, and that 35 apostles from the Kansas City Fellowship would be “like unto Paul”.

Again, we have never been able to find out whether all of these bizarre prophetic teachings of Bob Jones were included amongst the list of errors. When John Wimber brought the Kansas City prophets to Holy Trinity Church, Brompton in July 1990, there was an embargo put on Bob Jones regarding public teaching and prophecy but he was allowed to minister to leaders behind the scenes.

References

1 Gruen, EA, 1990. Documentation of the Aberrant Practices and Teachings of Kansas City Fellowship. Full Faith Church of Love, Kansas City.

2 Deere, J. Joel's Army. Audio tape message, 1990.

3 Gruen, EA, Documentation (see note 1), p218.

4 Ibid, p10.

5 Ibid, p12.

The rain descends.

As we continue to republish the 1995 classic volume ‘Blessing the Church?’, David Forbes turns from the Latter Rain Movement’s early precursors to the movement’s outbreak and spread.

As stated last week, the Sharon group were much affected by the teaching of Franklin Hall on fasting. Ern Hawtin wrote in his account of the beginnings of the 'Latter Rain Revival':

The truth of fasting was one great contributing factor to the revival. One year before this we had read Franklin Hall's book, entitled 'Atomic Power with God Through Fasting and Prayer'. We immediately began to practise fasting. Previously we had not understood the possibility of long fasts. The revival would never have been possible without the restoration of this great truth through our good brother Hall.¹

However, he failed to give any biblical reasoning or explanation of 'this great truth' and how it brought revival.

So having returned from the Branham meeting they decided to put Franklin Hall's teaching into practice and according to George Hawtin, “Some fasted for 3 days; some for 7 days; some fasted for 10 days; some 2 weeks; some for 3 weeks; some fasted for 30 days; and one man fasted for 40 days”.

It was not however until February 1948 that the long-awaited revival arrived. On 11 February, one of the Bible School young ladies prophesied “saying that we were on the very verge of a great revival, and that all we had to do was open the door, and we could enter in”. When she had finished prophesying, George Hawtin rose and prayed “beseeching God and telling him that he had informed us that we were on the very verge of a great revival, and all we had to do was enter the door but George Hawtin said, ‘Father, we do not know where the door is, neither do we know how to enter it’”.

The following day, 12 February, was described by Ern Hawtin as follows in his report How this Revival Began:

…I shall never forget the morning that God moved into our midst in this strange new manner. Some students were under the power of God on the floor, others were kneeling in adoration and worship before the Lord. The anointing deepened until the awe of God was upon everyone. The Lord spoke to one of the brethren, 'Go and lay hands upon a certain student and pray for him'. While he was in doubt and contemplation one of the sisters who had been under the power of God went to the brother saying the same words, and naming the identical student he was to pray for. He went in obedience and the revelation was given concerning the student's life and future ministry.

After this a long prophecy was given [by Ern Hawtin] with minute details concerning the great thing God was about to do. The pattern for the revival and many details concerning it were given. To this day [his report was written 1 August 1949] I can remember the gist of the prophecy, “These are the last days, my people. The coming of the Lord draweth nigh, and I shall move in the midst of mine own. The gifts of the Spirit will be restored to my church. If thou shalt obey me I shall immediately restore them. But Oh my people I would have you to be reverent before me as never before. Take the shoes off thy feet for the ground on which thou standest is holy. If thou dost not reverence the Lord and his House, the Lord shall require it at thy hands. Do not speak lightly of the things I am about to do for the Lord shall not hold thee guiltless. Do not gossip about these things. Do not write letters to thy nearest friends, of the new way in which the Lord moveth, for they will not understand. If thou dost disobey the Lord in these things take heed lest thy days be numbered in sorrow and thou goest early to the grave. Thou hast obeyed me and I shall restore my gifts to you. I shall indicate from time to time those who are to receive the gifts of my Spirit. They shall be received by prophecy and the laying on of hands of the presbytery.”

Immediately following this prophecy, a sister who was under the power of God gave by revelation the names of five students who were ready to receive. Hands were laid upon them by the presbytery. This procedure was very faltering and imperfect that morning but after two days searching the word of God to see if we were on scriptural grounds, great unity prevailed and the Lord came forth in greater power and glory day by day. Soon a visible manifestation of gifts was received when candidates were prayed over, and many as a result began to be healed as gifts of healing were received. Day after day the glory and power of God came amongst us. Great repentance, humbling, fasting and prayer prevailed in everyone.²

Ern Hawtin's prophecy stated that “the gifts of the Spirit will be restored to my church”. Although one of the main marks of the advent of Pentecostalism at the turn of the century was the manifestation and operation of the gifts of the Spirit, there had been a general falling away of the use of these gifts amongst the Pentecostal churches, and this lack had been recognised. It was this lack that brought the events at North Battleford into the limelight.

There had been a falling away of the use of spiritual gifts in Pentecostal churches, and it was this lack that brought events at North Battleford into the limelight.

Because the North Battleford brothers were successful in imparting spiritual gifts by the laying on of their hands, people came from all across Canada and the United States to their meetings so that they, too, might partake of these spiritual gifts for which many of them had long been praying.

As mentioned last week, the leadership of the Pentecostal denominations were not prepared to accept that the baptism and gifts of the Holy Spirit could be imparted by the laying on of hands. For nearly 50 years they had clung to the methodology of the Azusa Street revival in which 'tarrying' or waiting for the coming of the Holy Spirit on one's life was practised (Acts 1:4). Ernest S Williams, who was General Superintendent of the Assemblies of God at that time, said, “Concerning the nine gifts spoken of in 1 Corinthians 12, if you will carefully read the account I think you will discern that they each come directly from God's sovereign bestowment; I do not find any record where they are to be bestowed by means of an intermediate channel”.

Of course if one reads the record of the Acts of the Apostles we find that no one methodology was used as far as receiving the baptism in the Holy Spirit is concerned (Acts 2:4, 8:17, 10:44). However, we need to remember that the question of formulae and methods in ministry, including the use of the laying on of hands, has never been adequately resolved in the charismatic movement.

The Movement Spreads

In keeping with the injunction in the prophecy over publishing news of the 'revival', the March issue of The Sharon Star contained no news of what had happened, but an editorial on the subject appeared in the April issue. This published report undoubtedly played a large part in attracting a larger-than-usual number to the 1948 Annual Feast of Pentecost camp meeting. Its front page had also carried headlines reporting 'Two Modern Miracles' involving healing at Sharon Bible College.

There were many testimonies from pastors across the country as to how God had empowered them during their time at the camp meetings so that it had revolutionised their home churches and by May 1948, parallels were already being drawn with the earlier Pentecostal revival of 1906. George Hawtin suspected that “revival is breaking out among small groups all over America and no doubt in other countries as well”. There were certainly reports from Norway that some kind of revival was taking place among Pentecostals at that time.

The question of formulae and methods in ministry, including the use of the laying on of hands, has never been adequately resolved in the charismatic movement.

Hawtin also noted that the restoration of the gifts of the Spirit was the result of God giving “new revelation” of truth from the Scriptures. He wrote that “great revivals always are accompanied by some present truth when old light is rediscovered...”.³ It soon became a prominent idea in the movement and created an expectation that the Lord would continue to reveal new truth from the scriptures.

This belief in a new wave of the progressive revelation of scriptural truth through prophecy became widespread and has continued to be a pervasive influence in charismatic churches, thousands of which have adopted various ideas that became prominent in the ministry of the North Battleford brethren.

Points of Controversy

As in the case of Branham and the healing evangelists, the Sharon group were keen to stress their concerns for unity. Reg Layzell, who was one of seven men 'ordained' by the Sharon leadership to exercise an 'apostolic ministry' on behalf of the 'Presbytery' but who subsequently became disillusioned to the extent that he disassociated himself from them, said following the camp meeting of July 1948, “The great message that stirred all souls was first the message of the Body of Christ coming together”,⁴ and George Warnock noted in the preface to the first edition of The Feast of Tabernacles, that “God came forth in answer to the prayer and fasting of his children, poured out the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and revealed the fact that now at this time He would bring His body together, and make His Church one glorious Church without spot or wrinkle”.⁵

However, the problem was that 'unity' always appeared to depend upon an acceptance of the teachings and practices which they as God's specially anointed apostles and prophets were now revealing. This of course was not biblical. The scriptures plainly teach that the foundation of our unity lies in our relationship by faith with the Lord Jesus. It is maintained by our daily obedience to the precepts and teachings recorded for us in the scriptures. Paul refers to this in his first letter to the Corinthian believers (1 Cor 11:2) and Jude exhorts us to “contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints” (Jude 3).

Another point of controversy that arose at that time between the North Battleford group and the leaders of the Pentecostal denominations was the former's insistence that the Church had present-day apostles and prophets. The first indication of this controversy appeared in the 1 June 1948 issue of The Sharon Star when George Hawtin wrote: “When one starts talking about prophets and apostles being in the Church in our day, the poor saints are shocked half to death. They raise their hands in holy terror and cry, ‘heresy, heresy!’".

However, the point of controversy with the Pentecostal denominations was not simply the question per se of 'prophets and apostles being in the church in our day'. There is undoubtedly a vital place in the Church for the ministry of apostles and prophets as mentioned in Ephesians 4:11, but the issue was, and remains, whether this or any other Scripture allows us to conclude that God has now raised up within the Church 'special' apostles and prophets through whom he gives extra-biblical revelation and the power of extraordinary signs and wonders to guide and direct his people in these 'last days'.

The belief in a new wave of the progressive revelation of scriptural truth through prophecy became widespread and has continued to be a pervasive influence in charismatic churches.

Also appearing in the June issue of The Sharon Star was the statement that “no church exercises or has any right to exercise authority or jurisdiction over another, its pastors or members”. This statement did nothing to help the Sharon group's growing estrangement from the main Pentecostal denominations and would have been more helpful had Hawtin applied it to the excesses of authoritarianism and elitism that later developed in connection with the 'travelling presbytery' from North Battleford, of which he was a part and which was accused of exercising considerable authority over people in other church situations by means of directive prophecy.

The Teaching of George Warnock

During 7-18 July 1948, thousands of people throughout the North American continent, having heard of the North Battleford awakening, flocked to the Sharon Camp Meeting held there at that time.

It had been preceded by a week of fasting and prayer from 27 June to 4 July which had also been widely attended. Among those attending was George Warnock, who had earlier, for two or three years, been personal secretary to Ern Baxter. It was at this time that he heard James Watt, one of the teachers at the Camp Meeting, casually mention that the third of Israel's great feasts, the Feast of Tabernacles, had not yet been fulfilled.

According to Warnock: “I somehow never forgot that, and over the period of a year or more following this, the message seemed to grow on me as I read the Scriptures…James certainly dropped a seed in my heart when he spoke of the Feast of Tabernacles…”.⁶

In July 1951, Sharon Publishers printed George Warnock's book, The Feast of Tabernacles, which became a major doctrinal work of the Latter Rain movement.

Warnock's thesis was that the three great annual feasts of the Lord in Israel's worship, which are set out in considerable detail in Leviticus and Deuteronomy, pre-figure and typify the whole Church age, beginning with the Cross and consummating in the manifestation of the sons of God (explained further next week) and the glorious display of God's power and glory.

There is of course truth in much of Warnock's work, because there is a real sense in which we can see Israel's feasts as a pre-figure of events in the New Testament. For example, Pentecost and the coming of the Holy Spirit and obviously Passover and the death of Jesus. But what about the Feast of Tabernacles?

Warnock's proposal was that the Feast of Tabernacles is analogous to what he called “the manifestation of the sons of God” (Rom 8). He taught that the Church needed to be restored. The Church was weak, the Church was diseased, the Church was totally defeated, the Church was ineffective and needed restoration.

According to Warnock, that restoration would be done in one particular way. He stated clearly that all the orthodox understanding about restoration should be discarded. Restoration would not come through reading the Bible, would not come from praying, and would not come through fasting. It would only come through the aegis of God's apostles and prophets.

Warnock taught that the Church needed to be restored through the aegis of God’s apostles and prophets.

This of course was one of the assertions of the Hawtin brothers. God would restore his Church through his newly-appointed apostles and prophets, who of course included themselves. In similar vein they were also the presbytery through whose hands God's new blessings of power and gifting were to be received. Warnock therefore taught that God was raising up new apostles and prophets and that they would restore the Church; they would bring the Church into perfection, and they would bring the Church into - he never actually used the word 'immortality' - but said they would bring forth a Church which would never know disease, which would never die, and so on. This of course brings us back full circle to Franklin Hall.

These teachings were from the 'new revelation of truth' stream which became so prominent in the Latter Rain movement and which has continued to dog the charismatic movement throughout its history. No honest examination of the biblical text can substantiate these eschatological extravagances. Acts 1 records that the Lord Jesus will physically return to earth as he physically left it and the Apostle Paul made it quite clear that he would be released from “this body of death” only at the Lord's return. It would be then that he would change “our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body” (Phil 3:21). Likewise, the Apostle John tells us that “when he appears, we shall be like him” (1 John 3:2).

Next week: The movement declines and reforms.

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

References

1 Riss, R, 1987. Latter Rain. Honeycomb Visual Productions Ltd, Ontario, p60.

2 Warnock, G, 1951. The Feast of Tabernacles. Sharon Publishers, N. Battleford, pp3-4.

3 Riss, R, Latter Rain (see 1), p70.

4 Ibid, p74.

5 Warnock, G, The Feast of Tabernacles (see 2), p3.

6 Riss, R, Latter Rain (see 1), p74.

Peter Fenwick concludes his assessment of the Toronto Blessing in the light of Scripture.

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

The Receiving Methodology

The claim has been made widely that via Toronto ‘receiving meetings’ people have gone on to experience great advance in the realm of sanctification. It has been claimed that people have moved into areas of very significant holiness where besetting sins previously dominated.

As has been shown earlier in this chapter, the style of receiving methodology is not new in the charismatic movement. It has prevailed for years and therefore comes as no surprise to thousands of Christians. What I am going on to say may well produce a reaction of 'So what? Who cares? The whole thing works so does anything else matter?'

First of all, yet again, the New Testament, indeed the whole Bible, never gives an example of meetings being convened for the laying on of hands, resulting in Christian people being significantly more sanctified. None of the Bible's teaching on sanctification so much as hints that procedures like this could help. Yet we have been presented with this method as the great thing that God is doing in these days.

The second point at issue is that the New Testament tells us most clearly how sanctification will come about. In John 17:17-20, Jesus is praying to his Father for his people and he says “[Father] sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth”. He had previously taught in John 15:3, “Now you are clean through the word which I have spoken to you”.

The Bible never gives an example of the laying on of hands resulting in Christian people being significantly more sanctified.

Paul taught in 2 Timothy 3:16-17, “All Scripture is...useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work”. When Paul addresses his farewells to the Ephesian elders in Acts 20, he says in verse 32, “Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified”. We have very similar teaching in the Old Testament, for example, Psalm 119:11, “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you”.

What are all these scriptures saying? They are telling us very plainly that sanctification, cleansing and living in righteousness come to the people of God through the word of God, that is, through the scriptures. It is necessary to feed on the scriptures, to meditate upon them, to digest them, to absorb them and hide them away in our hearts. Through them we learn to respond to God's disciplines and to benefit from them; we learn to trust in God working out his purposes in times of turmoil and trial and tribulation.

Supremely we discover who God is - that is, his nature and character - and we read over and over again how much he supports us and how much he has done for us, and indeed, is doing for us.

We become familiar with the full revelation of God in the Lord Jesus Christ, whom we look to in order to lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily besets us. This is the pattern set for us in the New Testament. It is the Lord Jesus himself and the apostles who have taught all of this and we surely finish up at odds with them if in these last years of the 20^th Century we go down a different route altogether.

The Bible is clear that we can be converted in a moment following repentance from sin and faith in the Lord Jesus; it is equally clear that the work of sanctification takes a lifetime.

It is a consequence of the Holy Spirit working in the life of the believer, through the ministry of the word of God, as shown above. In Ephesians 5:26 Paul teaches that Christ will sanctify and cleanse the Church which he loves with “the washing with water through the word” (emphasis added) in order to ultimately present to himself a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing. We will take this matter a little further in the next section.

The work of sanctification takes a lifetime, and is a consequence of the Holy Spirit’s work, through the ministry of the word of God.

The Claimed Testimonies

There were those who claimed that, as a result of the type of ministry I have described, they had an experience of God resulting in a new love for the Lord Jesus Christ, a new love for the scriptures, increased zeal in witnessing and freedom from besetting sins. These are very significant claims.

However, these claims were made and accepted very soon after the ministry experience from which they were said to result. No experienced and responsible pastor would have allowed such a situation to arise. Proper pastoral responsibility to those who believe they have had an experience of God does not involve only the offering of encouragement and support; it also involves ensuring that spiritual progress is maintained and also determining whether the experience stands the test of time.

It is irresponsible to give instant public prominence to someone who believes he has had such an experience, and this for two reasons. First, it does not allow the experience to be tested. Secondly, public applause is the worst possible environment for spiritual growth. Many Toronto leaders were not without pastoral experience. Why then did they allow this?

I believe the reason is that sanctification, love of God, love of Scripture etc were demonstrably biblical, whilst all other features of the Toronto Blessing were not. These testimonies were, in fact, being used to authenticate the Toronto Blessing as a whole, the argument being that if the Toronto Blessing resulted in sanctification, it must be of God and so therefore must its manifestations and methodology.

But did it result in sanctification? As I have said, no time was allowed for testing the claims; testimonies were accepted long before anyone could be sure that there would be permanent fruit. We were being asked to accept these testimonies as genuine in order that we might also accept the Toronto Blessing as genuine, with all that this implied. This was no light matter. We were surely entitled to ask that the testimonies be proved over time before being presented as evidence. I heard of many claims of changed lives, but my own knowledge of the people concerned did not support these claims.

Testimonies of sanctification and increased love for God were, I believe, used prematurely to authenticate the Toronto Blessing as a whole.

I know many people who accepted the Toronto Blessing; most of them I have known for many years. Before they became involved in the Toronto Blessing the majority were agreeable and amiable Christians, and they remain so; but I have not noted startling changes in them. Others were less agreeable before their Toronto experience and unfortunately they also have not changed! Many of both groups reported pleasant experiences of 'carpet time', but I detected no fundamental changes of the sort that were being claimed. To me, of course, this came as no surprise, in view of the general absence of the word of God within the Toronto Blessing.

We may hope that there were some who, because of their genuine and earnest seeking of God, truly met with him and received blessing at his hand. But before we can accept the huge claims of widespread personal renewal, we must have solid evidence which has met the standards of Scripture and has stood the test of time.

Conclusion: Return to the Bible

I feel strongly that the reservations I have set out in this chapter need to be heeded. The Bible must be restored to the position of honour which it formerly had within the evangelical tradition. Unless this happens there is no knowing where Christianity will end up.

Some supporters of the Toronto Blessing object to this emphasis on Scripture on the grounds that it circumscribes God's actions. God, they argue, must be allowed to work in any way he chooses. I fully endorse this latter point, but we must recognise that one of the things God has chosen to do is to give us responsibility for testing things. He has also chosen to give us in the scriptures an account of his character and his ways, thereby equipping us with the means of testing whether or not something is of him.

Scripture contains many warnings, both from the apostles and from the Lord Jesus Christ himself, concerning the danger of deception and counterfeit works. Some of these will be so subtly disguised as to deceive the very elect. We are exhorted to watch, to test, to be on our guard, and to examine all things; and to be ready to reject those things which fail the test.

The Church must return to the Bible as the supreme authority in faith and practice. As I said at the beginning of this chapter, we are in a battle for the Bible. We must reassert its sufficiency as a criterion for judging all things. What possible grounds can there be for thinking that now, at the end of the 20^th Century, God is introducing any other?

In the new year: We turn to Chapter 4 of ‘Blessing the Church?’: From North Battlefield to Toronto, by David Forbes.

Peter Fenwick asks: was the Toronto Blessing biblical – and does it matter?

(This article is part of a series. Click here for previous instalments.)

The Toronto Blessing consisted of three distinctive parts: the manifestations, the receiving methodology and the claimed testimonies.

The Manifestations

I do not propose to spend a great deal of time on these. In Toronto receiving meetings strange things happened; people who were prayed for displayed unusual behaviour. Falling to the floor and lying supine was almost universal, and laughing uncontrollably almost as widespread.

There was a good deal of trembling and jerking, often known as the 'Toronto twitch', weeping and staggering in a seemingly-drunken fashion. Less common, but nonetheless widespread, were many other different physical movements, including certain sorts of dancing and animal movements, and, of course, the notorious animal noises. For the most part, all of these things were declared to be the result of the Holy Spirit being upon people in order to bless them.

When engaged in dialogue about the issue of the Toronto Blessing I found that all who were supporters of it nevertheless sought to play down the matter of the manifestations. It was said to me by people that they did not like them, but it was necessary to put up with them in order to lay hold of God's best.

Even though the whole of the Toronto Blessing was claimed to be a sovereign move of God, the mood amongst the practitioners generally ended up being to get these particular things under control - a strange way to respond to an alleged sovereign act of God!

Toronto practitioners generally ended up playing the manifestations down and trying to get them under control – a strange way to respond to an alleged act of God!

Generally speaking, people who went forward more than once at successive meetings tended to repeat whatever was the manifestation which they first received. If they became pogo jumpers, for instance, that is probably what they repeated at future meetings. It was also common for people who were prayed with to receive the specific manifestation characteristic of the person praying for them.

Backtracking from a Biblical Defence

During most of 1994, claims were made that all of these manifestations could be successfully held up to biblical examination, though I have to say, I have only ever seen attempts to give biblical authentication to the following seven: drunken staggering, losing bodily strength and thus falling down, laughing uncontrollably, weeping, trembling, lion roaring and convulsions.

This last one, convulsions, is a strange odd one out. Gerald Coates wrote in 'Toronto and Scripture' (Renewal magazine, November 1994) concerning “manifestations of the Holy Spirit's presence” that “Scripture gives more than sufficient evidence and endorsement for the following responses”. It was the strange odd one out because when he talked about convulsions he said “most if not all references to do with convulsions have a demonic source”. He proceeded to quote only Mark 1:25-26 and Mark 9:18, both of which are examples of the demonic at work.

This matter is in fact doubly strange as Gerald began by declaring he would give scriptural ‘endorsement’ for such responses. Convulsions, either in the form of strange uncontrollable jerks, or on the floor contraction-like writhings, were very common features of Toronto meetings, but I have never seen or heard of any being declared demonic.

Around the world at conferences and in papers, the claims that these things were biblical were strongly challenged. I do not propose here to repeat the basis of that challenge because the attempt to biblically vindicate, such as it was, has now been largely withdrawn.

The attempt to biblically vindicate the manifestations has now been largely withdrawn.

Late in 1994, the Vineyard International Council, a body which had some oversight of the churches which related to John Wimber, made the following statement which was reported in Alpha magazine:

We are willing to allow experiences to happen without endorsing, encouraging or stimulating them; nor should we seek to explain them by inappropriate proof-texting. Biblical metaphors (similar to those concerning a lion or dove, etc.) do not justify or provide a proof text for animal behaviour...The point is, don't try to defend unusual manifestations from biblical texts that obviously lack a one to one correspondence with a current experience. (emphasis mine)

I can only presume that this is a complete retraction of what was said in the earlier days. For example, in May 1994, Bill Jackson of the Vineyard Champagne Church, Illinois, produced a paper which was subsequently widely circulated and entitled, 'What in the world is happening to us?'. In his introduction he says, “Our purpose in putting this paper together is to develop a biblical apologetic for what we see happening among us. Much of what we are seeing is strange to the natural mind.”

That paper was issued to leaders who went to the Airport Vineyard Church, Toronto, and was then well used by them in their own churches in this country. The proponents have since clearly conceded that there was no biblical foundation for these manifestations.

I am in little doubt that no concession would have been made were it not for the fact that lots of us who are profoundly troubled by these things had made a very strong challenge about the feeble biblical ground the claims stood on. Without that challenge, for the reasons that I have already given, thousands of ordinary Christians would have continued in the delusion that it was all thoroughly biblical.

What Needs Biblical Justification?

However, that was not the end of the debate, because that same Vineyard International Council effectively then asserted that a biblical basis was not needed for such things. I quote again:

The absence of proof texts does not disallow an experience. If so none of us would, a) go to Disneyland, b) use computers, c) have worship bands.

All Christians ought to find a statement like this at very least surprising if not outrageous. How anyone can dare to say that we need no more biblical justification for something that is supposed to be a great move of God than we need for going to Disneyland, is completely outside the range of my whole Christian experience.

I am in little doubt that no concession would have been made were it not for the strong challenge made by many who are profoundly troubled by these things.

As this issue of what needs biblical justification and what does not will be dealt with in future instalments of Blessing the Church?, I will take this matter no further. Sufficient for me to say that it is now acknowledged there is no biblical basis for these strange things, even though they were a fundamental part of the whole Toronto experience.

Changing Declarations

We are not at the end of our problems with these manifestations. Many of their advocates have since begun to acknowledge that there is “a lot of flesh” and some demonic activity. In other words, they are saying 'there is something wrong'. But I have to draw attention to a number of things concerning these new statements.

• They do not go on to eradicate that which is of the flesh, or the demonic.
  
• They do not even go on to identify it.
  
• For most of 1994 it was emphatically declared to be the Holy Spirit at work - all of it.
  

Manifestations accelerated and got stronger when the one ministering cried such things as, “More Lord”, or wafted his hand towards the receiver. I ask myself what kind of Lord did they suppose they were appealing to, who will give them control of that sort over another believer? I further ask, what kind of Christian would want to have that kind of control?

Instead of being disturbed by this, many in this movement rejoiced that, as they supposed, God was using them.

But if they did find manifestations which were wrong after all, what were they going to do with the 'prophetic' interpretations which accompanied them? When someone roared like a lion, it was said that manhood was being restored to the Church; a man cock-a-doodle-dooing was God saying 'Church wake up!'; when young girls danced as round a totem pole, God was giving them a warrior spirit, and if your feet became hot there was God giving you the gift of evangelism. There have been many other such prophetic interpretations.

Next week: The receiving methodology and the claimed testimonies.

Peter Fenwick looks at the roots of the Toronto blessing.

It is the Church's task to proclaim God's will and intentions to the world: a world which over the past 50 years has progressively abandoned God's laws and standards.

The condition of society is now so serious that many Christians, myself included, believe that only a full-scale revival can reverse this moral decline.

Since January 1994 the Toronto Blessing has been hailed as either a great revival or its precursor. Because of the earnest desire for revival in the hearts of many it is understandable that these claims have been widely accepted, but we must recognise that their hopes and expectations have led many people to embrace the movement without fully considering all the implications.

Can we be sure that the Toronto Blessing was a genuine move of God? There were many features of the Toronto Blessing which have given me grave cause for concern; features which, if unchecked, will seriously impair the church's ability to perform its God-given task.

My greatest fear springs from the fact that the Bible no longer occupies the place which once it did in the evangelical community. Indeed, the whole controversy surrounding the Toronto Blessing is in fact a major battle for the Bible. Traditionally, evangelicals have sought a firm biblical foundation for all matters relating to doctrine and conduct. It is my contention that the Toronto Blessing represented, in its day, the most recent stage in a process whereby this tradition is being gradually eroded. Am I right to fear that it will soon be abandoned altogether?
In this article I will set out the stages which preceded the Toronto Blessing in the process of erosion to which I have referred. It will, I hope, become clear that the Toronto Blessing is no sudden or unexpected phenomenon; but that in fact the ground has been well prepared by the acceptance of previous unbiblical practices.

Over the next two weeks I will also offer an explanation as to why the Church has become vulnerable to such errors and indicate the features of the Toronto Blessing which are unbiblical.

Because of earnest desire for revival, many have embraced the Toronto movement without fully considering all the implications.

Unbiblical Practices

During the 1980s and early 1990s a number of practices were introduced, mostly in the charismatic churches, which had either no biblical foundation or only a very dubious one. These practices were accepted without question and are now a normal part of much charismatic theology. Here are some examples.

End of meetings ministry times

This is now a normal part of many charismatic meetings, both in churches and in joint celebrations. People are called forward for prayer and usually laying on of hands, with a view to deliverance from rejections, hurts, abuses, fears, inadequacies and such-like; the hope is that they will go on in a more positive way of living. Sometimes people are prayed for in order to receive particular gifts. Usually the subjects of prayer have little, if anything, to do with the content of the sermon.

All of this has been a common part of charismatic meetings for a long time, despite the fact that there is neither precedent nor teaching anywhere in the New Testament for this practice.
It has to be said that it has not created any significant opposition, since it has seemed harmless enough and has surely been practised out of good motives; what can possibly be wrong with seeking to bless someone? The fact that in many cases the same people come forward time after time has also not raised too many questions.

'Word of Knowledge' healing meetings

This again is a very common charismatic practice. Someone, usually from the front of the church, but not exclusively so, makes a succession of statements to the effect that, 'There is someone here with...' and there follows the recital of a number of ailments. People are expected to stand, declaring themselves to be the person referred to. Prayer is made and the whole procedure moves on. There is often little or no checking out as to whether a healing has taken place.

However, the real point at issue is that this technique was never practised by Jesus nor by any of the apostles at any point in the whole of the New Testament. This has not been considered important by those concerned, since the assumption is that from time to time some people do actually get healed, and therefore the feeling is that if it works, albeit occasionally, it is acceptable.

During the 1980s and early 1990s a number of practices were introduced, mostly in the charismatic churches, which had either no biblical foundation or only a very dubious one.

Demons as the cause of sin

Over the last 40 years or so, there has been an ever-increasing tendency to identify demons as a primary cause of sin in Christians. It goes without saying that if a demon is causing certain sinful human behaviour, then repentance for sins is not appropriate and is rarely called for; the matter will be dealt with by exorcism. The blame for sin can be laid fully at the door of the demon.

Once again this is profoundly contrary to New Testament practice and teaching.

The doctrine of territorial spirits

It has for a number of years been sweepingly assumed that hamlets, towns, cities or nations are dominated by specific spirits whose size and power is appropriate to the population mass over which they are said to rule.

It is consequently assumed that effective evangelisation of such a location will not happen until these territorial spirits have been engaged in spiritual warfare and decisively expelled. This is not the same as praying for the conversion of one's friends and family. It is praying for the extermination of these evil spirits and very often actually addressing them.

There is not a shred of New Testament teaching or practice to support this kind of activity. The theology of it is based on a passage in Daniel (10:13) where the Prince of the kingdom of Persia is said to have withstood an angelic helper sent by God to Daniel. This Prince of the kingdom of Persia hindered the angel for 21 days.

It is pure speculation to assert that this Prince was a demon. Since Daniel was not waging spiritual warfare in the modern sense of the word; since there is not another single example in the whole of the Bible of this sort of activity; and since we are given no theological explanation of it all, it is therefore astonishing that a definitive theology has been built up from this brief incident and has introduced into the charismatic church what is now a very dominant practice.

As I have already said, this practice is deemed to be vitally necessary before proper evangelisation of a particular territory can be expected to succeed. For almost 2,000 years the Church has not known this dogma and consequently has been unable to engage in this activity. It is amazing that it has nevertheless achieved such astounding success at different times and in different places.

These practices were accepted without question and became a normal part of much charismatic theology.

Christians Vulnerable to Error

The whole point of presenting these examples (and there are others) is to demonstrate that the charismatic movement has been taking on board teaching and practices that have either no, or at best flimsy, biblical foundation and turning them into dogma.

It is almost certainly true that many members of charismatic churches do believe that there actually is a biblical foundation, and this fact will raise a different concern in subsequent articles.
But the ground for accepting such practices has been well and truly prepared and into this situation there has come an even more unbiblical teaching, namely the Toronto Blessing.

Next week: Two factors which have made the charismatic church vulnerable to departures from biblical truth and practice: the rise of restorationism and a decline in biblical knowledge.

First published in 1995. Revised and updated (including all references to time frames) November 2017. Previous articles in this series can be found here.

We begin to serialise an older classic on the charismatic movement.

We are pleased this week to begin re-publishing ‘Blessing the Church?’, which was written in the mid-1990s as an in-depth response to the ‘Toronto Blessing’ and the perceived excesses of the modern charismatic movement.

When it was published in 1995, ‘Blessing the Church?’ made a seminal contribution to the debate on the direction of the charismatic movement, as well as to teaching on deception within the Body of Christ. Though written in response to a particular set of circumstances more than 20 years ago, its message stands the test of time. Though a great deal has changed since the 1990s, sadly even more has stayed the same.

We will be serialising the book over the next eight weeks and commend it to you warmly.^1,2 We believe it should be foundational reading for all who are interested in understanding the background of the contemporary charismatic movement, and so the shape it is in today. Indeed, it is commended to any believer who is passionate about seeing the Body of Christ grow and flourish as Messiah Jesus intended.

Dr Frances Rabbitts

Managing Editor, Prophecy Today UK

Blessing the Church? Introduction

Rev Dr Clifford Hill

Few observers of the Church scene would deny that the 1990s proved to be a critical period for the charismatic movement.

The publication of books and articles speaking about a crisis within the movement proliferated. Hank Hanegraaff in Christianity in Crisis (Harvest House, 1993) carried out extensive research of the teaching given by a number of prominent charismatic leaders. He looked at their statements in comparison with Scripture and found that many of them were contrary to the Bible.

There was growing anxiety, not simply among reformed evangelicals, but among many within the charismatic movement, concerning a serious drift away from biblical principles. Of course, there will always be differences of interpretation and textual exegesis. But differences in interpretation cannot account for statements which are directly contrary to those found in the Bible.

The charismatic movement has been a tremendous blessing to millions of Christians who have found a new freedom in worship and a deeper personal relationship with God which has strengthened their faith and enabled them to participate more actively in the work of the Gospel.

However, the emphasis upon personal experience which broke the icy grip of traditionalism in most branches of the Church has also had its down side, as charismatics have been carried along on waves of excitement into deeper realms of experience. Any movement or teaching which offers the believer a deeper personal experience with the living God is highly attractive. Yet when experience parts company with sound biblical teaching, there is grave danger for the believer. There is strong evidence that this is what happened within the charismatic movement during the 1990s and, in various waves and guises, has continued since.

When experience parts company with sound biblical teaching, there is grave danger for the believer. 

The Toronto Blessing

The wave of spiritual experience that began in 1994 known as the ‘Toronto Blessing’ has received worldwide publicity. In Britain a number of books were on the market within months of the first appearance of the phenomenon. These offered uncritical and excited accounts of what was variously described as ‘revival’, ‘pre-revival’, ‘times of refreshing’, the ‘impartation of supernatural power’ and numerous other descriptions.

There were many published accounts of the benefits of the 'blessing' in the lives of believers. Many testified that they had been drawn into closer communion with God, a deeper commitment to prayer, to Bible study and renewed love for Jesus. At the same time there were many accounts of bizarre phenomena such as making animal noises and uncontrollable physical manifestations including screaming and vomiting which many charismatics did not believe could be the work of the Holy Spirit.

At the height of the Toronto Blessing many churches gave scant attention to the preaching and expounding of the word of God. In some cases, this was enforced due to the preacher becoming overcome by physical convulsions which rendered him incapable of speech. Many charismatics shook their heads and said surely God would not hinder the proclamation of his own word! Others were greatly excited by these strange activities and participated enthusiastically in the 'receiving meetings' where the emphasis was upon receiving 'more of God'.

Divisive Effect

In Britain, the Toronto Blessing resulted in the most widespread and deep-rooted division to hit the Church for many years. This division was not between believers and unbelievers, or between evangelical and liberal; it was a division among charismatics themselves. It brought division in the families of believers, it divided prayer groups, it brought division and splits within congregations and it divided church from church even within the same denomination.

In Britain, the Toronto Blessing resulted in the most widespread and deep-rooted division to hit the Church for many years. 

There is evidence of thousands of Spirit-filled believers leaving their churches and being forced to seek other places of worship or simply meeting in little ad hoc house fellowships, or even going nowhere while nursing the hurts of rejection by leaders who refused to hear any questioning of the bizarre activities in their congregation. This division contrasts strangely with the experience of the disciples recorded in Acts chapters 2-5, when, from the Day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit brought sweet unity, love and sharing among the believers.

Background to ‘Blessing the Church?’

It was out of a deep concern for love and unity in those churches which have experienced the renewing power of the Holy Spirit in recent years that two leadership consultations were called at Bawtry Hall in Yorkshire in January and March 1995. It was out of the papers given at those consultations and the subsequent discussion that ‘Blessing the Church?’ arose.

Its strength lay in the fact that all the writers were not only evangelical preachers of many years' experience, but that they were each convinced of the presence, the power and the activity of the Holy Spirit in the Church today, and that spiritual gifts may be exercised by all believers. All wrote, therefore, from within the charismatic movement, not as hostile observers from outside.

All the writers – Clifford Hill, Peter Fenwick, David Forbes and David Noakes - had been involved in leadership in the charismatic movement from the early days. We wrote, not in the spirit of judgmental-ism, or indeed with a negative critical attitude. Rather we wrote out of a deep concern, for the Church in which we had leadership responsibilities and for the future direction being taken by the charismatic movement.

The prime purpose in writing was to draw attention to what we considered to be a serious drift away from biblically-based teaching into the realm of experientialism. This led to the pernicious practice of using contemporary 'revelation' as the basis for doctrine and the justification for the formulation of new teaching and practice within the Church which has no biblical foundation.

We wrote out of deep concern for the Church and for the future direction being taken by the charismatic movement. 

Each of the writers undertook in-depth research examining our own teaching and practice and a searching re-evaluation and re-assessment in the light of biblical scholarship. Our study of the Bible led each of us to extend our personal re-evaluation to include current practices across the whole spectrum of the charismatic movement and to an examination in some detail of the underlying teaching. It is out of the fruit of this examination that this book was written. It contains a message which we believe to be of vital importance in these days.

We recognise our own failings as leaders and our proneness to go astray in days when there are enormous pressures from the world around us and when we do not see very much to encourage us from the fruit of our labours. We therefore wrote in a spirit of love and humility under the deep conviction that the Bible provides us with the only standard of truth that can guard us against error, false doctrine, wrong practices and unrighteous behaviour.

Dangers Facing the Church

It is our earnest hope that what we have written will be received by our brothers and sisters in Christ in the same spirit of love and humility in which we have written – today, as much as when it was first published.

Inevitably, in our examination of contemporary teaching in the charismatic movement we had to note those leaders who were most closely associated with its propagation. Our task, however, was not to make accusations against brothers in Christ, but rather to contend for the faith which we all hold to be precious and to warn where we saw teaching which is seriously at variance with Scripture. Such teaching opens the door to all kinds of error and aberrant practices.

There is grave danger today of the Church being infiltrated by New Age teaching and the charismatic movement is not immune from this danger. Neither is it immune, if it drifts away from a strict adherence to the Bible as the plumb-line of divine revelation and truth, from straying into the realms of cultic activity.

Our warnings are sounded in days of great danger for the Church. In the Western industrialised nations, we are faced with the continuing onslaught of secularism and rising hostility to the Gospel in the context of increasing lawlessness and social decay. On the world scene Islamic fundamentalism and the use of violence to achieve their objectives is a continuing menace to the spread of the Gospel and is resulting in many thousands of Christian martyrs each year.

Yet the worldwide Church continues to grow through tremendous spiritual awakenings in many of the poorest nations. The greatest threat to their faith is the spread of Westernisation and what we in the West have come to recognise as ‘pop culture' - the culture of easy affluence, sensuous self-indulgence and acquisitive materialism driven by moral and spiritual anarchy.

Our warnings are sounded in days of great danger for the Church. 

It is in the context of the contemporary world situation and our deep desire to see the re-evangelisation of the Western nations, our own longings for revival and our unshakeable belief in the activity of the Holy Spirit among us in the Church today that we wrote ‘Blessing the Church?’.

We call to our brothers and sisters in Christ to recognise the dangerous situation which still faces us; and to recognise also that our emphasis upon the experiential within the charismatic movement has led us away from the doctrinal basis of the faith which our forefathers held to be of supreme importance. We therefore plead for a re-examination of current teaching and practice among charismatics in all branches of the Church and a recognition that the Bible provides us with the only plumb-line of truth.

Our analysis required examining the teaching of a number of those who minister within the charismatic/evangelical churches. Inevitably in so doing we had to name names. Our purpose was to compare what was being taught with what the Bible says. Our aim was not to discredit these men or to invalidate their ministries. Rather, it is still our hope that what we have written will contribute to the ongoing theological debate within the charismatic movement.

Although this book was written against the background of the debate on the Toronto Blessing, its scope is much wider. All the writers saw Toronto as merely the latest step in a continuing process of an overemphasis upon experience and a neglect of sound biblical teaching. We therefore attempted to look at the antecedents of Toronto rather than the phenomenon itself.

What Will Follow

What we undertook was essentially to re-trace our steps to the early days of the charismatic movement. We looked at the introduction of different teachings, beliefs and practices at different stages in its development.

Over the next seven weeks Prophecy Today UK will re-publish this work, starting with an examination of the rise of the movement in the context of the social history and secular culture in which it gained momentum. Subsequent articles will examine restorationist beliefs, the Latter Rain Revival movement of the 1940s in North America and its influence on charismatic doctrine, and the development of the charismatic movement itself – including its direction and the kinds of prophecies that have come through it.

Our writers draw many penetrating insights from Scripture which illuminate the Church’s situation during the 1990s – and which undoubtedly still have relevance today.

Next week: A child of the age? The socio-cultural background of the charismatic movement.

First published in 1995. Updated and serialised October 2017.

Notes

1 If you are interested in purchasing a paper copy, limited numbers are still available on Amazon at the time of publishing.

2 We have revised the text where necessary to update it for 2017 web publication, but have tried to keep these revisions minimal.

Did Jesus follow or reject the oral law? David Bivin concludes his assessment of the Jewishness of Jesus.

Last week we began to look at how Jesus not only lived as an observant Jew but was readily recognised as such by his contemporaries; discovering evidence for this in Jesus's upbringing, the acceptance of Jesus as a 'rabbi' by those around him, his relationship with his disciples and his method of teaching and preaching.

Attitude to the Oral Law

Jesus also appears to have adhered to the oral law in his attitude towards such practices as sacrifices, fasting, almsgiving, tithing and blessings. Notice, for example, how he gave tacit approval to the offering of sacrifices in Matthew 5:23-24: “If you are offering your sacrifice at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your sacrifice there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your sacrifice.”

Jesus also commanded the lepers whom he healed to perform the ceremony for their cleansing prescribed in the Bible. This ceremony included the offering of sacrifices as well as ritual immersion. He told the ten lepers to show themselves to the priest and specifically charged another leper, “Show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifice Moses commanded” (Matt 8:4).

Fasting

Jesus also took for granted that his disciples would fast when he commanded them to “put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to men that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who Is unseen” (Matt 6:17).

Jesus was accused of not living the ascetic life of John the Baptist, which might give one the impression that he did not fast a great deal. However, if he were practising what he preached about the concealment of fasting, those who accused him would not have known whether he did so or not. Certainly, Jesus could not have criticised those who made a show of their fasting if he himself did not fast.

In recounting the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector, he criticised the Pharisee, not because he fasted twice a week, but because of his overweening pride.

Jesus appears to have adhered to the oral law in his attitude towards such practices as sacrifices and fasting.

It is also inconceivable that Jesus did not fast on the Day of Atonement each year throughout his life 'to afflict his soul.’ This was interpreted by the rabbis to mean a total fast (abstinence from both food and drink) of approximately 25 hours. Scripture specifies exclusion from the community as the penalty for anyone who did not afflict his soul on that day (Lev 23:29), and states that anyone who did any work on that special occasion would be “destroyed by God” (Lev 23:30).

It should also be noted that after his baptism, at the beginning of his public ministry, Jesus fasted for 40 days (Matt 4:2). So Jesus was one who fasted.

Giving and Tithing

In the same section of the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus criticised the hypocrites who only fasted that they might be seen by men, Jesus also criticised those who made a public display of giving to the poor.

He must have been a generous giver himself. We can assume this because Jesus taught that one should lay up treasure in Heaven rather than on earth, and that if one's eye were 'bad' (that is, if one were stingy), “his whole body will be full of darkness” (Matt 6:19-23). Again, “When you give to the needy” said Jesus (Matt 6:2), not 'if you give to the needy'.

Jesus assumed that his disciples were almsgivers, and one may confidently assume that the Master was as well, even without there being any specific New Testament example of such action.

Any discussion of almsgiving raises the related issue of tithing, and since tithing is as much a biblical commandment as giving to the needy, there should be no question but that Jesus both tithed and gave to the poor.

Jesus assumed that his disciples were almsgivers, and one may confidently assume that the Master was as well.

Some Christians maintain that Jesus criticised the Pharisees for being so pedantic as to tithe even the spices and herbs in their gardens, and consequently they therefore assume that Jesus opposed such tithing (Matt 23:23). This is an error resulting from a faulty reading of the text. It is similar to the misunderstanding some people have that money is the root of all evil. What Scripture states, however, is that it is “the love of money” that is “a root of all kinds of evil” (1 Tim 6:10).

Jesus did not pronounce his woes upon the scribes and Pharisees for tithing mint, dill and cummin, but rather for keeping only such 'lighter' or less serious commandments, whilst failing to observe the 'heavier' or more important ones.

In the written law, the commandment is that one should tithe only on grain, oil and wine. But the rabbis (at the time of Jesus and just before), ruled that anything used for food had to be tithed.

Jesus, when speaking of this tithing of the herbs in the garden, says that it should not be neglected (Matt 23:23). His statement leaves no doubt about how Jesus felt about tithing, and more importantly, how he felt about the observation of the commandments as they were interpreted by the rabbis.

Saying of Blessings

A few verses previously, in Matthew 23:3, Jesus explicitly instructed his disciples with regard to their attitude towards the scribes and Pharisees concerning the keeping of the oral law: “You must obey them and do everything they tell you.” The sole scriptural basis for the many blessings that an observant Jew still says daily is Deuteronomy 8:10: “When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you.” Literally, the text says, “And you shall eat, and you shall be full, and you shall bless.”

The sages found in this verse justification for saying a blessing before the meal as well as after; and on many other – indeed almost all - occasions. The general rule is that anything that a man enjoys requires a blessing.

There is a blessing to be said before a public reading from the Torah, and another at the completion of the reading; a blessing after immersing oneself in a mikveh and a blessing upon seeing a great scholar.

There is an obligation to bless God for calamity and misfortune, as well as for prosperity and good fortune. For rain and for good news one says, “Blessed is he who is good and who gives good.” For bad news the form is, “Blessed is he who is the true judge.”

Jesus did not criticise the scribes and Pharisees for tithing, but for keeping such 'lighter' commandments whilst failing to observe more important ones.

There is evidence that Jesus adhered to the ruling of the oral law in his use of various blessings. In conformity with the rabbis' interpretation, Jesus not only recited a blessing after meals but also said the blessing before meals. This blessing is:

Baruch atah Adonai eloheynu, melech haolam, ha-motzi lechem meen ha-aretz ('Blessed art Thou O Lord our God, King of the universe, who brings forth bread from the earth').

If you learn that blessing, you can bless the Lord for each meal the way Jesus did!

Blessing the Food or Blessing God?

It is recorded that at the last Passover meal observed by the Lord and his disciples in Jerusalem, Jesus “took bread and blessed and broke and gave to his disciples” (Matt 26:26). Since in the Greek text there is no direct object following the verbs 'blessed,' 'broke' and 'gave', English translators have usually felt it necessary to supply the word 'it' after each of these verbs.

English readers therefore receive the impression that Jesus not only divided and distributed the bread, but blessed it as well. But this is simply a misunderstanding of the Hebraic and Jewish connotations of the word 'bless'.

Because of this recurring 'blessed, broke and gave the bread' in the gospels, it is a common Christian misunderstanding that Jesus actually blessed the bread. But in a Hebraic setting one does not bless things, one blesses God who provides the things. The blessing that was said in Jesus' time before one ate was praise and thanksgiving to God who so wondrously provides food for his children.

Even in his supernatural, resurrected body, Jesus, when eating with the two disciples in Emmaus (Luke 24:30), did not neglect the required blessing before the meal.

We might note at this point that it is a similar mistake to assume that Jesus multiplied the loaves and the fishes by blessing them (Matt 6:41). What Jesus did was simply to bless God before the beginning of the meal. The miracle was not a result of the blessing, for food did not multiply on other occasions when Jesus gave thanks for the provision of food.

Even in his supernatural, resurrected body, Jesus did not neglect the required blessing before the meal.

The matter of blessing before eating may be a good example of how the Western Gentile Christian's lack of knowledge of Jewish customs has led to a misunderstanding of precisely what Jesus did. In this case it has led to the development of the Christian practice of 'saying grace before meals' in which we 'bless the food', rather than give thanks to God for it, and which as such, has no foundation either in Jewish culture or in Jesus's own practice and teaching.

It is also an example of how a Jewish book, written for Jews, can create confusion for later, non-Jewish readers. Luke made it clearer for his Greek-speaking readers when he referred to Paul's practice in Acts 27:35: “He took some bread and gave thanks to God in front of them all. Then he broke it and began to eat.”

Did Jesus Wear Tzitziyot and Tefillin?

The New Testament makes it clear that Jesus, like all observant Jews of the 1^st Century, wore tzitziyot, which is the Hebrew word for the tassels or fringes that hung from the four corners of the outer garment or robe of a Jew at that time. This is commanded in Numbers 15:37-41 and Deuteronomy 22:12.

That Jesus wore these tzitziyot is illustrated by the story in Matthew 9:20 of the woman who had suffered from a haemorrhage for 12 years and who was healed when she came up to Jesus and touched 'the fringe of his garment.' The Greek word kraspedou, translated as 'hem,' 'border,' or 'edge' in English translations of the New Testament, is the word used for the tzitziyot.

There is no explicit evidence offered in the gospels that Jesus also wore tefillin on his forehead and right arm. Called 'phylacteries' in the Bible (Matt 23:5), these are the two leather boxes which each contain four passages of Scripture inscribed on tiny parchment scrolls. These boxes are bound by leather straps, one on the forehead and one on the arm. The arm box contains a single parchment on which all four passages are written, while the head box is divided into four compartments, each of which contains a parchment with one of the four Scripture passages written on it.

Wearing these phylacteries was the rabbinic way of observing the commandment in Deuteronomy 6:8 to bind the words of the Lord as a sign on their hands (the correct translation is 'arm'), and on their foreheads. It might be argued, of course, that this is metaphorical language and that one is not meant to literally bind all or part of God's word to a person's arm or forehead.

Jesus, like all observant Jews of the time, wore tzitziyot, the tassels that hung from the four corners of the outer garment.

Nevertheless, Jews living in the time of Jesus viewed the wearing of tefillin as a biblical commandment and they were part of ordinary Jewish dress. Putting on the tefillin only at the time of prayer, as is practised by Orthodox Judaism today, is a later custom. In Jesus's time they were worn throughout the day and removed only for work or when entering a place which was ritually unclean. Tefillin dating from the 1^st Century have been found in the caves near Qumran on the shores of the Dead Sea, and are almost identical to those worn by Orthodox Jews today.

In Matthew 23:5 Jesus criticised some of the Pharisees because “They make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long”. But rather than criticising the wearing of tefillin and tzitziyot, Jesus was condemning the religious hypocrisy that led to an exaggerated size being worn that would be obvious to others.

While Jesus condemned such ostentation, we have no reason to believe that he did not himself wear them. Had Jesus himself not worn phylacteries, as well as having the fringes on his garment, he surely would have been attacked on that count by the religious leaders of the day.

Rediscovering Our Hebraic Roots

In general, one gains the impression from the gospels that Jesus dutifully adhered to the practices of observant Jews of his day and that his attitude towards these practices was guided by the interpretations of the rabbis as expressed in the oral law.

During my research I have come to see that Jesus was a Jewish rabbi or, if we do not want to use the word 'rabbi' (since it was not a title in those days) we can say that he was a Jewish teacher.

Large sections of the Christian Church find this difficult to accept and to understand, and their difficulty illustrates how dim is our recollection of the Jewish origins of our faith, and to what extent we have been assimilated into the pagan culture that surrounds us.

One wonders what kind of dynamic organism the Church might have been throughout the ages had she clung more closely to her Hebraic roots, rather than embracing and becoming amalgamated with the pagan Hellenistic philosophy that persists to a very great extent in the Church up to this present day.

What kind of dynamic organism the Church might have been throughout the ages had she clung more closely to her Hebraic roots!

The Church’s only hope, of course, is to see Jesus, but this time to see him and know him personally as he really is: an observant Jew, a Jewish rabbi, the Jewish Messiah of God and - one might add - God himself, Immanuel.

The Gentile Church must become Hebraic in its thinking and approach to understanding the New Testament and should purge itself of the pagan influences of 19 centuries. May we who are members of Christ's Body but who are not of Jewish parentage rid ourselves of the arrogance of which Paul warned the Roman Christians:

Do not boast over those branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you…Do not be arrogant, but be afraid. (Rom 11:18-20)

First published in Prophecy Today, Vol 9 No 5.

Why didn't God intervene in Aberfan? Greg Stevenson offers some thoughts on the classic question of why suffering is allowed.

Many people suffer disasters from external events that come unbidden into their lives, from illness or injuries (whether caused by ourselves or by others), to overwhelming events such as volcanoes, earthquakes and tsunamis, or extremes of weather like flooding. The natural question that is always asked is: Why? - as if we know that there must be a reason!

The Bible tells us clearly that God is in complete control of his world and its events. There is no god beside him (Isa 45:14, 21). Indeed, he intervenes in many situations to save, to heal, to deliver. So it's a good question to ask when disasters happen - where is God? Why does he allow it?

God Calls and Forewarns

The Bible tells us that God is righteous in all his works and holy in all his ways (Ps 145:17). So this means that everything God does and allows is for righteous reasons. What were the righteous reasons for which he allowed the terrifying tragedy in Aberfan 50 years ago?

When we look at God's dealings with his people Israel, we find that he gave them teaching and instruction (Torah) by which to live, so that the nations roundabout could see a righteous lifestyle that resulted in prosperity and security. When his people failed to live up to this standard, he disciplined them in all sorts of ways (1 Chron 21:13) to bring them back to him, and maintain this witness.

Many of these efforts to discipline were Sovereignly-ordained events (storms, pestilence, earthquakes, enemy attacks, etc), but several were the product of the people's own sin, including their blindness or deafness to his teaching/commandments.

Yet we see that God gave his Name (his character) to his people so that they might know him (Ex 34:6 – the most quoted verse in the Tanakh): "The LORD, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet He does not leave the guilty unpunished". This speaks of the love and justice of God. So in each case of their turning away from him through sin (and consequently stepping outside of his blessing and protection), he gave them warnings about the consequences of their actions – Choose whom you will serve!

God is righteous and holy in all his ways, so this means that everything he does and allows is for righteous reasons.

The warnings were given so that they knew ahead of time the results of their choice. But when the warnings were ignored, God was patient with them. Again and again he called to them – "I spoke to you again and again, but you did not listen. I called you but you did not answer. Day after day, again and again, I sent you my servants the prophets" (Jer 7:13, 25 – Heb. 'rising up early in the morning, and speaking'). He also sent examples of his sovereign power to bless or curse (Amos 4).

Aberfan: Warnings Ahead of Time

According to a recent BBC documentary,¹ the tragic events in Aberfan on 21 October 1966 that killed 116 children and 28 adults were preceded by many warnings:

1. 1939. A few miles from Aberfan, 180,000 tons of a coal waste tip in a privately-owned mine slipped. New guidelines about tipping over a water source were given, but not passed on.
2. 1944. Another tip near Aberfan moved.
3. January 1955. Flooding in the valley below the mountain of tip No 7 above Aberfan. The children presented a petition to their headmistress about the slurry moving, which was passed on, but ignored.
4. 1963. A slurry movement that didn't quite reach the village. Tipping on the site of No 7 tip was continued. No map or guidance was given to the engineers responsible for No 7 tip.
5. July 1963. A letter from Merthyr Tydfil council was sent to the National Coal Board (NCB) concerning the danger from coal waste being tipped above the Pantglas school. Despite assurances that tipping would cease, it was not stopped.
6. January 1964. Again concern was expressed by the council about the slurry - "If the tip moved, the entire school could be threatened"
7. January 1965. A petition was raised by mothers at the Pantglas school, and passed to the council by the headmistress. But there was no NCB action resulted.
8. 26 March 1965. A further slip at a nearby tip nearly went down the mine shaft. Warnings were given but ignored. The memo was sent to the civil and mechanical engineers but poor working relationships resulted in the memo not being followed up. A long list of concerns was sent to a senior NCB official about the tip safety but was not forwarded to the NCB.

Finally, the main reasons given by the NCB for not moving the No 7 tip after the disaster were the cost and the time it would take. In the Tribunal, senior NCB management denied any knowledge of the potential for slips from coal waste tips, but eventually changed their stance and admitted that the disaster was preventable. Of the £1.75 million that was raised for the disaster fund, £150,000 was taken from the fund for removal of the tip, and the NCB agreed to pay £500 for each child who died was offered as compensation (the value of a child's life?).

This list is not given to apportion blame, but to emphasise that God gives many warnings of the consequences of man's selfish and sinful ways. George Bernard Shaw said appositely: "The worst sin toward our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them. For that is the essence of inhumanity". Much is sacrificed to financial profit, and safeguarded by keeping a distance from the site of responsibility.

Whenever people turn away from God, stepping outside of his blessing and protection, he gives them warnings about the consequences of their sin.

Natural Disaster - or Natural Consequence?

Some of what we call 'natural' disasters are clearly the result of the shaking of the earth (and eventually the heavens also) that God has warned us of in Hebrews 12, and Scripture tells us that these tragedies are part of the birth-pangs that will bring in the end of this age. The whole creation has been 'groaning' as in the pains of childbirth, on account of man's sin.

But many disasters are the result of man's selfishness, or of rebellion against God's laws, and these are especially severe among nations that God has blessed and called to serve him, but which then turn away from him in disobedience.

God is sovereign, but he warns us about the consequences of the choices we make. Paul's letter to the Romans is very clear about this. Those who reject his way, he will give over to their 'shameful lusts' and to the consequences of those choices. But his love is always expressed by warnings first, proclaimed by those who see right action, so that mercy and justice can be evident. This was perfectly demonstrated in the life of Jesus, and ultimately at the Cross.

In order to avoid a potential tragedy from self-seeking in many forms, or from indifference to our fellow-man, we (individuals, families, businesses, governments and nations) simply have to set the choices that we make against the goodness and righteousness of God. In this, Jesus is our model.

We can't always know why God allows disasters (why he brings prosperity and creates disaster – Isaiah 45:7) but we do know that he desires to dwell with us, and that we live in his blessing and under his protection.

We cannot know the whole answer, but God has done all that is necessary to deal with our sin, our self, and our indifference, at the Cross. As we expend time, energy and resources for those who are caught up in the tragedies and disasters that are part of this fallen world, we can remember that what God does is always for righteous reasons, even when it takes the form of allowing loss, pain and death. For he has been there himself also.

References

1 Aberfan: The Fight for Justice. BBC, first broadcast on 18 October 2016. Available on iPlayer.

It is vital that those in Britain who know the Lord declare the Gospel with their words and lives.

In last week's editorial, I wrote about the signs of God's blessing upon Britain in the aftermath of the vote to leave the European Union. All the forecasts of doom from those who wished Britain to remain within the EU have not been fulfilled.

The economy has not suffered dire consequences, the housing market has not collapsed, unemployment is down and retail sales are up, giving a general feeling of buoyancy and hope for the future. But will it last? That is the big question.

One of our readers posted a comment last week pointing out that God's blessings are conditional. He is absolutely right in this and if God's blessings upon the nation are to continue, there is a huge responsibility upon those who know the Bible and have some understanding of the nature and purposes of God.

Passing on the Message

Last week we reminded readers that only 44% of the nation now claim to be Christians and 48% say that they have no religion at all. In many churches in Britain today the congregation consists mainly of elderly worshippers which means that they have a huge responsibility for evangelism if these churches are to survive beyond the present generation.

If older Christians are to be successful in passing on the faith to the next generations, they not only need to know the Gospel but also need to understand what's going on in the world today. This was the great strength of the prophets of Israel, who were able to declare the word of the Lord with conviction and authority because they were keen observers of the contemporary world as well is being in communication with God.

If God's blessings upon the nation are to continue, there is a huge responsibility upon those who know the Bible and the purposes of God.

Jeremiah's great frustration was that nobody was aware of the great dangers facing the nation. He said:

I thought, these are only the poor; they are foolish, for they do not know the way of the Lord, the requirements of their God. So I will go to the leaders and speak to them; surely they know the way of the Lord, the requirements of their God. But with one accord they too had broken off the yoke and torn off the bonds. (Jer 5:4-5)

Jeremiah continued, "A horrible and shocking thing has happened in the land: the prophets prophesy lies, the priests rule by their own authority, and my people love it this way. But what will you do in the end?" (Jer 5:31). The whole nation was living with a false sense of security when there was a tremendous storm brewing on the international scene and the moral and spiritual life of the nation was in a mess (see also the article on Jeremiah by Tony Pearce which we are publishing today).

Seismic map showing the impact of North Korea's recent nuclear test. See Photo Credits.

Very Present Dangers

There are many similarities with today. On the international scene the threats to world peace are growing daily, with North Korea now claiming the ability to launch a nuclear warhead on international ballistic missiles. Tensions between Russia and the USA are increasing in the highly unstable situation in the Middle East. The unspeakable horrors of the civil war in Syria show no signs of ending and Turkey's intervention has added further complication.

Poverty and deprivation in Africa are combining with the tragedy of the Middle East to force vast numbers of migrants to seek refuge in Europe. They are not only changing the face of our continent but also bringing with them militant Muslims who pose a threat to the communities where they settle. Their presence is having an unsettling effect throughout the European Union, where right-wing protest parties are gaining support and popular demand is rising to follow Britain's lead and leave the EU. All these things are increasing uncertainty for the future.

If ever there were a time for steady and firm international leadership it is surely today; but America is paralysed in the run-up to their November presidential election, the outcome of which could be even more disastrous. The choice facing the American electorate between the corrupt Clinton and the loudmouth bully Trump is unenviable. Voters will have to decide between the lesser of two evils: but either way the future for world peace looks ominous.

Jeremiah's day was like our own - the whole nation was living with a false sense of security while there was a tremendous storm brewing.

Times of Turmoil: How to Respond

So what does the Bible have to say that helps us to understand the world situation today and what Christians should be doing? Jesus warned that days of great turmoil would happen when nation would rise against nation and there would be famines and earthquakes and persecution of those who believe in God (Matt 24). The Apostle Paul warned of what he called "the man of lawlessness" being released into the world in a time of great rebellion among the nations (2 Thess 2).

None of us knows whether we are in those days. But we should all be aware of what is prophesied in the Bible so that we can communicate the Gospel effectively to our friends and neighbours, who are bewildered by what is happening and who do not know the word of the Lord, or his love and promises to those who are faithful to him.

We especially need to be praying young people into the Kingdom. The powers of darkness that they face have never been greater, especially with all the pressures of the internet and social media shaping their lives ever-more invasively. Young people are also vulnerable to the deliberate attempts of secular humanists and satanists to rob them of their innocence and thirst for the truth. Parents and grandparents should be aware of the intention of satanists to establish after-school clubs to counteract Christian teaching – it's already happening in the USA.¹

We especially need to be praying young people into the Kingdom at this time.

Faith in Word and Deed

We should all be rejoicing in the sense of hope that there is in the nation today while also being on the alert to the enemies of God and their evil intentions. God is clearly giving us a window of opportunity to communicate his love and his purposes to more than half of the population who have no faith at all and who are at risk.

We need to remember that we communicate our faith as much through our daily lives as through our words. The Apostle John reminds us of the power of love. He says, "We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death" (1 John 3:14).

References

1 Horton, H. Satanic Temple tries to open after-school clubs in 9 US districts. The Telegraph, 5 August 2016.