Jews teach the Church what is really important

With anti-Semitism on the rise, and Jews under threat as never before, it is astonishing that the Government is again allowing the staging in London of Sunday’s annual Iranian-backed Al Quds parade.

What sense does it make that, in a country where ‘hate speech’ is supposedly illegal, a march fronted by the Hezbollah terrorist group – committed to the destruction of Israel – is free to spread its poison?

Among the cheerleaders, and one of the speakers down to address the rally, is Rev Stephen Sizer, who has already been severely reprimanded for his anti-Semitic views by his own Church of England.¹

The whole scenario is an absolute disgrace. And yet Israel’s greatest need is not protection! Bear with me as I will explain in due course.

Pentecost: Passé?

You will no doubt have heard talk of how we are now said to be living in a post-Christian era, with British society largely having rejected biblical values of the past. But I also detect a very worrying trend in the Western Church towards a kind of post-Pentecost line of thinking that appears to relegate its teaching as ‘passé’.

As the disciples of the Lord Jesus were empowered on the Day of Pentecost to spread the Gospel throughout the world, giving life to what is now known as the Church, does this mean that the body of Christ is now in its death-throes?

I detect a very worrying trend in the Western Church towards a kind of post-Pentecost line of thinking.

I have just reviewed the most brilliant book I have ever had the pleasure to read – RT Kendall’s Whatever Happened to the Gospel? – and hereby offer this piece as a brief postscript to the much-beloved preacher’s latest volume.

Whatever happened to Pentecost? Many British churches seem to have stopped celebrating the day, or even mentioning it, although it’s much more than a day anyway – it’s an experience. Even Pentecostals and charismatics, who supposedly base much of their theology on this vitally important feast, seem largely to have abandoned it.

The need for believers to be emboldened with power from on high, for which the resurrected Christ commanded his disciples to wait in Jerusalem, is rarely discussed. And we wonder why there is a lack of power in our witness.

The Meaning of Pentecost

The Bible feasts, which include Passover and Pentecost (also known as Shavuot), are meant to be celebrated to remind us of key truths and of God’s great bounty and deliverance. Pentecost comes 50 days (or seven weeks) after Passover, is also known as the Feast of Weeks, and is a celebration of the first fruits of the harvest – specifically wheat, the main ingredient of bread.

Jews also mark the occasion to celebrate the giving of the Law on Mt Sinai. And Jesus, the ‘bread of life’ born in Bethlehem (literally house of bread) is the fulfilment of the Law (Matt 5:17). And thus Pentecost is a fulfilment of Passover. Jesus, who died for our sins of which the Law convicts us (Rom 7:7), sends his Holy Spirit to empower us to keep a Law that is now “written on our hearts” and not just on tablets of stone (Ezek 36:26; Rom 2:15; 2 Cor 3:3), thus enabling us to witness boldly for the Gospel.

And so it was that, on the Day of Pentecost, 3,000 souls were added to the body of believers. We absolutely cannot do without Pentecost. Jesus paid a very high price for it. It cost him everything.

Jews for Jesus

Britain is proud to have produced one of the outstanding preachers of 20^th Century Pentecostalism, Smith Wigglesworth, who was illiterate prior to his conversion and subsequently only ever read the Bible. He took the message of the Gospel around the world and raised 14 people from the dead in the process – a modern-day apostle if ever there was one.

Yet today, Pentecost is largely forgotten and considered almost irrelevant; something of an embarrassment even. To their credit, the Anglicans, who in some ways are leading the march towards apostasy, still hold on to the feast.

The need for believers to be emboldened with power from on high is rarely discussed. And we wonder why there is a lack of power in our witness!

But Jewish believers are doing much more than that. No doubt partly due to their awareness of the festival’s roots going back thousands of years in their history, they are taking Jesus’ words seriously, and literally, as – empowered by the Holy Spirit – they share the good news, beginning in Jerusalem (Acts 1:8).

Jews for Jesus had specifically chosen the feast of Shavuot to preach the Gospel in the streets of Jerusalem, just as the apostles had done 2,000 years ago. And while they are not claiming that 3,000 souls responded, dozens decided to follow Yeshua (Hebrew for Jesus) as they learnt how he had fulfilled Messianic prophecies in the Tenach (our Old Testament). And hundreds more were willing to discuss his claims to be the Messiah of Israel.

One woman, when reminded of what happened in Jerusalem with Jesus, was shocked, and said: “I need to read those prophecies about the Messiah as soon as possible, because although I always believed in God, I did not know about them.”

The general openness was apparently profound, as I have experienced myself. David Brickner, of Jews for Jesus, wrote in their June update:

Of course, the key to success for those first disciples who began in Jerusalem 2,000 years ago was the power of the Holy Spirit. That is still true for Jews for Jesus and anyone else who wants to do God’s work in His way…I don’t know how much more time we have before the return of the Lord, but just like those first Jews for Jesus, we cannot just stand gazing up into heaven (referring to Jesus’ ascension).

Israel’s Greatest Need

Al Quds rally in Tehran, Friday 8 June. London's counterpart rally is due to be held on Sunday 10 June. See Photo Credits.

Israel is currently surrounded by implacable enemies who have vowed to bring about their annihilation. This is why Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the target of a recent assassination plot, is warning Theresa May and other European leaders of the danger posed by Iran.

Yet their greatest need is not defence. For God, who brought them back to the Promised Land in fulfilment of ancient prophecies, also plans to restore them to a living relationship with him. And when they are back with their Lord, the Lord will come back to the world (Zech 12:10, 14:4).

Indeed, as Israel comes to know that he (Jesus) is the Lord, the nations too will understand this truth (Ezek 36:23). And none of this would happen without Pentecost.

References

1 Anti-Israel vicar, Stephen Sizer, to speak at London’s pro-Hezbollah Al Quds rally. Christians United for Israel, 4 June 2018.

Charles Gardner reviews ‘Faith, Freedom and the Future’ by Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali (Wilberforce Publications, 2016).

The Church of England faces a stark choice of either conforming to current fashion with “easily swallowed soundbites” or of being vigorously counter-cultural, according to one of its most outspoken bishops.

Hitting Out at Dumbed-Down Baptism

In a new book, Faith, Freedom and the Future, Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali comments on what he describes as a “dumbed-down” version of the christening service.

In a desire not to offend, the Church was in danger of “capitulating to whatever is fashionable”, he writes.

The new ‘alternative’ service for baptism “almost entirely does away with sin and the need to repent…We are not told anything about the Christ in whom we are to put our trust. There is no acknowledgement of him as Lord and Saviour. In general, there is a reluctance to declare that the Bible sees the world as having gone wrong and needing to be put right. This is done by the coming of Christ, and baptism is nothing less than taking part in this story of salvation, no part of which can be sold short.”

And he concludes: “This is a choice for the Church of England – either to become simply an attenuated version of whatever the English people happen to believe and to value, or to be full-bloodedly a manifestation of the ‘one, holy, catholic and apostolic church’ it still continues to confess in the creeds. Which way will it choose?”

Nazir-Ali writes that in a desire not to offend, the Church is in danger of capitulating to whatever is fashionable.

Thorough Analysis

The book is also a thorough analysis of a number of moral issues facing us, and the Bishop’s diagnosis is a breath of fresh air which could help to revive our broken society.

In challenging the increasing marginalisation of Christians, he asks why a law originally based on Judeo-Christian principles is being used to silence them.

He also tackles radical Islam – with his Pakistani background, he is well qualified to do so – and raises the issue of blasphemy against the prophet (Muhammad), punishable by death in many of the Arab countries who have signed up to the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which guarantees freedom of thought, conscience and religion as well as the right to change beliefs.

“What is the difference between Asia Bibi and numerous others on death row, having been convicted on blasphemy charges, and the killings on the streets of Paris and Copenhagen?…Why does the international community tolerate one but not the other? Is it because Westerners are involved in one but not the other?”

Forceful and Passionate

The esteemed author can be laboured in the build-up of his arguments which I sometimes found difficult to follow, but when he gets to the point, he makes it with a forceful flourish and obvious passion for both the Gospel and the Anglican Church, which is no doubt why he has become a popular choice for radio and TV discussions.

This is a theological book with considerable intellectual appeal, but which does not shy away from unpacking CofE politics and driving home the stark choice currently facing the established Church.

Faith, Freedom & the Future (330pp) is available in both paperback and e-book forms. Click here to find out more.

Reflections a year on from Grenfell and Manchester.

This week we were reminded of two tragedies in our nation. On Monday the media carried harrowing reports of the tragic loss of life at Grenfell Tower, as the main inquiry into the cause of the disaster began.

On Tuesday, memories of the 22 lives lost and the multitude injured in the Manchester Arena terrorist attack replaced memories of Grenfell.

I heard no-one in the media asking the obvious question, “Where was God in all of this?” Indeed, God has been so sidelined in the thoughts and lives of the majority of our nation that we no longer even hear the question, “Is there a God?”

Yet, we still live in a nation whose Queen, at her Coronation, swore an Oath to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, who has protected us beyond our deserving over many years. Central to that Oath was the commitment to maintain his laws and the true profession of the Gospel. Over a generation, this commitment to God has largely been forgotten by the nation’s leaders and is rarely mentioned by the leaders of the established Church.

Unprotected Children

As far back as the 1980s, I was waiting one day in the playground of the school where our youngest two children were about to finish their school day. I watched as the classes were dismissed and as a crowd of children emerged, each looking for a parent to take them home safely. I thought I heard the voice of God in my mind saying that these children were no longer under his protection.

Over a generation, our national commitment to God has largely been forgotten.

I wondered if I had imagined it, because these were simply innocent children, embarking on their lives in a country God has greatly blessed and protected. I recalled the wonderful protection of my own childhood when, in the late 1940s and early 1950s, family and community co-operated to re-build our nation after the devastation of war, thankful for God’s deliverance from the evil that so easily could have engulfed us.

Yet, since that day when I thought I heard that voice of God, one disaster has followed another in our nation, making me think that God was indeed speaking, in the early stages of removing his hand of protection.

Let me say clearly, however, concerning both the Manchester and Grenfell disasters that God was not punishing those who had assembled there, any more than those who lost their lives when the Tower of Siloam fell in Jesus’ day. The picture is bigger: that, whilst we must also recognise that God allowed these disasters, they serve as signs to our nation – warning signs that we will not live in safety if we choose to live outside of his protection.

Knowing God’s Ways

If, as we should, we search our Bibles to discover God’s ways, we will see that God does take his protection away from his people if they do not seek him with all their heart. At the time of Samuel, for example, when the religious framework of the nation had decayed under Eli the priest and his wicked sons, the Philistines prevailed over Israel.

Again, when the kings of Israel and Judah led the people astray (kings whom God warned his people they should not desire), the troubles of the nations soon followed. Ultimately, God’s protection was removed: first from the Northern Kingdom of Israel which fell to the Assyrians, and then from the Southern Kingdom of Judah which fell to the Babylonians.

Disasters like Grenfell are warning signs that we will not live in safety if we choose to live outside of God’s protection.

God’s sadness was displayed through the weeping of the Prophet Jeremiah, as recorded in the Book of Lamentations. Similarly, Jesus wept over Jerusalem when he foretold the coming second fall of the City.

God knows what will happen when the doors are allowed open to the evil adversaries of the people of this world – adversaries both physical and spiritual. God weeps when the time comes for him to remove his protection from a people who do not seek him, who choose to try to live without him under the beguiling principles of humanism and false religion, where false gods are honoured. But he is willing to remove his protection.

We are reaping the consequences of this in Britain today despite the fact that we have had sign after sign that should bring us to ask, “where is our God?”

The Prime Minister adds her condolences to a 'Tree of Hope' in Manchester. See Photo Credits.The Power of Testimonies

The testimonies of those who lost loved ones at Grenfell and the memories of the fatal night in Manchester are profound. But they should not only be sparking human sympathy and attempts to celebrate and unite a community (such as in Manchester where a concert has been held), but be compelling those who have responsibility for our nation to lead us in seeking God in repentance.¹

God is a loving Father to those who seek him with all their heart and protects his loved ones beyond their deserving – always. But he is also a strong God who will not bend from the eternal balance of justice and mercy. He is Judge of the entire earth and cannot compromise in the ‘big picture’ of his eternal covenant purposes throughout history.

God weeps when the time comes for him to remove his protection from a people who do not seek him.

If he did not spare his own Son in these eternal purposes of overcoming sin and offering eternal redemption to those who would accept it, he cannot continue to protect a people who reject him and choose lives of sin.

There is a Way Back

There is always a way back and those who know the Lord, namely those in the churches of our nation (especially the leaders of the churches), should be his prophetic voice. It is imperative that we take the opportunity while we still have it to call this nation back to repentance and seeking God.

It is time for the leaders of our Government - from the Royal Family through to the executives who are duty-bound to outwork the purposes of the Monarch’s Oath - to take their responsibility before God and lead the nation back to him. This is what the tragic signs are telling us. We are vulnerable outside the protection of Almighty God and that vulnerability is bringing increasing pain, sadness and loss of life - not only to those who lead but to those for whom they are responsible.

Notes

1 And we do not mean just any God. The multi-faith service in Manchester which was part of the memorial activities a year after the attack is yet another symptom of how far our nation has compromised our allegiance to the One True God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ.

An excerpt from Sandra Teplinsky’s book ‘Why Still Care About Israel’. Part I of II.

Last week on Prophecy Today UK we reviewed ‘Why Still Care About Israel’ as part of our ongoing coverage of Israel’s 70^th anniversary. This week, we are pleased to bring you the first of a two-part excerpt from this book (taken from chapter 10), focusing particularly on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Please see the base of the page for more information about the author. Reprinted with permission.

 Israeli Statehood and the Arab/Palestinian Plight

“Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Romans 12:2

A true story opens on May 14, 1948, as the Jewish people prepare to declare a state. The air is electric. After two thousand years of exile, the sons and daughters of Jacob have come home. High-pitched excitement circles the globe.

That morning, Israel's founding father and first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, pores over maps showing the array of Arab armies poised to attack. The Jews are outnumbered 100 to 1.¹ “I feel like a mourner at a wedding," he writes in his diary.²

In a few hours Ben-Gurion will deliver Israel’s Declaration of Independence. He scribbles down notes for his speech on the only writing material at hand - sheets of toilet paper.^a

At exactly 4:00pm, he steps to the podium in an overcrowded hall in Tel Aviv, before a hushed audience. This is the moment for which millions of Jews have lived and died. As Ben-Gurion reads the Israeli Declaration of Independence, those present cling to his every word. He speaks of Bible history and the Jews’ undying hope to return to their ancestral home. Then with prophetic clarity Ben-Gurion decrees: “By virtue of the natural and historic right of the Jewish people…we hereby proclaim the establishment of the Jewish state in Palestine, to be called the State of Israel…for the fulfillment of the dream of generations—the redemption of Israel.”

At once, cheers and tears resound. Golda Meir, who would later serve as prime minister, cannot stop crying. Her sobs, she explains, are for the many who should have been there, but are no more.³ According to the nation’s chief rabbi, “The dawn of redemption has broken.”⁴

As the Jewish people prepare to declare a state, the air is electric. After two thousand years of exile, the sons and daughters of Jacob have come home. High-pitched excitement circles the globe.

Euphoria erupts in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, where traffic stops as streets swell with singing and dancing. But the party is soon interrupted. Sirens wail to warn of Egyptian bombers overhead. Joining them are the armies of Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq, together with militants from throughout the Arab world. All have a common goal: to annihilate the Jewish state in Allah’s name.⁵ The War of Independence has begun. Happy birthday, Israel.

Since 1948, tomes have been written on the history of Israel’s restoration, and the Islamist/Arab/Palestinian resistance against it. Time and space permit us to summarise only basic facts (for more detail, please refer to the notes at www.whystillcareaboutisrael.com). I think you will discover a surprising perspective on today’s conflict emerges when you consider the context from which it arose. You will see that Israel is not so much in a fight for land as for her life - and that changes everything.

Palestinian History: The Back Story

In the first century AD, Israel was renamed Palestine by the Romans who conquered her. This was done in derisive remembrance of the Jews’ former - and extinct - enemy, the Philistines. The Philistines had by then already died out, so despite the similarity in name, they are not related to the Palestinians of today.^b Collectively, Palestinians have no traceable ancient tie to the land of Israel and never identified as a self-governing people group. Like other Arabs in the Middle East, most of their ancestors dwelt as scattered family tribes on lands they often did not personally own. Generally, they coexisted alongside Jews who had, in small numbers, lived in Palestine since biblical times on inherited or legally purchased land.⁶ But periodically, Islamic terror would erupt⁷ and jihadi expropriation of Jewish real estate took place.⁸

From the 1500s up until World War I, the entire Middle East was ruled by the Ottoman Turkish Empire, a type of Muslim caliphate. No autonomous Arab state was on the map; most Arabs belonged to nomadic tribes wandering all over the Middle East.^c At the same time, hundreds of thousands of Jews also lived in the region under Ottoman rule. According to a census taken in 1882, approximately 25,000 of them lived in Palestine, along with 260,000 Arabs.⁹ As tourists and pilgrims testified, Palestine was by then mostly desolate and depopulated,¹⁰ a far cry from the land of milk and honey it had once been for millions of Jews.

Israel is not so much in a fight for land as for her life - and that changes everything.

By the early 1900s, Palestinian Arab identity was said to be extremely mixed.¹¹ Persons counted as indigenous Palestinian Arabs included ethnic Balkans, Greeks, Syrians, Latins, Turks, Armenians, Italians, Persians, Kurds, Germans, Afghans, Circassians, Bosnians, Sudanese, Samaritans, Algerians, Tartars and others.¹² An official British document published in 1920 stated the majority of people living in Palestine were not indigenous Arabs but only Arabic-speaking.¹³

When Zionist pioneers began arriving in the early twentieth century, the number of Arabs immigrating to Palestine also sharply increased. With Jews from the West came new job opportunities, vastly improved medical care and a higher standard of living, all of which attracted their tribal neighbors.¹⁴ Once inside Israel, most Arab immigrants continued living as bedouin, built simple villages or served for decades as tenants on farmlands owned by others. Later, countless more poured in from surrounding countries - not to carry on normal lives but to fight the formation of a Jewish state.¹⁵ Together with the small indigenous Arab population, these individuals and their descendants comprise the Palestinian people of today.

Palestinians are not, as some have rather unkindly said, “an invented people". They are flesh-and-blood human beings created in God’s image, with inherent dignity and worth. Though most of their ancestors came from across the Middle East and even beyond, they did form an identifiable collective by the mid-twentieth century. Palestinians are not the first people group formed by the force of history. They are, however, the only modern group whose creation and self-definition, as one Palestinian journalist writes,¹⁶ rests largely on the planned elimination of another, namely Israel - or as they prefer to call her, “the Zionist entity."

Zionism and the Reestablishment of a Jewish State

Zionism is defined, in a broad secular sense, as the national liberation movement of the Jewish people. The Zionist movement contends that the Jewish nation, like every other indigenous people, is entitled to live autonomously in its ancestral homeland. As such, Zionism cannot be viewed as something separate from the Jewish people and nation-state. To be anti-Zionist is akin to being anti-Israel and, to a degree, anti-Jewish.

Zionism is not and has never been entirely secular; a strong religious element has always underlain it.^d Officially launched in 1896, modern-day Zionism involves the return of the Jewish people to their God-given ancestral homeland.^e The name of the movement derives from the Bible, where Zion is used over 150 times. “You will arise and have compassion on Zion; for it is time to show favour to her; the appointed time has come…For the LORD will rebuild Zion and appear in his glory” (Psalm 102:13, 16). Zionism precipitates His Kingdom glory.

Palestinians are not the first people group formed by the force of history. They are, however, the only modern group whose creation and self-definition rests largely on the planned elimination of another, namely Israel.

In rebuilding Zion, Sovereign God has worked through nations and human beings. The modern story starts with World War I, when the Ottoman Turks aligned with Axis nations, and collectively they lost the war. As a result, the Allies dismantled the Ottoman Empire and created Syria, Lebanon, Iran and Iraq for the Arabs and Persians to inhabit.^f In an international agreement known as the San Remo Resolution of 1920, they set Palestine aside for the Jews.^g Great Britain was made responsible for implementing the resolution by unanimous vote of the League of Nations, predecessor organisation to the UN. The League of Nations directive, called the Mandate for Palestine, reserved explicitly for the Jews not just present-day Israel, but all of Judea, Samaria, Gaza and Jordan.¹⁷

The Mandate for Palestine was scarcely issued when Palestinian Arabs began rioting and conducting terror operations in protest of it. The deadly terror had nothing to do with occupation, settlements or allegedly disproportionate military force. From the beginning, Islamic terror had everything to do with opposing the existence of a Jewish state.

In an effort to appease Palestinian Arabs - and although international law forbade such an action^h - Great Britain unilaterally took back 78 percent of the land allotted to the Jews. She then gave it to Palestinian Arabs—specifically to create a Palestinian state. Today that state is known as Jordan. Palestinian Arabs were expected to move to Jordan, and any Jews living in Jordan would relocate to the 22 percent of land remaining from the San Remo and Mandatory allotments. A smaller section of land in the Golan Heights, originally designated for the Jews, was also given away by Britain to Syria. But appeasement did not work - which we would do well to remember. Those who forget history, it is said, are doomed to repeat it. The acts we engage in for appeasement today, Britain’s Winston Churchill presciently forewarned, we will have to remedy at far greater cost and remorse tomorrow.¹⁸

Not surprisingly, after Jordan was established, Palestinian rioting and terror killings of Jews persisted.ⁱ An exasperated Great Britain finally turned the political foray over to the UN (when the League of Nations failed to prevent World War II, the UN was formed to replace it). The UN’s charter required that it adopt all laws and resolutions passed by the League of Nations. So when it inherited the Mandate for Palestine, the UN became responsible for creating a Jewish state.

As you can see, plans for the reestablishment of Israel were underway well before the onset of World War II. Israel’s right to exist by international law is not fundamentally based on the Nazi Holocaust, as compelling a cause as that is from a humanitarian point of view. Certainly, the Holocaust demonstrated the need for a Jewish state to protect Jewish lives. But if we believe Israel’s right to exist is rooted in a compassionate response to the Holocaust, when that compassion wears off, so will our belief that Israel has a right to exist. Israel’s fundamental right to exist under international law rests on the recognition of the Jews’ ancestral, sovereign control over identifiable land that, since their forced removal from it, remained sparsely occupied and mostly undeveloped.

Israel’s right to exist by international law is not fundamentally based on the Nazi Holocaust, as compelling a cause as that is from a humanitarian point of view.

Notwithstanding Israel’s historical and legal right to the land, and dismissing international commitments to the Jews, the UN continued with a policy of Arab appeasement. In 1947, it partitioned the remaining 22 percent of the original Mandate for a Jewish homeland into two proposed states: one for Jews and yet another, second state for Palestinian Arabs. The Partition Plan, also called UN Resolution 181, recognized the Jews’ right to sovereign control over a sliver of space amounting to a mere 10 percent of the original British Mandate. It offered the Arabs who lived within Mandate territory a state - in addition to Jordan - consisting of Judea, Samaria and Gaza.

Zionist pioneers felt it best to accept the UN’s offer. Ten percent of the Promised Land after nearly two thousand years was better than zero. Moreover, they had no political clout or practical means with which to resist whatever the world community told them to do. The Arabs, however, thoroughly rejected the Partition Plan, which legally voided the offer to them. Ninety percent of the land, they insisted, was not enough. They wanted it all - an empire spanning the entire Middle East, leaving no place on earth for the Jews. They mobilised for a war against Israel they felt certain they would win. The world wondered, much as it does today. Will Israel survive?

Israel's Rebirth—Into War

Israel did not want the War of Independence to occur and tried extremely hard to prevent it.¹⁹ When her every effort toward peace was rebuffed, Ben-Gurion extended a final appeal to the Arabs in his Declaration of Independence speech:

We yet call upon the Arab inhabitants of the State of Israel to preserve the ways of peace and play their part in the development of the State, on the basis of full and equal citizenship and due representation in all its bodies and institutions…We extend our hand in peace and neighborliness to all the neighboring states and their peoples, and invite them to co-operate with the independent Jewish nation for the common good of all.²⁰

The same invitation had been offered daily for weeks.^j British Mandate authorities who were stationed on the ground testified: “Every effort is being made by the Jews to persuade the Arab populace to stay and carry on with their normal lives…and to be assured that their lives and interests will be safe.”²¹ Most, however, chose to flee, creating a local refugee crisis that would upend history. A Palestinian priest who watched the events unfold stated, “[The Arabs] fled in spite of the fact the Jewish authorities guaranteed their safety and rights as citizens of Israel.”²²

Arab-Nazi Alliance

Why did so many Palestinians run from their homes and livelihoods? An overlooked historical fact is perhaps one of the most pivotal and still fuels the conflict today. An unshakeable Islamic/Arab-Nazi alliance predated World War II, and as a result of it, many Arabs vehemently despised and feared the Jews.

Early in his career, Hitler formed a pact with Jerusalem’s grand mufti, Haj Amin al-Husseini. The notoriously anti-Semitic mufti held religious and political sway over Muslims throughout Palestine and the larger Middle East. He and Hitler schemed together to annihilate the Jewish people worldwide. The fuehrer would focus on Europe and the extraordinarily influential mufti would target Palestine’s growing Jewish population.²³

An unshakeable Islamic/Arab-Nazi alliance predated World War II, and as a result of it, many Arabs vehemently despised and feared the Jews.

Building on fundamental Islam’s anti-Jewish ideology, Husseini mobilized an Arab militia, which served as a formal Nazi brigade. Supplied with German weaponry, the brigade murdered Palestinian Jews in acts of heinous terror throughout World War II.²⁴ To keep the violence going, Husseini saturated the Middle East with lies about the Zionists via propaganda broadcasts radioed in from Berlin.^k So after the Holocaust ended in Europe, he and other Arab leaders hoped to immediately start another.

Creating a Refugee Crisis

When, to their profound dismay, Israel declared statehood, Palestinian Arabs panicked. An estimated 600,000 to 700,000 fled.^{25 l} Approximately 150,000 to 160,000 chose to remain inside the Jewish state.²⁶ Today, they and their descendants enjoy full democratic rights of Israeli citizenship, including a standard of living much higher than that of their brethren anywhere else in North Africa or the Middle East.

Under the influence of Muslim/Nazi anti-Semitism, the majority of Arabs who left their homes did so because their leaders told them to. Evacuations were ordered to make way for approaching armies that would quickly destroy the Jewish state.^m Arab leaders boasted that lsrael would be “driven into the [Mediterranean] sea" within a few days. Accordingly, the Higher Arab Executive gave Palestinians a choice: Quit and run, or accept Jewish protection and be regarded as a renegade in the Arab world that would imminently take over. The Arab National Committee in Jerusalem ordered its constituency out of their homes, adding “Any opposition to this order…is an obstacle to the holy war…and will hamper the operations of the fighters in these districts.”²⁷

The Arab Legion and Arab Liberation Army directed whole-sale civilian flight form entire villages. Leaders like Iraqi prime minister Nuri Said warned, “We will smash the country with our guns and obliterate every place the Jews seek shelter. The Arabs should conduct their wives and children to safe areas until the fighting has died down.”²⁸ To ensure compliance, some leaders planted rumours of Israeli terror operations and non-existent atrocities.^{29 n} Shortly after the war – which to their deep humiliation they did not win – Arab leaders freely admitted to having created the refugee crisis.^o Mahmoud Abbas,^p who would later serve as president of the PA, confessed:

The Arab armies entered Palestine to protect the Palestinians from the Zionist tyranny, but instead they abandoned them, forced them to emigrate and leave their homeland, and threw them into prisons similar to the ghettos in which the Jews used to live.³⁰

Next week: Part II concludes the chapter, looking in more depth at the refugee crisis (including claims of Israeli atrocities) and the attempts at peace settlements since.

About the author: Sandra Teplinsky is a Messianic Jew who lives in Jerusalem and teaches about Israel. With her husband, Sandra runs a ministry called Light of Zion. Find out more about the book 'Why Still Care About Israel?' on its website.

References

Letters a-p refer to notes on this page.

1 The Peace Encyclopedia: Palestine, 2002.

2 Charly Wegman, “Friday May 14, 1948: Israel’s Debut”, Agence France Presse-English, 1998; Benny Morris, 1948: A History of the First Arab-Israeli War (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2008), 178-79.

3 Golda Meir, My Life (London: Futura Publications, 1989), 186.

4 Mark Lacqueur, “The Struggle for a Jewish State,” The Palestine-Israel Journal.

5 Palestine Post [predecessor to the Jerusalem Post], May 16, 1948.

6 Jewish Virtual Library, “Demography of Palestine & Israel, the West Bank and Gaza”.

7 Peters, From Time Immemorial, 392.

8 Benzion Dinur, “From the Conquest of the Land of Israel by the Arabs to the Crusades”, Israel in the Diaspora, Vol. 1 (Tel Aviv: Dvir, 1960), 27-30, as cited in Netanyahu, A Durable Peace, 27.

9 Howard M. Sachar, A History of Israel from the Rise of Zionism to Our Time, 2nd ed. (New York: Knopf, 1996), 24, 167.

10 Michael Rydelnik, Understanding the Arab-Israeli Conflict: What the Head-Lines Haven’t Told You (Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2004), 58-59. Israel consisted mostly of swampland, desert and barren wasteland due to the Ottoman policy of denuding forests through the centuries. Peters, From Time Immemorial, 221-68.

11 Peters, From Time Immemorial, 156-7, citing Jacob de Haas, History of Palestine (New York: Macmillan, 1934), 145, 258.

12 Peters, From Time Immemorial, 155-56, citing The Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1911 ed. While some of Peters’ research is disputed, it has also been recently corroborated.

13 Peters, From Time Immemorial, 157.

14 Peters, From Time Immemorial, 223, 396; Shimon Apisdorf, Judaism in a Nutshell: Israel (Pikesville, Md.: Leviathan Press, 2003), 62-64; see generally Walter Lowdermilk, Palestine: Land of Promise (London: Victor Gollancz Ltd., 1944).

15 Netanyahu, A Durable Peace, 84.

16 Ray Hanania, “The Wandering Palestinians”, Jerusalem Post, December 20, 2011.

17 See Howard Grief, The Legal Foundations and Borders of Israel Under International Law (Jerusalem: Mazo Publishers, 2008); Martin Gilbert, The Arab-Israeli Conflict: Its History in Maps (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1974), 10-11.

18 As quoted in Peters, From Time Immemorial, 412.

19 Efraim Karsh, Palestine Betrayed (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2010), 21-38.

20 The New Palestine 38, no. 18 (May 18, 1948): 1.

21 British Superintendent of Police Memo, Haifa, April 26, 1948, as quoted in Samuel Katz, Battleground: Fact and Fantasy in Palestine (New York: Bantam Books, 1973), 19.

22 Monsignor George Hakim, Greek Catholic Bishop of Galilee, New York Herald Tribune, June 30, 1949.

23 Wistrich, A Lethal Obsession, 662-683, referencing Joseph Schechtman, Mufti and the Feuhrer (Loneon: Thomas Yoseloff Publishers, 1965), 139ff., 147-52; Karsh, Palestine Betrayed, 16-20, 30, 62-63.

24 Karsh, Palestine Betrayed, 62-63.

25 Peters, From Time Immemorial, 16; Benny Morris, The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited (Cambridge, Mass.; Cambridge University Press, 2004), 603-04; Karsh, Palestine Betrayed, 264-272, see also 8-15.

26 See for example Morris, Palestinian Refugee Problem, 588-89; Gilbert, The Arab Israeli Conflict, 57.

27 As reported in Middle Eastern Studies, January 1986, cited in Mitchell G. Bard, “The Palestinian Refugees,” Jewish Virtual Library, accessed April 30, 2013.

28 Myron Kaufman, The Coming Destruction of Israel (New York: American Library, 1970), 26-27, cited in Bard, “The Palestinian Refugees”; Iraqi prime minister Nimr el-Hawari, Sir Am Nakbah (Nazareth, Israel: 1952), as cited in “Refugees Forever?,” International Jerusalem Post, February 21, 2003, special supplement.

29 Karsh, Betrayed, 241-42.

30 Reported in Falastin a-Thaura, March 1973, as cited by Mitchell G. Bard, “The Refugees”. Myths and Facts Online, Jewish Virtual Library, accessed April 30, 2013.

Conclusions (Pt 1 of 2): is the charismatic movement a move of God?

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

A Move of God?

Having reached this point in the review of the development of the charismatic movement we may return to the question posed much earlier in the series: is the charismatic movement a move of God? Was it initiated by the Lord Jesus? Despite all the strange aberrations we have noted, I would still want to affirm very positively its divine origins. I could not deny the work of the Holy Spirit in my own life or in the many hundreds of churches of which I have personal experience.

Through what we call the charismatic movement, the Holy Spirit has brought new life, joy, liberty and a more intimate personal relationship with the Lord Jesus and the Father into the lives of millions of believers. This has to be the work of God. It is certainly not anything that satan would want to do.

The fact that the charismatic movement had no clear-cut beginning causes me to doubt that God has moved in a series of 'waves' at different points during the 20^th Century. I see a continuous process in the work of the Holy Spirit throughout the century. On the first day of 1900, Charles Parnham's students began speaking in tongues, this was followed in 1906 by the stirring events in Azusa Street resulting in the formation of Pentecostal assemblies.

The fact that the charismatic movement had no clear-cut beginning causes me to doubt that God has moved in a series of 'waves' at different points during the 20^th Century.

Gradually throughout the century the recognition of the presence and power of the Holy Spirit has spread across the world. This has brought spiritual awakening in lands where the Gospel had never previously been heard, with vast numbers of new-born believers. It has also brought spiritual renewal in nations that had had the Gospel for centuries and where the Church had become largely inactive due to the onslaught of secularisation.

It was clearly God's intention to reap a mighty harvest during this century in lands which had never before been reached by the Gospel and it was also clearly his intention to renew the flagging belief and spiritual power of the Church where institutionalism and traditionalism had sapped its strength. What we see as fresh 'waves' of the Spirit have in fact been part of the on-going work of the Spirit of God working out his purposes and preparing a great company of believers to withstand the stormy days that lie ahead.

Using Human Strength

The great failing of the charismatic movement has not been in a lack of enthusiasm but in taking over the work of God and trying to do that work in our own strength. It is recorded that Frank Bartlemann, the Azusa Street leader, said that within a few years of the 1906 experience the flesh had taken over from the Spirit. This is really what also happened to the charismatic movement in the latter part of the 20^th Century. Paul's warning to the church in Galatia needs to be heeded today, “After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?” (Gal 3:3).

There are many indications that we have done something similar to the offence caused by Aaron's sons, Nadab and Abihu, who put unauthorised fire ('strange fire' AV) in their censers which they then offered before the Lord with disastrous results (Lev 10:1). When we do such things we are showing a lack of trust in the Lord. We are trying to force the pace and direct the work of God.

Once we begin to move in the flesh and not under the direction and in the power of the Holy Spirit, we open the door to all kinds of alien influences as well as to the things of the flesh such as pride and arrogance. When we take over the work of God we are, in fact, rebelling against him and we grieve the Holy Spirit. Isaiah 63:10 speaks of the terrible consequences of such action, “In his love and mercy he redeemed them...Yet they rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit. So he turned and became their enemy and he himself fought against them.”

This needs to be taken as a serious warning by all who are part of the charismatic movement. If we seriously step outside the will of the Lord he is against us, not for us. It is essential that we should understand both the will of God and his ways because all the evidence points to the fact that the world is moving closer and closer into days of international turmoil and conflict. The moral and spiritual plight of the nations, especially in the West, is desperate.

If we seriously step outside the will of the Lord he is against us, not for us.

But God is actually using this social situation to prepare the way for the Gospel. Never has there been a greater need for the Word of God to be clearly heard among the nations. Never has there been a greater need for the establishment of biblical principles as the guidelines for healthy living, both for individuals and at a corporate level. Yet the influence of the Church in the western nations has never been so weak.

In Britain the Church is under continuous attack from the media who delight to scorn the Gospel and seize every opportunity to mock the faith. The Church of England, as the established Church, holds a unique position which is rapidly being eroded by unbelief and by spiritual and moral corruption from within.

It was obvious to all those who were aware of the tactics of the enemy that as soon as the issue of women priests was over, the next battle would be over the acceptance of homosexual priests, both men and women. When that battle is over the way will be prepared for the ultimate onslaught on biblical belief from the multi-faith lobby.

Battle for the Bible

As Peter Fenwick has rightly said earlier in this series, the real battle today is a battle for the Bible; it is a battle for the soul of Britain. Alongside the battle within the Church and the attacks of a secular media, there is the growing power of Islam. The Muslims are determined to make Britain the first Islamic state in Europe. By the mid-1990s, they had been planting mosques in all the towns and cities of Britain at the rate of one per month for a decade.

During the 1990s Britain celebrated the 50^th anniversary of the Battle of Britain and the war in Europe. That was a battle for physical survival. The battle today is for spiritual survival. The Holy Spirit whom God began to pour out upon all believers on the Day of Pentecost is still active in the world today. As the battle against the enemies of the Gospel intensifies there is a new urgency that the Church should recognise the nature of the battle and understand the reasons why Jesus, shortly before his ascension, told the disciples, “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised...you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you” (Acts 1:4-8).

Jesus knew that without the power of the Holy Spirit his followers would not be able to withstand the attacks of the enemy. They had to learn not to rush out in human enthusiasm or to seek after exciting signs and wonders, but faithfully to be witnesses of the Lord Jesus, declaring the way of salvation to all those around them and trusting the Lord of the harvest to bring forth the fruit of the Spirit and enlarge his Kingdom until the Day of the Lord dawned.

Where Tomorrow?

We began this series by saying that the charismatic movement had reached a point beyond crisis and was already beginning to crumble. In Britain by the mid-1990s there was a significant number of ministers who had once exercised charismatic ministries but who later repudiated that term.

There were thousands of church members who left charismatic churches because they had been sickened by the behaviour of leaders who, under the influence of Toronto, each time they began to read Scripture or preach the Word became doubled up as with stomach cramp and fell to the ground in a helpless heap. They were sickened by being told that uncontrollable laughter, barking, roaring, mooing, crowing like a cockerel, shouting, screaming, vomiting, pogo dancing and shadow boxing were all signs of the activity of the Holy Spirit.

They remembered that these same leaders who encouraged these things were saying, only a few years ago, that such activities were clear evidence of the presence of demonic spirits and required deliverance. They had been saddened to see the Holy Spirit ridiculed in TV programmes and tabloid press reports by displays of bizarre activity. They had been dismayed to see the name of the Lord Jesus mocked in the media through the activities of some charismatics.

Jesus knew that without the power of the Holy Spirit his followers would not be able to withstand the attacks of the enemy.

There are those who, like the authors of this book, still hold fast to their belief in the charismata. They believe that the Holy Spirit is present and active among believers today as he was in the days of the early Church and that the gifts of the Spirit are available to all believers. They nevertheless believe that it is high time to ask some fundamental questions concerning our response to the work of the Spirit among us in the British charismatic movement.

If, as we believe, it was God's purpose to renew the Church and revive the nation, has that purpose been achieved? There is no evidence to suggest that the spiritual life of the whole Church has been revitalised and neither is there any evidence of moral or spiritual revival in the nation. Indeed, the moral and spiritual life of both Church and nation are infinitely worse. Scandals concerning adultery, homosexuality and child abuse are regularly revealed and that's only within the Church! In the nation all these things occur plus violence, murder and all kinds of corruption.

So what has gone wrong? The plain and simple answer is that we have turned our back upon the word of God. We have neglected to study the word, we have relegated it to a secondary place in the life of the Church and we have substituted experience, false prophecies, strange revelations, our own opinions and teachings. We have thereby abandoned the truth for the myths and fantasies and teachings of men.

Since 1990, we have been reaping the inevitable reward of the tares that have been sown among us. Although many people are still enjoying the exciting experiences of the latest waves of charismatic chaos, I believe the outlook for the future of the charismatic movement is bleak; the writing is already upon the wall.

1990: A Turning Point

I believe future Church historians will see 1990 as the major turning point in the apostatising of the charismatic movement. This was the time when all the strange, unbiblical teachings which had been current among Pentecostal/charismatics since the Latter Rain Revival of the 1940s were gathered into a complete package and swallowed uncritically by the Church in Britain.

Foremost in the body of this teaching was the expectation of a great revival brought about by signs and wonders. There is no scriptural foundation for such a belief. Indeed, Jesus did not use signs and wonders to astound the crowds and draw them into Kingdom. Quite the reverse, he instructed people whom he had healed to keep quiet about it, not to 'noise it abroad'.

God's purpose to renew the Church and revive the nation has not been achieved because we have turned our backs on the word of God.

The New Testament teaches that signs and wonders follow the preaching of the Word, but once we start making the miraculous the chief object of desire - once we start running after signs and wonders - we take the focus away from the centrality of the word of God and the glorifying of the Lord Jesus.

A major problem for us in the West has been the amazing growth of the Church in the poor, non-industrialised nations of the world. In these days of easy travel and rapid communications, many church leaders have been to the poorer nations and seen at first-hand what is happening. They have returned with accounts of multitudes being saved at great open-air meetings with amazing miracles - the blind seeing, the deaf hearing, the lame walking and even the dead being raised.

I myself have seen evidence of all these things in my preaching travels across Africa, China, South East Asia and other parts of the world. I too have brought these stories back and used them to make Westerners jealous by saying that the same things could and should be happening here. These stories have fuelled the longing for revival.

What has happened in Britain has also happened in other Western nations; the deep desire for revival has caused us to run ahead of the timing of the Lord. God has been telling us for many years that he is 'shaking the nations' and that his purpose is to turn the hearts of men and women away from their trust in material things, which is idolatry, to seeking first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness.

In the highly secularised, materialistic Western industrialised nations, our whole culture revolves around the acquisition of wealth and the accumulation of material possessions. These things largely determine our position in society and they therefore have a far greater influence upon our values and our minds etc than most of us realise. It is almost impossible to divorce ourselves from the culture of the society in which we live.

A Culture of Idolatry

There is no place in our culture for the God of the Bible; the God who demands our total loyalty and our absolute trust. Western culture is a culture of idolatry and we are adherents, willingly or unwillingly, of that culture. There will be no revival until that idolatrous mindset is broken in the servants of God.

That is why revivals and great spiritual awakenings have always occurred among the poor and the underprivileged - from the days of the early Church to the impoverished nations of today. Soon after the Day of Pentecost, as revival swept through the city of Jerusalem, the rich and the powerful noted with scorn that the apostles were unlearned men, they “realised that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus” (Acts 4:13).

Western culture is a culture of idolatry: there is no place in it for the God of the Bible.

The same is true of those who came to Christ in the Wesleyan revival, of the blacks and poor whites who flocked to Azusa Street in 1906 and of the revival that swept through the Welsh mining communities in the same decade.

In the rich Western nations evangelicals have become obsessed with revival and the desire to reproduce what is happening in the poorer nations. What we fail to realise is the vast cultural difference. We cannot compensate for this simply by greater enthusiasm or by turning up the volume of our praise and worship, or even by more earnest intercession. Even confession, repentance, weeping and crying out to God at our meetings will not provide the quick-fix answer for which we are looking and which our quick-fix culture moulds our mindset to expect.

The Key to Revival

The key to revival is in Philippians 3:7-10 where Paul describes how he has renounced the world for the sake of knowing Christ Jesus as his Lord. He considers all worldly values as rubbish so that he may gain not the gifts of the Holy Spirit, or supernatural power to confound unbelievers, but simply that he may “gain Christ and be found in him”. He says, “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection.” In case anyone should interpret this to mean an exciting experience of having the power to raise the dead, Paul's next words should be noted! He adds, “and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death.”

The way to life is through death; death to self and the renunciation of the world. There is no other way for the Church in the Western nations to see revival. It may be part of God's plan to allow the Church in the rich industrial nations to die in order to raise a new and purified Church.

The great spiritual awakenings in the poorer nations are not being seen in the West because we are unwilling to meet the cost. We want the excitement of revival without paying the price of the pain and suffering and travail that goes with it. In the poorer nations the great spiritual awakenings are occurring because the Gospel of salvation is being preached, the good news that Christ died for our sins. Multitudes are being saved and the signs and wonders follow. This has been the pattern in past revivals.

But in the Western charismatic churches we are not motivated by the desire to save multitudes going to hell but to have the multitudes come and join us in the excitement of a spiritual spectacular! If they won't come and join us, then we'll have it on our own! Furthermore, if God won't do it for us, then we'll do it ourselves!

This is the tragedy of the Western charismatic movement. We are children of the world rather than the children of God. Our lifestyle is very little different from our unbelieving neighbours; our values are similar to theirs; we read the same newspapers, watch the same TV programmes, follow the same fashions in clothes, food and music; even our charismatic worship sometimes sounds more like a pop concert. We justify this by saying that it helps modern people to feel comfortable and at home in our midst; in other words, that they haven't had to leave the world in order to come into the Church! How different from New Testament teaching! How different from the teaching of the Reformers and the great revivalist preachers.

The great spiritual awakenings in the poorer nations are not being seen in the West because we are unwilling to meet the cost.

The Church in the poor non-industrialised nations is presently thriving and expanding rapidly but there is great danger of spiritual pollution from the West. In these days of worldwide travel and communications the materialistic values of the West may be easily transmitted, especially in the context of the Western nations' economic power and dominance.

Here is a parable. In the early 1980s a West African preacher of extraordinary gifting arose out of a background of grinding poverty. He had an anointed ministry of evangelism and began drawing crowds of up to half a million at his rallies. Thousands responded to the Gospel, giving their lives to Christ, and as they did so there were miraculous healings and many other signs and wonders which were reported in the secular press.

Soon some Westerners got to hear of his ministry and took him on a tour around the rich nations. They poured money into his lap. They taught him the 'prosperity gospel' by which they lived and convinced him that God wanted him rich as a sign to the poor Africans among whom he ministered. He built a great church building; he also built himself a fine home and rode around in a chauffeur-driven Mercedes. He became a great man in his community but he lost his anointing. His ministry of evangelism disappeared.

Next week: Likely consequences if the true and full word of God is not restored to the charismatic movement. Our final article in the series.

Series Information

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

British delegation repents over shameful episode

A dark shadow of imminent war hangs over Israel’s 70^th anniversary celebrations, just as it had done at the nation’s re-birth in 1948.

President Trump’s withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran hastened the prospect of the rogue state taking out its frustration on Israel for striking its military installations in Syria.

In the latest incident (on Tuesday night), at least nine Iranian soldiers are reported to have been killed.¹ And in the early hours of Thursday, the IDF launched an unprecedented massive air strike destroying Iranian and Syrian targets in response to a barrage of rockets fired from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.

Britain’s Shameful Past

Also coinciding with what should have been a joyful birthday is an event recalling a very sad – indeed shameful – episode in Britain’s history.

At a special ceremony organised by Love Never Fails (an alliance of Christian groups supporting the Jewish state) and held today in Atlit, near the port of Haifa, Israelis spoke of how they suffered at the time and UK representatives responded with expressions of sorrow for our failures both then and now.

Granted a League of Nations mandate to prepare a safe homeland for Jews, we instead severely restricted immigration just when it was needed most during the Nazi genocide.

A dark shadow of imminent war hangs over Israel’s 70^th celebrations, just as it had done at the nation’s re-birth in 1948.

Atlit detention camp, Israel.And in the immediate aftermath of World War II, we shattered the hopes of traumatised survivors by turning their ships away or by herding them into detention camps. Some were even sent back to Germany where millions of their fellow Jews had been slaughtered.

Thousands of Jewish refugees were held in the Atlit Camp, interred behind barbed wire complete with watchtowers – and this in their own land, promised by Britain in 1917.

Declaration of Sorrow

As part of a prepared declaration of sorrow, the UK delegation told their Jewish friends: “We grieve that [Britain’s policies] led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Jews who could have escaped Hitler’s ‘Final Solution’ if the gates to their ancient homeland had been fully open.”

And they added: “We are deeply sorry that our nation caused indescribable distress to untold numbers of your people and their surviving families, and that as a nation we dared to stand against the purpose of Almighty God to restore you to Eretz [the land of] Israel.”

A particularly shocking incident – on 18 July 1947 – involved an attack by British forces on a ship carrying 4,515 Holocaust survivors, spraying fuel and throwing smoke bombs in order to deter the immigrants from landing.

In the aftermath of World War II, Britain shattered the hopes of traumatised survivors by turning their ships away or herding them into detention camps.

I have touched on this and many other aspects of Britain’s role with Israel in my new book, A Nation Reborn (Christian Publications International, 2018).

As Italian author Edda Fogarollo put it: “Quite apart from the suffering experienced by these exiles during the Nazi atrocities, they also had to face the humiliation of having hoped in vain for freedom as their dream turned into a nightmare. After seizing the ship, the British re-routed it back to Europe – to the former concentration camp of Poppendorf, near Hamburg, of all places!”²

Called to Comfort and Bless

One of our great callings as Gentile Christians is to bring comfort to God’s chosen people, who have experienced so much suffering at the hands of those who hate them, just as Jesus, the Jewish Messiah, was despised and rejected of men.

Like him, they were led like lambs to the slaughter during the Holocaust – and we too have blood on our hands, having played our part in causing them to suffer such terrible grief and horror. For that we must repent.

Yet out of the ashes – a valley of dry bones – rose a new nation reflecting something of the resurrection power of Christ. Surviving a series of wars against overwhelming odds to emerge as a world leader in hi-tech innovation and much else besides has been nothing short of miraculous. They are even first on the scene of major disasters to help other nations in distress while their doctors treat the wounded among their enemies.

And they have been so keen to live at peace with their neighbours that they have given up land to which they were legally entitled. But that hasn’t proved enough for Iran and its proxies, Hezbollah and Hamas, who have vowed to wipe Israel off the map.

However, God has not called us to join the UN-sponsored chorus of disapproval, but to “Comfort, comfort my people…” and tell them that “her sin has been paid for…” (Isa 40:1f).

Out of the ashes – a valley of dry bones – rose a new nation reflecting something of the resurrection power of Christ.

Not only must we bless and support them, but we are especially charged to tell them that their sins have been paid for – in other words, that the Lord Jesus, whom we Christians serve, also died for them. We have the awesome privilege of sharing the good news that our beloved Christ is their Messiah, who came to seek the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

Furious Battle

But a furious battle for truth rages on as belligerent rioters further inflame tensions on the Gaza border in the mistaken belief that they have been robbed of their land and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is forced to counter Iranian propaganda about their nuclear programme.

Citing intelligence reports, he said Iran had lied about never having pursued nuclear weapons and had continued to preserve and expand its knowledge of the same even after signing the 2015 deal with global powers designed to curb Iranian capabilities.³

The Bible clearly speaks of such deceit, thus: “Not a word from their mouth can be trusted; their heart is filled with malice. Their throat is an open grave; with their tongues they tell lies” (Ps 5:9).

All who desire to follow the truth – specifically manifested in Jesus Christ (John 14:6) – must surely see where the path leads.

References

1 Several Iranian soldiers killed in Israeli strike in Syria. World Israel News, 9 May 2018.

2 Towards the Establishment of the State of Israel, Christians for Israel.

3 JNN, 1 May 2018, quoting Reuters.

How the Kansas City Prophets impacted Britain.

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

Church Leaders’ Support

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Promises of Supernatural Power

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

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

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

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

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

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

Expectations of the End Times

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Non-Biblical Teaching

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

On to the Toronto Blessing

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Next week: Our penultimate instalment in this series.

References

1 Published in Renewal, October 1990.

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

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

4 See Prophecy Today Vol 1 No 3 July 1985.

Series Information

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

The Ashers Bakery case goes to the Supreme Court.

This week, the Supreme Court left its usual place in London and has been sitting in Belfast to hear a case that has fundamental significance for the future of free speech in Britain. The Ashers Bakery case dates back to 2014 when an LGBT activist ordered a cake from the bakery with a message in the icing stating "Support Gay Marriage".

The owners of the bakery, Daniel and Amy MacArthur, who are committed Christians, refused to do this on the ground that it was against their beliefs. The initial judgment found that they were guilty of ‘discrimination’ and this was affirmed by the Court of Appeal. The case has now gone to the Supreme Court, but the Northern Ireland Attorney General, John Larkin QC, has already expressed his own opinion that the Court of Appeal was wrong in their judgment.

The case has attracted an enormous amount of interest because of its significance for our cherished freedom of speech. The central question is whether the law can force someone to make a statement that they do not believe.

The Law vs. Freedom of Speech

Does the law have the power to force a Catholic to make a statement criticising the Pope? Does the law have the power to force a Muslim to make a statement that is insulting to Mohammed? Does the law have the power to force any citizen to make a statement that is directly against his or her personal convictions?

This is a question that, for Christians, goes back 2,000 years to the time of the Roman Emperor Domitian in the year AD 95 when all citizens were required, on a certain day, to go to the local shrine dedicated to the Emperor and say "Caesar is Lord".

The case has attracted an enormous amount of interest because of its significance for our cherished freedom of speech.

Emperor Domitian.The Apostle John was in exile on the island of Patmos when he had a remarkable spiritual experience on the very day, known as ‘Lord's day’ (Rev 1:10), when he knew that many of his Christian friends would be signing their own death warrants by refusing to make a statement which would deny the Lordship of Jesus.

For the MacArthurs, being forced to make a statement declaring support for homosexual marriage, which the Bible declares to be "detestable” to God (Lev 18:22) would be equivalent to denying their faith in the God of Creation and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It would be the modern equivalent of saying "Caesar is Lord" and denying the Lordship of Jesus.

Significance for Equality Law

But there are significant legal aspects as well as moral aspects to this case, which is no doubt the reason why the five judges are not expected to announce their decision before the autumn and it may even be delayed to the beginning of next year. Their judgment has profound significance for the future of the Equality Commission and the interpretation of equality law in Britain.

This case is creating panic, not only among LGBTQ+ supporters but across the whole left-wing postmodernist philosophical camp, which has been driving the movement for social change and social engineering in the nation since the 1960s.

Suddenly, there is fear gripping the far-left political elite that they have gone too far, too quickly. They have had enormous success in achieving their objectives since the publication of the Gay Manifesto in 1972 declaring the LGBTQ+ intention of destroying the ‘family’ as the central pillar in the Judeo-Christian structure of the nation.

The judgment will have profound significance for the future of the Equality Commission and the interpretation of equality law in Britain.

The Idol of Equality

They have succeeded, probably beyond their wildest dreams, in persuading the nation that the supreme ethical values in society are ‘equality’ and ‘tolerance’ – that all ethical judgments should be taken at the bar of ‘equality’.

Hence, postmodernists have even succeeded in changing the legal definition of marriage by framing it as an issue of ‘equality’. This worshipping of equality is a recycling of Marxism, which falsely assumes that enforced equality will lead to justice and a better world. Jordan Peterson rightly calls postmodernism the “new skin that the old Marxism now inhabits”.¹

Marxism was totally discredited through the fiasco of Communism last century, but it didn’t disappear entirely - later reappearing under the guise of postmodernism, trying yet again to force upon the population the flagship lie of ‘equality’.

But forcing a Christian baker to declare his support for gay marriage may prove to be a step too far which could cause the whole of their false edifice of society to collapse. It is like pulling out a single brick from the base of the Tower of Babel, sending a shockwave right through its structure that brings the whole lot down!

Enough is Enough

The central tragedy of recent history over the past half-century is that neither Church leaders nor politicians have understood the philosophy of postmodernism, with its objectives of destroying Judeo-Christian civilisation. The great question facing us now is: will there be a great awakening of common sense among ordinary people in the general public before it is too late?

The central tragedy of recent history is that neither Church leaders nor politicians have understood that postmodernism seeks to destroy Judeo-Christian civilisation.

Will ordinary people arise and say, "Enough is Enough! We do not want to be driven by Big Brother political correctness. We cherish our freedom of speech and we will not let our children be educated in schools that brainwash them in the false values of ‘equality and tolerance’ and ‘political correctness’.”

Is it too late to reclaim the nation from the clutches of those who wish to destroy Western civilisation?

To the Church of Sardis

The Apostle John had a message for the Christians in Sardis who were facing persecution by the Roman Empire. He warned "You have a reputation for being alive, but you are dead. Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die” (Rev 3:1-2). The alternative was that their names would be blotted out of the Book of Life.

The warning signs are there today for those who have eyes to see and ears to hear. If we do not wake up soon and challenge those who are driving the nation towards self-destruction, we and our children and grandchildren will perish in the forthcoming holocaust of social destruction.

That destruction has already begun, the evidence of which can be seen all around us, in the breakdown of the family and the consequent rise in crimes of violence, lawlessness and corruption. But this is only the beginning – unless we wake up!

References

1 Jordan B Peterson, Postmodernism and Cultural Marxism. Interview, The Epoch Times, 6 July 2017.

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

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

The Kansas City Prophets

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

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

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

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

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

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

Paul Cain and Bob Jones

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

1989-1990: Bringing Warnings

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Jones in Britain

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Turning Point

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

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

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

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

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

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

Apostles and Prophets

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

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

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

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

Power and Authority

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Change of Emphasis

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

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

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

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

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

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

References

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

2 Ibid, p16.

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

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

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

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

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

8 Ibid.

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

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

Series Information

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

Hungary’s populist victory and the disintegration of Europe.

The re-election of Viktor Orban in Hungary’s presidential election last week came as no surprise, but it has caused dismay in Brussels where there is a real fear that Orban’s trashing of the EU rules may spread to other states within the European Union. His campaign was built on fear-mongering and anti-immigration which gave his right-wing populist party a vastly increased majority.

Orban’s victory is a direct challenge to the core values of the European Union which, according to Christian Ultsch in the Austrian press,¹ has caused some to claim the EU is being “shaken to its foundations”.

Many Christians may be happy to see the secular humanist ‘core values’ of the EU being shaken and all those who respect the Christian values that have formed the foundation stones of Western nations will have some sympathy for Victor Orban’s endeavour to protect his country from a large influx of Muslims. He has seen the difficulties that have arisen in Germany following Angela Merkel’s opening the door to one million Muslims and within months some of them became involved in highly publicised terror attacks and sexual attacks upon women and girls.

In France the latest Islamist attack that has shaken the nation was the murder of Mireille Knoll, an 85-year-old Jewish woman and Holocaust survivor. She was stabbed 11 times before her body was set on fire in an anti-Semitic crime that brought 30,000 people onto the streets in protest.

Equality and Tolerance?

Those who uphold the politically correct EU core values of ‘equality’ and ‘tolerance’ believe that over a period of time integration will take place as people live together and accept one another as equals. But this secular humanist, atheist, Marxist dream of a tolerant society is utterly unachievable and simply reveals the ignorance of those who are the driving force behind the secularisation in Brussels that is seeking to remodel Europe.

They simply do not understand Islam, whose Qur’an specifically forbids Muslims to make friends with Jews and Christians: “O ye who have believed, do not choose Jews and Christians as friends; they are friends to each other; whoever makes friends of them is one of them” (Qur’an 5:51).

Those who uphold the EU values of ‘equality’ and ‘tolerance’ believe that over a period of time integration will take place as people accept one another as equals.

Integration is not on Islam’s agenda. Islam’s short-term objective is to rule Europe and the long-term intention is to dominate the world.

There is no compromise in Islam: which is why there is total deadlock between the Palestinians and the Israelis. The Palestinians do not want peace with Israel: their sole objective is the total destruction of Israel! In Britain we have seen the result of politically correct town councils and secular humanist social workers refusing to believe poor white girls being abused by gangs of immigrant men, so we can understand the widespread indignation in France where similar things are happening and Islamists are particularly targeting Jews.

Islamic Anti-Semitism Exposed

Protests in France against the murder of Holocaust survivor Mireille Knoll. See Photo Credits.

A letter signed by more than 300 French dignitaries (including former President Sarkozy) denouncing the new anti-Semitism in France has been published this week in a Parisian newspaper.² It calls attention to the alarming surge in Islamist radicalism that is driving a string of attacks upon Jews.

The French Jewish community of more than half a million - the largest in Europe - has seen a wave of emigration to Israel over the past 20 years at least partly driven by the virulent anti-Semitism of Muslim immigrants. The letter highlights the “quiet ethnic purging” that is taking place in working-class city neighbourhoods.

Against this backdrop, the rise of far-right populist parties is understandable. But it is not just the EU’s values that are being shaken. Orban’s victory in Hungary is linked with divisions that are destabilising the whole of Western society – it represents the rise of a new kind of nationalism that has its roots in racism.

Self-Destructing Society

It is strange how wherever you look in the Western world today, division and hatred are on the rise. It is as if our societies are tearing themselves apart from the inside out. While immigration into the West has imported a plethora of new prejudices, home-grown hatreds are also flourishing - at both ends of the political spectrum.

Wherever you look in the Western world today, division and hatred are on the rise.

In the USA, right-wing populism brought President Trump to power, but already his presidency has seen a rise in anti-black racism as well as a spike in anti-Semitism.

In Britain, the populist movement that brought about the Brexit vote has coincided with a rise in racist incidents. But the focus recently has been upon left-wing anti-Semitism in the Labour Party since Jeremy Corbyn became leader. In a meeting last week with representatives of Jewish communities Corbyn was challenged to do something to eradicate the racism that has become apparent in the Labour Party.

Behind the Division

What is it in human nature that drives people to hatred of other human beings?

The answer can only be that we have turned our backs on God. We have rejected the biblical values that have formed the foundation of Western democracy for centuries. Once we depart from these core values the cracks in the structures of society begin to show and it’s not long before all our social institutions, such as the family, begin to crumble.

In the absence of love, justice and unity that stems from God, humans soon turn to hatred. Barely one generation passed in Genesis before mankind turned to murder, brother against brother. The lesson of history is that rebellion breeds hatred and violence. Today, from end to end on the political spectrum, we see people trying to build a world without God – just like at the Tower of Babel. We cannot be surprised to see hatred and division on the rise as a result.

The Litmus Test

The litmus test of the health of a society is the poisonous presence of anti-Semitism, the “oldest of all hatreds”. Whereas other racisms regard hated groups as ‘inferior’ (e.g. anti-black racism), anti-Semitism strangely blames Jews for being ‘superior’ because of their achievements in finance, business, banking and the arts. Whereas all other racisms have definable roots, anti-Semitism transcends time, geography, politics and social class.

In the absence of love, justice and unity that stems from God, humans soon turn to hatred.

It also transcends religion. Islamic anti-Semitism is widespread around the world, stemming right back to Mohammed who turned on the Jews and viciously slaughtered them when they refused to accept his new religion. Christian anti-Semitism has flourished through the ages as Jews have been blamed for killing Jesus and punished for rejecting the Gospel, while Replacement Theology has been manufactured by the Church to write Jews out of God’s purposes altogether.

When people rebel against God and reject his word, this manifests most virulently in a spiritual hatred for the Jews as the covenant people of God, through whom he chose to reveal his nature and purposes to the world. But the Bible says that “The word of the Lord will go out from Jerusalem. He will judge between the nations and settle disputes for many peoples” (Isa 2:3-4). This has never been rescinded; and is still God’s intention to fulfil.

The cracks and divisions in our society today have one common root: rebellion against God. This is surely the major problem of our humanity that only the Gospel can cure.

References

1 Die Presse, Vienna, 9 April 2018.

2 Click here for the original letter (in French) or here for the translated page. Please also see this article from Jihad Watch.