compiled by Jason Guenther

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toronto_blessing

Toronto blessing

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.


The Toronto Blessing is a term coined by the British press to describe the "revival" and resulting phenomena that began in January of 1994 at Toronto Airport Vineyard Christian Fellowship, now known as Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship (TACF), a neocharismatic evangelical Christian church located in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. Participants in the conferences and meetings sponsored by TACF have reported healings, incidents of personal transformation and a greater awareness of God's love. It has also been referred to as "The Father's Blessing", "The Anointing", "The Awakening", "The River", "The Fire".

At TACF Revival services, worshippers have exhibited unusual behaviours that they attribute to an encounter with God and the “fire of the Holy Spirit”. The most common described behaviours include hysterical laughter (or “holy laughter”), physical spasms or jerks, falling to the floor under the Holy Spirit's power (aka “slain in the Spirit”) and speaking in tongues. Other less common behaviours include manifestations that resembled roaring like lions and barking like dogs. At one time the TACF website described it thus: “The Toronto Blessing is a transferable anointing. In its most visible form it overcomes worshippers with outbreaks of laughter, weeping, groaning, shaking, falling, 'drunkenness,' and even behaviours that have been described as a 'cross between a jungle and a farmyard.'"

TACF pastors John and Carol Arnott were initially inspired by the revival in Argentina. As a result of their spiritual hunger for revival in Canada, they invited Randy Clark of St. Louis, Missouri to minister at TACF in January of 1994. Randy Clark had been greatly impacted by the ministry of Rodney Howard-Browne, a South African preacher, founder of the Rodney Howard-Browne Evangelistic Association in Louisville, Kentucky, author of The Touch of God, and the earliest known proponent of the “holy laughter” revival phenomenon in modern times.

The Blessing has proved immensely popular and in recent years, many Christian travellers have come to the TACF to experience it for themselves. Some estimates are as high as 300,000 visitors. The experience is usually deeply affecting and people are often said to leave the services with a renewed zeal for their faith and an overwhelming desire to spread the message. Some visiting pastors have been so affected by the experience that they have taken the message back to their own flocks, sometimes radically transforming the way that services are conducted in their own churches. Areas that have become known for Toronto Blessing revivals worldwide include Pensacola, Florida and Bath, England.

Deep divisions have formed in the evangelical charismatic community over the validity of the Blessing. Many traditionalists believe that the Blessing is not “of God” and is, in fact, the work of Satan who is physically present during the proceedings, speaking through the pastors and manipulating entire congregations through his demons. They stress that the experiential nature of the services, the emphasis on “feeling the moment” rather than relying on the word of God as well as the similarities between the worship systems of the Blessing churches and pagan Wicca ceremonies and Kundalini practices is proof that the Blessing is a deliberate attempt by the Devil to distance believers from God’s true path.

The practice is hotly debated on the Internet and in Christian journals and programs with the doubters expressing fear that Satan has been given free reign to run unchecked through formerly Christian communities. The fact that it can seemingly overtake a whole congregation when the "fit" is on them, spreading almost virally from one person to the next adds urgency to their fears. Some leaders even liken the coming of the Toronto Blessing to a spiritual war, with the Devil gaining ever greater numbers of deceived swooning soldiers by the day.

Believers object just as strongly that it is a revival or renewal of God’s true church, where the Holy Spirit manifests in a way that is directly tangible to the participant. They maintain that it is the coming of a new era, where the new leaders will be raised to prominence and people will be drawn to connect to an experience that is truly Godly. God is ready to be present and alive in the world again, they claim, and the true believers are the ones who can feel his presence among them.

Neutral observers point out that this type of phenomenon is not at all new. Nor is the resistance to the movement by the average churchgoer who may be unfamiliar with religious experience per se. The ability of charismatic leaders to condition mass numbers of people through suggestion is a well-documented psychological phenomenon.

The perennial resistance to these experiences by conventional organized religion was summarized by Carl Jung in his observation that (organized) "Religion is a (psychological) defense against the religious experience".

The argument is that the Blessing churches use all the same techniques honed over the years by everyone from faith healers to "lounge act hypnotists": soothing speech, repetition (eg: songs with only one lyrical line sung for up to 40 minutes at a time), suggestion and granting permission to lessen inhibitions (eg: telling participants to just “let go” and “feel what God is trying to tell you”). They argue that participants know what to expect when attending a Blessing church and simply act out the programmed suggestions, or fall in line with the behaviours they see breaking out around them.

The peak of Toronto Blessing prominence in the Christian community occurred in the mid to late 1990s. Since that time it has faded from public view, although the proponents of Discernment Ministries would suggest that these kinds of events are simply part of a wider theological cycle that has existed continually throughout modern era Pentecostalism / Charismatism.

Studies at the University of Virginia have pointed out that "the beliefs of... the Toronto Blessing are aligned exactly with those of the Latter Rain revival", [1] which indicates that the phenomenon is not unique, but part of an ongoing and cyclical pattern.

In more recent times, the Golden Sword Prophecy from TACF has been spreading amongst Charismatic churches.

http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/96a-03.htm

The Toronto Phenomenon

-- 
by
Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum
Introduction

I have been asked, both verbally in public as well as in many letters, if I believe that the Toronto Phenomenon is truly a work of God. Frankly, that so many believers even need to ask this question shows how far the evangelical world has moved from the Word of God. How easily this departure has led to being "tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine." It has been my observation that over the last 10-15 years, more and more believers are becoming biblically illiterate; such illiteracy leads to seeking new spiritual experiences, no matter where they may come from, and to a lack of knowledge of Scripture to evaluate these experiences biblically. The church has, indeed, entered a sad state and one author's book, Christianity in Crisis, is very aptly named.
Is This a Charismatic vs. Non-Charismatic Issue?

I know that there are those who will read this editorial and, as a result, will cut off any and all support they have been giving to Ariel Ministries or Chafer Theological Seminary. In this sense, then, it is neither to my, Ariel's, nor CTS’s, advantage for me to write this article, and it would be more profitable either to stay neutral or to stay silent. But I would disobey my calling as a teacher of the Word, and would betray my gift of teaching, if I kept silent in the face of such a terrible deception and delusion being propounded upon the Christian world today.

Before dealing with the issue, I think another point must be clarified. When I receive criticism to my criticisms of the Toronto Phenomenon by its supporters, one common notion is that the only reason I must be opposed to it is because I am not "Spirit-filled," or "Pentecostal," or "Charismatic." True, I am neither Pentecostal or Charismatic in the way these terms have been defined, though I believe I am Spirit-filled in the way the Bible defines the term. However, I refuse to allow this to become a Charismatic/Pentecostal vs. non-Pentecostals/non-Charismatic issue. The fact is that this has divided far more Pentecostal/Charismatic churches than it has divided other kinds. I have in my possession a large file of criticisms of the Toronto Phenomenon. About half of the criticisms come from non-Charismatic/non-Pentecostal sources, but at least half if not more come from Pentecostal/Charismatic sources.

In fact, two acquaintances of mine who are Charismatic, and have been within the Charismatic movement for many years, have written to me stating that they had attended a Toronto-style meeting at a Southern California church, and the guest speaker was the pastor of the Toronto Vineyard. They pointed out that the many things they saw in these meetings--things that are now declared to be evidences of being Spirit-filled and divine supernatural acts from God--were in previous times considered demonic. And those doing these things, such as laughing uncontrollably or making animal sounds, would have been considered demonized; in fact, these two acquaintances formerly cast demons out of such people. What was once considered demonic has now become normative in certain circles.

Again, all of this shows that we are not dealing with the Pentecostal-Charismatic and/or non-Pentecostal/non-Charismatic issue. This is an issue which has divided the Pentecostal/Charismatic movement in and of itself. I want to make it clear that this is not an issue of difference between Pentecostal/Charismatics and non-Pentecostals/non-Charismatics, as the issue of tongues might be (even though that, too, may be questionable). Here, we deal with an issue that has divided the Pentecostal/Charismatic church itself more than any other group outside that circle. So, I refuse to allow anyone to excuse this with a simple wave of the hand and "You are only saying it because you are not Charismatic." The documented criticisms of the Toronto Phenomenon clearly falsify that kind of elementary dismissal.

As further evidence, while I was writing this very paper, the Association of Vineyard Fellowships, founded by John Wimber, expelled the Airport Vineyard Fellowship of Toronto from its association for "going over the edge" in encouraging people to "bark like dogs, swoon to the floor and laugh uncontrollably during services." So now this movement has even caused a split within the Vineyard Movement itself. While it is good to see that even the Vineyard Movement has a boundary they will not cross, their own criticisms of the phenomenon are based on a weak foundation. The Vineyard Movement has based their own teachings and doctrine largely on experience and not on the written Word of God. The question, then, is: On what grounds can the Vineyard Movement claim authenticity based on experience while the Toronto Phenomenon cannot? The Vineyard Fellowship itself is on very weak ground in their expulsion of the Toronto Vineyard. After all, this is only one group's experiences as over against another’s.

I have recently received reports from Jewish believers I know in Israel. The leader and founder of the Toronto Vineyard, who has been promoting this phenomenon, was invited by a group in Israel to come and promote this new phenomenon in Israel. He arrived on the same day as Yitzak Rabin was assassinated. Rather than doing the right thing and canceling the meetings, the promoters chose to continue as planned. That created a tragic contradictory scene. The whole country was literally in shock and in mourning for their slain leader. And here were a group of believers spending their time in uncontrollable laughter. Even if I allowed my experience to be a criteria for determining truth, this, alone, would have finalized in my mind the tragic error and ungodly origins of this phenomenon. It made some of my friends sick to have observed this. In my case, it made me sick only to hear about it. This should show how far away from the will of the Lord this whole experience is. But, again, the final criteria must be the Word of God.

The proper way of determining truth is to go to the Word of God first and not rely on other peoples' experiences. Furthermore, the Bible must be our final and only authority on all matters of both faith (what we believe) and practice (actions and experiences, etc.). Unfortunately, what has happened in recent years is that a new experience or phenomenon breaks out in some part of the church, and then people simply try to find verses to justify the activity rather than being willing to admit that the experience--no matter how wonderful or supernatural it felt--was simply not of God. A good example of this tactic is seen in some of the events surrounding the Toronto Phenomenon.
The Characteristics of the Toronto Phenomenon
Uncontrollable laughter

What are some of the characteristics of this Toronto Phenomenon? It includes uncontrollable laughter, referred to by its adherents as "holy laughter," which is often accompanied by falling backwards toward the ground. I have not seen where the laughter is, itself, defended by Scripture, but the falling back is often defended on the basis that when Jesus said, "I am," those who came to arrest him fell backward. They also make references to people like Daniel who, when faced with the presence of something supernatural, would fall to the ground. However, that is not quite in keeping with what is happening with the Toronto Phenomenon. For example, in terms of people who were truly in God's presence and were so overawed that they fell to the ground, they always fell forward and not backward. As for the Roman soldiers, that was not a blessing, but a judgment, and these were not believers, but unbelievers; barely a few hours later, these soldiers who fell backward were nailing Jesus to the cross. Clearly, they were not being blessed by any "slaying of the spirit" phenomenon.
Animal noises

Another characteristic of the Toronto Phenomenon is people making animal noises and acting like animals. The two most common such behaviors, so far, have been barking like a dog and roaring like a lion. In one case, it has been reported that someone was "swimming in the spirit" as he was lying on his belly and making like a fish. What scriptural justification do people make for this?

Some pull verses out of context that speak of God roaring like a lion. There are two problems with using verses of this nature: First of all, the Scriptures never say that God will make His own people roar like lions and act like animals; second, in those passages that view God as roaring like a lion, it is always in preparation for judgment, and not blessing. The roaring is against unbelievers. It is never said that He causes believers to roar like lions, or bark like dogs (I am beginning to wonder if someday in a mixed congregation of Jewish and Gentile believers, the Jews will be "mooing like cows" and the Gentiles will be "oinking like pigs"?). Another passage I have seen defenders use to try to justify the animal actions is Daniel four, where God made Nebuchadnezzar act like an ox. Here, again, this was not a blessing for Nebuchadnezzar, but a judgment on an unbeliever who saw himself as a god.

In other words, if you judge by way of Scripture, people acting like animals is not a sign of any divine blessing from God; on the contrary, if God is involved at all in such an event, it is a sign of judgment. The fact is that God is not involved at all. Satan is probably involved to a great measure (he, too, is symbolized by a lion in 1 Peter 5:8-9) and, for most people on the lay level who are involved, they have become self-deceived and deceived by false teachers and have become victims of mass hysteria and mesmerism.
Balaam’s donkey

The most relevant passage to all this is found in Numbers 22, where God made Balaam's donkey speak like a man. Now, this is a true work of God, something Toronto will never be able to duplicate.

That is pretty well the extent of the biblical evidence people have tried to use to defend the various practices, and anyone with even a small measure of biblical literacy should already be able to see through the fallacy of it all.
Proponents’ Comments

Most proponents defend the practice not on the basis of Scripture, but on the basis of their own experience. The most common evidence is that it makes them feel happy and joyful, though this does not take into account that any kind of emotional release of this nature will make one feel better. Even unbelievers can have this same experience. Furthermore, Satan would not be a very good deceiver if he made you feel bad, would he? Satan can give people joyful and happy experiences, and doing so would be in his best interest if that--rather than the Word of God--becomes the final authority for determining spiritual truth.

I read an article by a woman who had the experience of making animal sounds. She tried to defend the practice, and her conclusion was that God's intention is to strip His ministers and His people of "their dignity," just as Jesus was stripped of His dignity on the cross. It may be true that man stripped Jesus of His dignity on the cross, but that is hardly a base for deducing that God will strip His people of their dignity. On the contrary, God will certainly do what He must to strip people of their pride and humble them, but He will never strip them of their dignity in light of the fact that man still has the image of God in him. Another man wrote to me and said that what he sees is that God is now "taking back His church." How people making animal noises and uncontrolled laughter could possibly be construed as evidence that God "is taking back His church" is certainly a point beyond belief.

What should be noted, both in the woman's defense ("God is stripping His people of their dignity") and the man's ("God is taking back His church"), is that both are extremely subjective in their deductions. If you ask them a simple question: "On what basis do you say that this is what God is doing with all these animal sounds and actions?" they can only grow more subjective still. When I answered the man's letter, I pointed out to him that after defending all this with so many words, he never cited one Scripture to defend the practice. And that is the way it is with virtually all the defenders, who continually and dangerously prioritize experience over God's Word.
The Holy Scriptures:
The Only Authority to Validate Biblical and Spiritual Truth

Without going into any further detail about the phenomenon itself, we will apply the real biblical test to non-biblical experiences and those who make strange sounds.
Isaiah 8

Bind you up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples. . . . And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits and unto the wizards, that chirp and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? on behalf of the living should they seek unto the dead? To the law and to the testimony! If they speak not according to this word, surely there is no morning for them (Isa. 8:16, 19-20).

In this section of Isaiah, one of the motifs 1 of Isaiah is the contrast between the Remnant (Jews who believe) and the non-remnant (Jews who do not believe). In verse 16, one crucial difference between the two groups is the place that the Scriptures have in their lives. The law is the Law of Moses, and the testimony is the words of the Prophets. What distinguishes the Remnant is that they believe that which Moses and the Prophets declared: this is the foundation of their faith and this is also their authority. The non-remnant rejects the Scriptures as the final authority and seeks to make God more "real in their experience" by going towards idolatry and looking at gods and goddesses that they could see, feel, and touch, creating a more visual picture while they worship.

In verse 19, Isaiah issues a warning that they are not to go after counterfeit spirits and teachers "that chirp and that mutter." In other words, Isaiah is warning people not to pursue supernatural things that cause them to make the strange sounds of chirping and muttering. Put into the context of the Toronto Phenomenon, the warning would be: Do not pursue after those who will get you to make strange sounds, whether it is uncontrollable laughter and giggles, barking like a dog, roaring like a lion, etc. Why? For while these experiences might come from the supernatural, not all that comes out of the supernatural is of God, as verse 19 clearly shows. Indeed, those who went after those "that chirp and that mutter" could well come out with great testimonies of experiencing the supernatural and feeling joyful and great. But Isaiah would not accept any of that as valid testimony.

The only valid testimony is what he declares in verse 20: "To the law and to the testimony!" In other words, back to the Law and the Prophets, back to the Scriptures, as the only final authority. And the closing phrase should not be missed: "if they speak not according to this word, surely there is no morning for them." Isaiah makes it quite clear: Regardless of the supernatural experiences others may have, if it does not align with the written Word of God that was already present in Isaiah's day, there is simply no morning light for them.
Isaiah 29

Tarry ye and wonder; take your pleasure and be blind: they are drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink. For Jehovah has poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and has closed your eyes, the prophets; and your heads, the seers, has he covered. And all vision is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray you; and he says, I cannot, for it is sealed: and the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray you; and he says, I am not learned. And the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw nigh unto me, and with their mouth and with their lips do honor me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment of men which has been taught them; therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvelous work among this people, even a marvelous work and a wonder; and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid (Isa. 29:9-14).

Isaiah introduces his comments by prophesying how people will become spiritually blind and, therefore, will stagger in spiritual blindness (29:9). They will certainly stagger as if they were drunken, but not with alcohol. People have become spiritually blind and are groping in their spiritual darkness, having no spiritual sight to see. Isaiah points out that this has all happened because of divine judgment and is not merely accidental or coincidental (29:10). What has happened is that because they refused to follow Isaiah's earlier admonition (Isa. 8:20), they have now been confirmed in their spiritual darkness and, therefore, have fallen into a spiritual sleep so that now they have no capacity to understand the Prophets. As a result, all of the prophecies of Isaiah and the Prophets that came before him have become to the populace as "a book that is sealed" (29:11). When it is presented to someone who is learned, although he has had the capacity and training to understand these things, because he chose to pursue that which "chirp" and "mutter," even for the learned one, the book has become like a sealed book that he can no longer understand.

Insofar as understanding spiritual truth, he has become like the one who is not trained or learned (29:12), and the trained and learned one has the same incapacity and inability to understand the Word of God as the one who is untrained and unlearned. However, it is then made clear that outwardly these people appear both religious and spiritual (29:13). They do continue drawing unto God with their mouths and they do honor God with their lips, but their hearts are far away from God. What makes their hearts far away from God is that whatever fear they have of the Lord is based upon man-made commandments and traditions, rather than that which God Himself had said and taught in the Scriptures.
Isaiah and Toronto

Applying this to the Toronto Phenomenon, one defense I have heard many times is, "How could this not be of God when they focus so much on Jesus?" But how does one know that they focus so much on Jesus? It is based on what they say verbally as you constantly hear them saying, "Praise the Lord," or "Praise Jesus," or some similar-sounding phrase. It is constantly repeated and what the Bible-based observer must realize is that this is merely a formula, much like those who recite a mantra in eastern religions. There is nothing concrete there. Just verbalizing the name of Jesus over and over again does not, by itself, prove anything. In fact, it fits this verse quite well: "and with their mouth and with their lips 2 do honor me, but have removed their heart far from me" (Isaiah 29:13b). Their heart is far from God in reality for the same reason: they have learned to fear God on the basis of man-made experiences, rather than on the basis of the Word of God (20:13c). They follow man-made doctrines and repeat constant phrases someone trained them to repeat, believing that this constant repetition is what makes them spiritual. As a result, more time is spent seeking further experiences than on actual study of the Word of God in its own context.

The result is even a further judgment where both wisdom and understanding begin to perish (29:14). More and more, as people seek deeper and deeper experiences, they spend less and less time actually in the discipline of studying the Word of God, and they reach a point where they begin to lack total understanding in the Word of God. While they constantly do "God-talk" and "Jesus-speak," when they begin to deal with the real concrete details of the Word of God, they are at a total loss. My observations with many personal contacts of people who get involved in these things is that the more experiential they become, the less they understand of the Word of God. I have seen verse 14 verified many times over.

In Part 1 of this two part series, Dr. Fruchtenbaum pointed out that he is not dealing with a Pentecostal/Charismatic vs. Non-Pentecostal/non-Charismatic issue because the so-called Toronto Phenomenon causes division even within Pentecostal and Charismatic circles.

He then revealed two of the chief characteristics of the Toronto Phenomenon: uncontrollable laughter and animal noises. With that background, Arnold turned to Scripture. The heart of his discussion is "The Holy Scriptures: The Only Authority to Validate Biblical and Spiritual Truth." Part one concluded with insightful passages from the Old Testament, particularly Isaiah, that show how far the Toronto experience departs from God’s Word. He now turns to the New Testament.
The Book of Acts

The thing you find Scripture emphasizing is that the final authority must be the Scriptures, the written Word of God, and not anyone’s experience. Certainly, the Apostles could have related many of their experiences with Jesus in trying to defend their preaching about Jesus. One thing the Book of Acts keeps re-emphasizing is that Paul, Silas and the others always made their final authority the Word of God and not their own experiences, as incredible as those experiences were by God’s grace.

Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where was a synagogue of the Jews: and Paul, as his custom was, went in unto them, and for three Sabbath days reasoned with them from the scriptures, opening and alleging that it behooved the Christ to suffer, and to rise again from the dead; and that this Jesus, whom, said he, I proclaim unto you, is the Christ. And some of them were persuaded, and consorted with Paul and Silas; and of the devout Greeks a great multitude, and of the chief women not a few (Acts 17:1-4).

By and large, one does not find Paul using his personal experiences, especially his key experience on Damascus Road, as a tool for evangelizing. For Paul, the final authority had to be the Scriptures and not his own experience or testimony and, therefore, that was the focus of his evidence and that is what convinced so many. Those who came to believe (17:4) did not do so because of any signs and wonders they saw Paul perform, but rather because of how he expounded the written Scriptures and showed how Jesus fulfilled the necessary Scriptures.

The two times recorded where Paul does give his personal account as to how he became a believer on the road to Damascus is used as part of his defense when he is on trial. You do not find him using it in a situation in which his goal was evangelism. I want to make it clear that I am not opposed to personal testimonies and I do share my own testimony quite frequently. What I am saying is that my testimony can never be a final authority, nor can anyone else’s. Furthermore, people who have converted to other religions--be it Mormonism, Jehovah’s Witnesses or Christian Science--may also give powerful testimonies of how their lives have changed. That is why, here again, the final authority and criteria has to be the written Word of God. Testimonies, I believe, are primarily valuable for encouragement and edification of fellow believers, but they can never be the final evidence of the authenticity of one’s claims or beliefs.

Another example is Acts 18:28:

For he powerfully confuted the Jews, and that publicly, showing by the scriptures that Jesus was the Christ.

This speaks of Apollos and all that he had to say was also based on that which was written. The refutation of the unbelievers was not based upon signs and wonders, but on Scripture.

One more example may be found in Acts 28:23-24:

And when they had appointed him a day, they came to him into his lodging in great number; to whom he expounded the matter, testifying the kingdom of God, and persuading them concerning Jesus, both from the law of Moses and from the prophets, from morning till evening. And some believed the things which were spoken, and some disbelieved.

Here, again, what Paul used was not experience or signs and wonders. What he used was Scripture. His whole focus was on the Law and the Prophets, the written Scriptures of that day, to authenticate what he was teaching and preaching. The response was that some believed and some disbelieved, but those who did believe came to believe on the basis of the exposition of the written Word of God.
The Apostle Peter

Besides what we see in the Book of Acts, a good example where the focus was on the Scriptures and not on experience is what Peter says:

For we did not follow cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received from God the Father honor and glory, when there was borne such a voice to him by the Majestic Glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased: and this voice we ourselves heard borne out of heaven, when we were with him in the holy mount. And we have the word of prophecy made more sure; where unto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day-star arise in your hearts: knowing this first, that no prophecy of scripture is of private interpretation. For no prophecy ever came by the will of man: but men spoke from God, being moved by the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:16-21).

Peter describes his experience at the Transfiguration when he saw the brightness of the Shechinah Glory manifested through Christ and heard the voice out of heaven saying, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" (1:16-18). Indeed, Peter’s experience on the Mount of Transfiguration was one of the highlights in that period of his life when he was with Jesus as a disciple. As convincing as the Transfiguration experience might have been to Peter, he points out that a far more authoritative base for believing that Jesus was the Messiah (and that this was not "cunningly devised fables") is the Scriptures (1:19-21). Therefore, the written Scripture itself is what really made Peter’s faith "more sure."

Peter does not encourage his readers to focus on Peter’s experience on the Transfiguration, but rather on the Word of God. And it is the Scriptures, he says, that "ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a lamp shining in a dark place." What makes the Scriptures truly the final authority and the basis for "more sure" doctrine than experience is the fact that the Scriptures were not produced by the will of man, but are the product of the Holy Spirit who moved the writers to write exactly what he wanted them to record. Because the written Word of God is the ultimate product of the Holy Spirit the "word of prophecy 1 made more sure."

Neither Peter’s great experience at the Mount of Transfiguration, nor Paul’s great experience on the Damascus Road, ever became the final authority for the faith of either. The final issue for both men was the written Word of God.
What about Signs and Wonders?

The response of some is: Isn’t the manifestation of the supernatural the evidence that this is a work of God, even if it is not found in Scripture? And are not signs and wonders the evidence of the work of God, even if the specific signs and wonders are not found in Scripture? Here, again, the answer is a decisive "no," as the following two Scriptures again show. The first is Matthew 7:22-23:

Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy by your name, and by your name cast out demons, and by your name do many mighty works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

One should notice what these false teachers were able to do in the name of a counterfeit Jesus. Obviously, when they say they did it "in your name," it means that they did use the name of Jesus and probably used it quite frequently. No doubt, it was their so frequent use of Jesus’ name that deceived a great many. Furthermore, they were able to do three specific things: "prophesy" events which did come to pass; "cast out demons;" and, do "many mighty works," such as miracles of healing and other signs and wonders. Yet, "in that day," Jesus said to them: "I never knew you." Here, you have all the ingredients of some of the things that are happening in Toronto, Kansas City, and elsewhere. The name of Jesus is heavily used in almost ritual-mantra style, all kinds of signs and wonders are claimed to occur, and yet, by themselves, these things do not prove anything because Satan can duplicate these. Here, again, it is important to get back to the written Word of God as the final criteria, the final source of authority, and the final foundation for all matters of faith and practice.
The Beguiling Serpent

Another example of this same area is 2 Corinthians 11:3-4 and 13-15:

But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve in his craftiness, your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity and the purity that is toward Christ. For if he that comes preaches another Jesus, whom we did not preach, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye did not receive, or another gospel, which ye did not accept, ye do well to bear with him. . . . For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, fashioning themselves into apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for even Satan fashions himself into an angel of light. It is no great thing therefore if his ministers also fashion themselves as ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.

Paul emphasizes the fact that just as Satan was able to deceive Eve, even the believers of the Corinthian Church can also be deceived by Satan, perhaps not directly by Satan as Eve was, but certainly by Satan’s ministers (11:3). It should be kept in mind that the Corinthian Church was a church highly involved in sensationalism, signs and wonders, and the experiential. Because the Corinthian Church based so much about their lives on experience and the supernatural, that is what opened them up for deception by false teachers.

Paul labels three things by the word "another" (11:4): "another Jesus; another gospel; another spirit." The Greek, however, has two different words involved here, both of which mean "another," but they carry a slightly different shade of meaning. The first term means, "another of the same kind"; and, the second term means, "another of a different kind." If we are to render verse four a bit more literally from the Greek, it would read as follows:

For if he that comes preaches another Jesus of the same kind, whom we did not preach, or if ye receive another spirit of a different kind, which ye did not receive, or another gospel of a different kind, which ye did not accept, ye do well to avoid him.

What Paul says is that the gospel being presented is another gospel of a "different kind," and the source is another spirit of a "different kind." However, the Jesus being presented is another Jesus of the "same kind"; a Jesus that sounds like and seems like the Jesus of the New Testament, but is a carefully-disguised counterfeit.

It should be noted that the name being used to foster the work of deception is the name of Jesus. It is a counterfeit Jesus, but it is a carefully-disguised counterfeit so that one who does not judge by the Word of God is very easily deceived. Paul makes it clear that those who are propagating another Jesus are "false apostles" (11:13); however, that is not the way they appear because they fashion themselves to sound like, seem like, and act like real ministers of Christ. By so doing, they are reflecting their true lord, Satan, who is the angel of "this darkness" (Eph. 6:12) by fashioning himself to appear as "an angel of light" (11:14). Paul says that this should not be surprising for if Satan will fashion himself to appear as an angel of light, certainly his own ministers will fashion themselves to appear as ministers of righteousness; but, in the end, they will receive their judgment (11:15).

Again, Satan would not be very successful in his work of deception, especially with believers, if his ministers were clearly and without question "out in far left field." And to carry out the work of deception, they must certainly focus on the name of Jesus and not on some other name. Yet the mere usage of the name "Jesus," even in the context of words like "praise," "glory," etc., does not and should not authenticate anyone’s ministry. Here, again, our final authority must be the Scriptures and not experience, signs and wonders, unusual activities, or strange noises.
Seducing spirits

The strange phenomenon going on today, such as the Toronto Phenomenon, should not have surprised people who are truly into the Word, for in 1 Timothy 4:1, Paul declared:

But the Spirit says expressly, that in later times some shall fall away from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons.

There is, of course, biblical doctrine, but, here, Paul talks about the fact that Satan has his own system of doctrine--referred to as "doctrines of demons." Those who become enamored with "doctrines of demons" end up "giving heed to seducing spirits." What are these doctrines of demons? They are such doctrines that are coming out of Toronto and elsewhere, which find no basis in the written Word of God. They are based on teachers claiming to have received special, divine revelation from God that, therefore, must be accepted as new truth.

Those who involve themselves in such "doctrines of demons" end up being seduced by demonic spirits. Again, there are those who will come and defend these actions based upon how happy, good, or joyful they feel, assuming that such good feelings must be of the Lord. But all this shows is that they have, indeed, been seduced by demons. Again, Satan would not be very successful in his program of deception if his strategy was to make people feel bad. That is not going to attract much of an audience. What will attract an audience is people who can do things to make you feel good, even if the feeling is nothing more than an emotional release. Yet if the feeling can be ascribed to a supernatural work of God, the recipient has been deceived.
Biblical Boundaries

The Bible itself gives us a major admonition by which we must judge all that claims to be of the Lord: the written Word of God. In concluding this study, we will look at two key passages. The first is 1 Corinthians 4:6:

Now these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and Apollos for your sakes; that in us ye might learn not to go beyond the things which are written; that no one of you be puffed up for the one against the other.

Again, it should be emphasized that Paul says this to a church that had a strong tendency to move towards the sensational and the experiential. Chapters 12-14 make it clear that the Corinthian Church was by far the most Pentecostal/Charismatic of any church we have in the New Testament. They certainly emphasized the gifts of the Spirit in a way we do not read about in the other epistles to other churches. The focus on the experiential showed that they were not spiritual but carnal (1 Cor. 3:1-3). Paul must especially admonish a church of this nature "not to go beyond the things which are written." That which is written, of course, is the Holy Scriptures. For any new manifestation or phenomenon, they must go back and test it by the Word of God. The fact is that the laughing and animal noise phenomena are found nowhere in Scripture. It is something that goes beyond that which is written and must be rejected out of hand.

One does not need to take a plane trip to Toronto to "experience" whether or not something is of God. It is sufficient to know that it is not in Scripture; they have gone beyond that which is written and, therefore, it is already evident that these things are not of God. And what happens to those who go beyond that which is written? Paul declares that they become "puffed up for the one against the other." They develop a spiritual pride that is evident when they go around claiming to have a greater measure of the Holy Spirit than other believers. As a result, they divide all believers into two categories: those who have "it," and those who do not. I guess I am one who does not have "it." For that, I am glad, because the "it" is not found in Scripture. After observing and talking with so many who claim to have "it," I have not been provoked to jealousy to desire it in any way. I am quite content with the spirituality described in Scripture--striving to attain it, using the Word and nothing else.

There is one more Scripture that must be dealt with in this discussion, and that is 2 Timothy 3:12-4:4:

Yea, and all that would live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. But evil men and impostors shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. But you abide in the things which you have learned and have been assured of, knowing of whom you have learned them; and that from a babe you have known the sacred writings which are able to make you wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. Every scripture inspired of God is also profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction which is in righteousness; that the man of God may be complete, furnished completely unto every good work. I charge you in the sight of God, and of Christ Jesus, who shall judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be urgent in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure the sound doctrine; but, having itching ears, will heap to themselves teachers after their own lusts; and will turn away their ears from the truth, and turn aside unto fables.

Paul gives a simple message that is largely ignored by much of the modern movements today: that those who seek to live godly in this life will suffer persecution (3:12). In today’s prevalent preaching of "name it and claim it" and a "health and wealth" gospel, you do not find the preachers warning that those who really want to live spiritual, godly lives in accordance with Scripture will endure persecution. The truth is that it is not health and wealth that are a sign of divine favor or spirituality. Rather, it is being persecuted for the faith that is a sign of a truly godly person.

Paul, then, issues a warning that as time goes on there will be more and more false teachers, who are truly impostors and will go around deceiving others, many of whom will be deceived themselves (3:13). They may well believe that they are "God’s anointed" and keep repeating it to their critics, but the fact remains that they have become deceived themselves and, therefore, proceed to deceive others as well.

So what is it that will protect Timothy from being deceived by false teachers? Paul answers that question in 3:14-17. He encourages Timothy to continue in what he has learned (3:14) and he has been trained from childhood in "the sacred writings" (3:15). Notice that we see the same emphasis found in 1 Corinthians 4:6 here: the written Word of God, "the sacred writings."

There will be two things that will keep Timothy from being deceived: his knowledge of the sacred writings, and his continuing to "abide" in the sacred writings. The word "abide" has the basic meaning, "to make your home." He is to make his home in the sacred writings. His focus is not to be on personal experiences, no matter how supernatural they may be. As already seen in Matthew 7:22-23, his focus should not be on signs and wonders that can lead to deception as well, but he must abide in the written Word of God. What Peter said in 2 Peter 1:20-21, Paul says in 3:16: that the Scriptures are the inspired Word of God and, therefore, are profitable in all areas of life. And just how profitable are the written Scriptures? Paul answers that question, saying that the Scriptures make the man of God to be complete himself, while also making him "furnished completely unto every good work" (3:17).

What this verse teaches we must not miss. The Scriptures are sufficient to make one thoroughly complete. There is no need to try to receive some supernatural "zapping" from some spirit world. There is no need to spend money to travel to Toronto for someone to lay hands on you until you either fall into uncontrollable, unstoppable laughter or make animal sounds. The written Scriptures are able thoroughly to complete you and furnish you for every work that you need to do. You can become spiritual and mature in the faith through the Scriptures alone. However, this will take the discipline of studying the Word of God, spending hours, days, weeks, years of a lifetime to comprehend more and more of the Word of God. But in this technological age, people have become lazy and, therefore, seek the "instant breakfast" approach to spirituality, trying to find a "zapping" experience to get "it," and sometimes even feeling they have become a god themselves. By the authority of this passage, I can declare that such experiences will not lead to spirituality, but instead will lead them to being deceived and then continuing to deceive others as well.

Because Timothy is knowledgeable of the Scriptures, because the Scriptures are able thoroughly to furnish him for every good work, Paul then admonishes Timothy to go ahead and do the work of the ministry--reproving, rebuking, exhorting, and teaching (4:1-2). But this teaching is not done by any "word of knowledge," or divine revelation outside of Scripture; rather, this is done by the written Word of God as Paul already stated in 3:16.

Then, Paul again declares what will happen in the latter days and, unfortunately, what Paul described has, indeed, finally happened (4:3-4). Paul states that a day will come when believers will no longer be able to "endure the sound doctrine" (4:3). And what is "sound doctrine"? In contrast to the "doctrines of demons" (1 Tim. 4:1), which are doctrines based upon the experiential and the supernatural that go beyond that which is written, sound doctrine is that which is based upon and comes from "the sacred writings." Indeed, we are living in a day when the majority of believers in our churches simply cannot "endure sound doctrine."

Television, having helped render the unbelieving world’s minds mushy, has done the same thing for believers, as Christian television only imitates its secular counterpart. In place of expository teaching of the Word, there is Christian amusement and Christian talk shows that carry little if any doctrinal substance. A Charismatic speaker who causes people to become hysterical, or to act like animals, or to fall down, can fill up whole stadiums with thousands upon thousands of people, whom he eventually asks to empty their pockets for the offering. But one who comes to expound the Word of God to impart an understanding of the Scriptures and sound doctrine will draw a relatively tiny audience. Indeed, the time and day has arrived when men cannot "endure sound doctrine."

So how will they try to meet their spiritual needs? Paul goes on to explain that they "will heap to themselves teachers after their own lusts." In other words, they will pursue teachers who will tell them what they really want to hear (and being persecuted for godly living is not something believers want to hear). They will pursue teachers who will promise them supernatural experiences. They will pursue teachers who will promise them health and wealth by merely using a formula of naming-and-claiming it; teachers who promise materialism in a spiritually-wrapped package are the ones they will pursue. But they will strangely avoid having to sit through in-depth teaching of the Word of God. Indeed, that day has finally arrived.

Paul tells us the result of not enduring sound doctrine and pursuing false teachers (4:4): first, they will "turn away their ears from the truth," and, second, they will "turn aside unto fables." What are fables? Fables are, again, teachings and doctrines outside of Scripture. As we saw earlier, Peter said he did not follow "cunningly devised fables," because what he was teaching and preaching was based upon the written Word of God, inspired by the Holy Spirit. The reason Timothy will not be swept aside to follow fables is because he bases his entire life, teaching and ministry on "the sacred writings." Those who go beyond the things that are written will end up following after fables. Again, fables are teachings that we do not find in Scripture and, therefore, they either originate with man or with the demonic world and, thereby, become doctrines of demons. Fables are the false postulations of experiences and actions that are found nowhere in Scripture.
Conclusion

The Toronto Phenomenon is a fable because it goes beyond the things that are written. We must reject it because it is not based upon "the sacred writings" and, therefore, cannot pass the test of "sound doctrine."

On the basis of the written Word of God, I call upon all those who have been caught up in this phenomenon to let 2 Timothy 4:4 be rephrased in your life as follows: Turn away from the fables, and turn aside to the truth.

http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/laugh1.htm

Unholy Laughter
Dr. Cathy Burns


In a previous article we looked at the origins of the March for Jesus. In this paper we are going to examine one particular phenomenon which some of the founders of this march are involved in. The founders were Graham Kendrick, Lynn Green, Roger Forster, and Gerald Coates, and the phenomenon to which I am referring is the so-called "holy" laughter.



Roger Forster, who also heads Ichthus Fellowships, and Gerald Coates, who also leads the Pioneer network of charismatic churches in England, are two among many who have endorsed this movement.(1) Coates "noticed limited incidents of people laughing and crying uncontrollably, or falling on the floor as if overcome by God's power."(2) He also learned of other churches in which people were laughing and collapsing to the floor."(3) Charisma magazine reports:

"Without him referring to the phenomenon from the pulpit, the laughter broke out at his own church, Pioneer People, in southwest London. 'We saw it happening throughout the month of May,' said Coates, who also is a leader in the March for Jesus organization.

"According to Coates, congregations have been transformed since the movement began. In his own church there has been 'a new spirit' and a fresh generosity among members. Stories of changed lives pour into his office daily. 'It's a different church,' he said."(4) Coates adds: "This could be the biggest thing to hit the church in my lifetime."(5)

Such a report of "changed lives" may sound wonderful but we need to know more of the background of this phenomenon before we jump on the bandwagon.



Holy laughter, also known as the "Toronto Blessing," "a time of refreshing," "another Pentecost,"(6) and "laughing in the spirit"(7) is encircling the globe including places such as Argentina, Cambodia, China, Switzerland, Australia, Germany, New Zealand, Sweden, Britain, Canada, Ireland, United States, and South Africa.(8) The person who is most responsible for this phenomenon is Rodney Howard-Browne, a South African evangelist who was born in 1961.



In his book, The Touch of God, Howard-Browne describes an experience he had in 1979:

"Suddenly the fire of God fell on me. It started on my head and went right down to my feet. His power burned in my body and stayed like that for three whole days....

"My whole body was on fire from the top of my head to the soles of my feet. Out of my belly began to flow a river of living water. I began to laugh uncontrollably and then I began to weep and then speak with other tongues.

"I was so intoxicated on the wine of the Holy Ghost that I was literally beside myself. The fire of God was coursing through my whole being and it didn't quit....Because of that encounter with the Lord, my life was radically changed from that day on."(9)

In 1987, Howard-Browne "prophesied that God would send missionaries to America for revival, which he has defined as manifestations of 'supernatural signs and wonders.' "(10) In April 1989, while he was preaching, some unusual manifestations began to take place: "People began falling out of their seats; some were laughing and others were crying."(11)


Uncontrollable Laughter
By the Spring of 1993 Howard-Browne was attracting large crowds of people including individuals from Africa, Argentina, and Great Britain who were drawn to his meetings because of the unusual phenomenon of laughter taking place. Charisma magazine revealed: "No matter what Howard-Browne did or said, hundreds who attended the daily sessions always ended up on the sanctuary floor in helpless laughter. When the services were broadcast on the radio, more curious seekers showed up to join the fun."(12)



This laughter can break out during a communion service or even when serious sermons are preached. Rodney Howard-Browne reported: "One night I was preaching on hell, and laughter just hit the whole place. The more I told the people what hell was like, the more they laughed." "The Holy Ghost...might have you do something that no one's ever done before, and he might have you do something that's totally unique. But don't question, and don't argue, and don't ask, and don't try to devise and to plan it out but just follow the prompting of the leading of the Spirit of God and, oh, great and wonderful things shall be done, for God will move in diverse ways and with diverse anointings in these last days."



Obviously, laughing during a communion service or during a sermon on hell can hardly be called the "leading of the Spirit of God," yet we are being told that this movement is of God. For example, Charles and Frances Hunter, proponents of "holy laughter," relate: "There is a powerful new wind of the Holy Spirit blowing, but it's lots more than a rushing mighty wind! There's an energizing, forceful sound that's coming with this new wind of the Spirit and it is the exciting sound of joy, joy, joy, joy! Not only an inward joy, but it's bringing a vocal joy, a holy laughter, right along with it. It's energetically stirring us to higher levels with God!"(13)



The Hunters also brag: "The Spirit of God is swiftly moving in breathtaking and sometimes startling new ways, and people of every tongue and every nation are letting out what is on the inside of them....they are running at a fast pace to 'Joel's Bar' where the drinks are free and there is no hangover!...one of today's signs 'in the earth beneath' is the 'holy laughter' which is supernaturally overcoming people in services all over the world!"(14)



Jill Austin exclaims: "The joy of the Lord started with bubbling and ended with a flood of laughter in Toledo, Ohio, as the refreshing move of the Holy Spirit touched the people. We had never seen such a wide-spread outbreak of hilarious laughter hit a group for almost an hour. Adults and children acted like there was one big 'swimming party' and they enjoyed themselves to the fullest!"(15)


Unsaved Hippies Zapped
Can anyone be filled with this "holy" laughter? Apparently so! Howard-Browne enjoys "zapping" people with this anointing by commanding them to laugh. Of course, they don't have to be saved before receiving this "infilling." Howard-Browne "proudly says that he lines up on the stage a row of unbelieving hippies with their mohican haircuts and earrings, and then goes down the line laying hands on them and making them fall over, again and again, until they 'accept the Lord.' "(16)



Tricia Tillin reports that in one video of Howard-Browne's meetings, she "saw little talk of repentance or holiness and there was no reverence of God. People were 'zapped' no matter what their lifestyles or circumstances, no matter if they were saved or not. The Spirit of God is not indiscriminate. Satan is!"(17)



The Bible clearly tells us that the Holy Ghost is only given to them that obey God (Acts 5:32). John 14:17 states that the world cannot receive the Spirit of truth. Ephesians 1:13 reveals that it was only after an individual believed that he was sealed with the Holy Spirit. Since "holy" laughter can be received by those who are unsaved, we can plainly see that this phenomenon is not of God.



Also, under the so-called "anointing" of "holy" laughter, some people even start to rip their clothes off.(18) There's one place in the Bible which tells us about a person taking his clothes off. This individual, however, was not a Christian. Luke 8:27 tells us that this man "had devils long time, and ware no clothes, neither abode in any house, but in the tombs." In other words, he was demon possessed. After Jesus cast out the demons, the Bible reveals that this man was found "sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed, and in his right mind" (Luke 8:35; Mark 5:15). People in heathen lands who get saved also have a tendency to put clothes on, but in the meetings where so-called "holy" laughter is taking over, people are taking their clothes off. Isn't this fact alone enough to reveal to us that this movement is not of the Holy Spirit but is of the spirit of Satan?


Laugh Or Suffer The Consequences
Not only is this move not of God but people who attend these meetings are actually coerced into experiencing the laughter. Howard-Browne intimidates and humiliates people by calling them "ugly," "sad," etc., if they don't laugh.(19) Al Dager even reports: "On several occasions I've witnessed him 'slay people in the Spirit,' and if they didn't begin to laugh he would place his foot on their stomach and tell them to laugh. Some he would kick as they lay there, and accuse them of not yielding to the Holy Spirit. He would keep at it until they would obviously begin to force some kind of laugh out of themselves."(20)



With such tactics, it's no wonder that even Howard-Browne has described one of his services as "total pandemonium." In fact, here are his own words: "I remember one service where I just went and sat down for an hour and a half. I just went and sat down. Well, there was nothing else I could do. Total pandemonium--people falling off of their chairs, people crying, people laughing and some were wailing--some were shaking. So, I just said to the people, I said, 'Look, just come up when you're ready and lift your hands and God will touch you.' I was sitting on the platform--just sat there and watched them for about an hour and a half. People came right up, got to the front, lifted their hands--BAM!--on the floor. I just sat there. I didn't even pray. You say, 'What'd you do?' I just sat there and twiddled my thumbs. I thought, 'Lord, I wish every meeting was as easy as this.' Now I had preached the word already and taught the word of God, and then I went and sat down. And they came walking up, got to the front, lifted their hands--BAM!--under the power of God."(21)


Who Is In Control?
Some other phenomena that take place at these laughing revivals include: "shaking, jerking, loss of bodily strength, heavy breathing, eyes fluttering, lips trembling, oil on the body, changes in skin color, weeping, laughing, 'drunkenness,' staggering, travailing, dancing, falling, visions, hearing audibly into the spirit realm, inspired utterances--i.e. prophecy, tongues, interpretation, angelic visitations and manifestations, jumping, violent rolling, screaming, wind, heat, electricity, coldness, nausea as discernment of evil, smelling or tasting good or evil presences, tingling, pain in body as discernment of illness, feeling heavy weight or lightness, trances--altered physical state while seeing and hearing into the spiritual world, inability to speak normally, disruption of natural realm--i.e. electrical circuits blown, the 'fire of God' burning you that you have to remove some clothing, pawing people and roaring like a lion, walking like a chicken, howling like a wolf, digging the ground with hoofs like a bull while prophesying, flying like an eagle, throwing communion bread around to show your joy in the Lord, screaming AHHHHH as a mighty warrior to stop the preaching of the word of God during a service, incoherent babbling, pounding the floor with your arms while holding a conversation in tongues with the minister in charge of the service, feeling electricity shoot through your body, affecting electronic scanning devices in airports, etc."(22)



Do the above disturbances and commotions sound like something that is Scriptural? Hardly! I Corinthians 14:40 clearly states: "Let all things be done decently and in order." Think of the sacredness of a communion service and then envision having this bread which represents the body of our Savior, Jesus Christ, being thrown around and desecrated. Not only is something of this nature not "done decently and in order" but is it extremely disrespectful and blasphemous. Blasphemy and irreverence, however, seem to proliferate during these laughing meetings. For example, Rodney Howard-Browne calls himself the "Holy Ghost bartender."(23) He claims he is serving "new wine"(24) and Charles and Frances Hunter refer to this as " 'Joel's Bar' where the drinks are free and there is no hangover!"(25) Howard-Browne encourages people to: "Take another drink...the bar is open....Be filled! We loose the power! Have another drink!"(26) Romans 14:17 tells us: "For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost." Also, we cannot loose the power. Only God can do this.



As can be seen, the Holy Ghost is taken lightly. Not only is Howard Browne supposedly a "Holy Ghost bartender" but Frances Hunter makes mention of "Holy Ghost glue." Describing her laughing experience, she relates: "We went to a Full Gospel Businessmen's Fellowship banquet in Houston....The man [the speaker] said, 'Well, Jesus, bless Frances!' Down I went faster than you could blink an eye, followed one second later by my precious husband!...I tried to get my hands off of the floor, but nothing happened. I couldn't believe what had happened to me, because it was physically impossible for me to move....I felt as though someone had given me a divine alka seltzer because way down deep in the very center of my being I began to feel a most peculiar type of `bubbling.'...then it abruptly came out of my mouth in the form of the loudest laugh I have ever heard....no pressure on my mouth could keep the laughing back. I laughed, laughed, laughed and laughed....I stopped laughing just as quickly as I started, and suddenly I was released from the bed of Holy Ghost glue in which I had been resting!"(27)


Laughter Brings Demon Oppression
We opened this article with Gerald Coates (a co-founder of the March for Jesus) claiming there were changed lives from this laughing phenomenon. Proponents do point to changed lives and other seemingly positive results. However, Al Dager reveals that "there are also reports of demonic oppression, suicidal feelings, and loss of faith after the holy laughter experience."(28) Obviously, such results would not take place if this phenomenon were of God. In fact, Galatians 5:22-23 points out that "the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law."



Actually, the spectacle of uncontrollable laughter and animal noises may be new to the church world but the occult has known such phenomena for a long time. Joy Smith, an ex-follower of Swami Baba Muktananda discloses that the Swami "would transfer what was called 'guru's grace' to his followers through Shaktipat (physical touch). This 'grace' triggered the gradual awakening of the Kundalini which in turn produced various physical and emotional manifestations. Manifestations included uncontrollable laughing, roaring, barking, hissing, crying, shaking, etc. Some devotees became mute or unconscious. Many felt themselves being infused with feelings of great joy and peace and love. At other times the 'fire' of Kundalini was so overpowering they would find themselves involuntarily hyperventilating to cool themselves down."(29)



We also find that Anton Mesmer, a Mason and the founder of "animal magnetism" or "mesmerism," which was the forerunner of hypnosis, and who called his sessions "seances," was able to cause uncontrollable laughter. One occult book gives this description of his sessions: " 'His patients sat round a large oak tub which was filled with water, iron filings and powdered glass, and from which iron rods protruded. The patients applied these rods to the afflicted parts of their bodies while Mesmer marched about majestically in a pale lilac robe, passing his hands over the patients' bodies or touching them with a long iron wand. The results varied. Some patients felt nothing at all, some felt as if insects were crawling over them, others were seized with hysterical laughter, convulsions or fits of hiccups. Some went into raving delirium, which was called "The Crisis" and was considered extremely healthful.' "(30)



Another report of his sessions reveals the following: " 'Some are calm, tranquil and experience no effect. Others cough, spit, feel slight pains, local or general heat, and have sweatings. Others, again, are agitated and tormented with convulsions. These convulsions are remarkable in regard to the number affected with them, to their duration and force. They are preceded and followed by a state of languor or reverie...Patients experienced more or less violent perspiration, palpitations, hysterics, catalepsy, and sometimes a condition resembling epilepsy.' "(31)



Yet another interesting factor is that Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh was called the "divine drunkard" by his followers.(32) Hundreds of people flew to India to "drink" from Rajneesh's "wine."(33) "Often referred to as being 'drunk on the divine,' Rajneesh encouraged his followers to come and 'drink' from him. Bhagvhan's (sic) spiritual 'wine' was often passed along with a single touch to the head. Many of his Sannyasins [disciples] would fall to the floor in ecstasy after their encounters with Rajneesh."(34) (Does this sound strangely familiar?! Something is wrong with the church when it starts to experience the same phenomena as the occultists.)



In an additional article we will look at several more individuals who have endorsed the laughing revival, but in the meantime, "Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world" (I John 4:1).


In the last issue we covered a phenomenon that is growing like wildfire in the churches around the world, which is called "holy" laughter. Other names for this spectacle are "Toronto Blessing," "a time of refreshing," "another Pentecost," and "laughing in the spirit." The person most responsible for this is Rodney Howard-Browne. We saw how the phenomena of shaking, laughing, screaming, heat, incoherent babbling, etc., that take place at these meetings have a parallel in the occult. In this issue we are going to list a number of individuals who have endorsed this new movement and see what they have to say about it.



There are literally thousands upon thousands of churches throughout the world that have been experiencing the laughing revival.(1) In fact, according to Charisma magazine, "an estimated 4,000 churches in England had been impacted and at least 7,000 churches in North America."(2) This, of course, doesn't take into account all the other nations where this phenomenon has erupted. Some of the biggest names in the church world have endorsed this movement. Many brag that this is a new move of God and that revival is breaking out. This, however, is not true.



Who are some of these "big names" promoting and supporting this happening? Here are just some of these individuals.



Rodney Howard-Browne (Rodney Howard-Browne Evangelistic Association)

John Wimber (Vineyard Christian Fellowship/Vineyard Ministries International)

Roger Forster (March for Jesus/Ichthus Fellowships)

Gerald Coates (March for Jesus/Pioneer network)

Billy Graham (Billy Graham Evangelistic Association)

Pat Robertson ("700 Club")

Guy Chevreau (Minister)

Charles and Frances Hunter (Authors/Speakers/Healers)

Bill Bright (Campus Crusade for Christ)

David Mainse ("100 Huntley Street")

Karl Strader (Carpenter's Home Church)

Wallace and Marilyn Hickey (Marilyn Hickey Ministries)

Richard Roberts (President of Oral Roberts University and son of Oral Roberts)

Joyce Meyer (Speaker)

Leanne Payne (Disciple of the late Agnes Sanford)

Kenneth Hagin (RHEMA; Kenneth Hagin Ministries)

Paul and Jan Crouch (Trinity Broadcasting Network)

Ben Kinchlow (700 Club)

Jill Austin (Master Potter Ministries)

John White (Psychiatrist/Author)

Randy Clark (St. Louis Vineyard)

Leonard and Sandra LeSourd (Catherine Marshall Center)

John Arnott (Toronto Vineyard)

Paul Cain (Kansas City Prophet; Latter Rain teacher)

Marc Dupont (Toronto Vineyard)

Kenneth Copeland (Kenneth Copeland Ministries)

Richard Dortch (Former Jim Bakker associate)

Dr. Patrick Dixon (Author)

Hugo Anson (The Stable)

John Adlington (Vine Christian Fellowship)

Ron Atkinson (YWAM/Ichthus/The Stable)

Wes Sutton (Vineyard Church Loughton)

John and Eleanor Mumford (Southwest London Vineyard)

Jim Wilkinson (Hollybush Christian Fellowship)

Steve Chalke (Oasis Trust)

David Pytches (Kingdom Power Trust & New Wine Convention/St. Andrews)

Ewen Huffman (Carshalton Beeches Baptist)

John Hosier (Church of Christ the King)

Larry Tomczak (Writer)

Benny Hinn (TV preacher/Healer)

Oral Roberts (Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association)

David Bryant (Concerts of Prayer, International)

Jackie Buckingham (Jamie Buckingham's wife)

John Sandford (Elijah House)

James Ryle (Boulder Valley Vineyard; Board of Directors of Promise Keepers)

Stephen Strang (Charisma magazine/New Man magazine)



The list of endorsers keeps growing and growing. Also, as can be seen, some of those who are endorsing this movement have millions of people under their leadership because many of these promoters have large radio and/or TV programs where they have great access to multitudes of unsuspecting people.


Now that we've seen some of the people involved, let's look at some of their statements concerning the laughing revival. "For example, ecumenical leader and confidant of popes and presidents, Billy Graham, upon observing it, declared, 'I've never seen so many people come to salvation in such a short period of time.' (Fortean Times, #77)"(3)



"Howard-Browne's 'laughing revival' has now officially moved into the Christian mainstream with a recent endorsement from Pat Robertson on his popular 700 Club. On October 27, 1994 Robertson said this about holy laughter: '...what this says to me is revival is taking place in the world in a mass wave...and we look to the coming of the Lord. I think this is a very encouraging sign in the middle of all this trouble and all these wars and all this confusion. God is saying I'm on the throne and I'm going to touch multiplied millions. It's wonderful. I applaud it.'"(4)

Guy Chevreau, a Baptist minister, is also a participant in this renewal. He remarks: "What we are talking about here is God's manifest presence, such that He is seen, felt and experienced and folks' lives are getting changed." He added: "It's redefining the church, reminding us that church shouldn't be boring," and declares the renewal is "a party with the Lord."(5)



If so many people are getting saved, where are the changed lives? The Bible clearly states that "if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new" (II Corinthians 5:17). In the past, when revivals broke out, people were quite aware that God was working because restitutions were made, sinful habits were no longer being engaged in, and many other changes were apparent. However, with today's so-called "revival" this is not the case. The proponents claim that lives are changed but the changes are not the type of changes that come with being "born again."



Gerald Coates "noticed limited incidents of people laughing and crying uncontrollably, or falling on the floor as if overcome by God's power."(6) He also learned of other churches in which people were laughing and collapsing to the floor."(7) Charisma magazine reports: "Without him referring to the phenomenon from the pulpit, the laughter broke out at his own church, Pioneer People, in southwest London. 'We saw it happening throughout the month of May,' said Coates, who also is a leader in the March for Jesus organization.



"According to Coates, congregations have been transformed since the movement began. In his own church there has been 'a new spirit' and a fresh generosity among members. Stories of changed lives pour into his office daily. 'It's a different church,' he said."(8) Coates adds: "This could be the biggest thing to hit the church in my lifetime."(9)

Whenever "holy laughter" hits the congregations, the churches are different--but the transformation does not honor God. John Arnott, an endorser of "holy laughter" explains what is now occurring: "And so now we're starting to see people prophetically acting like lions and oxen and eagles and even warriors... it's a wonderful thing and we've seen it spontaneous... We had all four of those manifestations happening at the same time. So what did the man look like? He looked like a warrior, just yelling Ahhhhh!!!!....[It--Ed.] just may be the Holy Spirit putting an empowering, like a warrior, on them."(10)



Another proponent admits: "'One of the disconcerting aspects of this movement has been the animal sounds and mimics that some have felt compelled to make. There are "signs and wonders," and almost everyone is wondering about this sign. Some of it is demonic. Some of it is mere human foolishness. Some of it is really inspired by the Holy Spirit. There will always be tares in the wheat, but this is something that the Holy Spirit is doing, and it is important.'"(11)



Rodney Howard-Browne himself has stated that he doesn't care if the devil is present at the meetings. He comments: "You can't have revival without stirring up the flesh....When revival comes you will see manifestations of these three things in meetings: (1) the Holy Spirit; (2) the flesh, and (3) the devil. But, I'd rather be in a church where the devil and the flesh are manifesting than in a church where nothing is happening because people are too afraid to manifest anything...Don't worry about it. And if a devil manifests, don't worry about that, either. Rejoice, because at least something is happening!"(12)



Of course, these manifestations are not of God. Larry Thomas, a minister who is opposed to this phenomenon, reminds us that in Jimmy Swaggart's Argentina crusade in the late 1980s "there were literally hundreds of people...who would begin to laugh hysterically and throw themselves down on the ground. They would howl like dogs...they would roar like lions, they would make all kinds of wild sounds, and when these things began to happen, the ushers went and physically restrained them, took them out of the coliseum to a tent outside, and they cast the Devil out of them. But now when you do that, it's evidence that the Holy Ghost is doing something great in your life! (Vineyard movement founder John Wimber also admits that, despite the current popularity of such outbursts in his churches, 'there have been times in the past when we've attempted to cast demons out of people who made "animal noises."'"(13)



In spite of these demonic noises and manifestations, the phenomenon is supposed to be a "revival" and a move of God.



Richard Roberts, President of Oral Roberts University and son of Oral Roberts states: '[I--Ed.] went to preach in a church where revival had broken out in laughter and the joy of the Lord. Ever since that service, I have also been laughing, engulfed in the joy of the Lord.'"(14)



Roberts then relates "how he had canceled classes for two days so that his four thousand students could personally experience the 'joy of the Lord' and receive the 'gift' of 'Holy' laughter."(15)



Canadian religious broadcaster David Mainse has now endorsed the "holy laughter revival" on his television program, "100 Huntley Street." He claims "that he waited a year before speaking out on the Toronto Blessing, and consulted with several non-charismatic church leaders to get their assessment. He says that Campus Crusade for Christ founder Bill Bright told him that he felt God's presence in the movement, while church historian Ian Rennie told him that similar physical manifestations have accompanied revivals in the past. Mainse himself went to view the phenomenon first-hand before speaking out in support of it."(16)



In February, Mainse and John Arnott (Airport Vineyard pastor) went to a conference in England where he was convinced that the current spiritual phenomenon is legitimate.



"'I was busy being a fruit inspector,' Mainse told an audience of 3,000 at the Airport Vineyard in March, explaining his delay in embracing the renewal. 'But I should tell you that I found the fruit [of this movement--Ed.] to be very good.'"(17)

"Mainse believes the Toronto Blessing will contribute to a great revival, and said he expects that Billy Graham's Toronto crusade in June will be visited with signs of such a revival."(18)

"Estimating the number of souls God will reach through the laughing revival being globally 'distributed' through Toronto's Airport Vineyard, Wes Campbell said,

"'And I'll say this, and I'll say it publicly, 'cause Mike Bickle said it for years publicly. The Lord has showed him that the Lord is going to bring in one billion souls in the sweep of time. A billion souls will come into the kingdom.'"(19)

As noted earlier, Pat Robertson also believes that God is "going to touch multiplied millions" through this phenomenon. In another program he remarked: "I do think we are entering on the greatest spiritual revival that has ever taken place in the history of mankind. It is going to build in intensity over the next five years. There will be literally hundreds of millions of people who will come to the Lord, and I think we can look to an incredible ministry time...."



"But I believe God is going to send a great revival in the next five years that will exceed anything that our minds can conceive. I'm talking about hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of millions of people that will come into the Kingdom, all over the world. It's going to be fabulous."(20)

In their article, McMillan and Thompson envision the joy of this great harvest associated with Tabernacles: "'The manifestations of joy and spiritual drunkenness which we are seeing and hearing in these days are only the beginning of the great rain of the Holy Spirit that God promised to pour out in these times. They are a witness that He is bringing restoration and hope to people for the largest harvest of souls that has ever occurred--the Feast of Ingathering or the Feast of Tabernacles.'"(21)



Tied up with this belief of a last-days revival and a great harvest of souls is the supposition that the church will establish God's kingdom HERE ON EARTH. According to those who promote this belief, after we take dominion of the earth again we are to set up righteous rulers and begin to prepare the kingdom so that Christ can return to earth again and rule the kingdom that WE have prepared for Him. Lee Grady "believes that God is establishing His Kingdom on earth THROUGH the diligent and gradual WORK OF THE GODLY...."(22) Thomas F. Reid declares: "We must make ready the world for Christ's coming. The ayatollah could not return to Iran until his followers had sufficiently prepared for his return. In a profoundly deeper way, THE CHURCH MUST PREPARE THE EARTH FOR THE RETURN OF JESUS CHRIST." Yet another promoter of this Kingdom Now/Reconstructionist theory is Earl Paulk. He writes: "In Matthew 24:14, Jesus clearly says that HE CANNOT RETURN for His Bride UNTIL she has demonstrated the Gospel of the Kingdom to all the nations of the earth. Until the church can demonstrate the alternative Kingdom, JESUS CANNOT COME AGAIN. God no longer has the authority to send Christ back to earth, because He will not circumvent His eternal plan. While no man knows the day or the hour, I can say with the authority of God that CHRIST CANNOT AND WILL NOT COME BACK UNTIL we have demonstrated the Gospel of the Kingdom to the nations of the earth. That task demands a mature church, which will have become an alternative to the kingdoms of the world. That is what the church is all about and JESUS CHRIST'S RETURN IS UP TO US."(23)



There is one MAJOR problem in establishing the kingdom here on earth NOW. According to the Bible there will be a kingdom established ON EARTH but it WILL NOT be God's Kingdom--at least not the kingdom of the Christians' God! (For more information on this, see my articles "Thy Kingdom Come" and "Will the Church Be Raptured?")



To achieve this kingdom on earth, these proponents claim that we must all come together as one united whole. Herein lies the problem. "Because denominational differences fade under the influence of the laughing phenomena, it will be very useful in bringing about the restoration of a united Church as well as supplying the manpower to handle the coming harvest."(24) In other words, the laughing revival will play a prominent role in uniting peoples of different faiths and religions to help bring in the one world church that the New Age movement is working for.



David Bryant, founder and president of Concerts of Prayer, International, recently told his audience at the National Association of Evangelicals "that America is in the early stages of a true spiritual awakening--an unprecedented world revival bearing down on us. He said God is digging trenches with the tools of renewal among Pentecostals, Catholics...in His church. He said 80,000 people have gone to Toronto to see what God is doing....He said the Holy Spirit is in charge of the Toronto ['laughing revival'--Ed.] movement, and this is one of the 'feeder streams' that is flowing together in the river of revival."(25)



Jill Austin, another supporter of this phenomenon states: "Prophetically, the child Isaac, which means "Laughter," is being released in nation after nation as the new wine is being passed....It's a global move. What is beginning now is a picture of what will be worldwide....God is strategically stirring the nations and changing the governments of the world and the Church....I [am now--Ed.] REDEFINING the Church to prepare you for My Bridegroom."(26)



Ed Tarkowski warns: "Take note of this: the stated purpose of the laughing revival is to bring forth the "man-child" of joy that will subdue the earth. National ministry leaders have now said God would impregnate, has impregnated, has brought that impregnation to full gestation and has released "the child" into all the nations to bring about God's harvest of souls and His endtime army. But there is no mention in Scripture of such a prophetic utterance or release after the appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ, Emmanuel, 'God with us.' Nor does Scripture speak of a release of any other spirit but the Holy Spirit, sent once and for all at Pentecost to announce the glorification of Christ at the right hand of God. This new move is founded on progressive revelation, 'truths' never heard nor seen before, a typical mark of the Latter Rain Movement. It's no wonder, then, that 'Sarah's child' sounds exactly like the Manifest Sons of God of the Latter Rain doctrines."(27) (For more information the "Manifest Sons of God" movement, see my article "Thy Kingdom Come.")



Sadly, the laughing revival is leading us towards the one world religion where Scriptural doctrines and beliefs are ignored for the sake of "unity." You probably already know that when sheep are lead to the slaughter, there is a goat (called a "Judas goat") that goes before them to lead them to their death. After the goat has guided them to their destination, he turns aside while the sheep blindly are led to destruction. I'm afraid that the so-called "Christian" leaders in many cases today are leading the people as sheep to the slaughter.

Remember how the animals noises such as lions, eagles, oxens, etc. have been manifesting in the meetings? Also, as was mentioned in my last article, Rodney Howard-Browne calls himself the "Holy Ghost bartender" and claims he is serving "new wine." Charles and Frances Hunter refer to this as "'Joel's Bar' where the drinks are free and there is no hangover!"(28) Howard-Browne encourages people to: "Take another drink...the bar is open....Be filled! We loose the power! Have another drink!"(29) With all this in mind, listen to the words of Jeremiah: "They shall ROAR TOGETHER LIKE LIONS: they shall yell as lions' whelps. In their heat I will make their feasts, and I will MAKE THEM DRUNKEN, THAT THEY MAY REJOICE, and sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the LORD. I will BRING THEM DOWN LIKE LAMBS TO THE SLAUGHTER, like rams with he goats" (Jeremiah 51:38-40). This is an amazing prophecy when you consider what is taking place with the holy laughter movement.



As Christians we should have no part in this movement. "Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch" (Matthew 15:14 ).


--Dr. Cathy Burns 

http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/Laugh1.html

THE LAUGHING PHENOMENA (Toronto Blessing)
Its History and Possible Effects
on the Church
PART 1: From South Africa to St. Louis to Toronto to Your Church
By Ed Tarkowski

Sooner or later, every Evangelical, Fundamentalist, Catholic, Charismatic/ Pentecostal, Reconstructionist, Restorationist, and mainline Protestant will be faced with a decision to follow either Jesus Christ or the new breed of prophets in the Church. For the hundreds of thousands from every segment of Christianity who've already observed the so-called 'fire of God' manifesting in every conceivable way during 'Holy Laughing' services, that point has already been reached.

Prepare your hearts, people of God, in the valley of decision.

UP CLOSE N' PERSONAL
"You want to know how strong the 'force' of it is, Ed? Even WE came away from it wondering if perhaps we had missed something. To be the only two adults not caught up in this in a crowd of roughly 300 other adults makes you wonder if your own ears have become dull of hearing! At least for a moment or two. You kind of do a double-take."

My friend Debra, a mature Christian apologist of long-standing, well-experienced in debating cult devotees and members of non-christian religions, was describing her encounter with the laughing phenomena now racing across the world. A friend had asked her to see this "new anointing" at her church, and they'd both been taken aback by its power: "Have WE gone utterly mad," they wondered, "or is it them? Is something wrong with US, or is there something wrong with THEM?"

This phenomena, variously referred to as "a time of refreshing," "another Pentecost," "Holy Laughter," and the "Toronto Blessing," is described as manifestations of "the Spirit" uncommon to orthodox Christianity. Hundreds of thousands of people have already been affected by this spirit, some paralyzed in place in various positions, some frozen to the floor for hours on end, and some, unable to walk, having to be carried to their cars following the service. Many feel the "fire of God" within, becoming so hot they are forced to remove some of their clothes. In one report, a person saw an angel pouring hot oil over him as he lay "nailed to the floor," and in another, a man acting as a roaring lion pawed at the chest of the pastor's wife. Even the four living creatures before the throne of the Lamb, as seen in Revelation 4, have supposedly been manifested during a service. In that incident, one man acted like an eagle flying around the room; another roared like a lion; a third pawed the ground and snorted like an ox. The person manifesting as "the man" took the stance of the mighty warrior, crying "Aaaaahhhhh!"

Always accompanying these other manifestations is the hysterical laughter from which the phenomena derives its name. This laughter often pervades the audience to such a degree that it disrupts the traditional portions of the service. It is not uncommon to hear that the hysteria made it impossible for preachers to continue sharing the word of God on serious subjects, such as the death of Stephen or the reality of hell. Another serious consequence, as universal as the phenomena itself, is the division it is causing within denominations, congregations, families and friendships. Many are experiencing deep separation from those they once knew in close fellowship with the Lord.

In spite of these and other grave problems with the laughing phenomena, many church leaders and opinion-makers have jumped onto the bandwagon to help toot its horn. In their new book, well-known authors Charles and Frances Hunter praise the movement:
"The Spirit of God is swiftly moving in breathtaking and sometimes startling new ways, and people of every tongue and every nation are letting out what is on the inside of them. . . . they are running at a fast pace to 'Joel's Bar' where the drinks are free and there is no hangover! . . . one of today's signs 'in the earth beneath' is the 'holy laughter' which is supernaturally overcoming people in services all over the world!"(1).


Apparently the Hunters see the laughing phenomena as one fulfillment of Acts 2:17-21, in which Peter quotes the prophet Joel: "In the last days, God says, . . . I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below." But is it? Does it matter where this movement originated and who started it? Is the divison it's causing really so serious that there will be permanent ramifications?(2) Is it possible that the force behind these manifestations is intent on leading the Church in a new direction? Many Christians think so. One of these, my friend Debra, wrote me:
"This 'thing' is unlike anything else I've ever seen, Ed, and it's not like I've never attended charismatically-oriented churches with friends before. . . . After what I saw 'up close 'n personal' last night, where DO we, that is, the 'church universal' GO from wherever it is we are NOW?"


RODNEY HOWARD-BROWNE: The Falling Evangelist
"THERE ARE MANY PEOPLE THAT JUST THINK THESE ARE LAUGHING MEETINGS, WHEN REALLY, IN REALITY, WE HAVE MORE PEOPLE FALLING DOWN THAN LAUGHING. THEY WANT TO CALL ME THE LAUGHING EVANGELIST. WHY DON'T THEY CALL ME THE FALLING EVANGELIST?" - (RHB)(3).

The person most responsible for the global laughing phenomena is 33 year-old South African evangelist Rodney Howard-Browne. In 1979, the man who would become known as the Holy Ghost Bartender "spent hours praying for a deeper experience with God"(4). Browne describes his resulting experience with "God's fire" in his book, The Touch of God:
"Suddenly the fire of God fell on me. It started on my head and went right down to my feet. His power burned in my body and stayed like that for three whole days. . . .
"My whole body was on fire from the top of my head to the soles of my feet. Out of my belly began to flow a river of living water. I began to laugh uncontrollably and then I began to weep and then speak with other tongues.
"I was so intoxicated on the wine of the Holy Ghost that I was literally beside myself. The fire of God was coursing through my whole being and it didn't quit. . . . Because of that encounter with the Lord, my life was radically changed from that day on"(5).


Two years after this encounter, Browne helped pioneer a RHEMA church (Hagin/Word of Faith) in Johannesburg, and in 1987, he made two trips to the United States. While speaking at an Assemblies of God church in April, he prophesied that God would send missionaries to America for revival, which he has defined as manifestations of "supernatural signs and wonders."(6) He announced that the Lord told him to return to America to stay, and in December of that year Browne began his evangelistic ministry in Orlando, Florida.

Bill Randles, author of Making War in the Heavenlies, describes the first signs of the manifestations now seen during all of Browne's services:
"In April of 1989, Browne's traveling ministry had him in Albany, New York, when an unusual manifestation occurred. As he was preaching, he and others in the service felt a 'sensation like a heavy blanket coming over him. . . .' People began falling out of their seats; some were laughing and others were crying. The noise got so loud that Browne had to interrupt his sermon. 'Lord, you're ruining my meeting,' the evangelist complained. He says God replied, 'The way your meetings have been lately, they deserve to be ruined. I will move all the time if you will allow me to move.'
"From that time on, Browne increased in demand as a speaker. The greatest turning point occurred in the Spring of 1993. Browne held a four week meeting in Lakeland, Florida at Carpenter's Home Church. The 10,000 seat auditorium was filled almost every night. People were reported to have been drawn from as far away as Africa, Great Britain, and Argentina. What were they drawn to? The unusual phenomena of laughter. As Charisma Magazine reports, 'No matter what Howard-Browne did or said, hundreds who attended the daily sessions always ended up on the sanctuary floor in helpless laughter. When the services were broadcast on the radio, more curious seekers showed up to join the fun'(7). Curious? Fun? The article goes on to report that the church added 800 new members, and its income went up 30%. They baptized 2,200, according to the Pastor Karl Strader"(8).

Browne now holds over 500 meetings per year in the United States, and has scheduled numerous meetings in other countries. Furthermore, some of his videotaped services are run on Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN), reaching a potential 60,000,000 viewers. Those who attend his meetings or tune into the broadcasts encounter a ministry like they've never seen before. Rodney Howard-Browne paces heavily around the sanctuary, sometimes mumbling in tongues. He waves his arms at a section of seats and all the occupants fall down. Sometimes he stands in place, chuckling to himself. He makes his way between rows of fallen bodies, and on at least one occasion stopped to have a conversation in tongues with a woman flat on her back beating her arms frantically on the floor. He deliberately asks questions of people struck by the spirit, holding the microphone to their mouths for agonizing minutes while they stutter and stare glassy-eyed into space. Invariably, the audience is convulsed by hysterical laughter at the sight, and Rodney Howard-Browne chuckles. Pointing to a group of people, he announces that the "fire of God" is on them, and they obediently go forward into the sanctuary where most fall down. Sometimes Howard-Browne has to work at opening people up to the power. During a videotaped service in England, when the congregation hadn't yet responded in the usual manner, Browne resumed his pacing and commanded them to "look at me!" Eventually, the spirit had its way and the meeting proceeded according to the pattern.

From BROWNE to ST. LOUIS to TORONTO VINEYARD
1994 was a very good year for the spirit promoted by Browne. It managed to emigrate into Canada and from there, to skip over oceans. The catalyst for this movement was a man named John Wimber, currently Pastor of Vineyard Christian Fellowship (VCF) in Anaheim, California. Wimber also heads Vineyard Ministries International (VMI), and The Association of Vineyard Churches (AVC).

In a recent newsletter, Wimber reported that on 27 occasions God confirmed to him that he should go to the nations in what would be "a season of new beginnings." He believes God was saying, "I'm going to start it all over again. I'm going to pour out my Spirit in your midst like I did in the beginning"(9). He writes,
"But I looked at myself (suffering from cancer), and I'm out of energy. In my spirit I was just murmuring "Oh God, oh God." And at that point (mid January) the Lord gave me a word. I heard myself say: Shall I have this pleasure in my old age? The very words that Sarah laughingly said to herself when she overheard the LORD say she was going to have a son from her 90-year-old womb by her 100-year-old husband. (Gen. 18:10). This was a word of life from the Lord, and it touched me deeply.
"I had brought this message of new beginnings to our AVC National Board and Council meeting in November of 1993 at Palm Springs. Then the Lord confirmed this word in the hearts and minds of our national leadership. They laid hands on Bob Fulton and me and they blessed us to go, and stir up the church.
". . . the Holy Spirit had recently powerfully renewed and refreshed Randy Clark (VCF St. Louis) in a meeting conducted by evangelist Rodney Howard-Browne in Tulsa, Oklahoma. . . . Randy began seeing similar outpourings of the Spirit [laughter/manifestations] in his home church and elsewhere as he had occasion to minister. It was as if the 'times of refreshing' had begun.
"So John Arnott [Toronto Vineyard Fellowship], knowing that a season of new beginnings in the Vineyard was near at hand, and hearing about Randy Clark's transformed ministry, invited Randy to come to Toronto to minister in his church, as well as those folks from the surrounding area that would like to attend. This occurred on January 20, 1994. Four days of meetings turned into five months of almost nightly meetings in numerous locations in Ontario. It has since poured out through those who have visited there into similar renewal meetings all over the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and even Europe"(10).


From South Africa to Florida to St. Louis to Toronto, the spirit was on the move - one just had to go to the Toronto Vineyard church to "get IT" and take "IT" back to one's own congregation. As of this writing, so many have come to get "IT" that it's obvious the phenomena isn't something that will rise and then fade away into the pages of Church history. It is now a global experience, with manifestations being reported in churches in Canada, Britain, Ireland, Argentina, Cambodia, Germany, Sweden, New Zealand, Australia, Switzerland, and China. With new countries being touched every month, it seems that Vineyard's John Wimber is finally seeing his promised "new beginnings."

LAUGHING PASTORS: It's Not Just For Pew Sitters
Unlike traditional services in which the pastor conducts the liturgy and preaches and the congregation partakes in an orderly manner, there is little order in these meetings, and pastors are as susceptible to the spirit as those in the pews. Rodney Howard-Browne attributes the disorder in his services to God taking control of the service, bypassing the minister assigned:
"Order for some is control. [Some say,] 'The meeting is out of order,' meaning, 'I cannot control the meeting anymore. I'm not the head honcho in this service anymore. Someone bigger than me has come into the service and caused a disruption, taken away the attention from me, and I don't like it and I want order back in the service so that people will look at me rather than what God is doing.'
"I remember one service where I just went and sat down for an hour and a half. I just went and sat down. Well, there was nothing else I could do. Total pandemonium - people falling off of their chairs, people crying, people laughing and some were wailing - some were shaking. So, I just said to the people, I said, 'Look, just come up when you're ready and lift your hands and God will touch you.' I was sitting on the platform - just sat there and watched them for about an hour and a half. People came right up, got to the front, lifted their hands - BAM! - on the floor. I just sat there. I didn't even pray. You say, 'What'd you do?' I just sat there and twiddled my thumbs. I thought, 'Lord, I wish every meeting was as easy as this.' Now I had preached the word already and taught the word of God, and then I went and sat down. And they came walking up, got to the front, lifted their hands - BAM! - under the power of God"(11).


The idea that God would take control away from the minister whom He Himself put in charge of maintaining proper Biblical order in a meeting seems in itself to be out of order(12). In this case especially, Browne admits the meeting ended in "total pandemonium" with "people falling off of their chairs, people crying, people laughing and some were wailing - some were shaking"(13).

This becomes even more perturbing when we consider a recent report in The 700 Club Fact Sheet that in some areas, pastors from just about every denomination are allowing the phenomena into their church:
"Since January 20, 1994, Airport Christian Fellowship, a small Vineyard church in Toronto, has had services six nights a week for the last 10 months that have sometimes lasted until 2:00 a.m. Over 100,000 people have attended, and nearly 40,000 of those have been visitors from all over the world who come for what is being called the 'Toronto Blessing.'
"This Spring, the 'Toronto Blessing' hit the Holy Trinity Church in London, one of the largest Anglican churches in England, and England's Stoneleigh Bible Camp, an annual event sponsored by 'New Frontiers' ministry which oversees 100 churches in England and around the world.
"'It's not confined to any one denomination or any one person,' says Sandy Miller, Vicar of Holy Trinity. 'Quite the reverse. It's happening across the board - free churches, house churches, Church of England, established churches, all over the place'"(14).


During an October 1994 pastor's meeting in Toronto, it was reported that 6,000 of the foreign visitors were pastors from all over the world, who had most likely taken the phenomena back to their own churches. Also reported during the same meeting was that 2,000 churches in the United Kingdom, and the same number in the United States, have been affected.

The Hunters describe a typical Rodney Howard-Browne meeting during which the church's pastor and an internationally known ministry leader were affected:
"Pastor Karl Strader of the Carpenter's Home Church in Lakeland, Florida, started excitedly calling us and telling us about this most unusual sign and wonder which was occurring in his church. . . . He . . . said that he had spent six weeks on the floor of his church laughing. . . . Marilyn Hickey had been there and he said that Marilyn had spent the entire time on the floor laughing. Then he shared with us how Rodney had called Marilyn to the microphone and she just laughed and laughed and then fell under the power of God without saying anything! . . . We saw demonstrations of power with Rodney just pointing at people who would then fall under the power of God. We saw people trying to crawl away from the power, but they couldn't get up off the floor" (15).


In an article in the Spiritual Counterfeits Project newsletter, Warren Smith relates how the "revival" came to Oral Roberts University. Richard Roberts, son of Oral Roberts and President of ORU,
". . . explained how he had canceled classes for two days so that his four thousand students could personally experience the 'joy of the Lord' and receive the 'gift' of 'Holy' laughter. I was not surprised to learn that the 'revival' Roberts was describing had come through the person of Rodney Howard-Browne"(16).


Roberts also shared his testimony in The Word of Faith magazine:
"[I] went to preach in a church where revival had broken out in laughter and the joy of the Lord. Ever since that service, I have also been laughing, engulfed in the joy of the Lord." Well-known teacher and writer Kenneth Hagin (RHEMA) preaches this "joy of the Lord" too, and writes that "the Spirit" brings about similar manifestations at his meetings(17).


Frances Hunter describes her own encounter with the power:
"We went to a Full Gospel Businessmen's Fellowship banquet in Houston. . . . The man [the speaker] said, 'Well, Jesus, bless Frances!' Down I went faster than you could blink an eye, followed one second later by my precious husband! ... I tried to get my hands off of the floor, but nothing happened. I couldn't believe what had happened to me, because it was physically impossible for me to move. ... I felt as though someone had given me a divine alka seltzer because way down deep in the very center of my being I began to feel a most peculiar type of `bubbling.' ... then it abruptly came out of my mouth in the form of the loudest laugh I have ever heard. ... no pressure on my mouth could keep the laughing back. I laughed, laughed, laughed and laughed. ... I stopped laughing just as quickly as I started, and suddenly I was released from the bed of Holy Ghost glue in which I had been resting!"(18).


Obviously, influential ministries are being overtaken by this spirit. Other supporters of the Laughing Revival are Paul and Jan Crouch (TBN), and Pat Robertson and Ben Kinchlow of The 700 Club, who we will discuss later.

Newsletter publisher Tricia Tillin of Great Britain reports that Kenneth Copeland has also spoken out in favor of the "great move of God" occurring today. But instead of focusing only on "the Lord's joy," Copeland predicts ominous future ramifications for the Church. Tillin writes,
"Toronto is rapidly becoming a test of loyalty and doctrinal orthodoxy. Kenneth Copeland, for instance, has suggested that those who resist God's move could fall over and die! 'One of these days, you may just be talking to someone, asking them how things went at church last Sunday, and they may say, Oh it was great! The glory of God was so strong it healed ten cripples, opened the ears of thirty deaf people, cured seven cases of cancer and killed Brother Bigmouth and Sister Strife'(19). A Christian will have a vital choice to make, Copeland says:
"'When the fire of God begins to burn and the rivers of the Spirit start to flow, he'll have to do one of two things: he'll either have to yield to the Spirit and let go of that sin by repenting, or he'll have to resist the flood of God's Spirit and be swept away.'
"What is this sin that puts Christians in danger of death? It is resisting the move of God! Those who unite one with another in revival power can 'have a wonderful time' Copeland tells us. After telling the story of Ananias and Sapphira, Copeland says that the Christians in that meeting 'were having such a glorious time that even when Ananias dropped dead right there in front of the preacher, they just went right on worshipping.' The sin of Ananias, in fact, was not lack of submission to his elders or quenching the Spirit, but 'lying to the Holy Spirit' - see Acts 5:2-6 'And he kept back part of the proceeds, his wife also being aware of it, and brought a certain part and laid it at the apostles' feet. But Peter said, "Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land for yourself? . . . You have not lied to men but to God." Then Ananias, hearing these words, fell down and breathed his last. So great fear came upon all those who heard these things. And the young men arose and wrapped him up, carried him out, and buried him.' Not much sign of a Toronto-style meeting in progress there! However, Copeland nonetheless teaches from this passage that those who resist the last-days outpouring are in mortal danger. The message seems plain. Yield or die!
"This sort of teaching about judgement upon opponents has been building up for some time. It was prominent in the prophecies and teachings of the Kansas City Prophets, probably because of their connection to the Manifest Sons doctrines which taught that denominational Christianity was Babylon, and that only the perfected saints of the New Order would emerge in the endtimes as the Chosen of God, while Babylon suffered defeat and death during the Tribulation to come. However, any doctrine that brings a certain elite group into prominence as World Saviours, will inevitably have to tackle the problem of dissenters"(20).


Kansas City Prophets? Manifest Sons of God? Christians being swept away by the judgement of God? Babylonian denominations? All this may seem strange to you, but these ideas have been aorund since the 1940s and are not new to some of the leaders in the laughing movement. Tillin recently stated that, "Very little is being said about the doctrine, origins, purpose and goal of the 'new move. It is my belief that most churches and leaders do not know those things. Some leaders, however, are promising an escalation into world revival, but are cagey about how the transition will take place. Others hint at 'something being birthed in the Church' and 'God is raising up an Army.' The truth is, the present events and the way they are being handled by leaders points unerringly in the direction of the Latter Rain teaching."

Never heard of Latter Rain, either? Then most likely are not familiar with the Passion & Fire Conferences now being held internationally. But all of these various and sundry beliefs and factions within the universal Church are beginning to coalesce. We will discuss this aspect next month.

SUGGESTED RESOURCES FOR FURTHER READING OR VIEWING:
Pastor Bill Randles, "Making War in the Heavenlies: A Different Look at Spiritual Warfare." Available by writing Bill Randles, 3336 Prairie Dr. NE, Cedar Rapids, IA 52402, or calling 319-366-0884 or 319-366-7208.

Albert James Dager, "Vengeance Is Ours: The Church in Dominion." Available by writing Sword Publishers, P.O. Box 290, Redmond, WA 98073--0290, or calling (206) 391-7315. Good reference on Manifest Sons, Latter Rain, etc.

The Good Life, 2-hour videotaped interview with Rodney and Adonica Howard-Browne with excerpts from various Browne services. Ask for videotape GL93-0420. Available for a gift of $20 or more by writing The Good Life, P.O. Box 6922, Clearwater, FL 34618.

FOOTNOTES:
(1) David W. Cloud, "Happy Hunters Ministering Holy Laughter," O Timothy magazine Volume 11, Issue 9-10, 1994 citing Charles and Frances Hunter, ["Holy Laughter"], (pp. 5-7).
(2) See 1 Corinthians 1:10-12 and 11:17-19 on Paul's viewpoint on divisions in the Church.
(3) TBN video-taped service, broadcast May 1994.
(4) Warren Smith, "Holy Laughter or Strong Delusion?," Spiritual Counterfeits Project newsletter (SCP), Fall 1994, p. 5 citing Charisma magazine, August 1994.
(5) Pastor Bill Randles, "Making War in the Heavenlies: A Different Look At Spiritual Warfare," Appendix One, "Rodney Howard-Browne: An Analysis of the Laughing Revival," p. 91 citing Rodney Howard-Browne, "The Touch of God," RHBEA Publications, pp. 73-74.
(6) Christian Television Network (CTN - Clearwater, FL), "The Good Life" program. Hosted by Bob and Molly DeAnrea. Guests: Rodney and Adonica Browne, 2 hour video, broadcast April 20, 1994.
(7) Randles, p. 92-93 citing Charisma, p. 24.
(8) Randles, pp. 92-93.
(9) Because this "move of God" is so vast, it's important to note that Jesus called the Holy Spirit's coming at Pentecost "the promise of the Father" (Acts 1:4), and "another Counselor [Comforter] to be with you forever" (John 14:16). The central purposes of His coming were to guide us into all truth, glorify Christ Jesus (John 16:12-14), and "convict the world of sin, and righteousness and judgement" (vv. 8-11). These necessitate the Holy Spirit being active in a consistent manner in the world and in the Church throughout the entire Church age, and negates the promise of another outpouring of the Spirit.
(10) John Wimber, "Seasons of New Beginnings," File NEWBEG.TXT, 23879 Bytes, Compuserve, CIN-4, Lib 2. Originally published in the May/June 1994 edition of Vineyard Reflections newsletter published by Association of Vineyard Churches. John Wimber, Publisher; Bill Henderson, editor.
(11) TBN video-taped service, broadcast May 1994.
(12) Such action by the Holy Spirit would nullify the purpose of Christ establishing ministries (Ephesians 4:9-14), and the responsibilities of overseers in the Church (1 Timothy 3).
(13) We must judge, not the minister, but whether such manifestations fit the criteria of Scripture. Paul told the Corinthians that "God is not a God of disorder, but of peace" and to "Let ALL things be done decently and in order" during meetings (1 Corinthians 14:33, 40). In discerning the source of such manifestations, we must consider God's wisdom (James 3:15-18).
(14) The 700 Club Fact Sheet, "HOLY LAUGHTER: Bringing Revival To The Church?" as featured on the 700 Club Newswatch, October 27, 1994.
(15) O Timothy, Cloud, citing ["Holy Laughter"], pp. 35, 38.
(16) Smith, p. 4 citing videotaped local TV program.
(17) The Word of Faith magazine, October 1994, p. 11.
(18) O Timothy, Cloud, citing ["Holy Laughter"], pp. 21-23.
(19) Tricia Tillin, Mainstream newsletter (Banner Ministries - U.K.) citing The Voice Of Victory magazine, October 1994.
(20) Tillin, Mainstream.
SIDEBAR:
IS HOLY LAUGHTER A DELUSION?
DELUSION Defined: The word DELUSION is used only once in each Testament:

* NEW TESTAMENT (used once): 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12:
9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and wonders,
10 and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
11 And for this reason God shall send them a STRONG DELUSION, that they should believe a lie;
12 that they might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.


DELUSION Defined: 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12: Strong's Greek 4106: fem[inine] of 4108 (as abstrac[tly]; obj[jectively] "fraudulence;" subj[ectively] a "straying" from orthodoxy or piety:-deceit, to deceive, delusion, error (quotes originally in italics).

Comments regarding Holy Laughter: all the manifestations of Holy Laughter have certainly strayed from orthodoxy and piety.

* OLD TESTAMENT (used once): Isaiah 66:3-4:
3 He that killeth an ox is as if he slew a man; he that sacrificeth a lamb, as if he cut off a dog's neck; he that offereth an oblation, as if he offered swine's blood; he that burneth incense, as if he blessed an idol. Yes, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delighteth in their abominations.
4 I ALSO WILL CHOOSE THEIR DELUSIONS (compare with 2 Thess. 2:11), and will bring their fears upon them; because when I called, none did answer; when I spake, they did not hear; but they did evil before mine eyes, and chose that in which I delighted not.


DELUSION Defined: Isaiah 66:3-4: Strong's Hebrew 8586: from 5927; "caprice" (as a fit "coming on"), i.e., "vexation;" concr[etely] a "tyrant":-babe, delusion (quotes originally in italics).
"Caprice": "a sudden change of mind without apparent or adequate motive; a whim; also, mere fancy; susceptibility to various or freakish impulses; freakeshness; also, a fantastic production (New Century Dictionary).


Comments regarding Holy Laughter: many experience the laughter on a whim, going to the meeting "just to check it out." No need to even comment on the freakish impulses that hit people while they are doing so. Many of the manifestations could easily be labeled "'caprice,' as a fit 'coming on.'"

In both usages, God had a hand in either sending or choosing delusion for those who would not hear and walk by His word. 

PART 2: The Impregnation of the Church: The Man-Child of Joy
By Ed Tarkowski

Church leaders and ministry heads around the world are exchanging the blood of the Cross for explosions of power and glory, fueling a revival "unlike anything ever seen before" on the face of the globe. The Laughing Shepherds proclaim that a billion people will be herded into the Kingdom of God, and a new birthing is taking place. The promised ingathering will be so huge that Restorationists are jumping for glee in the puddles formed from the Latter Rain. But not all are rejoicing over the corporate "child" that is bringing confusion and division to a body once considered one in spite of its differences. Whether one considers these things inexorably strange or enticingly refreshing, each member of the body of Christ must decide for himself if it is wise and imperative to come in out of the Rain.

JUST LAUGHING IN THE RAIN: The Latter Rain, that is
Tricia Tillin, of the United Kingdom's Banner Ministries, recently tied together the new laughing phenomena and the Latter Rain teaching, which is based on only one verse in Scripture.(1)
"Very little is being said about the doctrine, origins, purpose and goal of the 'new move.' It is my belief that most churches and leaders do not know those things. Some leaders, however, are promising an escalation into world revival, but are cagey about how the transition will take place. Others hint at 'something being birthed in the Church' and 'God is raising up an Army.' The truth is, the present events and the way they are being handled by leaders point unerringly in the direction of the Latter Rain teaching."(2)

The hints at "something being birthed in the Church" are themselves birthed in a reality which has come about through new, progressive revelations built on the Latter Rain foundation. Rejected as heresy by the Assemblies of God in the 1960s, these doctrines are now finding acceptance in many denominations and major ministries, along with their accompanying signs and wonders. Central to this part of our series is the Latter Rain practice of replacing Israel with the Church as the object of Scriptural prophecy.

LATTER RAIN TEACHING: Replacement Theology - The Church is Israel
We'll soon see that replacement theology has flowered into a virtual garden of new revelations. But first look at how prophecy spoken specifically to Israel is being applied to the endtime Church. In a 1992 Vineyard prophetic word, the speaker equates Toronto with Jerusalem and the new anointing to Pentecost:
"Like Jerusalem, Toronto will end up being a sending out place. It is of God that there are so many internationals in this area. The Lord is going to be sending out many people, filled with His Spirit with strong gifting, vision, and love to the nations on all continents."(3)

In another instance, Master Potter ministries speaks of a worldwide revival of dry bones starting with the Church, basing its prophecy on Ezekiel 37 (which speaks to Israel) and Acts 2 (which doesn't refer to dry bones):
"The dry bones of the Church will be revived, as described in Ezekiel 37 and Acts 2, to advance the Kingdom of God so we can go out and restore the bones in the graveyards of the world."(4)

Out of beliefs such as these spring evermore new revelations which bring us another message, another spirit and another Jesus.

"SARAH'S" CHILD OF THE LATTER RAIN
Prominent right now is the presentation of a major Old Testament prophetic type of Christ as a new promise of the coming of a spiritual messiah. In Part I of this series, we quoted John Wimber, head of the Vineyard Christian Fellowship, saying that God told him to go to the nations in what would be "a season of new beginnings." He believes God said, "I'm going to start it all over again. I'm going to pour out my Spirit in your midst like I did in the beginning." Wimber writes,
"I heard myself say: Shall I have this pleasure in my old age? The very words that Sarah laughingly said to herself when she overheard the Lord say she was going to have a son from her 90-year-old womb by her 100-year-old husband. (Gen. 18:10). This was a word of life from the Lord, and it touched me deeply."(5)

What do Abraham's wife of old and her son Isaac have to do with this latest "move of God," the laughing phenomena already affecting the nations of the world? Did Wimber anticipate a "child" being birthed into the world through the Church, based on an Old Testament type already fulfilled by our Lord Jesus Christ? Wouldn't such an idea lead to a redefinition of the Church, as well as who we are as the people of God? According to Master Potter ministry literature, this is exactly what is happening:
"God is strategically stirring the nations and changing the governments of the world and the Church. . . . Just as My finger is moving and redefining the borders of the nations throughout the earth, so am I redefining the Church to prepare you for My Bridegroom."(6)

In our research, we found that references to childbirth and to "Sarah" and her son "Isaac" figured prominently in prophecies to the Church during 1994. Let's look at some other like-references that show a definite progression, similar to the progressive conception and birth of a child.
A. THE PROMISE OF IMPREGNATION: Morris Cerullo - 1994 London School of Ministry
". . . . God has revealed to me revelations . . . of His Spirit, of His endtime, so sacred . . . . You never heard this word preached anywhere.
"It is Hot, it is sacred, it is Deep! . . .
"Come away to this place where I poured out My Holy Spirit . .
. . I will make you pregnant with My reality. . . .
"The Holy Spirit is the part of God that will manifest the pregnancy in your being. Something great is about to happen to you."(7)

Cerullo said God instructed him to teach that He "will MAKE YOU PREGNANT with [His] reality. . . ." through "sacred . . . revelations . . . never heard preached anywhere." New revelations such as this are typical in the Latter Rain movement.(8)
B. THE IMPREGNATION: January 1994 - Night Vision of Glenn Foster
In an interview with Pat Robertson (June 9, 1994), Judson Cornwall related that Glenn Foster had a night vision in January concerning himself and Cornwall. He saw them both in a PREGNANT condition. Foster said that during this night vision, the Lord revealed:
"I am now impregnating some of my mature, older ministers with truth. . . . I'm choosing my older men because I can trust them to carry that truth to full gestation and have the patience to raise it up once it is delivered. . . . I will bring forth truth that is not now being taught and you will be part of it."(9)

This is a significant statement. The Church is being IMPREGNATED with TRUTH NOT NOW TAUGHT that will eventually manifest "something" in this world when it is raised up!(10)
C. FULL GESTATION: Rodney Howard-Browne Meeting MAY 1994 - Wallace Hickey's Prophecy
This rhyming prophecy confirming that the promise of impregnation has occurred and that the "child" is growing in the Church was given by Marilyn Hickey's husband during a Rodney Howard-Browne meeting. The service was aired by TBN in May 1994:
"The Spirit in this very hour says, Don't think you've seen it all as you go in the Holy Ghost way. God is new and He's a growing person as anything that is alive. So you don't have to work it up or try in our flesh to strive. Just let God be God in you as a child, as a child be. God would will that the whole of everyone in eternity would be like He is, never old, ever young, growing, a growing thing."(11)

Some important questions arise here. Is the God of Scripture a "growing thing" in us "as a child"? Is God a GROWING PERSON as ANYTHING that is alive? Does the concept of God in us as a growing child, a child impregnated within by His Spirit, contradict the fact that He is already within the believer to form Christ in us through our submission to His word? Are these prophetic words a departure from the word of God and the revelation of God in Christ in that word?
D. THE BIRTH: Passion & Fire Conferences (1994) - Master Potter Ministries
The next phase seems to be well under way, according to an 8-page brochure on the Passion & Fire conferences conducted by Jill Austin's Master Potter ministries. These confecis arg ceing held at Vineyard churches and others, both here and abroad. The brochure Ys entitled: "Thå Areat Intruder," eXd its emphasis is heavy on %/œence. But more disturbing is0i,utatement that advances the revelation of Wallace Hickey's "child" and ties it together with the laughing phenomena and "Sarst days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds.

Christ Jesus our Lord, who fulfilled the type of Isaac by His coming into the world, means "Emmanuel, God with us." This movement's child is "Isaac, meaning Laughter," and "he" is being released into the world as new wine, bringing joy and laughter to the nations.

The ties between Rodney Howard-Browne and Vineyard have already been established, and now other ties become apparent. Vineyard churches are listed in great numbers on the Master Potter ministries conference schedule.(13) Furthermore, at a Pastor's meeting on October 10, 1994, John Arnott, pastor of Toronto Vineyard, acknowledged that Jill Austin of Master Potter ministries shared the same laughing anointing, the same "fire of God":
". . . . I spent a year and a half trying to find some anointed evangelist -- and they are out there, and one of them was Jill. Jill Austin is with us and Jill's been going around the country doing this for several years. But it wasn't transferring to people in every case. There were examples of it, but it was still hard to get, wasn't it? It's not anymore, though, I bet. No.
"And so we would have loved to have had Jill come and spend three or four days with us, and we would have had a great time in the Spirit of God. But then, Jill would have left, and in all probability the Holy Spirit would have gone with her. . . . What could be better in terms of honouring the office of the pastor and the senior pastor of a church than the Holy Spirit using you [pastors] to bring renewal, revival, fire, home to that church?"(14)
E. THE CORPORATE SON: The Endtime Handmaidens - Prophecy October 1994
The "new revelations" prophesied at sundry times and in diverse manners by Wimber, Foster, Cornwall, Hickey and Austin flow easily into the following prophecy from the Endtime Handmaidens. This revelation shows us that "Sarah's Child" has a purpose. "Isaac" is a corporate man, God's endtime army that will bring in the Kingdom:
"Sarah is a type of the Church. The Church is 'withered,' and its womb is dried up in many places, but God is sending a revival of joy to awaken and renew the Church so that she can bring forth the 'man-child' of joy, even the army of overcomers who will go forth in the likeness and image of the Lord in these last days."(15)

Take a note of this: the stated purpose of the laughing revival is to bring forth the "man-child" of joy that will subdue the earth. National ministry leaders have now said God would impregnate, has impregnated, has brought that impregnation to full gestation and has released "the child" into all the nations to bring about God's harvest of souls and His endtime army. But there is no mention in Scripture of such a prophetic utterance or release after the appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ, Emmanuel, "God with us." Nor does Scripture speak of a release of any other spirit but the Holy Spirit, sent ONCE AND FOR ALL at Pentecost to announce the glorification of Christ at the right hand of God. This new move is founded on progressive revelation, "truths" never heard nor seen before, a typical mark of the Latter Rain Movement. It's no wonder, then, that "Sarah's child" sounds exactly like the Manifest Sons of God of the Latter Rain doctrines.
F. IMPREGNATION BRINGING A NEW BIRTH: Byron Mode Prophecy - October 12, 1994
During a Toronto pastors' meeting on October 12, 1994, Byron Mode of Dallas testified how he had previously roared like a lion. He continued,
"The second time this roaring occurred, the Lord showed me a vision. . . . We have got to be consumed with a fire within us, burning for the lost in order that we truly are able to pray them in. . . . What's happening right now is a romantic thing. God is romancing his Church, and through that romance he says I'm going to then IMPREGNATE and through this IMPREGNATION will then come NEW BIRTH,(16) and we're in the romancing and IMPREGNATION stage right now but we've got to pray in and cry out for the harvest. The harvest isn't just gonna' happen. This is the pre-stage of it, of God's romancing of his Church.....(17)

Of this word, Tricia Tillin says, "Obviously, in the light of the romance and impregnation symbols, the 'crying out' is the labour pains that bring to birth the "harvest" - however he conceives that to be."(18)

One major area of concern in the light of these revelations is the number of ministries that are climbing on the bandwagon. We have already mentioned John Wimber, Kenneth Copeland, Kenneth Hagin, Richard Roberts, Wallace and Marilyn Hickey, Charles and Frances Hunter, and Paul and Jan Crouch(19) as embracing the laughter phenomena.(20) But going almost unnoticed is a major religio-political ministry, that, if supportive of the new anointing, could possibly open doors to the political power necessary for the corporate body of Manifest Sons to come forth. We're referring to TV Evangelist and Religious Right activist Pat Robertson.

IMPREGNATION OF THE CHURCH: Robertson Called It Major Revival
Judson Cornwall's message of impregnation included, he said, God's promise to America:
"I am now impregnating some of my mature, older ministers with truth. . . . I'm choosing my older men because I can trust them to carry that truth to full gestation and have patience to raise it up once it is delivered. I will visit America one more time, and I will bring forth truth that is not now being taught and you will be part of it."

Later, he said, "There has come a new authority in my ministry. It's been scary." He explained that shortly after hearing from Foster, he went to speak in Holland. About fifteen minutes into his talk, Cornwall said, he was aware he was "almost bypassing the minds of the people, going right to their spirits. I felt had I demanded of everybody, 'On your heads - NOW!' [gesturing to show that they would have done so immediately] - phst, upside down!" He said the presence of the Lord was awesome.

Replying to Robertson's query as to the "thrust" of what he'd been saying in the Holland meeting, Cornwall said, "I was talking about spiritual warfare as I see it, . . . But I was beginning to make application to their own lives. I'm not so sure we're battling something big out there, but something big in here. The war's inside of us." Robertson replied, "If that war gets won, I mean, you're talking about major revival. One more time for America. . . . It's gotta be now!"(21)

Obviously, Pat Robertson envisioned a "major revival" and new power to come forth from Cornwall's experience. Christians across America should take note that Robertson put his stamp of approval on a controlling power that almost bypasses the mind, a power which came forth from this spiritual impregnation.(22)

MULTIPLIED MILLIONS!: "It's Called Belly Laugh . . . I Applaud It" (Robertson)
Are there any indications of Robertson's direct approval of the laughing anointing and this "child" which is to come forth? If so, then is it possible that the political power of his Christian Coalition could be used as a covering for the prophesied Joel's Army as it subdues the nations? According to Latter Rain teaching, we know a political component must arise. Let's look at some of Robertson's views on the new anointing, revival, and the endtimes.

Four months after Cornwall's appearance on the 700 Club, Robertson was again bubbling over about revival, this time during an on-air discussion with his sidekick, Ben Kinchlow:
"But what this says to me is revival is taking place in the world in a mass wave, and we look to the coming of the Lord. I think this is a very encouraging sign in the middle of all this trouble and all these wars and all this confusion. God is saying, 'I'm on the throne and I'm going to touch multiplied millions.' It's wonderful!"(23)

What was this "very encouraging sign" to Robertson that revival is wonderfully escalating? None other that a 700 Club report on the laughing phenomena. After viewing the report, Robertson exclaimed, "What an extraordinary thing!" Kinchlow: "Have you ever been seized by the Holy Laughter?" Robertson: "I've been in the presence of somebody who began it. I hate to use the term, but it's called "belly laugh" - I mean, way down inside - and this guy just roared and roared and roared. He was praying and asking God for something and the power of the Lord came upon him and just, I mean, was just convulsed with laughter. It was just a small group meeting to confer on some matter, and this thing just came upon him. And the Bible says in the presence of the Lord there is FULLNESS OF JOY (emphasized). . . . I applaud it. But, again, you have to be careful that it doesn't go off into fanaticism, and it can because they'll say, "Well, if you don't laugh this way you don't get saved," and that kind of nonsense - so, you know, they'll do that. But we've seen people fall over - absolutely - and all the rest of it. It's just the way it is when God's power is (evident)." "Kinchlow: 'Exactly!'"(24)

MULTIPLIED MILLIONS, EVEN A BILLION, souls, that is
Keeping in mind Pat Robertson's constant reminders that the hour is late, but we still have time to turn the tide in America, notice that his response to Cornwall's prophecy was "you're talking about major revival," and to the laughing anointing, "God is saying . . . I'm going to touch multiplied millions." Then on January 2, 1995, Robertson spoke confidently and with much certainty of a great revival and harvest, again placing the numbers to be harvested in the hundreds of millions:
"Ladies and gentlemen, . . . I have been in prayer for the last several days trying to find the mind of the Lord, and I'm relatively encouraged about 1995. . . . I do think we are entering on the greatest spiritual revival that has ever taken place in the history of mankind. It is going to build in intensity over the next five years. There will be literally hundreds of millions of people who will come to the Lord, and I think we can look to an incredible ministry time. . . ."(25)

Flinging about such great numbers of souls who will be brought in during "the greatest spiritual revival . . . in the history of mankind," Robertson continued his rapturous prediction by describing this global revival as inconceivable by our natural minds:
"But I believe God is going to send a great revival in the next five years that will exceed anything that our minds can conceive. I'm talking about hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of millions of people that will come into the Kingdom, all over the world. It's going to be fabulous."(26)

Although Robertson now predicts tremendous revival "in the next five years," he's been expecting it for many more. In 1984, he wrote:
"Somebody has got to sew some tents together, and sew some nets together, and get the literature together, and all the things that are going to be needed to handle 400 million to a billion souls that are going to be saved in the next few years! I mean, it's a staggering task and God's going to give it to us! Someone has got to train the future leaders of this world, because God is going to put us in positions of responsibility. . . .
"What's going to happen when all these things that we talk about take place? We will see them happen."(27)

But Robertson isn't the only prognosticator of a large harvest. Estimating the number of souls God will reach through the laughing revival being globally "distributed" through Toronto's Airport Vineyard, Wes Campbell said,
"And I'll say this, and I'll say it publicly, 'cause Mike Bickle said it for years publicly. The Lord has showed him that the Lord is going to bring in one billion souls in the sweep of time. A billion souls will come into the kingdom."(28)

Notice that those connected with the Vineyard churches, the Kansas City prophets, and the leading religio-political Christian influence in America all agree that there will be a great revival with up to a billion souls saved. Do they know this by the Holy Spirit? Or is their belief based on the 1950s teaching of Latter Day Rain's George Warnock that the Church would experience a 40 year lull, after which a great revival would occur?

The absence of any scriptural support in Robertson's description of the next five years is obvious. Yet his word for the Church came after several days of prayer "trying to find the mind of the Lord." Our concern about this prophetic word is that such a harvest is not at all mentioned in Scripture. Surely the Church will continue to harvest souls, but there is no Biblical basis for expecting a revival of this magnitude. God took such care in providing specific signs to watch for, events which would signal the soon-coming of His Son, that it's inconceivable that He would have neglected to promise such a great endtime revival.

PAT ROBERTSON'S "BIBLICAL MODEL": A Great Harvest Followed By Judgment
Is Pat Robertson subtly presenting Latter Rain doctrine, either consciously or in ignorance? Consider this: on January 2, 1995, Robertson described what he called his "Biblical model" for the end times preceding the time of God's judgment:
". . . I do think that the Biblical model is . . . first a revival, an outpouring of His Spirit, then a great harvest of souls, and then a judgment on the ungodly who broke His covenant and refuse to follow His ways. And so that's coming. It's just a question, it's being delayed for a while till we get the harvest in."(29)

Blatantly missing is any mention of the premillennial tribulation period, when the ungodly will persecute the godly. In fact, Robertson's scenario proposes just the opposite. In his book Vengeance Is Ours, Al Dager made the following statement about Robertson and his view of the rapture:
"As a well-known public figure and founder of the Christian Broadcasting Network, Pat Robertson is more careful than most in revealing his belief in dominion theology. He claims to believe in a literal rapture, but not until there has been a great revival that will result in a godly society run by the Church."(30)

On the January 2, 1995 700 Club program, Pat Robertson was asked: "Explain about the rapture and when it will take place." He replied,
"Well, I think the rapture is going to take place when Jesus Christ comes back again, and He's going to come back again at the end of some kind of a tribulation or whatever. But, this could be a very short thing. It's not necessarily going to be a, could be a seven year kind of, you know, unwinding and a confusion in the world. But when it finally hits, it's going to be dreadful, but right now let's get the harvest in."(31)

As Dager said, Robertson claims to believe in a literal rapture. But in attempting to describe events that precede it, he speaks of "some kind of a tribulation or whatever" of unsure duration. His "whatever" is not equated with the time of Jacob's Trouble, but as a "kind of . . . unwinding and a confusion in the world." What Robertson is sure of is that there will be "a great harvest of souls" for five years, and then God's cleansing of the earth from evil, "a judgment on the ungodly who broke His covenant and refuse to follow His ways."(32) Then Jesus returns.

Considering Robertson's knowledge and understanding of current events in the Middle East, the world, and the oppressed Church, it's hard to believe that he made no mention of Israel, or of the antichrist and the false prophet who scripturally precede our Lord's return. Instead, he emphasized the Church's tremendous harvest, followed by a period of judgment that would be dreadful when it came:
"And I do think the consequences of that revival will be profound in nations such as what we had here in the United States of America. And I also think that by the turn of the century, though, we may see some judgment on the world that is beyond calculation. I won't go into great detail about that, . . . and that will have sociological consequences, it will have political consequences, it will have broad sweeping consequences in people's lives."(33)

Unlike the biblical wrath of God, Robertson's predicted "judgment" cannot be found in Scripture, although it is aimed at the world and resembles the sudden destruction which will come in the Day of the Lord. Robertson's scenario has life going on more or less as usual afterwards, although some will suffer "consequences." This judgment is obviously not followed immediately by Jesus' second coming. As for the biblical tribulation, in the same conversation, Robertson was asked, "What do you think will happen to America in five years, in the year 2000, if things like crime, morals, etc. stay as they are or get worse? He responded,
"You never know what can happen because countries can change, they can repent. You know what happened up in Ninevah. When they repented, God lifted the judgment that He had spoken by His prophet was going to happen, so Jonah was all mad because God didn't wipe the city out, but they all repented, they repented in sackcloth and ashes. . . . But at the end of [the revival and harvest], God's going to cleanse the world of the evil you spoke of. And if you read in the 21st chapter of Luke and you see what Jesus had to say, its going to be so horrible that people are literally going to be fainting or having heart attacks for fear to see what's happening. It's going to be absolutely awful, it's going to come on the entire earth. So it won't just be America, but God is going to cleanse His earth and then Jesus is going to come back. Now is this going to happen five years from now or whenever, I would hesitate to make dates, but . . . ."(34)

Robertson's words eliminate the tribulation period! Revival followed by God's judgment to cleanse His earth of evil leaves no evil to bring about the persecution and martyrdom of the saints. Tossing to and fro between Dominionism and Scripture, Robertson manages to hedge his bet on the future. But no matter how it goes, God will "cleanse the earth" with such horrible events that men will faint for fear and then Jesus will come back. Although he ignores most other events in Luke 21, Robertson is correct about the three verses describing the terror accompanying Jesus' return (vv. 25-27). The other predictions in Luke 21 absolutely contradict Robertson's mandate to take dominion, so he concentrates instead on preparing the Church for harvest.

In his previous 1984 writings, Pat Robertson stated, "Someone has got to train the future leaders of this world, because God is going to put us in positions of responsibility." Are these positions to be brought about by the global revival's effect on societal and governmental structures? In the same book, Robertson asked,
"Now what do you do? What do I do? What do all of us do? We get ready to take dominion! We get ready to take dominion! It's all going to be ours - I'm talking about all of it. Everything that you would say is a good part of the secular. Every means of communication, the news, the television, the radio, the cinema, the arts, the government, the finance - it's going to be ours! God's going to give it to His people. We should prepare to reign and rule with Jesus Christ."(35)


This statement shines much light on the previous ones, and again what stands out by its absence is the premillennial tribulation. This is the Dominion teaching of prophets such as Bob Jones, who stated in 1988:
"And the Church that is raising up in the government will be the head and the covering for them. So that that glorious Church might be revealed in the last days because the Lord Jesus is worthy to be lifted up by a Church that has reached the full maturity of the God-man."(36)

Jones' words concerning "the government" that "the Church . . . is raising up" exclude any personal, visible presence of the Lord Jesus Christ on the earth. We must ask: If the Manifest Sons are being raised up through the Laughing phenomena, will Robertson's "future leaders of this world" be feasible candidates for their "head and covering"?

Let's look once more at Robertson's "Biblical model." The first three points were given in order. The other two were gleaned from other statements:
1. a revival, an outpouring of God's Spirit
2. then a great harvest of souls, with judgment delayed for a while until the Church gets the harvest in
3. then a judgment on the ungodly who broke God's covenant and refuse to follow His ways
4. some [vague, unclarified] kind of tribulation of unwinding and confusion
5. Jesus will come back and the rapture takes place


This is Dominion theology, pure and simple. Robertson "sought God" and came up with a model that transforms the tribulation from a time of evil's reign and persecution of the Church to a time of great revival, followed by God's judgment on the evil remaining. Robertson's scenario is strongly compatible with the reign of the Manifest Sons as the corporate ongoing incarnation of Christ, ruling on earth until Christ returns.

Steven Montgomery, a critic of the Manifest Sons of God, observes:
"A distinction is made between Christ's coming, appearing or manifestation to rule and judge the world through the Sons of God and His later individual, personal return. He is unable to return until the stage is set by the establishment of His rule and reign through the sons of God subduing the nations, or taking dominion, and executing judgement on the ungodly. This would usher in the new age, the new world order, the theocracy, divine government, divine order or kingdom age."(37)


What makes all of this rather scary is Robertson's prediction of "judgment on the ungodly who . . . refuse to follow His ways." If those who "follow His ways" are the Manifest Sons, who, in their eyes, will be "the ungodly"? Will Christians who stand on God's written word be shepherded into this category? If so, the scriptural tribulation won't have disappeared. It will just have been renamed.

Robertson and other leaders of major ministries across America have said yes to the impregnation, yes to the laughing, and therefore yes to the corporate child of joy. Do these leaders realize that they are supporting the doctrines of the Latter Rain?

We believe Tricia Tillin more than adequately answers this question:
"Almost without exception, these Latter Rain heresies are also now the teachings of the Restoration Movement! Slowly, carefully, and without ruffling too many feathers, Latter Rain teachings have been introduced to the Church until (in the UK at least) almost the entire Charismatic Church is under their spell.
"A great sea-change has taken place over the last twenty years. What the early Pentecostal Assemblies discerned as heresy and banned from their platforms has crept back under another guise, been adopted by the great majority of evangelicals, and is now racing towards its fulfillment - the spurious Feast of Tabernacles!"(38)


Tillin closes her remarks with this warning:
"Few people involved in the current events know the origins of the phrases they are using (like Second Pentecost, or Latter Rain); few leaders understand where the concepts they have been taught in conferences, fraternals and elders' meetings have been coming from! Many have never even heard of the Latter Rain, and would deny having anything to do with such doctrine. Yet still they accept the beliefs with which they have been subtly indoctrinated over a period of decades! Ignorance is no excuse, for the teachings are plainly contrary to the Word of God. Leaders, as well as individual Christians, have a responsibility to test supposed new revelations, not to accept and promote them just because they are popular.
"The only answer is to revert to teaching and preaching solid, biblical doctrine - about the all-sufficiency of Jesus, about the coming apostasy and about the benefits of the first Pentecost. If this were done, not only would Christians not be 'barren' and 'thirsty,' so that they queue up to experience something 'beyond Pentecost,' but they would be mentally and spiritually equipped to reject the Latter Rain heresies."(39)


THE PROPHETIC TIMECLOCK TICKS: Everyone Must Make A Choice Now!
Master Potter ministries, like the Vineyard churches, has declared that the laughing anointing and its Latter Rain teaching is a sovereign global move of God and that people will have to make a choice:
"There are prophetic time clocks for the different nations to reveal God's sovereign global purposes.
"It's a sovereign move. It's a prophetic time clock of My Spirit that is turning. The nations are full of the glory of the Lord. It's like different nations have different amounts of the glory and the brightness. There are different time clocks on different nations. I'm ticking it off. There are explosions of My anointing and My glory. The time clock is moving forward. You will be a part of the great end time harvest that I am bringing to the earth. So there are choices."(40)


How much time do we have to make a choice? Robertson's five years? In Part I of this series, we, too, noted the urgency of making a decision. Now here we repeat a line from the beginning of the present article: "Whether one considers these things inexorably strange or enticingly refreshing, each member of the body of Christ must decide for himself if it is wise and imperative to come in out of the Rain."

FOOTNOTES
(1) Joel 2:23: "Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God; for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month."
(2) Tricia Tillin, Banner Ministries, unpublished research paper, 1994.
(3) Mantle of Praise Ministries, Inc. A two part prophecy by Mark Dupont concerning revival coming to part of the church of Toronto. May 1992 & July 1993, Part One: May 92, While In Toronto For The Area Of Southern Ontario, Point E.
(4) Master Potter, Prophetic Insights For The '90's: Quarterly Perspectives from Jill Austin, "The Great Intruder" Passion & Fire Conferences, Summer '94.
(5) John Wimber, "Season of New Beginnings," File NEWBEG.TXT, 23879 Bytes, Compuserve, CIN-4, Lib 2. Originally published in the May/June 1994 edition of Vineyard Reflections newsletter published by Association of Vineyard Churches. John Wimber, Publisher; Bill Henderson, editor.
(6) Master Potter ministries.
(7) Morris Cerullo, London School of Ministry promotional material, 1994
(8) Cerullo: "I will make you pregnant with My reality": In Latter Rain teaching, the Church replaces Israel. This is the impregnation of the Church and the resulting pregnancy symbolized by the woman with child in Revelation 12:2: "And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered."
(9) Pat Robertson interview with Judson Cornwall, 700 Club, Family Channel, June 9, 1994.
(10) The statement is significant considering the global implications of "something being "raised up" based on "truth not now being taught." Jude 3 states that we are "to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints." A "new truth" can only lead toward a great delusion.
(11) Wallace Hickey, prophecy delivered during Rodney Howard-Browne service, videotape, aired on TBN May 1994.
(12) Master Potter ministries.
(13) Master Potter conference schedule: KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI TOUR - June 13-17, Metro Vineyard Fellowship "Moving in the Anointing" with Jim Goll. June 21-24, Metro Vineyard Fellowship "Passion for Jesus" Conference with Paul Cain, Mahesh Chavda, and Mike Bickle with seminars by Michael Sullivant, Jill Austin, and other speakers.; METRO VINEYARD FELLOWSHIP - June 25, "Prophetic Seminar" with John P. Jackson, Michael Sullivant, Jill Austin and Phil Elston; CALIFORNIA TOUR - October 6-9, Coast Community Vineyard, Santa Barbara, "Passion and Fire" III Conference; CANADA TOUR - November 25-27, Vineyard Christian Fellowship of Surrey, British Columbia, Canada, "Passion and Fire" III Conference (Summer '94).
In a "Special Friends Report" from Master Potter Ministries, the following Vineyard churches were mentioned: VINEYARD CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP - Sept. 29 - Oct. 2 "Passion & Fire" Conference, Oklahoma City, OK.; METRO VINEYARD FELLOWSHIP - Oct. 7-10 Kansas City, MO.; COAST COMMUNITY VINEYARD - Oct. 27-31 "Catch the Fire" Conference, Santa Barbara, CA.; VCF OF VINITA - Dec 1-4 "Passion and Fire" Conference, Vinita, OK.; VINEYARD CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP OF TULSA - Dec 8-11 "Passion and Fire" Conference, Tulsa, OK. (Passion & Fire Conferences with Jill Austin, A ministry of Master Potter, "Fresh Fire in Ohio, Connecticut, & Yale University," Special Friends Report).
(14) John Arnott, Pastors' Meeting - Airport Vineyard, Toronto, Ontario, transcript of audiotape, Wednesday, October 19, 1994.
(15) Discernment newsletter, Jewel van der Merwe, LATTER RAIN and The Rise of Joel's Army, p. 5 citing End-Time Handmaidens, Angel Letter #2, September/October 1994.
(16) Mode: "through the IMPREGNATION will then come NEW BIRTH." One must consider 1 Peter 1:23 when discerning Mode's "new birth": "For you have [already] been born again . . . of imperishable seed, through the living and enduring word of God."
(17) Testimony of Byron Mode of Dallas, Toronto pastor's meeting on October 12, 1994.
(18) Personal correspondence from Tricia Tillin.
(19) In Part I, we said that TBN had a potential 60 million viewers, but in his February 1995 TBN Praise The Lord newsletter, Paul Crouch wrote, "So when you put TV stations, cable stations, backyard satellite receivers, shortwave radio, and long wave radio all together, we are accessing about 70 to 75% of the population of America or about 300 million souls!" (italics and bold print deleted from original text). TBN periodically airs Rodney Howard-Browne services and fully supports the laughing revival.
(20) These leaders were mentioned in Part I.
(21) Cornwall interview, 700 Club, June 9, 1994.
(22) The idea of bypassing the natural thinking and reasoning faculties of the mind are not foreign to this movement. In a video tape aired on TBN in May 1994, Rodney Howard-Browne laid hands on a woman and encouraged her to "Step over, step over, step over, step over into the realm of the supernatural. Step over out of the realm of reason into the realm of glory." But God never calls us to forsake reason. He forms in us the mind of Christ as described in James 3:15-18.
(23) Pat Robertson, 700 Club, Family Channel, Oct 27, 1994.
(24) Ibid. The inaudible word ending this quote seems to be "evident."
(25) Pat Robertson, Family Channel, 700 Club, January 2, 1995. Our taping of the 700 Club program was not dated, and may have been aired New Year's Day. But one day's difference does not negate the authenticity of what was said on the video.
(26) Ibid.
(27) Al Dager, Vengeance Is Ours, 1990 p. 93-94 citing Pat Robertson, Answers to 200 of Life's Most Probing Questions (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 1984), pp. 145-146.
(28) Tricia Tillin, Not Peace But A Sword, Banner ministries, Mainstream newsletter, Winter 1994, p. 2 citing Wes Campbell at a Airport Vineyard meeting, October 14, 1994.
(29) Pat Robertson, 700 Club, January 2, 1995.
(30) Al Dager, Vengeance Is Ours, p. 90.
(31) Pat Robertson, 700 Club, January 2, 1995.
(32) "a judgment on the ungodly who broke His covenant and refuse to follow His ways": Does this judgment include Christians rejecting the current laughing phenomena and revival as a way of God? In future parts to this series, we will see this is not as far-fetched as it sounds.
(33) Pat Robertson, 700 Club, January 2, 1995.
(34) Ibid.
(35) Dager, p. 93-94 citing Pat Robertson, Answer's, pp. 145-146.
(36) Al Dager, Vengeance is Ours, 1990, p. 146 citing Bob Jones, Visions & Revelations, 1988.
(37) Reprint of article by Steve Montgomery, "An Introduction of the Potential Social Significance of the Doctrine of the Manifestation of the Sons of God," 1985 in Constance Cumbey's New Age Monitor, p. 13-14, May 1989.
(38) Tillin, research paper.
(39) Ibid.
(40) Master Potter ministries.


SIDEBAR: Part 2
THE TEACHING OF THE LATTER RAIN:
The distinctive teachings of the Latter Rain that have so penetrated the Charismatic Renewal, Pentecostalism, and the Restoration Movement. Supposed Scriptural basis: Joel 2:23; Hosea 6:3; James 5:7.


REPLACEMENT:
the Church replaces Israel. For instance, Latter Rain sees the dead dry bones of Ezekiel 37 as the Church, the New Israel, who will live because God is putting His Spirit into them. Consequently, Israel no longer has a major role to play in the endtime scenario. In order to experience God's promises to Israel, both Jew and Gentile must become part of God's endtime Church.


FORMER RAIN:
correct OT interpretation: the "former rain" rightly typifies giving of the Law at Mt. Sinai on Pentecost.
Latter Rain doctrine: teaches that the NT Pentecost, not the giving of the Law at Sinai, was the "former rain," leaving the "latter rain" yet to come.


LATTER RAIN:
correct NT interpretation: as the former rain typified the giving of the OT Law at Pentecost, so the latter rain typifies the Pentecost of the NT giving of the Holy Spirit.
Latter Rain doctrine: since Pentecost is considered the "former rain," it is only fulfilled in the Church's later celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles, which replaces Pentecost as the "latter rain" of Joel 2:23.


TABERNACLES:
the celebration of this feast, says Latter Rain, fulfills these phases: unity, the "latter rain" revival, harvest, defeat of the Church's adversaries, establishment of the Kingdom. Tabernacles is understood spiritually as the Harvest Festival of joy and gladness, thus it is likened to the current laughing phenomena. Also considered to be the invisible and spiritual coming of Christ to indwell His corporate Body, as opposed to Pentecost, when he indwelt individuals.
This coming of Christ to indwell His corporate body is now being expressed through "new truths": God is impregnating His Church to "raise up" Joel's Army, and thus the means to bring in the Kingdom of God. RESTORATION:
Latter Rain bases its concept of restoration on Acts 3:21: Jesus can't return until all things are restored. The primary need is restoration of the 5-fold ministry (Eph. 4:11-12), especially the office of Apostles and Prophets. These would bring about the perfection of the saints. REVELATIONS:
the new, progressive revelations of the Latter Rain Apostles and Prophets by which the saints will reach a state of sinless perfection. The Scriptures are allegorized or spiritualized. Church direction is also delivered through these "new, sacred truths." IMMORTALITY:
Latter Rain teaches that as the saints reach a state of sinless perfection, death is overcome. These are the Manifest Sons (Romans 8:19), who attain immortality by incarnating Christ before Christ returns. Signs and wonders will be wrought by the Manifest Sons of God, leading to a glorious worldwide endtime harvest. UNIFICATION:
corporately, the Manifest Sons of God are known as Joel's Army. The Church's unity on a global basis is absolutely essential to Latter Rain doctrine, because Christ cannot incarnate in a divided body. ESCHATOLOGY:
in Latter Rain doctrine, Jesus cannot physically return until the Church has torn down, and taken the place of, demonic powers in the heavenlies. The warfare is territorial in nature. Having overcome death, the members of Joel's Army will then reign until all God's enemies, including the last enemy of death, are destroyed and the earth is made a footstool for His feet. The Tribulation is replaced by a period during which the Manifest Sons execute God's judgment and cleanse the earth of evil in order to establish the Kingdom of God. Latter Rain discounts the classic understanding of the Second Coming, the Millennium, and the Premillennial Rapture as presented in Pretribulation, Midtribulation, Posttribulation and Pre-Wrath doctrines. RELIGIOSITY:
the religious "Old Generation," the denominational Christians who reject the new teachings by holding to the "old way," will not enter in to "possess the land" nor achieve "fullness." According to Latter Rain, these will be destroyed during the "Tribulation," while Joel's Army reigns from the heavenlies. As the ongoing incarnation of Christ, the Manifest Sons will have the power to judge God's enemies and cleanse His Church by destroying all who refuse to "repent". EVOLUTION:
the Latter Rain doctrine presupposes that the Church must progress in maturity to reach a point where Christ can incarnate His body in order to establish His Kingdom on earth before His physical return. But Scripture says Christians "have come to fullness of life in Him," which means that we are complete in Him (Colossians 2:10). We need only to learn to walk in our new life.
In his latest book, "Weighed and Found Wanting . . . Putting the Toronto Blessing in Context," Bill Randles writes,
"An interesting example of the evolutionary model of the church is a little book written in 1951 by George Warnock called 'The Feast of Tabernacles.' This book is a virtual primer of Latter Rain, Manifested Sons of God teaching, . . . a pattern for the progress of the church through time. Starting at Passover, which is Calvary, the church has been passing through the different feasts, over the years, to Pentecost. Warnock writes that we, the church, still have got to go through the Day of Atonement, the Feast of Trumpets, and come into the Feast of Tabernacles, which to him represents God's consummate purposes for us, the Last Days Church. When we come into Tabernacles, which was a tremendous time of celebration for Israel, God will finally dwell within His people" (pp. 58-59).
Though the New Age was unheard of in 1951, this evolutionary model is typical of today's futurists who also believe that the human race as a whole is birthing the next stage of man's evolution toward Godhood.

PART 3: The Abrahamic Covenant and Joyous Feast of Tabernacles
By Ed Tarkowski

Today, "new revelations" in the body of Christ reveal a new agenda for the Church as it heads toward the end of the age: fresh outpourings, laughing, unity, revival, Tabernacles, covenant, God's Army, the blessing of the nations. What does it all mean? And what about those who don't buy these new truths? The more we hear of these things, the less we hear of Israel, the tribulation, the reign of antichrist, and the rapture of the Church. And as the new agenda is implemented, the line drawn in the Church becomes more evident. On one side of that line are those whom God has separated for Himself, a people who will adhere to his word as it reveals Jesus Christ. On the other side are those attempting to make "all things new" before their time, based on a prophetic mixture of the Abrahamic covenant and the Old Testament feasts of Israel.

OVERVIEW: Revival - Once a Hope
Revival! We're hearing much about it these days, in various shades of definition. In discussing whether this is a time of revival or judgment, Rodney-Howard Browne, like Pat Robertson, avoided mention of the tribulation and predicted great things for America:
"The whole thing is we are living in the last days, and . . . there's perilous times. The Bible says men's hearts are failing for fear. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to prophesy that there's a coming judgment. The whole earth is groaning and waiting for the day of release. But, I believe God's not through with America. I believe America stands on the brink of the greatest revival, and I have to believe. If I didn't believe it, I would quit preaching because I believe God said in His word that the glory of the latter house will be greater than the former house. And for God just to discard America without sweeping it with a wave of revival I don't believe would be right. I believe God gives everybody an opportunity, and we're sitting with a whole generation that have never heard the gospel here in America, have never seen the power of God. Now, after the revival only God knows what's going to happen. But between now and the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, whatever that is, I believe, the greatest outpouring of the Spirit of God."(1)

Back in the early Seventies, there were predictions of a coming revival, defined as hearts coming to life again by the working of God's Spirit through the word of God. The expected results of revival included sharing the gospel with others, getting some maturity into new Christians, and having them go out and do the same, basically on a one-to-one basis. The purpose of revival was to bring the Kingdom to the hearts of men because Christ was going to return. His personal return was the one event the Church needed to bring in the Kingdom of God.

But the purpose of revival has been confused since then. Today's revival is associated with repentence, infilling, and becoming a member of God's endtime Army for the purpose of establishing His Kingdom on earth apart from Christ's visible return. This is a far cry from the hope of His coming to a Church under heavy persecution (Revelation 13:5-10), and Him personally establishing His victorious kingdom (Revelation 19:11-21; 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12). The new understandig of revival is a major example of a "prophetic statement" from Master Potter ministries that God is redefining His Church. But how we define revival and its expected results is crucial to how we relate to Christ.

Twenty-five years ago, the Church's view of the endtimes was basically premillennial (pre-, mid-, or posttribulationism). But things have drastically changed. Today there is a common mentality in some circles that agrees with Vineyard's John Wimber: "There is something higher than being [a denomination] and that is to be this end time army and involved in this greater prize of bringing everything on the earth and above the earth and below the earth to the feet of Jesus."(2)

OVERVIEW: Revival - The Control Word
How did so many Christians come from there to here in so short a time? Looking back, it seems that the Word of Faith and Positive Thinking teachings struck the first spark. These did much to turn hearts to a self-centered life rather than a God-centered one. As hearts glowed with proclamations such as "Every promise in the book is mine," "Claim your inheritance," and "Take the land," Restoration teaching waited for its opportunity.(3) Then when the Church at large finally realized that a New World Order based on New Age spirituality was planned for our future, Restorationsts made their move. For years they'd preached that the Church was to bring in the Kingdom of God, but no one, particularly Evangelicals, had paid attention. Those pesky beliefs about tribulation and rapture had blinded the Church to their truth, but now Christians wanted political rights! The inheritance promised by Word of Faith teachers coincided nicely with the Restorationist's promise of a Christian Kingdom on earth. "Take the land" was applied to a literal land, and the Christianizing of society and its governments became a real possibility. The emphasis was no longer on the hope of Jesus' coming to save both Israel and the Church. Instead, a united intercessory Church turned to an Old Testament promise made to Israel: "If My people, which are called by My name, shall humble themselves and pray; . . . I . . . will restore their land."(4) In all the excitement, the word "revival" was subtly redefined, and hardly anyone noticed. Finally, after 25 years of incremental change in Church thinking, the Restorationists stood on the revised purpose for revival and announced, "A great move of God is beginning! Revival is here!" The new good news was that God had an endtime army which would march through the land to victory, and each Christian was a potential soldier. And when "the fire fell" through Rodney Howard-Browne and the Toronto Blessing, Christians from all over the world came to Toronto to enlist. Now the restoration of dominion began to merge with the supernatural potential of the Latter Rain teachings, and revival took on even more meaning. God's Army would be equipped with victory over death, and the Power Evangelism of Latter Rain would be directed to Restorationism's objectives. Jesus' cross became the symbolic sword of this new gospel and lost even more of its godly meaning. The gospel of sin, Christ's shed blood and the cross, and the promise of His personal, visible return in victory was overtaken by the gospel of revival. Christians from all over the world saw the flames burning bright and were drawn to its light, and a new unity began to arise.

RECONSTRUCTION AND CHARISMATIC DOMINIONISM: Can They Achieve Unity?
In his book "Vengeance Is Ours," Al Dager makes an interesting observation about the two streams of Restorationist thought within today's Church:
"There are nuances to the philosophical approach to dominion, but the various movements can all be classified under two basic headings: 1) Reconstruction, which establishes an intellectual basis for dominion theology, and is basically non-charismatic; 2) what I call "Charismatic Dominionism" for lack of any term previously forthcoming.
"The latter encompasses most of the factions apart from the Reconstruction movement and makes up the bulk of the dominionist community. Its common element is its adoption of major teachings from the Latter Rain Movement of the late forties and early fifties.
"There are indications that Reconstruction and Charismatic Dominionism are finding common ground for unity in spite of some Reconstructionists' denunciation of charismatism." (5)


While the Latter Rain influence was subtly worked in charismatic circles, other large segments of the Church were drawn together through the religio-political movement. Pat Robertson was one of the first to bring about a working relationship between Catholics and Evangelicals. When he later applauded Toronto and Browne, whose teachings are preparing the church by empowering it for signs and wonders, he drew the charismatic/pentecostal groups into the mix. This is a good example of what appears to be the next phase of this revival: the meshing of the political, social and "signs and wonders" forces within the Church. Scarey? The supernatural power of the "Laughing manifestation" tied to Latter Rain teachings tied to one of the most prominent figures in the Religious Right should frighten even the youngest of the Lord's sheep.

The common ground for unity that Dager describes has been plowed and is ready for the planting of revival. If the laughing phenomena continues to unite with the political agenda, what would eventually sprout up from that common ground would be the Latter Rain's Army of the Manifest Sons. Is such a unity possible? I believe that what we wrote in Part II indicates that it is probable. The revelations guiding the Church may be "new," but they are also consistent. The various leaders of this "new move of God" hold to, or at the least, pursue the Restorationist view of the endtimes, and they are in the midst of a major takeover.

While such ideas may be new to many reading this series, it is no surprise to some. Even Jeremy Rifkin, new Age author of the "Emerging Order" of twenty years ago, almost perfectly described the events of our day:
"We are in the early stages of a second Protestant Reformation. . . . "While Charismatics are generating a potential liberating impulse, the more mainline evangelical movement is beginning to provide the necessary reformulation of theological doctrine that is essential for the creation of a new covenant vision and worldview. . . .
"If the charismatic and evangelical strains of the new Christian renewal movement come together and unite a liberating energy with a new covenant vision for society, it is possible that a great religious awakening will take place, one potentially powerful enough to incite a second Protestant reformation.
"[Rifkin said he would examine] the interrelationship between the great economic transformation taking place and the evangelical awakening that is spreading across America and speculate about the likelihood of a second Protestant reformation emerging between now and the year A.D. 2000." (6)

The traditional Church is founded on the New Covenant in the Blood of Jesus, through whom individuals of all nations can receive the promised Spirit by faith in Him. But there are evidences that the strong unity described by Rifkin is now emerging, as well as his "new covenant vision and worldview" for society. Thanks to Latter Rain teaching and the prophetic arm of the laughing movement, a corporate child is being birthed into the world. This child points not to Christ, but to itself as the one through whom all the nations of the world will be blessed.

ABRAHAM'S BLESSING THROUGH HIS "SEED"
Latter Rain teaching misinterprets the five verses in Galatians which refer to blessings given to Abraham. For example, British teacher Alan Vincent says that God promised to bless every family on the face of the earth through Abraham's seed, which is the Church. But carefully read these verses:
"The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. The Scripture does not say 'and to seeds,' meaning many people, but 'and to your seed,' meaning one person, who is Christ" (Galatians 3:16).
"Understand, then, that those who believe are children of Abraham. The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: 'All nations will be blessed through you'" (Galatians 3:7-8).
"That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith" (Galatians 6:14).
"If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise" (Galatians 3:29).


Taken together, these verses mean that God spoke promises to Abraham and to his one seed, who is Christ. What He promised through Christ was the Holy Spirit and the gospel, which would be offered to all nations. This blessing of Abraham would come through Jesus, who FULFILLED the promise, and be given to the HEIRS, who are all who belong to Christ.

Four points need to be made here:

1. Christ is the one who blesses the nations by giving the Holy Spirit to all who believe. This was fulfilled at Pentecost and is ongoing. The recipients of the blessing are those who receive the Spirit by faith in Christ: "Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard?" (Galatians 3:2). Those who do not believe in Him are excluded from the blessing. But Latter Rain teaches that every person on earth is to receive this blessing, not from Christ personally and through faith in Him, but through the Church and its celebration of Tabernacles. In other words, the recipients replace Christ by themselves becoming "distributors" of the Spirit based on their own intercession.

2. In Latter Rain teaching, the Church intercedes for the nations, and then God releases the blessings promised to Abraham through the Feast of Tabernacles. Salvation is moved from a personal level to a territorial one, with emphasis on "taking the land" and setting up God's Kingdom.

3. Latter Rain teaches that the blessing of Abraham will be released into the nations as the Church celebrates Tabernacles or the Ingathering of the Harvest. But the promise was fulfilled when Christ sent the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Therefore, any spirit "released" through Tabernacles cannot be the Holy Spirit.

4. The Spirit seals all believers as God's guarantee that when Christ returns to judge the nations and establish His rule, we will receive all of God's promises. But Latter Rain teaches that the Church is the promised seed which enters into its inheritance by 1) celebrating the Feast of Atonement, 2) experiencing Pentecost, and 3) entering the time of the Feast of Tabernacles. The expected outcome of this "journey" is that Christ becomes incarnate in His perfected members, bringing them immortality and enabling them to be His endtime army, Joel's Army. As they take the blessing of Abraham to the nations, this Army ESTABLISHES that which Scripture says they are to INHERIT: the Kingdom of God (Matthew 25:34). This is what Toronto and Browne are all about.

Let's recap what we stated in Part II about the "child Isaac, meaning laughter," and see how Rifkin's "new covenant" for society emerges, in part, from the Latter Rain perspective:
Wimber: "Season of new beginnings." Cited Gen. 18:10, Sarah's response to God: "Shall I have this pleasure in my old age? . . . This was a word of life from the Lord, and it touched me deeply."(7)
Mode: "God is romancing his Church, and through that romance he says I'm going to then impregnate and through the impregnation will then come new birth, . . ."(8)
Cerullo: God "will make you pregnant with [His] reality. . . ." through "sacred . . . revelations . . . never heard preached anywhere."(9)
Foster/Cornwall: "I am now impregnating some of my mature, older ministers with truth [not now being taught]. . . . to carry that truth to full gestation and . . . to raise it up once it is delivered."(10)
Hickey: "God is new and He's a growing person as anything that is alive. . . . Just let God be God in you as a child, as a child be. . . . never old, ever young, growing, a growing thing."(11)
Master Potter: "Prophetically, the child Isaac, which means 'Laughter,' is being released in nation after nation as the new wine is being passed."(12)
Endtime Handmaidens: "Sarah is a type of the Church. The Church is 'withered,' and its womb is dried up in many places, but God is sending a revival of joy to awaken and renew the Church so that she can bring forth the 'man-child' of joy, even the army of overcomers who will go forth in the likeness and image of the Lord in these last days."(13)
Mode: "We're in the romancing and impregnation stage right now but we've got to pray in and cry out for the harvest. . . . This is the pre-stage of it."(14)

A new covenant vision and worldview are being set in place by means of replacement theology, which applies certain select Old Testament passages to today's Church. We shall see that Wimber's "season of new beginnings" is the Feast of Tabernacles, and the "new" sacred truths being revealed are built on the Latter Rain teachings. In a taped talk entitled "God's 'Suddenlys'," Alan Vincent indicates that he, too, was inspired by the type of Sarah's child Isaac, meaning "laughter," but this time as "Abraham's seed." Vincent's new revelation brings together Isaac with the Abrahamic covenant and the feasts of Israel. He speaks of God using His body (the Church) to laugh (Isaac), a laugh that will shake the world:
"But I tell you what God said to me was, He said, 'Alan, I am moving the Church from the Day of Atonement to Tabernacles. I'm, frankly, just beginning to laugh.' And He took me to Psalm 2, verse 4, where it says, 'the rulers of this world will take council together against the Lord and against His Christ.' And then it says, 'The Lord will laugh, he will have them in derision,' and if you look up those Hebrew words, they are words of great strength. You get a picture of God rolling on the floor, laughing at the absolute ludicrousness that the devil could possibly frustrate His eternal purpose. As if the devil could stop him fulfilling His covenant to Abraham. As if the devil could even stop Him from using the Church. He said, 'The whole idea makes me laugh.' He said, 'I'm starting to use my body to laugh,' 'cause, He said, 'The Day of Atonement is over and Tabernacles is coming, and I'm getting ready to laugh and I'm getting ready to roar, and I tell you this whole world is going to feel the shaking of that laughter and the power of that roar.'"(15)


How will Vincent's God fulfill His covenant promise to Abraham through the Church? According to this word, it will be by moving the seed of Abraham into the celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles, a celebration in which God uses His corporate body to laugh.

THE "NEW" ABRAHAMIC COVENANT: The Toronto Blessing - "every family on the face of the earth will be blessed"
How appropriate that the laughing phenomena is called the Toronto Blessing because Alan Vincent considers the covenant promise of Abraham's seed ("Isaac," "laughter") to be a blessing for every family on the face of the earth. Later, he relates that this blessing must include a rejection of the "rapture theory." In order to come to faith about its inheritance, the Church must look past Pentecost to the Feast Of Tabernacles, or the Ingathering of the Harvest. Working out of his mastery of replacement theology, Vincent continues,
"They [the 120 at Pentecost] came to faith about their inheritance. If you read on in Acts chapter three, you'll find in verse 25 Peter again explaining what was going on. He says, . . . '[God's] had this on His agenda for millennium, and now you're privileged to see the fulfillment of all of that the prophets have said.' That was true, of course, for the nation of Israel, it was true for the city of Jerusalem, now it's becoming true for every single city on the face of the earth because God promised through Abraham, He said, 'I will, through your seed, which is the Church, every family on the face of the earth is going to be blessed. Every single people group, every mishpachah(16), every ethnic group, every tribe, every household, every gathering together of any community for any reason which gives them an identity.' He said, 'Now every single mishpachah on the face of the whole earth is gonna' be blessed just the way this one [Jerusalem] is being blessed by turning every one of them away from their iniquities.'"(17)


How does Vincent propose to turn every city away from its iniquities? Through a combination of Toronto's supernatural power and intercession to claim the land:
"So, . . . if you can't carry the whole world on your heart [and intercede for it], carry some of the mishpachahs on your heart. Get a nation, get a city, get a tribe, get a people and say, 'God, you promised Abraham, seven full times you repeated it, you swore it by an oath, every time you talked about a covenant, you said this is the heart of the thing.' And soon as the Spirit comes and starts to shake the city of Jerusalem, Peter says, 'Oh, this is what the prophets have talked about!' This is just one city experiencing what every city must experience. Otherwise, God's the biggest liar there ever was, and of course, that's impossible. I'm saying that quite shockingly. Beloved, God HAS to keep His word. It has to happen. Why should God keep saying again and again, 'This is what I'm going to do through the seed,' and then Jesus coming in the sudden rapture theory, and spoiling God's covenant promises to Abraham? It's impossible for Jesus to come until these things are fulfilled.
"And so, they came to faith about their inheritance because he goes on to say, 'You are the sons of the prophets.' And you know the word in the NIV, the word "huios"(18) is actually translated, 'You are the heirs' because that's the main meaning of the word. You're the people that are going to inherit every word that the prophets ever said. It's yours to go and get by faith. You can have it by faith. He said, 'You are the sons of all that God promised Abraham,' saying, 'Through your seed every single family on the face of the earth will be blessed.'. . . They were looking at the promise of that. Soon the city was in uproar, and in the short space of time they were accused of filling the world, of turning the world upside down, and filling Jerusalem with their teaching."(19)


In Part 2, we discussed replacement theology and quoted part of Mark Dupont's Toronto prophecy: "Like Jerusalem, Toronto will end up being a sending out place. It is of God that there are so many internationals in this area. The Lord is going to be sending out many people, filled with His Spirit with strong gifting, vision, and love to the nations on all continents."(20)

So the Spirit shook Jerusalem at Pentecost. Now Toronto, likened to Jerusalem, has been shaken and also become "one city experiencing what every city must experience." But this outpouring is not through the Feast of Pentecost, but through the Feast of Tabernacles. Why? Because Latter Rain teachers say Pentecost is not enough; it must come to maturity in Tabernacles.

LATTER RAIN DOCTRINE: Passover, Pentecost, Tabernacles
In an article entitled "Beyond Pentecost" in Rick Joyner's Morning Star Journal, Robin McMillan and Steve Thompson wrote of their new understanding of Israel's feasts as applied to an endtime Church "stirred to move out into [its] communities":
"Individuals and congregations are breaking into uncontrollable holy laughter, often lasting hours. Many people appear to be so spiritually 'drunk' in the joy of the Lord that they cannot even walk or talk. Although these manifestations appear abnormal and questionable to many, people are being profoundly touched by God. Not only are healings and deliverances accompanying these manifestations, but entire congregations are being renewed as their members are stirred to move out into their communities in the love and power of God. After observing this firsthand and experiencing it in our own congregations, we began searching the Scriptures to uncover the meaning of this visitation. Our search led us to the great feasts of Israel."(21)


The one verse always tied to this "revival" spreading across the globe is "this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations, and then the end shall come" (Matthew 24:14). But what gospel? In their article, McMillan and Thompson also replace Christ and Israel with the Church. They assert that the gospel was foreshadowed in three Old Testament feasts of Israel, based on Exodus 23:15-16:
PASSOVER: celebration of deliverance from the Angel of death while in slavery. Christ our Passover has been slain (1 Corinthians 5:7-8); for the saved, Passover has been celebrated.(22)
PENTECOST: the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Church, the reality of the Old Testament giving of the Law at Mt. Sinai. Pentecost, according to McMillan and Thompson, "is not the complete harvest. . . . it is not enough."(23)
TABERNACLES: "There is another realm of spiritual experience typified in scripture by the Feast of Tabernacles. Until we understand and partake of this feast, as we have both Passover and Pentecost, we will never fulfill our destiny and calling. We must discover the meaning of the Feast of Tabernacles and 'celebrate' it along with Passover and Pentecost. . . . "What God did among Jews in Jerusalem, He is going to do among humanity and worldwide. Pentecost will come to maturity in the Feast of Tabernacles."(24)


Scripturally, the Feast of Tabernacles commemorated the desert wanderings of Israel after her exodus from Egypt, a time when the Jews constructed homemade booths, or tabernacles, for shelter. This Feast also marked the end of the agricultural year in Israel, when the harvest of the orchards and vines was celebrated with joy and gladness. But in Latter Rain teaching, the completion of the Feast will come only in the endtimes. According to replacement theology, the Church's experience of Tabernacles would begin after it passes through a "dry bones" period symbolic of Israel's wandering in the desert. For some, this prophecy was fulfilled by a 40-year period of dryness just now ending in the Church, and the time of joyful celebrations of the harvest is now upon us.

Al Dager gives a basic foundation for the Latter Rain movement's replacement theology in his book, "Vengeance Is Ours":
"In 1951, [George Warnock] wrote his book, The Feast of Tabernacles, in which he laid out a specific doctrine for the Latter Rain Movement. He taught that the Church was about to usher in the completion of God's feasts through perfection of the saints and their dominion over the earth.
"Essentially, this Latter Rain teaching implies that the three great annual feasts of the Lord in Israel's worship (Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles) typify the whole Church Age, beginning with the death of Jesus on the cross, and consummating in 'the manifestations of the Sons of God' - the 'overcomers' who will become perfected and step into immortality in order to establish the Kingdom of God on earth.
"According to Warnock, this will be accomplished through the restoration of the Church in unity . . ."(25)


TABERNACLES: Unity
Beginning in the 1950s, denominational walls have been slowly but steadily coming down. The barrier between Pentecostals and Charismatics was the first to go, but thanks to the drawing power of Restorationism and now Toronto's laughing phenomena, others are crumbling as well. Referring to the Toronto Blessing, English clergyman Sandy Miller said, "It's not confined to any one denomination. . . . It's happening across the board . . . all over the place."(26)

Now forty years after Warnock promised "restoration of the Church in unity," McMillan and Thompson also associate the current drive for unity with the endtime Feast of Tabernacles. It's interesting that this required unity again carries the sense of birthing and new revelations. They write,
"If you wanted to be where His Spirit was birthing a fresh revelation of Him at the beginning of this century, you had to find Him once again in a stable, among the makeshift benches at 312 Azusa Street. Only the humble are able to follow the Lord in the place that He chooses.
"This same humility enables us to walk in unity with our brothers as well. During the Feast of Tabernacles, all of Israel dwelt in booths, the rich and poor alike. As they left those things which defined their station in life and separated them into different classes, they celebrated the goodness of God in unity, without division."(27)


TABERNACLES: The Joy Of The Harvest
Because denominational differences fade under the influence of the laughing phenomena, it will be very useful in bringing about the restoration of a united Church as well as supplying the manpower to handle the coming harvest. In their article, McMillan and Thompson envision the joy of this great harvest associated with Tabernacles:
"The manifestations of joy and spiritual drunkeness which we are seeing and hearing in these days are only the beginning of the great rain of the Holy Spirit that God promised to pour out in these times. They are a witness that He is bringing restoration and hope to people for the largest harvest of souls that has ever occurred - the Feast of Ingathering or the Feast of Tabernacles."(28)


According to Dager, Warnock taught that the Church would "usher in the completion of God's feasts through perfection of the saints and their dominion over the earth."(29) The Feast of Tabernacles in particular will be completed through Church unity, the harvest, and the manifestation of the Sons of God who will take dominion over the earth and establish God's Kingdom. And because Israel's feasts and God's covenant with Abraham have now been conjoined, "Sarah" and her child "Isaac" will figure even more greatly in the joyful celebration of Tabernacles.

LATTER RAIN DOCTRINE: The Manifest Sons Of God
The fulfillment of the Feast of Tabernacles is approaching, say McMillan and Thompson, and a united Church will soon be rejoicing in the endtime ingathering of souls. But they also promise a release of maturity into the Church:
". . . our participation in a spiritual celebration of the feast of Tabernacles is the key to God releasing fullness and maturity in the church. It is a feast of joy and release, bringing restoration. It is also a feast of humility, unity and ultimately, the ingathering of many lost people. It is the celebration of the harvest."(30)


Where will this "fullness and maturity" be found? In the coming forth of the Manifest Sons of God. The teaching on the Manifest Sons is the culmination of all other Latter Rain doctrines. It's based on Romans 8:19, which historically and in context refers to the Second Coming of Christ, when believers will be changed and caught up with Him in the air, thus being manifested, or revealed, to the world as sons of God.(31) But in the aberrant beliefs of the Latter Rain movement, the Manifest Sons of God will be revealed before Christ's return, and will be mightily used by God to prepare the world for His coming by establishing His kingdom.

The teaching has two main aspects. Individuals become Manifest Sons of God. But together, they are a corporate body, often referred to as God's endtime army, based on Joel 2.(32) The Manifest Sons will be perfected through the new, progressive revelations of a restored ministry of apostles and prophets. Steve Montgomery, a critic of the movement, describes this transformation:
"'Christ' Individually: Jesus is considered the Pattern Son. He was the first to make it as a divine, immortal sinless Manifest Son of God. This accomplishment will be duplicated by each individual who, by following Jesus the Pattern Son, becomes a Manifest Son of God. To achieve this goal is to reach Full Sonship, perfection, completion, immortalization, glorification, body salvation, or the third salvation, at which point the Glory of the Father is to inhabit the physical body as typified by the feast of Tabernacles and demonstrated by the Transfiguration of Christ. This Christ Company, now individually manifest as Sons of God, would then be revealed to the world as Many Saviours who would take dominion (establish Theocracy) and execute judgment (annihilation of those they deem as ungodly).
"'Christ' Corporately: They consider the corporate body of Christ to be Christ. The body of Christ is thought to be a literal extension of the incarnation of Christ. This causes both scriptures that refer to His ruling the nations and judging the world to find fulfillment through themselves. A distinction is made between Christ's coming, appearing or manifestation to rule and judge the world through the Sons of God and His later individual, personal return. He is unable to return until the stage is set by the establishment of His rule and reign through the sons of God subduing the nations, or taking dominion, and executing judgement on the ungodly. This would usher in the new age, the new world order, the theocracy, divine government, divine order or kingdom age."(33)


THE FRUIT OF UNITY: Militancy
Because Christ cannot incarnate in a divided body, it's crucial to the Manifest Sons doctrine that the Church be united. Along with the political coalitions of the Restorationists and the signs and wonders' gathering of the Browne-Toronto anointing, some parachurch ministries are uniting more of the multitudes needed for an endtime army of such magnitude. An article in Jewell van der Merwe's "Discernment" newsletter states:
"In a recent interview in response to a question as to whether the Promise Keepers could be fulfilling the prophecy in Joel of raising an army, James Ryle answered, 'Yes . . . 300,000 men have come together so far this year under Promise Keepers . . . Never in history have 300,000 men come together except to go to war. These men are gathered for War.'"(34)


According to the O Timothy newsletter, "Promise Keepers is a men's movement started . . . by members of John Wimber's Vineyard Fellowship."(35) Ryle, who has ministered with John Wimber and Paul Cain,(36) is pastor of the Boulder Valley Vineyard and, in association with Boulder member Bill McCartney, founded Promise Keepers in 1990.(37) Ryle is presently a member of the Board of Directors of Promise Keepers, a "'non-denominational,' parachurch organization [whose stated goal] is to celebrate biblical manhood and motivate men toward Christlike masculinity."(38)

Ryle isn't the only one to promise endtime warriors. During a Pastors' Meeting at the Airport Vineyard, John Arnott said,
"And so now we're starting to see people prophetically acting like lions and oxen and eagles and even warriors. . . . it's a wonderful thing and we've seen it spontaneous in Steve Wood's church from St. John, New Brunswick on the east coast. We had all four of those manifestations happening at the same time. So what did the man look like? He looked like a warrior, just yelling Ahhhhh!!!! . . . [It] just may be the Holy Spirit putting an empowering, like a warrior, on them.
". . . . So, when God starts to roar like a lion, you know, beware! And if you read, I think it's Isaiah 42. . . . He's saying that 'too long have I been silent. Too long have I said nothing. But now I am going forth like a warrior to bring vengeance upon those of my adversaries.' And, wouldn't it be wonderful if the Lord would start to move in power and restore the church to its proper place and make us the head and not the tail?
"Isaiah 42:13, 'The Lord will march out like a mighty man, like a warrior He will stir up His zeal; with a shout He will raise the battle cry and will triumph over His enemies. For a long time I have kept silent, I have been quiet and held myself back. But now, like a woman in childbirth, I cry out, I gasp and I pant. I will lay waste the mountains and the hills and dry up all their vegetation,' etc.
"So the Lord is, at some point, is going to go forth like a warrior, like He has in time past.
"And so that brings in a whole lot of eschatological questions, you know. Is this the time? I don't know. Is this the time Jesus is coming? Will He find faith on the earth when He returns? . . . Yes, Lord, we're going to go for it, we're gonna try to do our part to bring the kingdom of God here. And, I don't know what it all is going to look like in the aftermath, but I just cannot believe God would go to so much trouble to save fallen humanity and say 'Well, we gave it our best shot, but we're miserable failures,' you know. Can you? There's this poor little remnant hiding in a cave somewhere waiting for the rapture to happen. I just don't see that as a Sovereign Lord. Everything He does, He does well."(39)


Again, because it's essential to the Latter Rain agenda, the tribulation, the rapture, and Christ returning to subdue the nations are all dismissed. The Church will bring in the kingdom of God through its Warriors, the Manifest Sons of the Latter Rain. Furthermore, the judgment of God will fall on all who break His covenant and do not follow His ways. This judgment will be administered by Joel's Army, the corporate body of Manifest Sons now come to full stature. Hard to believe? Look at this word from the Toronto Vineyard in which Wes Campbell relates a 1984 vision concerning the Church:
"And the church was gathered in a large civil war-type big stately mansion, a big ballroom, and they were dancing. And they were dressed in colorful clothes and happy, and they were moving and they were laughing and they were dancing and they were just having the wonderful party of their life.
"And he looked at that and Bob began to laugh and he said 'Look at them dance, look at them have fun.' And an angel came and said 'Wait. Not yet.' And then what happened is that strangely in the ballroom, the crowd began to change, and they began to take sides, and they began to have blue coats and gray coats, and in a moment civil war broke out. A bloody civil war broke out. James Ryle has had a similar vision. The Lord even showed him how the blue coats stand for the revelatory, the revelation, and the grey for grey matter, man's wisdom. And in this context the north fought the south and the south fought the north, and the south wanted to keep the people enslaved. They wanted their money. They wanted their bodies. They wanted their personhood to keep the system going. And the north said, 'No! Freedom! Freedom!'
"And they went into a terrible fight, and it was father against son, brother against brother, and a man's enemies were in his own house. And the angel said this: 'There won't be a house that escapes weeping.' We do not know how long this time of visitation will continue in this capacity. But when the time is up you run with all your might, because as this begins to be known throughout the entire Christian community of the world, there will come a polarization. There always has come a polarization.
"And there eventually will become wars. There will be wars in your household. Your own family may not understand what's going on. Your own family may turn against you. That doesn't mean they're evil. That just means as Christians they haven't seen this aspect of the Holy Spirit. 'Cause they're Christians. We're talking about Christians. But the end of the vision was this: that after the time of bloodshed, the Lord was going to heal the breach. And then the harvest will come in."(40)


There is no such thing prophesied in Scripture, and the very idea in the light of all we have shared is chilling.

THE RIGHT TO CHOOSE IS YOURS
This universal move is pervading the entire Church and bringing forth an army, and Latter Rain teachers say it is God's Army. Through major ministries, hundreds of thousands have come into the laughing phenomena. For what purpose? So that God can roar like a lion and laugh through them, and thereby draw the world to Himself. But what of those who question this and won't go along with the agenda? As individual Christians responsible to God for our actions, we should be asking, "Do we have a choice in all of this?" Yes, we do, and time is running out for making that choice.

FOOTNOTES:
(1) Christian Television Network (CTN - Clearwater, FL), "The Good Life" program. Hosted by Bob and Molly DeAnrea. Guests: Rodney and Adonica Howard-Browne, 2 hour video, broadcast April 20, 1994.
(2) Jewel van der Merwe, [Critique of] Joel's Army, Discernment Ministries, p. 21 citing John Wimber, Docklands Conference, England, 1990.
(3) Restorationist: my catch-all term for a person wanting to establish the Kingdom on earth before Christ personally, visibly returns to establish it Himself, e.g., Reconstructionist, Kingdom Now, Dominionist, etc.
(4) See 2 Chronicles 7:14.
(5) Albert James Dager, Vengeance Is Ours, 1990, p. 48.
(6) Jeremy Rifkin with Ted Howard, The Emerging Order: God in the Age of Scarcity, 1979, p. ix-xii.
(7) John Wimber, "Seasons of New Beginnings," File NEWBEG.TXT, 23879 Bytes, Compuserve, CIN-4, Lib 2. Originally published in the May/June 1994 edition of Vineyard Reflections newsletter published by Association of Vineyard Churches. John Wimber, Publisher; Bill Henderson, editor.
(8) Testimony of Byron Mode of Dallas, Toronto pastor's meeting on October 12, 1994.
(9) Morris Cerullo, London School of Ministry promotional material, 1994.
(10) Pat Robertson interview with Judson Cornwall citing Glenn Foster, 700 Club, Family Channel, June 9, 1994.
(11) Wallace Hickey, prophecy delivered during Rodney Howard-Browne service, videotape, aired on TBN May 1994.
(12) Master Potter, Prophetic Insights For The '90's: Quarterly Perspectives from Jill Austin, "The Great Intruder" Passion & Fire Conferences, Summer '94.
(13) Discernment newsletter, Jewel van der Merwe, LATTER RAIN and The Rise of Joel's Army, p. 5 citing End-Time Handmaidens, Angel Letter #2, September/October 1994.
(14) Mode.
(15) Cassette tape of Alan Vincent service, 1994. Location unknown.
(16) Strong's Exhaustive Concordance: Hebrew 4940. mishpachah; from 8192; a "family," i.e. circle of relatives; fig. a "class" (of persons), a "species" (of animals) or "sort" (of things); by extens. a "tribe" or "people":-family, kin(dred). Italics replaced with quotes.
(17) Vincent.
(18) Strong's Exhaustive Concordance: Greek 5207. huios; appar. a prim. word; a "son" (sometimes of animals), used very widely of immed., remote or fig. kinship:-child, foal, son. "son" originally in quotes and italics.
(19) Vincent.
(20) Mantle of Praise Ministries, Inc. A two part prophecy by Mark Dupont concerning revival coming to part of the church of Toronto. May 1992 & July 1993, Part One: May 92, While In Toronto For The Area Of Southern Ontario, Point E.
(21) Robin McMillan and Steve Thompson, Teaching: "Beyond Pentecost," The Morning Star Journal, Vol. 4 No. 3, 1994, p. 42.
(22) Ibid., pp. 42-43.
(23) Ibid., pp. 43-44.
(24) Ibid., pp. 43-44, 48; italics deleted.
(25) Dager, p. 62.
(26) The 700 Club Fact Sheet, "HOLY LAUGHTER: Bringing Revival To The Church?" as featured on the 700 Club Newswatch, October 27, 1994.
(27) McMillan and Thompson, p. 46.
(28) Ibid., p. 48.
(29) Dager, p. 62.
(30) McMillan and Thompson, p. 44.
(31) Romans 8:19: "The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed."
(32) There is no scriptural basis in the Old or New Testament for the endtime army of God proposed by Latter Rain doctrine. The celestial signs of Joel 2:10-11 place the Lord's army with Him at the time of His personal, visible return in the sky. These verses find their fulfillment in Matthew 24:19-30, Revelation 6:12-17, and 19:11-6, especially v. 14.
(33) Reprint of article by Steve Montgomery, "An Introduction of the Potential Social Significance of the Doctrine of the Manifestation of the Sons of God," 1985 in Constance Cumbey's New Age Monitor, p. 13-14, May 1989.
(34) Jewel van der Merwe, LATTER RAIN and The Rise Of Joel's Army, Discernment, October-December 1994, p. 5 citing End-Time Handmaidens, Inc., Angel Letter #2, Sept./Oct. 1994.
(35) O Timothy newsletter, "Charismatic-led Promise Keepers promotes radical ecumenism," Volume 12, Issue 1, 1995, p. 22.
(36) Discernment, October-December 1994, p. 7.
(37) O Timothy, Volume 12, Issue 1, 1994, p, 22. According to this item, the first president of Promise Keepers, Randy Phillips, "also is a member of Boulder Vineyard."
(38) Promise Keepers: Ecumenical "Macho-Men" For Christ, Discernment Ministries, 1994.
(39) John Arnott, Pastors' Meeting, Airport Vineyard, Toronto, Ontario, Wednesday, October 19, 1994.
(40) Toronto Airport Vineyard meeting, tape transcript, October 14, 1994.


SIDEBAR: PART 3
PART 3. AND THE LORD WILL ROAR FROM ZION
One phenomena that occurs frequently during laughing meetings is people making animal noises, such as roaring lion sounds. These are explained by some favoring the phenomena as being prophetic in nature, meaning a man roaring like a lion is God prophesying that He is coming soon as a roaring lion.

For instance, Amos 1:2a says, "The Lord will roar from Zion, and utter His voice from Jerusalem."

But this is immediately explained that this means judgement: "And the habitations of the shepherds shall mourn, and the top of Carmel shall wither" (Amos 1:2b)

The idea of God describing Himself as roaring from Zion, then, would mean that great judgement is coming, not revival as explained by the supporters of the Toronto Blessing. Amos also explains to us how to understand this "roaring":
1. It is an announcement that God will do something. A lion won't roar until he has found something to eat (Amos 3:4). When the trumpet is blown, the people will be afraid of what will happen, and in the SAME way, Amos tells us, God Himself will show us what He will do: "He will reveal His secret unto His servants". And AS we will have fear when a lion roars, the prophets will prophecy when the Lord has spoken (Amos 3:8). So the "roaring of the Lord" is NOT an audible roaring which sounds like a real lion, BUT it is the speaking of God to His servants, the prophets, in imagery. When He speaks, then they shall prophecy.
2. There's a difference between the Old and the New Testament. Under the old covenant the Holy Spirit wasn't indwelling the believers. And most of the prophets had revelations only at special occasions. The Lord was leading His people through His prophets. But as we have a new covenant, the Holy Spirit is indwelling in every Christian. This means a complete new way of leading.


Jesus tells us that the Holy Spirit will not come as a Comforter only, but that He will explain to us all the truth and He will show us where we are wrong. He Himself will teach and lead us. That means that (usually) God won't guide us with outward signs but by His indwelling Holy Spirit. And - this is very important - the bible is complete now. So there are no totally new things now, but (usually) the Holy Spirit will guide us through God's Word. This is not said to discount the reality of signs and wonders today, though.

God commanded some of his prophets to do some strange things, e.g. to lie on one side for a long time or to marry a prostitute. But again, there are two main differences:
1. This is the Old Testament way of guiding His people (through prophets and outward signs), not the New Testament way (Word, indwelling Spirit).
2) Normally the prophet wasn't forced to do a special thing (in the way that the Holy Spirit came upon him in such a power that he wasn't able to to anything else). No, not like a puppet! The prophets heard the words of God and then they acted in faith, by their own will and their own strength!


Does the Holy Spirit, then, TELL us personally, "I want you to roar like a lion and to jump like a kangaroo. I want you to do so during the next service"? No, and in the Toronto Blessing, "it" usually comes upon them and then, afterwards, they get the idea what this was good for. This contradicts both ideas 1 and 2.

(This sidebar was taken from a study by a researcher and brother in the Lord from Germany.)

Suggested Reading - See Parts 1 & 2 for other suggested materials:
NEW PUBLICATION NOW BEING PRINTED - A crucial work concerning the current controversy in the Church over the laughing phenomena.

Pastor Bill Randles - "Weighed And Found Wanting . . . Putting The Toronto Blessing In Context" - Insight into the basic doctrine of the Latter Rain and Manifest Sons of God. Quotes and inquiry into the words of the modern day prophets.

Write: Bill Randles, 3336 Prairie Dr. NE, Cedar Rapids, IA 52402. Or, phone 319-366-7208; Fax 319-366-5192.

SIDEBAR: PART 3
Promise Keepers: A Militant Unity? By Ed Tarkowski and Sarah Leslie

Promise Keepers, a rapidly growing ecumenical men's movement, may be the best tool for those holding the Manifest Sons of God doctrines to market their beliefs to the rest of the American church. These beliefs, which are foundational to the Laughing Phenomenon associated with Rodney Howard-Browne, are now entering mainstream churches of all denominations via Promise Keepers. The Manifest Sons of God believe that Christ cannot incarnate in a divided body; therefore, it's crucial that the Church be united. Another term for this is Joel's Army. Promise Keepers has been likened to an army.

An article in Jewell van der Merwe's Discernment newsletter states:
"In a recent interview in response to a question as to whether the Promise Keepers could be fulfilling the prophecy in Joel of raising an army, James Ryle answered, 'Yes... 300,000 men have come together so far this year under Promise Keepers... Never in history have 300,000 men come together except to go to war. These men are gathered for War.'"


According to the O Timothy newsletter,
"Promise Keepers is a men's movement started... by members of John Wimber's Vineyard Fellowship. Ryle, who has ministered with John Wimber and Paul Cain, is pastor of the Boulder Valley Vineyard and, in association with Boulder member Bill McCartney, founded Promise Keepers in 1990. Ryle is presently a member of the Board of Directors of Promise Keepers, a 'non-denominational,' parachurch organization [whose stated goal] is to celebrate biblical manhood and motivate men toward Christlike masculinity." Vineyard head John Wimber has given his wholehearted approval to the Laughing Phenomenon.


Ryle isn't the only one to promise endtime warriors. During a Pastors' Meeting at the Airport Vineyard in Toronto, where the Laughing Phenomenon is ongoing, Rev. John Arnott said:
"And so now we're starting to see people prophetically acting like lions and oxen and eagles and even warriors... it's a wonderful thing and we've seen it spontaneous... We had all four of those manifestations happening at the same time. So what did the man look like? He looked like a warrior, just yelling Ahhhhh!!!!....[It] just may be the Holy Spirit putting an empowering, like a warrior, on them."


Promise Keepers has incorporated key doctrines of the Manifest Sons of God into their material. The February 1995 issue of Suitable Helpers, a newsletter for women participating in Promise Keepers expresses that believers can become Christ Incarnate:
"Our Lord is calling out a great host of men ready and willing to become 'Christs' in their homes: Promise Keepers. In grand, bold sweeps, God has mustered an army."


Noticing the potential political nature of this men's movement is none other than The New Age Journal, which ran an article favorable to Promise Keepers in its April 1995 edition. Writer Jeff Wagenheim noted the odd combination of New Age men's movement ideology (Robert Bly's pantheism) combined with the political evangelicalism of Pat Robertson:
"...despite the group's assertions to the contrary, Promise Keepers is an organization with vast political influence. The fact that hundreds of thousands of men are being actively encouraged to adhere to a highly conservative set of values and to work to instill those values in their communities and nation should not just be a matter of theological interest."


An historical precedent for a military-style religious movement such as Promise Keepers can be found in Germany during the 30's. According to author Richard Terrell in his provocative book, Resurrecting the Third Reich (Huntington House, 1994), orthodox Christianity was supplanted by the German Volkish faith:
"What was to take possession of the German consciousness was a militant romanticism... According to this way of thinking, the Divine Spirit is manifested in the spirit of a people, in their collective genius and total culture or Volkgeist... Germany developed a kind of communal mysticism which contained its own Teutonic concept of a chosen people, called to redeem civilization from its decadence." (p. 44)


Terrell describes the advent of this full-blown religion:
"...rallies were glorious pageants that stirred the emotions, which depended not on any revelation of Scripture, but on pure feeling... Even today, still photographs of these meetings have a powerful and gripping presence..."
"The Volkish concept of the social organism was effectively symbolized in mass meetings that expressed a sense of eternity, awe, and mystery, effects stimulated by cathedral of light nighttime mass meetings in which antiaircraft lights sent brilliant shafts of illumination into the darkened sky." (p. 59)


Is Promise Keepers creating a new folk religion? The large mass rallies, the exaltation of emotion over reason, the lack of doctrinal integrity, the taking of oaths (the 7 promises), the focus on fatherland and fatherhood, and the ecumenical inclusion of aberrant esoteric doctrines bears a disconcerting similarity to an era which gave rise to one of the most dreadful armies in history. The infiltration of MSOG doctrines into Promise Keepers (via Vineyard) combined with New Age ideologies (via Robert Bly and Robert Hicks) appears to create a new American folk theology: pantheism, the idolatry of self, the belief in a divine mandate to take the land, the superiority of a group, and the necessity of group hysteria.

While many in the church are jumping wholeheartedly into the Laughing Phenomenon and Promise Keepers, it behooves the rest of the Church to take a sober, steady look at the historical, theological and philosophical underpinnings of these popular movements of our times. 

PART 4: Laughing: Deeper Realities
By Ed Tarkowski

The Laughing Shepherds aren't the only ones rejoicing in the revival of their flocks. Though the shepherds apparently can't see the true identity of the spirit now filling the churches, New Agers seem to know exactly what it is. Both of these moves are presently evolving from one stage to another, and both are looking forward to the same end: celebration of the ultimate indwelling of Christ in his people, whether they be the Latter Rain's Manifest Sons of God or the New Age's Sons and Daughters of God. As you read this segment, be aware of the depth inherent in the words of the Church's true Savior and Lord, the true Shepherd, who emphatically warned: "Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is the Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Behold, I have told you before" (Matthew 24:23-25).

NEW BEGINNINGS: New Age and Latter Rain
"Birthing" is becoming a common term in the Laughing movement. In Part II of this series, we discussed prophecies of a fresh new revelation of God's impregnation of the Church, followed by a period of gestation and the birth of "Isaac." In Part III, we pointed out the connection between "Isaac" and the Latter Rain's replacement of Jesus with the Church as the seed of the Abrahamic Covenant. As well as bringing the Covenant "blessings" to the nations through the Toronto Blessing, that seed's celebration of Tabernacles will result in the unity necessary to manifest the Sons of God. In turn, they will establish the Kingdom and cleanse the earth of evil (eliminating the Tribulation period) so Christ can return.

All of this is disturbing, to say the least. By the use of replacement theology, Latter Rain sees the Church as the "New" Israel inheriting all of God's promises to Abraham. Israel has no more part to play in the endtime scenario, except as it becomes part of the New Breed, the one New Man to be birthed through the Church: the Manifest Sons of God.

We have already discussed the upcoming unity in the Global Church, but now we must ask, is there another, deeper unity ahead, being sought by spirits not of God? After all, our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers in the regions above (Eph. 6:10-13). Are the "non-church" principalities working in cahoots with the "churchy" ones? We could get a clue by comparing the vocabulary and goals of both. For instance, in documenting the start of the Toronto Blessing, Vineyard's John Wimber writes:
"Seventeen times [the Lord] spoke in the same context and said that this would be a 'SEASON OF NEW BEGINNINGS.' The Lord was saying, 'I'm going to start it all over again. I'm going to pour out my Spirit in your midst LIKE I DID IN THE BEGINNING.' . . .
"I had brought this MESSAGE OF NEW BEGINNINGS to our AVC National Board and Council meeting in November of 1993 at Palm Springs. Then the Lord confirmed this word in the hearts and minds of our national leadership. . ."(1)


And in New Age leader Barbara Marx Hubbard's book, "The Revelation," her "Christ" also promised a season of New Beginnings:
"Those of you who hear these words are to carry on the commandment given to John two thousand years ago. You are not only to prophesy the end, the tribulations, and the New Jerusalem, you are to act it out. You are to discover the blueprint and become co-creators with God. You are to see the first fruits of the NEW BEGINNING."(2)
"Now is the time. More of the Book of the Gods shall be revealed to you, dearly beloved, for the end is coming and the NEW BEGINNING is dawning in your lifetime."(3)


THE EVOLUTIONARY MODEL: Godhood Realization
Barbara Marx Hubbard's New Beginnings are based on the evolution of man into godhood, and the newly energized Latter Rain movement is bringing this evolutionary model into the Church. The only differences lie in the outworking of the concept. In the Latter Rain doctrine, man must first receive Christ and then mature to the point where he incarnates Him. In Hubbard's version, man is born a god, and must only come to a realization of the fact. This may seem to be a point of contention, but in the grand scheming of the Deceiver, it's merely an example of his principle that "the end justifies the means." The end is Eden revisited, and the adversary still has the same motive in mind: to get man to believe that "Ye shall be as gods."

In his new book, "Weighed and Found Wanting . . . Putting the Toronto Blessing in Context," Bill Randles makes the point that this "revival" was started primarily to bring Christians into their fullness in Christ (godhood), and not necessarily for the conversion of sinners. According to Latter Rain teachers, attaining this fullness is not through accepting Christ alone, but by growing into a maturity that God will finally accept. Randles writes,
"A major tenet of the 'Latter Rain' teaching is the restoration concept. According to this erroneous view, down through the centuries, the church 'lost' different concepts and experiences in the Lord, like justification by faith, sanctification, divine healing, speaking in tongues, and apostolic ministry. But, gradually, God has restored these things. . . . But the work of restoration is not over yet, according to Latter Rain thinking. Davidic worship, teaching, ministry, evangelists, and prophets and even apostles in all of their authority are currently being restored. According to a commonly held misconception of Acts 3:21, Jesus can't come back even though He wants to because WE haven't fully 'restored all things.'
"Thus, the 'Latter Rain' Revival centered around the following themes, restoration of the fivefold ministry (Eph. 4), and especially apostles and prophets. . . .
"If you buy the restoration concept, it inevitably sets up for the evolutionary church concept, a deluding, intoxicating idea that makes the current expression of the church feel that she is the ultimate center of God's purposes, over and above all other expressions of the church.
"Think about it. If restoration and Latter Rain is true, that means we are more anointed and equipped and more powerful than any other church in history.
". . . . The church is the family of God, which is in heaven and on earth at the same time. She is not, nor has ever had to 'progress in maturity.' She has always been 'complete in Christ' and yet on an individual basis, the members of the body have always been at various stages of personal maturity. If you hear a statement like, 'In the Book of Acts, we have the church in her infancy,' you are hearing a form of evolution. . . . According to Galatians, the Old Testament of Law was infancy and childhood. But, the New Testament faith is mature manhood. The true church has always been complete! . . . .
"An interesting example of the evolutionary model of the church is a little book written in 1951 by George Warnock called The Feast of Tabernacles. . . . According to Warnock, the feasts of Israel described in Leviticus 23, are a pattern of progress of the church through time."(4)


It is a fact of Scripture that when a person receives Christ, he receives a share in the fullness of Christ which makes him complete, although always short of godhood (Colossians 2:9-10). Each member is vitally united to Christ by the Spirit through faith in Christ's finished work. But Latter Rain teachers say otherwise, calling for much more than just following the Holy Spirit. Theirs is a call to godhood realization, where God fully indwells the Christian and makes him the ongoing incarnation of Christ. It is this state of maturity which will bring about the manifestation of the Sons of God and set creation free from corruption. Hubbard's teachings say the same things, although they're couched in different words.

We've already discussed the impregnation, gestation and birth of "Isaac," but what this process does to the Church is place it in the evolutionary model of the New Age. In a like manner, the Church's move through the Feasts of Atonement, Pentecost and into Tabernacles is an evolutionary process. Latter Rain teaches that Christ Jesus comes to the individual at Pentecost only to incorporate him into the unity of the Army of Sons formed in Tabernacles.

The evolutionary model was evident in the 1980s restoration teaching which lead up to this laughing "revival," i.e., the restoration of the apostles and prophets, their "new" revelations, the new wave of signs and wonders, power evangelism, individuals "progressing" into a maturity pleasing to God, men overcoming death in the physical realm, and finally, the Church conquering the world for Christ and reigning as Him on earth. Now the laughing phenomena connected with the Feast of Tabernacles has become the driving force behind the Church's move toward Christification. But the key to Latter Rain realizing its goals is the evolutionary birthing process itself. This is New Age philosophy, Christianized to make it palatable to the Church.

THE CHILD: Key To The New Beginnings
John Wimber's revelation of the "season of new beginnings" was vitally connected to a word of new life he'd received:
"Last fall (1993), . . [in] my spirit, I felt like Abraham might have felt when he was waiting for the fulfillment of God's promises. The New Testament credits Abraham with not wavering in his faith. He had faith that God was going to do it, but I'm sure Abraham and Sarah had a few moments when they wondered how it was going to come together. (That's how Ishmael came about.) Anyway, I was looking at my age-59, going on 90. . . .
"But I looked at myself, and I'm out of energy. In my spirit I was just murmuring 'Oh God, oh God.' And at that point (mid January) the Lord gave me a word. I heard myself say: Shall I have this pleasure in my old age? The very words that Sarah laughingly said to herself when she overheard the LORD say she was going to have a son from her 90-year-old womb by her 100-year-old husband. (Gen. 18:10). This was a word of life from the Lord, and it touched me deeply."(5)


Wimber felt like Abraham awaiting the fulfillment of God's promise through the birth of Sarah's child. But this also reflects Barbara Marx Hubbard's New Age revelations. In another of her books, a section entitled "The Lineage of Founders of a New Order of the Future" has one of her sources of the "New Beginning" also pointing to Abraham and Sarah:
"We were present when Abraham and Sara understood that their relationship with God was a partnership for the transformation of the world."(6)


I'd never read much of Hubbard before researching this article, but I was intrigued by her statements on birth as a new beginning, and dug a little deeper. Her work is overwhelmingly based on Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, whom she considers to be a "life-saver" because of his theory that the human race will one day reach the place of Christification. Look at a sample of Teilhard's writing:
"As the centuries go by it seems like a comprehensive plan is indeed being slowly carried out around us. A process is at work in the universe, an issue is at stake, which can best be compared to the process of gestation and birth; the birth of that spiritual reality which is formed by souls and by such material reality as their existence involves. Laboriously, through and thanks to the activity of mankind, the new earth is being formed and purified and is taking on definition and clarity."(7)


What is this "spiritual reality . . . formed by souls" through the "process of gestation and birth"? Is it the same as Judson Cornwall's "truth"? He'd told Pat Robertson that God is "now impregnating some of my mature, older ministers with truth. . . . to carry that truth to full gestation."(8)

In Hubbard's search for answers, she'd asked herself, "What in our age is comparable to the birth of Christ?"(9) Then, after coming out of a dreamlike state, she said she heard these inner words clearly:
"Our story is a birth. It is the birth of humankind as one body. What Christ and all great beings came to Earth to reveal is true. We are one body, born into this universe."(10)


But Hubbard says that being born as one humanity is not the end of the road for man. The Christ, she said, had revealed to her that
"This tiny band, this brave congregation, of souls attracted to the future of the world are my avant garde - the New Order of the Future.
"These are self-selected souls who have come to Earth to carry the miracle of resurrection into action as the transformation of humanity from Homo sapiens to Homo universalis."(11)


We've already described how Cornwall's "truth . . . carried to full gestation" and "raised up" after delivery, will become the corporate Christ of Christianity, the endtime Joel's Army.(12) Now the New Age prophetess Barbara Marx Hubbard gives us her version of the same objective, the endtime "Homo universalis." Hubbard's Christ exhorted her:
"I call upon you to activate the capacities to save the world from self-destruction. I call upon you to undertake a mission comparable to the first disciples of Jesus. They were the first to carry the message of the reality of our potentials to the nations. You are to be the last to carry the message.
"They lived at the beginning of the change. You live at the "end times," when the old shall pass away and the new shall appear. . . .
"You are to become natural Christs. You are to communicate to the world its potential to restore the Earth, free the people, and impregnate the universe with new life. You are to participate in the Instant of Co-operation, the Planetary Birth, the Second Coming.
"You are to bring on the shared contact with me. You are to ascend to the New Jerusalem. You are to overcome physical death. You are to be in touch with your universal brothers and sisters. You are the first sons and daughters of humanity to become the Sons and Daughters of God, as a new norm."(13)


As I read this Christ's words, I realized this was Manifest Sons doctrine in New Age terms, the same doctrine coming through the church's global "move of God." Or was it vice-versa? I couldn't tell. The "avant-garde" of the New Age Christ was no different than the Manifest Sons of God of the Latter Rain movement. The joy, the fire, the glory, the transformation to Christ incarnate, the overcoming of death, taking the message to the nations of the world "to bring on the shared contact" with "the Christ;" HUBBARD WAS PREACHING THE MANIFEST SONS DOCTRINE! OR WAS LATTER RAIN BASED ON HUBBARD? The terminology and processes were different, but the outcomes were the same:

LATTER RAIN GLOBAL MOVE OF GOD: "The completion of the incarnation of God in the world must be in His church. . . Jesus Christ is the firstfruits, but without the ongoing harvest, the incarnation will never be complete."(14)

The goal of the Latter Rain appears to be the the bringing about of a global community that is God's. This seems rather apparent, since, under this doctrine, God will cleanse the earth of all that refuse to follow His ways. That this is the goal of the the New Age is shown in Hubbard's words:

HUBBARD: "Who is this child? This child is the Christ-child within who has emerged victorious, fully born, incarnated as every member of the human race who evolves."(15) Other likenesses between the new "global move of God" and Hubbard's revelation quickly came to light:
A. THE CHILD OF JOY AND LAUGHTER
LATTER RAIN GLOBAL MOVE OF GOD: "Prophetically, the child Isaac, which means 'Laughter,' is being released in nation after nation as the new wine is being passed."(16)

HUBBARD: "It was a planetary smile - like the smile of a new born baby. . . Now for the first time, we were seeing it together. Ecstatic joy rippled through the planetary body - and through me as one of its billions of members."(17)

If one equates "Laughter" being released in nation after nation with the New Age planetary body being filled with ecstatic joy, then this aspect of both moves are the same.
B. JOY AS A POWERFUL FORCE
LATTER RAIN GLOBAL MOVE OF GOD: "[God said,] The Day of Atonement is over and Tabernacles is coming, and I'm getting ready to laugh and I'm getting ready to roar, and I tell you this whole world is going to feel the shaking of that laughter and the power of that roar."(18)

HUBBARD: "An uncontrollable joy will ripple through the thinking layer of Earth. The co-creative systems, which are lying psychologically dormant in humanity, will be activated. From within, all sensitive persons will feel the joy of the force, flooding their systems with love and attraction."(19)

HUBBARD: "Joy is essential right now. Lightness of heart will help you overcome the heaviness of life during the tribulations to come"(20).

Ecstatic and uncontrollable joy - An irresistable force flooding people's systems - Billions of members - Was this Toronto and the global laughing phenomena based on Latter Rain? Or was it Hubbard and the New Age Christ? It was obvious; it was both - it was the same.
C. FIRE
The experience of heat and fire to the point of even taking off some clothing is common in the Laughing move of God:

LATTER RAIN GLOBAL MOVE OF GOD: Reported by an observer of three of the four nights at the Seattle "Fire and Reign" conference (February 14-17, 1995): "They were 'midwifing', and 'birthing the baby' there. The most incredible scenario I have ever witnessed. . . . Reports I've heard from other Fire conferences lead me to believe they are all going that far once they get the 'fire' started. Wes [Campbell] had the people divide into groups the second and third nights. He called the groups 'nests.' They were to pray and wait for the fire to 'spark' in someone, and when they saw the spark, they were to 'fan' it into life. They blew on people, fanned them, in the most extraordinary gestures, and repetitive (as in shamanistic) ritualistic, ways. It was completely bizarre. Others were in states of 'labor,' I think."(21)

Feeling the fire was part of Rodney Howard-Browne's experience of God that empowered him for this "move of God." And his brother experienced this heat for six hours during one service while being unable to move, pinned to the floor. But so has Barbara Marx Hubbard:

HUBBARD: "The purpose of our new powers is to give birth to universal life.
". . . . Deep empathy arose between me and the audience. I was not simply telling about the future. We were experiencing ourselves as universal beings at the next stage of evolution, now.
"These evenings had a profound effect on my biological system. . . . After each performance, I would notice a strange phenomenon. My body heated up. I was filled with inner radiation. . . . These affirmations were evolving now."(22)
D. WATER
Notice in these quotes the description of an internal source of "living water" that rejuvinates and renews and brings life to the nations:

LATTER RAIN GLOBAL MOVE OF GOD: "Then one more thing . . . [ISRAEL] did was this. They . . . were also recognizing that God was the source of supernatural water. They also went further to call out on God that they might drink of this living water, and that finally, by drinking of the living water, they might become rivers of life to the nations."(23)

HUBBARD: "The 'living fountains of water,' the source of ever-evolving life in each of you, is waiting to be turned on. It is the mechanism for rejuvenation and renewal."(24)
E. "IT"
In both moves, the Holy Spirit is spoken of as an impersonal force called 'IT", a dead give-away that the Spirit of God is not in operation:

LATTER RAIN GLOBAL MOVE OF GOD: "There IT is! Take IT! Take IT! Take IT!" The use of the word "IT" when referring to the Holy Spirit is common in the laughing phenomena meetings.(25)

HUBBARD: "Then I heard the inner words, which seemed to flow from the heart of the cosmos directly into my heart: 'Thank you, Barbara.'
"I felt ecstacy, joy, beatitude. The pain that I had felt since my mother's death healed in that instant. Instead I felt warmth, mother's love, yet at a far different scale. There is a RELATIONSHIP between me and IT. I am not alone. I am not abandoned, I am part of this cosmos. My desire is its expression. Its expression is my desire. I and It are connected! . . . The aching void was, at least in that moment, filled. This was the 'good news' that my restless mind had so desperately sought."(26)


THE LATTER RAIN AND THE NEW AGE PHILOSOPHY: A Comparison
Beginning this year, the dual agendas will begin to be implemented, so the Church must prepare itself in order to warn others who are taking their stand for our Lord Jesus Christ. Below are the distinctive doctrines of the Latter Rain (see fuller doctrine in Part II), each followed by excerpts from Barbara Marx Hubbard's book, "The Revelation: Our Crisis Is A Birth."

Familiarize yourself with this doctrine so you can recognize it and share it with others. The New Age and Latter Rain scenarios will soon be meshing, as the apostate Church continues on its way to destruction.

Remember that the terminology of the teachings may differ, but the end result is the same. For example, Latter Rain calls the incarnated person a Manifest Son of God, while the New Age says he is Christed, the Universal Human, or Homo Universalis. The same idea is true regarding "immortality." In the Latter Rain, there is a "fresh" RECEIVING of the "Holy Spirit" and then maturing into Christ until one becomes immortal. But in the New Age, the seed of immortality is said to be ALREADY PRESENT at birth and must only be realized. These are two different MEANS to immortality, but the adversary's desired result is the same: "godhood." The END, therefore, justifies the MEANS. The devil has always changed the names and ways of his deceptions, but the goals and purposes he set for himself in the Garden continue.
A. ---REPLACEMENT--- Latter Rain teaches that the Church replaces Israel.
In Latter Rain, it is the Church that inherits the blessings of Abraham and, instead of Christ, takes that blessing to the nations. But Hubbard's Christ also replaces Israel with another body of people as heirs of God apart from Christ:

HUBBARD - Replace Israel - "It is not as biological Jews, nor as biological Christians, that you will be selected."(27)

HUBBARD - Replace Israel - "Who do you suppose those 'children of Israel' are, dearly beloved? They are you who love God above all else, your neighbor as yourself, and yourself as me. You are sealed in your foreheads. . . . "O Israel, awaken to the reality of your potential to be heirs of God!"(28)
B. ---FORMER, LATTER RAINS--- Latter Rain teaches that the New Testament Pentecost was the "former rain," leaving the "latter rain," the Feast of Tabernacles, yet to come.
As in the Latter Rain there is a joining of individuals into a corporate body of great rejoicing:

HUBBARD - Former, latter promises - "There shall be a great rejoicing among Jews and Gentiles as we approach the Quantum Transformation. . . . They will join as individuals [as at Pentecost] who are attracted to the potential of humanity for universal life as heirs of God [as at Tabernacles]."(29)
C. ---TABERNACLES--- the celebration of this feast fulfills these phases:
1) unity,
2) the "latter rain" revival,
3) harvest of joy and gladness,
4) the invisible and spiritual coming of Christ to indwell His corporate Body (Joel's Army),
5) defeat of the Church's adversaries,
6) establishment of the Kingdom.


1) HUBBARD - Unity - ". . . . A time will come when the elect from all nations will be gathered together and consciously coordinated so the perfect alignment of aspiration occurs. . . .
"This unity of the elect is the key to the transformation from Adam to Christ, from Homo sapiens to Homo universalis, from creature to co-creator, from self-centered to whole centered beings."(30)


As in Latter Rain, there is a gathering together that unites everyone into one corporate body.

2,4) HUBBARD - Revival, Christ's spiritual coming - "Finally, you start the transition. . . During the transition, millions of members of the body awaken to their power to be natural Christs, full humans in the model of the first person to manifest the next stage in the development of humanity. . . ."(31)

In Latter Rain, Christ is the Pattern Son, and Hubbard's Christ is a model. The "millions of members" spoken of here is complimentary to the Latter Rain revival, which leads to the incarnation of Christ in humanity.

3) HUBBARD - Harvest - "Now, this has been tried by my disciples for two thousand years, and it has not worked - yet. Why? Because it was not yet the fullness of time. The idea was not wrong; it was premature. The vines of the Earth were not ripe to be harvested. Now they are."(32)

As does Latter rain, Hubbard's philosophy based on a Cosmic Christ also says now is the time for the harvesting of the earth.

3,4) HUBBARD - Joy and gladness, Christ's spiritual coming - "All is silent to see if a second miracle can occur comparable to the birth of Christ.
"That miracle is the gentle second coming of Christ through the rapid evolution of enough humans linked up by the planetary nervous system, so that the social body will flood with empathy, healings will abound, and the world will smile with joy. The people will know they are whole, they are good, they are capable, they are loved, they are needed."(33)


We have shown the similarities of the birthing process in both the New Age and Latter Rain movements, leading to the birth of a corporate body that will transform the earth.

5,6) HUBBARD - Defeat of Adversaries, Establishment Of Kingdom - "The power of the self-centered human has become a universal aberration, a dragon that can destroy the natural Christ and prevent the birth of the future human. . . .
"The dragon is the misuse of the powers of the intellect and individuality at the conclusion of the phase of self-centeredness from which we are soon to emerge. The dragon is the instrument of evil - Satan - God's selection process, which will weed out the self-centered from the God-centered.
"It is up to us how long the dragon of selfish power is permitted to prevail. In the end it will surely be defeated, for God's will shall be done on Earth as it is in Heaven [the Kingdom]."(34)


This is an interesting quote because the word from Toronto about a coming Civil War in the Church attributes those opposing the move to rleying on their "intellect andindividuality." These are the "grays." It is through this Civil War that the grays will be eliminated and the Blues selected as the ones to establish the Kingdom after this War. There is little or no difference between this and what Hubbard's Christ stated in the last quote.
D. ---RESTORATION--- the restoration of the offices of Apostles and Prophets.
These would bring about the perfection of the saints.

HUBBARD - Prophets - "All of you who are now awakening to your own evolution are to gather. Find one another. Join spiritually. . . . You will be guided from within as to the design of the Planetary Birth and your roles in it. From every race, nation and religion you will prophesy that the transition from Homo sapiens to Homo universalis is now occurring.
"Your prophecy will call people to experience in your life time the Planetary Birth."(35)


Both movements are prophesying a birth on a global basis, a joining together being brought about by the prophets of both moves. 

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E. ---REVELATIONS--- the new, progressive or evolutionary revelations of the Latter Rain Apostles and Prophets.

HUBBARD - New Revelation - "The text of the New Order of the Future is th
e Story of Creation. "The first chapter is revealed in the religions of the world, especially the Judeo-Christian which foresaw the future most clearly. Its vision as stated by Paul is true.
"'Behold I show you a mystery: we shall not all sleep; but we shall all be changed.' Revelation shall be unfolded in evolution through the marriage of faith and knowledge in each of you."(36)

"The text" referred to here is Hubbard's book, The Revelation, which is the second part of a work entitled, The Book Co-Creation. It in itself is about 350 pages of new revelations from a spirit who says he is Christ, revelations being given to humanity through the New Age prophets. Faith and knowledge undergird both moves, but it is a faith and revelatory knowledge that denies the truth of Scripture.
F. ---IMMORTALITY--- Latter Rain teaches death is overcome by the Manifest Sons, who attain immortality by incarnating Christ before His return.
It is important when considering this Hubbard quote to remember the End-Justifies-The-Means principle we spoke of earlier.

HUBBARD - Immortality - "The memory of immortality is in every cell in your body. It dates back to the first self-replicating cell that divided to reproduce and did not die.
"The memory of immortality was activated in the creature/human and will be acted upon by the co-creative, Christlike human in the fullness of time."(37)
G. ---UNIFICATION--- Church unity on a global basis is absolutely essential to Latter Rain doctrine, because Christ cannot incarnate in a divided body.
It is also essential Hubbard's move toward world unity.

HUBBARD - Unification - We've already discussed this aspect of both moves earlier, so we won't go comment on this here.
H. ---ESCHATOLOGY--- in Latter Rain doctrine,
1) Jesus cannot return until after He incarnates in the Church,
2) the Church replaces the evil heavenly powers,
3) the earth is made a footstool for His feet. Latter Rain discounts the classic understanding of the Second Coming and its events.


1) HUBBARD - Christ's Return - "The 'church' is the congregation of believers in their power to be me. I cannot consummate my union with you until you become like me. I cannot join my body to your body until your body becomes comparable to mine."(38)

The changing of the physical body which brings immortality to the adeherents of both Latter Rain and the New Age philosophy is key to both movements, (incarnation of Christ in the person), bring about the revelation of the corporate Christ.

2) HUBBARD - Defeat of Evil - "The devil, Satan, will be overcome. . . . He will be released from his anger and reunited to God. . . . "The consciousness defect of the illusion of separation will be corrected once and for all. You will never go back again."(39)

Again, we commented on this before, so we won't expand on it here.

3) HUBBARD - Church Reign - "If the positive scenario comes true, if those sealed with the seal of the living God do their work in time, I shall be enabled to come not to you, but with and through you to empower the people of the world to rule themselves. My message is: you are King of Kings, you are Lord of Lords. I have no desire to return to earth in the role of ruler over you. That is a failure. That is treating you as a regressive child."(40)

As in Latter Rain, a kingdom is established which is ruled over by a humanity which has reached its purpose: godhood.
I. ---RELIGIOSITY--- the religious "Old Generation" will either be destroyed by the Manifest Sons or "converted" by the prophets.
HUBBARD - Religiosity - "Dearly beloved of the existing churches, do not reject the saviors of the world, the natural Christs who are springing up among you, as well as among peoples who, though they have not been insitutionalized as Christians, yet hold God consciousness in their attention at all times."(41)

HUBBARD - Destruction of the "Old Ways" - "First you may have to decide to save the child by destroying those elements which are unhealthy. If you are a surgeon delivering a child whose umbilical cord is wrapped around his neck, you must operate quickly, or the child will be strangled by the cord that connects him to the past.
"The operation to save humanity is also painful. You do not want to kill bodies but to change minds, yet the 'good' will also suffer as you eliminate self-centeredness that would destroy the whole body."(42)
J. ---EVOLUTION--- We've already explained the evolutionary model above, but would add this discussion on George Warnock's "The Feast of Tabernacles" from Bill Randles:
"This book is a virtual primer of Latter Rain, Manifested Sons of God teaching, . . . a pattern for the progress of the church through time. Starting at Passover, which is Calvary, the church has been passing through the different feasts over the years, to Pentecost. Warnock writes that we, the church, still have got to go through the Day of Atonement, the Feast of Trumpets, and come into the Feast of Tabernacles, which to him represents God's consummate purposes for us, the Last Days Church. When we come into Tabernacles, which was a tremendous time of celebration for Israel, God will finally dwell within His people."(43)

So according to Warnock, God's ultimate indwelling of His people in the midst of Celebration is His "consummate purpose for us"; the corporate Child of the Latter Rain will be born. This global birth will be possible by the Latter Rain's seed of Abraham taking the Holy Spirit to the nations which destroys seprateness and ushers all nations into the Kingdom of God. Once established, Christ will return to an established kingdom. But as it is with Latter Rain, so it is with the New Age philosophy. Barbara Marx Hubbard's Christ calls this shared contact the Instant of Co-operation, or the Planetary Pentecost:

"The Instant of Co-operation begins, empathy floods the feelings of the whole body of Earth, separateness is overcome, and I appear to all of you at once. I appear to you from within as a voice, and as a vision of yourself as an evolving being. I appear to you from beyond as the light being that I now am. Your electronic media will pulse with light - the same light your mystics see.
"The promise I made is of a personal future in a transformed body. This means that you will also have what I have now. I am real. I am tangible. I am alive. I can speak to each of you through your inner ear if you listen. I can appear to each of you through your inner eye if you look.
"At the moment of cosmic contact, I will appear to you both through inner experience and through external communication on your mass media - the nervous system of the world.
"You will all feel, hear and see my presence at one instant in time, each in your own way.
". . . . The planetary celebration will begin for the birth of humankind in the universe, a blessed Cosmic Child eagerly awaited by the evolved beings through the universe without end. Hallelujah. Amen."(44)


Though the New Age was virtually unheard of when Warnock published his book in 1951, this evolutionary model is now the norm among the New Age futurists who believe, along with the Latter Rain and its rejoicing, celebrating followers, that the human race as a whole is birthing the next stage of man's evolution: Godhood.

FOOTNOTES:
(1) John Wimber, "Seasons of New Beginnings," File NEWBEG.TXT, 23879 Bytes, Compuserve, CIN-4, Lib 2. Originally published in the May/June 1994 edition of Vineyard Reflections newsletter published by Association of Vineyard Churches. John Wimber, Publisher; Bill Henderson, editor.
(2) Barbara Marx Hubbard, "The Book of Co-Creation: The Revelation - Our Crisis Is A Birth," "The Christ" comments on Rev. 10:8-11 (Novato, CA: Nataraj Publishing, 1993), p. 158.
(3) Ibid., "The Christ" comments on Rev. 10:1-4, p. 150.
(4) Pastor Bill Randles, "Weighed and Found Wanting . . . Putting the Toronto Blessing in Context," 1995, pp. 57-59.
(5) Wimber.
(6) Barbara Marx Hubbard, "Teachings From The Inner Christ for Founders of a New World Order of the Future (A Work In Progress) - A Complement to The Book of Co-Creation," "The Lineage of Founders of a New Order of the Future" (Greenbrae, CA: Foundation for Conscious Evolution, 1994), p. v.
(7) Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, "Hymm of the Universe," (London: William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd., and NY: Harper & Row, Publishers, Harper Torch Books, 1965), p. 93.
(8) Pat Robertson interview with Judson Cornwall, 700 Club, Family Channel, June 9, 1994.
(9) Hubbard, The Revelation, "Planetary Birth Experience," p. 37.
(10) Ibid., p. 39.
(11) Ibid., Prologue, "The Christ" comments, pp. 13-14.
(12) See Part II, prophecy segment on the birth of the corporate child.
(13) Ibid., "The Christ" comments on Rev. 22:6, p. 290-291.
(14) Randles, p. 65 citing Earl Paulk commenting on the incarnation on Morris Cerullo Video, 1991, "Manifested Sons Of God."
(15) Hubbard, The Revelation, "The Christ" comments on Rev. 21:4, p. 253.
(16) Master Potter, Prophetic Insights For The '90's: Quarterly Perspectives from Jill Austin, "The Great Intruder" Passion & Fire Conferences, Summer '94.
(17) Hubbard, The Revelation, describing what she saw while in a dreamlike state, p. 39.
(18) Cassette tape of Alan Vincent service, 1994. Location unknown.
(19) Hubbard, The Revelation, "The Christ" revealing the aspects of the soon-coming Planetary Birth, p. 234-235.
(20) Ibid., "The Christ" comments on Rev. 7:9-17, p. 141.
(21) Nancy Flint, personal eyewitness testimony, Seattle Fire & Reign Conference, Seattle, WA, February 14-17, 1995.
(22) Hubbard, The Revelation, Hubbard comments on "The Theater For the Future," pp. 53-54.
(23) Vincent.
(24) Hubbard, The Revelation, "The Christ" comments on Rev. 7:9-17, p. 141.
(25) Quote from Rodney Howard-Browne, often heard during his meetings.
(26) Hubbard, The Revelation, Hubbard comments on "The Inner Voice Awakens," pp. 31-32.
(27) Ibid., "The Christ" comments on Rev. 7:1-4, p. 139.
(28) Ibid., "The Christ" comments on 1 Cor. 15:45, p. 164-165.
(29) Ibid., "The Christ" comments on Rev. 3:9, p. 104.
(30) Ibid., Hubbard comments on Rev. 4:6, p. 117-118.
(31) Ibid., "The Christ" comments on Rev. 20:4-5, p. 237-239.
(32) Ibid., "The Christ" comments on Rev. 20:1-3, p. 231.
(33) Ibid., "The Christ" comments on 1 Cor. 15:45, p. 165.
(34) Ibid., Hubbard comments on Rev. 12:3-4, p. 174.
(35) Ibid., "The Christ" comments on Rev. 10:8-11, p. 159.
(36) Ibid., "The Christ" comments on A New Order of the Future, p. 64.
(37) Ibid., Hubbard comments on Rev. 4:8, p. 118-119.
(38) Ibid., "The Christ" comments on Rev. 19:6-8, p. 218.
(39) Ibid., Hubbard comments on Rev. 20:1-3, pp. 235-236.
(40) Ibid., "The Christ" comments on Rev. 19:14-16, p. 226-227.
(41) Ibid., "The Christ" comments on Rev. 3:13, p. 106.
(42) Ibid., Hubbard comments on Rev. 8:7-9; 9:1-4, p. 145-146.
(43) Randles, pp. 58-59.
(44) Hubbard, The Revelation, "The Christ" comments on Rev. 20:1-3, pp. 236-237.


SIDEBAR - PART 4
THE CHURCH AND NEW AGE PHILOSOPHY: The birth of the corporate "child" to the world and the Church is being proclaimed by both as a time of New Beginnings, the initiation of our Common Future, and the advent of the Manifest Sons and Homo universalis. "All these are the beginning of birth pains" (Matthew 24:8).

* ALICE A. BAILEY (Theosophist, New Age Channeler) - "The New Age is upon us, and we are witnessing the birth pangs of the new culture and the new civilisation. This is now in progress. That which is old and undesirable must go and of these undesirable things, hatred and the spirit of separation must be the first to go" (The Externalisation Of The Hierarchy, Page 62).

* CLAYT SONMORE (Latter Rain teacher) - "Today, God is again - like unto 'the firstborn among many brethren' - bringing forth perfection in a combination priest/prophet/king company. This is an anointing far beyond that of King David. David, though 'a man after mine own heart' did not come to total perfection. Even now, God is beginning to anoint His servant sons with an anointing of new beginnings . . . In the highest sense, these are the ones (or the position) Matthew was referring to when he wrote: 'Be ye perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect'" (Matt. 5:48) ("Beyond Pentecost," pp. 176-177).

* PIERRE TIELHARD DE CHARDIN (Jesuit) - "Sooner or later souls will end by giving themselves to the religion which activates them most as human beings" (Christianity and Evolution, p. 228; italics removed).
"After what will soon be 2,000 years, Christ must be born again, he must be reincarnated in a world that has become too different from that in which he lived" (Ibid., Page 95).


* POPE JOHN PAUL II - "Mary . . . should inspire all who cooperate in the Church's apostolic mission for the rebirth of humanity. . . The Church journeys through time . . . along the path already trodden by the Virgin Mary" (Redemptoris Missio, pp. 86, 92).

* JOHN WIMBER (Founder, Vineyard Churches) - [On how we should respond to the laughing:] "I think that the response of Mary to the visitation of the angel is classic: 'be it done to me according to thy will.' I'm afraid the church today does not pray with that kind of acceptance in mind. I mean Mary was given the most incredible proposition that any human being in all the history of mankind was given: 'the Holy Spirit will come upon you and overshadow you and you will be with child'...acknowledging our sin, we should be saying 'Oh God, we need you. Come any way you want to, even if it puzzles us, even if it confounds us, COME'" (Holy Trinity Brompton's parish paper, "HTB in Focus," October 9th 1994).

* TOM SINE (Futurist) - "Giving birth! What imagery could remind us more compellingly of the agony of our journey or unleash such a wild hope within us for our common future? As we have anticipated the avalanche of change rushing toward us, it would be easy to focus on the pain, trauma, and ordeal of the birth process and never look forward to the birth of the new.
"But where can we turn to find hope for the future? Where can we find any hint, any assurance, that something new is being born? Where can we find a confident hope that helps us not only to make it through troubled times, but also to engage the emerging challenges of a new century creatively?" (Wild Hope: Crises Facing The Human Community On The Threshold of the 21st Century, p. 228).

* M. SCOTT PECK (New Age Christian) - "When I think of all that is required to bring an end to the arms race - not only the changes in individual styles and attitudes, but the willingness of the military-industrial establishment to no longer worship Mammon, and the willingness of the nation to relinguish its external sovereignty to a supra-national agency - it seems to me that a virtual Second Coming is required. In fact, that is what its all about. With all due respect to the traditional millennialists, I think what is meant by the Second Coming is not the bodily return of that one solitary man, but the coming of the mystical body of His True Church; the coming of the spirit of Christ to everyone, sweeping through the nations, sweeping through the world. Father, make us like Mary . . . to give birth to Your Son; to give Him to everyone. This is the time of the Second Coming. Whether we like it or not. There's no alternative except self-anihilation. And the battle is heating up just as predicted. The forces of evil are coming out into the open. The iron fists within the velvet gloves are about to revealed. And we must face the fact that crucifixion is not something that happened to that one man nineteen hundred and fifty years ago. They're going to want to stone us again. And ultimately that's what giving birth to Jesus means. It means, like Him, we need to be willing to die for love and truth. I'm sorry. I know it sounds hard. It is hard. But there's no escaping it. It is the time of the Second Coming. 'Here and now we're chosen to be, to reveal His grace that all then may see.' It's either give birth to Jesus or else. The time when we must choose is upon us. Father, make us like Mary" (What Return Can I Make, p. 152).

* MATTHEW FOX (Dominican, Director of Institute in Culture and Creation Spirituality) - "Indeed, the birthing of the Cosmic Christ is the purpose of the incarnation. . . . Divinity wants to birth the Cosmic Christ in each and every individual" (The Coming Of The Cosmic Christ, p. 122).

* FRANCIS FRANGIPANE (River Of Life Ministries) - "Secure this thought in your mind: when the Spirit of Christ comes into the physical world, He must enter through a physical body . . . When Christ first entered our world as a child, it was Mary whom God chose to give Christ birth. Mary's life symbolised the qualities the Church must possess to walk in the fulness of Christ . . . [God is preparing us] as He did Mary to give birth to the ministry of His Son. Even now, in the spiritual womb of the virgin Church, the holy purpose of Christ is growing, awaiting maturity; ready to be born in power in the timing of God . . . the virgin Church is 'in labour and in pain to give birth' (Rev 12:1-2) . . . even now, hell trembles and the heavens watch in awe, for I say to you, once again, the virgin is with child. Before Jesus Himself returns, the last virgin Church shall become pregnant with the promise of God. Out of her travail, the Body of Christ shall come forth, raised to the full stature of its Head, the Lord Jesus. Corporately manifested in holiness, power and love, the Bride of Christ shall arise" (In the Presence of God, pp. 153-157, 1994).

* JOHN WIMBER (Founder, Vineyard churches) - [On animal noises made at Toronto Blessing meetings:] "I think we're all delighted with babies but I don't think very many of us want to attend the birthing process. And I believe what we have in the church is a birthing process. I believe the Holy Spirit has chosen to visit and revitalize the church and with it there's all kinds of noises and activities that would be best done behind closed doors [like a birth] but church is an open activity and God has chosen to visit the church. I'm a little puzzled myself by some of the things that God chooses to reveal publicly, aren't you? . . . I don't have any more explanation or idea of what it means than anybody else, but I love the after-effect, just as I love babies but am confused by the birthing process, but I love what happens afterwards" (Ibid.).

* ESTHER INILSKI (Overseer for global intercession) - Chris Mitchell, CBN: "Esther Inilski oversees a prayer network for global intercession. She says many intercessors describe the times we're in like a spiritual pregnancy."
Esther Inilski: "We talk about revival and birthing, using that term as well. And, yes, this baby's been in the womb a long, long time and we're saying we've got to get this baby birthed. And we believe, yes, that God's time has arrived" (700 Club Report on praying through the 10/40 Window Project and the AD2000 Prayer Track, January 1995).


* WES CAMPBELL (Vineyard Pastor) - "Yes . . . amen . . . yes Lord, ooohh . . . yes, the Holy glory is on you Matthew, the Holy glory . . . That's right! That's right!, and Father we pray that you'd put an anointing of a preacher on Matthew, an anointing of fire, let the coals come from the altar of the Lord, Matthew, and touch your lips, and Lord I pray for faith and ignition, let fire come out of his stomach Lord, let the fire of God come on his back. And Lord I pray that Matthew would stand up in faith, that's true faith, Matthew, believe it! IT'S THE TIME TO BIRTH THE BABY. It's the time for the outpouring of the Spirit. Believe it! Lord I pray for faith that when Matthew says, 'This is the time!' It's not 'I hope it's the time,' . . . 'it might be the time.' THIS IS THE TIME! . . ." (Seattle Fire & Reign Conference, February 14, 1995).

* BARBARA MARX HUBBARD (Futurist, a founder of the Foundation for Conscious Evolution) - "'Behold, I show you a mystery: We shall not all sleep; but we shall all be changed.' Omega! The planetary birth is a real event in cosmic time. . . . that is really happening to us now!" (The Revelation: Our Crisis Is A Birth, p. 40; emphasis removed)

PART 5: The Consummation: Where Are We Headed?
By Ed Tarkowski

Tabernacles! Jubilee! Celebration! Uncontrollable Joy! There is not a Christian on the earth today who is not being influenced toward a global celebration in the year 2000. But does Scripture indicate there will be a worldwide celebration drawing the world to Christ at the end of the age? No, Scripture does not. Rather, it gives a picture of just the opposite: a Church under severe persecution in that world. Then what are we to think of such invitations to celebrate Tabernacles and the Year of Jubilee as one global family? Into what are we being led?

A QUICK LOOK BACK
In Part II of this series, Alan Vincent said that God is "moving the Church from the Day of Atonement to Tabernacles."(1) And according to Robin McMillan and Steve Thompson,
"we will never fulfill our destiny and calling" until "we understand and partake of this feast [Tabernacles] as we have both Passover and Pentecost, . . We must discover the meaning of the Feast of Tabernacles and 'celebrate' it along with Passover and Pentecost. . . . What God did among Jews in Jerusalem, He is going to do among humanity and worldwide. Pentecost will come to maturity in the Feast of Tabernacles."(2)

In later segments, we saw that the foundation of this "move of God" is Latter Rain replacement theology, in which the Church replaces Israel and carries the blessings of Abraham to the nations. Scrutinizing this teaching, we pointed out that the agenda itself is evolutionary; the Church cannot fulfill its destiny until it celebrates the Feast of Tabernacles. This celebration will result in the manifestation of men as Sons of God filled with joy. According to Pastor Bill Randles, the move to celebrate an endtime Tabernacles can be traced to the Latter Rain prophet/teacher George Warnock:
"An interesting example of the evolutionary model of the church is a little book written in 1951 by George Warnock called 'The Feast of Tabernacles.' This book is a virtual primer of Latter Rain, Manifested Sons of God teaching, . . . a pattern for the progress of the church through time. Starting at Passover, which is Calvary, the church has [to] come into the Feast of Tabernacles, which to him represents God's consummate purposes for us, the Last Days Church. When we come into Tabernacles, which was a tremendous time of celebration for Israel, God will finally dwell within His people."(3)

TABERNACLES: Jubilee To A Lesser Power
The joy of the Feast of Tabernacles is now being linked by Latter Rain adherents to the Old Testament Year of Jubilee (see Leviticus 25 and Sidebar). Interestingly, although the Year of Jubilee hasn't been kept by the Jews for millennia, the idea is being spontaneously resurrected by various groups as the ultimate celebration of the upcoming year 2000. If the Jews had been observing the year every 50 years, proclaiming freedom for those in bondage, closure of debt, and rest for the land, it might have been a natural thing for twentieth century planners to appropriate the concept as a foundation for a cure for the world's ills. But the Year of Jubilee has been long ignored by its original celebrators, and its sudden awakening from dormancy within seemingly unconnected belief systems must be seen as a spiritual move toward unity.

Though it may have seemed that celebrating Tabernacles would complete the Latter Rain evolutionary scale, the new revelations now coming forth tell us that Tabernacles will evolve into Jubilee. In his book, "The Star of 2000," Jay Gary links together the three great Jewish feasts with a call to the Church to "experience Jesus' Jubilee":
"The annual calendar of Israel was built around three major festivals: Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles. These celebrations in Jerusalem were anything but boring. There was dancing, singing and exuberant celebration before the living God.
"The Year of Jubilee encompassed these three festivals, only raised to a higher power. The clear call of God across the millennia is that we are invited to come into His presence and feast on Him.
"On the last and greatest day of the Feast of Tabernacles, Jesus "stood and said in a loud voice, 'If anyone is thirsty, let him come and drink' (John 7:37). Then as well as today, Jesus calls us to experience His jubilee."(4)


Because Tabernacles is encompassed by every Jubilee year, the celebrations of the two become one. In fact, Gary says the three feasts, including Tabernacles, are "raised to a higher power" by Jubilee. In his praise of "The Star of 2000," Eagle's Nest Pastor Clarice Fluitt declares,
"This is an incredibly prophetic book. Jay Gary has peered into the spirit realm and drawn from God's secret place. He declares that the church must prepare a celebration, a festival for, about and with Jesus, our honored guest and royal Bridegroom. The Star of 2000 is infused with a biblical revelation of fullness, sonship, maturity, and perfection of the glorious triumphant church - the Feast of Tabernacles. Read the book."(5)


According to Fluitt, Gary's revelation is 1) spiritual, 2) biblical, and 3) a revealed secret "drawn from God." But in reality, it is the spiritual, unbiblical doctrine of the Latter Rain: "fullness, sonship, maturity, and perfection of the glorious triumphant church." This is a description of the Manifestation of the Sons of God as we described in earlier articles, a manifestation to be brought about through the Feast of Tabernacles. In his book, Gary mentions four previous "images" for the year 2000, and then shares the "mega-image" which will "help us live out a new vision":
"When shared, a new A.D. 2000 mega-image, like a stone thrown into a pond, would send imaginative possibilities that ripple to the shores of our social boundaries.
". . . . it would provoke cracks in our preconceptions, shift our misconceptions and help us live out a new vision together in a new world.
"I consider the fifth mega-image, Jubilee 2000, to have the greatest potential to define and develop the bimillennial era."(6)


It appears the stone has been cast. Our "preconceptions" are already being cracked - wide open. The scriptural endtime scenario is being changed from the promised blood of martyrs to a Church evolving through Tabernacles to Jubilee to bring the Church to maturity. And what Gary calls our "misconceptions" have already shifted; many segments of the Church have experienced what's called a paradigm shift, in which one's beliefs and vision are totally changed.

Sadly, New Ager Jeremy Rifkin's vision for society and the Church foreseen in 1978 is now upon us - and it's a vision which lacks one vital element: GOD'S plan for the end of the age. Look at how Jay Gary's dream for the new millennium does not point to the coming of Christ as related in Scripture, but to a new age of peace and prosperity. He writes,
"I remember when I was in sixth grade I was asked to write a poem. At first I didn't think I had anything in my heart. After a while it came forth - I called it, 'Looking Optimistic.' After all these years, I still can recite it by heart:
"One day in the future
In the heart of man,
Peace will reign
Instead of evil command.
God will rule
and the world united
Bad will be banished,
And good will be sighted.
Every man will be equal,
Democratic government will be
the one to follow,
Food at every table,
And plenty to swallow.
So let's work toward these hopes,
And try to follow them too,
So that this world will become,
better than New!


"Although I didn't call this "My Dream" for the new millennium, that is exactly what it was! What about you? What is your dream for the Third Millennium?"(7)

Is Gary, like Latter Rain, looking to the establishment of the Kingdom of God on earth before Jesus' return? He says that Jubilee can affect the whole world, that "the year 2000 [has] the potential to be a great jubilee and a global celebration for everyone on this planet" (8). Later, he writes, "[Israel's] 50th year was the Jubilee - or the culmination of joy. The entire year was consecrated to making right whatever had gone wrong. I am convinced that the year 2000 can truly be a Jubilee year for the entire human family." (9)

Gary describes Jubilee as "the culmination of joy." If you've wondered where the people of the "laughing God of Tabernacles" will end up, it will be in the Year of Jubilee, expecting their "joy" to be brought to fullness.

JUBILEE: Neo-Pentecostals, Manifest Sons of God
We have said that the Toronto Blessing is Latter Rain, and that the New Age doctrine of Barbara Marx Hubbard is the same. Now let's look at the similarities between the Feast of Tabernacles and the Year of Jubilee and the New Age's Age of Aquarius.

In her book, "A Planned Deception: The Staging of a New Age 'Messiah'" (1985),Christian writer Constance Cumbey writes,
"Rev. Ernest Ramsey, an associate pastor at Unity's Kansas City's Founder's Church, Unity on the Plaza, is an enthusiastic follower of the Alice Bailey and Benjamin Creme teachings. In his Research Report #2, he tells of something he was led to by a spirit guide - what he terms 'Neo-Pentecostalism.' An aberrant branch of Pentecostalism, this is more commonly known as the 'Manifest Sons of God.' That movement is also referred to as 'Sonship' or 'Overcomers.' Ramsey concludes based on even less evidence than I have personally collected that this is part of the New Age Movement.
"Ramsey's work for his organization, 'Synthesis Fellowship,' first came to my attention in early 1983. His major report, entitled "An Evolutionary Basis For The Reappearance of the Christ and his Executives, the Masters of Wisdom" was inspired by Benjamin Creme's appearance and speech at Unity on the Plaza in Kansas City, Missouri. . . . The most interesting section of Ramsey's report dealt with 'Neopentecostalism.' Ramsey spent a semester at one of the Neo-Pentecostal or Manifest Sons of God seminaries . . . . Already familiar with the Alice Bailey writings, he was amazed to see that there was a branch of Pentecostalism that embraced the same teachings - albeit using sometimes different terminology.
"Like those seeking the 'Age of Aquarius' these people too were seeking a 'New Age.' Like the other New Agers, these people taught that 'The Christ' was an anointing - not necessarily one man. They taught that Jesus was a pattern son who was to be a sign of something even greater to come - the 'Manifestation of the Sons of God.' They too believed the earth was to be cleansed of evil. And chillingly like the other New Agers, they believed they were to be 'God's' instruments to do such cleansing. The New Agers believed they were gods. The Manifest Sons of God likewise taught that if one accepted their 'new revelation' that they themselves would actually become Christ at the time of the unveiling or manifestation of the Sons of God."(10)

Although these similarities are frightening in themselves, Cumbey continues her eye-opener with this revelation:
"Ernest Ramsey excitedly pointed out in his report that [the Manifest Sons] had a teaching which indeed did parallel the Aquarian teaching of the Age of Aquarius - the Old Testament 'Year of Jubilee' as well as the 'Feast of Tabernacles.' The Year of Jubilee paralleled the redistribution of the world's wealth. The Feast of Tabernacles was the equivalent of the coming together of the World's peoples and varied religions under one tent or tabernacle - the equivalent of the New Agers' long-awaited 'New World Religion.' . . . ."(11)

We must not miss this point: the replacement theology of the Manifest Sons of the Latter Rain, which New Ager Ramsey called "Neo-Pentecostalism" has brought the Age of Aquarius into the Church under the guise of the Feast of Tabernacles and the Year of Jubilee.

JUBILEE: Pope John Paul II
The call for the Church to celebrate the Year of Jubilee has slowly increased since the resurgence of the Latter Rain doctrine in the mid-80s. And now we find another religious leader, Pope John Paul II, making the same call through the release of a 72-page papal letter. The letter, entitled "The Coming of the Third Millennium: Preparation for the Jubilee of the Year 2000," was released on November 10, 1994. David Crumm, Religion writer for the Detroit Free Press, reports the the document "recommends that every 50 years a special year of social justice be proclaimed, debts be canceled and the oppressed be freed."(12)

In Section 51 of the letter, the pope leaves us in no doubt that he is actively pursuing a Year of Jubilee for the year 2000:
"From this point of view, if we recall that Jesus came to "preach the good news to the poor" (Mt. 11:5; Lk. 7:22), how can we fail to lay greater emphasis on the church's preferential option for the poor and the outcast? Indeed, it has to be said that a commitment to justice and peace in a world like ours, marked by so many conflicts and intolerable social and economic inequalities, is a necessary condition for the preparation and celebration of the jubilee. Thus, in the spirit of the Book of Leviticus (25:8-12), Christians will have to raise their voice on behalf of all the poor of the world, proposing the jubilee as an appropriate time to give thought, among other things, to reducing substantially, if not canceling outright, the international debt which seriously threatens the future of many nations. . . ."(13)


But the idea of a Great Jubilee is no new thing to John Paul. In Article 23 of the new document, he writes,
"Since the publication of the very first document of my pontificate I have spoken explicitly of the Great Jubilee, suggesting that the time leading up to it be lived as "a new Advent." This theme has since reappeared many times, and was dwelt upon at length in the encyclical Dominum et Vivificantem. In fact, preparing for the year 2000 has become as it were a hermeneutical key of my pontificate. It is certainly not a matter of indulging in a new millenarianism, as occurred in some quarters at the end of the first millennium; rather, it is aimed at an increased sensitivity to all that the Spirit is saying to the church and to the churches (cf. Rv. 2:7 f), as well as to individuals through charisms meant to serve the whole community. The purpose is to emphasize what the Spirit is suggesting to the different communities, from the smallest ones, such as the family, to the largest ones, such as nations and international organizations, taking into account cultures, societies and sound traditions. Despite appearances, humanity continues to await the revelation of the children of God and lives by this hope, like a mother in labor, to use the image employed so powerfully by St. Paul in his Letter to the Romans (cf. 8:19-22)." [See Sidebar on these verses.](14)


The pope is no longer suggesting, but is himself acting upon plans for the Year of Jubilee in the Holy Land. In his Detroit Free Press article, David Crumm reported on some of the details:
"In weekend ceremonies at the Vatican, Pope John Paul II called on his new cardinals to work with him on an ambitious plan for world peace that includes meetings of Muslim, Christian and Jewish religious leaders in Bethlehem, Jerusalem and on Mt. Sinai in 1999.
"Newly elevated Detroit Cardinal Adam Maida said Sunday that he expects to be heavily involved in the elaborate plan. . . ."(15)


Referring to the Papal Letter, Maida said, "'This is a very important document. The Holy Father wants to bring all faiths together to try to find the common denominators in all of our faiths that will allow us to work together. He sees this as the only way we can hope to overcome all the evil, the injustice and the materialism that we face in the world.' . . .
"'The whole idea of interfaith communication between religious scholars is an excellent idea,' said Imam Mohammad Ali Elahi of Detroit's Islamic Center of America.
"'We need to talk about how Islam, Christianity and Judaism can contribute to society and help with the healing process in the world,' said Elahi, who already has worked with Maida on interfaith discussions in the Detroit area. . . .
"Bishop J. Philip Wahl, the southeast Michigan leader of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, said, 'Personally, I think it's wonderful, the idea of Muslims, Christians and Jews meeting together in the Holy Land.'
"Wahl said he is particularly interested in the pontiff's proposal to speed up dialogue among Christian churches. 'I can see us, as the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, working very, very hard on the dialogue the pope has suggested,' he said.
"Evangelical Lutheran leaders are making a similar proposal to be considered at their 1997 nationwide conference, Wahl said.
"'In our proposed statement, we would declare that the conditions existing within the church at the time of the Reformation no longer exist. So, instead of pointing fingers backward and trying to figure out who was wrong back then, we would say, "Let's not let the past be a blockage between us."'
"'But Advent this year takes on a very particular importance,' he said. 'With it, in fact, begins the preparation of the whole church for the historic rendezvous with the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000, which we are already approaching.' . . . ."


Crumm reports that the pope's plan "calls for many phases of preparation for the jubilee, including:
"* After years of slow dialogue with many Christian denominations, the pontiff wants to move rapidly to break down barriers between the churches. He wants temporary agreements to allow members to worship together in special jubilee programs. Beyond that, the pope hopes to move quickly toward full communion, in which members of the churches would share worship services.
"* By 1996, the pope wants to publish a humble confession for the sins of his own church over the past 2000 years. Chief among these sins, the pope said, was the church's use of violence to promote the faith in periods such as the Inquisition in the Middle Ages. . . .
"* In 1999, the pope wants leaders of the three faiths that look back to the ancient patriarch Abraham as their founder to join in three meetings. The pope proposes gathering on Mt. Sinai in Egypt, where the Bible says Moses received the ten commandments; in Bethlehem in the West Bank, where the Bible says Jesus was born; and in Jerusalem, now controlled by Israel, one of the holiest cities of all three faiths."(16)


JUBILEE: Pat Robertson
Pope John Paul II is only one of many religious leaders pursuing a Year of Jubilee. In a 1987 report on Pat Robertson, Constance Cumbey wrote,
"Whether there is direct networking or not, it is a fact that the 'Year of Jubilee' teachings do show up in Robertson's work in amazingly similar format to those used both by [Manifest Son teacher] Bill Britton and [the New Age] Synthesis Fellowship. On page 133 of his book in a discussion of what he calls 'The Law of Use' Robertson says: 'Notwithstanding the sneers of many in the banking community, it may be that God's way will be the only one open to us - a year of jubilee to straighten out the mess.'"(17)

Cumbey also cited Pat Robertson's Perspective newsletter from January/ February 1981:
". . . . In a section called 'A Radical Proposal to Halt Inflation' Robertson called for an International Year of Jubilee. This was modeled, said Robertson, after the Biblical Year of Jubilee. . . . [which] canceled debts, freed slaves, 'and the means of production would be redistributed. . . . If inflation is to be broken, there must be a cancellation of debt - on a worldwide basis.' He said, 'every type of debt, secured or unsecured, should be totally released.' . . ."(18)


Pat Robertson's influence in the American and worldwide Church is enormous. Though his teachings and beliefs are often (and often justly) criticized by traditional Evangelicals, he retains a following of millions who tune in daily to his 700 Club television program, who buy and read his multiple books, and who supported his candidacy for president in 1987. A call from Robertson for a Year of Jubilee in the year 2000 would give powerful impetus to the move.
Besides his personal followers, Pat Robertson is in a position to influence many more through his Family Channel, the tenth largest cable channel in the country. Add to this the 1.4 million members of the politically active Christian Coalition, (which he heads), those affected by the journalism, law and government graduates of his Regent University, and the many touched by the legal civil rights group he founded, the American Center For Law And Justice. Because these organizations take a socio-political stance rather than a theological one, their promotion of a Year of Jubilee wouldn't be much affected by divisive doctrinal differences.
Robertson has already endeared himself to conservative Catholic groups by signing the 1994 agreement, "Evangelicals and Catholics Together: The Christian Mission In The Third Millennium." And two years before this agreement, in November of 1992, he exhorted his 700 Club audience, "It's high time the 50 million evangelicals and the 40 million Roman Catholics GET TOGETHER and say, 'Look. Christian bashing is over. We're not going to put up with it in America.'"(19; emphasis ours).
Clearly, Pat Robertson's sphere of influence is wider and encompasses members of more denominations than just about any other church leader in the nation. Furthermore, as founder of the global relief agency Operation Blessing, chief executive officer of CBN (which owns a television station in Lebanon), head of Broadcast Equities (religious radio and television stations), and major shareholder (through CBN) of Asia Pacific Media Corp., a new venture to buy media and cable properties in Asia, his geographical sphere of influence is widening also.
Robertson's been calling for an International Year of Jubilee including "a cancellation of debt - on a worldwide basis," for fifteen years. Today, he is also offering conferences on Tabernacles, the joyous festival of ingathering. In the April 1995 Charisma magazine, CBN ran the following ad: "Get the Word on Worship, Wisdom and Wonders.
"With God's Word as the foundation of every CBN conference, you'll be challenged to grow spiritually and receive all that God has for you.
"Worship. Renowned speakers Judson Cornwall and Steven Fry will show you why it's important to be more than a Sunday Christian. 'Pursuing A Life of Worship,' June 1-4, 1995.
"Wisdom. Gain a deeper understanding of Israel, the Church and the end times as the annual Jerusalem celebration 'Feast of Tabernacles' comes to CBN Conferences. Featured speakers are Jan Willem van der Hoeven and Johann Luckhoff. July 13-16, 1995.
"Wonders. . . ."(20)


In Part II of this series, we described Robertson's interview with the same Judson Cornwall in which Cornwall testified that he had been impregnated by God with truth not now being taught. In response, Robertson said that this could mean major revival. We also pointed out how this prophetic word was an important addition to the bringing forth of the Manifest Sons of God and Barbara Marx Hubbard's Homo Universalis. In the same issue, we saw that Robertson also applauds the laughing phenomena brought into the Church by the same group which is now promoting the celebration of Tabernacles.
So Pat Robertson, already a supporter of the Year of Jubilee, has jumped into the new movement and is now also promoting celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles.


JUBILEE: Jay Gary, AD2000
You may have never heard of Jay Gary, but he is another very influential person heavily promoting a Jubilee celebration in the year 2000. One of his books, "The Countdown Has Begun," tells how various denominations are uniting to take the gospel to the world by the year 2000. The biographical notes in this book tell us that Gary "serves as coordinator of the . . . AD2000 Global Service Office. In addition, he serves as a research consultant to the Worldwide Student NetWork, Campus Crusade for Christ's year 2000 program to reach college students worldwide. For the past three years [1986-1989] he has worked with the Lausanne movement as the program director of Leadership '88, a national conference for younger leaders and, more recently, as assistant to Lausanne's International Director. Jay served as the consultation director for the Global Consultation on World Evangelization by AD 2000 and Beyond [GCOWE 2000], held in Singapore in 1989."(21)

The Singapore GCOWE 2000 "gathered an international Christian representation. . . . [and] was deliberately inclusive. Great Commission leaders came from Anglican, Ecumenical, Evangelical, Catholic, Charismatic, Third World indigenous, and Pentecostal networks."(22) Following the Global Consultation, Gary became coordinator of the newly founded Global Service Office which promised to "serve any group that had AD 2000 plans."(23) It's impossible to name here all of the Church movers and shakers with whom Gary has connections, but when he started his own Celebration 2000 Project, his Advisory Board read like a who's who in Global Evangelization: AD2000 Global Monitor, David Barrett; New Life 2000, Paul Eshleman (Bill Bright's Campus Crusade For Christ); Evangelization 2000, Fr. Tom Forrest; AD2000 Together, Vinson Synan; and Vision 2000, Dr. Joe A. Harding; Global Center, Dr. Bill O'Brien (Samford University). Gary also networks with the March for Jesus organization, which yearly attracts millions of Christians into the streets, and in 1994 was the Colorado coordinator for the March. With Jay Gary sitting in such powerful places, his influence among global evangelization leaders toward the celebration of Jubilee is disconcerting, to say the least.

The question is, "Is Gary's understanding of Jubilee the same as the others who are promoting a Bimillennial Jubilee?" In The Star Of 2000, Gary writes,
"In ancient times, the law of Moses called for a year of liberty every 50 years. You can read about it in Leviticus 25. . . . the Year of Jubilee was inaugurated by the blowing of the great ram's horn trumpet [of jubal] throughout the land. Thus began a year-long festival, marked by canceling outstanding debts, returning land to original owners and freeing indentured servants. . . .
"I believe the year 2000 will be experienced as a once-in-a- lifetime Year of Jubilee. Jubilee 2000 is the most powerful image we could use to talk about the bimellennial of Jesus."(24)


So Jay Gary joins with the Latter Rain/Manifest Sons of God, Pope John Paul II and Pat Robertson in anticipating that the bimillennial year 2000 will be, in fact, a Year of Jubilee. What does this mean? Considering the influence of these three men and one movement, we can see that there isn't an important segment of the universal Church that would be left untouched by an appeal for Jubilee.

CELEBRATING TABERNACLES IN JERUSALEM
Johann Luckhoff, the Director of the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem [ICEJ] (scheduled to speak at the CBN conference on Tabernacles in July), recently wrote the following in the ICEJ newsletter concerning the Church gathering in Jerusalem to celebrate Tabernacles:
"Springtime in Israel is always spectacular. This year it was more beautiful than ever because of the excellent rains during the winter rainy season. In this land one becomes aware of how much of the Bible and the revelations of God's purposes revolve around the seasons, the harvest time, the desert and the lush parts of the country. Seasonal elements, like the early and latter rain, the times of planting and the harvest have a special symbolism in the Bible. They are often used to illustrate spiritual truth; in fact, the annual religious cycle is built around it. . . .
". . . . "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains by itself alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit" John 12:24.
"In the verse just preceding this scripture, Jesus said "the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified." Springtime in Israel . . . is a small reminder of the glory of the Lord. It is also a sign of His faithfulness, for as surely as the beauty of springtime follows the drabness of winter, He will fulfill His promises to His children and to His people. . . .
". . . . it can also be exciting to see how, day by day, the prophetic word is being fulfilled before our very eyes.
". . . . We hope in the future however that, through videos and other forms of communication, we can help those unable to come to taste a little of what is happening here. The video of last year's Feast of Tabernacles is already taking the highlights of those celebrations to the ends of the earth.
"And surely we can all rejoice that we will meet and all be present in the New Jerusalem."(25)


Luckhoff's usage of Latter Rain imagery is a likely indication of the message contained in the Tabernacles celebration video which he's taking "to the ends of the earth." The April 1995 Charisma magazine report on the events, however, is more straightforward:

"FEAST TO ATTRACT PILGRIMS
"In celebration of the 3,000th anniversary of Jerusalem, the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem is sponsoring a series of events . . . .
"The first event [is] a Christian celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles. . . . More than 4,000 Christians from nearly 100 countries are expected to join in the weeklong biblical feast.
". . . . The theme, "For Jerusalem's Sake," is taken from Isaiah 62:1. . .
"The final event [of three] is the 1996 Christian celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles, . . . The theme for the 1996 feast . . . is "The Holy City: The New Jerusalem," a reference to Revelation 21:2.
"The Christian celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles, also known as the Feast of the Ingathering, has been sponsored annually by the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem since the organization was founded in 1980. The feast, which marks the end of the harvest season, is the only feast for which God instructed both the Jew and the Gentile to come together in Jerusalem to offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving.
"The purpose of the events, according to embassy director Johann Luckhoff, is to bring attention to the importance of Jerusalem in light of biblical history and prophecy. . . .
"'It's also an opportunity for Christians to learn about the biblical roots of their faith and meet and encourage the people of Israel' he said.
". . . . [ICEJ's] purpose is to represent Christians who recognize the scriptural significance of Israel's restoration and who "share the Lord's concern for the Jewish people," its organizers say. . . ."(26)


There is certainly nothing wrong with the ICEJ's creating "an opportunity for Christians to learn about the biblical roots of their faith and meet and encourage the people of Israel," unless such opportunity is appropriated by the Latter Rain adherents. The odds favor such a distortion. Look at the facts: Latter Rain's promotion of Tabernacles is being taken to the world through the Laughing phenomena. Pat Robertson has shown support for the impregnation of the Church with "new truth," applauded "Holy Laughter," and is now promoting the Christian celebration of Tabernacles and an international Year of Jubilee. Jay Gary has written a book that calls the Church to celebrate Tabernacles, which Gary says is raised to "a higher power" in a global Jubilee. Pope John Paul II is going to Jerusalem on a very serious mission to reconcile Jews, Muslims and Christians with a goal of "full communion" among Christians for the celebration of a Year of Jubilee in the year 2000. National and international leaders are starting to bring the celebration of Tabernacles to the Church, and, through conferences, videos and other media, call the Church into that celebration. And as we draw near to the year 2000, the final shift in the direction of a united global Church will move it as one unit into Jubilee - its culmination of joy.

FOOTNOTES:
(1) Alan Vincent (UK) service, cassette 1994, location unknown.
(2) Robin McMillan and Steve Thompson, Teaching: "Beyond Pentecost," The Morning Star Journal, Vol. 4 No. 3, 1994, p. 43-44.
(3) Pastor Bill Randles, "Weighed and Found Wanting . . . Putting the Toronto Blessing in Context," pp. 58-59.
(4) Jay Gary, The Star of 2000, pp. 84-85.
(5) Ibid., Praise for "The Star of 2000," npn.
(6) Gary, Star, p. 74.
(7) Jay Gary, founder of B.E.G.I.N., "Get Ready To Celebrate The Year 2000," AD 2000 Global Service Office, 1993, promotion material.
(8) Ibid.
(9) Ibid.
(10) "A Planned Deception: The Staging of a New Age 'Messiah'" (1985), Constance Cumbey, pp. 171-172.
(11) Ibid.
(12) The Christian News, December 12, 1994, front page citing Detroit Free Press, November 28, 1994, "Pope's World Peace Effort Involves Maida: Interfaith Meetings."
(13) "The Coming of the Third Millennium: Preparation for the Jubilee of the Year 2000,"Trinity Communications 1994. Provided courtesy of: The Catholic Resource Network Trinity Communications.
(14) Ibid.
(15) The Christian News.
(16) Ibid.
(17) Constance Cumbey, Special Report On Pat Robertson, "Year Of Jubilee? Or Age Of Aquarius Disguised?," Constance Cumbey's New Age Monitor, August- December 1987, p. 34..
(18) Ibid., p. 40.
(19) Pat Robertson, 700 Club, November of 1992.
(20) Charisma, April 1995, CBN Conference advertisement.
(21) Jay Gary, The Countdown Has Begun, "About The Editors," 1989; italics removed.
(22) Ibid., pp. 10-11.
(23) Ibid., p. 61.
(24) Gary, Star, pp. 75-76.
(25) Johann Luckhoff, Newsletter of the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem, Letter from the Director, "A Word from Jerusalem."
(26) Charisma, April 1995.


SIDEBAR I:
JUBILEE AND THE MANIFEST SONS OF THE LATTER RAIN

Below are three definitions of the word "Jubilee" which together give us a good understanding of the biblical command to celebrate the Year of Jubilee. Note that Jubilee is seen as a type of "the restoration of all things" promised in Acts 3:21: ("He [the Christ - even Jesus] must remain in heaven until the time comes for God to restore everything, as He promised long ago through His holy prophets"). And in the Universal Subject Guide to the Bible found in Strong's Concordance, Jubilee is noted as "figurative of Christ's mission . . . Isaiah 61:1-3" which of course refers to Jesus' first and second comings. The traditional understanding of these passages is that Christ Himself will personally come and restore all things at the time of His visible, bodily return. But Latter Rain adherents, chief promoters of a Year of Jubilee, nonetheless cite Acts 3:21 to bolster their claim that the CHURCH must first restore all things, and THEN Christ can return.

Also intriguing is the Universal Subject Guide's use of Jubilee as a figure of Romans 8:19-24 (the manifestation of the Sons of God when all creation will be released from its subjection to decay). In Latter Rain doctrine, this places the newly revealed Manifest Sons of God within the celebration of the Year of Jubilee. This is exactly what we have said is planned to occur in or around the year 2000, making even more important our documentation that the Church has moved from Pentecost into Tabernacles, and is heading into Jubilee. We see ever more reason to believe that the end of the age is indeed upon us.

JUBILEE Defined

* CATHOLIC BIBLICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OLD TESTAMENT
JUBILEE [yobhel, ram's horn, trumpet]. The 50th year, the opening of which was marked by the blowing of trumpets. This 50th year occurred after 7 times 7 years, or 49 years, had been counted from the institution of the year of the Jubilee (shanath hayyobhel) or from the last Jubilee celebrations. It was proclaimed on the 10th of Tishri, that is, the Day of Atonement. As in the Sabbatical year, the whole land rested and was not to be cultivated. Thus, there was no agriculture for two successive years, but God promised to provide a superabundance of crops in the years previous to those so that there would be no reason to fear a famine. The rest affected only agriculture; cattle breeding and other business went on as usual. There were two other important laws to be observed in the year of the Jubilee:
(1) All landed property, as well as the houses of the Levites which had changed hands, reverted back to the original owners or to their descendants without payment. The sale, therefore, had been merely a lease on the property, and price varied according to the space of time to the next Jubilee year.
(2) All Hebrews who had been reduced to slavery were set at liberty. Because of these two laws, this year was also called the year of freedom (Lev. 25, 8-55).
By returning the landed property to its original owners or their descendants, the division of the land according to God's plan was retained for future times and God's ownership stressed. The freedom from slavery was to remind the Hebrews that not only the land, but also the people belonged to God. The year of Jubilee is a type of "the restoration of all things" (Acts 3, 21) at the end of the world, when the children of God will receive their entire heritage and full freedom (John E. Steinmueller, S.T.D., S.Scr.L. and Kathryn Sullivan, R.S.C.J., Ph.D., New York: Joseph F. Wagner, Inc. Publishers, 1956, p. 597).


* THE ZONDERVAN PICTORIAL BIBLE DICTIONARY
JUBILEE ( . . . ram's horn, trumpet . . .) According to Leviticus 25, every 50th year in Israel was to be announced as a jubilee year. Three essential features characterized this year. First, liberty was proclaimed to all Israelites who were in bondage to any of their countrymen. The law provided that the price of slaves was to vary according to the proximity of the Jubilee Year. Second, there was to be a return of ancestral possessions to those who had been compelled to sell them because of poverty. This, of course, excluded the possibility of selling a piece of land permanently. This law applied to lands and houses outside of the walled cities, and also to the houses owned by Levites, whether in walled cities or not. As in the case of the price of slaves, the law made provision that the price of real property was to vary according to the proximity of the Jubilee Year. The third feature of this year was that it was to be a year of rest for the land. The land was to remain fallow, even though it had been so in the previous sabbatical year. The people were to live simply, on what the fields had produced in the sixth year and whatever grew spontaneously. It is impossible to say whether the Jewish people ever really observed the Jubilee Year. [General Editor Merrill C. Tenney (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1968), pp. 452-453].


* THE AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
JUBILEE - noun: (1) (a) A specially celebrated anniversary, especially a 50th anniversary. (b) The celebration of such an anniversary. (2) A season or an occasion of joyful celebration. (3) Jubilation; rejoicing. (4) Often Jubilee. (Bible) In the Hebrew Scriptures, a year of rest to be observed by the Israelites every 50th year, during which slaves were to be set free, alienated property restored to the former owners, and the lands left untilled. (5) Often Jubilee. (Roman Catholic Church) A year during which plenary indulgence may be obtained by the performance of certain pious acts (Third Edition Copyright 1992, Houghton Mifflin Company).


In the accompanying article, we quote Pope John Paul II as "proposing the jubilee as an appropriate time to give thought . . . to reducing substantially, if not canceling outright, the internastional debt . . . ." We also report that New Ager Earnest Ramsey paralleled the Year of Jubilee with the New Age concept of redistribution of the world's wealth. And the article quotes Pat Robertson as insisting that "every type of debt, secured or unsecured, should be totally released." Robertson says, "it may be that God's way will be the only one open to us - a year of jubilee to straighten out the mess." But is this "God's way"? Did God intend for a Year of Jubilee to be suddenly foisted onto the world, forcing all unsuspecting lenders to cancel debts legally owed to them, possibly resulting in their own bankruptcy? Of course not. In the first place, God's decree was given to the Israelites as part of His laws governing their society, not that of their neighboring nations. Secondly, as can be seen in the above definitions, the law provided that the terms of all debts were never to exceed the fifty year span between Feasts of Jubilee, so all prices for property were set according to the length of time left until the next Jubilee year. In other words, lenders were never to lose their investment by being caught off guard, and borrowers were protected from borrowing so much that their descendents would inherit the debt. "God's way" combined mercy with justice. *

SIDEBAR II:
TABERNACLES: Will the Church FULFILL ITS DESTINY by celebrating Tabernacles?

In their article "Beyond Pentecost," Robin McMillan and Steve Thompson replace Israel with the Church and assert that the gospel was foreshadowed in the three Old Testament feasts of Israel named in Exodus 23:15-16:
PASSOVER: celebration of deliverance from the Angel of Death while in slavery. Christ our Passover has been slain (1 Corinthians 5:7-8); for the saved, Passover has been celebrated (Robin McMillan and Steve Thompson, Teaching: "Beyond Pentecost," The Morning Star Journal, Vol. 4 No. 3, 1994, pp. 42-43. Much of this article was quoted in our own Part III).
PENTECOST: the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Church, the reality of the Old Testament giving of the Law at Mt. Sinai. Pentecost, according to McMillan and Thompson, "is not the complete harvest. . . . it is not enough" (pp. 43-44).
TABERNACLES: "There is another realm of spiritual experience typified in scripture by the Feast of Tabernacles. Until we understand and partake of this feast, as we have both Passover and Pentecost, we will never fulfill our destiny and calling. We must discover the meaning of the Feast of Tabernacles and 'celebrate' it along with Passover and Pentecost. . . .
"What God did among Jews in Jerusalem, He is going to do among humanity and worldwide. Pentecost will come to maturity in the Feast of Tabernacles" (pp. 43-44, 48; italics deleted).


In their call to celebrate Tabernacles, McMillan and Thompson reduce this Feast to the "realm of spiritual experience." It is not. Another fallacy of this Latter Rain "new revelation" is that the fulfillment of "our destiny and calling" relies on OUR partaking of Tabernacles. But it doesn't.
Christ our passover has been sacrificed. His Spirit sent at Pentecost indwells all who have partaken of God's passover meal: Christ. The New Testament leaves us in no doubt that we have a part in these. But there is no mention in Scripture of the Church celebrating Tabernacles; this call is a product of Latter Rain teaching. The biblical truth is that those who have experienced Christ as their Passover and Pentecost must await His visible, personal return and His defeat of the nations gathered against Jerusalem before they can celebrate Tabernacles:
16 Then the survivors from all the nations that have attacked Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, the Lord Almighty, and to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles.
17 If any of the people of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord Almighty, they will have no rain.
18 If the Egyptian people do not go up and take part, they will have no rain. The Lord will bring on them the plague he inflicts on the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles.
19 This will be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles (Zechariah 14).


Latter Rain denies that the return of Christ is crucial to the fulfillment of Tabernacles, resulting in their plan to establish the Kingdom of God by the Church SO THAT Christ can return. But Tabernacles cannot be fulfilled until our Lord Jesus Christ returns and personally sets up the Kingdom of God on earth (the millennial reign). The Jewish Passover bears this out, and must take precedence over any new revelations of the modern Church.

THE FIRST TWO CUPS OF PASSOVER
The first two cups of the Passover meal were drunk as a REMEMBRANCE of Israel's past deliverance from Egypt, a deliverance that was celebrated in Tabernacles. We can see the oneness of Tabernacles with the Passover meal in this remembrance.
Israel's deliverance from Egypt is an established fact of her history. The Church of today had no part in the events that took place in Egypt, and to apply them to the Church (the "New" Israel) through replacement theology is to "unfulfill" that which God has fulfilled. The allegorizing Egypt as today's world, and of the Church as Israel celebrating Tabernacles in which it will fulfill its destiny, is totally outside the bounds of Scripture. The second cup of Passover is a remembrance, not a "new revelation" given to the Church today. This second cup is a "cup of the past" and must always remain so.


THE THIRD AND FOURTH CUP OF PASSOVER
The third cup of the Passover meal is called the Cup of Redemption, after the promise "and I will redeem you." The fourth cup is called the Cup of Praise. When I communicated with messianic believers about the Passover, I was surprised to learn that Jesus did not drink the third cup at the Last Supper, but instead gave it to his disciples and instructed them to drink it in remembrance of Him:
27 Then he took the cup (third cup), gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, 'Drink from it, all of you.
28 This is the blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
29 I tell you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until I drink it (fourth cup) anew with you in my Father's kingdom.'
30 [After the third cup] When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives (Matthew 26).


What we must not miss here is that neither Jesus nor His disciples drank of the fourth cup, the Cup of Praise. Why? According to a messianic researcher,
"If we understand the context of the Passover and the analogy of the . . . third cup . . . [it] was not drunk by Yeshuah [Jesus]. When did he drink of it? After the third cup they sang the Hallel. Yeshuah went to the garden. . .
"'My Father, if thou art willing, remove this cup from me; nevertheless, not my will but thine be done'" (Luke 22:42). So he 'drank a cup' here. 'Shall I not drink the cup which the Father has given me?' (John 18:11).
"'And being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling upon the ground' (third cup)" (Luke 22:44).
[So the seder was truncated, cut short, and was lived out outside the upper room. Our researcher continues,] "The seder [Passover] was continuing on into the real world. So the ritual meal opened up into the horror of the then present age. . . . He was in the time of his third cup. [The last words of the Passover meal were spoken from the cross: "It is finished!"]
"After the third cup comes the rest of the Hallel, Ps. 115-118 [which they most likely sung as they went to the garden]. . . . The fourth cup was never drunk: 1) not by Yeshuah; 2) perhaps not by the disciples either.
"The Hallel concludes with Psalm 118: the Great Hallel. Here the transition from the present to the messianic future finds its completion" (Notes, Messianic researcher).


The Great Hallel, Psalm 118, was usually sung at the festivals of Passover and Tabernacles. It is important to mention verse 26 here:
26 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. From the house of the Lord we bless you.
Of this verse, another researcher says, "The most important thing to note is that it is only on a few festive occasions during the course of the year when the words, 'Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord' are spoken. [Near the end of His ministry, Jesus cried out to the once holy city, 'O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you . . .] You will not see me again until you say, "Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord" (Matthew 23:39). By this He directly pointed them to His coming reign as King at the time of Succot (Tabernacles). So He implied that He would be revealed as King and begin His reign, also fulfilling Tabernacles, at the appointed time. This would be a very good reason why, beginning with the thousand year reign of Christ, we would celebrate only Tabernacles. All peoples will be required to come to Jerusalem at this time of year (Zech. chapters 12 thru 14 - a must read!)." So during His celebration of the Passover just before His crucifixion, Jesus pointed in two ways to the true celebration of Tabernacles at His return: 1) quoting Psalm 118:26, and 2) leaving the fourth cup untouched on the Passover table as He left to go to the garden. But Latter Rain beliefs, through the Laughing Phenomena, say we are to drink from the cup now, "as the new wine is being passed" (Master Potter Ministries). What cup can this be, if it is not the Lord's cup drunk after His visible return? One possibility is Revelation 17:3-6: 
3 Then the angel carried me away in the Spirit into a desert. There I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns.
4 The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and was glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls. She held a golden cup in her hand, filled with abominable things and the filth of her adulteries.
5 This title was written on her forehead: MYSTERY BABYLON THE GREAT THE MOTHER OF PROSTITUTES AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
6 I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of those who bore testimony to Jesus. When I saw her, I was greatly astonished.

PART 6: The End of the Birth Pangs
By Ed Tarkowski

New Ager Barbara Marx Hubbard says that the crisis in the world will result in the birth of Homo Universalis: a corporate humanity that has realized its godhood. The Latter Rain doctrine teaches that Christ is about to be birthed, or incarnated, into our world as a corporate man. And both New Age and Latter Rain leaders agree that this birth must occur now, in order to calm the sea of crisis and usher in a kingdom of peace and tranquility. They say that the establishment of this Kingdom will result in the coming of Christ to the world. Yet the Bible speaks of the return of Christ, not as a birth within a corporate, human vessel, but as a personal, visible return in glory, salvation and wrath. Who, then, are these two children about to be birthed into the world? Or, is it really one?

A FINAL SYNOPSIS
1. The Laughing phenomena has leapt like wildfire from Rodney Howard-Browne through John Wimber's Vineyard churches and the majority of charismatic ministries. Charles and Frances Hunter, Kenneth Copeland, Kenneth Hagin, Richard Roberts, Wallace and Marilyn Hickey, Jill Austin's Master Potter Ministries, End-time Handmaidens, Judson Cornwall, Glenn Foster, and Morris Cerullo have all embraced the new movement. Paul Crouch, who has openly said that he believes we are in the time of the Latter Rain, is spreading the phenomena worldwide through his Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN). Pat Robertson of the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) has also applauded the laughing phenomena, and says that the impregnation of the Church is crucial to worldwide revival; he predicts a billion souls will be saved. But it isn't only charismatic or parachurch ministries who have "caught the fire." The laughing movement has penetrated denominations across the board.

2. New, evolutionary "revelations" of the newly restored prophets and apostles of the Latter Rain undergird this "move of God." Key to discerning Latter Rain doctrine is understanding replacement theology, in which the Church has replaced Israel and is now itself Abraham's corporate seed destined to take his blessings to the nations in a frenzy of joy and celebration. As a result of this replacement, the tribulation period and its prophesied events are eliminated and a different series of events takes its place - a cleansing of evil from the earth in order to establish the Kingdom of God, AFTER which Christ returns.

3. As the "new Israel," the Church has progressed through the Feasts of Atonement (Passover) and Pentecost and is now entering the time when God will laugh in His people as they celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. Finally, through Tabernacles "raised to a higher power" by Jubilee, the Church will be given a four-fold blessing: 1) a globally united Church, 2) a one billion-soul endtime harvest, 3) the rise and immortalization of the Manifest Sons of God (Joel's Army) who will cleanse the earth of evil and destroy the Babylonian religious system (denominations), and 4) the establishment of the Kingdom of God by the Church.

4. The Latter Rain teaching proliferating throughout the Church via the laughing phenomena closely parallels the New Age doctrine of Barbara Marx Hubbard's Christ (see sidebar). As the spirits of this age take control of the Church, the meshing of the two philosophies will be an easy accomplishment. The major vehicle for bringing about a worldwide religion will be what Hubbard calls a "Planetary Pentecost," the New Age counterpart to Latter Rain's Tabernacles and Great Jubilee 2000. As these two strands merge, mankind's realization of its godhood will result in the manifestation of "Christ" himself.

THE BIRTH PANGS
The birth of a corporate "child" to the world and the Church is being proclaimed by both camps as a time of New Beginnings, the initiation of our Common Future, and the advent of the Church's Manifest Sons and their New Age counterpart, Homo Universalis. In both scenarios, this same "child," not mentioned in Scripture, will bring about the first global civilization. New Age Theosophist Alice Bailey wrote,
"The New Age is upon us, and we are witnessing the birth pangs of the new culture and the new civilization. This is now in progress. That which is old and undesirable must go and of these undesirable things, hatred and the spirit of separation must be the first to go."(1)


Just as John the Revelator was shocked when he saw the scarlet woman on the beast, so today many Christians are shocked that out of this Latter Rain "move of God" has come a Church witnessing the birth pangs described by Alice Bailey rather than those Jesus predicted in Matthew 24:8: "All these are the beginning of birth pangs." The Scriptural birth pangs will progress into the hard labor of "great tribulation" experienced by the Church and Israel, culminating in the glorious return of Jesus Christ with power and great glory. Conversely, the New Age/Latter Rain birth pangs are "witnessed," not "experienced" by these two groups. It is the "undesirable" ones, clearly the biblical Christians with a "spirit of separation," who are slated to experience the pain.

CHRISTIANITY PROCLAIMS THE BIRTH OF ONE CHILD
The new revelations are being raised above God's revelation in Scripture, as if we're allowed to accept alternatives. But God's word concerning birthing is either complete or it is not. Scripture says:
1) all men are BORN sinners.
2) God's Son was BORN in the flesh to die for our salvation.
3) we must be BORN AGAIN of the Spirit by placing our faith in Christ's sacrifice, resurrection, glorification and personal, visible return.


God says His revelation is complete in Christ (Hebrews 1:1-2; Col. 2:9-10) and must be contended for, as it stands, as delivered to the saints once and for all 2,000 years ago (Jude 3).

WHY A SECOND "NEW BIRTH"?
Alice Bailey was not the only one to speak of "birth pangs" that will result in the manifestation of a peaceable kingdom. Let's look again at the Church's modern day prophets who promise the birth of a "child" who will establish the kingdom. John Wimber, the founder of Vineyard Churches, commented that we should respond to the spirit of the laughing phenomena just as Mary did when she was impregnated by the Holy Spirit:
"I think that the response of Mary to the visitation of the angel is classic: 'be it done to me according to thy will.' I'm afraid the church today does not pray with that kind of acceptance in mind. I mean Mary was given the most incredible proposition that any human being in all the history of mankind was given: 'the Holy Spirit will come upon you and overshadow you and you will be with child'... acknowledging our sin, we should be saying 'Oh God, we need you. Come any way you want to, even if it puzzles us, even if it confounds us, COME.'"(2)


One can almost feel the travail and desperation in this cry: "Oh God, we need you. Come any way you want to, even if it puzzles us, even if it confounds us, COME.'" But the Holy Spirit doesn't have to COME to the Church in ways that puzzle us, such as causing us to be with child. He already indwells the Church, and Jesus said that indwelling would be forever. Wimber's words are quite a contrast to the proclamation of the Church in vital union and relationship with the Spirit in John's vision: "The Spirit and bride say, 'Come!' And let him who hears say, 'Come!'" (Rev. 22:17).

Wimber also likens the animal noises heard during the laughing meetings to the birthing process:
"I think we're all delighted with babies but I don't think very many of us want to attend the birthing process. And I believe what we have in the church is a birthing process. I believe the Holy Spirit has chosen to visit and revitalize the church and with it there's all kinds of noises and activities that would be best done behind closed doors [like a birth], but church is an open activity and God has chosen to visit the church. I'm a little puzzled myself by some of the things that God chooses to reveal publicly, aren't you? . . . I don't have any more explanation or idea of what it means than anybody else, but I love the after-effect, just as I love babies but am confused by the birthing process, but I love what happens afterwards."(3)


There is no "birthing process" with manifestations of animal noises in all of Scripture. Furthermore, God doesn't "visit" the Church; He indwells its individual members in a daily, personal relationship. The Christian who has been born again by the Spirit of God is fed by the word and learns daily to walk as Christ did, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. What is happening through the "Toronto Blessing" is not found in Scripture, which is why this process causes confusion and cannot be explained. Jesus said we would know the truth and that the truth would set us free, not leave us puzzled to the point of wrenching His body in two.

In another instance, after Brian Mode had a vision (while roaring like a lion) he announced that God said, "'I'm going to then IMPREGNATE and through the IMPREGNATION will then come NEW BIRTH,' and we're in the romancing and IMPREGNATION stage right now but we've got to pray in and cry out for the harvest."(4)
But Peter wrote to the Church, "For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God" (1 Peter 1:23). The god that prophesied through Mode is introducing another "new birth" to those already born again, yet Scripture speaks of no spirit impregnating the Church. This is a deception. In John 3, Jesus said we must be born again. He made no mention of a second "new birth."


GOD'S REALITY AND NEW REVELATIONS
Morris Cerullo wrote "God has revealed to me revelations . . . of His Spirit, of His endtime, so sacred . . . . You never heard this word preached anywhere. I will make you pregnant with My reality. . . . The Holy Spirit is the part of God that will manifest the pregnancy in your being."(5) But a basic fact of the Christian faith is that the Holy Spirit is already the reality of God in our being. Where in Scripture does God promise new endtime revelations leading to an impregnation of the Church with God's reality? The Church is forever one with the living God by the Holy Spirit through faith in Christ! We are His family, His body, His temple. Cerullo's words add to God's word concerning the reality of His oneness with us. They are a deception and, if believed and acted upon, open the Christian to reception of another spirit, another message and another Jesus:
(2 Corinthians 11) 3 But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent's cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ.
4 For if someone 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, you put up with it easily enough.


In a new revelation similar to Cerullo's, Glen Foster revealed that he and Judson Cornwall had been impregnated by God with "truth that is not now being taught." This is the same deception, although Foster's revelation is more selective. His impregnation was meant for God's "mature, older ministers" who could be trusted "to carry that truth to full gestation and have the patience to raise it up once it is delivered."(6) Again, God's word is silent on any such impregnation being added to Scripture. God does not impregnate His people with "new" truth. He moves in their lives as they fulfill their responsibility of reading His revealed truth on a regular basis.

THE GROWING GOD IN HIS PEOPLE
Wallace Hickey's prophetic word is likewise found nowhere in Scripture. The "Spirit" prophesied through him during a Rodney Howard-Browne service that, "God is new and He's a growing person as anything that is alive. . . . Just let God be God in you as a child, as a child be. God would will that the whole of everyone in eternity would be like He is, never old, ever young, growing, a growing thing."(7) This "prophetic revelation" gives some interesting twists to biblical truth. Rather than Christians growing to maturity in God, God is a growing child in us, "as anything . . . a growing thing." Hickey's words introduce into the Church another god, rather than the unchangeable, all-knowing, omnipresent God of Scripture who is complete in Himself, and makes us complete in Christ at the time of salvation.

ISAAC, LAUGHTER WITH US
As though such a proclamation would legitimize the current laughing phenomena, a prophetic word from Master Potter Ministries introduces another spirit into the Church, the child "Isaac":

"Prophetically, the child Isaac, which means 'Laughter,' is being released in nation after nation as the new wine is being passed."(8) But the truth of Scripture is that when Jesus Christ atoned for sin and was seated at God's right hand, He released the Holy Spirit into the world to glorify Him and draw men to Him through the preaching of the gospel. The Holy Spirit has been here ever since to do that. There is no reason for "Isaac" to be released into the nations to make men drunk with laughter through a new revelation. This prophetic word is a deception and opens the door for another spirit to enter into people's lives (see 2 Corinthians 4 above). The birth of Christ, His finished work, the sending of the Spirit and Christ's coming in judgement to reign on earth is clearly spelled out in Scripture. "Isaac," released as laughter into the nations, is not. It is another deception, a poor imitation of the biblical revelation that Jesus Christ is "Emmanuel, God with us."

THE MANCHILD COMPANY
The End-time Handmaidens prophesied that "God is sending a revival of joy to awaken and renew the Church so that she can bring forth the 'man-child' of joy, even the army of overcomers who will go forth in the likeness and image of the Lord in these last days."(9) This is also a deception. There is no scriptural basis in the Old or New Testament for an endtime army of God as proposed by the Latter Rain doctrine. Rather, the celestial signs of Joel 2:10-11 place the Lord's army with Him at the time of His personal, visible return in the sky. These verses find their New Testament prophetic counterpart in Matthew 24:19-30, Revelation 6:12-17, and 19:11-16, especially v. 14.

Another influential teacher, Francis Frangipane of River of Life Ministries, teaches that Christ must incarnate into the Church as a corporate entity. Likening the Church to the virgin Mary, he speaks of it as being pregnant and ready to birth a corporate child that will manifest on earth the maturity of the Head in heaven. Frangipane writes:
"Secure this thought in your mind: when the Spirit of Christ comes into the physical world, He must enter through a physical body . . . When Christ first entered our world as a child, it was Mary whom God chose to give Christ birth. Mary's life symbolized the qualities the Church must possess to walk in the fullness of Christ . . . [God is preparing us] as He did Mary to give birth to the ministry of His Son. Even now, in the spiritual womb of the virgin Church, the holy purpose of Christ is growing, awaiting maturity; ready to be born in power in the timing of God . . . the virgin Church is 'in labour and in pain to give birth' (Rev 12:1-2) . . . even now, hell trembles and the heavens watch in awe, for I say to you, once again, the virgin is with child. Before Jesus Himself returns, the last virgin Church shall become pregnant with the promise of God. Out of her travail, the Body of Christ shall come forth, raised to the full stature of its Head, the Lord Jesus. Corporately manifested in holiness, power and love, the Bride of Christ shall arise."(10)


Ignoring the traditional interpretation of the woman in Revelation 12:1-5 (Israel giving birth to Christ), Frangipane moves Israel aside to bring in his new revelation: the woman is the virgin Church about to give birth to the manchild, the corporate man of Joel's Army. Surprisingly, Pope John Paul II might even agree with Fragipane:
"Mary . . . should inspire all who cooperate in the Church's apostolic mission for the rebirth of humanity. . . The Church journeys through time . . . along the path already trodden by the Virgin Mary."(11)


Recently, the pope expanded on this theme:
"Since the publication of the very first document of my pontificate I have spoken explicitly of the Great Jubilee, suggesting that the time leading up to it be lived as "a new Advent." . . . The purpose is to emphasize what the Spirit is suggesting to the different communities, from the smallest ones, such as the family, to the largest ones, such as nations and international organizations, taking into account cultures, societies and sound traditions. Despite appearances, humanity continues to await the revelation of the children of God and lives by this hope, like a mother in labor, to use the image employed so powerfully by St. Paul in his Letter to the Romans (cf. 8:19-22)."(12)


IT IS TIME TO BIRTH THE BABY
Other Christians are convinced that the time of travail for the birth of this child is over, that it is now time to birth the baby:

* ESTHER INILSKI (Overseer for global intercession) - Reporter Chris Mitchell, CBN: "Esther Inilski oversees a prayer network for global intercession. She says many intercessors describe the times we're in like a spiritual pregnancy."
Esther Inilski: "We talk about revival and birthing, using that term as well. And, yes, this baby's been in the womb a long, long time and we're saying we've got to get this baby birthed. And we believe, yes, that God's time has arrived."(13)


* WES CAMPBELL (Vineyard Pastor) praying for a participant at a recent meeting - "Yes . . . amen . . . yes Lord, ooohh . . . yes, the Holy glory is on you Matthew, the Holy glory . . . That's right! That's right!, and Father we pray that you'd put an anointing of a preacher on Matthew, an anointing of fire, let the coals come from the altar of the Lord, Matthew, and touch your lips, and Lord I pray for faith and ignition, let fire come out of his stomach Lord, let the fire of God come on his back. And Lord I pray that Matthew would stand up in faith, that's true faith, Matthew, believe it! IT'S THE TIME TO BIRTH THE BABY. It's the time for the outpouring of the Spirit. Believe it! Lord I pray for faith that when Matthew says, 'This is the time!' It's not 'I hope it's the time,' . . . 'it might be the time.' THIS IS THE TIME! . . ."(14)

Old Testament Scripture foretold the birth of Christ, His earthly ministry, His death and resurrection, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and His return to rule the nations. And when Jesus did come the first time, Israel knew the time was near according to the Scriptures.
We, the modern Church, have entered into the blessings promised in the Old Testament, and we, too, possess the Scriptures. Since the time of the early Church, interpretation of those Scriptures concerning the time between Jesus' two comings favored an age of proclaiming the gospel of salvation, eventually reaching the time of Jacob's Trouble in Israel. This period of time, called the Great Tribulation, would be followed by Jesus' personal, visible return to glorify the Church and judge and rule the world. The Bible's prophecies of the tribulation period and the rise of a personal antichrist, persecuting the Church and Israel while ruling a united world, gave us a pretty good picture of what to expect.


We should be asking questions: How does Wes Campbell or anybody else involved in the laughing movement know that "it's the time to birth the baby"? Where does the Old Testament promise such a powerful, global move of God that affects the nations with such diverse manifestations? And where in the New Testament is this mentioned among prophecies yet to be fulfilled, including the persecution of the Jews, the entrance into the temple by antichrist, the battle of Armageddon and the return of Christ in the midst of great tribulation?

Where does Scripture foretell the birthing of a baby that brings laughter to the nations through the corporate Church? Why didn't God tell Paul or Peter or James or John to write an epistle on this move that would so redefine the Church in the last days? For that matter, how can the Church even be redefined when Jesus Christ is its life? Why wasn't Tabernacles mentioned as the Feast through which a harvest of revival would come, along with the manifestation of the Sons of God, the cleansing of the earth and the establishment of the Kingdom before Christ's return? And why wasn't Jesus revealed to John as "the Beginning, the New Beginning and the End"? There is so much that is clearcut in Scripture, yet none of these things are mentioned. Why?

NEW AGE PROCLAIMS THE BIRTH OF A CHILD
There is no biblical support for the impregnation and birth of a corporate child incarnating Christ. But such a thing can be found in the New Age belief that mankind will realize its godhood as one body. Simply reading the following should make this obvious:

* PIERRE TIELHARD DE CHARDIN (Jesuit) - "Sooner or later souls will end by giving themselves to the religion which activates them most as human beings."(15)
"After what will soon be 2,000 years, Christ must be born again, he must be reincarnated in a world that has become too different from that in which he lived."(16)


* TOM SINE (Futurist) - "Giving birth! What imagery could remind us more compellingly of the agony of our journey or unleash such a wild hope within us for our common future? As we have anticipated the avalanche of change rushing toward us, it would be easy to focus on the pain, trauma, and ordeal of the birth process and never look forward to the birth of the new.
"But where can we turn to find hope for the future? Where can we find any hint, any assurance, that something new is being born? Where can we find a confident hope that helps us not only to make it through troubled times, but also to engage the emerging challenges of a new century creatively?"(17)


* M. SCOTT PECK (New Age Christian) - "When I think of all that is required to bring an end to the arms race - not only the changes in individual styles and attitudes, but . . . the willingness of the nation to relinquish its external sovereignty to a supra-national agency - it seems to me that a virtual Second Coming is required. In fact, that is what it's all about. With all due respect to the traditional millennialists, I think what is meant by the Second Coming is not the bodily return of that one solitary man, but the coming of the mystical body of His True Church; the coming of the spirit of Christ to everyone, sweeping through the nations, sweeping through the world. Father, make us like Mary . . . to give birth to Your Son; to give Him to everyone. This is the time of the Second Coming. Whether we like it or not. There's no alternative except self-annihilation. . . . It is the time of the Second Coming. 'Here and now we're chosen to be, to reveal His grace that all then may see.' It's either give birth to Jesus or else. The time when we must choose is upon us. Father, make us like Mary."(18)

* MATTHEW FOX (Dominican, Director of the Institute in Culture and Creation Spirituality) - "Indeed, the birthing of the Cosmic Christ is the purpose of the incarnation. . . . Divinity wants to birth the Cosmic Christ in each and every individual."(19)

* BARBARA MARX HUBBARD (Futurist, a founder of the Foundation for Conscious Evolution) - "'Behold, I show you a mystery: We shall not all sleep; but we shall all be changed.' Omega! The planetary birth is a real event in cosmic time. . . . that is really happening to us now!"(20)

Barbara Marx Hubbard draws on the Book of Revelation as a base for her New Age prophecies. The Latter Rain has interpreted the word of God according to New Age principles. The two will mesh; they are already compatible. Both look to Abraham and Sarah's child. Both have usurped the place of Israel. Both speak of the birthing of a corporate body of people who, having realized Christification, will cleanse the earth of evil and establish a kingdom of peace. Both are declaring a celebration of joy in which the corporate child will come forth. Hopefully, before the final merging of the two, the Church will realize we have lost the simplicity of a Lamb slain for sin. Hopefully, we will return to the proclamation of that Lamb's resurrection, because He is going to return in judgement.

JUBILEE AND CHRIST'S 2000TH BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION WILL BE ONE EVENT
The various strands of the Latter Rain/New Age scenario for the end of this age have been woven together into an intricate banner announcing the celebration of Tabernacles and Jubilee. But another thread now being added to the design spells out a place name, the city in which the banner must be planted - Jerusalem. One of the gatherings being planned for the Holy City is JERUSALEM CELEBRATION 2000, to be held February 7-11, 1996. Dr. Paul Yonggi Cho, one of the Celebration's promoters, recently announced that many thousands of delegates would come to Jerusalem "from all over the world." Robert Schuller, scheduled to pray for the nations during the celebration, said, "Jerusalem Celebration 2000 may go down in the history of Christendom as the most exciting celebration of the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ!" According to the promotional material, a host of other speakers will include Jack Hayford (Church on the Way), C. Peter Wagner (co-ordinator of the AD2000 United Prayer Track) and Tom Pelton, who is "founder and president of March for Jesus USA and is the March for Jesus Coordinator for the Americas with responsibility for the entire Western Hemisphere.(21) These last three men are closely knit with Jay Gary through AD2000 programs.
Sounding much like Pope John Paul II and Jay Gary in his vision for a soon-coming spiritually-united kingdom, Dr. Cho said, "I pray that this spectacular event will bring a renewed love and unity among the peoples of the world."(22)


So Christians are going to Jerusalem to begin celebrating Jesus' 2000th birthday, just as Jay Gary has proposed. Others will travel to the Holy City to celebrate Tabernacles which, according to Gary, will be "raised to a higher power" in the Year of Jubilee. And the pope is headed for Jerusalem in an all-out effort to bring the corporate Church into full communion for Jubilee. The interweaving of these three themes in Jerusalem will center on Jubilee as a celebration of the birth of Christ. Two questions must be asked: Is the manifestation of the Sons of God through Tabernacles being timed to come during Jubilee? And will the city of Jerusalem be prematurely exalted as the dwelling of God? Of this we can be sure: the two events are being tied together. Leaning on Catholic rather Jewish tradition, Jay Gary describes how Jubilee has already been linked to the birth of Christ:
"A tradition developed that the Jubilee year began on Christmas Eve with the opening of a sealed golden door in St. Peter's Basilica. It affirmed that as the pope struck the holy door with a golden hammer, living streams of grace and pardon from Christ, the rock, were released. The inheritance of the fathers was restored to the sons. . . .
"Like the biblical Jubilee year, the coming bimillennial should be a time of reconciliation and celebration before God. This ordinary year, A.D, 2000, needs to be celebrated in an extraordinary way, particularly in light of Jesus' 2,000th birthday."(23)


This linkage was furthered in the papal statement on Jubilee issued last November 10th, in which the pope suggested that "the time leading up to the [Year of Jubilee] be lived as 'a new Advent.'" He wrote,
"The first phase . . . is meant to revive in the Christian people an awareness of the value and meaning of the Jubilee of the Year 2000 in human history. As a commemoration of the birth of Christ, the jubilee is deeply charged with Christological significance. . ."(24)
"A jubilee is always an occasion of special grace, 'a day blessed by the Lord.' As has already been noted, it is thus a time of joy. The Jubilee of the Year 2000 is meant to be a great prayer of praise and thanksgiving, especially for the gift of the incarnation of the Son of God and of the redemption which he accomplished."(25)


WE MUST REALIZE WHAT IS HAPPENING: JUBILEE = PLANETARY PENTECOST
Do we realize what is happening? We've already said that every Christian in every denomination is being pointed towards Jubilee. In a nutshell, this is how it's being done:

1. The replacement theology of the Latter Rain apostles and prophets has permeated great numbers of charismatic groups and traditional denominations. Now Latter Rain, closely associated with the laughing phenomena, has set up the Feast of Tabernacles as the great Christian celebration which will culminate in the manifestation of the Sons of God. And in their most recent appropriation of Israel's relationship with the Father, Latter Rain teachers are planning a Great Jubilee for the Year 2000.

2. Pope John Paul II, who is forcefully steering his church toward full communion with other denominations and into dialogue with major non-Christian religions, has long been pursuing a Year of Jubilee in 2000.

3. Jay Gary is heavily promoting his Jubilee, which centers around Jesus' 2000th birthday. Gary, with a finger in nearly every Restoration pie, dreams of a Third Millennium in a world made new apart from the visible, personal return of Christ.

Each of these moves is heading toward a global unity within a celebration, which perfectly sets the stage for the appearing of the Manifest Sons of God. This fact is disturbing enough, but it's only half of the picture.

The other part is that the same stage is being prepared for the New World Religion which New Ager Earnest Ramsey equated with Latter Rain. As you recall, Ramsey was excited that the Age of Aquarius, with its global unity of peoples and religions and its redistribution of the world's wealth, was paralleled by Latter Rain's Feast of Tabernacles and Year of Jubilee. Furthermore, Barbara Marx Hubbard's Christ, who will instantaneously manifest in prepared New Agers as one new man, or Homo Universalis, is slated to appear during a time of global unity within a celebration of joy.

We ask again: Do we realize what is happening? The celebration of Jubilee, which doesn't belong to the Church or the New Age or even under the headship of Rome, is setting up the perfect conditions for the simultaneous manifestations of the Latter Rain's Sons of God and the New Age's Homo Universalis. How can this be? BECAUSE THE LATTER RAIN FEAST OF TABERNACLES WAS DRAWN FROM THE SAME DOCTRINE AS THE NEW AGE PLANETARY PENTECOST. In reality, it is the same celebration viewed from two perspectives - New Age or celebrating Christian.

Hubbard describes the New Age side of this manifestation, and its effect on the whole world:
"An uncontrollable joy will ripple through the thinking layer of Earth. The co-creative systems, which are lying psychologically dormant in humanity, will be activated. From within, all sensitive persons will feel the joy of the force, flooding their systems with love and attraction, It will be as irresistible as sex.. . .
"As this joy flashes through the nervous systems of the most sensitive peoples on Earth, it will create a psycho-magnetic field of empathy, which will align the next wave of people in synchrony, everywhere on Earth. This massive, sudden empathetic alignment will cause a shift in the consciousness of Earth."(26)
"The great Instant of Co-operation. . . . will come to the peoples of Earth together in one instant of time. . . .
". . . . It means all of you co-experiencing the same force at the same time and acting together in accord with the idea that you have from within.
"It means transcending the experience of self-consciousness. The walls will come down everywhere on Earth. You will fall irresistibly in love with yourselves as one body born into the universe seeking greater awareness of your Creator."(27)


From the celebrating Christian perspective, Alan Vincent said God told him He was moving the Church into Tabernacles, and it would be God's laughter which would shake the whole world:
"But I tell you what God said to me was, He said, 'Alan, I am moving the Church from the Day of Atonement to Tabernacles. I'm, frankly, just beginning to laugh.' . . . . As if the devil could stop him fulfilling His covenant to Abraham. As if the devil could even stop Him from using the Church. He said, 'The whole idea makes me laugh.' He said, 'I'm starting to use my body to laugh,' 'cause, He said, 'The Day of Atonement is over and Tabernacles is coming, and I'm getting ready to laugh and I'm getting ready to roar, and I tell you this whole world is going to feel the shaking of that laughter and the power of that roar.'"(28)


Others who say that the whole world will be affected through the celebration of Tabernacles include Robin McMillan and Steve Thompson:
"There is another realm of spiritual experience typified in scripture by the Feast of Tabernacles. Until we understand and partake of this feast, as we have both Passover and Pentecost, we will never fulfill our destiny and calling. We must discover the meaning of the Feast of Tabernacles and 'celebrate' it along with Passover and Pentecost. . . .
"What God did among Jews in Jerusalem, He is going to do among humanity and worldwide. Pentecost will come to maturity in the Feast of Tabernacles."(29)


Barbara Marx Hubbard's Great Instant of Co-operation, which "will come to the peoples of Earth together" and cause walls "to come down everywhere on Earth" is also echoed in Jay Gary's comment on Jubilee's impact on the world:
"[Israel's] 50th year was the Jubilee - or the culmination of joy. The entire year was consecrated to making right whatever had gone wrong. I am convinced that the year 2000 can truly be a Jubilee year for the entire human family."(30)


Hubbard believes the culmination of joy has already begun: "Omega! The planetary birth is a real event in cosmic time. . . . that is really happening to us now!"(31)

We couldn't agree more; it is happening now, and we're rapidly approaching the moment when "the Christ" will appear:
"The Instant of Co-operation begins, empathy floods the feelings of the whole body of Earth, separateness is overcome, and I appear to all of you at once. I appear to you from within as a voice, and as a vision of yourself as an evolving being. I appear to you from beyond as the light being that I now am. . . .
"The promise I made is of a personal future in a transformed body. This means that you will also have what I have now. I am real. I am tangible. I am alive. I can speak to each of you through your inner ear if you listen. I can appear to each of you through your inner eye if you look.
"At the moment of cosmic contact, I will appear to you both through inner experience and through external communication on your mass media - the nervous system of the world.
"You will all feel, hear and see my presence at one instant in time, each in your own way."(32)


Hopefully, before the Church is carried farther down the slippery Latter Rain path to Jubilee, we will see the truth in Tricia Tillin's words:
"Very little is being said about the doctrine, origins, purpose and goal of the 'new move.' It is my belief that most churches and leaders do not know those things. . . .
"Few people involved in the current events know the origins of the phrases they are using (like Second Pentecost, or Latter Rain); few leaders understand where the concepts they have been taught in conferences, fraternals and elders' meetings have been coming from! Many have never even heard of the Latter Rain, and would deny having anything to do with such doctrine. Yet still they accept the beliefs with which they have been subtly indoctrinated over a period of decades! Ignorance is no excuse, for the teachings are plainly contrary to the Word of God. Leaders, as well as individual Christians, have a responsibility to test supposed new revelations, not to accept and promote them just because they are popular."(33)


We would do well to ponder Paul's revelation of the Church as the Bride of Christ:
(2 Corinthians 11:2) I am jealous for you with a godly jealously. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him.


Suffice it to say that a pure virgin is not impregnated with anything, and more pointedly, by the unblemished Bridegroom before the vows of marriage have been taken. But some say the Bride is pregnant and in labor and on her way to the celebration of a birth. The cruel twist is that the child brought forth in joy and celebration will be the Bride herself, in a birth Hubbard says is "comparable with the birth of Christ":
"The early Christians had a story to tell: a child was born . . . . Everyone could understand this story, from kings to peasants. Unexpectedly a new question burst forth in my mind. I spoke it out loud. Lifting my voice to the ice-white sky, I demanded to know:
"'What is our story? What in our age is comparable with the birth of Christ?'
"I knew it must be one story for all of humankind, for we are all members of one planetary body. . . .
"Then I heard the inner words clearly [from the Christ]:
"'Our story is a birth. It is the birth of humankind as one body. . . . We are one body, born into this universe. GO TELL THE STORY OF OUR BIRTH . . .'"(34)


And now we, too, know . . . the rest of the story.

FOOTNOTES:
(1) Alice Bailey, The Externalization of the Hierarchy, p. 62.
(2) Holy Trinity Brompton's parish paper, HTB In Focus, October 9, 1994.
(3) Ibid.
(4) Testimony of Byron Mode of Dallas, Toronto pastor's meeting, October 12, 1994.
(5) Morris Cerullo, London School of Ministry, promotional material, 1994.
(6) Pat Robertson interview with Judson Cornwall, 700 Club, Family Channel, June 9, 1994.
(7) Wallace Hickey, prophecy delivered at Rodney Howard-Browne service, video aired on TBN, May 1994.
(8) Master Potter Ministries, Passion & Fire Conferences, 1994 promotional material.
(9) Discernment newsletter, Jewel van der Merwe, Latter Rain and the Rise of Joel's Army, p. 5 citing End-Time Handmaidens, Angel Letter #2, Sept/Oct 1994.
(10) In The Presence Of God, 1994, pp. 153-157.
(11) Redemptoris Missio, pp. 86, 92.
(12) "The Coming of the Third Millennium: Preparation for the Jubilee of the Year 2000, Article 23, Trinity Communications 1994, provided courtesy of The Catholic Resource Network.
(13) 700 Club Report on praying through the 10/40 Window Project and the AD 2000 Prayer Track, January 1995.
(14) Seattle Fire & Reign Conference, February 14, 1995.
(15) Christianity and Evolution, p. 95.
(16) Ibid., p. 228.
(17) Wild Hope: Crisis Facing The Human Community On The Threshold Of The 21st Century, p. 228.
(18) What Return Can I Make?, p. 152.
(19) The Coming of the Cosmic Christ, p. 122.
(20) The Revelation: Our Crisis Is A Birth, p. 40; emphasis removed.
(21) From a brochure distributed by: Global Travel Network, P.O. Box 4503, Burlingame, CA 94011-4503.
(22) Ibid.
(23) Gary, The Star of 2000, p. 79, 85.
(24) Pope John Paul II, Jubilee, Article 31.
(25) Pope Johm Paul II, Jubilee, Article 32.
(26) Barbara Marx Hubbard, The Revelation: Our Crisis Is A Birth, The Christ's comments on Rev. 20:1-3, p. 234-235.
(27) Ibid., p. 235.
(28) Cassette tape of Alan Vincent service, 1994. Location unknown.
(29) Robin McMillan and Steve Thompson, Teaching: "Beyond Pentecost," The Morning Star Journal, Vol. 4 No. 3, 1994, pp. 43-44, 48; italics deleted.
(30) Jay Gary, founder of B.E.G.I.N., "Get Ready To Celebrate The Year 2000," AD 2000 Global Service Office, 1993, promotion material.
(31) The Revelation: Our Crisis Is A Birth, p. 40; emphasis removed.
(32) The Revelation, The Christ's comments on Rev. 20:1-3, pp. 236-237).
(33) Tricia Tillin, private research paper.
(34) Hubbard, The Revelation, p. 37, 39 (italics, bold print removed).


SIDEBAR: PART 6
THE NEW AGE AGENDA: A PLANETARY PENTECOST
by Ed Tarkowski

We've seen that there is strong international leadership with enough influence to unite the global Church and turn it toward a worldwide celebration of Jubilee in the year 2000. The stepping stone to that Jubilee is, at least in part, Tabernacles.
We've also noted that New Ager Earnest Ramsey, as well as Christian writer Constance Cumbey, found that the Christian celebration of Tabernacles and Jubilee had a counterpart in the Age of Aquarius. These, in turn, are no different than Barbara Marx Hubbard's Planetary Pentecost, which also unites humanity in a celebration of joy and establishes a reign of peace on the earth. As in the Latter Rain teaching, Hubbard says the first step on the way to this Pentecost is a coming out of "Egypt," a Passover, "just as Moses lead the Jews out of the land of Egypt."(1) After this, says Hubbard's Christ, will come the Planetary Pentecost:
"Do this [Planetary Birth Communion] in preparation for the Planetary Birth which will be induced through this experience given to new disciples of Christ who choose to work together for the Planetary Pentecost, when the Spirit of God is poured out upon all people. This is the purpose of your mission on Earth. All your projects will be reoriented, aligned and empowered as you accept this purpose and put it first. . . . finally."(2)


As with the Toronto Blessing, a call to unity is going out to all the nations through Hubbard's New Age agenda:
"The more quickly you can get the word to all nations - to the ears of the attracted members of the social body - that they are about to be united by the same call, the better it will be.
"Timing is of the essence. Your task, dearly beloved, is to spread the word and provide a channel for those who wish to act."(3)


The result of this unity will be a planetary celebration of uncontrollable joy, comparable to the Latter Rain's Tabernacles raised to a higher power by Jubilee:
". . . . The planetary celebration will begin for the birth of humankind in the universe, a blessed Cosmic Child eagerly awaited by the evolved beings through the universe without end. Hallelujah. Amen."(4)
"An uncontrollable joy [Planetary Smile] will ripple through the thinking layer of Earth. The co-creative systems, which are lying psychologically dormant in humanity will be activated. From within, all sensitive persons will feel the joy of the force, flooding their systems with love and attraction. . . ."(5)


The end result of both Hubbard's Planetary Pentecost and the Tabernacles/Jubilee celebrations will be the birth of a corporate body filled with one spirit of joy and celebration. Here is Hubbard's description of that birth:
"It was a planetary smile - like the smile of a new born baby. . . . Now for the first time, we were seeing it together. Ecstatic joy rippled through the planetary body - and through me as one of its billions of members. . . .
"I saw it was true. We are being born. . . . We are going to be one body, whether we like ourselves or not." (6)


Hubbard likens this birth to the birth of Christ because just as Christ was manifested in one human body, the corporate Christ will manifest in one united global body. Once again, her description is no different from the Latter Rain's, which states that a united body of Christ is necessary to incarnate and manifest Christ. Of this corporate birth, Hubbard says,
"All is silent to see if a second miracle can occur comparable to the birth of Christ.
"That miracle is the gentle Second Coming of Christ through the rapid evolution of enough humans linked up by the planetary nervous system, so that the social body will flood with empathy, healings will abound, and the world will smile with joy. The people will know they are whole, they are good, they are capable, they are loved, they are needed."(7)


What does all of this mean? It means that mankind is in a transitional period which will result in the birth of the first global civilization. In the declaration of the upcoming State of the World Forum, former Czechoslovakian president Vaclav Havel also describes this transition as a birth:
"There are good reasons for suggesting that the modern age has ended. Many things indicate that we are going through a transitional period, when it seems that something is on the way out and something else is painfully being born. It is as if something were crumbling, decaying and exhausting itself, while something else, still indistinct, were arising from the rubble."(8)
"The State of the World Forum will focus on the fundamental challenges and opportunities confronting humanity as we enter the next century and a new millennium. It is being held in the belief that at this momentous juncture in history, we are giving birth to the first global civilization."(9)


The end result of this transition is described by Ex-Secretary General of the United Nations, Robert Muller:
"Let us all coalesce with all our strength, mind, heart and soul around a New Genesis, a true global, God-abiding, political, moral and spiritual renaissance to make this planet at long last what it was always meant to be: the Planet of God."(10)


What is disturbing is that the established goal of New Ager Robert Muller is no different than Jay Gary's exhortation to the Church to "herald the coming renaissance":
"For a movement to be successful and to effect some great and important improvement in human affairs, economist Martin Dent of the University of Keele feels that [it] must have three characteristics. It must build up leadership as it progresses. It must be bold and inspire the imagination. It must have a single great idea that can be easily grasped and simply shared.
"So it is with the coming Bimillennial Era. If it is to have any hope of more than a passing success, it must give birth to the "Spirit of 2000."
"On the eve of this decade, I believe Providence has given us a visual illustration of what this spirit is about through the revolutions in Eastern Europe. There we saw the triumph of the human spirit in the face of tremendous odds.
"We must recover the simple idea that the spark of eternity has been placed within each human being. We must fan this flame, this tiny spark within every person - and insure that no government, no group, or no authority is allowed to smother or snuff out this sacred flame.
"Where can you share the "Spirit of 2000"? Each of us have circles of influence and networks we can touch - our local parish, a rotary club, or a professional network.
"As early citizens of the 21st Century, we have a sacred duty to carry this torch across the length and breadth of the planet. Let's blow the jubilee trumpet and herald this coming renaissance among government, education, arts, media, business, and religion."(11)


Why are Muller and Gary calling for a spiritual renaissance? New Age Theosophist Alice Bailey explains it well:
"What the orthodox theologian and the narrow doctrinaire have to offer no longer satisfies the intelligent seeker or suffices to answer his questions; he is shifting his allegiances into wider and more spiritual areas. He is moving out from under doctrinal authority and to direct personal, spiritual experience and coming under the direct authority which contact with Christ and His disciples, the masters, gives."(12)


According to Barbara Marx Hubbard's Christ, "the attracted members of the social body" will "be united by the same call." It seems that some in the Church are now answering that call.

FOOTNOTES:
(1) The Revelation, The Christ's comments on Rev. 1:1-3, p. 85.
(2) The Revelation, The Christ's comments on The Planetary Birth Communion, p. 311.
(3) The Revelation, The Christ's comments on Revelation 5:4-5, p. 122.
(4) The Revelation, The Christ's comments on Rev. 20:1-3, p. 237.
(5) The Revelation, The Christ's comments on Rev. 20:1-3, p. 234).
(6) The Revelation, The Planetary Smile, p. 39.
(7) The Revelation, The Christ's comments on 1 Cor. 15:45, p. 165.
(8) Vaclav Havel, Opening statement, Executive Summary, State Of The World Forum to be convened by Michail Gorbachev, Sept. 27 to Oct. 1, 1995 in San Francisco.
(9) Executive Summary, State Of The World Forum: Mission.
(10) Robert Muller, Ex-Secretary General of the United Nations; University of Peace, Costa Rica; New Genesis: Shaping A Global Spirituality, opposite copyright page.
(11) Jay Gary, Get Ready To Celebrate the Year 2000, B.E.G.I.N., Global Service Office, 1993.
(12) Alice A. Bailey, The Externalization of the Hierarchy, p. 417.