"Mainstream"
Spring 1995 Edition - Part One

BIRTH OF THE MANCHILD

"Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils" (1 Tim 4:1)

"Yes, amen! Yes, Lord, amen, yes Lord! Ooohhhhh, 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!"

This was the prayer of Wes and Stacy Campbell, leaders of the Toronto renewal, over a man called Matthew at the Seattle Fire And Reign Conference, on February 14, 1995.

I will let the person who attended this conference sum it up in her own words:

"Last night Wes Campbell had the people break into small groups of around seven or so, (there were 650 at least in attendance, standing room only after that). Each group was to be as it were, "a nest". They were to put one in the middle and pray for the "fire". When they saw any evidence of the fire beginning to "manifest", they were to "fan" the flames. They actually make all kinds of bizarre movements to stir up a breeze or the "wind" of the spirit. As you would fan a small fire, they jumped, and fanned frenetically, and blew on the "spark" to get it going.

"It came across to me as a bizarre and shamanistic display, and I was in pagan Nepal for three months, where the idols Molech and Baal (forms of Shiva and Vishnu) are still worshipped and the King is a deity. Yet I never saw there anything as bizarre as what I observed last week.

"Some would be suddenly knocked backwards as they started to receive "it", buckling over eventually and falling backward. Some would lie in awkward positions at this stage jerking periodically and staring in a gaze at what appeared to be nothing. Later as they started to convulse, they would scream and jerk and shriek. The 'midwives' kept blowing and 'fanning' - they hover to "birth the baby" as it is born.

"Others would progress to the "birthing" stage, where they grabbed their middles and rolled around as if they were truly in labor or had a sudden case of appendicitis, rocking back and forth, yelling at the tops of their lungs periodically as they were gripped with spasmodic "labor pains".

"Wes Campbell at one time indicated that those who had the belly pains were being "imparted the spirit of intercession"

"Wes Campbell stated on Tuesday night that the greatest prophetic voices in the world today are Paul Cain, Bob Jones, Mike Bickle, and John Wimber! In my opinion, they must be teaching Manifest Sons of God teachings at the ministry level of the Vineyard. If challenged, they will probably say, "Oh no we don't teach that or believe that!" But the evidence I saw this week certainly suggests they both believe AND teach it!

TRIGGER WORDS

There are several words that seem to trigger the manifestations, reminding me of post-hypnotic subliminal suggestions: More, Midwife, The Baby, Come Lord, Battle. At the mention of these words, even casually in a sentence, they will begin to clap and shout and "worship" rather profoundly, and "mani-fest". I am shocked that they would use this word, but "manifest" they do, with jerking, jolting, flexing, bending, sudden inexplicable body movements, grimacing, twisting, shrieking, shouting, jumping, etc - it is absolutely bizarre.

[Other words known to trigger manifestations: Fill, Glory, Fire, Suddenly, and Run with it!.]

"One woman, [named in original transcript], testified (as her body did the most outlandish things) that she believed the Lord had called her to be a 'midwife' of the church.

"From what I saw and heard, I believe they are being taught that the Church is the woman in Rev. 12, and that the baby is the second coming of Christ in His body, the Church. That is what I believe they are "birthing". [The Manchild]. Many times I heard them praying for the "holy glory", where I would have expected them to say Holy Spirit. In any case, you can see they are definitely "birthing the baby" at the Vineyard!"

What is this baby? Why do the Toronto leadership believe there is a birth process going on? To what will this lead?

Let's first look at the secular understanding of these things. There is a way that seems good and acceptable to man, yet the end of it is death. It is the humanistic endeavour to establish a New Order of perfection on this earth, in effect, to return to Eden. In the world and in false religions, it has always been believed that a critical time of tribulation, or a birthing process, will lead to a utopian new age for all mankind.

BIRTH OF A NEW AGE

This Autumn, the State of The World Forum will be convened by Michail Gorbachev in San Francisco in order to "consider what principles should govern the next phase of human development". The Mission Statement from the Executive Summary for the World Forum states that it 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 civilisation."

It quotes Vaclav Havel, President of the Czech Republic, as saying, "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".

All false religions and ideologies work towards the restoration of mankind and creation, but they look to human wisdom and supernatural empowerment to achieve it. Their labour is futile:

"We have been with child, we have been in pain, we have as it were brought forth wind; we have not wrought any deliverance in the earth; neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen". Isa 26:16-21

M. Scott-Peck, a well-known and respected new-age author, calls the coming of the new age a birthing process:

"When I think of what is required to bring an end to the arms race... it seems to me that a virtual second coming is required. In fact, that's 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." (1)

THE GROWING CHILD WITHIN

Some see the birth as the development of an inner spiritual christ-child. Matthew Fox says this: "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" (2)

Wallace Hickey, the husband of the popular teacher Marylin Hickey is proud of the fact that he can "prophesy at the drop of a hat" and he does it in rhyme, too. At one Rodney Howard Browne meeting that I watched on video, he put some startling words into the mouth of God. Hickey also spoke of a growing god, like a child within us. Did his inspiration for this prophecy come from the same source as that of Matthew Fox?

"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 your 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." (3)

How can the eternal, everlasting God be "a growing thing" unless we now have a theology of God who must once more become "as a child" and grow to fullness "within you" - the Church. However, the inward growing "christ-child" and the outward birth of a global spirituality, are apparently part of the same event.

A leading new-ager, Barbara Marx-Hubbard, has written several books showing the way to "Planetary Pentecost" - her term for the world instant of co-operation that will lead to a higher consciousness for all. One of them is called "The Book of Co-Creation, The Revelation: Our Crisis is a Birth". In it she offers: "a positive alternative to the Armeggedon scenario in the Biblical Book of Revelation". Her "inner christ" tells her:

"In each person on Earth there is an inner being in a chrysalis, ready to be born. Turn to it for guidance. Let it speak to you. It is growing rapidly now. The signal for its birth en masse is the gathering of the attracted people by the sound of the voice of God - the 'trumpet' that shall surely sound. Then we shall be changed in the twinkling of an eye...At the Quantum Instant, Christ-consciousness will emerge at once in many who are prepared" (4)

This new-ager uses biblical terms, like the trumpet-blast that will lead to our being changed in the twinkling of an eye. But she clearly applies them in a totally different way. Watch out for this! Today many are using Bible terms, but what do they mean by them?

NEW JERUSALEM - HEAVEN ON EARTH

"These words: Virgin Mary, Jesus, the elect, Israel, the New Jerusalem, must be REINTERPRETED now. They do not relate to doctrines, ideologies, institutions, powers or principalities. They relate to human potentials in every person on Earth...The New Jerusalem is our potential, collectively, to transcend all creature/human limitations through the harmonious use of our capacities, achieving a society of Universal Humans whose minds and bodies are total reflections of the mind of God" (5)

So says Marx Hubbard. We can expect this sort of thing from a new-ager; but what is the excuse for Christians redefining the New Jerusalem? Whereas we know from Rev 21 that only God can create a new heavens and earth, in the new teaching the Church creates a new environment on earth by progressively applying the redemptive power of Jesus.

Restorationist, Chris Seaton writes:

"If the spiritual change which happens to a Christian believer can result in a physical change, why can the same not be true of the whole creation? If this were so, then the "new heavens and the new earth" could well signify a transformation rather than a replacement. Perhaps the power of God touching the physical elements is just what would have happened if Adam had brought eternity into Eden through the tree of life...further, the environmental disasters of Matthew 24 are described in a very interesting way: "all these are the beginning of the birthpangs"... birth-pangs hurt, but there is new life at their end...(Christ) has restored the harmony of the Creator and his image. In turn, this restored harmony enables the whole order of creation to be fulfilled. This brings us back to Romans 8 and creation waiting in eager expectation for "the sons of God to be revealed". Again, we understand that these groanings represent "the pains of childbirth..." But what about heaven? Heaven simply describes the place where God is...in the prophetic vision of Revelation 21, John "saw the Holy City the New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God". John apparently saw that heaven was to be firmly located in the transformed physical universe, which God had originally designed." (emphasis in original) (6)

The Toronto outpouring is seen as part of this process by some. Rick Joyner, once deeply involved with Vineyard and the Kansas City Prophets, commented on the current renewal:

"I don't think that the New Jerusalem has come yet, but everywhere there is such expectation in the air, and so many good things are breaking out everywhere, I see many reasons to be very encouraged... Canada is on the verge of a great spiritual advance. There is evidence that a great spiritual army is being mobilised and prepared to go forward. I expect many other movements to gain attention in the near future. This is all the beginning of something very big" (7).

Of course, the Bible shows plainly that Jesus Christ is our only Saviour, and that world redemption and restoration comes only through his return as King, Judge and eternal Ruler of this planet. We deviate from this hope at our peril.

However, scripture tells us that there will come a time, in the latter days, when Christians "will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables". (2 Tim 4:3-4)

That word "fables" [MUTHOS, myths] denotes a mysterious, secret doctrine that is preached only to the initiated. Its root is MUEO, a word which means "to initiate into the mysteries". It was used of the old Gnostic heresies and cult mysteries.

NEW REVELATIONS

Now we have a new revelation that cannot be understood by the mind but must be received by the heart, by spiritual initiation. It comes with mighty power to deceive. I refer of course to what is known as the Toronto Blessing. This power requires the surrender of the rational mind. A recent advertisement for meetings in Israel said this:

"Theology alone cannot keep us on target. When Yeshua was born in a manger in Bethlehem, it was not what the foremost theologians of the day were looking for. That knowledge only came by way of revelation". (8)

It is true that "theology" of the biblical kind cannot explain the Toronto teachings. That is because they are unbiblical! The laughter now present in meetings is believed by the leaders to be evidence that the Church has entered the feast of Jubilee (Joy) - Tabernacles - wherein God comes to dwell spiritually with his people, and consenting believers receive the anointing of fullness, the third anointing of the inner sanctum that brings full sonship and incorporation into the manchild company of Rev. 12.

Jill Austin, a prophetess attested and used by the Vineyard, stated that:

"Prophetically, the child Isaac, which means 'Laughter' is being released in nation after nation as the new wine is being passed" (9)

Some of you will recall that Paul Cain and R.T. Kendall of Westminster Chapel launched an initiative in London in October 1992 at the "Word And The Spirit" conference. They called it the "Post-Charismatic Era", [reported in Mainstream in Spring 1993 issue under the title "Somebody Moved The Goalposts."] According to Cain and other leaders, the present charismatic movement is only an "Ishmael" and the true child of promise is "Isaac", a trans-denominational super-church that will bring about global revival. In that issue as in many others, I warned of a false revival to come, "with a drawing power and persuasion almost impossible to resist". Now it is here, and it is called "Toronto"!

Others confirm that Sarah's child "Isaac" (laughter) is emerging from the womb of the worldwide Church. The following quote shows that it is perceived as a corporate endtimes 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" (10)

The Army which is to take the nations for God in a mighty display of signs and wonders has to be "birthed". During a Toronto pastors' meeting, Byron Mode of Dallas testified:

"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 the IMPREGNATION will then come NEW BIRTH, and we're in the romancing and IMPREG-NATION 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....." (11)

This is no new teaching, sprung up overnight from Toronto! No, it has been in the inner chambers of the Church for centuries, only emerging at brief intervals for an airing before being recognised as heresy and banned by Church leaders. Sadly, the Church is too gullible, too gutless and too bound by compromise to take the same measures today.

Instead of opposing these heretical teachings, today the UK Church is almost completely ensnared by them. One supporter of the "sonship" doctrine, Bill Britton, says this: "sonship is the very heart of all Kingdom messages being preached in these last days". I believe he is right. (12)

Another supporter writes:'

"This movement [Restoration] started in the late 1940's and infiltrated into every Pentecostal group in the 1950's. During this time it was known as the "Latter Rain" and "Revival" movement. By the early 1960's very few Christians were knowledgeable of the movement, except the Pentecostal churches which had been affected by it. However, in the mid 1960's, the Holy Spirit had spread the truths and spiritual experiences of the restoration doctrine into every church group within Christendom. This move of the Holy Spirit...became known as the charismatic movement" [my emphasis] (13)

CHARISMATIC PIONEERS

A recent book interviewing the leaders of the Restoration movement makes reference to the early days of the movement when pioneers like Arthur Wallis were inspired by the zeal of the latter-rain teachers to re-establish the apostolic and prophetic ministry of the Church.

In the introduction to his book, Brian Hewitt, once Editor of "Redemption" magazine, comments that in 1970 Arthur Wallis returned from New Zealand convinced that a "cosmic upheaval" involving the Church would usher in the Lord's Return, and had set up meetings to accomplish this. The American Fort Lauderdale group, he says, had embarked on the same agenda and "the leaders of the new churches all shared the same goal: the rebuilding, or "restoring" of the present-day Church to its New Testament splendour. And they shared the same convictions: that God was actively at work in the last days to bring this rebuilding to pass. Those Christians who had come to believe that a period of lukewarmness and backsliding in the Church would be a sign of the nearness of Christ's return were wrong - the era of the apostle, not the day of apostasy was at hand." (14)

I could not have said it better myself. The roots of the Restoration movement both here and in the States are fixed firmly in the soil of the 1940's Latter-Rain heresy. Roger Forster, interviewed for the above book, tells of the great influence that men like T. Austin-Sparks and George H. Lang had upon his formative years in the restoration movement. (P. 112) Yet, T. Austin-Sparks taught that by a process of attaining "sonship" and eventual "adoption" into the "manchild company" a small group of overcomers would be raised up to take the throne of government over this earth. (15)

You see, at the very heart of the restoration doctrine is the belief that biblical teachings on social decline, religious apostasy, the tribulation, the antichrist reign and the rapture of the Church ARE WRONG.

For centuries, Christians have believed that Jesus our Saviour came as the FINAL Word of God; His work is all-sufficient to destroy the power of sin and to win redemption for those who trust in Him. Not only is our present hope fixed in Him, but our future salvation also. But now some teachers suggest that a corporate christ, a perfected Manchild arising from the womb of the world-wide Church, must come to complete the deliverance of mankind!

Here is a quote from a well-known Christian leader:

"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 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 statute of its Head, the Lord Jesus. Corporately manifested i! n holiness, power and love, the Bride of Christ shall arise" (16)

Now the Toronto Experience is being presented as the fulfilment of all these allegories. This is no touch of God for salvation or sanctification. No, the former anointing of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost was only a foretaste, according to these new teachings. Now Christians must receive an anointing "without measure", a corporate anointing which will achieve "the birthing forth of My glorious Church". (17)

HERESY MUST BE REJECTED

Church leaders will insist that they do not believe nor teach the heretical aspects of the latter-rain doctrines; yet I believe the system is one coherent whole and adopting some parts of the teaching will inevitably lead to adopting the whole. Many leaders simply use the terminology without understanding it - but ignorance is no excuse, since the concepts are unbiblical and ought to be rejected outright.

When comparisons are made, suddenly it becomes apparent that a central core of doctrine is feeding into the revival. The same phrases, words and scriptures keep cropping up; the same inexplicable ideas which mean little by themselves but trigger off alarm bells when put together.

There is an overall cohesive structure to these events that will elude any who have a parochial viewpoint on their own small world and their own small experiences. Only by taking a long view of global events can the foundational heresies be perceived.

I would liken some objectors to the well-known blind men who stumbled into an elephant. The one at the front grasped the trunk and cried "it's a snake!" and the one at the side felt the body and said "it's a wall!" and the one at the back felt the hind leg and said "It's a tree!". None of them was right.

Don't be like the blind man who only "sees" the small piece that belongs to your own experience. Be wise, and look around you; read ALL the data; get hold of ALL the quotes; listen to ALL the tapes; read ALL the books - even then without spiritual discernment it is difficult to grasp a movement as insubstantial as a spider's web whose links and knots are spread out throughout the worldwide Church.

THE CHURCH IN CHILDBIRTH?

During his visit to the UK earlier this year, John Wimber was asked about the animal noises being made by Toronto participants. His reply was revealing:

"There's nothing in scripture that supports this kind of phenomenon that I can see and I can't think of anything throughout the church age that would. So I feel no obligation to explain it. It's just phenomena. It's just people responding to God....I think we ought to ignore it... 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. " (18)

Wimber seems to believe that the strange grunting, shrieking and howling noises are like the labour pains of a woman in birth, just as we saw at the Fire & Reign Conference hosted by the Campbells.

What we are dealing with here is no ordinary revival. It is about the bringing forth of a perfected Church! It is about the Glory of the Manifested Presence of God returning to the Body of Christ in order to overshadow her and bring forth the Manchild of Joy! It is about that glory of God, the River of Life, flowing from the Living Temple, filling the earth and bringing about universal obedience to God, sweeping away all evil and establishing the Kingdom upon earth. It is the birthpangs of the New Age!

Keri Jones, writing in "Covenant News" the newsletter of the Bradford Restoration group says this:

"Before the coming of the Lord Jesus, the world will see a world-wide visitation of the Holy Spirit. God said he would pour out his Spirit on all flesh. All flesh indicates both the just and the unjust. God's purpose is to see the earth filled with his glory... restoration speaks of the ultimate goal God is directing all history toward. As we experience the flow of blessing coming down from above, we can expect the river of life to bring about the culmina-tion of his purpose in this generation. We will see the church filled with glory in a greater way than anything seen previously. How can this be?. Malachi prophesied "see, I will send my messenger who will prepare the way before me, Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple, the messenger of the covenant whom you desire, will come". The implications are clear...the church as it lives out the word, will arise to conquer all its opposing forces: the world, the flesh and the devil."

SUDDENLY

Here is another common thread running through the renewal literature and tapes: "SUDDENLY" the Lord will return to His Temple (the Church!)" The meaning (as above) is often ambiguous, for while some interpret this verse to mean the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus, others imply a "coming" of the Spirit, a return of the Shekinah Glory of God to the Living Temple.

Paul Cain, (held up by the Toronto leadership as a great pro-phet and leader in the Church), is unclear on the subject of the return of Jesus. He says: "I don't know what the Second Coming means to you, there's so many different returns of the Lord, or comings of the Lord, I don't know, we have a cardinal doctrine like that, but let me tell you he's coming to YOU, he's coming to his Church, he's coming to abide in you, to take up his abode in you." (19)

Yet in my understanding, the Lord never left the Church, nor are we waiting for a spiritual return of Jesus, nor a "glory" to des-cend from heaven to perfect the church and renew the earth. This is a pagan dream, a replacement for the true gospel of Jesus Christ as Messiah and Only Lord!

Paul Cain describes the coming this way:

"We are the Sanctuary, we are the House of God...and I tell you God is going to suddenly appear in his House and the whole world is going to say 'don't try to lead me to your God, don't try to tell me where he is, I SEE him, he's living in you, he's living in His House, he's living in His Sanctuary' - for you're going to be the Sanctuary of God..." (20)

THE SHEKINAH GLORY

This experience, of the Lord coming in glory and power to indwell his people, is seen in allegory as the return of the Ark to the Temple, or the return of the Shekinah Glory. Many believe this "glory cloud" must be seen visibly, as it was in the dedication of Solomon's Temple, when "the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud: for the glory of the LORD had filled the house of God". (2 Chr 5:14)

Rodney Howard Browne, in his meetings around the world, often relates the story of the glory cloud which became visible in the early part of his ministry. He says it all began to happen in April 1989. During a series of meetings in Albany, New York, RHB and his wife began to desire to see the glory of God manifested. He says that on the Tuesday morning, "as I was preaching, the glory of the Lord came into the building. I felt it just like someone put a heavy blanket upon me and the presence of the Lord filled the house. A lady was sitting about three rows back and I noticed she was blinking and looking at the ceiling... she said she saw a thick fog or mist, like a cloud, come down and fill the room. The lights and the ceiling disappeared." (21)

This represented to Howard Browne the launch of his ministry and divine favour upon it. I wonder if it also meant to him that the Shekinah was beginning to return to the Church? Now, six years later, the Glory is predicted to return in fullness. The following "prophecy" was sent to the Vineyard's New Wine Bulletin Board, an electronic messaging system frequented by supporters of the Toronto Experience. It was shared because, in the author's estimation "it is a reflection of the hearts of so many here on this list."

" ....For the Glory of God, my Glory, says the Lord, the Heavy Presence that shook the very foundations of the earth as I proclaimed Goodness and Mercy, has come once again to dwell in a tabernacle of flesh.... You are temples, you are vessels, you are receptacles, you are containers of the very Fires of Heaven, measured into you as you will receive it. Some taking much, moving from Glory to Glory, changed by the nearness of my Glory, ever growing, ever changing, ever allowing Me more of you. ... Allow my Fire to purge you, to try you, to refine you, to cleanse you and then allow my Glory to radiate from you as you become life and the Light of a dark world. For the Glory of God, my Glory says the Lord, is soon to come in His fullness, and where once men were shielded as I proclaimed Mercy and Grace, finally I will proclaim righteous judgement... yes, even all that is not of Faith will burn in the very presence of my Glory in you, in you, in you, in you, IN YOU! (22)

MODERN TRANSLATIONS

Unfortunately, modern translations of the Bible make it easier to accept this heresy. The Authorised Version has the blessed hope as the appearing of our great God in glory. Most of the other translations have the appearing of the glory! The AV says:

Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; Titus 2:13

One example of the move away from the personal, visible return of our Lord God and Saviour Jesus Christ, to the appearance of a "glory" is this from the Good News Bible, though many other new translations also change this verse: "as we wait for the blessed day we hope for, when the glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ will appear...."

The Glory, in the new understanding, is the visible manifestation of the Spirit. How long is it before Christians look for the return of the "spirit" of Christ, before (or perhaps even instead of) the physical return of Jesus.

In the adopted jargon of the charismatic church, "the Lord is coming TO his church before he comes FOR his church." as Paul Cain confirms:

"...we haven't even touched on this thing about when he comes UPON us, like the Holy Ghost came upon Mary and she brought forth the Son of the living God - aren't you looking for the Holy Ghost to come upon us? "I want you to know he's coming TO the church before he comes FOR the church. He's gonna perfect the church, so the church can be the Image, and be him, and be his representation. In my father's house are many mansions, many abodes, many dwelling places, and he promises now, it's not a trip to heaven, but it's really him coming to make his abode IN US, so I guess, look out planet earth, the Lord is coming back again, he's coming to his people! (23)

ANTICHRIST

Since significant portions of the Church accept these new teachings while at the same time denying the personal antichrist to come, we may see a sinister new interpretation of the following verse:

"Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, (I Jn 4:2-3)

If you are standing outside this heresy, and you refuse to accept that the Spirit of Christ has come in the flesh of His Body, the Church - then what does that make you? Yes, an antichrist!

Certainly, we live in "perilous times". But God stands ready to protect, guide and shepherd all those who are His own. We commit ourselves wholly unto Him, for our future is in His hands!

FOOTNOTES:

1. M Scott Peck "What Return Can I Make" p.152.
2. Matthew Fox, "The Coming Of The Cosmic Christ", p. 122.
3. Prophecy of Wallace Hickey, given during a Rodney Howard-Browne meeting, TBN May 1994:
4. Barabra Marx Hubbard - "The Book of Co-Creation, The Revelation: Our Crisis is a Birth" pp.123-124.
5. Ibid. Comments on Rev. 14:4-5, p. 182.
6. Chris Seaton, (Pioneer network) "Whose Earth"? pp 90-93
7. Rick Joyner, November 1994, Bulletin Board message
8. Promotional literature, Ari & Shira Sorko-Ram, Dallas, Texas.
9. Prophetic Insights For The '90's, Jill Austin, "The Great Intruder" Passion & Fire Conferences, Master Potter Ministries, Summer 94.
10. 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.
11. Byron Mode, taped at Pastors' Meeting, October 12, 1994
12. Bill Britton, introduction to "The Doctrine of Sonship" D. Graham
13. Bill Hamon "The Eternal Church" 1981 p 238
14. "Doing A New Thing?" 1995 Brian Hewitt, Introduction
15. T. Austin Sparks "God's Spiritual House" Chapter 7
16. Francis Frangipane,"In the Presence of God" New Wine Press 1994. Chapter: "The Virgin Shall Be With Child" pages 153-157,
17. Debra Jordan, Zoe Ministries "Written Judgements Vol 2" Foreword
18. "HTB In Focus" newsletter interviewing John Wimber, Oct 9th 1994
19. Paul Cain: Nov 88, Tape: "My Father's House"
20. Cain: November 1988. Tape: "Given As A Token"
21. Rodney Howard Browne "The Touch of God" 1992 p 99
22. Carl Killingsworth, sent to New Wine Bulletin Board 7th Feb 95.
23. Paul Cain: Nov 88, Tape: "My Father's House"

CONTINUE TO PART TWO OF THIS NEWSLETTER