Latter Rain (post–World War II movement)


The Latter Rain, also known as the New Order or New Order of the Latter Rain, was a post–World War II movement within Pentecostal Christianity which remains controversial. A distinction should be made between:
The Latter Rain Movement had its beginnings in the years following World War II and was contemporary with the evangelical awakening led by Billy Graham, as well as the Healing Revival of Oral Roberts, Jack Coe, and William Branham. In the fall of 1947, several leaders of the small Pentecostal, 'Sharon Orphanage and Schools' in North Battleford, Saskatchewan, who were hungry for God were inspired to fast and pray and wait on God after visiting Rev. Branham's healing campaign that was held in the Exhibition Garden in Vancouver, Canada, where four to five thousand people packed inside to witness people being healed. They had never seen anything like it before and those at the Sharon Schools began to fast and pray in search of Later that year, groups organized large revival events, and news quickly swept across Canada and the United States, influencing many Pentecostal believers.
As the revival died down after a few years, those who had been changed by the doctrine formed various groups which became known as "The Latter Rain". The Latter Rain strongly emphasized relational networks over organizational structure. In addition, the term Latter Rain has become somewhat of a pejorative label; therefore, many ministers who were influenced by it are reluctant to make this well known. They often choose to emphasize only formal participation. Much of the movement, along with elements of the Healing Revival, slowly dissolved into parts of the larger Charismatic movement.
Emanuele Cannistraci, Dick Iverson, Kevin Conner, Dick Benjamin, Leonard Fox, Violet Kitely, Reg Lazelle, David Schock, George Evans, Charlotte Baker, Fuschia Pickett, Jim Watt and others, were some of the greatest voices that came out of the Latter Rain Revival of 1948.
Latter Rain emphases are some of the most noticeable difference between Pentecostals and Charismatics, as delineated, for example, by the Assemblies of God USA in their 2000 position paper on End Time Revival. The Latter Rain movement was rejected by classical Pentecostal denominations.
This should not be confused with earlier movements or ideas within Pentecostalism, including the Latter Rain Assemblies in South Africa, begun in 1927. Distinction should also be made between various groups with Latter Rain influences and the Sharon Schools organization, which has "camp" meeting grounds at North Battleford, where the revival and movement both originated.

History

Latter Rain Revival (1948–1952)

The late 1940s was a time of deep spiritual hunger among Pentecostals, who were concerned about the declining operation of the gifts of the Spirit once so evident when Pentecostalism began in the early 20th century. In response to this spiritual hunger, about 70 students gathered in October 1947 in North Battleford, Saskatchewan, to begin the first term of the newly formed Sharon Bible College. Most were first-year students, but some were second- and third-year students from the Pentecostal Bible College in Saskatoon. From the latter part of October until the great visitation of the Spirit in February, daily there was someone or a number of people in fasting and prayer, day after day, week after week, classes were suspended, as a heavy burden of prayer and supplication swept in upon the bible school. They knew that God was about to do a new thing in the Church, but just what it was they could not tell. A few prophecies urged them to seek the face of the Lord. It was difficult to study, as the desire to pray was so great.
The students worked hard by day to prepare the buildings for classes and gathered for prayer in the evenings, which included intercessory prayer, prophecy and fasting. Some fasted between three and forty days. At this time, the school consisted of three buildings at the North Battleford airport.
The group was led primarily by George Hawtin and Percy G. Hunt, two former pastors of the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada, and Herrick Holt, a pastor of the Church of the Foursquare Gospel in North Battleford. They were later joined by George Hawtin's brother Ernest Hawtin, and brother-in-law Milford Kirkpatrick. The initial 70 Sharon School students had followed Hawtin and Hunt from Bethel Bible Institute in Saskatoon, where both had formerly taught. Hawtin had been asked to resign for lack of cooperation with the institute, and Hunt resigned in sympathy.

Restoration by Laying on of Hands and Praise and Prophesy by Presbytery

On February 11, 1948, a young woman prophesied"that we are on the very verge of a great revival, and all we have to do is open the door, and we could enter in." After the prophecy Pastor Hawtin prayed, "Father we do not know where the door is, neither do we know how to enter it." A following prophecy described the open door as the doorway into the gifts and ministries in the Body of Christ. Then, the following day, the rain began to pour down. One of the eyewitnesses, Ern Hawtin, brother of Pastor George Hawtin, reported the outpouring as the revival suddenly began in the largest classroom where the entire student body was gathered. One student recalled a vision. Some students were under the power of God on the floor. Other students knelt in worship before the Lord as the anointing deepened and all were in awe of God. The Lord impressed on one of the brethren to lay hands upon a student and pray for him; he was uncertain until one of the sisters spoke the same words to him, naming the same student he was to pray for. He obeyed and a revelation was given concerning the student's life and future ministry. Then a lengthy prophecy was given by Ern Hawtin that the gifts of the spirit will be restored to the church to be received by prophecy and the laying on of the hands of the presbytery. Haltingly, they began to pray and lay hands on people, as the spiritual gift of healing was received by the power of God. Great repentance, humbling, fasting and prayer prevailed in everyone. Prior to this, the laying on of hands for this purpose was viewed as heretical and had not been practiced for several decades throughout Pentecostalism. Pastor G. Hawtin believed that the nine Spiritual Gifts had been restored to the Church. The revival quickly spread across the country and the world. Down through the decades, Glad Tidings Temple in Vancouver, British Columbia, spread the message of revival around the world through her publications, tapes and missionaries worldwide and Bible schools in Vancouver, Taiwan, Mexico, the Arctic and in Uganda.BN
Thomas Holdcroft wrote about the events:
In the spring of 1948 on Easter weekend, special services were held which the school called the "Feast of Pentecost". Many people who had heard of the revivals in North Battleford attended these services. This led to what is considered the first "Camp Meeting" during July 7–18, 1948, which began drawing large crowds in the thousands.

Pentecostal Denominations Disapproved of the Latter Rain Revival

The teachings from this revival came to be known as "Latter Rain" and quickly spread throughout Canada, the United States and around the world. Denominational leadership opposed some of the revival in late spring of 1948, and questioned the teachings and practices of the movement. For instance, the 1949 General Council of the Assemblies of God USA declared in its Resolution #7:
Bill Britton wrote that,
However, although there are differences, Assemblies of God USA and Latter Rain have fundamental beliefs in common as shown in Assemblies of God USA's "Statement of Fundamental Truths" of 16 doctrines that are non-negotiable tenets of faith including the Baptism in the Holy Spirit and Divine Healing, which are considered among the Assemblies of God USA's Cardinal Doctrines that they expressly give continuing emphasis as they are in the New Testament apostolic pattern by teaching and encouraging believers to be baptized in the Holy Spirit, which experience enables believers to evangelize in the power of the Holy Spirit with accompanying supernatural signs and the full working of the Holy Spirit in expression of fruit and spiritual gifts and ministries, with Divine healing an integral part of the gospel including deliverance from sickness.

Israel and the Church

It is generally accepted in Christianity that the Church is the spiritual counterpart of Israel. Parallels have been drawn between the history of Israel and the Church such that whenever GOD moves to restore Israel, the Church similarly experiences a spiritual restoration. For example, in 1900, when the Jews sought to return to their homeland, the Church experienced a restoration of the Baptism of the Holy spirit at the Azusa Street revival in 1906 and in 1948 when the nation of Israel was being restored and Jews pouring into Israel, God restored the doctrine of the laying on hands and praise through the Latter Rain Revival and raised up healing evangelists such as Branham and Oral Roberts. As early as 1952 Layzell of the Latter Rain movement wrote that Israel's natural history is a parallel spiritual history of the Church. While natural Israel deals with earthly nations and kings, spiritual Israel deals with spiritual nations and spiritual rulers. To illustrate this comparison, he compared Israel's sin against GOD in gradually turning to worshipping idols, resulting in GOD letting Israel be captured by Babylon, to the Church gradually allowing elements of pagan worship to infiltrate the Roman Church. God delivered natural Israel from Babylon and the spiritual Israel from the Roman bondage as the true evangelical church will never allow images and idols to aid in their worship. In 1967, Israel won the six days war and the charismatic movement was bring restoration to the Church. Finally, in 1980, when Israel declared Jerusalem to be her capital, Glad Tidings Temple had an Israel vision that began the most recent move of GOD in the Church that one day Christians around the world would comfort Israel with singing and worshipping God the land and ministering comfort through financial aid. Divine confirmation of this vision was received through the prophetic word of Emanuele Cannistraci, "an accepted prophet in revival circles", who unexpectedly telephoned the platform in the sanctuary of Glad Tidings Temple during the Sunday morning service on April 17, 1980, calling from the United States with a prophetic message that was immediately broadcast live through the P. A. system to the entire congregation listening to his message. Emanuele Cannistraci's message totally confirmed the vision the Lord had given Glad Tidings Temple about the Church and Israel. Later his message would be circulated in print.
George Warnock, former personal secretary to Ern Baxter, resided at Sharon Schools in the fall of 1949 and performed various work supporting the movement. Warnock's book, The Feast of Tabernacles, discussed the role of Sharon Schools and affiliated groups in living out the completion of God's feasts for Israel, through perfection of the saints and their dominion over the earth. He described the Jewish feasts of Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles as ones that "pre-figure and typify the whole Church Age, beginning with the death of Jesus on the cross, and consummating in "the manifestation of the Sons of God" – the "overcomers" who will step into immortality and establish the Kingdom of God on earth."

Beliefs

Latter Rain proponents saw Pentecostalism as spiritually dry in the post-war period and in danger of slipping into a dry or mental formalism like many of their evangelical peers. Latter Rain doctrines addressed this formalism with a series of doctrinal and practical changes. These changes made the Latter Rain Movement distinct from the Pentecostal context from which it arose. Church life in Latter Rain influenced the development of church congregations significantly different from traditional Pentecostal ones.
The Latter Rain brought a new focus on the spiritual elements of Christianity, including personal prophecy, typological interpretation of Scripture, the restoration of the five-fold ministry, and a different eschatological emphasis. George Warnock's Feast of Tabernacles outlined some of these emphases, and is widely quoted as an early distillation of the teachings.

Eschatology

The Latter Rain broke with the dispensationalism, which had become entrenched in the ranks of Pentecostalism. It tended to be pessimistic in its outlook, whereas the Latter Rain emphasized a victorious eschatological outlook. Rather than attempting to save a few souls before the rise of the anti-Christ, the Latter Rain emphasized the Church as overcoming and victorious, relating that it would come into "full stature" as taught by the Apostle Paul.
The term Latter Rain stems from Bible passages such as Jeremiah 3:3, 5:23–25, Joel 2:23, Hosea 6:3, Zechariah 10:1, and James 5:7. The idea of a latter rain was not new to Pentecostals. It was present from the earliest days of Pentecostalism, which believed that the reappearance of speaking in tongues and the baptism of the Holy Spirit marked the "latter rain of God's Spirit." It was believed that these were signs of the coming end of history. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost had been the "former rain" that established the Church, but the current "move" of the Spirit was the latter rain that would bring the Church's work to completion and culminate in the imminent Second Coming of Jesus Christ.

Joel's Army

A major feature of the expected latter rain would be the "manifestation of the Sons of God" or "Joel's Army". The Latter Rain movement taught that as the end of the age approached, the "overcomers" would arise within the Church. Various branches debated the nature and extent of this. These Manifest Sons of God, ones who have come into the full stature of Jesus Christ, would receive the Spirit without measure. They would be as Jesus was when he was on earth and would receive a number of divine gifts, including the ability to change their physical location, to speak any language through the Holy Spirit, and to perform divine healings and other miracles. They would complete the work of God, restoring man's rightful position as was originally mandated in Genesis. By coming into the full stature of Christ, they would usher in his millennial reign. Extreme versions of this interpretation referred to Jesus as a "pattern" Son and applied "ye are gods" to this coming company of believers.
Joel's Army has been connected to Dominion Theology and Fivefold ministry thinking. It has been described in the 21st century as a "rapidly growing apocalyptic movement," prophesied to become an "Armageddon-ready military force of young people who will love not their life unto death, who will stand face to face with the incarnation of satan as the antichrist and his army in the end of the age.

Ecclesiology

The "Sacrifice of Praise" and the restoration of the Tabernacle of David were important themes within the Latter Rain. Dancing, lifting of hands and spontaneous praise are marks of this movement. An effort was made to show the error of many Christians who denied that such practices were imperative for believers.
A major theme of the Latter Rain was "unity" among the believers in the church service, the geographic region, and at large. They taught that God saw the Church organized not into denominations but along geographical lines, as in the book of Acts—one Church but in different locations. They expected that in the coming "last days," the various Christian denominations would dissolve, and the true Church would coalesce into citywide churches under the leadership of the newly restored apostles and prophets.
The Latter Rain taught that there would be a restoration of the five ministerial roles mentioned in Ephesians 4:11: apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, and teacher. They believed that the foundational roles of apostle and prophet had been lost after the time of the first apostles due to the Dark Ages. They thought that God was restoring these ministries in the present day. These ideas are part of the "prophetic movement" and "New Apostolic Reformation".
Belief in the restoration of the offices of apostle and prophet distinguished the Latter Rain Movement from the rest of Pentecostalism. Classical Pentecostals understood the five ministerial roles not as offices or authority designated to any particular person but as functions available to the entire Spirit-baptized congregation, subject to the leading of the Spirit.

Pneumatology

Pentecostals traditionally held that the baptism of the Holy Spirit usually comes after prolonged "tarrying" or waiting for the Spirit. By contrast, the Latter Rain movement taught that the baptism of the Holy Spirit and the gifts can be imparted from one believer to another through the laying on of hands.
A participant in services at Bethesda Missionary Temple in Detroit, Michigan described the discerning of gifts:

Controversies

The movement is distinguished from those whom it influenced. Some branches of the movement developed as cult-like groups, such as the Body of Christ or The Move; some remained orthodox Christian, and other parts of the movement moderated the doctrine and ultimately had positive effects on the Charismatic and Pentecostal churches at large.
During the early years, some of the most ardent critics of the Latter Rain and its theology came from within Pentecostalism, particularly the Assemblies of God. In 1949, the General Council of the Assemblies of God, following the leadership of its General Superintendent E. S. Williams, stated that pre-tribulation rapture represented correct eschatology. It rejected the Latter Rain practice of personal prophecy accompanied by the laying on of hands, as well as the Manifest Sons of God doctrine. Stanley Frodsham, a noted Assemblies of God leader, left the Assemblies in favor of the Latter Rain. He noted that it had practices and experiences similar to the Azusa Street Revival, a founding element of the Pentecostal Church. The opposition of other Pentecostal denominations ultimately led to the withdrawal, under pressure, of Ivan Q. Spencer, founder of the Elim Fellowship, from inter-Pentecostal fellowship.
Contemporary criticism of the Latter Rain movement has emanated from fundamentalists such as John MacArthur, as demonstrated by their websites that attack the movement. Writers on such sites typically use association with the Latter Rain as a way to discredit modern Charismatics. Some identify the roots of more recent Charismatic trends such as Kingdom Now theology, the Kansas City Prophets including Paul Cain, and the New Apostolic Reformation including C. Peter Wagner as being rooted in the Latter Rain. The modern charismatic movement, while clearly influenced by some Latter Rain ideals such as the fivefold ministry and the laying on of hands, generally rejects the more extreme elements of Latter Rain theology, although even many charismatics argue that the New Apostolic Reformation wing of the movement are more heavily influenced by this theology.
A small, controversial branch of the Latter Rain is the "Reconciliation" movement, especially those who believe in "Manifest Sonship" theology. Reconciliation is a doctrine of Christian Universalism that acknowledges God's plan to save the whole world through the atoning sacrifice of Christ. According to this tradition, the manifest Sons of God are expected to reign on earth during a coming millennial age until ultimately every human being will be restored to harmony with God.

Leaders

The following list includes some representative leaders of various branches, both past and present; it is not exhaustive.

Founders

Sons James and Harry Beall later joined her in the ministry. At her death, James became the senior pastor of Bethesda. During the 1970s, he was a prominent speaker and writer in the Charismatic Renewal. For instance, he was one of the speakers at the World Conference on the Holy Spirit in Jerusalem in 1974. Other speakers included Corrie ten Boom, Kathryn Kuhlman, Jamie Buckingham, J. Rodman Williams, as well as many others. The most widely circulated Charismatic magazine of that time, the Logos Journal, often featured articles by James. Her married daughter Patricia Beall Gruits became the author of several books, including "Understanding God", and also founder of a mission to Haiti called RHEMA, providing medical care to the poor, and trains native ministers and medical workers to serve in Haiti. Her husband Peter Gruits worked to build and direct the Haiti mission until his death. Rev. Patricia Gruits resides today in Rochester Hills, Michigan near family members who are carrying on the mission in Haiti, and now publishes her Foundation Stone Teaching series in many languages. James Beall's only daughter Analee Dunn is now Senior Pastor in Sterling Heights, Michigan at what is now known as Bethesda Christian Church north of Detroit, Michigan. This was one of the first major churches to embrace the Latter Rain and became the center of much activity, where services were held daily for almost 4 years, affecting tens of thousands from around the globe.
Ministers Fellowship International is the most prominent direct descendant of the Latter Rain movement and one that is considered mainstream in theology. It founded Portland Bible College in Portland, Oregon, which is a leading institution in the Latter Rain tradition. Many of the books used by Latter Rain churches are textbooks created for Portland Bible College and written by its original teachers. These books include Present Day Truths by Dick Iverson and many by Kevin Conner. City Bible Publishing carries many contemporary books that define the movement. Kevin Conner's Tabernacle of David and Present Day Truths are classics on worship and restoration.
MFI's leadership includes many significant figures from the early years of the movement.
Church and member of MFI leadership team.

Disputed movements

While these were influenced by the Latter Rain, they are considered to be independent and not recognized by it.