Brad Huddleston’s Blog & Podcasts

In times of revival God often reminds the Church of neglected truths. When this happens, it is easy for extremes to develop. Some will reject the revival of a doctrine, while others in their zeal will go beyond the teaching of Scripture. Both extremes are harmful and bring reproach on the cause of Christ.

Unfortunately, some Pentecostals and charismatics have come to think of revival in terms of the number of people falling to the floor, shaking or laughing uncontrollably, or demonstrating a variety of other human responses reported in media favorable to the revival. The presence of such physical reactions is sometimes viewed as evidence of spirituality or of God’s choice of blessing a certain ministry with His presence. That may or may not be the case (1).

One deviant teaching that seems to surface from time to time is known as “The Latter Rain.” Often Latter Rain teachings are combined with heretical teachings such as the “Manifested Sons of God” heresy (MSoG). Latter Rain teachings today can trace their roots back to the mid 20th century, specifically a revival in North Battleford, Saskatchewan, and also the teachings of a healing revivalist, William Branham. Latter Rain teachings include doctrines and practices such as impartation, Joel’s Army, the five-fold ministry with the office of the prophet and apostle, and an emphasis on predictive and personal prophecy.

“Impartation” places an unwarranted emphasis on the transference of spiritual power through the laying on of hands. This teaching is often preoccupied with “mantles” and “anointings.”

Joel’s Army and Kingdom Now describes those who believe that God’s Kingdom can come on earth with a little help from humankind. This errant theology says that Jesus will not return until the Church takes dominion of the earth back from Satan and his followers. Those who have caught the vision of the Kingdom Now are actively at work seeking to overcome the opposition and declaring Christians who hold a biblical understanding of Christ’s imminent return at any time to be cowardly for not joining the “anointed,” as they sometimes call themselves. Without question, the Old Testament Book of Joel includes many end time references. But the great and powerful army in Joel 2 is one of terrible locusts, an instrument of judgment on Israel.

Another aspect of the Joel’s Army teaching is the belief in a great end-times revival. The biblical viewpoint is that apostasy shall increase.

2 Thessalonians 2:3 (KJV) Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;

Matthew 24:12 (KJV) And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.

This of course does not rule out revival, but we must keep things in perspective.

William Branham, by most accounts, had a powerful healing ministry. However, he also taught an odd doctrine called the serpent seed doctrine and taught that the concept of the trinity was from the pit of hell. When he died his followers left him unburied for 45 days, believing he would be resurrected. He wasn’t.

• Whereas classic Pentecostal prophecy is usually forth telling, prophecy in many churches is foretelling. These practices have led to control and manipulation in the church, and the accuracy rate is dismally low. It is worth noting that the New Testament government structure involves elders and deacons and does not mention the governing offices of apostles and prophets.

• The most extreme versions of MSoG takes the position that Christians will attain immortality here on earth. In some flavors of MSoG, Jesus never returns, but the “body of Christ” somehow becomes “the Christ” (the “anointed”).

As mentioned in the May 28th blog, we can see many Latter Rainesque doctrines and practices in the movement some call the “extreme prophetic.” This movement includes healing revivalist Todd Bentley.

Bentley embraces the MSoG teachings of immortality. In a recent service at Lakeland he stated, “We do not have to age.” In his paper End Time Joel’s Army he declares, “In the ministry of Jesus, He healed every sickness and disease among the people.” It would be pure speculation to declare that everyone at the Pool of Bethesda was healed. Luke 5 tells us that people came to be healed, but Jesus often withdrew from the crowds. Regardless, no one alive during the time of Jesus is alive today.

To further his MSoG status, he also stated “I’m not a MAN when I’m under the anointing.”

Bentley has mentioned the appearance (to him) of William Branham’s personal angel “Healing Revival.” He talks frequently at the Lakeland meetings of angels, and indeed that is a topic for another time. Needless to say, his constant references to William Branham and his “mantle” make a strong association between him and Branham.

Another topic worth exploring in depth is the overuse of questionable prophecy and/or words of knowledge. During the healing times, he often claims either Jesus or the “Angel of the Lord” is whispering in his left ear, which he says means healing. Who can question him if Jesus is whispering in his ear? However, I’ve seen him mis-hear, or mis-read people, and have to make a quick recovery by either changing the subject or “BAM” slaying them in the spirit and quickly moving to the next person.

There are many variations to his theology, with new age and Gnostic beliefs thrown in. Some excuse him as uneducated, but he does consider himself a teacher, with over 300 teachings posted in his website. That’s a very brief overview of the “The Latter Rain” and how it relates to the current attention focused on those in the extreme prophetic movement. It is helpful to have some knowledge of history (2) so that we can learn from the mistakes of others, rather than through hardships we will bring on ourselves if we stray from the Word of God.

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(1) The bulk of the background material presented here was adapted from the Assemblies of God position paper entitled “Endtime Revival: Spirit-Led and Spirit Controlled A Response to Resolution 16.” The first two paragraphs, which are verbatim from the report, sound as if they were written today. The report is 8 years old. This paper would be helpful to people of all persuasions in understanding the viewpoints expressed on this blog.

(2) A very good study book on the Latter Rain, “Anointing or Apostasy” by Charles S. Graves is available as a free pdf download at http://www.intotruth.org/res/latterrain.pdf.

A note from Brad: I would to thank William D. Fawcett for authoring this article. I don’t take for granted the countless hours he’s spent researching this matter (and many others that you will be reading about if you follow this blog).