12-12-12 - numerology

NAR DATE SETTING

Exhibit A*

GodDay 12.12.12
Restoring Honor to God and Fathering the Fatherless
 “A Day like no other, GodDay, will begin on 12-12-12. A sound will be released that will awaken a city to awaken nations. This sound of awakening shall go forth and an army of awakening shall arise in kingdom government and demonstration. Supernatural signs, wonders and miracles shall continually increase. Mass deliverance and salvation will break out in cities and regions. Places that were once dead in sin will spring forth in revival. News networks will report locally and globally about this phenomenon. Those who embrace this move will experience economic turnarounds. The very economies of cities shall be revived and awakened as they enter into My Day and embrace my righteous cause. Yes, I will favor those who favor righteousness and the righteous,”[1]


It is becoming an annual occurrence. Once again the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) has scheduled an event on a calendar date that has numerological repetition. This year it is GodDay 12.12.12, featuring NAR head apostle C. Peter Wagner. Like the New Age Datesetters who are focusing on 12-21-12, the numbers are given esoteric significance.

The use of month-day-year date annotation is simply a manifestation of the calendar we use. Here is a brief description of our modern calendar system:

The Gregorian calendar, also called the Western calendar and the Christian calendar, is internationally the most widely accepted civil calendar. It was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII, after whom the calendar was named, by a decree signed on 24 February 1582; the decree, a papal bull, is known by its opening words, Inter gravissimas. The reformed calendar was adopted later that year by a handful of countries, with other countries adopting it over the following centuries.[2]

Yet, the NAR and related evangelical leaders have persisted in thisdate-setting numerology, especially since the turn of the millenium when it became so easy to combine single digit dates on the calendar, such as 01-01-01, etc. According to NAR critic Sandy Simpson atwww.deceptioninthechurch.com,

The brief history of the New Apostolic Reformation is full of the celebration of mythological superstitious calendar dates. The apostles and prophets of this movement have proven themselves to be false over and over again by their superstitions and alignment with New Age mythology.[3]


03-03-03
Simpson has been documenting the chronology of this "superstitious date setting" since 3-3-3 when Ted Haggard sent out an e-mail calling people at his New Life Church to pray on March 3, 2003. Haggard noted that this was a day with significance to the New Agers, but countered that

The World Prayer Team therefore calls on all Christian churches and individuals to set aside at least 3 minutes to pray at 3:33 PM in their time zone on 03/03/03.[4]

False prophecies seem to go on during these special dates. Benny Hinn reported having a dream about the significance of March 3, 2003, which helped fundraising for TBN:

...God Himself awoke Benny with a prophesy that is frightening to say the least. That's right God told Hinn that "rivers of blood" will come in the near future unless fervent prayer is exercised on behalf of TBN partners and the Body of Christ in general. He told Rod Parsley on this program that great judgment is coming and this is in addition to the fire, shaking, shuddering, and raining that is also supposed to come upon the church as seen in Hinn's past dreams. He said in closing that Mar. 3 will be a day to be remembered because God personally told him that He would do "something" super supernatural that day.... [5]

Simpson noted that "nothing happened of any importance on that day out of the ordinary" and that there were no "rivers of blood."

06-06-06
Simpson reported that on June 6, 2006 "the apostolic networks came together to do "prayer" and "violent worship" to allegedly protect the world against the devil's plans for 6/6/6." This time the NAR called June 6 “A Global Day of Violent Praise.”[6] To carry the numerology further, the NAR started and ended the collective prayers at 6 pm, and even quoted from Isaiah 66:6, Psalm 66:6, and Genesis 6:6. Characteristically, they blew shofars and spoke out decrees.

07-07-07
On July 7, 2007, Lou Engle of TheCall, who is closely associated with the IHOP and NAR movements, gathered at the Titans Stadium in Nashville to try to start a new "Jesus Movement" and renew "covenant vows" with the Lord.[7] At this point Engle was trying to fulfill the old Bob Jones (Kansas City Prophets) false prophecy about the significance of filled stadiums.[8] This event was to launch the long-awaited recruiting for "Joel's Army" to create the "New Breed" of the Latter Rain cult, a teaching popularized by Mike Bickle, Rick Joyner, Paul Cain, and others. See "TheCall 7-7-7 Nashville" HERE and HERE, for example, and note that there are more films from this event posted online.

08-08-08
Rick Joyner, and his pal Lou Engle - who both seem fixated on this numerology - held a "Solemn Assembly" on 08-08-08 to "consecrate the state" of California. The event was coordinated by IHOP. The photos are posted online HERE. They went to San Fransisco, not to share the Word of the Gospel, but rather to "pray and fast" because it was a "city under seige" and "demonic subjugation." They were hoping for "a shift to take place & righteousness to break forth" as a result of theirspiritual warfare prayers and identificational repentance.[9] It was all connected with California's controversial Proposition 8 "Marriage Amendment."[10] Interestingly, this prayer event was accompanied by "Christian Native Americans and others are covering the portals as The Big Bear Medicine Wheel Gathering is happening on 08-08-08."[11]Some of the activities sounded downright bizarre and occult!

On the 8th of Aug. of 2008 the nations have convoke a special ceremony to open the portal of Orion. The portal of Orion is a spiritual corridor to establish the powers of darkness over the earth. August 8, 2008 the countries have convocation for a special ceremony to open the portal orion. The portal orion is a corridor to establish the spiritual powers of darkness on the earth.[12]

09-09-09
Numerous prophecies abounded across the Internet about September 9, 2009 with corresponding events. One of the more interesting prophecies on The ElijahList was yet another prediction of a "super shift" to "another season of change and great shaking" beginning in September and "continuing throughout October, and will gain both momentum and velocity by December 31st." This Dec. 31 date was said to be significant because it was a "blue moon."[13] Often the esoteric numerology ties in with signs in heaven and on earth according to these NAR folks.

Another significant NAR September 2009 event took place when Bob Jones had yet another vision. This vision gained special notoriety recently when it was used to justify the David's Tent DC (also seeprevious post). The original account of the vision was published on The ElijahList:

In September 2009, in a trance, Bob was aboard a train with many other shepherds. Each one had a special seat assigned by the Holy Spirit. Bob asked the Conductor, "What is this train?" The Conductor told Bob it was the glory train and handed him a time capsule that was shaped like an egg. The egg had new life in it! It contained the beginning and end of time. Bob asked the Conductor, "When can I open this egg and when will this train arrive?" The Conductor said the time was within the egg and the egg will be opened in 2012.[14]

The interpretation of this event was that this "glory train" was "The Ellipse" where Davids Tent DC was located, which NAR leader Jolene Hamil said "is an oval shaped park shaped like an egg"

We are now in the final 24 hours of Davids Tent DC. The egg of promise has most definitely hatched. The glory of the Lord is NOW being restored as a bridal canopy across the land.[15] 

10-10-10
Rick Joyner was published on The ElijahList on this date, corresponding with his advertised 10-10-10 Ignite Conference (with Todd Bentley), proclaiming a prophecy about getting a "double portion of prophetic revelation." It was a typical Dominionism NAR "prophecy," proclaiming that

We are entering the time of the ultimate clash between light and darkness, but as we also see in this text—the light wins! The nations do not turn to the darkness but to the light.[16]

11-11-11
Lou Engle held yet another youth event, the highly publicized TheCall Detroit. Footage of the event is posted online, HERE and HERE and elsewhere online.

Meanwhile John Benefiel of HAPN (of the NAR) had been busy casting Baal out of America in 2011, and this project culminated at the Lincoln Memorial on 11-11-11. A series of "prophetic" visions on about the significance of this date also formed the basis of the 2012 David's Tent DC event just before the elections. Here is how it was described:

...this effort culminated by presenting to the Lord a Declaration of Covenant this July 4, on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC. Then on 11-11-11, as part of the DC40 initiative, we returned to the Lincoln Memorial as leaders assembled in state capitals across our nation. From coast to coast, we reminded God of His covenant, and asked for His hand in marriage again!

I can say that beyond any doubt, the Lord responded with YES. Here’s just two expressions of His verdict. On the eve of 11-11-11, as we gathered for the DC40 prayer time, Apostle John Benefiel had a vision. A thick, weighty substance began to form and connect from region to region. John realized he was seeing God’s glory being restored in this nation... as a bridal canopy!

As we were resetting covenant with the Lord on 11-11-11, Chuck Pierce and Dutch Sheets were in Kansas, at the very place where the “X” intersected in Cindy’s vision. Chuck and Dutch felt a release to governmentally call for God’s glory to be restored as a bridal canopy to the land![17]

Exhibit B*

James Nesbit, who creates this mystical artwork[18] depicting the theology of the Latter Rain, Joel's Army, the New Breed, and the 7 Mountains, described the purpose of these Washington, D.C. 2011-2012 initiatives as follows:

The Biblical Calendar began for us this year with the 51 Days of Fire (DC40) prayer initiative: 40 days praying in Washington DC and 11 days Philadelphia, 10/3/11 through 11/22/11. The power of the initiative was the union of all the states praying "As one” for those 51 days. Each state took a point man position in leading the states in praying for our nations capital through that state, and night after night via conference call each state passed the torch to another, beginning with the state of Hawaii and ending with the state of Delaware....

Now here we are coming to Georgia.... We are coming to release the sounds of heaven, the synergy of intercessions of the year biblical year 5772 and move in the governmental power of the one song.
 
We have entered into the "Era of His Presence" and the Latter Rain outpouring that will produce a Great Awakening that will never end until the return of the Lord. We are crossing over into the era of  Holy on earth as it is in heaven.[19]

Exhibit C*

12-12-12
All of which brings us to GodDay 12.12.12 in Orlando, Florida, "a day of Divine Order and Apostolic Government" where "Apostolic decrees & Prophetic Proclamations will be made that Shift the atmosphere and release Awakening to America and the nations." Ostensibly the event is about "the Fatherless," but it seems to have a typical NAR agenda to shift things into their version of an awakening. C. Peter Wagner and New Age/NAR leader Mark Chironna are featured with other NAR notables. It has been advertised on TheElijahList.[20]

The Truth:

According to Sandy Simpson, true believers should not have anything to do with this sort of date-setting and significance. It is connected with occult divination, augury and superstition.

False prophets have always been known and identified as using divination and augury to try to set dates for certain events.  The dates they set, though they hold festivals to celebrate them, never produce the results they predict.  Their superstitious behavior and their adherence to these mythologies are one way to identify them as false prophets....

False prophets devote themselves to godless myths (superstitions) and the celebration of certain augured mythological dates.  Yet true believers are not to engage in such things.

1Ti 1:4  nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. These promote controversies rather than God’s work—which is by faith. (NIV)
1Ti 4:7  Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly. (NIV)
2Ti 4:4  They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.(NIV)[21]

But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage? Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. 
(Galatians 4:9-10)

Endnotes:
1. "A Prophectic Decree by Dr. Joshua Fowler," posted athttp://www.globalawakeningcongress.com/
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregorian_calendar
3. Sandy Simpson, "The New Prophets And Apostles and Superstition," 5-22-07,http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/newprophetssuperstition.html
4. Ibid, quoting from several earlier articles athttp://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/333hinn.html  andhttp://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/answertotedhaggard.html
5. Ibid. 
6. Ibid.
7. Ibid.
8. See the February 1996 article by Ed Tarkowski, "The Significance of Filled Stadiums," The Christian Conscience (Vol. 2, No. 2), published online at http://www.discernment-ministries.org/Articles/FilledStadiums.pdf 
9. http://ca4jesus.blogspot.com/2008/08/8808-consecrate-state.html
10. http://injesus.com/message-archives/christian-living/CaPastorsPrayerNetwork/solemn-assembly-more-action-items 
11. Ibid.
12. Ibid.
13. Larry Randolph: "Urgent: The Court of Heaven is in Session. It's time for the Church to Get on Their Face - The Verdict is NOT IN YET!" The ElijahList, Sept 1, 2009,http://www.elijahlist.com/words/html/textonly-090109-Randolph.html. Note that he contacted Bob Jones of the KC Prophets for verification of his prophecies. 
14. Bob and Bonnie Jones, "Peace, Prosperity and the Returning Glory!" TheElijahList, January 16, 2012, http://www.elijahlist.com/words/display_word_pf.html?ID=10639 
15. For an extended discussion on this, with documentation, see "Can the Bible Ever Mean What it Never Meant?" by Dr. Orrel Steinkamp, 11/15/12,http://herescope.blogspot.com/2012/11/can-bible-ever-mean-what-it-never-meant.html 
16. Rick Joyner, "He is Releasing a Double Portion of Prophetic Revelation," The ElijahList, Dec 10, 2010, http://www.elijahlist.com/words/display_word/9402. Bold in original. 
17. http://www.lamplighterministries.net/Securing%20the%20Secret%20Place.html
18. http://www.jamesnart.com 
19. "Releasing the Sounds of Heaven Across GA! James Nesbit's insights," Kairos Transformation News, e-mail August 6, 2012. http://us4.campaign-archive2.com/?u=bfae996e8e9f5c15009deb17f&id=1c61008801&e=3434bf27b1 
20. "Are You Ready for Global Awakening?" The ElijahList, Nov, 11, 2012 e-mail advertisement,HERE. 
21. Ibid, http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/newprophetssuperstition.html 

Exhibit A appeared in an e-mail sent out by artist James Nesbit for Prepare the Way Ministries International on March 7, 2012, "DC40 March 12-17 DC Itinerary - DC40 Documentary Webcast." This graphic was widely used to promote the DC40 event in 2011, which culminated on 11-11-11. Note the renaming of District of Columbia to "District of Christ." 
Exhibit B and Exhibit C appeared in an e-mail sent out by artist James Nesbit for Prepare the Way Ministries International on October 15, 2012, "Important Notice and Schedule," promoting the David's Tent DC event. These two graphics depict the prophecies about a BRIDAL CANOPY lying over the Washington D.C.  The "bridal canopy" is part of Mike Bickle's IHOP (Latter Rain) false teachings,http://herescope.blogspot.com/2008/05/mike-bickles-gigolo-jesus.html

NOTE: This article was co-published in a special arrangement with Apprising Ministries. The AM version is more complete, containing the actual footage of some of these events. It is posted at http://apprising.org/2012/11/19/12-12-12-nar-date-setting/

The Latter Rain Movement - 2 :

http://www.dtl.org/shield/latter-rain-2.htm

Its Continuing InfluencePart Two

By R. K. McGregor Wright, Th.M., Ph.D.

This discussion is continued from The Latter Rain Movement - Part 1.

No Spiritual Neutrality

But spiritual neutrality does not exist, primarily because the God of the Bible does exist. In the first place, everything that exists is either God himself, or it is part of the creation. There are no intermediate "grades of Being." Then, if an existing entity is part of the creation, it is already interpreted by God as being part of his saving purposes for his people, or it is already interpreted by God as being contrary to those purposes. There is no intermediate state between the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Darkness, as if there were some areas of reality that neither God nor Satan took an interest in.
This means that everything, including the tricks and techniques of occultism, are already interpreted by God. Nothing is "neutral" as if standing neither for nor against God's own eternal holiness and uncomprehended by his own paradigm of spirituality. Because God's interpretation of all being is exhaustive, everything is meaningful only insofar as it is part of his Plan.
This means in particular, that occultic techniques have been developed by the apostate consciousness in its perpetual war against God's Meaning for reality. Paul calls this activity "suppressing the Truth" in Romans 1. Part of its motivation is in order to achieve an alternative or mystical spirituality to the one defined in the Bible.
These techniques all gain their meaning, efficacy, and significance, from the purposes or ends they were designed to achieve. They "mean" as tools, exactly what their designers meant them to accomplish.
God made carbon atoms to secure organic life on earth. No carbon atom is "neutral" in God's world, for its "meaning" is God's intention for it at any instant. Removed from its context of combination with hydrogen and oxygen in the food chain, it loses its "meaning" as food, and actually passes through us unaltered. In combination with another nearly inert element (nitrogen), it can form the dangerous substance called cyanide. It is not "neutral" precisely because of its design to achieve certain ends. Unless it is interrupted chemically, it will always tend to produce those results, because that is its nature.
Likewise, the Zen masters designed the koan, (a proverb or short poem of a humorous or paradoxical nature) to achieve the obliteration of the last vestiges of rationality from the human consciousness on the path to satori, or Zen "enlightenment."
When a carbon atom loses its God-given meaning for fruit-eaters by being placed in isolation from its spot in the fructose molecule, it does not cease to be part of God's plan; it still retains its designed properties. Likewise, the Zen koan may lose much of its meaning as a tool of the occult when divorced from its context in Buddhist meditation. But it does not thereby become "neutral." It still has the same properties as poetry or proverb that it was originally designed to have.
I have several books of koans in my library, and have read them with much enjoyment, purely as poetry. The Christian appreciates humor and beauty wherever he or she finds them. But it would never do for me to try to use them as helps to spirituality or for Christian meditation, since they were designed for a different end; it would be like trying to use a telescope as a microscope or a hammer as a trowel.
None of these things is "neutral" because its nature carries its design with it. Its "meaning" is what its designer meant by it The koan is "good" in a Zen context, only if you agree in the first place that it is "good" to attempt to derail human rationality. In a Christian context it is only good as poetry, as a pointer to beauty, or perhaps as humor.
Looked at by a naive westerner and apart from its original function, the koan is reduced to being just an amusing, mystifying joke, or perhaps a beautiful poem. It does not follow however, that it is spiritually neutral," for at any instant it is either being interpreted and used in a Zen or in a Christian context. And ultimately for the Christian, "meaning" is what God intends for anything.
Knowing what the Bible says about holiness and about growth in grace, I also know that the Zen koan cannot assist me in Christian meditation, precisely because of its irrationalist properties, and the same goes for any other anti-rational meditation technique not approved by the Bible, whether famous Christians have approved of it or not.
It simply will not do to try to smuggle these occult techniques into Christianity via the path of general revelation. Nothing in general revelation is "neutral" either. While all created things "declare the glory of God" in the long run, much of creation is affected now by the results of the Fall.
The errors of occultism only tell God's glory in the fact that they are under his condemnation (Deut 18:9-14, Isa 47:12-15, Mark 13:22, Acts 13:6-12; 19:19, Gal 5:20, Eph 6:11-17, 2Thes 1:9-10, 1Tim 4:1, etc.).
That is, they are "meaningful" to us because God has already interpreted them in the Bible. The general principle that occult practices are spiritually suspect because of their original purpose and religious use is so clear in the Bible, that one wonders what the motivation could be for trying to get Christians to use them on the grounds that they are somehow "neutral."
The notion of spiritual neutrality is incompatible with the Creator-creature distinction, with God's omniscience, and also with the principle of faith Paul enunciates in Romans 14:23, that whatsoever does not originate in saving faith is by default, sin. It also stands in dubious relation with the Reformation principle of sola Scriptura or the Sufficiency of Scripture for faith and life.
No human interpretational act is neutral, for our interpretational consciousness is either regenerate or unregenerate. Accordingly, the Bible says that even the heathen's ploughing is sin (Prov 21:2), and so are his sacrifices (Prov 21:27), and his prayers (Isa 1:13), because there is no neutrality in his thoughts (Gen. 6:5, Titus 1:5). "This is an hard saying; who can bear it?" (John 6:60, KJV).
The natural heart craves a realm of neutrality to play with, for this is required by the fallen presupposition of the autonomy of theoretical thought. With a realm of neutrality before it, the fallen mind can concretize its assumed freedom, because neutral entities can be safely interpreted any way the observer wants to, with himself as the reference-point, and as if God has not already interpreted it.
But as Eric Pement points out in the case of the "Christian" use of occult meditation techniques in the Writings of Richard Poster and Morton Kelsey (among the most popular writers syncretizing Eastern and Western spirituality), they "valiantly [try] to divide Eastern/ occultic methods from their religious foundation, but to no avail" (Pement 1). We should not be surprised that they failed to do the philosophically impossible.

Prophecy in the Bible

Prophecy in the Bible is in the most general sense, simply speaking on behalf of God. It includes "edification, exhortation, and consolation" (1Cor 14:3), as well as predicting the future and transmitting canonical Scripture (14:36-37). Everyone should seek it (14:1 and 39).
From the original paradigm case in Exodus 4:10-16, 7:1, we note that the prophet is to interpret reality solely in terms of God's prior interpretation. In the most general terms, he relays God's interpretation of reality to the people of God. Sometimes the prophet gets the word directly from God; but mostly he is simply applying revelation already given.
There are only two "grades" of prophecy, true and false. Two tests are given in the Bible for distinguishing true from false cases: the prophet must always speak consistently with existing canonical revelation (Isa 8:20) and he must be 100% accurate in any predictions he might make (Deut 18).

Neo-Prophetic Movement Prophets

Neo-Prophetic Movement Prophets claim that New Testament prophets can he inaccurate, unlike Old Testament prophets (Bob Jones, The Shepherd's Rod). This effectively shields them from having to meet the Bible's standards, which they have no hope of doing, granting their appalling record so far.
It's worth noting that most occult foretellers can regularly achieve 80% accuracy (Jean Dixon, for example), and that 50% accuracy would be fairly easy to achieve on an "intelligent guess" basis. This level of accuracy is about as reliable as a handful of Chinese fortune cookies. Most of us have noticed that the trite advice and observations found in fortune cookies are often applicable to those who get them. It would seem by their own testimony, that people like Bob Jones are even less reliable than fortune cookies.
There are compelling reasons why God insists on 100% accuracy in his prophets; and we note in passing that Elijah thought the death penalty was an appropriate response to anything less (1Kings 18:40). In the meantime, neither Bob Jones nor Paul Cain have managed to call down fire from heaven, or outrun a horse-drawn chariot (1Kings 18:45-46). As someone said in another context, "When I see I will believe."

First Generation Latter-Rainers

First Generation Latter-Rainers are few and far between these days. Oral Roberts, T.L. Osborn and Paul Cain are among them. Cain was associated in ministry with one of the most influential of the original Latter Rain prophets, William Branham.
One of them, A.A. Allen, died of whiskey poisoning in the seventies; he was often so drunk that he had to be supported on each side by aides in order to continue his healing meetings. Winston Nunes was the Latter Rain prophet who passed on the "impartation" to John Robert Stevens.
Latter Rainers Robert Tilton, Larry Lea and W.V. Grant were recently exposed as fakes by TV investigative reporter Dianne Sawyer. None of the three have challenged the expose in the courts, as the evidence against them is so heavy.
Apart from the handful of older survivors, much Latter Rain influence is today filtered down through four or five "generations" of prophetic impartation, being modified as it flows.
The continuing influence of occultism from such early figures as Franklin Hall, William Branham, and others equally interesting and bizarre, is getting more attention from researchers now that it is realized that the real unifying factor among the plethora of false teachings in the Neo-Prophetic Movement, the Faith Movement, and such curiosities as the Manifested Sons doctrines, is the continuing influence of the Latter Rain revivals of 1948.
Albert Dager, Dave Hunt, and D.R. McConnell, are representative critics who have published recently, all documenting the occult influences on various important individuals. McConnell demonstrates that the views of Kenneth Hagin and his disciple Kenneth Copeland borrowed their ideas from earlier New Thought promoters. But some of these claimed to get them from the spirit world (McConnell, Ch. 2 and Larson on Swedenborg's influence).

Conclusions

The widespread appearance among evangelicals in recent years of new types of "spirituality" which have long been known to have their genesis in occultism is an important and disturbing phenomenon. It requires research and explanation, for it exemplifies yet another stage in the long battle between the Biblical worldview and the heathen tendency towards syncretism.
The Bible's testimony against the spirit of syncretism is consistent and unrelenting. It starts with the Creator-creature distinction in Gen. 1:1, and develops into Isaiah's repudiation of occult idolatry in his own day. It rests with the antithesis between revealed Truth and human error in Revelation 22:18-19.
The New Testament apostles are no less harsh against heretical error than Moses and Elijah were, except that they merely threaten hellfire instead of the death penalty. Passages by Peter, Paul, John and Jude spring to mind, of which Jude's short letter is representative.
We live in an age of fearful confusion and ignorance among the godly, largely brought on by our refusal to take Paul's admonition about sound doctrines seriously. This is manifested in the general unwillingness to confront (or even admit the existence of) syncretism in evangelical writers, and impatience with the explicitness of the historic creeds and of Reformation doctrine, coupled with refusal to take notice of the close unity of apologetics and evangelism in the Bible.
The absence of sound doctrine is just as significant for the building of Christian culture as is the presence of false doctrine. "a man thinketh in his heart, so is he." As it says on the floor of St. Paul's Cathedral, Wren's masterpiece in London, "If You Seek A Monument, Look Around You."

Glossary

Shepherding: Teaching that the believer can only grow in grace under the authoritative "covering" or spiritual "protection" of an older believer. Leads to heavily hierarchical patterns in churches.
Rhema: Synonym in Greek for Logos, but with the narrower meaning of "saying" - the expressed verbal form of an idea, whether written or spoken.
Syncretism: The practice of combining elements of various religious systems into one pragmatic framework, especially of non-Christian practices with Christian aims, "baptizing" them in Christian terms.
Logos: Synonym in Greek for rhema. Very broadly used term meaning idea, wisdom, word, account, logic, the concept or content of a saying rather than its verbal form.
Heresy: An opinion or doctrinal preference tenaciously held and taught, but not compatible with the Bible.
Canon: The list of books in the Bible recognized by the Apostles as Scripture, and approved by the early Church as such.
Creator-creature distinction: The primary axiom or presupposition of all Biblical revelation, enunciated in Genesis 1:1, that the divine-worldview assumes two levels of existence, and that therefore, Being-as-such does not exist for us to interpret.

The links below are direct links to where the book can be purchased from Books-A-Million.

Some of the Sources Used:Branham, William. Adoption (Taped messages transcribed from May 15, 18, and 22, 1960).
Brenneman, Richard J. Deadly Blessing: Faith Healing On Trial (1990).
Cain, Paul, and Wimber, John. "A Response To Pastor Ernie Gruen's Controversy with KCF" (Equipping the Saints Magazine, Fall 1990).
Dager, Albert J. Vengeance is Ours ; The Church in Dominion (1990).
Grubb, Paul N. The End-Time Revival (n.d.).
Graham, David. The Doctrine Of Sonship (n.d.).
Hall, Georgie. The Emerging World Church (Unpublished MS representing at least ten years' research into the Latter Rain influences.)
1) Hamon, Bishop Bill. The Eternal Church (1981).
2) Hamon, Bishop Bill. Prophets and the Prophetic Movement (1990).
Hunt, Dave, and McMahon, T. A. The Seduction Of Christianity (1985).
Jones, Bob, and Bickle, Mike. The Shepherd's Rod, in 27 pages, and Visions and Revelations, 50 pages. (Transcribed tapes from Fall of 1989).
Larson, Martin. New Thought; A Modern Religious Approach (1984).
McConnell, D. R. A Different Gospel (1988).
Meyer, Donald. The Positive Thinkers (1980).
Miura, Isshu, and Sasaki, Ruth Fuller. The Zen Koan (1965).
Montgomery, John Warwick. Principalities and Powers (1973).
Nichols, Woodrow. Experiment In End Time Apostasy; the Walk of John Robert Stevens (Unpublished SCP research report, 1980).
1) Pement, Eric, and Trott, Jon. "Visualizing and Imaging" (Cornerstone Magazine, Vol. 14, Number 74, 1985).
2) Pement, Eric. "The Walk" (Cornerstone Magazine, in 1982).
Randi, James. The Faith Healers (1987).
Reid, Virkler, Lame, and Langstaff. Seduction?? A Biblical Response (1986).
Wright, R. K. McG. The Unity of Apologetics and Evangelism in the New Testament (1992).

The Latter Rain Movement - 1 :

http://www.dtl.org/shield/latter-rain-1.htm 

Its Continuing Influence
Part One

By R. K. McGregor Wright, Th.M., Ph.D.

Note: Words in bold are defined in the Glossary at the end of Part Two.
In North Battleford, Saskatchewan in 1946-48, there was an eruption of charismatic manifestations which proved to be the start of a remarkable departure in the history of the Pentecostal type of churches around the world. Many came to think that this "new wave" of the Spirit was in fact the "latter rain" referred to in such passages as Jeremiah 3:3 and 5:2, Joel 2:23, Hosea 6:3, Zechariah 10:1, and James 5:7.
The "early" rain was said to be the outpouring of Pentecost itself (or perhaps the Azusa St. revival), and the current "move" of the Spirit was the "latter rain." Many movements and seminal doctrines already existing on the fringes of Pentecostalism came together in a key group of healers, evangelists and teachers in the years 1948-52, and the combination came to be called the Latter Rain Revival.

Crossing Denominational Barriers

Within less than two years, however, the mainline Pentecostal churches (such as the Assemblies of God) had completely rejected the Latter Rain Movement as dangerous and heretical, calling it "wild-fire." This was their own term for out-of-control manifestations, and captures the flavor of the movement rather well.
The Latter Rain teachers, healers and evangelists were forced out of their many former associations into what they felt was a "wilderness church" experience, where they regrouped, and strengthened their own ministries. Then in the late sixties and seventies they began the self-conscious re-infiltration of other denominations under the "charismatic" label.
An important bridge-builder during this stage was the Full Gospel Businessmen's International of the duPlessis brothers. This has since resulted in the heavy permeation of the whole charismatic movement by Latter Rain doctrines in their many permutations and idiosyncratic developments, down to the mass evangelism TV ministries of today.
I say "self-conscious" infiltration because central to the Latter Rain's view of itself is the idea that they represent God's New Order, which is to unify the body of Christ as a whole, preparing it by overstepping the artificial boundaries of "doctrine" and "tradition" to bring believers together into a perfected Church by new patterns of worship and Spiritual experience (see sources below, 1e.g. Bill Hamon 1; pp.365, 387).
Jesus is said to be "imprisoned in heaven" (Acts 3:21 actually says "receive," but this is taken to mean he is held there) until the Church is united and ready to meet him (Hamon 2; pp. 84f., 122, 224). This was the whole point of promoting "pentecostal experiences" across denominational barriers in the sixties.

Peculiar Doctrines

The peculiar doctrines of the Latter-Rain prophets can be easily listed, but can only be traced with some difficulty in the hundreds of charismatic groups today, because of their multiform mutations.

They include:
1. The Latter Rain theory itself.
2. Restoration of the "fivefold ministries" of Ephesians 4.
3. Manifested Sons of God.
4. Kingdom Now eschatology (lately influenced also by Reconstructionism).
5. Shepherding discipleship methods.
6. Positive Confession, the "creative spoken word."
7. "Impartation of gifts" by laying on of hands.
8. Use of traveling Presbytery Teams to get other churches involved.
9. Anti-doctrinalism, in the interests of promoting unity.
10. Seed-faith techniques.
11. Directive prophecy to control and influence both individuals and churches.

Attention will be given here mainly to the false doctrines associated with the "restoration of prophecy" in the Neo-Prophetic Movement. The Neo-Prophetic Movement is animated by the claim that God is restoring the gift of prophecy, both the "predictive," and the "directive" for individual guidance.
Some claim this gift can only be imparted by laying-on of hands by a Latter Rain prophet, and gives the impartee special powers to speak the "rhema word" of God in power and judgement (Hamon 1; pp. 250f, and Hamon 2; pp. 170-173).
4. EPHESIANS 4:11-14 is used as the basis of the idea that God is progressively restoring the five gifts of verse 11, in the reverse order to how they were "lost." This is supposed to mean that God has already restored all but the last gift, that of Apostleship. Since prophets were restored in the 1980’s, Apostles are expected to be restored in the 1990’s (Hamon 2; pp. 45-49, 112, 169f., 182-183).
This curious historical gloss is not even hinted at either in the context of the verse, or in any other passage of Scripture. Bishop Bill Hamon all but insists that somehow Apostles will appear in the nineties, to bring the Church to the perfection necessary for Christ to return.
The actual method for deciding who counts as an Apostle is a bit mysterious; but it seems as if it might work much the same way as the latter-Rain old-boy’s network sets up a prophet. They simply praise him into prominence by promotionally pointing to each other.
For example, Bob Jones, a key prophet at the former Kansas City Fellowship, said in 1989 that, "Paul Cain is the most anointed prophet that’s in the world today" (Bob Jones, V and R, p.1). And Bill Hamon describes the process in some detail in The Eternal Church, using himself as a case in point.
Christians should compare this method with the rather stringent qualifications for church leadership given by Paul in the Pastoral Epistles.
The quality of Cain’s prophetic insight may be gauged by the fact that he prophesized that every minister living in secret sin would be exposed by the end of the eighties, and a New Breed of supernatural miracle Workers would replace them (Paul Cain in the tape The New Breed referred to in Dager).
When I saw in a newsnote in Christianity Today some weeks ago, that Cain was joining the staff of (formerly) Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones' Westminster Chapel in London, I about croaked, to put it colloquially. This is in the same weirdness category as a public announcement that the Pope has just appointed Billy Graham as the new Archbishop of New York. Except that the CT note is actually true.
Can we imagine what ML-J would have thought of this? The good Doctor spent forty years of faithful ministry trying to convince the British evangelical world to face the encroachment of syncretism with false doctrine in their denominations, and basically, he was not successful (see the biography by lain Murray, Vol. II). Now that he is dead, a charismatic "prophet" who claims to get literally hundreds of direct verbal revelations from angels (Bob Jones, V and R tape), is coming onto the staff of the church ML-J served so long.

Kansas City Fellowship

Kansas City Fellowship (now Metro Vineyard Fellowship), was severely challenged from within the charismatic fraternity itself, by a group of concerned pastors in 1989-90, led by Pastor Ernie Gruen. The resulting expose (Documentation of Aberrant Practices and Teachings of KCF/GM, Gruen et al.) was so frightening that it led the KCF leadership to reorganize and place themselves under the authority of the Vineyard's John Wimber, who was called in to do damage control.
Despite the rumor that Gruen "apologized" for inaccurate statements, no such apology ever occurred, and his criticism still remains intact, and he stands behind all of it. Nevertheless, trusting Wimber to sort it all out, Gruen promised to stop circulating the tapes and printed criticisms of problems at KCF, summarized in about 240 pages of material. But the evangelical public at large had now been warned what the Neo-Prophetic Movement could be like close-up, and KCF, now part of the Vineyard, was widely recognized as a prime example of it.
In the meantime, the mighty prophet Bob Jones has been put on the back burner, and Paul Cain, the main prophet associated with Wimber, is now distancing himself for a while in England.

Real Character of the Neo-Prophetic Movement

The real character of the Neo-Prophetic Movement was unwittingly exposed by the KCF in a taped interview between Bob Jones and Mike Bickle, the principal leader of KCF, with the written transcripts widely circulated (Referenced below in "Sources").
In this tape, Mike and Bob banter about the prophetic practices of the Neo-Prophetic Movement. The following is but a sample.

We are told that:
1. People who watch pornography will experience nasal fluids "sliming" up their arms (BJ: "I mean literally.).
2. The presence of the Lord smells like a woman wearing too much perfume.
3. Bob Jones and others will speak "rhema" revelations in 1990.
4. These revelations will have the same power and effectiveness as Isaiah spoke of in Isa. 55:11.
5. When BJ is filled with the Spirit, he can see and taste spiritual states and sins in others with all his five senses.
6. KCF will be attacked by witchcraft.
7. People (like the present writer) who complain that many of the practices and claims of the Neo-Prophetic Movement are basically occultism, are "hirelings and gigilos" (sic).
8. The claims people make for revelations should not be criticized.
9. That unlike Old Testament prophets, New Testament prophets are often wrong. They may be 90% wrong; 60% accuracy is about the best they can expect.
10. BJ himself expects to be only about two-thirds accurate.
11. The Neo-Prophetic Movement prophecies have never been more than 60% accurate.
12. Francis Frangipane (they sell his tapes at KCF) claims that the level of demonism rises with the level of prophecy.
13. What the Lord will do for KCF is already in Psalm 50.
14. God's "logos" is merely the "dry word" compared with their "rhema."
15. Even when God "loads the gun" of the rhema revelations, some of his bullets are blanks.
16. We can only know a prophet is telling the truth when "three or four of us bring the same word."
17. God told him a year-and-a-half before Jimmy Carter became President who it would be.
18. The children of the KCF leaders will become Melchisedekian priests.
19. This new generation will "put death under their feet and they'll bring forth the glorious church and reveal the malechild of Revelation 12.
20. Ezekiel 9:4 speaks about an uncreated Angel.
21. BJ has seen God "face to face."
22. The Reorganized Mormon Church will join the Neo-Prophetic Movement.
23. 1000 religious leaders will die in 1990 for misusing "the anointing."
24. Jesus still doesn't know the time of the Second Coming.
25. The Logos has to be "anointed" to produce Rhema.
26. The KCF will eventually become twelve city churches each with its own personal prophet.
27. BJ is the "Keeper of the Threshold-the Holy Place."
28. He feels a tingling in his fingers to tell who is a prophet, an evangelist, or pastor.
29. The Manifested Sons of God will appear within 30 years to glorify the Church on earth, and raise the dead and heal people.
30. BJ's hands turn purple when he gets his best revelations.

And all this is from two friendly interviews! We could go on; this is a mere selection of the more intelligible of this man's prophetic revelations. Is it any wonder that the KCF has put him on the back burner for a while? How can the KCF leadership, including John Wimber, claim superior spiritual discernment to Ernie Gruen and his worried colleagues, when they indulge this sort of thing throughout the Neo-Prophetic Movement for years? As an illustration of the Neo-Prophetic Movement's odd theories, we will now consider the Manifested Sons doctrine.

Manifested Sons Heresy

The Manifested Sons heresy appears in many forms, and under many names, including: the Manchild Company, the Sonship, the Melchisedek Priesthood, the Shulamites, Joel Company, Elijah Company, the Many-membered Christ, the New Order, Overcomers, God's Army, the Corporate Body, Feast of Tabernacles, Tabernacle of David, etc., etc.
The terms are endless, and merely reflect whatever idiosyncratic use is being made of allegorical Scriptural illustrations at any instant. Bill Hamon's books for example, are saturated with this arbitrary use of passages out of context. But the central idea is the same; God will raise up a supergroup of anointed and empowered believers in the last days to bring the Church to unity and perfection, to produce the Spotless Bride in readiness for Jesus at his return. This theory passed into serious practice under John Robert Stevens (JRS) in the dangerously aberrant sect called The Walk (ref. Nichols).
Meanwhile, Paul Cain's version of the Manifested Sons doctrine goes under the label "Joel's Army" and the "New Breed." These are his own terms (Cain, pp. 10-12). This super-naturally-endowed future body will be manifested to unite and perfect the Church, judge the world, and conquer the earth for Christ. These prophetic paragons will lead millions to Christ, heal people and raise the dead, etc.
Yet in the Wake of the Gruen controversy, Paul Cain has claimed (both through John Wimber, and in printed articles) that "He does not hold to the doctrine of the Manifested Sons, but totally denies ever having believed in that teaching" (Cain p. 10). In his own statements he has said that "There are several significant errors in this doctrine." He then repudiates the notion that "some Christians will have fully glorified bodies this side of heaven, or attain physical immortality this side of heaven.
But he himself teaches the Manifested Sons doctrine in another form, which is usually called the "Perfected Church." Instead of using the word perfected, Cain substitutes the word "matured," or "victorious" and speaks of "overcomers." Then, he is also careful to add that any sense of elitism is sinful and to be avoided, and that "the canon of Scripture is finished, closed."
The problem with claiming authoritative additional verbal revelation however, was underscored by the early Church in its rejection of Montanism because their prophetic revelations implied the reopening of the canon of the New Testament. This issue will not be analyzed here, but it still dogs the Neo-Prophetic Movement today.

The Walk

The Walk was organized by Stevens in 1951. He had been defrocked by the Foursquare Gospel Churches, had joined the Assemblies of God, and was defrocked again, this time for his involvement in the Latter Rain teachings (Nichols). As Stevens got further into the Latter Rain, he developed his own extensions of it.
He came to teach that all the regular denominations were of the Old Order, were Babylonish, and worldly, and largely apostate. God was using The Walk to establish a New Order, and eventually they would "birth" the Manifested Sons, of whom Stevens would be the first. He claimed to be an Apostle and Prophet, and gave out endless taped revelations, many of them transcribed into dozens of booklets. Documentation on this Latter Rain variant is therefore easily obtainable, and has been available to interested researchers for thirty years.
Stevens' most serious (and aberrantly fruitful) blunder was his decision that the spiritual practices and forces of Occultism are really "neutral" and that therefore the methods of the occult should also be used by Christians to help them achieve a similar or even better "spirituality." In fact, he said that Satan originally stole these methods from the righteous. Believers should therefore study the occult and appropriate their techniques, reclaiming their use for God.
JRS taught that God will bless this syncretism, and the Latter Rain fire will fall at last, birthing the perfected Church. The Walk will be (literally) glorified into the Manifested Sons, thereby becoming themselves the Parousia (the Second Coming) of Christ, itself the Manchild Company (Nichols' SCP report).
Stevens even said that communication with Angels and deceased believers had already become possible. Paul Cain and Bob Jones have been talking with Angels regularly for decades, of course. Stevens claimed communication himself with the "great cloud of witnesses."
We need to note in passing that Francis Frangipane, Royal Cronquist, and Mel Bailey, former Apostles of The Walk, are now prominent figures in the Neo-Prophetic Movement. Frangipane has joined forces with KCF/ MVF and is now publishing books and traveling the country encouraging people to conquer demonic "principalities" in order to usher in the Kingdom Now.

Enthroning a Latter-Rain 24/7 Altar Presence on the White House Lawn During an Election Season

http://herescope.blogspot.com/2012/09/davids-tent-dc.html 

Image from: http://www.davidstentdc.org

By Dr. Orrel Steinkamp

As we pray for David’s Tent now through November 6, we are actually watching with the Lord for this promised move of awakening to fully manifest. God is restoring His glory as a bridal canopy (Isaiah 4). He will tabernacle with us! And David’s Tent, on the Ellipse of the White House, is an absolute signpost of God’s coming move....

I knew God was conveying a promise of His coming move--a Third Great Awakening. He was literally re-constituting this anointing of awakening, and of forerunning prayer for awakening, into the earth realm. It was clear then, and more clear now, that God was portraying a Hosea 2 shift from Baal to Jesus....

The earth is groaning for the manifestation of the Sons of God....

God will tabernacle with us again!

- Jon & Jolene Hamill, HAPN, 8/8/12 [1] [bold and links added]

Bridal Canopy, Governmental Throne
That’s where we are today, even as David’s Tent. Our core value for David’s Tent is simply to convey our love for Jesus 24/7 for 43 days on the Ellipse. Unending praise that builds a throne for our Savior night and day, propelling us out of the wilderness!

- Jon & Jolene Hamill, HAPN, 8/16/12 [2]

"David'sTentDC"

Very few Christians or unbelievers have any idea of the significance of the term "David's Tent."  Nevertheless, various affiliate organizations  of the burgeoning Apostles and Prophets movement (NAR, the New Apostolic Reformation) are going to camp out at the White House Ellipse lawn from September 25, 2012 through the election, engaging in their round-the-clock 24/7 worship, and they are calling this activity "David's Tent." The Christian News Wire reported on August 28th that

DAVID'S TENT DC will be held September 25 through election day, November 6th, 2012 on The White House Ellipse in Washington DC. For 40 days, continuous 24 hour worship in joyous celebration will take place on the The White House grounds.[3]


The same report quoted Washington House of Prayer leader, Jason Hershey, explaining the rationale, which is consistent with the doctrine of the International House of Prayer (IHOP) movement:

"Before America ever goes into the polls to vote for the leadership of this country, we want to first enthrone Jesus on our praises continuously for 40 days.... Like King David established, worship will be next to the seat of government."[4] [bold added]

David's Tent = Tabernacle of David 

Many of the people who will be praying and singing around the clock for 43 days also have no idea of the history of the term "David's Tent."  They simply want to establish a "throne for Jesus" in DC.  "David's Tent" is actually a shortened title for "Tabernacle of David" which has a history of its own going back 50 years, first being taught by the those involved in the fringe Pentecostal Latter-Rain movement in the early 1950s. Since those days the Latter-Rain Movement, which included the false teaching called the Tabernacle of David, has filtered upward though the fringes of Pentecostal Christianity. The Latter Rain and its various new false teachings at first faded in the 1950s  but then it was reintroduced into the Charismatic Renewal. It progressed into the Toronto Blessing and now is seen in the wider prophetic movement. The moniker Latter Rain has always been carefully avoided as new names and mutations were added.

Back in the 1950s the Latter Rain gained a very negative reputation. Its relationship to William Branham in those days didn’t help. Branham was an anti-Trinitarian false prophet who called Trinitarians agents of the Devil. Another reason the term Latter Rain was avoided is that the Assemblies of God denomination, which lost hundreds churches to this movement in the early 1950s, passed a resolution repudiating the Latter Rain.

But today very few people, including Assemblies of God people and pastors, have any memory of the Latter Rain, and so also do not know the controversial history of Tabernacle of David heresy.  Nevertheless, the simple fact is that "David's Tent" today is just simply a reintroduction of the Latter Rain false teaching called the "Tabernacle of David."

Early proponents were called the New Order of the Latter Rain (NOLR).  NOLR began in North Battleford, Saskatoon, Canada in 1948. In the previous year Rev. Hunt and Rev. Hawtin, Canadian Pentecostals, received an impartation from William Branham by the laying on of hands.  They proceeded to long fasts (a la Franklin Hall). And in a Canadian camp meeting in 1948 over a thousand people gathered.  Hunt and Hawtin began to preach the new doctrines of the Latter Rain. These new teachings included: (1) Laying on of hands for the filling of the Holy Spirit. (2) Believers can be inhabited by demonic spirits and cast out by the laying on of hands. (3) The restoration of the office gifts of apostle and prophet. (4) Personal and directive prophesy (5) The Tabernacle of David teaching. (6) An end of the ages revival resulting in the defeat of all the enemies of God including death before Jesus can return.

Notice! The Tabernacle of David teaching was an integral part of this Latter Rain movement. This then is the historical source of David's Tent DC.


The White House Ellipse Kickoff for David's Tent

Below is a sample of the current public announcements on David's Tent.

We want to announce an unprecedented witness to this grace. Imagine 24/7 worship on the Ellipse, the backyard of the White House, from Yom Kippur til election day! To my knowledge, this has never been done. God is granting us a literal picture of the Tabernacle of David, in our governmental seat of authority, at the capitol of our nation....


For more than a year, God has been speaking to us about the significance of Tabernacles, that 2012 would actually be a fulfillment of Cindy Jacobs’ vision of the “X” over our nation that transforms into a Bridal Canopy.[5] [bold added]
Jon and Jolene, Hamill of Lamplighters are related to the Reformation Network, sponsored by Cindy Jacobs of Generals International, who is the leading prophetess in the NAR and claims to be the apostle over America. Jacobs is on the Board of Advisors of the David'sTentDC event. Birthing literally hundreds of affiliate organizations, the New Apostolic Reformation operates as a  conglomerate that especially includes the International House of Prayer (IHOP) movement. Their agenda is both a national and global ambition of building 7 mountains, which is often referred to as the "Next" or the "Third Great Awakening."

This is the group that is leading the David's TentDC operation. They are launching the effort through Twitter, Facebook, and all the hundreds of IHOP "Prayer Furnace" locations across the USA, including networking with mission groups like YWAM and various prayer organizations across the globe.

Another NAR affiliate, HAPN (Heartland Apostolic Prayer Network), led by John Benefiel (who pioneered the bizarre divorcing Baal ceremonies across America), is also lending support to David's Tent DC. Jon and Jolene Hamill have make the weird claim that:

Dr. John Benefiel led a nationwide initiative to divorce Baal and renew covenant with Jesus Christ.

This initiative primarily culminated July 4, 2011 on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. We divorced Baal and presented the Lord with a Declaration of Covenant. Exactly fifty days later, an earthquake shook metro DC and cracked the Washington Monument.[6] [bold added]
Hamill's have also made the strange statement that:

The Ellipse is an oval, egg-shaped park, called the President’s Park, directly in back of the White House South Lawn.  We believe that new life is in the egg as we build an oval altar of worship to Jesus by the Oval Office![7][bold added]
Even more exotic, the Hamill's wrote concerning a vision, that babies were shooting out of the ground to signify the beginning of the Third Great Awakening!

The land trembled. Then a geyser broke forth. The ground began to split apart from this well of awakening in Lowville all the way down to the Washington Monument in Washington DC. Wherever the ground broke forth, babies shot out of the ground and into the sky! They were caught by angels.

I knew God was conveying a promise of His coming move--a Third Great Awakening. [8] [bold added]
Hamill's use the typical military language of the prayer warfare dominionists when they write:

Warriors! Time to Surround the Tent!
To counter their vulnerabilities, Solomon had the wisdom to surround this tent of intimacy with 60 valiant warriors. That’s where you and I come in. Much like these men of valor, you are being invited to literally surround David’s Tent in prayer![9] [bold added]
The Hamills continue by quoting the Song of Solomon 3:6-7: “Who is this coming up from the wilderness, like columns of smoke?... Behold it is the  traveling couch (throne) of Solomon; sixty mighty men around it of the mighty men of Israel...” They then explain their extrabiblical "Bridal Canopy, Governmental Throne" idea:

This picture from the Song of Songs portrays the romantic journey of the Bridegroom and his bride. They are moving together from the wilderness to the Promised Land.... That’s where we are today, even with David's Tent.... Unending praise that builds a throne for our Savior night and day, propelling us out of the wilderness!

But note that in Solomon’s procession, this traveling “bridal canopy” was also the Throne of governmental authority for all Israel! That alone made them a huge target.[10] [bold added]

Allegorical or Literal Governmental Throne? 

Today, "apostle" Mike Bickle has borrowed from the Latter Rain in expanding its teaching of the Tabernacle of David heresy. He has made it the centerpiece of his ministry at IHOP, jazzing it up with allegorical and symbolic Bridal Mysticicm.  Indeed, Bickle is not the first to allegorize "The Song of Solomon." To allegorize, one must decide that certain historical texts of the bible are a mystical code and stand for things in the present. Bickle has, by allegory, created a whole Bridal Paradigm of erotic intimacy with Jesus. This is a topic in itself.

These IHOP versions of Tabernacle of David are being replicated around the country especially among young people. IHOP and YWAM (Youth with a Mission) and many other NAR affiliated personnel will thus become the manpower source of the David's Tent DC endeavor.

But remember --  Bickle's Bridal Intimacy teaching is made to serve the underlying end time militant dominion goal that goes ultimately back to the 1950s and the Latter Rain. Notice the canopy is just window dressing added to the endtime conquest of the nations found in dominion teaching. All of this is just fancy new wallpaper covering essential Latter Rain Dominion/Kingdom Now teaching. The primary expression of current Latter Rain Domionism is the NAR with all its subsidiaries organized and configured by C. Peter Wagner.



"It is dominion that we are after."

Don't be fooled by the mystical and allegorical spiritual terminology. The New Apostolic Reformation, with its many created affiliated sub-organizations and multitude of like-minded allies, is a movement that has entered the American political scene and whose stated purpose is dominion. George Grant once stated the goal of dominion starkly:

Christians have an obligation, a mandate, a commission, a holy responsibility to reclaim the land for Jesus Christ-to have dominion in the civil structures, just as in every other aspect of life and godliness.

But it is dominion that we are after. Not just a voice. It is dominion we are after. Not just influence. It is dominion we are after. Not just equal time. It is dominion we are after. World conquest. That's what Christ has commissioned us to accomplish. We must win the world with the power of the Gospel. And we must never settle for anything less.

If Jesus Christ is indeed Lord, as the Bible says, and if our commission is to bring the land into subjection to His Lordship, as the Bible says, then all our activities, all our witnessing, all our preaching, all our craftsmanship, all our stewardship, and all our political action will aim at nothing short of that sacred purpose.

Thus, Christian politics has as its primary intent the conquest of the land - of men, families, institutions, bureaucracies, courts, and governments for the Kingdom of Christ. It is to reinstitute the authority of God's Word as supreme over all judgments, over all legislation, over all declarations, constitutions, and confederations. True Christian political action seeks to rein the passions of men and curb the pattern of digression under God's rule.

Fortunately, because of the theocratic orientation of our founding fathers, our nation has virtually all the apparatus extant to implement such a reclamation. Unfortunately, the enemies of the Gospel have hand-in-hand eroded the strength of those godly foundations.[11]
The fact that the NAR is now planning to camp out on the Ellipse in Washington, D.C. is cause for concern.


What is the Tabernacle of David heresy?

In Latter Rain circles there seem to be four central ideas within Tabernacle of David (TOD) teaching.

1. TOD is a part of the new prophets in the endtime church.
2. TOD enhances and endorses the ministry of "restored" apostles and prophets.
3. TOD invokes (attracts) the manifest presence of God.
4. TOD is a powerful weapon of spiritual warfare. 

The addiction to physical manifestations in the current prophtic revival is often linked directly to TOD type worship.  TOD people suggest  that long extended and repetitive worship will usually cause God to "show up." So worship techniques often become the prelude for God showing up in power.  "Showing up" is shorthand for the whole catalogue of physical manifestations associated with the Latter-Rain revival.  The right kind of worship will attract the manifestations which are a sign that God has shown up.  

Continue reading....

http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/orrel11.html

THE RESTORATION OF DAVIDIC WARFARE/WORSHIP
By Orrel Steinkamp, The Plumbline, Volume 7, No. 4, September/October 2002


Endnotes:
1. Email from John & Jolene Hamill, HAPN (Heartland Apostolic Prayer Network), "8-8-12 DAVID’S TENT DC PRAYER BEGINS!"
2. Email from John & Jolene Hamill, HAPN (Heartland Apostolic Prayer Network), 8-16-12, "PROTECT AND DEFEND! PRAYER FOR DAVID'S TENT!"
3. Thomas Kenny, "David's Tent D.C. Launches September 25 on The White House Ellipse:
Historic 40 Days of 24-7 Worship Will Happen Continuously Through Election Day," http://www.christiannewswire.com/news/2553120468.html. The article stated that "DAVID'S TENT DC can be found on the web at www.davidstentdc.org."
4. Ibid. 
5. Jon & Jolene Hamill, "ANNOUNCING DAVID’S TENT DC: SEPTEMBER 25-NOVEMBER 6
Jul 25,"  http://www.usrpn.org/articles/single/announcing_davids_tent_dc_september_25_november_6 
6. HAPN, 8-8-12, Ibid.
7. Kenny, Ibid.
8. HAPN, 8-8-12, Ibid.
9. HAPN, 8-16-12, Ibid.
10. Ibid.
11.  George Grant, The Changing of the Guard (Dominion Press 1987), "Reclaiming the Land," pp. 50-51, http://www.garynorth.com/freebooks/docs/pdf/the_changing_of_the_guard.pdf