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.