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APPENDIX THREE.

“Strange Fire – The Rise of Gnosticism in the Church”
by Travers & Jewel Van Der Merwe

  1995 Pub. Conscience Press, Iowa Research Group Inc. USA

Extract: pp.19-24 [all Scriptures KJV]

Having defined and illustrated the doctrinal core of Gnosticism, we can now effectively identify Gnostic thought as it emerges in the church today. There is a growing network comprised of loosely linked groups with a common Gnostic theme. They refer to themselves in many ways. They use Biblical sounding titles such as "Overcomers", "The First Fruits", "Manifest Sons of God", "The Elect", "A New Breed", "Son of Man Company" and even "The Son of Man Company". These groups can be involved in a wide spectrum of teaching from anti-Semitism, Prophets and Apostles, Restoration, Kingdom Now Theology and most sinister of all—the New  Age philosophy.

Though diverse in their outworking, these groups have a common origin in three Images bodies of leaching: the Latter Rain Movement, the New Order and the Rosicrucian Order. We will study these three groups in detail, and as we do, the underlying Gnostic philosophy will be evident. Bear in mind, the essence of Gnosticism is finding your divinity—the god within you, by subjective experience.

THE LATTER RAIN MOVEMENT

 Most Pentecostal history books dale the historic Pentecostal revival of the Latter Rain movement to 1948 and attribute its geographical origin lo North Battleford, Canada. Its beginning was explosive among the Pentecostals and like a wild fire spread quickly throughout North America and many places around the world.

 The movement was characterized by many healings and miraculous phenomena...There was an emphasis on spiritual gifts which, were to be received by the laying on of hands. 1

 Leaders felt that God was giving the Church, in these last days, great insight into the mind of God by prophetic revelation and manifestations. With the outburst of the revival the ministry of an apostle and a prophet was elevated to the rank of an “office". “The ministries were not restricted to penetrating the mysteries within the Bible but included the unveiling of people's lives and heart."2 New revelations into the spiritual world emerged—communication with angels, divine visitations, and out-of-body experiences.

DANGERS

 Revealing a "new thing" or gaining knowledge either by allegorizing the Scriptures or by personal prophetic revelation was the spirit of absurdity that overtook what initially seemed to be a move of God. The records show that the revival started out well. Unfortunately, in certain major respects, it ended in abuse and apostasy, thus showing once again the need for the teaching of true Biblical doctrine.

 The Latter Rain Movement had a notorious reputation for imparting an assortment of strange teachings. The origin of these teachings, which have no thread of Scriptural foundation except where the Scriptures have been applied out of context, can be traced beyond any reasonable doubt to the occult.

These teachings are invariably accompanied by what seems to be supernatural manifestations, which when examined, are characteristically descriptive of the occult. There is evidence that with the Latter Rain revival came a blaze of subjective theology that centered on man, his senses, imagination and intuition above the objective and scriptural knowledge of truth.

 This new emphasis started a paradigm shift. The initial paradigm, an orthodox perspective of Christ shifted or changed, causing Christians to be receptive to subjective impressions of Christ, experiences and ideas. To Imagestain the interest of followers, new ideas and new revelations were (and are) continually in the making.

 Most people who have had any history in Pentecostalism at all have been influenced at some time in their lives by the Latter Rain Movement. There have been many sincere people who felt they were part of the move of God for the Last Days and were earnestly partaking of the fruit that was offered. Since 1948 the Latter Rain influence has permeated the churches, Bible Colleges, evangelism and Christian television broadcasting networks. The overall magnitude of its influence makes it more difficult to warn of the inherent dangers that are involved.

 As a result of the Latter Rain influence in the Christian Church two basic streams of thought exist side by side. Sometimes it is hard to distinguish the one from the other. Like the tares and wheat they have grown up together. Only through God's written Word can a true separation be discerned. The first stream is "Gnostic” thought—the inspiration of many masquerading as apostles and prophets. The second is "Christian orthodoxy" thought based on the Holy Scriptures. It is the Gnostic stream of thought that divides the Christian Church into a dichotomy.

TANGENTS

Here are some of the subtle doctrinal concepts the Latter Rain fraternity have come to popularize:

· Positive Confession and Prosperity Message  (Hagin, Copeland, Capps, Price)
· Restoration —Apostles, Prophets and the "Inner Voice”  (Bickle, Hamon, Cain)
· Shepherding/Covenantalism (Simpson, Godwin, Mumford)
· Kingdom Now Theology (Paulk, Hamon)
· Manifest Sons of God (Cerullo)

 PROPHETS AND THE NEW ORDER

Today with the rise of new "prophets" and "apostles", we are hearing terminology that is clearly unscriptural. Yet enough Scripture references are used to make the teachings palatable to the average Christian.

 The elevation of prophets and apostles obviously made way for individuals to abuse Scripture. It allowed some to give the `Spoken Word' equality with Scripture. 'There could be no greater error,' denominational leaders warned... [The Assemblies of God] General Secretary J. Roswell Flower cautioned, 'Predictive prophecy resulted in untold disaster wherever it had been given free course.' Flower was well-versed in the history of Pentecostalism and recalled numerous prophecies that had come to nothing. The New Order of the Latter Rain in fact was nothing new. The ground had been covered before, with lessons learned through costly mistakes. Now a new generation seemed lo want lo repeat it all.3

 This "New Order" has survived and has influenced the course of Pentecostal history. All along there has been interaction among the salvation/healing revivals and the Charismatic movement for the past 40 years. Now another generation later, we are facing the same situation that our forefathers faced, only this lime it is exacerbated because of the mass media, telecommunications, huge conferences and a strong interlocking network.

 When the terms "Illumination," "New Revelation" and "New Order" are used, immediately the imagination is titillated into wondering, "What does God have new in store for me?" Promises of a "New Anointing" and a "New Thing" keep the conferences filled and the tape and book sales rolling! When the term "New Thing" is used, the following are some of the thoughts behind the term:
 

1. New ''mysteries'' revealed;
2. New "knowledge" of the Christ within—self consciousness;
3. New "form of godliness" that will be the light of  the world;
4. New "power" that will do marvelous new  things;
5. New "Law of Love" without Scripture; and govern;
6. New "Inner Voice" above the Scriptures to guide
7. New center of divinity—the soul;
8. New ministries that exceed even those of the prophets and apostles of old; and
9. New consciousness - self potential—self-esteem, self-immortalization and self-the temple of illumination.

 These thoughts are the bedrock of Gnostic experience and its objective of self-realization of the god within and its subsequent fruit of love and works (born not out of the working of the Holy Spiril but of Connecting with your inner self.)
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1 Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements, Zondervan Publishing House
2 Ibid Emphasis added.
3The Assemblies of God, A Chapter in the Story of American Pentecostalism, Vol. 2, Edith Blumhofer.
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