Part Three
The "Second Coming"
Of The Latter Rain

The Penetration Of The Latter Rain Doctrine

The Latter Rain doctrine first rose up in the late forties, but was eventually thrown out of the Assemblies of God as heretical. I believe that two factors opened the door for it to make its way back into the organized churches:

1. The first major factor was the breakdown of doctrine among the charismatics in the denominations in the mid-60s through interdenominational prayer meetings.

2. The second major factor was the Kansas City conference in 1977. That was when the three streams of pentecostalism - the neo-pentecostals, the classical pentecostals and the Catholic pentecostals - united into a powerful force.

This conference was held because of a directive to unite Christianity supposedly received from the Lord during a 1974 Catholic charismatic gathering. With these streams representing one charismatic movement within all the denominations, and through the breakdown of doctrine, the Church became more experience-based than Biblically-based. I believe this situation opened the door for the Latter Rain doctrine to enter again. I've found an unbelievable quote from New Age Theosophist and channeler Alice Bailey that perfectly describes our situation of being more experience-based than Biblically-based. Because of her words, I want to make three definite statements which I believe are true. The first statement is this: those taking part in this move are walking in the New Age agenda. The second statement is this: the only working of God within this move is to get people out of it. The third statement is this: Alice Bailey knew EXACTLY what was going to happen in the Church because her New Age spirits are in charge of this thing. She said this, and I believe every word is true:

"What the orthodox theologian and the narrow doctrinaire have to offer no longer satisfies the intelligent seeker or suffices to answer his questions. He is shifting his allegiances into wider and more spiritual areas. He is moving OUT FROM UNDER doctrinal authority AND TO direct personal, spiritual experience AND COMING UNDER the direct authority which contact with Christ and His disciples, the masters, gives" (Externalization Of The Hierarchy).

Isn't it amazing that Bailey knew exactly what would happen in the Church, and the modern Church doesn't recognize it? Those people in this "move of God" have moved OUT FROM UNDER doctrinal authority and INTO direct, personal, spiritual experiences that are hard to confirm in the Scriptures as being from God. Look at these words from Rick Joyner in a 1995 editorial in his Morning Star Journal:

"Already it has been one of the most extraordinary years I can remember. Things are now happening so fast that by the time you get this letter two months from now, I am wondering how obsolete it will be. I believe I have had more and greater SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCES in the these four months than I have during the WHOLE PREVIOUS 25 years of my Christian life. JUST ABOUT EVERYONE I'm close to seems to BE EXPERIENCING SIGNIFICANT, AND EVEN SPECTACULAR, SPIRITUAL ADVANCES. THE ARMY OF GOD IS mobilizing all over the world, and in some places has already begun to march."

The result of the current compromise of God's word for the sake of personal experience is that thousands upon thousands ARE coming into direct contact with the New Age Christ AND HIS AGENDA!!!!! That will become more clear later in this series. Doctrinal compromise has let in a flood of "new" revelations. These "new revelations" are placing before us a "new" hope as the Church heads toward the end of the age. Scripture says we have only one hope, and we have held to it for 2,000 years:

Ephesians 4:4 "There is one body and one Spirit - just as ye are called in one hope of your calling."

Titus 2:13 "Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our saviour Jesus Christ."

But the more we hear of this "new move of God," the less we hear of Israel, the tribulation, the reign of antichrist, the return of Christ Jesus as our hope, His second advent to judge the nations, and the rapture of the Church. Loving the promise of His coming is suffering greatly in our day. In a previous article, I mentioned doctrinal "corrections" that COR made, such as

1. WE NEED NOT WAIT for the King's second coming to get the kingdom started here on earth.

2. The words in the Lord's Prayer stating "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven" were meant to be prayed with THE HOPE that this condition would happen on earth BEFORE CHRIST'S SECOND COMING whenever the Christians of any geography decided to band together to help make it happen.

These "corrections" have greatly weakened our hope in Christ alone.

Alan Vincent of the UK said that every city must be shaken by God, and that,

"God HAS to keep His word. It has to happen. Why should God keep saying again and again, 'This is what I'm going to do through the seed,' and then Jesus coming in the sudden rapture theory, and spoiling God's covenant promises to Abraham? IT'S IMPOSSIBLE for Jesus to come until these things are fulfilled."

But Jesus' present ministry as the Baptizer in the Holy Spirit and His second coming IS the fulfilling of God's promises to Abraham. In Vincent's eyes, Jesus' rapturing the Church is A THEORY. He has made OUR ONE HOPE OF Jesus' return A THEORY.

During his January 2, 1995 700 Club program, Pat Robertson was asked: "Explain about the rapture and when it will take place." He replied,

"Well, I think the rapture is going to take place when Jesus Christ comes back again, and He's going to come back again at the end of some kind of a tribulation or whatever. But, this could be a very short thing. It's not necessarily going to be a, could be a seven year kind of, you know, unwinding and a confusion in the world. But when it finally hits, it's going to be dreadful, but right now let's get the harvest in."(700 Club,January 2, 1995)

Robertson said the tribulation was "SOME KIND OF a . . . WHATEVER" of unsure duration! A "KIND OF . . . unwinding and a confusion in the world"! It COULD BE a short thing! The one thing that Robertson is sure of is that there will be "a great harvest of souls" for five years, AND THEN God will cleanse the earth of evil, "a judgment on the ungodly who broke His covenant and refuse to follow His ways." THEN JESUS RETURNS. WHY WOULD HE RETURN!? THERE WOULDN'T BE ANYTHING LEFT TO JUDGE! If all the evil is cleansed from the earth, how can there be a tribulation? Robertson gave his "Biblical Model" on this program in this order:

1. A worldwide Revival

2. A great outpouring of God's Spirit

3. A billion-soul Harvest

4. God's judgement on the ungodly who would not walk in his ways and who broke His covenant

5. THEN some vague, unclarified tribulation described as an unwinding and confusion

6. THEN Jesus comes to rapture the Church

Robertson knows what's happening globally. Where is the time of Jacob's trouble in his scenario? How did he become so seemingly ignorant all of a sudden?

Tricia Tillin writes,

"Derek Prince gives a brief outline of the events of the Last Days, as he understands it; this follows a familiar pattern, to be found in most restoration writings:

"1. A Latter Rain Revival leading to a vast end-times harvest in which countless millions will be saved;

"2. Parallel with this, a severe judgement from God on those who resist the revival; and

"3. as a result of these events, the kingdom will be brought forth on earth - THEN consummated by the personal return of Jesus Christ.'"

Earl Paulk writes:

"In Matthew 24:14, Jesus clearly says that HE CANNOT RETURN for His Bride UNTIL she has demonstrated the Gospel of the Kingdom to all the nations of the earth. . . . . I can say with the authority of God that CHRIST CANNOT AND WILL NOT COME BACK UNTIL we have demonstrated the Gospel of the Kingdom to the nations of the earth."

In a discussion on the Good Life Program as to whether this is a time of revival or judgment on America, Rodney-Howard Browne ignored the tribulation and predicted great things for America. He said:

"But between now and the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, WHATEVER THAT IS, I believe, the greatest outpouring of the Spirit of God."

But Scripture says between now and Jesus' coming is a great tribulation. "The second coming. . .WHATEVER THAT IS?" Doesn't Browne know?

Francis Frangipane says,

"Even now, hell trembles and the heavens watch in awe, for I say to you, once again, the virgin is with child. BEFORE JESUS HIMSELF RETURNS, the last virgin Church shall become pregnant with the promise of God. Out of her travail, the Body of Christ shall come forth, raised to the full stature of its Head, the Lord Jesus. Corporately manifested in holiness, power and love, the Bride of Christ shall arise."

What is happening to the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ? What's happened to these men? What's happening to their followers? And what is happening to our one hope?

Next I want to look at Paul Cain And The second coming. On a Grace Ministries tape, November 1988 called, "My Father's House," Paul Cain said he knew why God had poured out His Spirit on all the denominations, and explained what must happen BEFORE the Lord returns to rapture the Church:

"So now we have thousands and even millions of charismatics. . . . Why did God pour out his Spirit on all these charismatics, and all these Catholics and priests and nuns and Episcopals and the Methodists and Baptists? WHY DID HE DO THAT?" [Then he says] "I don't know what the second coming is to you, . . . but let me tell you he's coming to YOU, he's coming TO his Church, he's coming to abide IN you, to take up his abode IN you."

[And again he says,] "I want you to know he's coming TO the Church BEFORE he comes FOR the Church. He's gonna perfect the Church so the Church can be the Image, BE HIM, and be his representation."

In this talk, Cain defended himself against the charge that he was denying the rapture, but then spoke of Jesus coming again to indwell His Church AS A CORPORATE BODY, with the whole body experiencing Him at the same time. That's Latter Rain doctrine. Pentecost, to Latter Rain adherents, is a coming of God to the individual - it's a personal experience. And to them, the Feast of Tabernacles is celebrated when God comes TO the entire Church and fills it with the manifest glory of God. Cain told his audience,

"We are not just looking for glory in God, we want God to be glorified in us. Oh, let God be glorified in us, let this be your intent. Everybody in this room tonight that has the intent to follow through and act accordingly, the Lord says I will truly visit you, and I will make this real to you. The Lord will commit himself to you."

Then Cain tells us how to follow through and act accordingly so this glory will be MADE REAL to the Church BEFORE Christ returns:

"Just dump all that stuff, just dump all that carnal knowledge, and dump some of the stuff we have learned through the years."

Is he saying dump your doctrine and your hope and go for this unbiblical experience? He doesn't deny the rapture, but moves the experience of the glorification of the Church to BEFORE Christ returns:

"This is the last of the last days. God will pour out his spirit on all flesh. That's Baptist flesh, Episcopal flesh, Catholic flesh, all kinds of flesh. Even the Pentecostals might get a second blessing."

But Cain says God is uniting the denominations in order to manifest His glory in it in a visible way BEFORE the return of Christ. THIS is the "second coming" that is rising in the Church and eating away at it because of the Latter Rain influence! Cain said,

"Let's do everything according to the Pattern. . . . When this is done, God's glory appears, God's anointing appears, God's authority appears. It wasn't until Moses had accomplished all these things in that wilderness Tabernacle, and we are in that mystical Tabernacle now, we're in that stage, that the Glory appeared. . . . You can look . . . for the Glory of God to appear just as soon as our lives and everything are in order."

If you've received "the anointing" in any form, this is what awaits you around the bend. Tricia Tillin said,

"The Glory, in the Latter Rain understanding, is the visible manifestation of the Spirit. Now, in light of the satanic nature of this deception, it is not surprising that deceived Christians are being led to EXPECT A MANIFESTED SPIRIT and not the visible return of the Lord Jesus. I believe the way we are headed is into teaching about the return of the "Lord" to his church, in glory, BEFORE (or perhaps even instead of?) the physical return of Jesus."

Now, please remember that this doctrine, once declared a heresy, has found a place in all the denominations through the charismatic faction in all the churches. Cain says that out of this unity will come an army, Joel's Army, based on Joel 2:

"I told you about . . . this recurring [35 year-old] vision I had. . . . The angel of the Lord said, 'You're standing at the crossroads of life. What do you see?' And I saw a brilliantly lit billboard which reads, 'Joel's Army now in training.' . . . .I believe one day soon Joel's Army will be in training . . . until it graduates into the stadium . . . . But a right understanding of the plan of God for this generation brings this tremendous inclusion. . . . God's offering to you, this present generation, a greater privilege than was ever offered any generation at any time from Adam clear down through the millennium."

Paul Cain said this plan of God is for THIS GENERATION - EVERYBODY - ALL DENOMINATIONS - because it is THE plan of God for the "last of the last days." On a Grace Ministries tape of a talk given by Cain some years ago in Missouri, He told his audience,

"I had a vision of you people coming from . . . a circle of maybe a hundred miles and I saw people coming from every major city within that circumference and a great conclave was taking place, and it was the training of Joel's Army. . . . I believe that people are going to come together by the thousands and train for the Army of the Lord. Wouldn't that be wonderful? I mean, that's long overdue."

When enough pastors and other leaders are trained for the Army of the Lord", he expects the greatest revival of all time to result. During his talk in Missouri, Cain described his vision for this endtime revival:

"All of the stadiums and all of the ballparks are filled with hundreds of thousands of people. They have hearses lined up, ambulances lined up. They have hundreds of stretcher cases and all that. And there are men standing there in the pulpit, there are women standing there that haven't had a change of raiment in three days, they haven't had a drink of water, they haven't had any food and they're preaching under the mighty power. 'Why, did you see that last night on ABC? Did you see that man levitated? Did you see all those preachers levitated? Did you see that fixed pose? They stood there for 24 hours in a fixed pose, worshiping and praising God, and hundreds of thousands came by and fell on their face and nobody pushed them. And nobody shoved them. They fell under the power of God.' And everybody everywhere is crying, 'Oh, this is God! Jesus is Lord!' It seems like the whole world is turning to God."

Recently, Cain spoke at Christ Chapel in Florence, Alabama and again shared the dream he'd received when he was 19 years old. Again, the emphasis was on huge numbers of people in stadiums:

"I had a dream that became a recurring dream, and it was about all the stadiums - and we've told this hundreds and hundreds of time all across America, all over the world, in fact - and I saw these stadiums and football fields, soccer fields and sports arenas, all of them filled with thousands of people, sometimes over 100,000 in each place" (August 30, 1995, evening session).

Earlier I quoted Cain as saying, "I believe one day soon Joel's Army will be in training . . . until it graduates into the stadium." But now, in the Alabama meeting, Cain connected his prediction of stadiums-full of soldiers in his Army of the Lord with the reality of stadiums-full of warriors in the Promise Keepers army. He said,

"We call it 'the last days ministry,' . . . . I believe we're ON THE THRESHOLD OF IT. . . . And I know the Lord is coming TO His Church and he's going to prepare us. . . We're closer to it than we've ever been before. Who would think that there would be A GROUP LIKE PROMISE KEEPERS WHO'D ALREADY BE SETTING THE STAGE AND FILLING STADIUMS with tens of thousands of people, . . . They'll be over 100,000 in no time, and maybe they already are. I think an event's already planned that way. So, what if God shows up at just one of those meetings? That could just be the kick-off for 'last days ministry.' Think about that. . . . What if 120,000 get together and then the fire comes from heaven and the glory of God. . . ."

Cain was probably referring to the 70 to 100,000 pastors expected at the February 1996 Promise Keepers' meeting in Atlanta, but what if his words came true concerning the PK goal of filling a stadium in each of the fifty states in the year 2000?

In a Promise Keepers gathering in the Detroit Silver Dome stadium in April 1995, founder Bill McCartney, like Cain, spoke of a great army:

"We have a great army that we are assembling. They're the Christian men of this nation. However, our leadership, our clergy are not uniform. Our clergy are divided. . . . There's no unity of command. . . . there is tremendous division in our clergy. We have to assume that responsibility. We have to say, 'Are we impacting our clergy in a way that's going to take them and make them all that they have to be in order to lead this army?' Because the shepherds are the ones God's chosen to lead us out of here" (Promise Keepers Meeting, April 29, 1995, Detroit Silver Dome).

[McCartney later continued,] "This gathering in Atlanta should exceed 100,000 clergymen. Why? Because we have many more than that, and every single one of them ought to be there. We can't have anybody pass up that meeting. If a guy says that he doesn't want to go, he needs to be able to tell us why he doesn't want to go. 'Why wouldn't you want to be a part of what God wants to do with His hand-picked leaders?' . . . I think Almighty God is going to rip open the hearts of our leaders. I think He's going to tear them open. And I think he's going to put them back together again as one. One leadership. We've got to have one leadership, one leadership only. We've got to have everybody hitting on all cylinders. There's only one race. It's the human race. There's only one culture. Its Christ before culture. Christ culture - that's all that there is." (Promise Keepers Meeting, April 29, 1995, Detroit Silver Dome).

Cain said we are on the THRESHOLD of God's glory possibly coming upon 100,000 pastors who want to be Promise Keepers. If we read this in conjunction with Francis Frangipane's new book, "The Days of His Presence," our concern should increase all the more. In a write-up on the book, Frangipane himself says,

"The Spirit of the Lord is moving on so many fronts. In just the past ten months we have seen racial reconciliations take place among Southern Baptists in Atlanta; in Memphis, leaders from Pentecostal denominations, once divided along racial lines, are now reunited, while white Evangelical leaders repented with blacks in Chicago. We can truly say the Lord is moving mightily on his people. Mix in the March for Jesus and the 750,000 Promise Keepers, and we are seeing the stage set for what I believe will be the greatest awakening of this century."

Nothing scarey there - Reconciliation - that's not a scarey thing. What must be pondered is where will they end up? March for Jesus (MFJ) drew 20,000,000 people this year. Promise Keepers is currently drawing 750,000 men. That adds up to 20,750,000 Christians, and Frangipane is saying that these 20,650,000 people are setting the stage for something because of reconciliation between races and between Christians ministers. Frangipane's description of this next great awakening in his book is quite similar to Paul Cain's:

"This book chronicles the vision the Lord gave me in 1971. . . . The Holy Spirit REVEALED THE BAPTISM OF GLORY that the Father has prepared for the end of the age."

In an ad for his book, Frangipane writes,

"PRIOR TO Jesus Christ's physical return, His living presence will companion the church in ever-increasing power. During this time the visible glory of the Lord will rise and appear upon God's people."

Notice this: God's visible glory will rise and appear on His people PRIOR to Jesus' return. THAT'S NEW REVELATION! It's Progressive Theology, it's Latter Rain teaching, and Frangipane says 20,750,000 members of Christ's body are being prepared to have the VISIBLE GLORY OF GOD COME ON THEM! This prophetic word says that the Church being glorified and changed to be like Christ Jesus our Lord IS NOT when we see Him face to face, but when we reconcile our differences. Paul Cain said,

"You can look . . . for the Glory of God to appear just as soon as our lives and everything are in order."

What does it take to "get our lives and everything in order"? Look at these two quotes. In the Fall 1993 Promise Keepers magazine, "Men of Action," we read,

"We believe that we have a God-given mission to unite men who are separated by RACE, geography, culture, DENOMINATION and economics. We are dedicated, then, to addressing the division that has separated the Body of Christ for too long."

Frangipane says we are more than on the verge of this manifestation of glory:

"The Lord revealed to me He would first unite His church [which both PK and MFJ are dedicated to], reconcile the racial issues in Him [which both PK and MFJ are dedicated to], AND THEN FILL THE CHURCH WITH GLORY! The first two phases of this restoration are well under way! The last phase, the preparation for glory, is at hand. Indeed, in several places manifestations of God's glory are already occurring."

This revelation states that the first two phases of this restoration ARE underway - IN PROMISE KEEPERS and in the MARCH FOR JESUS. Promise Keepers and March for Jesus are ripe for a visitation by the Latter Rain spirit. Cain said so and so did Frangipane. What makes this dangerous is this:

1. Doctrinal differences are being set aside in order to tear down denominational walls for the sake of demonstrating what is being called biblical unity.

2. That is the door through which Latter Rain manifestations enter!

What these visions depict is the coming forth of a glorified, invincible, unbiblical army of the Manifest Sons of God of the Latter Rain through Promise Keepers and March For Jesus. Having given this example of how the Latter Rain doctrine is penetrating a uniting Church, let's now move on to the year 2000 to see more aspects of the Latter Rain doctrine and how they are compatible with other philosophies.