By Bill Randles
St. Matthew Publishing Ltd.
133 pages. £3.99
ISBN 1 9015460 4 7
The re-emergence of the 'Latter Rain' heresy from proponents of the Toronto Blessing and the modern 'prophetic' movement is of immense danger. In this book, Bill Randles, an American Pentecostal pastor with a concern for biblical truth, takes the lid off this can of worms.
The 'Latter Rain' heresy emerged in Canada in the late 1940s. Throwing aside common-sense hermeneutics, certain passages of the Bible were used to insist on the idea that in the late 20th century, God would raise up an elite group of 'super-Christians' who would take the world for God. The idea, sometimes referred to as 'the Manifested Sons of God', is that this church would become so glorified and powerful that 'we can bring back Christ to earth'. In many extremist circles, the 1980s were seen as the time when God restored prophets to the church, and the 1990s the era when God restored apostles, although, of course, the restorationists in the UK have been telling us that new apostles have been around since the 1970s. The leaders who are caught up in this heresy today include American 'prophets' Rick Joyner, Bob Jones, Rodney Howard-Browne, James Ryle, Bill Hamon, Earl Paulk and many leaders within the Vineyard movement. They flatter their listeners: 'You are the greatest generation of the church ever.' Whereas those who are not taken in so easily are bombarded with such gems as: 'God is a lot bigger than doctrine', 'God offends our minds to reach our hearts' and 'The church is so hung up on Bible study, they don't know Jesus'.
