David Longworth unravels a web of deceit and distortion. Part 1 of 2.

On 6 December 2017, following President Donald Trump’s official recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, Palestinian National Council member Hanan Ashrawi was interviewed by Matthew Amroliwala on BBC News.

Asked for her reaction to the proposed visit of US Vice-President Mike Pence, she angrily rejected his Christian viewpoint by asserting, “We are the original Christians, we are the owners of the land, we are the people who've been here for centuries. How dare they come here and give me biblical treatises and absolutist positions!” [my emphasis].¹

I sat aghast, especially as this ludicrous nonsense went completely unchallenged by the BBC. She holds a doctoral degree from the University of Beirut and is acknowledged as a leading Palestinian legislator and scholar. Yet, in the very same interview, she had previously expressed absolutist claims of her own. She had accused the Israelis of “transforming Jerusalem into a historical forgery” and asserted that “Jerusalem is a Palestinian city”.

Such Palestinian rhetoric is far from unusual and has considerable depth, involving denials or perversions of many well-established facts. One of the problems we Westerners face is that much is said or written in Arabic, inscrutable to the vast majority. Thankfully, organisations like Al-Monitor, Middle East Media Research Institute and Palestinian Media Watch provide translations. Although the rhetoric forms quite a tangled web, we can still tease out some important elements.

Denying Jewish History

As recently as 15 November 2017, Saleh Rafat, a member of the PLO Executive Committee, stated on the national TV programme Palestine This Morning: “There are deep Palestinian roots in Palestine throughout all of history. It is a Zionist invention that this is the land of the Jewish Patriarchs.”²

In an article in The American Spectator on 6 May 2016, Ziva Dahl quoted the Palestinian Authority newspaper, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, “Zionism is the invention of robbers who stole Palestine from its inhabitants…whose lies are not supported by any archaeological remnants…Israel has no right to exist…The stories of Jewish prophets are a sick invention”. In that same official PA newspaper, columnist Omar Hilmi Al-Ghoul remarked, “Religious, historical, and even biblical facts deny any connection between the Jews and Jerusalem” or to “historic Palestine.”³

Palestinian rhetoric about the Land has considerable depth, involving denials or perversions of many well-established facts.

Palestinian Chairman, Mahmoud Abbas, is no better. On Palestinian Authority TV, on 21 March 2016, he said:

Our narrative says that we have been in this land since Abraham. I am not saying it; the Bible says it. The Bible says in these words that the Palestinians existed before Abraham, so why don’t you understand my right?...This land was never without a people, as we have been planted in its rocks and dust and hills since the beginning of civilisation and writing and the invention of the Canaanite-Palestinian alphabet more than 6000 years ago.⁴

The same speech, translated by The Times of Israel, went on as follows, “At this occasion, I don’t want to discuss history or religion, because there is no one better at falsifying history or religion than them. But if we read the Torah, it says that the Canaanites lived here before Abraham and haven’t left since that time. It hasn’t been interrupted. That’s in the Torah. If they want to fabricate, ‘to distort the words from their [proper] usages,’ as God said, I don’t want to get into religion.”⁵

To illustrate how pervasive is such rhetoric, let me quote an example from the Palestinian conservation movement. On 16 March last year, the Chairman of the Green Life Association, Faisal Zakarneh, launched the Gilboa Lily as the National Flower of Palestine. On the TV programme Palestine This Morning, he said:

This is a flower that grows in the Gilboa Mountains. At this opportunity, let me explain that Gilboa is an ancient Palestinian-Canaanite-Arabic word, and not Hebrew-Israeli. This needs to be clear. In our minds [the name Gilboa] is connected to the Gilboa Prison...but the occupier has always made us used to him using our language and stealing it and its Arabic-Canaanite-Palestinian names.⁶

Gideon’s Spring (Ein Harod), 2015. Author's collection.Actually, the name is Hebrew, meaning ‘swelling spring’. It is found eight times in the Tanach, between 1 Samuel 28:4 and 1 Chronicles 10:8, in six of which it refers to ‘Mount’ (Hebrew, har) Gilboa. The spring to which it refers is likely the most prominent along the mountain foot, Ein Harod (‘trembling spring’), which figures prominently in the account of Gideon’s preparation for battle (Jud 7:1ff) and can still be visited today.

Stealing the Jewish Basis of Christianity

Hanan Ashrawi’s outrageous claim that the ‘original Christians’ were Palestinian is far from unique.

Husam Zomlot was the PLO Representative to the UK from 2003 to 2008; he is now Ambassador-at-large for the Palestinian Authority and Co-Chair of the School of Government at Bir Zeit University, Ramallah. Here’s an extract from what he said in an interview with Judy Woodruff on PBS news (USA) on 6 December 2017:

We are a dignified nation. In fact, we are the nation that has produced all religions. We are celebrating Christmas now. Bethlehem is the birthplace of Jesus and Christianity. We are such an ancient nation. And surrender is nothing we know. But we know the message of Jesus. We know the message of peace. We celebrate it. We [the Palestinians] are a model in the region of — a model as a society…of diversity and tolerance.⁷ [my emphasis]

On 3 December 2010 Samih Ghanadreh from Nazareth, when interviewed on PA TV about his new book Christianity and its Connection to Islam, had this to say: “The Shahid [martyr] President, Yasser Arafat, used to say, ‘Jesus was the first Palestinian Shahid’. I heard him say that sentence many times.” The TV host responded, “He [Jesus] was Palestinian, no-one denies that”, to which Ghanadreh replied, “He was the first Palestinian Shahid. Arafat attributed this martyrdom to Palestine as well.”⁸

Hanan Ashrawi’s outrageous claim that the ‘original Christians’ were Palestinian is far from unique.

In the Palestinian newspaper Al-Hayat Al-Jadida on 6 May 2013, Adel Abd Al-Rahman, a Fatah official and arts event organiser, commented: "Easter...is not a holiday for Christian Palestinians only, but a holiday for Palestinian nationalism, because Jesus, may he rest in peace, is a Canaanite Palestinian. His resurrection, three days after being crucified and killed by the Jews - as reported in the New Testament - reflects the Palestinian narrative, which struggles against the descendants of modern Zionist Judaism, in its new colonialist form, that conspires with the Western capitalists who claim to belong to Christianity.”⁹

Note how the only mention of Jews is to blame them for the death of a ‘Palestinian’. The same trope was used by Omar Hilmi A-Ghoul, adviser to the former PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyed, in the same paper on 6 September 2016: “…indeed as I have said in a number of relevant articles – Jesus, Issa, son of Maryam, peace be upon him, was the first Palestinian Martyr, who was crucified by the Jews, or they think they crucified him. He was born to a Palestinian mother and grew up in Palestine.”¹⁰

Denying the Jewish Temple

As long ago as 25 August 2000, Mahmoud Abbas used the Nazareth-based newspaper Kul al-Arab to declare,

Anyone who wants to forget the past cannot come and claim that the Temple is situated beneath the Haram. They demand that we forget what happened 50 years ago to the refugees – and I speak as a living, breathing refugee – while at the same time they claim that 2000 years ago they had a Temple. I challenge the assertion that this is so. But even if it is so, we do not accept it, because it is not logical for someone who wants practical peace.”¹¹

One wonders, what kind of logic is his?

This was followed on 17 January 2001 by a pronouncement by Sheikh Ikrima Sabri (Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, October 1994-July 2006) during an interview for the German daily newspaper Die Welt: “There is not the smallest indication of the existence of a Jewish Temple on this place in the past. In the whole city there is not even a single stone indicating Jewish history…The Jews do not even know exactly where their temple stood.” Responding to a challenge by the interviewer, he said, “It is the art of the Jews to deceive the world, but they can’t do it to us. There is not a single stone in the al-Buraq wall relating to Jewish history”¹¹ (‘al-Buraq’ is the Muslim name for the unquestionably Herodian Western Wall).

Western Wall, incomplete verse from Isaiah 66:14, attributed to the 5th Century AD. See Photo Credits.Temple denial is not restricted to political and religious figures. Here’s the opinion of a lecturer in urban planning at Bir Zeit University, a member of the Scientific Committee for the 2008 Urban Planning Conference at An-Najah University in Nablus, as expressed on PA TV on 23 June 2009 in regard to the Muslim Dome of the Rock:

There is a view that where it stands was the Holy of Holies of the fictitious Temple – and by the way, that is merely an illusion. There is no remnant of it. It's a myth. A story of no value, like the Arabian Nights, and other legends…60 years of digging, and they've found nothing at all. Not a water jug, not a coin, not any earthen vessel, no bronze weapons, no piece of metal, absolutely nothing of this myth, because it's a myth and a lie. This digging has not left a single metre [unturned], but it has achieved absolutely nothing.¹²

These archaeological allegations will be addressed in the next section, but it important to note that, contrary to several Palestinian allegations, Israel’s Antiquities Authority allows no excavation under the Temple Mount itself. However, illegal Muslim alterations within the Mount have removed large quantities of sub-surface material, destroying portions of the archaeological layers. Ironically, this has further undermined their rhetoric, as will be seen in Part 2 (next week).

Temple denial is not restricted to political and religious figures – even academics join in.

Tisha Ba’Av is an annual day of Jewish mourning, fasting and prayer, principally for the fall of the First and Second Temples. Reporting events in 2011, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida stated on 9 August:

Since Monday morning, groups of extremist Jews have been roaming the courtyards of Al-Aqsa Mosque [the Temple Mount] one after the other, under heavy police protection, on the occasion of the so-called "destruction of the Temple"...This Sunday, the occupation's police handed the shop owners in the Market of the Cotton Merchants...which leads to the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, an order forcing them to close their shops on Monday afternoon, in order to facilitate the arrival of the settlers to the Market, for the sake of holding special Talmudic rituals on the occasion of the destruction of the alleged Temple.¹³

Such rhetoric has had a serious impact. James Davila, Professor of Jewish Studies and Principal of St Mary's College, University of St Andrews, has drawn attention to the increasing practice among Western journalists of writing as though the existence of the ancient Jewish temples on the Temple Mount were a disputable question, with two legitimate "competing narratives". According to Professor Davila, "reporters need to get it straight that there is no debate among specialists in specialist literature about the existence of the Iron Age II Judean Temple and the Second and Herodian Temples in Jerusalem on the Temple Mount platform. Again, narratives to the contrary are propaganda, not scholarship."¹⁴

Tragically, the propaganda has had another result. In April 2016, a resolution on Jerusalem drafted on behalf of the Palestinians by seven Muslim countries was adopted by the Executive Council of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The resolution essentially erased the Temple Mount's Jewish history, referring to it only as "al-Aksa Mosque/al-Haram al Sharif and its surroundings" and to the Western Wall as the "al-Buraq Plaza". This was not only an undeserved victory for the Palestinians but also for Islam.

Perhaps the greatest oddity is that Temple denial runs counter to Islamic history. In 1924, the Supreme Moslem Council published an English-language tourist guide to the Temple Mount entitled ‘A Brief Guide to al-Haram al-Sharif’, which stated (p4): “The site is one of the oldest in the world. Its sanctity dates from the earliest times. Its identity with the site of Solomon's Temple is beyond dispute. This, too, is the spot, according to universal belief, on which David built there an altar unto the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings”¹⁵ [my emphasis]. It even adds the reference to 2 Samuel 24:5.

The guide was reprinted several times, but withdrawn from sale in 1954. A professional-quality replica is presently advertised on CCNow.com for £6.05 + P&P!

Denials of Biblical Archaeology

Here are two examples of Palestinian attempts to deny the archaeological record, published in Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, the Palestinian Authority’s national newspaper, in Ramallah. On 5 October 2015, according to the writer, Yahya Rabah, a member of the Fatah Leadership Committee in Gaza:

Netanyahu turned to the old fraud, the fraud of the Jewish myths and the historical lies, that are refuted by the book of the first Jews, the Bible, and that have been refuted by hundreds of archaeological missions over hundreds of years, that did not find remains of the myths according to which Palestine is the land of the Jews and their homeland…”¹⁶

The propaganda is misleading Western journalists and influencing global politics.

Then on 16 September, in the London-based edition of the same paper, Jihad Al-Khazen wrote, “In college I was a student of history. I focused on the modern history of the Middle East, but the material also included the study of ancient history, on the assumption that it serves as a ‘background’ for the present. I ask the students of religion to accept what I say: there are no Jewish archaeological remnants in our lands. There are no archaeological remains of kingdoms or prophets…”.¹⁷

This latter writer is no mere lightweight. According to the Emirates Centre for Strategic Studies and Research (2017), he is a Lebanese columnist based in London, a board member of the Arab Thought Foundation and also a Member of the Board of Advisors of the World Bank, Middle East and North Africa. He has a BA degree in Political Science and a Masters in Arabic Literature from the American University of Beirut: he should know better!

Much more recently (5 October 2017), speaking of excavations in Jerusalem, the Palestinian Authority’s Minister of Jerusalem Affairs, Governor of the Jerusalem District, Adnan Al-Hussein, said, "Most of the antiquities that have been found in these excavations are antiquities from the Islamic culture in its different periods - along with Roman, Byzantine, and Umayyad antiquities - and Israel's claims regarding the finding of Jewish antiquities are a clear falsification of the city’s history."¹⁸

Such claims are so easy to refute that one wonders why and how they should even be contemplated, let alone expressed publicly. Next week we will turn to the archaeological record and ask why the Palestinian narrative departs so totally from reality.

References

1 Usher, B. Trumplomacy: Key takeaways from Jerusalem policy shift. BBC News, 7 December 2017.

2 Marcus, I and Zilberdik, NJ. PA: Jews have no history in "Palestine". PMW Bulletin, 14 December 2017.

3 Dahl, Z. In Their Own Words: An Invented Palestinian Nation. The American Spectator, 6 May 2016.

4 PA and Fatah personalities: Mahmoud Abbas. Palestinian Media Watch.

5 Ahren, R and Lieber, D. Israel’s leaders atypically quiet after Abbas asserts their state is invalid. Times of Israel, 15 December 2017. The phrase “to distort the words from their [proper] usages” is an expression directly quoted from the Qur’an, widely interpreted to refer to the Jews.

6 Rewriting history: Palestinian history fabricated. Palestinian Media Watch.

7 How Israelis and Palestinians see Trump’s Jerusalem move. PBS News, 6 December 2017.

8 Arafat said Jesus was a Palestinian. Palestinian author and TV host agree. Youtube/Palestinian Media Watch, 23 December 2010.

9 Rewriting history: Jesus misrepresented as “Muslim Palestinian”. Palestinian Media Watch.

10 Ibid.

11 MEMRI translation. Hollander, R. Updated: The Battle Over Jerusalem and the Temple Mount. CAMERA, 24 July 2017.

12 Rewriting history: Jewish history rewritten. Palestinian Media Watch.

13 Marcus, I and Zilberdik, NJ. The PA denies Jewish history in Jerusalem: The Jewish Temple is "the alleged Temple". PMW Bulletin, 11 August 2011.

14 Davila, JR. Temple Mount Watch: The BBC is taking Jewish-Temple denial in Palestinian circles rather more seriously than it deserves. Paleojudaica.com, 2 June 2009.

15 Supreme Muslim Council, 1924. A Brief Guide to Al Haram Al Sharif Jerusalem. Jerusalem.

16 PA depicts a world without Israel. Palestinian Media Watch.

17 Ibid.

18 Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, 5 October 2017. See note 2.

[All Scripture quotes NKJV]

Israel warned that horses and chariots cannot be trusted

With all the threats Israel is now facing, it is perfectly understandable that they should be sharpening their swords as they prepare for the worst the enemy can throw at them.

A strong defence force is certainly necessary. But an even more serious danger is that they should rely on the power of their weapons, or indeed on their own strength of will and character, along with their growing expertise in military innovations.

It is dangerous because it demonstrates that they are relying on what the Bible refers to as “horses and chariots” rather than on the Lord who called them, as his chosen people, to be a light to the Gentiles.

For it is only when we trust the Lord with all our hearts and do not lean on our own understanding that God will give us the guidance we need in order to tread the path for which he has destined us (see Proverbs 3:5f).

Hope for a Turning

As one who loves Israel, I am not blind to the fact that many of its citizens lead a sinful lifestyle. This is no reason to withdraw support for the beleaguered nation, but they do need to repent of their waywardness and godlessness.

As they have done so many times in their long history, they have absorbed the ways of the world around them – and so we witness political correctness here as elsewhere, most starkly seen in a defiance of sexual morality.

But they are the people of the Book, who gave the world the Bible, the Ten Commandments and Jesus himself. God is saying: do not wait until you are overrun by enemies before you turn back to the Lord, who called you out of slavery in Egypt with a mighty hand. He urges you to trust him now!

It is only when we trust the Lord with all our hearts and do not lean on our own understanding that God will give us the guidance we need.

That said, thousands of Jews gathered to pray for rain at Jerusalem’s Western Wall on 28 December in response to the call of Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel – and God has clearly answered with an abundant outpouring, coming with such force that it has caused flooding in places.

I very much hope that we are seeing the beginnings of a turning to God in Israel, and the fact that a Government minister has initiated a call to prayer is quite amazing, and hugely encouraging.¹

Self-Reliance the Worst of Sins

I can’t recall why, but my wife and I were discussing Israel’s sin, and whether God’s judgment was inevitable, before turning to our daily reading which is our habit every morning. We use the ‘Every Day with Jesus’ notes of the late Selwyn Hughes which focus on a theme over a two-month period drawn together by a variety of different Scripture passages. So we opened the little book and found that the text for the day was Hosea 14:1-3: “Return, Israel, to the Lord your God. Your sins have been your downfall” (v1). It goes on: “Assyria cannot save us; we will not mount warhorses…” (v3) (for Assyria, perhaps we should read America!).

The Lord was clearly in on our discussion and had a ready answer! Bear in mind that the Prophet was concluding his book which pictures Israel as an adulterous wife who repeatedly runs after other men, breaking the first commandment that we should have no other gods in our lives.

Self-reliance is thus the worst of sins because we put ourselves in God’s place and we are saying we can live without him; that he is redundant. This is gross idolatry, and we must repent of it.

DAVID COUNTRY: Yad HaShmona, in the Judean hills, not far from the Valley of Elah where David defeated Goliath.Notice, however, that in spite of their serial adultery, God has not forsaken Israel; he has not divorced the one he loves. He loves her with an everlasting love (Jer 31:3). He has entered into a covenant relationship which cannot be broken. But we should not abuse his great faithfulness.

In the Name of the Lord Almighty

The recent archaeological find near Tel Aviv, suggesting human activity in the area half-a-million years ago, did not exactly excite me. Far more edifying was the August 2015 find in Gath, a city once occupied by Philistines who plotted against the Israelites, their sworn enemies, and the home of the infamous Goliath!

The huge gates uncovered by archaeologists² were thought to be indestructible. But in an extraordinary battle in the Valley of Elah, a young man who trusted in the Lord brought down their giant leader with a single stone, proving indeed that the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength (1 Cor 1:25).

I very much hope that we are seeing the beginnings of a turning to God in Israel.

Goliath defied the armies of Israel, but David responded: “Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?” (1 Sam 17:26). And he taunted the giant: “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied” (1 Sam 17:45).

Like other nations, Israel needs to seek forgiveness from God for succumbing to the ways of the world as well as for their outright disobedience to his commandments. We need to move from independence – the great sin of the age – to reliance upon God.

Isn’t it time we heard Israel’s leaders say, with great clarity and in defiance of political correctness, that we do not trust in sword or spear or javelin, nor even on our allies, but in the name of the Lord Almighty?

References

1 David Soakell of Christian Friends of Israel in his Watching Over Zion newsletter, 11 January 2018.

2 Archaeologists unearth the gate to Goliath’s hometown. Times of Israel, 5 August 2015.

The rain descends.

As we continue to republish the 1995 classic volume ‘Blessing the Church?’, David Forbes turns from the Latter Rain Movement’s early precursors to the movement’s outbreak and spread.

As stated last week, the Sharon group were much affected by the teaching of Franklin Hall on fasting. Ern Hawtin wrote in his account of the beginnings of the 'Latter Rain Revival':

The truth of fasting was one great contributing factor to the revival. One year before this we had read Franklin Hall's book, entitled 'Atomic Power with God Through Fasting and Prayer'. We immediately began to practise fasting. Previously we had not understood the possibility of long fasts. The revival would never have been possible without the restoration of this great truth through our good brother Hall.¹

However, he failed to give any biblical reasoning or explanation of 'this great truth' and how it brought revival.

So having returned from the Branham meeting they decided to put Franklin Hall's teaching into practice and according to George Hawtin, “Some fasted for 3 days; some for 7 days; some fasted for 10 days; some 2 weeks; some for 3 weeks; some fasted for 30 days; and one man fasted for 40 days”.

It was not however until February 1948 that the long-awaited revival arrived. On 11 February, one of the Bible School young ladies prophesied “saying that we were on the very verge of a great revival, and that all we had to do was open the door, and we could enter in”. When she had finished prophesying, George Hawtin rose and prayed “beseeching God and telling him that he had informed us that we were on the very verge of a great revival, and all we had to do was enter the door but George Hawtin said, ‘Father, we do not know where the door is, neither do we know how to enter it’”.

The following day, 12 February, was described by Ern Hawtin as follows in his report How this Revival Began:

…I shall never forget the morning that God moved into our midst in this strange new manner. Some students were under the power of God on the floor, others were kneeling in adoration and worship before the Lord. The anointing deepened until the awe of God was upon everyone. The Lord spoke to one of the brethren, 'Go and lay hands upon a certain student and pray for him'. While he was in doubt and contemplation one of the sisters who had been under the power of God went to the brother saying the same words, and naming the identical student he was to pray for. He went in obedience and the revelation was given concerning the student's life and future ministry.

After this a long prophecy was given [by Ern Hawtin] with minute details concerning the great thing God was about to do. The pattern for the revival and many details concerning it were given. To this day [his report was written 1 August 1949] I can remember the gist of the prophecy, “These are the last days, my people. The coming of the Lord draweth nigh, and I shall move in the midst of mine own. The gifts of the Spirit will be restored to my church. If thou shalt obey me I shall immediately restore them. But Oh my people I would have you to be reverent before me as never before. Take the shoes off thy feet for the ground on which thou standest is holy. If thou dost not reverence the Lord and his House, the Lord shall require it at thy hands. Do not speak lightly of the things I am about to do for the Lord shall not hold thee guiltless. Do not gossip about these things. Do not write letters to thy nearest friends, of the new way in which the Lord moveth, for they will not understand. If thou dost disobey the Lord in these things take heed lest thy days be numbered in sorrow and thou goest early to the grave. Thou hast obeyed me and I shall restore my gifts to you. I shall indicate from time to time those who are to receive the gifts of my Spirit. They shall be received by prophecy and the laying on of hands of the presbytery.”

Immediately following this prophecy, a sister who was under the power of God gave by revelation the names of five students who were ready to receive. Hands were laid upon them by the presbytery. This procedure was very faltering and imperfect that morning but after two days searching the word of God to see if we were on scriptural grounds, great unity prevailed and the Lord came forth in greater power and glory day by day. Soon a visible manifestation of gifts was received when candidates were prayed over, and many as a result began to be healed as gifts of healing were received. Day after day the glory and power of God came amongst us. Great repentance, humbling, fasting and prayer prevailed in everyone.²

Ern Hawtin's prophecy stated that “the gifts of the Spirit will be restored to my church”. Although one of the main marks of the advent of Pentecostalism at the turn of the century was the manifestation and operation of the gifts of the Spirit, there had been a general falling away of the use of these gifts amongst the Pentecostal churches, and this lack had been recognised. It was this lack that brought the events at North Battleford into the limelight.

There had been a falling away of the use of spiritual gifts in Pentecostal churches, and it was this lack that brought events at North Battleford into the limelight.

Because the North Battleford brothers were successful in imparting spiritual gifts by the laying on of their hands, people came from all across Canada and the United States to their meetings so that they, too, might partake of these spiritual gifts for which many of them had long been praying.

As mentioned last week, the leadership of the Pentecostal denominations were not prepared to accept that the baptism and gifts of the Holy Spirit could be imparted by the laying on of hands. For nearly 50 years they had clung to the methodology of the Azusa Street revival in which 'tarrying' or waiting for the coming of the Holy Spirit on one's life was practised (Acts 1:4). Ernest S Williams, who was General Superintendent of the Assemblies of God at that time, said, “Concerning the nine gifts spoken of in 1 Corinthians 12, if you will carefully read the account I think you will discern that they each come directly from God's sovereign bestowment; I do not find any record where they are to be bestowed by means of an intermediate channel”.

Of course if one reads the record of the Acts of the Apostles we find that no one methodology was used as far as receiving the baptism in the Holy Spirit is concerned (Acts 2:4, 8:17, 10:44). However, we need to remember that the question of formulae and methods in ministry, including the use of the laying on of hands, has never been adequately resolved in the charismatic movement.

The Movement Spreads

In keeping with the injunction in the prophecy over publishing news of the 'revival', the March issue of The Sharon Star contained no news of what had happened, but an editorial on the subject appeared in the April issue. This published report undoubtedly played a large part in attracting a larger-than-usual number to the 1948 Annual Feast of Pentecost camp meeting. Its front page had also carried headlines reporting 'Two Modern Miracles' involving healing at Sharon Bible College.

There were many testimonies from pastors across the country as to how God had empowered them during their time at the camp meetings so that it had revolutionised their home churches and by May 1948, parallels were already being drawn with the earlier Pentecostal revival of 1906. George Hawtin suspected that “revival is breaking out among small groups all over America and no doubt in other countries as well”. There were certainly reports from Norway that some kind of revival was taking place among Pentecostals at that time.

The question of formulae and methods in ministry, including the use of the laying on of hands, has never been adequately resolved in the charismatic movement.

Hawtin also noted that the restoration of the gifts of the Spirit was the result of God giving “new revelation” of truth from the Scriptures. He wrote that “great revivals always are accompanied by some present truth when old light is rediscovered...”.³ It soon became a prominent idea in the movement and created an expectation that the Lord would continue to reveal new truth from the scriptures.

This belief in a new wave of the progressive revelation of scriptural truth through prophecy became widespread and has continued to be a pervasive influence in charismatic churches, thousands of which have adopted various ideas that became prominent in the ministry of the North Battleford brethren.

Points of Controversy

As in the case of Branham and the healing evangelists, the Sharon group were keen to stress their concerns for unity. Reg Layzell, who was one of seven men 'ordained' by the Sharon leadership to exercise an 'apostolic ministry' on behalf of the 'Presbytery' but who subsequently became disillusioned to the extent that he disassociated himself from them, said following the camp meeting of July 1948, “The great message that stirred all souls was first the message of the Body of Christ coming together”,⁴ and George Warnock noted in the preface to the first edition of The Feast of Tabernacles, that “God came forth in answer to the prayer and fasting of his children, poured out the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and revealed the fact that now at this time He would bring His body together, and make His Church one glorious Church without spot or wrinkle”.⁵

However, the problem was that 'unity' always appeared to depend upon an acceptance of the teachings and practices which they as God's specially anointed apostles and prophets were now revealing. This of course was not biblical. The scriptures plainly teach that the foundation of our unity lies in our relationship by faith with the Lord Jesus. It is maintained by our daily obedience to the precepts and teachings recorded for us in the scriptures. Paul refers to this in his first letter to the Corinthian believers (1 Cor 11:2) and Jude exhorts us to “contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints” (Jude 3).

Another point of controversy that arose at that time between the North Battleford group and the leaders of the Pentecostal denominations was the former's insistence that the Church had present-day apostles and prophets. The first indication of this controversy appeared in the 1 June 1948 issue of The Sharon Star when George Hawtin wrote: “When one starts talking about prophets and apostles being in the Church in our day, the poor saints are shocked half to death. They raise their hands in holy terror and cry, ‘heresy, heresy!’".

However, the point of controversy with the Pentecostal denominations was not simply the question per se of 'prophets and apostles being in the church in our day'. There is undoubtedly a vital place in the Church for the ministry of apostles and prophets as mentioned in Ephesians 4:11, but the issue was, and remains, whether this or any other Scripture allows us to conclude that God has now raised up within the Church 'special' apostles and prophets through whom he gives extra-biblical revelation and the power of extraordinary signs and wonders to guide and direct his people in these 'last days'.

The belief in a new wave of the progressive revelation of scriptural truth through prophecy became widespread and has continued to be a pervasive influence in charismatic churches.

Also appearing in the June issue of The Sharon Star was the statement that “no church exercises or has any right to exercise authority or jurisdiction over another, its pastors or members”. This statement did nothing to help the Sharon group's growing estrangement from the main Pentecostal denominations and would have been more helpful had Hawtin applied it to the excesses of authoritarianism and elitism that later developed in connection with the 'travelling presbytery' from North Battleford, of which he was a part and which was accused of exercising considerable authority over people in other church situations by means of directive prophecy.

The Teaching of George Warnock

During 7-18 July 1948, thousands of people throughout the North American continent, having heard of the North Battleford awakening, flocked to the Sharon Camp Meeting held there at that time.

It had been preceded by a week of fasting and prayer from 27 June to 4 July which had also been widely attended. Among those attending was George Warnock, who had earlier, for two or three years, been personal secretary to Ern Baxter. It was at this time that he heard James Watt, one of the teachers at the Camp Meeting, casually mention that the third of Israel's great feasts, the Feast of Tabernacles, had not yet been fulfilled.

According to Warnock: “I somehow never forgot that, and over the period of a year or more following this, the message seemed to grow on me as I read the Scriptures…James certainly dropped a seed in my heart when he spoke of the Feast of Tabernacles…”.⁶

In July 1951, Sharon Publishers printed George Warnock's book, The Feast of Tabernacles, which became a major doctrinal work of the Latter Rain movement.

Warnock's thesis was that the three great annual feasts of the Lord in Israel's worship, which are set out in considerable detail in Leviticus and Deuteronomy, pre-figure and typify the whole Church age, beginning with the Cross and consummating in the manifestation of the sons of God (explained further next week) and the glorious display of God's power and glory.

There is of course truth in much of Warnock's work, because there is a real sense in which we can see Israel's feasts as a pre-figure of events in the New Testament. For example, Pentecost and the coming of the Holy Spirit and obviously Passover and the death of Jesus. But what about the Feast of Tabernacles?

Warnock's proposal was that the Feast of Tabernacles is analogous to what he called “the manifestation of the sons of God” (Rom 8). He taught that the Church needed to be restored. The Church was weak, the Church was diseased, the Church was totally defeated, the Church was ineffective and needed restoration.

According to Warnock, that restoration would be done in one particular way. He stated clearly that all the orthodox understanding about restoration should be discarded. Restoration would not come through reading the Bible, would not come from praying, and would not come through fasting. It would only come through the aegis of God's apostles and prophets.

Warnock taught that the Church needed to be restored through the aegis of God’s apostles and prophets.

This of course was one of the assertions of the Hawtin brothers. God would restore his Church through his newly-appointed apostles and prophets, who of course included themselves. In similar vein they were also the presbytery through whose hands God's new blessings of power and gifting were to be received. Warnock therefore taught that God was raising up new apostles and prophets and that they would restore the Church; they would bring the Church into perfection, and they would bring the Church into - he never actually used the word 'immortality' - but said they would bring forth a Church which would never know disease, which would never die, and so on. This of course brings us back full circle to Franklin Hall.

These teachings were from the 'new revelation of truth' stream which became so prominent in the Latter Rain movement and which has continued to dog the charismatic movement throughout its history. No honest examination of the biblical text can substantiate these eschatological extravagances. Acts 1 records that the Lord Jesus will physically return to earth as he physically left it and the Apostle Paul made it quite clear that he would be released from “this body of death” only at the Lord's return. It would be then that he would change “our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body” (Phil 3:21). Likewise, the Apostle John tells us that “when he appears, we shall be like him” (1 John 3:2).

Next week: The movement declines and reforms.

This article is part of a series. Click here for previous instalments.

References

1 Riss, R, 1987. Latter Rain. Honeycomb Visual Productions Ltd, Ontario, p60.

2 Warnock, G, 1951. The Feast of Tabernacles. Sharon Publishers, N. Battleford, pp3-4.

3 Riss, R, Latter Rain (see 1), p70.

4 Ibid, p74.

5 Warnock, G, The Feast of Tabernacles (see 2), p3.

6 Riss, R, Latter Rain (see 1), p74.

Paul Luckraft reviews ‘The Death of Western Christianity’ by Patrick Sookhdeo (Isaac Publishing, 2017).

Patrick Sookhdeo’s latest book must be one of the most important to emerge in 2017. Its penetrating analysis of the decline and possible demise of Christianity in the Western world is both alarming and yet highly plausible, simply because he adequately demonstrates something that Tozer first articulated, that the God of modern Christianity is not the God of the Bible (p3).

The beliefs of historic Christianity have been bent to satisfy our own self-indulgent needs and lifestyles. He claims that in our post-Christian era the Church in the West is scarcely distinguishable from the world and concludes that it is “well and truly trapped in the dungeons of its own decadence” (p14).

There are excellent if somewhat succinct sections on the many issues that have contributed towards the death throes of Christianity, including pluralism, hedonism, consumerism and especially Cultural Marxism, which is a major influence on our society today and has done so much damage to our foundations.

In addition, the onslaught of contemporary culture has already had a devastating effect upon the morals of younger people who profess Christianity but whose main goal in life remains that of self-fulfilment.

Sookhdeo’s latest book must be one of the most important to emerge in 2017.

Getting to the Heart of the Problem

There is also an illuminating chapter on our current post-truth era. The effect of such ‘truth decay’ has been to create ‘alternative facts’, ‘fake news’, ‘redefined realities’ and a situation where lying is seen as acceptable, even actively encouraged. Sookhdeo argues that the Church must take its share of the blame as it “has been influenced by the post-truth phenomenon and has been at times complicit in its spread” (p79).

In one of the most disturbing parts of the book the author explains that the marginalisation of Christianity has now been accomplished and the next phase is its criminalisation. The issues of discrimination, hate crime and hate speech are well explained and illustrated. Christians are now subject to intense scrutiny and even entrapment. Even the simple threat of prosecution can have a chilling and destabilising effect.

The key chapter of the book is that on Christian identity, which the author pinpoints as the heart of the problem. Losing our distinctive identity and calling means we lose the right to exist, but regaining it offers a means of survival and eventual re-strengthening. Here is the way forward, based upon knowing what we should believe and actually believing it, which includes living it out without fear or compromise.

A Stark and Difficult Message

Overall the author paints a disturbing and rather demoralising picture, one in which the Western Church can stand accused of dereliction of duty, even apostasy. How the Church has gone from Apostolic to apostate is a sad tale to relate, and not an easy one to read. The message is stark: “The West is not merely passively post-Christian and indifferent to Christianity; it is now actively anti-Christian and profoundly intolerant of the Christian faith” (p99). But it is a message that must be understood.

For the Church, losing its distinctive Christian identity and calling means it loses the right to exist.

Sookhdeo packs his book with many facts and figures, especially from the US, and uses many examples to make his case. Of course, there are exceptions to this dire situation; there will always be a faithful remnant. Revival and reversal are always possible, but preparing for even greater persecution in the future must be taken seriously.

The book ends with 28 pages of sources and references, an index of biblical references and a comprehensive general index.

The Death of Western Christianity (214pp) is available for £10 (free postage) from the Barnabas Fund website. Retails at £12.99.

Our calendars are already reflecting the beginning of a new year. As we leave the end-of-year holidays behind, our new diaries are gradually filling up with this year’s priorities. Soon our clocks will ‘spring forward’ to recognise longer and warmer days. On we go with the expectancy of a new year! Back we go to work, with our personal priorities before us.

So before we gather momentum to attend once again to our individual responsibilities, becoming fully engrossed in 2018, let us ensure we are not being driven: that we go forward in the peace of God in this world – a world that seems to be ever accelerating.

Driven by Time?

Time is a strange concept to understand. There can be no doubt that it is part of God’s created order, and we must all live within its framework. It is a measure of change and a marker of events, but was it always the master that it seems to be today?

When God created the universe, he set the sun, moon and stars in place to measure days, times and seasons. But it is mankind that has further subdivided our days with the invention of ever more accurate clocks and watches, with their ability to drive us to obey them in ordering our days. This is the world in which we live, but do we sometimes allow ourselves to be driven too hard by the artificial nano-seconds of time, rather than pace ourselves more as God ordained by his creation of time?

It is only since the Industrial Revolution that the automation of machines has made them gradually more our masters than our servants. The further we look back into history, the more we discover a better way of managing time in line with days and seasons.

Timeless Activities

But even in this clock-driven world, there are some activities in which, touching the reality of Heaven, time is put in its proper perspective. Sometimes it is said that God is outside of time. That, to me, is true - but not the whole truth, because we still walk with Him in this world, though He is in His domain. He is not inconsiderate of our lives in this changing world whilst remaining in His heavenly dwelling place that is, in some sense, an eternal present.

Yet, there are activities that cause us to put our own existence in perspective of that eternal present. Among these can be sharing a meal together in a traditional way, when our clocks are not the main point of reference, and other such times of rest and recreation. Another place where time is not the priority, but in heavenly balance, is the place of prayer and study, a place of deep communion with God.

Perhaps in this new year we might resolve to use our time better on such occasions, when relationship-building is more important than, say, an appointment with the next TV programme or our next text message to someone not in the same room.

The Place of Peace

The test of whether we are in balance with time and eternity is how well we are living at peace – the peace of God - in all things. If we have true peace, then we are not being driven artificially by the time-driven agendas of modern life. With some modifications to our present lifestyle, we can still perform our duties on this earth while retaining the peace of God.

May this be our personal objective as our new calendars herald a new season: to remain in closer contact with the eternal place of God.

May the peace of God be with us all.

Author: Clifford Denton

The real reason why our NHS is in dire straits.

The New Year headlines and editorials around Britain are filled with crisis in the NHS, with the Government insisting that there is no crisis.

They say that the postponement of 12,000 operations and the appeals to the public not to go to A&E unless it is a real emergency are simply the result of careful planning. There’s nothing wrong with the NHS: all arrangements are in hand to get our health and care services through the winter.

The Government hopes that we will all be reassured by these statements; but still the reports persist of overcrowded hospitals, patients left on corridors for hours, ambulances queueing up outside A&E departments (for which the PM has now apologised) and elderly patients blocking beds because there is no place for them to go in the community.

Facing Up to Reality

So, what is the truth? Every year more and more money is poured into the NHS, more doctors and nurses are recruited, more operations are carried out, medical science advances, more diseases are being successfully treated, more and more people are living longer. But still the demands upon the NHS increase year on year and – as always – we have the usual New Year outbursts of anger that our great National Health Service, the pride of the nation, is not performing as well as we would like.

Without disputing the incredible work done by our health professionals, it is not excessive these days to suggest that the NHS is fast becoming the golden calf at the centre of our national religion, before which we bow our heads and worship.

Without disputing the incredible work of our health professionals, it is not excessive to suggest that the NHS is becoming the golden calf at the centre of our national religion.

We sacrifice our wealth at the NHS altar and in return we receive multitudes of pills and potions to satisfy our cravings and ward off the consequences of over-indulgence. We replace parts of our bodies in our search for eternal life hoping that they will never wear out. The noble origins of our tremendous health service are being augmented and warped beyond recognition to gratify our lust for physical wellbeing, long life and free promiscuity.

It is little wonder that despite everything we do to improve our great NHS, the demands upon it grow steadily year upon year.

Why is this? Why do we never stop to ask fundamental questions about the NHS and the health of the nation?

Ambulance waiting area outside St Thomas's Hospital, central London. See Photo Credits.

The Real Trouble

What is the real trouble with the NHS? It all comes down to 2 words – family breakdown!

Why are so many elderly patients bed-blocking in hospital because there’s no one to care for them in the community? The answer is – family breakdown.

Why are so many beds in our hospitals occupied by mental health patients? The answer is – family breakdown.

Why are so many people going to their GPs with depression? The answer is – family breakdown.

Why are our care facilities in the community under such strain? The answer is – family breakdown.

Why are there so many long-term people off work? The answer is – family breakdown.

Surely it’s time we recognised that the nation is sick! Why is the nation sick? The answer is – family breakdown.

What is Driving This?

Is there a simple reason why this is happening? There certainly is! We have abandoned our Judeo-Christian value system, which put family and community at the heart of the nation.

Former generations did not have everything right; there was plenty of evidence of injustice and an unequal distribution of resources. But there was one thing they did get right – faithful commitment in marriage, with love and care in the community at the very centre of national life – thanks to the efforts of evangelists and intercessors down the ages who helped establish the Bible as the moral foundation of British society.

Our nation is sick because of family breakdown – which has happened as we have abandoned our Judeo-Christian value system.

Happy, faithful, loving family life produces happy, stable, loving and healthy children. It is in the family where children are taught the basic values of community, of love for one another, of respect, of recognition of the rights of others, of dealing with disagreements in a non-violent manner, of finding pleasure in making others happy and of caring for one another.

All these things are a normal part of family life in a nation whose values are drawn from the Judeo-Christian heritage of the Bible. The Bible is the only blueprint in the world for marriage and the family that really works and leads to blessing – based as it is on God’s good design for humanity.

The Biblical Model

The teaching given by St Paul to the Christians in Corinth was brilliant. He based his teaching on Christian family and community upon the illustration of a body – a healthy body in which each of the parts performed their function. Each part was equally essential to the health, vitality and right functioning of the whole. He said “The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I don’t need you!’ And the head cannot say to the feet, ‘I don’t need you!’ On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable” (1 Cor 12:21).

The Christians in Corinth were living in a hostile social environment with paganism all around them and increasing pressure from the government in Rome who hated Judeo-Christianity and tried to force everyone to worship the Emperor.

Our situation today is not very different and it is likely to get more difficult for Christians to witness to the truth in an increasingly hostile, secular humanist environment. It is essential, if our faith is to survive, that we not only teach the faith within our families, but in our community life we demonstrate the practical worth of biblical principles.

We have something of immense value to communicate here in the West, to nations that have had the truth for centuries but are now deliberately turning to false gods like Darwinism and Epicureanism, which deceive with their material trinkets and Godless hedonism. The West is totally neglecting – even denying - the fundamental values that lead to true health and well-being of both individuals and communities.

If our faith is to survive, we must not only teach the faith within our families, but in our community life demonstrate the practical worth of biblical principles.

Our Task

The New Year message that we need to convey to the world is to show the essential nature of biblical family and community, where love and respect for one another – putting others ahead of self – and finding true fulfilment in service become part of our nature. Only then will others begin to listen to the Gospel we preach.

Paul’s teaching on family and community defines the essence of love that needs to be taught and demonstrated by Christians today. He says:

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. (1 Cor 13. 4-8)

This kind of love cannot be taught in the classroom or studied in a university library. It must be lived out and conveyed in family life by those who have come to a personal knowledge of the love of God our Father through faith in Jesus Christ as Lord of all.

Apocalyptic battle will be over the status of Jerusalem

In the wake of the worldwide denunciation of President Trump’s earth-shaking decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, nations are now queueing up to follow his lead.

And yet even while archaeological finds further confirm Jewish connection to the City over thousands of years, the UK and other major European powers stubbornly refuse to face reality.

In joining the predictable chorus of disapproval at the UN, the British people are in ever-increasing danger of being numbered among the goats of Judgment Day referred to by Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew (25:31-46).

This passage is widely interpreted to relate to how the peoples of the world have treated God’s chosen race – the “brothers and sisters” (in the flesh) of our Saviour, who was born the King of Israel (Matt 2:2) and is coming back as the Lion of the Tribe of Judah (Rev 5:5).

Isaiah writes: “For the nation or kingdom that will not serve you will perish; it will be utterly ruined” (60:12; see also Mic 5:15).

Sheep and Goats

On my latest tour of Israel, I learnt a fascinating lesson that I believe relates to this important passage (Matt 25) – that sheep keep the grass neatly cut with their grazing while goats pull it out by the roots.

In the same way, true disciples of Jesus, the Great Shepherd, should follow him closely and feed on the rich pasture he has provided, that is nourished by the Law of Moses along with the patriarchs and prophets of Judaism. The goats, on the other hand, cut themselves off from the roots of their faith, as a result of which their pasture withers and dies (see Rom 11:17f).

Goats cut themselves off from the roots of their faith, as a result of which their pasture withers and dies.

Actually, the US Congress voted to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital 22 years ago, but successive Presidents have simply put off implementing the decision until now. And Czech President Milos Zeman has accused EU states opposing this stance as “cowards”.¹

Arab Realism

Even Arab commentators are encouraging their people to accept reality. A Saudi academic, for example, has called on Arabs to recognise Jerusalem’s sanctity to Jews. Abdulhameed Hakeem, head of the Middle East Centre for Strategic and Legal Studies in Jedda, told US-based Alhurra Television that Trump’s move constitutes a “positive shock” to the peace process, adding: “We must recognise and realise that Jerusalem is a religious symbol to Jews and sacred to them, as Mecca and Medina is to Muslims.”²

And in an article last year, he stressed that Israel and Saudi Arabia faced a common Nazi-like threat in Iran,³ which has reportedly pledged every assistance to terror group Hamas in “the battle for the defence of Jerusalem”.⁴

With its efforts to make good on a long-promised boast to wipe Israel off the map, Iran continues to be a serious threat (despite encouraging protests from within the rogue regime), establishing a military base in Syria while at the same time supplying terror group Hezbollah with a huge stash of weapons on Israel’s northern border.

Choose Whom You Will Serve

So, with the nations as a whole setting their face against Israel, and denying their right both to the Land and their capital, the stage is being set for the battle of the ages. According to the Bible, it will take place at Armageddon (or the plain of Jezreel) in northern Israel (Rev 16:16), but the trigger will be Jerusalem.

Although physical in nature, it will in reality be more of a spiritual conflict determining who is ultimately in charge of the ways of men and the world.

The stage is being set for the battle of the ages, which will determine who is in charge of the ways of men and the world.

Elijah of old was engaged in a great battle with 400 false prophets in this same region, and he won hands down with only God on his side – which is all he needed, of course (see 1 Kings 18). Frustrated at the idolatry of his people, the Prophet famously laid down the rules for the contest: The God who answered by fire would be the victor. And sure enough, the fire of the Lord burnt up the sacrifice and the people changed their mind about their allegiance.

BATTLEFIELD VIEW: A stunning scene of the plain of Jezreel, otherwise known as Armageddon, from the traditional site of Elijah’s battle with the false prophets on Mt Carmel. Picture: Linda GardnerThat bloody contest – all the false prophets were subsequently slaughtered – took place on Mt Carmel which, as it happens, overlooks Armageddon where the final great battle will be enacted, quite possibly in the very near future especially since, as the prophets have foretold, it will be over the status of Jerusalem (see Zech 12:2f).

It may come as a surprise to some that Jerusalem is God’s very own City – he effectively owns it; it bears his name (see Dan 9:18f; Neh 1:9). But false deities, with the connivance of numerous world powers, refuse to acknowledge this. They are setting a trap into which they will fall!

Jesus lamented over Jerusalem because of their rejection of him, but at the same time prophesied their ultimate acceptance of his rule (Matt 23:39). He has not finished with Jerusalem; he will come back just as he left (Acts 1:11).

Confirmation Upon Confirmation

Further confirmation of Israel’s claim to the Land has come from recent archaeological finds.

A replica of a first-century coin, dated 67 AD and containing the inscription ‘Jerusalem the Holy’, was held up at a session of the United Nations Security Council by Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon.⁵ And a seal owned by Jerusalem’s governor some 2,700 years ago has been unearthed near the Western Wall. It contains an inscription in ancient Hebrew and supports the biblical rendering of the existence of a governor in the City at the time.⁶

Speaking of the find, Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat said: “Jerusalem is one of the most ancient capitals in the world, continually populated by the Jewish people for more than 3,000 years.”⁷ Another recent find – 1,300-year-old coins from the Islamic Umayyad Dynasty imprinted with an image of the menorah from the Jewish Temple – shows that early Muslims acknowledged the City’s Jewish identity. According to Assaf Avraham of Bar-Ilan University, they adopted the Jewish narrative and symbols for their own.⁸

Jesus has not finished with Jerusalem, which will ultimately accept his rule.

History Already Made

At the end of the day, Jews from all over the world are returning to their roots in fulfilment of many ancient Scriptures. The much-acclaimed film Lion tells the moving story of a five-year-old Indian boy, Saroo (‘Lion’), who got lost after becoming separated from his older brother, and was eventually adopted and brought up by loving ‘parents’ in Australia. But it didn’t stop the grown-up Saroo going to extraordinary lengths to trace his roots and find his beloved mother.

Yet, despite all the evidence supporting Israel’s claim, Palestinian leaders simply refuse to accept the truth. In the year 2000, Yasser Arafat turned down the chance of a comprehensive peace deal because he refused to recognise Jewish historical ties to Jerusalem’s Temple Mount. “The Jews never had a Temple at the site,” he said at the time.⁹ The entire Palestinian narrative is based on a lie that would be recognised by children at kindergarten. And yet world leaders don’t get it!

But they must get used to the idea. The God of Israel is the history-maker and has chosen the Jews to inherit the Land he has promised them. That there would be an almighty battle over the territory was always part of the script. The prophets warned that this would happen, but that Elohim (God) would be the ultimate victor, “watching over his word to perform it” (Jer 1:12).

The Messiah is waiting for that day – and I pray it will come soon – when his ancient people greet him once more with gladness, saying: “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” (Matt 23:39; Ps 118:26).

Notes

1 Czech leader slams EU ‘cowards’ on Jerusalem stance. Times of Israel, 10 December 2017.

2 Lynfield, B. Saudi academic calls on Arabs to recognize Jewish connection to Jerusalem. Jerusalem Post, 18 December 2017.

3 Ibid.

4 Lieber, D. Iran pledging all its might to Hamas for Jerusalem battle, terror group says. Times of Israel, 25 December 2017.

5 JNN, 11 December 2017, quoting Arutz-7.

6 Rare First Temple-Era Hebrew seal found at Western Wall. World Israel News, 1 January 2018.

7 Ibid.

8 Berkowitz, AE. Archaeologists Discover Muslim Artifacts Proving Jerusalem’s Jewish Identity. Breakingisraelnews, 8 December 2017.

9 Christian Friends of Israel’s Watching Over Zion newsletter, 30 November 2017.

Some news from over Christmas and the New Year to aid your prayers.

Society & Politics

• Maths teacher sues in transgender row: Oxfordshire teacher Matthew Sutcliffe, who was suspended in November for saying “Well done, girls” to female pupils when one identified as a boy, is taking his school to an employment tribunal. The case is being supported by the Christian Legal Centre. Read more here.
  
• Parents speak out against Downs abortion: A number of parents were able to speak on this issue on the BBC Radio 2 Jeremy Vine show, leading the presenter to comment that “Some advances [i.e. in pre-natal screening] are not advances”. Read more here.

Church Issues

• 150+ Christians killed over Christmas season: A number of reports have surfaced of Christians being targeted for attacks over the festive season. Please remember their families and friends in prayer at this time. Read more here and here.

World Scene

• Russia plans nationwide biometric database: State-linked companies and the Government are leading a push for access to banking to be managed via facial and voice recognition, and eventually via irises/fingerprints. Read more here.
• Guatemala to move its embassy to Jerusalem, others to follow: The South American nation is the first to announce its intention to follow the US, with others also considering a move. Guatemala has a history of supporting Israel. Read more here.

Israel & Middle East

• Rain in Israel! After a long period of drought, the arrival of lots of rain in a short period has caused flash flooding and some minor accidents, but has raised water levels in the Sea of Galilee by 3cm. Read more here.
• Knesset passes Jerusalem bill: The bill means that any future division of the City (such as to parcel off land as part of a peace deal), and/or any alteration to its status, requires a 2/3 majority in the Knesset - a virtual impossibility. Read more here.
• Crackdown on Iran protests: The Iranian regime is claiming to be successfully curbing the civilian protests that erupted in the past week - but nobody knows for sure whether or not this is true. Click here for a broad overview of the demonstrations, which have been (at least in part) against the hardline Shi’a clerical regime and its involvements in Syria, Lebanon and the Palestinian territories.
• Drama at the UN: Over the Christmas period Israel followed the USA in quitting UNESCO, while the US slashed the UN budget by $285m. The latter has also threatened to stop aid to the Palestinians – see here and here.
• New synagogue opens underneath Temple Mount: After 12 years of construction, a brand new synagogue is now open for prayer – underground, directly beneath the Western Wall. Read more and see a photo here.

Upcoming Events

• The P Word Conference (Cardiff): 27 January 2018, 10:30am-4pm, Freedom Church, Cardiff. A practical Christian response to pornography for all leaders. In partnership with CARE. For more information and for tickets, visit pwordconference.com.
• Foundations 9 (Cumbria): 19-23 March 2018, Grange-Over-Sands. Theme: 'Into the lion's den: reaching a world gone mad'. Steve Maltz's annual week-long Hebraic conference. £260 per person. Click here for more information and to book.

From North Battleford to Toronto.

David Forbes begins an examination of the influence of the 1948 North American 'Latter Rain Revival' Movement, a precursor to the Toronto ‘outpouring’.

Due to unusual events and a new teaching propounded in the preceding 18 months, in the autumn of 1949, at the 23^rd General Council meeting of the Assemblies of God in the USA, held in Seattle, Washington, the following resolution was passed by an overwhelming majority:

OFFICIAL DISAPPROVAL OF THE 'NEW ORDER OF THE LATTER RAIN'

WHEREAS, We are grateful for the visitation of God in the past and the evidences of His blessings upon us today, and

WHEREAS, We recognise a hunger on the part of God's people for a spiritual refreshing and manifestation of His Holy Spirit, be it therefore RESOLVED, That we disapprove of these extreme teachings and practices, which, being unfounded Scripturally, serve only to break fellowship of like precious faith and tend to confusion and division among the members of the Body of Christ, and be it hereby known that this 23rd General Council disapproves of the so-called 'New Order of the Latter Rain' to wit:

1. The overemphasis relative to imparting, identifying, bestowing or confirming of gifts by the laying on of hands and prophecy.

2. The erroneous teaching that the Church is built on the foundation of present-day apostles and prophets.

3. The extreme teaching as advocated by the 'New Order' regarding the confession of sin to man and deliverance as practiced, which claims prerogatives to human agency which belong only to Christ.

4. The erroneous teaching concerning the impartation of the gifts of languages as special equipment for missionary service.

5. The extreme and unscriptural practice of imparting or imposing personal leadings by the means of gifts of utterance.

6. Such other wrestings and distortions of Scripture interpretations which are in opposition to teachings and practices generally accepted among us.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That we recommend following those things which make for peace among us, and those doctrines and practices whereby we may edify one another, endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit until we all come into the unity of faith.

This resolution of the Pentecostal Assemblies was occasioned by the fact that some 18 months earlier, on 12 February 1948, the so-called 'Latter Rain Revival' had begun at the Sharon Bible School in North Battleford, Saskatchewan, Canada. This 'revival' began among about 70 students who, when their names had been prophetically revealed as being 'ready to receive', manifested 'gifts' after being ‘prayed over' and having hands laid upon them by the school leadership.

George Hawtin and his brother Ern, together with PG Hunt (who along with George had recently resigned as a pastor in the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada) and the Hawtin's brother-in-law, Milford Kirkpatrick, had some six months earlier joined the Rev Herrick Holt of the Saskatchewan Church of the Foursquare Gospel in an independent work called 'Sharon Orphanage and Schools'.¹ Together they opened Sharon Bible School on 21 October 1947.

The Pentecostal movement, which had begun with the Azusa Street revival in San Francisco in 1906, had by this time been going for over 40 years and much of its denominational life had become quite ritualised. It had lost its spontaneity and much of the use of the gifts or manifestations of the Holy Spirit in regular church life had become merely theoretical.

Since the mid-1930s there had existed a deep spiritual hunger in many Pentecostals for some kind of revival of the spiritual energy and enthusiasm, accompanied by the manifestations of the Holy Spirit's presence, that had characterised their beginnings.

In the 1930s and 1940s there was deep spiritual hunger in many Pentecostals for revival of the spiritual energy and manifestations of the Holy Spirit’s presence that had characterised their beginnings.

EARLY PRECURSORS TO THE 'LATTER RAIN'

There were two men in particular whose teaching and ministry greatly influenced those through whom the Latter Rain movement started: Franklin Hall and William Branham.

Franklin Hall

The men who started the Sharon Bible School were all looking for some kind of revival. Herrick Holt had been preaching for some time that God was going to do a 'new thing' in accordance with Isaiah 43:18-19, although he was still awaiting revelation from the Holy Spirit as to what the 'new thing' would be.²

Their expectations of revival were heightened and much influenced by a book entitled Atomic Power with God through Fasting and Prayer, written by one Franklin Hall in 1946. Hall was an ex-Methodist who had begun an independent travelling evangelistic and healing ministry. In the autumn of 1946 he had set up in San Diego, California what he called “a major fasting and prayer daily revival center”.³

However, Hall was very much into his own brand of theology. He was convinced that the Church was on the brink of a great worldwide revival, and that from this revival would emerge a victorious, perfected Church which would include the 'overcomers' who would attain immortality.

One of his particular teachings was that fasting was the primary means by which revival would come and bring in the restoration of the Church. He maintained that God always responded to fasting and that without fasting, prayer was ineffectual. However, he also maintained that all prayer, if accompanied by fasting, was effective irrespective of to whom it was made. By way of proof of this assertion, Hall would quote that the American Indian tribes had their prayers to the Great Spirit answered because they fasted.⁴

According to Hall, during the first year of ministry in the revival centre, there were over 1,000 people who claimed to have been converted, with many testifying to having been healed of various sicknesses and diseases through fasting and prayer. He also claimed actual appearances of the Holy Spirit in fire and smoke.⁵

Hall also taught that the restoration of the Church would involve the immortality of believers in the Lord Jesus by means of stages of spiritual growth. This would be achieved through a life of holiness plus various psycho-spiritual encounters (i.e. experiences with UFOs, UHOs - unidentified heavenly objects - and IHOs - immortal heavenly objects).⁶ He called this 'overcoming' which would bring a 'rain of righteousness' or 'a rain of immortality' upon the earth and revitalise the sleeping church.⁷

The teachings of Franklin Hall, an itinerant minister with his own brand of theology, greatly heightened and shaped expectations of revival.

Hall also taught a number of other strange and non-biblical doctrines including assigning spiritual significance to the signs of the zodiac. He believed that what he was encouraging was all part of the fulfilment of the ‘Joel's Army’ prophecy of Joel 2:3-11 when “gravity freed, great people will run up walls” and “permanent, lasting freedoms from all sickness, harmful, accident things and defeat will come about” in this present life.

He even went as far as to teach that “Freedom from the imprisonment of all gravitational forces will also be brought upon the whole man. This study teaches one the power and secrets of space flight...It gives the Bible formula for weightlessness, the 'raising up' power of those who come to immortality (Jn 6 and Rom 2:7)”.⁸

Despite his obviously aberrant beliefs and his works-orientated methodology with its possibly occult overtones, Franklin Hall's book was a great success and brought him some fame. Not only was it a great influence upon the Sharon Bible School brothers but others in the 'healing evangelism' stream such as Gordon Lindsay, Oral Roberts and William Branham claimed to be much influenced by its teaching.

No-one seems to have been in the least concerned about Hall's non-biblical beliefs and practices and simply accepted his fasting methods, presumably on some kind of pragmatic basis.

William Branham

The Sharon brothers were also considerably impressed with the ministry of William Branham and they attended a 'healing campaign' meeting that Branham was holding in Vancouver only three months before the Sharon 'revival' began.⁹ It is said that some of them had Branham lay hands on them for the impartation of spiritual power.

William Branham was born near Burkesville, Kentucky on 6 April 1909 and his various biographers say that miraculous visitations and supernatural events followed him from birth.

For example, one of his biographers, Pearry Green, relates that a visible light hovered over his crib the day he was born, accompanied by what he called “a strange aura, a Presence”.¹⁰ It is also claimed that he received his first vision at the age of three and that at the age of seven had his first experience of what he called 'the voice' which told him, “Never smoke, drink nor defile your body, for when you are older there is a work for you to do”.¹¹

William Branham’s various biographers say that supernatural events followed him from birth.

During 1933 Branham had a series of seven visions regarding forthcoming major events that would take place in the world. This led him to predict (he was at pains to stress that it was not a prophecy)¹² that the end of this present age which he equated with the Laodicean Church would occur around 1977 and the millennium would then begin.

Although it could be said that there has been quite substantial fulfilment of Branham's first six visions, the last and final vision, which he saw as occurring in 1977, and involved the physical destruction of America, has not yet come to pass.¹³

His national healing ministry began in the spring of 1946. According to his own testimony God led him to a secret cave (some versions of his biography say a cabin) in Indiana on 7 May of that year where he met an 'angel' who told him “Fear not! I am a messenger, sent unto you from the presence of Almighty God. I want you to know that your strange life has been for a purpose in preparing you to do a job that God has ordained for you to do from your birth. If you will be sincere, and you can get the people to believe you, nothing will stand before your prayer, not even cancer”.¹⁴

The angel then went on to tell him that it would be necessary for people to confess their sins before they appeared before him for ministry and that he would be used to preach to multitudes all over the world in packed auditoriums. According to Pearry Green the angel told Branham of “a fabulous ministry to take place”.¹⁵

Branham also alleges that the 'angel' (whom he appears to have identified with 'the voice') told him that he would be able to detect diseases by vibrations in his left hand and have the ability to tell people's secret thoughts. Branham said that the 'angel' always accompanied him on stage at his healing sessions and stood at his side, and he is also on record as saying that the healings were not done by him but by his 'angel'.¹⁶ Branham put great store on the direction given to him by this 'angel', even cancelling meetings because of what the 'angel' told him.

Branham held his first 'healing revival' meeting in St Louis in June 1946 and his reputation soon spread. According to David Harrell Jr, who wrote a history of the healing and charismatic revivals in America entitled All Things Are Possible, “Branham's healing power became a worldwide legend: there were continued reports that he raised the dead”.¹⁷

Branham put great store in the direction given to him by his ‘angel’.

It was said that Branham's ability to discern people's illnesses, and sometimes their sins, although he had never seen them before, was amazing. Ern Baxter, who was a member of Branham's team and worked with him for between four and eight months every year for six years, said that he never once saw Branham's discernment miss. The Pentecostal historian Walter J Hollenweger, who knew Branham personally and interpreted for him on his visits to Switzerland, wrote of “Branham's ability to name with astonishing accuracy the sickness, and often also the hidden sins, of people whom he had never seen”.

Hollenweger also said that he was “not aware of any case in which he was mistaken in the often detailed statements he made”. Significantly, however, he also said, “By contrast to what he claimed, only a small percentage of those who sought healing were in fact healed.”¹⁸

Teaching on Kingdom Restoration

Branham was convinced that the Church was on the edge of restoration and the manifestation of God's kingdom on earth, basing much of his teaching on the scriptures of Joel 2:23 and Revelation 1:20-3:22. He interpreted the 'latter rain' of Joel 2 as the new Pentecostalism of his day and taught that God was restoring his Church from what he called 'the locusts of denominationalism' or 'the mark of the beast'.

From the passage in Revelation he taught that 'God's Seventh Church Age' (i.e. the Laodicean age) had come and identified it as God's final move. He claimed that the angels (or messengers) to the seven churches were simply men who appeared at particular times in Church history to bring new revelation to lead the Church progressively to sanctification.

Many saw Branham as the messenger to the end-time Laodicean Church and hailed him as the greatest apostle and prophet for the final age of the Church. For example, Paul Cain, who at that time exercised a 'healing evangelism' ministry and had considerable association with Branham, described him as “the greatest prophet of the twentieth century”.¹⁹ Voice, the magazine of the FGBMI, went further and said “In Bible Days, there were men of God who were Prophets and Seers. But in all the Sacred records, none of these had a greater ministry than that of William Branham”.²⁰

However, like Franklin Hall, Branham had some decidedly non-orthodox theological views, especially about the doctrine of the Trinity. He did not accept the orthodox teaching of a Godhead comprising of the Three Persons of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, which he said was the 'Babylonian Foundation' of denominationalism. Rather, like the heresy of Arianism, he believed in one Godhead which showed itself in the three 'attributes' of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

As with Franklin Hall, many were prepared to totally overlook Branham's aberrant theology for the sake of the signs and wonders of his ministry.

He also espoused the view that God had given his word not only in the Bible but also in the Zodiac and the pyramids of Egypt. These aberrant beliefs, together with his unorthodox ministry methods, eventually brought Branham into conflict, first with the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada, and eventually with other mainline denominations.

However, as in the case of Franklin Hall, there were those who were prepared to totally overlook Branham's aberrant theology for the sake of the signs and wonders of his ministry. For example, many in the 'healing evangelism' stream did so on the basis of 'unity' which was for them an important issue. Gordon Lindsay, who was seen as the co-ordinator of the healing movement, is said to have “repeatedly stressed” the need for a “vision of the unity of God's people”. He is reported also to have said of Branham that “the uniting of believers had been the burden of his heart from the time that the angel had visited him”.

Influence in Sharon

The brothers from Sharon were very affected by what they experienced at the Branham meeting in Vancouver. This is clear from a glowing article which appeared in the January 1948 issue of their periodical The Sharon Star:

The Branham Campaign in Vancouver B.C. was a great success...Never in my life have I seen anything to equal what I saw in Vancouver...His [Branham's] sermons have the effect of inspiring faith in his hearers...To my best knowledge I did not see one person who was not healed when brother Branham took time to pray specially for him...I came home from those meetings realising as never before that the real gifts of the Holy Spirit are far mightier than we have imagined in our wildest dreams…

All great outpourings of the past have had their outstanding truths. Luther's truth was Justification by Faith. Wesley's was Sanctification. The Baptists taught the premillenial coming of Christ. The Missionary Alliance taught Divine Healing. The Pentecostal outpouring has restored the Baptism of the Holy Ghost to its rightful place. But the next great outpouring is going to be marked by all these other truths plus a demonstration of the nine gifts of the Spirit as the world, not even the Apostolic world, has ever witnessed before. This revival will be short and will be the last before the Rapture of the Church.²¹

Branham differed from the other healing evangelists of his day in that he linked healing with the casting out of demons and one of his ministry methods was to cast out a demon by the laying on of hands, so that a miraculous healing might follow.

In his MA thesis to the University of Manitoba, 'The Pentecostal Movement', CJ Jaenen suggests that Branham's use of the laying on of hands in his healing campaigns influenced the Sharon brothers to do the same in their subsequent ministry.²² This question of the use of the laying on of hands was the first issue to bring the emerging Latter Rain Movement into conflict with the Pentecostal Assemblies.

Next week: The rise and spread of the Latter Rain Movement.

This article is part of a series - click here for previous instalments.

References

1. Riss, R, 1987. Latter Rain. Honeycomb Visual Productions Ltd, Ontario, p55.

2. Ibid, pp55-56.

3. Dager, AJ, 1990. Vengeance is Ours. Sword Publishers, Washington, p49.

4. Hall, F, 1975. Atomic Power with God Through Fasting and Prayer. Hall Deliverance Foundation, Phoenix, p19.

5. Hall, F. Newsletter 'Miracle Word'. Hall Deliverance Foundation, 1985, p10.

6. Hall, F, 1976. The Return of Immortality. Hall Deliverance Foundation, p60.

7. Ibid, p3.

8. Ibid, p3.

9. Riss, R, Latter Rain (see 1), p56.

10. Green, P, 1970. The Acts of the Prophet. Tuscon Tabernacle Books, Tuscon, p39.

11. Ibid, p40.

12. Branham, W, 1984. An Exposition of the Seven Church Ages. Spoken Word Publications Jeffersonville, p321.

13. Ibid, p322.

14. Green, P, The Acts of the Prophet (see 10), p69.

15. Ibid, p70.

16. Dager, AJ, Vengeance is Ours (see 3), p57.

17. Harrell Jr, DE, 1975. All Things Are Possible. Indiana University Press, Bloomington, pp35-36.

18. Hollenweger, WJ, 1972. The Pentecostals. Augsburg Publishing House, Minneapolis, pp354-355.

19. Hill, C. 'Kansas City Prophets'. Prophecy Today, London, July/August 1990, p6.

20. Harrell Jr, DE, All Things are Possible (see 17), p161.

21. Riss, R, Latter Rain (see 1), p51.

22. Ibid, p58.