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Filling the Blanks With Fuller
The
Original Five
1 John 4:5
" They
are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the
world heareth them."
C.E.
Fuller
~
Harold
Ockenga ~
Christian
Freedom Foundation
Henrietta
Mears ~
Louis
H. Evans Jr.
Richard
C. Halverson
Billy
Graham
Bill
Bright
J.
Edwin Orr ~
Armin
Gesswein ~
1
John 2: 4-6
-
"He
that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments,
is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth
his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected:
hereby know we that we are in him. He that saith he
abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he
walked. "
C.E. Fuller, Harold Ockenga,
J. Edwin Orr, Armin Gesswein and Henrietta Mears were friends
and co-workers who layed the groundwork for the workers who
prepared to follow them and become "world changers"
and "expendables for Christ" . Working together they
established the ecumenical campus movements which has become
the method of continual change as demonstrated in articles
such as Joel's Global
Police Force.
The combined
resources in these article traces the move of
Reconstructionism and Manifest
Sons of God Doctrine into the
'evangelical' and fundamentalist church, which we discuss in
our other articles as well.. The goal is a 'theocracy', which
does not fit with Biblical doctrine, but rather the apostasy
of the antichrist. The acceptance of the various
movements and their teachings all combines into the attitude
and spirituality necessary for the eventual worship of the
beast.

C.
E. Fuller was
founder of Fuller Theological Seminary, in Pasadena, CA. Mr.
Fuller was one of the earliest speakers on Christian
radio. His "Pilgrims Hour" and "Old Fashioned
Revival Hour" laid the groundwork for a global ministry
that has transcended denominational barriers and which
formulated the ecumenical pastoring evident throughout
churches and television and radio evangelism. The radio shows
eventually siphoned off church dollars into the global
movement and numerous other para church organizations. Dr.
Fuller taught at Henrietta Mears's Forest Home Christian
Conference Center and promoted Mears and her Forest Home
conferences on his radio show, the Old Fashioned Revival Hour.
Fuller would announce the conferences and encourage his
listeners to attend in order to work toward revival, which he
and the others had as the ultimate goal.

Harold
Ockenga, --Ordained
minister of the Presbyterian Church in 1931 and was a pastors
assistant at Pittsburgh's First Presbyterian Church from
1930-3. He then became pastor at Point Breeze Presbyterian
Church, Pittsburgh from 1931-36. He moved to the Park Street
Church, Boston, MA, in 1936, remaining there until 1969. He
was with Fuller from 1947-1954 as president, and then as
a trustee from 1959-63. He was also Director of the
Christian Freedom Foundation and a member of President
Truman's Clergymen's Mission to Europe in 1947. He taught at
Henrietta Mears's Forest Home Christian Conference Center.
See: The
Christian Freedom Foundation which shows it's history with
Bill Bright, Ed McAteer, The Religious Roundtable, Cry for
Renewal, Sojourners, and Richard DeVos and so on.
Besides being
first President and co-founder of Fuller Theological
Seminary, Harold Ockenga was, along with J. Edwin Orr,
Co-Founder of the National Association of Evangelicals in 1942. He served as
President of both the National Association of Evangelicals and
the World Evangelical Fellowship, which are merely the
national and world organizations of the same thing. Christianity
Today which was the New Evangelicalism report, had its
birth in 1956 as the brainchild of Billy Graham and his
father-in-law, Dr. L. Nelson Bell. Dr. Ockenga was Chairman of
the Board from 1956-1985. In 1966, he was one of three
featured speakers at the World Congress on Evangelism. His
career, which involved a radio ministry, found him also
leading tours to the Holy Land and missionary journeys
to Asia, Africa, and Latin America. He also preached in
Australia, New Zealand, Africa, the Orient, and Europe.
Dr. Ockenga
also helped found Gordon-Conwell
Theological Seminary >http://www.gcts.edu/>
in 1969 and was President of it and
Gordon College from 1969-1985. "The Conwell School of
Theology and Gordon Divinity School merged in 1969 through the
efforts of philanthropist J. Howard Pew, Dr. Harold J.
Ockenga and Dr. Billy Graham...Dr. Ockenga, the long-time
pastor of Boston's historic Park Street Church, became the new
institution's first president. Dr. Ockenga retired in 1979 but
maintained an active emeritus relationship with the school and
served as member of the Board of Trustees until his death in
1985" Dr. Billy Graham is Chairman Emeritus of the Board
of Trustees.
For an
understanding and analysis of J. Howard Pew and their grants ~
[Click]
The Association
of Theological Schools (ATS), mentioned in our previous
article, is also a Pew recipient. In 1996 ATS received a grant
from Pew Charitable Trusts and has also received grants from
the Lilly Endowments and the Rockefellers.
In Thy Will
be Done, authors Colby and Dennett wrote, "Nelson
[Rockefeller] knew, as did much of the nation, that Barry
Goldwater had refused to disavow support for the ultrarightist
John Birch Society. He also knew...that Goldwater and the
Birch Society were both heavily funded by J. Howard Pew, owner
of one of Standard Oils major rivals, the Sun Oil
Company." [Colby, p. 453-454] Wycliffe Bible
Translators received large funds of money from Nelson
Rockefeller, Crowell Trust [Quaker Oats], the Glenmeade Trust
[Pew] and the Lilly Foundation, the liberal Ford Foundation
and others. [p. 569].

Henrietta
Mears
developed Christian
Education and founded Gospel Light Press. Mears was one
of the ‘original five’ who have influenced the direction
of those connected to Fuller Theological Seminary and many
other people. Dr. Henrietta Mears was raised Baptist under the
ministry of W. D. Riley. In 1928, she become the Director of
Christian Education at Hollywood First Presbyterian Church in
Hollywood, California. While there she founded Forest Home
Christian Conference Center in the San Bernardino Mountains of
Southern California. Her influence was widespread as she
preached to thousands of young people. Dr. C. E. Fuller
promoted Mears and her Forest Home conferences on his radio
show, the Old Fashioned Revival Hour. Fuller would announce
the conferences and encourage his listeners to attend in order
to work toward revival, which he and the others had as their
ultimate goal.
Gospel Light
Press, which became Gospel Light Publishing, a division of
which is Regal Books, has a website. From the Gospel
Light website,
"Henrietta C. Mears
was one of the great Bible teachers of the 20TH century.
While Christian Education Director at First Presbyterian
Church of Hollywood, she built one of the largest Sunday
Schools in the world and wrote curriculum that was in such
high demand that to publish it, she founded Gospel Light in
1933. Such notable Christian leaders as Richard C.
Halverson, Louis Evans, Jr. and Bill Bright were among
her students...1946: Praise Books publications was
established to distribute youth songs...GL.Services began in
1991 to meet the needs of Gospel Light Publications for
state-of-the-art distribution and information management
capabilities. GL.Services was launched as a freestanding
entity in 1993 with full services to NavPress, Joy of Living
and Gospel Light. We have since added WaterBrook Press (a
division of Random House), Aglow International, Global
Harvest, Church Growth Institute and US Prayer
Track...." http://www.gospellight.com/info.html
Louis
H. Evans, Jr. was the son of the Louis H.
Evans, Sr, pastor of Hollywood Presbyterian Church. In the
living room of Henrietta Mears home, Louis Evans Jr.
started his "Hollywood Christian Group" which
members included Roy Rogers and Dale Evans. The group was
chaplained by J. Edwin Orr from 1949-1951.
Henrietta
presented her theology as "the Cause of Christ,"
which meant winning the world to Christ and establishing
Christianity as the guiding force in society [recontructionist
theology] through evangelization of the world. The Fellowship
of the Burning Heart, established by Mears at Forest Home, was
where she encouraged her students to be willing to die for
"the Cause of Christ." She laid her hands on them to
receive her mantle, hence, receiving within themselves a
"burning heart."
In 1947 she
gave a speech at The Forest Home which resulted in motivating
and calling what were later called the "acceptable
anointed evangelists" namely Billy Graham, Richard
Halverson, Bill Bright and several others.
Richard
C. Halverson
-1916-1995, Ordained as a Presbyterian minister in
1942, Halverson served as chaplain to the U.S. Senate for
fourteen years, from 1981-1995. Before becoming a minister,
Halverson pursued a career as an entertainer in the 1930s
while in Hollywood. Halverson was a prolific author with
such works as Gospel for the Whole of Life, The Word of a
Gentleman, The Timelessness of Jesus Christ, Walk with God
between Sundays, Prayers Offered by the Chaplain of the U.S.
Senate, We The People, and many more. A member of the
Fellowship of the Burning Heart, Halverson, along with
Vonette Bright was influential in having the Senate declare
the National Day of Prayer.
He was
managing Director of Forest Home Christian Conference,
Grounds, Calif., in 1942.and was at that time,
1942-1944, assistant minister of Lynwood Presbyterian
Church, Kansas City, Mo. He became director of Forest
Home Christian Conference, in 1944 as well as minister of
First Presbyterian Church, Coalinga, Calif., until 1947.
From there he became minister of new life at First
Presbyterian Church, Hollywood, Calif., from 1947-56. In
1957 he became minister of Fourth Presbyterian Church,
Washington, D.C.
Halverson was Associate executive director of
International Christian Leadership, Washington, D.C. in 1956
and was president of Concern Ministries, Inc. (charitable
foundation). He was chairman of board of directors, World
Vision, Inc., a member of advisory board, Navigators and
Orient Crusades Mission. Active in prayer breakfast
movement, 1956--...
Billy
Graham – In 1974, Dr. Graham
convened the ecumenical Lausanne Consultation on World
Evangelism. He is a former Board member of Fuller
Theological Seminary and endorses Promise Keepers. At Dr.
Graham's Amsterdam '83, two of the main speakers were Dr.
Paul Yonggi Cho and Dr. Pat Robertson, both of whom are
charismatics. Organizations include Billy Graham Center,
Billy Graham Schools of Evangelism, Billy Graham
Evangelistic Association. The Billy Graham Evangelistic
Association also has a number of affiliated organizations
including World Wide Pictures, World Wide Publications, Blue
Ridge Broadcasting and the Christian Broadcasting
Association, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association of
Canada, and the Graham Fund for Evangelism. Honorary
Co-chair of the Lighthouse Movement, Billy Graham has placed
his seal of approval on many ecumenical ventures.
Dr. Graham
spoke at the 1949 Forest Homes Conference. Although claiming
to know the Lord Jesus Christ, and an Evangelical
evangelist, he prayed for the filling of the Holy Spirit
there and from that time forward stayed in contact with
Henrietta Mears, seeking her counsel. Billy Graham became an
"accepted, anointed evangelist" along with Bill
Bright and Richard Halverson, all members of the Fellowship
of the Burning Heart.
D.R. Riley,
Henrietta Mears's pastor in Minneapolis, and President of
Northwestern Schools, believed that his mantle was to be
passed on to Billy Graham just as Elijah's passed to Elisha.
Graham at first rejected the idea of Riley's
impartation. However, when Riley called for Graham before he
died, Dr. Billy Graham accepted his mantle and subsequently
became acting President of Northwestern Schools. [Billy
Graham, Just As I Am: The Autobiography of Billy Graham; San
Francisco: Harper Collins, Zondervan, 1997, pp.113-115]
At that time,
while still teaching at the Conference, J. Edwin Orr met
with Graham and was persuaded that Graham had received
Riley's mantle. Orr then laid hands on Graham to receive his
mantle. From that time forward his crusades were guided by
the planting done by Armin Gesswein prayer meetings. Graham
would not accept any invitation to preach unless ecumenical
representation-including Roman Catholic clergy-was present.
That is still his policy today. All that attend are given
counselors from their own denomination and encouraged to go
back to that congregation, regardless of how Biblically
unsound it may be.
According to
Group Watch which sourced various documents, "...In the
late 1940s Graham had become the favorite evangelist of
media barons William Randolph Hearst of the California
Hearst dynasty and Henry Luce, head of Time, Inc. Graham
became the spearhead of their anticommunist campaign.(3)
Luce and Hearst promoted Graham, who, during the 1950s,
preached that: "[e]ither Communism must die, or
Christianity must die."(3)"
"...Graham
maintained his connections to the corporate world in the
1960s and 1970s. The organizing board of his 10-day crusade
in Madison Square Garden in 1969 came from the highest
echelons of the business world. They included Elmer Engstrom,
chairman of the executive committee of the board of
directors of RCA Corp; George Champion, chairman of Chase
Manhattan Bank; Roger Hull, chairman of the board of the
Mutual Life Insurance Company; and Dr. W. Naxey Harman, head
of Genesco.(8)"
"...Billy
Graham was the head of the Youth for Christ, an organization
established in the 1940s that worked worldwide to revitalize
evangelical Christianity in the 1940s."
"...Graham
was on the board of the Christian Embassy, a diplomatic
reception embassy where the Campus Crusade for Christ
planned to evangelize members of Congress, the military, and
the judiciary. The Embassy closed after Sojourners magazine
did an expose on it in the mid-1970s.(8) In 1989 Billy
Graham was the recipient of the National Religious
Broadcasters President's Award given annually to an outstanding ministry. His radio program, "Hour of
Decision" received the Award of Merit for excellence in
program production.(5) Graham is the honorary chairman of
"New Life 2000," an evangelistic movement working
to fulfill the prophesy for the millenium by evangelizing
all people of the world by the year 2000.(6)"
"[CNP's
]Edward
V. Hill is the pastor of the 1500-member Mt. Zion
Baptist Church in Los Angeles. Hill is an active member of
the Moral Majority, the lobby group of the Religious Right
active in the Reagan years. The Billy Graham Evangelistic
Association, the Moral Majority, and the Campus Crusade for
Christ, along with billionaire Nelson Bunker Hunt and Dallas
Cowboy owner Clint Murchison, supported Hill's war on
poverty. Hill is a strong critic of the federal poverty
program.(4)"
"3.
Sara Diamond, Spiritual Warfare (Boston, MA: South End
Press, 1989).
4.
John Saloma III, Ominous Politics (New York, NY: Hill and
Wang, 1984).
5.
"News from NRB," National Religious Broadcasters,
annual convention newsletter, 1989.
6.
National Religious Broadcasters Convention News, 1989.
8.
Deborah Huntington and Ruth Kaplan, "Whose Gold Is
Behind the Altar? Corporate Ties to Evangelicals,"
Contemporary Marxism, Winter 1981-1982." http://www.pir.org/gw/
According
to the Wheaton Archives Biography
on Billy Graham, "The BGEA only held crusades in places
where they had been invited by a large number of local pastors
and laypersons, although the organization received so many
such invitations that the evangelists could virtually pick the
place they wanted to go. Staff would investigate each
invitation to see if there was wide support for the meeting
and then a decision would be made whether to accept the offer
or not...In the early 1950s, the Navigators, another
evangelistic group, developed a system for following up on the
Christian nurture of converts at BGEA crusades. At first,
Navigator staff members were loaned to the BGEA to supervise
counseling and follow-up, but by the late 1950s, BGEA staff
had taken over. Charles Riggs left the Navigators to take
charge of crusade counseling and follow-up." http://www.wheaton.edu/bgc/archives/bio.html
The concept of
individuals receiving Jesus Christ did not take precedence.
Instead, numbers and converting "people groups" was
and still is the factor that motivates many 'evangelicals',
due to the theology of "new evangelicalism." As
spokesman for the "New
Evangelicalism," Dr. Graham
has couched his theology in Christian terms while enjoining
with every global group possible. Dr. Graham also believes
that Jesus Christ is not the only way to the Father.
McCall's
January 1978 article, "Why I Can't Play God
Anymore", quoted Dr. Graham as saying, "I used to
believe that pagans in far-off countries were lost--were going
to hell--if they did not have the Gospel of Jesus Christ
preached to them. I no longer believe that....Graham once
believed that Jews, too were lost if they did not convert to
Christianity. Today Graham is willing to leave that up to
God...I am far more tolerant of other kinds of Christians than
I once was. My contact with Catholic, Lutheran and other
leaders...has helped me, hopefully, to move in the right
direction. I've found that my beliefs are essentially the same
as those of orthodox Roman Catholics, for instance. They
believe in the Virgin Birth, and so do I. They believe, in the
Resurrection of Jesus and the coming judgment of God, and so
do I. We only differ on some matters of later church
tradition"[ as cited in New Neutralism II, pp29-30]
John 14:6
"Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the
life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."
Acts 4:12
"Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is
none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we
must be saved."
2 John 1:9-11
"Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the
doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the
doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. If
there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine,
receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed:
For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil
deeds."
Romans
16:17-18 "Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which
cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which
ye have learned; and avoid them.
For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but
their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive
the hearts of the simple."
A Religious
News Service dispatch from Urbana, Illinois, about 1976, read,
"Billy Graham, the evangelist, urged here that
evangelicals 'accept unity in diversity' and avoid
divisiveness over such matters as Biblical inerrancy,
charismatic phenomena, and political activism." [ as
cited in New Neutralism II, p. 30]
I
Thessalonians 2:13 "For this cause also thank we God
without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of
God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the
word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God,
which effectually worketh also in you that believe."
Besides getting
a "Star" on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Dr. Graham
was awarded a Templeton
Prize for Progress in Religion, in 1982. The Templeton
awards deal with ecumenical and New Age ventures, which show
"progress in religion." Graham has also received
honors from the Anti-defamation League of B'nai B'rith and the
National Conference of Christians and Jews, as well as
receiving the Congressional Medal in 1996.
Luke 6:26
Woe unto you,
when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their
fathers to the false prophets.
Re the
Perspectives Curriculum, "The on-going work of
evangelizing the world, especially the unreached people groups
where there is presently no church or witness, is a primary
responsibility of Christians everywhere. There is no course of
which I know that will inform, inspire, and motivate
Christians for world evangelization like the Perspectives
class. It will stretch your mind, warm your heart, and stir
your will." -Billy Graham." See also: Wheaton
Bio >http://www.wheaton.edu/bgc/archives/bio.html; and Deceptions
and Lying Signs
& Wonders for more on Billy Graham.

Bill
Bright –(d. July 19, 2003) [See also
CNP Bright] attended Princeton Theological Seminary
in 1946, and in 1947 enrolled as a member of the first class
of Fuller seminary. Bright is part of Fuller’s Vision for AD
2000 & Beyond Networks & Task Forces, 1993, that is,
" Evangelism: Bill Bright." He is President and
founder of Campus Crusade for Christ & involved in
Lausanne Consultations. Being a salesman, Bill Bright
brought into being the watered-down, non-offensive, marketable
version of the Gospel in his "Four Spiritual Laws"
booklet, of which Bill declares, "millions have received
Christ.". While holding Biblical truth, it is quite
simply, not the Gospel as preached by the apostles. Many
never get beyond, "God loves you and has a plan for your
life", believing that is all they really need to know.
It was in 1947 that Bright joined Mears's discipleship group
known as "the Fellowship of the Burning Heart."
Henrietta layed hands hands on Bill to impart to him her
mantle, and receive him into the Fellowship of the Burning
Heart. Due to Mears influence and guidance, he and several
friends, pledged "absolute consecration to
Christ." He and his wife lived with Henrietta Mears for
eleven years, and used her home as the center for the emerging
Campus Crusade for Christ.
In 1951, Bill had a vision
for taking the world for Christ. He sought the counsel of his
closest friends including, Wilbur M. Smith, Henrietta Mears,
Billy Graham, Richard Halverson, Dawson Trotman (founded The
Navigators in 1934), Cyrus Nelson, Dan Fuller, and J. Edwin
Orr. UCLA campus was CCC's first mission field. Campus
Crusade for Christ is the collegiate ministry of Campus
Crusade for Christ International, " a family of more
than 50 ministries worldwide." A list of US Ministries
and Projects is found at http://www.ccci.org/ministries/
with International Ministries at http://www.ccci.org/international/
The original Board Members
of the Campus Crusade (1951) included: Henrietta Mears, Billy
Graham, Dawson Trotman, Dan Fuller, J. Edwin Orr. The main
theology behind CCC is that ours [in 1950] is the last
generation before the Second Coming which came from the Latter
Rain Pentecostal movement of the late 1940s and early 1950s.
Since that particular generation is basically gone, and we are
still awaiting the Lord's much desired return, these along
with many other false predictions merely bring shame to our
Lord. No one knows the day or hour. It was the latter days
when the apostles were on the earth. It is that much closer to
the hour, and we need to be about our Master's business,
prepared for His return, but certainly not continually and
falsely predicting we know when that will be. We don't
know--only God knows the day and the hour and the very moment.
Matthew 24:36,42 "But
of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of
heaven, but my Father only." "Watch therefore: for
ye know not what hour your Lord doth come."
Among his many ventures,
Bill Bright tackled Berkley University Campus in 1967. Not
succeeding with an open presentation of the Gospel, Bright had
some of his staffers appear as hippies under the guise of the
Christian World Liberation Front (CWLF). According to
Richard Quibedeaux in "I Found It: the Story of Bill
Bright and Campus Crusade, (Harper and Row, 1979) p. 32,
"Christian World
Liberation Front was, in the beginning, a front
organization for Campus Crusade...most of our staff didn't
even know about the plan. Only about half a dozen of us were
aware of what was happening and it was a test. There was a
powerful radical movement among the students then, and we
were trying to figure out which route to take, whether we
as a movement should adopt a radical countercultural
approach on campus in order to be all things to all people
that we might win them for Christ."
CWLF's Spiritual
Counterfeits Project rose up in 1973 to expose doctrinal
deviations.
2 Corinthians 8:21
Providing for honest things, not only in the sight of the
Lord, but also in the sight of men
1 Peter 2:12 Having your
conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they
speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works,
which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of
visitation.

Jack Sparks and the
Christian World Liberation Front -
One of three founding fathers of the Christian World
Liberation Front (CWLF) on the Berkeley campus of the
University of California in 1969. A former statistics
professor and Campus Crusade worker, Sparks felt the need to
begin a campus outreach to left-wing student activists. In
1975 he and a number of other Campus Crusade members made the
move into the Eastern Orthodox church. Most recently he has
worked on the Orthodox Study Bible while continuing to teach
at St. Athanasius Academy.
Jack Sparks and the
Christian World Liberation Front is cited as suffering a
split due to the increased measures of authority imposed by
the leadership.
Rev. Hubert Lindsey,
"Holy Hubert" wrote of his part of CWLF: "The
end of such tight control had its beginning one April morning
in 1969 when three campus crusade for Christ staffers and
their wives arrived on campus. The men were 6 ft. 3 Pat
Matricianas, former member of the campus crusade for Christ
wrestling team, Dr. Jack Sparks, former professor at Penn.
State, and Fred Dyson. After they had introduced themselves,
Pat Matriciana's said, "We would like you to join us in
starting a Christian World Liberation Front. We want to
conduct Bible studies and workshops and lead Bible raps on
campus." http://www.brotherhoward.com/vietnam.htm
Patrick Matrisciana, owner
of Jeremiah Films, was the co-chairman and co-founder of the
Christian World Liberation Front from 1969 through 1972. He is
a member of the CNP
Bright was awarded a Templeton
Prize for Progress in Religion, in 1996, "He's just
the kind of man I had in mind when I started the program
twenty-five years ago because he's an example to everybody of
all religions that it's possible to have progress in
religion." -stated Sir John Templeton, founder of the
Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion. Bright donated the
$1 million honorarium to support the national movement of
prayer and fasting.
Bill also supports the
Perspectives Curriculum and endorsed the controversial
Evangelicals and Catholics Together. He believes, "There
are tens of millions of true believers among the Catholics who
don't believe that salvation is something you can work for.
Many are reformers, like Luther."
On his CCCI site, which
claims 40-50 conversions daily, Dr. Bright states, "...we
have helped train, have already taken the gospel to more than
one billion people during the past forty years - tens of
millions have indicated their desire to receive and follow
Christ.....It is our prayerful objective to help take the
gospel to over six billion by the year 2000 with at least one
billion receiving Christ and one million churches being
planted. This will be accomplished by millions of trained
Christians from thousands of churches of all denominations and
hundreds of mission groups working together in obedience to
our Lord's command. Dr. Billy Graham is serving as the
honorary Chairman of NewLife 2000 and Dr. Ted Engstrom,
President Emeritus of World Vision, is chairman of the
International Committee of Reference...."
Campus Crusade hosts the
website Fasting and
Praying >
http://www.fastingprayer.com>
"a resource ministry for Campus Crusade for
Christ, International. Mission: To encourage and equip
Christians to experience a deeper intimacy with Jesus Christ
through the biblical discipline of prayer and fasting,
resulting in revival and spiritual awakening toward the
fulfillment of the Great Commission." Started by
Bill Bright, it was as a result of having ecumenical fasting
and prayer conferences.
Bright wrote
in the History, "our nation has officially forgotten God
and failed to obey His commands (Deuteronomy chapters 8 and
28). I think primarily of the colossal insult to our heavenly
Father when we betrayed Him and the trust of our Founding
Fathers by removing prayer and Bibles from our schools.
The basis for our moral and spiritual integrity as a nation is
gone."
http://www.fastingprayer.com/history.htm
In 1994, Bright fasted 40 days during which he
claims to have received a "prophecy from God" that a
mighty revival is coming. He then issued a call for hundreds
of liberals, charismatics, and new-evangelicals to gather in
Orlando December 5-7 to fast and pray for revival.
An
ecumenical Invitation Committee included such individuals as
CNP's E.V. Hill,
James Dobson,
Pat Robertson, and
Larry
Burkett, and others like Robert Schuller, Charles Colson, Jack
Hayford, W.A. Criswell, Charles Stanley, Paul Crouch,
Luis Palau, and Bill Gothard.
For Chuck Colson See: Evangelicals
and Catholics Together
The "Fasting &
Prayer" conference held in November of 1995 united 3,500
evangelicals and charismatics. The Invitation/Host Committee
for this event included many of those from 1994, plus CNP's Tim
and Beverly
LaHaye, and others like Dick Eastman, Chuck
Smith, Bill McCartney, Shirley Dobson, Paul Cedar, Ted
Engstrom (World Vision), Joseph Stowell (Moody), and Joseph
Aldrich (Multnomah). The 1996 conference increased it's
committee to include Max Lucado, Henry Blackaby, Loren
Cunningham (YWAM), Greg Laurie, Dennis Rainey, Randy Phillips
(Promise Keepers), Josh McDowell, CNP's
D. James Kennedy,
Howard Hendricks, and Neil Anderson. [BDM:
Bright>http://www.rapidnet.com/~jbeard/bdm/Psychology/ccc/ccc.htm]
Jesus
clearly rebuked public displays of prayer and fasting and then
proceeded to teach how to pray. Matthew 6:5-7 "And when
thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are:
for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the
corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men.
Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when
thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut
thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy
Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. But
when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for
they think that they shall be heard for their much
speaking."
While
fasting is a Biblical concept, group-fasting is not.
Fasting is a private activity between the believer and the
Lord. It is not to be "advertised." Matthew 6:
16-18 - Moreover, when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites,
But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head and wash thy
face; that thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy
Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in
secret, shall reward thee openly." Those who advocate
Biblical disobedience are not to be considered Biblically
sound.

The Jesus
Film/video, funded in 1978 by CNP's Nelson
Bunker Hunt
and
produced by Bill Bright & Paul Eshleman,, was produced at
a cost of $6 million, is used in promoting AD2000 & Beyond
initiatives. The Jesus Film is also featured on the
Campus Crusade for Christ Int’l. homepage. [http://www.ccci.org/whoisjesus/choice.html]
According to
one source, "the film JESUS has been translated
into more than 470 languages and reportedly been viewed by
more than 1.6 billion people around the world. The film was
financed and sponsored by Campus Crusade for Christ
International. It was produced by John Heyman, Cannes Film
Festival award winner. Warner Brothers handled the initial
release in North American theaters." [In
Plain Sight> www.inplainsite.org/Page2/Jesus/The__Jesus__Film/the__jesus__film.html]
The
Jesus Film website >http://www.jesusfilm.org/>
boasts,
"Every two seconds—sometimes in the midst of global
chaos and conflict—someone indicates a decision to receive
Christ as personal Savior as a result of seeing the
"JESUS" film...Through use by The JESUS Film
Project, and more than 1,195 Christian agencies, this powerful
film has been seen by more than 4 billion people
worldwide...As a result, more than 139 million people
have indicated decisions to accept Christ as their personal
Savior and Lord..."
"Jesus" is
promoted by Random Story's from The Touch of Jesus, by Paul Eshleman.
Simply
Supernatural
A young
couple from southern India decided that God was calling them
to the Pioria region in the north. In addition to the lack
of response to everything they did, they experienced a
discouraging and debilitating time of illness. The water was
infected with disease, and very often the entire family was
sick. One day the father [missionary] felt especially ill.
He went to the doctor to get something to ease his pain.
When he came home from the doctor that night, he collapsed
on the doorway of his home and died.
Several
weeks later, a "JESUS" film team came into this
area and the government officials, instead of stopping it,
said, "We want to see this." They had usually
stopped anything having to do with Christianity, but the
governor of the area, quite impressed with the film, gave
his permission for it to be shown, and he said it should be
protected.
The
film team came to the village where the couple from the
Friends' Missionary Prayer Band had lived. The people
there said that on the night the missionary died, some
clouds had appeared in the sky, and on the clouds a
larger-than-life man walked over their barren hills,
shedding tears. He went to a tree and picked a branch
from it and the branch withered. Finally the picture of the
man faded from the sky. The villagers thought perhaps God
was displeased with them because they had not accepted the
message of the missionary.
When
the film reached the point where Jesus is baptized and His
face is seen for the first time, the crowd suddenly roared. The
team stopped the film to ask what the shouting was about. "It's
him!" they exclaimed. "The man we saw walking in
the clouds!"
Most
of the villagers came to Christ that night. The people
connected the film with the missionary and the man they had
seen in the cloud.
A
Random Story from The
Touch of JESUS by Paul Eshleman
The
JESUS Film Project is a ministry of Campus Crusade for
Christ International...." http://www.jesusfilm.org/cgi-bin/touchrandomstory.cgi
To equate
any man as being what Jesus Christ looks like and to have this
"vision" look identical to a non-Christian does not
align with Biblical truth. It is in Revelation that a
"picture" of Christ is given and the Apostle John's
reaction to seeing Him:
Revelation
1:12-17 "And
I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being
turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks; And in the midst of
the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed
with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with
a golden girdle. His head and his hairs were white like wool,
as white as snow; and his eyes were as flames of fire: And his
feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and
his voice as the sound of many waters. And he had in his right
hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged
sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his
strength. And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead.
And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not:
I am the first and the last:"
In
Daniel and other Scriptures we see the same reaction when God
has revealed His Holy presence to someone: They fall on their
faces in fear--as dead, totally overwhelmed with His presence.
This is hardly the reaction of the villagers who
"saw" the vision.
Many are
suggesting that by supporting the ventures of Bill Bright and
his associates they are completing the requirement of
publishing the Gospel in all nations. They believe they are
ushering in the return of Christ. If that were so, then we
must apply ALL the Scriptures to Last Days time frame.
Matthew
24:24 "For there shall arise false Christ's, and false
prophets, and shall shew great signs and
wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they
shall deceive the very elect."
II
Thessalonians 2:3,9 "Let no man deceive you by any means:
for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away
first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition.
. .Even him whose coming is after the working of Satan with all
power and signs and lying wonders."
I Timothy
4:1 "Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the
latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to
seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils."
SEE:
Lying Signs
& Wonders:
The future
appearance of Jesus discussed in Scripture, by which the
"vision" must be evaluated on, states:
Acts 1:11
"…this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into
heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go
into heaven."
I
Thessalonians 4:16 "For the Lord himself shall descend
from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and
with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall arise
first."
And until
that appointed time - Hebrews 8: 1 "…We have such an
high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the
Majesty in the heavens."
1 John 3:2
"Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet
appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall
appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is."
By these
Scripture's, which must be our source of truth, could the
"vision" be our Lord Jesus Christ? "The
"vision," which the villagers saw that was identical
to the actor could be a trial run of something like Project
Blue Beam which Jack Van Impe and others discuss. Blue Beam is
an alleged Government/NASA /other agencies’ laser project
which produces holographs. Various sources suggest that
satellites have been strategically placed to use this laser
technology to project holographic images onto the earth's
surface, hence the "vision." The various
"sightings," which relate to the Jesus Film, may be man-made
phenomena staged to elicit an emotionally charged response
to the film.
1 Peter
1:7-8 “ That
the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold
that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found
unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus
Christ. Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye
see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy
unspeakable and full of glory.”
It has
been suggested that if an English-speaking person were to view
the Jesus Film he would think that it accurately presents the
Gospel message.
However, when translated to other languages,
the film is contextualized
to make the message more palatable to various religious
groups. For example, the Hindu believer sees gestures to the
forehead and other practices familiar to East Indians. The
subtle message is that Jesus can be added to the other
household gods. Therefore, the claims that there have been
millions of conversions as a result of the Jesus Film are
highly suspect, since the Gospel has not been accurately
portrayed. Even worse, the Mission America and Campus Crusade
global mapping projects are logging "crowd
conversions" (whoever has seen the Jesus Film is
registered as a conversion)
into their data banks.
We could
analyze these visions
based on what has taken place, for instance, in Africa, where
Charismatic/pentecostal teachers and their teachings were
embraced in the early 1900's because the manifestations
demonstrated were no different than what was already seen in
shamanism. Those who did not become free of the occult
practices and turn from them by honestly accepting Jesus
Christ as Lord and Savior, merely moved back into those
origins. It is the same in every country, including North
America. The foundation concept is the Parable of the Sower
and also Building upon What Foundation?--Jesus Christ, God's
Word or something else. SEE:
Sins of
"the father"~ Charles F. Parham & What
Happened in Africa?
A
three-part article in Christianity
Today about Bill Bright and his vision of taking the
gospel to the entire world, which originally had the goal of
being fulfilled by 1980, included these thoughts, "We're
ending this millennium, and people are expecting something
wonderful to happen," says Bright. "We have
momentum, and if we don't harness every opportunity, we'll
fail—the Great Commission won't be fulfilled, and people
will drift away. We are challenging tens of thousands of
people not to make any plans but to help fulfill the Great
Commission by the end of the year 2000....His emphasis on
"spiritual breathing"—a discipline he contrived
that involves exhaling confessed sins and then inhaling
cleansing and empowering of the Holy Spirit—" http://christianitytoday.aol.com/ct/7t8/7t814c.html
Spiritual
breathing is no different than other occult practices
disseminated by others like Richard Foster of Renovaré. Since
the Great Commission according to Campus Crusade has not been
fulfilled by the end of the Year 2000, what are we to think?
Where in Scripture does it say that the Great Commission was
to be fulfilled by the end of 2000? Will all these
people who supposedly have come to know the Lord through CCC
fall away, because they weren't really saved, but were caught
up in the emotion of a crusade or were swept up in the fervor
of the moment? Is their focus on Bill Bright, another
organization, or on Jesus Christ?
For
Renovaré See: Renovaré
and the Christian Mystic
Scripture
does say that "...this gospel will be preached in
all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then
shall the end come." Matthew 24:14 And Mark 13:10
"And the gospel must first be published among all
nations."
God's word will never return void,
regardless of the intent behind the presentation.
However,
the gospel being preached for a witness, is different than the
dominionist concept of bringing in the Kingdom of God on earth
so that Christ will return. We have no continuing city on this
earth. Nor is there a Biblical suggestion that all will come
to know the Lord Jesus Christ. Rather, many are going to face
God's wrath due to their rejection of Jesus Christ.
2
Thessalonians 1:8-9 "In flaming fire taking vengeance
on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of
our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with
everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and
from the glory of his power;"

The
Lighthouse Movement ,
initiated by Bill Bright and which site is hosted by CCC,
states, www.lighthousemovement.com/intro/whosInvolved/index.asp?sid=0
"Under
the banner of Mission America, more than 70 denominations
with 180,000 local churchesand350 ministries
have already caught the vision! In
January, 1999, these leaders came together for the Mission
America annual meeting, enthusiastically adopting the
Lighthouse strategy now called the Lighthouse Movement to
reach the vision of Celebrate Jesus 2000..."
"The Lighthouse
Movement/Mission America Coalition is an outgrowth of the
Lausanne Movement, and is a cooperative effort with The
AD2000 & Beyond Movement, plus scores of denominations,
ministry networks, servant ministries and local churches.
Involvement in the Lighthouse Movement/Mission America
requires the following:
Each member must be
committed to Jesus Christ as Lord, and the fulfillment of
His Great Commission.
Each member must be
willing to sign the Lausanne
Covenant without reservation." www.lighthousemovement.com/intro/knowingGod/covenant.asp?sid=0
Vonette Bright, co-founder
of Campus Crusade, is founder and a past chairman of the
National Prayer Committee and served for nine years as chair
of the National Day of Prayer Task Force. She became a member
of the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization and served
as chairperson of the Intercession Working Group from 1981 to
1990. She helped draft legislation, which both houses of
Congress unanimously approved, setting aside the standing date
for the National Day of Prayer, the first Thursday in May, by
an act of Congress. Recently she was given the title
"Lifetime Honorary Chairman" of the NPC, which site
states their history >http://www.gospelcom.net/npc/background.html:
"The NPC was
founded in 1979, and has given birth to many united prayer
initiatives, both in the United States and within other
nations (especially through its development of the
International Prayer Assembly). The NPC actually began as
a subcommittee on prayer at the International Congress on
World Evangelization held in Lausanne, Switzerland. Out of
the Lausanne gathering came the U.S. Lausanne Committee,
now Mission America, and America's National Prayer
Committee. Members of both Mission America and the NPC
adhere to the Lausanne
Covenant >http://www.lausanne.org/covenant.html.
The NPC fosters
a number of projects including:
the National
Day of Prayer; the Nationally
Broadcast Concert of Prayer; Pray!
Magazine; the National
Concert of Prayer ... Denominational
Prayer Leaders Network; and others."

J.
Edwin Orr
who died in 1987, was
Co-Founder of the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) in the U.S. in 1942. In
1948 he earned a doctorate in "Awakenings" at
Oxford. It was Orr who laid hands on Billy Graham at Forest
Homes, so he could "be filled" with the Holy Spirit,
which of course is Pentecostal/Charismatic doctrine. Orr
was an ordained Baptist minister, and was professor of
Fuller's School of World Mission from 1966 forward. From
1933-1942 he was with International Christian Leadership in
Washington, D.C., and from 1947 forward he was chaplain
of mission to the academic community, lecturing in
universities and colleges throughout world. In 1973 he became
director of the Oxford Association for Research in Evangelical
Awakening.
One bio
states, "Dr J. Edwin Orr was a leading scholar of
revivals who published detailed books about evangelical
awakenings." http://www.christianword.org/revival/orr.html
Another biography reveals,
"...In 1966, Orr became a professor at Fuller Seminary's
School of World Mission, a position he held until 1981.
Besides his teaching and writing, he greatly stimulated the
study and understanding of revivals and evangelism through his
founding in 1974 and continuing leadership of the Oxford
Reading and Research Conference on Evangelical
Awakenings....He was an advisor of Billy Graham's from the
start of that evangelist's career, a friend of Abraham Vereide
and helped shape the prayer breakfast movement that grew out
of Vereide's International Christian Leadership..."http://www.wheaton.edu/bgc/archives/guides/355.htm#3
Orr developed the groundwork
for Bill Bright's Campus Crusade for Christ and Billy
Graham’s “new understanding of the work of the Holy
Spirit.” Orr, an Oxford seminarian, traveled as a
historian and theologian to major cities and universities
globally to prepare the way for ecumenism on college campuses.
One researcher wrote, "The ecumenical groups on campus
who were pre-conditioned by Orr to look for a 'great end-time
harvest', and sweeping "revival" movement, or
"awakening" prepared the way for Bill Bright's
ecumenical ministry. The success of Campus Crusade for Christ
was a direct result of the groundwork layed by Orr. Orr's
vouching for Billy Grahams "new understanding of the work
of the Holy Spirit", which he conveyed in letters to key
workers paved the way for his success in ministry as
well."
The NAE
history reveals the roots of this massive organization and
some of it's influence..
"...The Association
traces its beginnings to April 7-9, 1942, when a modest
group of 147 people met in St. Louis with the hopes of
reviving the fortunes of evangelical Christianity in
America....Instead of acting like brothers (Christians),
they acted like rivals, weakening the possibilities of
meaningful Christian witness. This was particularly
disheartening to the Reverend J. Elwin Wright of the New
England Fellowship, the man whose ideas and energies, more
than any other single individual, resulted in the formation
of NAE...He followed in the footsteps of his father, a Free
Will Baptist minister turned Free Methodist minister, who
left his denomination to start an independent Pentecostal
ministry called the First Fruits Harvesters Association in
Rumney, New Hampshire. After graduating from the Missionary
Training Institute at Nyack, New York, (now Nyack College)
in 1921, he was ordained by his father to the work in Rumney...in
1929, he transformed First Fruits Harvesters into the New
England Fellowship. Rather than continuing a ministry
devoted to Pentecostal distinctives, the new fellowship
would serve a broader constituency by operating a summer
conference to inspire and bring together evangelicals of all
stripes throughout New England. This was not his only
change. In 1934 Wright became a Congregationalist, being
received on profession of faith into the membership of Park
Street Church in Boston. The new ecclesiastical commitment
proved beneficial to the New England Fellowship, enhancing
Wright's relationship with a number of emerging evangelical
leaders, including one who would play a role in NAE, the Reverend
Harold John Ockenga...the fellowship did more than bring
New Englanders together; by hosting such prominent
personalities as William B. Riley of Minneapolis, Will
Houghton of New York, Charles Fuller of Los Angeles
and Walter Maier of St. Louis, Wright expanded the horizons
of New Englanders...
"....Whereas the
fundamentalist movement that prefigured NAE was largely the
domain of Baptists, Congregationalists, and Presbyterians in
the northern part of the United States, NAE from the 1942
conference on, embraced numerous Christians in the
Pentecostal, Holiness, and Anabaptist traditions.
Pentecostalism, which had been kept at arm's length by most
fundamentalists, had become part of the conservative
alliance..."
"...In 1958, Life
Magazine called attention to an emerging "Third
Force" in Christianity alongside Protestantism and
Catholicism which was "the most extraordinary religious
phenomenon of our time." Although the article did not
mention NAE, it identified among the new force five
denominations that comprised nearly two-thirds of NAE's
membership: Assemblies of God, Church of God (Cleveland),
International Church of the Foursquare Gospel, Pentecostal
Church of God, and the Pentecostal Holiness Church..."http://www.nae.net/about-history.html
Please See: Sins
of the Father: Charles F. Parham, etc.
"...A key
accomplishment of NAE... was its role in the formation of
the World Evangelical Fellowship in 1951. Both J. Elwin
Wright and Clyde Taylor had sensed the need for an NAE on
the international level that would be a counterpart to the
World Council of Churches, formed in 1948. An exploratory
meeting with the British Evangelical Alliance was held in
Clarens, Switzerland, followed by two consultations in 1950
in London and Boston with representatives from the United
States, England, and eleven European nations. In August
1951, ninety-one leaders from twenty-one countries attended
the International Convention of Evangelicals in the
Netherlands, where the World Evangelical Fellowship was
officially constituted..."
"...Another NAE
initiative in the 1950s, with long-range consequences, was
the formation of a committee in 1957 to explore the
possibility of a new translation of the Bible. (The National
Council had five years earlier released the Revised Standard
Version, but the new translation did not prove popular among
many evangelicals.) The NAE committee began meeting with a
similar committee commissioned by the Christian Reformed
Church in 1961. By 1965, the two committees formed an
independent Committee on Bible Translation and two years
later, the New York Bible Society (today the International
Bible Society) became the official sponsor. In 1978, the
first copies of the New International Version of the Bible
came off the presses. The presses would not stop; ten years
after initial publication, more than fifty million copies
would be distributed throughout the English-speaking
world..." http://www.nae.net/about-history.html
Please see: Bible
Comparison Charts
The NAE website lists
members by denominations, organizations , schools, associations
& networks, and local associations.

Armin
Gesswein is 92 and the founder of the
Minister’s Prayer Fellowship and The Revival Prayer
Fellowship. Gesswein started Pacific Palisades Conferences,
out of which came Prayer Revival Fellowship. The purpose was
to get pastors together to pray for their cities. Eventually
Prayer Revival Fellowships were started in every U.S. city, as
well as globally. These
precipitated today's ecumenical prayer breakfasts. [Richard M.
Riss, Latter Rain, p.19] It was C. E. Fuller's suggestion
that motivated Armin Gesswein to move to Los Angeles. He
is a Senior Advisor on America’s National Prayer Committee
and president of Ministers' Prayer Fellowship based at Fuller
Theological Seminary.
"Armin has been a local
church pastor, evangelist, revivalist and mentor to countless
people in countless countries of the world. He has been
an adjunct faculty member at Fuller Theological Seminary.
Today he gives priority as a faculty member in The College of
Prayer." From the homepage of The College
of Prayer
"God is pouring out
His Holy Spirit in these days and He is mobilizing a mighty
movement of pre-revival prayer.....It is not enough for a
church to be a praying church, holy and strengthened and
equipped. Our mission is to see local churches revived so
that God will then be able to work through those local
churches to radically impact their community and their
world.":
As Andrew Murray wrote in
his landmark book, Key to the Missionary Problem, we
need to return to Pentecost. "Let us give ourselves
anew to prayer that the church may be restored to her
pentecostal state. Let us by faith yield wholly to the
Spirit and receive Him by faith to fill us. Let us give
ourselves to prayer for the power of the Spirit in the life
and work- of the church at home and abroad. The Pentecostal
command to preach the gospel to every creature is urgent,
all the more from having been neglected so long. Prayer
brought pentecost. Prayer still brings it. But few feel how
weak our power in prayer is." This return to the
Pentecostal pattern is summarized in what Armin Gesswein
calls, "God's Law of Revival."
The vision of the College
of Prayer was birthed in the heart of Armin Gesswein in 1931
while pastoring a church in Long Island, New York. When the
Holy Spirit brought revival to his congregation, God called
him into the ministry of revival prayer. This burden led
Armin to be involved in the great revival in Norway and has
been a catalyst for revival prayer for almost seven decades.
David Bryant refers to Armin Gesswein as 'Senior Statesman
of the Prayer Movement.'
"God has used Prayer
Summits throughout North America and the world to place a
passion for revival within the hearts of Christian
leaders." http://www.collegeofprayer.org/roots.htm
The need to be filled with
the Holy Spirit is accomplished when we accept Jesus Christ.
The Holy Spirit was poured out at Pentecost as a fulfillment
of prophecy and promise. Not setting aside the importance and
command for all to watch and pray, prayer didn't bring
Pentecost--God's promise to send His Comforter brought the
Holy Spirit.
According to various other
sources, Armin, who was a friend of those mentioned, also
prepared the way by traveling to cities globally and setting
up ecumenical prayer meetings for pastors and lay workers.
Gesswein also trained up these groups in the expectation of a
"great end-time harvest", and "revival"
movement. The ecumenical prayer groups prepared the way for
Billy Graham. Dr. Graham would not travel to a city unless
Gesswein's ecumenism had been successful there to establish a
pastors group that would "sponsor" his crusade.
There is no doubt that there
are many sincere Christians who have been swept up into the
many movements and organizations, not considering the full
Biblical implications. All these people, yesterday and today
are looking for a massive worldwide Revival. They want a
sociological 'people movement' that is characterized by what
they call a powerful manifestation of the Holy Spirit. This
manifestation, according to them, will result in a global
movement that changes communities, cultures and society. These
same manifestations are viewed as having recurred throughout
history, as promoted by the writings of people like J. Orr.
The expected revival must be
evident in it's affecting large numbers rather than an
individual who repents and comes to know and serve our Lord
Jesus Christ. Anything less would be viewed as a failure.
History does reveal the patterns of "sweeping
revivals" where many are indeed swept up in the emotional
fervor, but history also reveals, as we discuss in our other
articles, that these movements invariably were focused on
manifestations and aberrant and bizarre signs and wonders. The
reasons that history also reveals that each of these movements
died down is because many that were involved did not stay
involved. Their 'commitment' could be suggested to be based on
a need for manifestations, crowd fervor and signs and wonders
rather than being rooted in Jesus Christ. In other words, it
cannot be a personal revival based on Biblical truth and
obedience. We're to "walk by faith, not by
sight."
By teaching the false
doctrine that there is to be a second, 'latter rain'
outpouring of the spirit, which was fulfilled in Acts 2,
these leaders teach their followers to fully expect to see
that outpouring, and watch for the "signs" of it
appearing. The Holy Spirit was poured out upon all flesh at
the day of Pentecost, which was a fulfillment of the prophecy
of Joel 2, which many also wish to claim as their own.
The Holy Spirit indwells
each and every person that accepts Jesus Christ as Lord and
Savior. He has remained, He abides with us still, and
according to the promise He will never leave us or forsake us.
It is an affront and blasphemy to the abiding Holy Spirit of
God, to look for another spirit, call upon another spirit,
invoke another spirit, or participate in the pagan
manifestations of another spirit. [See: Lying
Signs and Wonders, Shepherds
in Disguise, Pentecostal
Tongues and The Inner Ecstasy]
The false teaching of
Revival worldwide is just that, false. Our beliefs must be
based on the Word of God. Many that advocate this idea also
believe these are the very last days and have overlooked that
God has said that there will be a great falling away--meaning
those who appear to have known the Lord Jesus Christ, will
turn away unto false teaching and the acceptance of the anti-christ.
It is not referring to those
who are already involved in the occult--the occult does not
turn away to the occult. It is in reference to the parable of
the sower and the seed as explained by Jesus in Matthew 13:
18-23. We've shown this same teaching in the articles such as "The
'god' in Every Man" , Sins
of the Father, Charles Parham and many others throughout
our website.
-
2 Thessalonians 2:3
"Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day
shall not come, except there come a falling away first,
and that man of sin be revealed, the son of
perdition;"
Next
Section: Fuller:
The Evangelical "Think Tank"
Previous Section: New
Evangelicalism
Footnotes
13.
http://www.tiu.edu/pr/Bios/Henry.htm
Copyright . All articles are the sole property of SeekGod.ca and Vicky Dillen. All Scripture King James Version unless otherwise stated.
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