Other Developments and
Mixtures:
The Latter Rain, Discipling, Kingdom Now
British/US
Israelism, Christian Identity
The Latter Rain Movement And Its Influences
Within the Pentecostal/Charismatic movement, revivals have repeatedly cropped up, serving as very vibrant and energizing forces. In the 1940's-50's, the Latter Rain revivals had a huge impact, but afterwords many in the Pentecostal and Charismatic movement considered the Latter Rain teachings to be false. However, many see similarities between the teachings of the Latter Rain, the Brownsville and Toronto Airport Revivals, and the Kansas City Prophets and those inspired by them, like Kenneth Copeland.
Five-Fold Ministries Restoration
One idea that came from the Latter Rain is the restoration of the five-fold ministry of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. What happened was various leaders claimed to be full blown apostles, and prophets were appointed to intervene directly as representatives of God to the believers. The authoritarian potential in this idea is most troubling... it tempts various leaders to abuse their power, and puts them in the position to control others and become an undue influence over matters they are not qualified to decide over.
Shepherding/Discipling Movement
From this came the Shepherding or Discipling movement which is still in force in various churches, not only in many Charismatic and Pentecostal churches, but also in some Fundamentalist and Evangelical churches. In each case someone is said to be appointed by God to help a less mature believer, and going against the wishes of such a leader is considered blasphemous. The amount of authoritarian manipulation possible under this sort of setup is extreme, as guru-type relationships may be developed with all the fear of fire and brimstone and judgment that one would expect if one was dealing with Peter after the death of Ananias and Saphira in Acts 5, or one of the fire and brimstone prophets of the Old Testament. In some cases individual life decisions were put in the hands of these “God given” guides.
The book Twisted Scriptures: A Path to Freedom From Abusive Churches, by Mary Alice Chrnalogar explains the manipulative and abusive dynamics very well, with help in untangling the confusion that results and clearly seeing how the manipulation proceeded so it can be undone.
There is a lot of information collected by Joel Elliott from the Department of Religious Studies of University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, regarding problems with shepherding/discipling within the International Churches of Christ in Boston, may wish to look at this Preliminary Bibliography (updated in 1997); it certainly lists a lot of research on this movement from different angles.
The conservative Christian Watchman Expositor also has an interesting article on the Boston Church of Christ and Discipling * Note: Though the Watchman Expositor, has numerous articles on various non-Christian religions and expresses much concern about heretical doctrines within Christianity, does not seem to have any entries on Chalcedon, Rushdoony, Brahnsen, Larry Pratt, or Theonomic Reconstruction/Dominion Theology. However, they do have an insightful statement on the dangers of hierarchical and authoritarian groups which are obsessed with appearing righteous, whether Christian or non-Christian, for example, this article on Spiritual Abuse.
The conservative Christian Banner Ministries Cross Word website article, Roots of the Modern Discipling Movement provides a lot of background.
Manifest Sons of God
Another idea that developed out of the Latter Rain was a concept that Christians are going to have super powers as the second coming of Christ draws near. Christians are expected to defeat death, perhaps even before Christ comes again. They will be able to do everything that Jesus did. Although this concept is similar to those of the New Age and Gnosticism, within the Latter Rain (and the Dominion Movement), this is associated with the growing political and cultural power over unbelievers that Christians are expected to have as their duty to rule the world and make it suitable for Christ. A theocratic power-driven political attitude, one of domination, is thus wedded to what in Gnosticism and the New Age, and among most early Christians, was a transcendent spiritual concept associated with Jesus' Kingdom, which was said to be “not of this world.” Not content with a Transcendental Kingdom, a spiritual power, and super abilities in Heaven, they intend to bring down Heaven to earth. They storm the gates of Heaven to seize it like Lucifer, and intend to bring Hell to the unbelievers, just like the Christian/Theonomic Reconstructionists.
Kingdom Now Theology
With or without the Manifest Sons of God doctrine, the aspects of the Latter Rain that is connected to a flavor of Christian/Theonomic Reconstruction, is the Restoration Movement, Kingdom Now Theology, or Dominion Theology. The idea is that Christians should be ruling the world as the Millennial Kingdom right now, having dominion over the whole world, restoring the role of Apostles and restoring the world for Christ's second coming.
Kenneth Copeland and the Kansas City Prophets
The conservative Christian Banner Ministry's Cross Word web site has an informative article on the “Kansas City Prophets” that looks at Latter Rain roots of the teachings of some of today's Charismatic televangelists like Kenneth Copeland Old Wine in New Wineskins: A Look at the Kansas City Prophets
Cell Church and Discipling Movements
A movement related to discipling/shepherding is the Cell Church or Home Church movement. This is a strategy of church organization that relies on Cells or house meetings for singing praise songs, Bible study, etc. But often these “cells” are subject to a hierarchy of leaders in a network that can get quite deep. A new Christian would be sent by the pastor or other leaders in a church to a particular “cell” group, and receive guidance as a disciple from the leader of the group; that leader is in turn receiving guidance as a disciple from a leader of a higher level cell group of cell group leaders; and so on up a pyramid. The pastor himself is in a cell group and in discipleship to a guide, and so the links between churches, even with other denominations and independent churches, becomes quite extensive. Sometimes the idea of “covering” is brought in; as the blood of sacrifices in the Old Testament protected, assisted, or remedied faults of the priests of theocratic Israel, and as the blood of Jesus is seen to cover Christian's sins, authorities within this cell structure are said to be able to “cover” the members of their cells, through the blood of Jesus. Under the “cover” of this protection, risks may be taken with a sense of security, and obedience to faulty instructions is “covered” so that all in all, God's will is said to be done, and is guiding the whole process. In the Cleansing Stream ministry, the “covering” idea is begun in reference to the Spirit of God covering our spirit, which covers our soul, which covers our body. Then that is extended so that the husband “covers” the wife, who then both cover the children. When someone is out of line of the authority and system of “coverings,” then God is not happy, and troubles may come up. But if you operate under the “covering” of a “cell” or “super-cell” group leader, and that leader is not acting under the proper cover of the pastor, or is faulty, you are still pleasing God by being obedient to authority.
Connecting this to discipling, if the group leader is controlling and you wish to move to another state for a job, and your discipler/cell group leader does not feel it is God's will, they may ask you to pray about it, giving a subtle hint that it might not be God's will. If after praying you still want to move, they may suggest you pray together, and then the leader may indicate that you have not been entirely obedient to God in some area of your life, and/or that you are not understanding God's intentions correctly. In charismatic circles, this may be expressed as a word of God, while in other Evangelical or Fundamentalist circles, it may simply be expressed as authoritative guidance, with a reminder that believers should not make trouble for their elders. In other cases manipulation can be rather subtle. Several times, especially on issues that don't bother a discipler one way or another, the disciple can be encouraged to pray and left to whatever guidance they get on their own. But at some point it becomes important to manipulative disciplers to find something minor and harmless to disagree on, to reinforce the validity of the discipler, to reinforce the notion that God Himself connected the disciple and the discipler, and that obedience to the discipler is what God wants. Later on a more important issue, one that has serious impact on one's own life, or one on serious wrestling over religious issues, it can then be easier to pressure the disciple into complying with the discipler's wishes. Kindof a game of “take what you want a few times, now I'm going to choose, now you choose, now I assert authority” growing as the moves increase the importance of the discipler in making decisions in the disciple's life. Sometimes this gets down to the level of small everyday decisions like where to go shopping, or how to plan a weekly budget and how to handle friends, who to have as a friend, which friend to drop, which church group to go to.
When the cell group structure is combined with ideas of “covering,” discipling, and higher level cells connecting pastors and other leaders to Prophets and Apostles, it amounts to a full blown resuscitation of the Latter Rain. In some cases, the difference is only in the elimination of certain buzzwords and tip-offs. The “cell church” and discipling movement still exists in in various conservative Christian churches, including Fundamentalists, Pentecostals like the Assemblies of God (John Ashcroft's denomination), Charismatics, and Evangelicals. It is uncertain what connections exist at higher levels, or among specific cells one may not be aware of. While many church pastors would say, if pressed, that the Latter Rain had excesses and had some false teachings, it is unclear what motivations the pastor's peers and shepherds further extended or up the chain may have, and what views they may hold. One tactic of Christian Reconstruction, which was the inspiration for the Kingdom Now/Dominion Theology from the Latter Rain, is to support “stealth candidates” for political purposes, who do not explicitly claim to be a “Christian candidate,” and not to mention the Christian Coalition or Reconstruction, and various buzzwords. There are also religious leaders who believe the essential points of Christian Reconstruction or Kingdom Now teachings, but officially state that they aren't Reconstructionists because of some minor disagreement. At the very least, such people are natural allies for extreme Christian/Theonomic Reconstructionists.
British Israelism, Christian Identity, USA Israelism
Expanding on the Covenant Theology notion that Christians are the real Israel nowadays, other movements have specified that Israel, the white race, and/or the United States are Israel, and inherit the prophecies and promises of God's Chosen People. Of course, there is a tendency to be selective, as the curses and punishments on the Jews are often left on the Jews and the present day Nation of Israel, yet the promises and blessings may be handed over to the “true Christians”, the nations of Britain or the US, or the white race While that bias has had its effect on Christianity as it applied Hebrew Scriptures to contemporary Christianity and Judaism, in Covenant Theology the potential for selective application of the principle increased, and among national or racial extensions of Covenant Theology/Replacement Theories, the temptation is ever-present. Depending on current events, wishes, and resentments, the way prophecies are interpreted are easily skewed. In general, the one thing the Jews are typically said to inherit from their old covenant relationship is the curse for being unfaithful to God, as the covenant is eternally severed and replaced/translated to the faithful Christians. In some cases Jews who convert to Christianity then gain the promises and positive prophetic inheritance, but in Christian Identity, the Old Testament is divided up between those prophecies, judgments, and pronouncements against the unfaithful Jews and other nations, and the faithful Israelites of ancient times, which is said to have really been white Israelites, compared to the mixed race unfaithful Jews who are given curses and judged as lacking or evil. In these systems, the state of Israel and the Jews are a distraction or serve mere preliminary roles, with the “real” Israelites of today (Britain, USA, Whites) being the focus of end-times prophecy and promises of rulership over the world. Movements with these sentiments may easily draw upon Theonomic Reconstruction/Christian Restoration, Dominion Theology, and the Kingdom Now concept for support and justification for extremist politics. In the case of Theonomic Reconstruction/Christian Restoration, these movements share the concept of the Old Testament Covenant(s) and role of Israel today entirely belonging to Christians, as the real true Israel.
Links Between Christian Reconstruction, Dispensationalists, and Shepherding/Discipling....
Understanding Parallels with Christian Identity organization tactics and theology
One of the most troubling aspects of this landscape is the probable coordination of efforts, increased dialog between the Shepherding/Discipling and Christian Reconstruction movements. There are many long-standing differences between conservative/orthodox Presbyterianism, which is based in Calvinism and is the ground from which the extremist Christian Reconstruction movement was borne, and the Pentecostal/Charismatic movement from which the Latter Rain and Shepherding/Discipling arose. But at the authoritarian extremes, apparently, doctrinal differences and past theological spats are set aside as both consider how to increase the influence of the principles of “Godly Authority” in Christianity and in Christian nations, through religious/political leaders. Particularly troubling is the parallel tendency among Christian Identity racial extremists to work within a loose cell network to reclaim Christian countries to authoritarian “Christian” rule. Technically Christian Identity holds that the denominations as well as the Republican party have failed and are serving Satan. But there are independent Fundamentalist churches, free-wheeling revivals, and newer looser denominations or smaller groups of allied churches which also share this view of the denominations, and sometimes also of the “religious right” and republicans. Then there are also conflicts between these groups over issues of race, Republicans, and tactics involving using the political “religious right” groups.
But in some cases alliances, informal networking, and tactical maneuvering take place to take advantage of distribution channels, ties with money and power, and control structures. As an example of some of the connections and possibilities, I will refer to a small evangelistic group I have observed up close personally, which uses some of the more manipulative and authoritarian Discipling/Shepherding techniques, called Christ in Action. The leader, Denny Nissley, was a traveling street evangelist and now travels with his 18 wheeler to various churches to sponsor evangelism fundraisers, hand out tracts, distribute clothes or some food in emergencies, along with their religious message. He prefers to hook up new converts to some church he knows of who will guide or disciple the convert in what he considers the correct manner. He is good friends with a former member of the secret service who served President Herbert Walker Bush, has appeared on Pat Robertson's 700 club and met with Ashcroft and other members of congress, has Jay Seculow (of ACLJ, founded under Robertson) on his board of directors for his evangelism ministry, and was friends with the founders of National Association of Marriage Enhancement, who happened to serve in Bartlet's Phoenix Assembly, and Paul Yongi Cho. Pat Robertson is associated with the very secretive and well connected right wing Council for National Council, along with various religious extremists.
Denny's right hand man and another close associate each said independently that they had undefined racist backgrounds, but it is unclear how serious their connections were, but now they see themselves as part of the Christ-centric rather than race-centric lifestyle. However, the subject calls to mind the known use of cell group organization among organized racists in The Order, Priesthood of Phineas, and Christian Identity groups, and among terrorist groups around the world like Al Qaeda, and the way this parallels cell church and discipling networks. Traveling figures like Denny can easily pass messages between cells, whether in traditional shepherding groups or cell churches on the conservative right, or potentially among more extreme and militant allies. Denny only met Pat Robertson briefly, but has Robertson's lawyer as a board member for his ministry. Pat Robertson has been known to Dominion and Kingdom Now positions and has invited major figures within that movement on his 700 club, which brings up the issue of how someone like Robertson connects with various conservatives and extremists. The church Denny attended, and is considered a minister of, is the Manassas Assemblies of God, pastored by Charles Nestor. Nestor was billed on an advertisement as part of a conference between major representatives of the Shepherding and Dominion movements, apparently part of a growing trend to connect movements which had previously been more independent due to theoretical/theological differences. The pastor denied that he knew what the conference was about when he allowed them to use his picture for the advertisement, and says he did not go to the conference when he found out what the conference was about, but it is difficult to assess such denials. Oddly enough, Pastor Nichols, another board member of Christ in Action, is related to one of the authors of a book on the Mauntauk experiment, and has spoken favorably about Scientology.Whatever the case, and however important, unimportant, connected or uninvolved this particular evangelist and his pastor are in the most extreme or militant Christian circles, it is certainly chilling that extremists can easily use such networks and do have inroads and access to members of conservative religious groups and political power that reaches the mainstream. This access is sometimes through evangelists like Pat Robertson, and also through less prominent people who can act as liaisons between churches and networks, and can pass beneath the radar screen, people like Denny Nissley. Through the current cell church, lighthouse, and discipling movements, extremists can exert manipulative influence, pass messages, and potentially mobilize conservatives who have no conception of the larger picture. On the surface most of the cell church and discipling groups seem to take pains to avoid the buzzwords and more controversial or excessive aspects of the Latter Rain movement and the Discipling movement of the 70's, but manipulations, pressures, authoritarian tendencies, and undue influence, are definitely problems among some of these groups.
It is difficult to assess the degree of these problems without intimate knowledge of people in particular groups, or without becoming subject to the guidance of a discipler/shepherd and thereby risking manipulation, becoming a pawn in various deceptions, or becoming blinded by being immersed in the situation and loosing a basis for accurate comparison and evaluation. Many people in cell churches or discipling relationships are strongly opposed to the positions of political extremists and out and out religious domination of government, and so they would be pawns in a game they do not consent to. The potential for higher layers and levels of shepherding/discipling to be involved in extremist movements is especially troubling, because it implies organized underlying ulterior political agendas for such networks and relationships across the evangelical and conservative Christian groups that have cell churches and one-on-one discipling. Certainly such abuses have happened more generally in these movements in the 70's, and recently despite public expressions of reform, the Boston Churches of Christ have had problems with discipling/shepherding abuses, and Pat Robertson's involvement with the NPC and continuing ties to discipling and Dominion Theology connections demonstrates that this problem could be extremely wide spread, with connections at the highest as well as the lowest, most secretive, extremist levels.The parallels with Christian Identity need to be examined in some more depth. Whatever ties with racist organizations the religious right has, it is important to recognize that the extremist tactics, goals for political power and domination, and underlying theological agreement represent the core problem; the racism of Christian Identity simply extends the same extremism, militancy, and fanaticism of other non-race based Christian extremists to racial categories. There would be countless targets of violence, discrimination, and domination by either sort of group should they get the power they seek, and the harm they would do to a nation in their grips would be immeasurable. Right now, the destructive effects of their current influence and manipulation, and the potential of partial successes, or abortive attempts to seize more power through electoral, lobbying, or violent methods, is of more immediate concern. Particularly with a religious right president and attorney general, even a partial success for the more extreme religious right that provokes a response that overturns the attempt, could seriously disrupt the country.