CONTENTS
(Click on heading to go direct to that subject)

• THE GNOSTIC KEY
  • Links with Masonry
• TWO WAYS OF ACHIEVING LIBERATION
  • Toronto is both Illuminism & Mysticism
• DISCARDING THE OLD PARADIGM
• THE ASCENDING PATH
• RESTORING THE APOSTLES AND PROPHETS
• THE WHISTLER MOUNTAIN MEETINGS
• EDEN: THE ROOT OF GNOSTIC DOCTRINE
• THE GNOSTIC DOCTRINES IN HISTORY
  • Catholic Mystics
  • Shakers
  • Quakers
  • John Wimber

INTRODUCTION: The Need to Grasp the Overall Picture

We have a situation today where most of the world and much of the Church is heading straight into the antichrist delusion. That is a bold statement, as well as a BALD statement, and it will need much fleshing out before you can see it as true. But starting from that premise, my task as a watchman is not only to alert you to what is happening, but also to give you the tools for understanding the apostasy, so that you can avoid falling into the devil’s snare yourself.

The task of any watchman is to alert to danger; but unless you can grasp the fact sufficiently to arm yourself against harm, you will not benefit from any warning. God wants you to survive. He does not want you to fall - that is why he appoints watchmen to sound the trumpet of alarm, and also why he offers you the tools for understanding the danger.

There are so many different aspects of this deception that we can only focus on one or two at a time. But in writing here, I want to make you see how wide this antichrist agenda is, and what it involves. I want the scales to fall from your eyes, and for you to say, "I SEE it now"

I want you to see the foundational errors that lead to all these things - to thus to have the keys to understanding what is to come.

THE KEY IS THAT THE ANTICHRIST DOCTRINE IS BASICALLY A GNOSTIC ONE:

For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist [2 Jn 1:7]

At first sight, these verses look so familiar that we ignore them. But God has taken the trouble to tell us plainly in His Word just WHAT is the spirit of antichrist. This is what we need to know. In what sort of spirit will the antichrist come, and how will he appear, and what will be his doctrine? If we know this, we can avoid it.

I believe John - or the Holy Spirit speaking through John - was identifying for us the spirit, the essential nature and being, of antichrist both at that time and eventually when he is embodied in a human body in the future. So this is a valuable verse because it tells us what is the spirit of antichrist.

John says - it is already in the world. What was he talking about? What was this antichrist that he could already identify? John was referring to a heresy known as Gnosticism.

Gnosticism

The "Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church" defines gnosticism thus:

GNOSIS is a Greek work that means knowledge, in particular, "Revelation knowledge", hidden truths that are revealed supernaturally to the initiate. The Gnostics of old had certain central beliefs and these are now coming to the surface again today.

Characteristic of the gnostic teaching was that the material creation was antagonistic to what is truly spiritual, but that each man had a spark or seed of the divine substance within. Through the secret doctrines and the rites associated with them, this divine spark might be rescued from its evil material environment and be reunited with the divine.

Gnosticism existed before the time of Christ's birth, but afterwards there were Christian Gnostics. They explained the phenomenon of Jesus Christ in this way:

The christ spirit simply inhabited the body of the man Jesus. The christ spirit had come to teach man the gnosis whereby he could free himself from bondage to the evil material world. Some even taught that Jesus did not actually have a body of flesh, but was pure spirit. Thus the ideas of physical death and resurrection were denied by the gnostics.

Now we see what John was speaking of in his letter. It is the antichrist spirit who denies that Jesus is come in the flesh. The antichrist and his followers seek redemption (that is, spiritual transformation) by means of a spirit-being and by becoming a spirit-being!

Bible-believing Christians do not look to a mere spirit-being for salvation. We look to a Man who bled and died, in reality, in agony, upon a wooden cross. We do not receive redemption from a spiritual emanation that infuses us with "revelation" from some unknowable Supreme Being out there! We have a Saviour, the sacrificed Lamb of God, who died in our place, rose again as a flesh and bones person, who ever lives to intercede for us! Jesus is very REAL! If you met him today you could place your finger in the nail scars of His hand, just as Thomas did years ago. He is no "it", he's not a spirit, but a real (but divine) Man.

How did so-called "christian" Gnostics deal with scripture, and the reality of God Almighty?

Links With Masonry

It may already have dawned on some reading this that Masonry enshrines a lot of the old Gnostic teaching. Their god is also called the Architect of the Universe, at least in the lower orders. Those who "progress" by initiation into the darker secrets discover that the TRUE Masonic god is the light-bringer, or Lucifer, who (they believe) enlightens all with divine knowledge.The word that the Greeks used to describe the fallen creator-god was DEMI-URGOS, which meant a craftsman, a maker, an author, and since this being had made the universe he was the maker or architect of the physical creation. Lower Masonic orders are allowed to worship this Being and obey his laws, but the higher initiates purge themselves of such ignorant notions and come into relationship with a spiritual being in a spiritual reality. This is where the supernatural takes over!

However, as we shall see, today we have a new gnostic awakening that is taking place all over the Christian Church!! It is being called "renewal" and even "transformation" and it is as far from scriptural redemption as the gnostic doctrine of old. Once you grasp the enormity of this, you will never be the same. You will also be prepared to withstand the antichrist deception that will overtake the entire world shortly.

How Gnostics Dealt with The Material World:

Gnostics had a problem in that they were undeniably living in fleshy bodies, and on a physical earth! This did not fit with their ideals of spiritual transformation. They had to subdue the flesh, and they did this in one of two ways:

(1) Asceticism - Some would renounce all things of the flesh, such as marriage and procreation. They adopted ultra strict diets, embraced very harsh regimes of living, and denied themselves every earthly comfort. Like the later Catholic monks and nuns, they mortified the flesh in all kinds of unpleasant and extreme ways. They did so in order to liberate their divine spark, and rise to the spiritual level.

The Bible speaks of this sort of self-mortification, condemning it:

(2) Licentiousness (or, Libertinism) - Other Gnostics held that because the world is evil and their bodies were fallen, it did not matter what they did. They considered the Old Testament law as the fallen god’s snare to entrap them in this world, so they were a-moral- they accepted no laws. While the former group became the "saints" of Christian mythology, the latter lawless group has evolved into satanists who break the law deliberately. Satanists openly worship Lucifer and believe, like the Gnostics, that the God of the Old Testament is repressive and despotic.

Of course the Bible condemns both groups, and it speaks of the lawless in this way:

TWO WAYS OF ACHIEVING LIBERATION INTO THE SPIRIT REALM

The essence of Gnosticism is that the inner spirit of humanity must be liberated from a world that is basically deceptive, oppressive, and evil. How this could be achieved was a bit of a problem, but eventually two main ways of attaining spiritual transformation were developed. They were (a) MYSTICISM and (b) ILLUMINISM.

(1) Mysticism:

In which knowledge of the true self and the true secret doctrines is attained by a mystical experience of the divine. The scriptures refer to this in Colossians:

EXAMPLES OF MYSTICAL RITES:

(2) Illuminism

in which "enlightenment" is sought, where those who have moved on to higher levels pass on the secret doctrines to lower initiates.

"O Timothy! Guard what was committed to your trust, avoiding the profane and idle babble and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge--by professing it some have strayed concerning the faith." [1 Tim 6:20-21]

Illuminism proposes that man, and ultimately mankind, can free himself from the curse of the Fall by gainingrevelation knowledge, secret wisdom, known only to higher, or ascended masterswho can teach this to you.Disciples often have to undergo initiation in order to become worthy to receive this.

EXAMPLES OF ILLUMINISM:

In the book, "A Dictionary of Alchemy" by Mark Haeffner, he says this:

"The old view of alchemists as seeking after the elixir of life, or touchstone for transmuting metals into gold is totally inadequate. Alchemical roots go back to primitive mythology; and its adepts treated alchemy as both a scientific, experimental tradition and a mystic wisdom tradition in which there was a confluence of gnostic ideas about man and nature Alchemy always has a strong element of magic and of mysticism. The experimental physical aspect seems to be an introduction to mystic, magical secrets about the transformation of the spirit."

WORD OF FAITH TEACHINGS

This latter statement, about Word of Faith teaching, may startle and worry some readers who are not altogether familiar with the doctrine. However, although there is no space for a full analysis, it can be shown that Word of Faith does hold to gnosticism in some degree:

THE NEW AGE DOCTRINES

It is easy to see where new-agers get their beliefs, because all the doctrines of Gnosticism are there. Gnosticism of old is basically the same as the modern New-Age Movement, and teaches spiritual evolution and god consciousness in the same way.

TORONTO IS A SYNTHESIS OF BOTH ILLUMINISM AND MYSTICISM!

• Mystic cults offered inner revelation that came by an encounter with the divine, such as the yoga and meditation of Buddhism.
• Illuministic cults such as Rosicrucianism offered study of the hidden doctrines that led to enlightenment

BUT NOW, for the first time, we have a movement that combines both elements of Gnosticism! The Toronto experience utilises both the doctrine and the mystical experiences of the gnostics.

WHY DO THEY ASK FOR 'MORE'?

Jesus Christ came to SATISFY. He offered the water that, once tasted, would leave the disciple completely sated, no longer thirsty and hungry for "more".Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. (John 4:13-14)

It's a pity people don't sing the old songs. In days gone by we really knew how to proclaim our satisfaction in our all-sufficient Lord. For instance, who remembers…

Knowing Jesus is in fact the ONLY way on earth to know contentment, and spiritual satisfaction.

Illuministic, gnostic religion preaches a never-ending journey wherein the initiate has to attain higher and higher levels of spiritual knowledge and perfection, ever straining to achieve transformation and renewal, but somehow always falling just short of the goal.

Gnostic religion, like the Toronto Blessing, is at best a temporary spiritual "high", but is just one step on a long ladder that never reaches an end. Jesus Christ said, "never thirst again" but the Toronto leadership says "More! More!"

TORONTO AND BROWNSVILLE - A COMBINATION OF GNOSTIC DOCTRINES

It has now been firmly established that many of the teachings and practises of the Toronto movement have the Latter Rain movement as their foundation. However, there are differences. Whereas the Latter Rain pioneers taught that fullness and transformation was achieved as an eschatological event, Rodney Howard Browne and others teach that it can be attained by both illuminism and mysticism:

Rodney-Howard-Browne, initiator of the Toronto Blessing, and a Word-of-Faith believer, writes this in his booklet (The Coming Revival, pg. 23)

In a video tape aired on TBN in May 1994, Rodney Howard-Browne laid hands on a woman and encouraged her to

The hallmark of the Toronto Blessing has become:

(A) ILLUMINISM - That the written word is for the old age and we must pass on into a spiritual age, in which our knowledge comes by prophecies, dreams, visions, trances, etc.This seeking after the hidden wisdom, the inner light that transforms, is gnosticism.

The leaders of the Latter-Rain revival soon discovered that illuminism brought new revelations that went beyond the scriptures of old: A letter in the archives of the Assembly of God written by George Hawtin, says this:

The cry of the Toronto leadership is "God is bigger than his Word". They say:"Don’t put God in a box; don’t limit him to his revealed will for mankind; God can do anything he wants, even contradict his own written word".

The eldership of one British church justified their adopting the Toronto blessing by saying: "We must have church growth - we must have revival - the Bible has failed us; so now we must have the Spirit, the new anointing to do the work".

If you dare to look at your Bible to check out Toronto, you are derided and rebuked - you are just a book person, you don’t have the new revelation.

This is also how the teachings of the Latter Rain came about -through prophecies, visions, revelations, words that people heard inwardly and that were elevated to a higher place than the written word of God.

(B) MYSTICISM - At the same time it is taught that mystical encounter is needed. Devotees must get the anointing that opens the inner eye. Doubters are encouraged not to analyse the Blessing in advance but simply receive the anointing regardless, and when they do so it will open them up to the inner meaning it contains. They will be "converted" to the new thinking by the anointing.

So by means of ecstatic trance states and the power of spiritual encounters, a mystical union with the divine, you can rise above this mortal realm into an altered state; - this is true whether you are a Christian or not -the anointing 'works' whether you are saved or not saved.Whether Buddhist, Hindu, Catholic, Pentecostal - it doesn’t matter, this power will zap you and open your mind to the new paradigm. You will be changed! You will see things differently!

DISCARDING THE OLD PARADIGM

There are so-called prophecies and words from God that call for a radical change in thinking, a new way, a new thing - a break from the old paradigm and a new thinking for a new paradigm:

This prophecy was sent From: "Barry C. Linville" to the New Wine Vineyard Bulletin Board:

Thus, the present revival, involving the powers of Toronto, Pensacola and similar experiences, is basically a gnostic one. But if you recall the point at which we started, it was shown from scripture that the ANTICHRIST doctrine is basically GNOSTIC in nature. We could therefore conclude, as many already have, that the spirit of antichrist is the one behind the supernatural experience loosed at Toronto!

THE ASCENDING PATH: The Ladder That Leads to Heaven

Gnostic illumination achieved by esoteric knowledge is often portrayed as an ascending path up the mountain of enlightenment:It is called in many religions, the ladder. Disciples rise step by step through higher revelations, discarding the inferior teachings of the lower initiates along the way.

THE HORDES OF HELL ARE MARCHING: Rick Joyner’s Mountain

Despite the obviously unscriptural nature of this esoteric ascent up the symbolic mountain, Rick Joyner has presented a vision of his own ascent in his (now) four-part vision printed in successive issues of his Journal: The Morning Star. The entire vision was published in a book called "The Final Quest".

In this vision he says he ascends different levels of a huge mountain accompanied by an army of warriors warring against evil. On the way he discovers treasures, and doors leading to secrets that will revolutionise his Christian life. It is a masterpiece of gnostic teaching.

He even meets an angel called WISDOM, who teaches him to rise to the third heaven. To personify "wisdom" as a god or goddess has ever been the forte of the gnostic religions. Christians, too, are not blameless. "Sophia" the Greek word for wisdom was adored by some, and the church of Santa Sophia (Holy Wisdom) was built in Constantinople in the 6^th century. Remembering that the gnostic ascent is to discover the christ-spirit within, read this quote from the vision. Wisdom tells him:

Yet the Word of God tells us another story. It says that, with the Holy Spirit as our Guide, we know all things. We do not need to discover inner wisdom by some esoteric route.

This supposed angel of God goes on to tell Rick Joyner that Christ dwells within him, like the divine spark of the gnostics.

Yet when we look in occult literature, we find the self-same teachings. This extract from "The Secret of the Illuminati" by Elizabeth Van Buren, a famous occultist, illustrates the point:

RESTORING THE APOSTLES AND PROPHETS

Rick Joyner later sees a great cloud of white eagles.These turn out to be a great company of prophets that comes to support and teach the warriors. They began landing on the mountain, taking their place on every level beside the companies of warriors. Later on his special eagle gives him objects that make him more spiritual. Joyner asks who the eagles are:

But again, from "The Secret of the Illuminati" by Elizabeth Van Buren, occultist:

ASCENDED MASTERS: The Apostles And Prophets Of The Latter Rain

The doctrines of gnosticism are taught by a ruling caste, an elite who have ascended above the mere mental realm and who possess the wisdom of the ancients - new agers calls them Ascended Masters.

The Latter Rain calls them the Apostles and Prophets, but they have the same end in view - a teaching of the hidden secrets of God, the revelations that will lead us to liberation. In the case of the Latter Rain and toronto teachings, these "masters" are the conduits through which the anointing flows, as well as the verbal mouthpieces of the hidden wisdom. Thus they become both guru and shaman at once.

The Whistler Mountain Meetings

Rick Joyner's mountain trek took the form of a vision, but recently, Christians have literally been going up mountains to wait on the power of God for this inner revelation to come to pass that will take them to a higher spiritual level - or as they say - "take them beyond the veil".

From June 28th to July 2nd 1995 there was a"Gathering of the Nations In His Holy Presence" at Whistler Mountain Resort, BC. and the organisers announced that it would be used by the Lord to "kickoff the second stage of the awakening."

Whistler notorious for its eagles

Bob Jones, notorious leader of the Kansas City Prophets, and at one time removed from the public platform because of his sexual indiscretions and bizarre sayings, is one of the key participants in the Whistler Gatherings. Before the event, Jones said that "this will be a gathering of the eagles in the Kingdom" Interestingly, within a week, over 4000 eagles were gathered at an airport close to Whistler (so many that there were concerns about aircraft operational safety). This was such an extremely unusual event that the CBC and CTV networks in Canada featured it in their newscasts. It was seen as a confirmation in the natural of the significance of the Gathering in the spirit.

Some quotes from promotional literature:

Notice that the promoters did not dare to finish off this scripture quote, perhaps because it too blatantly displayed the organiser's belief in the glorification of Christians on earth, before the Second Coming of Christ. (A latter-rain belief.) The entire quote is:

EDEN: THE ROOT OF GNOSTIC DOCTRINE

THE TWO TREES

In the Garden were not one but two trees. These can be described as Jesus, the Tree of Life, and Satan the Tree of False Wisdom.

Jesus is the Tree of Life, for He is the Truth, He is the Life. The Life is IN THE SON. Eternal life is not in Man. Therefore we need to be united to the Son in order to know true life.

The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil represents Satan, the enemy of God and Man. Satan preaches that you can know wisdom and life in yourself, apart from God. Satan possesses a kind of wisdom - the hidden knowledge, or gnosis, that enlightens mankind to his own divinity, that gives man power to rule over his own life, over other’s lives, over his planet and eventually over the universe.The life of Jesus submits to God the Father, and therefore also defers to other people. The life of satan is selfish life. It is rebellion and domination.

Lucifer, the light-bringer, offers illumination to open the eyes of the soul and give inner light, enlightenment

"For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.(Gen 3:5)

Looking at scripture, we can see that, indeed, the eyes of Adam and Eve WERE opened, but at what price!

Their eyes WERE opened (satan can tell the truth!!) and they DID have knowledge - he was correct! But Adam and Eve knew they were naked. They were living in guilt, ashamed, sin-conscious and fearful. Then came lies, hypocrisy, pretense, loss of relationship with God, and judgement, and death. However, Adam and Eve DID eat the fruit,- so secret wisdom is still available to Man.

The Results of Knowledge

Just as the Lord had warned, tasting the hidden wisdom of Lucifer meant spiritual death. The light of God in man's spirit died out, and left an empty and bitter darkness in its place. Communion with God, that brought satisfaction, was ended. Now man has a soul that is seeking for meaning and life, but without God.Man is still trying to mend the damage that Luciferic wisdom brought to himself and the world, but the methods are doomed to failure, because they are not according to God's will. The Fall has brought a universal sense of division, rejection, loss, and insecurity. Thus mankind is chasing after a remedy that will bring the perfection of Eden back into his life.

Transformation for both man and his world is the aim of many or most religions today. Especially in 20^th century religion, the main effort is to "Heal the World" and achieve universal love, harmonyandpeace with justice for all. These are the conditions that we knew in Edenic perfection - they can NEVER be known again, outside God. Even so, new-agers, and even some Christians, chase this elusive dream.

In order to overcome our sense of loss, and the loneliness of life on this planet without God, religions try to end wars and bring down personal and national barriers. They promote forgiveness, repentance and reconciliation between nations and cultures - all good things, but unobtainable. Man is fallen and under judgement. He can do nothing to save himself.

The only practical way to achieve a transformation is by domination. Dictators like Hitler control the masses by indoctrination, subjugation, or threats. In Hitler's case, he hoped to bring about a thousand years of peace. Alternatively, schemes like the Babel tower project attempt to unite the world through false religion and a common purpose. This is what the New Age is all about.

The Spiritual Fallout from Eden

True spiritual life is knowing Jesus Christ as Saviour and being born again. Our spirits are alive to truth and wisdom only through Jesus Christ - for in him is life. Satan on the other hand promises spiritual energy and power, and the means to rule others, and ourselves, a method of achieving spiritual transformation without submission to God. Satan’s way proposes that you can "know yourself" in such a way that you can set yourself free and experience the bliss of 'nirvana'- union with the sublime, the eternal.

Becoming one with the "whole" is what satan offers us in order to heal the longing we have, because of our separation. However the downside is that, given a substitute, people will no longer seek after God. I would suggest that Toronto seekers are being sold short. They are being offered a quick-fix solution to their problems without a true, lasting, sound, sincere and scriptural relationship with God.

THE GNOSTIC DOCTRINES IN LATER HISTORY

CATHOLIC MYSTICISM

During the long years of Roman Catholic domination, things became progressively less biblical and more mystical, with the common people sunk into either traditions or superstitions. Without the plain teaching of the Bible to keep them straight, religious people sought ways to find God that conformed to the Church's dogma but introduced at least some form of personal release from sin and shame.It was a situation absolutely wide open for gnosticism, for firstly the hermits, then the monks and nuns of the middle ages spent hours in meditation seeking enlightenment. They practised mortification of the flesh, trying to spiritualise their existence by retreating from the world.

Teresa of Avila (1515-82)

This well-known and now rediscovered lady was the Spanish founder of the religious order of the Barefoot Carmelites. In 1555, after many years marked by serious illness and increasingly rigorous religious exercises, she experienced a profound awakening, involving visions of Jesus Christ, hell, angels, and demons.This eventually involved a "mystic Sacred Marriage" in which Teresa experienced divine union with Jesus, (as she believed) with blissful sensations, manifestations, levitation, and trances. Teresa of Avila is now being promoted through the Toronto movement as an example of one who experienced manifestations of the Spirit, though it is much more likely that she fell in love with a deceiving spirit. Teresa never abandoned the teachings of the Catholic Church.

John of The Cross, (1542-91)

St. John was a Spanish mystic and poet. He experienced what he felt was an awakening of the spirit by renunciation of the world and flesh. He, like Teresa, thought he had achieved "Union with the Divine". The themes of his poetry concentrate on the reconciliation of human beings with God through a series of mystical steps that begin with self-communion, and renunciation of the distractions of the world. One of his books was called: "Living Flame of Love".

The French Prophets or Camisards of 17th and 18th Centuries

The Camisards (from the French dialect word camisa, "shirt"), was a name applied to the French Huguenot (Protestant) peasants of the Cévennes mountain region of France whorose in rebellion in 1702 against King Louis 14^th. The Camisards, so called because of the black smocks they wore during night raids, had sought refuge in the Cévennes after Louis 14th in 1685 had revoked the religious freedom granted to them by the Edict of Nantes. Though not all were violent, a portion of the Camisards conducted guerrilla warfare from mountain strongholds against the royal troops. Roman Catholic churches were burned, and their priests were killed or forced to flee.

However, they saw themselves as a prophetic group, a millennial manifestation, bringing in the kingdom of God on earth. They experienced many spiritual manifestations similar to the Toronto believers. Here is a description of their prophetic power:

This sounds familiar to us. The manifestations are identical to those seen under the Toronto spirit. Was this of God? Plainly not. For all the exhortations to denounce the Catholic Church, the result was to stir up rebellion, armed warfare and bloodshed. Hardly the work of the true Spirit of God.

The book "Occult Theocracy" by Lady Queenborough quotes sources who call the Camisards "theomaniacs" and says:

This means, the spirit motivating the inspired prophets decided your fate according to prophecy! If you were a Catholic, this spirit could inspire somebody to kill you! The above account goes on to state that the same person would be both a prophet and an army commander.

The Camisards were early "Restorationists". They believed the Church would be triumphant over the world system and would reign in power in the endtimes. They were calling in their prophecies for Christians to rise up like a mighty man and to defeat their enemies, in their case by killing the priests and burning down their churches!They felt they had a right to do that. They believed God have given them the authority to defeat their enemies! This is a sort of Liberation Theology that you see in Africa today. It’s OK to kill people as long as it’s in a good cause.

SHAKERS (1774)

The group known to us as the Shakers was influenced both by the Quakers and the Camisards. They give us a good example of a group who had plenty of physical and spiritual manifestations, but entirely the wrong doctrine! They were led by Mother Ann Lee, who believed she was the second coming of Christ as a female principle.

The Shakers began as a sect first heard of about 1750 in Great Britain. They were then called the United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Coming. The first leaders were ex-Quakers James Wardley (or Wardlaw), a tailor, and Jane his wife, dropouts from the Society of Friends who had come under the influence of the "French Prophets." (The Camisards)

In 1774, Ann Lee of Manchester, England, introduced the sect in the United States, having been influenced by both the Quakers and the Camisards. She was known as Mother Ann Lee to her followers. She taught that the Church was in the endtimes; the gifts of the Spirit were being restored; and she had been sent by God to set up a millennial rule, which would lead to Christian perfection.

The group organised themselves into close communities that held property in common, practised asceticism, and honoured celibacy above marriage. (Gnostic beliefs)

They experienced tongues, healing, visions, prophecies, and all sort of manifestations. However, as can be seen from their beliefs, they were heretical. (It is interesting to note how many times throughout history a deceiving spirit has tried to introduce the ideas of restoration to an earthly millennial perfectionism.)

QUAKERISM

The Friends were the followers of George Fox, an English lay preacher who in about 1647 began to preach the doctrine of "Christ within"; this concept later developed as the idea of the "inner light." (It was not just Christ!).Quakers thought that the Divine Spark of God exists in everyone. Thus all persons may receive revelation if they try.

Quaker meetings are intended to help members to feel God's presence as a guiding spirit in their lives, not to read the Word. Early Quakers also experienced spiritual manifestations, which is how they got their name. They shook as the spirit of revelation hit them. Quakers like many other gnostic cults practised withdrawal from this evil world (asceticism) and they emphasised simplicity in dress, manners, and speech.

WIMBER, AND SPIRIT VERSUS WORD:

John Wimber came from Quakerism. Is this why he has traces of the belief in the supremacy of the inner revelation over and above the written word? In his book, "Power Evangelism", Wimber explains:

From "Testing The Fruit Of The Vineyard" By John Goodwin, Former Pastor of Calvary Chapel San Jose [1990], who travelled extensively with John Wimber:

A fact sheet on the Vineyard, published by Christian Research Institute (CRI) states:

THE NEW THING IS THE KEY

One of the common strands holding together all these sects, cults and movements is their belief that God has initiated a NEW THING through them. A "new wave" or a "new teaching" has been launched following gnostic revelations.The Latter Rain Movement was just the same. It was launched on supposed revelations from the Spirit that introduced new doctrine, and sought to overthrow the old order with a "New Order" leading to perfection and fulness on earth, with dominion for the Church.

Toronto is not a new phenomenon! Most of these sects believed God was doing a new thing through them. In Part Two we will develop this theme and show just how Toronto is using hidden wisdom and mystical experiences to set up the Church for their New Order. People are changing, just as the prophecy demanded. People are undergoing a "paradigm shift" in their beliefs. The old views are now hackneyed, and the "new thing" is what we must all adopt.

John Wimber wrote in the introduction to "Signs and Wonders & Church Growth", (1985, published by the Vineyard Ministries International) :"at this date, January 1985, we have had in excess of 700 students take the course at Fuller Seminary school of world missions. The results have been astounding. Better than 90 percent of these students have indicated a paradigm shift in which they are now ministering in an altered world view."

GO TO PART TWO: "The Latter Rain Roots of the Present Revival"