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The day of the saintsEquipping believers for their revolutionary role in ministryAfter Toronto?THE DAY OF THE SAINTS As I was reading The Day of the Saints, my reaction was 'Here we go again!' Most will know that the Pentecostal movement had its origins in North America at the beginning of the 20th century. Within a few years small groups in Canada were teaching that there are at least two classes of Christians: ordinary believers and an elite class destined for a major transformation and known as 'the Manifestation of the Sons of God'. These Sons-to-be expected immortalisation, just as Christ was after his resurrection and before his ascension, ready for a dynamic endtime ministry. They were to bring in God's Kingdom by restoring the earth to its pre-Fall condition and defeating the last enemy, death. There was debate as to whether this even would precede a literal return to earth by Jesus or whether this was itself the event known as 'the Second Coming of Christ'. This 'Manifested Sons of God' (MSG) teaching never really gained popularity in the UK, although inroads were made in the mid to late 1970s by a group called 'The Move' or 'The Body'. Although the radical forms of this teaching went into decline from the mid 1980s, the concepts remained underground and have recently reappeared in more evangelical guise, particularly in the pronouncements of the Kansas City 'prophets' such as Bob Jones and Paul Cain. It has now also appeared in this latest offering by Bill Hamon, published not surprisingly by Don Nori's 'Destiny Image Publishers', with its slogan 'We publish the prophets'. Living down a bad namePresent-day promoters of MSG have to be cautious because of the bad name which this doctrine acquired. This may explain the reticence to deploy particular terminology. So Hamon replaces 'The Manifestation of the Sons of God' with 'The Day of the Saints'. Accordingly, the well-known Scripture, 'the earnest expectation of the creation waits eagerly for the manifestation (or revealing) of the Sons of God' (Romans 8.19), becomes (for Hamon): 'The whole creation is earnestly awaiting the Day of the Saints' (p.13). And he assures us that 'The Day of the Saints is the next scheduled end-time event' (p.13). Indeed, Hamon prophesies that a generation is arising that will not see death. It is the task of this 'Omega-Transition Generation' to restore creation to its original state, and only when this task is complete will Jesus return in Person. Referring to Acts 3.21, he writes of Peter that 'in verse 21 he prophesied that 'Heaven' is the place that received Christ when He arose from the dead, and it is the place where He will stay until all the 'times of restitution' (or restoration) have transpired which God has spoken' (p.123). Hamon does not deny the literal return of Jesus to earth, but believes that it will occur after the Day of the Saints. Before the Second ComingMany Christians are awaiting the Day of the Lord or second coming of Jesus Christ. 'But before Christ returns in glory, he will be glorified in and through his Saints as they demonstrate their likeness to him and their obedience to his commands' (p.42). Indeed, 'We should be preaching more about the Day of the Saints than about the imminent return of Christ' (p.72). Hamon is careful to avoid the charge of date-setting, but confesses that his 'hopeful anticipation is that the Day of the Saints will be activated around 2008' (p.134). In any event, for Hamon, the time is 'not set in Heaven', so there 'can be no particular year set for it to happen' (p.134). The same flexibility is found in regard to the timing of our Lord's individual return to earth as the Saints 'can hurry it along by co-labouring with the Holy Spirit in restoring all things' (p.73). The book climaxes with an exhortation for Christians to prepare a younger generation to become 'Overcomers' to participate in the 'Omega-Transition Generation' which will be 'the last generation of the mortal Church' and 'the one which will experience the transition from mortality to immortality' (p.412). This generation will prepare the way for our Lord's final return to earth. So although the individual coming of Jesus to earth is not eradicated, it is effectively eclipsed by 'The Day of the Saints'. So who is Bill Hamon? Dr. Hamon is the founder of Christian International Ministries Network whose particular work seems to involve arranging for hands to be laid on people to turn them into 'prophets'. From the CI headquarters in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida, he now presides over at least 600 ministers and is now called 'Bishop'. A major part of this book is devoted to Hamon's EndTime Restorationist agenda. This was originally presented in his first major book, The Eternal Church (1981), so it cannot surprise us that Hamon's reframed MSG scenario is integrated into his Latter Rain EndTime Restorationism (LR-ETR). Like all LR-ETR proponents, Hamon asserts the EndTime Restoration of the 'Fivefold Ministry', consisting of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. Although this is based on the four ministries of Ephesians 4.11, LR-ETR proponents insist that these must be five so that they correspond to the human hand, the apostles being the thumb (pp.191-194). Ham' to be 'that of prophet-apostle' (p.117), which, in the eyes of himself and his followers authorises him to make major pronouncements concerning the worldwide church which have no clear biblical warrant. So he states that 'in order to fully participate in the coming Day of the Saints, each believer must have vision' (p.117). Naturally this 'vision' is none other than an 'understanding' of 'God's Restoration Process' (p.117). Step-by-step?LR-ETR takes the view that the church started off well, but deteriorated to rock-bottom in the Middle Ages. At that point, God stepped in to start his ETR process to raise (restore) the church step-by-step until it regains its former position and more. This started in AD 1517 with Martin Luther and 'justification by faith', continued with the Methodist revival (new birth and sanctification), the Pentecostal movement (spiritual gifts), and the Latter Rain Movement of 1948 (apostles, prophets and the Body of Christ), and so on. This mindset incorporates a number of modules, including belief in present-day foundational apostles, 'present truth' as referring to particular doctrines restored during each phase of Restoration, and 'the Restoration of the Tabernacle of David' as referring to a specific style of 'praise/worship'. Hamon's book gives evidence of an authoritarian control agenda so typical of ETR (pp.195-197), and also an acceptance of the 'Joel's Army' doctrine so popular among MSG groups (p.143). Kings or priests?Hamon adds some new emphases, such as the idea that believers can function either as 'Priests' in the local church or as 'Kings' in the secular environment, particularly the business world. Despite the poor exegesis overall, a good emphasis in the book is the empowering of believers to take on more active ministry. The problem is that buying into this agenda on Hamon's terms means buying into his entire package as the parts cannot be separated from the whole. The book is replete with mutual endorsements. For example, Hamon endorses among others C. Peter Wagner (pp.3, 37, 44, 147, 165, 250, 286, 364), Oral Roberts (pp.4, 36, 161, 178, 218, 341), Edgardo Silvoso (pp.6, 209, 229, 243-244, 259, 272, 283, 286-287), Rich Marshall (pp.4, 39, 44, 89, 93, 95, 114, 249-250, 286), Dr Sanford Kulkin (pp.5, 212, 260), and Tony Perkins (pp.6, 257-258). But when we look at those complimentary remarks at the beginning of the book, whose names do we find? Along with Tommy Tenney, Cindy Jacobs, Earl Paulk and Gary Greenwald, we find none other than C. Peter Wagner, Rich Marshall, Oral Roberts, Sanford G. Kulkin, Ed Silvoso, Tony Perkins. Everything is included: William Branham, the progenitor of the Post War II Healing Revival Movement, is endorsed (p.161). The 'Toronto Blessing' is endorsed as a spiritual 'refreshing' which occurred significantly 'just before the Apostolic Movement', just as 'the Charismatic Renewal' happened 'before the Prophetic Movement' (p.129). So long as 'new truth' is understood to mean 'previously unfamiliar truth', I can do no better than quote Hamon's own words: 'We must be open to new truth, but not gullible to false revelations or the reviving of old erroneous teachings and practices' (p.50). Unfortunately, The Day of the Saints is doing just that: reviving old erroneous teaching and practice. EN readers, particularly those involved in Christian leadership, are strongly advised to acquaint themselves with Hamon's line of teaching as it will increasingly impact at least 50% of UK churches in the coming years. Mike Taylor© Evangelicals Now - October 2003 |