The Latter Rain, from The Coming Day of Redemption
The Latter Rain, from The Coming Day of Redemption
Come, and let us return unto the Lord: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up. After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight. Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth. (Hosea 6:1-3)</p>
Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God: for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the Latter Rain in the first month. (Joel 2:23)
Ask ye of the Lord rain in the time of the Latter Rain; so the Lord shall make bright clouds, and give them showers of rain, to every one grass in the field. (Zechariah 10:1)
Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and Latter Rain. (James 5:7)
The summer months in Israel are hot. Beginning in September, the fall (former rains) soften the ground so seed can be planted.
There are sporadic winter rains.
Then toward the end of January, the spring (latter) rains bring the grain to maturity.
After the spring rain there is a dry spell so the heads of wheat can harden.
It is the point of view of myself and others that the rain in the land of Israel is symbolic of the rain of the Spirit of God upon His Church.
Christ comes to us as the "Rain" ("He shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth").
Thus we have had a "planting rain" symbolizing the downpour of the Spirit that occurred at the birth of the Christian Church.
Since then we have had the winter sporadic rains, the many movements of God's Spirit since the days of the Protestant Reformers. These have been increasing in intensity, as we consider the miracles of Maria Woodworth-Etter, William Branham, Aimee Semple McPherson, and others. However, these acts of the Spirit of God actually may be the beginning of the Latter, Spring Rain.
The miracles at Azusa Street in California, at the turn of the twentieth century, were an outstanding intervention of God.
However, Brother Seymour of Azusa Street is reported to have said that in a hundred years there would be an outpouring of God's Spirit and His Shekinah Glory that would be greater and more far reaching than what was experienced at Azusa?
Can you even imagine that? Greater and more far reaching than the Glory that fell at Azusa Street?
Maria Woodworth-Etter, in 1913, after six months of a marvelous outpouring in Chicago, proclaimed as follows: "We are not yet up to the fullness of the Former Rain, and when the Latter Rain comes, it will far exceed anything we have seen!"
This is quite a statement in view of the fact that people came as far away as a thousand miles to the Stone Church in Chicago to a meeting Sister Woodworth-Etter was holding.
"Far exceed anything we have seen"!
Sister Woodworth-Etter said this intervention would take place a hundred years from that time, bringing us to the current year, 2013.
At the end of the Latter Rain outpouring will come a period of tribulation, in which Antichrist, as well as the Great Tribulation, will prevail. In this manner the results of the outpouring will be sifted.
When the rain comes down, there is growth that comes up in addition to the flowers! Every gardener knows this very well!
*****
Today is Sunday, the 24th of November, 2013. Yesterday, Saturday, I had a dream just before I woke up. I was driving a car, with Audrey in the passengers seat. As I passed a building, I heard singing.
"This is the promise of the coming Latter Rain;
Lift up your eyes, behold the ripening grain.
Mighty signs and wonders, in His precious name;
Drink, O drink, My people, for this is Latter Rain."
I exclaimed: "I haven't heard that chorus for over sixty years!"
I pulled over to the curb and jumped out of the car. I ran over to the building and opened the door. But there was no one there.
Then I woke up.
What memories that chorus awakened!
In 1948, I believe it was, Audrey and I were students at the Berean Bible Institute, sponsored by the Assemblies of God. It was located at 641 South Boundary Street, in San Diego, California.
One weekend we traveled to Long Beach. Audrey had friends there.
Saturday night we read the church advertisements. We noticed that pastor A. Earl Lee was advertising the Hawtin party from North Battleford, Canada. He announced the meeting as the "Latter Rain." This was in Los Angeles.
This was a new expression to Audrey and me, so we decided to check it out.
I understand that today, the term "Latter Rain" has a bad reputation among people who were not there and knew only about the events at a later time.
I wish to set the record straight. The Presence of God was strong that Sunday morning. There have been "revivals" since at various places in Canada and the United States. Without wishing to disparage anyone, none of these meetings compare with the original Latter Rain movement.
Stanley Howard Frodsham, a friend, was dismissed from the Assemblies of God because he said the Latter Rain was like early Pentecost. The issue was the laying on of hands and personal prophecy, a signature practice of the Latter Rain.
How foolish to dismiss the writer of With Signs Following, and an editor of "The Pentecostal Evangel," over the practice of laying on of hands and personal prophecy! If I am not mistaken, many churches of our day practice laying on of hands and personal prophecy.
But as Brother Frodsham told us, denominations are like carousels, going around in circles. Anything they are not accustomed to must be of the devil.
It appears that many notables of those exciting days veered from the path of public approval, in one manner or another. William Branham for one. Alexander Dowie also. These were mighty men of miracles. Audrey and I were at two of Branham's meetings.
It is my point of view that William Branham had the greatest gift of healing and miracles of the twentieth century. Pastor Leroy Cloud, a distinguished minister of the Assemblies of God, told us that while he was driving Brother Branham to church, the Glory of God was so strong one hardly could sit in the car.
Some people involved in the Latter Rain revival also veered from the path, it appears. But don't tell me it originally was of the devil. The glory and power Audrey and I experienced certainly was more of God than anything we have encountered since.
It seems to me there are enough critics who produce nothing themselves but regard their contribution as being that of tearing down the reputation of men and women who knew more about God in a minute than their critics ever will!
Both William Seymour of Azusa Street fame, and Maria Woodworth-Etter, said in effect that Christ has kept the good wine until now; that the Latter Rain is yet to come. Personally I think they may have been an early form of the Latter Rain.
My point of view is that the former rain was that of the original Pentecostal outpouring. Then came the dark ages, with sporadic interventions. Finally the early drops of the Latter Rain began with the Protestant Reformers and have increased in intensity ever since.
I believe also, along with William Seymour and Maria Woodworth-Etter, that the fullness of the Latter Rain is yet to come. Christ has kept the best wine until now.
You know, the Lord told us that greater works than He performed would be done by those who believed in Him. I believe this absolutely is the case, although we have not seen them as yet.
I am looking for a fullness of Divine intervention without precedent in history, including healing, miracles and an increased understanding of the Scriptures. Also, works of destruction may be included to make people aware of the power and nature of the Kingdom of God that is near at hand.
But we must be careful not to confuse signs with the destination. God's goal is to make man in His image, and to create a home, a resting place for Himself. These goals are not accomplished by healing, or miracles, or even by forgiveness. They are accomplished only as all sin and self-will are removed from us; Christ is fully formed in us; and the Father and the Son take up Their eternal abode in us.
It is true that many outstanding ministers and movements have veered from the path of acceptability, and I believe this is the reason for the years in which we have seen no real intervention of God. God has some things to teach us before He entrusts us with the fullness of power and revelation.
I personally have confidence that Kathryn Kuhlman had a genuine gift of healing; but I am not impressed with anyone since. However, there may be workers of miracles in other countries with whom I am not acquainted.
But I do believe the fullness of the Latter Rain is imminent!
As I suggested previously, perhaps the reason for the dry years we have experienced is that there are lessons we can learn from those who have veered from the path.
The first lesson may be that of not "touching the Ark." The Kingdom of God is not an organization, it is a seed that grows within us. Men have a determination to "build three tabernacles." They want to define, to organize, to fence off, to give a name to, any intervention of God. Then they form a bureaucracy with levels of power and authority.
God will not have this. When God moves again we absolutely must resist all attempts to formalize into some sort of organization the coming outpouring. Let us leave the Ark alone! Let us allow the Holy Spirit to move without attempting to create another organization!
We will kill the fullness that is on the way. The Latter Rain movement was killed by people seeking to be preeminent. We must not attempt to put God in a box so we can control Him.
I suppose all of the major denominations began with a move of God. But many are spiritually dead. Certainly they perform much Christian work. But ordinarily you will not feel the Presence of the Living Christ in their buildings. Most of them do not follow the Lamb. They expect the Lamb to follow them, it appears.
There must be no preeminent leaders. People love to worship their leaders. Of course, there must be order in the Divine service. There must be those who lead. Quaker-type meetings can become opportunities for certain people to "take over" the meeting because they are that sort of person.
The Holy Spirit will guide us concerning leaders if we will listen to Him.
Appointing a young Bible-school graduate, untested and ambitious, to lead older saints, is ridiculous. But the older saints will permit this if we allow them to do so!
The church service to which we are accustomed today must be reorganized by the Spirit of God!
Those whom the Lord appoints to visible ministry must bear their personal cross and prisons. Otherwise they will be deceived by Satan and fall because of sexual activity or a greed for wealth.
The minister of God must be totally ethical. If he cannot be totally pure and ethical, he should remove himself or herself from the ministry. They must be holy who "bear the vessels of the Lord."
Christ does not honor achievement but obedience. Ambitious, self-willed people have no business acting as Christian ministers.
When the fullness of the Latter Rain is poured out, we must keep our eyes on God's goal. Multitudes of people are not the goal. Miracles are not the goal. Healing is not the goal. The goal is to create people in God's image and to prepare a home and resting place for Him. The Christian ministry is not for our benefit but for God's!
Since both Brother Seymour and Sister Woodworth-Etter declared that when the fullness of the Latter Rain is poured out the miracles of power would be greater than any of their day, we really have to stretch our mind to imagine what they will be.
As I have gone through in my mind the Book of Revelation, I have come to three conclusions.
First, the people who will be caught up to the Lamb when He appears are the 144,000 described in Chapter Fourteen of the Book of Revelation. They shall descend with the Lamb; destroy the armies of Antichrist; go through the earth and destroy the vestiges of the Antichrist civilization; and then govern the nations of the earth for one thousand years.
. . . They follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They were purchased from among mankind and offered as firstfruits to God and the Lamb. (Revelation 14:4)
I do not see in every church member of our day the character that could work with the Lord in these three major tasks. Many of the believers are "grace-babies" who do not have the iron scepter of righteousness formed in them.
Second, the "two witnesses" of the eleventh chapter of the Book of Revelation, are Christ, the one witness; working with His saints, the second witness.
Third, the twelfth chapter of the Book of Revelation is describing the forming of Christ in the personalities of the saints. This means sin and self-will have been purged from them. They shall govern the nations with Christ. Every time this new man has been created in a believer, the new man is caught up to God and to His Throne.
It is my point of view that there is a Divine emphasis today on the forming of Christ in us.
All three of these circumstances have to do with the "rest" of God, the promised Day of Redemption, and the fullness of the Latter Rain.
I might say also that the Day of Redemption, mentioned in the first and fourth chapters of the Book of Ephesians, and described in Matthew 13:41, is part of the fullness of the Latter Rain. The Day of Redemption includes the spiritual fulfillments of the last three feasts of the Lord: the Blowing of Trumpets; the Day of Atonement; and the feast of Tabernacles.
Now, let us consider the two witnesses of Revelation, Chapter Eleven, because the works they perform, as they testify of the soon coming of the Kingdom of God to the earth, may be the "greater works" that the Lord Jesus spoke of. They also may be the fullness of Glory referenced by William Seymour and Maria Woodworth-Etter.
And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire. (Revelation 10:1)
It is my opinion that this is the angel that will empower and guide the fullness of the Latter Rain. The "rainbow" speaks of the power and authority of the Throne of God. There is enough Glory here to fulfill the prophecies of William Seymour and Maria Woodworth-Etter.
And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was about to write: and I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not. (Revelation 10:4)
The seven thunders are the fullness of God's power. This power cannot be given to God's witnesses until they have cast aside their own will in favor of doing God's will.
How often the ministry of today is characterized by "important" men who act as though they are apostles, although they are not. They vaunt themselves as lords over the believers, continually begging for money so they can continue their lavish lifestyles.
Some such "apostles" will not come for a meeting unless they are guaranteed much money and all sorts of accommodations. Yet there are churches who will meet their demands. Jesus would advise these churches instead of supporting these carnal endeavors to test the "apostles."
It is alleged that one prominent evangelist jumped and landed on a believer, knocking out his tooth. He later left his wife and children, according to the report.
A distinguished Charismatic leader had declared that this evangelist is an apostle. If he indeed is an apostle he is somewhat different from Paul.
Compare such goings on with William Seymour and Maria Woodworth-Etter, and you can see how far we have drifted from the God of Israel.
We do not know the "joyful sound" any longer. It is time for God to intervene in America and other parts of the world.
Our present-day leaders will never know the power of the seven thunders, or the Latter Rain, until they humble themselves!
But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets. (Revelation 10:7)
The "mystery of God" is Christ in us, the hope of Glory. To the present day we think of Christ with us, in Christmas, Easter, and in other circumstances. During the Latter Rain we will have a greater understanding of Christ in us.
Those who desire to walk with God are wise if they will ask God to fill them with the Fullness of Christ, with Christ's body and blood. God will answer this prayer if the person will be totally obedient to Christ in every aspect of his or her life.
And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey. (Revelation 10:9)
We have to ask for it, if we want the "little book" that tells of the coming of the Kingdom of God to the earth.
Thinking about the Divine power to come causes us to be joyful. But because it involves Christ, His body and blood living in us, we must learn to die to our own will and plans. Dying to our own will and plans can be bitter!
Unless I am mistaken, the Pentecostal people of the present hour are faced with a decision. Either they will continue in their familiar patterns of worship and living the "Christian life," or they will humble themselves and seek the Lord to see what He has for them.
We must deny ourselves and follow Christ diligently. We must be willing to go for years without receiving the intense desires of our mind and heart. We must be willing to choose the way of the personal cross and imprisonment; we may be required to live in distressing circumstances until Christ says "enough."
One "Christian" lady was heard to say, "If I thought God would allow me to suffer I would not serve Him." This was in the days when it was being taught that if we had enough faith we never would suffer.
Next Part This is how far we have fallen!