OLD WINE IN OLD WINESKINS
A Look at Kansas City Fellowship
by Stephen F. Cannon
There is a "new move of God" flowing forth out of Kansas City,
Mo., that has a great potential to wreak havoc in the church.
Actually, there is nothing new about it. It combines elements
of the "Latter Rain Movement" of the mid-1940s with a blend of
ideas from unscriptural philosophies such as the Manifest Sons of
God, Dominion Mandate, Kingdom Now Theology, Word Faith Movement,
Shepherding Movement, Restorationism and others.
Even though the Kansas City Fellowship is just a rehash of
failed doctrines, some elements of movements tried and failed, it
still can be a threat to the church. First, today's church does
not learn well from the past. Add to this the impact and
influence of superstar Christianity propagated by most of what is
called the electronic church. KCF's threat is increased further
by the fact that its exponents have had decades to perfect its
promotion and tailor answers to critics.
An Important Historical Perspective
By the mid-1940s, much of the fervor of the Pentecostal
revivals of the early 1900s was waning. As churches became
established and worship patterns standardized, many in this
movement felt that the initial fire of revival had been lost.
Committed Pentecostals began to look for God to rekindle that
fire. It was generally believed that God would send another
revival to restore the church to the supernatural power it
possessed in the book of Acts. Historian David Harrell writes:
"And so, the times were ripe. Pentecostalism had become affluent
enough to support mass evangelism. It had become tolerant enough
to overlook doctrinal differences. Convictions were still deep
enough that there was a longing for revival. As the older
generation thrilled to the memories of the miracle ministries of
the 1920s, the young yearned for a new rain of miracles." [1]
Sermons based on Isaiah 43:18-19 became prevalent: " Forget the
former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new
thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? [NIV]
It was during this time of great expectancy that the healing
revivals began. Those later spawned the Latter Rain Movement and
subsequent Charismatic Movement.
The first leader of the healing revival to emerge was a humble
Indiana backwoods preacher named William Marrion Branham. Even
though Branham became doctrinally a heretic, his supernatural
abilities made him extremely popular in this miracle-hungry
period. (See The Quarterly Journal, Vol. 8, No. 4, Oct.-Dec.,
1988, pp. 1, 8-9) It was his influence and other healing
evangelists that came after him that set in motion the "theology"
that would birth the long-sought-for new thing, The Latter Rain
Movement.
"In 1948 -- the very year that Israel became a nation -- another
great deluge fell from heaven, a mighty revival then called the
'Latter Rain.' In this Restoration Revival God did a work which
far transcended the work started in the Pentecostal outpouring of
more than 40 years before. All nine gifts of the Spirit, the
five-fold ministries of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors
and teachers, spiritual praise and worship, and the end time
revelation of God's purpose to manifest his sons, a glorious
church, to bring in the kingdom of God, all of this and much more
was restored among God's people." [2]
Of the beginnings of this move, William M. Menzies, in his
"History of the Assemblies of God," wrote:
"In 1947, George Hatwin and Percy Hunt launched an independent
Bible School in North Battleford, Saskatchewan. ... They evolved
a teaching that emphasized extreme congregationalism with local
authority committed to restored order of apostles, who, through
receiving a special dispensation derived from the laying on of
hands, could in turn dispense a variety of spiritual gifts. Their
extravagant claims and their belligerent attack on existing
Pentecostal groups brought open conflict. Many sincere
Christians followed the new group which boasted of being a fresh
revival displacing the 'apostatized Pentecostals.'" [3]
Among the primary teachings of this new thing of God that
radiated out of Canada and swept through the healing revival then
taking place in the United States were:
1) The restoration of the imparting of spiritual gifts through
the laying on of hands.
2) The restoration of "the fivefold ministry" as enumerated in
Ephesians 4:11, with particular emphasis on the offices of
apostle and prophet. (Branham was widely touted as the prophet
Elijah reborn).
3) The revelation of the dominion mandate (extrapolated from
Genesis 1:26-29) and,
4) The revelation of the manifestation of the sons of God
(extrapolated from Romans 8:19).
These doctrines caused division in traditional Pentecostal
churches. They led to the condemnation of the "The New Order of
the Latter Rain" by the Assemblies of God in their general
council in 1949. [4] After this action, many Assembly ministers
resigned or were excommunicated for their involvement and formed
independent Latter Rain churches. Most of these churches were
small. Their evolving doctrines became increasingly heretical
and, many degenerated into clearly definable cults (Church of the
Living Word, The Body, House of Prayer, etc.).
By the mid-1950s, both the healing and Latter Rain revivals had
diminished considerably. Scandals and charges of false doctrine
were rife. Some of the leading healing evangelists left the
ministry, while others went into relative obscurity. [5] One of
the latter was a protege of Branham named Paul Cain.
While the momentum of these movements diminished, their
influence did not. The writings and teachings of such Latter
Rain advocates as John Robert Stephens, Bill Britton, Franklin
Hall, Branham, George Warnock, the Hatwin brothers, Sam Fife,
Myrtle and James Beall and others were to have widespread
influence on the Charismatic Revivals of the 1960s and 1970s.
Though somewhat modified, the basic Latter Rain doctrines
enumerated above have resurfaced repeatedly in the Charismatic
milieu.
As a young minister coming up through the ranks of various
Pentecostal and Charismatic churches, I was repeatedly combating
such Latter Rain tenets as: the authoritarianism (shepherding) of
Christian Growth Ministries and the dominionism/restorationism/
manifest sons of Godism of Earl Paulk, Bill Hammon, Bill Britton,
Kenneth Hagin, Kenneth Copeland, Paul Crouch, Bob Weiner and
others. It was this growing wave of mysticism that led this
writer to eventually disassociate from the Charismatic movement
and seek to expose these unscriptural doctrines.
Now, a new momentum is building. The prime movers of this new
work are a consortium of ministers working under the umbrella of
an organization called Grace Ministries. This group was formed
by the leaders of KCF in 1986 and has been growing steadily ever
since.
Kansas City Fellowship Is Born
Consistent with his belief in personal predictive prophecy, KCF
was born in the mind of its senior pastor, Mike Bickel, in
September 1982, when, Bickel says, God spoke to him in Cairo,
Egypt.
"I am inviting you to raise up a work that will touch the ends of
the earth. I have invited many people to do this thing, and many
people have said yes, but very few have done my will." [6]
Back in his home city of St. Louis, Mo., Bickel was further
instructed that the work was to be based in Kansas City. In
November 1982, that move was made. [7]
Prior to that move, Bickel had been asking for the Lord's
permission to start a nightly corporate prayer meeting. God
evidently withheld that permission until the move to Kansas City
had been accomplished. Once there, it is reported that the Lord
spoke clearly:
"'Now, I'm going to release the grace to pray every night.' The
15 or so people who came with Mike from St. Louis began to pray
corporately each evening from 7 p.m. until 10 p.m., asking the
Lord to pour out His Spirit on the City". It was from this small
group that the Fellowship was born. [8]
KCF began to grow steadily. In 1986, Bickel and the other
leaders of the fellowship formed a corollary ministry called
Grace Ministries. This is a "team of men committed to seeing
the church restored to the glory described in God's Word ... This
team is comprised [sic] of mature and proven men with apostolic
and prophetic ministries in addition to including evangelists,
pastors, and teachers." [9]
According to the article cited above, there are seven aspects
to the overall vision of Grace ministries:
1) Apostolic teams - teams dedicated to planting churches.
2) City churches - Grace teaches the doctrine of localism; "The
New Testament pattern is for there to be one church in a city
with many congregations yet with one unified eldership governing
it." [10]
3) The House of Prayer - a 24 hour a day center for intercessory
prayer in Kansas City.
4) The Joseph Company - "Our primary goal for the Joseph Company
is to help care for and feed the poor, especially in third world
countries." [11]
5) The Israel Mandate - this ministry aims to help in the great
last-days evangelical harvest among ethnic Jews. [12]
6) Ministry Training Center - a center to equip both full-time
and lay leaders in areas of ministry. [13]
7) Shiloh Ministries - this is a term used to designate the
prophetic ministry that GM is offering to the church at large.
"Ultimately, Shiloh will include a piece of property where a
number of prophetically gifted ministries will live together as
they share revelation with one another releasing a 'roundtable of
the prophets' effect. This will release a greater prophetic
understanding of God's purposes as they submit one to another."
[14]
The list of those associated with Grace Ministries and Kansas
City Fellowship is continually growing. Bickel is the team
leader. Others that hold leadership positions are: David Parker,
Noel Alexander, Michael Sullivant, and Don Steadman.
Other teaching and prophetic ministers who travel extensively
are: Francis Frangipane, John Paul Jackson, Kevin Porsche, Reuven
Doron, Charles Lynn, Larry Randolph, David Ravenhill, Jim Goll
and Harry Schroeder. One East Coast minister who is heavily
involved with Grace Ministries is Rick Joyner of Morning Star
Ministries in North Carolina.
KCF, Doctrine, and the Word of God
Those involved in this resurgence of the Latter Rain Movement
have had years to hand-tool answers to critics. Those who hold
to this mystical mindset have studied the mistakes made by and
criticisms made of the early adherents of the movement. They now
seek to be more moderate in their attempts to propagate their
theology. Thus, the attacks on historic biblical doctrine are
more subtle than those of five decades ago. Those attacks,
however, are still there and are still dangerous.
KCF uses a back-door approach to promoting its message.
Historically, godly men illumined by the Holy Spirit studied
the Bible inductively, discovered what it taught on a particular
truth, and proclaimed that truth as doctrine.
KCF, on the other hand, first establishes a person or persons
in a position of apostolic or prophetic authority. These men are
touted as receiving direct revelation from God.
KCF says "The end time ministries also must have this, the
ability to impart revelation of Jesus to the body. [15]
Then the prophets proclaim messages designed to cast doubt on
the ability of believers to understand doctrine they have been
taught. This line of authority also subtly plays down Scripture's
importance.
KCF and Grace Ministries want to be known as people of the
Bible. The Grace Ministries Statement of Faith declares:
"We believe that these 66 books are fully inspired, accurate, and
reliable with regard to all matters of faith and conduct as they
were originally written. We hold to the Biblical Scriptures as
the plumbline for all that we do and believe." [16]
KCF no doubt is sincere in the above statement. However, its
interpretation of Scripture is most often viewed through the
spectacles of apostolic and prophetic authority. The dreams and
visions of the two main prophets of the movement (Paul Cain and
Bob Jones) and others who give prophecies, always set the agenda
for KCF. Scripture is then marshaled to buttress these
revelations. Also, when the Bible contradicts KCF teaching, it
is dismissed or reinterpreted according to the authority line.
For example:
Deuteronomy 18:20 gives a strict penalty for prophets who speak
in the name of the Lord, but whose prophecy does not come to
pass, or if they speak in the name of other gods.
"But if a prophet who presumes to speak in my name anything I
have not commanded him to say, or a prophet who speaks in the
name of other gods, must be put to death." [NIV] Verse 22 says
"...one can know when a prophet speaks presumptuously for what he
has said will not come to pass.
However, Joyner writes:
"One of the greatest hazards affecting maturing prophets is the
erroneous interpretation of the Old Testament exhortation that if
a prophet ever predicted something which did not come to pass he
was no longer to be considered a true prophet (see Deut. 18:20-
22). The warning was that if this happened, the prophet had been
presumptuous and the people were not to fear him. If one pre-
dicts something in the name of the Lord and it does not come to
pass, he probably has spoken presumptuously and needs to be
repented of, but that does not make him a false prophet. No one
could step out in the faith required to walk in his calling if he
knew that a single mistake would ruin him for life." (emphasis
added) [17]
Not only does Joyner contradict Scripture, but writes in the
same article that prophets who are less than 100 percent accurate
are a blessing from God to the church!
"Bob (Jones) was told that the general level of prophetic
revelation in the church was about 65% accurate at this time.
Some are only about 10% accurate, a very few of the most mature
prophets are approaching 85% to 95% accuracy. Prophecy is
increasing in purity, but there is still a long way to go for
those who walk in this ministry. This is actually grace for the
church now, because 100% accuracy in this ministry will bring a
level of accountability to the church which she is too immature
to bear at this time; it would result in too many 'Ananias and
Sapphiras.' That so many the (sic) prophetic ministries are
still missing so much is also meant to work humility and wisdom
in them so that they will be able to handle the authority and
power coming in the near future." (emphasis added) [18]
The repercussion of this type of thinking is that the words of
those in the authority line become more important than Scripture.
It then becomes necessary to have the authority line to
understand what the Bible is really teaching, and what the Lord
is doing in these "end times."
For example, it seems that God is going to be working in the
church through the realm of the supernatural to a degree that He
has never done before. And there's no use trying to evaluate
events using the Bible, because this is going to be something
totally new! Bickel writes:
"There is a dimension that is coming, and now is, that we have no
frame of reference for and most of us think that we do."
"... and they (apostles, prophets) do things that you have no
frame of reference for understanding because, believe me, what's
going to be coming down in the next twenty years you and I have
no frame of reference for understanding. It is going to be so
unusual you are not going to be able to look at the word for
every manifestation and find one there because the Spirit of the
Lord has so many manifestations that you and I know nothing
about."[19]
So, God is going to be dealing with His Church outside of His
Word to us. Statements of faith notwithstanding, this sets the
stage for extrabiblical revelation. Without the ability to
appeal to the Bible's authority, the stage is also set for the
institution of false doctrine.
Not only is a low view of Scripture taken, but also a low view
of believers' ability to understand what He has revealed to us in
His word. Bickel continues:
"At this point in time, because of the pride of the church (just
like the scribes and the Pharisees) we have such a sense that we
understand....when we are not even the beginning of novices." We
have "...the church with absolutely no insight, judging the works
of God with no understanding and missing out on the works of
God."
"If the spirit of fear is given enough witness, the Spirit of God
will leave completely. ... The reasoning and the debate of the
western world in all of their presupposed knowledge of what God
does and doesn't do is its going to be a miracle for the Lord to
use someone that's been in the Kingdom over five years. ...Its no
accident that throughout the visitations of history it was always
a few (in the church) and the multitudes were all the new
converts because the majority of the church could not swallow the
new thing coming, because they were wise in their own
understanding. Great heroes of the church were ostracized by the
church. The church needs an abandonment that says we really
don't know anything about the realm of the spirit. We must have
lowliness of mind." [20]
Evidently, this "lowliness of mind" spoken of means that we
must be willing to throw out all we have learned of God up to now
and put ourselves in the authority line to be in on this new move
of God, the authentic Latter Rain.
KCF, The New Latter Rain
As did the Latter Rain adherents of the 1940s, so does KCF
advocate the restoration to the Church what is called "the
fivefold ministry" specified in Ephesians 4:11 as: apostles,
prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. While we have had
evangelists, pastors, and teachers down through church history,
KCF claims apostles and prophets have been minimized. Now they
teach that God is restoring these two offices to prominence and
bringing the other three up to His standards. Joyner writes:
"To be distinguished from the stumbling blocks, a great company
of prophets, teachers, pastors and apostles will be raised up
with the spirit of Phineas. ...Conferences of apostles,
prophets, pastors, elders, etc. will be called and used greatly
by the Lord, but without denominating and separating from the
rest of the body." [21]
"In Ephesians 4:11-13, Paul said the five ministries of verse 11
would function until the church was filled with the knowledge of
the Son of God." [22]
What Bickel means by "filled with the knowledge of the Son of
God" is a perfected church, a church without "spot or wrinkle.
This many-membered corporate body (corporate man) will take
dominion over (conquer) the Earth for ultimate presentation to
Christ at his second coming. [23]
The beliefs generated by the above statements firmly establish
KCF's tie to the Latter Rain doctrine of Dominionism. This should
not be confused with the dominionism of the Christian
Reconstruction groups. While there are similarities between the
two views, there are also significant differences. Implicit in
the Latter Rain version of dominionism is the belief in the
manifestation of the sons of God
The leading prophetic luminary of KCF, Paul Cain is unashamedly
linked with the Latter Rain Movement:
"Paul is now 60 years old and has been a part of the Latter
Rain Movement, the Healing Revival and the Charismatic Movement."
[24] The other members of KCF's leadership agree with Latter Rain
precepts.
While some of these precepts are presented in updated
terminology and packaged for contemporary audiences, the
doctrines are the same.
The Manifestation Scenario
One of the Latter Rain Movement's more heretical legacies is
the doctrine of the Manifest Sons. This doctrine blurs the
person and work of Jesus Christ and the mission of the church.
The doctrine can be summarized in this manner:
As human history winds down, God will restore the offices of
apostles and prophets to a weak and suffering church. Through
these offices the church will be called to repentance and divine
revelations given with the agenda for the end time corporate
body.
As God begins to restore the church to its true position of
power (signs, wonders, and miracles), many will leave their
denominational affiliations. (Denominations are almost always
associated with Babylon, and are bastions of false doctrine)
Once out of these groups and under the authority of apostolic
ministries, believers will begin to be perfected. They will
throw off the confusion of Babylon and will become mature in the
Lord. As maturity increases so will unity in the Body. The
ultimate outcome will be a generation of believers who have
matured into the full stature of Christ.
Then the sons of God will be fully manifested on the Earth. At
this time widespread spiritual warfare will erupt with the sons
of God battling Satan and his demons. As Joel's Army defeats
the legions of Hell in battle after battle, the unbelieving
nations of the world will also be conquered. Once the Earth has
been subdued, then God will allow Jesus (who has been held in the
heavens awaiting the outcome of the war) to return and receive
the Kingdom that has been won for him by this "Manchild Company."
The doctrine teaches that these Sons will be equal to Jesus
Christ in every way. They will be immortal, sinless, perfected
sons who have partaken of the divine nature. They have every
right to be called gods, and there are. (there is a general
reluctance to use the capital "G", but the impact is the same).
One of the more popular books among Manifest Sons advocates is
Bill Britton's Jesus The Pattern Son. In it Britton writes that
Jesus was the "Firstfruits among many brethren" and the pattern
for many more "sons" to come. In other words, what Jesus was by
birth (the Son of God) all believers can become by adoption (sons
of God). The identification is total with Manifest Sons. Jesus
the Pattern Son was the Anointed One, the Christ. This special
group of overcomers, the Manchild Company, are also anointed
ones, they are also Christ!
KCF and Manifest Sons
Many of the old line Manifest Sons groups teach that the
manifestation has already taken place. KCF, however, teaches
that this is yet to come. Cain writes:
"Now I know when that which is perfect is come, that which is
imperfect must be done away. But, anyone knows that which is
perfect is not come. And we don't have the full revelation, we
haven't grown up in the stature of Christ as we should. And
there is no manifestation on a wholesale basis of the Sons of
God. And, I'm not afraid to mention that even though I get shot
down everywhere I go every time I mention the manifestation of
the Sons of God. And I'm not afraid to mention any biblical,
scriptural terminology." [25]
Cain's criticism of the MS Doctrine that has been making the
rounds in Charismatic circles for years is not that it is
unscriptural. It is just that believers have been trying to
enter into sonship before God's appointed time. [26]
Further direction is given by KCF's other prophetic authority,
Bob Jones,
"The last day church is being birthed now out of the old church,
and the old leadership is coming to an end and the new young
leadership is being raised up to reign over an end time church
that will bring forth the Bride. Your children (my bank account)
my grandchildren, will be the Bride. You've got to have the
church first in the right foundation. That's what he (Jesus)
said. 'Come back and touch those that will be the right
foundation'." [27]
Known even among members of KCF for his strange visions (though
still not doubted), Jones gives this scenario for the preparation
of the coming manifestation.
"I went and I seen the Lord, and it was like he was looking at
little yellow things; little round yellow things like a Spirit of
God Itself. And there were billions of them. And it was like
Him and all the angels were looking through these and every once
in awhile they'd say, 'Hey, here's an end time one; get it down
here on the end. Here's another good one!'
I said, 'What are you doing?'
He said, 'Oh, we're collecting those who are foreknown and
predestinated for the end times, for you see, they'll be the best
of all the seed that's ever been. And we're looking through the
seeds and they'll be your grandkids. This will be the end
generation that is foreknown and predestinated to inherit all
things. And these will be like grandchildren to you -- even
those that you minister to won't be this generation; their
grandchildren will be.
You are to write into their minds as they write into the
children's minds. You're to bring them to a place to allow My
Spirit to rule in their life where they can begin to set the
church on the proper foundations, as they will. They'll birth
the church, but their children will attain levels of the Holy
Spirit that they will not.
Although their parents will reign over them and be the leaders of
the last day church, their children will possess the Spirit
without measure. For they are the best of all generations that
have ever been upon the face of the earth. And the best of all
generations are those elected seeds that will glorify Christ in
the last days.
That's the purpose so that Jesus in the last days has the seeds
that will glorify Him above any generation that has ever been
upon the face of the earth. They will move into things of the
supernatural that no one has ever moved in before. Every
miracle, sign and wonder that has ever been in the Bible, they'll
move in it consistently. They'll move in the power that Christ
did. Every sign and wonder and wonder that's ever been will be
many times in the last days. They themselves will be that
generation that's raised up to put death itself underneath their
feet and to glorify Christ in every way.
And the church that is raising up in the government will be the
head and the covering for them. So that the glorious church
might be revealed in the last days because the Lord Jesus is
worthy to be lifted up by a church that has reached the full
maturity of the God-Man!" [28]
Please note that it is Jones who will "bring them to a place to
allow My Spirit to rule in their life where they can begin to see
the church on the proper foundations. ..." We again see the line
of authority mentioned earlier.
Bickel tries to put a positive spin on these teachings on his
tape, Glory and Dominion of Sonship, but doesn't quite pull it
off.
Bickel begins by stating that he doesn't think "that there is
anything higher than the revelation that what a Son of God is."
And because this revelation is so lofty, the "religious" mindset
will not understand it.
"The religious mind will always call this heresy. When the
religious mind comes in contact with the revelation of what a Son
of God is they will always say it is not right because it's too
high."
After paralleling Hebrews chapters 1 and 2 with Psalm 8 and
Genesis 1:26 to establish that men have total dominion over the
Earth, Bickel starts building a case for elevating mankind.
Bickel believes that the average Christian's view of man is so
low that it offends God.
"But, through His Word, He has given us a revelation of what he
intends us to be; Sons of God in the full sense of the word. And
we begin to raise our understanding of what its all about".
Then comes a lengthy exposition of John 10:31-39 of how Jesus
reveals to the religious community that it is permissible (based
on Psalm 82:6) for men to call themselves gods.
"God said that these people were to act as God. Now, you can get
kind of off base and a lot of cults would use this passage and
get off base in many many wrong ways. I don't think we're gods
in any weird sense of the word, but God has created and redeemed
men to be gods, small "g", only by this definition -- that
nothing in creation was to be over you. Everything besides God
Himself was to be under you and that alone would constitute man
being a god".
Then Bickel explains what he means by not being gods in "any
weird sense of the word",
"Now, don't be afraid, we don't worship gods like that. We're not
equal to Jesus Christ. We're not deity. We're not worshiped.
We have no authority to initiate the things that only God can
initiate because He alone is the head of the body, Jesus Christ
says."
However, after this qualification, Bickel returns to the
terminology of Manifest Sons doctrine:
"My conviction is that one of the greatest transformations is
when you begin to get the revelation that you are a Son of
God. ... God intends us to be like gods, he intends us to be
like the Son of God. ... God has conceived in His heart of a
plan to make a race of men that would live like gods on the
Earth. He has conceived in His heart to have Sons that would
live like His Son, the Lord Jesus lived. ... That we were to be
on earth the extension and manifestation of God's life in
heaven."
After these statements he again tries to prepare his listeners
for opposition,
"When a person comes up and declares what Sonship is about, the
religious community comes up and says 'blasphemy!' That's what
they did to Jesus."
Despite the disclaimer that the gods that certain believers are
to become are in no way related to cultic concepts, Bickel
clearly uses unscriptural terminology and logic to teach Manifest
Sons doctrine. When you combine his statements with those of the
two recognized prophetic voices of the movement, the "old wine"
of the Latter Rain Manifest Sons of God teaching is
unmistakable. [29]
KCF, City Churches, and Dominion Theology
The prophetic voices of KCF are promising the restoration of
full spiritual power to the church. They have announced that we
will see this new church come into perfection and total unity.
It is to be "birthed" out of the one that now exists. As this
new body matures and becomes more unified, there will be a
redefinition of what true Christianity is. Bickel writes:
"I believe that God is going to allow us to see and to even
partake in this restoration -- this is a major statement and I
want you to pay attention closely -- to the restoration of the
New Testament Standard... I believe that God is going to renovate
the entire understanding of what Christianity is in the nations
of the Earth. I believe that the way that 99% of us across the
world as believers understand Christianity, in 20 years there
will be a totally different understanding of what Christianity is
from what it is right now. I believe the understanding of it, the
standard of life and the expression of Christianity as we know
it, I believe God is going to restore it and change it in the
Earth in this generation." [30]
Bickel then explains that this mission is to be accomplished
through the development of Apostolic City Churches. By apostolic
he means: "churches in the full power of the Spirit of God."
[31]
God, through mighty works of miracles, signs, and wonders, is
going to use the city churches and the apostles and prophets to
disciple the nations.
KCF, of course, is going to be used of God to establish these.
"That is the will of God for this body of believers to establish
anywhere from 20 to 30 or 40 (I have no idea the number, but its
a large number) of city churches in the nations of the Earth to
make impact on the rulers and kings and people of those nations
right from this body of believers. ... I believe Jesus meant we
shall disciple the nations. He meant it and He will not come
back until it happens. ... Nations will be discipled by the
fruit of the ministry that comes forth from this people here ...
by people sitting in this room!" [32]
KCF maintains that their idea of City Churches is scriptural,
"The New Testament pattern is for there to be one church in a
city with many congregations yet one unified eldership governing
it." [33] And since these City Churches will be established by
"this body of believers," then it follows logically that the
unified eldership will be centered around KCF's particular
doctrine. In other words, to come into maturity, to come into
unity, means to accept the line of authority that KCF has
established!
Jones says:
"There has to be a bunch of full-time leaders joined and the lay
leaders have got to be ready, and a lot of them are going to be
released after that time of visitation. And they have to be
unified; they have to have affection for one another; they have
to be grounded in unity around the principles that God has given
us, and we have to be in divine order with our place in God's
divine order." [34]
And what will happen to those who do not wish to unify and come
under this eldership? "Some pastors and leaders who continue to
resist this tide of unity will be removed from their place. Some
will be so hardened that they will become opposers and resist God
to the end." [35]
So, KCF teaches that God, through the restoration of apostolic
and prophetic authority, is going to use KCF to establish city
churches with unified elders. These City Churches are the frame-
work that God will further use to bring a new definition of true
Christianity. This work will grow, become more mature until it
"come(s) to a place of the maturity that equals the stature of
the fullness of Christ." [36] The restored, perfected city
church ("the expression of the maturity of Jesus Christ in a
given region." [37]) will then disciple the nations of the earth
with the intention of rendering the kingdom of God on the Earth a
fit presentation to a then returning Jesus Christ.
This is the classic Latter Rain version of the Dominion
Mandate.
KCF, Cross-Pollinization, and Vineyard Ministries
KCF has what it calls a program of "Cross-pollinization" with
like-minded ministries. The ministry team "agreed that God
purposefully left our team deficient in many areas so we should
need other parts of the Body of Christ. ... Every ministry in
the Church needs other ministries." Because of this, "We
regularly fellowship with ministry teams from a variety of
backgrounds and denominations. We call this 'cross-
pollination.'" [38]
While on the one hand this appears to be an innocent desire to
benefit from the experience and knowledge of other ministries,
some critics see this as just another way to infiltrate and gain
control of existing churches.
According to Ernie Gruen, a local Kansas City pastor, KCF has
demonstrated an agenda of absorbing existing congregations.
"... this is where they began to prophesy that churches should
close and be part of their ministry. They did it three times
that I can document but actually more than that. Sermons were
preached on how you know when to close a church. And then, they
had a prophet along that said, 'You're to close your church down
and all become part of KCF.'" [39]
Bickel answered the accusations made by Gruen in a letter dated
Jan. 22, 1990: "After hearing your tape, I'm sure you do not
understand our structure, the way several groups have joined us,
nor the nature of our prophetic ministries." [40] However,
Gruen's statement matches statements made above as well as a
chronology of the beginning of Olathe Christian Fellowship (a
branch of KCF) given in the Kansas City Fellowship Reports dated
February and April 1987.
In January 1987 Bickel announced a "Sovereign Calling" that God
had given to establish Olathe Christian Fellowship (OCF). At
that meeting " Another priority was to review the history of how
God called two churches in Olathe, Olathe Fellowship and Christ
Community Fellowship (CCF) to die to enable a new work, Olathe
Christian Fellowship, to be raised up." [41]
The pastors of these small churches came into association with
Bickel in the early 1980s. By 1985, Larry Fry, pastor of CCF,
and Wes Adams, pastor of OF, began to hear God saying that they
should merge their respective churches but it did not happen.
Then "In 1986, God sovereignly resurrected it and showed us both
independently of one another, that God's way was for us to submit
our two congregations to Mike Bickel in order to establish one
new church. God confirmed this by strong prophetic words through
John Paul Jackson and others". [42]
"September 14, 1986: Wes and Larry announce to their churches
that they have been called to die as individual fellowships.
They inform their churches that they will be submitting
themselves to the leadership of Mike and the Church Planting Team
for the purpose of beginning a new work in the city of Olathe."
[43]
Due to its strong stance on supernatural signs and wonders, it
should come as no surprise that KCF has "cross-pollinated" with
the Vineyard Movement of John Wimber. Wimber came under the
influence of Paul Cain in mid-1987 when Cain prophesied over
problems that existed in the Vineyard Ministry. Then in December
of that year Cain was invited to address the leadership of that
movement in Anaheim, Calif.
"When asked if God might grant a sign to confirm that the message
that he would bring this time was truly from heaven, Cain
replied, 'The day I arrive, there will be an earthquake in your
city, and the word of the Lord to you will be Jeremiah 33:8.' At
3:38 on the day Cain arrived, the earth shook in Anaheim. After
that, he had Wimber's full attention." [44]
Not only has Wimber given Cain his full attention, he has given
him an increasingly growing platform. "In addition to his
fathering relationship to KCF, Paul has come into a deep
friendship and working relationship with John Wimber. ... Paul
has made a special commitment to traveling with John and to
support the vision that God is currently unfolding to him." [45]
The question is, who is supporting whom? Which one is having
the most influence over the other? The answer is evident:
"A year ago John (Wimber) started taking down the fence
separating the Vineyard from the rest of the church. Last year
John allowed two people who were not Vineyard people to speak at
the Spiritual Warfare Conference (Cain and Bickel). This year
there were only two Vineyard people speaking at the conference
(John and Jack Deere)". [46]
It is also clear that Wimber has bought Cain's Latter Rain
theology:
"I think that what God is doing is raising up a New Breed of
leaders. And, I believe that He is inviting us in this room to
participate in that New Breed."
"Now that's a term you've become familiar with this week. It's
been prophesied by Paul Cain; and I think its a very important
Concept."
"And, I believe the Church of Jesus Christ that we're part of --
the larger Body of Christ the world over -- has been weighed and
judged in this generation. And that instead of learning from our
predecessors from the Latter Day Rain Movement, from any number
of movements of God that have occurred in this century, we have
allowed the enemy to come in and detract and take away the
passion of God and rob it out of our lives." [47]
Is the Wineskin Leaking?
The question of influence has become a very important one.
According to Charisma and Christian Life Magazine [48], KCF has
officially joined the association of Vineyard Churches.
"KCF pastor Mike Bickel says the move follows a one-year period
during which the church and he were under John Wimber's
oversight." [49]
This move comes at a time when KCF has come under increasing
criticism from both the Charismatic and non-Charismatic
communities. There have been charges of false doctrine, false
prophecies, and even occultic practices.
"A litany of specific charges has been distributed by some
Christians in the Kansas City area. ... Bickel said the matters
on the list were addressed years ago, acknowledging that some
mistakes were made in the way the prophetic words were
ministered. But he denied the use of occultic practices". [50]
One has to ask at this point if KCF joined Vineyard to seek
counsel from an established national ministry, or was it looking
to legitimize its doctrines in a time of severe criticism? It
appears that the latter is true;
"Wimber and a team of Vineyard pastors and seminarians have
examined the teachings of KCF. They concluded that Jones has made
some 'unwise, but not unbiblical' statements and needed to be
disciplined, but that the practices of KCF are sound and
Biblical." [51]
However, the article goes on: "Recently new charges were added.
It has been said that Bickel, Jones and KCF are not in line with
orthodox Christianity. Bickel said he had submitted the entire
process to Wimber, who would consider the new accusations." [52]
One would hope that serious and prayerful study would be given
to all of the documentation for the "new accusations" before any
pronouncement is given.
Finally, "By joining the Vineyard, KCF links up with a national
authority network. They will report to regional and national
Vineyard directors. But the Anaheim, California-based Vineyard
allows its churches to operate autonomously in most other areas.
KCF will change its name to Vineyard." [53]
It remains to be seen whether KCF (now Vineyard) will recant
the heterodox doctrines of the Latter Rain Movement and repudiate
the validity its "prophetic line of authority", or if it will
carry the already controversial Vineyard Ministries into that
line.
As they say on the evening news, "Stay tuned folks, this story
is just beginning to break!
Endnotes:
1. All Things Are Possible, David Edwin Harrell, Jr., Indiana
University Press, (Bloomington, Ind.), 1975, pg. 20.
2. The Battle of Armageddon, Part IV, J. Preston Eby, Kingdom
Bible Studies, September 1976, pg. 10; quoted in Richard Michael
Riss," The Latter Rain Movement of 1948 and the Mid-Twentieth
Century Evangelical Awakening", pg. 197, April 1979.
3. Anointed to Serve, The Story of the Assemblies of God, William
W. Menzies, Springfield Mo., Gospel Publishing House, 1971, pg.
32.
4. Riss, op cit., pg. 165.
5. Harrell, op cit., pp. 99-116.
6. The Prophetic History of Grace Ministries, Kansas City, Mo.:
Grace Ministries, n.d., cassette tape on file.
7. ibid.
8. Intercessory Prayer: Kansas City Fellowship's Theology,
History, and Practice, Noel Alexander, Grace City Report, Special
Prophetic Edition, Kansas City, Mo., Fall 1989, pg. 17.
9. Grace City Report, Fall 1989, pg. 9.
10. ibid.
11. ibid., pg. 16.
12. ibid.
13. ibid.
14. ibid.
15. The True Prophetic Spirit: The Simplicity and Purity of
Devotion to Jesus; Mike Bickel, Grace City Report, op cit., pg.
1.
16. Grace Ministries Statement of Faith, n.d., pg. 1.
17. The Prophetic Ministry, The Morning Star Prophetic
Newsletter, Rick Joyner, n.d., Vol 3, No. 2, pg. 2.
18. ibid, pg. 4.
19. Divine Appointment (Introduction), Mike Bickel, 3/29/89,
cassette tape.
20. ibid.
21. A Vision of the Harvest, Rick Joyner, Grace City Report, op
cit., pg. 3.
22. True Prophetic Spirit, op cit., pg. 1.
23. Overview of God's End Time Purpose, Mike Bickel, cassette
tape, 10/7/84, cassette tape on file.
24. Paul Cain: A Personal Profile, Grace City Report, op cit.,
pg. 2.
25. The New Breed, Paul Cain, n.d., cassette tape.
26. ibid.
27. Visions and Revelations, Bob Jones 1988, cassette tape.
Quoted in Latter Day Prophets, Media Spotlight Special Report,
Albert Dager, n.d., pg 9.
28. ibid, Dager, pg. 9-10.
29. Glory and Dominion of Sonship, Part 2, Mike Bickel, cassette
tape.
30. Overview of Corporate Long Term Vision, Mike Bickel, 1/5/86,
cassette tape.
31. ibid.
32. ibid.
33. What Is Grace Ministries?, Michael Sullivant, Grace City
Report, op cit., pg. 9.
34. Dager, op cit., pg. 11.
35. Vision of the Harvest, op cit., pg. 3.
36. Overview of Corporate Long Term Vision, op cit.
37. ibid.
38. Maturing Through Cross-Pollinization, Mike Bickel, Grace City
Report, op cit., pg. 18.
39. Kansas City Fellowship, Earnest Gruen, Full Faith Church of
Love, Jan. 1990 Sermon, cassette tape.
40. Letter on file.
41. Kansas City Fellowship Report, A Monthly Newsletter, Vol. 1,
No. 6, February 1987, pg. 1.
42. ibid, pg. 3.
43. Kansas City Fellowship Report, A Monthly Newsletter, Vol. 1,
No. 8, April 1987, pg. 3.
44. "How Is God Speaking Today?", Paul Thigpen, Charisma and
Christian Life magazine, Sept. 1989, pg. 50.
45. Paul Cain: A Personal Profile, op cit., pg. 16.
46. "Holiness Unto the Lord," Rick Joyner, The Morning Star
Newsletter, Pineville, N.C., Vol. III, No. 2, March/April 1990,
pg. 16.
47. Unpacking Your Bags, John Wimber, n.d., cassette tape.
Quoted in Dager, op cit., pg. 12.
48. July 1990, pg. 34.
49. ibid.
50. ibid.
51. ibid.
52. ibid.
53. ibid.
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