Your Sons & Daughters Shall Prophesy - Prophetic Gifts Today In The New Testament Church

Insights from Modern Church History (A.O. 1830-1980)

be no divisions among them. At North Battleford, fellowship was declared to be around the Person of Jesus, not on what was believed (for example, concerning secondary doctrines). There were to be no supreme leaders. As the visitation spread, however, it became increasingly difficult to cor rect errors and maintain proper teaching. Because the position of the orig inal Sharon presbytery became somewhat tenuous, it was understandable that they demanded absolute authority, regardless of geographical loca tion, so the integrity of God's move could be protected and maintained. But that was the beginning of the end for the LRM, just as a sectarian spirit has always been the downfall of new religious movements. The sectarianism that developed among the Battleford leaders further alienated them from LRM leaders in America, as well as from the denom inations. Layzell reacted strongly to this sectarian trend: At the first camp meeting you were made a member of the Body of Christ by the Spirit of God. And even if you said you were not in the Body you still were. No man could put you in or take you out. Now the error: they claim you are only put in by them and can be put out by them. The laying on of hands, they say, puts you in the body. What foolishness for simple people to follow! At the first camp meeting we were each one responsible before God and had to stand before God according to our own decisions. Now the error: you must obey the so-called apostles even if they are wrong. They say God will hold them responsible, not you. This is blasphemy and challenges the very words of Jesus. 23 Ivan Q. Spencer also reacted strongly. By January 1950 he concluded that the North Battleford brothers were not the guardians of the LRM. He wrote an article strongly affirming the oneness of the Body of Christ and striking at the exclusivism being promoted. The title of his article asked a question that should be repeated with every visitation: "Who are the Custodians of Latter Rain?" 24 When a sectarian attitude grips the leadership of a religious movement, the original, spontaneous spiritual experience-which was so life-giving to the Church and so pleasing to God-becomes deadlocked. This is espe cially true when the prophetic is involved. The cloak of humility is easily shed for the robe of authority. Soon the prophetic flow, so dependent on human brokenness, becomes tainted and finally dries up. 6. Revival manifestations, characteristics and Scripture applications take on the various idiosyncrasies of the churches in which th ey occur. This is true to a degree of all religious organizations. But the Latter Rain movement, because of the rapidity of its spread and its lack of organiza tional unity (which a denomination would have provided), showed an

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