Church of God News

From Josephprince.com

Hillsong album cover (Hillsong)

Hillsong is a popular ecumenical Protestant organization. Notice something about one of its former singers and songs:

In a 2004 interview with Christianity Today, Zschech expressed her radical ecumenical philosophy:

“I’ve been in the Catholic Church, in the United Church, the Anglican Church, and in many other churches, and when worship is offered in truth, this sound emerges-regardless of the style. It’s the sound of the human heart connecting with its Maker” (quoted by Michael Herman, “Zschech, Please,” christianitytoday.com, June 4, 2004).

She doesn’t explain how worship can be “in truth” in the context of an ecumenical unity among denominations that teach doctrinal error.

Zschech and Hillsong performed for the Roman Catholic World Youth Day in Sydney on July 18, 2008. Pope Benedict XVI was present and conducted a papal mass on the last day of the extravaganza. The mass is a supposed continuation of Christ’s sacrifice. The consecrated host is said by Rome to become Christ Himself and is worshiped as such when placed in the monstrance and eventually in its own little tabernacle. Hillsong, led by Darlene Zschech, performed after the Stations of the Cross. …

The lyrics to Zschech’s

“Holy Spirit Rain Down” begin: “Holy Spirit, rain down, rain down/ Oh, Comforter and Friend/ How we need Your touch again/ Holy Spirit, rain down, rain down.” Where in Scripture are we instructed to pray to the Holy Spirit? To the contrary, the Lord Jesus Christ taught us to pray to the Father (Mat. 6:9). (Cloud D. Darlene Zschech and Contemporary Praise Music. March 26, 2002. https://www.wayoflife.org/database/darlene_zschech_and_praise.html accessed 02/19/19)

The Continuing Church of God has the following sermon on its ContinuingCOG channel:

1:21:54

Music, Hillsong, and the False Gospel

Musical instruments were mentioned in the Book of Genesis. Music is present all over in the 21st century. How does music affect the mind and body? Is it okay to listen to music? Should lyrics matter? Are there biblical principles to consider related to music? Can Christians listen to secular music? Is harp music always good? Is “Contemporary Christian Music” biblically appropriate? Has money overly influenced the “Christian music industry”? What is the Pentecostal ‘latter rain’? What about songs about heaven? Do groups like Hillsong promote the gospel of the kingdom or a false gospel message? Has there been an ongoing attempt to promote an ecumenical message in what has been called “gospel” or “Christian” music? How can you tell a real Christian from a false one? What type of songs did early Christians sing? Did the old Worldwide Church of God fall because of its 1974 hymnal? Are psalms and songs in “The Bible Hymnal” of the Continuing Church of God consistent with the practices of original Christians? Dr. Thiel addresses these and more!

Here is a link to the sermon: Music, Hillsong, and the False Gospel.

Now, let’s look more into the “Latter Rain” teachings that various ones are promoting.

A major theme of the ecumenical “Latter Rain doctrine” is “unity” among the “believers” in the church service, the geographic region, and at large.

They expect that in the coming “last days,” the various church denominations would dissolve, and the true Church would coalesce into citywide (or other region) churches under the leadership of the newly restored apostles and prophets.

Here is something along those lines:

Modern Prophets have received “new revelations” of the end-time which, until now, have not been understood by the Church. … Vineyard Ministries Apostle, Jack Deere, believes that the two witnesses in Revelation 11 may very well be Kansas City Prophets, Paul Cain and Bob Jones. Says Paul Cain:

“God is raising up a new standard, a new banner if you will, that’s going to radically change the expression, the understanding of Christianity in our generation…God has invited us to have a role in establishing this NEW ORDER of Christianity…God is offering to this generation something He has never offered to any other generation… Beware lest OLD ORDER brethren rob you and steal this hope from you!(2)

Bob Jones has received special revelation about this new hope:

“I have called the best of every blood line in earth unto this generation…I have elected to bring them forth in this generation…THE ELECT GENERATION…even the bloodline of Paul…of David…of Peter, James and John…They will even be superior to them in heart, stature and love for me’…Your children will possess the spirit without measure…They will move into things of the supernatural that no one has ever moved in before…coming into the DIVINE NATURE of Jesus Christ…a Church that has reached the full maturity of the GODMAN! This generation…is going to see the beginning of this WORLD WIDE NEW ORDER.”(3)

Are you having difficulty discerning or receiving this “new revelation”? Then perhaps you have been interpreting your Bible in the “old way” — comparing Scripture with Scripture, studying diligently to account for every jot and tittle and being careful to rightly divide the Word of truth.  If this describes you, then you belong to the “Old Generation” which will not enter in to “possess the land” in the Latter Rain Revival.  You may even be a member of a denominational church with its dogmatic confession of faith and statement of doctrine. These legalistic forms will be relics of the past in the up and coming “Postdenominational Church.”  Paul Cain advises that you “dump all that carnal stuff” (doctrine) and listen to what the “spirit” is saying to the churches through the Latter Rain Prophets and Apostles, who are dispensing many “new, sacred truths.” …

Over 50 years ago, William Branham, George Warnock, Paul Cain and others attempted to introduce Latter Rain/Manifest Sons of God teachings into the Pentecostal movement. … a “united” Church will celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. The prophetic fulfillment of this Feast is said to occur prior to the return of Christ. Latter Rain prophets claim that this will also be a “Second Pentecost,” since the first was ‘incomplete.’ …

This Latter Rain “Second Pentecost” during Tabernacles is suggestive of the “Planetary Pentecost” preached by Barbara Marx Hubbard as the peaceful “alternative to Armageddon.” At this time, a “quantum leap” in the evolution of mankind will occur as revealed to her by “the Christ”: “At the moment of cosmic contact, I will appear to you both through inner experience and through external communication on your mass media.” Says Ms. Hubbard, it will be a time when “the divisions of the religions would be over…We would each know that God is within us…If all who feel we are connected to each other, to nature and to God join in a planetary Pentecost, we shall be transformed in this lifetime. I believe in the peaceful second Coming.” (Aho B. THE LATTER RAIN REVIVAL. http://watch-unto-prayer.org/rain.html Retrieved 03/28/19)

Ecumenical unity will not prevent “Armageddon,” but improper unity will be a major factor leading to it (cf. Revelation 17 & 19). Those so-called “new truths” were not part of “the faith delivered once for all to the saints” (Jude 3) and are themselves heretical. Christians should search scriptures for doctrine (cf. Acts 17:11) as God’s “word is truth” (Psalm 119:60, John 17:17). The scriptures are there for Christians to be “complete, thoroughly equipped” (2 Timothy 3:16-17) and not be swayed by false emotional doctrines (cf. Ephesians 4:14-15).

Ecumenical latter rain proponent Jay Atkinson has written the following:

The Latter Rain is God’s great end-time ministry. This concept … comprises the restitution of the church to it’s rightful place, the enormous last day revival soon to come, and the harvest of souls before the great and terrible Day of the Lord. It is the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon all flesh promised to us in the last days and the restoration of apostolic and prophetic gifts. It has been explained like this, the latter rain, the latter reign and the latter rein; first the spiritual outpouring, then the spirit and Bride says come in power and authority and then the ingathering. (Atkinson J. The Latter Rain. The Latter Rain Page. http://latter-rain.com/eschae/latter.htm retrieved 03/29/19)

The worst churches in Christendom are not those that need to repent but those in pride that are unwilling to repent, especially those that are opposed to ecumenicism. They are easy to identify, they think that they are the chosen saints of God, they have an illiberal nature and are intolerant of others, self-righteous, they oppose dialogue, independent, a sinful spirit of division and particularistic exclusivism. … The Lord has given Christians the grace to reconcile the children to their Fathers As One Body We prepare for the Marriage Supper of the Lamb Harvest the Fruit of the Latter Rain Follow Him as the Army of the Lord into His Glory (Atkinson J. Ecumenical. The Latter Rain Page. http://latter-rain.com/kingdom/ecu.htm retrieved 03/28/19)

While we should strive to live peaceably with all (Romans 12:18), Jesus DID NOT come so that the world would be united religiously in this age (cf. Matthew 10:34-39). The “latter rain” comes AFTER, not “before the great and terrible Day of the Lord” as Jay Atkinson has asserted.

The Bible does not promote the Pentecostal “latter rain” view, but warns against it (e.g. 2 Corinthians 6:7; cf. Revelation 2-3).

What about the Church of God? Has it had teachings on the latter rain?

Yes.

Here is something from the CCOG book Universal OFFER of Salvation, Apokatastasis: Can God save the lost in an age to come? Hundreds of scriptures reveal God’s plan of salvation:

The Former and Latter Rain

The firstfruits are called now, they are part of an earlier rain, but a latter rain will come when it is time:

²⁴ Let us now fear the Lord our God, Who gives rain, both the former and the latter, in its season. He reserves for us the appointed weeks of the harvest. (Jeremiah 5:24)

³ Let us know, Let us pursue the knowledge of the Lord. His going forth is established as the morning; He will come to us like the rain, Like the latter and former rain to the earth. (Hosea 6:3)

²³ Be glad then, you children of Zion, And rejoice in the Lord your God; For He has given you the former rain faithfully, And He will cause the rain to come down for you — The former rain, And the latter rain in the first (Joel 2:23).

This latter rain that will come in the future represents a harvest according to James 5:7:

⁷ Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain.

Others will be called later and we should patiently wait for that time.

In the lead article for the first issue of the Hope of Israel, published by the Church of God (Adventist), there was a teaching to the effect that Pentecost represented the former rain, but that a latter rain was to come:

The churches of God in Wisconsin, looking for the appearing of the Lord, and the same class of churches in Iowa and some of the same faith in Illinois, have taken their stand upon the word of God contained in the prophets of Jehovah, and the apostles of Christ, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; admitting no other authority for their faith, practice and discipline; yet are we waiting for the latter rain, spoken of by Joel 2:23. If, as Peter said on the day of pentecost, that which then was seen in the apostles was a fulfilling of the prophecy of Joel, surely it was but the former rain; and the latter rain is yet to come, attended with wonders in the heavens and in the earth and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call. (Davison S. Letter from Iowa to H.S. Dille. Hope of Israel, Vol. 1, August 10, 1863, p. 1)

In the 20^th century the old Worldwide Church of God taught this related to God’s plan and the former and the latter rain:

To keep His children constantly in the true understanding of His great PLAN of salvation, Christ — the Lord of the Old Testament — originally took the yearly agricultural harvests of Palestine as a TYPE OF God’s SPIRITUAL HARVESTS of human beings.

In Palestine there are two annual grain harvests. First, produced by the EARLY rain, is the SMALLER SPRING HARVEST. Second, produced by the “latter rain,” comes the main harvest — the much GREATER FALL HARVEST.  …

The FIRST THREE festival periods, beginning with the Passover, are MEMORIALS of the first part of God’s Plan. They picture only the firstfruits of Christ’s labors.

The LAST FOUR festivals look forward to the future and show how God will reap THE LATTER GREAT FALL HARVEST OF BILLIONS OF PEOPLE! (Lesson 33 – The Passover – Christ’s Sacrifice Begins God’s Master Plan. Ambassador College Correspondence Course, 1969)

Now, the latter rain has to do with the coming great harvest that will come after this age. It may involve 70 to 110 billion or so people.

The old Radio Church of God taught:

Joel 2: … The rain spoken of in verse 23 is dual — a spiritual as well as a physical rain which produces great physical abundance. God is now giving the former rain of the Holy Spirit “moderately” — producing the small harvest of firstfruits. There is to be a correspondingly larger “latter rain” of the Spirit to produce the greater spiritual harvest … a great outpouring of the Holy Spirit — and hence, of salvation — is typified by and associated with increased rain on desert areas … Compare also Isaiah 44:3 and John 7:37-39. (Lesson 38 – The Feast of Tabernacles – The World Tomorrow. Ambassador College Correspondence Course, 1965).

Isaiah was inspired to write:

³ For I will pour water on him who is thirsty, And floods on the dry ground; I will pour My Spirit on your descendants, And My blessing on your offspring; (Isaiah 44:3)

The ‘dry bones’ are raised and given their opportunity for salvation (Ezekiel 37:4-10). That day is coming. (Thiel B. Universal OFFER of Salvation, Apokatastasis: Can God save the lost in an age to come? Hundreds of scriptures reveal God’s plan of salvation. Nazarene Books, 2019)

Bible prophecies related to the “latter rain” are NOT fulfilled until AFTER Jesus returns. Pentecostals, those in the ecumenical movement, and others who teach otherwise are in biblical error.

Some items of possibly related interest may include the following:

Music and the False Gospel of Ecumenical Music Has popular ‘Christian’ music been promoting a false ecumenical gospel? Shouldn’t Christian unity be promoted? Here is a link to a related sermon: Music, Hillsong, and the False Gospel.
Beware: Protestants Going Towards Ecumenical Destruction! What is going on in the Protestant world? Are Protestants turning back to their ‘mother church’ in Rome? Does the Bible warn about this? What are Catholic plans and prophecies related to this? Is Protestantism doomed? See also World Council of Churches Peace Plan.
Will the Interfaith Movement Lead to Peace or Sudden Destruction? Is the interfaith movement going to lead to lasting peace or is it warned against? Here is a link to a video sermonette: Pope Francis signs ‘one world religion’ document! Two video sermons are also available: Will the Interfaith Movement lead to World War III? and Do You Know That Babylon is Forming?
Why Be Concerned About False and Heretical Leaders? There have been many false leaders–here is some of why you should be concerned about them. Here is a related article in the Spanish language ¿Por qué estar preocupado acerca de falsos y heréticos líderes?
Hope of Salvation: How the Continuing Church of God differs from most Protestants How the real Church of God differs from mainstream/traditional Protestants, is perhaps the question I am asked most by those without a Church of God background. As far as some changes affecting Protestantism, watch the video Charismatic Kenneth Copeland and Anglican Tony Palmer: Protestants Beware! [Português: Esperança do salvação: Como a igreja do deus difere da maioria de protestantes]. A sermon is also available: How Does the Church of God Differ from Protestantism?
Proof Jesus is the Messiah This free book has over 200 Hebrew prophecies were fulfilled by Jesus. Plus, His arrival was consistent with specific prophecies and even Jewish interpretations of prophecy. Here are links to seven related sermons: Proof Jesus is the Messiah, Prophecies of Jesus’ birth, timing, and death, Jesus’ prophesied divinity, 200+ OT prophecies Jesus filled; Plus prophecies He made, Why Don’t Jews Accept Jesus?, Daniel 9, Jews, and Jesus, and Facts and Atheists’ Delusions About Jesus. Plus the links to two sermonettes: Luke’s census: Any historical evidence? and Muslims believe Jesus is the Messiah, but … These videos cover nearly all of the book, plus have some information not in the book.
Did The Early Church Teach Millenarianism? Was the millennium (sometimes called chiliasm) taught by early Christians? Who condemned it? Will Jesus literally reign for 1000 years on the earth? Is this time near? Two related sermons are available Millennial Utopia and The Millennium.
Does God Have a 6,000 Year Plan? What Year Does the 6,000 Years End? Was a 6000 year time allowed for humans to rule followed by a literal thousand year reign of Christ on Earth taught by the early Christians? Does God have 7,000 year plan? What year may the six thousand years of human rule end? When will Jesus return? 2027 or 20xx? There is also a video titled 6000 Years: When will God’s Kingdom Come? Here is a link to the article in Spanish: ¿Tiene Dios un plan de 6,000 años?
When Will the Great Tribulation Begin? 2019, 2020, or 2021? Can the Great Tribulation begin today? What happens before the Great Tribulation in the “beginning of sorrows”? What happens in the Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord? Is this the time of the Gentiles? When is the earliest that the Great Tribulation can begin? What is the Day of the Lord? Who are the 144,000? Here is a version of the article in the Spanish language: ¿Puede comenzar la Gran Tribulación en 2018 o 2019? ¿Es el Tiempo de los Gentiles? You can also see the English language sermon videos: The Great Tribulation from the Mount of Olives and Can the Great Tribulation begin before 2020? A shorter and newer video is: Might the Great Tribulation start in 2019?
Marcion: The First Protestant? Considered to have been an organized heretic, he taught against the Old Testament, the law, and the Sabbath. Some have considered him to be the first Protestant reformer. But was he? Here is a link to a related sermon: Marcion: The first Protestant reformer?
The Gospel of the Kingdom of God This free online pdf booklet has answers many questions people have about the Gospel of the Kingdom of God and explains why it is the solution to the issues the world is facing. Here are links to three related sermons: The World’s False Gospel, The Gospel of the Kingdom: From the New and Old Testaments, and The Kingdom of God is the Solution.
The Ten Commandments: The Decalogue, Christianity, and the Beast This is a free draft/unedited pdf book explaining the what the Ten Commandments are, where they came from, how early professors of Christ viewed them, and how various ones, including the Beast of Revelation, will oppose them. A related sermon is titled: The Ten Commandments and the Beast of Revelation.
Where is the True Christian Church Today? This free online pdf booklet answers that question and includes 18 proofs, clues, and signs to identify the true vs. false Christian church. Plus 7 proofs, clues, and signs to help identify Laodicean churches. A related sermon is also available: Where is the True Christian Church? Here is a link to the booklet in the Spanish language: ¿Dónde está la verdadera Iglesia cristiana de hoy? Here is a link in the German language: WO IST DIE WAHRE CHRISTLICHE KIRCHE HEUTE? Here is a link in the French language: Où est la vraie Église Chrétienne aujourd’hui?
Continuing History of the Church of God This pdf booklet is a historical overview of the true Church of God and some of its main opponents from Acts 2 to the 21st century. Related sermon links include Continuing History of the Church of God: c. 31 to c. 300 A.D. and Continuing History of the Church of God: 4th-16th Centuries and Continuing History of the Church of God: 17th-20th Centuries. The booklet is available in Spanish: Continuación de la Historia de la Iglesia de Dios, German: Kontinuierliche Geschichte der Kirche Gottes, and Ekegusii Omogano Bw’ekanisa Ya Nyasae Egendererete.
Universal OFFER of Salvation, Apokatastasis: Can God save the lost in an age to come? Hundreds of scriptures reveal God’s plan of salvation Will all get a fair chance at salvation? This free book is packed with scriptures showing that God does intend to offer salvation to all who ever lived–the elect in this age, and the rest in the age to come.
Universal Offer of Salvation: There Are Hundreds of Verses in the Bible Supporting the Doctrine of True Apocatastasis Do you believe what the Bible actually teaches on this? Will all good things be restored? Will God call everyone? Will everyone have an opportunity for salvation? Does God’s plan of salvation take rebellion and spiritual blindness into account? Related sermon videos include Universal Offer of Salvation I: God is love  and Universal Offer of Salvation II: The Age to Come and the ‘Little Flock’ and Universal Offer of Salvation III: All Are to Know Jesus, But When? and Universal Offer of Salvation IV: Will the Guilty be Pardoned? and Universal Offer of Salvation V: All Israel Will be Saved? A version of the main article was also translated in the Spanish language: Oferta universal de salvación: Hay cientos de versículos en la Biblia que apoyan la verdadera doctrina de la Apocatastasis.