The Latter Rain Pentecostals and Adventists

The Latter Rain

A Common Belief Shared By Pentecostals And Seventh-day Adventists

By Ron Corson

"But though the apostles recognized a fulfillment of this prophecy {Joel 2:28-9} on the day of Pentecost, there will be a larger fulfillment in the last days. What happened at Pentecost was the former rain; that which is due now is the latter rain. The prophecy of Joel is of wider application than the experience at Pentecost. In the days of the early apostles God took some of the great reservoir of power and poured this out in mighty measure on that never-to-be-forgotten day. But the great remainder God reserves until the last days. Then the latter rain will fall, and in copious, abundant showers, in the finishing of the work of God. Observe the following from the Spirit of prophecy:" '"The work will be similar to that of the day of Pentecost...The great work of the gospel is not to close with less manifestation of the power of God than marked its opening'"--The Great Controversy p.611 (Quote from The Bible, The Spirit of Prophecy, and The Church by W.E. Read, p.81 1952 Review and Herald Publishing Association, Washington, D.C.)

 

The latter rain is a term that is commonly used by Pentecostals and those in Charismatic movements almost exclusively; the one most prominent exception is the Seventh-day Adventist church. Under the library system, at most college catalog search programs a request for the term latter rain defaults to the subject of Pentecostals. A visit to the search engines of the Internet reveals the prominence of the latter rain within the Pentecostal Christian philosophy of religion.

What do the agriculturally related terms former and latter rain have to do with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit? There are many Bible Dictionaries and Commentaries which explain the seasons rains in and around Israel. Their descriptions and analysis of the former and latter rain are very much the same. Holman Bible Dictionary says:
RAIN Moisture from heaven providing nourishment for plant and animal life. Palestine was a land dependent upon the yearly rains to ensure an abundant harvest and an ample food supply for the coming year. Thus, the presence or absence of rain became a symbol of God's continued blessing or displeasure with the land and its inhabitants. Rain fell in two seasons: the early rains during October and November, and the later rains in February and March. Rarely did rain of any significance fall outside these two periods.
The Expositor's Bible Commentary writes in reference to Joel 2:21:
The "autumn rain" comes at the beginning of the rainy season in October-November; the "spring rain" is that of March-April. The arrival of these rains on proper schedule as in prior times would demonstrate the blessing of God on the heart that was now properly prepared before him (cf. Deut 11:13-17; Jer 5:24-25; Hos 6:1-3).
Noticeably absent from the Bible Dictionaries and Commentaries is the concept that either, the former or latter rains are representative of an outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon people. It is not only the many Bible Dictionaries and Commentaries which avoid the interpretation of the latter or former rain as an outpouring of the Holy Spirit. The long history of the Christian church did not produce such an interpretation. The Early Church Fathers, to the Reformers of the Reformation, Calvin, Wesley, or Jonathan Edwards, alike fail to make such a connection. It was not until the latter part of the 1820's that the latter rain took on a new significance.

The latter rain took on its new significance through the person of Edward Irving. Irving was introduced to a book written by a Spanish Jesuit, Manuel Lacunza, The Coming of Christ in Glory and Majesty (ca. 1791)[ PDF vol 2 of The coming of Christ in Glory and Majesty ]. This book was however published under the pseudonym of Juan Josafat Ben- Ezra a proclaimed converted Jew. The book L.E. Froom points out had a major impact on the Advent Awakening. Irving was so taken with the book that he learned Spanish and translated and published the book in English in 1827. Irving contributed to the subject with a 203-page preface where he wrote his prophetic speculation about the end times. The charismatic outpouring he expected to occur just prior to the Lord's imminent return a "latter rain."

In part, Edward Irving wrote:
When the Lord shall have finished the taking of witness against the Gentiles... he will begin to prepare another ark of testimony... and to that end will turn his Holy Spirit unto his ancient people, the Jews, and bring them unto those days of refreshing... This outpouring of the Spirit is known in Scripture by 'the latter rain'. (Page 5-6)
Edward Irving declared that he knew of no other brother in the ministry who held to his unique teachings, which he was at that time setting forth. He continues shortly after the quotes above to say:
These three points of doctrine concerning the Gentile church, the future Jewish and universal church, and the personal advent of the Lord to destroy the one and to build up the other, I opened and defended out of the scriptures from Sabbath to Sabbath, with all boldness, yet with fear and trembling... at that time I did not know of one brother in the ministry who held with me in these matters, and of those to whom I broke the subject, I could not get the ear, even for preliminaries. So novel and strange a doctrine... (Page 7)
Through his sermons and the preface to Lacunza's book Irving's view of a latter rain outpouring of the Holy Spirit would take hold and grow. Several years later another Scottish minister set to paper more on the topic of the latter rain. In 1843, Robert Murray McCheyne (born 1813) presented a number of sermons that have become know as the "Latter Rain sermons". In 1844, a pamphlet of his work was published that gives an indication of some of what he may have previously said in his "latter rain" sermons:
"Ask ye of the Lord rain in the time of the latter rain." When God begins a time of concern in a place -- when the dew is beginning to fall -- then is the time to pray, Lord, stay not thine hand -- give us a full shower -- leave not one dry. "Wilt thou not revive us again?".... A drop fell from heaven upon their hearts. They trembled, wept, prayed. But the showers passed by, and the rocky heart ceased to tremble...Every means will be in vain until He pours the spirit down (Isaiah 32:15): Upon the land of my people shall come up thorns and briers, "Until the spirit be poured upon us from on high." We may preach publicly, and from house to house, we may teach the young, and warn the old, but all will be in vain; the spirit be poured upon us from on high, briers and thorns shall grow. Our vineyard shall be like the garden of the sluggard. We need that Christ should awake; that He should make bare His arm as in the days of old; that He should shed down the Spirit abundantly." (The Cry for Revival, published by: James Taylor of Castle Street, Edinburgh, 1844)
 
Edward Irving began to teach the continuation of Spiritual Gifts, as he had put forth in the preface to Lacunza's book.
"The other part of the dispensation of the grace of God under which the baptized are brought is expressed in these words: 'And ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.' By which, they say, we ought to understand, not the outward gift of power which hath ceased, both the inward gift of sanctification and fruitfulness, which all believe to be co-essential in the salvation of a sinner with the work of Christ itself. But for my own part, I am inclined to understand both; for I cannot find by what writ of God any part of the spiritual gift was irrevocably removed from the Church. I see, indeed, that she hath lost the power...I cannot see, the one being truly as supernatural a work of God as is the other." (The Coming of Christ in Glory and Majesty, Preface, Edward Irving p.607 taken from his second homily on baptism from his earlier writings.)
 
It is most likely that the "they Irving refers too are the same people who found his doctrines strange and with whom he had to contend with from "Sabbath to Sabbath". As Irving felt that he was misrepresented when brought before the clerical court latter, it appears that he also misrepresents those who opposed him here. It is most likely that "they" did not consider miracles or other power gifts to be outside the range of possibility, but that they were not normative.

What had began with an expectation of gifts soon became a reality, at least some type of manifestations began to appear inside of Irving's church. Integral to these manifestations is Edward Irving's view that Christ came in sinful human nature. In 1830 a woman under Irving's sphere of influence who was lying sick of consumption became convinced that "if Jesus as a man in my nature" spoke and performed mighty works by the Holy Ghost. "Then ought I in the same nature, by the same Spirit" do likewise. Irving writes of this woman, Mary Campbell in Frasers Magazine January 1832 in the article entitled, 'Facts connected with Recent Manifestations of Spiritual Gifts':
"When, in the midst of their devotion, the Holy Ghost came with mighty power upon the sick woman as she lay in her weakness, and constrained her to speak at great length, and with superhuman strength, in an unknown tongue, to the astonishment of all who heard, and to her own great edification and enjoyment in God." Some days latter James Macdonald became endowed with the power of the Holy Ghost and his sister Margaret and Mary Campbell were miraculously and immediately healed. Margaret Macdonald was to later, through dreams or visions produce or propagate, the previously little known doctrine now known as the secret rapture. (Note 1) The other members of the Macdonald family, James and George spoke in tongues again and interpreted just days later. While many believed these manifestations were of the devil or psychic delusions, Edward Irving found sufficient evidence to convince himself. (This is not the George MacDonald who was influential in the life of C.S. Lewis, who was George MacDonald Novelist, Poet & Preacher 1824-1905)
"His own doctrine assured him of the soundness of the central conviction of Mary Campbell and the Macdonalds regarding the nature of Christ's humanity. He now saw that the manifestations confirmed and vindicated what he regarded as this Orthodox and Catholic truth. On 2^nd June he wrote 'The substance of Mary Campbell's and Margaret Macdonald's visions or revelations, given in their papers, carry to me a spiritual conviction and a spiritual reproof which I cannot express.'" (The Pentecostal Theology of Edward Irving, p. 76 Gordon Strachan 1973 Hendrickson Pub.)

Irving wrote hundreds of pages on his theory that Jesus came in sinful human nature. Thus, it is hard to pin down in short quotes just what he was teaching. The courts of the Presbyterian Church were beginning to take notice of his views. To give a brief example:
Then, also, He began to make disciples; then His word began to be spirit and life. Till that time He was merely the holy man under the law...from that time forth He became the holy man baptized with the Holy Ghost, putting forth the first-fruits of His celestial glory. And we, being baptized with the same Holy Ghost, are required in this life to put forth the same first-fruits of our celestial glory..." (On the Gifts of the Holy Ghost, Commonly Called Supernatural, Morning Watch, Collected Works Vol. V p. 524)
Once the manifestation began to appear, Irving was unsure if they should be allowed into his morning services. There soon began unauthorized outbursts of prophecy which proclaimed that he was quenching the Spirit by not allowing the gifts in his meetings.
"The particular words which struck home to him were 'It belongs to you to open the door -- you have the power of the keys -- it is you that are restraining and hindering it'. The day after this particular utterance was given he decided to allow the gifts to be heard." (The Pentecostal Theology of Edward Irving, p.107 Gordon Strachan 1973 Hendrickson Pub.)
In May of 1830, he was removed from his office upon being convicted of the charge of heresy in regards to his views upon the nature of Christ. Irving then started the Catholic Apostolic Church.
"Entirely new arrangements in Irving's congregation were introduced by direction of the utterances, and the ministry of 'angels', 'apostles', prophets', and 'elders', was recognized...Irving was directed by these voices to suspend his ministry until his reordination in 1833...The utterances were regarded as the gifts of prophecy, and gifts of healing were also claimed. His congregation and his best friends having forsaken him, the last five years of Irving's life were cast in deepening shadows, and he died of tuberculosis and a broken heart in 1834" (The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, Vol. III p.526, Le Roy Edwin Froom Review and Herald 1946) It is only recently that those in Pentecostal churches have become aware of how Edward Irving and the Irvingites were so influential to the Pentecostal experience. Thought to have begun in the Topeka, Kansas Bible school conducted by Charles Fox Parham. (Note 2) There are several books still in print, which point out the connections between Irving and Pentecostals. History records very few examples similar to those seen in Pentecostal churches, though rare they must be noted.
"Perhaps the most striking thing about the claim to speak with tongues is its infrequency.... What does not appear is that it was ever claimed, at least on a large scale, as a symptom of divine inspiration, until the end of the seventeenth century. Then you find it cropping up in two separate movements, among the Huguenots of the Cevennes and among the appellant (but still nominally Catholic) Jansenists. A nine days wonder in either case, it goes underground again for the next hundred years. In 1830, quite without warning it begins to be practiced by a handful of simple people in the neighborhoods of Port Glasgow". (Enthusiasm, A Chapter in the History of Religion, p. 551 Ronald Knox, Oxford 1950)

Montanism of the second century should also be included as the history of tongues is considered. Tertullian is the most famous of those who joined the Montanism sect. During the early stages, Montanism was most concerned with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Husband and wives were advised to separate or live without sexual relations. Warnings of imminent catastrophes were given; the believers were advised to assemble at Pepuza to await the descent of the New Jerusalem and the new millennium.
"Stories of mysterious apparitions of Christ and the Paraclete were spread abroad, and in the meetings of the Montanists, trances, convulsions, and mass hysteria occurred similar to the bizarre experiences of the Camisards, the Shakers, and the 17^th- century visionaries of Paris who danced in the cemetery of Saint- Medard. Phrygia was traditionally the home of frenzy and fanaticism, and it is probably the irrationality and extravagance of Montanism that led opponents to call it adherents Phrygians of Cataphrygians." (New Catholic Encyclopedia Vol. 9) For the sake of completing the historical picture of this time period, it is necessary to explain a little about the Holiness movement that was born in the 1840's and resulted ultimately in the Pentecostal Movement of the early 1900's. The Holiness movement began in earnest in the United States based upon the teachings of John Wesley on entire sanctification and Christian perfection. Holiness preachers viewed the salvation process as two steps. First conversion or justification, where the person is freed from their sins. Second, entire sanctification or full salvation, the person is freed from flaws in moral nature that cause sins. Through the process of love to God with all one's heart, soul, and mind, results in a life without deliberate sin. One is then able to stay in this condition through self-renunciation, observance of divine ordinances, and a reliance on God's forgiving grace in the atonement. Pentecostalism developed as an offshoot of the Holiness movement. Teaching that speaking in tongues is the evidence that a person has received the "second blessing". (Notes 3,4) Some of the Holiness groups flatly rejected the glossolalia while other embraced it. Pentecostalism found its greatest acceptance in areas where the Holiness Movement had previously prospered.

The latter rain became incorporated into the terminology of these and other groups, not based upon Biblical Exegesis but more likely based on use by others. The study of methodological principles of interpretation is called hermeneutics. Exegesis in hermeneutics is the explanation or critical interpretation of a Biblical text. In contrast to Exegesis, is the term Eisegesis, the interpretation of a text by reading into it one's own ideas. Eisegesis is something that should be avoided; though, it must be admitted that it is not always easy to remove one's own ideas from an interpretation. But it is this very difference in interpretations which helps us determine that the latter rain is not used as a term for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. The above history has shown us how and why people began to use the term as an outpouring for the Holy Spirit. They were desirous of showing a Biblical reason for manifestations in the church.

 

It is difficult to look at Bible verses and explain how people can interpret them to indicate things that are not in fact there. When looking at those who write about the latter rain there are two important considerations. One is their belief that verses can be lifted out from the Bible, usually the Old Testament and applied to the church today. This is often referred to as the Proof Text method of interpretation. The second thing they do is to read into verses their preconceived ideas. Thus they can look at Acts 2:15-22 and say it is only a partial fulfillment, or the former rain.
These men are not drunk, as you suppose. It's only nine in the morning!
No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: "'In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. I will show wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.' "Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. (NIV)
Peter says that it is a fulfillment, of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit that Christ had promised His disciples and instructed them to wait for it in Jerusalem. (Acts 1:4, Luke 24:49, John 14:16) This is the Holy Spirit that convicts people of the truth of God.
When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me; in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned. (John 16:8-11, NIV)
Peter however says nothing about the former or latter rain; in fact, they are mentioned by Joel in a separate context then is the verse quoted by Peter. The rains are mentioned in the context of physical well being. A land once again providing abundant wheat, wine and oil, a restoration from the ills God sent because of their disobedience.
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. And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the fats shall overflow with wine and oil. And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you. And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you: and my people shall never be ashamed. And ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the LORD your God, and none else: and my people shall never be ashamed. And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: (Joel 2:23-28 KJV)
The Expositor's Bible Commentary on Joel 2 points out just how the last days are related between the restoration spoken of in Joel and Peter use of Joel in Acts 2. While several theories have been advanced as to the relation between these two passages of Scripture, the position taken here attempts to strike a balance between the extreme views of a total fulfillment at Pentecost and the complete lack of any relationship at all.... The precise applicability of Joel's prophecy to Pentecost can be gleaned from some of the Petrine interpretative changes and additions to Joel's text. Thus under divine inspiration Peter added to Joel's words relative to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit kai propheteusousin ("and they will prophesy... The intent of Joel's prophecy was not only the restoration of prophecy but that such a gift was open to all classes of mankind. The spirit-empowered words of the apostles on Pentecost were, therefore, evidence of the accuracy of Joel's prediction. (They were also a direct fulfillment of Christ's promise to send the Holy Spirit...Again, Peter affirmed that Joel's more general term ahareken ("afterward") is to be understood as en tais eschatais hemerais ("in the last days"; (1 Tim 4:1; 2 Tim 3:1-8; Heb 1:1-2; James 5:3; 1 Peter 1:5, 20; 4:7; 2 Peter 3:1-9; 1 John 2:18; Jude 18)...The NT writers made it clear that both Israel's future age and the church age are designated by the same terms: "The Last [Latter] Days [Times]" ...Accordingly, the point of Peter's remark in Acts 2:16 must be that Pentecost, as the initial day of that period known as "The Last [Latter] Days," which will culminate in those events surrounding the return of Jesus the Messiah, partakes of the character of those final events and so is a herald and earnest of what surely must come. Pentecost, then, forms a corroborative pledge in the series of fulfillments that will culminate in the ultimate fulfillment of Joel's prophecy in the eschatological complex.
It must also be noted that the outpouring of the Spirit is an accompanying feature of that underlying basic divine promise given to Abraham and the patriarchs, ratified through David, reaffirmed in the terms of the new covenant, and guaranteed in the person and work of Jesus the Messiah ... At Pentecost, then, two tributary streams of prophecy met and blended together: Christ's prophetic promise was directly fulfilled; Joel's prophecy was fulfilled but not consummated. It awaits its ultimate fulfillment but was provisionally applicable to Pentecost and the ages of the Spirit as the initial step in those last days that will culminate in the prophesied miraculous signs heralding the Day of the Lord and the events distinctive to the nation of Israel.

The idea that the outpouring of the Holy Spirit ushered in a new age of action by the Holy Spirit is referenced in the book Seventh-day Adventists Believe...A Biblical Exposition of 27 Fundamental Doctrines.
"Undoubtedly genuine believers have always had an awareness of His presence, but prophecy predicted a pouring out of the Spirit "on all flesh" (Joel 2:28)--a time when a greater manifestation of the Spirit would usher in a new age. ...The new age broke in only when our victorious Lord was seated on heaven's throne. Only then could He send the Holy Spirit in His fullness. After "being exalted to the right hand of God," Peter said, He "poured out" the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:33)." (Excerpts from p-61, 62)
Neither the above book or the previous exposition on Seventh-day Adventists beliefs, Questions on Doctrines, or the SDA Bible Dictionary mention the latter rain as an outpouring of the Holy Spirit. This does not mean that it is not a belief held within the Seventh-day Adventist church, but it does indicate that it is not a Biblically based doctrine. Most of those who put forth the latter rain as an outpouring of the Holy Spirit do so by alleging relationships between one verse and another verse. A typical example would be the following:
Hosea 6:3: 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
John 15:26: But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me:
Joel 2:23: 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 2:28: And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions (preceding verses all King James Version) At first glance, this may look like an appropriate way to line up scripture. The problem with the proof text method is that it ignores the context of each of the above messages. Hosea 6:3 speaks of the surety and consistency of God. He is as dependable as the sunrise, as welcome as the needed rains. John 15:26 says that Christ will send the comforter who testifies of Christ himself. Joel 2:23 speaks of the return of the blessings of the Lord after the many years the locust ate. A productive land again, the rains, the vats full of wine and oil, the threshing floors full with grain. Even if these verses are viewed more figuratively, they indicate a return to the joy of the presence of the Lord, not two particular outpourings of the Holy Spirit. Joel 2:28 is quoted by Peter in Acts 2:16 as a fulfillment of Joel 2:28. Peter does not mention the former or latter rain; he describes the events at Pentecost as the promised outpouring on all flesh. The comforter is now active in convicting people that Jesus Christ is Lord. It would not be possible to list all the different permutations that the Proof Text method can produce. Many people may feel that stringing together texts is the way to properly understand the Bible, however if one does not pay attention to the original context the texts become a pretext for a doctrine. (Footnote 5)


The consequence of a belief in a second outpouring of the Holy Spirit is often seen in the excesses that have troubled the Pentecostal Movement. Frequently people in hopes of this outpouring are emotionally manipulated, sometimes bringing shame on the body of Christ and sometimes discouraging the believers. Either by not being able to perform the power manifestations or simply because they realize they have been deceived by people they trusted. Throughout the Bible we see God performing mighty miracles on occasions. It is not, now or then, the normative method of operation of God's dealing with mankind. As with Pentecost God was opening people's minds to the salvation offered by Jesus Christ. The manifestations drew people's attention to the new Christian faith, evidence of why it was necessary to change from the religion the Jewish nation had produced. Where manifestations of God were seen in the Exodus and leading of the children of Israel in the wilderness and the tabernacle,. So too manifestations both by Christ and his apostles show the move of God from Israel to all mankind, all who will follow Christ. God has and will continue to due miraculous works as He sees fit. That does not make them the expected occurrence, they are the exceptions to a life lived in a sinful world.

The Holy Spirit poured down upon people as rain is a pretty metaphor, there should be no objection to such metaphors. Unfortunately that is not the only way the latter rain has been used. Too many times it is used as a doctrine, a presupposition that has no real basis for support. If people want to conjecture that there will be another great outpouring of the Holy Spirit shortly preceding the second coming based the signs mentioned in Joel 2:30-31 that is fine. It would be hoped however that they realize that it is not necessarily so. That the coupling of other unrelated verses does not move the speculation into the realm of Biblical doctrine.

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Notes

1. The origin of the secret rapture idea has differences of opinions. Some feel it was from the vision of 15 year old Margaret Campbell, Others that it is from J.N. Darby in 1830, some say 1827. And Lately Grant Jeffrey's of the bible secret codes fame claims it is found in Pseudo- Ephraem's eighth century sermon. Where the following is said: "All the saints and elect of God are gathered together before the tribulation, which is to come, and are taken to the Lord, in order that they may not see at any time the confusion which overwhelms the world because of our sins."

2. "The first North American "classical pentecostals" in the modern sense appeared on the scene in 1901 in the city of Topeka, Kansas in a Bible school conducted by Charles Fox Parham, a holiness teacher and former Methodist pastor. In spite of controversy over the origins and timing of Parham's emphasis on xenolalia, various North American historians conclude that the movement began during the first days of 1901 just as the world entered the Twentieth Century. The first person to be baptized in the Holy Spirit accompanied by speaking in tongues was Agnes Ozman, one of Parham's Bible School students, who spoke in tongues on the very first day of the new century, January 1, 1901. According to J. Roswell
Flower, the founding Secretary of the Assemblies of God, Ozman's experience was the "touch felt round the world," an event which " made the Pentecostal Movement of the Twentieth Century." Parham formulated the doctrine that tongues was the "Bible evidence" of the baptism in the Holy Spirit. He also taught that tongues was a supernatural impartation of human languages (xenolalia) for the purpose of world evangelization. Henceforth, he taught, missionaries need not study foreign languages since they would be able to preach in miraculous tongues all over the world. Armed with this new theology, Parham founded a church movement which he called the "Apostolic Faith" and began a whirlwind revival tour of the American middle west to promote his exciting new experience. 1906: Azusa Street Revival began under leadership of W.J. Seymour ." This article found at the following Web site: http://www.thunderministries.com/history/originpentecost.html


3. Don Basham in A Handbook on Holy Spirit Baptism p.10 writes: "The baptism in the Holy Spirit is a second encounter with God (the first is conversion) in which the Christian begins to receive the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit into his life."

A second "encounter," a second "experience," a second "blessing"; are typical Pentecostal expressions.

4. "Out of the world-wide holiness movements the Pentecostal movement was born. The Pentecostal historian, Charles Conn, notes 'that the Pentecostal movement is an extension of the holiness revival that occurred during the last half of the nineteenth century'" (Frederick Dale Bruner, A Theology of the Holy Spirit Grand Rapids, Mich.: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1970, p.44
Further information may be viewed at: http://www.cfcnb.org/1999wia/jan1999.htm


5. In short, the proof text method is a way of taking verses or portions of verses and using them to "prove" a particular point. This is legitimate only when context and meaning are substantially the same as the point that is trying to be proved. The proof text method in contrast takes a verse or section of verse and often arbitrarily uses the isolated text as their "proof". Failing to take into account the context where the text originated or it historical or literary relevance. Often the proof text proponent will take a verse out of context and use it for their own particular interpretation. As the saying goes "A text taken out of context is a pretext". Instead of taking the appropriate time to study the issues fully, they insert meaning into the text which were not there to begin with. Hoping to create the illusion that their proof text has solved a particular question, inevitably leading to wrong conclusions.