As a long overdue follow-up to a piece I wrote with Frederick Clarkson in Religion Dispatches last summer, here are some added features and historical details about the New Order of the Latter Rain (NOLR) which were not included in the RD piece due to space limit. I also included a few words about NOLR ideas in the preface of my latest book, American Evangelicals for Trump: Dominion, Spiritual Warfare, and the End Times (Routledge 2024). These features are especially significant when it comes to the triumphalism and supernaturalism of the Neocharismatic-Pemtecostal brand of Dominion Theology.
Enter the 1948 New Order of the Latter Rain
Focusing on currents after World War II, there is one less well known movement that has greatly inspired the Charismatic branch of dominion thinking: the 1948 restorationist movement called New Order of the Latter Rain (NOLR), sometimes also referred to as the Latter Rain Movement.
This major movement comes from humble origins. The story goes that it sprung out of North Battleford, Saskatchewan, Canada, after a group of students at Sharon Children's Homes and Schools on 12 February, 1948 had engaged in three months of Bible study, prayer, and fasting. The leaders of the movement were originally associated with the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada (P.A.O.C), but had severed ties with the denomination due to a management conflict at Bethel Bible Institute in Saskatoon.
Students and leaders in North Battleford also believed the institutionalization of Pentecostalism, as seen in the P.A.O.C., resulted in a “spiritual drought” among Pentecostals, and they were now seeking a fresh spiritual experience. With its strain of anti-denominationalism, the NOLR quickly became a controversial movement. It was accused of taking churches from the P.A.O.C., and was disapproved by the Assemblies of God in the U.S., at their 23rd General Council in 1949, under Resolution No.7 (p. 26). It is important to stress, however, that Edith L. Blumhofer, noted historian who wrote extensively on the Assemblies of God, indicated that “no ministers had been disfellowshipped solely for accepting New Order views. Some had resigned voluntarily; others had been disciplined for such schismatic activities as encouraging congregations to withdraw from the Assemblies of God to form ‘Latter Rain’ churches. In the end, the New Order did not present a major threat to the Assemblies of God” (The Assemblies of God. Vol. 2, p. 66). J. Roswell Flower, General Secretary of the Assemblies of God at the time, was cognizant of Pentecostal history and said that “the New Order of the Latter Rain in fact taught nothing new” (p. 61).
The beliefs and practices embraced by the NOLR – most of which were typical early Pentecostal practices – include the power of prayer and fasting (see Mark 9:29) - believed to be the main ingredient for revival -, the laying on of hands (for healing, the impartation of spiritual gifts, etc.), the restoration of the gifts of the Spirit (see 1 Corinthians 12:4-10) and of the Ascension gifts ministries (see Ephesians 4:11-13), the restoration of all things (See Acts 3:21), and perhaps most controversially, and the expectation of the Manifested Sons of God (see Romans 8:18-21).
The Overcomers
Among the Latter Rain revivalists, some believed in the advent of a faithful remnant, a group of “overcomers” equipped to prepare the church and the world for Christ’s return to earth. The Manifest Sons of God also came to be referred to as the “Man-Child” (Revelation 12:5).
Early Pentecostal leaders such as Charles Parham (1873-1929), used the terms “Man-Child” and “overcomers” to describe this elite group within the church. Parham taught that the “overcomers” were now forming the corporal “Body of Christ” on earth, and would come to possess the Kingdom of God. They would rule and reign with Christ over the nations at his return to earth (see Revelation 2:26-27; 12:5). Blumhofer notes that Ivan Q. Spencer, the founder of Elim Bible Institute and the Elim fellowship, as well as Max Wood Moorhead and Seeley Kinny, independent Pentecostal evangelists associated with Elim, “all thought they were ‘manifest sons of God.’ Blumhofer explains,
Moorhead preached frequently and fervently on ‘victory over death.’ However, when he died on May 2, 1937, Spencer could hail him only as one who had ‘embraced the truth,’ not as one who had experienced it. The restoration, Spencer noted, came ‘by stages’; he believed the ‘manifest sons of God’ were part of God’s final stage. In 1970 Spencer, in deteriorating health, was forced to admit that ‘translation’ had eluded him too; he was deeply agitated… The deaths of these and other prominent advocates of the ‘manifest sons of God’ have further marginalized (but not eliminated) the teaching” (The Assemblies of God. Vol. 2, p. 62-63).
As former denominational Pentecostals, Latter Rain leaders were simply using familiar tropes. In 1951, one leader, Percy Hunt, writing about the “overcomers” said, “we shall move at will from country to country and from city to city, being independent from space.” He believed that “it will be quite possible and feasible for us to be in Los Angeles at noon, and a few minutes later be in Calcutta.” Hunt continues,
Through the Spirit of Wisdom we shall have the solution to every conceivable problem, and be free to minister wherever, and whenever we please… we shall appear to the various to whom we minister, clad in their native costume, and our faces and forms will be changed, so that regardless of race or color there will be nothing about us to make us conspicuous other than our gracious ministry itself. Nor shall language any longer be a barrier, for we shall be able to speak and understand every language and, or, dialect at will, with a perfect mastery of every idiom and local characteristics (“Some General Principles,” The Sharon Star, Feb. 1951, p. 1; reference by Faupel).
George H. Warnock wrote his influential book, The Feast of Tabernacles in the spring of 1951. In it, he describes how Christ’s second appearing will be manifested in the Church,
But a great secret in God’s counsels was this: Christ was to appear twice, first in Incarnation, and secondly at the ends of the ages. Now we are awaiting Christ’s second Appearing, this time in power and glory in the saints, in the fulness of His Body… Christ’s first Appearing was in the Head only, in one Man… Now Christ will appear in His Church the Body (p. 47). (my emphasis)
Warnock then provides details similar to those of Percy concerning the supernatural abilities of the end-time overcomer:
The Overcomer, therefore, will live the very same life of the only begotten Son of God… We can easily understand, therefore, how the Glorious Gospel of Christ shall be proclaimed throughout the whole earth, regardless of the opposition that shall be raised. There will not be a country on earth that will be closed to this Gospel of the Kingdom. It will be just as simple to proclaim the Truth in Communist Russia as anywhere else on earth. The authorities will send the police to arrest this strange personage that is so boldly preaching Christ, and working the works of God, and he will have disappeared… They may rush upon him with sword or bayonet, and their weapon will be blunted as truly as if they had charged an armored tank; for no weapon that is formed against him shall prosper. They might fire a shot, and the bullet will glance off his brow... They shall put the overcomer in prison, and by night the Angel of the Lord will unlock the prison doors… They shall seek to prevent the Gospel from being proclaimed over the air; and yet even without the aid of radio or transmitter the voice of the overcomer shall be heard in the streets or in the homes, as it penetrates the atmosphere at God’s command and in God’s place. He shall be cast to the lions, or to fierce beasts, and the beasts themselves shall become his best friends. He shall be tossed into fiery flames of fire, and yet shall feel as comfortable as he would in a warm living room on a cold day. If there is no food, he shall call manna down from Heaven. If there is a river to cross, he shall raise his hand, and the waters shall roll back before him so that he might walk over on dry land... The most powerful atom or hydrogen bombs ever invented shall be perfectly harmless to the man who is hid away in the secret place of the Most High… For he shall be an overcomer in the fulness of Christ’s victory over the world, the flesh, and the Devil. Sin, sickness, or death shall have no claim on him. He will be even as his Lord and Master as He walked upon earth and ministered among men (The Feast of Tabernacles, p. 51).
These supernatural abilities were for the purpose of preaching the gospel in preparation for Christ’s return.
Historian D. William Faupel explained that the belief in the Manifested Sons of God was closely tied to the idea of the “restoration of all things” (Acts 3:21). According to George Hawtin, one of the main leaders of the NOLR, the Man-child would be a glorious reigning-company, but was not constituted of the entire church.
The Kingdom of Heaven, the seventh dispensation, is at hand – that great Sabbath of rest when we shall reign with Christ for a thousand years… And she brought forth a man-child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron, and her child was caught up unto God and throne. (Rev. 12:5) The man-child is the body of Overcomers that keeps his works. They are the manifested sons of God for which the whole creation groaneth and travaileth. (Rom. 8:22)... This glorious reigning-company does not include all the church. It is the Body of Christ that is being formed in this present revival; not the body of the bride, but the body of Christ who is the HEAD, the firstborn among many brothers… It was this same glorious MAN whom Daniel, the prophet, saw: I saw in the night visions and behold, one like the SON OF MAN came with clouds of heaven (“Thy Kingdom Come,” The Sharon Star, Nov.- Dec. 1951, p. 1; reference by Faupel).
Faupel also noted that Hawtin moved away from the idea of a pre-tribulational rapture. The overcomers would suffer tribulation: “The possessing of the Kingdom of Heaven by the saints of the most high is not going to be a mere ‘push-over’ but through MUCH TRIBULATION we will enter it” (“Thy Kingdom Come,” p. 1). Despite this, Hawtin believed it was possible for this supernatural offspring to experience immortality in this life.
Some reports describe how other churches affiliated to the NOLR promoted the idea that these “elect” would receive “redemptive bodies.” One who died failed to receive a new body and was, therefore, not part of the “overcomers.” Hope for the manifestation of the Sons of God and being an overcomer rested on one’s affiliation to the NOLR Sharon group.
Contemporary Echoes of NOLR Ideas
The supernaturalist and triumphant rhetoric of the Manifest Sons of God, has made its way in the discourse of contemporary Charismatic leaders, some of whom have been associated with the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR). During a Pray for the Nation rally in Arizona in 2020, Dutch Sheets tells the story of a vision of a golden key engraved with the word “triumph.” Then quoting Isaiah 22:22: “I will place on his shoulder the key to the house of David; what he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open,” Sheets explained,
That is fulfilled in Matthew 16, and Jesus said he gave us the keys to the Kingdom to bind to loose, you could say open, close… We have the keys, Isaiah 22:22, Matthew 16. We have the key of authority he’s not really going to come down from heaven and speak; he’s going to tell us what to say and we’re going to speak; that’s how it works, because we’re seated there at the right hand with him and we have his authority, and what he, what the head does, he does through his body, and we’re the body, we’re the mouth or the hands or the feet, and when we speak it’s just as authoritative as Jesus speaking, it is no different when he tells us what to say and we say it for him; it is no different when we do it in his name, at his direction, and we’re decreeing his will, it is no different than what if he had said it, and so he’s given us the key. (my emphasis)
The rally was a few weeks after the 2020 elections. Some NAR leaders believed that the election had been stolen, and that God would reveal the fraud. According to Sheets, Christians hold the keys to Jesus’ authority in heaven and on earth to bind or loose, to open or close. When Christians decree God’s will, it is as if God is speaking. What is the meaning of “triumph” engraved on the key? In referencing Isaiah 22:22, there is an explicit political message intended. Having “the key to the house of David” meant having political control over David’s domain or kingdom. But now, according to Sheets, the promise of Isaiah 22:22 has been fulfilled for the Church in Matthew 16. The authority given to believers in Matthew 16 is to bind and to loose on earth and in heaven. The political implications are far reaching.
What is particularly striking is the use of the body metaphor, echoing the views of Parham and Warnock about overcomers who will live “the very same life of the only begotten Son of God,” acting on earth as the corporate Body of Christ.