A question to "Nef" who was an assistant to the late
John Wimber during the early years of the Vineyard
movement 3.1.98: "I was wondering how you thought
Wimber's passing is going to affect the Vineyard movement?"
I have a newspaper article from the Orange County
Register from the very earliest days of the "Vineyard"..
(1977 approx.) John is being interviewed and he made an interesting
statement.. that the Vineyard would only be around for about fifteen
years, after that it would be disbanded.. not a direct quote,
but close enough. How could John have made such a bold statement?
Because during the "think tank" years
at Fuller Seminary, when John Wimber, David Yonggi
Cho, C. Peter Wagner, Bill Bright, Jay Grimstead, Donald
McGavran, Ralph Winter, Billy Graham, David DuPlessis,
Robert Grant, Don Richardson, etc., etc.. were all there..
and the "strategies" and "methodologies"
of "taking the world for
Jesus" were being developed (i.e. Lausanne, GCOWE,
AD2000 and Beyond Movement strategies, the contextualized
gospel, the global "harvest" and "revival"
ect).. John Wimber was what I call the "restoration
implementor".. a restoration theologian who believed and
taught that the gifts and offices of the Holy Spirit had been
stolen from the church, and that they were going to be restored.
He was also a Latter Rain theologian in that he taught that
the Holy Spirit would come "incrementally", perhaps
by "visiting your city", or in an "outpouring"
"awakening" or "revivalry" and that
the "Holy Spirit" should "COME!".. that
is why they are always screaming for "MORE!"
at the meetings.. they believe the Holy Spirit is
being poured out and hasn't yet "fully come" as the
Bible clearly says he did. Because of this belief in receiving
"more" of the spirit, they have opened themselves up
to receiving another spirit entirely.. and it is a
powerful one.. anyway instead of believing that the
Holy Spirit has fully come, and is abiding with us
still, that He will never leave nor forsake us, that He
will be with us always, even to the end of the age.. they solicit
an "outpouring and visitation" of the spirit that has
lead to what they call "restoration" of what was taken
from the church..
What's more, John taught that the "gifts"
would be "imparted" through the laying
on of hands, and the "offices" of prophet, evangelists,
apostle, teacher and healer were going to be "restored"
as well.. John's "assignment" to be the "implementor"
of the restoration of these things to the church. John travelled
extensively for Fuller as a "church growth expert (i.e.
cell group theory ala Cho) and taught seminars worldwide to hundreds
of thousands of pastors "equipping" them for ministry..
by the impartation of the "gifts" and "ministries"
of the Holy Spirit.. John promoted and taught and
trained up hundreds of thousands of workers globally to
take their places in the new found "apostolic
network".. each submitted under a "mentor" or person
above them in a hierarchal authority structure - also
known as "shepherding" doctrine.. he and
Cho also introduced these ideas to the church
in China.. those attending Vineyard churches these past twenty
years have all been "equipped" to "use their gifts"
in the manner prescribed by their doctrine, and under their authority..
I do not believe that John was at odds with the Toronto Vineyard's
"outporing" - but I do believe he was at odds with the
leadership of it.. and at some level he was only practicing
"damage control" (as usual) because of the negative
press.. this was John's habit and history to denounce what he
had spawned when the press got too hot.. remember his denouncement
of the Kansas City Prophets as he stated publically that
there were "excesses" and "abuses" and
he was going to "take care" of them? And when he flatly
denied that Paul Cain was a manifested Sons of God Theologian,
but so was John.. who clearly can be followed through his
years of ministry teaching that he himself was experiencing
longer and longer periods of "sinlessness".. I
have early newsletters of the Vineyard where the "Kingdonm
Now" message is plain and clear, and the dozens of
seminars where John took Holiness teaching, perfection, restoration
and dominion theology to thousands of pastors globally.. even
tapes of him teaching on Joel's Army..
His work indeed was done right on time (remember the article?)
when "fire" that he had been teaching would "fall"..
did fall.. and the great end-time "harvest"
he had been prophesying for twenty years had
indeed apparently "come".. in Toronto.. I believe there
was a power play and a great argument at the flesh level among
the "brethren" at that point and perhaps some sense
of loss for John who had been marginalized.
I have been finding that the organizations that this movement
sets up to accomplish certain goals are only temporary, and it
was right on time that the Vineyard movement was going
to be phased out.. they never completely disband these organizations..
just take the heart, leadership and strength to another "form"
as I call it.. this time it was Toronto and Brownsville.. you
will see this happening also right now in Promise Keepers.. John
could secretly know that his position in the hierarchy (as
an apostle) was completely assured. He went on from retiring
from the Association of the Vineyard Churches to working directly
with Schuller, Cho, Hayford et al in perfecting their
cell model through the post-denominational church movement and
"Touch Ministries", the "Antioch Church Network"
and much much more.. If he in fact had opened his eyes at
the end and saw what he had done, I will praise the Lord
forever for that.. and that is possible as rumors were flying
that there were "fights" with Paul Cain.. but I do not
know if he did repent and forsake the movement.. frankly the strength
that this movement has would quickly "snuff" his
life out in a moment without a casual thought if he had abandoned
the theology and was going to go public.. His wife who eulogized
him, is, it seems, being raised up to take on "John's mantle"
(if I was reading the remarks about her correctly at the funeral)..
she definiely was a charismatic and compelling speaker "empowered"
beyond my wildest expectations at her own husband's funeral..
I would watch to see if she is raised up to "finish"
John's work.. just a thought..
The huge end-times harvest, revival and "awakening"..
John taught it, prophesied it, trained up and equipped thousands
of workers for it, and personally laid hands on every major
player to "receive" the "fire" that
fell. It is disputable.. John carried the restoration theology
out of the Fuller "think tank" into the world
at large, and has taken his place now among the "greats"
of
apostasy.. having done more single- handedly to bring the restoration
and dominion message to the world than any figure in history since
Wesley.. John was this movement's "acceptable
anointed evangelist" of restoration.. Wagner
has referred to Wimber as his "mentor"
and I believe that was true.
One thing about the devil though.. when he's done using
you, he will kill you.. no doubt about that.. the younger,
healthier, and able "apostles of fire".. will
carry the "torch" into the next
phase - but you can know beyond a shadow of doubt that that
was planned from the very beginning, and the
next stages are as well.. the Vineyard
churches will continue.. Anahaim Vineyard under Lance Pitluck..
but the heart of the movement is fully transferred
now to the AD2000 and Beyond Movement and the post- denominational
church "form".. the apostolic network has come to
your local neighborhood, and the "spiritual warfare network"
has
too - and don't forget your local pastors association..
that is also a part of the whole.. the countdown is on to take
"dominion" for Christ before 2000.. those not wanting
to "enter into" their apostate "kingdom"
are being scheduled as I write, to be "removed"..
not bloodlessly.. watch the mail for the more militant
aspect (Joel's Army) to be manifesting more and more as they gain
consensus politically worldwide." (A report
from a former associate of John Wimber)