What Is the Latter Rain?
The Latter Rain Movement is the earliest name for Pentecostalism, a branch of Protestant Christianity that originated in the early 20th century. The name comes from a verse in the Old Testament book of Joel. While some of the teachings that are associated with the Latter Rain Movement are controversial, they continue to influence the modern charismatic and neo-Pentecostal Christian theology and practice.
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Identification
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The name of the Latter Rain Movement found its inspiration from two verses in the Old Testament Book of Joel (2:23, 28). The prophet, Joel, uttered the promise that God would send the latter rain. This would trigger a vast harvest of wheat, wine and olive oil. Rain and harvest stand as prophetic metaphors in the Scriptures. Rain is often associated with the Holy Spirit and harvest is understood to be what happens when many individuals decide to adopt the message of Christian faith. So, the name of the Latter Rain Movement connects the dots between the rain and the harvest in the verse in Joel to indicate that God had begun (with their movement) to pour out his spirit on men and women so that the final massive harvest of souls could be gathered into the church.
Significance
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The movement connects the idea of the early rain, or pouring out of the Holy Spirit, with the experience of Jesus' disciples on the day of Pentecost. They had gathered in an upper room in Jerusalem to await this indwelling. First they wrote of a mighty, rushing wind. This was followed by the appearance of flames of fire on top of each person's head and by their sudden ability to speak in tongues, a spiritual phenomenon called glossolalia (see Acts 2). Subsequently 3,000 individuals embraced the Gospel message that Jesus' resurrection from the dead makes salvation possible. In his explanation Peter connected this outpouring of the Holy Spirit with the passage in Joel.
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History
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Charles Parnham was the American preacher who is credited with beginning Pentecostalism after he influenced Agnes Ozman to begin speaking in tongues on New Year's Day 1901 in Topeka, Kan. Others began to speak in tongues until soon there was a movement that spread to Azusa Street in California. Parnham also influenced the preacher who oversaw the Azusa Street Revival that spread internationally, William J. Seymore. The two men met in 1905 and the Azusa Street Revival began in 1906. Since the revivalist preachers considered the "former" rains to have been those recorded in the Book of Acts, they believed that this outpouring of the Holy Spirit must be the "latter rain."
Features
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The movement features a baptism of the Holy Spirit that is imparted by the laying on of hands. Members of the Latter Rain Movement believe that the visible sign that a person has received this baptism is their new ability to speak in tongues. They emphasize fasting, prayer, the autonomy of the local church as opposed to membership in a denominational structure, and a coming very large "harvest" of souls that will accept salvation, become born again and receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues.
Considerations
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At first members of the Latter Rain Movement and the other Pentecostal groups that grew from their influence were considered to be on the fringes of traditional Protestantism. By the 1920s many Pentecostals became more fundamental in their theology, subscribing to a more traditional dispensational interpretation of end times. In the 1940s the Latter Rain Movement regained strength beginning with a group in Saskatchewan, Canada. By 1949 the Assemblies of God, a Pentecostal denomination that originally derived from the Azusa Street Revival, distanced itself from some of the Latter Rain theology while retaining a core emphasis on the baptism of the Holy Spirit and the gift of tongues. However, the Charismatic Renewal of the 1960s employed many of the same ideas of the Latter Rain Movement. The idea that God will pour out his Holy Spirit like the latter rain and that there will be a follow-up spiritual harvest of souls like none that has preceded it continues to dominate the theology of many Christians today.
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