I had read that too. "The First Principles" were (so we were told) given to John from God as some new revelation. I understand that nearly all of it was already out there as Latter Rain teaching. John had merely collected it into one book and called it his own. Seems a bit like biblical plagerism to me.

One other question: What was John's college degree in and does (did) that institution ever really exist?

As one who was passionately involved in the 70's intercession to 'loose the apostle, and bind the nephilim,' it's become clear, way after the fact, that John was a religious idol we created with his help. The fact that I'm even considering the possibility that he was deceptive about where he received his "revelation," or if his college degree was valid, demonstrates how far he has descended (at least in my estimation) from his lofty status of being 'Christ in the Flesh'/'The Door Opener'/'The Apostle to the Kingdom' etc.

sincerely,
counselor to ditch diggers

BTW, the Wikipedia entry for John contains a description of the Walk from an ex-member as being "violent, secretive and demanding." The violence, from my experience, was confined mostly to prayers (death to this, death to that etc.). Secretive and demanding, however, is dead-on.

Watch how quickly some LW person edits that Wikipedia entry. : )

changedagain wrote: The fact that I'm even considering the possibility that he was deceptive about where he received his "revelation," or if his college degree was valid, demonstrates how far he has descended (at least in my estimation) from his lofty status of being 'Christ in the Flesh'/'The Door Opener'/'The Apostle to the Kingdom' etc.

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Me too; and in addition I wonder about my own self. I never wanted to be radical, a fringe militant judging so called “old order” meek Christians as being losers. I feel as though my entire Christian Experience needs a paradigm shift.

Matthew 5:1-12 --- blessed are the poor in spirit and so on.

It’s poor in spirit, gentle, merciful, pure, peacemakers, mournful, meek -------VERSUS------- dominionism; the make it happen army of dictators rejecting all that displeases them, the agitated flesh creature fighting against the universe on all fronts and the idea of super believers, super apostles and super prophets with super revelation leading the way for all other losers that live or have lived on earth, including Peter, Paul, James & John.

Lord help us.

If you are interested and have some time,the following read is long but the insights are something else: Goggle Apostasy The Latter Rain Heresy, then click Full text of "Anointing or Apostasy? The Latter Rain." The website is [archive.org]

Some interesting tidbits on the Wikipedia page of William Branham, a contemporary of John:

--Church ministers working with William Branham in his meetings, testified that he was able to reveal the thoughts, experiences, and needs of individuals who came to the platform for prayer.
--William Branham preached thousands of sermons, of which almost 1,200 have been recorded and transcribed. He believed that his theological understanding was the result of divine revelation.
-- Branham believed that the seven churches described in book of Revelation represent seven historical ages of the Christian church, from its beginning to the present time.
--Branham said that he had received seven major prophecies in 1933 regarding events unfolding in the world. He predicted "that 1977 ought to terminate the world systems and usher in the millennium."
--Branham made a number of prophecies concerning the Second Coming of Christ including a prophecy that "the city of Los Angeles would 'sink beneath the ocean'" and that a tidal wave would sweep inland as far as the Salton Sea.
note: I think this did happen in the spirit and has yet to manifest itself.
--He also spoke strongly against religious organisations. He believed that denominationalism would prove to be the mark of the beast.
--A radical minority among Branham’s followers have partially or totally deified him and have given his sermons scriptural status.

Sounds familiar doesn't it? I think it is because JRS basically copied William Branham. Of course the LW folks would say "No, it just shows that God was speaking the same thing to several vessels at the same time".

I think that Branham pre-dates JRS enough, that it was more likely that JRS was getting the Branham teaching and re-hashing it and feeding it to us and calling it new wine.

FCSLC Wrote:
> -----------------------------------
> I suppose this forum is helping us to realize that we’re far down a path
> that most “Christians” haven’t travelled.
_______________________________________________________

Although in our country we have freedom to choose and practice our religion, we aren't protected from the crazies. If we are going down a path that is not traditional orthodoxy where the doctrines and beliefs may be more spelled out, it seems it is incumbent on us to do our homework. Now we know.

paleface Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> >
> I think that Branham pre-dates JRS enough, that it
> was more likely that JRS was getting the Branham
> teaching and re-hashing it and feeding it to us
> and calling it new wine.
_________________________________
The Latter Rain teachings seem to have been formulated around 1948. My recollection from factnet is that Branham laid hands on JRS, you know impartation. And that JRS had at one time said that the Lord told him to stay away from the Latter Rain folks. I don't have sources for that information but if you can brave a look at factnet some sources are provided.