
Following on the heels of the Pentecostal and charismatic movements is a Third Wave approach to Christianity that places great emphasis on ecstatic experience, authoritative contemporary prophecy, uncontrollable "holy laughter," and worship without the limitations of order and human control. Incidents at Toronto and Brownsville have brought this movement worldwide attention. Closely associated with this movement are a century of charismatic leaders who claim to receive special prophetic revelations and/or perform creative miracles.
Dave Wilkerson's The Cross and the Switchblade is worthwhile reading, despite his subsequent departure from orthodoxy. Ron Phillips is the best presenter of arguments for charismatic gifts among this group. James Robison is also recommended on some moral and cultural issues.
John Arnott - founder of Jubilee Christian Fellowship, which he pastors with his wife, along with the Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship. His services are characterized by uncontrollable laughter and congregants being slain in the Spirit. He speaks frequently of being "drunk on the Holy Ghost" and is highly insistent that his followers not try to control their emotions or bodies during worship. Arnott hosts the TV program Catch the Fire. Titles: By Their Fruits; Experience the Blessing (Ed.); The Father's Blessing; Forgiveness; Revolutionizing Faith.
Mary K. Baxter - Pentecostal prophetess and Full Gospel minister who reports having had visions since the 1960s and a series of personal vistations from Jesus Christ, beginning in 1976, giving her literal tours of heaven, hell, and the last days. Her visions and some doctrines she received from them–such as angelic conversion and religious inclusivism–have been the subject of intense controversy. She presents her works as divinely inspired, modern Books of Revelation. Titles: A Divine Revelation of Heaven; A Divine Revelation of Hell; A Divine Revelation of the Spirit Realm.
Reinhard Bonnke - head of Christ for All Nations and an international faith-healing missionary most noted for claiming to raise the dead. He holds "fire conferences" to equip ministers for miracle-evangelism. Strictly Pentecostal, he teaches that only those who have spoken in tongues are true believers. Titles: Assurance of Salvation; Evangelism by Fire; Faith: The Link with God's Power; First of All Intercession; The Holy Spirit Baptism; Mighty Manifestations; Plundering Hell; The Power of the Blood of Jesus; Receive a Miracle from God; The Romance of Redeeming Love; Time Is Running Out.
Juanita Bynum - Pentecostal prophetess and one of the most powerful female black evangelists. She claims to have accurately predicted future events, such as the deaths of loved ones, since early childhood, and her reported prophecies include the September 11 incident as God's judgment on America. She is not known as a Word of Faith teacher, but she claims Joyce Meyer as a mentor, and on at least one occasion has given prophetic commands to viewers to completely empty their bank accounts and send everything to TBN to reap financial blessings. Titles: Don't Get Off the Train; A Heart for Jesus; Matters of the Heart; Morning Glory; My Spiritual Inheritance; Never Mess with a Man Who Came Out of a Cave; No More Sheets; The Planted Seed: The Immutable Laws of Sowing and Reaping; Teach Me How to Love You; When You Think You Don't Have a Prayer. She also produced the Juanita Bynum Topical Bible. Also sometimes known by her married name, Juanita Bynum Weeks.
Paul Cain (b. 1929) - the most famous of the Kansas City prophets, and subject of many stories of healings, prophecies, and visitations, including his birth being foretold by an angel. He was a partner with Bob Jones and has influenced the ministries of Jack Deere, John Wimber, Rick Joyner, and countless others. Cain has prophesied that a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit is coming when Christians will regularly empty the hospitals and raise the dead in preparation for the return of Christ. Titles: A Call to Radical Christianity; Fast One; Seven Slayers; The Word and the Spirit.
Jack Deere - former Dallas Seminary professor who left when he became apostolic by conviction. Founder of Evangelical Foundation Ministries, which stresses continuing revelation through prophecy. Deere is very active in the Vineyard movement, endorsing all but its most extreme practices. He also believes Paul Cain and Bob Jones are the two prophets referred to in the Book of Revelation. Deere was on the Advisory Council for the ESV. Titles: The Beginner's Guide to the Gift of Prophecy; Conspiracy Against the Supernatural; Surprised by the Power of the Spirit; Surprised by the Voice of God.
Rodney Howard-Browne (b. 1961) - Third Wave televangelist who popularized the Toronto Blessing–uncontrolled fits of "holy laughter" during worship. One of the most recognizable faces of revivalism, Howard-Browne teaches that anything that is of God will be accompanied by miracles. He defines ecstatic worship as spiritual intoxication and refers to himself as the "Holy Ghost Bartender." Titles: The Coat My Father Gave Me; Flowing in the Holy Spirit; The Reality of Life After Death; Sowing in Famine; The Touch of God; What Happens When Jesus Shows Up?; What It Means to Be Born Again.
John Paul Jackson - revivalist and prophet for Vineyard Christian Fellowship, and founder of Streams Ministries. His worldwide teaching ministry involves interpreting dreams and visions, the deliverance model of spiritual warfare, and general contact with supernatural forces. He was at the forefront of crusades against Pokémon, which he considers to be demonic in origin. Titles: Buying and Selling the Souls of Our Children; I AM: Inheriting the Fullness of God's Name; The Moments with God Dream Journal; Needless Casualties of War; Understanding Dreams and Visions; Unmasking the Jezebel Spirit.
T. D. Jakes (b. 1957) - popular preacher with a Baptist background and heavy influence from Oneness Pentecostals, and thus has a view of the Trinity similar to that of Praxeas. Jakes centers his theology around the concept of anointing and speaks about freedom from spiritual bondage and sexual inhibition, as well as an egalitarian approach to the role of women in ministry. Titles: Can You Stand to Be Blessed?; Celebrating Marriage; Cover Girls; Daddy Loves His Girls; Follow the Star; God's Leading Lady; The Lady, Her Lover, and Her Lord; Lay Aside the Weight; Loose That Man and Let Him Go; Loosed to Lead; Maximize the Moment; No More Sheets; So You Call Yourself a Man?; Woman, Thou Art Loosed! He also produced the Woman, Thou Art Loosed! Study Bible.
Grant Jeffrey (b. 1948) - dispensational chair of Frontier Publications who writes on the more sensational aspects within Christianity, from dreams to near-death experiences to secret codes hidden in the Bible. He also teaches conspiracy theories and still writes often on end-time prophecy, even though his predicted date for Christ's return (Oct. 9, 2000) has already passed. It was his book Millennial Meltdown that made Y2K a "Christian" issue. Other titles: Apocalypse; Armageddon; Creation: Evidence of God's Design; Final Warning; The Handwriting of God; Heaven: The Last Fronties; Heaven: The Mystery of Angels; Jesus: The Great Debate; The Mysterious Bible Codes; Prince of Darkness; The Signature of God; Surveillance Society; Triumphant Return; Unveiling the Mysteries of the Bible; The War on Terror. He also produced the Prophecy Marked Reference Study Bible. Not to be confused with preachers Robert Jeffress or David Jeremiah.
Bob Jones (b. ca. 1930) - with Paul Cain, one of the Kansas City prophets. A gentle, plainspoken prophet renowned for apparent psychic powers and visitations from angels and from God Himself since the age of 9. Reportedly receives five to ten visions a night and prophesies a coming war between non-charismatics and "genuine" Christianity. Most known for his annual visit with Jesus on the Day of Atonement. Not related to the founder of Bob Jones University.
Rick Joyner - founder of Morning Star Fellowship Church. Claims to receive prophecies directly from Jesus, redefining all the major doctrines of Christianity. He is one of the most prominent prophets of an upcoming war between charismatic revivalists and all those who oppose them. Links the restoration of charismatic gifts to end-time prophecy. Joyner is one of the few revivalists so controversial that his legitimacy as a prophet is questioned even by Charisma magazine. Titles: Breaking the Power of Evil; The Call; Epic Battles of the Last Days; The Final Quest; The Harvest; The Journey Begins; A Message to the Glorious Church; Mobilizing the Army of God; Overcoming Evil in the Last Days; Overcoming the Religious Spirit; A Prophetic Vision for the 21st Century; Shadows of Things to Come; The Surpassing Greatness of His Power; There Were Two Trees in the Garden; The Torch and the Sword.
Kathryn Kuhlman (1922-1976) - flamboyant Pentecostal faith healer who was once the world's best known female preacher, following in the tradition of Aimee Semple McPherson. She popularized being slain in the Spirit and had heavy influences on the style and theology of Francis MacNutt and Benny Hinn. Titles: Daughter of Destiny; Glimpse into Glory; God Can Do It Again; The Greatest Power in the World; Healing Words; Heart to Heart; How Big Is God?; I Believe in Miracles; Never Too Late; Nothing Is Impossible with God; Secrets of Prophecy.
Bob Larson - host of the radio show Talk Back who writes against cults and new religions, and is heavily into conspiracy theories involving Masons, Catholics, New Age groups, and the United Nations. One of the most imaginative deliverance ministers, Larson also holds Spiritual Freedom conferences in which he calls forth evil spirits to face God's judgment, and claims he has been impersonated by demonic lookalikes. Titles: Abaddon: A Novel; Dead Air: A Novel; Extreme Evil; Hell on Earth; In the Name of Satan; Larson's Book of Rock; Larson's Book of Spiritual Warfare; Larson's New Book of Cults; Satanism; The Senator's AGenda; Shock Talk; UFOs and the Alien Agenda. Not to be confused with liberal Bruce Larson.
Ron M. Phillips - deliverance minister and pastor of Central Baptist Church in Chattanooga, who reports having received a prophecy from Jesus that he will be the one to bring widespread charismatic renewal to the Southern Baptist Convention. Phillips has set forth on this mission only recently, but his books have attracted much attention, especially in their endorsement of the most extreme elements of charismatic worship. Titles: Awakened by the Spirit; Made Kindred by the Spirit; Malachi: Hope at the End of an Age; Vanquishing the Enemy. Not to be confused with dispensationalist John Phillips.
James Robison (b. 1943) - charismatic revivalist and founder of LIFE Outreach International, a charitable organization. His preaching includes the promise of a materially abundant life, but his greater commitment is to biblical inerrancy, and his strong comments against liberalism were highly influential in the early days of the SBC's conservative resurgence. He left the SBC for its resistance to charismatic revivalism. Titles: The Absolutes; Confessions of a New Creation; God-Centered Parenting; Healing and Health; Knowing God as Father; My Father's Face; Prayer: A Two-Way Street; Save America to Save the World; Set Free; Winning the Real War. Not to be confused with liberal Baptist Robison James.
James Ryle - founder of Truth Works Ministries, and founding board member of Promise Keepers. He uses the dreams and visions he receives to promote unity across denominations through the spread of Third Wave revivalism. Ryle is perhaps the main popularizer of Third Wave revivalism. Titles: A Dream Come True; Going Through the Dry Times; Hippo in the Garden.Not to be confused with historic evangelical J. C. Ryle.
Dutch Sheets (b. 1954) - Third Wave revivalist and authority on the charismatic perspective on intercessory prayer. Sheets presents many of his teachings as visions and direct revelations from the Lord. He has frequently prophesied imminent national revivals and the spreading of miracles to all denominations. Titles: The Beginner's Guide to Intercession; Dreams and Visions: Understanding Your Dreams and How God Can Use Them to Speak to You Today; God's Timing for Your Life; How to Pray for Lost Loved Ones; Intercessory Prayer; Praying for America; The River of God; Tell Your Heart to Beat Again; Watchman Prayer.
Lester Sumrall (b. 1913) - dispensational charismatic founder of the LeSEA television, radio, and missions ministry. Combines prophetic insights he receives through visions with humanitarian and evangelistic efforts. He also promoted a deliverance view of spiritual warfare, but denied that Christians can actually be possessed by demons. Titles: Adventuring with Christ; The Believer's Handbook; Demonology and Deliverance; Demons: The Answer Book; Dispensations; Dreams and Visions; Exorcism; Faith Can Change Your Mind; The Gifts and Ministries of the Holy Spirit; I Predict 1985; I Predict 2000 A.D.; Jihad: The Holy War; The Militant Church; The Names of God; Overcoming Compulsive Desires; Panorama of Prophecy; Prosperity God's Way; 60 Things God Said About Sex; You Can Conquer; You Can Destroy the Gates of Hell.
Tommy Tenney - Arminian and former Oneness Pentecostal, Tenney is a Third Wave apostle whose goal is to bring about worldwide charismatic renewal. He is an avid supporter of the revival movements associated with Toronto and Brownsville. His works stress intimacy and humility before God as the key to miraculous power. Titles: Answering God's Prayer; Chasing God, Serving Man; Finding Favor with the King; God @ Work; The God Catchers; The God Chasers; God's Dream Team: A Call to Unity; God's Eye View; God's Favorite House; Hadassah: One Night with the King; The Heart of a God Chaser; Prayers of a God Chaser; Secret Sources of Power; Trust and Tragedy. Not to be confused with Bible scholar Merrill C. Tenney.
Jack Van Impe (b. 1931) - dispensational Third Wave end-times teacher who claims to receive prophetic visions directly from God. He sees the world as setting itself up for the rule of the antichrist and focuses on modern Israel and various conspiracy theories. His most recent predicted date for the rapture was September 2001. Titles: AIDS Is for Death; Alcohol: The Beloved Enemy; America, Israel, Russia, and World War III; The Baptism of the Holy Spirit; 11:59 and Counting; Everything You Want to Know About Prophecy; Final Mysteries Unsealed; The Great Escape: Preparing for th eRapture; Israel's Final Holocaust; Millennium: Beginning or End?; Prophecy: 21st Century Revelations; Revelation Revealed; Sabotaging the World Church; Sin's Explosion; 2001: On the Edge of Eternity; Your Future.
C. Peter Wagner (b. 1930) - Third Wave author and church leader who claims to be an apostle in the full New Testament sense, with unquestionable authority and frequent revelations. He writes primarily on spiritual gifts and church growth, and was influential in the development of every-member ministry and deliverance ministries. Titles: Acts of the Holy Spirit; Apostles and Prophets: The Foundation of the Church; Blazing the Way; Breaking Strongholds in Your City; Church Planting for a Greater Harvest; Churches that Pray; Churchquake; Confronting the Powers; Discover Your Spiritual Gifts; Engaging the Enemy; Finding Your Spiritual Gifts; How to Have a Healing Ministry; The Last Great Anointing (w/ Morris Cerullo; Lighting the World; The New Apostolic Churches (Ed.); Possessing the Gates of the Enemy; Prayer Shield; Spreading the Fire; The Third Wave of the Holy Spirit; Your Spiritual Gifts Can Help Your Church Grow. Not to be confused with church growth author E. Glenn Wagner.
David Wilkerson (b. 1931) - founder of World Challenge, Inc. and Times Square Church His early ministry to young drug addicts and gang members is chronicled in The Cross and the Switchblade. Today he claims to receive prophetic visions of judgment on America. Apostolic Third Wave messages and end-times restoration teaching dominate his sermons. Not to be confused with apologist David Wilkinson, author Bruce Wilkinson, or Bible handbook author Bruce Wilkerson.
John Wimber (1934-1997) - founder of the Vineyard Movement, the primary vehicle for Third Wave Christianity. Wimber taught that the Christian life, worship, and witness ought to be characterized by powerful miracles, and that ministers should not seek to control worship when members become "drunk" on the Holy Spirit. He later criticized the most extreme Third Wave teachers, but they used his own previous arguments against him. Titles: The Dynamics of Spiritual Growth; Healing (w/ Francis MacNutt); Kingdom Come; Kingdom Evangelism; Kingdom Fellowship; Kingdom Living; Kingdom Mercy; Kingdom Ministry; Kingdom Suffering; Living with Uncertainty; Power Evangelism; Power Healing; Power Points; Practical Healing (w/ Kevin Springer); The Way to Maturity.There may be others in this database whose charismatic convictions I am not aware of. See also the sections on charismatics and Word of Faith teachers.
For a statement of my beliefs, see my Declaration of Faith.