Paul Cain passed away three years ago today. For me, personally, the impact he had on me is important. It was a prophetic word from Paul Cain that really confirmed the call to ministry.
Paul was a story of strengths and weakness and both were quite extreme. Some of them were up close and others were not. However, despite his personal struggles; God used him powerfully. In some ways, he reminds me of A.A. Allen that God used to do great works despite being drunk while doing them.
There is no getting around either. I would be dishonest to believe that the issues were not there. I would be equally dishonest to pretend the sins did not happen.
His story does not start with the “Kansas City Prophets” though. It actually went back to the late 1940’s when he worked with William Branham, another questionable preacher that had problems but God uses anyways.
The healing revival was good for Paul Cain then he completely disappeared. He would spend 25 years on the backside of the Arizona desert until he came back in Birmingham, Alabama.
This was at least, in part, due to people becoming very uneasy about the Latter Rain movement and its’ extreme doctrines.
How a prophetic word changed my life
On August 4, 1998; I had the first open vision of my life. I was at Brownsville Assembly in Pensacola, Florida and during worship, I saw the great end time harvest and the angels of harvest. I did not know what to make of this. In classic Pentecostal churches, we talk about them happening but having it happen was different.
A few months later, I am at a prophetic conference at Metro Christian Fellowship pastored by Mike Bickle. Paul Cain is speaking and he turns around, points me out and telling me exactly what the vision I had.
He goes on to say three things that would mark my ministry even since that day
- You will be confrontational…
- You will be controversial….
- You will be widely misunderstood but the Lord will be with you.
While I did not understand the impact all of those would have that night, they have became true on so many levels over the last 20 years since he gave me those words at that meeting. To be honest, I am still confrontational, controversial and misunderstood in many cases.
A few years ago, I was in the middle of a witchhunt by people who love their sin. I had taken a strong position for holiness while on the mission field. People who loved their immorality came after me in a way that was over the time. I was considered very controversial for standing against sex trafficking by people that were Americans.
It was those guiding words by Paul Cain that gave me strength to continue in the fight for purity and holiness among people claiming to be followers of Jesus but living in immorality. It was not an easy road by any means but one that must be walked out.
Paul Cain and Latter Rain
There is no other way to say it: Paul Cain has connections to the Latter Rain revival, the only revival condemned by the Assemblies right out. There was many positive things about it but there is some very unsettling ideology that they tried to turn into theology.
They would hold that God can not move without fasting and prayer. This is simply not true. They would present this as biblical truth when in reality, it was a conviction of a small group of people. Prayer brings revival but God can move with or without our help!
One of the more outlandish views was that there was the restoration of the Apostle and the Prophet. The truth is that there could not be a restoration of something that was never taken. The Church has always had Apostles and Prophets even if they did not carry that title. Count Zinzendorf was an apostle to his generation, for example.
Another outlandish doctrine was that the “church must be in unity” for the gospel to be preached in the region. This is not found anywhere in context. John 17 is about worship of Jesus and rejecting the the Pharisee influence. Yet, this was preached in the Latter Rain movement.
Probably the craziest doctrine of them all was Manifest Sons of God which Paul Cain did try and promote as “Joel’s Army.” There is nothing in scripture that supports this in any way, shape of form.
These and other parts of the Latter Rain theology did impact Paul Cain directly and indirectly.
