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Review Summary: The Day of the Saints by Bill Hamon |
Date: 2008-05-10 |
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Details: The Day of the Saints by Bill Hamon is highly recommended for those who want to prepare themselves to participate in a great move of God before the return of Jesus Christ. If what is written in this book is correct, God has began a powerful work in present day saints, the church of Jesus. The Church will then influence Israel and the nations and major end time events. "This book will scripturally reveal that there is a last-day ministry for the Saints to fulfill. Its purpose is to enlighten the reader concerning what the Holy Spirit has been commissioned to accomplish within the Church during the next several years, and to show how each and every believer is called to participate. As the fivefold ministry gets into place in the Church, the Saints will be equipped and released to demonstrate the gospel for the Kingdom throughout the whole world."
Hamon uses a historical approach to revivals and church movements to draw his conclusions. He points out that since the book of Acts, the saints of God have fallen away from the revelations that God gave the church and that God has moved to restored what was lost through several movements of God including the Protestant reformation, and the new apostolic reformation. Over centuries God has restores what Hamon calls "resent day truth" and saints are able to "activate" other saints into this revealed truth. For example, he points out that in the Protestant reformation, God restored the truth of justification by faith. Believers in the Lord then learned to "activate" sinners into salvation by coaching unbelievers in the sinner's prayer. In much the same way, Pentecostals learned to" activate" saints in the Holy Spirit. They were activated in speaking in tongues. Today, Hamon points out that just as easy as Bill Graham can activate people into salvation, and Pentecostals can activate people to speaking in tongues, believers can be activated into prophetic gifts and other gifts of the Holy Spirit.
According to Hamon In the 1980's God began to restore the prophet's ministry to the church. In the 1990's he began to restore the apostle's ministry to the church. While continuing to restore these authority structures to the church, starting approximately in 2000 God is has now set in motion the power and authority of the individual believer to the church, thus the saints movement or day of the saints.
The book is divided into eleven chapters that explain theological and Present-Truth terms and is full of biblical insight. To help you decide if this book is for you, I have listed the chapter titles.
Chapter 1: Called to Be Saints
Chapter 2: Progressing, Arriving, and Becoming
Chapter 3: The First-Century Saints Movement
Chapter 4: Understanding God's Restoration Process
Chapter 5: A Brief History of Church Restoration
Chapter 6: Equipping the Saints
Chapter 7: Saints As Kings and Priests
Chapter 8: Saints in the Marketplace and Government
Chapter 9: Activating the Saints
Chapter 10: The Calling and Ministry of the Saints
Chapter 11: The Omega-Transition Generation
The Day of the Saints is written about the church for the church. It is an important work for pastors and individual believers. It is important for pastors because Hamon shares a powerful vision for pastors and how they need to see the saints in a new light. It is important for saints who seek the prophetic as a part of their lives and who want clearer insights into their role in this present hour. The time is late and God is waiting for his bride to take action. This book teach us what time it is, what action to take and provides resources on how to take it.
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Review Summary: Watch and pray |
Date: 2007-08-10 |
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Details: Bill Hamon states: "We must be open to new truth, but not gullible to false revelations or the reviving of old erroneous teachings and practices." (p.50) Unfortunately, this book is doing just that: reviving old erroneous teaching and practice.
The Pentecostal Movement had its origins in North America at the turn of the century. Within a few years of that small groups in Canada were teaching that there are at least two classes of Christians: ordinary believers and an elite class destined for a major transformation known as "the Manifestation of the Sons of God" [MSG]. These Sons-to-Be expected immortalization, just as Christ was after His Resurrection and before His Ascension, ready for a dynamic endtime ministry. They were to bring in God's Kingdom by restoring the earth to its pre-Fall condition and defeating the last enemy, death. There was debate as to whether this even would precede a literal return to earth by Jesus or whether this was itself the event known as "the Second Coming of Christ". Although the radical forms of this teaching went into decline from the mid 1980s, it reappears from time to time in a more Evangelical guise, as it does here.
Present-day promoters of MSG are often cautious because of the bad name which this doctrine acquired. It is no surprise, then, that Hamon replaces "The Manifestation of the Sons of God" with "The Day of the Saints". Accordingly, the well-known Scripture, "the earnest expectation of the creation waits eagerly for the manifestation (or revealing) of the Sons of God" (Romans 8:19), becomes for Hamon, "The whole creation is earnestly awaiting the Day of the Saints" (p.13). And he assures us that "The Day of the Saints is the next scheduled end-time event" (p.13).
Indeed, Hamon prophesies that a generation is arising that will not see death. It is the task of this "Omega-Transition Generation" to restore creation to its original state, and only when this task is complete will Jesus return in Person. Referring to Acts 3:21, he writes of Peter that "in verse 21 he prophesied that `Heaven' is the place that received Christ when He arose from the dead, and it is the place where He will stay until all the `times of restitution' (or restoration) have transpired which God has spoken" (p.123).
Hamon does not actually deny the literal Return of Jesus to earth, but believes that it will occur after the Day of the Saints: "Many Christians are awaiting the "Day of the Lord" or second coming of Jesus Christ. But before Christ returns in glory, He will be glorified in and through His Saints as they demonstrate their likeness to Him and their obedience to His commands" (p.42). Indeed, "We should be preaching more about the Day of the Saints than about the imminent return of Christ" (p.72).
Hamon is careful to avoid the charge of datesetting, but confesses that his "hopeful anticipation is that the Day of the Saints will be activated around 2008" (p.134). In any event, for Hamon, the time is "not set in Heaven", so there "can be no particular year set for it to happen" (p.134). The same flexibility is found in regard to the timing of our Lord's individual return to earth as the Saints "can hurry it along by co-laboring with the Holy Spirit in restoring all things" (p.73).
The book climaxes with an exhortation for Christians to prepare a younger generation to become "Overcomers" in order to participate in the "Omega-Transition Generation" which will be "the last generation of the mortal Church" and "the one which will experience the transition from mortality to immortality" (p.412). This generation will prepare the way for our Lord's final return to earth. So although the individual coming of Jesus to earth is not eradicated, it is effectively eclipsed by "The Day of the Saints".
A major part of this book is devoted to Hamon's End-Time Restorationist agenda. This was originally presented in his first major book, The Eternal Church (1981), so it cannot surprise us that Hamon's reframed MSG scenario is integrated into his Latter Rain End-Time Restorationism. Like all End-Time Restorationist proponents, Hamon asserts the End-Time Restoration of the "Fivefold Ministry", consisting of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. Although this is based on the four ministries of Ephesians 4:11, End-Time Restorationist proponents insist that these must be five so that they correspond to the human hand, the apostles being the thumb (pp.191-194). Hamon considers his particular "fivefold calling" to be "that of prophet-apostle" (p.117), which in the eyes of himself and his followers authorizes him to make major pronouncements concerning the worldwide Church which have no clear Biblical warrant. So he states that "in order to fully participate in the coming Day of the Saints, each believer must have vision" (p.117). Naturally this "vision" is none other than an "understanding" of "God's Restoration Process" (p.117).
End-Time Restorationism takes the view that the Church started off well, but deteriorated to rock-bottom in the Middle Ages. At that point, God stepped in to start the Restoration process of raising (restoring) the Church step-by-step until it regains its former position and more. This started in AD1517 with Martin Luther and "justification by faith", continued with the Methodist Revival (new birth and sanctification), the Pentecostal Movement (spiritual gifts), and the Latter Rain Movement of 1948 (apostles, prophets and the Body of Christ), and so on.
This mindset incorporates a number of modules, including belief in present-day foundational apostles, "present truth" as referring to particular doctrines restored during each phase of Restoration, and "the Restoration of the Tabernacle of David" as referring to a specific style of "praise/worship". Hamon's book gives evidence of an authoritarian control agenda so typical of End-Time Restorationism (pp.195-197), and also an acceptance of the "Joel's Army" doctrine so popular among MSG groups (p.143).
Hamon adds some new emphases, such as the idea that believers can function either as "Priests" in the local church or as "Kings" in the secular environment, particularly the business world. Despite the poor exegesis overall, a good emphasis in the book is the empowering of believers to take on more active ministry. The problem is that buying into this agenda on Hamon's terms means buying into his entire package as the parts cannot be separated from the whole.
The book is replete with mutual endorsements. For example, Hamon endorses among others C. Peter Wagner (pp.3, 37, 44, 147, 165, 250, 286, 364), Oral Roberts (pp.4, 36, 161, 178, 218, 341), Edgardo Silvoso (pp.6, 209, 229, 243-244, 259, 272, 283, 286-287), Rich Marshall (pp.4, 39, 44, 89, 93, 95, 114, 249-250, 286), Dr Sanford Kulkin (pp.5, 212, 260), and Tony Perkins (pp.6, 257-258). But surprise, surprise: when we look at those complimentary remarks at the beginning of the book, whose names do we find? Along with Tommy Tenney, Cindy Jacobs, Earl Paulk and Gary Greenwald, we find none other than C. Peter Wagner, Rich Marshall, Oral Roberts, Sanford G. Kulkin, Ed Silvoso, and Tony Perkins.
Everything, sound and unsound, is included in this grand synthesis. Even William Branham, the progenitor of the Post War II Healing Revival Movement, is endorsed (p.161), not to mention the "Toronto Blessing" which is endorsed as a spiritual "refreshing" occurring significantly "just before the Apostolic Movement", just as "the Charismatic Renewal" happened "before the Prophetic Movement" (p.129). And so on.
Grandiose, confused, yet intoxicating for the gullible. Beware! |
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Review Summary: Motivational |
Date: 2004-01-20 |
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Details: This is a book designed to get a response from its readers. It discusses Christians being effective in the marketplace on a spiritual level. No distinction is made between "religious" and "secular" work, i.e., if the work is done as unto God, it is His work. He traces the various movements throughout the centuries of church history to show how this generation has more insight and revelation to act on revealed truth than those in previous generations. Every saint is called to be an effective minister for God's purposes. Those who do not work in formal church settings are not "second class" in God's perspective, they have been called, appointed, and assigned to the work they're doing. That is refreshing. The argument he makes on this is convincing. This book inspires you to be your best for your Creator, to be the wise steward He desires. |
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Review Summary: MIDWEST BOOK REVIEW |
Date: 2003-12-01 |
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Details: I don't believe I have ever read a work that has given me so much knowledge about the
history of the church and the different movements that we have experienced as this one has.
Dr. Hamon details each one of these movements, explains their importance in the timetable of God's plan, points the way towards the next move of God and finally to the climax of mankind's destiny - "The Day of The Saints." What an exciting time that will be! Never have I read it explained in such detail, nor understood the importance of each move that God planned for the Church.He writes in an easy to understand manner, not condescending but clear and pointed, leaving you with the knowledge of knowing the why's of God's movements and their importance for mankind's destiny.I have to admit that I must shift my thinking some and get it in line with what the Lord is about to do; however this is of course what the work is about isn't it? Helping the Body of Christ to know where we have been, where we are and where we are going! This is an outstanding study book; it would be wise to keep it handy to help explain to others where we are on God's timetable. It also is a great witnessing tool to generate excitement for those whom you are trying to reach for the Lord. Share with them the future and show them what part they can play in the drama of God on earth. Very highly recommended reading for all Christians and a real wake-up call to our destiny. Thank you Dr. Hamon! |
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out of 4 Reviews
