Post 2 in a Series on History, Doctrine, Discernment, & Influence
At the end of the first post, we left off at a quiet shift.
The First Wave hadn’t broken from Christian orthodoxy. Scripture was still affirmed. Doctrine was still confessed. But experience had moved closer to the center. Expectations had formed. And spiritual life was increasingly measured by what could be seen, felt, or demonstrated.
What came next didn’t appear at first as doctrine. It appeared as revival.
Between Revival and Revelation
Healing, Authority, and the Rise of Charismatic Influence (1940s–1960s)
In the decades between Classical Pentecostalism and the rise of the formal Latter Rain movement, a loosely connected healing revival began moving across America. It didn’t introduce brand new ideas and doctrines, but seemed to intensify the ones that were already taking shape. A hunger for the supernatural grew louder. Platforms expanded. New leaders gained influence. Slowly, the sense of authority began to shift.
Authority moved away from shared confession, church structure, and accountability, and toward individuals. Toward their charisma. Toward their gifting. Toward their anointing. Toward their perceived access to divine revelation. The experience of the miraculous did not simply confirm belief anymore. It progressively became the proof for spiritual validation.
These leaders became some of the most influential and controversial names in charismatic history. Their theology and public reputation weren’t identical, but they all came about from the same spiritual environment. An environment that promoted personality, experience, and spiritual authority in ways that forever changed the direction of the movement.
Though their ministries differed, people like William Branham and Kathryn Kuhlman did not operate on the fringe of Pentecostalism. They moved within the same post-World War II revival networks, conferences, and healing circuits that shaped the broader Charismatic imagination. Their influence did not remain contained within their own followings. It filtered into the expectations, language, and practices of churches that later fed into the Charismatic renewal and the Jesus Movement. What they helped normalize did not stay with them. It became part of the broader Charismatic atmosphere that many churches eventually absorbed.
William Branham and The Message Cult (1940s-1960s)
After the First Wave of Pentecostalism spread through Azusa Street and early healing revivals, William Branham (1909-1965) rose in popularity in the mid 1940s. He led dramatic healing events, claimed to have prophetic visions, and preached end-times messages. His ministry marked a major influence on later Charismatic theology.
Branham’s following grew so large and devoted that critics called it the Branham Cult or Branhamism. His most notable teaching was the serpent seed doctrine, which claimed that certain people were spiritually descended from Satan. He exercised strict control over his followers and used the same sort of unquestionable authority as earlier leaders, Sandford and Dowie, when it came to his “prophetic gifts”. There were many who were drawn to his miracles, but his theology and leadership style made him a dangerous leader.
After Branham’s death in 1965, his sermons and teachings were collected and systematized by his followers into what became known as “The Message.” This movement treated Branham as a restored end-times prophet, often seeing him as Elijah from Malachi 4. They propped up his revelations to a position of authority in line with Scripture. The Message started to have clear cult characteristics, including isolation, rigid rules, and devout loyalty to Branham’s teachings.
Branham’s influence fed directly into the Latter Rain theology, and continues to impact more recent Third Wave and Neo-Charismatic movements with a focus on restored offices, prophetic authority, and ongoing revelation.
Kathryn Kuhlman and the Mainstreaming of Experience (1950s-1970s)
While Branham drew attention through prophetic claims and controversial doctrine, Kathryn Kuhlman (1907-1976) brought healing ministry and Spirit-led worship into the American mainstream in the 1950s and 60s. She traveled extensively, drew massive crowds, and became one of the first female evangelists with national television exposure. She prioritized physical healing and emotional spiritual experiences, often using theatrical worship.
Though she wasn’t formally aligned with the Latter Rain movement, her ministry helped normalize experiential Christianity to a large audience. The healing services and emotional worship that felt fringe to many believers just a decade earlier were beginning to feel genuine, and even spiritually mature. Yet again, expectations were shifting. People were beginning to view experience as a sign of spiritual depth.
Like those ahead of her in the movement, her ministry was marked with controversy. There were questions about theological errors, heavy reliance on emotionalism, and reported concerns about her leadership practices and personal life by those who knew her behind the scenes. Even though the accusations against her weren’t as grievous as Branham’s, and she was considered a false prophet by some because of her divorce, her experiential teachings and ministry had a major influence on later movements.
Her popularization of healing and dramatic worship helped prepare the soil for what would come next in the Latter Rain Movement, where experience, restored offices, prophetic authority, and new revelation would become front and center. The philosophies taking shape at this time didn’t remain confined to revival meetings, but later surfaced in ways few could have anticipated.
Jim Jones and the Dark Edge of Charismatic Authority
Jim Jones (1931-1978) is perhaps among the most sobering examples to come out of this spiritual environment. Before Peoples Temple and the tragedy of Jonestown, Jones taught and preached in the same healing revival networks as other post-war revivalists. He participated in healing conventions, adopted Charismatic language, and presented himself as a Spirit-led leader with prophetic insight.
In the mid-1950s, Jones took part in the same healing meetings as the Latter Rain leaders, and even hosted William Branham at major conferences in 1956 and 1957. These connections helped put Jones and his ministry on the Pentecostal/Charismatic radar, expanding his influence. Early on, Jones used the familiar charismatic terminology: healing, prophetic authority, restoration, special anointing to gain trust and loyalty in the movement.
Jones also encouraged what he later called “apostolic socialism”, which he framed as a return to the communal life of the early church in Acts 2 and Acts 4. The concept was sold as biblical unity and shared life, like a modern “Book of Acts” community. However, in practice Jones’ used it to exercise control, push isolation, and gain total dependence from his following. Eventually, he dropped the Pentecostal restorationist language and developed more coercive tactics to gain financial surrender and unchallenged submission.
By the late 1970s, Jones relocated his followers to a remote settlement in Guyana, South America. The move was framed as both a spiritual refuge and a way to escape perceived persecution and corruption in the United States. The community became more and more isolated, controlled and monitored over time. Opposition was punished. Loyalty to Jones was demanded. Outside contact was restricted. What began as a religious movement centered on healing and propriety became a system of fear, scrutiny, and complete obedience. Jones gradually severed all teachings from Scripture and accountability, but continued to develop ideas like heavenly manifestation, restored authority, and absolute spiritual headship, declaring himself as the savior figure.
In 1978, over 900 people died at Jonestown in a mass murder/suicide orchestrated by Jones. Families, including children, were coerced into consuming poison, and were forcibly injected with it if they refused. The event is still considered one of the most devastating cult tragedies in modern history. It didn’t happen suddenly or in a vacuum. It grew into total control from years of shifting authority, removed accountability, and spiritual language used to justify it.
Jonestown was not an abrupt break from restorationist theology. It was the extreme logical conclusion to it. When authority is grounded in personal anointing rather than Scripture and the Church, there is no natural stopping point. There is only the will of the leader and the silence of those who no longer feel permitted to question.
Why This Matters Now
What stands out to me in the healing revival era isn’t just the claims of miracles or prophecy. It’s how Biblical and Church authority continued to be undermined. Like the end of the First Wave, Scripture and doctrine were still outwardly affirmed and confessed, but influence began to center on the people who carried the supposed power, not just what was taught. This is a pattern I recognize from my own time in Charismatic spaces.
The more anointed someone seemed to be, the harder it became to question them. And the less Scripture was relied on for the answers. Discernment looked less like testing against God’s Word, and more like a spiritual gut instinct. Accountability felt unloving. Questioning felt rebellious. Over time, spiritual maturity became less about faithfulness and more about how close one was to influential people and powerful experiences.
I don’t believe the shift initially came from a desire to deceive, a sentiment I’m echoing from my first post. It seems that many of these people sincerely believed God was moving in new and dynamic ways. But sincerity doesn’t stop a movement from drifting away from truth. When spiritual authority is grounded in perceived anointing rather than Scripture, the framework that was meant to strengthen and protect the Church does just the opposite. Often without anyone noticing.
Not Ancient After All… And What Comes Next
Though there was a drift occurring, the healing revivals didn’t completely stray away from Christianity. Scripture was still referenced, and the Gospel of Christ still preached. But something important was shifting beneath the surface. Subtly, authority was moving from Scripture and the Church to influential people who claimed divine power and revelation.
What had been planted in the First Wave was now growing in new soil. Experience no longer only confirmed belief; it started to validate leaders. Charisma no longer just attracted attention; it began to carry authority. This chapter of the overall movement developed the environment that made later chapters possible.
In the next post, we’ll look more at the Latter Rain movement, where many of these concepts became actual doctrine. This is where restored offices, new revelation, impartation, and unity by shared experience moved from the from the fringe into the central tenets of Charismatic theology.The ground has been prepared. What is planted and watered will inevitably grow, shaping everything that follows. Including the culture of honor, cover-upculture, and spiritual abuse that continue to surface in the Church today.
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