We will again, very soon, see multitudes being converted and being empowered with the Holy Spirit.[1]
The date of this prophecy is 1991 or 1992. It may have been written in 1991 but it was published in 1992. Its original location on the internet had a URL with “92” in it. Its link text was “Prophetic Bulletin – 1992 The Post-Charismatic Era by Paul Cain.”[2] But more recently the attribution of this prophecy changed to Rick Joyner and the new date is June 1, 1991.[3] Joyner publishes Prophetic Bulletin and most articles in it were written by him in the 1990s; some were guest writers. (After the Post-Charismatic Era article, Cain and Joyner co-authored a controversial article on Bill Clinton: “The Clinton Administration: Its Meaning and Our Future.”)
It is believed the article title and text remains the same. An old article that referenced that “Charismatic” article published by MorningStar attributes it to Cain, and quotes some of its text, but says it appeared in a Sept. 1993 edition of “The Morning Star.”[4] It is not clear how many publications it appeared in. (Popular prophecies typically get distributed and reprinted in different publications.)
The full context of the paragraph containing the above brief prophecy excerpt was:
So some of what appeared to be foolishness in the Charismatic Renewal really was the wisdom of God, but some of it really was human folly. We must learn to discern the difference and remove that which is folly, and an unnecessary stumbling block to sincere seekers. We must honestly evaluate the hard lessons that were learned in the last movement so that we do not make the same mistakes again. The Lord is going to give us another opportunity to do it right. We will again, very soon, see multitudes being converted and being empowered with the Holy Spirit. We must realize the limits of our own wisdom so that we do not automatically disregard that which we do not understand, even when we consider it to be foolishness, but let us quickly discern and repent of that which is our own human folly.[5]
Cain goes on to reiterate the basics of his prophecy:
We are nearing a Second Harvest that is about to sweep some of the most dry and barren institutional churches and empower them with the Spirit of God.[6]
This leaves little to no doubt what Cain was saying. “Multitudes” getting saved or a “Second Harvest” would be a revival. The plain meaning of “very soon, “nearing” or “about” would be anything from a few weeks to a few years.
This prophecy failed. It was not fulfilled in 1991, 1992, or 1993, or since then. This was yet another failed Cain revival prophecy. He failed in 1990, 1992, and 1996 when he prophesied a healing revival for that year. Rick Joyner also published or promoted that failure. So much for being a “high-level prophet.” Cain had a bad habit of prophesying his incorrect pet eschatology. Bob Jones did the same thing as did/does Mike Bickle.
In the above longer excerpt you see a red flag for prophecy where opinion is mixed with prophecy. It is mostly an editorial opinion. First there is opinion, then the prophecy, followed by more opinion. Since his eschatology was his opinion you could actually argue the whole thing was his opinion: he was speculating there would be another Pentecost or another revival.
He makes big sweeping generalizations with interpretation about church history. It is heavy on opinions and light on facts.
The more opinionated people are, the worse they are at prophesying. Paul Cain was extremely opinionated about revival and terrible at prophesying it. (Click the Paul Cain tag link below for more examples.)
End notes
- Rick Joyner, “The Post-Charismatic Era,” June 1, 1991. https://publications.morningstarministries.org/post-charismatic-era [May 3, 2020].
- https://web.archive.org/web/19981203142336/http://eaglestar.org/MSPB.htm [May 3, 2020].
- Joyner.
- “Somebody Moved The Goalposts: A ‘Mainstream’ Report for Spring 1993,” n.d. www.banner.org.uk/ms/ms193.html [May 3, 2020].
- Joyner.
- Ibid.