The Remnant On Line History Page

  The Charismatic Movement

The Charismatic movement in the sixties and the seventies was like no other move of God. Each step of Pentecost has had its own unique characteristics. One man did more during this time than any other person. Demos Shakarian became a facilitator of the Holy Ghost. He was the founder of The Full Gospel Businessman’s Fellowship International. During the sixties these small groups of men met at hotels around the country to introduce men to the fullness of the Holy Spirit. It was a unique setting away from the church. Many of the businessmen who attended these meetings were already saved in their denominational church but in these settings hundreds and thousands of individuals received the Pentecostal infilling of the Holy Ghost with speaking in tongues. The most unusual thing about these events was that it introduced the Baptism in the Holy Ghost into several areas of fundamental faith where people were not friendly to that type of doctrine filled with the Spirit of God. During this time there was a civil war of the new doctrine in Baptist, Presbyterian and Catholic Churches. The people in charge of these denominations very often found themselves on the outside looking at what was happening to their churches. The pastors who received the Baptism in these churches during this time had two options, they could either take the entire church into this move or completely separate from their fundamental doctrine and start and independent work called a Charismatic Fellowships. Many people who left their fundamental church escaped into the older established Pentecostal denominations -- the Assemblies of God and the Church of God received the bounty of this move of God. The older line Assemblies and Church of God’s were in their third generation of Pentecost and the fire for the infilling had fallen away. The Charismatic people who came from the Episcopal, Baptist, Presbyterian and Catholic denominations to go into the older line Pentecostal denominations caused a flow of new blood in these churches and the older line Pentecostal churches had a revival in the Spirit. Pentecost was on a role with the expectations high.

Full Gospel Business Men’s Fellowship International 

Demos Shakarian was the secret agent of the Holy Ghost, he set the table for more to receive. Eleven months after Demos Shakarian started the Full Gospel Business Men’s Fellowship International 34 years ago he was ready to give it up. After a three and one-half hour prayer , he had a vision from God. His wife interpreted the vision and also the words he was hearing from God. Shakarian, in Denver for a regional meeting of the Fellowship, said in an interview that the vision showed him men of all nations being spiritually awakened.

FATHER DENNIS BENNETT & His Book Nine O'Clock In The Morning 

Father Dennis Bennett was an Anglican Priest who wrote a book that lead many into the Baptism in the Holy Spirit.  Nine O'clock In The Morning was a fundamental book that lead many into the Baptism in the Holy Spirit during this time.  John Sherrill's book They Speak In Other Tongues was another book that also had a tremendous affect in people receiving the Baptism in the Holy Spirit.  

There were others during this time who crossed the lines of Pentecost to go into the other denominations. One of the most fascinating individuals of the 1970’s was Kathryn Kulhman who was in a class of her own. She was a fiery women evangelist from Missouri who rocked the denominations during the Charismatic movement. She was gifted in the healing virtue of God and maintained a fascination over the entire move of God at this time. On the backside of the desert in a small Pennsylvania town she found herself with an unusual gift when she was teaching on the gifts of the Spirit. A man in the back came to her after her teaching and told her he felt a burn go from the top of his body to his toes while she was teaching, somehow I know I’ve been healed. It just didn’t end with this man as her fame as a healer spread her meetings grew larger. She started with a radio program in Oil City, Pennsylvanian and grew until she could hold no more people in her building. She moved to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and held meetings at the Presbyterian Church in downtown Pittsburgh.

Her meetings were powerful with a full choir singing the Hallelujah Chores. The glory would begin to fall and under the direction of the Holy Ghost people were healed of cancers, blindness, heart disease and several other illnesses. She was attacked by the media and religious churchmen who claimed her to be a fake but the evidence of her healings during service time was just too much for them to handle. One young boy who was in the last stages of a cancerous brain tumor was instantly healed at the Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh. Billy Burke was the boy that was healed. He is actively in ministry today and has a church in Tampa, Florida. Another memorable healing was the Fire Chief of Houston, Texas. He came to Los Angeles in the last stages of cancer and was pointed out in the upper deck of the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California. As the gentleman stood up he felt a burn go from his head to his toes and was completely healed in an instant. These were the fascinating miracles that marked her ministry which lasted until Kathryn Kuhlman died on February 20, 1976. Oral Roberts was sitting by the side of her bed when she passed.