CHRIS WICKLAND: RESISTANCE AND REVIVAL?

Time For Christians To Resist?

Chris Wickland recently came to my attention following the public reaction against King Charles III’s revised formulation of his role — retaining “Defender of the Faith” while also presenting himself as a "protector of faith within Britain’s multi‑faith society". Wickland’s subsequent protest outside Windsor Castle and his call for Christians to "resist", has prompted me to spend some time reviewing his teaching.1 This has left me with several concerns. I have included links at the end of this post that expand on the points summarized below.

Wickland is the pastor of Living Word Church in Titchfield and Bridgemary, Hampshire. A Pentecostal minister, he centres his work on prayer and revival. He presents himself as having a "prophetic" ministry and is active in the Living Word Church Network, an initiative aimed at planting churches across the south coast of England.

"Living Word Church Network is not a denomination but we hold to Pentecostal teachings. We believe in the Four Square gospel, also known as the Full Gospel. That is Jesus as Saviour, Jesus as Healer, Jesus as Baptiser and Jesus as soon coming King."2  

Red Flags

> The term “Four Square Gospel” originated with false teacher Aimee Semple McPherson during a 1922 sermon in Oakland and later shaped the identity of the Foursquare Church she founded in Los Angeles in 1923. Although the name is presented as drawing on biblical imagery of completeness from Exodus, Ezekiel, and Revelation, its doctrinal framing and historical associations are not something I would choose to identify with. 

> Wickland is ecumenical. Ecumenism treats doctrinal non‑negotiables as expendable in order to fabricate the appearance of unity. Anyone who does not abide in the teaching of Christ does not have God. (2 John 1:9).

> "Chris and Tracy Wickland and Congregational Pastors are Colin and Monique Gallaugher." Egalitarianism is unbiblical! 

> Wickland’s affirms the “five‑fold ministry”. The "five-fold ministry" is historically rooted in Latter Rain and Dominion Theology and was later absorbed into NAR hyper‑charismatic systems, where it functions as an extrabiblical, top‑down authority pyramid imposed on the church. The Greek of Ephesians 4:11–13 does not justify establishing a fixed, hierarchical five‑office governance model for contemporary church structures.

> Wickland asserts that biblical Tarshish should be identified with the United Kingdom and he uses that claim to argue that Ezekiel 38:13 places the UK outside the scope of Antichrist authority. The consensus amongst commentators is that Tarshish was located in the western Mediterranean, possibly Spain. It was known for its ships and trade. (Jonah 1:3; Isaiah 23:1). The mention of "all its villages" implies a network of trading communities.

 

Sheba and Dedan and the merchants of Tarshish with all its villages will ask, ‘Have you come to capture the plunder? Have you assembled your hordes to carry away loot, to make off with silver and gold, to take cattle and, to seize great spoil?’ (Ezekiel 38:13).

> There are several problems with the claim that Gog in Ezekiel 38-39 is the Antichrist. Those who teach that the Antichrist will be Islamic are in error for several reasons. One striking difference is that the Antichrist will be thrown alive into the lake of fire (Revelation 19:20), whereas Gog will fall and be killed on the mountains of Israel. (Ezekiel 39:4). 

> Wickland highlights reports of the Euphrates River drying up and connects this phenomenon to end‑time prophecy. This cannot serve as an eschatological indicator, since Revelation places the drying of the river within the bowl judgments—in other words, the Euphrates must still be present prior to that moment. The Euphrates has fluctuated for centuries. Modern fluctuations arise from dam systems, irrigation demands, and regional climate pressures. Treating contemporary water scarcity as prophetic fulfilment reflects interpretive error rather than responsible exegesis. Revelation 16:12 is an explicit prophecy, describing the river’s supernatural drying to prepare the way for the kings from the East and to initiate the gathering at Armageddon. (Revelation 16:12–16). Other passages—Isaiah 11:15, Jeremiah 50:38, and Jeremiah 51:36—use the image of the river’s drying symbolically to express judgment, desolation, and God’s sovereignty over nations.

> Wickland is an admirer of Charles Fox Parham. He recounts that, after praying about entering Pentecostal ministry, he interpreted the passing of a Parham‑branded bus as divine confirmation. This kind of interpretive reflex is characteristic of hypercharismatic spirituality. Anyone familiar with the documented history of Pentecostalism recognizes Parham as a racist and a cult leader.

John Collins: "Charles Fox Parham, often credited as a founding figure of Pentecostalism, was deeply entangled with fraud schemes, racial ideology, and extremist theology that shaped both his ministry and his legacy. His promotion of British Israelism, segregation, and apocalyptic communal experiments reveals a movement rooted not only in revivalism but also in white supremacy and exploitation."3  

> Wickland's recurring accounts of visions, angelic visitations, revelatory dreams and "words from the Lord", are, by definition, unverifiable.4  I have heard numerous similar narratives from figures such as Jesse Duplantis, Benny Hinn, Sid Roth etc. I treat such claims as non‑credible and categorize their proponents as individuals to be marked and avoided. (Romans 16:17-18). I have no doubt that the Lord can disclose things to His people, but such claims require testing. (1 John 4:1). I do not see that discipline operating within Pentecostal/charismatic environments.

Revival?

Wickland: "In 2018, I believe God gave me a significant prophetic word concerning the downfall of Theresa May, the unfolding of Brexit, and the restoration of some of Britain’s ancient spiritual paths, including the revival of monastic communities. Since then, I have received further prophetic insights regarding a coming revival. These speak of a move of God in the UK that will blend the ancient with the modern, that calls us to return to the old, sacred paths of Britain in order to safeguard our spiritual future."5

Monastic communities were never grounded in biblical practice, and any proposed blend of “ancient and modern sacred paths" is, at minimum, highly suspect.

Claims of a "great end-time revival" are extra-biblical constructions, not exegetical conclusions. The claim that scripture teaches an end‑time revival is unfounded; the biblical text provides no explicit support for such a doctrine. The dominant New Testament pattern points in the opposite direction: intensifying deception, apostasy, and judgment as the age closes. When challenged, Wickland simply goes into denial and presses on with his "revival" message regardless. 

Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. (Matthew 14:9-14).

But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, 4treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people. For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions, 7always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth. Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men corrupted in mind and disqualified regarding the faith. 9But they will not get very far, for their folly will be plain to all, as was that of those two men. (2 Timothy 1-8).

Is the rapture an afterthought?

Living Word holds a non‑replacement, premillennial position and rejects the pre‑tribulation rapture. These beliefs offer a corrective to erroneous frameworks such as amillennialism, postmillennialism, and the pretribulation rapture. However, Wickland's eschatology is problematic. He focuses on the resurrection of the dead, describing the rapture as an "afterthought".  

Wickland: "It is always the unrighteous being removed from the righteous not the righteous being removed from the unrighteous".  He refers to "one taken one left" This teaching is primarily located in Matthew 24:40-41 and Luke 17:34-36. These passages are often associated with the concept of the rapture, a future event where believers in Christ are taken up to meet the Lord in the air, as described in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17.  In this view, those "taken" are the righteous who are gathered to Christ, while those "left" are the unrighteous who remain for judgment. The minority interpretation suggest that those "taken" are those taken in judgment, akin to the removal of the wicked in the days of Noah and Lot, while those "left" are the righteous who remain to inherit the earth. Wickland claims the Aramaic version of the New Testament implies a negative. The New Testament was primarily written in Greek with the earliest manuscripts being Greek. Although the Aramaic tradition is historically meaningful, it is not regarded as the original form of the text but as a translation derived from the Greek. The Greek manuscripts remain the most authoritative and widely accepted. When someone steps outside the primary textual witnesses to make a doctrinal point, it usually signals that the argument is being forced rather than grounded.

Noah was "taken" (he was delivered) in the arc before the wicked were destroyed. Similarly Lot was rescued by the angels before God's judgement fell on Sodom and Gomorrah. The Greek verbs paralambanō and aphiēmi support the consensus that those “taken” are gathered together by the angels for deliverance. (Matthew 24:31). paralambanō (to receive near, i.e. associate with oneself (in any familiar or intimate act or relation)"6  In this context, ἀφίημι is to 'leave alone'. The parable of the ten virgins also affirms that five are taken for deliverance and that five are left for judgement. (Matthew 25:10-12).

Bengels Gnomen: "Matthew 24:40,[1065] 41. Παραλαμβάνεται, is taken[1066]) sc. into safety, under protection; see Matthew 24:31.—ἀφίεται, is left) sc. in the midst of the dangers, whatever may occur.[1067]" 7

But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words. (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18).

Wickland's appears to believe the classic postribulation view which is problematic.8 The underlying issue is straightforward: believers accompany the Lord at Armageddon, which presupposes that their resurrection has previously occurred.

And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” (John 6:39-40, 44,54).

Posttrib interpreters correctly note that believers are raised on “the last day” (John 6:39–40) and equate this with Paul’s “last trumpet” in 1 Corinthians 15:52. The flaw is the assumption that Paul’s “last trumpet” corresponds to the seventh‑angel trumpet of Revelation 11:15. Revelation was not yet written when Paul composed his letters; therefore he cannot be referencing that later apocalyptic sequence. The more coherent textual link is Matthew 24:31, where the trumpet sounds immediately after the tribulation and marks the close of the age while still preceding the outpouring of divine wrath—the Day of the Lord.

Many interpreters fail to distinguish between tribulation (thlipsis) and wrath (orgé) in the book of Revelation. This distinction is exegetically indispensable. Thlipsis refers to the persecution unleashed by the Antichrist—the great tribulation (Matthew 24:21), whereas orgé denotes the outpouring of God’s wrath during the day of the Lord. Believers are explicitly informed that they are not appointed to wrath. (1 Thessalonians 5:9).

Revelation 6 makes this sequence clear: the day of the Lord begins only after the cosmic disturbances that follow the breaking of the sixth seal. (Revelation 6:12–14). This moment is defined by the declaration, For the great day of Their wrath has come, and who is able to withstand it? (Revelation 6:17). On this basis, prewrath interpreters argue that the rapture occurs between the sixth and seventh seals of Revelation. 

Several early documents including the Didache, Justin Martyr, and Tertullian confirm a prewrath rapture. The Didache specifically teaches that the Antichrist will appear prior to Christ’s return, at which point Christ will raise the righteous and deliver the faithful who have survived the tribulation from the divine judgment associated with the day of the Lord.9 

I have written a number of posts on this subject from a prewrath perspective. I also recommend Alan Kurschner's articles that specifically reference the weaknesses of the posttrib view.* 

A Gideon moment or a Hananiah moment?

Wickland cites Esther 4:14 - For such a time as this.. and the Gideon narrative in Judges 6:1–40 as rhetorical leverage for a call to “resistance” and a prophetic national revival. Peaceful resistance itself is not novel; it has always been the Christian mandate. The problem is that the churches have consistently failed, drifting further into apostasy; the present climate is a form of divine judgment. I remain cautious about sweeping “prophetic words” especially those offering national‑scale assurances. When such declarations collapse, the resulting disillusionment can be severe.

If Wickland genuinely believes that God will intervene and bring revival to the UK he must be certain that his prophecy is accurate — that we are not witnessing a Hananiah‑type moment of confident but unfounded assurances. Scripture consistently warns of significant end‑time apostasy rather than large‑scale revival, and that pattern should inform our discernment.

The public association between Bishop Cei (Ceirion) Dewar, Pastor Chris Wickland and Tommy Robinson, who presents himself as a recent convert, is well‑documented, including shared platforms and collaborative activity. My knowledge of Dewar is limited, but the available material indicates a confessional, exclusivist, anti‑ecumenical stance, with explicit rejection of mainstream Anglican structures and inter‑church cooperation. He also appears aligned with forms of militant Christian‑nationalist activism hence his association with Tommy Robinson.

The suggestion that believers should set aside theological differences and align themselves with Wickland, Dewar, and Robinson requires caution. Broad prophetic assertions about national revival demand testing and restraint. As 1 John 4:1 makes clear, not every spirit or proclamation is to be uncritically received without examination.

I would echo the words of Jeremiah.. Amen! May the Lord do so; may the Lord make the words that you have prophesied come true.. (Jeremiah 28:6).   

BUT - bearing in mind Wickland's poor theology and frequent suspect "words from the Lord" I am sceptical.

In that same year, at the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the fifth month of the fourth year, Hananiah the son of Azzur, the prophet from Gibeon, spoke to me in the house of the Lord, in the presence of the priests and all the people, saying, “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon. Within two years I will bring back to this place all the vessels of the Lord’s house, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took away from this place and carried to Babylon. I will also bring back to this place Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and all the exiles from Judah who went to Babylon, declares the Lord, for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.”
Then the prophet Jeremiah spoke to Hananiah the prophet in the presence of the priests and all the people who were standing in the house of the Lord, and the prophet Jeremiah said, “Amen! May the Lord do so; may the Lord make the words that you have prophesied come true, and bring back to this place from Babylon the vessels of the house of the Lord, and all the exiles. Yet hear now this word that I speak in your hearing and in the hearing of all the people. The prophets who preceded you and me from ancient times prophesied war, famine, and pestilence against many countries and great kingdoms. As for the prophet who prophesies peace, when the word of that prophet comes to pass, then it will be known that the Lord has truly sent the prophet.”
Then the prophet Hananiah took the yoke-bars from the neck of Jeremiah the prophet and broke them. And Hananiah spoke in the presence of all the people, saying, “Thus says the Lord: Even so will I break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon from the neck of all the nations within two years.” But Jeremiah the prophet went his way.
Sometime after the prophet Hananiah had broken the yoke-bars from off the neck of Jeremiah the prophet, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: “Go, tell Hananiah, ‘Thus says the Lord: You have broken wooden bars, but you have made in their place bars of iron. For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: I have put upon the neck of all these nations an iron yoke to serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and they shall serve him, for I have given to him even the beasts of the field.’” And Jeremiah the prophet said to the prophet Hananiah, “Listen, Hananiah, the Lord has not sent you, and you have made this people trust in a lie. Therefore thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, I will remove you from the face of the earth. This year you shall die, because you have uttered rebellion against the Lord.’”
In that same year, in the seventh month, the prophet Hananiah died. (Jeremiah 28:1-17).

Wickland's self presentation as a "prophetic voice" for the UK is in my view both delusional and dangerous.

* Articles for Posttribulationism to Caonsider | Bible Prophecy Answers with Alan Kurschner

1. My Speech outside Windsor Castle. The Vexed Vicar
2. livingword
3. Charles Fox Parham: Fraud, Racism, and the Dark Origins of Pentecostalism - William Branham Historical Research
4. Witchcraft to Christ. The true story of Christopher Wickland
5. A prophetic word for Britain: Rediscovering the ancient paths
6. Strong's Greek: 3880. παραλαμβάνω (paralambanó) -- To take, to receive, to take along, to accept
7. Matthew 24:40 Commentaries: "Then there will be two men in the field; one will be taken and one will be left.
8. Rapture? End of the world and the apostate church
9. Microsoft Word - Prewrath - Early Church Fathers.docx

Further Information

The evangelist Sister Aimee McPherson was a fraudulent trickster – Historical articles and illustrationsHistorical articles and illustrations | Look and Learn
Women In Ministry Archives - BibleThinker.

The Five-Fold Ministry: How A Forgotten Idea Fueled The NAR | KCF | IHOPKC | Bob Scott | 560

One Taken and One Left Behind, and the Meaning of 'Where the dead body is, there the vultures will gather' in Luke 17:37 - Ep. 49

WOLVES IN SHEEP'S CLOTHING: FALSE PROPHETS AND BIBLE TEACHERS IN THE LAST DAYS: THE SEVEN YEAR TRIBULATION FALLACY

prewrath.pdf

The Islamic Antichrist Debunked | A Comprehensive Critique by Chris White