The Secret Ways to Fulfill Your Destiny

THE BELIEVER’S HIGHEST CALLING:  CHRISTLIKENESS

“God’s highest calling, His top priority and purpose for man, is not great accomplishments in this world,” Dr. Hamon believes.  He explains that even seemingly good things, like a pastor with a large church or television ministry, a Christian author who’s written many books, or a believer who’s given large amounts of money to God’s work do not fulfill God’s primary goal for His people.  Using 1 Cor.13:1-3 as support, he says, “Any way we look at it, the Scriptures declare that love (Christlikeness) is the most important thing to possess, must be the most prominent thing in our ministries, and must be our number one priority in life.”  He goes on to identify many of the particular characteristics of Christlikeness: character, righteousness, attitude, hard work, wisdom, faith, holiness, healthy human relationships, growth and maturity, prayer and worship.      

THE PROCESS

Dr. Hamon calls the means that God uses to make us more Christlike The Law of Transformation, and The Process of Conformity. Tests and trials are His primary tools to transform and conform us to Christ’s character, he says, which He’s been using since the days of Adam and Eve. Dr. Hamon is transparent in sharing many of the trials of his own life. One such time was in 1969, when he had just completed his fifth year of teaching at a Bible college. He was suddenly dismissed from the school on a false accusation of teaching unbiblical doctrine. In truth, he had taught his students some of the false doctrines of the “Latter Rain” movement, one of which was that if someone had enough faith he would never die, like Enoch in the book of Hebrews.  Completely misunderstood and unfairly treated, Hamon had to learn how to forgive as Christ does.   

Another such trial occurred in 1979, which Hamon calls his “personal Gethsemane.” He and his wife, Evelyn, had relocated their ministry and found a building to purchase for the offices. One of his spiritual sons sold a house and sent a check for $50,000, and they knew the Lord would provide the remainder needed to pay off the loan.  When the money simply didn’t come in, even after the bank extended the deadline twice, they lost the property and all they’d put into it. It took time for Hamon to see that through the apparent failure, God was building in him wisdom and maturity.     

1981 brought one of the most painful trials of the Hamons’ lives.  They were driving to Arkansas for the wedding of their son Tom, and his bride-to-be, Jane, along with many other family members.  A terrible accident occurred involving  one of the two vehicles, a motor home carrying nine of them.  Hamon drove up to find it overturned and on fire.  Most of the passengers sustanined only minor injuries, but two others were hospitialized with serious injuries, and the youngest one, the Hamons’ six-year-old niece, Crystal, did not survive.  Devastated, the Hamons took care of everyone as best they could, and later continued on to Arkansas.  While they were able to rejoice at the wedding, they soon faced a long, painful season of grief.  Through it, they learned much about compassion.  

ABOUT BILL

Bishop Hamon attended Bible college in Portland, OR, and in 1954, at age 19, became the pastor of a small church in Washington state.  Ten years later, he and Evelyn and their three young children moved to San Antonio, TX, where he was asked to be a teacher at a Bible college. In 1964, Hamon founded Christian International School of Theology, and in 1970, the first Cl extension colleges were established. During the last 27 years, hundreds of Cl extensions have been established in local churches around the world. More than 8,000 students have enrolled in Cl’s off-campus Bible college courses with more than 820 graduates. In 1979, God challenged Hamon to add the “School of the Holy Spirit” to the Cl ministry. The school helped to teach, train, and activate individuals in the gifts of the Holy Spirit. 

Christian International formed its first ministerial association, Christian International Ministerial Association (CIMA) in 1980. Three years later, Bishop Hamon says he received the revelation that God was going to raise up a great end-time company of prophets to restore the ministries of the prophet and the apostle. He wrote the first in a series of three books on prophets and the prophetic ministry. God gave Bishop Hamon both a vision and a burden for calling, activating, and maturing this group of prophets. CIMA was changed to Christian International Network of Prophetic Ministries (CI NPM) with the purpose of fulfilling that vision. It grew nationwide and hundreds of prophets and prophetic ministers were called forth and activated into prophetic ministry.                                                        

In 1988, at the International Gathering of Apostles and Prophets conference the Prophetic Movement was birthed. “I saw a vision of God lifting me and many others to a higher realm. He gave me a vision of the thousands of prophets He was bringing forth,” he states. In 1991, apostles began to be recognized, along with the prophets, as foundational ministries of the Church. CI NPM has trained thousands of ministers and saints across the world as the Prophetic Movement sounded forth the call of God to gather a company of end-time prophets. As a result, the Christian International Apostolic Network(CIAN) was formed in 1992 to meet that need. For the last 60 years, Bishop Hamon and CI have sought to present and promote what God is doing and saying in the Church. Today he serves as bishop to over 4,000 ministers and churches and CI’s headquarters on five continents.