Wednesday, December 31, 2008

The Word of the Lord for 2009 - A Year of Judgment

I just posted the Word of the Lord for 2009 as I have for several years. Find it HERE.

Reviewing the prophetic word for 2008 I am astonished.

A few things the Lord is Saying:
  • Judgment of the Whore Church
  • Economic restoration beginning in spring
  • Judgment of unjust balances and rulers
  • An uncertain future for President Obama
  • The most important of all.... The BAALS torn down in response to the Prayers of the Saints
  • 2009 holds great promise for those who love God and are the Called

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

From J. Lee Grady

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

A Word of Encouragement: Cross Your Jordan in 2009

Don't keep wandering in yesterday's wilderness as this new year begins. It's time to challenge your giants and claim new territory.

I spent the last couple of months of 2008 buried in the book of Joshua. Casual readers might dismiss the narrative as nothing more than a description of military conquests, but when I delve into its pages I discover the revelation of Jesus Christ—our "Joshua"—who invites us to engage in a spiritual adventure beyond our wildest dreams.

The message of Joshua has been particularly relevant to me lately because I am contemplating some big transitions in my career. Change is scary—especially in a time of economic crisis. But when I read Joshua's story I am encouraged to take the risks necessary to claim my spiritual inheritance.

"You are not entering this year alone. Go forward in faith, leave your wilderness behind and take the territory God has given you."

God is calling many of us today to shift from the wilderness to the promised land. Christians who have grown uncomfortable with the status quo are now contemplating big moves. Likewise, church leaders sense a new stirring to grow their churches and influence our secularized culture. As our desire to impact the world with the gospel grows, we hear the Lord challenging us to take bold steps of faith in 2009.

If you want to see big victories in your personal life, your family and your church in the coming year, consider the path that Joshua and Israel took:

1. Swallow your fears. When it was time to enter Canaan, God had to find a fearless leader. He told Joshua: "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous!" (Josh. 1:9).

How would you measure your faith level as you step into 2009? Are you dismayed about your finances or worried about your health? Are you crippled by insecurities? The devil waged psychological warfare against God's people in 2008 with news of global recession, political uncertainty and the threat of terrorism. Many believers grew anxious, timid and confused.

There is no magic pill to relieve us from fear's torment. We simply must resist it. We must counter-attack it by confessing God's Word. When fear says, "God will not provide," we must respond by saying, "My God will supply all my needs according to His riches in glory." When fear says, "You will fail," we must respond by declaring, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."

2. Put on your full armor. When it was time to cross the Jordan, Joshua commanded the tribes of Reuben and Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh to dress in battle clothes (even though, since their inheritance was on the eastern side of Canaan, this was technically not their battle). Too many of us have excused ourselves from the battle because we don't think it is ours to fight. Yet 2009 is not a year to sit on the sidelines. It will not be an easy season, but those who are battle-ready will endure and conquer.

You must bathe this year with prayer and praise. Prayerless Christians will not overcome the assaults that are headed our way. Get ruthless with your schedule, even if you must forfeit a movie, a TV show or an extra hour of sleep to spend time with God.

3. Set ambitious goals. What Joshua set out to do in Canaan was impossible, considering Israel's limited military capabilities. Yet God said to seize Jericho anyway. So Joshua sent spies into the city, and they learned that the inhabitants were actually afraid of them (see 2:9-11). Joshua's perception of reality changed when He saw the situation through God's eyes.

How many times have you dismissed a dream because it seemed too big? How many years have you set that aside that dream of starting a ministry, a business or a new career? In Joshua's case, he stopped going in circles in the wilderness and instead led God's people to circle Jericho—and the impenetrable walls fell flat! In 2009, find out what God's big goals are for you and zero in on them.

4. Step in the water. The Jordan was overflowing its banks when God told Israel to cross it. They did not wait until the water level went down (see 3:14-17). In obedience to the Lord, the priests stepped into the water first. Then, after they planted their feet in the rushing current, a miracle occurred and the river stopped flowing.

Sometimes we find ourselves waiting for God to remove our obstacles when He is actually waiting for us to take a step of faith. We are the real barrier. You may feel powerless to stop the river, but you must get your feet wet. Once you start moving in the right direction, He will bring the breakthrough.

5. Consecrate yourself anew. Before Israel could take Jericho, God required a renewal of His covenant (see 5:2-4). Every man who had not been circumcised during the wilderness journey was admitted to surgery! We too have been scheduled for an operation—on our hearts.

Many of us are not ready for the challenges of 2009. We need to set aside time for evaluation, reflection and course correction. We must root out sinful habits, adjust bad attitudes, repent of unforgiveness and destroy idols that have stolen our affections. One excellent way to do this is with fasting. This year many Christians will set aside the first 21 days of January to observe a "Daniel fast" consisting of fruits, vegetables and juices. I encourage you to begin your year with this discipline.

6. Expect new provision. After Israel crossed the Jordan their entire economy changed. They had relied on manna from heaven for their daily food, but when they stepped into Canaan they began to eat to produce of the land—and the manna ceased (see 5:12). They went from eating handfuls of strange, mealy powder to enjoying cartloads of milk, honey, grain and meat; they shifted from scanty daily rations to overflowing abundance.

We can wander in the wilderness so long that we grow accustomed to a hand-to-mouth existence. Our faith shrinks with our limited expectations. We forget that the same God who carried us through the lean times also wants to give us wealth so that we can carry out His kingdom work. In this season of economic upheaval, don't adopt a poverty mentality. Your heavenly Father wants to entrust you with His resources—even during a time when He is bringing economic judgment on the wicked.

7. Expect a visitation. Just before the Jericho miracle, Joshua found himself standing face-to-face with the "captain of the host of the Lord" (5:14). Bible scholars say this was not just an angel—they believe it was the pre-incarnate Christ. This dramatic encounter marked Joshua forever and gave him the faith and courage to lead Israel to victory.

It is the Lord's presence that will sustain you in 2009, no matter what difficulties you face. The One who fights your battles is in your midst. You are not entering this year alone. Go forward in faith, leave your wilderness behind and take the territory God has given you.

J. Lee Grady is editor of Charisma.

God's People will NOT be Shamed Part 5

Last of the series by David Wilkerson on these tough times. Parts 1-4 are below:

God called his children not only to trust him but to believe him to work miracles. Tell me, would the Lord ask any less of our generation? Consider the testimony we have put forth about our glorious Lord. We have said he will provide, calling him Jehovah Jireh. We have declared his promises to supply for his children. Now, once more, his name and honor are at stake. If we will commit him to act, he promises: “I wrought for my name’s sake, that it should not be polluted before the heathen, in whose sight I brought (Israel) out” (Ezekiel 20:14). He’s saying, in essence, “When I delivered Israel, it wasn’t in some hidden corner. I worked miracles for them before the whole world. Now I want to do the same in your generation.”

Dear saint, are you facing a situation you have not yet committed to God? Are you being called to put your faith out on a limb in the distant unknown? Have you resolved, “Only a miracle from the Lord can deliver me”? We may not figure out how God will work his deliverance; no one in the Bible did. But we do know this: just one of his angels can put 185,000 men to flight. The Lord will never let his people be ashamed! Right now, he is telling us just as he told Israel,

“I called you out of your sins. And I have set you within sight of
everyone around you, that I may glorify my name. It was I who called
you out. And I will deliver you in the sight of the ungodly, for my
name’s sake.”


So, will you now walk in what you preach and claim to believe? Will you commit God to his Word for his name to be glorified before multitudes?

May we all adopt the prayer of David for these times: “Do thou for me, O God the Lord, for thy name’s sake: because thy mercy is good, deliver thou me” (Psalm 109:21, my italics). God will never put his trusting people to shame.

He will keep his Word to you because his own honor is at stake.

Why God's word IN US matters most.

Sometimes I tell people to STOP READING their bibles and start memorizing, get it in your heart. Deep inside. So that at a seconds notice at 3AM you can rehearse the word of God in season and out. Too many people spend too much time reading and not enough inculcating it. You can't impart what you don't possess. God will take what is in you and use it to speak to you. If all that is in there is movies, books, tapes and gossip God won't be able to speak to you. He speaks thru his word stored up in your storehouse. What is in there comes out. Fresh water from Springs.

From Smith Wigglesworth:

God wants to bring our eyes and our ears to a living realization of what the Word of God is, what the Lord God means, and what we may expect if we believe it.

I am certain that the Lord wishes to put before us a living fact which shall, by faith, bring into action a principle which is within our own hearts, so that Christ can dethrone every power of Satan.

It is only the truth of God’s Word revealed to our hearts that can make us so much greater than any idea of ourselves that we had.

I believe that there are volumes of truth right in the midst of our own hearts. There is the need for revelations and for stirring ourselves up to understand the mightiness which God has within us. We may prove what He has accomplished in us if we will only be willing to accomplish that which He has accomplished in us.

Monday, December 29, 2008

God's People will NOT be Shamed Part 4

The Fourth part of David Wilkerson's Prophetic Teaching on the Economic Crisis and Christians.
Parts 1-3 are below:

3. Consider the Hebrew children.Daniel and the three Hebrew children
refused to bow in worship before Nebuchadnezzar’s 90-foot gold idol.
They stood resolute even when condemned to die in a fiery furnace. As
the wicked king taunted, “Who is that God that shall deliver you out
of my hands?” (Daniel 3:15), the young men committed the Lord to his
promises: “O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in
this matter. [We don’t hesitate in our response.] If it be so, our
God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery
furnace… But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not
serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up”
(3:16–18). They were so confident God would honor his name, they
willingly faced certain death. Prominent leaders from throughout the
land gathered for the execution: princes, governors, judges, rulers
from surrounding provinces. And Nebuchadnezzar ordered the fire stoked
seven times hotter than usual, a heat so fierce it killed the servants
tending the furnace. The crowds were aghast, exclaiming, “These men
can’t survive. They’ll drop dead before they get near that furnace.
No God can deliver from this kind of fate.” Again, the Lord’s name
was on the line. If he didn’t intervene, his name would be defamed
throughout the nations. But the Lord never puts to shame those who
fully trust him. Scripture says Jesus himself showed up in that furnace
to protect and comfort his servants. And out of the fire walked the four
Hebrew children, without even a whiff of smoke on them.

4. Consider King Hezekiah.Scripture says Hezekiah was God-fearing: “He clave to the
Lord” (2 Kings 18:6). During Hezekiah’s reign, Jerusalem was
besieged by the Assyrians, the great world power of the day. This vast
army had already captured Samaria and the cities of Judah, and now they
surrounded Jerusalem. Their captain stood taunting, “We have
overpowered the gods of all nations. How do you expect your God to
deliver you?” Once again, the Lord himself was on trial. His
faithfulness was being questioned before the whole empire, before
Israel’s enemies, even before God’s people. What if he didn’t
act? What if, in the morning, a barrage of arrows came cascading over
the city walls? The heathen would gloat and God’s Word would be
meaningless. As the crisis mounted, Isaiah stood by watching it all. He
had received a word from the Lord, and he trusted in it fully. Now he
committed God to that word, putting the Lord’s reputation on the
line. He prayed, in essence, “God, my honor doesn’t matter. If you
don’t deliver, I can always hide in the wilderness. It’s your honor
that is at stake.” With that, Isaiah calmly told Hezekiah to tell the
Assyrian captain: “He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an
arrow there, nor come before it with shield, nor cast a bank against
it. By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and shall not
come into this city, saith the Lord. For I will defend this city, to
save it, for mine own sake” (2 Kings 19:32–34, my italics).

God will never let his trusting people be put to shame, and that night
he delivered a powerful miracle. Scripture says 185,000 Assyrian
soldiers died mysteriously, causing a huge panic, and the mighty army
fled. Once again, God defended his people for his own sake. 5. Consider
Peter and John in the New Testament.As the two disciples walked toward
the temple, they came upon a beggar who had been lame from birth. Peter
and John had probably passed this man many times before, but this time
they stopped. The throngs in the marketplace heard Peter tell the
beggar, “Look on us…. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise
up and walk” (Acts 3:4, 6). Peter was calling on the Lord to act,
with God’s own glory at stake. The crowds must have said to each
other, “What a foolish preacher. He’s asking a man who’s been
crippled all his life to stand up and walk.” I believe those people
were ready to laugh Peter and John to scorn. Then a strange feeling
started in the lame man’s feet. First he wiggled his ankle. Then the
feeling moved upward into his calves and his thighs. He began to
crouch, then slowly he pushed himself upright and stood. To the
crowd’s amazement, the man began to leap and dance. I ask you: what
if God hadn’t acted? That was never a concern to Peter, who gladly
committed his God to deliver. The Lord will never put those who trust
him to shame! We today are also called to place God’s honor, glory
and reputation on the line.Think about these biblical episodes. In each
one, everything that Christ came to earth and died for was at stake. Yet
all through the Old and New Testaments, God’s plan, purpose and people
survived.

Silence is Hearing from God

I suspect you have noticed that I haven't posted anything of my own revelations in the last couple weeks. There is a reason.

I am filling a little journal with what I am discerning from the Spirit of God for 2009. Very interesting. God is in the business of cleansing. That much is certain. More to come.

God's words for 2009 -- I will post them as soon as they are ready. Hopefully by Wednesday Morning. 2008 stands and it amazes me whenever I review it. God never does anything but what he tells his prophets first.

So, meanwhile I will post other people's wisdom here as I see it. I need to get that fresh word. Silence is golden.

Sunday, December 28, 2008

God's People will NOT be Shamed Part 3

A continuation of the prophetic statement by David Wilkerson, see parts one and two below:

Skeptics in Jesus’ day said similar things at the Crucifixion:
“This man boasted his Father would raise him from the dead. Now
we’ll see. Will it be resurrection or shame?” Jesus wasn’t deaf
to those taunts. But he knew something they didn’t: His Father would
never allow him to be put to shame. God would not fail to deliver him
for his own name’s sake. There are times when it looks as if God
hasn’t shown up — when his people will be left in shame and despair
— but the full story hasn’t been told. (The Cross was one of those
times.) What we don’t realize in the midst of the crisis is that
God’s own honor is at stake. And throughout the Bible he had a people
whose flint-like faith proved his faithfulness in the most difficult
times. These servants unashamedly committed the Lord to act, putting
his honor at stake while trusting him to deliver.

1. Consider Moses’ example at the Red Sea.Here was a humanly impossible situation. Israel
was on the run from the Egyptian army, hemmed in on one side by the sea
and by mountains on the other. It was here Moses committed God to his
promises. He had already prophesied God would lead Israel into the
Promised Land. Now the Lord’s reputation was at stake for all to see.
I can hear the reports getting back that Pharaoh had Israel trapped. All
of Egypt expected to see the Israelites brought back in chains. Parades
would be planned to celebrate Pharaoh’s victory, with golden idols
exalted over the God of Israel. What was Moses’ reaction to this
crisis? Facing the vast sea before him, he cried, “Move forward!”
Moses so believed in God’s care, trusting his word to lead Israel
into his promise, he declared, “I know the Lord is faithful. And
I’m going to act on his word.” Think about the consequences of such
faith. If the Red Sea didn’t open up miraculously, Moses would be
thought a fool. The Israelites would go back into bondage, and God
would never again be trusted. Yet we all know what happened: As Moses
stretched out his hand, the waters divided, and the people walked
across on dry ground. I tell you, no one who fully trusts in God will
ever be put to shame. He will deliver on his promise for his own
name’s sake.

2. Consider Joshua.For six days Israel had marched
around the impenetrable city of Jericho, saying, “These walls are
coming down.” To the people inside Jericho, this sounded absolutely
foolish. They must have laughed in derision. Then finally, on the
seventh day, God’s people were commanded to march not just once but
seven times. At this point, even the Israelites must have felt foolish.
They might have thought, “Nothing happened the first six days. Now
this seems desperate. We’ll be shamed if these walls don’t fall.”
But such thoughts never entered Joshua’s mind. He said, “I know what
I heard from the Lord, and I know he is able.” He committed God to his
promise, putting his glory on the line. We know what happened: “The
people shouted when the priests blew with the trumpets: and it came to
pass…that the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into
the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city”
(Joshua 6:20). When God’s children commit him to his Word, he will
never let them be shamed.

Saturday, December 27, 2008

God's People will NOT be Shamed Part 2

From David Wilkerson's December 8th Newsletter that contains the prophetic utterance above.
See part one below, this is a continuance:

Paul also describes our time when he writes, “In the last days
perilous times shall come…. Evil men and seducers shall wax worse and
worse, deceiving, and being deceived” (2 Timothy 3:1, 13). Think of
the huge mortgage companies that seduced and deceived the poor, the
unlearned and the unemployed. These unwitting people were lured to sign
up for mortgages they could never pay, and when payday came they were
left without homes. Reputable banks failed because of the deception,
but their executives bailed out with “golden parachutes” of
multiple millions. I read about one such executive throwing an
expensive party, dancing the night away with liquor flowing, knowing
full well his company was going down. He and others partied wildly
despite knowing that hundreds of thousands of people would lose their
homes. It is a clear fulfillment of the prophecy in Zephaniah 1:9,
“(They) leap on the threshold [of the poor], which fill their
masters’ houses.”

How long did we think God would put up with such
madness, such mockery of his name? The Lord has the final word on the
matter, and he says, “In the same day also will I punish (them)”
(1:9). In short: “I will put them to shame.” “Their sword shall
enter their own heart, and their bows [wealth] shall be broken”
(Psalm 37:15). Even now, as I write this, two billionaires are being
bailed out because their wealth vanished overnight. At the same time
the Lord is recompensing the ungodly, he will reward those who trust in
him.Here is the theme of my message: “The Lord upholdeth the
righteous…. They shall not be ashamed in the evil time [of
calamity]” (Psalm 37:17, 19, my italics). You may ask, “What does
this mean exactly?” It means simply this: God is faithful not just in
his recompense of woes, but also in his promises. David is saying, in
effect, “Look around you and see how God keeps his Word. His warnings
are now being manifested in your headlines, his actions all over your
media. I ask you, will not God also keep his Word to preserve his
chosen ones?”

Think of it: No matter what happens in the world — no
matter how fearful the news becomes, how severely the world shakes, how
economies may teeter toward collapse — God’s people will not be
left ashamed. Indeed, the Lord will act on our faith to fulfill his
Word to us. We may suffer, but he will come through for all who fully
trust in him. The world will never be able to say, “Your God didn’t
keep his Word.” Make no mistake, we are going to face impossibilities
in the days ahead. But our Lord says he is God of the impossible,
providing miracles when there is no human answer. In fact, he willingly
puts his reputation in the hands of his people, calling us to commit him
to his Word. You may think, “But God can defend his own name. He
doesn’t need me.” Not so! God has chosen his people to be his
testimony to a numb, unmoved world. And he is calling us to openly
commit him to do what he promises. You see, in the world’s eyes God
is always on trial. Unbelievers are watching every time we face
impossible situations, saying, “This person sings about God making a
way to deliver him. Now we’ll see if his God answers him. Will he
make it through or will he end up in shame?”

Friday, December 26, 2008

The Writing and Reading of Many Books

Smith Wigglesworth is a faith Hero of mine. I will never be what he was in Spiritual Giftedness although I want to be. He only ever read the Bible. Only. I have perhaps a thousand books in my home. Most of which I have read. I'm not sure I'm better for it. Mostly likely not. Particularly "Christian" books. Some of them have caused me to veer off track sometimes. Only by washing of the true word...

I have fallen in love with the idea of staying with the idea I learned from Barry Kolb who learned it from someone else - WHAT DOES THE TEXT SAY.

We would as Christians and as a Culture be better off if we just kept asking that question.

It is interesting, in addition to Blogging, I journal, a lot. This morning a half dozen pages. About what? About whatever the Lord is Saying to me. Sometimes I share it here. Mostly not. I seem to be getting more from his word and from his word to me than anything else. Yes, I love to debate politics, but my appitite is changing.

My life is changing. I read far less from nonBiblical texts and write far more. Perhaps I can come even a little close to the Ideal of a Smith Wigglesworth. His words:

One thing God has given to me from my youth up is a taste or relish for no other book except the Bible. I can say before God, I have never read a book but the Bible, so I know nothing about books.

As I have peeped into books, I have seen in some of them perhaps one reason for good people to say, “That is a good book.”

Oh, but how much better to get the Book of books which contains nothing but God. If a book is commended because it has something about God in it, how much more shall the Word of God be food for the soul, the strengthening of the believer, and the building up of the human order of character with God, so that all the time he is being changed by the Spirit of the Lord from one state of glory into another.

We shall become flat, anemic, and helpless without the Word, dormant and so helpless to take hold of the things of God.

The Word is everything. The Word has to become everything. When the heavens and the earth are melted away, then we shall be as bright, brighter than the day, and going on to be consistent because of the Word of God.

God's People Will Not Be Ashamed in the Time of Calamity

God's People Will Not Be Ashamed in the Time of Calamity

By David Wilkerson

December 8, 2008

When I began working on this message, the Wall Street
Journal reported that the entire world had come under a great cloud of
fear. People in all nations are now paralyzed by world events.
Immediately, my thoughts turned to our parishioners at Times Square
Church. They show no such fear. Instead, while we all have a great
soberness about these times, we also have a deep, abiding joy. I was
led to Psalm 37, written by David: “The Lord knoweth the days of the
upright: and their inheritance shall be for ever. They shall not be
ashamed in the evil [calamitous] time: and in the days of famine they
shall be satisfied” (Psalm 37:18–19, my italics). Here is an
amazing prophecy for God’s people, and it is being fulfilled before
our eyes. In short, Psalm 37 tells us the Lord rises up to action
against societies whose sins have outraged heaven. David prophesies,
“The arms [power] of the wicked shall be broken” (37:17). Yet this
same Psalm is also one of great hope. It contains an incredible promise
to those who put their trust fully in the Lord. First, there comes a
time when God can no longer endure the greed, covetousness and wicked
fraud that evil men perpetrate on the poor and needy. David’s
prophecy speaks of a sudden loss of financial power: “The wicked
shall perish, and the enemies of the Lord shall be as the fat of lambs:
they shall consume; into smoke shall they consume away” (Psalm 37:20).
The inference here is that fire will suddenly consume the wealth of the
powerful. Riches will quickly spatter into smoke like fat in flames.

Talk about a picture of what has happened to America’s economy. In
two weeks’ time, more than $4 trillion of American wealth vanished.
Now we are being told trillions more will go up in smoke. Stock markets
all over the world have gone into shock over the news, with brokers
weeping and wailing. I won’t go into the reasons why I believe God
had to act. But I can say this: We know our God is not asleep. There
comes a time Isaiah describes as “the day of the Lord’s vengeance,
and the year of recompences for the controversy of Zion” (Isaiah
34:8). “I have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious
people, which walketh in a way that was not good, after their own
thoughts; a people that provoketh me to anger continually to my face…
I will not keep silence, but will recompense” (Isaiah 65:2–3, 6).
What we see happening to our economy is not only God’s vengeance. It
has to do with the very honor and glory of Almighty God. He will not
stand by as his ways are maligned by the wicked. Ezekiel writes, “The
time has come, the day has arrived. Let not the buyer rejoice nor the
seller mourn; for wrath is against all their multitude…. They have
blown the trumpet and made everything ready, but no one is going to the
battle; for my wrath is against all their multitude” (Ezekiel 7:12,
14). In the midst of wickedness, God has sounded the trumpet of alarm,
but the warning has been ignored.

Thursday, December 25, 2008

It in Giving that We Survive

Dealing With Tough Times

(Addendum No. 2 to a prophetic word titled “The Coming Perfect Storm” that was received by John Paul Jackson in August 2008)
By John Paul Jackson
November 2008
You and I are living in a turbulent time. The perfect storm continues to swirl and won’t begin to dissipate for a few more years. By the time you receive this, the stock market will still be in full swing, with an emphasis upon that word “swing”; the next president of the United States will have been elected; and you will have made choices and taken steps toward your future.
What are the tough times all about?
Obviously, tough times are just that--and they can go far beyond that description as well. They are often disappointing, frustrating and filled with tension and anxiety. However, if you focus on what you have lost or might lose, how difficult your life has become or what might happen, you will miss the most important aspects of why God allows times like these to begin with.
What is one of the most noticeable things that sets you apart from your neighbors and co-workers who don’t have a personal relationship with Jesus? Isn’t it often how you handle these tough times? There are four things that must be etched onto your spirit in order for you to succeed in this turbulent time.
What you do with your circumstances. First, tough times are not about what happens to you-- they’re about what you do with what happens to you. God, in knowing all things, was not ignorant about this era of your life. In fact, He has spent your whole life preparing you for this moment and others that you are yet to face. Will you keep believing that He’ll use everything you go through for His kingdom purposes? Or will you sour along with so many others who base their relationship with God on their prosperity? Tough times prove our faith.
You: Influencing others. Second, tough times are about influence. How you handle these times will have great influence on two sets of individuals: those who watch how you handle your own adversity and those who will be changed by the counsel you give them. Now, I don’t mean the answers you may or may not have for them--everyone has answers, usually of the negative kind. But here I mean counsel that gives them hope. Hope that helps them discover a God who knows their potential, a God who’s taking them on a journey of discovering new adventures and possibilities they may never have thought about. Hope that aids them in making different choices than they may previously have made. Hope that allows their creativity to spring forward when others around them are in despair. Perhaps you need this kind of hope as well.
God allows tough times to happen so that massive, lovely, brilliant, you’ll-want-this change is the result. And He will use you to deposit this hope in others. He birthed you, created you, shaped you for such a time as this. You won’t only make it, but you will be an example for others, and as such you will have more influence than ever.
The stuff of champions. Third, it is the people who focus on others and guard their words—that is, people who order their conversation to reflect the provision and kindness of God, even in the midst of the storm--who will see His salvation.
There isn’t a single generation that hasn’t gone through tough times. Yes, some are tougher than others, but as the Lord once told me, “Little battles produce little victories and result in little champions. Great battles produce great victories and result in great champions. Which do you want to be?”
The justice of God and a faithful heart. Fourth, the first thought most Christians have when tough times hit is to diminish or even stop their giving. Wow--wrong move! It was the widow of Zarephath’s faithful, sacrificial giving in the middle of a severe drought that threw open the door for her to prosper. Paul exhorted the church in Philippi to give so that fruit would be added to their account. He urged the church in Corinth to be like the poorest church in Macedonia, which had given to the Lord’s work even in the midst of deep poverty and affliction (see 2 Cor. 8:1–4). When Paul returned to the Macedonian church a few years later, he found them prospering.
It is the gift you willingly give that allows God’s justice to be active on your behalf. In tough times especially, you really want God to act on your behalf! This is why Paul told the church in Philippi that, more than the financial gift he needed, he desired that heaven’s fruit would abound in their lives. That fruit is what God gives to feed and bless and meet the needs of all who give to Him.

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

What Then Should We Do?

This is second in a series that John Paul Jackson writes about our times.....

Six Things to Keep in Mind as You Weather the Storm

(Addendum No. 1 to a prophetic word titled “The Coming Perfect Storm” received by John Paul Jackson in August 2008)
By John Paul Jackson
Fall 2008
You don’t have to look very far before you see the beginning swells of the coming perfect storm. It seems this theme has caught the attention of many pundits and prophets. Almost every day, there are multiple signs of the perfect storm’s approach, and notice I said “approach”--meaning, it isn’t here yet. These are merely the early winds of the storm. The scent of rain is in the air. Nearly everywhere we turn, we become more aware that without God’s intervention, the world will not be the same 10 years from now. And we are correct in thinking that.
Here are five things to keep in mind as you weather this storm with the grace and, prayerfully, the glory of God resting on you.
1. Don’t overreact to media hype and spin. They learned a long time ago that sensationalism sells, and they will play it for all it’s worth. In the midst of the media flurry … God [will reveal] His secrets to His servants--so look for one. God is not caught by surprise. In His omniscience, He has been preparing you for this very hour. You will not fail. Remember what God told Jeremiah: “Thus says the Lord: ‘Do not learn the way of the Gentiles [those who do not know Me]; do not be dismayed at the signs of heaven, for the Gentiles [those who do not know Me] are dismayed at them’”(Jer. 10:2, NKJV).
When there is panic, we tend to make decisions we later regret. Don’t assume the worst, and don’t be afraid. Should you plan? Yes. Is this serious? Yes. But it’s not time to panic.
2. Simplify and streamline your life. What things do you do that are pure convenience? Could you cut back on any luxuries? Keep your current car? Take in a roommate? How about reducing your latte count at the coffee shop? Selectively start looking to cut back in areas that don’t really reflect your life’s mission or calling, or aren’t making a positive difference in others’ lives.
This will be an opportune time to follow in the disciples’ footsteps: “So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart” (Acts 2:46).
3. Reconnect with friends and family. God is your Source--not your bank account, not your 401(k), not your gold, not your stock portfolio. Your friendships and other relationships are what feed your emotional health, and they stabilize you; you need them. Research shows that friendships play a dramatic role in getting people through difficult times. So reconnect today.
Remember that “a man who has friends must himself be friendly, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother” (Prov. 18:24).
4. Rethink your focus. You have a choice: You can live your life by principles or by pressures. Those who “fail” in life usually keep their eyes fixed on their current problems and lose sight of their life principles. As things change, it is vital to remind yourself of the principles you live your life by. Never lose sight of them during challenging times. They will help keep you focused. The difficulties we’re facing nowmaybe God’s wake-up call to remind you of your original vision and purpose and why He made you the way He made you.
Take this time to rethink and re-evaluate. “Where there is no vision, the people perish” (Prov. 29:18). If you have no vision, your only other option is to go backward or decay.
5. Be an influence. Are you an influence in your culture? For many, this will be a time of innovation and invention. For others, it will be a time of study and preparation for the promotion that will come when this season eventually passes--which it will. Don’t chase trends, but study them to see where the culture is going. You should always be looking for original and innovative ways to engage the needs of others. Needs are going to abound, so ask God for a solution to those needs, and you’ll succeed when your secular peers are failing.
6. Take more time to listen. In the coming months and perhaps years there will be an entirely new set of needs that the people and this nation will have. The Lord wants to give innovative ideas and inventions to those who are close to Him. Set aside time to listen to Him. Prayer is great, but if all we do is make our needs known to God, it will be very difficult to listen. There is a lot we do not know about this coming time frame. God just might have something He would like to say to you.

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Safety isn't Numbers - It's ONE

Today we drove thru some very bad weather to go to be with family this Christmas. It was truly difficult. There were 26 cars in the ditch between the Illinois Wisconsin state line on I 90. Ice slush.

Sometimes staying with the crowd seems safe but isn't. You can get pushed off the straight and narrow or led into danger by the crowd.

I like to leave some room when I'm on the way so I can be guided without other influence.

Same in life.

Prophet John Paul Jackson Wrote this in August 2008

The Coming Perfect Storm
By John Paul Jackson

For those of you who have followed this ministry, you have heard me say more than once during the past eight years that from 2009 or 2010, things will become very difficult. I have been praying and hoping that what I am about to write may be averted. However, I am now concerned that without prophetic people speaking up, we will not play our redemptive part in bringing change for the good.

Five Elements of the Brewing Perfect Storm

As in the movie The Perfect Storm, the storm I see coming to the United States is a combination of more than one element, and when the elements unite, the storm becomes exponentially more dangerous. However, unlike the movie, this storm is not just a storm of merging weather patterns. This storm is worse. It involves five different elements: religion, politics, economics, war and geophysical events.

At times these five elements will be so intertwined that it will be difficult, if not impossible, to distinguish which events are driving a particular manifestation of the storm. Massive problems in these five areas will come often, or in combination, and sometimes repeatedly. Each element has potentially several events that will have national and international ripple effects. Some ripples will be worse than others, depending on where you live and how you make your living. Different areas of the United States will experience different severities. Some will experience more economic elements, others more geophysical elements; some will experience all elements. Remember, it is the combination and the rapidity that will make the storm problematic.

Also, this does not mean all five elements will hit at the most devastating levels. For example, on a scale of 1–10, with 10 being the worst, one element may strike at a six while another strikes at an eight. It is the particular combinations of elements--the proximity of each element as well as the intensity of each element--that will make this storm so difficult and seem to last so long. This storm will not be short-lived; it will come in waves, one after another.

Why Is the Storm Coming?

This storm is coming because the church (the body of Christ) is no longer the backbone of this nation. From our inception, the Christian faith has been the plumb line of decisions made at all levels of life. The Christian founding of this nation is what makes it different from every other nation, other than perhaps Israel. Other nations may have become Christian in their focus, but none was initially formed with Christianity as the core of its DNA.

The church is to make known God’s manifold wisdom to the world and the powers of the air (see Eph. 2:2). This demonstration to the heavens is not accomplished by speaking to those powers but through righteous living. How we live opens or closes doors for Satan to legally afflict us and even rule over us via leaders who do not know the ways of God. From Adam and Eve through today, the actions of humankind have given room for the enemy to strike and attack us. The only legal way the enemy has access to us is when the hand of God lifts from us, resulting in a space between Him and us. This space increases as we distance ourselves from Him and His ways.

Anytime there is an increased distance between God and humanity, it leaves room for attack to come and for principalities and powers of the air (rulers of darkness) to take up residence. The longer dark powers reside over an area, the more the people begin to call right wrong and wrong right. Here in the United States, leaders arise from the people; in other words, as the people believe and think, so do the leaders who rise from their ranks. Eventually, the lines between right and wrong, as well as [between] the holy and the profane, become blurred. The way to God through Jesus and the cross is no longer seen as an absolute. In fact, absolutes become touted as “intolerance” first in the world and then even within the church. Yes, there are exceptions to this thinking within the Church, but through compromise, the absolutes of heaven and eternity are clearly evaporating.

God Can Fashion a Disaster

We are living in the days of Ezekiel and Jeremiah, who prophesied that God can bring disaster on a nation if that nation continually chooses to walk according to its own plans. God spoke this to Jeremiah:

”The instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, to pull down, and to destroy it, if that nation against whom I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I thought to bring upon it. And the instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it, if it does evil in My sight so that it does not obey My voice, then I will relent concerning the good with which I said I would benefit it.

“Now therefore, speak to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Behold, I am fashioning a disaster and devising a plan against you. Return now every one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good.”’”

And they said, “… We will walk according to our own plans, and we will every one obey the dictates of his evil heart” (Jer. 18:7–12, NKJV).

What Are Some Things That Are Coming?

What are some of the things/consequences that will come? In time, water will be more expensive than oil, and cities will evacuate thousands because there is not enough water to meet their needs. (As Amos 4:7 says, “I made it rain on one city, I withheld rain from another city.”) Earthquakes not only will strike coastal areas but also will devastate the Midwest. Israel will bomb Iran, and anti-Semitism will escalate as fuel costs soar. A dirty bomb will explode in a coastal city. There will be thunderstorms with huge hail, 24 inches of rain in 24 hours, three feet of snow in six hours, record-setting tornadoes with winds of more than 350 miles per hour, and tornadoes in unusual places. There will be an unexpected blight that will hit various hybrid seed crops and weaken the yield. In addition, drought and devastation from storms will dramatically cut into various harvests, and the national food storage [supply] will deplete.

“Now therefore, speak to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Behold, I am fashioning a disaster and devising a plan against you. Return now every one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good”’” (Jer. 18:11).

Four Things the Church Must Do

First, the church must return to knowing God and His ways rather than just knowing about God. We have replaced power with programs, revelation with administration and the Father’s heart with organizational skills.

Second, the church must learn how to contend for the faith again. We are weak, and we fall away so easily when a crisis is not at hand. We have not been tested, and we have lost our resolve. We understand little of the adversary’s plans. We do not know how to debate our faith without becoming angry, and thus we have few strong, clear, godly voices in political arenas. We have lost our witness--the witness that convicts others and strongly testifies that God is still God and is very, very real. We have lost the witness that demonstrates that God is a personal God in a very impersonal world, the witness that says, “What I do proves God exists.”

Third, the church must return to the love of God’s Word and the belief that it is infallible and inerrant. This would include the conviction, understanding and knowledge that God is absolute, and there is only one way to know Him: through Jesus the Messiah. We need a new revelation that God’s power is unlimited, His knowledge is unending, His presence is with us always and He never changes. We have made God far too small, and our lives prove it.

Fourth, we will need to declare sacred and solemn assemblies of repentance and corporate fasting in many parts of this nation--a time set aside for rending our hearts before God.

“Now, therefore,” says the Lord, “Turn to Me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.” So rend your heart, and not your garments; return to the Lord your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness; and He relents from doing harm. Who knows if He will turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind Him--A grain offering and a drink offering for the Lord your God?

Blow the trumpet in Zion, consecrate a fast, call a sacred assembly; gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children and nursing babes; let the bridegroom go out from his chamber, and the bride from her dressing room. Let the priests, who minister to the Lord, weep between the porch and the altar; let them say, “Spare Your people, O Lord” (Joel 2:12–17).

Crisis Is the Fruit of Following the Wrong God

God allows calamities to happen in order to draw us to Himself. What does that mean? It means that God allows us to reap the fruit of that which we serve. Walking in God’s ways brings blessings and fullness of life, while walking in the ways of the “god of this world” will bring the fruit of the god of this world: decay, destruction, deterioration and death. We make our choice, then the choice makes us. Sadly, we are developing a history of wrong choices.

Throughout Scripture, when crises hit the people of God, they turned their hearts to Him, and He heard and took action.

”Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart” (Jer. 29:12–13).

May the people of the United States seek the Lord … and find Him. Remember, we still have the promise that if we turn from our wicked ways, God will heal our land.

Monday, December 22, 2008

Prepare for War - Wounded in the House of Your Friends

This is the last in the series. If you think I'm overstating, you need to have a dose of scale removal by the Holy Ghost. The persecution has already begun. Mostly in other countries like India. But here too. And it will intensify. What makes it even more insidious is it will come at the hands of So Called "Christians". This will be a case of CHOOSE THIS DAY WHO YOU WILL SERVE;

From Prophet Wilkerson on October 29, 2001:


You may think such persecution won't come until the distant future. But right now, various ecumenical groups are drafting theological statements for the one-world church union. And they're dealing with what they call "the Jesus issue."

Already the European Union of nations has drawn up laws forbidding any criticism of its activities. Soon, no one will be able to publicly question the union. I believe this type of climate will give rise to the one-world church. The European Union's laws are now only a step away from forbidding "religious bigotry" and outlawing proselytizing in the name of any religion.

In my opinion, this is all part of Satan's wrath against the holy seed of Christ on earth. He's waging war by enraging multitudes, regardless of their belief, against Christians. More and more, we'll see the devil mobilizing masses to confront anyone who believes Jesus alone has the power to save. Suddenly, everyone who ignored us before will ask us pointedly, "Do you believe Jesus is the only way to heaven? I'm a good person, but I don't believe in anything. Are you telling me I'll go to hell because I don't believe your Jesus is God?"

Taking a stand for truth may cost us our jobs, careers, friendships. In some countries, it's already costing Christians their lives. Yet Jesus is our example of how to respond. When the high priest asked, "Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?", Jesus answered without hesitation, "I am" (Mark 14:61-62).

Soon the whole world will ask us to accept another Jesus. They'll pressure us to put aside our faith in Jesus as Savior and Lord. They'll want us to deny his virgin birth, his supernatural power, his miracles, his sacrificial death, his resurrection, his second coming. Yet, as his followers, we know these are truths on which eternity hinges. And we must be willing to die for them.


The great falling away has begun. Don't be swept up in it. Many people I know and love have already been. I am hoping as is in Jude 1:23 to:

Save others by snatching them from the fire [of hell]. Show mercy to others, even though you are afraid that you might be stained by their sinful lives.

A Precious Heart for Jesus

Understanding

How can one even begin to understand the inwardness of a man being summoned before the King. A king with whom no one can see. How can we grasp this upward, inward pulling within ourselves. It’s Him, again; beckoning us to come- alone and be with Him. Who can understand that their is someone whom we have never seen… yet have such an effect on us. How do we explain the longing’s of a deep, pure love, that is tangible. He wants me right now, what do I do? How do we respond to such a love that can not even be expressed with mere words. It’s almost like His heart beats.. boom… boom… inside of me; I can hear it; I can feel it; He wants me (you), now. We are connected He and I (you).

So this is His deep calling to my deep; a healthy good ache in our heart that will not go away. We don’t want anything but the purity of who He is living and breathing inside us. Were wanting, desiring to be near Him; because that is the only thing that will satisfy us.

Shsh! Quite, close your eyes for a moment… Do you feel that… inside your heart, it is the voice of our beloved, His desire is towards you; He is so real we cannot deny it.

How much longer Sweetie?

Boom, Boom, Boom,… I hear you Jesus.

© Desiree Lamphier

www.LoveHimMoreMinistries.org

Thoughts for Believers on Chanukah and Christmas

Op/Ed by Aimee Herd (December 22, 2008)

Chanukah is a celebration of the miracle of light, as the oil and the lamp burned for 8 days. Jesus coming into the world and into our lives as Savior is also a miracle of light.

To celebrate Chanukah (sometimes spelled Hanukah) is to give God honor and praise for His miraculous protection over, and provision for, His people Israel.

ChanukahAs Believers in Yeshua ha Mashiach (Jesus the Messiah), there are very meaningful and important parallels that can be drawn from this, the Jewish "Festival of Lights." I've shared a few of those below, some of which were originally posted back in 2005, when the first day of Chanukah actually fell on Christmas day. This year, Chanukah begins today; Monday, December 22nd.

For those who are unfamiliar with the historical account behind Chanukah, I've first included some facts…

Chanukah History:
At about 168 BC, during the time the Syrian/Greeks had taken over the Temple in Jerusalem, a band of Jewish rebels known as Macabees, headed up a successful revolt and defeated the Syrian armies—against all odds—reclaiming the Temple for the Jews. The battle was led by Judah and his four brothers. The name Macabee is actually an acrostic for "Who among the mighty is like Thee O God?"

According to the Mishna, it took 8 days to recapture and clean out the Temple. The Talmud says the Syrian/Greek armies had desecrated all the specially prepared jugs of oil which the Jewish High Priest would use for lighting the lamp. However, after searching, they found one small jug left undefiled, containing barely enough oil for one day. The High Priest lighted the lamp and it miraculously burned for eight days, until more oil could be brought in—a beautiful picture of God's sovereign provision for His people.

Parallels between Chanukah and Christmas:
Chanukah is a celebration of the miracle of light, as the oil and the lamp burned for 8 days. Jesus coming into the world and into our lives as Savior is also a miracle of light. John chapter 1 tells us, "In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it."

What is exciting to me when we look at the observances of both Chanukah and Christmas, is the definition behind the name of each celebration. Chanukah means "dedication" or "rededication." Christmas means "the birth of Christ."

Rick WarrenPerhaps God speaks to each Believer through these two memorials of His faithfulness to "rededicate" the "birth of Christ" in their lives.

In Rev. 2, in the Bible, Jesus praises the Church in Ephesus for their good works for the Kingdom, however, He warns them that they have left their "first love." He tells them to "remember therefore where you have fallen" and to do the things they did at first, which speaks of rededication.

Also, since the oil, by all natural laws should've been used up after the first day; but continued to provide the lamp with fuel to burn until more could be found or produced, it is a visual reminder of how God miraculously provides for His children. That is a miracle—of provision—which we saw duplicated on at least a couple occasions by Jesus, in the multiplication of food.

The message is clear, and one we desperately need to remember in this time of uncertain economy; Jehovah Jireh—God is our Provider.

Another noteworthy point from the story of Chanukah is that Judah the Macabee was the one who led the offensive to reclaim the Temple. The name "Judah" means praise and, as stated before, the word Macabee is an acrostic for the phrase "Who among the mighty is like Thee O God?" which is also praise. I believe praise and worship can lead the way in rededicating our lives back to our Savior Jesus Christ.

We can reclaim and rededicate our temple of the Holy Spirit, as we come into a place of deep and intimate worship and praise of our awesome God; remembering how He first saved us.

Finally and interestingly enough, one of the traditional songs sung at Chanukah is Maoz Tzur or Rock of Ages. (Not to be confused with the Christian hymn.) The transliteration of the first stanza of this 800-year-old song is as follows:

O mighty stronghold of my salvation, to praise You is a delight.

Restore my House of Prayer and there we will bring a thanksgiving offering.

When You will have prepared the slaughter for the blaspheming foe,

Then I shall complete with a song of hymn the dedication of the Altar.

May the Lord restore our "Houses of Prayer" this Christmas—and this Chanukah—as we remember our first love for the One who gave His life for us, and who has made us each a temple for the light of His Holy Spirit.

And may we each rededicate our lives to our purpose as Believers spoken of in 1 Peter 2:9- "But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light."

Sunday, December 21, 2008

New Evangelicals will lead the new Inquisition

The Inclusive compromising evangelical church will be leading the persecution to come. From Prophet Wilkerson's Prophecy:

A great persecution is coming to the holy remnant of saints.

Satan's ecumenical union of churches will bring about a great persecution. And the union itself will be the chief persecuting force. Even now, the Russian Orthodox Church is pressuring Russia's government to shut down all evangelical churches in that country. They want to drive out evangelical Christianity completely from their midst.

Here in America we see the beginnings of the same kind of pressure. I was handed a videotape of a network TV interview with a well-known evangelist. The interviewer asked the minister point blank: "Will Muslims be saved? And will Jews be saved if they don't believe in Jesus?"

Clearly, the evangelist was being pressed into a corner. He knew if he answered with Peter's statement, "There is no other name whereby men can be saved except Jesus Christ, the Son of God," he would have been despised. The press would have crucified him.

Instead, the evangelist was applauded for his answer: "Muslims love Jesus. And Jews have the Spirit of Jesus in them. Yes, they'll both be saved." I couldn't believe what I heard this committed Christian leader saying.

It's impossible to be accepted by the world if you take a stand on the divinity of Christ. You'll be shunned and rejected, made a target of mockery. On the other hand, any minister who's praised by the world and by other religions has compromised Christ's gospel. Such a person preaches another Jesus.

I believe the whole world will make this the defining question in the days ahead: "Do you believe in the exclusiveness of Jesus Christ? Are people going to hell because they don't believe he's the only way to salvation?" We'll be confronted with this by non-believing friends, coworkers, potential employers. They may not ask it in such literal terms, but the question will remain nonetheless. And if we take a stand, answering, "Yes, I believe Jesus alone can save," we'll be seen as religious bigots. We'll be mocked and persecuted as being politically incorrect and intolerant.


The Persecution of the true Church will be tremendous and universalist evangelicals coming up in the wake of this new age will be unwilling to defend the faith. They have already compromised themselves. The result is while for a little while It will look as if revival is here, in reality after the Devil has done his work, the churches that filled because of compromise will empty out. Nothing will hold them. Rather NO ONE. The only One being JESUS.

Look at this from Albert Mohler:
Over twenty years ago, Professor James Davison Hunter of the University of Virginia sounded a similar alarm in Evangelicalism: The Coming Generation. In that work, Hunter warned that the rising generation of younger evangelicals -- then mostly college age -- were increasingly uncomfortable with the claim that Jesus is the only Savior and that belief in Christ is necessary in order for a person to go to heaven. Now, those students are old enough to be parents and their influence is becoming more evident year by year. One can almost draw a straight line between Hunter's analysis of 1987 and the Pew report released today.
We are in serious deep weeds. The devil is deceiving at light speed.

The last of this series, Prepare for Martyrdom at the Hands of "Christians".

Saturday, December 20, 2008

Satan's Love Trap

From David Wilkerson's Prophecy on October 29, 2001

Brother Wilkerson has already in the former post warned us of the way the devil will persuade everyone to love Jesus together. It will be so Kumbya. Except it's deception. It's not the Exclusivity of Jesus as Lord and King, it's a relativistic Jesus that loves everyone no matter their sin or rebellion. The Love Trap:

Can you see Satan's "love trap" in all of this? When the devil's one-world church finally trumpets its message throughout the earth, millions of lukewarm Christians will be deceived. They'll reason, "This all-church union must be okay. Its leaders talk so much about Jesus. Anybody who speaks of Jesus this much has to have a legitimate Christian faith."

They couldn't be more wrong. The very mantra of Satan's devilish union will be, "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus." Today, evangelical leaders are already asking, "Why can't all groups be one in Jesus? After all, Jews acknowledge Jesus as a prophet. Muslims see him as a good man and a great teacher. Even Sikhs and Hindus respect Jesus."Things are going to get worse, and worse and worse.


The Result is the Great Persecution that has already begun. More Tomorrow.

Smith Wigglesworth on the Baptism of the Holy Spirit

I have often tried to explain what it is like when the Spirit of God comes and dwells IN a person. When He Baptises them with fire He is in us and we are in Him. Like a water glass in an ocean. Filled and immersed (Baptized). Smith Wigglesworth was a great man and a personal hero of the faith for me. He died in the 40s. Here is how he tried to explain all this. It's good to consider.

There is a difference between the Spirit being in you and the Spirit being with you. For instance, we are getting light now from outside this building. This is exactly the position of every believer that is not baptized with the Holy Ghost. The Spirit is with every person that is not baptized, and they have light from the outside. But suppose all the light that is coming through the window was inside.

That is exactly what is to be taking place. We have revelation from outside, revelation in many ways by the Spirit, but after He comes inside, it is revelation from inside which will make things outside right.

We are baptizing people in water, remembering that they are put to death, because every believer ought to be covered. Every believer must be put to death in water baptism. The baptism of the Spirit is to be planted deeper until there is not a part of you that is left. There is a manifestation of the power of the new creation by the Holy Spirit right in our mortal bodies.

Where once we were, now He reigns supreme, manifesting the very Christ inside of us, the Holy Ghost fulfilling all things right there.

Friday, December 19, 2008

The Coming World Religion of Fake JESUS

Like a gash that ripped a hole in the world, the onslaught started and reacted to by our nation that began in 9-11 was the beginning of a change that is nothing less than a spiritual big bang.

In one fell swoop, the mystery of Islam was revealed for what it is. The ineptitude of the body of Christ as it is on the earth today was made evident.

Jesus raised the bar in a way we never thought he would.

Right after the bombing of 9-11 David Wilkerson preached a sermon warning the Church of Jesus of the great apostasy to come that was initiated by the crisis in the USA and the world.

My brother found it in his desk drawer this morning and reminded me of it. I took time to look it up. It is startling because it exactly defines what is happening in the so called evangelical church that bears the name of Jesus. Jesus is no longer the Christ exclusive.

Everything has become malleable. Everything is negotiable. Here's what the Prophet Wilkerson said on October 29, 2001:

Every tongue in creation is going to testify, not that Mohammad is Lord, nor Allah, nor any of Hinduism's million gods, but that Jesus Christ is the one and only Lamb of God. That is the issue at the heart of this war. Yet, don't be mistaken: the present war isn't over a name.

It's over the divinity of Jesus, the resurrected, Lord.

Right now, the backslidden, ecumenical church is racing into the arms of Satan's strategy for a one-world church. Eventually, this unified church is going to include all of the world's major religions: Catholicism, Greek Orthodoxy, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, even Evangelical
Protestantism. And Satan will accomplish a single compromise between these religions, to bring this unity about. What will bind them together? The name of Jesus.

Of course, the Jesus who binds these groups together will be a different Christ, of a different gospel. Yet the very name will cause once-evangelical denominations to join with other faiths, saying, "We can agree on one thing: Jesus was a teacher and a prophet. And he's a spirit of human goodness in all of us. We all can accept him as a holy man."

Imagine the Creator of the universe being reduced to this. Jesus will no longer be accepted as the Christ, the divine Lord. The ecumenical church will do away with any idea of his resurrection and saving power. Instead, they'll use him to unite others in Satan's own one-world religion.

The fact is, the whole world can embrace a Jesus who's only a man.

Satan has no problem with that. He can accept the world's admiration and praise of a human-only Jesus. Indeed, many writers have extolled Jesus' human works yet scoffed at his divinity. Some of the most flowery words ever written about him have been authored by agnostic
ministers.

In addition to this is the way all this is couched in LOVE. Jesus LOVE.


MORE TOMORROW, STAY TUNED - this is a critical prophecy being manifested in our world RIGHT NOW!

I see Jesus in an Ice Storm

It's sniceing in Northern IL. Looks as if we all won't be going anywhere.

I get prophetic insights from these things.

If it were warmer this would be rain and water the ground. If it were colder it would be snow and cover everything. But since it's neither it brings things to a stop. It freezes. It is neither rain nor snow, neither hot nor cold.

The result is an incapacity to move.

Kind of like what is happening right now in the body of Christ. The passion has become tepid so the warmth that should bring the rain, spring rain isn't here. So what seems to be a rain storm is in reality paralysis. We, the Bride of Christ, have lost our way.

The only solution long term to bring a thaw is the SUN:

But to you that fear my name, shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. Malachi 4:2


For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good will he withhold from them that walk uprightly. Psalm 84:11


Let the SUN SHINE IN!

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Spiritual Blindness of the Very Elect

I was sad and asked the Lord why and how good people with good teaching, people who name the name of Jesus, people who are professing Christians, People who in many ways are to be admired, I asked the Lord, HOW can they be so confused, even deceived by a world system bent on seducing them into soft sin. Not condemning sin. Sin of compliance. Laodicean sin.

I wonder at how this is possible. Except that there is a verse in the Bible about this level of deception. These people are educated, respected, experienced, credentialed. And deceived.

They are not Normally Deceived. They are in fact the VERY elect. Jesus said this:
Matthew 24:24, "For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect."

Deception will result in spiritual blindness. Saul of Tarsus was a man who was educated, respected, experienced, credentialed. And deceived. Even the VERY elect will understand the blindness of Saul. A blindness that had to be healed before his name became Paul.

We have a lot of Sauls who need to see. VERY elect Sauls.

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Were David and Jonathon Homosexual Lovers? What you Believe and What you Recieve is Who You Will Become

I won't link to it. I have no interest in starting a blog war. I will discuss in private the matter of what is wrong with what I see as relativistic thinking in the Church. This is not about the NAE. This is worse.

My blog friend Ron Mackenzie says that the whore religion of this day is Democracy. I don't think so. I have lived in socialist countries. They suffer from the same whoredom as those who think they live in democracy like the USA.

The whore of Babylon is a false world religion (that calls itself Christian) who does commerce with the world system on their terms. That is what the church of Jesus is becoming. We compromise a little. Accept a little. Allow a little. When the whore church becomes mainstream it will call it's success REVIVAL. It might even say that the Holy Spirit moved on men and caused men to come to Jesus (in their rebellion and sin). We are on the way there NOW!

All in the name of reaching young people. I love young people. I have many as friends. I go to their conferences. I hear them proclaim an uncompromising faith in Jesus. I suspect those who now take it upon themselves to pronounce what will reach a lost generation think the answer to that question is hidden in the pages of contemporary biblical journalism.

Such is the example of an article from this weeks Newsweek. It asks the question, were David and Jonathon secret homosexual lovers? Maybe even married?

These are the little foxes spoiling the vines. These are altars built in high places to appeal to a generation. They will appeal. But if you read the Books of Kings and Chronicles that kind of compromise will take you to places you never wanted to go and further down than you ever thought possible. It will eventually result in shipwreck and ruin.

I am not optimistic. I heard the Spirit of the Lord say today, "I will destroy everything that hinders love". If that becomes the idol of relativism we are beyond hope as a church.

Only persecution and martyrdom will bring us back to our knees and help us to stop the foolishness that will lead us nowhere but to perdition.

Great prophets of the past like David Wilkerson in The Vision and Set the Trumpet to Thy Mouth saw this day. He saw the whoredom of the church of Jesus. Married to the world in search of cultural relevance.

He was grieved then. He said that God grieved. He still does.

Jesus never embraced or winked at sin. He engaged it. We must engage it. We must earn the right. But long ago I became acquainted with men of God who saw things as they really are and called them according to the word of God.

Where are the Leonard Ravenhills of today? Where are the Keith Greens? We still have David Wilkerson.

Let's hear the voice of God once again. The voice of the world is drowning him out of the church that bears his name.

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

A look at 2009

Contrary to my stated policy to NOT read anything that looks the the next year before I get the word given me, so as not to pollute my brain, this crossed my desktop. John Mark Pool is the Prophet on this. I post it not so much as thus saith the Lord. I just happen to think that this is a really safe bet. And, it's a good thing.

2009 is a Year of Evangelistic Harvest!

The year 2009 will indeed become the beginning of one of the most unprecedented times of harvest this nation and the world has ever experienced. We must be ready for such reaping. Reaping is best for those who have prepared their nets. We must now have our visions of a move of God raised higher. The world around us is experiencing this in a way most Americans have not yet experienced.

Take time to follow the Lord drawing you into a deep hunger for intimacy with Him and the sheep of His pasture. He cares for everyone in His creation. He made us to glorify Him in all the earth. 2009 will be a year that is initiated in many exciting ways. Begin to thank the Lord for all His love and grace and care that He gave us - it's more than we would ever deserve.

2009 will be a Year for Praise and Thanksgiving!

"Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise: be thankful unto Him, and bless His name." Psalm 100:4

King David appointed Levites to lead in prayer, thanksgiving, and praise in 1 Chronicles 16. At the heart of this chapter is thanksgiving. Beginning in verse seven, David recited his own "psalm of thanks to the LORD.'' The verses following reveal a beautiful song of gratitude to God. True worship of God issues forth from grateful hearts.

A feeling such as bitterness, envy, hostility, and pride disqualifies anyone from genuine worship. Thanksgiving opens up the door of the heart toward God in such a way that the individual is freed for true worship of God. Everywhere in Scripture this spirit of thanksgiving is revealed as vital to our worship experience. Let's exchange a spirit of bitterness for a spirit of thanksgiving!

King David had a lifestyle of one trial after another which could've been his ending at any moment if he ever gave into defeat. However, like the same sinew of faithfulness that Joseph and Jacob possessed, they allowed themselves no room for destruction. Praise and worship before Almighty God became not only a healing salve to their tattered souls, but also a weapon of praise against the wiles of the devil. Yes, incorporate praise as a lethal weapon in our spiritual arsenal.

"You have turned my mourning into joyful dancing. You have taken away my clothes of mourning and clothed me with joy, that I might sing praises to You and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give You thanks forever!" Psalm 30:11-12

Be like David and then have a spirit of thanksgiving for saving him from his enemies. "You are my rock and my fortress. For the honor of Your name, lead me out of this peril. Pull me from the trap my enemies set for me, for I find protection in You alone. I entrust my spirit into Your hand. Rescue me, LORD, for You are a faithful God" (Psalm 31:3-5 emphases added).

Many battles will indeed come our way in the next few years, as God is about to shake our nation as never before, but we will learn in this season of testing to "entrust our spirit into the Lord's hand."

We have had a real year of trials of our faith, yet that is what makes Christians stronger! King David said it this way, in Psalm 34:19, "Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all."

Now is the time to begin drawing into the heart of our Lord and to thank Him for all He has done for us. This is a season in time to decree and press in for you and your family to experience in 2009 and beyond - the Fullness of Blessings!

Monday, December 15, 2008

A Fool and His Soul are Soon Parted

The word of God says "the fool has said in his heart, "There is no God".

I am aware of the increasing profile (perhaps not number) of a faithless atheistic expression in our culture. I'm not sure there are more, just more visible.

Then there are those who are functional atheists. They attend church from time to time, at funerals, pray the Lords Prayer in unison with others, but they live without God in their life.

They are not professing atheists, just functionally so.

This morning I was looking over a news website. Atheists in Las Vegas want to conduct atheistic weddings. I will shock you. Go ahead. Let them. Most of the Elvis and King Tut weddings are functionally atheist. God is joining nothing together...... etc.

When I read this story, the spirit of God said to me, The man who denies God has a soul, but he will lose it at about 80 years.

A fool and his soul are soon parted. I am NOT the Holy Spirit. I will tell the truth to them. They will suffer great loss. If they turn to Jesus and just ask he will come like the rain, like the spring rain and raise them up again.

If not, they are doomed to spend eternity totally alone, in the cold and dark, tormented by demons and painful remorse on what might have been.

That is a terrible place to be.

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Illinois Must be Loved by GOD - Number 9

I thought about how the Lord disciplines those who He loves.

I thought about the last week. I asked why??

I think God must really really love Illinois. Otherwise, how do you explain everything going on in my fair state?

Maybe it has to do with the number 9 as in 2009. Everyone cheered when 8 was the number of new beginnings.

It was.

Now 9.

9 = THE NUMBER OF JUDGMENT. There are 9 greek words derived from the root word meaning judgment = dikay. The following words each occur 9 times in the Bible: abussos (bottomless pit); asebee (ungodly); aselgeia (lasciviousness); and astrapee (lightning). The gifts of the spirit are 9 in number (1 Cor. 12:8-10): the word of wisdom, the word of knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, tongues, and interpretation of tongues.
It started in Illinois. Where will it end?

Saturday, December 13, 2008

Going to Mt. Horeb

Mt. Horeb (which scriptually is the same mountain as Sinai) is a place of encounter with God. It's a desert place. It's a place where you go to get fresh manna.

I often go to the House of Prayer. It has been a Horeb for me. Here's why:
  • Like Moses encountering the Burning Bush at Horeb and commissions him. He commissioned me there.

  • Like the Children of Israel, divisions and dividing over sin was exposed at Horeb (Golden Calf). And in me.

  • Like the Rock Stuck producing water. My thirst soul was satisfied again and again at Horeb.

  • Like The Law Handed down. Clarity in what God Wanted of me was brought to light at Horeb.

  • Like the encounter with the Glory of God by Moses when the Backside of God Passed by, I encountered God's Glory at Horeb.

  • Like the thundering from the Top of the Mountain at Horeb, I learned to hear and fear the word of the Lord.

  • Like the place of resting and leading, God first appears as a pillar of Fire and cloud at Horeb. I learned to see and hear his leading at Horeb.

  • Like the children of Israel making the ARK of the Covenant out of the Desert, The ARK was born at Horeb. I was there. Was part of it.

  • And even today, when I need to retreat from Jezebel I go to Horeb to hide in the cave and hear from God. Like Elijah did. He speaks to me at Horeb.
I hope you have a Horeb. Where did you first encounter God and Can Go There now to find him again?

That's Mount Horeb for you.

Friday, December 12, 2008

A great, world-wide mobilization

Joh. W. Matutis (1 Dec 2008)
"God's mobilization call"

The Lord gave me a very important vision. I must inform you of them. Perhaps it is important for you and helpful?

Pastor Joh.W.Matutis, (Berlin / Germany)
www.nnk-berlin.de (english menu)


While praying this morning, God gave me a vision. He showed me a great, world-wide mobilization

I saw myself strolling along a beach. Suddenly, there sounded a loud boom, which became stronger and more massive. It was not the noise of the sea or of the wind. It was completely still
outside. The sea water was as smooth as glass. The deep booming sound which was like the sound of the mountains about to cave in, a banging sound which I had up till now never heard in my whole life, came from the other side of the ocean, from far away. It became so strong and mighty, that the earth began to quake and shake. It sounded like the blasting of a deep bass
trumpet. I had never heard this sort and depth of bass sound before now. The whole air vibrated.I holed myself up in the dunes of the embankment, face down, and waited to see what would come out of this natural spectacle.

When the booming refused to stop, and instead became stronger, I saw myself begin to pray in the vision, and to speak with my God. Then I heard a voice saying, my child, fear not. That is my mobilization call, a signal, from the other world. I am calling my people out from all peoples. I myself am shaking the earth and the sea. The sinners and godless will pass away for fear and the fearful expectation of the things which are to come.

Understand, my child, that all these have been initiated by the financial crises. That was just the beginning of ruin. The foundation of today's society will be so shaken that the people will lose all that they have acquired, and saved up till now.

Every infrastructure and welfare will collapse with time.

Life will be very difficult for very many people.

The general security will get out of control and there will be a proliferation of crime such that life on earth will be massively threatened. But you, who fear my name will I save from ruin. I am holding my arm of protection over you.

Although not even a silent wind blew, and not even a small wave was seen on the sea, the booming was so mighty, that my heart threatened tostop beating. Then I thought to myself, I will now also die. And then the Lord said to me, my child, do not fear. You are to live and continue to declare my works. Arise, go home and tell your loved ones. Let them know that the coming of my son is very close at hand, at the doorstep. I am setting everything in motion
in order to take my people home, and I am now stripping them of everything that is holding them back, or blocking them.

As I stood up to obey God's voice, starting to make my way homewards, I saw very many people, lying in the dunes. They had come out from their houses, racing towards the sea to see and experience this extraordinary natural spectacle. They lay on their faces as if paralysed, exactly as I had lain a few minutes before now. As I passed by them on my way home, despite the continuous distant booming sound, these people called to me saying you are crazy; you cannot make it home in this situation. It is too dangerous. They then buried their heads even further in the dunes, because they feared what would happen next. They no longer wanted to hear or know of anything.

And then said the Lord to me: for you, my children, who fear my name, this is the day of my mobilization. For you my sun of salvation arises, with which I gather my true children, and bring them together.

Go, my son, and tell this everyone you can reach.

Then I asked the Lord what shall I tell them?

Tell my children, He said, they are no longer to occupy themselves with perishable things, but rather, much more with the immortal, the eternal things. They are to seek me and study my word. They should forgive one another, so long as there is still time, and make peace with one another.

They should stop being envious of , and pointing fingers at one another. They should neither accuse nor suspect one another.

Everyone should do what he is supposed to, and can do.

Tell them to free themselves of every unnecessary thing, and to stop fighting spasmodically (intermittently) for their rights. From now on, I will ensure your rights, and provide for justice for you. Great changes are about to occur all over the world, in every area of life. Adjust yourselves therefore and be prepared. Nothing is going to be as it has been before now...

The further I moved from the beach, the less of the booming sound I heard, even though I was of the opinion that the sound had become stronger and even more massive. I felt as if I had been secured in a class case.

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying I will bring my children into safety in my own way. You will see everything I will do in the world, which will experience all the plagues of Egypt before I withdraw my children unto myself, before Pharaoh releases you forever. My people hold together! Stay with one another, encourage one another. Soon, you would have made it!

That was the last thing I took with me from this vision.

As I thought about all that I had seen, and what I should do with it, the Lord spoke to me saying spread this revelation I have given you this morning about my mobilization overall further to my children, and encourage them to do likewise, for I am at the door (I am coming soon). And tell them, especially my people, that they should be serious about their relationship. Do help me spread this message overall. Send it to your friends and acquaintances. Spread it your churches and house fellowships.

Translate it into other languages.

Maranatha! Our Lord comes.

Pastor Joh Matutis

www.nnk-berlin.de