20 years ago while working in Germany, I became obsessed with the life times and places of Martin Luther. This was just before the wall came down. During a couple year's time I made a pilgrimage, sometimes more than once to places that he had lived, preached and worked. I wanted a sense of the man. I wanted to know the spirit of a man who was a key to reforming dead stinking religion in his day.
As a pentecostal christian I had much to admire about Luther. He studied the scriptures and began to ask, why. I had understanding of how the church that uses his name picked and chose those things that create structure when in fact that wasn't his intent all along. He was all about the priesthood of every believer. As I studied I found much wanting in the American Church of his namesake.
I won't get into theology but my upbringing in the Lutheran Church distorted the work and theology of a man God used to change the world, imperfect as he was, flawed, clumsy, human . Just like me.
Of course there were a few issues on which his writings would not pass muster today. But many of the books he penned are profoundly rich and I treasure them.
We attended great Pentecostal German Churches. I learned to love and admire the devotion of those German Christians. They reminded me of Luther. Like Reinhard Bonnke.
But, I had a holy discontent. I knew that there was a need for change. It was after the Jimmy Swaggart and Jim Bakker revelations. I knew we needed to make a new start.
I wanted to be part of that change. I wanted to be an encourager of the change so desperately needed in an American Church that no longer worked.
Somehow I knew comprehending the anointing Luther had would be essential in understanding the last great Reformation. I asked Father to impart to me the same anointing that Martin Luther had.
One afternoon in Wittenburg at the Church where Luther is buried, all alone I was at his grave (he is buried in the floor) and asked for the same spirit He had. We visited the house where Luther and his family lived. I sat on a bench that I know he at one time sat upon. I asked for impartation, even over the hundreds of years. I stood in the little chapel that he preached in, it was smaller than I thought it would be. I knelt and asked for the same anointing.
Later we visited Wartburg Castle of a Mighty Fortress Fame. Much of it was museum in nature. But when I saw the room where he encountered the devil face to face and tossed the bottle of Ink at him, I stood in that room and asked for the same indignation and authority over dark forces.
I won't tell you I felt anything other than a connection to the great reformer and to our God.
We came back to the USA in the mid 90s with a different view of what a new Reformation might look like. What "church" could be like. It was different by far from what I saw all around me.
I was connected with people who were as hungry for change as I was. There was a prophecy (Hinkle) that changed my life. June 9, 1994. That God was going to change everything. The cleansing. A year later almost to the day Pensacola broke out. God was changing everything and it was time to get on board with what he was doing. All kinds of things began to happen. One of which was an encounter with Rodney Howard Browne before he was famous. He said to me, "Gene, this doesn't have to be unusual, you can LIVE LIKE THIS". I believed him. I do. To this day.
As changes began to accelerate, as things came into place. I recognized that the Gift of Teaching that I exercised in church was more than just taking a book or a course and walking thru it. I found myself extracting truth from books of the Bible in ways that many times astounded even me. I kept saying, I not that good a teacher. Something is going on here. People began to look to more than just understanding of scripture, but how does that apply to them. Prophetic.
In the late 90s it became clear that the gift God was imparting was not teaching but the prophetic office. Reformation thru the prophetic. Prophets and Apostles were not yet recognized by many -- YET.
The spirit of God had imparted to me some of what HE had imparted to Martin Luther. I was willing. So was HE.
At first I was tentative. I read books, I spent time with other prophetic people. I enjoyed and benefited from those times. I realized however that this anointing was unique to the Call of God on my life. It became apparent that to be "Trained" or Mentored to be what Father had appointed me to be could have become sacrilegious. I have been careful to allow Father to develop me and not rush off here or there to hear from "world" prophets.
The reality was, God had put a specific spiritual DNA in me. A prophetic DNA. I, like Saul, becoming a different man.
More than ever, I see the hand of God. He has placed me as a Prophet. He has appointed me. Ordained me. Yes I have received public recognition from Churches, Friends, Pastors even denominations. It's good, but the reality is their recognition is far less important than the ordination of Father by His Spirit.
The ONE who really matters placed me where I stand now. A prophet of God.
I can't not be a prophet any more than I can change my gender. People ask how do I know that I'm a Prophet. I know because it's what I produce as a gift, it's what God anoints, It's what God Appoints and it's how God uses me. Sure I can do other things. But it's in the prophetic when Father takes charge. Right as it should be.
The office of Prophet is no different than the office of Pastor, Evangelist, Apostle, Teacher. I'm not the others. I am a Prophet. Just as an Evangelist is an Evangelist.
I do not just have a prophetic gift as one of the gifts of the Spirit. I have a calling, an office because it's not what I do, its who I am. That's what an office looks like. I am the place the gift dwells. In an office.
It doesn't make me better or worse. It does cause me to understand that for me the bar is raised. I'm thankful yet live in fear of the Lord that I not misuse the gift and office he has placed me in.
I think about how Luther must have felt, must have wondered and then he BECAME his calling.
His calling was his anchor. Just like mine.
The reformation has begun and I am willing to be whatever part of it Father calls me to... He will.
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