Prophetic Insights
White House Visit
One month ago I dreamt that I was invited to a dinner at the White House in Washington DC. I went carrying an axe; no one present seemed to think this out of the ordinary. I approached a man who was a US secretary of defence during the Vietnam War, and introduced myself as being a New Zealander. I asked him, "What is going on here?" He would not answer my question or engage me further.
"And the axe is already laid to the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire." (Matthew 3.10)
"Chop down the tree and cut off its branches...This sentence is by the decree of the angelic watchers...In order that the lving may know that the Most High is ruler over the realms of mankind (human kingdoms), and bestows it on whom He wishes, and sets over it the lowliest of men." (Daniel 4.14&17)
I anticipate dramatic alterations to State and Church leadership in America in 2006 at the highest levels. The former will mean negative consequences for the Middle East...especially the State of Israel. The latter will signal the tranference of influence to a new generation and kind of Christian leadership.
"The proud look of man will be abased, and the loftiness of man will be humbled and the Lord alone will be exalted in that day." (Isaiah 2.11) "I will put an end to the arrogance of the proud and abase the haughtiness of the ruthless." (Isaiah 13.11)
"The Lord will be king over all the earth; in that day the Lord will be the only one, and His name the only one." (Zechariah 14.9)
"But the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth." (Daniel 2.34-35)
"But not so for you, but let him who is the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as the servant." (Luke 22.25-26)
Christ Have Mercy
Why does a particular kind of Christian personality-type appear so eager to see God wipe people out? Why are some self-proclaimed prophets overtly keen to see blood (but never their own!) spilt in the name of the wrath and judgement of God?
"I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live." (Ezekiel 33.11)
" 'Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?' But He turned and rebuked them, and said, 'You do not know what kind of spirit you are of; for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them.' " (Luke 9.54)
"The Lord...is not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance." (2 Peter 3.9)
It will be given to few of God's "mouths" in the Last Days to proclaim the holy and just judgements of the Lord. And the validity of the prophecy will be determined by the conditon of the prophet. If he lusts and craves for the destruction he predicts to take place, then he is not true. The authentic will be exactly like the Prophet Amos, who upon "seeing" the severe chastisements of God coming upon Israel, cried out on two occasions,
"Lord God, please pardon...please stop! How can Jacob stand, for he is small?" The Bible records that "the Lord changed His mind...relented...about this. 'It shall not be,' said the Lord." (Amos 7.1-7)
In the Last Days the true seers will be found (after much searching) on their faces, employing their own poor, salty tears holding back the flood-tide of God's just judgement, which they know only too well must in the end break through into history.
"God, be merciful to me, the sinner." (Luke 18.13)
The Second Wave
Dreamt I was at the beach in the height of summer (harvest time); crowds of people milling around as if expecting something to happen. Huge pleasure boats all around, washed up onto the sand by a previous great wave, now beached, side-on to the shoreline and tide. Then I saw a massive and magnificent wave forming (not yet breaking) and heading rapidly towards land. A small boy looked at me with eyes which asked the question, "What are we going to do?"
This world desperately needs a fresh tidal wave of Holy Spirit revival to flood over it, yet again. And God has promised just such a visitation before His Son ascends His throne in Jerusalem. "Repent therefore and return, that your sins may be wiped away in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord; and that He may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you." (Acts 3.19-20)
My answer to the little boy's question is, Get well away from the beached boats which are lying side-one to the incoming wave. It will destroy them, and crush those people who are too close. Run and find fishing boats which are already poised to put to sea.
The only boats which have any kind of chance of riding out this wave are those facing into it. Local churches today have a divine obligation and duty to prepare for the next wave of revival by training all their family members to face the Holy Spirit, and through worship and concern for the lost, walk and wade and swim out deeper into Him.
"Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come, tread, for the wine press is full; the vats overflow, for their wickedness is great. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision." (Joel 3.13-14)
"'Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch!'...And when they had done this, they enclosed a great quantity of fish; and their nets began to break." (Luke 5.4-6)
Blinded Prophet
I recently came by a book about the renowned New Zealand poet, James K. Baxter (1926-72), who I consider was a prophet.
"Lord, Holy Spirit,
You are the kind fire who does not cease to burn, Consuming us with flames of love and peace, Driving us out like sparks to set the world on fire."
This book came from the library of a posh school. One of its pupils has defaced the book's cover by drawing with gold ink over the prophet's eyes, making him look like a blind man. The more I look at this unbearably sad image, the sicker I feel...and the more stirred up prophetically.
Isaiah taught that the prophets should be "the eyes of the people". (29.10) Yet in the same breath he continues, "But God has blindfolded them...He has covered your heads the seers." Later the prophet asks (42.19), "Who is blind but My servant, or so deaf as My messenger whom I send?" And finally (56.10) he cries out, "His watchmen are blind, all of them know nothing. All of them are dumb dogs unable to bark, dreamers lying down, who love to slumber."
My question today is, Where are God's People right now so far as prophetic understanding ("the times") is concerned? Are we in "the light", "the dark", or some strange "twilight zone"? And if the answer is unclear, is that because those deemed prophets are indeed "blind and dumb"? And if they are, is that entirely through their own fault, or is it because God's People insist upon it being so?
"And Stephen said, 'Behold, I see the heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.' And they cried out with a loud voice, and covered their ears..." (Acts 7.56-57)
Is there not a danger in this age of ecclesiastical multi-media and religious consumerism, that our eyes and ears have been drugged and dulled by the Sunday sounds of "a noisy gong or tinkling cymbal"? (1 Corinthians 13.1) Have we perhaps become like those who when they heard "the blast of a trumpet and the sound of words...begged that no further word be spoken to them...for they could not bear the command"? (Hebrews 12.19-20)
I'm very stirred by the picture of a prophet "blinded" by a privileged child. It is as poignant as it is repugnant. Please, let's pray together that the truly-sent seers' eyes and mouths will be wholly opened by the power of the Spirit of Jesus, and that we will have the courage to face (and not shrink from) His words...no matter how unappealing or demanding.
"But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul." (Hebrews 10.39)
Gaza Heartache
It is impossible not to feel heartbroken and haunted by this week's television images of Israel's internal turmoil and struggle as it withdraws and "disengages" from Gaza; territory captured from Egypt during the 1967 war.
Heartbroken...because "any kingdom divided against itself is laid waste; and any city or house divided against itself shall not stand." (Matthew 12.25)
Haunted...because the two major parties involved are (God bless them) in error:
The government of Israel's costly policy of appeasing the Palestinian Authority by giving them land legally acquired by conquest in ‘67, is never going to work. The Palestinian Authority will only finally be satisfied when there is no Jewish state anywhere in the world, and when Jerusalem is entirely under Islamic control.
The "settlers" dream of the restoration of "greater Israel" to bring messiah is triumphalistic and enjoys little endorsement from scripture or history. They will not receive the Kingdom, until they receive God’s King/Messiah. Also, the empires of David and Solomon at their fullest stretch did incorporate vast tracts of present-day Lebanon, Syria and Jordan...but did not include "Philistia" (Gaza).
Israel's (state and people) only hope from this week on is divine intervention, as foretold and promised by the prophet Zechariah 2,500 years ago, "I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city will be captured...then the LORD will go forth and fight against those nations...in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives." (14.2,3,4)
It is now clearly and decisively the time for Christians to cry out day and night for God to "pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication, so they will look on Me (Jesus) whom they have pierced." (12.10)
Lest the Christian community be tempted to smugly stand on the sidelines spectating, ponder this. Israel (especially since 1900) has been an accurate prophetic barometer to the church. (Ref. "Elijah must come" pages 3-6)
So:
1) The modern church is infinitely more divided against itself that present-day Israel.
2) Many modern "successful" church movements are based on a philosophy and programme of appeasing the world; hoping to make ourselves attractive to the unsaved by trying to be what we think they want us to be...relevant, non-threatening, pc, trendy. What price "success"?
3) Modern Christian triumphalism is expressed most clearly today through a host of "neo-apostolic" movements. By submitting yourself to "the man of God" and his "message" and his "movement" you are promised spiritual and material "success" in every area of your life. This trend is frankly denied by the Bible (especially the Gospels) and history. E.g. Roman Catholicism and Exclusive Brethrenism.
As for Israel, so for the Church. Our only hope of ever being and doing all He has called us to is divine intervention/visitation/awakening/revival:
"Oh, that You would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains might quake at your presence...to make Your name known to Your adversaries, that the nations may tremble at your Presence." (Isaiah 64.1-2)
I Visited You
I dreamt that I approached a very old and very beautiful 2-storey house...its timbers had been bleached white and weathered as smooth as can be, by centuries of wind and rain and sun. I was carrying the books I've written so the owner of this house could check them out and ok me to be a preacher. The door was answered by two exceptionally beautiful women...a mother and her daughter. I did not think that I knew the mother who appeared weary and care-worn. But she said to me, "I have visited you, but you treated me as if I did not exist." Her daughter was by contrast carefree and happy and related very warmly to me.
I am presently being affected by this dream along the following lines:
1) The house is the Body of Christ, which is the Church. (Romans 12.5, Ephesians 4.4-6) There are many churches, but there is still only one Body. We need to restore out primary loyalty as being to His Body, in all the full fulness of its panoramic historical and present day vastness and scope and diversity. Our secondary and tertiary loyalties should go to our local churches and various movements/denominations. By and large we have this back to front at the moment. It's going to take the whole Body to carry the whole anointing bestowed by the Head to save the whole of the nation of Aotearoa-New Zealand.
2) In the social, political and religious heat and turmoil of these Last Days, it's going to be increasingly imperative that Christians (and especially Christian leaders) willingly and graciously surrender "every opinion to His dominion". When the crunch comes let's let "God be found true, though every man be found a liar". (Romans 3.4)
3) The "mother" is the 90's Revival (Toronto Blessing, Move of God etc)...and her "daughter" is the next visitation. Hallelujah. A new revival (2nd wave) is on the way...is just around the corner. But we will be best prepared for it by looking unflinchingly and listening unguardedly at what has just been. For a whole bunch of reasons (known best to each one of us individually) we were not able to receive and embrace the ultimate purposes (unending national and global revival) of the 90's Revival. If we can stomach the "mother's" painful and yet tender rebuke, perhaps we may be able to minimise the chances of our treating her "daughter" similarly. (John 1.10-11, Psalm 78.40-41, Ephesians 4.30)
4) I fully expect God's next visitation to be all about "in the Last Days, says God, I will pour out of My Spirit upon all flesh"...the entire human race simultaneously in all of its fallen-ness and broken-ness. (Joel 2.28, Acts 2.17)
The Lost And Left
Last Friday I travelled by bus to speak in Thames. Well into the journey we had to turn back quite a distance to pick up a passenger who had been left behind. I was really frustrated and angry to be so inconvenienced.
When we got back to the bus stop, there standing on the side of the road was a a little Maori boy, plaintively clutching his bag and ticket. The sight melted this angry, hard heart in an instant.
Later on in the trip the Lord spoke to me out of Luke 15.3-7, "What man among you, if he has 100 sheep and has lost one of them, does not leave the 99 in the open pasture (lit. “wilderness”!!), and go after the one which is lost, until he find it?"
I anticipate the following:
* A major "sea change" is occurring as God’s attention is massively and extravagantly beginning to fall in greater and greater ways upon "the one which is lost".
* We the Church (presently lying like a big baby in a warm cot) are going to have to learn how to "eat meat" according to 1 Corinthians 3.1-3. By so doing we'll be cut away from "mummy's" milky apron strings and enabled to get out with "dad" on the farm. There's work to be done!!
* God is now going to visit and gather New Zealand's Maori people to Himself through a sovereign, Holy Spirit revival, during which Jesus alone will truly receive all the glory. People reaching out and touching this “ark” (no matter how "pure" they allege their motives to be) will receive Uzzah's "reward". (2 Samuel 6)
Asian Tsunami
In recent days a number of people have asked me what I think about the Asian Tsunami. I have just listened to a tape of my prophesying on the altar call at a meeting at the Red Shed Church in Papamoa on November 7, 2004. I enclose excerpts from this for you to ponder. I strongly emphasise that this is not being done with any thought or attitude of "I told you so". But it may be that the following words give us insights into how to walk with God by faith through these days.
The relevant portion begins with me feeling there are going to be "incredible shocks in the earth".
"The earth has built a shell around itself like a nut...these shocks (are) breaking open the shell of humanistic self-sufficiency...the shell of the world and its power and its pride...to get to the heart of the human race. Do not be dismayed...do not be shaken by these shocks...God is not content to leave men and women to their own devices...He's going to break in amongst us...shocking shocks in the earth followed by tremendous movings of the Holy Spirit and tremendous harvestings and ingatherings."
I append the following Scriptures for your consideration as well:
"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life." (John 3.16)
"Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy." (Matthew 5.4&7)
Fire From Above
I anticipate fire from above and below during 2005!
"And the angel took the censer, and he filled it with fire of the altar and threw it on the earth." (Revelation 8.5)
"I have come to cast fire upon the earth." (Luke 12.49)
"Everyone will be salted with fire." (Mark 9.49)
"Fire from the Lord out of heaven." (Genesis 19.24)
"In danger of hell fire." (Matthew 5.22)
I see a year in which fire will fall down upon us from heaven, and at the same time fire will come up out of the ground from underneath us; one kind from Heaven and the other out of hell.
Those who love and receive the fire from on high will be minimally affected by the fire from below. However those who care little for the fire of God (even though they might be Born again) will be burnt and harmed by the fire from below. We are free to choose what we love the most.
Yesterday morning I wept as I watched the movie "Soldiers and Saints"...the true account of the massacre of US soldiers by Germans during WW2. As I was watching it I was carried into the picture and out the other side to today. The Western world and its church's present crusader-like, warfare approach to the threat of militant Islam is going to fail. The killing of Islamic fighters is going to spawn even more and at the same time corrupt us.
Only our God who is "a consuming fire" (Hebrews 12.29) can save us now!
Suddenly
Last night I dreamt that I was in Palestinian territory. I saw a hand-gun fall to the ground. As it hit the ground it went off and the bullet killed a bystander. I woke up immediately with a conviction that civil war will break out among the Palestinians.
I got up later to the news that Israel (closely followed by the USA) had announced that Chairman Arafat (PA leader) had died during the night. Then France (where he has been receiving "royal" treatment) announced that he was then still alive.
I believe that he did in fact die during the night...but that the announcement of his death was delayed to give rival powers amongst the Palestinians time to organise themselves.
In his early days the symbol of Arafat's plane-dynamiting terrorism was a brandished hand-gun. That gun fell to the ground during the night, and it's falling will bring more death to the Palestinians.
The word on my heart today is "suddenly". Today begins a new season of "suddenly’s".
"Behold, I am going to send My messenger, and he will clear the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple; and the messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight, behold, He is coming, says the Lord of Hosts." (Malachi 3.1)
Jesus is going to return suddenly...and history immediately before His return is going to be full of sudden and unexpected events.
"Therefore, be on the alert - for you do not know when the master of the house is coming, whether in the evening, at midnight, at cock-crowing, or in the morning - lest he come suddenly and find you asleep." (Mark 13.35-36)
The early Church was birthed through a series of “suddenly’s”:
"Suddenly there came from heaven..." (Acts 2.2)
"Suddenly a light from heaven flashed..." (Acts 9.3)
"Suddenly there came a great earthquake..." (Acts 16.26)
The Last Days Church will approach the Last Day via a series of “suddenly’s”. We need to be ready:
"Then the Kingdom of Heaven will be comparable to 10 virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegrooom...the prudent took oil in flasks along with their lamps...Be on the alert then, for you do not know (unexpected/sudden) the day or the hour." (Matthew 25.1,4,13)
PS There is a determination amongst some Palestinian factions that Arafat be buried on the Temple Mount! This is not only out of the question for Israel...but utterly intolerable to God who has already reserved that ground for the Throne of His Son.
