Category Archives: Prophecy

What God Taught Me in My 310 Days at Walmart

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When I felt the Lord speaking to my heart about applying for a job at Walmart, I must admit that I scratched my head a few times. You see, I was nearly 71 years old and had a few physical issues: both knees are bone on bone due to long ago football injuries, back problems from climbing ladders and falling off a few of them, and weak wrists from gripping a paint brush and typing for hours and hours at a time.

I was certainly not a poster-perfect candidate for being a cashier at a high-volume Walmart Super Center, but yet, I knew the Lord was asking me to do just that.

I interviewed for a cashier position at the Temecula Walmart Supercenter on August 12, 2016, and was hired at that time. One of the questions asked was about any physical problems that I might have which might cause me problems in carrying out my duties as a cashier. I answered, “No.”

Did I lie about my physical problems? No, I don’t believe I did because it was my belief that if God called me to be a cashier, He would enable me to fulfill the job. The significance of my answer in writing was that I removed all liability from Walmart for any injuries to my wrists, knees, and back.

My first day was August 25, 2016. For the following two weeks, I worked with veteran cashiers who trained me. Then, I began working on my own in early September.

One of the lessons I have learned over the years is that when God calls you to do something, there is no use in being timid, just jump in with both feet, trusting that God will protect you. I call it reckless faith, much like Paul demonstrated in Acts 16:37. After being beaten, thrown in prison, and fastened in stocks, Paul refused to leave prison until the authorities came and apologized to Silas and him. That takes godly chutzpa!

So, I made up my mind to not protect myself in any way and to do every job asked of me as if I had no injuries. This resulted in some interesting situations, like trying to help a woman with a bad back put a heavy piece of furniture (150 pounds) into her vehicle. It so happened that a strong man walking down the parking lot aisle volunteered to help me. That was lucky, right? No, I don’t believe in luck. I believe in a heavenly Father who loves me so much that He will always be there to help in my time of need.

Did my hands, knees, and back hurt? Yes, so much so, that sometimes I had trouble sleeping at night.

In fact, if anyone would have noticed me stepping out of my car in the Walmart parking lot and walking the one hundred yards to the store’s entrance, they would have wondered how a crippled, one hundred-year old man could possibly work at Walmart. Or that’s what it seemed to me.

Yet, when I walked in the door at Walmart, His grace fell upon me and I became Larry, the cashier with a big smile for everyone. The pain was still there, but it was only on the surface. And as long as I trusted in His grace, which I was forced to do at all times, I could walk through each day.

If we want to serve God, especially us senior citizens, we can’t pray away every one of our problems. If we choose to wait, hoping miracles will heal or prosper us, we may miss our opportunities and if that happens, how many more opportunities can we expect to have in the future. But even so, we can always trust in this verse:

Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:16)

One experience, out of many, was worth every ounce of pain that I suffered while working as a cashier. It happened on a busy day when I first opened my register. An elderly man wearing a U. S. Marine veterans cap rode an electric cart up to the register and placed his few groceries on the conveyer belt.

I looked at him and said, “How are you today?”

“I don’t know,” he replied.

“What does that mean?”

“Well, to be honest, the old Sarge is not doing well today.”

“Would you like some prayer?”

“Yes.”

I walked around the bagging console, grabbed his hands, and prayed for him. The presence of God fell upon us. We both wept like little children who just opened the best Christmas gift ever.

“Wow, that was awesome!” he proclaimed.

“Yeah,” I said.

I walked back and became a Walmart Cashier at register 6, scanning items. Customers moved to the line and life continued in a normal fashion… or normal for Walmart.

(An excerpt from The Hunt for Larry Who by Larry Nevenhoven, © 2014, Amazon eBook)

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Friday’s End-Times Bible Studies (Part 8)

There is an underlying story between the Book of Genesis and the Book of Revelation. That story revolves around God’s love for humans and how determined God is to redeem them.

In Genesis Chapter One, the first man –Adam – was created in God’s image and was given dominion over all of the earth.  Adam was created to walk and fellowship with God and then rule the earth as God’s ambassador. This was Adam’s birthright and therefore all of mankind’s birthright through Adam.

But soon, Eve was deceived by Satan and then Adam committed sin by rebelling against God’s commandment about not eating fruit from the tree of knowledge and evil. Adam’s sin cost him his birthright and therefore all of mankind’s birthright at the same time.

With his sin, Satan usurped Adam’s (and our) birthright and became the ruler of this world and the god of this age.

But here’s the good news: God created the heavens and earth. He also created the laws by which Satan and mankind must follow, concerning birthrights. These laws allow a male relative to buy back a birthright.

Now, all of mankind since Adam would have qualified as male relatives, but the male kinsman redeemer had to be without sin because of Adam’s sin of rebellion. This disqualified every man except one: Jesus, who is the last Adam.

And I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a scroll written inside and on the back, sealed with seven seals. (Revelation 5:1)

The scroll is a legal document because only these were written on both sides. I believe it is Adam’s lost birthright, the title deed to the earth. Jesus, the Lamb of God, is the only Man who will be found worthy to open the seven seals so that the scroll will be totally opened.

In simplistic terms, I believe the opening of the seven seal judgments by the Lamb of God (Jesus) and then the resultant seven trumpet judgments are the acts our Kinsman Redeemer must perform to buy back the earth from Satan.

At the seventh trumpet, loud voices in heaven will proclaim:

The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever. (Revelation 11:15)

Question: Who sets the buy back terms for a birthright to be redeemed by a kinsman?

Answer: The owner of the birthright.

Thus, Satan set the terms by which the seven seal judgments and seven trumpet judgments are required to buy back what Adam lost in the Garden of Eden.

(Continued in Part 9…but if you want to read all of the parts to date, you can go here.)

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Prayers for Godly Leaders to Arise in America (5/9/2019)

 

Quite a few years ago, Carol and I attended Metro Christian Fellowship in Kansas City, at which the senior pastor was Mike Bickle. Today, Bickle oversees the International House of Prayer (IHOPKC).

Mike Bickle is a dynamic teacher, but what I remember most about him was what he did on the Sundays when he didn’t bring a message to the congregation of 3,500 people. He helped park cars in the parking lot. Rain, snow, sunshine or whatever, he was out there directing traffic.

Bickle’s teachings have blessed me, but none of them have changed my life as much as seeing him standing out there in that parking lot.

My prayer today:

Lord, raise up servant leaders in America who are willing to humble themselves and wash other believers’ feet just like You did as an example for Your disciples. (Based on John 13:3-17)

Join with me on Thursdays to fast and pray for the Body of Christ in America.

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A Story about my Mother

Dad and mom

On May 11, 2014, my sister Linda phoned. “Larry, Mom is not doing very well. Maybe you’d better fly home as soon as possible.”

I made reservations to fly back to Freeport, Illinois, as soon as I hung up.

Now, let me set the stage here:

My mom had celebrated her ninetieth birthday just four months earlier. She had lived in the Stephenson Counting Nursing Home for four years. She could not walk, suffered from advanced chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and arthritis, but yet, she still enjoyed watching TV, reading, and talking with whomever stuck a head inside her room. She had just suffered from a severe pneumonia/COPD infection and had spent nine days in the Freeport Hospital.

I lived in Temecula, California. My sister, Linda, and her husband, Dennis, lived a few miles from the nursing home on the outskirts of Freeport. Before retirement, Linda had been the head of nursing at the nursing home for over thirty years.  So, she knew the staff at the nursing home quite well and carefully watched over Mom’s daily care.

After I made the flight reservations, I slid off my desk chair and bowed my knees on the floor.

“Lord, I have believed for a long time that Mom gave her life to You at a Lowell Lundstrom Crusade in Polo, Illinois, many years ago. She never told me that, but I believed the vision You gave me about her conversion. If I am wrong, then You need to tell me because You are the Redeemer and love her more than I do.”

I remained on my knees for forty-five minutes or so.  The Lord spoke some words to my heart for Mom.

I flew back to Illinois the next morning. Linda met me in Rockford and drove me to Freeport in her red Chevrolet. Because it was still early, I drove Linda’s car to the nursing home to see Mom.

I walked into Room 242. Mom was asleep and I sat down on a chair at the foot of her bed. I read a book. A few minutes later, she stirred and saw me.

“Son, how was your flight?” she asked.

“Okay.”

I stood up and kissed her. Then, I sat down again.

“How are you doing?” I asked.

“Better.”

We small talked about her stay in the hospital and how she hated being there. Then, I spoke the words that the Lord gave me for her.

“What did you think when you went into the hospital?

“Well, you know…”

“No, I don’t know. What did you think?”

“I did not think I would ever leave the hospital again.”

“You thought you were going to die?”

“Yes.”

“Mom, if I could, I would change places with you right now. You could have the years remaining in my life and I would take the little bit of time you have left in your life. Heaven is that great and I’d like to be there right now with Dad and Grandma and the others.”

“Oh, Larry, you wouldn’t do that!”

“Yes, I would. Heaven is that great a place.”

Mom looked at me for a moment.

“Larry, is heaven that good? Is that really so?”

Our conversation changed. We never again talked about heaven or death.

I stayed with my sister and brother-in-law home for a week. Each day, I spent hours with Mom, feeding her and doing whatever she wanted. We enjoyed our time together.

As I left her room for the last time, she said, “Larry, I love you.”

“Mom, I love you. You’re the greatest.”

When I left for California, I thought maybe she had dodged another bullet and would last a few years, but a month later, the Lord spoke to my heart.

“I am taking your mom home.”

Two days later, Linda phoned to tell me that Mom passed away that morning.

Once again, I want to remind everyone that the Lord spoke to me ahead of time about taking my mom home because of our friendship. It had nothing to do with my being a prophetic voice. Anyone can have this type of relationship with the Lord. All you have to do is spend quality time with Him.

(Taken from my memoir, The Hunt for Larry Who, by Larry Nevenhoven, © 2014, Amazon eBook)

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Prayers for Businessmen (5/7/2019)

“The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, these entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also” (2 Timothy 2:2).

Alfred, an owner of a company with one hundred employees, read the above verse and decided to act on it. He told his employees, “I attended a seminar that changed my life, and I’d like to try to share with you what God is teaching me. So once a week I’m going to shut down our plant for an hour, and I’m going to share what God’s Word says I should be doing for you. The meetings are voluntary, but everyone is welcome. From this point on, I want you to hold me responsible to be the kind of Christian employer that God expects me to be.”

The next Monday, when the plant stopped for the meeting, every one of Alfred’s employees was there. He began to share what he should be doing as a Christian businessman. Sometimes he would say, “I can’t implement this immediately or it would ruin our company, but eventually I am going to do this to the best of my ability.”

One of the programs Alfred wanted to implement was a benevolence program to help employees with special financial needs, such as medical bills, family crises, or special education expenses by providing company- sponsored grants.

To do this would first require reeducating the employees so that those who didn’t receive this benefit would not resent those who did. It also would require establishing an employee committee to oversee the fund and evaluate the candidates. But Alfred was determined to get it started.

About a year after the meetings began, Alfred asked me [Larry Burkette] to speak to his employees. At one point in my talk I asked, “How many in this room have personally accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior?” Out of more than 100 employees, about 25 hands went up.

A year later I went back. This time I asked, “During the last year, how many of you have personally accepted Jesus Christ as a result of the influence of your boss?” Hands went up throughout the room. In one year, more than 60 people had come to the Lord through Alfred’s influence, and he didn’t even know it. Evangelizing his employees hadn’t been his goal. His goal had simply been to become more Christlike in his business.

The apostle Paul tells us we reap in the measure that we sow. Alfred learned that truth when he ran into some business and financial difficulties.

During an economic downturn, business got so bad he needed a large infusion of money in order to continue operating. The high interest rates at that time made borrowing out of the question. Word of the company’s financial problems spread to Alfred’s employees, several of whom got the idea of banding together to lend Alfred the money (almost $300,000) themselves. They raised the needed funds from among the other employees and provided Alfred with an interest-free loan.

Alfred was simply reaping what he had sown. When he began following God’s principles, he didn’t know that more than half of his employees would accept Christ as their Savior through his witness or that his employees would decide to lend him $300,000 interest free. He had simply sown biblical principles such as “Do unto others as you would have others do unto you,” and he reaped the benefits of those principles.

Employees, especially unsaved employees, have the tendency to believe what they see rather than what they hear. If what we do doesn’t match up with what we say, they will usually discount our words.

(The above powerful excerpt is from Business by the Book by Larry Burkett, © 2010, Thomas Nelson or you can read a free PDF of it here.)

My prayer today:

Lord, help Christian men who work in the marketplace to be doers of Your Word and not just hearers only, so that we do not deceive ourselves into thinking we are following in Your footsteps. (Based on James 1:22)

Join us on Tuesdays to fast and pray for American men in the marketplace.

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Has God Given Up On Geezers?

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“Honey, the Lord told me on the way home tonight how blessed I should feel to have a godly husband like you,” said Carol as we slipped into bed at the end of a long weekday.

“That may be true, but I’m going to shoot Fern,” I said looking at the ceiling.

“Sweetheart, what?” she said, her green eyes blinking in unbelief.

“After I shoot her, I might hang her by the neck, and then drop her over a steep cliff.”

“Dear, that’s not like you at all. You wouldn’t hurt anyone, especially my mom.”

“After today, I’ve changed my mind about a lot of things. I just might shoot her right between the eyes.”

We rolled over and fell to sleep.

This conversation actually took place in Glidden, Iowa, when Carol and I stayed at her mom’s five-acre farm. Fern was seventy-eight years old at the time, but don’t go thinking her age caused her to be a weak link in the local farming scene. Nothing could have been further from the truth. If anything, she still resembled a pioneer woman ready to hitch up a Conestoga wagon with a pair of oxen and head over the Rockies to Oregon.

Everything had been great between Fern and me up until that week. Her humor and intelligence made her a joy to be around, but all of the warm fuzzies ended when sweet corn season arrived.

Now, let me set the stage, okay?

The late July temperatures hovered near one hundred degrees with the humidity approaching tropical rainforest levels. No air conditioning. Ten zillion, pesty, ornery farm flies, and two acres of sweet corn. Carol worked for a company in Carroll, Iowa, and I had just finished detasseling corn for a hybrid seed corn company.

“Larry, would you like to help harvest some sweet corn?” asked Fern one morning.

“Sure, of course,” I said, not foreseeing any problems.

The next four days were an absolute “hell on earth” for me. The heat, humidity, and flies took their toll, but what pushed me over the edge were Fern’s drill sergeant’s tactics.

“Do this. Don’t do that. Be careful. Watch out. Grab this. Let go. It’s not that hot outside. Can’t you go a little faster? What’s wrong with you?”

She counted the number of pints of corn already done on the fourth day.

“We’ve already done one hundred and twenty pints so far, which is a record for me, but I know we can do at least two hundred pints, maybe even more.”

Her eyes gleamed with the possibilities of being listed in the Guinness World Recordsand the Prairie Farmer. That night I spouted off to Carol about offing her mom.

The next morning, I crept out of bed at an early hour and tiptoed down to the family room. There I dropped to my knees on the carpet.

“Lord, what’s my problem? Why do I want to shoot a sweet, seventy-eight year old lady?” I prayed.

The Lord spoke to my heart after a long while: “You’ve given up on senior citizens. You think they just want to collect their social security checks and sit on porches, taking it easy until they die. You don’t believe I will use them in a move of My Spirit in America.” Then, He added, “I haven’t given up on them and neither should you. Repent of your attitudes.”

I repented before the Lord that morning.

Fern Fielder, a great mother-in-law (1920 to 2008).

(Taken from my memoir, The Hunt for Larry Who, by Larry Nevenhoven, © 2014, Amazon eBook)

 

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Friday’s End-Times Bible Study (Part 7)

And there will be famines, pestilences,and earthquakes in various places. (Matthew 24:7)

A Reuters News article stated that the government of North Korea has cut back the daily food allowances for 10.1 million of its citizens to eleven ounces per day, which will be mostly rice and no protein. This amounts to less than 300 calories per day. A starvation diet.

Can we attribute this famine to being a part of the “last days” Jesus spoke about in Matthew 24:7?

Maybe. But North Korea had a famine fifteen or twenty years ago which killed three million of its citizens. This nation’s main problem is its repressive ungodly Communist government. Probably not really a “last days” event as such.

Now, we Americans don’t think of a famine ever happening to our nation like the one which North Korea is undergoing right now. But that’s a terrible mistake on our part.

And I heard a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, “A quart of wheat for a denarius,and three quarts of barley for a denarius; and do not harm the oil and the wine.” (Revelation 6:6)

When the third seal is opened as stated in the above verse, famine will hit the whole earth. This is going to happen! Don’t close your eyes and hope it won’t! Don’t even waste your time trying to pray it away. It will happen!

And if you look ahead to Revelation 6:7-8 when the fourth seal is opened, a fourth of the earth will be killed by the sword, hunger and by beasts. Hungry people will fight for food and so will hungry beasts.

Two billion dead people (figuring 8 billion on the earth at the beginning of the Tribulation).

What can we do ahead of time?

Store up water and food? Probably a waste of time unless we can store up enough food for all of our neighbors, too. Why? Because we have to love our neighbors like ourselves.

Here’s what I suggest:

Blessed is the one who considers the poor! In the day of trouble the Lord delivers him; the Lord protects him and keeps him alive; he is called blessed in the land; You do not give him up to the will of his enemies. The Lord sustains him on his sickbed; in his illness you restore him to full health. (Psalm 41:1-3)

Give to the poor and needy now. Store up these good works for the days ahead. You will be blessed for doing it.

(Continued in Part 8…but if you want to read all of the parts to date, you can go here.

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Prayers for Businessmen (4/30/2019)

What’s our number one goal as Christian businessmen in the marketplace?

To be the next Bill Gates? Or Steve Jobs? Or Jeff Bezos? Or John D. Rockefeller? Or Henry Ford? Or whomever?

No, absolutely not!

Our number one goal is to wholeheartedly follow Jesus. Anything less than this and we should consider ourselves unsuccessful.

You see, when we stand before Him at the Judgment Seat of Christ, Jesus won’t look at our bank accounts or our business successes in the marketplace, He will only look at one thing: did we deny ourselves, pick up our cross daily and follow Him.

We businessmen should look at ourselves in the mirror and make up our minds now. Will we will go 100% for Jesus and His ways? Or are we going to sell ourselves out to the world system and its ways? Halfway and lukewarm doesn’t work with Jesus. It’s either all-in or all-out!

Do you remember Demas?

Demas has deserted me because he loves the things of this life and has gone to Thessalonica… (2 Timothy 4:10)

Maybe Demas was a businessman. Maybe he enjoyed attending businessmen’s breakfasts and giving his testimony about how the Lord had prospered him. But there came a point in time, when he had to choose to be all-in or all-out. His decision is forever written down for all to see.

One day, the books for our lives will be opened for everyone to see the real us. Nothing will be hidden. We will then have to live for all of eternity with what’s written after our names, just like Demas.

My prayer today:

Lord, bring every businessman to a decision point right now about denying ourselves, picking up our cross daily and following You. Then, pour out Your grace on us so we can answer, “Yes,” and then follow You all the days of our lives.

Join us on Tuesdays to fast and pray for American men in the workplace.

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Prayers for Businessmen (4/23/2019)

My emphasis today is on praying specifically for men in the various business arenas. This does not mean I am discounting the importance of women in the workplace because I’m not. But I believe it’s time for American men to quit sitting on the sidelines, to stand up, walk onto the field and be true sons of the living God.

For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. (Romans 8:19)

Our Lord has placed His emphasis on men before.

The last time being the Businessmen’s Prayer Revival of 1857. In this move of the Holy Spirit, businessmen came together over a lunch hour to pray and encourage other men. The outcome of this revival was that 6% of the population of America gave their lives to Christ and believers rededicated their lives to Jesus Christ.

All of this was done outside the confines of traditional religion at the time and without clergy leading the groups. It was a laymen-led move of the Holy Spirit.

My prayer today:

Lord, I ask Your Spirit to open the hearts of American men in the workplace to yearn for fellowship with You and other men so the Kingdom of God’s fruits of righteousness, peace and joy come forth in our nation. (Based on 2 Thessalonians 2:10 and Romans 14:17)

Join us on Tuesdays to fast and pray for American men in the workplace.

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Friday’s (But Sometimes Monday’s) End-Times Bible Study (Part 5)

Sometimes our prophecies and our teachings are wrong. Hey, this happens! But usually it’s not  because of any sinister reasons on our parts, it’s just because we didn’t have enough light at the time. When it happens, we need to humble ourselves and say, “Forgive me. I blew it.”

Now, let’s look at the parable of the fig tree prophecy.

Now learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near. 33 So you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near—at the doors! 34 Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place.35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away. (Matthew 24:32-35)

The prophecy concerning the above verses in Matthew 24 as proposed by Chuck Smith, Hal Lindsey, Jack Van Impe, Tim LaHaye and many others in their popular books stated that the fig tree represented Israel. And that when Israel became a nation in 1948, the countdown began for that generation. So that some of those living in that generation would see the rapture of the Church by Jesus within forty years after 1948. (All presumed a generation was forty years.)

Thus, when 1988 arrived and left, what did most of these men do? Almost everyone said that his mistake was not in the fig tree representing Israel, or the year 1948, but rather, they misinterpreted the length of a generation. It should have been seventy to eighty years and not forty years.

Okay, 2018 has passed. The next date in which this prophecy can be confirmed as a true prophecy will be 2028.

Hello! Don’t hold your breath. This prophecy is wrong!

I don’t have any idea what revelations and insights Smith, Lindsey, Van Impe, LaHaye and the others had in mind when they pronounced their “parable of the fig tree prophecies.” These are good men, but somehow they missed it.

Maybe each overlooked Luke 21:29-33, where Luke states: “Look at the fig trees, and all trees.

Or maybe their inner alarms were ringing so loud about us living in the last days that they ignored other Bible passages. This happens, you know!

Yet, it doesn’t matter because when the rapture didn’t occur in 1988, each should have stepped forward and said, “Forgive me. I blew it!” But none did!

Of course, that’s easy for me, an obscure nobody on the backside of the desert, to say. I don’t have millions of copies of books sold and millions of believers looking up at me, thinking, “He’s a somebody.” I don’t have that type of pressure laying on my shoulders to make it really hard for me to humble myself.

Hal Lindsey was once asked, “But what if you’re wrong” by a professor. His answer was perfect:

Well, there’s just a split second’s difference between a hero and a bum. I didn’t ask to be a hero, but I guess I have become one in the Christian community. So I accept it. But if I’m wrong about this, I guess I’ll be a bum. (See here)

The parable of the fig tree prophecy is wrong. So, let’s move on, okay?

(Continued in Part 6…but if you want to read all of the parts to date, you can go here.)

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