On an afternoon in 1995, I sat alone in my apartment, reading a biography about the healing and faith pioneer, John G. Lake. As I turned the pages and read how God continually provided for Lake’s needs, it dawned on me — “My life really sucks right now! Where was the God who was supposed to be my Provider?”
At the time, I owed thousands of dollars to numerous creditors, most of my friends had dropped me like a hot potato, the woman who I thought would be my wife didn’t want to see me and my kitchen cupboard was bare. I was lonely, broke, hungry and angry.
I laid the book down and stood up. “God if You’re such a big God,” I said, “how come You can’t help me with my problems right now? Maybe Your arm is not as strong as it was a hundred years ago. Is that Your problem?”
I sat down, quite satisfied with the way I confronted God. I picked up the book to continue my reading.
Then, all of a sudden, the Holy Spirit burst into the room in His holiness and power. His fearful Presence blanketed me. I dropped the book and fell on my knees. “O Lord, don’t kill me! Don’t kill me! Forgive me! Forgive me! Please don’t kill me!” I said over and over again.
In the midst of my plea bargaining, the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart. “If I wanted to, I could deliver you from all of your problems in one day.”
“O Lord,” I whispered, “I believe You and will never doubt You again.”
The Holy Spirit’s heavy presence eventually lifted off me.
By mercy and love, truth and fidelity [to God and man—not by sacrificial offerings], iniquity is purged out of the heart, and by the reverent, worshipful fear of the Lord men depart from and avoid evil.(Proverbs 16:6 AMP)
A coworker used to say about certain job situations: “That will put the fear of the Lord into you.” Then, he would laugh.
In his mind, the fear of the Lord was always fearful and life threatening.
And to be honest, the fear of the Lord does contain dread and a terrible fear within it, but that is only in part. Because the fear of the Lord also contains within it a deep reverence and awe for our majestic Creator. A reverence so strong that one would never, ever want to offend God.
Recently, the Lord spoke to my heart: “In the End-Times, the fear of the Lord will be the dividing line between those who fall away and those who continue to walk with the Lord.”
Here’s my prayer:
Father, in Jesus’ name, help us to keep our tongues from evil and our lips from speaking deceit, help us to depart from evil and do good, help us to seek Your peace and pursue it all the days of our lives. And help us to never envy sinners and to be zealous for the fear of the Lord. (Based on Psalm 34:13-14 and Proverbs 23:17)
The Charismatic Revival of the 1960s and 70s had its beginning on Sunday, April 3, 1960, when Rector Dennis Bennett announced to his St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Van Nuys, California, about his being baptized in the Holy Spirit. Newsweek and Time magazines featured articles on Bennett’s experiences,
The resultant controversy and press coverage spread the Holy Spirit fire from the Episcopal Church to the Lutherans, Presbyterians, Catholics, Methodists and most other denominations.
The end result is that at its highpoint one-quarter of American Christians were tongue-talking, spiritual-gift using believers.
But sadly, the charismatic fires have been dying out over the last ten years, but I feel the Holy Spirit is about to change this:
Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away (apostasy) comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition. (2 Thessalonians 2:3 NKJ)
Several years ago, I felt the Lord say to me: “If believers are not warned and prepared for the End-Times, 50 – 70% of American believers may fall away.”
Why so many?
Because the End-Times will be so tough and the deceit will be so mind-boggling for any American believers who are lukewarm and who live their spiritual lives under the influence of the Laodicean spirit, which is the prevalent spirit over most American churches right now.
Thus, because the Lord is gracious and merciful, I feel He will soon send a second Charismatic Revival to stir up us American Christians. There will be an extreme emphasis on talking in tongues, prophetic words, discernment and healing.
We absolutely need these gifts for the days ahead!
P.S. I believe whole churches who are a part of the Reform tradition will be changed in a blink of an eye by the Holy Spirit to tongue-talking, prophetic churches.
If you are a Pre-Trib zealot and believe the Church will be raptured just before the Tribulation, then your answer concerning the when and where of the Marriage Supper of the Lamb is really quite simple. It will take place when the Church is raptured and will occur in heaven, continuing for the seven years that the Tribulation is being carried out on earth.
Now, most Pre-Trib enthusiasts believe the seven-year Marriage Supper is modeled after the Jewish wedding celebration where the feasting and partying can last up to seven days or one week. In the End-Times’ case, the celebration will take place in heaven and last for a week of years rather than a week of days – or seven years, right?
Ah, but there are some chinks in the logic here!
Why would the Father overlook the greatest addition of new Jewish believers ever to the Body of Christ, especially since it’s a Jewish wedding celebration?
What Jewish believers will be missing at the Wedding Supper of the Lamb if the Marriage Supper is held in heaven while the Tribulation is carried out on earth?
1. All of Israel will be saved. (Romans 11.26). This could amount to a few million new Jewish believers.
2. The one hundred and forty-four thousand sealed martyrs slain during the Tribulation (Revelation 7:4-8)
3. The two witnesses – possibly Moses and Elijah. (Revelation 11:3)
Plus, in Isaiah 54:1-8 and Isaiah 62:1-5, the Father promises to marry Israel. If so, does this mean there could be a marriage supper in heaven for the Church and then a marriage supper for Israel on earth?
No, absolutely not!
Andalso, Jesus, Israel and the Church are interwoven together through –
1. Jesus is the Head of the Church (Ephesians 5:23), Bridegroom to the Church (Ephesians 5:22-33) and Husband to the bride who is named New Jerusalem (Revelation 21:2). But Jesus is also the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David (Revelation 5:5) and the Son of David. (Matthew 21:9).
2. The twelve apostles are the foundation of the Church (Ephesians 2:20) and will sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel ((Matthew 19:28) and the twelve apostles will be honored by having their names inscribed on the walls of the holy Jerusalem. (Revelation 21:14)
3. Jewish believers and Gentile believers are recreated into “one new man,” making peace between the two. (Ephesians 2:15)
Let us rejoice and be glad and give glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride had made herself ready…Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb. (Revelation 19:7, 9)
I just can’t see the Lord Jesus pouring a huge blessing on the basically Gentile side of the Church, while ignoring the Jewish believers. This is certainly not the way to make peace!
Studying the End-Times helps us understand the period better, but it also opens up new questions for us. But I believe I can make this one statement:
The marriage supper of the Lamb will not be happening in heaven while the Tribulation is being carried out on earth.
There are so many ridiculous End-Time prophecies circulating on the internet that many of our brains are ready to explode. Let’s search Scripture for some answers, okay?
The Apostle Paul wrote;
Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son on perdition (2 Thessalonians 2:3 NKJV)
Frank Viola states that reading Paul’s epistles is like listening to one side of a phone call, and yes, we miss the other side of the conversation. Thus, we have to assume that Paul was answering questions that had been communicated to him by the various churches.
In Chapter 2, Paul was explaining to the Thessalonian Church that they had not missed the Lord’s return and the Rapture because two events needed to happen first:
1. The falling away (or apostasy).
2. The Antichrist is revealed.
Now, if you’re thinking Paul just pulled these two events out of thin air. He hadn’t! He was actually quoting what Jesus said in Matthew 24:
And at that time, many will fall away and will betray one another and will hate one another (Matthew 24:10 NASB)
Therefore, when you see the “abomination of desolation,” which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand (Matthew 24:15 NASB)
Have both of these events happened yet? No. Maybe a few preachers and others have fallen away from the faith, but it is not what anyone would refer to as “many.” And as far as the Antichrist’s identity? We have no clue as yet.
So, what’s holding back that Day?
And do you know what restrains the Antichrist now, so that in his time he will be revealed. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. Then that lawless one will be revealed… (2 Thessalonians 2:6-8 NASB)
Who is restraining or holding back the Antichrist from appearing right now?
For the answer to this question, let’s look at Jesus’ first coming, okay?
But when the fullness of time came, God sent forth His Son… (Galatians 4:4)
What determined the fullness of time for Jesus’ first coming? Over 300 Old Testament prophecies had to be fulfilled in Jesus’ birth, life, ministry, death and resurrection. With one of the toughest ones being:
Therefore, the Lord Himself will give you a sign: “Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel (Isaiah 7:14)
Not only did the woman have to be a virgin, but also, her freewill could not be violated. Only a wonderful woman like Mary could fulfill this prophecy:
And Mary said, “Behold, the bondslave of the Lord; may it be done to me according to your word…” (Luke 1:38)
Then, if you consider all of the prophecies for Jesus’ supporting cast, such as Judah, John the Baptist, Simeon and others, the fullness of time had to be determined by all of the Old Testament’s prophetic words coming to pass in their perfect timing.
Okay, did you realize that there are more prophetic words for Jesus’ second coming than there are for Jesus’ first coming?
Over 150 chapters in the Bible are devoted to His second coming. That’s more chapters than are in the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John combined!
So, we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts. (2 Peter 1:19 NASB)
…For the testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of prophecy. (Revelation 19:10 NASB)
Some scholars believe the Church is the one who restrains the Antichrist. Others believe it’s the Holy Spirit. Still others suggest different ideas.
But I believe it’s all of the prophetic words (or the Word) in the Bible that restrains the Antichrist so that he’s revealed in his time.
Hey! The prophetic words ushered Jesus into His first coming and I believe this will be true for His second coming, too.
My suggestion is that we study the 150 chapters and know His word so that we are not deceived.
32 “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 NKJ)
Numerous Bible teachers, including Chuck Smith, founder of the Calvary Chapel Church network, and Hal Lindsey, author of The Late Great Planet Earth, have interpreted Jesus’ words of Matthew 24:32-34 as a prophecy about Israel.
Their collective prophetic teachings state that the budding of the fig tree in verse 32 refers to Israel becoming a nation in 1948. The people born in 1948 and the years afterward would then be the generation that would see the return of the Lord. Each teacher figured a generation was forty years.
Thus, 1988 was the projected year of Jesus’ return, but alas, Jesus did not return as prophesied.
Rather than admitting their error, Smith, Lindsey and most of the other Bible teachers stated that their mistake was not in their premise about Israel, but rather in their assuming a generation was forty years long. They decided a Biblical generation was really seventy years. 2018 was supposed to be the new predicted year for the return of Jesus.
And when Jesus did not return in 2018, these teachers doubled down again and stated a Biblical generation was eighty years. Therefore, these teachers are betting 2028 is the year when Jesus will return.
Will a hundred years be the next guess for these teachers?
Okay! Let’s do some checking for ourselves.
29 Then He spoke to them a parable: “Look at the fig tree, and all the trees.30 When they are already budding, you see and know for yourselves that summer is now near. 31 So you also, when you see these things happening, know that the kingdom of God is near. 32 Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all things take place. 33 Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away. (Luke 21:29-33 NKJ)
The fig tree parable is presented in Matthew 24:32-35, Mark 13:28-31 and Luke 21:29-33. All three are similar except Luke states, “Look at the fig tree, and all of the trees.”
By adding the words – and all of the trees – Luke removed the emphasis on fig trees and placed it on the rest of the words Jesus spoke in the four verses. And what was Jesus referring to in the four verses? All of the prophetic words He spoke in Matthew 24:4-31.
The Apostle Paul had a similar problem with the Church in Thessalonica in that they were confused about when the Lord would return. He answered their fears by writing:
Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition (2 Thessalonians 2:3 NKJ)
Paul listed two things had to happen before Jesus returned:
1. Christians falling away from their faith (the great apostasy).
2. The antichrist is revealed to everyone.
Did Jesus mention the falling away of believers and the revealing of the antichrist in His Matthew 24 discourse?
And at that time many [believers] will fall away, and they will betray one another and hate one another. (Matthew 24:10 NASB)
Therefore when you see the abomination of desolation [antichrist] which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place—let the reader understand (Matthew 24:15)
The Apostle Paul’s words agree with the prophetic words spoken by Jesus in Matthew 24.
So, it looks to me like we need to lay our easy-peasy formulas down and follow what Jesus said:
Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming. (Matthew 24:42 NKJ)
All new Christians need an inner desire to be the best believers they can be for our King and the Kingdom of God. This must be a part of our spiritual makeup. The driving force for our desires must be the Holy Spirit. As far as our natural bodies, they will resist all efforts by the Holy Spirit and attempt to weave fleshly attitudes and pride into our spiritual makeups, thereby weakening them.
One of the Holy Spirit’s main jobs in our lives is to separate the chaff in us from thew spiritual wheat as we walk with the Lord.
In a perfect vacuum, the Holy Spirit would successfully guide and help us put down all of our fleshly desires, especially pride and lust. We would be overcomers in every situation. Yet, none of us live in a perfect vacuum, we live on earth, which is controlled by the god of this world − Satan.
I had a simple dream as a young believer, which should have helped me in understanding my walk with the Lord.
In it, I stood outside a major league baseball stadium, but all of the entrance gates were locked shut. The crowd inside the stadium roared for its favorite teams. The excitement stirred me to hunger for being a part of the action.
I banged on the gate with both hands. The gate finally opened and I entered, not to sit in the grandstands with the crowd, but instead, I was escorted onto the playing field to be a member of Jesus’ team.
There I stood in the outfield, wearing a new white home team uniform with a baseball hat on my head and a glove on my left hand. I looked around at the beautiful green grass, the reddish infield dirt and the gigantic stadium. It was such an exhilarating feeling, knowing I was a member of the team.
Then, like a little boy, I took off running around the outfield. Here and there, helter-skelter, I didn’t care what others thought and ran around the outfield in my excitement, kicking up my heels. I noticed numerous other players in the outfield, doing much the same thing. We all ran around, waving our hands in the air and yelling like a bunch of sugar intoxicated kids.
Now, mind you, the game was going on.
A baseball would fly or bounce into the outfield every so often, but because we were all just aimlessly running around, we couldn’t catch any of them. The best we could do was chase after a ball and wait for it to stop rolling. One of us would pick it up and toss it back toward the infield to a waiting infielder. We outfielders then reverted back to aimlessly running around.
The team somehow promoted me into the dugout to be used for offensive purposes. I was no longer dressed in a glorious white uniform, but instead, I was a wooden baseball bat, hanging on a bat rack with numerous other ones.
A bat, I thought. I’m just a bat! All of my preparation and training has prepared me to be just a wooden bat. How can this be important?
With two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning and the score tied, Jesus readied Himself to bat. He walked over to the rack and chose me as His bat. He walked up to the plate with me in His hands.
The pitcher, Satan, threw a hundred miles per hour fastball on the first pitch to Jesus. The Lord timed the pitch perfectly and smashed it high over the center field fence. He hit a walk-off, game winning home run.
Jesus headed for first base on His home run trot and tossed me − His bat − into the dirt. The crowd stood, cheering and praising Jesus for the victory, but as for me, I laid there, doing nothing and saying nothing.
A batboy came, picked me up and placed me back on the bat rack, waiting to be used sometime in the future by Jesus again.
This simple dream reveals a game within a game whereby we believers move from immaturity to maturity, ending in deaths to our own selfish desires. We are then used by the Lord Jesus to defeat the purposes of Satan.
I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. (Galatians 2:20)
RUSSIA’s APPETITE FOR THE UKRAINE IN KINGDOM PERSPECTIVE
Tell a bear to stop eating meat and become vegan, because it is “in and green.” What would that bear do? Probably have you for breakfast…
The biggest challenge for anyone trying to grasp what is going on around the globe has always been this: If you don’t understand God, you won’t understand the world. Most of the Western media outlets trying to report on “Bloody Putin” versus “Oh So Holy NATO” entirely miss this. Same is true for the Russian-controlled press, just the other way around.
A prophetic friend of mine, John Mulinde of Uganda, once said – and I call that Kingdom truth # 1: “God preaches through geography.”
In his insightful book, “Prisoners of Geography“, journalist Tim Marshall describes Russia as a prisoner of its own vast – and vulnerable – geography. He portrays Putin as someone who goes to bed praying: “Why, God, did you not put some mountains into Ukraine?!” Russia has always been most vulnerable towards the Western flatlands – and will forever try to protect its imperial interests there.
On a mundane level, the cultural West often conveniently “forgets” to mention that, as the Soviet Union went bust in 1989, they made a deal with NATO to completely withdraw from East-Germany against the NATO-promise that they will not extend NATO eastwards. Russia kept that deal, NATO absolutely did not. So, Russia – no choirboy in that matter itself – has been betrayed and is agitated.
And if you come too close to a dangerous and hungry bear, setting up a tent right in front of its lair, what will be the outcome? Peace and cozying up? No way, Norway, a country trapped right in between a rock and a hard place.
The Kingdom truth # 2 is: Russia is a prisoner of an imperial spirit placed in it by God himself.
The world has seen its sequence of “Age of Empire” -Jesus calls it the “Kairos of Nations” (in Lk 21:24). Daniel 2 and 7 introduces four creatures that are the hallmark or Totems of four empires that will come and rule on the earth: The “lion with wings like an Eagle”, Babylon; the bear, Medo-Persia; the leopard, Greece; and a mutant-monster chimera, Rome.
These empires are given a time window to be imperial as a corrective and pedagogic measure of God, after his own people had rejected his rule over them (1 Sam 8:7). God simply said: You, my own people, reject me to be who I am, King of kings? OK, then as a homework for the next couple of thousand years, y’all learn what it is to be under the fist of global empires that will fill the God- & King-shaped void. Then you will say: Oh my God, we would have better submitted to you than those brute colonizers!
Kingdom truth #3: These empires still exist; their imperial spirit is still alive, although they are coming swiftly to an end in our very days. If you are just following the beasts, you will see that the first empire (Babylon), is still alive in the “Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation” with Henry the LION and the EAGLE as its original double-totem (yes, remember Hitler). It does not take much prophetic acumen to see “Russia the Bear” as an heir to the Medo-Persian bear-spirit. And, for the sake of completion, the British Empire, with originally a LEOPARD, not three lions, in its flag, is a continuation of Greece under Alex the Great. And what is left of the USA is nothing but a Roman Empire Spirit gone West – and now soon going South (as in: falling apart). Watch it.
Kingdom Truth #4 is that Russia, called names like Magog, Gog, Thogarma or Mesech (see Ez 38 + 39, and don’t forget Rev 20:6) has a gaff in its cheek, a hook, a leash placed there by God himself (Ez 38:4). The bear is God’s bear and will dance to God’s flute.
Kingdom truth #5: The bear was told by God: “Eat much meat!” (Dan 7:5). Just as every animal on our planet has a divine thought and intention that created it and gave it persona, God makes nations to do the same: To be vessels for good or bad, holy or unholy. Does the pot have the right to tell its potter: Why did you make me like this? No. But it has the right to ask: WHAT is my purpose? And God would answer: You are carrying a partial Kingdom truth as a narrative and message about a world that ran away from me. You are whom I made you to be. And a bear is not a pussycat!
Although most bears actually like being a bear, to be a voracious and devouring bear is not the prettiest and most romantic of animals. Remember that most of the current “Russian population” (in inverted commas because most “Russians” are actually not ethnic Russian) is probably fed up by Czar Putin and his bloody wars (like Afghanistan or Syria).
This is why many in Russia will now turn away from the empire mindset that traps a man like Putin – and start looking for a better framework for their future, a better allegiance than with Soviet Union 2.0. And this search mode will lead many to the discovery that yes, there is exactly such an empire – totally loving, benevolent, powerful and meaningful – under the wise rulership of a Czar of czars. And this empire is called The Kingdom of God, and it is ruled by Jesus the Christ.
Be ready, therefore, for a huge Kingdom harvest in Russia of many who are getting tired of PK – Putin & Kyrill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, running in circles.
Now let’s land on earth again after all these Kingdom perspectives and remember the very earthly truth that what is Russia today actually started in Kiev, as a loose federation of Slavic States called “Kievan Rus,” along the Dnieper River in what is todays – Ukraine!
“I had a vision that showed a black river flowing out of America’s inner cities, filled with black apostles and prophets. Their moral characters were at a level never before witnessed in America.
“No longer would believers have to gaze back at John Wesley, Jonathan Edwards, Charles Finney, D. L. Moody, Billy Graham or whomever for examples of godly men because these black apostles and prophets would raise the bar of godliness to a level approaching the character of Jesus… This is the generation of men that America has been longing to see. (Excerpt from Chapter 13 of “A Black River”)
God is never late, but He sure misses lots of opportunities to be early. This is especially true for Black Americans who have suffered through four hundred years of oppression and discrimination while chasing the American dream. The years have all merged themselves together into one long day of weary hopelessness.
But now at last, hope arises. The same God who looked upon Israel’s captivity in Egypt, is looking down on the Black Americans living in our nation’s inner cities and is preparing to act.
How? What? Why?
“A Black River” is one of the most important ebooks published in 2021, especially for those believers hungering for revival.
Harvard’s Spangler Auditorium was filled to capacity. A few people stood at the back of the auditorium, but the fire marshals limited the number to a hundred standing-room-only people. Fortunately, the event was also live-streamed to the whole Harvard community.
The Harvard Crimson labeled the debate: “A Black firebrand professor debates a stuffy white Christian dean on white supremacy in the Church.”
The Black firebrand professor was Dr. Isaiah Rashad, head of racial conflict in America and author of four books, dealing with white supremacy. His scheduled opponent was Dean Jonathan D. Edwards from the Dallas Theological Seminary.
The curtain went up, revealing a podium at center stage with three people sitting behind it: one Black man, one Asian woman and one white man. The woman stood up and walked to the podium.
“Good evening,” she said. “My name is Dr. Clara Chung. I will be the moderator for this debate. I first want to announce a change in the debate. Dean Edwards tested positive for COVID this afternoon and offers his regrets for not being able to be here. The East Coast Vice President for Business Men’s Fellowship and owner of eight restaurants – Harvey Whitman – has graciously offered to take Dean Edwards’ place.”
She paused to check her notes.
“The rules for the debate are simple because there really aren’t any, except each must treat his opponent with the highest respect. Thus, they have the freedom to roam wherever they choose in their dialogues. Each may make an opening statement, not to exceed thirty minutes. After that, it will be an open debate format.
“Because of a coin flip, Dr. Rashad will speak first.” She turned around toward the two men behind her. “Dr. Rashad, the podium is yours. “
Dr. Chung sat down while Dr. Rashad walked to the podium. Rashad looked more like an athlete than an academic with broad shoulders and long cornrow braided hair. His muscular arms bulged inside his tailored black sport coat.
“Thank you, Dr. Chung,” said Dr. Rashad. “And a big thank you to Harvard University for putting on this debate during black history month. I am proud to be a part of Harvard’s faculty, knowing our university desires to be at the forefront of racial changes in America.”
He stood at the podium with the microphone in his hand.
“In 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, ‘The most segregated hour in this nation is Sunday at 11:00 am. Interestingly enough, a few months before King’s statement, a Gallup poll showed that one in seven Americans believed there was a biblical basis for the separation of races.
“Does anyone seriously believe anything much has changed over the last sixty years?”
Rashad wove the sad American Church narrative from our nation’s early slavery beginnings to the present time. Over and over again, he pointed out how white supremacist attitudes fueled skepticism and resistance to true peace between the races.
“Today’s white Evangelicals are more concerned with checking all of the right boxes without considering that true repentance means more than just saying, ‘We’re sorry.’ It means being willing to walk through the valley of transformation so that both races arrive at true reconciliation, even if that takes twenty to thirty years or more. It’s only then we will see a lasting peace.”
Dr. Rashad looked at his watch, nodded his head to the audience and walked back to his seat.
Dr. Chung walked to the podium.
“Mr. Whitman,” she said, “it is your turn.”
Whitman stood up and slowly walked to the podium.
If the outcome of the debate depended on looks and charisma, Harvey Whitman was at a decided disadvantage. Short, bald, ten pounds overweight and a meek manner certainly did not play well on most stages, especially following someone like Rashad.
Whitman picked up the handheld wireless microphone and walked back and forth across the front of the stage with his head down and his eyes almost closed. He said nothing for a few minutes. The crowd moved restlessly in their seats.
Then, he stopped and spoke. “Dr. Rashad accurately laid out the problems facing the American Church with its racial issues. I only disagree with him on one point – that it will take twenty to thirty years to work through these problems. And I will prove him wrong in the next twenty minutes.”
He stopped walking and looked toward the crowd to the left of him. He pointed with his left hand.
“Right over there, about twenty rows from the front, is a young woman named Tina Andrews. Tina, would you please stand up? Don’t be shy! The Lord has something for you.”
A young black woman stood up.
The crowd gasped. How could this man know Tina’s name?
Whitman paid no attention to the crowd and said, “I feel that Lord has just shown me that you received some bad news yesterday. Is that correct??
Tears dripped down her face as she nodded her head.
“The Lord is going to heal you of cervical cancer right now in Jesus’ name.”
The woman screamed and fell over backwards into her chair.
Whitman moved to the center of the stage and pointed into the crowd.
“Denzel Martin, stand up.”
No one obeyed his command. The crowd looked around.
“Okay, that would be Denzel Martin at 227 Eighth Avenue, Apartment 2. Do you want me to give out your phone number, too?
A black man stood up, shaking his head.
Once again, the crowd gasped and murmured aloud, wondering how he knew Denzel.
“You just flunked your vision test to be a pilot in the Air Force, right?” Whitman said.
The man nodded his head.
“The Lord is going to heal your eyes right now in Jesus’ name.”
The black man fell over backwards into his chair.
“Denzel, go have your eyes rechecked tomorrow. They will be better than 20/20.”
Whitman called out the names of eight more people over the following fifteen minutes. He accurately told them their problems and then prayed for their healings.
“Has everyone noticed that I have only prayed for black people tonight?” said Whitman. “Okay, have any of these black people cared about my skin color? No! They were just happy that someone was able to walk in the spiritual gifts to help them out of some major problems in their lives.”
Whitman walked to the front of the stage and looked at the crowd with blazing eyes.
“We can debate. We can talk. We can write. We can do all of this and more, but this will take years to unravel all of our racial problems. Or we can learn how to walk in the gifts of the Spirit and do miracles for each other. If we learn how to do this, it will break down whatever barriers are holding us back in a short period of time. Do you realize this is what Jesus did? Shouldn’t we do the same?”
Dr. Rashad walked over and hugged Whitman.
(Just so everyone knows: I modeled Harvey Whitman’s spiritual gifts on the ministries of William Branham and Paul Cain.)
Eusebius, an early Church historian, stated that Matthew wrote his Gospel in 41 A.D. If this is true, then maybe the Apostle Paul had already read Matthew’s book when Paul wrote his second letter to the church in Thessalonica in 52 A. D.
At the time, the Thessalonians were facing severe persecution and needed to be encouraged by Paul. But also, the apostle wanted to derail a false teaching that the day of the Lord had already come. This false teaching undermined Paul’s words in his first letter to the Thessalonian believers.
Paul countered the false teaching by stating:
Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day ofthe Lord had come. Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, (2 Thessalonians 2:1-3 NKJ)
Paul gave two specific events that had to occur before the day of the Lord occurred: (1) the falling away of professed Christians from their faith and (2) the Antichrist is openly revealed for all to see.
Now, where did Paul get this information? Did he receive it solely through the Holy Spirit or was he also inspired by Matthew’s Gospel?
It’s just an interesting possibility that we’ll probably not know until we arrive in heaven. But look what Jesus said in Mathew’s Gospel:
And at that time many will fall away, and they will betray one another and hate one another.
Therefore, when you see the abomination of desolation which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place—let the reader understand (Matthew 24:10, 15 NASB)
Even though Jesus and Paul warned us about the great falling away, what is the American church doing to prepare their congregations ahead of time?
90 – 95% of America’s Evangelical churches are not teaching on the end times or the Book of Revelation. This becomes even sadder when one considers that Jesus admonished us to understand the end times in Matthew 24:15.
In the weeks ahead, let’s take a look at what we can do to prepare ourselves for the end times so we do not end up being casualties in the “great falling away.”
Larry Who 