Category Archives: Revival

-Times, Seasons, and Transition

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        (via Wikipedia)

The times we are in remind me of the old Byrd’s hit song- ‘Turn! Turn! Turn!’ (Based on Eccl. 3:1clip_image002).

The first line is particularly poignant:

“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven”

We are in a time of transition in the natural with fall in our midst and Winter on the way.  Actually out here in So. California, September is usually an extension of Summer when it comes to hot weather. Now with October, the change is finally happening and cooler weather and rain is on the way.

On the Spiritual front, we are in the midst of the Biblical (Jewish) holy week with Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) coming on Saturday. It is a week of transition from the old year to the new. In the older covenant, believers would consider their lives over the last 12 months and seek God’s forgiveness for any shortcomings and dedicate themselves to improvement for the year ahead.

Lot’s of Christians over the years have noticed that changes in their ministry seem to take place usually around this time of the year. I can see that pattern in my own life and ministry. In fact, several that I know in prophetic ministry specifically believe that during this week they ‘go under the Shepherd’s rod’ and are evaluated by The Master.

When you look at what is happening around the world it is easy to see that we are in a time of transition and no one seems to really know how it is all going to play out in the next year or so. Is America going down like so many seem to think and is China really going to replace us as the new ‘super power’?

In the Middle East, everything has been thrown up in the air following the so-called ‘Arab Spring’.  Iran wants to destroy Israel and they will probably have nuclear weapons sometime in the next year or two. The Iranian Supreme leader says that the 12th Imam is appearing to him and is coming soon to lead the Muslims to world domination. Turkey is now styling itself as a new ‘Islamic power’ on the rise and their leaders are talking about establishing a new Muslim Caliphate. Their goal is to dominate the World and bring on one world religion –Islam.

Notice that no one wants to be friends with Israel anymore. Even the USA seems to be turning it’s back on the Holy Land. Are we entering the end of the ‘end-times’?

The nations are in turmoil, natural calamities have risen to Biblical levels. The world economy is in shambles. The whole world is looking for a leader or some group to rise up and solve all of these impossible problems both politically and economically.

Look at the current state of the American Church. The mainline churches have turned their back on Biblical teaching –even now the Presbyterians. The Southern Baptists have been losing members and are now considering a name change. A week doesn’t seem to go by without a new scandal rising up concerning one Charismatic or Pentecostal preacher or another.

We are definitely in a time of transition. Old leaders and denominations are falling and new ones will rise up to take their place. God is setting his church in order.

Right now is a good time for all of us in the ministry to get down on our knees and seek a clear understanding and vision of where we are right now and where the lord wants to take us. If changes need to take place in our lives- now is the time to make them.

Now is the time to repent of past failures and seek a closer relationship with the Master. it is His church after all. We keep praying –”thy Kingdom Come, thy will be done” -It is now time to really mean it and truly understand what we are asking for. Now is the season to Turn, Turn, Turn.       

-Israel: 500 New Jewish Believers Come to Christ

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This is really incredible. With all of the problems and pressures that are facing Israel right now, God is sovereignly moving and bringing His grace.

Here’s a report from David Hathaway’s Ministry:

Over 700 people attended the 2-day conference. Most of them NON-believers and many of the guests at the conference were an older generation, holocaust survivors and many other Israelis. For most of them it was the first time they had ever heard the gospel of a Jewish Messiah preached to them. Their response was overwhelming!

On the first night more than 300 people responded to the altar call, came forward to receive Yeshua as their Messiah! The second night 200 people also gave their lives to Yeshua. It has exceeded all our expectations! We have never seen such a large number of people in Israel responding to the message of Yeshua….

It was genuinely a historic event; something that hasn’t been seen in Israel in the modern days. To see countless of people coming forward to receive prayer for healing and the testimonies kept pouring in from people who were amazed to discover they were healed.

Response: These really are exceptional times that we live in. More Jewish folks have come to Christ in the last 10 years than all of the last 2,000 years combined.

Please continue to pray for Jerusalem and Israel. The very existence of this people and nation could soon be threatened and this time round America may not be all that helpful.            

-100,000 Bottles of Water: A Prophetic Picture of Provision

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A week and a half ago we received 100,000 bottles of water as a donation from a supplier to our Mercy Warehouse at Vineyard Laguna Niguel.

I have talked about the warehouse before –it is a on-going ministry of our church to the poor and just regular folks of South Orange County. We give away approx. $100,000 worth of food, clothing, furniture, and etc. per month out of our 40,000 sq ft. warehouse. We also have become a food bank supplier for other charities in the area including the Salvation army.

Usually when we receive a large donation like that it is because we are going to need it or someone in the area. If 100’s of loafs of extra bread shows up it means that some other charity in the area has probably been shorted and really needs the bread.

The warehouse has become a prophetic picture of God’s provision. So when 100,000 bottles of water shows up some wondered if disaster was soon to strike in our own area. However according to several of our contacts in the Middle East the water sure could be utilized there.  But we were frustrated in all of our attempt to arrange for shipping.

Then the huge quake hit in Japan and it became very clear where the water needed to go and immediately we were able to find transportation. The water is already there.

In thinking about this experience and others lately, this is a prophetic picture of God’s provision for us.  It is going to be there exactly when we need it. File this for future reference as our own nation, communities, churches, and even our own families go through disasters and crisis in the future.      

-What is Really Behind the Chaos in the Middle East

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Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, Lebanon, Bahrain, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Libya, now Algeria and more. What is behind the turmoil in the Middle East and North Africa?

The Western media continues to tell us that these folks are all seeking greater freedom but that is a very deceptive and naive view. In reality all of these nations have been in transition for some time with Muslim radical Islamists gaining ground and changing the entire picture of the Middle East.

Western intellectuals continue to talk about Islam as a ‘religion of peace’ that needs to be encouraged to go through some kind of moderate revival or ‘Reformation’ like Christianity went through. So many naively talk about this possibility and totally ignore the fact that Islam is in the midst of a revival all right -a fundamentalist radical revival that is affecting (actually infecting) nearly all Muslims around the world, even those in Western countries including America.

Now for what is really behind it all—principalities and powers. There is an unseen battle going on right now in the Heavenlies.  However, the effects of the spiritual battle can be seen also in the natural.

I had an open vision on 9/11/01 during which the Lord told me that the Prince of Islam had exceeded his authority in the attack and that 100 million Muslims were going to be converted to Christ as a ‘first fruits’ and part of a world-wide Christian harvest and revival.

A couple of years later a Muslim leader in Africa was sounding an alarm that according to his figures at the time over 6 million Muslims a year were converting to Christianity in Africa. Since then the persecution of Christians has become rather severe in Muslim areas of Northern Africa.

We have also documented on this blog on a number of occasions that a secret hidden revival was going on in Muslim countries where people were being converted to Christ through dreams, visions, and healings. It has been  substantially a hidden ‘house church’ movement particularly in Iran where as far as we can tell as many as 500,000 Muslims have come to Christ. 

In the mean time the enemy has come back with a vengeance and persecution of the traditional churches in Muslim countries have been on the increase. For example, over 500,000 Iraqi Christians have fled the country since the fall of the Saddam regime. American forces have ironically gone out of their way not to be seen as protectors of the Christian community and it has become open season on the traditional Christians in that country.

In Israel, Palestinian Christians are persecuted by both the Muslims and the Jews. The Palestinian Christian community continues to decrease as they leave the country though there has been some reports of Palestinian Muslims secretly coming to Christ. The same can be said of Lebanon where a generation ago the Christian community was strong but after the last civil war between Christian and Muslim militias the Islamists particularly Hezbollah now have the upper hand and Christians have lost control over their own communities in the Southern part of the country.

Turning to Egypt, the Coptic Christians who have been part of that country since the first century and have lived in peace with the Muslims in the same communities for over a thousand years are now being increasingly subjected to persecution and violence. This from the ‘freedom loving’ folks that our press is writing about.  According to a recent poll 84 percent of the Egyptians favor the death penalty for any Muslim who becomes a Christian. Obviously a spiritual battle is raging in that country.

Now for a major example of demonic activity in the natural. Iran’s supreme leader Grand Ayatollah Khamenei is telling his leaders that the hidden ‘12th Imam’ is now appearing to him continually and giving him marching orders. Just this week Iran’s President Ahmadinejad told European leaders and later a major Iranian crowd of supporters that the hidden ‘12th Imam’ was behind all of the current chaos in the Middle East and that it was the beginning of the rise of Islam into one dominant Islamist World power under the leadership of the promised Muslim Mahdi –the Shiite ‘12th Imam’:

  “The final move has begun. We are in the middle of a world revolution managed by this dear (12th Imam). A great awakening is unfolding. One can witness the hand of Imam in managing it.”

Wow. Obviously it is time for all of us to pray for the Middle East and for Christian revival and harvest to continue especially in Muslim lands. This is particularly a good time for all Christian intercessors to rise up and be heard and come against the plans of the enemy.           

-Roma Revival: Gypsies are Coming to Christ in Europe

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Here’s an interesting article from Christianity Today about a little known revival going on among a controversial people spread all across Europe:

“Christianity Thrives among ‘Gypsies’ Despite Prejudice”

Thousands of the Roma people called ‘gypsies’ with a reputation for roving, thievery, and deception are coming to Christ in droves and have been for years.

According to one Roma pastor, John Boyd who is part of an Assemblies of God ministry to the Roma People:

“Most people still hate Gypsies, especially in France. [Yet] revival hasn’t stopped. God is calling Gypsies all around the world.”

Pentecostal Christianity continues to spread among the Roma. In France alone among the 500,000 or so there at least 200,000 have been converted to Christ.

The ministry among the Roma has been successful because the evangelists translate the Gospel and teach the Bible in the Romani language making it more understandable. According to Thomas Acton, a professor of Romani studies at the University of Greenwich:

“As if God were a Gypsy. The Romani churches have nativized the gospel. It’s not a foreign ideology; it’s the gospel that has taken on Romani colors. When you hear [a] Romani translation of the Bible, it sounds like it was written yesterday.”

The Roma that were recently kicked out of France are now actually reaching out to the Romanian communities with their new found faith.  Beni Lup, an attorney and regional director of Walk Thru the Bible Ministries has observed the Roma sharing their faith at a recent Roma Christian music festival held in Sibiu, Romania:

“All the Gypsies had boxes of literature, and they go to Romanians and say, ‘See, the people in France kick us out, but Jesus sent us to give you this Good News of the gospel.’

“[Roma] tell me, ‘We are known as people who steal and people who deceive others. Now we want people to see our testimony, and then our life will be different.’ “

Response: This is an incredible story of the Gospel transforming a people right before our very eyes. Not exactly the sort of thing that you will read about in the regular media which seems to be fixated on everything going wrong.

One thing that the Christianity Today article doesn’t mention is the role of healings, Spiritual Gifts, and signs and wonders in bringing this very superstitious people to Christ. It is a ‘power encounter’ that is winning this people over not the traditional anemic Christianity in Europe.

The regular European Christians won’t have anything to do with this people. This revival was started by Pentecostal missionaries reaching out to the Gypsy communities.   

This story gives me hope for Europe which otherwise seems to be headed towards secularism and Islam. May this be just the beginning for a new Revival to sweep across all of Europe once more changing all of those dreary demographics of doom for the future of Christianity in Europe.     

-Our Eyes Are Upon You Lord

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            (Image via Wikipedia)

One scripture verse in particular (actually just part of one) keeps coming up at our Marketplace prayer Group at VCC Laguna Niguel:

“We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon you” –2 Chron. 20:12

The statement was part of a prayer given by King Jehoshaphat as the entire nation of Judah gathered in Jerusalem with a vast enemy army on the way threatening to annihilate them.

Some of us are going through major difficulties lately. It might be in our businesses, our families and marriage, our finances, or our health. Sometimes there really seems to be very little hope when we look at all of the facts and view the mess in front of us. The enemy seems to be reaching out and trying to defeat Christians on all fronts lately and some of us have several battle raging all at once and it seems so much completely out of control.

It really is time to take our eyes off of the problems and focus upon the Lord. Only then can miracles happen.

Recently I faced a family problem with one of my adult children that was completely out of my control and one that I had no answers for at all. All I could do is pray, respond in the best way I could, and turn it over to the Lord. Believe me turning it completely over was one of the hardest things I have ever done. All I could do was focus on the Lord and cry out to him.

One week later it was resolved at least for now and it is a miracle as far as I am concerned.

In the midst of the battle it is never easy to take your focus off of the very real problems in front of you. However, sometimes no matter how smart we are and how many resources we personally have there is just no way for us to win.

We might as well learn to put our focus on the one that is unlimited and wants to bless his children. Particularly when we have no answers and don’t know what to do. It is time for miracles. Time to put our eyes and focus upon the only one that can really save us.             

-Internet the Key to Fulfilling the Great Commission?

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Here’s is an observation made by Walt Wilson, founder and CEO of Global Media Outreach during a recent conference at Biola University:

“By 2015 there will be WiFi everywhere on the face of the earth.”

“We are the first generation in all of human history to hold within our hands the technology to reach every man, woman, and child on the earth by 2020. Our generation has within its grasp everything that is required to fulfill the Great Commission.”

The Internet is changing everything. No this is not an exaggeration and I happen to believe that in spite of all the controversy God is behind it all. Just like the Roman peace, road system, and universal use of the Greek language made it possible for Christianity to spread across the known world in the first generation. Today the internet is doing the same thing in this generation—actually making it possible for folks to begin to talk about fulfilling the Great Commission of taking the Gospel to every nation.

Right now I know of several Christian ministries that are targeting unreached cultures and people nations through the Internet—places where it is impossible and illegal for missionaries to go. Nevertheless people in those nations are coming to Christ and new churches are being planted.

It is pretty incredible how the Net has made the world a much smaller place. The Islamic autocrats can no longer keep their folks from finding out the truth about Jesus. One Click with the browser and you can get the best Bible teaching of all time no matter where you live. In fact my blogs including this one have been visited by folks from nearly every country on Earth—196 to date. We are living in exciting times.

-Buenos Aires: A Biblical Paradigm of Church Unity

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The Evangelical churches in Buenos Aires, Argentina have combined together to support one another in very unique ways that surpass and breakdown the walls and divisions of denominationalism. They have been seeking revival but came to realize that the church needed greater unity in order for revival to become a reality.

Today more than 180 pastors representing almost 150 churches and hundreds of thousands of members participate in the Buenos Aires council. Take a look at this article about it from Christianity Today:  ‘Something Better Than Revival’

Here’s an interesting quotes-

From Pastor Carlos Mraida of Del Centro Baptist Church:

“Each time the New Testament speaks of the church in a city such as Ephesus, it is always singular, never plural. Yet when the New Testament speaks of leadership in a city, it is always plural. The church is singular, but leadership is plural.”

In noting the large growth of the church there in the last 25 years and yet no revival:

“So it seems that the church grew, but the kingdom of God has not been established. Jesus said the only requirement for us to see revival is that we be one, so that the world may believe [John 17:20-23clip_image002]. The missionary paradigm of each one doing [his] own thing did not work. We have to go back to a biblical paradigm.”

From Pastor Saracco of Good News Church:

“When we go to the U.S., we cannot understand the division of the church. You can have one pastor on one [street] corner and another on another corner, and they don’t know each other. Here we are friends.”

Response: Better co-operation between Christian churches in a community can bring on revival and real change. I remember a couple of years ago in Jena, Louisiana where the community had been involved with racial division and tensions at the High School that became a national issue. Later that year revival broke out in a church without a pastor and pastors from the other churches in town became involved together including white and black churches. It was a remarkable turn around for that community.

-A Mighty Army Gradually Rising Up That Everyone Gets to Join

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Last Sunday I was praying about revival in America just like I have for nearly every day since 2001 when the Lord gave me a vision of it. I was in the process of asking ‘when’ but really sort a demanding ‘now’ when the Lord flashed in my mind a picture of a great army slowly rising from the dust—kind a like Ezekiel. Then He reminded me of what was happening at my home church lately with folks getting saved and healed at every service and said—“if this happened 5 years ago you would be excited and think that you were in the midst of a revival”.

It is so true. Why didn’t I see it!

Is is like the proverbial frog getting gradually warmed up in a pot of water. We have seen a very gradual increase in those getting saved and healed but now it is becoming far more obvious and cannot be ignored. The point is—it didn’t happen over night and that was what I was expecting revival to be like. It would be wonderful if this just kept on getting better.

What marks the rising of this gradual revival army is the fact that everyone who wants too gets to join and everyone gets to go to battle and everyone gets to play. It isn’t based upon a handful of specially anointed leaders. It is all about the entire body of Christ rising up from the dust and becoming alive and corporately doing the works of Jesus and even greater.

What is happening at VCC Laguna Niguel is a small example of what I am talking about. Every service Pastor Mike Hudgins calls out for those who are sick in the body to stand up. Usually he will also call out specific illnesses but then instructs the members in the congregation to pray for anyone close by who is standing for healing.

There are no folks in this church with a specific healing anointing but people who are sick of all sorts of diseases are getting healed at every service. The faith of the entire church is rising up in the gift of healing so much that many members are now encouraged to pray for friends and folks at work who are sick. Now testimonies are coming back of folks being healed at work, at school, and even at Wal-Mart. The youth groups are particularly on fire.

It may not be full blown revival but it is getting there and the whole church gets to play.           

-Opportunity on the Brink of Disaster

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Looking at the news can be a scary prospect lately. I see that Greece, Portugal, and Spain were about to go down the tubes over the last weekend and take the Euro and the entire European Community with them. The USA put up another Trillion Dollars that we really don’t have to keep the entire world financial system from collapsing like dominos starting with Greece. Something the American media really didn’t cover.

Meanwhile, the news media in America keeps on trying to convince us all that the economy is improving and makes it sound like the current 9.9% unemployment rate is actually ‘good news’ with folks going back to work—dutifully following the Monday morning talking points memo supplied by the Obama Administration. The dirty little secret is that unemployment is actually closer to 18% as the government takes those who haven’t gotten a job after 6 months off the list.

The word I keep on hearing from the Lord personally and from others prophetically is that now is a time of new and greater opportunity for God’s people.

I ask the Lord—How can you call this a time of ‘opportunity’ when my business is so bad I wonder if I’ll be able to pay all my bills at the end of every month. Then the Spirit reminded me that over the last year I have received just enough income to cover it all. Sometimes it really has taken a miracle to get it done.

Right now we have one of our adult children along with two grandchildren living with us so our expenses are far greater than they were a couple of years ago and our income is far less. Originally we had planned to retire this year but now that is entirely out of the question.

Yet when I attended our weekly Marketplace Prayer meeting this morning at VCC, the word that kept on coming up in everyone’s testimony or prophetic word was ‘opportunity’. When I thought about it later the Lord reminded me of Joseph and how he had prophetically turned disaster into opportunity. How his family was saved from famine and the entire nation of Egypt. Not only that, they ended up prospering in the midst of disaster.

That is what the Lord intends for his faithful people in America—to prosper in the midst of disaster. However, sometimes the Lord’s idea of prospering can be somewhat different than how we may picture it. Nevertheless it is all good.

Then the Lord reminded me of what was happening at my home church. Over 80 folks have come to Christ in the last month at Vineyard Community Church and just this week our Pastor took a team to India and around 20,000 were saved in a 3 day conference and thousands were healed.

Now for me that is a real sign confirming that He really does intend to expand our opportunities and to prosper us both in the Spiritual realm and in the Natural–even in the midst and on the brink of disaster.