What is the Spirit of Prophecy as explained in the New Testament?
“But he who prophesies speaks edification and exhortation and comfort to men. He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the church.“
(1 Corinthians 14: 3-4)
August 18, 2010. Allow My peace to flood your soul. My peace is more powerful than the waves and tumult around you. Look to Me and you will walk on water in this season. Focus on the waves and tumult and you will sink. And what good is there coming from doubt and unbelief? Why entertain them? The enemy is very present in and around doubt and unbelief seeking whom and what he can destroy. But Jesus came to give you life and peace. His life is eternal and He freely gives it to you. His peace passes all understanding. My peace is a gift you can receive daily. Let it forever flood your soul. Matthew 14:29-31 (NASB) “And He said, “Come!” And Peter got out of the boat, and walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But seeing the wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” Immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of him, and *said to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?“ Ras Robinson
August 18, 2010. Going through the ringer is a mild way of saying how you feel. Don’t you remember you just told some brothers and sisters that Christians don’t just live by the way they feel, they live by the Word of God. Do you believe that for what you are going through now or not? Yes! I know you do. That’s the kind the person you are. I have seen you do this time and time again. And you will do it again. You will rise to the occasion. You absolutely fully believe that I am good and all will work out for the good of the ones you and I both love.
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The above message, I believe, will speak to a lot of people today, in these times; and we need to all be paying attention, especially in these times, to what the Bible says, and not so much follow what our culture, our secularized society, and what our circumstances and feelings may be saying.
I need to touch on something here that I believe is lacking in much of the church today, and that is, whereas I believe the church has for the most part successfully taken the Gospel to the World, to other nations, to the extent we have abdicated our Biblically mandated role here at home, and have failed to disciple the people in our own society and culture, our nation has suffered immensely.
We have allowed our government to force the separation of the sacred from the secular, and we have allowed unbelievers, atheists and agnostics to seize the reigns of our government, our society, and our culture; and what you see happening today all around us is the result.
This was NEVER God’s plan, that this should happen; and that fact becomes particularly obvious as you realize that many of our founding fathers were very serious about their faith in God and the Holy Bible, and they incorporated that faith in the formation of our government, and our U.S. Constitution.
What follows is an accurate description of where as a nation and people have gone wrong, and how far away from God we have drifted:
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America’s Godly Heritage David Barton Revised & Condensed by Annette Nay The Founding Fathers and Christianity Our founding fathers were brought up in schools in which their primers taught bible scriptures, morals and its teachings. They were taught the Ten Commandments and were thoroughly versed on each one and their meaning. As adults, the founding fathers continued to read and learn from the bible. Many of them were evangelical preachers. Many of them started the American Tract Society and wrote many of their tracts. They started the American Bible Society, The Philadelphia Bible Society, and the Christian Constitutional Society, all of which still exist today. It was no wonder then that they used the bible to frame the Constitution. Patrick Henry – “It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians not on religion, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ!” From 1690 to 1900 American’s youth learned their ABC’s with a bible scripture associated with each letter. First graders talked about the Ten Commandments, in class, and learned what they meant. The founding fathers wanted government and Christianity to be in an insoluble bond. John Quincy Adams stated, “The highest glory of the American Revolution was this… it connected in one indissoluble bond the principles of civil government with the principles of Christianity.” John Jay the Chief Justice and the most influential writer of the constitution stated, “Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers and it is the duty as well as the privilege and interest of a Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers.” We need to elect Christians to office if we want to have righteous men making good laws to rule our country. In summation from George Washington’s farewell speech, speaking to the citizens of The United States, he touched on these points: Do not let anyone claim to be a true American if they attempt to remove religion from American politics. If they do they are not true Americans. Our American government has lasted over 200 years. Having a government, in any form, lasting this long is unheard of. For example, in the last 200 years France has had seven forms of government and Italy has had forty-eight. Our Constitution and Its Basis Where did the founding fathers get their ideas for our constitution that has caused it to last so long? Some would have you believe that it was because of the Age of Enlightenment in Britain which brought to light ideas such as:
They taught that people should be able to gain material well-being, social justice, and happiness in this life – not just the next (Ellis, Esler, Beers, & Hart, 1999). These ideas spread to American and found place in Thomas Paine’s pamphlet called Common Sense. Some would have you think that it was Paine’s pamphlet which swayed the founding father’s minds to their incorporation in the Constitution (Ellis, Esler, Beers, & Hart, 1999). The fact is that there were many heated debates on the constitutional legislature’s floor over these ideas. Such ideas were not espoused by the founding fathers until they could find a precedence in the bible for them. Then, it was only by unanimously consent spurred on by spiritual confirmation, that they accept these ideas into the constitution (Barton, 1999). The Bible was important to our founding fathers. Out of fifteen thousand samples of their writings that University of Houston professors collected, they found 3154 of those had a significant impact on our constitution. Of those writings, they found that the bible was quoted sixteen times more than any other source. 94% of the quotes were based on the bible, 34% came directly out of the bible, and 60% used the bible to arrive at their conclusion. The House and the Senate would discuss what the bible said and use its ideas to make law. The idea of three branches of government originated with John Locke in his article called Two Treaties of Government. The founding fathers substantiated the idea for separation of powers from Jeremiah 17:32. They found mention of the three branches of government in Isaiah 33:22. They found the idea of tax exemption for churches in Ezra 7:24. These men were students of the Bible and brought their expertise into the legislature to help them to know that to do. Court Rulings that lead to Religion Leaving Government The Way It Used to Be 1892 – Trinity vs. the US: The Supreme Court stated, “Our laws and our institutions must necessarily be based upon and embody the teachings of the Redeemer of mankind. It’s impossible that it should be otherwise; and to this extent our civilization and our institutions are emphatically Christian.” This case gave 87 historical precedences to prove this statement. It further stated that there were more, but 78 should suffice to prove the government must be based on the teachings of Jesus Christ. 1844 – Vidal vs. Girard’s: “The purest principles of morality are to be taught. Where are they found? Whosoever searches for them must go to the source for which the Christian man derives his faith… the bible.” A Philadelphia school’s premise was that they could teach morality with out teaching the bible. The court ruled that they couldn’t have a school that didn’t teach the bible’s morality, as it was the source of morality. 1811 – People vs. Ruggles: “Whatever strikes at the root of Christianity tends manifestly to the dissolution of civil government.” In this case a man became profane about Jesus Christ and the bible both written and spoken. The courts said it was blasphemy and the man was fined $500.00 and jailed for 3 months. The court said if you’ve attacked Jesus Christ you have attacked Christianity. If you attack Christianity, you have attacked the foundation of the US. Therefore, it is an attack on the US. How Amoral Laws Came to Being The founding fathers never wanted separation of church and state, yet 67% of US citizens today believe that that very idea is contained in the constitution, even though those words never appear in the constitution. The Constitution of the United States’ first amendment says, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” Pre-drafts of this statement clarifies the founding fathers constitutional statement. There were twelve variations, they all mirrored the sentiments found in this one, “Congress will pass no laws making one denomination of Christians higher than another denomination.” Their intent was that they did not want in America what they had in Great Britain where one denomination was running the nation. They wanted God’s principles, but did not want one designated church running the nation. 1796 – Funckle vs Winemiller – The Danbury Baptists who wanted a state church designated. The courts stated: “In our form of government the Christian religion is the established religion and all sects and denominations of Christians are placed upon the same equal footing.” 1802 – Thomas Jefferson addressed those Danbury Baptist. He said that the first amendment has erected a wall between church and state, but that wall is a one directional wall. It keeps the government from running the church and Christian principles will always stay in government. The First National Church never happened and Jefferson’s writing was put away until 1853. Today, we only hear half of this statement, that is: the separation of church and state. A small number of people petitioned to separate Christian principles from government. Studies were done to see if it could be done. The findings of the House Judiciary committee were announced March 27, 1854. They said that if the people, during the Revolution, or had they any suspicion of any attempt to war against Christianity that revolution would have been strangled in its cradle. At the time of the adoption of the Constitution and the amendments the universal sentiment was that Christianity should be encouraged, not any one sect. The Founders of the Constitution were Christians and they expected it would be so for their descendents. They stated, “The great vital and conservative element in our system is the belief of our people in the pure doctrine and divine truths of the gospel of Jesus Christ.” 1947 – Everson vs. the Board of Education – Only nineteen words of Jefferson’s speech were used, those being, “The First Amendment has erected a wall between church and state.” That wall must be kept high and impregnable.” It was because these words were taken out of context that the Founding father’s intent was reversed. Jefferson meant, not state from church, but church from state. Dr. William James –the Father of Modern Psychology influenced the court. He wanted church out of state. Dr. James stated, “There is nothing so absurd but if you repeat it often enough, people will believe it.” The courts began used this tactic through the years. 1958 – Bear vs. Colmore – One of the judges got tired of hearing the statement, “separation of church and state.” He said, “If this court doesn’t stop talking about separation of church and state, someone will think it is part of the constitution.” The court continued to talk about it. June 25, 1962 – Engle vs. Vitale – This was the first time there was a separation of religious principles from public education. The courts rules that there should not be prayers in school. It was the first time we had a separation of church and state. It was the first time that NO precedence (where previous legal cases were cited) or historical incidents were quoted. 1962-65 – The courts removed church from state through rulings on these cases: 1- Engle vs. Vital – Removal of prayer from school. The prayer before the court only mentioned God once. The Constitution mentions God four times. Does this make it unconstitutional? 2- Murray vs. Curlett – Removal of bible reading in school. Bible study used to be required to graduate from High School. 3- June 17, 1965 –Abington vs. Schempp – Removal of religious instruction from school. The courts stated, “If portions of the New Testament were read without explanation, they could be, and have been psychologically harmful to the child.” In this case the courts said that only 3% of the nation professed no belief in religion or God. That prayer was consistent with 97% of the nation, but the courts ruled for the minority. Now, the philosophy of the 3% rules the 97%. Our courts used to use biblical guidelines to rule on the areas of the citizens, families, schools, and the nation. Not anymore! Before 1962, the courts said, “We only allow divorce for six reasons. They are the six reasons God allows as written in the bible. God made the family (Adam’s and Noah’s) and so we have to use God’s precepts/rules to govern the family.” After 1965 the courts said we were not to do so any more, because it causes psychological damage to children. George Washington stated, “Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religions principle.” 1965 – Reid vs. Vanhovan – It is unconstitutional for a student to pray aloud in school. 1967 – Decab vs. Dispain – The courts took a four-line nursery rhyme used in pre-kindergarten and ruled it unconstitutional. The courts said, “The rhyme is unconstitutional since it might cause someone to think of God.” 1980 – Stone vs. Graham – The Ten Commandments were posted in a school’s hall bulletin board. The court ruled: “If the posted copies of the Ten commandments are to have any effect at all it will be induce the school children to read, meditate upon them, and perhaps to venerate and obey the commandment; this is not a permissible objective.” When the courts say something is unconstitutional, what they are saying is that this thing is something our founding fathers would have been opposed to and would not have allowed it! The court’s findings do not reflect this. James Madison, the Chief Architect of the Constitution, said, “We have stated the whole future of American civilization not upon the power of government, far from it. We have staked the future of all our political institutions upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God.” Our Country’s Downfall Since 1963, when prayer was taken out of school, unwed birth rates of 15-19 year-olds doubled. Pregnancies for girls 10-14 went up 553% since prayer was disallowed in school. (The separation of church and state.) Divorce rates from 1963 to 1983 were up 117%. For fifteen years prior 1963, divorce had been declining. Since 1963, single families were up 140%, single families with children with children were up 160%, and unmarried couples living together went up 353%. From 1965, there was a sharp incline of gonorrhea in students in ages 15-19. It incline became since the removal of religious principles from school. Student STD’s went up 228%. When a people throw away their values, they reap the consequences Some of those consequences are crime, divorce, STD’s, unwed mothers, and unmarried couples living together. There are more! SAT scores approximate average was 970 points from 1952 to 1963. From 1963 to 1980 scores declined for eighteen consecutive years to drop to a low average of 890 points in 1980. In 1974-75 the sharp decline in SAT scores slowed with the advent of private religious schools, which allowed religion in the curriculum. During this time, there were 32 thousand U.S. schools, which accounted for 8.5 million students. Some say that the better scores of these students were because private schools had more money available for a better education for these students. This statement was investigated. It was found that private schools had, on average, $110.00 per student, whereas public schools had $370.52 per student. SAT scores showed that students from the Christian private schools, on average, got 100 points higher, than the Non-Christian schooled students. That put the Christian schooled students back on the par where students were prior to 1963 and the separation of church and state. It was as if no change had occurred. Whereas public schooled student scores continued to declined! In 1988 – the number of Academic High Achievers were as follows : 60.8 were from public schools 39.2 were from private schools – This group was 3 times larger than those from the public schools. Remember too, that private religious schools had 1/3 less money per person and used the same curriculum as the public schools, except the private schools added religion. Violent crimes went up 544% since religious principles were removed from schools in 1963. Thomas Jefferson said that religion is the friend to government because it teaches morals of the heart. This means we are not dealing with murder, instead we deal with the religious morals which say do not hate. When we eliminate hate there is no murder. The commandment to not lust, stops adultery or rape. Our Citizen’s need Internal Values John Adams stated that there was no government big enough, to make you do what’s right. If you don’t do what’s right out of your heart, the gun has already been fired; the damage has already been done. He further stated, “We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is whole inadequate to the government of any other.” Our people need internal constraints governed by God to keep our constitution working well. The greater number of our people are not and as a result, the constitution is not working! Our country is now number one in:
Jeremiah 6:16 says to go back to the old paths if you want things to be back the way it should be. Many state constitutions require people, who hold office, to believe in God, the scriptures, and understand them. Nations are accountable to God. The founding fathers said, “As nations cannot be rewarded or punished in the next world, they must be punished in this. By an inevitable chain of cause and effect, providence punishes national sins by national calamities.” When a nation leaves God, God deals with them immediately. Hence, moral decay brings violent crimes, teen pregnancies, divorce, abortions, and etc. When wicked men rule, the nation suffers. Ben Franklin and the Constitutional Convention stated, “We need God to be our friend not our enemy. We need Him to be our allay not our adversary. We need to make sure we keep God’s concurring aid. If a sparrow cannot fall without God’s notice, how can our nation rise without His aid?” He further called for regular daily prayer to keep Him close to us. Thomas Jefferson, upon leaving the office of president, said, “Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that His justice cannot not sleep forever.” We Need Good People in High Places 1774 – Ben Franklin stated, “Introduce into public affairs the principles of Christianity and it will change the face of the world.” Charles Finnay said, ” The church must take right ground in regard to politics. Politics are part of religion in a country as this, and Christians must do their duty to the country as a part of their duty to God. He will bless or curse this nation according to the course Christians take in politics.” If God’s people do not make it into office God’s principles do not make it into office. That is why Christians must be in office. Our government has been taken over by ungodly men. God-fearing Christians must take it back. We must get involved! Do something where you can affect people’s principles. Proverbs 18:1 “A man who isolates himself seeks his own desires; he rages against all wise judgment.” The separation of church and state allows Christians to be a light to the world, but only in the confines of the church. We know that the Lord wants us to be a light unto the government too. We have lost our heritage. We must get Christianity back into government, our schools, and in our society! Reference Barton, David (1993). Video: America’s Godly Heritage. WallBuilder Press, Aledo, Texas. Ellis, Elisabeth; Esler, Anthony; Beers, Burton; & Hart, Diane (1999), World History – Connections to Today – The Modern Era, Prentice Hall: New Jersey. |
One of the main warnings and dangers, I believe, for these last days is what Paul warned us about, when he told us what the state of mind would be like in much of the culture, and also among much of the church, in the last days that would see Jesus’ return to earth:
2 Timothy 3
Perilous Times and Perilous Men
1 But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: 2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, 4 traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away! 6 For of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts, 7 always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
Is this not an accurate description of the culture and society that we are living in today?
This is particularly true among our present day political leadership, of those who give lip service, when it serves their purpose, and they may talk about God, and even claim that they are Christian, in order to appear respectable and gain votes; but their lives and what they say and do all shows that their hearts are very far from God; and that they don’t even know Him.
As just one example, just look at the man who presently sits in the White House today, who says that he is a Christian; and yet he also says that Muslims and even atheists can get into heaven, if they are good people; he has been heard, and recorded on video, mocking the Bible; he supports infanticide and abortion, and wants to export it to other countries; he supports same sex marriage and the “Gay” agenda; and he is a socialist communist; and in spite of all of this evidence, he wants us to believe that he is a Christian… go figure! What’s even worse than that, apparently much of the people who voted for him believed him.
The truth is, as bad as all of this is, all of it is only a reflection of the values of the people who voted these people into office… and so I think that tells you what the spiritual state of our society and culture is in today.
This is not only true of what we see in Washington DC, but this is also true in most of our municipal and state governments across our nation today; and it is here that I truly believe 2 Timothy 3:5 applies; but certainly it is not limited to just our government, but it is a pretty accurate description of our society and culture in general.
So we have had a condition for years now, where we have elected pretty much godless men and women to represent us, and they have made policies and laws that have taken us further and further away from the values and teachings that we find in our Bible.
The most glaring offense against God, in my opinion, is found in the fact that we as a people have passed laws that have allowed our society to brutally exterminate over 50 million unborn babies, since 1973, when legalized abortion became the law of our land.
Starting back in the early sixties (around 1963, when prayer was officially taken out of our schools), a process started which has allowed our public education system to virtually take God out of our history books, and they have virtually lied to us regarding the role that faith had, among our founding fathers, in the formation of our government and in the our Constitution.
All of that history has been removed from our text books, and what is taught today, in its place, is a story that gives us a secularized world view that our government wants us to have and to follow, that completely ignores both God and the Bible.
So truly we have both a culture and a society today that Jesus warned us about, in his discourse with the Laodicean church, where He said:
Revelation 3:14-22
To the Church in Laodicea
14“To the angel of the church in Laodicea write:
‘ These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation.
15I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.
17You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.
18I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.
19Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent.
20Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.
21To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne. 22He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.'”
So here we are today, where we have allowed people who don’t have a relationship with God to lead us; to make our polices and laws; and tell us how to live… and my question is what did we expect would happen, other than what has happened?
Did we expect that people who have no relationship with God, who don’t know Him and who don’t respect and follow His commandments, that that would make righteous and godly decisions and laws?
As an example, we had a former president, in Bill Clinton, who was caught cheating on his wife numerous times, but also in the Oval Office no less; was even shown to be a liar on national TV, when he first tried to deny it took place, when he said: “Read my lips, I did NOT have sex with that woman;” and yet even after he was found to be the lair he is, most people gave him a pass, and said moral character, as it relates to his personal life, should not be a factor in his professional and political life.
So if his own wife can’t trust him, we as a nation can… is what apparently most people believe… and so is it any wonder our nation is in trouble today?
These are the sort of people who have been setting our course, and directing our future for years now; as we have fallen further and further down this rabbit hole.
They have, by their leadership and policies, taken us as a nation further and further away from the God of the Bible, and have pretty much removed any mention of the Bible and of the God from our culture.
But folks how did we who are Christians think that it was possible that they would do anything else?
The truth is, except for the grace of God and the impact He has had upon each of our lives, through the Holy Spirit and influence of the Bible, we most likely would be doing the very same dumb things that they are doing… for truly how could we do anything else?
For the church in particular I think what 2 Timothy says in verse 5 is very relevant, where it says: “…having a form of godliness but denying its power.”
Is this not an accurate description of much of the church today?
How can we have any spiritual discernment without the Holy Spirit? The answer is we can’t!
As someone who has been privileged to see what life is like in what we would call “Third World Nations,” having visited Cambodia, Thailand, and in the Philippines, I can tell you there is a much different paradigm of thinking over there in these countries, than what we find here in the West. There is more of an openness in these countries, and even an expectation and reception of the supernatural, that is all but lacking in our culture and society, here in the West.
Over there they are much more open to miracles; and when they have a need, having committed their lives to Christ, the literally believe that what the Bible says is true.
As just one example, when I was in Phnom Penh Cambodia, I met a man who had been raised from the death, after having been dead for over 12 hours.
Over their when the breadwinner dies, it pretty much destines the family to destitution and poverty. In this instance, the wife, who was a new Christian herself (about two weeks old in the Lord), she read in the Bible how Jesus raised the dead, and so when her husband died, she and another friend from her church, prayed for 12 hours for God to raise her husband (who was not even a Believer, mind you) from the dead… and after 12 hours of praying, with her husband’s dead body in the house, God answered their prayers.
Question, how many people in the West would even think to do such a thing, let alone do it… and therein is our problem! Today many Christians believe God can do these things, but to don’t expect it.
So much of the Gospel message in the West has been watered down and has been intellectualized; and I believe that much of that is owed to our progressive and secularized public education system that has virtually taught for several generations now that belief in God is absolutely irrelevant and unimportant in our life, and that by the way is the message that is being taught to our kids today.
Although it may not be said quite that way, in those exact words, but certainly that is the message that is implied, as education today it would seem is more about programming the minds of our young people to accept certain secular “Politically Correct” ideologies, to the exclusion even of teaching our kids even the basics, and this is true particularly in many of the inner city schools, in that we have failed to teach many of our children to read and write; and certainly any teaching about God and the Bible is totally forbidden.
Getting back to my original point and that is the role that the Holy Spirit is meant to play in our society, in the church, and in our culture… my point is it’s all the same!
There is no difference, and there is no separation, to God anyway, between the sacred and the secular; and that point is made obvious all throughout the Bible!
From everything that I have described about the current state of our society today, I can tell you it will take a miracle of God to turn us around; and that won’t happen without the church gets back in sync with the Holy Spirit, and we get plugged into the supernatural, and the Gifts of the Spirit, as it is illustrated and demonstrated in the Book of Acts!
Also, unless we who are Christians do as we are instructed, in 2 Chronicles 7:14; and humble ourselves and turn from our wicked ways; and begin to seek after God’s face, then there is no hope for our nation at all!
Mind you, for us to seek after God’s face is talking about our having a very personal and intimate relationship with Him, and that can only happen through the Spirit; and unless we as the church are open to the Holy Spirit, and are willing to trust Him, and allow Him to lead us, then we have no power to back us up, nor our prayers!
So with that said, I’ll ask the question again… what is the Spirit of Prophecy, as explained in the New Testament?
The prophetic gift is from God and its purpose is to provide a way for man to speak forth the mind and counsel of God for repentance to be taught and righteousness to be preached in order to bring restoration, to heal (Matthew 4:34; 9:35), “… for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” (King James Version) (Revelation 19:10.)
In the Amplified Bible that portion of verse reads: “… For the substance (essence) of the truth revealed by Jesus is the spirit of all prophecy—the vital breath, the inspiration of all inspired preaching and interpretation of the divine will and purpose [including both mine and yours].)”
A Christian prophetic ministry also provides a way for the priorities, the present-day utility of God’s power, and contemporary purposes to be communicated to man as history progresses (Amos 3:7 “Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.”; Hebrews 1:1,2 “God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds”; Revelation 10:7 (…more)
Certainly the church today needs to repent and turn back to God; and for that to happen it is mandated that we turn back to the supernatural aspects of the Spirit, that we see taught in the Bible and in the Book of Acts… none of that was ever to cease.
For us to turn our nation around it will require a Spiritual Awakening in our country, and among our people; and I am one who believes that we are going to have such an awakening, and also a revival; but I’m afraid, human nature being what it is, it most likely will not happen without God allows something serious to happen, on the level of what happened on 9/11, only worse, to get our attention!
So with that I want to encourage us all to take the above Prophetic word to heart, and let us not focus on circumstances and feelings; but let us all focus on Jesus Christ, and follow after the Holy Spirit, and the teachings of His Word. Selah
Shalom,
Skip Barland
SB SALT AND LIGHT MINISTRIES 