Tithing and the role this plays in the Church today

Regarding tithing and the role this plays in enabling the Church to carry out its mandate to take the gospel to all the world, and for the saints to be "equipped for the work of the ministry"....

1) Tithing (giving 10% of one's increase - be that material or financial in nature) was in operation BEFORE the Law was given to Moses, because Abraham gave tithes to Melchizedek, who is a type and forerunner of Jesus [confirmed in Hebrews Ch 7 in the NT] - see Genesis 14:18-20:

18 Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was the priest of God Most High.
19 And he blessed him and said:
“Blessed be Abram of God Most High,
Possessor of heaven and earth;
20 And blessed be God Most High,
Who has delivered your enemies into your hand.”
And he gave him a tithe of all.

In Psalm 110:4, God confirms that Jesus is of the same order as Melchizedek...

The Lord has sworn
And will not relent,
“You are a priest forever
According to the order of Melchizedek.” [NKJV]

To make sure we really understand this, Paul re-affirms this in Hebrews 4:10 and Hebrews 6:20..

10 called by God as High Priest “according to the order of Melchizedek,” [NKJV]

20 where the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus, having become High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. [NKJV]

Now, based on the fact that Abraham gave a tenth of the spoils (increase) to Melchizedek, who was the priest of God Most High, it appears that the requirement of tithing of our increase is a Kingdom of God requirement, that was established before the Law, and is therefore not a part of the Law, but of the righteousness of God.

In Hebrews 7, Paul clearly argues that believers in Jesus should also tithe of their increase, following in the footsteps of Abraham, whom God called "His friend", and that their tithe is given to Jesus, since He now stands in the role of High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.


2) Whenever Jesus spoke about tithing, He commended it - see Matthew 23:23-, also Luke 11:41,Luke 18:12):

23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.

The passage in Hebrews 7 confirms that Jesus is entitled to at least the same rights as Melchizedek, which means that we Christians are also required to give tithes to Him. This has NOTHING to do with the Mosaic Law.

God is the same yesterday, today and forever, He NEVER changes. If this is true, then the passage in Malachi 3:8-10 MUST still be true...

8 “Will a man rob God?
Yet you have robbed Me!
But you say,
‘In what way have we robbed You?’
In tithes and offerings.
9 You are cursed with a curse,
For you have robbed Me,
Even this whole nation.
10 Bring all the tithes into the storehouse,
That there may be food in My house,
And try Me now in this,”
Says the Lord of hosts,
“If I will not open for you the windows of heaven
And pour out for you such blessing
That there will not be room enough to receive it.

According to this passage, God regards the tithe as His personal property, and if we do not give it we are robbing God.

I don't know about you, but I certainly do not want God to accuse me of being a thief, especially since He has promised to bless me abundantly if I give Him the tithe.

The tithe is NOT an offering, and it should be given to your local church (see next point) where you are a member, since its intent is to support and provide for the apostles, prophets evangelists, pastors and teachers that Jesus has set up in the local church. These anointed ministers of God are Jesus' representatives here on earth for teaching and building up the saints for the work of the ministry.

It says in 1 Corinthians 9:1-14 that it is the right of an anointed minister of God, who stands in one or more of the 5-fold offices of apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor or teacher to be paid for the work they do in their ministries:

1 Am I not an apostle? Am I not free? Have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord?
2 If I am not an apostle to others, yet doubtless I am to you. For you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.
3 My defense to those who examine me is this:
4 Do we have no right to eat and drink?
5 Do we have no right to take along a believing wife, as do also the other apostles, the brothers of the Lord, and Cephas?
6 Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working?
7 Who ever goes to war at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat of its fruit? Or who tends a flock and does not drink of the milk of the flock?
8 Do I say these things as a mere man? Or does not the law say the same also?
9 For it is written in the law of Moses, “You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain.” Is it oxen God is concerned about?
10 Or does He say it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written, that he who plows should plow in hope, and he who threshes in hope should be partaker of his hope.
11 If we have sown spiritual things for you, is it a great thing if we reap your material things?
12 If others are partakers of this right over you, are we not even more? Nevertheless we have not used this right, but endure all things lest we hinder the gospel of Christ.
13 Do you not know that those who minister the holy things eat of the things of the temple, and those who serve at the altar partake of the offerings of the altar?
14 Even so the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel. [NKJV, emphasis added]

In fact Paul goes further, and says in 1 Timothy 5:17-18:

17 Let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and doctrine.
18 For the Scripture says, “You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain,” and, “The laborer is worthy of his wages.” [NKJV]

It is clear from these passages of scripture that God expects (commands!) that His ministers are fed and provided for by the people who receive their anointed ministry. For anyone to say that the role of a paid pastor in today's church is one that scripture opposes is utterly wrong!!

This is the view now being promulgated by George Barna and Frank Viola in their new book "Pagan Christianity: Exploring the Roots of Our Church Practices". Just so that you see that I am not misrepresenting them, I quote from the book:

Note that we are using the term pastor throughout this chapter to depict the contemporary pastoral office and role, not the specific individual who fills this role. By and large, those who serve in the office of pastor are wonderful people. They are honorable, decent, and very often gifted Christians who love God and have a zeal to serve His people. But it is the role they fill that both Scripture and church history are opposed to. [Empahsis added]

You are also asked by God to give free-will offerings towards the ministry ("good works") of the Church - these are in addition to the tithe, and God will only accept them if you give them cheerfully and in faith, for as it says in 2 Corinthians 9:6-7:

"6 But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.
7 So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver." [NKJV]

These offerings can be regarded as spiritual seeds, which, because this seed is eternal, never dies or goes bad, and will ALWAYS give a return if you speak life to it. Therefore you, just like any farmer, should expect a harvest from this seed, here and now, in this life - not just in the eternal future.


3) The purpose of the tithe today

As Head of the Church, Jesus has established anointed ministers of God, namely apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers to be in the local church, whose responsibility is to teach, admonish, edify (build up) and equip the saints (that's ALL believers) so that they, the believers, can do the work of the ministry. See [Ephesians 4:11-15]. Since it is obvious to all that we have yet to reach that place of

13 ...come[ing] to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;
14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting,
15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—
16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love. [NKJV]

the role of the five-fold ministry positions must still be in effect.

To clarify, the only one of these 5 roles that has the job of overseeing or shepherding a local church is the Pastor. An Apostle only has an oversight role in those churches that he, or she, has personally been involved in starting. Nobody, who calls themselves an apostle, has the right to march into a church and demand that the Pastor be submitted to him, because he is believes he is an apostle and that is the way the church leadership is supposed to be structured. There is NOTHING in the NT that support that view. Even Paul himself acknowledged that he, as an apostle, was limited in his authority to those churches that he had helped to start - see Acts 1 Corinthians 9:1-2.

An apostle may clearly be identified as someone who has been called of God to start churches, and has done so several times (thus demonstrating he has the anointing to be an apostle), and who as a result has oversight over those churches, and provides pastoral oversight and advice to the Pastors for those churches. The apostle may have oversight over other Pastors in churches he or she did not have a hand in starting, but only because they have requested this, as a form of accountability and for guidance. The apostle still has no right to take over the control of a church under his authority unless the designated Pastor has resigned or been removed from his position due to inappropriate behavior or ungodly activities. Even then, the Apostle will (or should) endeavor to quickly find a replacement for that Pastor. An Apostle may also have one or more anointings to be a prophet or teacher, but these "gifts" are primarily for the churches he or she has oversight of, and occasionally for the benefit of other ministries, but only if invited to do so.

The role of a NT prophet is much different from that of an OT prophet. They have a specific calling from God to provide prophetic instruction to a local church, or occasionally to a wider audience, e.g meetings involving believers from a group of local churches, or at a convention of believers (it is VERY unlikely that an prophet will be called to minister the whole Body of Christ). Again, the prophet will be submitted to the pastor of his local church. Prophets do not operate independently of a local church. We, as believers are required of God to judge and validate any "words" given by a prophet, to make sure that they line up with the Word. The local church may choose to provide some support for this person, if their ministry takes them further afield than their local church. This would most likely come from the free-will offerings of the congregation, rather than out of the tithes.

A true prophet will regularly operate in one or more of the "utterance gifts", as described in 1 Corinthians12 - namely the operation of the "gift of Prophesy", which is the vehicle for the manifestation of either or both the "Word of Knowledge" or the "Word of Wisdom". They will often also operate in the "". This means that they are given insight ("discernment" means simply to see - with no connotations of judgment) into the realm of the spirit world, and can become aware of both good (angelic) and bad (demonic) spirits, as well as individual human spirits.

Please understand that these "gifts", or rather "manifestations of Holy Spirit" occur ONLY when the Holy Spirit decides - the prophet may choose to give or not to give these prophetic announcements - that is his right [1 Corinthians 14:32], but no true prophet would presume to consistently refuse the leading of Holy Spirit in these matters - they risk losing the anointing if they do so.

An evangelist should be sent out from the local church where he or she is an accredited member. Generally speaking, evangelists do not make good pastors, and it unusual for God to call and evangelist to be a pastor. A true evangelist will have a special anointing to preach the gospel, with sings, wonders and miracles following, in confirmation f the Word. The will usually operate in the "power" gifts of Holy Spirit - the "working of miracles", the "gifts of healings" (notice the plural tense), the "gift of special faith" (to distinguish this from every believer's "measure of faith" - see ), and sometimes the "Word of Knowledge" and "discernment of spirits". Basically, Holy Spirit will manifest these "gifts" in order for the effective working of the signs, wonders and miracles. Just as with Jesus' ministry, sometimes sickness and disease is the direct result of demonic oppression, and requires the working of a miracle to cast the demonic influence out of a person. This is where the evangelist can be given the "discernment of spirits" so that they know what to do. The "gift of special faith" comes into operation to allow the evangelist to have the faith to believe, on behalf of the person being ministered to, for example, for a limb or body part to grow back, or for a person who has suffered from the destructive effects of a disease such as leprosy, and God wants to not merely heal them of the disease, but wants to restore them to complete wholeness, by reconstructing and replacing missing body parts. He or she should be able to support themselves from the free-will offerings they receive from the group of believers they are ministering to. Their local church may also contribute, in the same manner a prophet may be supported.

A Teacher is someone who has the anointing to teach the truths of the Word to believers - again this person's ministry may be limited to a local church, a group of churches (probably under the oversight of an apostolic ministry) or as one with a wider ministry to a the Body of Christ, say at the national level, and who travels around from convention to convention teaching the Word to the believers in that locale. Antone who has a anointed teaching ministry to the Body of Christ should be able to support themselves from the free-will offerings they receive as a result of their ministry.

In ALL cases, the person who has the anointing to be a prophet, evangelist or teach MUST be a part of a local church, and choose to be submitted to the pastoral oversight of anointed Pastor. Note also that the "manifestations" are at the express will of Holy Spirit - any one of the five-fold ministries can find themselves in deep trouble if they try to operate these "gifts" outside of the direct prompting of Holy Spirit, and they run the risk of leading believers into error or worse. No one person has any or all of "the gifts" in permanent operation in their life - they are not the ones who decide when and where the "manifestations of the Spirit" happen - this is solely the decision of Holy Spirit. You will however sometimes witness someone who is called as an apostle, prophet, pastor or teacher, manifest any one or more of the 9 "gifts" as part of their ministry to the local church.

The Pastor stands in the office of overseer or shepherd, and as such represent the authority of Jesus over a local church. As such, he or she is the person to receives the tithes and free-will offerings from the local believers who attend that specific church or assembly on a regular basis.

It is VERY important to note that the pastor is the steward, not the sole recipient of these finances, which are to be used to carry out the work of the ministry - to pay for the building and its equipment and maintenance, to support the pastor's ministry to that church, so that he does not have to spend time working to support him/herself and his family, but can devote his time to the care and feeding of the flock. The pastor's role is not to dominate or tell the flock what to do, but to teach and admonish the flock in the ways of God, so that they are able to "come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ" [Ephesians 4:13].

It is for the pastor to determine, with help if he so desires from other ministers or godly people, what to do with the unallocated portion of the tithes and any unallocated free-will offerings - to give to missions, or towards the support of other ministries, as they feel directed by Holy Spirit.

So you can see that tithing is God's way of ensuring that individual churches are able to fulfill the mandate of the "Great Commission" and take care of themselves and their pastor (and any other person who forms part of the "full-time" work of the ministry in that local church (including administrative staff, etc.)).


4) God promises us a blessing "that there will not be room enough to receive" if we tithe regularly.

If you are not being blessed, try tithing. If you are lacking anything, start sowing seed (offerings) in faith (but NOT out of need), so that God can provide you with a harvest, and when you sew, tell God what you are sowing it for in faith (note: without faith it is impossible to please God) - be that health, finances, a vehicle, your future plans, etc. You HAVE to speak out in faith what you expect your harvest to be, because this is how it will come to pass - because this is how God operates - He calls those things that are not as though they were [Romans 4:17], and we are commanded to imitate God.

The real problem is that most Christians do not understand how the Kingdom of God operates here on earth. Jesus has delivered us from the consequences of the Curse of the Law - as described in Deuteronomy 28. So, if you are bedeviled (literally, since this is the source of anything bad) by sickness, disease, lack, poverty or any other evil thing, look at your actions and words.

Have you negated or blocked the flow of the blessings of God in your life because of your omission in paying your tithes and giving offerings to God - or have you done so in a spirit of grumbling and complaining? Have you been speaking words that do not line up with or agree with Scripture. God says that He wants us to be:

6 But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.
7 So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver.
8 And God is able to make all grace [God's operational power to get things done] abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work. [2 Corinthians 9:8, NKJV, emphasis added]

I don't know about you, but I want to be always having all sufficiency in all things, and not just that, but having an abundance for every good work.

I pay my tithe, I give offerings, and I am VERY blessed by God, as is my local church, because we have understood that God does not say things He does not mean.

John

Some teachings on Healing, and "walking in divine health"..

(As this is quite a long post, I will post this first part and then follow up with some specific teaching on how to receive, keep and walk in divine health).

Jesus said in the Great Commission in Mark 16:17:
“And these signs will follow those who believe: In My Name . . . they will lay hands on the sick and they will recover.”

It goes on to say in verse 20:
“And they went and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the Word through the accompanying signs.”

In the four Gospels, there are 19 different cases of healing recorded. Three of these were as a result of Jesus casting out a demon. In 13 of the remaining 16 times, Jesus either said or implied that it was the person's own faith that resulted in their healing.

So, obviously it is important that we understand that we, individually, have a major role to play in both receiving healing, and walking in divine health on a daily basis. We have all received the measure of faith - which, since God is impartial, and has no favorites, means we have all received the same amount of faith, as a gift from God when we were born again - see Romans 12:3.

Romans 10:17 says that "faith comes by [repeatedly] hearing the Word of God". This teaching series attempts to provide a “platform” where the Word, particularly on healing, will go forth and faith for healing may be developed and strengthened. This will enable the Lord to confirm His Word with signs following in the form of manifestations of healing as promised in Mark 16:19-20.

First we will look at some common "traditions" and "doctrines of man" that have made the Word of God of no effect [Matthew 15:6].


1) Healing has passed away, and is no longer available for today

If this is true, then God is a liar

It says in the Word:

Exodus 15:26 “If you diligently heed the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am the Lord who heals you.” [NKJV]
If this was true then, it must still be true today.

Malachi 3:6 “For I am the Lord, I do not change” [NKJV]
I think this is self-evident - the question is "Do You REALLY believe it?"

James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. [NKJV]
God ONLY gives us GOOD gifts. By no stretch of the imagination would one call sickness a good gift.

According to the Word [Romans 5:12], sin, death, sickness and disease "entered into" the world at the time of Adam's rebellion against God, causing him to immediately die spiritually, and to start to die physically. They did NOT come from God - they are a direct result of Adam's sin - they come from the enemy of our souls, the devil. As it says in John 10:10 “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”

The word used for "life" is zoe - the God kind of life - which is, by definition, free from any sickness, disease, affliction, mental problems, missing or damaged body parts, etc, etc, and which is ALWAYS victorious, blessed, healthy, prosperous, joy-filled.

God did not create us to suffer from sickness and disease, in fact He made it clear in His s Word (Deuteronomy 28) that we have to chose between life and death, and that Jesus has ALREADY set us (those of us who are born again, blood-bought members of His body) free from the Curse of the Law, which includes EVERY kind of sickness and disease - no exceptions.

In Psalm 105:3 it says:
[God] Who satisfies your mouth [your necessity and desire at your personal age and situation] with good things, So that your youth, renewed, is like the eagle’s [strong, overcoming, soaring]. [AMP]

This verse is addressed to EVERYONE. If you are not willing to ACT on what you believe, then you really don't believe. Not believing means you are not in faith, which as God says, means you are IN SIN!!

for whatever is not from faith is sin [Romans 14:23, NKJV]

God is STILL our healer. He never changes - so the basis for us to receive healing, and remain in divine health is, as Jesus showed, dependent upon OUR faith - the rock solid assurance that the Word of God NEVER changes, and that God has done EVERYTHING He needs to do to provide us with health and healing in our bodies. As it says in the Word:

[Romans 8:2] For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.

[Ephesians 1:3] Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.

Thus we can see that God has ALREADY given us everything we will ever need - we just need to learn to appropriate by faith, by believing god's Word, and putting our faith in to action - if you cannot do anything else, at the minimum SPEAK out the Word, Just as it says in 1 Peter 2:24, By Jesus' stripes I have been healed (past tense). and also in 1 Peter 5:5, Resist the devil and he will flee [in terror] from you.

The Book of Acts is still being written, since it is the story of the Church and the acts of power of Holy Spirit through the Church. as far as I am aware, the Church is still here. One of the last things recorded in the Book of Acts shows that healing was still available, was still happening.

Acts 28:8-9 8 And it happened that the father of Publius lay sick of a fever and dysentery. Paul went in to him and prayed, and he laid his hands on him and healed him. 9So when this was done, the rest of those on the island who had diseases also came and were healed. [NKJV]

In other words, when Paul left Malta, EVERYBODY who had been sick on the island had been healed!!!!

Nowhere does Scripture EVER say that healing is not for today. It is ONLY the "traditions of men" that say so. Who are you going to believe? God or Man?

Glory to God!!!


2) God makes you sick to teach you something

This is absolutely from the pit of hell!!

The ONLY thing God uses to teach us is the Scriptures. as it says in 2 Timothy 3:16-17:

16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,
17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

The Word is what makes us complete, mature, fully equipped for every good work.

Imagine a father making his child sick, as a means of instruction - giving them cancer, of a virus, or some bacterial infection, or by destroying body parts (e.g. leprosy), or causing a child to be born malformed, or mentally disabled. Most sane(?) people would agree that this classifies as child abuse or worse, and yet man teaches that God sends sickness on us to make us a better Christian. This is not only wrong, it is, to put it mildly, an offence against God.

Again, as Jesus said in John 10:10:

“The thief [=the devil] does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they [=all mankind] may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”


3) God allows sickness to come on us

This is almost as bad as 2) above

In Genesis 1:26, before Adam's rebellion, God gave Mankind (both male and female) the command that they were to take dominion [=authority] over the earth and everything in, on, and above it - that also includes everything that "entered in" to the earth because of Adam's rebellion - i.e. death, sickness, disease, poverty, lack, fear, etc.

Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” [NKJV]

At that point, everything God had done He called "very good".

This was God's original plan - remember He never changes, so this is STILL His plan today. In fact, in the passage in Genesis 1, God is warning Mankind, in advance, of what was going to shortly happen - after the Fall, but that they would be able, through faith and trust in Him, still be able to continue to take authority. When they didn't, God had to start all over again - first by means of the Flood, and then by Jesus' death and resurrection, when Jesus took back this authority from the devil, and then gave it back to the Church. [See Matthew 28:18-20].

In Deuteronomy 30:19, God tells us to "choose life" - not sickness and death. But we are the ones who have to make that choice.

You need to ask yourself, "Does God allow me to be sick? It is clear from the above passages that it is NOT God who allows us to be sick, rather that God EXPECTS US to take authority over the sickness and resist it.

Man was created to be God's Kingdom agent, to rule and subdue God's creation - all of it, including the aggressive acts of the enemy (who was already on the earth BEFORE Adam's rebellion, and who had previously been the Ruler of the World - until God threw him out of Heaven, and took away his power and authority, and gave it to Mankind. Unfortunately Mankind promptly rebelled against God, and gave the devil back this power and authority.

BUT, Jesus took it back again, and gave the authority back to His Body - the Church.

Now, we have both the right AND the responsibility to make the right choice (life) and to take authority over the world and the devil - since Jesus has given the Church that authority:

20 ..Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.
19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
20 “teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” [Matthew 28:16-20, NKJV]


4) God gets glory from the way you bear up under sickness

Just look at the Gospels.

Matthew 15:31 So the multitude marveled when they saw the mute speaking, the maimed made whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing; and they glorified the God of Israel.

Mark 2:12 Immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went out in the presence of them all, so that all were amazed and glorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!”

Luke 18:43 And immediately he received his sight, and followed Him, glorifying God. And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God.

God gets the glory when people are healed and delivered from sickness, not through them suffering from it and through it.

In John 15:7-8, Jesus said that God is glorified when we bear much fruit. Sickness is NOT a good fruit!!

7 “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. 8 “By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.”

In Romans 8:28 it says:

We are assured and know that [God being a partner in their labor] all things work together and are [fitting into a plan] for good, and for those who love God and are called according to [His] design and purpose [AMP]

Please, please note that the subject and context that Paul is addressing is about PRAYER. It has NOTHING to do with us coping with bad situations, circumstances or sickness. We are supposed to take authority over these things, so that they don't affect us.

When the Body of Christ (that's us) and God are working together in prayer, THEN the result is ALWAYS GOOD!!.

You often hear people, when they pray, use the expression "if it be Thy Will"

This is taken from Luke 22:42, when Jesus is praying in the Garden of Gethsemane before His crucifixion. He is asking God, if it is at all possible, for Him not to have to go through with the terrible ordeal He knows he is facing - this is His humanity ("flesh") speaking, but His spirit then says "not my will, but Your Will be done"

The only time you can use the expression "if it be Thy Will" is when you are praying a prayer of consecration. For example, if you are wondering if God has called you to go on the mission field in Africa (for example) and you are wanting to make sure that this is God's plan for you, and not just your own, well meaning desire to preach the Gospel to all the world, then you can ask if it be Thy Will".

When we pray, we are supposed to pray according to the revealed Will of God, as given in Scripture. To use the expression "if it be Thy Will" in any other kind of prayer is to be praying in COMPLETE contradiction to Mark 11:24,

“Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.”

In fact the Greek is even stronger, and the passage should read:

“Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, having already believed that you have already received them, you already have them.” That's the prayer of faith!! We should be speaking those things that are not (i.e. don't exist) as though they do - since this is how God operates [Romans 4:17]

In other words, if you don't believe that you already have something, don't pray to receive them, because this is not praying the prayer of faith, and anything that is not of faith is sin!!

As far as healing is concerned, it is ALWAYS God's will that people are healed. I know that this is a very sweeping and definitive statement, but please consider the ministry of Jesus, who "went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him." [Acts 10:38, NKJV]. As far as I am aware, the word "all" means just that - he healed EVERYBODY..

Note: I will cover this statement in more detail later on, but for the moment please accept that this is the TRUE Biblical position for healing.


5) "Paul's Thorn in the flesh"

This is described in the passage in 2 Corinthians 12:2-10.

"2 I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago—whether in the body I do not know, or whether out of the body I do not know, God knows—such a one was caught up to the third heaven.
3 And I know such a man—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows—
4 how he was caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.
5 Of such a one I will boast; yet of myself I will not boast, except in my infirmities.
6 For though I might desire to boast, I will not be a fool; for I will speak the truth. But I refrain, lest anyone should think of me above what he sees me to be or hears from me.
7 And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure.
8 Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me.
9 And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
" [NKJV]

Note that in verse 7, the "thorn" is called a "messenger [gr. angelos] of Satan" - in other words a mighty demonic evil spirit - sent to buffet him. Paul recognized this as a spiritual onslaught, as he later describes in Ephesians 6:12:

for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

The word angelos occurs 188 times in the NT. Of these, 181 times it is translated as "angel", and 7 times as "messenger". In all cases it refers to a spiritual personality or being.

So, we see from Paul's description, that this "messenger" was a mighty evil spirit, specifically assigned to Paul by Satan, to stop him preaching the abundant revelations that God had given him [see v7]. It was NOT any kind of sickness or disease, or even an "ugly mother-in-law" (as some people have taught - really!!)

Satan did not want these teachings to reach the Church. This assigned "messenger" was his attempt to stop Paul, by stirring up trouble for him through other people, notably the "Jews" - meaning the Pharisees and Sadducees and other teachers of the Law of Moses.

The "messenger" did this by creating riots, commotions, attempts on Paul's life and physical attacks on Paul's person, by means of beatings, stonings, shipwrecks, etc.

This messenger would also use Satan's only method of attacking Paul directly, through deception, either through his mind (i.e. trying to trap Paul into believing the "traditions" of the Elders) or by trying to get Paul to accept "lying symptoms" of sickness and disease.

As I have already explained, God wants US to "resist the devil" - He is not going to do it for us. So, in this situation, God was expecting Paul to resist these attacks, by taking authority over the works of the enemy (both spiritual, physical and mental).

The most effective attack the enemy could muster was through other people, who got upset about what Paul was teaching - this teaching was upsetting them (to put it mildly) and going against their "traditions" and their power base in society.

In Mark 4:3-7 we see the Parable of the Sower and the Seed. The explanation of who the Sower is and what the Seed was is given in v14 - the Seed is the Word of God, and the Sower is the one who sows the Word - in this case Paul.

In verse 7 we see that the "thorns" choke the word of God, by making people focus on the cares of the world (their "traditions", power and authority). This was Satan's intention for Paul - to literally choke the life out of him, so that he could no longer preach.

In Acts 13:44, 50 we see an example of this. Paul was preaching the Word in Antioch. The "Jews" expelled him, by stirring up the people ("the devout and prominent women and the chief men of the city") and raising up persecution against them (Paul and Barnabas).

In Acts 14:1,5 we see the same happening. Paul is preaching in Iconium. As a result "a violent attempt was made by both the Gentiles and Jews, with their rulers, to abuse and stone them" Paul and Barnabas had to flee for their lives.

In Acts 14:7,19-20 Paul and Barnabas arrive in Lystra. They preach the Word, but this time, things got so out of hand after the Jews from Antioch and Iconium arrived, who so aroused the people against Paul, that they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, and left him for dead. Interestingly, Paul got up and returned into the city, after the disciples had gathered around him, and walked out of the city the next day - obviously God miraculously healed him.

Paul eventually figured out that he had to deal with these attacks on his life, through the power and authority vested in him as a believer, and through the power of God's grace - God's operational power - that was working inside of him.

Paul explains this in 2 Corinthians 12:9. He finally realized that the grace of God that was inside of him was more than a match for the enemy and all his evil forces, and so he resisted the devil and he fled from him. One can ascertain from Scripture that Paul did not appear to have any further major attacks on his person as he continued on in his ministry, until he finally returned to Jerusalem, where he was caught in a riot, arrested and sent before governor Felix in Caesarea on false charges put forward by the Jewish leaders.

“My grace [operational power] (My favor and loving kindness and mercy) is enough for you [sufficient against any danger and enables you to bear the trouble manfully], for My strength [gr. dunamis] and power is made perfect (fulfilled and complete) and show themselves most effective [fully functional] in [your] weakness [=your limits, end of your own abilities].” [AMP, with additions].

Really what God is telling Paul is that he already has the power [grace] and authority to deal with the enemy's attacks, because when human strength ends, God' power excels.

In Philippians 4:12-13 we see how Paul has grasped this: "I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." [NKJV, emphasis added]

In the Amplified version, verse 13 reads:
I have strength for all things in Christ Who empowers me [I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him Who infuses inner strength into me; I am self-sufficient in Christ's sufficiency]. Wow!!

But let's not leave things there, without some further explanation concerning "thorns in the flesh". In Numbers 33:50-56, we see that God told the Israelites that if they did not get rid of the people living in the Promised Land, as God had instructed them to do through Moses, then these people would be like "irritants in your eyes and thorns in your sides" to them. This expression is an idiom, meaning that it is an accepted phrase or expression that has a meaning different from the literal meaning. An modern example would be "you are a pain in the neck".

It is interesting to note that this is exactly the situation today in the land of Israel - the people descended from these original inhabitants, especially those living in what used to be Philistia (the Philistines), now known as Gaza, are truly like "irritants in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and they shall harass you in the land where you dwell" to the Israelis!

You can see from the passage in Numbers that "thorns in the side (or flesh)" are NOT sickness and diseases, or other frailties, but the buffeting of your person by other beings, either spiritual or natural.

From 2 Timothy 3:10-11 we can see that Paul got the message of 2 Corinthians 12:9 and God delivered him from all his afflictions!!

But you have carefully followed my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, love, perseverance, persecutions, afflictions, which happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra — what persecutions I endured. And out of them all the Lord delivered me.

Finally, in Mark 16:20 we see that the pattern for us "normal" Christians is to go out and preach everywhere, and the Lord will work with and confirm His Word through the accompanying signs (supernatural signs, wonders and miracles).

You final question may be, "How do we do this?"

Jesus has the answer, as always. In John 8:31-32 He says,:

“If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. “And you shall know the Truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

Study the Word, ask Holy Spirit to lead you into all truth and pray in the Spirit at all times.

John

P.S. I will continue with more teaching on healing, and how to receive healing when you need it, and how to walk in divine health on a daily basis soon.

The 6 Seals of Revelation and how they portray the events of the last 2000 years up to the Rapture

Note: I posted before, in May 2007, concerning this subject, and have come to realize that I was initially incorrect in my understanding. This is my new "take" on the 6 Seals. Sorry for any confusion.

I know I have posted something about this subject before...I apologize for its length, but if you can have the patience to read it, I think you may learn something of great importance.

I think that there is much confusion amongst prophecy teachers that stems from their belief that the Book of Revelation covers only the last few years before Jesus' triumphant return as King of kings.

First, the Book of Revelation is the Revelation of Jesus Christ (not the Church, not the end times, tribulation, Antichrist, the false prophet, Babylon or anything else).

It was given to John at the end of the 1st century by Jesus. It was given in symbolic language and details the events that would happen FROM THAT POINT IN HISTORY all the way to the Millennial Kingdom. This is stated in Rev 1:19.

“Write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after this.”

The 7 letters are addressed to specific church families (local church communities if you will) that existed in those days. However, I believe that these letters are addressed to anyone who will read and hear what they say - “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

I am sure, from having studied Church history, that these 7 churches represent 7 different types of denominational groups that have come into being over the past 2000 years, and still exist today.

There are specific statements that Jesus makes to each church type that convince me that He was trying to warn believers of the dangers of these denominations and the remedy is specified for individuals from each group to return to the true faith, and become an overcomer. A believer being an overcomer is obviously VERY important to Jesus, and the promises He makes to those who become overcomers are very precious and sacred.

After John has recorded the letters, he is called up to Heaven: “Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this.”

The rest of what John sees and hears relates to events that will take place from that point in time onward. We now know (in hindsight) that some of the events described throughout yhe Book of Revelation have occurred during the past 2000 years, or have yet to occur in the few remaining years left before Jesus' final return.

In Revelation 4 John is taken into the Throne Room of God in Heaven, and sees the Throne, surrounded by the 4 cherubim (4-faced beings - see also Ezek 10)) and the 24 elders. These beings are always around the Throne, and you never see one without the other.

He also sees a "sea of glass, like crystal". In symbolic terms, the "sea" is people, and they look like a sea of "crystal" because they are dressed in blinding white robes of righteousness - in other worlds they are the redeemed of the Lord (those that have died, and by faith (Heb 11) have been counted righteous, all the way from Adam and Eve to the present).

In Ch 5, God the Father hands a scroll to Jesus - the only one found that is eligible to do this for He is the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals. Note the VERY Jewish references - no reference to any "Christian" imagery - this is straight out of the OT.


So the references in Revelation 4-5 must indicate that this event just occurs after His death and resurrection, because He was (and is) the First Born from the dead, the Great Overcomer of Death and Sin - giving Him the right to open the Scroll.

I have said before that the Lord Jesus, when He was here on earth, was in the capacity of an OT Prophet, sent solely to the House of Israel, to fulfill the Law and the Prophets. This was BEFORE the Church ever came into existence, and before the Age of Grace - the Church Age. Thus it is fitting that John is being shown what happens as a result of Jesus' death and resurrection - the Gospel about to be preached to the whole world, and the Gentiles are now, at last, going to be offered a chance to receive the promise of Abraham, by faith (see Galatians 3:14).

Now the question you need to ask is: "What is the Scroll, and what does it represent?"

I believe it represents two things:

1) It is the Title Deed to the earth that Jesus has taken back from Satan - who got it from Adam when Adam committed high treason in the Garden of Eden. This authorizes the holder of the Deed the right to have dominion over the earth and its inhabitants (land, sea and air, and all the animal and plant life - see Genesis 1:26-28). Jesus now has that authority (Matthew 28:18) and has delegated it His Body, the Church, here on earth to carry out the Great Commision.

2) It is the Scroll, Letter, Epistle of the message of the Gospel going forth - the work of Holy Spirit through the Church, who is referred to as being like a spiritual and symbolic representation of a scroll, as we are all a living epistle, (book, written on a scroll - see 2 Corinthians 3:2).

The seals are now progressively opened as the Scroll is unrolled, revealing more and more of the events of the Church Age.

Revelation Ch 6 is about the breaking of the first 6 of the 7 Seals of the Scroll that Jesus is holding and opening. Scrolls sealed in this manner are progressively unrolled as each seal is broken. We see through this chapter the unfolding of the Church Age, from the Resurrection (1st Seal), with Jesus going out alone to conquer sin and death, (so that we might experience the power of His redemptive sacrifice and become "more than conquerors" ourselves) through to the Rapture after the opening of Seal 6. Seals 2 - 5 are descriptive of the various stages over the past 2000 years that lead us up to the present day - the end of the End of Days as prophesied by Daniel and Jesus Himself.

It is possible, by examining what has actually taken place in history concerning the Church and its activities, to determine that the various events described by the opening of each seal are to a great extent chronological, and continue to unfold as time goes by.

It is important to remember that we are watching God's plan unfurl here. The Church was created to be a blessing to the people of earth. It was given all authority in the earth and the heavens (atmosphere) (See Matthew 28:18), as represented by the Scroll in Jesus hand, to take dominion over the earth, so that the Gospel message could go forth unhindered.

We were supposed to have been in charge here - if we had done so, there would not have been all the wars, destruction, famines and other disasters that have decimated the world's population through disease, sickness and the results of sin over the last 2000 years.

We were supposed to be agents of God, to bring about blessings and prosperity on the earth (see Galatians 3:14).

By most standards, we have failed - but this is all indicated by the steady progression of the seals and the events unfolding as the Scroll is opened.

It is interesting to note the relationships between the natural and spiritual realms here. Absence or lack of the word of God causes spiritual famine and death, resulting in physical famines, lack, poverty, sickness and the spread of diseases. Wars are most often caused by the need or desire (=greed) by one group of people to take over the resources of another group, or to establish domination over them (=slavery) due to insufficient resources, or as the result of disease and famine - both of these traits are contrary to the message of the gospel.

In the first 2-300 years of the Church Age, the Church was subject to great persecution, but at the same time, by the end of that period, almost all the known world had heard the gospel, and the Christian population, percentage wise, was at an all time high. This attack on the Church and the gospel message is represented by the Red Horse (2nd Seal), and is an ongoing situation even today.

Unfortunately, when Emperor Constantine decide to make Christianity the "one world religion", requiring anyone who worked for the government, either directly or indirectly, to be a Christian, this opened the doors to all sorts of pagan practices being allowed into the Church, diluting its message, and leading ultimately to the "dark ages" - the Church's real power (the Acts 2 type of Holy Spirit power) having been dissipated through increasing acceptance of pagan and non-biblical practices and teachings (much of which were unfortunately propagated by the Roman Catholic church hierarchy, such as indulgences, the selling of "relics", holy water, the rite of baptism in water taking the place of a public and real confession of faith (as per Romans 10:9-10), the restriction of the written form of the Bible to Latin, thus putting it beyond the understanding of the common people, and the introduction of various "sacramental rites" which carried more weight than the Biblical ordinances, which carried on, almost unchallenged, until the time of the Reformation.

As a result of the wars and increasing barbarianism and lack of any strong and effective government (which had been provided by the Roman Empire in its heyday), poverty, famine and disease was rampant throughout the world during this time. This is represented by the Black Horse (3rd Seal). Most people never lived out their alloted "three score years and ten" lifespan - they died "before their time" of sickness, malnutrition, disease and poverty.

This is NOT the abundant life (gr zoe - the God kind of life) promised by Jesus to His followers. The God kind of life is freedom from sickness, disease, poverty, lack, fear, sadness, distress of any kind - this is the TRUE heritage of a Christian here on earth, but most of us never grasp hold of this kind of life, and so go through life poor, unhealthy, sick and often miserable, beset by fears and temptations that we never seem to be able to overcome. We are supposed to be offering the world a solution to their problems - but we cannot seem to get even our own lives on track in the way God wants us to. He has ALREADY done EVERYTHING for us, given us EVERYTHING we need - we have the very life and mind of Christ in us and the same power that raised Jesus from the dead living inside of us - why can we not make good use of it, both to enable our own lives to prosper, but more importantly to be in a position to REALLy bless others?

Returning to Revelation Ch. 6, the Seals 2 - 4 represent the spread of wars, both in the natural and in the spirit realm, famines (both spiritual and physical) and the end result - death - physical and spiritual - that has accompanied the Church's retreat over the past 1600 years.

It is only within the last 500 years that any attempt was made to reverse this progress, starting with the Reformation, and the declaration that only by faith in and through Jesus Christ could you be accounted as righteous to go to heaven.

However, during that time, right up to the present, we have seen increasing numbers of wars, culminating in the two World Wars of the 20 C. Each war was accompanied by increasing use of technology to kill and main more and more people, until now we have the potential to wipe humanity off the face of the earth with atomic and biological weapons, both of which have been used within the last 100 years with devastating effect. This is represented by the Pale horse (4th Seal)

The Dark Ages, which culminated in the Inquisition, saw the death of tens of thousands of true believers, who were accused of all sorts of grave sins, and tortured and burnt to death. This is represented by the 5th seal, where these martyrs cry out to God for vengeance.

Then came the rise of the great apostles of the 17-18th centuries, including the Wesley brothers, who followed in the traditions of the great men of God who were burnt at the stake for heresy against Rome, such as Thomas Cranmer, Nicolas Ridley, Hugh Latimer and William Tyndale. I believe this was the start of God's response to the cries of the martyred saints, preparing for the final outpouring of God's mercy, power and grace, before the Church is raptured at the 6th Seal, paving the way for the 7 trumpets that signify the final attempts by Satan to take over the world.

In terms of understanding the meaning or symbolism of the 7 Trumpets in Revelation 8-10, trumpets in Biblical terms are ALWAYS either (i) a call to prayer, or (ii) a call to war - they are not associated with God's judgment. In the context in Revelation, I would call these a combination of both - the call to prayer and sanctification by the 144,000 Jewish evangelists, and the attempts by the devil and his demons to foment war and destruction on all those that refuse to go along with his plans for global economic controls and a one world government and religion.

You see God's mercy and response to the martyrs in action especially over the last 200 years or so. There were people raised up like William Carey and his lifelong determination to translate the Bible into as many languages as possible, and the explosion of the healing evangelists in the late 19 century, such as John G Lake, Smith Wigglesworth, Charles Finney, Jonathan Edwards, Kathryn Khulman, Aimee Semple McPherson, William Branham and William Booth (founder of the Salvation Army) to name but a few.

A key series of events occurred during the time period of the late 1700's, including the move of the Moravians (protestant reformers) to Germany, helped by Count Ludwig von Zinzendorf (b. 1700), to escape persecution. From this association was birthed the first organized Protestant mission work, which grew rapidly to Africa, America, Russia, and other parts of the world. By the end of Zinzendorf's life there were active missions from Greenland to South Africa, literally from one end of the earth to the other.

The Moravians became one of the foremost protestant church planting organizations in the New World. Note - it was through their contact with the Moravians that John & Charles Wesley became converted to Christianity.

Out of the Wesley's ministry came what we know as the Methodists (who originally knew about and taught about the baptism of Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues). At the end of the 1800's a certain man, Charles Fox Parham, was converted through attending a Methodist church near Lawrence, Kansas. In 1898 Parham visited John Alexander Dowie's healing homes in Chicago. He was so impressed that he returned and founded a healing faith home called Beth-el in Topeka, Kansas. Around this time, just at the start of the 20c, another man, an African-American named William J. Seymour, started attending Parham's meetings and Bible School, now located in Houston.

Whilst these events were taking place in the US, believers in the Los Angeles, California area began praying for revival. The expectancy of revival intensified in Los Angeles when the believers there heard about the remarkable revival in Wales, where from September 1904 to June 1905, 100,000 people were converted to Christ. For the evangelicals around the world who had been praying for the outpouring of the latter rain of the Spirit as promised by the Old Testament prophet Joel (2:23-29), the spectacular results in Wales suggested that the great end-times revival had begun. The world could now be evangelized in the power of the Spirit before the imminent return of Christ and the impending judgment on the wicked.

One of the local LA pastors, Joseph Smale, visited the Welsh Revival, and brought back tales of God's amazing work there to the believers in Los Angeles. An African-American woman, Julia W. Hutchinson, started a small congregation that embraced the holiness belief that a second work of grace following conversion would purify the soul of its sinful nature (this group had split from Second Baptist Church). There was a growing number of like-minded congregations formed in the Los Angeles area at this time, and these new groups of believers continued to pray for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

Through a series of events, William Seymour was invited to become the pastor of Hutchinson's small congregation in Los Angeles. In Feb 1906, Seymour arrived to take up his post. However, by his second Sunday, he found he had been locked out of the church, and the Holiness Church Association of Southern California (which his church was affiliated with) condemned him for his teaching on the baptism and the infilling of the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues.

He took to preaching and leading bible studies in the home of a member of the church, Edward S. Lee. These became so popular that people were crowding around the house to listen to the teaching. Finally, after the front porch collapsed, the group rented the former Stevens African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church at 312 Azusa Street in early April. A Los Angeles newspaper referred to it as a “tumble down shack.”

By April 18, 1906, the Los angels Daily Times was reporting "a bizarre new religious sect had started with people “breathing strange utterances and mouthing a creed which it would seem no sane mortal could understand.” Furthermore, “Devotees of the weird doctrine practice the most fanatical rites, preach the wildest theories, and work themselves into a state of mad excitement.”

If that didn't grab the reader’s attention, the article continued by saying that, “Colored people and a sprinkling of whites compose the congregation, and night is made hideous in the neighborhood by the howlings of the worshippers who spend hours swaying forth and back in a nerve-racking attitude of prayer and supplication.” To top it all off, they claimed to have received the “gift of tongues,” and what’s more, “comprehend the babel.”"

It is accepted by most in the Pentecostal and Charismatic movements today that the Welsh Revival and the Azusa St outpourings were a fulfillment of the prophesy in Joel 2:23-29 of the outpouring of the Latter Rains.

Out of these events has come one of the last great revivals of the Church Age - the restoration of the teachings of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, as demonstrated by speaking in tongues. This petered out during the '20 and '30's but then there was the great Healing Revival of the 40's and 50's, followed by the Charismatic Movement outpouring in the '60s and '70's, when many of the mainstream denominations (Protestant and Catholic) also experienced a measure of the experience of the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

However, Scripture (James 5:7-8) says that in the Last of the Last Days there will be a further outpouring of both the Former (Acts 2) and Latter Rain of Holy Spirit together - I believe we are about to see this happen, and it will result in a great harvest of souls.

Back in 1901, Rev Parham prophesied in Topeka, KA that "in about 100 years there would be an outpouring of the former and latter rains together, JUST before Jesus comes back." (emphasis added)

In 1906, William Seymour, at the Azusa St. Mission, prophesied that "in about 100 years there would be a return of the Shekinah Glory that would surpass the work of God in Azusa St."

The Shekinah Glory is the power and presence of God that "filled the temple" - the power and presence of Holy Spirit. It is a visible, tangible glory cloud, and whenever it comes into a place, the power of God is present to heal, restore and renew, and we will witness great signs, wonders and miracles the like of which the world has never ever seen before.

We are now "about 100 years" since these prophesies were given. We should expect this outpouring of the power of God NOW!!!Indications are that it has started already, but many mainstream denominational churches and organizations will miss it, or worse, will preach against it, and will miss out on the awesome works of God.

As you can see, we are right at the most critical moment in history, awaiting the imminent outpouring of the Former and Latter Rains, which will result in a great, world-wide revival, which is followed very quickly by the Rapture of the Church, and the countdown to the return of Jesus in glory about 7 years later.

Are you ready!!

John

"Speaking In Tongues" from a New Testament Perspective

There are two distinct types of supernatural languages described in the NT, commonly termed "speaking in tongues".

One is a personal, private prayer language, for speaking to God, in which we speak the mysteries of God, and is most useful when we do not know what or how to pray (Romans 8:26). See also 1 Cor 2:7, 1 Cor 13:1, 1 Cor 14:2, 4-6, 14-15, 18.

It also has a secondary, but equally important role in "building us up in our most holy faith" as
described by Jude (Jude 20). In other words, God gives you this prayer language for you to use as often as you want, whenever you want, for your benefit!

We receive this prayer language when we are "baptised in Holy Spirit" (or as Jesus put it, "endued with power from on high" - see Luke 22:49, Acts 1:8, Acts 2:1-21).

This ability is under your control - it's as if your inner man/spirit has been given a language to talk to God, and you need to open your mouth and let your spirit pray to God in this new language. It may sound like babbling or gibberish, but as you listen, you will begin to discern
words, sentences and cadence like any other language. It will sound different at different times, even to the point of being a completely different language. The important thing is that this is Holy Spirit praying the perfect will of God through you, either for you or for someone else, or for a specific situation.

You can also, before you start to pray, talk to Holy Spirit and ask Him to pray through you for a specific matter (for yourself or someone or something else) and then, in faith, believe that what you are praying in your tongue language is exactly what is required.

You may get a measure of understanding in your mind, if Holy Spirit allows this, but not always - it may be that you are praying for yourself, and God does not want to you to know the details - it might distress you or shock you, or it may be that God needs to do a work in your life, and this is how He will be be able to implement it - because you spoke it out, and gave Him permission to do so. If this sounds scary, it is not - God is a gentleman, and will only do what ever is necessary to build you up and bless you.

One important note - ONLY God can understand this language - nobody else, not even the devil - unless God gives the hearer understanding.

The second type is the one referred to in 1 Cor 12:7-9, where what are commonly described as the "gifts of the Holy Spirit", but better called the "manifestations of Holy Spirit" are cataloged.

If you read carefully the latter part of v9, it says that these manifestations are "as the Spirit wills". The way these 9 "gifts" operate is completely different from any other gift. They are intended to build up the Body of Christ, and are for use in a congregational setting.

Holy Spirit seeks out believers who are both willing and able to operate in one or more of
these gifts (they are not given to individuals except for that particular manifestation), and Holy Spirit gives them the anointing (power) to operate the specific gifts (or gifts) for the benefit of the whole Body. Certain people who stand in the office of apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor or teacher are often able to operate in multiple gifts - in particular you will see an evangelist operating in the "working of miracles", the "gift of [special] faith", "gifts of healings", and the "gift of prophecy" accompanied by a "Word of Knowledge" or "Word of Wisdom". Apostles, Pastors and Teachers often operate in all of the oratorical gifts (Prophecy, Knowledge, Wisdom), and will have a specific anointing to operate regularly in one or more of the other gifts, such as the "gifts of healings", "working of miracles" and "special faith" - commonly called the power gifts.

The specific use of the "gift of tongues" and the accompanying "gift of interpretation" are twofold:
a) as a sign to unbelievers - those who do not necessarily believe in the operation of the
"gifts", not necessarily non-Christians (1 Cor 14:22-23)

b) as an alternative to the manifestation of the "gift of prophecy" - often this will occur when a
church has newcomers, or visitors, or even unbelievers in the congregation, and God wants to speak to them for a sign.

This second type of "tongues" can have a variety of expressions. These tongues can sometimes be heard by the listener as being in their own language - the tongue is NOT in their own language, they just hear it in their own language - as if God had inserted a translator in between the person's ears. This is what happened on the day of Pentecost - the hearers all heard in their own languages, but the disciples were speaking in supernatural tongue languages. I think that this also qualifies as "the working of a miracle" - another of the 9
manifestations of Holy Spirit.

I have witnessed this in our own church, when one of our pastors gave a message in tongues,, followed by an interpretation (NOT a translation). A visitor to our church afterwards came and thanked her for giving her a word in her own native tongue - Portuguese. What had been spoken out in the tongue language was most definitely NOT Portuguese, and what was given in interpretation was also not what the woman had heard - this was for the church as a whole.

I have also spoken with several people who have been ministering in foreign countries, not knowing the language, yet feeling very strongly that God wanted them to speak to someone - a
complete stranger - and stepped out in faith and began to speak using their private tongue language. In on instance, two YWAM girls - both American, were in Moscow (Olympic Games '78??), and a lady walked into the lobby of their hotel, sat down beside them as started to speak in Russian. Neither girl spoke Russian, but they looked at each other and started speaking in their private tongue languages. They had a 45 minute conversation with the lady, and to this day have no idea what they said, but she went away very happy and excited.

The second occurrence was very recent, when a Canadian minister was visiting Russia
(again), and was asked to pray for a Russian family of believers. Not quite knowing what else to do, she started to pray in her private tongue language. Afterwards, the pastor of the church she was ministering in came and told her that the family wished her to know that she had prayed exactly what they needed, in perfect Russian!

I personally pray a lot in my tongue language - I just like chattering to Go in it, knowing that, even if I do not have specific purpose, I am being "built up", and there will be results that come from that time of prayer. It also builds my faith - I liken it to doing exercises - just
as one does to strengthen one's body.

If you want the experience, just read the Word where it talks about the baptism of Holy Spirit, and ask God to give this gift to you. Then, in faith, believe you have received the gift of the baptism, and open your mouth and start to pray - you will be pleasantly surprised. It's easier and quicker to do it than explain it.

It will also revolutionize you faith and your walk with God - everything will become clearer, brighter, more intense, and you will have a much deeper relationship with God as a result.

John

How to be 'Born Again' and filled with the Holy Spirit's power

To anyone who does not understand what being born again is all about....,

I know a lot of people (including church attendees) don't understand the need or the reasons why we ALL need to be born again in order to see the Kingdom of Heaven (i.e. go to Heaven when we die) - but this is what Jesus said we MUST be. Let me explain.

I have friends who are RC (who also are members of our church - which is definitely not RC), who found out that they too needed to be "born-again". They had never heard this during their sojourn in the RC church. They received this revelation from reading John Ch. 3, where Jesus tells Nicodemus that he must be born-again in order to see the Kingdom of God, and to be adopted into the family of God.

In 1 Peter 1:22 we again find that this is a necessary event in the life of a believer.

From a theological perspective, the reason we must ALL be born again in order to see the Kingdom of Heaven starts back in Genesis 2:7, where Adam is first brought to life as a spiritual being when God breathed His Spirit into him. Then in Genesis 2:16-17 God gives the Adam and Eve the rule not to eat of the Tree of Good and Evil, else they will die (spiritually instantly and eventually physically).

In Genesis 3:6-8, as a result of disobedience, we see that Adam and Eve died spiritually at the instance of eating the forbidden fruit and started to die physically from that moment on.

Dying spiritually means being eternally separated from God and His Spirit - which is why Adam was straight away thrown out of the Garden of Eden (and Eve - by choice - followed him).

All this means that every man, woman and child of accountable age, born into this life is, as far as God is concerned, ALREADY eternally separated from Him (see John 3:18-19), and they need new spiritual life breathed into them (see John 20:19-22).

Being born again means having new spiritual life breathed back into you by God's Spirit, which happens when you follow the instructions in Romans 10:8-10:

"8 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach):
9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." [NKJV]

This is why we, in order to become spiritually alive to God again, need to be born again so that, according to 2 Cor 5:17:

...if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new." [NKJV]

Note that only our "inner man" or "spirit being" is born again and becomes a new creation, our minds then need to be renewed (by us!) by reading, hearing and obeying the Word of God and our bodies need to be submitted to our spirit man and our renewed minds so that they do not fulfill the "lusts of the flesh" (= our old man's nature) - as it says in Romans 12:1-2:

"1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.
2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God." [NKJV]

However, it does not stop there, because Jesus said that we need to receive "power from on high" - the baptism of the Holy Spirit - just like the first disciples did on Pentecost. (See my previous post further back on this blog.)

Being "born again and the receiving of "power from on high" are both received in the same way - by faith and by confession according to Romans 10:8-10. You just ask God to forgive your sins (the act of "missing the mark" as far as keeping God's laws), ask Jesus to be the Lord of your life, asking out loud by faith, then repeat the same process, asking God to baptize you in His Holy Spirit and give you this power from on high.

Hoping that this does not offend anyone, but leads you to a greater, deeper knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

John

When was the Church born? Update on events of this year's Pentecost Sunday

I have frequently heard the following statement:

"Because this feast came fifty days after the Feast of Passover, it became known as the Feast of Pentecost. It was on this occasion that the Church was born."

Sorry - I have to disagree. The Church was BORN when Jesus breathed on the disciples after the Resurrection - see John 20:19-22.

19 Then, the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, “Peace be with you.”
20 When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.
21 So Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.”
22 And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. [NKJV]

It was at this point that the Holy Spirit caused the disciples to be born again - thus creating the first of the called-out ones (the Church) who form the Bride of Christ.

You notice that Jesus is then very insistent that the disciples do nothing but wait in Jerusalem until the "Promise" had come - see Luke 24:49:

"49 “Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.”
" [NKJV]

Luke continues with this narrative in Acts 1:4-8....

4 And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me;
5 “for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
6Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority.
8 “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” [NKJV]

Here we see Jesus referring to the Baptism of the Holy Spirit (which John the Baptist had witnessed (John 1:32-34) just after Jesus was baptized in the Jordan, and had Himself received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit with power from on high.

32 And John bore witness, saying, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him.
33 “I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’
34“And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God.” [NKJV]

Finally, on the Day of Pentecost, the Church was empowered by Holy Spirit to fulfill the Great Commission, as described by Luke in Acts 2, with signs, wonders and miracles.

We had this discussion a few weeks ago with one of the other pastors in our town, who wanted to have a Holy Ghost meeting on Pentecost Sunday to ask God to pour out the empowering of His Holy Spirit on our town. So last Sunday, for the first time ever, we had a multi-church/multi-denomination meeting specifically to ask God to pour out His Spirit on our town and region with signs, wonders and miracles - God blessed us with all of these during the meeting, and many people received the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

The pastor whose church hosted the meeting told us that he had been praying for 30 years for this to happen!!!

I also believe we are about to witness the greatest outpouring of God's Spirit across the world that the world has ever, or will ever see, and many, many people, Jews and gentiles will come to a saving knowledge of the Cross. I am seeing the stirrings of this in my own home town - as witnessed by the Our Turn event last year, the growth of and the growing effectiveness of the town's Ministerial Group and last Sunday's meeting. The churches here in the city are coming together to pray in a way that has never happened before.

We are having a second "Our Turn" event this autumn, with another week of prayer in churches around the city, culminating in a group gathering in a local college - courtesy of the Mayor's office.

I am supposed to (when I get the info) update a web site with all the info.

My interpretation of campsmore's (Lori) dream, now that you have given it a place name would be a combination of "earthquake" events - as much in the spiritual realm as in the natural. I think we may see some event in the natural - maybe an earthquake or a limited terrorist attack - we are not really in a earthquake prone area, coupled with a great outpouring of God's Spirit on the churches, as a result of last Sunday's meeting (as described above). This will, I can assure you, bring about an "earthquake" in the local churches - some of whom will have to revisit/rethink their theology to explain what God is doing (to put it mildly!).

All I can tell you is that God is doing a "new thing" here.

Canada has NEVER had a countrywide revival. I understand that a prophesy was given out on the west coast at the beginning of this year that a great revival was about to sweep the land, like a wave from west to east. We are confidentially expecting great things to happen in the spirit realm over the coming months here in the region, with results in the natural, leading to large numbers of people seeking to know God.

Our senior pastor is increasingly being permitted to step into his God given role of apostolic ministry, and is being given more opportunities to minister in other churches. To clarify his apostolic mandate, he and his wife have already started 8 churches in the last 22 years - 2 in the US and 6 in Canada - all of which are flourishing.

He also has a tremendous gift for teaching believers, and frequently operates in the prophetic gifts. His wife has an anointing for healing - it is amazing to see them both in action, flowing in the manifestations of Holy Spirit - and we get all the benefits, praise the Lord.

I am not afraid of what may come - I too am aware that US intelligence reports have indicated that there is a very high likelihood that one or more US cities will be targeted with "dirty" bombs or small nuclear devices. I read recently that there are those in the US that firmly believe at least one such bomb has already been smuggled into the US - probably across the Mexico border - by a known terrorist - whom they cannot find at present (see here for more info).

We are preparing for a great harvest. God has promised us that we will start to see amazing things happening in the coming months, the like of which none of us have ever seen before - and we have seen some pretty amazing things already.

John

I personally have some major problems with the idea that we have already seen the first 5 seals as described in the Book of Revelation chapter 6, as suggested by the author David Lowe in his book "Earthquake Resurrection".

In the book, David highlights the major differences between the seal judgments and the trumpet and bowl judgments. According to David, the five seal judgments leading up to the sixth seal should be interpreted as follows:

1. Spirit of Religious Domination in Christ’s Name (the white horse).
2. Spirit of War and Blood Shed (the red horse).
3. Spirit of Financial Oppression (the black horse).
4. Spirit of Death, Disease and Famine (the pale green (chloros) horse).
5. Persecution and Death of Believers.

I cannot justify this approach with the rest of Scripture - let me explain.

Looking at the first of these interpretations makes me question the whole basis of the subsequent interpretations of Revelation 6:1-17.

It seems that the traditional interpretation is that this is some kind of demonic being - a spirit of religion - false or otherwise (that being said, all religion is from the pit of hell - Christianity is ALL about a relationship with Jesus).

However, using the only true method of biblical interpretation which to let the Bible interpret itself, based on (i) who is talking, (ii) about what or whom (context) and (iii) to whom - audience), because:

"no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation" 2 Peter 1:20 [NKJV]),

it would appear that this interpretation is erroneous because throughout Scripture the word "white" is ALWAYS used to represent purity and holiness. Go check it out with a concordance (also look for "white horse").

The only person that this would fit within the context is the Lord Jesus - the Lamb of God that John refers to in Rev 6:1. He is riding a white horse (sign of purity, power, righteousness), has a crown, and He has conquered and is conquering and will continue to conquer - because He is already ruler over the kings of the earth.

More importantly, the ONLY other reference to person(s) on a white horse(s) in the Bible is most definitely the Lord Jesus and the Saints of the Most High - us!! This is in Revelation 19:11-15 (see the parallels to Rev 6:1-2):

"11 Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war.

12 His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself.

13 He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God.

14 And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses

15 Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. [NKJV]"

Remember, the Book of Revelation is

1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants things which must shortly take place. And He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John,

2 who bore witness to the word of God, and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, to all things that he saw.

3 Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near. [NKJV]

It is NOT about the antichrist or the devil, or any other being - good or evil.

Note also, Revelation is to be blessing to those who read it - not a curse, or to frighten us.

If what David Lowe says is true, that the first 5 seals have already occurred, I would ask:

"Much of the world is actually at peace today - so how do you explain the world-wide violence required by the 2nd seal?

"When did a "quart of wheat" cost a day's wage all over the earth as required by the 3rd seal?"

"When did a quarter of the world die" as required by the 4th Seal - since my understanding is that more than 50% of the total population of the Earth that have ever lived are still alive today - the world's population having doubled within the last 80 years?

"Why does the 5th seal indicate world-wide persecution of believers? Reading the text would seem to indicate that Jesus is promising final judgement on the world, as indicated in the following verses describing the "great day of the wrath of the Lord" - the 6th seal (Rev 6:12-17).

I think that the whole basis for David's interpretation is therefore suspect, based on the incorrect interpretation concerning the 1st seal.

Maybe the first seal is actually the fulfillment of Joel's prophecy (Joel 2:28-31):

"28 “And it shall come to pass afterward That I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
Your old men shall dream dreams,
Your young men shall see visions.

29 And also on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days.

30 “And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth:
Blood and fire and pillars of smoke.

31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood,
Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord. [NKJV]

I would say that this predicts a soon coming world wide revival when God pours out His Spirit on ALL flesh just before the Rapture (not an apostasy as most people think - although I think this is a very bad transliteration of the word apostasia in 2 Thess 2:3 - I believe it more correctly translates to the "Departure" (of the Church) - which given the context of the letter to the Thessalonians, means the Rapture.

I think that we are on the verge of seeing some truly amazing moves of God around the world in the coming months and years - way beyond anything we have yet seen. I see glimpses of it already.

Just my thoughts.

John

Concerning the term " falling away" used in 1 Thess 2:3, I think this has been mistranslated from the Greek.

Most commentators seem to assume that before the "...man of sin is revealed..." there must be a falling away from the faith (or from the Church). My problem is that nowhere else in Scripture is there a reference to a falling away at the end of days (now). People talk about the Laodicean church in Revelation, but if you read it carefully, God is angry with the members of this church because they are neither hot nor cold NOT because they have fallen away (i.e religious, but with no operational faith, not unlike - unfortunately - many mainstream denominational churches today, e.g. the United Church of Canada, that denies the need to be Born Again, the Resurrection and the Virgin Birth).

All Scripture MUST be consistent and must confirm itself - if a verse or passage does not seem to agree with other passages in the whole canon of scripture, then assume that you have incorrectly understood the passage in question that appears to contradict or not agree with the rest of the Bible.

The Greek word translated "falling away" is apostasia. I think we have all been mislead in our anglicized use of this word apostasia.

This has been transliterated (not translated) to apostasy, and given a different meaning to that of the original Greek (just like the word baptismo has been transliterated to Baptism, which usually associated only with water immersion - again not a correct translation from the Greek)

Strictly, the word apostasia would be most correctly translated as meaning "to go away from", or "depart", or "change state or standing from one state to another"

The biblical context that you are quoting from is specifically about the Rapture - or as Paul puts in 1Thess 4:17, the being "caught up" event (we get the English word Rapture from the Latin translation of this verse - can't remember the exact Latin right now).

So, using the above definition, we should more correctly read I Thessalonians 2:1-3:

"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 of Christ had come. Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come* unless the Departure, Going Away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed...."

(* Note: the phrase that Day will not come * is not in the original Greek).

I found that the following article is very helpful in explaining this.

Apostasia

I have not yet found any other reference in Scripture that there needs to be a falling away before the Lord comes for His Bride. In saying this I am opening the door to lots of, hopefully, useful discussions....

John

A number of prophecy teachers (c.f. Herb Peters) are beginning to claim that Daniel's 70th week has already started, basing this view on the passage in Daniel 9:27...

"Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week; But in the middle of the week He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering.." [NKJV],

and pointing to Javier Solana's ENP which took on real effectiveness 1 January 2007.

Quoting from Times of Noah...(minus all the references)...

"Javier Solana’s [initial] European Neighborhood Policy (ENP) is to last from 2007-2013, with a mid-term review period, in which the EU's High Representative (currently Javier Solana) will be involved. Sixteen nations have currently signed up, including Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Israel signed up in December 2004. All countries will have [have had!!] their agreements confirmed on January 1st, 2007.

The ENP’s prime aim is to bring security and political control to Europe’s borders. The ENP might very well be the covenant that triggers the start of the tribulation."

I have been thinking about this, and suddenly realized that the AC must confirm a covenant with many at the beginning of the 70th week. Also, it is a requirement that the Church must be "taken out of the way ... then the lawless one will be revealed..."(2 Thess 2:7-8) and "...for that Day will not come unless the Departure or Going Away [literal Greek] comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition..." BEFORE the AC can come to power and make this covenant - this has not yet happened - otherwise we have all been left behind!!

Confirm means that, IMHO (not too humble!!), that the covenant must already be in place and operational to some degree, just as it has been since the beginning of this year.

What if the covenant is confirmed by the person who will become the AC (Solana???) in 3-4 years from now (say 2010), and promises that the ENP agreements will be extended for a further 7 years, but after 31/2 years the AC breaks his agreement - and desecrates the Temple, declaring himself to be god - would this timetable not also fit with Daniel's prophecy.

Let me explain further...

We know that the AC makes a 7 year covenant with Israel, guaranteeing them peace and the right to restart Temple worship (As given to Daniel, and referred to by Jesus).

This has not yet happened, BUT one could see a scenario rapidly developing in the ME this summer, where Israel goes to war with Syria, Hamas (Samaria, Gaza) and Hezbollah (Tyre, Sidon, Southern Lebanon) (see Zech 9:1-8 and Isiah 17), wins decisively (with the destruction of Damascus), then makes peace overtures to the remaining Palestinians living in the West Bank to meet the US and EU 8-month deadline (HaAretz)

Then, because of their overwhelming victory (which the world will recognize as being supernatural - Zech 9:1), Israel is allowed to commence rebuilding the Temple on the Temple Mount - probably next to the Dome of the Rock mosque, to be ready for use by 2010.

Meanwhile, massive deposits of oil are discovered under Israel and commercial production starts up during this timeframe (YnetNews.com).

Iran, egged on and supplied by Russia, continues its military and nuclear build-up through 2008-9, and then, again with Russia's help, decides to both (i) avenge the destruction of Damancus, Hezbollah and Hamas in 2007) and (ii) lay claim on Israel's oil reserves - their own oil production having been off-line since summer 2007 after a short but sweet attack by the US on the county's oil, gas and electricity infrastructure (ostensibly to punish the Iranians for refusal to stop their nuclear ambitions, but also to appease more moderate Arab states who won't take action themselves, c.f. Saudi Arabia).

They do this by launching all out war on Israel sometime in 2009 , fully supported by Russia and all the other extremist Moslem nations, incl. Turkey (Togamar), and aided by Germany (Gomer) - albeit reluctantly (who are being blackmailed by Russia who is controlling much their supplies of natural gas)- after all the US troops have been pulled out of the ME by the newly elected Democratic US president - resulting in the fulfillment of the Gog-Magog war in Exek 38-39. Russia will feel obligated to support Iran because of its failure to help during the 2007 war with Syria, and because of its need for more oil - having lost access to Iran's oil since 2007.

The EU, under the direction of Solana (??), steps in to sort out the mess, promising peace - backed up by the threat of military intervention by the EU's now fully deployed military forces (see Javier Solana's role in the formation of the EU's 2010 Headline Goal, effectively a military response group which can be deployed anywhere in the world within 5 days in the event of an emergency.

This all culminates in the confirming of the covenant (a beefed up ENP) around 2010 with many - Daniel 9:27 (including all the EU, ME and African countries that would complete the revived Roman Empire), and giving a guarantee to Israel of 7 years of peace, and complete freedom for the resumption of full Temple based worship, complete with daily sacrifices, etc.

At some point in all of this, I would expect the 1st Resurrection, followed by the Rapture of all born-again believers in Jesus to occur.

Just a thought...

John