A charismatic church in Washington state has become a spiritual home for scores of refugees who have fled persecution in Myanmar.

Jacob’s Well was launched by pastor Eric Blauer in 2006, after he felt God’s call to leave his middle-class, suburban church in Spokane and move his family downtown to minister among the poor. Weeks after the church opened, refugees from Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, began arriving in Spokane. In just a few months, around 100 refugees were worshiping at the church, outnumbering the white congregation.

The congregants—members of the Karen ethnic group—fled brutal treatment at the hands of Myanmar’s military regime. The Karen are hunted down, beaten and forced to live in leaf shelters in the jungle because of their Christian faith and their opposition to the military junta. Many live in dire camps across the border in Thailand.

Even before the Myanmar refugees arrived, the 39-year-old pastor wanted Jacob’s Well—named after the story in John 4 of Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well—to be a place where people of diverse backgrounds would grow in their faith and serve God together.

Four years ago, Blauer was the associate pastor of a large nondenominational church in Spokane and lived in a comfortable, five-bedroom house in the suburbs. His life took a sharp curve when God called him to give up his middle-class lifestyle and move in with the city’s poorest and most vulnerable residents.

“We lived in a very nice upper-middle-class environment” Blauer said. “But I felt God’s call to be with the poor and the marginalized ... those who were in and out of jail and those in the low-income parts of town.”

In 2006, Blauer and his wife, LeeElla, took the plunge. They sold their home and moved with their four children into Spokane’s east-central neighborhood—an area known for poverty and drugs. “We went from taking our kids on a field trip to tour the police department to seeing the police every day on our street,” he said.

After hearing that Myanmar were coming to Spokane, he called World Relief, an evangelical agency that resettles refugees, asking how his church could help. When the first family arrived, Blauer’s family welcomed them at the Spokane airport.

Moonlight, 44, remembers stepping off the plane with his wife and their three children, weary and anxious. “I think, What now?” Moonlight recalled in broken English. “Pastor Eric say, ‘Welcome, Moonlight!’ When I hear my name, tears run down face ... someone knew my name.”

Another Myanmar family arrived, then another and another. “It was obvious that the Lord had a plan for our church from the beginning,” Blauer told Charisma, “a plan we didn’t know anything about when we answered His call.”

Now Jacob’s Well has thriving English-speaking and Myanmar-speaking congregations, and church volunteers run ministries aimed at helping refugees and other vulnerable people in the community. Ministries include English language classes, a clothing bank and women’s groups that support young mothers and teach health and hygiene.

To help make ends meet in the tough economy, church members planted an organic vegetable garden. “The poor have to buy the cheapest food, which unfortunately is not very nutritious,” Blauer explained. “We believe in saving souls but also helping people grow healthy so they can live productive, abundant lives.”

Ministering among Myanmar refugees—and seeing their resilience and their passion for Jesus—has shaped the church, changed the lives of the American congregants and made his family’s sacrifice seem insignificant, Blauer said.

Thousands of miles from the jungles of Myanmar, Moonlight’s family feels at home. “We follow Jesus,” he said, “He say to us: ‘Love one another.’

—Julian Lukins

My Olive Tree, founded by U.S. pastor Curt Landry, offers a unique way to support the Jewish state

 

An Oklahoma-based pastor and Bible teacher hopes to bolster Christian support for Israel by planting 1 million olive trees.

Curt Landry, founder of House of David Ministries in Fairland, Okla., launched My Olive Tree (myolivetree.com) in Israel to provide jobs for local residents while benefiting the Israeli economy. This fall, Landry will plant and dedicate some 2,000 olive trees in Israel, many in the region of ancient Gilgal.

Christians can give a “gift that keeps on giving—olive trees live for thousands of years,” Landry said.

The trees, which are sponsored for $299 each, are cared for by an Israeli business, thus employing local business managers and professional olive-tree caretakers. The trees are expected to produce fruit for eating as well as for producing olive oil and even anointing oil, thereby reinvesting the donated trees back into the economy.

And, Landry notes, the program fulfills biblical prophecy. He said much of his ministry’s work in Israel—investing in individual communities—has been a way to “rebuild the ruined cities” so that people can lead decent lives here. But the olive tree program, he says, is essentially reaffirming Israel’s biblical claim to the land.

“It is a physical act that says, ‘We have faith and believe that you [Israel] have a right to exist, according to the Scriptures,’” Landry said. “In [Amos 9:15], it says the Jewish people have a right to live in the land. [Planting these trees] is an evangelical statement of solidarity with Israel.”

Landry is no stranger to the needs of Israel. For decades, he has led tours to the Holy Land, and has supported a dental clinic and a special-needs school in Beit She’an in the Jordan Valley, as well as a community center in Sderot, the southern city daily bombarded by rockets from the Gaza Strip.

The decision to pursue an olive tree-planting program came after Landry consulted with Israel’s agriculture department and assessed the benefit such a project would have on the nation.

Landry, an apple broker in Washington state for eight years, is vigilant about ensuring the quality of the trees. My Olive Tree provides intense irrigation and agricultural support for the first seven years, the most critical in the trees’ growth, to help guarantee prosperous harvests.

“I’m concerned with leaving a witness in the land,” Landry said. “I want to know they are planting trees with a high survival and productivity rate.”

Landry’s goal is to have planted 1 million trees by 2015, but the program couldn’t be starting at a worse time. The downturn in the U.S. economy could threaten donations, and a severe drought in Israel jeopardizes proper irrigation of the crops. Landry said the ministry had to account in its budget for an increase in water taxes and prices in Israel.

“It is the worst time and best time—worst because of the economy and the weather, but the best time to bless Israel,” Landry said. “This is a long-term project, and I hope to bless Israel until the Lord returns.”

—Nicole Schiavi in Israel

Some Christians say the world is coming to an end. Others reject that fear. What can we know for sure about the end times?

Journeying to the isolated state of Mizoram in northeastern India, Rabbi Jonathan Bernis and his team offer food and medical care to 5,000 Bnei Menashe—a starving community believed to be descended from one of the lost tribes of Israel, the Manasseh. Taken into captivity when Assyria conquered Israel 2,700 years ago, the tribe’s oral histories suggest that a remnant migrated to India, where they continued Jewish traditions.

The Bnei Menashe is just one of the lost tribes of Israel scattered throughout the world. Anthropologists and rabbis—relying on DNA tests and oral histories—are discovering what they believe are other lost tribes in Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Afghanistan, China, Burma, Bangladesh and other places. But even more intriguing—and in fulfillment of biblical prophecies that say God would gather His lost sheep in the last days—Bernis says many are returning to the land of their forefathers and embracing the Messiah of prophecy, Yeshua HaMashiach.

These tribes are among a multitude of Jews embracing Jesus Christ as their Messiah in numbers not seen since the first century. Since the late 1960s, the number of Jews professing faith in Jesus has exploded from several thousand to anywhere from 250,000 to 500,000 worldwide.

From the day Israel recaptured Jerusalem in 1967 during the Six-Day War, fulfilling a prophecy that Jerusalem would be trampled by the gentiles until their time was fulfilled, the number of Messianic Jewish congregations worldwide has grown geometrically from 10 to more than 500, Bernis says. And in what prophecy experts see as a fulfillment of a “super prophecy,” hundreds of thousands of Jews are returning to Israel from exile. The nation’s Jewish population recently surpassed that of the United States.

“I see this as a direct fulfillment of end-times Bible prophecy,” says Bernis, author of A Rabbi Looks at the Last Days and president of Jewish Voice Ministries International in Phoenix. “We are talking about a culmination of Bible prophecy here in the end of the age that is being directly fulfilled by the restoration of Israel, by the blindness coming off the eyes of the Jewish people and the regathering of the lost tribes.”

Now, only a few years after the release of the last of the 16 books in the apocalyptic Left Behind series, Bible prophecy experts say “last-days fever” is spreading virally around the planet as a confluence of world events is igniting widespread debate about the end times.

“It’s exploding all around the world,” says Mike Bickle, director of the International House of Prayer, a ministry based in Kansas City, Missouri, that features 24/7 live worship and prayer and end-times teaching. “The economic crisis, talk of globalization and the threats against Israel have just increased the hunger for knowledge about prophecy.”

Prophetic Events Point to End Times

Although most mainline and secular Bible scholars reject the so-called “Left Behind theology,” dispensational, premillennial Bible scholars and prophecy writers argue that little is left on God’s “prophetic calendar” before the second coming of Christ.

“Jesus told us no one knows the day or hour, but we can know the season,” says Tim LaHaye, co-author of the Left Behind series, which sold more than 65 million copies. “And I would say that world events are ... shaping up so that we could be in the season when all these eschatological events take place.”

Described as a “prophetic perfect storm,” the fascination with ancient predictions has reignited among not only Christians and Jews but also Muslim and New Age movement believers as well.

LaHaye, John Hagee, Hal Lindsey, David Hocking, Paul McGuire and other prophecy teachers say the formation of Israel as a nation in 1948, the ingathering of Jews to Jesus, the rise of global anti-Christ political structures, the military alliance between Russia and Iran, and Iran’s threats to annihilate Israel are prophecy fulfillments or conditions that could allow for the fulfillment of prophecies regarding the rapture, Great Tribulation and Second Coming.

No other generation in history, they say, has witnessed the unparalleled acceleration of prophetic events that began when Israel became a nation in 1948. They contend that geopolitical events—the possibility of war between Iran and Israel; calls for a global government, economic system and currency; increasing immorality and lawlessness; devastating natural disasters; global warming; the pending biometric national identification system; the rebuilding of Babylon and the drying up of the Euphrates River—foreshadow events prophesied in the Bible. They argue that the global recession, the United States’ soaring debt—now totaling $53 trillion—and its dependence on foreign oil are setting the stage for the rise of a global leader and government.

“With the proposal for a North American Union—a replica of the European Union—the idea is to have 10 regional global governments across the planet, which will eventually merge into a global government,” says McGuire, who wrote The Day the Dollar Died and was recently featured on The History Channel special 7 Signs of the Apocalypse. “The current economic global crisis ... is being used to bring in a one-world economic system.”

Left Behind series co-author Jerry B. Jenkins says Daniel 2:40-44 and 7:23-27 and Rev. 13:11-18 predict the emergence of this global government, religion and currency. In July, Pope Benedict called for a “world political authority” to manage the global economy. A few days later at the Group of Eight summit, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev—holding a golden coin engraved with “united future world currency”—told reporters national mints are excited about a post-dollar world.

Since the recession began, evangelical, charismatic and Pentecostal churches have seen significant surges in attendance by people curious about whether economic and Middle East turmoil are “warning signs” that the Second Coming could occur much sooner than people think. Nationwide, packed-out prophecy conferences are drawing thousands of people.

In Sync With God’s Plan

But it’s not just Christians who are curious about signs of the last days of history. Throughout the world, people are increasingly anxious, believing something cataclysmic is coming, says New York Times best-selling author Joel Rosenberg, a former communications adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In Israel—the centerpiece of God’s prophetic plan—Orthodox Jews are debating how soon the Messiah will come, the Sanhedrin has reconvened and the movement to rebuild the Temple is gaining momentum. In Iran and other Islamic nations, Muslim religious leaders are predicting the coming of the Islamic Messiah, the 12th Imam. They believe the way to hasten his coming is to “annihilate Israel and the U.S.,” Rosenberg says.

At the same time—in a development prophecy experts connect to Jesus’ warnings about false prophets and doctrines in the last days—New Age believers are intrigued by a Mayan prophecy predicting a global cataclysm on December 21, 2012. Tapping into the zeitgeist of cultural fascination with the end of days, Hollywood is releasing a blockbuster movie about the prophecy—2012—featuring John Cusack on November 13.

Rosenberg, who wrote the nonfiction books Inside the Revolution and Epicenter, says the world is in a “post-Left Behind moment” in which interest in the end times is being driven not by books but by specific world events.

“The first are actual geopolitical events and trends,” Rosenberg says. “The second is the president of Iran. Specifically, you’ve got the leader of arguably the most dangerous country on the planet talking about his belief that the end of the world is at hand, the Islamic messiah will soon return to Earth ... and he is feverishly trying to acquire weaponry capable of bringing about the end of Judeo-Christian civilization as we know it.”

In his new book The Late Great State of Israel, World Net Daily Jerusalem bureau chief and Jewish Press columnist Aaron Klein warns that Israel faces unprecedented danger. As President Obama pressures Israel to accept a two-state peace plan, Iran is quickly developing nuclear capability.

“I think a big war is coming to the Middle East, and all sides seem to be preparing for it,” Klein says.

Rosenberg says the prophet Ezekiel foresaw the end-times war of “Gog and Magog,” a reference interpreted as an alliance between Russia, Iran and other nations to attack Israel (see Ezek. 38-39).

“In the 2,500 years since he wrote that prophecy, Russia and Iran have never had the type of alliance he describes,” Rosenberg says. “But in the last few years, these two countries, along with the others Ezekiel mentioned, are steadily developing a military alliance and a deep and outspoken hatred for the people of Israel. Russia is selling billions of dollars of weapons to Iran. Russia is helping Iran build its nuclear facilities, and Russia is training thousands of Iranian scientists and technicians.”

Demonstrating the importance God places on prophecy, eschatological experts say 28 percent of the Bible—including more than 150 chapters with most of the text focused on end-times themes—involves predictions about the future. The Bible contains nearly twice as many chapters describing Jesus’ second coming as it does His first coming.

Of these predictions, 87 percent have been fulfilled, Calvary Chapel Chino Hills pastor Jack Hibbs told 7,000 people gathered at the recent Southern California Prophecy Conference. Of the remaining 13 percent, 98 percent will be fulfilled during the Great Tribulation (a seven-year period of worldwide disaster), Hibbs says.

More Signs of the Last Days

A key unfulfilled sign involves a Matthew 24 prophecy that the gospel would be preached to the whole world “and then the end will come,” Bickle says. “The top mission agencies are predicting that within 10 years all of the earth’s 6,000 people groups will have the gospel preached to them.”

However, many Bible scholars at secular universities and mainline seminaries reject the premillennial interpretation of prophecy. Known as preterists, they say the visions described in the book of Revelation pertain to people and events in the first century.

“The bottom line is that critical scholars of Revelation read the book as anti-imperial resistance literature,” says Stephen D. Moore, a New Testament scholar and expert on the book of Revelation and professor of New Testament at The Theological School at Drew University in Madison, New Jersey. “It’s sort of a vitriolic tirade against the Roman Empire of John’s day.”

But David Criswell, former editor of the Evangelical Standard at Tyndale Theological Seminary and Biblical Institute in Fort Worth, Texas, says writings from early church fathers show they believed prophecies in the book of Revelation referred to future events. Criswell says it wasn’t until the Middle Ages that preterist theology gained momentum as Catholic scholars attempted to discredit the Reformation.

“The Bible says there will be scoffers in the last days, which will cause the hearts of many sincere people to disregard the reality of the last days,” says Jim Tolle, pastor of the 25,000-member Church on the Way in Van Nuys, California.

“But there is a convergence of far more things than ever in the history of the world that point to the fact we are in the last days. There is more deception today than ever before. We are seeing a geometric increase in the amount of earthquakes, natural disasters and diseases. And there has been a multiplication of military conflicts.”

A recent poll by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life found 79 percent of American Christians believe in the Second Coming. But on the timing and circumstances of Christ’s return, Christians are divided. About a third—34 percent—say it will occur after the world situation reaches a low point, 37 percent say it’s impossible to know the circumstances preceding Christ’s return, and 4 percent say Christ will return when the world situation improves.

Peter Wagner, president of Global Harvest Ministries, is an adherent of partial preterism, believing most end-times prophecies were fulfilled with the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. However, unlike full preterists, Wagner believes Christ will return after Christians transform the culture and people move into “God’s prosperity.”

Richard J. Mouw, president and professor of Christian philosophy at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California, says he was raised to believe that the pope was the Antichrist; later it was Stalin; and today Islam “seems to be the likely target”—making him nervous about these sorts of identifications. However, Mouw says he believes the world “could very well be in the last days.”

“Humankind seems more and more lawless, and life is getting increasingly fragmented and chaotic. This is how the devil works, causing fragmentation and confusion,” Mouw says. “We need to preach more about the possible return of Christ in our own lifetimes—but without the highly speculative interpretations that [were] so prevalent in the past.”

Is Jesus Coming Back?

Some Christians are convinced that Jesus’ return is imminent. Doyle W. Flowers Jr. of Atlanta, author of Jesus Really Is Coming Back ... Soon! says the Second Coming is less than two decades away. “God confirmed to me about two years ago that the return of Christ was at the steps,” he told Charisma.

In his book, Flowers describes a vivid dream in which he was picked up by a tornado. He says God revealed to him that he would be taken to heaven in the Rapure at some point in his lifetime.

Yet critics of premillennialism are quick to remind us that preachers have unsuccessfully predicted Jesus’ return many times during the last 2,000 years, including farmer William Miller, who unsuccessfully calculated the end of the world in the early 1840s, and Edgar C. Whisenant, who wrote the controversial best-seller 88 Reasons Why the Rapture Will Be in 1988.

Hal Lindsey’s 1970 mega-seller The Late Great Planet Earth popularized prophetic beliefs about the last days. Lindsey has since been criticized for a portion of the book in which he quotes Jesus in Matthew 24:34 saying the generation that witnessed the signs given in the Olivet Discourse would not die before their fulfillment.

“What generation?” Lindsey wrote in what became the world’s best-selling nonfiction book of the 1970s. “Obviously, in context, the generation that would see the signs—chief among them the rebirth of the State of Israel. A generation in the Bible is something like 40 years. If this is a correct deduction, then within 40 years or so of 1948, all these things could take place.”

Lindsey, whose book was read by Israel’s first Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion shortly before his death, says critics have misconstrued what he wrote, claiming he stated Christ would return 40 years after Israel’s rebirth. When 1988 came and went, many pastors shied away from teaching about prophecy, believing it had become too controversial.

“It’s almost like the body of Christ went into embarrassment mode about the end times,” Bickle says. “But then in the last four or five years ... the signs of the times are beginning to make more sense.”

Lindsey says he never set a precise date for Christ’s return. But he claims this is “the generation that will live to see the fulfillment of the ‘birth pangs’ that Jesus predicted would all come together in one time frame shortly before the tribulation’s events that bring about His return.”

Experts say one of the key signs of the last days is the growing interest by Jews in the question of whether Jesus is the Messiah. David Brickner, executive director of the San Francisco-based Jews for Jesus, says a growing number of the world’s nearly 14 million Jews are discovering Jesus as their Messiah and revival is beginning in Israel.

“What we are seeing now in the beginning of the 21st century is openness and a surge of Israeli believers in Jesus,” Brickner says.

For Bernis, Yeshua’s return centers on the “divine timing that God has ordained.”

“I’ve been in 50 countries ministering to Jewish communities,” Bernis says. “There are Jews in just about every country in the world. These are clear signs of the last days that are often overlooked when we talk about end-times prophecies. Israel is restored, Jerusalem is restored, the Jews are coming back from the four corners of the earth and they are being restored to Jesus, their Messiah.”

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Troy Anderson is a freelance writer based in Los Angeles.

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ONLINE EXCLUSIVE

Go to rapture.charismamag.com and listen to Perry Stone explaining the different viewpoints believers have about the rapture. You may also discuss your view on this topic.

 

 

 

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The Rapture Debate: Two Opposing Views

The Case for the Rapture

I believe the church will be ‘caught up’ with the Lord | Perry Stone

Among Christians worldwide, there is controversy concerning teaching about the Rapture, an end-times event described by the apostle Paul in several Scripture passages (see 1 Thess. 4:16-17; Eph. 1:9-10; 1 Cor. 15:51-55, for example). The English word “rapture” is derived from a Latin translation by St. Jerome of the phrase “caught up” in the New Testament (see 1 Thess. 4:17, NKJV).

More accurate biblical phrases are “the gathering together” (see Eph. 1:10; 2 Thess. 2:1), the “catching away” (1 Thess. 4:17), and the “general assembly” (Heb.12:23). The term “rapture” refers to Christ’s return for the living saints and the resurrection of the dead in Christ, a predicted event whose timing is not revealed in the New Testament.

A type of the Rapture appears in Exodus 19. Moses was on Mount Sinai receiving the Word of God. A “cloud” descended, and the “sound of the trumpet was very loud” as the “Lord descended” on the mount (Ex. 19:16-18). The “Lord came down” and “Moses went up” (v. 20).

This Old Testament event foreshadows a future happening described by Paul. He wrote that the “Lord Himself will descend from heaven ... with the trumpet of God. ... Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together ... in the clouds” (1 Thess. 4:16-17).

The trumpet is identified by Jews as the Tekiah Ha Godolah, which is the longest and loudest last trumpet blast played during the Feast of Trumpets, known to Jews as Rosh Hashanah—the civil New Year on the Hebrew calendar. The day and hour of this fifth Jewish feast was not known (see Matt. 24:36) but was recognized when two witnesses identified the silver sliver of the moon.

Critics claim that the Rapture is a contemporary doctrine, started in the 1830s when a woman gave a prophetic word. Yet the concept of a pre-tribulation coming of Christ was taught by Dr. John Gill in 1748 and by Peter Jerihu in 1687. It was alluded to by Ephraim the Syrian in his writings in A.D. 373 and by the Shepherd of Hermes about 10 years after the Apocalypse was written about by John.

Though some suggest the Rapture is simply an escape teaching, they forget the principle of separation found throughout the Bible. Noah escaped death during the flood (see Heb. 11:7), Lot escaped the destruction of Sodom (see Gen. 19:29), the Hebrews escaped the destroying angel (see Ex. 12:23), Rahab was spared when Jericho’s walls fell (see Heb.11:31), and in the coming tribulation a Jewish remnant will escape the Antichrist (see Dan. 11:41; Rev. 7:3).

The patterns of the fall feasts also reveal a pattern for the Rapture. Christ was crucified near Passover, in the tomb during Unleavened Bread and seen alive during First Fruits. The church was born at Pentecost (see Acts 2:1-4), and the three fall feasts all have a future fulfillment. The Rapture is a pattern of the feast of Trumpets, the Tribulation is parallel to events on the Day of Atonement (when the nation of Israel was judged) and Tabernacles represents the future kingdom of the Messiah ruling on earth.

Even the ancient Jewish wedding is a picture of the marriage of the Messiah. When the groom came to receive his bride, the wedding celebration continued for seven days. Some suggest this is why the church will be in heaven for the entire seven years of the tribulation.

Whatever a person believes, we are to remain faithful till the end. We should plan as though we will be here a long time but live as though each day could be our last day. In this manner we are always prepared to meet the Lord.

Perry Stone is the director of Voice of Evangelism (voe.org) in Cleveland, Tennessee. He is also the host of Manna-Fest, a weekly television program, and the author of The Meal That Heals and Breaking the Jewish Code (both Charisma House).

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The Case for Dominion

Our focus should be on advancing, not escaping | C. Peter Wagner

I can still remember prophecy teachers who tacked rows of charts and diagrams on the church wall and explained spell-binding details of the past, present and future. I cut my spiritual teeth on the Scofield Bible and devoured Hal Lindsey’s The Late Great Planet Earth. My seminary professors instructed me in pre-tribulationism and premillenialism. I quickly categorized anyone who disagreed as a “liberal.”

Now I look back on those days with a strange combination of regret and amusement. How is it that I was so wrong for so long? As I analyze my change, I can sum it up by admitting that I simply did not understand the kingdom of God.

Let me explain what I mean by starting with the Great Commission. The Great Commission has been central to my life. I committed myself to missions the night I was saved when I was 19. I spent my first 16 years of ministry as a field missionary and the next 30 as a professor of missions.

My heart’s desire was to help fulfill Jesus’ mandate to “make disciples of all nations.” However, the time came when I had to make a radical shift in the way I interpreted those words of Jesus.

Formerly, I thought my task was to go to as many nations of the world as possible and save as many souls as possible and plant as many churches as possible. Now I take the Great Commission more literally when it tells us not to make as many individual disciples as we can but to disciple whole social groups—such as entire nations. This is kingdom theology.

When God created Adam and Eve, He told them to take dominion over all His creation (see Gen. 1:28). This was God’s plan until Satan succeeded in persuading Adam to obey him rather than God. The result was that Satan usurped Adam’s authority and took dominion himself.

But Jesus came as the second Adam. He brought the kingdom of God to earth and sent His disciples out to preach the gospel of the kingdom. He has now commissioned us, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to advance His kingdom, to push Satan’s kingdom back and to retake the dominion that rightly belongs to the human race.

This is the Great Commission. It still includes healing the sick, casting out demons, saving souls, multiplying churches and feeding the hungry, but it goes far beyond these activities. It is putting feet to the prayer that Jesus taught us to pray:“Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

How has this played out? The human race is enormously better off now than it was when Jesus died and was raised from the dead 2,000 years ago! Satan is losing ground more and more rapidly.

Those who think the world is getting worse and worse are missing the big picture of human history. I now regard my former pre-tribulationism and premillenialism as escapist eschatology.

I do not plan to give any territory back to Satan or his Antichrist.Yes, there will be setbacks, but the advances will far outnumber them. Instead of an escapist eschatology, I expouse a victorious eschatology!

My favorite term is “dominion eschatology.” Why? Because Jesus did not give His Great Commission in vain.

The battle will be ferocious, and we will suffer some casualties along the way.However, we will continue to push Satan back and disciple whole nations.

We are aggressively retaking dominion, and the rate at which this is happening will soon become exponential. The day will come when “‘The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever’” (Rev. 11:15, NKJV)!

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C. Peter Wagner is president of Global Harvest Ministries (globalharvest.org), chancellor of Wagner Leadership Institute and presiding apostle of the International Coalition of Apostles. He has written numerous books, including Dominion! (Chosen).

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Through a Glass Darkly

For centuries Christians have held very different eschatological views. Here are the four primary perspectives. | by Troy Anderson

As experts in eschatology (the theology of the end times) and Bible scholars have sought to decipher biblical prophecies through the centuries, they have raised a number of enigmatic questions. Poring over the Scriptures, they have found a variety of ways to interpret the portions of the Bible that contain end-times prophecy.

Most Bible scholars at secular universities and mainline seminaries believe the book of Revelation and other prophetic books are allegories or pertain to people and events in the first century. Bible scholars at conservative seminaries and popular prophecy writers argue that these Scriptures contain predictions about the future of the world.

For 2,000 years, Christians have held a combination of these different views. The four most common are dispensational premillennialism, covenant premillennialism, postmillennialism and amillennialism. And although they disagree about the details, most Christian scholars teach that Jesus will return one day to judge the earth.

“These controversies are eternal,” says Stephen D. O’Leary, an associate professor of communications at the University of Southern California and an expert on Armageddon and apocalyptic events. “But at some point [the Second Coming] will happen. Our job as followers of Jesus is to remember that of that day and hour no man knows.”

Dispensational premillennialism is the most widely known eschatological view and the predominant view among modern evangelicals. Adherents believe the second coming of Jesus will be preceded by wars and natural disasters as well as a widespread turning away from God, the appearance of the Antichrist, and the Great Tribulation—a seven-year, unprecedented time of trouble throughout the world (see Matt. 24:3-31). Then Jesus will return and establish an earthly kingdom for 1,000 years. This period, known as the Millennium, will be one of peace and righteousness because Satan has been bound and thrown into the pit (see Rev. 20:1-10).

Premillenialists are divided in their opinions about whether the “Rapture”—the sudden disappearance of believers who are “caught up” to meet the Lord in the air (see 1 Thess. 4:15-17)—will occur before, during or after the tribulation.

• Covenant premillennialism is similar to dispensational premillennialism. However, adherents believe the church has replaced Israel in God’s prophetic plan. Dispensationalists, on the other hand, put Israel at the center of God’s prophetic calendar. They see current events involving the Middle East and the Jewish people as clear signs of the last days.

• Postmillennialists believe the world will continually get better as more people become Christians, and then Jesus will return. This view was popular at the beginning of the 20th century but lost some of its appeal as a result of the world wars and the Great Depression.

It has experienced a resurgence in recent years as “dominion” theology, along with preterism, a belief that most of the Bible’s prophecies were fulfilled by the time of the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70.

The underlying concept of postmillennialism is that Christians are responsible for ushering in the millennium—and ultimately Christ’s second coming—by preaching the gospel and taking dominion over the earth (see Gen. 1:26), thereby pulling down Satan’s kingdom and advancing the kingdom of God.

C. Peter Wagner, a partial preterist and former professor at Fuller Theological Seminary, says Jesus will return after Christians transform the seven “mountains” of culture—religion, family, government, arts and entertainment, media, business and education.

“Our goal is to change whole cities, states, nations and regions for the kingdom of God,” Wagner says. “I see huge change coming, particularly in the next generation of Christians being much more involved in things of the world rather than just hiding ... in what we call the religious mountain of the church.”

• Amillennialism was the popular eschatology for most of the 2,000 years of church history. Proponents believe the millennium is not a future event but simply the time period between the First and Second Coming. They believe we’re living in the millennium now—and that we will experience both good and bad together until Jesus returns at the end of history and conducts the final judgment.

Our culture says all religions lead to God. We as Christ’s followers can’t afford to be confused about this issue.

How would you answer if you knew millions were watching?

A certain amiable TV talk-show host has a worldwide audience. Whenever his guest is a well-known Christian, the big question will always surface eventually: “Now, you’re not saying—are you—that only people who believe in Jesus are going to heaven?”

His question points out the growing hostility in our culture to the assertion that Jesus alone brings forgiveness and salvation. Last year the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life reported that about 65 percent of Americans believe many religions can lead to eternal life. The “One Way Jesus” signs from the ’70s have been supplanted by more nebulous notions of a “generic faith” and “spirituality.” Pluralism is clearly in vogue.

It’s that little word “only” that stirred the ire of both religion and government toward first-century Christians. And it is this same confession that faith in Jesus is the only way to right standing with God that often sparks anger against Christ’s followers today.

Of course, there is no new discovery to support the pluralists’ claim that many paths lead to God. But there is a new, brazen arrogance among them that their views are a needed upgrade to the “outmoded” precepts of Scripture. This anti-evangelical sentiment is emboldened when believers counter it with either equally mean-spirited denouncements or docile silence. Neither response from us will win the day.

Ten years ago in The Missions Addiction I warned that this would be the watershed theological issue for the entire evangelical movement (including Pentecostals and charismatics) in this decade. Obviously, the issue is of utmost importance for the future of evangelism and missions.

Do All Roads Lead to God?

Suppose I ask you to call me on my cell phone. I give you the number but either you don’t like the set of numbers I give you or you just get the sequence wrong. You may sincerely want to reach me. You may show deep fervor while pressing the wrong numbers. You may even “connect”—but you won’t connect with me.

Only the single prescribed way to reach me will work. In the same way, Jesus has provided the only way for us to reach God, and only His single prescribed way will work.

Some time ago I was sharing my faith in Christ with a college student. At first, the young man retorted with an air of intellectual sophistication, “Well, all religions ultimately lead to God.” But he was taken back when I challenged him to drive that assumption through the grid of inquiry to its logical conclusion.

This catchall cliché, though often gullibly ingested, does not hold up under scrutiny. Logic itself and the universally accepted principle of noncontradiction preclude its validity.

I could ask three equally sincere guides, “How do I get to Toledo, Ohio, from here?” The first responds, “Stay on this road.” The next counsels, “You’re going the wrong way. Turn around.” The third says, “Take any road you wish; just let your conscience (your feelings, your traditions, a guru, or a transcendental experience) be your guide.”

These three guides cannot all be right. At least two will be wrong. Yet a person must violate the foundational principle that there’s only one right way in order to embrace the faulty notion that all religions lead to God.

Though various faith systems do share some common values, irreconcilable differences divide them on many essential issues, including how people encounter God. Even a cursory reading of the sacred books of different religions shows that these faiths are not saying the same thing, nor are they offering equally valid ways to God.

Christians assert that Jesus is completely unique. He claimed to be the only way to God (see John 14:6) and stated that truth is revealed by obedience to Him (see John 7:17). Either Jesus brings us to God as He said, or He does not.

If Jesus told the truth about Himself, He should be received and worshiped. If He lied or was delusional about His identity, He is certainly not a great moral teacher. Thus the sidestepping suggestion that Jesus is merely a “great teacher” or a “great prophet” is not a viable intellectual option.

Christianity welcomes examination of its claims. Other religions require blind acceptance of suppositions.

God-initiated grace, as well as Christ’s substitutionary atonement and resurrection, are truths found only in the Christian faith. The gospel is gloriously unique. It is the power of God for salvation—not for everyone automatically, but for all who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ (see Rom. 1:16; 10:9).

The story of Cornelius dramatically illustrates this truth. Cornelius was devout, prayed often, gave generously to the poor and even had an angelic visitation. Yet God went to great lengths to get the gospel to him so he could come to faith in Christ and be saved!

The biblical account clearly shows that Peter did not consider Cornelius forgiven of his sins until he believed the message of the gospel. In fact, the angel instructed Cornelius to send for Peter “who will tell you words by which you and all your household will be saved” [future tense] (Acts 11:14, NKJV, emphasis added).

The belief that any road will get you to God and to heaven is obviously appealing—especially in today’s “politically correct” climate. But we are not authorized to amend Scripture; we are authorized only to proclaim it.
In 1829 a man named George Wilson was convicted of robbing a federal payroll from a train. He was sentenced to death by hanging. But three weeks before the time set for his execution, he was pardoned by President Andrew Jackson.

For some strange reason Wilson refused the pardon. His case went to the Supreme Court. The court rendered this verdict: “A pardon is a deed, to the validity of which delivery is essential, and delivery is not complete without acceptance. It may then be rejected by the person to whom it is tendered; and if it is rejected, we have discovered no power in this court to force it upon him.”

God paid our penalty when His Son took the guilt of our sins upon Himself on the cross. Pardon for our sins has been tendered by God Himself. But the delivery of the pardon is not complete until it is accepted.

Salvation is for everyone—everyone who accepts God’s pardon. This inclusive offer of grace is activated exclusively through repentance and faith in Christ. It’s this exclusive component that is an affront to many today because it flies in the face of our permissiveness. It makes us deal with our shortcomings not as mistakes but as sins against God.

We are sinners because of the wrongs we have committed. But we are also sinners because of who we are—children of Adam. We are born with a proclivity to sin.

To nonbelievers, it can seem intolerant to suggest that only one way leads to forgiveness, heaven and a relationship with God. Yet in one of the most loving verses in the Bible Jesus issues eternal options: Those who put their trust in Him have everlasting life; those who do not will perish (see John 3:16).

In subsequent verses Jesus restates that His death opened the door to God and salvation for the entire world but that this salvation is realized only by those who put their faith in Him. Remember, these are the words of a merciful Redeemer, not some vindictive, angry preacher.

This foundational tenet that Jesus is the only way is woven through the entire New Testament. Responding to a very clear question regarding what is necessary for salvation, Paul gave an equally clear answer: “ ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved’ ” (Acts 16:31). Peter said, “‘Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved’” (Acts 4:12). John wrote that the “water of life” is offered to all but not all receive it or even want it (see Rev. 22:17).

The Lausanne Covenant, a document adopted by 2,300 Christian leaders at the International Congress on World Evangelization held in Lausanne, Switzerland, in 1974, states, “To proclaim Jesus as ‘the Savior of the world’ is not to affirm that all people are either automatically or ultimately saved, still less to affirm that all religions offer salvation in Christ. Rather it is to proclaim God’s love for a world of sinners and to invite everyone to respond to Him as Savior and Lord in the wholehearted personal commitment of repentance and faith.”

We need to say it compassionately and unambiguously: Those who turn from their sins and place their faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ are declared righteous by God and when they die, they go to heaven. Those who reject God’s offer of salvation through His Son are, according to Scripture, “condemned already” and when they die, they are eternally separated from God in a terrible place the Bible calls hell. This is why we are compelled by both a holy imperative and a sense of urgency to engage in evangelism and missions.

Jesus is the only way of salvation, the only mediator between God and humanity (see John 14:6; 1 Tim. 2:5). No one can be saved in any way other than by Jesus Christ and His gospel. The Bible offers no hope that sincere worshipers of other religions will be saved without personal faith in Him.

Those who wish to escape Christ and His cross find He is too colossal to evade. Whether or not people believe in Him, they must deal with Him.

Amazing Grace

After the fall of communism in the former Soviet Union, I was privileged to preach evangelistic meetings in Minsk. I’ll never forget seeing hundreds rush to the front each night when I issued an invitation to turn from sin and receive Christ as Savior and Lord.

After one meeting a burly Belorussian man came to me with tears in his eyes. He gave me a big bear hug and said in broken English, “This is the most wonderful story I have ever heard!” I assured him (through my tears) that it’s the greatest story I have ever heard as well.

God put down a massive roadblock to stop humanity’s mad rush toward perdition. He sent His Son, whose sacrifice paid the penalty for our sins. This is God’s amazing grace.

There’s a reason we call this message “good news”! We were without “hope and without God in the world” (Eph. 2:12). Then Jesus changed everything.

Jesus taught that a true shepherd would leave all the sheep that were safe to go after one that was lost. He said it is “not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one . . . should perish” (Matt. 18:14). Peter reiterated this truth, stating that God is “not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” (2 Pet. 3:9).

God is “rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us” (Eph. 2:4). In a jaw-dropping prophetic picture, when His people had been infected by poisonous snakes, God directed Moses to make a serpent out of brass and place the serpent on a pole.

As many as looked on it in faith lived. The venom was removed and they were healed. Jesus said, “‘As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life’” (John 3:14-15).

Here We Stand

It should be stated clearly that the character of God is not on trial. Our faith is on trial. Our hearts are on trial. Our belief in the Bible is on trial, but God’s justice is not.

Pondering His mercy puts the whole issue in a new light. Because God is perfectly holy, the wonder is not that some will be lost. The greater wonder is that anyone from rebellious humanity is saved! Only Christ’s sacrifice on the cross could reconcile us to God.

People’s final destiny is not an easy issue. It’s emotionally disturbing. God’s love meant it to be that way. We are to be disturbed enough to act. There is an avalanche of biblical evidence that faith in Jesus alone is the only avenue to salvation. Fully coming to grips with it could forever change our priorities.

God has “appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained” (Acts 17:31). That Man is Jesus Christ. Scripture describes a coming apocalypse “when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power” (2 Thess. 1:7-9).

We are on a rescue mission with eternal consequences. If people are lost outside of Christ (and they are), and if faith in Jesus Christ is the only avenue of redemption (and it is), what could possibly be a higher priority than spreading the gospel as far as we can as fast as we can?

Partial truth is not the truth. In fact, because of its insidious mixture, it is the worst kind of error. God’s love is inclusive. His love does reach everyone, everywhere. But His offer of salvation has exclusive terms. The salvation He made possible becomes actual only in response to living faith in Jesus Christ. God respects our freedom to choose.

Martin Luther put it plainly: “If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christ. Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved.”

The battle rages around the uniqueness of Jesus as the one and only Savior. This is the point the world and the devil are attacking. Let’s rise to the challenge and faithfully, winsomely, and graciously confess Christ to our confused yet seeking generation.

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David Shibley is the president of Global Advance (globaladvance.org), a ministry that provides on-site training and resources for thousands of church and business leaders in underserved nations. This year Global Advance is sponsoring 106 training events in many of the world’s neediest areas. The author of 15 books, David and his wife, Naomi, have been married for 37 years. They have two married sons and four grandchildren.

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BIBLE STUDY ONLINE

To complete a Bible study that examines what God’s Word says about Jesus being the only way to salvation, visit our Web site at seekinggod.charismamag.com.

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Do All Paths Lead to God?

Here’s a brief look at what some world religions teach about Jesus, salvation and heaven

HINDUISM can be traced back to 1500 B.C. in India with no single founder. It spawned Buddhism, Sikhism and Jainism and comprises a body of religion based on the Vedas, or Hindu scriptures. It teaches that the true self of each person is continuously being extended from the supreme soul, Brahman. Achieving an awareness of one’s divine identity and becoming one with Brahman brings liberation. Samsara (reincarnation) is needed until a soul has become liberated. The soul may be reborn in human or animal form. Hindus see their gods and goddesses and the incarnations of them (avatars) as manifestations of the impersonal Brahman. Some see Brahman as a supreme being, as Vishnu, Brahma, Shiva or Shakti. Some worship Krishna as the supreme being; others says he is an avatar of Vishnu. Jesus is viewed as an avatar. The Hindu path of completion goes from humanity to oneness with the divine, based on self-effort.

BUDDHISM began in India with a tribal sage named Siddhartha in the fifth century B.C. While meditating, he reached nirvana, the highest God-consciousness, and was called Buddha (“enlightened one”). Buddhism asserts that the world operates by natural power and law without divine command. Neither main branch of Buddhism, Theravada or Mahayana, accepts the existence of a personal God or the deity of Jesus. There is no such thing in Buddhism as sin against a supreme being. Salvation is based on the path a person takes in life and an emphasis on human effort. “Heaven” means to enter nirvana where the ego is extinguished.

MORMONISM is the beliefs held by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS). It began with Joseph Smith of Palmyra, New York in the 1820s and mirrors Christian ideals such as free will, repentance and a belief in God’s providence over history. Jesus is the firstborn of God’s “spirit children” but is not the unique Son of God. Smith’s successor, Brigham Young, wrote in the LDS Journal of Discourses: ” If you will believe in your hearts and confess with your mouth Jesus is the Christ, that Joseph was a prophet, and that Brigham is his successor, you shall be saved in the kingdom of God.” After death every person goes to one of three levels of glory, depending on how they lived.

SCIENTOLOGY was founded in 1952 by American science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard as a successor to his popular self-help system, Dianetics. Life experience is recorded in the brain as “engrams” that may cause self-defeating behavior. Exposing the engrams enables the person, or “thetan” (immortal soul), to “go clear” and gain liberation from MEST (matter, energy, space, time). The ultimate quest is enlightened freedom from the MEST body and universe. Hubbard rejected Christ’s deity and mission as figments of unenlightened minds. Salvation occurs progressively to arrive at the highest level, ‘’Operating Thetan.’’ The Church of Scientology is the global entity for promoting the group’s beliefs.

ISLAM Muhammad, born around A.D. 570, founded Islam in Saudi Arabia after receiving visions and revelations from an angel named Gabriel. These disclosures are recorded in the Quran, the religion’s infallible scriptures. “Islam” means “submission”; “Muslim” means “one who submits to Allah”—the only supreme being. Jesus is believed to be one of the major prophets, but to call Him the Son of God is blasphemy. Islam is a religion of works in which sin does not require atonement and can be forgiven through repentance. For salvation, good deeds must outweigh bad deeds, though Allah will decide a Muslim’s eternal fate. Entrance into Paradise can be guaranteed only if a Muslim dies while fighting the enemies of Islam—in jihad, which is similar to a contract between Allah and a Muslim (see Surah 4:74; 9:89, The Noble Quran).

BAHA’I Founded in Iran in the mid-19th century, Baha’i spread to Europe, America and elsewhere under the successors of its founder Bahā’ Allah. The principal center today is in Haifa, Israel. Its main tenets are the unity of all religions and of all humanity. Bahā’ Allah is seen as the most recent manifestation of God. Baha’i is monotheistic; God is Creator, and Jesus is a manifestation of God, but His death and resurrection are not addressed. His second coming has occurred in Bahā’ Allah. Salvation comes through divine revelation. A good afterlife leads to increasing nearness to God and a bad one to increasing distance from God.

JUDAISM began about 2000 B.C. with a covenant between God and Abraham, the patriarch and progenitor of the Jewish nation. Most adherents believe God also established a covenant with the Israelites and their descendants and revealed His laws to Moses on Mount Sinai. Today it is divided into four primary movements: Orthodox, Reform, Conservative and Reconstructionist. The dual foundation for most practice is the Talmud (a record of rabbinic commentaries on biblical texts) and the Torah (books and laws of Moses). Judaism believes in a single God who created the universe and governs it. Jesus isn’t the Messiah foretold by Jewish prophets; neither is there acceptance of His substitutionary atonement for sin. The existence of sin and God’s abhorrence for it is recognized, but atonement is accomplished by sacrifices, penitence, good deeds and God’s grace. It teaches a concept of reward and punishment in the afterlife.

CHRISTIANITY began with Jesus of Nazareth, a Jew who lived in Israel 2,000 years ago. It is rooted in biblical Judaism and holds that Jesus (Yeshua in Hebrew) is God’s Son, sent from God out of love for all people to be the atonement for humanity’s sin against God. The Christian Bible states that God made all people for Himself, as well as the world, the heavens and everything in them. It says He is enthroned in heaven, not in buildings. God commands all people to repent of sin and accept eternal life by faith as a gift from God, through Jesus. This is needed because God will judge each person through Jesus. In raising Jesus from the dead, God demonstrated that He alone is His Son among those who claim deity.

—JIMMY STEWART

What God has done through the modern creation of Israel in 1948  is nothing short of a miracle of Bible prophecy.

Over the years I have accompanied thousands of people to the Holy Land. I am always thrilled to see people on these tours with their Bibles open, eagerly reading Old and New Testament passages that identify the very places they are seeing for themselves. I’ll never forget an elderly gentleman in one group who kept peppering me with questions about biblical prophecy such as: “When Jesus returns, exactly where will He appear?” and “What else must happen before the Second Coming?”

His questions reflect an understanding about Israel that is so important for us as Christians to have. It is that everything God does on this planet, He does according to His dealings with Israel.

God’s Word makes it clear that before Jesus’ return, we will see the “restoration” of Israel. The apostle Peter, prophesying of a future event, told the Jews: “That [God] may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before, whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things” (Acts 3:20-21, NKJV).

Earlier, Jesus’ disciples had asked Him to explain when these things would happen. They wanted to know:
“ ‘What will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?’ ” (Matt. 24:3).

If you look closely at this verse you notice that the followers of the Lord wanted to know the sign—singular—of Christ’s return and the end of the age. Jesus, however, began by detailing a lengthy list of what they should be looking for, including false prophets, wars, famines, earthquakes, the gospel being preached to the nations and much more (see Matt. 24:4-31).

Many of these events began to unfold immediately after Christ ascended back to the Father and have continued to this very day. But what was the one “sign” that would be unmistakable? As Jesus often did, He answered their question in the form of a simple story:

“ ‘Now learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near. So you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near—at the doors! Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place’ ” (Matt. 24:32–34).

The fig tree is Israel. And God’s Son was prophesying of the time to come when the nation was re-established—when its tender branch was putting on new leaves.

It is essential to understand that in 1948, Israel the fig tree was not newly planted—it simply was awakening and sprouting new growth once more. Israel was born when Joshua took possession of the land God promised to Abraham. Jesus didn’t say the end would come in the generation after the tree was planted or grew branches but when the tree put on fresh leaves.

Connected to the Church

The most significant aspect of this parable is that from time the leaves would begin to blossom again “ ‘this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place’ ” (Matt. 24:34). One sign! One generation! What does this mean for you and me?

It is important to note that on God’s timetable, a generation is 100 years. When God told Abraham of Israel’s captivity in Egypt, He said: “ ‘Your descendants ... will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years. ... But in the fourth generation they shall return here’ ” (Gen. 15:13, 16).

Since this is true, and the Lord was speaking about Israel’s rebirth in 1948, the 100 years for these things to be fulfilled means they will all come to pass before 2048.

You see, we simply cannot unravel or understand what is taking place in the Middle East or on the world scene without recognizing the central role of God’s time clock—Israel.

I believe it is more than coincidence that when Israel was revived as a nation in 1948 God’s hand began moving upon the Christian church worldwide in a new fashion. He started restoring the gifts of the Spirit.

Several years ago, my dear friend and mentor, the late Derek Prince, wrote a book titled Israel and the Church: Parallel Restoration. In it he pointed out several historic events in Israel’s restoration and their correlating spiritual breakthroughs in the church. Here are a few examples:

• Just before the turn of the 20th century, the first Zionist Congress embraced Theodor Herzl’s concept that the Jewish people should be returned to their biblical homeland. Within 10 years, outpourings of God’s Spirit began in Topeka, Kansas, and Azusa Street in Los Angeles.

• In 1948, Israel declared its independence and became a sovereign nation. At the same time, the church began to experience the Latter Rain Movement and the launch of Billy Graham’s evangelistic ministry.

• In 1967, Israel experienced a mighty victory in the Six-Day War. The same year, the Holy Spirit was poured out on Roman Catholics at first Duquesne and then Notre Dame universities, beginning the Catholic Charismatic Renewal.

Sadly, most Christians know very little about how Israel and the church are connected. They read the Scriptures, but they don’t seem to be able to link the two together.

Today, because of misinterpretation, people are saying we—the church—are Israel. They’re wrong!

Until recently, the Jewish people have not been open to hearing the message of Christ because Christianity was identified with the Crusades, Hitler and so much more. However, I can tell you personally that in the last few years we have begun to see a dramatic turnaround.

I vividly remember a day about 15 years ago when a Jewish cab driver forced me out of his taxi in Jerusalem for mentioning the name of Jesus. But recently I was in a stadium in Israel preaching the gospel to Jews and Arabs, publicly proclaiming, “Jesus! Jesus!” And together they were singing, “Alleluia! Alleluia!”

Only a few years ago, it was the Palestinian Christians who were preaching the gospel to the Jews. Now you can find Jews who have accepted Christ preaching to the Arabs!

I recently spoke with a Messianic Jew who conducts regular services in Jerusalem. He told me, “I have never seen such a hunger in the hearts of Jewish people. Every week men and women are accepting Jesus as their Messiah.”

So, while we have seen this nation restored physically, I believe what we are about to witness will be the greatest miracle in thousands of years. According to what I see in Scripture, a mighty spiritual outpouring is on the horizon for Israel.

The prophet Zechariah wrote, “ ‘ “For behold,” ... says the Lord of hosts ... “I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day” ’ ” (Zech. 3:9).

In “one day” God will restore His chosen people spiritually to Himself. Jesus prophesied that the times of the gentiles would be fulfilled, or come to an end, and God would again turn His attention to His ancient people, Israel (see Luke 21:24). The apostle Paul echoed this fact when he wrote, “Blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in” (Rom. 11:25).

Though there are different interpretations of how this will unfold, Scripture tells us, “And so all Israel will be saved: as it is written: ‘The Deliverer will come out of Zion, and He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; for this is My covenant with them, when I take away their sins’” (Rom. 11:26-27).

Three Significant Prophecies

I have been told that for centuries, Jewish rabbis have been waiting for the fulfillment of three Old Testament passages they believe point to the Messiah’s coming. The first two have already occurred, and the third is taking place right before our eyes.

1. Traffic in the streets of Jerusalem. Nahum wrote of a time after Israel would be scattered and persecuted, when “the emptiers have emptied them out and ruined their vine branches” (Nah. 2:2). He saw the day when “the chariots come with flaming torches in the day of His preparation ... they jostle one another in the broad roads; they seem like torches, they run like the lightning” (vv. 3-4).

The prophet saw cars in Jerusalem and did not know how to properly describe them—vehicles speeding in the streets of the city that he called “broad roads.” These wide roads didn’t exist in the prophet’s day, but they certainly do now!

2. The Israeli Air Force of 1967. Isaiah spoke of a day to come: “Like birds flying about, so will the Lord of hosts defend Jerusalem. Defending, He will also deliver it; passing over, He will preserve it” (Is. 31:5).

In 1948 the Israeli Air Force was still a fledgling force. At the time they had only a hodgepodge collection of donated civilian aircraft, totally inadequate for battle against modern fighter jets.

So they used their creativity. Pilots used to throw soda bottles out of their planes to create a whistling sound. The enemy thought a bomb was approaching and would run for their lives! But in the 1967 war, the “birds” mentioned in Isaiah were dominating the skies and defending Jerusalem.

3. The desert must bloom. Isaiah prophesied: “The wilderness and the wasteland shall be glad for them, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose; it shall blossom abundantly and rejoice, even with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it” (Is. 35:1-2).

Before 1948, Israel was practically nothing but desert and desolation. During the Ottoman Empire, nearly every tree in the land was cut down. Yet every time I return to Israel I am amazed at the abundance of palms, banana trees and flowers growing profusely throughout the region.

As a boy, I remember going to southern Israel into the Negev. Most of what I saw was unproductive land that was practically uninhabitable.

But on a recent journey I returned to the same area and was astonished by what I saw—acres of crops as far as the eye could see and communities springing up everywhere. God was speaking of Israel when He declared:

“ ‘So they will say, “This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden; and the wasted, desolate, and ruined cities are now fortified and inhabited” ’” (Ezek. 36:35).

Many Christians are planting trees in Israel. Our own ministry has been involved in planting olive trees all over the country; we even have our own orchard. We as Christians are a part of fulfilling this prophecy.

What were once arid sand dunes are now rich and fertile farmlands, not only feeding Israel’s own people but also exporting fruits and vegetables to the world. Israel’s economy now surpasses that of many European countries.

It is only by a miracle of God that this nation is still alive. As Christians, we know that the Messiah came to the earth the first time 2,000 years ago, yet the Jewish people are still looking for Him. According to Scripture He will return again, and Israel will believe.

On a journey back to my homeland recently, I was near the Western Wall in Jerusalem where many people were praying. I asked a rabbi standing there, “Do you believe the Messiah is coming?”

“He has to! It is time,” he answered.

One famous song played all the time in Israel is “Where Is the Messiah?” The Jewish people are looking for the Messiah and praying now more than ever for their total deliverance.

And when Christ returns the second time, the greatest revival the world has ever seen will break out in this land that is so precious to Him.

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Benny Hinn is an evangelist, Bible teacher and author of numerous books, including his newest, Blood in the Sand (FrontLine), from which this article is adapted.

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Go to bloodinthesand.charismamag.com to sign up for an exclusive chance to win a copy of Benny Hinn’s new book about the Middle East conflict, Blood in the Sand.

 

Amazing things happen when the power of Christ shows up. Are you available to be His vessel for miracles?

 

For at least 20 years, a driving force within me has been the conviction that I owe people an encounter with God. I believe I owe them more than just a message filled with truth. Whatever I do for people must contain the opportunity for them to have a divine encounter. If I am full of the Holy Spirit, then I will be more likely to bring people into such an encounter.

In part, that is what the apostle Paul meant when he stated: “And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power” (1 Cor. 2:4, NKJV). People don’t need to be convinced of our insights or ability to convey truth. People need God.

God cannot be properly or even accurately represented without power. Miracles are absolutely necessary for people to see Him clearly because encountering His power is encountering Him.

Our greatest treasure is God Himself. Our greatest privilege is to manifest Him. The people of God around the world are crying out for Him to show up in a more significant way. It’s a healthy cry.

Tragically, history is filled with those who prayed that prayer for years without ever seeing a true visitation of God. Many of the respected books on revival were written by people who never took part in one.

Is it that hard to get God to show up? Jesus was born in a manger—He’s not that picky. The absence of His manifested presence has been attributed to His sovereignty. I think it’s unfair to sweep unfulfilled promises under “God’s sovereignty” and blame God or His “mysterious ways” for any lack we experience.

The only time the disciples couldn’t bring deliverance, they weren’t content with the absence of a miracle (see Matt. 17:14-21). They believed God’s sovereign will was for a miracle. And so, they asked Jesus.

He demonstrated how and then told them why, and the tormented child was set free. The lack is always on our end of the equation, not the Father’s. His covenant is complete and effective for all.

God will allow us to carry as much of Jesus’ presence as we’re willing to jealously guard. Has it ever crossed our minds how much is available to us now? I think it hasn’t.

Moses, who was not even “born again”—because Jesus had not yet died for our sins—carried a measure of Jesus’ presence that is unusual for today. That shouldn’t be. Inferior covenants should not provide superior blessings. The blood of Jesus gives us access to a far greater glory than was ever experienced by Moses (see 2 Cor. 3:7-11).

Knowing God

Our greatest responsibility as Jesus’ church on earth is both to know Him and to make Him known. Knowing Him will be unfulfilled unless we embrace. four mandates from heaven, priorities that affect thoughts, prayers and pursuits. They are both fruits and gifts—results of being in right standing with God and attainments received only through obedience.

Love. Though faith is what’s required to please God (see Heb. 11:6), it is love that remains the greatest of all virtues (see 1 Cor. 13). Love never fails. It is perfect, totally unselfish to the point of the ultimate sacrifice. Jesus loved the world so much that He gave. Faith that works through love. So they remain the two absolutes that are the evidence of being a true believer.

Purity. The tragedy of sinfulness in the church has caused a domino effect outside the church. Holiness is the absolute evidence of the gospel’s effect on a life. Without it, our good intentions collapse under the weight of God’s purposes. He shakes whatever has faulty foundations. And sin is the weakest foundation. The call to disciple nations requires holiness.

Power. It is impossible to represent God without power. He is not an idea, a philosophy or creed. He is all-powerful God. And we have been selected as agents of His power, to confront and destroy the works of darkness in the same way Jesus did. Jesus is the clearest revelation of God on the earth. The Father wants that representation multiplied through us.

Glory. This is the manifested presence of Jesus—what radiates from the Father (see Heb. 1:3). When His glory comes into a room, there is little else one can do but worship. We must long for these times, pursue them and treasure them as they are available to us in increasing measures. Why is the glory so important? It is the realm of God we were created to live in.

Making God Known

Making Jesus known to a world crying out for Him means allowing Him to be known and seen through each of us. Releasing Jesus’ presence, and thus the kingdom of God itself, is done through at least five activities:

Laying on of hands. This is a biblical mandate and one of the basic doctrines of Christ (see Heb. 6:1-2). Because the kingdom is within us, it is released through the touch of faith. It is an intentional act for healing, blessing or impartation (see Mark 16:18; 1 Tim. 4:14). It is the principle of touch and release.

Proximity to anointing. This principle worked through the apostle Peter when the sick were healed by being placed in a location where his shadow would fall on them as he walked by. Jesus’ garment fits into this category as well. He didn’t purposefully lay His hands on the woman with the issue of blood, for example, or the multitudes (see Mark 6:56), yet they were healed. Even His clothing became saturated with God’s miracle power. Physical location as it pertains to the anointing is crucial in releasing the kingdom.

Acts of faith. These release the kingdom, as faith requires an activity. This is one of the easiest principles to prove in Scripture. Jesus was often brought into an impossibility because of someone else’s faith. Matthew 8:10 records that Jesus was stunned by the incredible level of faith in a high-ranking Roman soldier who was not a Jew. His faith caught Jesus completely off guard. I love the idea of having faith that grabs God’s attention, drawing Him into a situation.

Prophetic acts. These are unusual because the action is not related to the desired outcome, as it is with an act of faith. For example, Elisha heard the cries of the sons of the prophets when they lost a borrowed axe head (see 2 Kings 6). It fell into the water. Elisha had them throw a stick into the water, and the axe head floated to the surface. It was an act of obedience—there was no logical connection between the act and the recovery of the axe head, yet without it there would have been no recovery. Physical obedience brings spiritual release.

The declaration. Nothing happens in the kingdom without a declaration. When we say what the Father is saying, all of heaven is brought into the equation. When that declaration is a “testimony,” we capture the momentum of the history of God’s dealings with mankind. Then a creative prophetic power is released to establish the revelation of God on the earth. It is imperative that we “declare His works.” We are to burn with the conviction that we carry the revelation of God’s nature and presence for all people to see.

Psalm 78 contains some of the most startling promises and warnings in the Bible about why the record of God’s activities among men is not to be hidden or forgotten.

Israel, by not keeping the testimony of what God had done for them, ended up in the ultimate sin of unbelief. “In spite of [what He had done for them], they still sinned, and did not believe in His wondrous works” (Ps. 78:32).

Many of us can remember stories of God’s interventions, if asked. But few of us keep them at the forefront of our thinking and conversation.

Yet when we hold what is valuable to God in our hearts, we are prepared to believe when Jesus steps onto the scene. The testimony plays that role.

History Is Speaking

On July 17, 1859, the great preacher Charles Spurgeon spoke a prophetic message titled, “The Story of God’s Mighty Acts,” to the church of his day. In it, he declared a prophetic truth that had the power to shape the church culture until there was a full restoration of all that had been lost of God’s historic interventions among humanity. Here is his prophetic cry:

“When people hear about what God used to do, one of the things they say is: ‘Oh, that was a very long while ago.’

“Has God changed? Is he not an immutable God—the same yesterday, today and forever? Does not that furnish an argument to prove that what God has done at one time He can do at another?

“I think I may push it a little further and say: What He has done once is a prophecy of what He intends to do again. Whatever God has done is to be looked upon as a precedent.

“[Let us] with earnestness seek that God would restore to us the faith of the men of old, that we may richly enjoy His grace as in the days of old.”

History tells us the church then did little with this truth, except perhaps to applaud another great sermon. We in our generation are being presented with a similar opportunity.

It is obvious that amazing things happen when the power of Christ shows up. Will you be available to become His vessel for miracles? Let’s not miss our own opportunity to see a full restoration of God’s works among humanity until Jesus is accurately re-presented and His glory fills the earth.

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Bill Johnson is senior pastor of Bethel Church in Redding, California, and an author of books about Christian living, including Release the Power of Jesus (Destiny Image), from which this article is adapted.

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