Dr. Bill Hamon answers your questions
about the eternal Church.

By Jennifer LeClaire

Every believer is being compelled to look beyond personal and local ministry goals and catch a glimpse of Christ’s vision for His whole Church throughout the nations and the world. So says Dr. Bill Hamon, founder of Christian International Ministries Network in Santa Rosa Beach, Fla. Hamon has been equipping the saints for the work of the ministry longer than most of us have been saints. He is a father of the Prophetic Movement. A pioneer of the Apostolic Movement. A forerunner of the Saints Movement.

Hamon’s desire is to see the Church fulfill its purpose, and he knows that won’t happen “until.” Until apostles and prophets, along with evangelists, pastors and teachers, train and activate the saints. Until we become mature believers to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. That’s why Hamon is building a strong local church to raise up sons and daughters, holding equipping seminars to activate the saints in spiritual gifts, overseeing a Bible school to lay a solid foundation in the Word of God, and writing books full of restorational truths.

The Voice magazine sat down with Dr. Hamon to talk about God’s purpose for the Church, where we are now, and where we are headed in the years to come.

The Voice: What is the purpose of the Church and are we fulfilling that purpose?

Dr. Bill Hamon: The Church definitely has a purpose. Most fundamentally evangelical Christians don’t see any purpose except to escape hell and be happy in heaven with Jesus. God ordained the human race to bring forth a family in His likeness and image, but Adam and Eve failed.

So Jesus came 4,000 years later to reactivate the plan of God. He recreated a human race as we were recreated in Christ Jesus. We are a new creation, born again, children of God. This new creation’s purpose is to be conformed into the image of Jesus Christ. That’s just not in holiness and purity, but to be like Jesus in every way of His authority, power, wisdom, grace, the way He thinks, the way He acts, to have His government and His principles. We are supposed to be a full personification and manifestation and demonstration of who Christ is and what Christ is like. And Christ is a full demonstration of who God is and what God is like.

The family of God, the Church, is raised up to establish God’s purpose on the planet Earth. But He has to have a people that are in His likeness and who think with His convictions and His attitude, His ideas, His way of being and doing in order to fulfill that.

Once He has these people, not only will they fill the Earth with His glory and be His glory that fills the Earth, they will also be instrumental in fulfilling His eternal purpose for which He created the human race and for which He brought forth the Church.

The Church is to demonstrate the Lordship, the sovereignty of the Godhood; that Jesus Christ is the only true God, the only true Savior, the only true being in the universe. We have to demonstrate that through mighty signs and wonders and miracles and prophetic revelation, and all the ways that Christ did when He was here on the Earth.

The Voice: In your book “Eternal Church,” we read about the gradual restoration of the Church. Where are we now in the restoration process?

Dr. Bill Hamon: We are at the prophetic-apostolic. The prophetic movement of the 80s brought in the prophet. And in the 90s it was the apostle. Now we have all five ascension gifts fully restored. Now we can get busy, working, training, equipping, and activating the saints to demonstrate the Kingdom of God. Daniel says several times that the saints will do it. So that one-man show is coming to a close with the restoration of the apostles and prophets. Now it’s the whole Body of Christ arising and demonstrating the supernatural. We will see the Body of Christ coming forth in the Saints Movement.

We’ve crossed over the Jordan. The moment you cross over Jordan you’re going into warfare. The Israelites had four battles and 40 years in the wilderness. In this movement, it is constant warfare and you don’t stop until all of Canaan is subdued and the children of God are ruling and reigning.

As fanatical as it may sound to fundamental evangelical Christians, the Church is destined to subdue all things and put all things under Christ’s feet before He actually literally returns from heaven. Father God said to Jesus, “Sit thou at my right hand until I make all your enemies your footstool.” The five-fold ministry must function until we come to the perfect stature of Jesus Christ. So it’s “until.”

The Church is being prepared now for the next moves of God. After the Saints Movement will be the Army of the Lord Movement. The next movement after that will be the Kingdom Establishment Movement.

So we have three more movements yet to take place. So we are right now in the Prophetic-Apostolic Movement but then somewhere along 2012 or 2010 the preachers will start getting on the ball and teaching and training the saints. Then we will have the Saint's Movement that will demonstrate to every nation the Kingship of Jesus Christ. Then we are going to have the Army of the Lord demonstrate the power of God and go forth as mighty warriors and shake whole nations. Then we will have the Kingdom Establishment Movement. The Kingdom will be established and Jesus will return and change us in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye so we can finish the job with our immortal bodies. That's the purpose and identity of the movement of God for the Church. And I would say that about 98 percent of Spirit-filled, born again Christians do not have any concept of the overall purpose of God for His Church.

The Voice: How can believers stay on the cutting edge of these restorational truths in this hour?

Dr. Bill Hamon: If they don't have a panoramic view of God's purpose for the Church and destiny of the Church, then they are going to get stuck in a movement. Just like we have the historic churches that camped on the outside of Egypt, on the other side of the Red Sea, and on the other side of Jordan being washed in the Blood. The Baptists are camped out by the Red Sea. The Holiness folks are camped out on the other side of the Red Sea. Then you got the Church of God, which believes in divine healing, camped at the waters of Marah. The Pentecostals are camped at the water from the rock. The Charismatics are camped at Mount Sinai. The Prophetic-Apostolic Movement has crossed over Jordan. Now we have to keep warring.

The goal is to get every saint to possess their lot so they can start ruling and reigning in Canaan. The end result will be the kingdoms of this world becoming the Kingdoms of God. Jesus is looking for some people that are going through the purging, going through the training, dying to self.

The Voice: We have a lot a rapture teaching in the Body of Christ. Is that helping or hurting God's purpose?

Dr. Bill Hamon: If we were going through great persecution and were being killed and tortured, half-starved to death, and looked like we had no hope or future, it would be encouraging.

Rapture teaching is one of the most faith deadening teachings ever preached. It has the most neutralizing affect on a Christian's aggressive growth process. We have a lot to do in this Earth and there is going to be a lot of stuff that we need to do in eternity.

If you don't have a big comprehensive vision, both restorationally and eternally, then what motivation is there to do much except try to win a few souls to get a big reward in heaven?

The Voice: So as prophetic and apostolic people, how can we get through to the many people who don't have a revelation of the times we are in?

Dr. Bill Hamon: We need to establish why we are here. It would be good if the Church worked like building a car. We could go to the Lutherans to get them into the faith, the Baptists to get them baptized in water and sanctified and set apart. We could get the Church of God to get them healed and the Pentecostals to get them filled and the Charismatics to get them free, liberated and flowing. Then we could get the prophetic to get them activated and get the apostolic to get them charged and challenged. We could have a great production. But we don't have an assembly line. We have separated parts.

So we got the Lutheran, the feet, doing their own thing. The legs doing their own thing, the loins doing theirs, and the chest and heart, the prophetic and apostolic doing their own thing. Our Body is scattered all over the Earth and not related, therefore it can't accomplish.

The only way the Church is going to be unified is in the knowledge of the truth and with Christ, but it can only happen through fellowship. See, you as an adult can drop down on the floor with a four-year-old and crawl and play and talk gooey gooey talk, but he can't elevate himself up to talk and fellowship on your level. I can drop back down and fellowship and talk with a Lutheran about justification of faith and Jesus, but if I try to get them on my level to speak in tongues or prophesy or move in gifts, I am taking to them beyond their growth, experiences and revelation. So we who are spiritual should restore those who are weak.

If we think we have much more truth or anointing, we are teaching elitism and superiority. That's the wrong spirit and attitude. We are all saved by the same grace, cleansed by the same blood. Just because you've been here or advanced further doesn't mean you look down on people that haven't come as far as you have.

The Voice: Some people don't believe that apostles and prophets should take on the titles of apostles and prophets. Why is it necessary, why does it matter?

Dr. Bill Hamon: Well, several reasons. One, Jesus divided His whole ministry into five gifts or categories or anointings. He calls them gifts. He could have said that He was going to give us five gifting abilities and we will have a special anointing for special causes but we will all just be ministers of Jesus Christ.

But the fact is that Jesus gave them names. He called them apostle, prophet, pastor, evangelist and teacher. When Jesus called His 12 disciples He didn't say that they were His special 12 disciples. He called them apostles and He commissioned them. If Jesus gave them a name and He wanted them to have that name, then we shouldn't deny that name.

If the title is not relevant then why do pastors call themselves pastors? Why do evangelists call themselves evangelists? Why do teachers call themselves teachers? When you receive a prophet in the name of a prophet, you get a prophet's reward, not an inspired preacher or a man of God, or a great man of God. God has respect for positions. So it's very important.

We are all on the same level with Christ but there are positions of honor and respect. It's like an army. We are not a loosey goosey Jesus people floating around here. We have commanders and lieutenants. We have colonels and sergeants. There is a realm of authority of the Church and that doesn't make one greater than another its just positions.

Go to www.TheVoiceBooks.com for apostolic and prophetic resources and more books by Dr. Bill Hamon.  

Apostles, Prophets and the Coming Moves of God By Dr. Bill Hamon Reg $14.99 Save 32% Only $10.19

Advanced Apostolic Studies: One module in the Apostlic Equipping Library By Jonas Clark Only $19.99

CLICK HERE for more great books at www.TheVoiceBooks.com.

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The Voice: Are New Testament prophets called to pronounce judgments and curses?

Dr. Bill Hamon: When I started prophesying the only people that they thought about as prophets were these hard, narrow-minded mean people you see in old movies that had that old legalistic air about them.

Some of the biggest persecution that I have got is people saying that all I prophesy is good. They told me I ought to rip people apart and judge them and condemn them. They wanted me to blast them, I said, "No, no, no. The Bible says edify, comfort and encourage." Some people just want to bring out all the negative stuff, saying that the only true prophets are John the Baptist prophets that rebuke the Pharisees.

They don't realize that a lot of the prophets, like Jeremiah and Ezekiel, had to prophesy to Israel when they were about ready to go into bondage. Israel wouldn't quit sinning and God kept telling them they were going into slavery.

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