As things change rapidly in the
world and upheaval is occurring in various areas, many
believers are wondering how to interpret the times. Some
preachers and prophets are warning that we are in a time of
judgment, while others are preaching prosperity and
breakthrough. In some camps Christians are packing their
bags and moving to “cities of refuge” or looking for the
Lord to “rapture” them off planet earth. Yet other
ministries are birthing new vision and embarking on
ambitious building projects.
As God’s apostolic-prophetic people we need to have wisdom
to discern the times. First Chronicles 12:32 mentions “the
sons of Issachar who had understanding of the times, to know
what Israel ought to do.” This is my special anointing from
the Lord – to have an understanding of the overall picture
of the Church from its origination to its ultimate
destination, and to sense the next moves of God that are
coming. These subjects are covered in detail in my books,
The Eternal Church and The Day of the Saints. But at this
time it is important that we review the “big picture”
perspective so that we will have faith, not fear, for what
we are facing.
UNDERSTANDING CORPORATE SEASONS
According to God’s Word, there are at least three things
that are like measuring rods that determine the big picture
of where we are on God’s timetable. These three things must
dovetail together before the consummation of the “last days”
of the Church. Only God can arrange that all three of these
areas will reach their fullness at the same time, but He is
working all things together so that they will. When we keep
the perspective that all three of these areas are important,
it will enable us not to make conclusions based on what is
happening in just one arena. In other words, it will give us
a balanced perspective and faith that God’s plans are secure
no matter what we see around us.
PROPHECY MUST BE FULFILLED REGARDING NATURAL ISRAEL AND
THE LAND OF PALESTINE.
There are prophecies God made to Abraham and his descendants
that still must be fulfilled in the natural realm. As the
Church, we have inherited the spiritual promises made to
Israel. Paul said that the gentiles have been grafted in and
we are partakers of the promises (Romans 11:17-18). But the
Church has not replaced natural Israel. God has not
forgotten the Hebrew people, the race that He called apart
to be a witness unto the nations for Him, nor the geographic
land of Israel. God will fulfill all prophecies concerning
Abraham and His descendants.
I’m not a prophet to Israel. That has not been my main
burden and thrust, as many have been raised up to preach
about Israel and give messages and write books about it. My
burden and vision is for the maturing of the Church. But
while Jesus is building His Church, God is also working on
natural Israel and the Jewish people.
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We are exhorted to “pray for the peace of Jerusalem” (Psalm
122:6). God’s people need to have a heart for Abraham’s
descendants and do what we can to see His purposes come to
pass, recognizing that these events are important in world
history. I do not see the fulfillment of prophecy regarding
Israel and the Middle East as the sole determiner of God’s
timetable, but this is one aspect of determining the times.
THE WORLD MUST REACH ITS CUP OF INIQUITY
The second process that Scripture indicates is progressing
toward a specified end is the world’s sinfulness and
iniquity. A key biblical example is the Amorites in the land
of Canaan (Genesis 15:16). God told Abraham, I prophesied to
you, I gave you all these promises, but I cannot fulfill
them yet. Your seed must go down to Egypt and sojourn there
for four generations, and then come back. By that time the
sins of the Amorites will be full, and I can put eternal
judgment upon them and cause their land to expel them. All
you’ve got to do is go in and execute what I have already
sentenced. But He said to Abraham, I cannot do it now; their
sins are not full.
The world’s cup of iniquity is going to fill. That means any
kingdom of this world that is not operating under godly
rulership is going to get worse. This is important to
understand so that we will not be surprised or discouraged
when it occurs. Not only is the world’s sinfulness going to
get worse, but the world’s hatred toward the Church will
increase.
God is allowing the world to abuse and use the Church in
every act of disobedience and every act of accusation to put
another level in the cup of iniquity. We have been very
blessed and protected in the United States. We really have
just begun to see the reality of this since September 11,
2001. There are entire philosophies, systems of this world
ruled by an anti-Christ spirit, that are bent on the
destruction of the Church of Jesus Christ. God is allowing
the Church to go through some things to build judgment
against the world, and they are simultaneously serving to
strengthen the Church by requiring God’s people to be
overcomers.
When we say the world is going to get worse, we do not mean
everything outside the four walls of church buildings. Only
those areas of society that are not being influenced by
godly leadership will decline. To whatever extent the saints
of God take back areas of society from the devil, they will
prosper.
At CI we have been teaching and preaching about “ministers
in the marketplace and government” for several years. We are
educating and equipping the saints to know that they are all
ministers (Ephesians 4:13, 16). God does not want His
mankind creation to surrender our inheritance to the devil!
He put man on planet earth and declared that we were to rule
over His creation and take dominion. His plan has not
changed. Now that Christ has defeated the power of sin, we
have everything we need to execute God’s original plan of
bringing His Kingdom rule to earth, demonstrating His
greatness to all the universe.
We each need to be doing everything we can to bring God’s
rule to our sphere of influence. As we go about our daily
business we should be building God’s Kingdom through our
attitudes and actions. Remember Ashley Smith, the young
woman whose faith and wise words enabled fugitive/murderer
Brian Nichols to calm down and turn himself in? Your example
may not make the national news, but you can impact this
world and influence people for Christ. Instead of fleeing
politics, the media, entertainment, the arts, sports,
academia, science and other fields, Christians should be
infiltrating these areas with godly influence.
When the cup of iniquity is full, God’s wrath will be
outpoured in fullness. There will come a time when God’s
patience will give way to His holiness and judgment will
occur (Romans 2:2-11). But until that time, the world’s
problems are the Church’s opportunity! The key thing to
remember about judgment is that until the final judgment at
the end of the age (Matthew 25:31-33), all acts of
“judgment” that take place are not final from a big picture
perspective (they are final for those who perish at the
time). For all who remain, these circumstances are warnings
or exhortations from the Lord to repent and turn to Him.
This may be why Christians often seem to disagree whether an
event is a “judgment” or not. While there may be differing
terminologies, the important thing is the principles
involved: (1) tolerating sin leads to negative consequences
(or “short-term judgments” or “partial judgments”), (2) one
day there will be a final judgment when any change of mind
is too late, and (3) until a person dies physically or a
nation, city, church, etc. “dies” there is always
opportunity to repent, get right with God and prevent
additional negative consequences.
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According to missions experts nearly 40% of the world’s
population has never heard the gospel of salvation that Jesus Christ
died for their sins and was resurrected that all who believe on Him
may have eternal life. A much greater number has not seen a
demonstration of the gospel of the Kingdom, that Christ paid the
price for our physical and emotional healing, deliverance from every
evil power and bondage, and everything we need for life and
godliness, on earth today (Isaiah 53:4-5; 1 Peter 2:24). God wants
to demonstrate, now, through His Church, that Christ Jesus has
spoiled the principalities and powers, making a mockery of them, and
that He is the rightful King of kings and Lord of lords (Colossians
2:15; 1Timothy 6:15; Revelation 19:15-16).
As multi-millions of believers are equipped to demonstrate the
Kingdom everywhere they go, the battle lines will become clearer
between good and evil. All people will be forced to choose. Those
who accept Christ will become part of the His Body. Most prophets
concur that the greatest harvest of souls is yet to take place.
Those who continue to reject Christ will become more depraved and
wicked until eventually they will be condemned.
Final judgment will not come until all things prophesied in
Scripture are fulfilled. Meanwhile, every distress that comes on
this world, whether natural disasters such as tsunamis, floods,
hurricanes and earthquakes, or man-made problems such as terrorism
and war, presents an opportunity for the Church to minister God’s
love (Isaiah 61:1-3).
THE CHURCH MUST REACH MATURITY AND THE KINGDOM OF GOD MUST EXPAND.
As mentioned, the greatest harvest of souls into the Church has yet
to take place. The Church is still in a process of growth in
quantity of saints and quality of maturity (Ephesians 4:11-16). The
last generation of the mortal Church will face situations and do
exploits that no other generation of the Church has ever faced or
been challenged to do. The Church must reach full maturity in order
to actively participate in all that the Bible says we are to have
and do.
To help us understand the reality of the Church as the Bride of
Christ, the Holy Spirit has given us the metaphor of natural
marriage between a man and woman (Ephesians 5:30-32). Think of when
a young woman is ready for marriage. She must be mature numerically;
that is, she must at least meet the minimum age requirement for
legal marriage and be mature physically. But that is not all. If the
marriage is to be successful, she must be mature in her mental
capacity, her emotions, her abilities to interact and have
productive relationships. She must be economically prepared in order
to earn an income, if necessary, and to manage her new
responsibilities. These are just some of the areas that require
development.
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For Christ awaiting His Bride, many of the same issues apply. He
does not want His Bride to be a small child. The Church must be
full-grown in size as well as mature in character. The Father alone
knows exactly how many saints will make up the company of the
redeemed, but we know from Scripture that it is a very great amount.
Revelation 5:8-10 tells us that this quantity will include believers
from every tongue, tribe, language and nation. In addition to
quantity, the Bride of Christ will be perfected, without spot or
wrinkle, having fulfilled all things that God has spoken by the
mouth of His prophets since the world began (Matthews 5:17; Acts
3:19-21).
No matter how many disasters occur and no matter how much sinfulness
appears to increase in the world, Jesus will continue building His
Church until she is perfected in the fullness that the Father deems
is necessary before she is presented to her Bridegroom. When Jesus
said, “I will build My Church,” this prophecy was unconditional
(Matthew 16:18). It will come to pass (Matthew 24:35).
The only question is whether it will happen through us, or whether
God will have to wait for a future generation. The company of
Israelites that left Egypt with Moses had too little faith to enter
into their promised land. Only two men from that generation, Joshua
and Caleb, were able to possess the promise in their lifetimes. But
God did fulfill His promise through the sons and daughters of those
who left Egypt.
GAINING PERSPECTIVE
Keeping in mind this three-part perspective, consider the events in
New Orleans surrounding Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Israel watchers
tell us that this worst natural disaster in U.S. history occurred
seven days after Israel gave up land in Gaza partially due to
pressure from the U.S. Looking at iniquity, we know that New Orleans
was a place of strong occult activity, voodoo, drunkenness, sexual
looseness and perversion, and that Louisiana has had a history of
corruption. Poverty, illiteracy, racism and criminal activity also
plagued this area.
From the perspective of the Church, many people in this area are
believers and some dynamic churches have been growing in strength.
In recent years, prophetic and apostolic decrees were made to turn
New Orleans away from sin and toward God. This perspective could
also indicate that God heard the groaning of those suffering under
generational poverty and “delivered” them from their Egyptian
bondage. Many who became refugees now have the opportunity for
better lives, especially if the Church around the nation reaches out
to them and the Church in New Orleans establishes new godly
foundations in society.
NOW IS THE TIME TO DEMONSTRATE THE KINGDOM
Don’t let worldly situations intimidate you. You are called to
conquer! This is the time, more than ever, for the saints of God to
get free of hindrances, bad habits and limitations that keep us from
our full destiny. Knowing Christ Jesus only as Savior, Healer,
Baptizer, Provider, etc. is no longer sufficient! We must now know
Him also as King of kings, Lord of our lives and the Commander of
the Lord’s army.
We get healed, matured, set free and equipped so that we can take
the gospel of the Kingdom to a world that needs a demonstration of
the lordship of Christ. The gifts of the Spirit are not toys for the
saints to play with in church. They are mighty weapons of war! God
has provided them so we can take territories and nations and
disciple people into a full knowledge of Jesus Christ. Church, we’ve
got to quit playing around and get serious! Let’s not bury our
talent in the ground out of fear of what is happening in the world.
Jesus commands us to occupy until He comes!
What if Spirit-filled saints, operating in the fullness of the power
gifts, had taken someone’s lunch at the New Orleans Convention
Center during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, multiplied it in
the name of Jesus and fed the multitudes? What if Holy Ghost
believers walked up and down the beaches after the Southeast Asian
tsunami commanding the bodies that had been pulled out of the water
to rise up and walk? What if “ordinary, every day” believers, not
famous ministers, conference speakers or television preachers,
demonstrated the works of Jesus just like He did when on the earth?
This is our destiny!
Oral Roberts said that when he first began in healing ministry he
prayed for scores of people to be healed and they got worse and
died. But he kept praying for people and became known worldwide for
his healing anointing. Apostle Guillermo Maldonado said the first
fifty or more people he prayed for got worse and died. But he didn’t
give up! Saints, we are pioneering a new thing. We may not always
get it right at first. But we have Christ’s assurance that we are in
His will. You don’t have to be a big apostle or famous preacher. God
says believers will cast out devils, heal the sick, etc. (Mark
16:17-18). The only requirement for manifesting the supernatural is
to believe on the Lord. The gifts operate the same the same way as
salvation – by grace through faith.
WHAT TIME IS IT?
It’s time for the Church of Jesus Christ to rise up in her full
power and anointing, partnering with the Lord’s purposes in natural
Israel, and demonstrating to a needy world that there is no God like
Jehovah. God is assuring this generation of the Church that we can
drive out and subdue all the “isms” of this world as we co-labor
with Christ in making the kingdoms of this world to become the
Kingdom of our Lord and His Christ.
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Saints of God, pull out the full armor of God from its hiding place
in the back of your closets, put it on, and join His mighty Army!
Get the “Chicken Little” fear out of your heart – you’re an eagle,
not a chicken! Spread your wings and soar into heavenly realms you
have never known before. Heaven is watching and waiting for the
generation that will fulfill God’s command to demonstrate the gospel
of the Kingdom.
Let’s be the ones!
Dr. Bill Hamon founded Christian International Ministries (CI). He
has functioned as a Pastor, Evangelist, Teacher, Prophet, and
Apostle. His calling is one of a Prophet-Apostle, and he is the
Apostle over the worldwide ministries of CI which has over 600
ministers and churches in five continents. He has authored seven
major books, specializing in the restoration of the Church and what
to expect next on God’s agenda. he has also written numerous Bible
College courses, and the Manual For Ministering Spiritual Gifts. He
can be reached at
www.bishophamon.org.
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