We are now over two weeks into a visitation of God at Heritage. The power for healing and miracles and the manifest presence of the Lord is not abating, but seems to be still increasing. Deaf ears are being opened, paralyzed limbs are being restored, a woman who was legally blind and could only see people as forms while wearing her glasses, is now able to see people’s faces clearly without glasses. People are getting healed and do not even know it until they get home. Many of those web-streaming the meetings are experiencing the same presence and power of God at home.
We continue to get more news of churches, prayer groups, and families experiencing an exceptional outpouring of the Spirit of God. There is excitement in the air, a sense that God is moving and doing wonders. Strongholds are being broken off of people as deliverances, healings, and miracles are coming in waves. One of the great encouragements is seeing so many who were in an unhealthy place in their Christian walk, come back to life with a zeal for the Lord like they have not had before, or at least for many years. Revival means, “to revive” and that is happening in a big way.
As great as what is happening now, it is just the beginning. Even if it abates for a short time, use that time to get all the rest you can. Again, this is just the beginning. We need to think marathon, rather than a sprint. The Lord is going to move across America. I would not be surprised to see the news of the revival eclipse the Presidential elections. You may be thinking, “Well this is good, but not that good.” If you get close to what is happening now, it is already that good. Trust me, it will get much better.
The manifestations of the Spirit we are experiencing in many cases are familiar, but there are much more of them. Others are unique. One night we felt that there was a “cell phone anointing” and that people should call loved ones on their phones from the meeting. Reports poured in of how those answering their phones were “slain in the Spirit,” healed of afflictions, received deliverances, and revival broke out.
This is a mighty wave of the Spirit, and we need to ride it as long as it is moving. Even so, we have good indications that this is not the birth of The Great Awakening we are expecting, but is in fact the last great birth pang, or spiritual contraction, before the birth. If this is just a birth pang, what is the birth going to be like? If this is the second wave that I was shown, which I wrote about in my book The Harvest, this is the beginning of one of the greatest moves of God ever experienced.
Even so, every birth is hard and messy, but also one of the greatest joys we can experience. What is coming will be likewise. There are certain preparations that need to be made for a birth, and we need to be thinking about doing the same. Those who are prepared will gain the greatest benefit.
We must also keep in mind that once something is born, it still has a lot of growing and maturing to do. We are not born with a college degree nor all of the experience we need for life, and neither is revival born mature. Many never make it past infancy, and few make it to the maturity when they can begin to reproduce. Even so, it is better to be born and try than to not be born at all. We do not know the full potential of any newborns until they have completed their course in this life. However, because this one has been prophesied, we have a lot that we can expect from it.
Even though what we are now experiencing may be the last contractions before the birth, they have a great purpose, causing the mother’s body to position the baby for birth and to begin to move it down the birth canal. What is happening now is doing the same. There is a great repositioning going on in the church, the mother. The baby will then begin to “crown,” or show his head. When this happens, the attention will move from what He is doing for us, to Him! There will be a great emphasis coming on His Lordship, the coming of His kingdom, and simply marveling at our God—who He is, not just what He is doing.
Whenever the Lord moves, He will heal the sick and free the oppressed because that is His nature. However, when He moves among the mature, they will not be as impressed by what He does as they will be with the Lord Himself. That is why when He came in before the twenty-four elders, they worshiped Him, falling on their faces and casting their crowns before Him. They did not try to get Him to do anything—they just worshiped.
Even so, if just one is lost, He will want to save him. If there is one sick or in bondage, He will want to heal and set him free. Now is the time to pursue His authority over disease, cancer, AIDS, all forms of flu, and any other affliction. This present move is obviously being ignited by healing and miracles, and we can expect these to increase. The extraordinary things that He is doing cannot help but to get our attention, but He Himself should be getting more of our attention than the miracles. God is moving among us, but the highest calling that we have is to love Him. After that, our main calling is to love one another. In everything, let us resolve to increase in these.
As we are told in I Corinthians 13, we can have the faith for and see the greatest miracles, and even make the greatest sacrifices, but without love, these will count for nothing. The ultimate purpose that man was created for was to have fellowship with God and to love Him above all things. Therefore, the most successful human beings are those who love the most. There is no Being more lovable, more deserving of love, than God. It is good to appreciate and marvel at His works, but the greatest of all marvels is God Himself. In all things, let us seek to know Him better, because the more we get to know Him, the more we will love Him.
In the visitation we are experiencing at Heritage, the Lord seems to come in a different way each night, but one way that is repeated is as something like a whirlwind. What broke out with us began with something like a whirlwind coming into our high school Bible class. When the whirlwind comes into a meeting, from the stage it can look like wind moving on a wheat field the way people react to it. You can hear shouts and sometimes screams breaking out in an area. Then it will move across the room. I have been in quite a few extraordinary meetings, but I have never seen Him come quite like this before. Why is He coming this way?
One of the most prominent whirlwinds in Scripture is the whirlwind that took Elijah up to heaven. I believe He is coming this way as an impartation of the spirit of Elijah that is coming upon the church to again prepare the way for the Lord. He is preparing an army of prophets to preach the gospel of His kingdom and to do it with the kind of power Elijah demonstrated.
Another prominent whirlwind is the one the Lord spoke from when He visited Job. From the whirlwind, the Lord rebuked Job for his foolish counsel, told him to stand up like a man, and began describing the foundations that were laid at the creation. He directed Job to consider the beginning of all beginnings, and the beginning of all true knowledge is to understand the four most important words in the Bible, which are in fact the first four words in it, “In the beginning God…” (see Genesis 1:1). All other wisdom, counsel, and knowledge are foolishness if it does not start with those four words.
As the Lord described the creation to Job in some of the most awe-inspiring descriptions ever given to it, we seem to be in a similar time now. Every week there seems to be discoveries in astronomy and physics that are so astonishing that it is as if the Lord is speaking to the whole earth as He did to Job. These awesome discoveries continue to reveal a symmetry and interrelationship that makes considering that creation came about by a series of random accidents seem increasingly foolish. The creation is far bigger than we comprehended just a few years ago, and it keeps getting bigger in our understanding. God is even bigger. He is too big for us to wrap our presently feeble minds around, but it is right to stand in awe of Him.
As big as He is, He loves us and loves to be with us. That God would care to visit our little planet, much less our little meetings, is as awe-inspiring as His bigness. The whole earth is like a speck of dust floating about in His creation, yet He has even declared that He is going to dwell on the earth among men! That gives this tiny little planet infinite value, declaring to the whole creation that size is not what determines importance.
This also means that the smallest prayer meeting could ignite the spark that begins the biggest revival in history. That is in fact what happened at Azusa Street when about a dozen of poor, but insatiably hungry seekers of God got together. They started a fire that in some ways continues to burn to this day and has touched hundreds of millions of lives.
The creation is infinitely interesting, but the Creator much more so. That He wants to come to us like this is a marvel, but it is understandable that people would travel great distances to be where He is moving. When gatherings begin, filled with people who want Him that much, He meets them.
So far there has been an unusual presence of the Lord in every one of our breakout meetings, but each one has been different. Just when we start to think we are in for a relatively quiet night, a spiritual explosion breaks out. Some have been like being on a roller coaster. In some ways, this is more exciting than a good roller coaster because we cannot see the hills or turns coming.
He has also been breaking out in other kinds of gatherings we have, even office meetings. Some of our K-12 school teachers said they wonder every day if they will get to hold classes because if the Spirit is going to move in such a way, it is not possible. It may be a little disconcerting in some ways, but the general excitement that seems to be on everyone is well worth it. There will always be some who do not get it, and others will persecute it. It was that way when the Lord Himself walked the earth, and it has been that way every time He has moved on the earth. That should not surprise us or discourage us.
Even with such unusual happenings, we must be resolved to do all of our duties and responsibilities if at all possible. One reason why almost every church that hosts a true revival is left weaker when it is over than before it started is because they neglect the basics. Just as the Levites had to learn to keep on ministering and doing their duties even in the awesome presence of the Lord, we must learn to do the same. It is understandable for our knees to want to buckle, and for us to want to go to the floor when He comes in His manifest presence, but it is our duty to keep ministering and serving, both God and His people.
As revival continues to spread, it is crucial that we not forget the devotion to sound teaching and the basic disciplines of the faith. If churches that are touched by revival are faithful to do this, they will not be devastated by the revival, but strengthened. The same is true for individuals. The stronger our foundations are, the more power we can be trusted with.
Let us rejoice in and enjoy all that ia happening, but not forget that the main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing, and the main thing is knowing God and loving Him.
What about Paul Cain?
When Paul Cain appeared on the platform of the revival in Lakeland it caused quite a reaction, jamming my personal emails to the point where I thought for a while it might be impossible to answer them all. Some were disconcerted about Paul’s appearance, others by some of the things he said, and others were simply asking if Paul had been restored yet.
The reason why Paul was invited to the Lakeland revival was that he had prophesied that “the last-day ministry” would begin in Florida. I have personally heard Paul say this many times over the years and questioned him about it in depth. I believe it is a true prophecy, and when I heard that Paul was saying that what was happening in Lakeland was the fulfillment of this prophecy, I was very interested to hear what he would say about it.
I also felt that Todd Bentley was right to honor Paul by bringing him to that meeting and letting him share the vision he has carried for so long. As I have shared in the previous Special Bulletins, I think it may have begun with a devotion to honor the fathers as I was shown in a dream. As I was later shown, this was because it was by the dishonoring of fathers and fatherhood that a gate of hell was opened that released much of the evil which has taken a grip on the nation. I consider Paul Cain a spiritual father to us personally and to a number of the important works that have been raised up in these times for “the last-day ministry.”
The commandment to honor our fathers and mothers does not say they have to be “perfect” ones or there would be none to honor. We have all fallen short of His righteousness. Some of the greatest heroes of the faith in the Bible made some of the greatest mistakes. Paul Cain has had some serious failures in his life, but even when Mike Bickle, Jack Deere, and I were compelled to release some of these matters publicly for the protection of the church, I never ceased to consider Paul Cain a hero of the faith, and one who possessed one of the greatest prophetic gifts. Even so, we all knew that if Paul did not submit himself to a real restoration process, he would be a serious danger to himself and others. We could not be true shepherds or watchmen if we allowed that to happen without sounding the warning that we put out.
Later, Paul submitted himself to a restoration process and they declared him restored to ministry. When those who had led this process explained how they had accomplished this so fast, it set off more alarms in me. Some of the communication I had with them and with Paul only solidified my doubts. Even so, I had a great hope that I was wrong, or even if I was right about the validity of their restoration process, that the Lord would intervene some other way so that Paul could be delivered from the powerful strongholds that had taken such a grip on his life.
I kept that hope until Paul spoke in Lakeland about “the allegations” about him and his assertions of having lived a celibate life. That was pretty overwhelming evidence that he has still not repented of these serious transgressions. What Paul called “allegations” are abundant and overwhelming evidence, which Paul has admitted to. However, admitting something is not the same as repenting of it. As long as there is blame-shifting, an attempt to cover them up, or dilute the seriousness of them, the restoration process has at best fallen far short of its purpose.
As it has been reported that Todd would not let Paul come back on the platform after he asserted that he had lived a celibate life is a credit to the integrity that Todd is trying to maintain in his ministry. If Paul had even just said that he had made serious mistakes in his life and owned them just a little, it would have given me hope, but it seemed quite clear to me that not much has changed with Paul, and in fact, they are getting worse. Even so, I am resolved to not give up on Paul for as long as he is with us. I long for the day, as I know Jack and Mike do also, when we can assert that Paul is free of the serious strongholds in his life and should be restored to ministry. Presently, my concern for him grew considerably after his night in Lakeland.
The Future of This Revival
This has been a remarkable year already! For us, I believe this present wave may continue through the summer, but we just do not know for sure. If the intensity of what we are now experiencing recedes, it is so that we can rest, process what we have learned, and prepare for what is going to break out this fall. We are in the beginning stages of this and we need to think in terms of a marathon, not a sprint. This spiritual advance has a long way to go to get as deep and broad as it will be. So how do we prepare?
First, as the Lord commanded His disciples to pray, we need more laborers in the harvest. Todd Bentley is unique, and I am not looking for more like him. We need to expect the outpouring of the Spirit in our local churches and ministries to be different, and in most cases, very different. We become false if we try to be something or someone other than who God made us. We must embrace your own uniqueness, and do not fall to the deception of trying to compare ourselves with others.
There are many practical things we can do as well. Expect home group leaders to suddenly be leading hundreds and churches of hundreds could be leading thousands very fast. Seek the Lord now for a strategy for handling this. Do you need bigger facilities, or will you go to multiple meetings in the facilities you have? Do you need to release more teachers and pastors to help lay a strong foundation in the lives of new believers? These are the kind of things we need to consider now, and we will consider in more detail in future Bulletins. This will likely be the most exciting times ever for Christians in America, but it will also be hard work. Now is the time to be sure we are yoked with the Lord, doing His will, with His strength and wisdom.