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The Misconception of “Spiritual Gifts” Part 3: The Body Of Christ

[image error]Before starting this three-part blog series, we laid the foundation for every Christian to prophesy, heal the sick, and walk in power in The “Spiritual Gifts” Are For All Christians. Then we saw that “grace-effects” is a better translation than “spiritual gifts,” and that the term is talking about individual manifestations of God’s grace, not “special powers” distributed to certain people. In the last post, we gave further support to this, making the case that the one gift is the Holy Spirit and that Paul in 1 Corinthians 12 is addressing the different things they are presently doing (diversity of function in unity), and not the things that they are capable of doing.

We are continuing today by discussing how we can understand this in conjunction with the truth that we are the body of Christ with different members. Quotes from Garth Weibe are from his article “Gifts of the Spirit”: Literally not even in the Bible. Quotes from James A. Fowler are from his article on the “charismata”. 

So What About Being The Body Of Christ?

What I’ve said so far brings up a lot of questions, and there are many cross-references to consider. The main ones are Romans 12:3-8 and Ephesians 4:7-16. Both of these passages talk about the church as the body of Christ with different members and functions, as 1 Corinthians 12 does.

Doesn’t the idea that any Christian can have any and every one of the “Charismata” manifest through him contradict the truth that the church is Christ’s body? After careful consideration, I’d say “no.”

First, let’s consider Garth Wiebe’s commentary in the light of what we learned about the context of 1 Corinthians 12 being instructions for a meeting and the “charismata” being individual manifestations and not “special powers”:

When we have a gathering of the out-calling (εκκλησια, “ekklesia”), we might distinguish different functions in the body, according to the “grace-effects” that we recognize that people excel in and manifest in practice. In the example of Corinth, they all did “speak in tongues” in assembly (1 Cor 14) and that’s why the exhortation in 1 Cor 12:29-30, rendered literally, says “…no all to-tongues…” 1 Corinthians chapters 12 through 14 teach us to behave in an orderly way as a unified body for the right reasons, motivated out of unity and love, not selfish motives.

While it is too much in this article to go into a detailed commentary on all the cross-references, it is true that different Christians are “placed” in different areas and we see variety in function according to where they are placed. The manifestation of God’s grace through each member varies according to where we are “placed” and the corresponding need.

Heidi Baker, for example, is “placed” in Africa with the responsibility to care for many children, and thus the “grace-effect” of working of miracles to multiply food is more evident. If I am “placed” in a situation in which I’m encouraging several pastors, the “grace-effects” of words of wisdom and encouragement may be more evident.

It still stands that the fullness of Christ dwells in every believer and so we each have abundant grace available for the manifestation of whatever “charismata” or “grace effect” is necessary to meet the need before us. Understanding this, we should never feel the need to say “this isn’t my spiritual gift” when we encounter a need. I believe that if Jesus lives in me, then I have what the person before me needs. Acting on this belief has produced miracles and varied manifestations of God’s grace through me personally so that I can say that to some degree I’ve experienced all the “charismata” named in 1 Corinthians 12 manifesting through me.

What about Romans 12:3 then?

Romans 12:3 (NIV) For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. 

Quoting again from James A. Fowler’s article on the charismata, here is his commentary on Romans 12:3.

Paul sets the stage for his discussion of multiplicity in singularity, particularity in comprehensiveness, by noting that God has uniquely and providentially imparted or apportioned to each individual Christian a measure or component of faith. No one Christian is capable of expressing the totality of God’s action in Christ, but every Christian has received the Spirit of Christ (Rom. 8:9) in His totality, and therefore is a component in the total faith-expression of the Body of Christ, the Church, as each individually allows for the receptivity of Christ’s divine activity in them. Though we receive the Spirit “without measure” (Jn. 3:34), we each comprise but a measure of the total ministry of the Church, indicating our need for each other in the oneness of the whole. “To each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift” (Eph. 4:7).

The English translations which indicate that God has “allotted” (NASB) or “dealt” (KJV) to each Christian a measure of faith, again open the door for misunderstanding by the possible connotation that God has “dealt us certain cards” or “assigned to us a particular lot” of the commodities known as “spiritual gifts.” Paul’s intent would better be explained by saying that “God has uniquely apportioned to each Christian a portion of the total ministry of Christ.” That would be consistent with Paul’s personal explanation of his own ministry using the same Greek words, merizo and metron, in II Cor. 10:13: “we will boast within the measure of the sphere which God apportioned to us as a measure, to reach even as far as you.”

So how do we understand the admonition to “not think of yourself more highly than you ought.” This doesn’t mean I limit how I believe the Holy Spirit can manifest his grace through me, seeing a need before me and saying “That’s not my spiritual gift.”

Rather, I simply encourage and make way for the whole body of Christ to express God’s grace. When Paul said that all things should be done “decently and in order,” the context speaks of an order that allows for us to receive God’s grace through various members of his body, such as having the one prophesying speak and then sit down and allow two or three others to prophesy.

When ministering healing, the body of Christ has been moving away from the long prayer line in which one person ministers to every single person in need of healing. When I minister as a guest, I always teach the congregation to minister healing to each other rather than personally ministering to each need. There is a greater manifestation of the Holy Spirit in this way, and it’s healthy because it encourages individual Christians to act according to the truth that Christ lives in them. I should not think of myself more highly than I ought by trying to do everything. Rather, I honor the grace of God manifested through the various members of Christ’s body.

Jesus said the Father gives the Spirit without measure. (John 3:34) Some people say this scripture applies only to Jesus and not to us, because if we received the Spirit without measure we wouldn’t need the body of Christ. I disagree. How can anybody who believes in Jesus do the “same works and greater” if the Father gives us any less of a measure of the Holy Spirit then he gave to Christ?

Jesus had the Spirit without measure, but he himself was strengthened by angels and ministered to by other people. None of us as the body of Christ do all of Christ’s work on earth, but each of us can receive the Holy Spirit without measure in order to meet whatever need is before us.

Abundance of Grace

When we consider that the term “charismata” is more literally “grace-effects,” we should then consider what the Bible says about how much grace is available to us in Christ.

I encourage you to search a concordance or a Bible study program for the word “grace” and do your own study. However, let’s just consider two scriptures for now.

Romans 5:17 (NIV) For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!

2 Peter 1:2 (NIV) Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

How much grace is available? An abundance of grace. “Abundance” means “more than enough for every need.” Whatever need for a manifestation of the Holy Spirit is in front of you, you have more than enough grace in Christ to meet that need.

Whatever the need before me, Christ in me is enough to meet it. If we understand this, we will no longer say “Ummm…this isn’t my spiritual gift.” Rather, we step out in faith and grow as we learn to minister God’s grace.

Ephesians chapter 4 teaches that the purpose of the “fivefold ministry” is to equip the body of Christ for the work of ministry. Not everybody is an apostle, going to plant churches among the unreached. But all Christians are to go and preach the gospel, whether to their neighbors or around the world. Not everybody is a prophet, being “placed” in the body of Christ where they are equipping others for the work of ministry. But the grace of God is abundant for every Christian to prophesy according to the need.

I have personally never felt like prophecy and words of knowledge were my strongest point. But when I encounter a need, I step out and speak in faith. And the manifestation of God’s grace in my life through prophecy and words of knowledge has grown tremendously. As you step out in faith to meet the needs of people around you, the various manifestations of God’s grace will increase in your life.

 

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The Misconception of “Spiritual Gifts” Part 2: There’s One “Spiritual Gift,” Many Manifestations!

[image error]Before starting this three-part blog series, we laid the foundation for every Christian to prophesy, heal the sick, and walk in power in The “Spiritual Gifts” Are For All Christians. Then in the last post we saw that “grace-effects” is a better translation than “spiritual gifts,” and that the term is talking about individual manifestations of God’s grace, not “special powers” distributed to certain people.

We are continuing today, and we are getting a little technical in order to give a simple and consistent understanding of what scripture teaches on the matter. Quotes from Garth Weibe, unless otherwise stated, are from his article “Gifts of the Spirit”: Literally not even in the Bible. Quotes from James A. Fowler are from his article on the “charismata”. 

The Context Of A Meeting

Combine the understanding that each individual manifestation is a “grace-effect” with the fact that the context of 1 Corinthians 12 and 14 is Paul was giving instructions for how to hold a meeting (1 Corinthians 11:17) “decently and in order.” (1 Corinthians 14:40.) Paul was speaking of an “order” which allowed various people to prophesy and minister.

When we see that, it becomes really simple to understand what Paul is saying. When we meet it isn’t to have a one-man show, but for the various members of Christ’s body to manifest his grace. In a meeting, one person may minister healing to another, and another may prophesy. Yet the one who prophesied may later find himself in a situation in which healing is needed, and same Spirit of Christ will enable him to minister healing.

It’s amazing how I began considering such an interpretation just by reading the text many times and pondering how I could make sense of it without contradicting certain other scriptures. But as I studied what the original language says, it confirmed my thoughts.

Following is a quote from Garth Wiebe’s article “Grace-effects of cure-effects.” Note that when Paul in 1 Corinthians 12 asks “Do all prophesy? Do all speak in tongues?” the fact that he’s talking about something they are presently doing, rather than what they are capable of doing, is congruent with the context of instructions for a meeting. Also, note that Paul actually said he wanted ALL the Corinthian Christians to speak in tongues and prophesy.

There is another point about the phrase in verse 30 for those who use this to argue that there are some who are intrinsically divinely endowed with some “gift,” such as a “gift of healing”: The verb “have” is in the present tense (“are having”). To state the proposition as a timeless fact would require the aorist tense. In that case it would have been spelled εσχον, not εχουσιν. So therefore we are talking about something or someone presently having something, not intrinsically having something. This is consistent with the point that 1 Cor 12 is addressing the different things they are presently doing (diversity of function in unity), and not the things that they are capable of doing.

In the analogous case for tongues, we say the same: Mark 16, which some choose to make a manuscript dispute of, says γλωσσαις λαλησουσιν καιναις, “in new tongues they will be speaking. 1 Cor 14:5, for which there is no dispute of manuscript, says θελω δε παντας υμας λαλειν γλωσσαις “I am willing yet all you(plural) to be speaking in tongues,” present indicative. That’s θελω (Strong’s G2309, “thelo”), English “willing” as in “deciding/determining” and not English “willing” as in “it’s okay with me.”

If it were “I am intending,” it would be βουλομαι (Strong’s G1014, “boulomai”), “I am wishing” (declaring a wish/vow for something that is not yet) would be ευχομαι (Strong’s G2172, “euchomai”), “I am desiring” would be επιθυμεω (Strong’s G1937, “epithumeo”), but none of those words was the one used.

He then supersedes that present indicative clause in 1 Cor 14:5 with the “rather” that they may be prophesying, present subjunctive. Here, too, it is present tense, not aorist tense. The context of the “present tense” is their meetings. They should all “speak” (aorist tense) in tongues; that does not mean they should all “be speaking” (present tense) in tongues in every scenario.

We Receive One Gift With Various Expressions According To The Need

I have never liked when people told me I have a “gift of healing” because to me, healing is about who Jesus is. When people tell me that healing is “your spiritual gift,” what is usually implied is that it’s not theirs. In this way, many people miss the point, which is the revelation of Jesus through people being healed.

From the beginning, healing miracles began to happen through me because I had a revelation of who Jesus is, and that revelation of Jesus is always what I’ve wanted other people to catch. I hate when it becomes about a “special ability” that a “special person” has instead of about Jesus. And that’s simply not how it works. It’s not about a “special ability.” It’s about knowing Jesus and his grace manifesting through our lives as we commune with the Holy Spirit and act in faith.

James Fowler’s article confirms my sentiments, explaining how the translation of “charismata” as “spiritual gifts” in English tends to separate them from the person of Christ, as if they were special powers received separately from receiving the Spirit of Christ.

When the charismata or pneumatika are translated as “spiritual gifts” and conceived to be detached entities or abilities distinct from Christ and distributed by the Spirit, the fallacious misconceptions continue to be perpetuated, and the problems associated with such continue to persist, both in denial and abuse. Underlying these misconceptions is a faulty trinitarian theology that improperly separates the actions of the persons (identities) of the Godhead, disjoining their homoousian unity of Being by emphasis on the activity of one apart from another, thus failing to keep their homoergon activity united within the diversity of its expression. This, then, is a serious theological perversion that has plagued Christian understanding of the charismata from the earliest reference to such.

Quoting Garth Wiebe:

The only actual spiritual “gift” or “gratuity” we get is the Holy Spirit.

In Luke 11:13 Jesus says,

“If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

The word here for “gifts” is δοματα (plural of δομα), and it also uses the verb “give” twice. Also note that the Holy Spirit is singular, not plural, even though it is compared to “gifts” (plural) that we give to our children. Our Heavenly Father gives us one gift, and that is the Holy Spirit.

In Acts 2:38 “…and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit…” the word for “gift” is “dorean” (gratuity) and is singular.

Both Garthe Wiebe and James Fowler point out that Paul’s letter to the Corinthians was written to immature Christians, and it was because of their immaturity that they tended to focus on the specific manifestations rather than on Christ whom the manifestations were an expression of. It’s ironic that so many people today misinterpret Paul’s teaching in such a way that they fall into the same error he was correcting in the Corinthian church.

We’ve made a lot of interesting points so far. They may have brought up the question: “If every Christian can prophesy, heal the sick, and do works of power, and the only ‘spiritual gift’ is the Holy Spirit, what about the fact that we are the body of Christ with different members?”

We’ll talk about that in the next post The Misconception of “Spiritual Gifts” Part 3: The Body Of Christ

The post The Misconception of “Spiritual Gifts” Part 2: There’s One “Spiritual Gift,” Many Manifestations! appeared first on Go to Heaven Now!.

The Misconception of “Spiritual Gifts” Part 1: “Grace-Effects” Rather Than “Spiritual Gifts.”

[image error]Last week in “The Spiritual Gifts Are For All Christians,” we shared the scriptural basis for all Christians to heal the sick, speak in tongues, prophesy, and do mighty works. I read through the Bible many times as a teenager and I soon saw how Paul’s writing in 1 Corinthians chapters 12 and 14 seemed to contradict what Jesus taught.

As God’s power began manifesting in my life in increasing diversity, I continued to struggle with this question. I was learning by experience that if you start to walk in one manifestation of God’s power, it leads to more. I soon had experienced every “spiritual gift” that Paul talked about operating through my life. So why did it seem like Paul taught that people will get only certain “spiritual gifts” but not others, as if God were passing out cards and you don’t know what cards you will get?

What I found as I studied the passage has blown me away! It’s going to take three posts to provide a decent explanation of what Paul was saying and how his writing has been misunderstood. Let’s get started…

Paul’s Teaching on “Spiritual Gifts”

1 Corinthians 12:7-11, 27-31 (NIV) Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues.  All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines….

Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. And God has placed in the church first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, of helping, of guidance, and of different kinds of tongues.  Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? Now eagerly desire the greater gifts.

This passage certainly sounds like we could say “Maybe healing, prophesy, or tongues isn’t my thing.” How do we reconcile that with what Jesus taught?

The passage in Corinthians is in itself a bit confusing. At times it almost even seems to contradict itself. It has so often been interpreted as limiting how many “spiritual gifts” we can exercise. But in the end, Paul uses strong language saying “eagerly desire the greater gifts.” This makes it sound a lot more like a menu of what’s available than a passage suggesting that some things just aren’t available to you.

Chapter 12 asks “do all prophesy,” and it sounds like he’s saying not everybody prophesies, but chapter 14 (vs. 31) says “you can all prophesy one by one.” It asks if all are apostles, but Jesus sends all of us. It asks if all are teachers, but Paul commands all Christians to teach and admonish each other. (Ephesians 5:19). It asks if all work miracles, have gifts of healing, or speak in tongues, but as we already saw in the last post, Jesus taught that doing mighty works, healing the sick, and speaking in tongues are for all who believe.

Do you see why I mused over these verses for so long?

Grace-Effects

As I pondered Paul’s writing in 1 Corinthians 12, an interesting thought came up which would really put the passage in a different light.

What if the phrase “spiritual gift” was not referring to a “special power” given to a specific Christian to do something special, but each individual manifestation was a “spiritual gift”?

What if we’d always thought of the person ministering as the recipient of the “spiritual gift,” but it was really primarily a “gift” for the person being healed, receiving a word of knowledge, or otherwise being blessed?

In that case, each healing would be a “spiritual gift.” Each prophecy would be a “spiritual gift.” Each individual work of power would be a “spiritual gift.”

Wanting to understand 1 Corinthians 12 better, I began to search things out. I looked at the passage in Greek, looked at cross-references, and read articles written by other people. What I found from several sources confirmed my suspicions about how we’d misinterpreted what the English translations call “spiritual gifts.”

Garth Weibe explains the Greek in his article “‘Gifts of the Spirit’: Literally not even in the Bible.” The original language does not have the word “gift.” The term translated “spiritual gifts” is “charismata” in Greek. This is the word “grace” with a suffix that means “effect” or “result.” Paul is talking simply about “grace-effects,” or the different manifestations of God’s grace. This discovery confirms my suspicion that individual healings, prophecies, or words of knowledge are “charismata” in scripture, in contrast to the idea that “charismata” are “special powers” that some Christians may or may not receive.

Others have pointed out the same thing. If you want to understand the matter better, you can read Garth’s article and also James A. Fowler’s article on the “charismata”  from christinyou.net Quoting from the commentary on verses 8-10 in his article:

Paul begins to express that diversity by noting that “to one is given a particular expression, and to another a differing expression.” As often translated into English this tends to lend itself to a misconception of separate entities or abilities being given to differing individuals; “to one is given…”. The original Greek word order forestalls such somewhat by inserting “through the Spirit” between the subject and the verb; “For to one through the Spirit is given…”. Paul is not implying any possessive acquisition of an independent gift, but seems to be indicating that a particular Christian individual is given the opportunity to express a particular expression of Christ’s ministry at a particular time in a particular place.

And then from James Fowler’s  commentary on verse 11:

To translate diairoun as “distributing” (NASB) or “dividing” (KJV) seems ill-advised, for it can thus contribute to the misconception of the distribution of divided entities or commodities, which could then be possessed or controlled by the recipients. Consistent with the word’s etymological origin, dia meaning “through” and haireomai meaning “to choose” (cf. vss 4-6), a more consistent meaning might be that “the Spirit energizes all grace-expressions, choosing to work through each individual Christian according to His own divine deliberations.”

One thought that came up as I pondered 1 Corinthians 12 was this: What if when it says God “distributes” the charismata “as he wills,” it is not saying “according to his whim…” as many ready it, but rather, it is saying that God gives these “grace-expressions” because he wills to? Checking Strong’s concordance and Bible dictionary seemed to confirm my suspicions, and as you’ll see in the next post, Garth Wiebe’s notes on the Greek did so even more. God wills to manifest his grace and his Holy Spirit through you.

Do you still have questions? We’ve just gotten started diving into this subject! Stay tuned for The Misconception of “Spiritual Gifts” Part 2: There’s One Spiritual Gift.

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The “Spiritual Gifts” Are For All Christians

[image error]Why am I putting “spiritual gifts” in quotation marks? Calling these manifestations of God’s grace “spiritual gifts” can be confusing and doesn’t accurately reflect what the Bible says in Greek.

We are going to dive more into that in our next post. But for now, I’d like to share how I got into searching out the subject.

When It Seems Like Scriptures Contradict Each Other, Dig Deeper!

When I started to live a life of power, I quickly realized that I needed to understand 1 Corinthians 12 and 14, the chapters about “spiritual gifts,” better. The way I had understood these chapters didn’t fit well with the teaching of Jesus. When it seems like different passages of scripture contradict each other, it’s time to dig deeper. We misunderstand Paul if we think he was contradicting what Jesus taught.

With practice, my understanding of the “spiritual gifts” because very closely tied to my understanding of the gospel. You’ll see a lot of that if you read my three “Heaven Now” books. For example, I know I can hear God’s voice because I’ve been justified so I have access to approach God and the Holy Spirit, who knows the things of God, lives in me. Similarly, I can heal the sick because the very nature of the God I’m now in communion with is to heal. His peace, love, and joy expressed through me drive out demons and diseases. And if the foundations for healing the sick and prophesying are so rooted in the gospel, then all who have faith in Jesus can do heal the sick and prophesy.

I realized that the way I’d once understood Paul’s writing on “spiritual gifts” seemed to create a disconnect between the gospel and the manifestations of the Holy Spirit – almost as if they were separate “special powers” giving apart from the person of Christ. In fact, I felt like a lot of people missed the point when they said, “Wow, you have a great spiritual gift…” I thought “No…this isn’t about a ‘spiritual gift.’ This is who Jesus is. He is the healer.”

We’ll examine Paul’s writing next week. But for now, let’s start with the scriptural basis for all believers to hear God’s voice, heal the sick, and do works of power.

Jesus Never Sent His Disciples To Evangelize Without Healing The Sick!

Let’s start by looking at the great commission:

Matthew 28:18-20 (NIV)  Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,  and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.

Note that Jesus told the twelve to pass on the commands he gave them to all future disciples. Therefore what Jesus commanded the twelve to do also applies to us. And how did Jesus teach his disciples to proclaim the gospel?

Matthew 10:1, 7-8 (NIV) Jesus called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out impure spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.

… as you go, proclaim this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.

Jesus sent 70 out in the same way (Luke 10), and then passed these instructions on to all future disciples in the great commission. According to Jesus’ teaching, healing is a ministry for all Christians to engage in. The parallel passage to Mathew 28, Mark 16 confirms that it is part of the great commission.

Mark 16:15-18 (NIV) He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.”

This scripture clearly says that driving out demons, speaking in tongues, and healing the sick are part of Jesus’ commission for all Christians. Evangelizing was always so difficult for me before I started ministering healing to people. Healing made it natural to share the gospel. Jesus never expected his disciples to have to try to share the gospel without healing the sick! How can you truly proclaim the kingdom of God without a manifestation of power?

1 Corinthians 4:20 (NIV) For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.

So where in this does the concept fit in of healing as a “spiritual gift” that only some Christians are given? It doesn’t! What about tongues? Like healing, Jesus said it was for all who believe. What about other works of power?

John 14:12 (NIV) Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.

Jesus said “The Father gives the Spirit without limit.” (John 3:34 NIV) I have heard some people argue that this unlimited supply was only for Jesus. I then ask, how is it possible for “whoever believes” to do the same and even greater works than Jesus did on earth?

The promise of even greater works than Jesus did is there for “whoever believes in me.” Some people say “Yes, all Christians can minister healing but some have a gift. They are better at it than others.”

The problem with saying this is that if we think “I don’t have what it takes because this isn’t my ‘spiritual gift,'” we negate Christ’s promises about faith. Then we are no longer relying on the Spirit of Christ empowering us to obey the commands of Christ, because we are focusing on if we have a certain “spiritual gift” or not. If we follow that line of thought we are thinking of a “spiritual gift” as a special power given separately from receiving the Holy Spirit.

You All Can Prophesy

We just saw that tongues, healing, and the same works of power that Jesus did are available for all Christians. They aren’t something that is only available for certain chosen’ ones. What about prophecy?

Moses said in the Old Testament “But Moses replied, “Are you jealous for my sake? I wish that all the Lord’s people were prophets and that the Lord would put his Spirit on them!” (Numbers 11:29 NIV) 

Moses’ wish was prophetic and was later fulfilled. The apostle Peter said that what was happening on the day of Pentecost was the fulfillment of Joel 2:28.

Acts 2:16-18 (NIV) No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:  “‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.

So all Christians can prophesy and give words of knowledge? What did Jesus say?

John 10:27 (NRSV) My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me.

Here’s the real breaker:

1 Corinthians 14:31 (NRSV) For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all be encouraged.

Wait! We thought that Paul in Corinthians was talking about “spiritual gifts” that are only given to some Christians, and you can’t be sure which ones a particular person will or won’t get. But even right here he says “you can all prophesy.”

Our Experience

Many Charismatic and Pentecostal Christians edify themselves by speaking in tongues, but rarely exercise any of the “gifts” that are meant to edify others. A lot of the confusion about “spiritual gifts” may come from having little experience in ministering supernaturally to edify others.

This is experience, and my observation of many other people’s experiences: When a Christian throws themselves heavily into ministering to edify others with a particular “spiritual gift,” it soon opens up other “spiritual gifts” or manifestations of the Holy Spirit. A person could start by ministering healing for example, but this often leads into words of knowledge, words of wisdom, prophesy, discernment of spirits (sensing or seeing angels or demons), and manifestations of power. Or a person could start with prophecy and words of knowledge, but if they continue it will lead them into ministering healing, discernment of spirits, etc.

The nature of how this works isn’t so much a “special ability” that somebody received to do a certain thing. Rather, it’s something that becomes built in a person through increasing experience and partnership with the Holy Spirit, based on who God is. As we continue to partner with the Holy Spirit, the variety of manifestation grows to be more and more in accordance with the need of the person in front of us, not according to what “gift” we may or may not have received.

I struggled for years to understand how Paul’s writing in Corinthians about “spiritual gifts” could fit with what Jesus taught in the gospels. Next week I’ll share some insights that help to make a lot more sense of what Paul was saying, showing how Paul’s writing about “spiritual gifts” has often been so misunderstood.

 

 

 

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Pray For The Uyghur People!

[image error]Our subject for the last several posts has been believing prayer for the nations. We talked about engaging in Fervent Effectual Prayer and then considered how our worldview affects our ability to believe in prayer for nations to come to God’s light. Then last week we talked about praying for people groups who have never heard the gospel in the 10/40 window, sharing a remarkable testimony of Fire From Heaven In Response To Believing Prayer.

Part of the reason I’ve focused on encouraging believing prayer for the nations is that I want to get friends praying with me for the Uyghur people, especially the ones in China.

China’s Persecution Of The Uyghur People

Some time ago I came across this heartbreaking video and shared it. I recognized the name “Uyghur” from years before. This was one of the people groups I had prayed for as a teenager. They were one of the people groups in a 10/40 window prayer publication that have been mostly without access to the gospel. Just as China persecutes Christians and people of many other religions, it has been severely persecuting the mostly Muslim Uyghur people. They are suffering torture, murder, and separation from family.

Saddening Responses To This Situation

Many of my friends joined me in prayer for the Uyghur people. But a few responses have been very saddening and eye-opening.

It broke my heart when somebody essentially said “They are Muslims. It’s what they do to other people and now they are tasting their own medicine.”

These are people who have never heard the gospel message that I first received as a child. Few of them are actually terrorists, although there are some small terrorist groups in the province. These are suffering people who are oppressed, and God is a rescuer of the oppressed. Can we not have compassion on them?

I realized how much some Christians have become bitter against Muslims. But even considering the Muslims who have persecuted Christians and shown themselves to be our enemies, we must remember that Jesus taught us to love our enemies. Jesus had compassion on his persecutors and cried out “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they do.”

Even considering Muslims who, unlike the Uyghur people, are known for persecuting Christians, should we not also have the Father’s compassion for them, knowing that they are blind and deceived by hatred? Do we so quickly forget that the apostle Paul was once a violent persecutor of Christians?

A few other responses seemed to be almost “So what? China has been persecuting Christians too for a long time. This is nothing new.”

Believing Prayer Changes Things!

This is one of the primary reasons I got into the issue of believing prayer for the nations, including eschatology. I saw how a certain eschatology and worldview hindered people from engaging in believing prayer for the Uyghur people.

This is why I have shared another worldview and eschatology in the last few weeks, and pointed out how the Iron Curtain fell due to believing prayer and obedience.

I read a lot of David Wilkerson books and sermons as a teen. I do have quite a different view now on some things than he did, but I still honor his life. One thing David Wilkerson got right was his prophecy of the Iron Curtain falling. He also prophesied the Bamboo curtain falling, meaning the fall of Communism in China.

Daniel understood the prophecy about the return from exile after 70 weeks, so he began to engage in prayer in accordance with God’s purpose. Can we do the same for China? And with that, for the deliverance of the Uyghur people as well as Christians and other groups that have suffered severe persecution?

I hope my posts in the last few weeks have encouraged you guys and given you some vision of how much God can accomplish through your fervent, effectual prayers. Let’s take the teachings of scripture as fact concerning faith and believing prayer. Take it as a fact that “My prayer can change nations!” Then act accordingly.

Some people have taught the lie that “We only pray because it changes us.” Don’t buy the lie. That’s just not what scripture teaches. Prayer certainly does change us as we fellowship with God, but it also changes situations!

Participating in God’s Love And Joining Our Will To His

Friends, let’s open our hearts and souls to the Lord and let Him love through us, cry through us, and pray through us for hurting people. There is a wonderful intimacy with God when we respond to the invitation he gives to participate in his work.

Here are just a few prayer points I can think of for the Uyghur people:

Pray that key Chinese officials will come to salvation and/or have their hearts softened to the suffering of innocent people.
Pray that the international community will not brush over these wrongs but will put pressure on China.
Pray and declare that the spiritual eyes of Chinese officials to be opened so they would see the materialistic worldview as a lie and would come to understand the gospel.
Pray that all attempts to deny, hide, or misrepresent what is happening would be in vain.
Pray for a revelation of Jesus through dreams and visions, both for Chinese officials and for suffering Uyghur people needing hope and strength.
Since a few Uyghur people have been radicalized, and many innocents have suffered because of it, pray that no more Uyghurs would be radicalized and the situation would be mitigated rather than worsened.
Pray for every Uyghur to have opportunity to hear, understand, and respond to the gospel. Pray and declare that the eyes of their hearts be opened to see God’s glory revealed through Jesus. Pray that people would go with the gospel message to them.
Pray for angelic intervention in the situations these people are facing.
Pray that comfort would come and hope prevail for those who have lost family members or escaped. Some are in the US and other nations.
Pray in tongues
Pray not only as directed to God, but as declaring and joining our will to God’s towards the situation, as we discussed in Fervent, Effectual Prayer. Declare God’s good purposes for the Uyghur people. Declare scriptures into the situation. Many times as we pray in tongues certain scriptures or other things to pray and declare come to mind.
Pray for the preservation of Uyghur language and culture, despite China’s attempts to destroy it.

If you’d like to learn more about the plight of the Uyghur people, a quick Google search of something like “China persecuting Uyghurs” will bring up some other videos and articles about what’s going on. This article in particular about why the Uyghur people are being persecuted may be helpful.

I like to look at pictures sometimes when I pray for people. Click here for some pictures of the Uyghur people.

Thanks guys for having the courage to engage by adding your will to God’s will in believing prayer, rather than just buying the lie “I can’t do anything about this.”

 

 

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Fire From Heaven In Response To Believing Prayer For The Nations!

[image error]Lately, we’ve been on the theme of encouraging believing prayer for the nations. Long ago I shared about how God encouraged me to pray with faith for the nations in part 1 and part 2 of “Supernatural Rain in my House.” Then a few weeks ago we returned to the theme of prayer for the nations with “Fervent, Effectual Prayer” and “God’s Purposes For The Nations.” We followed that with three articles on how our worldview and eschatology affects our ability to believe in agreement with God’s purposes for the nations. They were “Victorious Eschatology,” “Who is the Antichrist?” and “Why the World is Getting Better.”

Today we have more encouragement as to the effectiveness of believing prayer.

The 10/40 Window

When I was a teen I started praying for the people groups in the 10/40 window. The 10/40 windows is a geographical window that lies across Asia and Africa from 10 degrees to 40 degrees north of the equator. It contains the largest part of the world’s population and the majority of people and people groups who have never heard the gospel.

There has been a prayer movement going on since the 1990s targeting the 10/40 window and encouraging people to pray for specific people groups that have been largely unreached with the gospel. I think I first found out about it from YWAM material after I took a YWAM mission trip to Mexico. Then I got my hands on some 10/40 people group prayer journals and made friends with adults who were praying for the nations of the 10/40 window.

I think few people realize how much fruit has already come from this prayer movement. Christianity has been growing rapidly in the last decades, and many Muslims have come to Christ because of a dream or a vision. I’m convinced that these dreams and visions are the results of believing prayer for the nations. Many Christians probably still have no idea of how much their prayers of faith have accomplished.

You can find more resources to help you pray for the 10/40 window people groups at win1040.org and joshuaproject.net. The Joshua project site has a lot of resources, including a mobile app to help you pray daily for unreached people groups. You can also download a 10/40 window prayer guide here. 

Fireball From Heaven Destroys a Buddhist Temple!

I read this testimony when I was a teenager. I think it was in one of the 10/40 window prayer publications that I came across, and I couldn’t find the source for a long time. Then I came across a video of the same testimony!

The testimony is of revival in Cambodia, and this part of it starts around the 25-minute mark in the video below. There was a Buddist temple, just built, and they were preparing to bring all the idols from the old place into the new temple.

The evening of the same day God was moving powerfully in the church, the people saw a ball of fire come from heaven with a roaring sound like that of 10 or 20 tanks. It hit the temple and threw it 50 meters away, completely destroying it.

Five Buddhist monks testified on television about what happened. Later one of them was interviewed. The others had run away but he didn’t have time to run, so he hung on to the bed. Hanging on to the bed, he was thrown 50 meters with the temple, the fire, and the wind, but was not hurt. And he felt happy, rejoicing. (As I read elsewhere, he felt relieved that the temple was destroyed.)

The Christian who interviewed this Buddhist monk explained that the fire which hit the temple was the fire of God, who wants to cleanse and save the nation of Cambodia. He explained that God hates idolatry but loves people, and that’s why nobody was hurt when the fireball hit the temple.

Increase Your Expectation!

Scripture says that John the Baptist came in the spirit and power of Elijah, and that the least in the Kingdom of heaven is greater than John was. Elijah prayer of faith brought fire from heaven and turned a nation from Baal to God.

Let’s take scripture as true and pray accordingly! Who’s with me? I want to be a history maker!

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Why The World Is Getting Better!

[image error]We’ve been on the subject of encouraging Fervent, Effectual Prayer for the nations. One of the primary things that hinder Christians from engaging in believing prayer for the nations is a negative eschatology and worldview. After we looked at a scriptural view of God’s Purposes For the Nations, we briefly touched on eschatology in Victorious Eschatology and Who is “The Antichrist.”

Today we have a sample from J.D. King’s new book, “Why You’ve Been Duped Into Believing That The World is Getting Worse.” King uses empirical data to show that, on multiple fronts, our world is better today than it has been in a very long time.

Casualties of War

Across the annals of history, millions have been in entangled in violent conflict. The drumbeat of war resonates over land and sea. Bloodshed and atrocities seemed unending.

During the Medieval Crusades, over 1.7 million died, and in the Mongolian invasions of Arabia, causalities were over 2 million. Both bloodbaths occurred during a period when less than 400 million people walked the earth.

Centuries later, 20 million were slaughtered in the Taiping Rebellion (1850-1864). During that same era, 750,000 died in the American Civil War (1861-1865). Less than fifty years later, 9 million were slain during the Russian Revolution (1917-1922). Finally, an unfathomable 117 million died in World Wars I and II.

Until the 1940s, nations were continually in conflict. Western European countries initiated war every two or three years.

Historian Arnold Toynbee, writing in the afterglow of the Second World War, declared, “In our recent Western history, war has been following war in ascending order of intensity.” To his well-informed mind, the bloodshed was unceasing.

Most everyone was shocked as battles began to wane. War—understood as the uniformed armies of nation-states fighting—became virtually obsolete in recent decades. There have been less than four major conflicts in any year since 1945 and, in most years since 1989, there have been none.

Along with fewer incidents of war, genocide and collateral deaths are plummeting. Pinker declares, “By any standard, the world is nowhere near as genocidal as it was during its peak in the 1940s, when Nazi, Soviet, and Japanese mass murders, together with the targeting of civilians by all sides in World War II, resulted in a civilian death rate in the vicinity of 350 per 100,000 per year.”

Since the mid-twentieth century, genocide and civil strife have diminished drastically. War-related deaths are currently the lowest ever recorded. In the twenty-first century, only a tiny percentage of the global population has been maimed in conflict.

Pinker notes, “The rate of documented direct deaths from political violence (war, terrorism, genocide and warlord militias) in the past decade is an unprecedented few hundredths of a percentage point. Even if we multiplied that rate to account for unrecorded deaths and the victims of war-caused disease and famine, it would not exceed 1%.”

It is easy to forget how violent our ancestors were. They lived in an unimaginably brutal world. This observation might seem absurd, but the past was drastically more appalling than the world we now reside in.

 Few, if any, in media will tell you this, but we might be living in the most peaceful time in the history of the world. In fact, traffic accidents often take more lives than military conflicts. Gregg Easterbrook reminds us that “in the current generation, roads have been more dangerous than armies.”

Homicides

A little while back, I spoke with a man from Chicago. He described the horrendous murders taking place in his city. He said, “So many young men are dying that they don’t even put it on the news anymore.” He explained that homicide was perhaps the number one crisis in America.

It is easy to see where he was coming from. In the twenty-first century, fears about violent crime keep people awake at night. It is not just anxieties about terrorism and war but a sense that our children might be harmed.

In Gallup polls, over the last twenty years, at least two-thirds consistently believed homicides were increasing. Many are convinced that murder rates are the highest ever recorded. But things are not as they seem.

Most don’t realize that untamed violence prevailed in the past. Hans Rosling documented what archeologists found in the ruins of early civilizations.

The truth is to be found in ancient graveyards and burial sites, where archeologists have to get used to discovering that a large proportion of all the remains they dig up are those of children. Most will have been killed by starvation or disgusting diseases, but many child skeletons bear the marks of physical violence. Hunter-gatherer societies often had murder rates above 10 percent and children were not spared. In today’s graveyards, child graves are rare.

It is hard to imagine living in a world where the homicide rate was 15 percent, but researchers have concluded that was the reality in some ancient societies. Bloodshed, in ages past, must have been unusually severe.

In comparison to today, a medieval traveler was a hundred times more likely to be murdered in Italy. During this era, Europeans encountered relentless brutality. Pinker writes, “Lords massacred the serfs of their rivals, aristocrats and their retinues fought each other in duels, brigands and highwaymen murdered the victims of their robberies, and ordinary people stabbed each other over insults at the dinner table.”

In subsequent centuries, murderous acts decreased, and the civilized world became less violent. Lives were not taken as often as they were in previous generations.

Although homicide rates were tremendously high in the early American colonies, they plummeted in succeeding eras, reaching an all-time low in the late twentieth century.

It is counterintuitive, but the FBI disclosed that homicides dropped nearly 50 percent in the last twenty-five years. Murders are now less frequent in every region of the United States. While there are outliers like Chicago and St. Louis, most cities are witnessing a marked reduction in gun violence.

Reflecting on positive changes in New York City, Gregg Easterbrook suggests that “Central Park after dark now is as safe as Yellowstone Park at noon.”

 The decline of violence isn’t unique to the United States. Among eighty-eight countries with reliable data, sixty-seven reported fewer homicides over the last forty years.

Contradicting the fear-inducing pessimism of the media, fewer than ever are dying from gunshots or stabbing. Against common assumptions, violence is plummeting across the globe. Pinker reminds us that

There are 180,000 people walking around today who would have been murdered just in the last year if the global homicide rate had remained at its level of a dozen years before.

Diminishing Bloodshed

Although brutality continues, conflicts that kill hundreds aren’t the same as wars slaughtering millions. Bloodshed has dramatically decreased. But in spite of the advancements, the evening news still finds just enough violence to anchor every broadcast.

Sporadic catastrophes on the far side of the world continue to mar the worldview of a generation. Johan Norberg writes, “War, crime, disasters and poverty are painfully real, and during the last decade global media has made us aware of them in a new way—live on screen, every day, around the clock—but despite this ubiquity, these are problems that have always existed, partially hidden from view. The difference now is that they are rapidly declining. What we see now are the exceptions, where once they would have been the rule.”

While we mourn the pain that remains, we must recognize that the world is considerably improved. There has never been a better time in all of history to be alive.

Occasionally I think of the Vietnam vet that I chatted with over coffee a few years ago. Because of what he and others like him fought for, this world sees less bloodshed. As I thanked him and told him that he was making the world more peaceful, a tear rolled down his face. Hope is rising in some of the most unexpected places.

“Why You’ve Been Duped Into Believing That The World is Getting Worse” is a great resource! It also documents decreases in terrorism, hunger, poverty, infant mortality, sexual assault, racism, and domestic violence, increases in life expectancy and prosperity, and the global explosion of Christianity.

The statistics in this book make it clear how much the news media and a negative eschatology can distort our perception of reality. I have heard some Christians speak as if we were in the worst time of history, but nearly the opposite is true. While we still have major problems in the world, there has been a drastic improvement, especially in the last several decades.

King attributes these improvements to the rapid growth of Christianity.

. Jay Michaelson, “Was Obama right about the Crusades and Islamic extremism?” Washington Post (February 6, 2015).

. Steven Pinker, The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined (New York: Penguin Publishing, 2011), 196.

. “Taiping Rebellion (1850-1864),” Columbia University, http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/special....

. Guy Gugliotta, “New Estimate Raises Civil War Death Toll,” New York Times (April 2, 2012).

. “Highest death toll from a civil war,” Guinness World Book of Records, http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/w....

. See “World War I (1914-1918): Killed, Wounded, and Missing,” Encyclopedia Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/event/Worl....

. Arnold Toynbee, War And Civilization (New York: Oxford University Press, 1950), 4.

. Steven Pinker, Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress (New York, Penguin Publishing, 2018), 158.

. Steven Pinker and Andrew Mack, “The World Is Not Falling Apart: Never mind the headlines. We’ve never lived in such peaceful times,” Slate (December 2014).

. Steven Pinker, “Violence Vanquished,” The Wall Street Journal (September 24, 2011).

. See C.J. Werleman, “We’re living through the “most peaceful era” in human history—with one big exception,” Salon (Wednesday, January 15, 2014).

. Gregg Easterbrook, It’s Better Than It Looks: Reasons for Optimism in an Age of Fear (New York: Public Affairs, 2018), 109.

. A personal conversation with a used car dealer from Raytown, Missouri in early 2005.

. Steven Pinker, Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress (New York, Penguin Publishing, 2018), 191.

. Hans Rosling with Ola Rosling and Anna Rosling Rönnlund, Factfulness: Ten Reasons We’re Wrong About the World—and Why Things Are Better Than You Think (New York, Flatiron Books, 2018), 122.

. Ibid., 121.

. Various, Human Security Report 2013 (Vancouver: Human Security Press, 2014),

.

. Various, “Number of Terrorist Attacks Globally Dropped in 2016: U.S.

Government,” Reuters (July 19, 2017).

. John Gramlich, “5 Facts about Crime in the U.S.,” Pew Research Center (January 30, 2018).

. Hans Rosling with Ola Rosling and Anna Rosling Rönnlund, Factfulness: Ten Reasons We’re Wrong About the World—and Why Things Are Better Than You Think (New York, Flatiron Books, 2018), 67-68.

. See Johan Norgerg, Progress: Ten Reasons to Look Forward to the Future (United Kingdom: Oneworld Publications, 2016), 88.

. Douglas T. Kenrick, Ph.D., “Ten Ways the World Is Getting Better: Steven Pinker, Science, Humanism, and Progress,” Psychology Today (March 2018).

. Steven Pinker, Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress (New York, Penguin Publishing, 2018), 168.

. Max Roser, “Homicides,” Our World In Data, https://ourworldindata.org/homicides

. John Gramlich, “5 facts about crime in the U.S.,” Pew Research Center (January 30, 2018). The homicide rate in the United States is now lower than five per 100,000. Manuel Eisner, “Long-Term Historical Trends in Violent Crime,” Crime and Justice 30 (2003): 83–142.

. Editor, “The 30 Cities with the Highest Murder Rate in the US,” Bismark Tribune (November 13, 2017).

. Gregg Easterbrook, It’s Better Than It Looks: Reasons for Optimism in an Age of Fear (New York: Public Affairs, 2018), xvii.

. Various, “Homicide Declined in Most Nations,” United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. https://www.unodc.org/gsh/en/data.html.

. Steven Pinker, Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress (New York, Penguin Publishing, 2018), 171.

. “The average interstate war killed 86,000 people in the 1950s and 39,000 in the

s. Today, it kills slightly more than 3,000 people.” Johan Norberg, Progress: Ten Reasons to Look Forward to the Future (United Kingdom: One world Publications, 2016), 100.

. Ibid., 48.

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Who is “The Antichrist?”

[image error]So we are talking a little about eschatology now. I felt it was important to touch on this since I’ve realized that a certain negative eschatology is one of the primary hindrances to Christians agreeing with God’s purposes in believing prayer for the nations.

In the last post, I gave just enough information to introduce the Partial Preterist view and point people to where they can learn more. Today I’d like to share why I don’t expect a single, future “Antichrist” figure to take over the world.

I am only giving a very quick overview since I don’t want to spend too much time on this. The resources I linked to in our last post, Victorious Eschatology, contain historical references for the facts I mention.

What Does Scripture Say About Antichrist?

Some people may be surprised to hear that neither Revelation nor any of the other prophetic books in the Bible contain the term “the Antichrist.” We only see the term “antichrist” a few times in First and Second John.

1 John 4:1-4 (NIV) Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world. You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.

According to John, every spirit that is not from God is antichrist. John never spoke of “antichrist” as a ruler who was going to conquer the world. On the contrary, he told the disciples that they had already overcome all antichrists!

However, there are a few prophecies in different places of scripture which have been conglomerated together and interpreted as an “antichrist” who will take over the world. Let’s look at the primary ones.

The Prophesy of 70 Weeks

Daniel chapter 9 contains an amazing prophecy that predicted exactly how many years would pass until Jesus came.

Daniel 9:24-27 (NIV) “Seventy ‘sevens’ are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the Most Holy Place. “Know and understand this: From the time the word goes out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven ‘sevens,’ and sixty-two ‘sevens.’ It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble. After the sixty-two ‘sevens,’ the Anointed One will be put to death and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed. He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven.’ In the middle of the ‘seven’ he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And at the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him.”

The “sevens” or “weeks” are prophecies of literal years. Seven “sevens” plus 62 “sevens” gives us 69 “sevens.” (The first 7 is the time from the decree until Jerusalem was rebuilt.)  69 times seven is 483 years. Daniel’s prophecy, counted in lunar years, gives us the time from the decree to rebuild Jerusalem until Jesus came. Pretty much everybody agrees on this point.

You will see a lot of alternate translations if you study this passage. For example, one is “anoint the Most Holy One” instead of the “Most Holy Place.” Another says, not that the Anointed One will have nothing, but that he will be put to death, but not for himself.

Here is where there is disagreement. The dispensationalists interpret the one who makes a covenant with many as “the antichrist.” They see this as a ruler in our future.

The wording is a bit tricky in this passage, but we must remember one thing: this is a prophecy about literal years. To put the 70th week in our future, the dispensationalists have to add a large “gap” of an unknown amount of time between the 69th week and the 70th week in which the “prophetic clock stops.” Much of their theology hinges on this gap.

To me, such an idea is about as preposterous as we could get with interpreting the Bible. Earlier in chapter 9, we see Daniel laying hold of God’s promise through the prophet Jeremiah that the Israelites would return from exile in 70 years. This was also a prophecy about literal years. Imagine if Daniel was praying and fasting because the time God said was coming up, and then it came and went and the Israelites didn’t return until 500 years later, past Daniel’s lifetime, because there was a “gap” in the 70 year time period?

That kind of makes it pointless to have a prophecy about 70 literal years. And I think most people would agree it’s pretty absurd.

Imagine if a father promised his 10 year old son a car in six years. But when the 16th birthday came, the father said “Oh, there is a gap between the 5th and the 6th year, and my promise is on hold until the gap ends and the time clock of my promise starts ticking again.” 

Now consider the prophecy about 70 weeks, or 70 “sevens.” Everyone agrees the first part of this is literal, and 69 “sevens” is 483 years. But many people believe that the 70 “sevens” is not 490 years but is a few thousand years, because of an unknown “gap” in the prophecy that scripture doesn’t mention!

This is one of the major reasons I hold the Partial Preterist position. The 70th week has to follow the 69th week. If there was a long time between the 69th and 70th week, the prophecy would have included another time period of weeks, and totaled a few hundred weeks.

When we understand that obviously, the 70th week starts immediately when the 69th week ends, the time when the ruler puts an end to sacrifice and offering coincides with the time Jesus was crucified, 3 1/2 years after beginning his earthly ministry. And the end of the 70 weeks declared for Israel coincides with the stoning of Stephen and the gospel going to the Gentiles 3 1/2 years after Jesus’ crucifixion.

To the best of my knowledge, all the Bible commentaries written before the 1800’s interpret this passage as speaking of Jesus the Christ, not “the Antichrist.” 

The Beast

Another character that gets called the “antichrist” is the beast of Revelation 13.

As Jonathan Welton points out, the book of Revelation is written in a chiastic arch structure in which the various sections mirror each other, and Revelation chapters 17 and 13 are mirroring each other, talking about the same thing.

The beast in Revelation 17:3 has seven heads and ten horns. Verses nine and ten give the interpretation that the seven heads are both seven hills and seven kings. Five have past, one is, and one will come but only remain for a little while.

This would have been very clear to the first-century reader. The city on seven hills is and was a common expression for Rome. The seven kings were the Caesars. There were 5 Caesars before Nero. Nero was the king that “is.” After Nero came Galba, who remained only for a little while since he was emperor for only about six months. The ten horns were the ten provinces of Rome.

Now to Revelation 13. Like in chapter 17, the beast generically is Rome and specifically is Nero. Nero was historically called a “beast” and he played a game in which he wore an animal skin and was released from a cage to attack the genitals of Christian prisoners with his teeth.

Older manuscripts say the number of the beast was 666, and other ones say 616. Why the difference? At the time it was common to transcribe letters into numbers. “Nero Caesar” written in Aramaic or transcribed into Hebrew had the numerical value of 666. So why the 616 alternative?

“Nero Caesar” written in Latin has a numerical value of 616. It makes sense that as copies of the book of Revelation were circulated, they went to more people who wouldn’t know the Greek or Aramaic writing and so the manuscripts contained the numerical value of the Latin spelling of Nero’s name.

The Caesars demanded worship as gods, and history records that people were forced to burn insense or pay homage to a statue of Caesar and then receive a mark of ash on the hand or forehead in order to be able to enter the marketplace and buy or sell.

As we have pointed out, John was writing to people who would experience the events he was telling them about, which he told them repeatedly were “about to happen very soon.” He was writing a “Revelation,” to reveal and not to confuse. His first-century readers understood what he was writing about. The text is clear in Revelation 13 that he expected them to have the wisdom to calculate the number of the beast. Therefore it is impossible that the beast and the number of the beast would have been anything that John’s first-century readers would not have been able to understand or calculate.

The Man Of Lawlessness

2 Thessalonians 2:3-8 (NIV) Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God. Don’t you remember that when I was with you I used to tell you these things? And now you know what is holding him back, so that he may be revealed at the proper time. For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming.

This one is impossible to deal with in much depth here, but there are two interpretations of this that most Partial Preterists hold. One is that the “man of lawlessness” was John Levi of Gischala, the main rebel who caused the destruction of Jerusalem and set himself up in the temple as a messiah. In fact the temple would not have been destroyed if John Levi had listened to the Roman General Titus and left it. The person who restrained him was Ananus, the Jewish chief priest. Josephus said that when Ananus was killed, the destruction of Jerusalem began.

The other view sees Nero as the man of lawlessness and Claudius Caesar was the one who restrained. (In fact Claudius’ name means “one who restrains.”) Dr. Kenneth Gentry presents that view here. You can download the free book Raptureless here for a more detailed explanation of the view that John Levi was the man of lawlessness.

I tend toward the view that John Levi perfectly fits the description of the man of lawlessness. Yet Dr. Gentry’s video is still worth watching because it gives a lot of context and highlights why we should understand this passage as relevant to the Thessalonian’s current events.

I know my brief overview leaves a lot of questions unanswered, which are too much to answer in this blog post. You can go to those links and the ones in the last post if you want to learn more. But for now, I want to point out a few things.

Who was Paul writing to when he said “see that nobody deceives you?” He was writing to people in the first century about things relevant to them.

This is why he told them “the secret power of lawlessness is already at work” and “you know what holds it back.” Whatever he was referring to when he said “what holds it back,” it is impossible that this was something the Thessalonians in the first century did not understand. They knew what he was talking about!

The “coming” was the coming in judgment that Jesus prophesied in Matthew 24, as we saw in the last post, Victorious Eschatology.

How Do We Practically Apply This?

None of these passages point to a future “antichrist” figure who will take over the world. Yes, we do still face antichrists today. We should not ignore the powers of evil at work in the world today, which still need to be confronted. Yet scripture does not predict that these evil powers will prevail. If we believe that lie, it becomes really hard to agree with God’s purposes for the nations in believing prayer.

Rather, scripture says that we have already overcome all antichrists. Daniel chapter 2 has a prophecy of Christ as a stone that is not cut with human hands, which will destroy earthly kingdoms and become a mountain that fills the whole earth. The mountain growing to fill the whole earth is the body of Christ, the church. And since Christ came, his kingdom has been growing and his enemies are being subdued. God’s kingdom already has crushed the Roman Empire, just as Daniel predicted. Understanding that God’s kingdom will continue to grow and become a mountain that fills the whole earth gives us a vision to engage in believing prayer in agreement with God’s purposes for the nations.

By the way, last week I mentioned a book from a friend, Will Riddle, who does not hold a partial preterist position but still agrees with many of the things I have said. (Including the problems with interpreting Daniel 9 as an antichrist prophesy.) He also gives a good summary of the major views on eschatology. I encourage you to get his book as well as other materials I’ve referenced if you’d like to learn more about eschatology and consider different positions on it.

Next week we’ll look at some empirical data that shows how much the world has been improving and not getting worse. Bad eschatology can distort our view of reality, so some clear data is a good reality check.

P.S. Some people may refer to the belief of some early Christians in an “Antichrist” figure. This idea does go back much further than some newer dispensational teachings. However, the earliest church fathers did not say anything about an individual “antichrist.” I would point out that some of those same early Christians, including Iraneus and others, made failed apocalyptic predictions as the fruit of their theology.  If you follow the link it takes you to a list of failed apocalyptic predictions, from the early church all the way up to names you will recognize of modern Christian leaders.

Even in the early church, there was confusion about certain matters with people holding various different views.

 

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Victorious Eschatology

[image error]A little while ago, in Fervent, Effectual Prayer, I mentioned that it has been on my heart to encourage a fresh wave of believing prayer for the nations. Then in our last post, God’s Purposes For The Nations, I shared my personal story of confusion over eschatology. Reading the Bible out loud instilled in me a great expectation of victory and the gospel triumphing until all nations would come to worship Jesus and the whole earth would be filled with the knowledge of God’s glory. But this conflicted with what I was taught about eschatology and with my understanding of certain other verses. I soon realized how much our eschatology can determine whether or not we agree with God’s purposes for the nations in believing prayer.

Do I Really Want To Get Into Eschatology?

Eschatology is a subject I’ve mostly avoided on my blog until now. One reason is that many people feel so strongly about it that they block and shun anybody with a different view—even if that view is well within the bounds of orthodox Christian theology and many of the best Bible scholars today hold it.

The other reason I’ve mostly avoided eschatology is that there is a lot to explain, a lot of questions and objections to answer, and quite frankly, it would be a great deal of work for me to lay it all out. Even though I could do that, other people already have. (And some have done a very good job of it.) I’m not interested in doing a lot of work to say the same things that some very good scholars have already laid out. I’d rather point people to where they can learn more. I have plenty to write about from a unique perspective, and I don’t need to create a great body of work explaining exactly the same things that others have said.

So why am I talking about eschatology now? I have realized that some of the most popular eschatology today is one of the main things hindering Christians from engaging in believing prayer for the nations. I’ve seen how perverse it is when Christians hear bad news and rejoice because they think it means Jesus is about to return. I’ve seen how the idea that “the world is getting worse” distorts Christians’ perception of reality and has also fostered hundreds of false prophecies throughout church history and continues to do so. In fact, more people than you would imagine have lost their lives or committed suicide after being led astray by such false prophecies.

I’m more interested in telling my story and encouraging people to learn more than in insisting everyone sees the same way. So I’ll give you just enough for a basic understanding of my view. Some people, as I was, are barely aware that there is a solid alternative to the most popular eschatology today. Or how much of today’s most popular eschatology is just made up to make all the pieces fit together, or in some cases, didn’t exist for much of church history.

I respect you if you have a different view, as many people throughout church history have had varying views on the subject. I will even share a resource from a friend who has a different view of the book of Revelation than I do. His book gives a good overview of the major Christian interpretations of Revelation. It goes on to give a take on things which differs from my view, but is still much more coherent, reasonable, and optimistic than what I was taught as a kid. If you’ve ever felt like eschatology was impossible to understand, the reason may be that many of the explanations you’ve heard really don’t make any sense and are not coherent with the rest of scripture!

Partial Preterism

I was at a Voice of the Apostles conference in 2010 (I think) with Randy Clark and Bill Johnson when I heard a recommendation for the book “Victorious Eschatology.”  I think it was Randy who recommended it. (Bill has always been ambiguous about his eschatology.) I went over to the book table right away and picked it up.

I got into the book quickly and read an explanation of Mathew 24 that I’d never heard before. It cleared up so much confusion that I’d had! The book contained quotes from many famous Christians throughout church history, proving that they believed at least part of Jesus’ prophecy in Matthew 24 was fulfilled in AD 70 when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem. (Some of those people made conflicting statements on the matter, which only shows that they were also a bit confused by it.) The book also pointed out very clear and precise fulfillment in history of the events Jesus’ prophesied.

Partial preterism is the view that some prophesies have been fulfilled. Technically, every Christian is at least partially “preterist” in some sense because if you believe Jesus came, died, and rose again, you believe that Isaiah 53 and many other Old Testament prophecies have already been fulfilled. But there are different views on how much has been fulfilled.

Full preterism is a much newer position that denies any future return of Christ, resurrection, or judgment. Most partial preterists consider full preterism a heretical and problematic doctrine. The problem is that many people indiscriminately use the word “preterist” without distinguishing between partial and full preterism. There is a huge difference! To be clear, I believe in Jesus’ future return, the resurrection, and the judgment. I am simply convinced that some prophecies which are clearly talking about past events have been confused with prophecies about Jesus’ final return.

“Surely, All These Things Will Happen Before This Generation Passes Away!”

The biggest point of confusion is that Jesus said in no uncertain language that some of the people standing there with him, in the first century, would see the events of Matthew 24. Including “the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven.” Other scriptures also make the timing clear.

Matthew 24:30, 34 (NIV) “Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth[a] will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory…Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. (The footnote here after earth says “tribes of the land,” as the Greek word here is often used in reference to the land of Israel.)

Matthew 16:27-28 (NIV) For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done. “Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”

Matthew 26:64 (NIV) “You have said so,” Jesus replied. “But I say to all of you: From now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.” (Spoken before his crucifixion to people in the first century.)

Some people have tried to reinterpret “this generation” as “that generation” or “this people.” The problem is it doesn’t say “that generation” and it should have used other language to say “this people.” You can compare nearly 60 different translations of the Bible in English and almost all of them say “this generation.” I have heard the issue debated between the best of scholars, and I think the argument that “this generation” means anything other than “this generation” is almost totally indefensible. There is no getting around this statement. “This” is a near demonstrative, and we use a far demonstrative (“That”) to talk about a future generation.

Arbitrarily changing what the Bible says to fit a particular theological view is unacceptable. It also doesn’t resolve the other verses in which Jesus said people who were standing there in the first century would see his coming.

Some who were more intellectually honest about this point have actually said that Jesus was mistaken. Even the great Christian Apologist C.S. Lewis thought Jesus was confused on this point and missed it. C.S. Lewis called it “the most embarrassing verse in the Bible.” And atheists have used it to say that Jesus was wrong and thus was not who he claimed to be.

Many who reinterpreted “this generation” to fit their theology said it meant “that generation when Israel becomes a nation again.” Thus many Christians were convinced Jesus would return in 1988. When they missed it, they reinterpreted a “generation” as 70 years instead of 40 years. But they missed it again last year! (2018 was 70 years after Israel became a nation.) This is typical of 2000 years of church history of people trying to apply Matthew 24 and the book of Revelation to their present day.

So what is the solution? Various places in the Old Testament use similar language to talk about God coming in judgment. The “coming” they are talking about is not Jesus’ final, physical return. For example, Isaiah 19 is a prophecy that most scholars agree is fulfilled:

Isaiah 19:1 (NIV) A prophecy against Egypt: See, the Lord rides on a swift cloud and is coming to Egypt. The idols of Egypt tremble before him, and the hearts of the Egyptians melt with fear.

In Daniel chapter 7, Jesus comes to the Ancient of Days. This is a “coming,” but it is not a coming to earth. It is coming to the Father to receive his kingdom, not his final coming.

Daniel 7:13-14 (NIV) “In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.

When you read Matthew 24, read it together with Matthew 23. What is Jesus talking about? He is talking about all the blood of the prophets coming on “this generation,” about judgment and the destruction of the temple, when not one stone will come upon another. When did this happen? The temple was destroyed in AD 70.

The writings of Josephus and other historians show that the predictions of Jesus, the wars and rumors of wars, the falling away, the tribulation, happened very precisely as Jesus said. I don’t feel like going into the details, but I can point you to where you can learn more. The fulfillment of Jesus’ words in Matthew 24 was so precise that I can’t ignore it. In fact, various sources record that first century Christians understood their current events as what Jesus prophesied in Matthew 24, and therefore escaped the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 by fleeing to Pella.

Jesus said the gospel would be preached in all the world, and then the end would come. And multiple New Testament scriptures confirm clearly that the gospel was preached in all the world in the first century. (See this article, or this one for more detail.)

As scripture says, the “end” Jesus was talking about was “the end of the age.” And it has been confused with the end of the world! If you do a Bible search of terms like “last days” and “last hour,” you will find that all the New Testament authors who used these terms believed their time was the last days. This is because they were talking about the end of the age which Jesus prophesied, not the end of the world. It has not been the “last days” for 2,000 years!

What Are The Implications Of This?

First, for me this view clears up a lot of confusion by giving a coherent understanding of Matthew 24. But more than that, it leads us to understand that Jesus was not referring to our time when he talked about a great falling away and the love of many growing cold. The “great tribulation” of Matthew 24 is a past event. The phrase “last days” in scripture is a reference to their time, not our time.

For a good introduction to a partial preterist view, Jonathan Welton has made his book “Raptureless” available for free online. Or you can check out “Victorious Eschatology,” which was my introduction to the partial preterist view. Welton’s book “The Art Of Revelation” is a very understandable explanation of the book of Revelation. If you prefer listening, you can check out Gary DeMar or Dr. Kenneth Gentry on Youtube. Just try searching their names with phrases like “Matthew 24,”“The Beast,” “antichrist,” “man of lawlessness,” “Revelation,” “Olivet discourse,” “Great Tribulation” “debate,” etc.

Remember that the partial preterist view does see scripture passages like 1 Corinthians 15, 1 Thessalonians 4, Matthew 25 (usually), and others as references to Jesus’ return in our future. But it maintains that many scripture passages which are confused with Jesus’ future return are actually past events.

Next week I’ll share why I don’t expect a single, future “antichrist” figure to take over the world. And for those who’d like to explore other views that may also be simpler and more coherent than the popular pessimistic teachings, I’ll link to a book from a friend who is not a partial preterist but still holds a lot of views in common with me.

Then we’ll look at a few statistics in an article called “It’s Hard To Argue That The World’s Not Getting Better!” And we’ll go on from there to talk more about believing prayer for nations to turn to Christ.

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God’s Purposes For The Nations

[image error]We recently talked about fervent prayer that gets results. I mentioned that it’s been on my heart to encourage a fresh wave of believing prayer for the nations. Yet I’ve realized that a few beliefs are hindering Christians from agreeing with God’s purposes for the nations.

A Passion To See Nations Come And Worship Jesus

I read the Bible through the first time when I was seven years old. I’ll admit I just scanned parts of Leviticus and Chronicles to get past the genealogies and see if there were any stories. There are parts of the Law that are really repetitive like “The head of such and such a clan contributed so many gold bowls, so many silver bows, so many silver plates….blah, blah, blah…” and then goes on to say the same thing with the same amounts for every head of clan. So who could blame me for zipping through those parts?

I first said I wanted to be a missionary when I was 10, but that resolve didn’t really become firmly cemented in place until just after I turned fourteen, when I went with the church youth group on a trip to Mexico. By the time I got back, I wanted to learn Spanish and I started reading about 21 chapters of the Bible a day.

The plan I tried to follow most days was 5 Psalms, 4 chapters of the books before Psalms, 4 chapters of other Old Testament books after Psalms, 4 chapters of the gospels, and 4 chapters of the rest of the New Testament.

Of course, sometimes I read more, especially when I got into Psalms or Isaiah. I sometimes read large portions of these out loud, in one sitting. Psalms and Isaiah are both prophetic books, and they both talk a lot about God’s purposes for the nations. I wrote many of these verses on my arm with colored markers, and later on my wall and ceiling.

Isaiah 2:2-4 (NRSV) In days to come the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be raised above the hills; all the nations shall stream to it. Many peoples shall come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

Isaiah 11:9 (NRSV) They will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain; for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. 

Psalms 86:9 (NRSV) All the nations you have made shall come and bow down before you, O Lord, and shall glorify your name.

Psalms 22:27 (NRSV) All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord; and all the families of the nations shall worship before him.

Psalms 46:8-10 (RSV) Come, behold the works of the Lord, how he has wrought desolations in the earth.  He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; he breaks the bow, and shatters the spear, he burns the chariots with fire! “Be still, and know that I am God. I am exalted among the nations, I am exalted in the earth!”

Isaiah 60:1-3 (NRSV) Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will appear over you. Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.

Can The Darkness Get Darker And The Light Get Lighter At The Same Time?

Since I was a kid, Matthew chapter 24 and the book of Revelation confused me. In Matthew chapter 24, Jesus said all that stuff would surely happen in that generation. But then it sounded like he was talking about the end of the world! And I never really thought I could ever hope to understand the book of Revelation.

I’d found and heard teaching on Revelation, the antichrist, the great tribulation, and the rapture. I knew different people disagreed on when the rapture was to happen. I neither accepted nor rejected much of the teaching on how it would happen. The logic was way too convoluted for me to follow and I notice gaping holes in the logic, but I didn’t have a better explanation. Even so, I did accept that it sounded like things were going to get really terrible.

Since the only explanations I knew pointed to the world getting worse and worse, I was confused by the contrast between these dire predictions and the glorious passages of victory I had memorized and recited so many times. I never doubted that the way the nations were going to come and worship Jesus was through the church going, preaching the gospel, praying, and believing. I saw it constantly in scripture.

I heard somebody say “The darkness will get darker, and the light will get lighter.” This really didn’t make sense, but I accepted it as the only explanation I knew. I didn’t understand, but trusted God. I couldn’t help but think of the absurdity of the statement. “Darkness is the absence of light, so how can light and the absence of light increase at the same time in the same place?” After all, if you turn on the light switch, the darkness is gone!

So I continued to believe for great revival and for nations to come to Jesus, all the while expecting the world to get really bad and possibly for Jesus to return in the next few years.

“Oh, Russia Is Gog.”

I went to Russia for the first time in 2007, soon after turning 22. I didn’t expect to return. I thought I would go to South America again after Russia.

But the Holy Spirit moved wonderfully there. I hadn’t studied Russian and didn’t plan to. I did know some Polish, but Russian was a totally different alphabet. We went to a museum on the second day in Russia, and I noticed the names of the artists in Russian and English together. For example I saw “Pablo Picasso” in our English alphabet, and then his name “Пабло Пикассо” in Russian. It’s pretty easy to see, for example, that “П” is pronounced like a “P.” By the end of the day I had picked up most of the Russian alphabet. By the end of 10 days, I could read the book of First John in Russian, with terrible pronunciation, but understanding everything.

We had a wonderful time with the old Russian ladies, seeing Jesus heal several of them. More than the healing, the room was electric with God’s love and it felt like it was full of angels. There was such a strong sense of God’s love on that trip, and we also experienced some touching reconciliation between Americans and Russians.

At the end of the trip, going to the airport at three in the morning, I was singing quietly in the van. I started to feel God’s love, and the love I felt for Russia and Russians, flowing as a physically tangible current out of my mouth, and my hands also started vibrating as I thanked God for the trip, for the people, and for this place. I looked at the city as we passed and felt the awareness that it was all full of God’s glory.

Back in the United States I started studying Russian, following what was happening in St. Petersburg, and praying more and more over situations in Russia. I still didn’t think I was going to go back to Russia. I wanted to follow God’s call, and I had thought my next trip would be to South America again. Yet the love was so strong I felt compelled to study Russian.

I had heard from many places that Russia was Gog and was going to invade Israel, probably very soon, and there would be a great slaughter. I had never heard anybody say otherwise, and I had listened to them because I didn’t think I could understand it any better. I hadn’t had great expectations for Russia. Why was my experience so different? Why were so many tears coming as I prayed for this nation? Was I supposed to go back?

I remember one day driving my truck near Baltimore. I had just stopped at a Russian grocery store and bought some chocolates, and I was praying for Russia as I drove. Suddenly the air was electric in my truck, something like a force field I could physically feel. I was screaming and declaring those scriptures I had written on my wall over Russia, declaring heaven’s reality, tears streaming down my face. “All of Russia will be filled with the knowledge of God’s glory, as the waters cover the seas.”

What Happened Instead…

In retrospect, I realize that people through all of church history have made many false predictions when they tried to apply the current news headlines to Bible prophecy instead of going to scripture itself to interpret scripture. And the people who said Russia is Gog had already missed it before.

In the 1980’s, many Christians thought that the USSR was going to invade Isreal very soon, the world would end, and Jesus would return, probably in 1988. They were wrong.

What happened instead? A few different people, independently of each other, heard the Holy Spirit tell them to fly to Germany, lay their hands on the wall, and declare that it come down.

Soon after, a great move of the Holy Spirit and a wonderful, bloodless revolution as the Iron Curtain fell.

Many Christians were doing nothing but agreeing with Satan’s schemes for destruction. Bad theology blinded them to what God wanted to do in Russia and the other Soviet countries. But God found a few people to agree with his good purposes for the nations, and history changed.

I have never felt the love of God in the church in any nation as strongly as I did in Russia.

Right now there is a great need for people to catch a vision of God’s purposes for the nations. Daniel understood prophesy, so he prayed accordingly.

Psalm 33:10-11 (NRSV) The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; he frustrates the plans of the peoples. The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations. 

Our worldview often determines if we will agree with God’s purposes or not. If we have a negative expectation, we will hear about the councel and plans of wicked rulers and agree with them. If we see God’s purposes, we will declare that they are established and the wicked plans of wicked men will come to nothing.

A few months ago, I was praying quite a bit for Brazil. Then I went to church. An elder was all excited about the latest bad news, talking quickly, telling everybody that surely everything is going to get worse because “the Bible says so,” and that the antichrist was just around the corner and North Korea was about to launch a nuclear missile. Ironically, it was just when good news about President Trump’s Peace talks with North Korea were coming out and North and South Korea had just taken historic steps towards peace.

Certain theologies have a long history of their teachers making false predictions. In fact, Satan would love to get Christians agreeing with him by prophesying into his evil purposes. According to some big prophetic words that came out in mainstream Charismatic media when I was a teen, the world should have ended by now!

In order to encourage renewed, believing prayer for the nations, I felt inspired to share a few posts about how my worldview has changed. Maybe some of my readers have also said “The light is getting brighter and the darkness is getting darker,” all the while wondering how that could possibly work.

More to come…

P.S. Click here if you’d like to understand the Gog prophecy better

 

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