Troubled

As I peruse the book of Acts, I can’t help but notice a glaring discrepancy between the Church of Acts and the Church of today. It is a sad commentary, but the Church we presently see in the earth bears little resemblance to the vibrant and miraculous body of believers chronicled in scripture.

In many arenas, the Church has become a smoothly running, exquisitely precise machine, but it is absolutely useless against the onslaught of the enemy. All too often, the Church is a sophisticated organization, but a dying organism---a far cry from what God intended.

Of course, this regrettable state of affairs was not God’s idea. God never intended for Pentecostal power to dissipate or wane over the centuries. It was always His intention to see the Church move from faith to faith and glory to glory until she reached “the measure of the stature of the fullness Christ.” (Eph 4:13)

In fact, it was Paul’s understanding that the people of God were to press toward the mark of the high calling of God (Phil 3:14) until they reached it and entered into the full measure of the Spirit’s power. What began in a measure was designed to end up in fullness.

The Book of Acts wasn’t only to be a divinely inspired document recording the historic happenings of bygone days. It was actually meant to model the apostolic blueprint for the contemporary Church of the 21st century. Believers in the know regard the Book of Acts as a working manual and divine pattern for the present day Church.

God spoke clearly to me regarding the Church and said, “As I was with the apostolic Church of the book of Acts, so will I be with the Church of today!” Then He said in emphatic terms, “I will do it again, but not just repeat Myself; I will exceed Myself!”

While nothing is too hard for the Lord, it will take a massive outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the Church to accomplish such an exploit of restoration, but we will see it! Consider the fact that 2000 years ago, God transformed a company of 120 believers captive to religious tradition into a worldwide missionary Church of signs, wonders and miracles, and He did it in a moment of time. Why shouldn’t we believe that He will not only do it again in our day, but surpass and exceed anything He has done in the past, as He prophesied He would?

I believe what the old revivalists in the early ‘70s told me, “Pentecostals are at their best when things are at their worst.”

Now David, a man after God’s own heart, and greatly beloved of the Lord, made similar observations of the Church in his day. David records an interesting statement in Psalm 77, where he said:

I remembered God, and was troubled: … Selah. (Psa 77:3).

According to context, David was saying, I recall the many miracles God did for Israel so long ago. I remember the years when He stretched forth the Right Hand of His Power and performed wonderful exploits for His people in need. What He did in days gone by is constantly in my thoughts. I cannot stop thinking about those times when He flexed His muscle and wrought mighty deliverances.

When David considered the absence of God’s miracle power in his own generation, he was deeply troubled. The discrepancy that existed between that day and his broke David’s heart. He longed for the old time power of God to be poured out. He thirsted for it passionately like a deer that panted for the waterbrooks.

What I most admire about David in this Psalm is that he allowed himself to be ‘troubled’ rather than to remain in denial like the proverbial ostrich that stuck its head in the sand as though nothing was wrong.

I believe the Body of Christ needs the same kind of troubling today: a troubling that will drive us to our knees crying out for the fires of God to burn again in our generation; a troubling over the fact that many have settled for the fading memory of revival while God desires to strike our churches with a fresh visitation of miracle power. The Church at large seems content with an appreciation of historic revival without experiencing the concrete reality of it. This is unacceptable and intolerable!

Many of our leaders refuse to address the fact that God’s power, which was so prevalent in the book of Acts, is all but absent today. Still others relegate it to the past, say the day of miracles is over, and manufacture doctrinal positions excusing their barren and impotent condition. Then there are those that have explained revival ad nauseam but never experienced it, studied it but never apprehended it, pondered it but not yet possessed it. They have a hundred recipes for it, but have never tasted the full meal.

Like David, we ought to be ‘troubled’ with the vanishing signs of Pentecost until God reverses the condition and completely restores our birthright of power. Once you’ve tasted of the fire of revival as I have, you cannot settle for the smoke and ashes of religion. Who will come to terms with our spiritual condition and ask the question, “Where are our signs?”

The exciting news is that this people planet is about to experience the greatest manifestation of God’s power and might it has ever seen, witnessed or known before! We are seeing the first blush of that now. I am expecting such a deluge of signs and wonders that skeptics and doubters will have to sit up and take notice. Liberal media outlets such as CNN and MSNBC will be forced to report that we are living in a strange but undeniable time of miracles.

You say, “Well preacher, have you ignored what our prophets of gloom and doom are declaring?” No, I haven’t ignored it, but I’m seeing the other side of the coin as well. The Bible declares that the end-time will usher in “the great and terrible day of the Lord.” I don’t ignore it will be terrible for some (the religious hypocrites as well as the skeptics and doubters of our day). Yet, I refuse to ignore that it will be great for others. The same waters that lifted the ark for Noah and his family drowned the unbelievers who refused to come in at the door. While Israel was experiencing the Passover deliverance and carrying the spoils of riches during the Exodus, Egypt was mourning over the death of the firstborn. It was great for the believer, but terrible for the unbeliever.

The Holy Spirit is calling for a return to true apostolic Christianity that will require radical prayer and radical repentance from each and everyone of us that calls on the name of Jesus. We are not called to build a kingdom but be the Kingdom. A successful church is not measured by the multiplication of its members, but by the authenticity of its witness of God’s original intention.

It’s not so much that we need to move forward, as it is that we need to move back and return. True advancement is going back to God’s original intention, His original pattern. The way forward is the way back. We must ask for the old paths---the paths that lead to authentic apostolic Christianity, the paths that God spoke about through His prophet Jeremiah:

Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls…(Jer 6:16, emphasis added).

We live in a society where people are lonely, broken and afraid. Society is bland, colorless and devoid of any real meaning right now. The unbeliever knows it. He knows Hollywood’s glamour is a farce. He knows technology has failed to deliver the goods. He realizes politics and education have fallen short of their expectations. The banking system is the bankrupt system and Detroit has had a blowout and lost its wheels. Where can people turn but to the restored and glorious Church? And if the Church would just be the Church, we wouldn’t know where to put all the people. We would witness a global jailbreak out of a failing world system into the glorious kingdom of God. All the secular institutions of the world have stepped up to the plate and struck out. The bat is in our hands now, and it’s time for the Church to step to the plate and hit the ball out of the stadium.

The Church is at a crossroads, she is at a turning point. This is a red-letter day and a flagship moment for the Church. God will send landslide victories to the Body of Christ that will turn the heads of unbelievers. We are moving toward such an outbreak of God that it will result in the greater works ministry promised by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself (John 14:12). We are being taken into a depth of the Holy Spirit’s power we’ve never been before.

As we press for our birthright of power and authority allow me to administer a bitter dose of reality. We need to understand that Satan isn’t going to sit back, twiddling his thumbs, as we make spiritual strides into our inheritance. We must understand the nature of the warfare we are engaged in, because our adversary, the devil, is vehemently resisting us on every front.

Be aware that Satan wants to wipe away every trace of true apostolic Christianity from the earth. If he could have his way, he would sponsor the funeral services of the bride of Christ and replace her with an inferior counterfeit.

To be sure, this hell-bent fiend of darkness would rather have a backslidden church in the earth than no church at all. Why? Because a backslidden, lukewarm church serves his insidious purpose to discredit the validity of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

No doubt, Satan continues to amuse himself by taking every opportunity to ridicule and dishonor the Lord’s Church. Prime time television, cable and media syndications such as HBO are Satan’s center stage, upon which the Body of Christ is the butt of endless punch lines delivered by his jesters, Bill Maher and others, who will seemingly say or do anything to make those who dare to publicly profess belief in God the Creator appear foolish. The truth is rather the reverse; as we read in Psalms: “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God… (Psa 14:1, emphasis added)”

Most devastating of all, Satan is continually firing psychic artillery at the mind of the church in order to intimidate, dehumanize and rob her of her divine potential.

Consider the story told of an old grey haired gold miner that rode into town on his mule to get some supplies during the days of the California Gold Rush. While tying his mule to the post, a young gunslinger who’d had too much to drink stepped out of the Saloon. He pulled out his six gun from its holster and squeezed off three shots in the air to get the old miner’s attention.

“Hey, you old coot,” he yelled, “Have you ever danced to a six gun?”
The old miner said, “I don’t believe I have.”
“Well, start dancing!” shouted the gunslinger as he fired off three more shots at the old gent’s feet. The old man shuffled his feet and danced a little jig. Suddenly he stopped on a dime and said, “Youngster, I ain’t dancin’ no more.”
“Why, I’ll blow your toes off, old man!” roared the gunslinger.
“No, you won’t,” the old miner calmly replied. “You see, that’s a six gun in your hand. I’ve been counting and you’re out of bullets. You’ve run out of ammunition.”
The old miner whipped around, reached for the mule pack, and pulled out a sawed off shotgun. He pressed the cold barrel under that gunslinger’s chin and asked,
“Hey boy, have you ever kissed a mule?”
The young gunslinger lost control of his bladder and sheepishly said,
“I don’t recollect that I have, sir, but I’ve always wanted to.”

Some of you have been doing the Six Gun Shuffle long enough. The devil has been threatening and intimidating the church. He’s been hurling his missiles at the church. He wanted us to dance to his music and back off from the supernatural power of God. Some of us may have lost a few toes, but bless God, we’ve been listening and we’ve been counting and he’s run out of ammunition. There ain’t no more bullets in his gun---only empty threats. He has no power to threaten or harass you any longer.

It’s time to take out the shotgun of the name of Jesus and squeeze the trigger. Don’t aim for his head, aim for his buttocks, because two thousand years ago Jesus already blew his brains out on Calvary’s cross. Jesus stripped him of his authority over the believer and said, “All power is given unto Me in heaven and earth.” (Matt 28:18)

Now it is our turn to take this power and authority to the nations. If not us, than who? If not now, then when?

Prophecy of the Wind of the Holy Spirit

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

I would like to present to you a prophecy given by Dr. David Minor in 1987 that addressed significant national and global issues when it was first uttered, but which, I believe, has now become absolutely vital and of the utmost importance. In it he declared that a major purging and revival will come to the body of Christ. As the prophecy reveals, we who name the name of Jesus Christ must be very careful to discern this last-day working of His Spirit, lest, like Israel, we fail to recognize it and lose the place God has prepared for us.

By way of introduction, Dr. David Minor is one of God’s premier prophets for the hour in which we live. Dr. Minor operated and flowed in the gift of prophecy before such gifts were acknowledged or accepted by most of the body of Christ. He has traveled extensively across the nation and around the world, and his prophetic voice has played a vital role in this end time outpouring now sweeping over the nations of the world. Dr. Minor has labored faithfully and fruitfully for Christ his entire life. He has led literally thousands to Christ, and many others to the baptism of the Holy Ghost. His faith-inspiring messages and prayers have brought healing to untold thousands. He is also a man whom I have the deepest respect for and have regarded as my Pastor and covering in Jesus Christ for nearly 35 years.

Over 50 years ago, Dr. Minor pioneered a powerful local church, Gospel Tabernacle, in Coudersport, PA which is still a thriving center of Christianity today. Prophet Minor’s ministry is characterized by a strong and supernatural compassion for the sick and afflicted. His deep prophetic voice has directed misguided lives and prevented many a tragedy: God has mightily used him as a rescuer of lost souls. He is a man who cares about people and who reaches out to them with a prophetic mantle that transforms their lives. His prophetic ministry has literally been a catalyst for the restoration and healing of local churches and wounded leaders across America.

I pray that the Lord would anoint our hearts and minds as we read this prophecy from the Lord together, and cause it to penetrate deeply into our beings that we might understand and heed it, and that the kingdom of God may advance thereby.

Prophecy of the Wind of the Holy Spirit

The Spirit of God would say to you that the wind of the Holy Spirit is blowing through the land. The [Christian] Church, however, is incapable of fully recognizing this wind. Just as your nation has given names to its hurricanes, so I have put My Name on this wind.

Holiness to the Lord

This wind shall be named: Holiness unto the Lord. Because of a lack of understanding, some of my people will try to find shelter from the wind, but in so doing they shall miss My work.

Every Church will be Touched

For this wind has been sent to blow through every church that names My Name. It shall blow through every institution that has been raised in My Name.

False Ministries will Fall

In those institutions that have substituted their name for Mine, they shall fall by the impact of My wind. Those institutions shall fall like a cardboard shack in a gale. Ministries that have not walked in uprightness before Me shall be broken and fall. For this reason man will be tempted to brand this as a work of Satan, but this is My wind. I cannot tolerate My church in its present form, nor will I tolerate it. Ministries and organizations will shake and fall in the face of this wind and even though some will seek to hide from that wind, they shall not escape.

All Christians will be Affected

It shall blow against your lives and all that surrounds you will appear to be crumbling, and so it shall, but never forget this is My wind, saith the Lord. With tornado force, it will come and appear to leave devastation, but the Word of the Lord comes and says:

Face the Wind!

"Turn your face into the wind and let it blow." For only that which is not of Me shall be devastated. You must see this as necessary. Be not dismayed, for after this My wind shall blow again.

The Valley of Dry Bones

Have you not read how My breath blew on the valley of dry bones? So it shall breathe on you.

The Second Wind

The second wind will come in equal force as the first wind. This wind too will have a name -- it shall be called The Kingdom of God.

Power

It shall bring My power. The supernatural shall come in that wind. The world will laugh at you because of the devastation of that first wind. But they will laugh no more, for this wind will come with force and power that will produce the miraculous among My people and the fear of God shall fall on the nation. My people will be willing in the day of My power, saith the Lord.

Devastation from the First Wind

In My first wind that is upon you now, I will blow out pride, lust, greed, competition and jealousy, and you will feel devastated; But haven’t you read: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven?”

Out of Poverty

So out of your poverty of spirit, I will establish My kingdom. Have you not read: “The kingdom of God is in the Holy Spirit?” So by My Spirit, My kingdom will be established and made manifest.

No Hiding Place

Know this also, there will be those who shall seek to hide from this present wind and they will try to flow with the second wind, but they will again be blown away by it. Only those who have turned their face into the present wind shall be allowed to be propelled by the second wind.

Revival

You have longed for revival and a return to the miraculous and the supernatural. You and your generation shall see it, but it shall only come by My processes, saith the Lord.

American Church to be Purged

The church of this nation cannot contain My power in its present form. But as it turns to the wind of the holiness of God, it shall be purged and changed to contain My glory. This is judgment that has begun at the house of God, but it is not the end.

The Harvest and the End

When the second wind has come and brought in My harvest, then shall the end come.

The Irresistible Christ

At the precipice of attraction, a piece of iron begins to shake and jitter at the presence of a nearby magnet. Give that same piece of iron a nudge, and it will forget its once static and lonely position only to discover the birthing of a desire it must follow: to be joined with the origin of that force of attraction.

As small children, we were all fascinated by the action of magnets on small metal objects. There was nothing else like it. A mysterious force seemed to reach out through thin air and draw them together! It could be felt--but not seen. The very fact that we couldn't explain it was what made it so mystifying. It almost seemed other-worldly.

Jesus Christ embodies and far surpasses this magnetic quality. While a magnet produces a magnetic field of finite magnitude, the pull and charm of Christ is irresistible and without limit. The most attractive personality that ever lived, without rival, is Jesus Christ. The Lord whom we worship is captivating, compelling and alluring, having such a great influence over humanity, He is almost impossible to resist.

Biblically, after the Holy Spirit descended and rested upon Jesus, His public ministry began. As a new creation man in his Father's carpentry shop, He was obscure and unnoticed, but when the Spirit fell, suddenly multitudes were attracted to Him. Throughout the sacred pages of the four Gospels, we see the power of Christ's magnetic call exerting supernatural force upon the hearts and minds of those called to follow Him:

"And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. And they straightway left their nets, and followed him" (Matt 4:19-20).

Those called immediately abandon the tools of their trade—their nets, which enable them to literally scoop up their livelihood— and without reluctance, hesitance, or even making a list of pros and cons, leave the security of all that they know to follow a man they'd never met, yet couldn't resist. Many of those drawn as His disciples began as disreputable:

"As Jesus sat at meat in [Matthew's] house, many publicans and sinners sat also together with Jesus and his disciples: for there were many, and they followed him" (Mark 2:15, emphasis added).

From fishermen to tax collectors to those identified not by occupation but by the nature of their flaw, they were drawn to Him like the invalid to a doctor. How was it that they felt comfortable in His presence? Why weren't they intimidated by His holiness in contrast to their own sinfulness? They all had sordid pasts to live down; they all had evil reputations that preceded them. They all had skeletons in their closets, yet they were drawn to Him. They wanted to be around Him.

How was it that they were willing to come into the Light of His presence and tarry with Him? Could it be that the Light of His presence was a covering presence before it was an exposing one?

The publicans and sinners had no peace in the presence of the religious scribes and Pharisees who viewed them as second-class citizens, social outcasts and unworthy vagabonds. How often these poor publicans and sinners were rejected, expelled, and cast out by the so called godly. But not so with Christ: with Him, they felt accepted, loved, and forgiven. They felt a hope to rise above their present failures and deplorable conditions. They sensed their worth in spite of their guilt, defect and brokenness, making them feel unlike the religious world did.

He made them feel like they were somebody, and in so doing, they experienced a magnificent attraction to Him. They beheld a throne of mercy in the heart of Jesus, and they were drawn to the magnetic pull of His love.

The famous Messianic chapter of Isaiah 53 declares, he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. Indeed, it was not a natural magnetism that drew men to Christ, but the supernatural-drawing power of His person and His gospel. This supernatural and magnetic attraction to Christ and His gospel is still intact today. It is the irresistible force of His glorious gospel that is the hope of the harvest.

The God that made a sunrise over the waters of the Bahamas is the same God that made the gospel gloriously attractive to mankind. If sinners could ever hear the unadulterated gospel preached the way God wants it preached, they'll be riveted to the spot and listen with greater awe than they look upon a Bahamas sunrise. If we can get the right message on the lips of God's messengers, we can change the world and release the magnetic attraction of the irresistible Christ.

We have been effective in declaring what's wrong with America (abortion, no prayer in schools, same sex marriage), but we have failed to present a cosmic vision of Jesus that would prove irresistibly appealing to our nation.

In this glorious gospel message, there is no trace of condemnation or guilt. The message we have been given to preach by God is void of His anger and pregnant with His love. It is the message of forgiveness, healing, deliverance and hope for every person, regardless of their past.

The gospel is God's explosion of love and compassion throughout the earth, and so it draws the multitudes to itself with magnetic and compelling force. It is God's divine strategy in every generation for world evangelization; it is His Great Commission.

Jesus said, "If I be lifted up, I will draw all men unto me" (John 12:32, emphasis added). This means that while lifting Him up in holy adoration, we will release His magnetism like a great tsunami breaking on the shores of our cities, regions and nations. The worshipping Church beholding the beauty of the Lord will become the harvesting Church winning the souls of "all men" to Christ.

Isn't the Church the body of Christ in the earth today? Shouldn't the world sense and experience the same magnetic influence and attraction through us as they did through Jesus when He walked on planet earth in His Incarnation? So why, in a world saturated with churches like chain coffee shops on every corner, don't sinners of today follow after Christ as the multitudes did in scripture? Perhaps the Church desperately needs to create this same atmosphere of love, acceptance, and forgiveness that Jesus did when He welcomed sinners rather than repelling them.

Jesus, our High Priest, is a restorer and intercessor, not an accuser or rejecter. We as His body must clothe ourselves in the same magnetic role, not by pointing and shaking our fingers in condemnation but by extending our hands in acceptance and love. This is the heart of the Gospel message we now need to herald in our communities.

The sad commentary is that we, the Church, have not always represented Christ to the world as we should. In many respects, we represent an angry Messiah fed up with the sins of the world. In many circles the Church has become a repellant to sinners. They push us away, the poisoned turning down the antidote, and we blame their refusals on their sinfulness and hardheartedness. We must recapture the magnificent magnetism of Christ and His Gospel.

Never forget: religion and legalism are repugnant to the world. Is it any wonder that the scribes and Pharisees of Jesus' day were repugnant to the publicans and sinners?

Christ's magnetic force resides in us. Do we believe this? Because if we do--if we know who we are--we won't try to be what we're not. Why be a poor imitation when we can be the original article? As He is, so are we in this world, and the emergence of the New Creation man within us will be our greatest attraction to win a lost world to Jesus. In Christ's love, we'll pluck them out of the old and plant them into the new. All of creation is groaning for the manifestation of the New Humanity called the Sons of God (Rom 8:19-22). God will not fail to answer their cry!

Scripture declares that "all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the LORD" (Num. 14:21). In another place it declares, "For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea" (Hab. 2:14). These prophetic passages present an optimistic view of the future rather than the gloom-and-doom mentality dumped on us by some. I firmly believe that God doesn't intend to destroy the earth in His wrath, but to ultimately fill it with His glory.

As modern-day believers, we have all felt the magnetic influence of His presence and glory. To the elect, His presence and glory exert an irresistible and captivating attraction. While cockroaches flee to dark corners at the flick of a light switch, that same light beckons the moth, which will straightway seek to join itself with it. So let God arise out of the vessels He has prepared to showcase His glory in this hour!

I believe that the next step in the progressive plan and purpose of God is the awakening of the beauty, majesty, and glory of Jesus, all divinely magnetic qualities, through His elect lady, the Church. This is the generation of the Esther Church that will, unlike queen Vashti, unveil her beauty and glory before the king. The Greater One that indwells us will be admired by the world through us (II Thess 1:10). As an artist puts his portraits on public display at an art gallery, so the Lord will demonstrate His artistic workmanship through the Church (1 Pet 2:9).

Though the gross darkness of this present hour seems to be enveloping the earth, the Light of His exquisite loveliness will shine through and create such a global appreciation for Jesus, that like a moth to flame, multitudes from all nations shall bow down and worship Him.

All nations whom thou hast made shall come and worship before thee, O Lord; and shall glorify thy name. (Psa 86:9)

Such As I Have, I Give Unto Thee

I want you to imagine that behind the counter of a Health Food store is a salesman who is an emaciated, sickly individual with sunken eyes and ashen complexion. He coughs, brings up some phlegm, gasps for breath, and attempts to sell you his latest line of vitamins. In spite of his excellent sales pitch, you are completely persuaded to buy absolutely nothing from his shelves. Now imagine yourself turning around and quickly exiting the store. Why? You're no fool! His personal condition betrays the validity of his product.

I realize this is a morbidly humorous picture, but it illustrates an important point concerning the Church and her relationship to the world. How can a Church that resembles the wheezing salesman in our story make bold claims of joy, peace and fulfillment and expect the secular community to take it seriously? Can we really provoke them to embrace Christ while our attitudes resemble the book of Lamentations and our worship services are no more exciting than a television rerun? If all they see when they walk through the doors of our churches are spiritually emaciated Christians gasping for breath, then our spiritual condition betrays the validity of the Gospel.

A Church that claims the supernatural but experiences the superficial can never be effective in persuading a world seeking for deliverance that Christ is the answer. You see, it isn't enough to merely speak about a Christianity meant to be lived. A declaration of Christianity is no substitute for a demonstration of it. Herein lies the essence of hypocrisy and pretense. We talk it. but we rarely walk it. We speak heavy cream, but we're living skim milk. What a reproach we are to the One who said, "Why call ye me Lord, Lord and do not the things that I say?" (Luke 6:46)

Walt Whitman once said, "What you are speaks so loudly I can't hear what you say." Someone else put it this way, "Actions speak louder than words." The salient point is that the messenger must embody his message if it is to have any impact in the world around him.

The lives of Peter and John contained no such contradictions. As we read in the book of Acts, they had more than rhetoric the day they went up together into the temple through the gate beautiful at the hour of prayer. Fastening their eyes upon he that was lame from birth, the healing virtue of Jesus Christ flowed out of them as naturally as rain out of the sky:

Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk. (Acts 3:6)

This miraculous healing led to the salvation of over 5000 souls in one day! (Acts 4:4)

It is no wonder Satan is doing all in his devious power to undermine this most glorious of institutions, the Church. It is no wonder that Satan is resisting every believer's effort to come to a full knowledge of the mission and ministry of the Church. If Satan had his way, he would extract every trace of authentic Christianity from the face of the earth and replace it with something that offends the world rather than wins it.

He hates the local church because it is the only institution on planet earth that can dethrone his authority and tear down his stronghold in the minds and hearts of men. He is out to destroy the testimony and witness of any local church that would dare to fulfill its biblical mandate as salt and light to the world. He attempts to accomplish his devious intention by instigating schisms, divisions and compromises within her ranks. His one supreme ambition is to sponsor the funeral service of the bride of Christ and neutralize her effectiveness on earth.

As we stand upon the threshold of a new millennium, an authentic Christianity utterly committed to Christ-likeness and the embodiment of the lifestyle of Jesus is urgently required. In these desperate times our nation must see the attributes and excellencies of Christ modeled in the church. Unless America witnesses firsthand a glorious church of apostolic consecration and power within her borders, her fate will hang in the balance and be found wanting.

Our godless society has sown seeds of iniquity for over four decades and is now reaping a bitter harvest. Our young generation tragically believes there is more power in an MTV rock video than in many of our Christian Churches today. They are hoping that drugs, sex, rock and rap can divorce them from the pain, but it never does. If crack doesn't kill them, a drive by shooter will.

Even more alarming, we live in the presence of a political and medical community that tells us that abortion isn't murder. They tell us it's morally right to rip an unborn baby from its mother's womb in the first trimester of pregnancy with a powerful suction machine. If the baby is too big to fit through the cervix, they say it's politically correct to dismember the child piece by piece with medical pliers. It's an abomination.

Just as bleak, Americans spend billions of dollars on pornography, gambling, alcohol and drugs each year. No price is to dear to finance her pleasure-craving lusts. My head hangs low at the thought that an unbelieving society will give more for their dying causes than the redeemed church will give to a living Christ.

Adding insult to injury, multitudes of would-be and should-be Christians are running to New Age, psychic hotlines, TM, positive thinking, existentialism and secular humanism in a vain attempt to pull themselves up by the bootstraps. They should be running to the Church for answers--and they would be if we were living the way we were meant to be.

We are compelled to lay the blame on the doorstep of a Church filled with believers who look more like our emaciated vitamin salesman than the "city set on a hill." Sterile religion has enough Christianity to ease the conscience, but too little to make a difference in a sin-sick world. We have just enough to inoculate ourselves against the real thing, but not enough to cure the ills existing in our own ranks.

Sterile religion is killing America!

But enough of the negative! Let's accentuate the positive. There is a new courageous and bold generation rising that can't be paid off, bought off, scared off or run off from their conviction of true revival and authentic Christianity. God is building an uncommon Church today filled with a new breed of Christ-conquered people who have come through the crucible of testing and survived it.

They will be the church of Matthew 16 where Jesus promised, "I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." (Matt 16:18) They are the Church Peter wrote about in his first epistle, "But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light;" (I Pet 2:9) They are the Church John saw after he was caught up in the Spirit on the Lord's day.

This emerging Church in our day will make the real Jesus visible and tangible in every sphere of life. As the Moon is the glory of the Sun through the principle of reflection, so the Church is the glory of Christ. She will be the vehicle of Hisexpression in the earth and the showcase of divine things.

Jesus said, "…he that hath seen me hath seen the Father;" (John 14:9) He fulfilled His role as the earthly representation of His heavenly Father. We are now called to fulfill our role as the earthly representation of the Lord Jesus Christ. Can we dare declare that to see us is to have seen the Son?

We need to understand that God does nothing but through the Church. He moves only as we move. If Christ is to reach out in compassion and touch the world again with His healing and delivering power, it will be through the Church. If His glory is again to be revealed as it was in His earthly body 2,000 years ago, it will be through His body, the Church. We are His nail scarred hands extended in grace and truth to broken humanity. This is why I believe the local church will be at the heart of this final revival.

According to history, Napoleon Bonaparte, while speaking to his generals, ran his index finger around the vast borders of a great country on a world map. He said to them, "There lies a sleeping giant; let it sleep! Because," he continued, "if that country ever wakes up and harnesses its man power to its mineral power, it will shake the world." The country he outlined was none other than China, our most dangerous threat in the world today.

Now I want you to imagine the devil standing there in Napoleon's stead. Satan isn't running his crooked finger around a map. Oh no! He is running his finger around the Church of Jesus Christ and with fear in his eyes, and a trembling voice, he says to his hordes of hell, "There lies a sleeping giant; let it sleep! Because if this Church ever rediscovers the resurrection power of the Holy Ghost, if she ever rediscovers the superior position of authority given to her by Jesus Christ in the earth, she will rise up and shake the world to its very foundations."

The once sleeping giant, the Church, is awakening to her grand position of superiority. This awakening of the Church will prove to be the single greatest event of our time. Under the administration of the Holy Spirit, she is about to launch a massive attack against the kingdom of darkness, crash the gates of hell and plunder it of all its spoil. Those who have ears to hear are hearing it everywhere: A triumphant Church! A militant people! A glorious nation! An invincible army! The Church is finally awakening in the earth and the devil can do nothing to stop it because it was purposed, promised and prophesied by God in the sacred pages of His Holy Book!

I.M.P.A.C.T. NOW!

The Church in the United States is confronting challenges of greater magnitude than it has ever faced before. Many nations around the world wonder if they are actually witnessing the world's greatest known superpower crumble from within. The fear and trepidation is global. We also hear the dismal cry of disillusioned Americans: "How could things have gone so wrong so quickly?" Luke 21:26 continues to unfold in our generation: "Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken."

The reality is a destructive landslide of secular and anti-Christ forces has been reigning over contemporary American society for decades. According to recent studies, fewer people identify themselves as Christians than ever before in our history. The allegiance of contemporary American society has slowly shifted from a covenant-keeping God toward a secular mindset, causing a tragic erosion of divine favor over our nation. In light of the godly origins and heritage of this country, this is a disturbing revelation indeed.

Can a nation whose motto has been 'In God We Trust' now reject its foundation without a qualm? Has its conscience been seared beyond the ability to recognize its true fallen state? Will the United States suffer the same fate as many of the once godly but now thoroughly secularized societies throughout Europe and the rest of the world? This constitutes a state of emergency for the Church!

But there is good news: In light of the present crisis, Americans are turning to Jesus for shelter from the storm. When the enemy comes in, like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord raises a standard against him (Isa 59:19). I can see with my spiritual eyes a divine standard rising over this nation. I cannot add my voice to the doom-sayers of our day, yet I issue a sober warning in the words of Jesus, as recorded by John the beloved: I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work (John 9:4, emphasis added). These words have never been truer! The fields are white and ready for harvest (John 4:35). As we are faithful to lift Him up, He is faithful to draw all men to Himself. It's harvest time in America!

But before we go any further, I must pose a question: What level of impact has the local church had upon her community? Are we making a significant difference today? Are we truly salt and light as the Bible declares we should be? The impact of the Church must be deep enough to transform a culture and win a generation to Christ. Every member is required to be mobilized—functioning within his or her unique gifting—and prepared to produce a significant impact on our society. When we mobilize the Church around God's eternal purpose, His grace is released and the harvest is the inevitable outcome!

The urgency of the hour demands a fire baptized people set ablaze for Christ who know how to effectively engage the enemy in spiritual warfare on every front. They know that the anointed presentation of the gospel within and without the four walls of the church is the only weapon that can strike a deathblow to the kingdom of darkness in this hour. In these uncertain times, we must do more than come against the devil with a feather of good intentions. We must violently storm his gates. We must confront sin, fear, lust, religious bondage and unbelief with radical spiritual force. The result will be radical change, and it's all within our grasp.

As the kingdom of God advances in our ranks, we will retrieve a vast spoil of humanity presently under satanic control. We will literally snatch them out of the gates of hell, one by one if we have to! Hell is too hot and eternity is too long for us to sit and sour in the Church while those in the world are dying in their sins and crying for an answer!

Let us seed, plead and bleed before we see one sinner perish eternally and go to hell. If one is going to cross over into the gates of hell, it ought to be over our dead bodies. No hell-bent sinner should end up there without a fight for his or her soul on the battlefield of intercession. This is why I'm proposing what I call an "Impact Now" Campaign here at Upper Room!

I.M.P.A.C.T. NOW is an acronym meaning I MUST PRODUCE A CULTURAL TRANSFORMATION…NOW! I believe that all facets of our ministry must be engaged in this pursuit. I recently received a fantastic report from one of the many components of our I.M.P.A.C.T. NOW campaign. This report so stirred me that I must share it with you now; I can't wait!

Our Evangelistic and Drama I.M.P.A.C.T. TEAMS are seeing an incredible response to the If I Die Before I Wake performances on Friday nights. Not only is our sanctuary filled with hundreds of people who are traveling by busloads from our local communities, but on Friday, February 27, 2009, something extraordinary happened. Four hundred young people flooded the aisles and came to our altar, answering the call to make Jesus Christ their Lord and Savior!

I spoke to Pastor Nick D'Onofrio, who witnessed this event and was equally excited. He told me it reminded him of our younger days during the "Jesus Movement" back in the '70s. He said that as he stood in the back of the sanctuary, he saw groups of fifteen, sixteen and seventeen year olds consistently coming into the sanctuary looking for seats before the show. Instead of gathering to go to a club, going out drinking, or looking for drugs or some other kind of trouble, they were coming together to the house of God!

My son, Regan, gave the altar call that Friday night. He explained to me that he had never seen what happened in front of that platform before in his life. Regan told them that he had experienced personal pain in his life and knew what it was to be searching for an answer. He felt an urgency as he said to them the following: "It's not in getting high, smoking, drinking, or dancing in a club. The answer is Jesus." I was told that those who responded to Regan's prayer came running to the altar in droves. This type of a response stirs my spirit!

He went on to say, "With those in the world as desperate as they are, the Church must be ready to receive them. They're not going to come in looking like us, smelling like us or talking like us. But God loves them just as they are—just like God loves us. The Church has to embrace this hunger. This new generation of young people is un-churched, and needs to be taught and trained to share what they have received. These are the hungry ones out in the world who are being magnetically drawn by a limitless love that knows no boundaries."

I had the opportunity to speak to two of the heads of our Drama Ministry, Dominick Bonanno and Pastor Teresa Nunziante. Of the recent performances, Teresa said, "The first Friday we had about 400 people show up and we were blessed; that night 150 were saved and that was even more of a blessing. The second week, there were about 600 in the audience and about 250 came to Christ. The third Friday came and we were overwhelmed to see about 1,200 people had come to the production. The altar call that night was filled with people hungry to receive Christ. When week four came (February 27), we saw over 1,500 people in the sanctuary, and words couldn't describe the feeling. Seeing over 450 at the altar was the greatest blessing of all." This increase is nothing less than the working of Almighty God honoring the ministry of an evangelist.

Dominick spoke about this phenomenon as well: "People all over the room lifted their hands in the air and accepted the call of salvation. As they made their way to the altar and I watched people pray to receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior, I couldn't help but well up with emotion at the witness of God's faithfulness once again. It wasn't a success because it was a great show, but because God was able to move through a group of people working in unity. The cast yielded their lives and gifts to the cause of bringing the Gospel message to people desperate for an answer."

Hearing about these If I Die performances has sparked me to make a strategic decision. Since God is clearly troubling the waters for the salvation of souls at Upper Room, I feel impressed of the Lord to extend these performances indefinitely.

The many talents and abilities of those in the cast of If I Die have been graciously made available to our loved ones, families, friends, neighbors and communities. Like the loaves and fishes, God is using what they have in their hands. But you have a part to play as well. I encourage you to get tickets and invite everyone you know to these Friday night 7:30 pm performances. This is an evangelistic tool that can change lives forever. There is a harvest. They are hungry. They are waiting. We are on assignment. Let's I.M.P.A.C.T. our community—NOW!