Revival in a Graveyard

Adapted from a convocation sermon given by

Bishop J. O. Patterson (Deceased)

Late Presiding Bishop of the

Churches of God in Christ

By C. M. Cole

A “Graveyard” Preacher

Revival in a Graveyard

Copyright © 2011

C. M. Cole

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means – electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise – without the prior written permission of the publisher and copyright owners.

ISBN: 978-1-62245-008-4

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Table of Contents

Revival in a Graveyard

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Revival in a Graveyard

The Dry Bones Survey

A Preacher with a Message

Failures and Losers

Prophesy

I Prophesied as I was Commanded

Running Up the King’s Highway

Sinews (37:6)

No Breath

Breath

Renewal

The Ministry

Revival

Cut Off for Our Parts

So What’s Next?

Death

At the Graveyard

God Intends to Minister Here

Ye Shall Know (37:13)

Spiritual Quickening

A Testimony

Prayer

Preaching

Providence

To Endure Hardness

Resurrection

The Challenge Before Us Remains

A Plain Vision

Selected Bibliography

Acknowledgements

First of all I thank the Lord our God for the privilege of serving in His Kingdom, His Church, His Ministry and among his people and throughout these United States.

I thank my wife of fifty-three years, Mary, who has faithfully through thick and thin endured the sometimes harsh realities and uncertainties connected to this ministry.

Also I thank God for sending Bishop J. O. Patterson to Los Angeles, California with a message that brought forth fruit in these rural Midwestern communities.

For my brother Robert, who suggested writing this book.

For my brother C. A., who read the original manuscript and generously encouraged it’s production.

For my sister, Frances, whose tireless labors and positive attitude in typing and organizing this manuscript contributed to it becoming a published book.

For Brother Jeremiah Zeiset, who agreed to read my manuscript and decided that LIFE SENTENCE Publishing should publish it.

And for all those preachers and believers who insisted, in my hearing, that the word of God is creative, powerful, and productive in losers as well as winners.

C.M. Cole

Introduction

I had the opportunity to grow up in the Sunday schools, youth groups, and to observe the auxiliary groups and the worship activities in local Churches of God in Christ in Fulton, Missouri (1941-42), Mexico, Missouri (1942-43), and Hannibal, Missouri (1943-54). This observation lead to the ultimate writing of this book, but first, a little more about myself.

After serving in the military, I became an active communicant in the Church of God in Christ, October 13, 1958. I have served as a deacon, Sunday School teacher, youth president, licensed minister, assistant pastor, youth pastor, ordained evangelist, pastor and district superintendent in the following areas: Jacksonville, Illinois (1958-59), Hannibal, Missouri (1959-64), Los Angeles, California (1964-71), Hannibal, Missouri (1972-present), and Quincy, Illinois (1978-98).

During my tenure, the general authority of the church was unconditionally the Holy Scriptures of the old and new testaments. The Bible of choice was the authorized King James Version of 1611. Theological explications were tolerated, but not authoritative or well respected. Where literal clarity may not have been available, literal confidence always prevailed. The Bible is the inspired unquestionable word of God. “All scripture is given by inspiration of God” (II Timothy 3:16)

A literal confidence in the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments has generally dominated the mindset of the holiness movement in the rural districts of Northeast Missouri and in some metropolitan jurisdictions. We really believed in the power of God, the power of prayer and did not mind waiting on God to fix whatever problems we had.

We disagreed with the liberation theology of the civil rights movement. We did not attend their meetings and did not donate money. Some of us admired Booker T. Washington’s Atlanta exposition speech and we believed that God is bigger than the government, segregation, Jim Crow laws, and lynching.

Revival in a Graveyard is a study of selected ministries and their spiritual journey during the separate but equal days of Northeast Missouri, of preachers who looked beyond the limited vision of social activism and reached for the power of God. As a result of their labor, successes, and a few failures, a spirit filled movement was launched which is at once redemptive, productive and multi-cultural.

The liberation theology of social activism formed in the crucible of segregation, Jim Crow laws, and lynchings was a limited vision of new social conventions (integration); more social opportunities (fair employment practices, equal education); a chance to eat at the table of American brotherhood (equal access to public accommodations); and general participation in all the attractive securities of American citizenship (voting rights, political connections, appointments, offices).

For our brethren in Africa, liberation theology required breaking and throwing off the yokes of European colonialisms (generalized exploitation of material resources, systematic economic and social controls) imposed on them.

Achieving these goals generated sizable social improvements and contributed to leveling the proverbial playing field. But when they opened the playing field, the game was half over, and the game had to be learned from the referees, because the coaches were mostly committed to working with proven winners.

On the other hand, revival reaches out to proven losers and offers the prospect of becoming proven winners (overcomers) in a hostile and unfriendly environment. Moreover, revival probes into the consciousness, character, and personality of the individual loser, reverses the action of failure, defeat, and death, and reinstates life into previously died and dried bodies. This is the perfected vision of Ezekiel’s valley of the dry bones (Ezekiel 37:1-14).

When Bishop J. O. Patterson raised the issue of a revival in a graveyard, he was working to stop the creeping compromise of visions limited by the ambitions of social activism, and to restore the visions perfected by once again seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness according to a commitment of recovery from death and demoralized defeatism.

This study on Bishop J. O. Patterson’s message “Revival in a Graveyard” is this brother’s message of thanksgiving for the opportunity to observe God at work in and through His church.

Revival in a Graveyard

This story started when I attended the convocation of the Churches of God in Christ of the First Southern Jurisdiction of Southern California in June of 1971 where the main speaker that night was Bishop J.O. Patterson, the General Presiding Bishop of the Churches of God in Christ at large.

At the beginning of his message, he referred us to the dry bones chapter of Ezekiel 37. Then he started an argument, not the excited back and forth of a contention or shouting match, but a general recrimination against modern “churchianity” that seemed to be consuming us. His argument was that we were going through all the motions of being a church, but lacking in the individual ministries the life and experience of Christ, effectively resulting in a valley of dry bones.

Before he read his text, he yelled out, “A preacher with a message can start a revival in a grave yard!”

Then he began to argue about the destructive spiritual choices that we have made as a black ‘holiness’ church, casting off our rich heritage and spiritual assets with all it’s embarrassments, failures, defects, and sufferings while instead reaching for public celebrity-status and the pitfalls of success. Our desire was to advance as a man and a group instead of casting everything else aside and following Christ.

He reminded us how others had picked up our cast-off blessings and were rejoicing in the gifts we had despised. We had desired the pride of man instead of humbling ourselves before God.

He never did read his scripture or explain it theologically; he seemed to be inspired with a revelation from the Lord. He preached like a wild man, with abandon, like a man possessed. He didn’t have the message; the message had him.

When he finished, the assembly went up with a shout. It sounded like a freight train passing through the building. The message hit me in the heart. I took it literally. I’m telling you that I was inspired to trust God and to believe in his resurrection presence and power and knew that what the bishop said was true, that a preacher with a message could start a revival in a graveyard.

I left California in September of 1971, three months later, with a new mission. I went straight to Northeast Missouri where we have our own valleys and dry bones, dead churches and candidates for revival.

The Dry Bones Survey

Ezekiel, in Ezekiel Chapter 37, starts out by surveying the situation at hand. Is there a reasonable explanation for these destructive spiritual choices? For casting off a blessed spiritual heritage? For dying spiritually? For lacking the life God breathes in us?

I followed Ezekiel’s lead and started a survey. I talked to as many living witnesses as I could find, checked extant church records, and made a study of literature pertinent to the period (1915-1945).

What follows is a survey of the situation as it was related to me. Since some of it happened before I was born, all interview information is hearsay, unless it could be verified in the mouth of two or three witnesses or by extant records.

I made this study because I wanted to know what transpired and since I’m in the same business as these other preachers were, I did not want to make the same mistakes.

As Ezekiel passed through his valley, he noticed that there were a lot of bones scattered about and he observed that they were very dry.

In church circles, dry is a very negative word. The service was dry, the prayer was dry, the music was dry, the preacher was dry, and his preaching was dull, monotonous, dry and dead. Dry is the opposite of inspiring, uplifting, encouraging, exciting or even at the least, interesting.

In verse eleven of this dry bones chapter, Ezekiel is told by the Lord that those bones were the whole house of Israel that had surrendered, given up, caved in; and accepted defeat, failure and hopelessness as the general reality of the time. They were whining that they were cut off “for our parts” (all their personal, spiritual, social and public supports have been taken from them and all they could do is lay around bleaching in the sun).

Looking back in a sort of post mortem reconstruction of these bones takes us on a journey into the past. Historically, the Church of God in Christ, its development, growth, and decline provides us with a working knowledge of the holiness Pentecostal movement in the rural districts of Northeast Missouri. There were about ten congregations in the six county areas (Marion, Ralls, Monroe, Audrain, Randolph and Macon).

The first official contact made in Northeast Missouri was by Elder V.M. Barker, a pioneer evangelist and street corner preacher. He came to the town of Moberly Missouri following a leading of the Holy Ghost to go and preach the word of holiness and Pentecostal power. He had already established a mission in Kansas City at Third and Oakland in 1912 and remained as pastor until 1915 when he appointed Elder D.J. Young as pastor at that location.

In 1915 he came to Moberly walking and preaching on the streets, praying for the sick, teaching the word in the homes until a general area-wide revival broke out. As people were saved and added to the church, Elder Barker continued to expand his ministry and outreach. Eventually it included congregations in Macon, Columbia and Hannibal, Missouri. Members and spectators agreed that the ministry had a wide ranging impact on the surrounding area. Not less than eight new ministries were launched from the Moberly outreach (Huntsville, Hartville, Fulton, Springfield, Macon, Paris, Palmyra and Hannibal).

During this time, a number of the new converts were ‘called to preach’ according to the same spirit that moved and led Elder Barker. They were mentored and instructed by Elder Barker and on his approval they were licensed in a local ceremony and when they had further proven their ministries, they were ordained in a general assembly.

As preachers were qualified, they were encouraged to go into previously unreached areas, conducting services, praying for the people, and organizing and building congregations. Their efforts experienced the same wide-spread outpourings of revivals as Elder Barker had experienced. (Congregations were established in Huntsville, Fulton, Hartville and Springfield, Missouri by Elder Carter Timmons, a native of Moberly and a convert of Elder Barker).

Although the Church of God in Christ denomination does not ordain women for the ministry as pastors and overseers, there was a class of women who were anointed with the same spirit as Elder Barker and his ministerial associates. They were licensed as evangelists, deaconesses and missionaries. They served with the preachers and sometimes independently. They conducted prayer meetings, brush arbor meetings (a protected area made by placing foliage over a frame of trees or brush branches), and revival campaigns in Macon, Mexico, Hannibal and the surrounding countryside. These women served during the same period as Elder Barker and his associates and during times of heightened opposition, they were accepted as ministers when men were refused, rejected and sometimes run out of town. After unsuccessful attempts by Elder Bolden Jones, the report was that Elder B. Jones was run out of Mexico, Missouri and after the women “prayed out” the church, they sent for him to return and reorganize the church.

In 1917 Elder Barker was appointed overseer of the Nebraska, Iowa and Missouri Church of God churches. He returned to Kansas City to build the Barker Temple congregation and to supervise the development of ministries and congregations throughout his area of responsibility.

After Overseer Barker returned to Kansas City to build Barker Temple and to organize his Ecclesiastical administration, the responsibility for continuing the momentum generated during the tenure of Elder Barker and his associates fell on the local preachers, pastors and missionaries of Northeast Missouri.

As an institutional support, meetings, rallies, revivals, district unity services, the spring ministers and workers meeting, and the annual convocation (state and national), were variously scheduled to intensify and raise the level of dedication and inspiration of and for local ministers and workers. Eyewitnesses agreed that the meetings were highly stimulating, encouraging, well attended and supported. Spirits were lifted, inspiration was increased, new converts registered and the ministries generously endorsed.

Since 1945, though, some of the local congregations and ministries have taken a hard hit.

The Moberly church endured during the pastorates (dates unavailable) of Elders Barker, E.G. Carter, Robert Wright, and the decline appeared either during or following the pastorate of Elder O.S. Martin.

Following the pastorate of Elder J.L. Johnson (deceased) and under the present pastor Elder E. Wright, improvement again appeared to be in progress.

The evangelist team of Mary and Martha (twins, last name unknown) and Reverend Albert Pinkston worked until 1926 to build a congregation in Hannibal, Missouri. They were succeeded in 1926 by the Johnson brothers (J.L. and W.L.), their wives and Nathan Anderson (single). During their tenure, congregations were established in Hannibal, Palmyra, and New London, Missouri. The Palmyra Church disappeared from the district records in January of 1942 and members living in Palmyra were recorded as members of the Hannibal Church. A new convert saved in 1951 is also listed as a Hannibal membership supporting the conclusion that the Palmyra outreach was abandoned in 1941 or 1942. The Hannibal congregation generally grew and prospered: Revival campaigns, healings, new converts, preachers and missionaries called and qualified until 1945 or thereabouts. At that time a generalized decline began to infiltrate throughout the congregation and district.

The Macon Church of God in Christ was preached out through the ministry of Elder W.C. Thompson. The church grew and prospered until 1935 when Pastor Thompson denied a certain couple’s right to marry; arguing that a previous marriage by relatives of the couple made them kin to each other and cancelled their right to marry. This decision precipitated such a disapproval of Pastor Thompson’s pastorate that he was discharged. After accepting the pastorate, Elder J.L. Johnson argued that the Church of God in Christ by-laws do not include the right to vote on the question of pastoral tenure; therefore he discredited the voters and they became quite inactive in decision making. The Macon church is a severely challenged church even today.

The congregations in Monroe City and Paris, Missouri were established through the labor of ministers serving other churches while at the same time working as wage earners. Elder Walter Jones entered the Paris ministry during the mid-1940’s while serving as assistant pastor of the Mexico Church of God in Christ. He continued until his death and was succeeded by Elder Albert Nickens of Fulton, Missouri who served from 1948 to 1951. In 1951 Elder W.L. Johnson, pastor of the Hannibal Church of God in Christ assumed the pastorate of the Paris church. Mrs. L.B. Caldwell of Kansas City, Missouri joined with this ministry and moved to Paris and served as resident evangelist of the Paris congregation. During the combined work of the Johnson Caldwell team, the Paris outreach grew until it rivaled the ministries of larger churches.

With the demise of the Johnson brothers and Mrs. Caldwell, a new leadership now is in place and the congregation has withdrawn from the Church of God in Christ and is experiencing general increase.

In August of 1945, Elder I.H. Canole stopped in Monroe City to conduct a prayer meeting under a tree on Winter Street. People who had previously been pitching horseshoes knelt in the dirt and joined in a prayer. Later, following an experience of healing, prayer services were regularly scheduled in the home of Mrs. Alice Talton. From the prayer meetings a congregation was established which began to display the same miracle power as that of the earlier ministries of Elder Barker and company.

Following the death of Elder Canole in 1975, he was succeeded by Elder Clifford Talton who in turn was succeeded by Pastor Paul Washington. This congregation has since withdrawn from the Church of God in Christ. Two congregations of the Church of God in Christ were established following services conducted in New London, Missouri by Elder Nathan Anderson of Hannibal, Missouri. After witnessing the praying for rain during a protracted dry season, and receiving rain only in Ralls County, several farm families were converted and joined the ministry of Elder Nathan Anderson and formed the New London Church of God in Christ. Since Elder Anderson was not married, he was not allowed to pastor the church. The congregational style of church government and property ownership led to conflicts with ministers oriented in the Episcopal tradition and in 1946 the congregation split. The episcopals relocated and the congregationals retained control.

The congregationals have since dissolved and the episcopals exist today as the Steward Carter Church of God in Christ.

Women willing to fast, pray, consecrate and suffer entered Mexico, Missouri after Elder Bolden Jones of Sedalia, Missouri had failed to establish an outreach ministry there. They conducted prayer meetings and home visitations until conversions were registered and a congregation began to be gathered. They sent for Elder Bolden Jones who organized the church and assumed the pastorate. Growth and development continued until the early forties. As deaths, defections, and departures of the young and the energetic spread throughout, the congregation seems to have evaporated as suddenly as it appeared.

A Preacher with a Message

Ezekiel chapter 37 starts out telling us that “the hand of the Lord was upon me,” (Ezekiel 37:1). Throughout the book he refers us to the hand of the Lord upon him as a supernatural initiative which motivates, directs, informs, and sometimes transports him to various assignments. For instance: The hand of God instructed him in the visions of God (1:3), handed him a roll of a book from God (2:9), directed his emotional and physical movements (3:14), sent him into the plain where God wanted to speak with him (3:22), caused him to see another vision of God (8:1), transported him to Jerusalem to see violations and provocations in his sanctuary (8:3-18), informed and energized him to proclaim the punitive judgments of God against those who violated his will and provoked him to anger (33:22-33), and transported him to a very high mountain where he revealed the planning for a new building, new congregation, new law of the house, a new ministry with new regulations, new offerings, laws, divisions, governments and borders (40:1-48:35).

This same supernatural initiative was the driving force that motivated, directed, and energized Elder Barker, the preachers and converts to leave where they were and go to Northeast Missouri to preach, teach, pray and wait for God to fulfill his plan with the rural ministries.

Every preacher who was a candidate for the ministry had to be able to testify in plain words so that everyone (the audience as well as the clergy) could understand as well as discern that a special calling from God was on his life. He had to have a special relationship with God that motivated, directed, and energized him to work for God, the church, and the people; whether or not he was certified, licensed, ordained or celebrated.

His commitment to prayer, Bible study, consecration and faithfulness had to be rooted in a genuine love to God as an example of a believer and not as a professional protocol.

The hand of God led Ezekiel to a lot of unsuccessful assignments. Sometimes he was not allowed to speak (3:24-27; 24:27; 29:21; 33:22), but he was always required to be in a continuous state of readiness to exactly execute the received command of God. All his personal agendas and goals needed to be unconditionally suspended and himself totally submitted to the hand of God upon him.

New Testament preachers such as John the Baptist (Luke 1:66), the men of Cyprus and Cyrene (Acts 11:21), and the elders to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia (1 Peter1:1, 5:1-6), were recognized as preachers and servants of God according to the hand of God upon them. And Peter advised the elders to humble themselves under the mighty hand of God.

A prayer request of the apostles was for God to stretch forth his hand to heal and give signs and wonders in the name of Jesus. The hand of God was with the apostle Paul to chastise a meddler who tried to interfere with his ministry to Sergius Paulus (Acts 13:4-12).

Moving by the hand of God required acknowledging Christ as Lord, a close personal connection with Him, and an alert consciousness of God’s presence in this unsuccessful environment.

Ezekiel represents a class of preachers that are totally sold out to and for the ministry; personally, physically, emotionally and spiritually. For instance, God tells him to “smite with thine hand, and stamp with thy foot” and proclaim (6:11); and, in chapter 21:6, 12, 14, he is told to sigh, and with bitterness sigh before their eyes; to cry and howl; and, to prophesy and smite thine hands together; and in Chapter 32:18, to ‘wail’ for the multitude of Egypt. Along with this emotional and physical investment in his ministry, his personal life is cancelled and he is told not to mourn, weep, or shed any tears when his wife dies (24:15-18). That evening his wife died and he did as he was commanded.

‘As commanded by the Lord’ is the critical standard for this and all classes of ministry.

Failures and Losers

The valley of the dry bones was a graveyard filled with the bones of conquered, defeated and failed losers. They had been dead for a long time since Ezekiel says that the bones were ‘very’ dry. The birds had picked them clean and they lay bleaching in the sun. God had, however, protected them from the wolves, hyenas, jackals, and dogs who could have eaten the bones. He had a preacher he wanted them to hear.

Moreover, this graveyard was a non-affluent, non-success society of unenergetic, uninterested failures and losers. Defeat, death, and disintegration was not the end of the story though, because God had a plan and a purpose for these dry bones.

The rural communities and churches of Northeast Missouri have a lot in common with the valley of the dry bones that was shown to Ezekiel. And the story is not over for them either.

If you do a drive through on Highway 24, 36, or 61, you’ll have to drive more than 100 miles to the nearest southern metro area, (St. Louis, Missouri) 100 miles to the nearest eastern metro area (Springfield, Illinois), and 200 miles to the nearest Northern metro area (Davenport, Iowa). While you are driving, in almost every hamlet, village, town or incorporated community that you pass through, you can expect to see abandoned factory buildings, warehouses, stores, hotels, train terminals, bus stations, schools, service stations and closed-down churches; the silent witnesses of failure, defeat and death.

If you stopped driving and started walking around, a few questions might pop up. For instance: What happened to the 7 a.m., noon, and the 4 o’clock whistles? Why are most of the big factory buildings gone and the industrial areas filled with vacant lots? Who decided to tear down the power plant, the grain elevators, and all those businesses and replace them with vacant lots? Who made the decision made to come in and tear up the railroad tracks?

What kind of economic and spiritual futures can our children build for themselves in these communities? What happens with those who are not college bound, not trade school material, and not eligible for apprenticeships in the craft unions?

Do they surrender to the voluntary servitude of eking out an existence in the proliferation of nursing homes, convalescent homes, retirement homes, group homes, domiciliary homes, rent subsidies and housing projects?

What about the blacks? When they were fenced in by segregation, Jim Crow laws, discrimination and lynching, there was a separate culture complete with references of expectations, standardized norms for lifestyle and behavior and generalized group solidarity.

Now that church membership and social opportunities are no longer limited to the whites, what happens as the enforced solidarity of the blacks evaporates? What do the support groups do whose principal job was to give aid and comfort in the repressive environment of segregation, Jim Crow laws, discrimination and lynching? Who ministers to the left-out losers left behind to face the grinding weariness, the pinching limitation of expectations and generalized insecurities?

After he toured the graveyard and gave his opinion, God said unto him, “Son of man, can these bones live?” Ezekiel gave God a neutral answer because at this time he was a neutralized preacher. Since he had no idea how to deal with this situation, he did not commit himself, but waited for direction and instruction from God.

A preacher with a message will need to spend time in the presence of God. Listening to God as well as talking to God. As he listens, he will need to be attentive to hear clear, definite counsel and instructions.

God raised the question of life for these dry dead bones. He did not ask why they had died, how they had died, or any of the other investigative questions connected with the study of death. He proposed a future beyond failure; a resurrection from the dead.

What instructions? What counsel? Prophesy upon these bones. Tell them “O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.”

Prophesy

“Prophesy upon these bones,” all preachers are required to prophesy as a critical detail in their job description as preachers. Ezekiel was no exception. He was chosen by God to represent God as his personal spokesman and was required to declare God’s word whether or not the people wish to hear it (3:11). Prophecy is not an art, science or career choice to be learned or mastered in a school or college. The prophet is totally and irresistibly under the hand of God (3:22-27). He stands in the presence of God and is privy to the counsel of God (Amos 3:7). He speaks when commanded and once commanded, must speak (Amos 3:8; Ezekiel 3:18, 20). The word of God is the message of the prophet. The word that Ezekiel spoke was a word of power, recovery, growth, strength and life.

In prophecy, God testifies of himself through the mouth of the prophet (Exodus 4:12) who is essentially a man or woman of the spirit. In Acts 2:17, 18, prophecy is a general communication of God testifying to and through all who have received the outpouring of his spirit. In Proverbs 30, prophecy is available as a regular source of wisdom for ordinary everyday people consistent with the oracle of Acts 2:17, 18. Agur the son of Jakeh, appears in Proverbs chapter 30 with two students: Ithiel and Ucal, and introduces himself as a plain ordinary man with no training in traditions and social customs, no academic certification and no ecclesiastical connections.

As a man of the spirit and of the word, Agur gives us a revelation of the exalted superiority of God in unlimited control over all creation and challenges any and all adversaries or critics to name God’s son if they can.

Next he proclaims the steadfast consistent reliability of God, and assured guarantees for all who trust in his word; along with warnings not to tamper with the word of God.

This prophetic ministry is not mysterious, enigmatic, or arcane; it is rather a revelation of observable historical recurrences regulated by supernatural control. This ministry must be rooted in prayer. “Two things have I required of thee; deny me them not before I die: (Proverbs 30:7) This prophet is aware of his need to be protected from the pressures and stresses of sin and temptation, “Remove far from me vanity and lies: Give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me;” (Proverbs 30:8) and by his honest personal assessment that the flesh is weak and unreliable: “Lest I be full, and deny thee and say, who is the Lord?” “Or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of the Lord my God in vain.” (Proverbs 30:9)

After giving his resume and personal testimony, Agur gives us a sample of prophetic teaching as it relates to practical every day affairs.

Relationships are serious. Do not meddle with established relationships. (Master-servant, parent-child, business-subsidiary, pastor-congregation) Accusations whether true, false, or indifferent will not be received favorably.

The succeeding generations almost always refuse the wisdom of predecessors and mentors. They usually need their own encounter with truth and reality.

The destructive consequences of reckless, negligent sin are unlimited. They do not stop even at death.

There are too many phenomena active in this world for me to know or to figure out. I need a revelation from God to navigate through the turbulence and the irregularities of this life.

Repentance is the guaranteed opportunity to recover and maintain valuable relationships.

The wisdom of God moving through the animal kingdom is remarkable to behold:

The ants, which are legendary in industry, forethought, and preparation before and during crisis.

The coney which is small and weak but able to overcome rock formations and fend for itself.

The locusts who have no leadership or supervision, but they are organized effectively and are powerful.

The spider who has unlimited mobility and access to great homes.

I Prophesied as I was Commanded

‘As I was commanded’ defines the class of preachers collected for this ministry in Northeast Missouri. Every preacher had to be internally invested with a well-defined sense of obligation to a certain ministry and to a certain location. Organized church agencies, boards, overseers, superintendents, moderators, or other authorities existed to assist, promote and support after the fact, the preferred choice of the commander.

‘As I was commanded’ testifies of a direct connection with the commander who singles out individuals for service and gives them informed directives in procedure and content for the work he has chosen them to do.

Thus the preacher with a message then is in possession of the message and he is possessed by the message. He is under obligation to the commander and he is under obligation to the message.

Since he is preaching to a dead and dry congregations of failures and losers, he has no obligation to please his audience; only his commander

This is the preacher that Bishop J.O. Patterson was looking for and passionate about.

When these preachers went to work, things happened. There was a noise, a shaking (it’s not shake itself that matters; but there was shaking as a result of the bones coming to life) bones got together, a general assembling of bones (bones to his bone). A spontaneous generation of life and power, working a mighty wonder out of a graveyard. This preacher had a message that was a kerugma of power and a doctrine of deliverance. He had heard the life giving call from heaven and he was on a mission according to a summons to spread the news.

The News

They hit the streets running;

Run, run, run,

Tell the world ‘bout Jesus,

Run, run, run,

Tell the world ‘bout Jesus,

Run, run, run,

Tell the world ‘bout Jesus,

How he saved my’y soul.

Lord I’m running,

Tryin’ to make a hundred,

Ninety-nine and a half won’t do.

Been runnin’ for Jesus a long time,

Ain’t got tired yet.

Running, running, running,

I can’t tarry

Running, running, running,

I can’t tarry

Running, running, running

I can’t tarry

Running Up the King’s Highway

Charged up, highly energized, excited, and willing to tell anybody that would listen. They preached on street corners, courthouse steps, in parks, prayer meetings, school grounds, wherever they could get an ear to hear.

Jesus is in town. He will hear you if you call him. Life is in him; more powerful than death, than sin, disappointments, failures, or discriminations. Jesus Christ is alive. He arose from the dead. He has gotten the victory over death, hell and the grave. If you are in sin, Jesus can bring you out. If you got the ‘can’t help its,’ Jesus can set you free. He’s bigger than Levi Garret, Lucky Strike, or Jim Beam. If you’re sick and can’t get well, Jesus can heal you and make you whole. He gives power to the faint and to them that have no might, he increases strength. He’s the same yesterday, today and forever. Throw up your puny hands and say, ‘yes Lord,’ he will hear you when you call him. He’s the same word of God that caused muscles, sinews, and strength to build up those dry bones. He arose from the dead and he’s in the room right here, right now. He’s watching everything we do and he’s working in everybody that believes his word. His word is power in fact and power in action; able to get things done of his own motion and by his own strength. He doesn’t need any help. He’s the cause, he’s the effect, and he’s the connection between cause and effect. He laid his life down, he took it up again. He’s the great power of God in person brought close to us and to all who believe on him as the scriptures have said. If you can believe, you can receive. He took Ezekiel to the graveyard because he did not want anybody left out. Not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

What is repentance? Repentance is the action of turning away from sin and turning to God. It is taking full responsibility for being separated and alienated from God and deciding to amend my ways and make a change. Crying out to God in honest confession of all my sins, faults, wrong doing; telling a dying world good-bye; telling my girlfriend it’s over; I’m going home to my family. Giving up my liquor drinking, carousing, partying, gambling, shacking up, and running with the fella’s; I’m going back to the altar, and I’m going to stay there until God sets me free. (I prayed and I prayed, prayed all night long, prayed and I prayed until I found the Lord.) The message of repentance and life in Christ is exactly what Ezekiel saw transpire in the valley of dry bones. The same life is offered to us, and this is the message that is spreading throughout Northeastern Missouri.

The protracted prayer meeting was a signature event throughout the holiness movement. Praying through helped to forget about the cares and worries of this life, to enter into the spirit of true worship, to become conscious of the hand of God upon us, and to receive the teachings and revelations of God given during the prayer, devotions and ministry of the word.

If the repentance was real, it would be accompanied by a willingness to turn against the general lifestyle of worldliness, to reject the whole spectrum of public entertainment, the loose morals, the absence of strong principles. To stop using tobacco products, drinking liquor, having concubines, gambling, and a forsaking of all activities that appeared ungodly. And, it would be accompanied by a desire to learn how to live for Jesus the Christ.

Sinews (37:6)

If repentance is real, God will personally empower us with sinews of strength to learn and to live the sanctified life. “Sanctify yourselves therefore and be ye holy: for I am the Lord your God.” (Leviticus 20:7) Separation from common and profane socializing was and is part of committing ourselves to an exclusive sacred relationship with God, a holy communion and a spiritual companionship.

The promise to lay sinews upon them was a general recognition of personal defects, faults and weaknesses as it concerned living a clean life and obeying the will of God. The general response of the whole house of Israel was: “Our bones are dried, our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts.” (37:11) In Northeast Missouri, the general response was: “Everybody sins, nobody’s perfect, you can’t help but sin.” Therefore God took it upon himself to provide a perfect sanctification (Hebrews 10:14); to perfect that (sanctification) which concerneth me (the individual) (Psalms 138:8); by laying sinews upon you and canceling all excuses and defenses of weaknesses and failures brought about by accepting sin as a normal fact of common sense life. Moreover Jesus Christ prayed for our sanctification through the truth of the word (John 17:17) which is in and of itself strength and power for all who receive the sinews.

“But there was no breath in them”. (37:8)

No Breath

“But there was no breath in them” (37:8). The breath that they once had was gone. It was not lost in a hostile takeover or in a giant conflict; more like a gradual surrender. The first surrender in Northeastern Missouri was the opening prayer. What was the point in coming to church while the sun was up and spending all that time on your knees until well after dark? Faith works! It doesn’t take all that! The second surrender was to financial need. It didn’t happen all at once; it seemed to ease in and pile up until little by little the general squeeze was on; families leaving town as plants shut down and jobs disappeared.

In spite of the membership and income decline, all previous obligations continued with no let-up for the weary. The squeeze hit every auxiliary, board, circle, class and fellowship. Raising money took up so much time and effort until it seemed more important than ministry and worship.

The third surrender was to organize fund raising: food sales, tag days, rallies, musicals, anniversary celebrations, baby contests, ticket sales, fashion shows and fellowships. All these activities required members to earn and donate money over and above regular contributions and to participate in services which had little spiritual content.

The fourth surrender was to diplomatic concessions of Bible truths. The message of separation from the world, and the difference between holiness and un-cleanliness was quietly not emphasized.

The fifth surrender was to public acceptance by the established religious community. Who they were and what they thought hadn’t mattered when the main desire was to please God. Now public and professional recognition was a tangible need.

The sixth and last in this series of surrenders was to pastoral pride especially in conventions and at the conference level.

Nobody asked for their financial quotas to be lowered.

Everybody tried to put a positive spin on their conditions.

No one asked for help.

Everyone wanted to be well thought of by overseers and other organizational leaders.

Perks and the financial rewards of status and position were eagerly sought after.

Each surrender was a step backward from a spiritual connection with God and a retreat from the faith once delivered unto the saints. Saints are those who have made a covenant with God by sacrifice (Psalms 50:5). Corporate prayer, (which had been a major opportunity for communion with God and a major power resource, declined in importance as members waited to come to church after the singing started) declined in power as an interest in prayer waned and confidence in the power of prayer evaporated. It finally had been reduced to the procedural short invocation.

Faith as the hand that connects with God the Great Physician disappeared as the decision was made to stop waiting on God to provide. Nobody said “God helps them that help themselves,” but was distinctly the belief.

Priorities changed. The offering was taken before the preaching, before the people could start leaving. Taking up the offering could take as long as thirty or forty minutes; depending on how important the person or the project receiving the offering. Sometimes professional operatives called expediters were brought in to extract money from the crowd; relying on man instead of God to take care of business.

Preachers who sought the Lord, studied the word and waited before God for the message for the people were tolerated and sometimes feared, but preachers who could spin the scriptures, tickle the ears, entertain and capture the imagination were celebrated. Sanctification and holiness were reduced to styles and techniques of worship and ministry while the teachings of the word were not emphasized.

As a general result: “Thy prophets find no vision from the Lord.” “Thy prophets have seen vain and foolish things for thee: and they have not discovered thine iniquity, to turn away thy captivity; but have seen for thee false burdens and causes of banishment.” (Lamentations 2:9, 14) “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” (Proverbs 29:18).

Today the altar has not lost its authority but there is no palpable interest in the altar. People stand around and look at the altar, but hardly anyone ever visits the altar or comes to the altar or even expects anything to happen at the altar. “The altar that sanctifieth the gift?” (Matthew 23:19) After all these surrenders, the altar call became an exercise in futility.

Due to overexposure, hypothermia (love grown cold), and the generalized exhaustion and fatigue brought on by non-spiritual busy work, there was no breath in them.

“Our bones are dried,

And our hope is lost!

We are cut off for our parts.” (37:11)

Now that we’ve surrendered and began to bow down to the worldly image of success, status, prominence, and position, the spiritual supports have collapsed or evaporated. Instead of anointed preaching we have highly charged motivational speeches which do not motivate; high energy singing which does not inspire, heal, or refresh; well-heeled leaders who ride around in stretch limousines and live above their means in wealthy subdivisions, who glory in appearance and not in the heart.

Bones dried up and hope was lost when the prayer life as a regular spiritual support dried up. Regularly scheduled prayer was the most active and widely beneficial positive asset in the rural churches. When people believed in praying, everybody prayed, loud and at the same time: preachers, deacons, brothers, sisters, fathers, mothers, grandparents, children, everybody. After a while people would begin to shout, speak in tongues, cry and praise God as first one then another would pray through (dismiss all the cares and worries of this life and begin to totally focus on seeking God). As people prayed through, faith was built up (Jude 20), the sick were healed (James 5:13-16), people were liberated (Acts 12:5-16), received the Holy Ghost (Luke 11:10-13), and immature ignorant folks were given a revelation of the will of God.

When prayer dried up, miracles dried up. By miracles we mean a sudden move of God among his people causing changes, deliverances, healings, and other spectacular achievements too big for people to handle.

One of the first miracles of God in a praying church is “freedom from sin” (Romans 6:22), known to be impossible with men but always possible with God. As God frees his people from sin, he washes away the trash and filth of sin with the washing of regeneration and he drives out the devil and his influence.

The praying church believed that God would supply all needs according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. But when prayer dried up and the belief in miracles dried up, then his riches in glory became a nonproductive theory. There was no expectation of prosperity provided by God. Therefore organized fundraising took over; and since sizable batches of money came in, it seemed to be an acceptable exception to the doctrine of walking and living by faith. When organized fundraising took over, it called the shots:

This is business, not a revival.

Don’t use up the time praying, singing and preaching, what we need is money.

Don’t shove our doctrines down their throats; they may be offended and not donate to the ‘cause’.

Don’t push our standards. Let the homosexuals, drunks, revelers, adulterers and gamblers participate; didn’t Christ accept all men? (the reality is that while Christ accepted the sinner, He was outspoken about the need for repentance)

When the doctrines of holiness, righteousness, purity, and faith were compromised, the message was emptied of all its power and the battlefield became a graveyard.

Repentance is a basic elemental acknowledgment of personal failure, defeat, and loss; a total acceptance of responsibility for the wrong done and the consequential destruction. “I did it. I knew better. It’s my fault. I’m responsible. I deserve whatever happens to me.” When it’s honestly done, the mercy of God goes to work on and in the penitential believer who is reaching out to God. Repentance is a radical reorientation of the whole person and it is the necessary first response to sound graveyard preaching. Amen, bishop.

When repentance is established, the prophet of Psalms 67 describes the full mercy of God as a most excellent example of God providing his smile of affection, favor, and personal interest; opportunities for forgiveness of sin, restoration to favor with God. His gift of enlightment causes knowledge of his ways to be revealed, and generally shown to the human family; a saving healing power. By his mercy the debilitating corruptions, controls, addictions, and the terminal sickness of sin is healed. Although an evil disease (sin) is at work in the land, mercy replaces its invasive malignancy with “saving health.” Among all nations he makes this mercy universally available – no exceptions, no exclusions – for everybody everywhere.

When you repent and the mercy of God goes to work on you and in you, you become a new creature. The new creature doesn’t smoke, drink, fool around with unmarried or strange sex; doesn’t use contraband drugs, gamble, or socialize with people who oppose these standards. “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful,” (Psalms 1:1).

The changes brought on by repentance and the work of mercy makes you a candidate for the baptism of the Holy Ghost “have ye received the holy ghost since ye believed?” (Acts 19:2). Briefly note: In the Book of Revelations five churches in various stages of degeneration were told to repent or else.

“... the backslidden church to repent, and do the first works; or else...” (2:5)

“... a doctrinally corrupt church to repent; or else...” (2:16)

“... a morally corrupt church except they repent of their deeds, I will kill their children with death” (2:22,23)

“The dead church to repent. If… not…, I will come on thee as a thief” (3:3)

“... the bland church to be zealous therefore and repent” (3:19)

Today’s church is no exception. The promise of breath (Ezekiel 37:6) of life and knowledge breathed into the dead is available on condition of repentance and mercy.

Breath

“I will… put breath in you, and you shall live; and you shall know that I am the Lord.” (37:6)

God promises a new breath of life, a new inspiration of knowledge, the baptism of the Holy Ghost. As the sinews give us strength for sanctification, the new breathing gives us a spiritual connection with God, the baptism of the Holy Ghost.

Jesus promised to send the Holy Ghost to disciples who were not able to receive or carry out his future teachings “I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now,” “How be it when he, the spirit of truth is come, he will guide you into all truth:” (John 16:12, 13). He also promised that certain people could not receive or know the spirit of truth: but his disciples would know him on two levels: He would dwell ‘with’ them, and, would be ‘in’ them “and I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another comforter, that He may abide with you forever; even the spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.” (John 14:16, 17)

To move into the power and receive and carry out Jesus’ future teachings, all disciples and believers had to receive the Holy Ghost after they believed. Therefore Paul the Apostle asked certain disciples, “Have you received the Holy Ghost since ye believed?” (Acts 19:2)

The Holy Ghost is the main motivator, chief executive and director of the church. He raised Jesus from the dead “but if the spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his spirit that dwelleth in you,” (Romans 8:11), he calls and anoints ministries “How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power:” (Acts 10:38) “the spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of prison to them that are bound;” (Isaiah 61:1), he reveals Jesus as the Lord, “no man can say that Jesus is Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.” (I Corinthians 12:3); and he distributes gifts throughout the church severally as he will “but all these worketh that one and selfsame spirit dividing to every man severally as he will.” (I Corinthians 12:11). It is dangerous to irritate, dishonor, or vex him “But they rebelled, and vexed his holy spirit: therefore he was turned to be their enemy, and he fought against them.” (Isaiah 63:10). Actions then without receiving his permission and support will be tentative, uncertain, and insecure “after they were come to Mysia, they assayed to go to Bithynia: but the spirit suffered them not.” (Acts 16:7). If the Spirit is not the main leader in our lives, he will be grieved. He will not be a subordinate resource; he will be grieved “and grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.” (Ephesians 4:30). And our subsequent grief will be compounded and intensified by personal failures, confusions, depressions, and finally death; as the body without the spirit is dead (James 2:26). Blasphemy against Him (to insult, revile, calumniate or abuse; impious or evil speaking against) cancels all spiritual prospects and benefits in this life and in the life to come “but he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation:” (Mark 3:29).

Renewal

(To breathe new life into)

Finally, the Holy Ghost is the only agency of renewal for a ministry and a life that has been compromised and dried up by defeat, sin and transgression “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.” (Psalms 51:10), for those who have lost hope in the power of God and are no longer willing to endure hardness as a good soldier “thou hidest thy face, they are troubled: thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust. Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created! And thou renewest the face of the earth” (Psalms 104:29, 30), and for those whose spirit was overwhelmed by complaints and disaffections “I remembered God, and was troubled: I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed. For the enemy hath persecuted my soul, he hath smitten my life down to the ground, he hath made me dwell in darkness, as those that have been long dead. Therefore is my spirit overwhelmed within me, my heart within me is desolate.” (Psalms 77:3; 143:3-4). Renewal is a continuing opportunity “the inward man is renewed day by day.” (II Corinthians 4:16); “and renewing of the Holy Ghost. (Titus 3:6). Renewal is an action of God distributed by the faithful preaching of the word of prophecy “the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy” (Revelation 19:10). Is this the preaching that Bishop Patterson was looking for? It is a new inspiration from God that informs, enlightens, and causes people to recover lost gifts and abilities to fulfill the ministry and plan of God for their lives “but there is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the almighty giveth them understanding” (Job 32:8).

God is promising power and knowledge to overcome the social corruption of the times, to train up and socialize children to become men and women of principle, to recover the creative resourcefulness and authority intended for his people, to stop being dependent on human resources, to stop being influenced by worldly authorities; and to trust in his prophetic words to overcome sickness, personal and public failures, and death: ‘you shall live and you shall know’, is included in the new breath. This is a belief system of revealed knowledge received and made effective by the faithful preaching of a class of prophets who preach the word exactly as it is received from God. Overcoming death and recovering life powers was the basic purpose of preaching as anointed by the hand of God. Ezekiel was no exception.

Since the children are more and more becoming collateral casualties of the general social corruption of the times, Ezekiel’s vision of the dry bones more and more points to the spiritually renewed church as the essential source of deliverance. For example, the state supported schools have no capacity to challenge the pervasive influence of noncommercial sodomy (homosexualism), unwed parenthood, youth norms which command the loyalty of the children such as:

She had to because he was her boyfriend.

If I don’t, he won’t love me anymore.

The boys won’t wear anything and they must have their way, so what can a girl do?

You just don’t know what’s happening.

There’s no shame; you get pregnant, you have a baby, and the state supported schools routinely ignore the spiritual life powers; choosing rather to promote the practical and physical arts and sciences for achievements in social, public, business, and political affairs. As state supported cultural centers, these schools provide a total society for children and define reality through academic programs, athletic activities, and minimally supervised social get-togethers; and leave parents in a solitary and confusing struggle to train up their children.

The state (the government which stands behind the schools) is in and of itself incompetent and incapacitated to challenge, to confront, or overcome the failures, defects, and abominations of sin and iniquity which cause death. In its efforts to provide domestic tranquility, wickedness (adultery, fornication, sodomy, abortion, gambling, prostitution and etc.) has been decriminalized and compromises have been made with robber barons, extortionists and murderers. Keep in mind that Ezekiel’s valley of dry bones was once a battlefield if the word ‘army’ (37:10) has any meaning.

The prophetic anointing of the preacher with a message is then the renewal authority for the graveyard.

The Ministry

As a priest (Ezekiel 1:3) Ezekiel, a direct descendant of Aaron the chief priest, was also directly responsible to God for his official, personal and public behavior. “and the Lord spake unto Aaron saying, do not drink wine or strong drink, thou nor thy sons with thee, when ye go into the tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die: It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations: And that ye may put difference between Holy and unholy, and between clean and unclean; and that ye may teach the children of Israel all the statutes which the Lord hath spoken unto them by the hand of Moses.” (Leviticus 10:8-11). His ministry included instructing the general population of Israel and serving on an appeals court when matters arose which were too great for the chosen judges and officers who served in the gates “Judges and officers shalt thou make thee in all thy gates, which the Lord thy God giveth thee, throughout thy tribes: And they shall judge the people with just judgment... If there arise a matter too hard for thee in judgment, between blood and blood, between plea and plea, and between stroke and stroke, being matters of controversy with the gates: then shalt thou arise, and get thee up into the place which the Lord thy God shall choose; and thou shalt come unto the priests, the Levites, and unto the judge that shall be in those days, and inquire; and they shall show thee the sentence of judgment...” (Deuteronomy 16:18; 17:8-9); he was responsible to maintain and authenticate the official copies of the Law of Moses “and Moses wrote this law, and delivered it unto the priests and the sons of the Levi… He shall write him a copy of this law in a book out of that which is before the priests and the levities:” (Deuteronomy 31:9; 17:18); and, to stand before God to minister unto him offering the fat and the blood of the sacrificial offerings (Ezekiel 44:15, 16).

Along with these administrative, judicial and ministerial duties of the priesthood, God gave Ezekiel a prophetic calling[1] complete with the personal relationship of the hand of God upon him[2], visions of the glory, power, movement, and presence of God, and relations of life and instruction for defeated failures.[3]

Those brothers and sisters led of the Lord to come into Northeast Missouri as spiritual relatives of Ezekiel, and as associates in the ministry, all face the same problems as this dislocated priest[4] with a prophetic calling upon his life.

To build a ministry that includes administrative, evangelistic, and prophetic functions; and is at the same time inspiring and productive, will require revival that not only reverses the action of death and decomposition, but recovers and reinstates all the life powers of the creative, the faith building, and the empowering work of God revealed and made available in and through the resurrected son of God.

The early preachers proclaimed a consistent literal Bible quoting message of the gospel. They argued that God cared and that Jesus was in town to rescue and liberate mankind at large from ALL the shortcomings and failures of life that had been brought about by sin. And that Jesus saves from sin itself. Also, that Jesus can protect you from sinful temptations and addictions. And that Jesus could and would set you up in a life of freedom, spiritual authority and productive kingdom citizenship.

The power of holiness according to direct statements from the old and new testaments of the authorized King James Version of the Holy Bible was the signature message of these preachers. Since God the Father is Holy, God the Son (Jesus) is Holy and the Holy Ghost (Spirit) is Holy, everybody who had any interest in being saved or in pleasing God had to be Holy, because “without holiness no man shall see the lord.” (Hebrews 12:14b). All the life powers, spiritual authorities, spiritual gifts and salvational benefits are comprehended and contained in holiness. For instance:

The beauty of holiness was an object of praise. (II Chronicles 20:21)

The highway of salvation is called the way of holiness. (Isaiah 35:8)

The holy covenant sworn to Abraham called for service to God in holiness and righteousness all the days of our life. (Luke 1:72-75)

The power of resurrection is the spirit of holiness. (Romans 1:4)

The Christian calling is to holiness instead of uncleanness. (I Thessalonians 4:7)

Believers are expected to partake of his Holiness by submitting to chastening from God. (Hebrews 12:9-11)

Perfecting holiness in the fear of God is the cleansing process connected to receiving the promises of the holy covenant. (II Corinthians 6:17-7:1)

Fruit unto holiness is a result of being made free from sin and becoming a servant to God. (Romans 6:22)

And, in the end time, holy people are people of power. (Daniel 12:7)

Therefore, when the gospel as a kerugma of holy power was believed, signs routinely followed. Miracles of healing, recoveries from alcohol, tobacco, drug addictions and personal handicaps, along with deliverances from demon possession and sicknesses were regular events and were sometimes documented by testimonies and displays of braces, canes, crutches, trusses and other medical paraphernalia which was no longer needed.

Standing on the fundamental truth of the historical word, Ezekiel preached the power of the life-giving creative word. When God said, “Can these bones live,” He expressed an interest in and a commitment to life from the dead. When He said, “Prophesy upon these bones,” he made the prophetic word his creative commitment to a productive future. When the bones began to spontaneously organize (bone to his bone), He made the prophetic word the creative agency to initiate the recovery and rebuilding of the reunified nations of Israel and Judah under a new covenant and a resurrected King David. And He transformed the graveyard into a thriving and secure community of soldiers and believers of Jesus Christ, “an exceeding great army” (Ezekiel 37:10).

At this time, the northern kingdom of Israel has disappeared as a nation, David is dead, and the covenant made with the fathers is broken and will be superseded by a new covenant and a resurrected king David. (Jeremiah 31:31) Only Jesus of Nazareth meets these needs comprehensively.

Graveyard ministries are developed without regard for institutional protocols, organized ecclesiastical connections, or democratic processes. God told Ezekiel what to do. Ezekiel did what he was instructed and things happened. For this class of ministers, Ezekiel is an excellent spiritual example.

As terribly significant as it might be, ministries to the dead and defeated will not be celebrated in the great assemblies of the high profile personalities and mega ministries.

When Bishop Patterson cried out that a preacher with a message could start a revival in a graveyard, he was tightening the screws and cranking it up another notch. This ministry demands a fixed orientation and a total spiritual focus. Preaching to the dead, dried up and defeated requires the preacher to believe in the resurrection power of the prophetic word and that he be committed to a vocation of sacrificial service according to a calling and vision from God, without regard to financial rewards or personal honors. He will need to pray until he receives the power to make hard choices, to endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ, and to choose the ministry of suffering in the interest of building the Kingdom of God according to God’s instruction instead of striving for personal advantage.

As God prepared Ezekiel for this ministry, all graveyard preachers must be similarly prepared. After he received his calling and his orders, he was warned;

The children of Israel, a rebellious nation that hath rebelled against me! They and their fathers have transgressed against me, even to this very day.

“They are impudent children and stiffhearted. But the house of Israel will not harken unto thee; for they will not harken unto me: For all the house of Israel are impudent and hardhearted.” (Ezekiel 2:4; 3:7)

Along with the warnings he was given reassurances that his primary objective was to do his job in spite of the circumstances.

“And they, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear, yet shall know that there hath been a prophet among them. Be not afraid of them, neither be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns be with thee, and thou dost dwell among scorpions: Be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house.” (Ezekiel 2:5,6)

Power of God’s plans to spontaneously materialize happened in connection with this preacher putting down roots in the word of God “and the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward;” (Isaiah 37:31) and having a totally focused single eyed commitment to God’s word as the only foundation for life. Moreover he was prepared to stand alone in an unpopular cause as did Eleazar the Ahohite whose “hand clave unto the sword” (II Samuel 23:9, 10) even though he had been abandoned by the men of Israel; as our saviour who “looked, and there was none to help; and… wondered that there was none to uphold: Therefore his own arm brought salvation unto him; and his fury, it upheld him.” (Isaiah 63:5)

God gives visions. This is a defining fact of Ezekiel and his ministry. The word vision is directly used in the book of Ezekiel eighteen separate times along with twenty-four direct statements of the word of God coming to him. And nine times he tells of the hand of God upon him. All the above are references to direct personal communications from God to this preacher. Visions then are the medium of communication from God to the receiver. Visions are a necessary personal and spiritual asset because “Where there is no vision, the people perish:” (Proverbs 29:18a). And, God will blame blind followers who follow blind leaders; “If the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch” (Matthew 15:14b). Since vision was a regular detail in Ezekiel’s ministry, all preachers who respond to Bishop Patterson’s call should wait for their vision “The vision is yet for a appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: Though it tarry, wait for it, because it will surely come, it will not tarry.” (Habakkuk 2:3)

Take a look at Bible teachings on visions:

“Your young men shall see visions” (Acts 2:17), “a vision appeared to Paul in the night,” (Acts 16:9). God gives instructions in dreams, in visions of the night (Job 33:15, 16) which require obedience “I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision” (Acts 26:19), and they are so clear and straight-forward that they (the visions) can be written out, read and understood by any reader. “Write the vision and make it plain” (Habakkuk 2:2).

Sometimes God gives visions that trouble the mind “The visions of my head troubled me” (Daniel 7:15). Sometimes you have to seek for meaning “I, Daniel, had seen a vision, and sought for the meaning,” (Daniel 8:15). Sometimes a vision of the future so bewilders and perplexes the mind “Another vision of the evening and the morning which was told is true: wherefore shut thou up the vision; for it shall be for many days.” “And I Daniel fainted, and was sick certain days; afterward I rose up, and did the king’s business; and I was astonished at the vision, but none understood it.” (Daniel 8:26, 27) and there is nothing left to do but to “go thy way: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.” (Daniel 12:9).

The plain vision however comes with clear instruction and energized motivation for any reader “That he may run that readeth it.” (Habakkuk 2:2), clearly demands for change of behavior and attitude “God hath shown me that I should not call any man common or unclean.” (Acts 10:28) Explicit directions for ministry “To him said the Lord in a vision,” “Ananias... Go… Inquire… For… Saul,” (Acts 9:10, 11), and a personal revelation of deliverance “He prayeth, and hath seen in a vision… Ananias… putting his hand on him, that he might receive his sight.” (Acts 9:11, 12).

Visions, whether plain or sealed, are exclusively given by and from God. In a vision, God reveals his presence, his purpose and his plan. By the power of his word, he brings it to pass.

Although his word is a medium of communication and instruction, it is also a creative power generator. It’s action and authority is not limited by any human agency, opposition, or environmental condition – it is able to minister independent of any speaker “The word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision, saying,” (Genesis 15:1) and to create without any organization or support “by the word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.” (Psalms 33:6).

The word of God is the central focus of this ministry and the defining detail of his personal life “There came a man of God out of Judah by the word of the Lord” (1Kings 13:1).

Telling the dead to “hear the word of the Lord” (Ezekiel 37:4) will require the preacher to preach expecting the word to execute the purposes of God among the helpless and the hopeless. Moreover, it will require him to dismiss all the social programs and faith substitutes and to put all his eggs in one basket (the Word of God). If the Word is who we say he is, we ought to be able to count on him keeping his promises. If he is as powerful as we say he is, there ought to be some healings happening among us “He sent his word and healed them,” (Psalms 107:20), sanctification should be happening to us “Sanctify them through thy truth; thy word is truth.” (John 17:17), the word of his grace should be building us up “The word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified.” (Acts 20:32) and causing us to become people of power “For his word was with power.” (Luke 4:32b)

Revival

Ezekiel’s narrative of the dry bones vision can be read and digested by a normal reader in about one minute and fifty seconds.

Bishop Patterson’s prophecy of revival in a grave yard erupted as a sudden revelation, given to a sizable metropolitan convocation in about an hour.

Moving from prophecy to fulfillment may take a little longer than an hour, a minute and fifty seconds.

Revival reverses the action of death, decomposition, disintegration and despair, and restores by imparting supernatural life that supersedes and overpowers the defects and inadequacies of natural life. Revival is power in action to animate, motivate, restore, repair, give vitality and invigorate.

Can it happen again? Son of man, can these bones live?

The bones in verse eleven are people who have given up and allowed themselves to be filled with a spirit of anxiety and a somber skepticism regarding truth, accompanied by fantasies of the past, unhappy comparisons with the past and a desperate attachment to anyone who resembled the successful past (could sing the ‘old’ songs, preach the down home way, quote the ‘old’ scriptures, sat under the ‘old’ leaders who taught the ‘old’ path).

When they say “our bones are dried,” they are saying that the doctrinal supports which provided the structural framework for the body is broken down. We don’t teach the same, we don’t believe the same, we don’t act the same “we see not our signs: there is no more any prophet: neither is there among us any that knoweth how long. (Psalms 74:9), there is no prospect for growth in grace since the red bone marrow which is a blood forming tissue has dried up. No new blood, no vitality. Take a brief look at some of what the experts say about bones:

They provide the structural frame to support the body, house the blood forming tissue (red bone marrow) and act as a reservoir for mineral calcium.

The process of bone remodeling organizes the bone into orderly units that give the mature bone greater strength and enables the body to regulate the levels of calcium ions in the blood and interstitial fluids. These calcium levels must remain within a fairly tight range in order to ensure the proper functioning of nerve transmission, the integrity and permeability of cellular membranes, and the ability of the blood to clot.[5]

Dried bones: No red bone marrow, no new blood, no mineral calcium, no regeneration, no strength, no regulation of calcium ions, no order, no communication, and no power in the blood for healing.

Moreover, spiritual deficiencies “a broken spirit drieth the bones” (Proverbs 17:22) cancel all the positive powers of the body. “The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity; but a wounded spirit who can bear?” (Proverbs 18:14) A good report, however is the therapeutic answer “A good report maketh the bones fat.” (Proverbs 15:30). Fat is not a good word in our society; therefore, humor me these few lines depicting fat as a biblical positive asset:

The firstling of his flock and of the fat thereof, ‘cheleb’ – richest or choice part, best (Genesis 4:4) well favoured and fat kine fed, firm, plenteous (Genesis 41:4). Ye shall eat the fat of the land, ‘cheleb’ – richest or choice part, best (Genesis 45:18) but Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked, ‘Shamen’ - rich, lusty, plenteous (Deuteronomy 32:15) let your soul delight itself in fatness, ‘dashen’ – to anoint – to satisfy, abundance, the fatty ashes of sacrifice (Isaiah 55:2) also: see “Roget’s Super Thesaurus,” second edition, page 231 Marc McCutchen 1998 fat – #2. Rich, affluent, prosperous, well-to-do, moneyed, well-heeled, comfortable, profitable.

Therefore, in the interest of fattening up dried bones, God sent a preacher with a message (good report) into a graveyard. Bishop Patterson’s prophecy followed that same rationale. Since God decided to start the revival using a preacher with a message, Bishop Patterson called for preachers with a message to be the avant-garde of revival evangelism.

The pocket biographies of Bishop V. M. Barker and company gave us a survey of how they managed during the separate but equal days. In Northeast Missouri, almost all the ministries, churches, institutions, and outreaches were influenced, developed, and directed by preachers with a message.

Is Ezekiel’s vision a consistent revelation for our time? Are there any more preachers out there with a message willing to go into the graveyard (vineyard) and work?

When God sent Ezekiel into the graveyard with a message for the bones, he revealed to Ezekiel and the rest of us that all the life powers for mankind at large are essentially spiritual “It is the spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing: The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.” (John 6:63)  “The spirit… that raised up Jesus from the dead... Shall also quicken your mortal bodies…” Romans 8:11) And that the life giving action is of God’s own personal initiative. Nobody persuaded or convinced him. It was his unsolicited choice to animate, recover and to service a group of deadbeat losers.

Revival is God’s own private personal property and plan. It will not be organized, orchestrated, managed or manipulated by high powered musicians, fast talking preachers or well-connected promoters. It must be called into existence by the word of God and animated by his Spirit in a general display of his presence and power. In revival, God testifies in Christ Jesus for the purpose of fulfilling his original creation plan, and for the establishment of full communion of man with God. God is moving to rebuild the broken down church “after this I will return, and will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up: that the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the gentiles upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things.” (Acts15:16, 17; see also Amos 9:11, 12) and to restore it to service as an overcoming army of Jehovah Sabaoth (the lord of the hosts).

When they said “our hope is lost,” they were whining, bellyaching and grieving over losses, shortages, disappointments, insecurities, shame and disgrace from failed endeavors. The hopeless spirit was submerged under an intolerable burden according to Asaph the seer “I remembered God, and was troubled (guilty conscience): I complained and my spirit was overwhelmed. Selah thou holdest mine eyes waking: I am so troubled that I cannot speak” (Psalms 77:3, 4). Moreover the choice to stop hoping compromises the heart, “hope deferred maketh the heart sick:” (Proverbs 13:12) weakens the character, nature, and personality; and troubles communications with God.

If it’s important enough for God to take note of its loss, then hope must be a priority revival objective.

By definition, hope is a prospective spiritual power. It works in connection with patience as a prospective spiritual affection. When a person hopes, with patience he waits. This willingness to wait is a prospective spiritual commitment.

According to the scriptures this hope is a shared expectation of a certain promise made by God unto the fathers of Israel “and now I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise made of God unto our fathers:” (Acts 26:6) and it is connected to the general expectation of the resurrection of the dead “of the hope and resurrection of the dead I am called into question” (Acts 23:6). It also is a power to be believed in without reference to possibility or proof. “Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, so shall thy seed be. And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah’s womb: He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; and being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.” (Romans 4:18-21)

Hope against hope, a dead body, a dead womb, strong in faith, fully persuaded that God’s promise is a guaranteed prospect of revival and new life complete with all the powers of growth, generation, and national productivity. Here revival in a graveyard is propounded as a family asset. A dead man and his dead wife rising up to build a new humanity.

Hope as a personal asset is critical for salvation “For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.” (Romans 8:24, 25) and a power that strengthens for patient endurance “and so, after he (Abraham) had patiently endured, he obtained the promise.” (Hebrews 6:15) in situations that require a firm, tenacious commitment to purpose rooted only in faith and trusting of God’s promise. “… We might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us:” (Hebrews 6:18). As an “... anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast...” (Hebrews 6:19). Character, name, and personality become predictable according to the promise of God.

Ezekiel’s vision put us on notice that hope with all its good offices and benefits can be lost “our hope is lost” (37:11). Therefore, status, revival, salvation, sonship, are conditioned by an “if” clause “… if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.” (Hebrews 3:6); “if ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel,” (Colossians 1:23), which defines our relationship as an action of “a better hope… by the which we draw nigh unto God.” (Hebrews 7:19)

Cut Off for Our Parts

Since there was an occasional failure in observing the “if” clause, revival has become a problem.

When we talk about “cut off for our parts,” we are talking disintegration of our moral character.

The word revival has gone through a series of changes in meaning and procedure. Historically, revivals were believed to be a work of God rather than the result of human effort. Early American puritans believed that hardships like natural calamities, such as Indian raids, etc., represented God’s judgments on communities that had violated God’s word. Repentance, fasting and prayer with a renewed commitment to “walk in God’s ways” were one prescribed response. Sometimes “seasons of awakenings” followed. The first general revival appeared among the Dutch in the middle colonies in the 1720’s and in New England in the 1730’s and 1740’s.

The revival was so widespread, intense, and remarkable that it was known as the great awakening. The defender, chronicler, and theologian of this revival was Jonathan Edwards.

During the 1790’s another revival called the second great awakening because it began locally but spread to many parts of the country manifesting itself in responsiveness to preaching, increased church attendance, and greater attention to public morality.

In the early nineteenth century, revival happened in the Yale University student body and it was received as a “surprising work of God.” Sinners were converted, believers renewed, and in 1810 the first American foreign missionary association was formed, named the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, and the first foreign missionaries had sailed from India.

Near Cane Ridge, Kentucky in 1801, a camp meeting of spontaneous preaching that generated intense outpourings of prayer, repentance, shouting, spontaneous singing, praise and rejoicing made camp meetings the favoured means for revival.

In the 1820’s Charles G. Finney helped organize revivals. He argued that the revivals resulted from the right use of the right means. He became the first of nationally known revivalists.

Later Dwight L. Moody with his chorister Ira D. Sankey would dominate revivalism with the use of gospel songs in revival services. Although a prayer group prayed for the success of his work, Moody did not call for community or congregational prayer, fasting or generalized repentance in his revival efforts. His contempories, Maria B. Woodworth-Etter who traveled the country with a tent, praying for the sick; and Sam Jones, who required that all churches in the community close for the revival and participate in pre-revival prayer meetings, also attracted large crowds and encouraged converts to join local congregations.

By 1900 revivalism became a major tool of individual churches.[6]

In the Asusa Street Revival, the people were encouraged to pray and to move as the spirit lead.

For the ministries of Northeast Missouri, revivals were sought by prayer services that could go on indefinitely, (all day, late at night, and until early morning) fasting (one day, three days, five days) and intense preaching that would continue daily for up to thirty days.

During the 1950’s the prayers were shortened to one hour per day and sometimes to one day per week. The evening revival services were shortened to two week periods.

During the 1960’s fasting and prayer was no longer emphasized as a spiritual discipline and revival services rarely lasted longer than one week.

Today the word revival generally refers to previously scheduled services at a local church, rented hall, auditorium, or tent with guest musicians and a traveling speaker, and is quite a dumbed-down version of the earlier revivals which emphasized the denying of self in order to fully comprehend and follow God’s will.

Following the decline of real revival as a principal spiritual asset in reconstructing the spiritual church of Northeast Missouri – we have a reduced sense of community – and no perceived need for fellowship in the spirit.

So What’s Next?

Since God is the one who motivated and empowered Ezekiel to do his job among the dry bones, what is his will for us?

He first of all desires that we acknowledge the failures of the past, turn from the habits, attitudes, and decisions that caused the failures, and to get over the grief, disappointment, fault finding, and other efforts to clarify and fix the blame.

The reality is that we are all to blame: the leaders caused the people to err and the people chose to honor and to listen to errant leadership. We forget that we were born to overcome the world and that the power of the blood and the word of our testimony authorized us to overcome the devil himself. And that every church discussed in the book of Revelation was ‘REQUIRED’ to become an overcoming church.

Briefly note:

“To him that overcometh” (Revelation 2:7, 2:17 & 3:21)

“He that overcometh”              (Revelation 2:11, 2:26 & 3:5)

“Him that overcometh”              (Revelation 3:11)

A sevenfold obligation is levied upon all the above because of their status as having backslid, being doctrinally incorrect, morally corrupt, dead, suffering or indifferent. All must get over the failures of the past and repent, accepting the challenge of the future and to be transformed from failures to overcomers.

This brings us to the counsel of the weeping prophet, the writer of the death-letter (Lamentations) “Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the Lord.” (Lamentations 3:40); the counsel of the prophet of God made him take his adulterous wife back: “Come, and let us return unto the Lord: For he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up.” “After two days will he revive us: In the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight.” “Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord: His going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.” (Hosea 6:1-3); and, to the counsel of the Psalmist: “I entreated thy favour with my whole heart: Be merciful unto me according to thy word.” “I thought on my ways, and turned my feet unto thy testimonies.” (Psalms 119:58, 59)

Honesty (I am to blame), faithfulness (I promised to the Lord), and obedience (not my will but thy will be done). These are the big challenges for the future which enable us to be transformed from failures to overcomers.

When my gift is compromised and my faith is diminished, the responsibility for its recovery is mine. “Neglect not the gift that is in thee,” “that thou stir up the gift of God which is in thee” (I Timothy 4:14; II Timothy 1:6;). “... Gifts and calling of God are without repentance” (Romans 11:29) and are not subject to revocation or cancellation. Gifts and callings come attached to eternal obligations.

The words “neglect not” places the blame for the compromised gifts and the diminished faith squarely on the shoulders of the gifted. The counsel to “stir up” (kindle up a dormant fire; to revive, excite, and quicken one’s God-given strength) makes recovery of the inactive gift the responsibility of the gifted. The “without repentance” clause of Romans 11:29 warns the gifted that in the great eternal hereafter he/she will be held to account for stewardship, the use or misuse of gifts and callings.

Therefore there are no theological explanations or reasons for out of service gifts or for derailed callings.

The pathway to becoming an overcomer is paved with honest confession of fault and a personal responsibility for all failures; and personal repentance, for both saved and unsaved failures.

The power to become an overcomer is connected to continually (faithfulness) following and listening for and to the counsel of God according to His word and not according to prominent leaders or magnetic personalities. That said, discernment is required when others speak as sometimes they do have an insight we should hear.

The victory of becoming an overcomer is demonstrated in the action of the Holy Ghost leading “For as many as are led by the spirit of God, they are the sons of God.” (Romans 8:14) testifying for us “bearing witness with our spirit” (8:16) teaching “He will guide you into all truth.” (John 16:13) and empowering us with visible displays of his spirit. “God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will.” (Hebrews 2:4)

Death

Is Not the End

“Therefore prophesy and say unto them, thus saith the Lord God; behold O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel.” “And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O my people and brought you up out of your graves” “O my people:” God continues to express ownership, relationship, and interest in the welfare, wellbeing, and future of his unbelieving and undeserving people in spite of the fact that they have failed to fulfill their responsibility to the mutual covenant.

Grace reaches beyond death “I will open your graves,” and destroys him that had the power of death and overrules death itself “and cause you to come up out of your graves”, emphasizing the supremacy of the jurisdiction of God over life and death.

At the Graveyard

Ezekiel 37:11

After defining the bones as the whole house of Israel, the preacher is commanded to prophesy. Prophecy is the job description and the content of the ministry and message. His academic training, mental skill, personal convictions, ideas or creeds are not relevant and in fact, will come in the way of God’s will if the man won’t suppress his own will beforehand. God is talking and the speaker is the instrument of God ministering by the spiritual power which fills and incites him; a direct personal engagement between God and man. To these hopeless, despondent, depressed, deadbeats and losers, prophecy is the ministry of restoration and renewal. As the instrument of God, the prophet is told what to “say unto them.” This instruction places the prophet under obligation to the message, to proclaim it as he is told; he has no ownership in the message, no personal reputation to protect, and no need to please, impress, or satisfy the expectations of the audience. Earlier God had counseled the prophet and that is enough.

“Also thou son of man, the children of thy people still are talking against thee by the walls and in the doors of the houses, and speak one to another, everyone to his brother, saying, come, I pray you, and hear what is the word that cometh forth from the Lord.”

“And they come unto thee as the people cometh, and they sit before thee as my people, and they hear thy words, but they will not do them: for with their mouth they shew much love, but their heart goeth after their covetousness.”

“And, lo, thou art unto them as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument: for they hear thy words, but they do them not.”

“And when this cometh to pass, (lo, it will come,) then shall they know that a prophet hath been among them.” (Ezekiel 33:30-33) Later the Christian ministry encounters this same issue:

“Do I now persuade men or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.” (Galatians 1:10)

“But as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel, even so we speak; not as pleasing men, but God, which trieth our hearts.”

“For neither at any time used we flattering words, as ye know, nor a cloke of covetousness; God is witness:”

“Nor of men sought we glory, neither of you, nor yet of others...” (I Thessalonians 2:4-6a)

“Thus saith the Lord God;”

God is talking! The prophet is not speaking for God nor is he God’s representative or advocate. He is God’s servant/slave, God’s voice “he said, I am ‘the voice’ of one crying in the wilderness, make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias.” (John 1:23). Transported by the spirit of the Lord and set down in a graveyard to fulfill a ministry.

The graveyard is a land of death, loss, tears and reality in its harshest expression. The prophet is not here to officiate the funeral nor to assist in the inevitable concession to termination, but to proclaim the message of recovery and renewal for these deadbeat losers and all who can be reached throughout the range and depth of this prophecy.

God Intends to Minister Here

“Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel.” (37:12) He intends to demonstrate in plain sight his authority, power, and jurisdiction over the graves and all who are in the graves and to establish them in a land of promise and productivity. By the public display of his authoritative jurisdictional power at the graveyard, he has established forever his capacity to perfect any and all issues pertaining to his human family; living or dead. “Rachel can yet hope though dead for centuries.” (Jeremiah 31:15-17)

Briefly note: The prophet prayed. The Lord heard the prayer; and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived. (I Kings 17:22)

Another prophet prayed, himself stretched upon the body of the dead child: The child sneezed seven times and opened his eyes. (II Kings 4:32-37)

The pall bearers had the body, feared for their lives, and dropped it in the sepulcher of Elisha the prophet. When the body touched the bones of the prophet, he revived and stood up on his feet. (II Kings 13:21)

“A certain ruler came to Jesus and worshipped him, saying my daughter is even now dead… lay thy hand upon her and she shall live… He went in… took her by the hand… the maid arose.” (Matthew 9:18-25)

The pallbearers had the body, Jesus touched the bier, told the young man to arise “He that was dead sat up, and began to speak.” (Luke 7:11-16)

After Jesus’ resurrection, the graves were opened; “and many bodies of the saints which slept arose… Came out of the graves… went into the holy city, and appeared unto many. (Matthew 27:52, 53)

Opening graves and causing people to rise up out of them is a general fact of God’s ministry; not symbolic or allegorical, but simply His way. God is well situated in his super eminent control over death and all its issues, impacts and results. As the only begotten son of God, having proceeded from God as God of God, God by God, and God with God, Jesus occupies a mutually consistent unity with God, and control over death in his own person “yet under the obedience of his Father”; and, in his own name “The dead shall hear the voice of the son of God: and they that hear shall live.” (John 5:25) commands Lazarus to “come forth;” (John 11:43) at the graveyard.

Ye Shall Know (37:13)

Knowledge of God accompanies the public display of graveyard power. Every beneficiary of this graveyard power “knows” what changes, deliverances and improvements have happened to and for him/her, and has a confidential awareness of new beginnings. Knowledge of God is also a condition of the new covenant prophecy of Jeremiah “They shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord.” (31:34). As such, it is the general experience of every beneficiary of graveyard power to know assuredly that God has moved publicly and decisively in resurrection power at the graveyard.

Spiritual Quickening

“Shall put my spirit in you and you shall live.”

The opportunity to start over again is made available to proven failures and losers. In a time of grief and personal loss, Bishop Patterson heard with Jacob that there was corn (life) in Egypt (the graveyard). This promise of God putting his spirit in his people would be a spiritual quickening to life; a triumph over the defeats, defects, and failures of the past. His spirit in you is the quickening agency “It is the spirit that quickeneth;” (John 6:63) that imparts supernatural life, supersedes and overpowers the defects and inadequacies of natural life. The quickening spirit animates, repairs and restores the person quickened.

God is taking the initiative to build a new humanity with a new future on a better promise of spiritual life with a destiny “I shall place you in your own land:” (37:14). “He giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; and hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;” (Acts 17:25b, 26) complete with prospects planned by God and executed by the life giving spirit of God. This destiny of Israel and Judah is preceded by a promise of life and leadership by his spirit and by his initiative “‘I’ have opened your graves, brought you up out of your graves, shall put my spirit in you… ‘I’ shall place you…” He establishes his people in a unity and fellowship previously unknown.

This unity and fellowship propounded at the graveyard had implications in the spirit for Judah, the children of Israel, Joseph, Ephraim, and all the house of Israel, and all the believing community of mankind at large “and the heathen shall know that I the Lord do sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore.” (37:28)

A Testimony

Three months after hearing Bishop Patterson’s revival message, we left California and returned to the Midwest where ministries had evaporated, and memberships had scattered and backslidden. In some areas buildings had collapsed or burned down which further emphasizes the condition of the locality.

One counselor had warned us against returning and said, “There’s nothing for you back here.” However, God had spoken. He said: “If He can raise the dead, He can raise a dollar. And, if He can create in Genesis, He can create here.” Also, his “I will” build my church declaration was an unequivocal commitment to purpose; no conditions, no reservations, and no concessions.

After having lived in the city for a number of years, returning to the Midwest required sizable cultural, financial, and social readjustments, reconnections, and a general reformation of manners, attitudes and ideas on my part. Changes were evident, but some things had stayed the same. Therefore, the first year was a time of transition, of learning and unlearning, of prayer, of listening to God, and of being confirmed in his ministry and his purpose. It was a hard year, with hard struggles, and a hard studied indifference of spectators, observers and commentators.

During the first year of returning to the Midwest, we (my wife, family and I) were invited to a Sunday afternoon service. At the service I was recognized as a visitor and asked to have remarks. Following my remarks, the district superintendent presiding discerned that God was with me and acknowledged that God was establishing me as a graveyard preacher. He gave me his personal endorsement to work the graveyard circuit. After the service was dismissed and we were socializing, a known prophetess greeted me and told me that while she discerned some anxiety in my spirit, I should not worry or be anxious, the Lord was working his plan according to his will. “Trust God and be willing to wait patiently,” she told me.

We returned to our field of labour, began walking the streets, passing out tracts (papers that discussed salvation prospects), praying in the homes and advertising the new ministry in town.

A little while later, a young man told me about an abandoned church building ‘down in the bottoms’ (a low lying river bottom area located in the floodplain. During the great flood of ’73, they rode boats around the church, gigging fish that had swum in with the flood). The Lord began to draw people into the building and to establish a fellowship of seekers.

As the fellowship began to grow and the Lord moved us into a previously unoccupied Jewish synagogue. It was a nice brownstone brick building about two blocks south of the county courthouse. A city court judge was the previous president of the synagogue and he and the congregation of Israel offered to sell us this property at a very generous price and very generous terms (the first year’s rent would apply towards the down payment). Coincidentally another church showed up with more money and cash on hand and offered the congregation of Israel a much better deal than they were getting from us. Although no papers had been signed, the judge and his associates kept their word at the original price. They changed the terms however, from one year, to six months, and then to sixty days. God raised his money in thirty days, but it took them six months to organize their paperwork and we collected interest on the Lord’s money for six months.

As when God drew the bones together for Ezekiel, he began to bring in assorted strangers, foreigners, defeated losers and scissor bills to this young ministry.

We watched God work:

Through revealed and fulfilled prophecy

Through the prayers of a handful of believers

Through literal Bible preaching

Through the providential presence of God

Through miracles and deliverances

Through the power to endure hardness

Before I moved to the city in search of a ‘place’, it had been revealed to me that I was a minister in the Midwest. I was painfully conscious of my ignorance as a minister and a man; academic achievements notwithstanding. Overqualified academically, but still unprepared. During this confusion, God began to direct my path and as I worked, I learned.

Then one of our prophetesses specifically described the ministry ordained for me in the Midwest. She counseled of the mistakes made by predecessors, mentors, and teachers of the previous generation, and further counseled literal Bible teaching as the dominant protocol for this ministry.

Later God revealed to my wife that this ministry would begin as a prayer group and grow into a church which embraced the unvarnished gospel of God. Of these prophecies, none of the words have fallen to the ground. God has and is fulfilling his will.

Prayer

At first we consisted mainly of young working families with children and jobs, so we started early morning prayers and rushed off to work after only several hours of prayer. Later we had occasional all night Friday night prayers. Since we did not have access to traveling evangelists or other itinerant ministries, our revivals consisted mainly of protracted prayer meetings. As God moved us from the bottoms to the synagogue, he began to bring in more bones and draw them together, and we started a noonday prayer service too.

During this time God began to work miracles among us. A brother brought in his baby girl: she was eighteen months old, still wearing newborn diapers, and had gained only four ounces in the past year. She had no antibodies in her blood and was almost continually ill. The Lord touched and healed her, and she grew up, graduated high school and college, got married, and today she is the mother of two healthy daughters. Her younger sister was stricken with bacterial meningitis while an infant and taken to the regional university hospital. Although the hospital offered no expectation of recovery, the church continued to pray. The baby sister revived and even stood up in her crib! She grew up, accepted Christ as her savior, graduated from college and got married.

An elderly mother was healed of diabetes while a patient in a local hospital, subjected to a battery of tests by the doctor who disputed her healing, and finally confirmed as healed by the unbelieving doctor. Young men received deliverance from drug dependence, alcohol, and nicotine addiction. Along with the increase of miracles, healings, spiritual victories, and personal achievements came a proliferation of disputes, misunderstandings, oppositions, disagreements and confusions. Doctrinal challenges were always followed by a sizable exodus. When strife arose in the apostolic church, the apostles said: “We will give ourselves to prayer and the ministry of the word.” (Acts 6:1-4) Prayer is a necessary adjunct to the ministry of the word.

Preaching

In an earlier vision, I had been instructed to “preach the word.” I saw an open Bible and I understood by inspiration that I was to preach the printed page. A prophetic counselor had said: “Get you a scripture and teach the word, don’t try to make them like us.” If I had always followed it, this counsel would have freed me as it freed them. Institutional formalities, subjective traditions, and ceremonial hindrances would have been cast aside as the ministry of the word caused the shaking and bones coming together, bone to his bone. Training, background, experience, skill, and ecclesiastical connections are no substitutes for the power of the word to effectuate God’s purposes.

As I listened to the counsel of the Lord, my confidence in the power of the word to effectually work in them that believe was increasing. The word is able to enliven, inform, inspire, motivate and organize God’s work. It amazes me that I have been allowed by God to continue for these many years in his ministry.

The literal preaching of the literal word went over like a lead balloon for those who wanted the charged up rabble rousing style of the past. For those who wanted the truth established in grace and power for eternal life, it was a breath of fresh air.

The literal preaching stirred up controversy and provoked opposition. The debate on the right to marry after divorce continues to this day. When couples are unable to resolve their differences and keep their word, they divorce and they change churches. When couples choose to cohabit outside of marriage, they change churches. When young women choose to bring illegitimate children into the world, they change churches. “When the spirit reproves… of sin... righteousness… judgment,” (John 16:8) they change churches.

Over the years I have watched preaching bring them in and turn them out. “Nevertheless, the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are his. And, let everyone that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity (II Timothy 2:19).

Providence

Back in the city the Lord revealed to me that if he could raise the dead, he could raise a dollar and I was a hot blooded, on fire, charged up young minister on a mission. When I first preached it, everyone said “amen,” afterward they laughed. It took me a few years to figure out that while the theory was right, I didn’t have a life to back it up.

Once I began serving back in Missouri, I announced that the financial policy would not include begging, soliciting, gleaning, food sales, rummage sales, rallies, three o’clock programs, contrived fun projects, or any other merchandising activities to raise funds for the church or the ministry. If God can raise the dead, he can raise a dollar. We paid tithes, gave offerings and for special purchases, we saved the money and paid cash or borrowed from the bank.

As our outreach expanded, commitments to ministry increased and as the controversies heated up, tithing and giving fluctuated, members came and went, and budgetary pressures piled up and threatened to close in. During these periods, as stress filled as they were, dramatic rescues would happen: anonymous windfall donations, sudden financial influxes from the members, and new growth seemed to pour on us.

Although it is impossible to stop exodus from following genesis, God is faithful and provides faithfully. His capacity to provide has never been proportional to the head count or to the goodwill of the audience or the community.

Although miracles and phenomenal deliverances are not predictable in terms of scheduling and regulating, they are in fact a part of the resumè of this ministry. As the writer to the Hebrews stated: “God also bearing them witness with signs and wonders, and with diverse miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will.” (Hebrews 2:4)

God has also born witness here by resurrecting broken down marriages, overcoming drug addictions, healing the sick, restoring stolen property, casting out devils, and many other great witnesses of the reality that He is the Great Physician.

To Endure Hardness

We have watched God take us through some seemingly insurmountable problems and troubles. Endurance is predicated on continuing to the end, (duration). Therefore we cannot argue that we have endured successfully, but that we are in the crucible, being brought through the fire, and that the refiner is refining us as silver is refined and trying us as gold is tried. In the end we will be certified that the Lord has spoken and has performed it.

Although joys for a future time can be projected in the revelation of God overcoming the graves, the fact of God’s control over life and death is a present time reality, not to be ignored or explained away. The future depends on the present. The present unbeliever shall be damned unless he repents now. (Mark 16:16)

This grace therefore is unlimited in its power and range of action. The magnanimous prospects being promised and offered are so colossal in their boundless benefits that unbelief or rejection can only redound to insult and injury of the grossest sort for the person turning down this gracious offering.

Knowledge of God’s power and of his willingness to help helpless people is included in this grace. This knowledge is the assured confidence in the apostolic statements of the manifest appearing of our saviour Jesus Christ who hath abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel (II Timothy 1:10).

Resurrection

The general objective of gospel preaching is resurrection. The general purpose of Ezekiel’s preaching to the dry bones (the despairing, whining, hopeless, whole house of Israel) was life for the dead. The general expectation of Bishop J. O. Patterson’s proclamation that a preacher with a message could start a revival in a graveyard was of the resurrecting, life-generating power of the word, inspiring and motivating the preacher and quickening to life every dead and dying person who heard it. We believed in the power of God, the power of prayer and did not mind waiting on God to fix whatever problems we had.

We disagreed with the liberation theology of the civil rights movement. We did not attend their meetings and did not donate money. Some of us admired Booker T. Washington’s Atlanta exposition speech and we really do believed that God is bigger than the government, segregation, Jim Crow laws and lynching.

Revival in a Graveyard is a study of selected ministries and their spiritual journey during the separate but equal days of Northeast Missouri, of preachers who looked beyond the limited vision of social activism and reached for the power of God. As a result of their labor, successes, and a few failures, a spirit filled movement was launched which is at once redemptive, productive and multi-cultural.

The liberation theology of social activism formed in the crucible of segregation, Jim Crow laws, and lynching’s was a limited vision of new social conventions (integration); more social opportunities (fair employment practices and equal education); a chance to eat at the table of American brotherhood (equal access to public accommodations); and general participation in all the attractive securities of American citizenship (voting rights, political connections, appointments, offices).

For our brethren in Africa, liberation theology required breaking and throwing off the yokes of European colonialisms (generalized exploitation of material resources, systematic economic and social controls) imposed on them.

Achieving these goals generated sizable social improvements and contributed to leveling the proverbial playing field. But, when they opened the playing field, the game was half over and because the coaches were mostly committed to working with proven winners, the game had to be learned from the referees.

On the other hand, revival reaches out to proven losers and offers the prospect of becoming proven winners (overcomers) in a hostile and unfriendly environment. Moreover, revival probes into the consciousness, character, and personality of individual losers, reverses the action of failure, defeat, and death, and reinstates the life powers. The vision of Ezekiel’s valley of the dry bones.

When Bishop J. O. Patterson raised the issue of a revival in a graveyard, he was working to stop the creeping compromise of visions limited by the ambitions of social activism and to restore the visions projected by once again seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness according to a commitment of recovery from death and demoralized defeatism.

This message hit me in the heart. I took it literally and believed it emphatically. Bishop Patterson was right. It works.

This study on Bishop J. O. Patterson’s message “Revival in a Graveyard” is this brother’s thanksgiving for the opportunity to observe God at work in and through His word.

The Challenge Before Us Remains

To continually trust in the message of the word as the supreme reality for mankind at large, the total rationale for knowledge, and the final source for instruction to proceed toward a righteously productive future.

To pray for the free course of the word and for the recovery of the word as the motivational dynamic for service in the work of the Lord; as the healing power for the sick and the comforting power for the afflicted.

To avoid the synergistic tactics of organizers, promoters, brokers, religious jobbers and networkers who have no interest in the power of the word, or the call of righteousness, but in the image and appearance of success so called.

To rest in the Lord and to trust in his word to accomplish His good pleasure and to prosper in the thing whereto he sent it.

Our American heritage of rampant, headstrong and boisterous development has set us in a mindset of achievements that sometimes disregards the will of God who alone has made room for us and allowed us a share in his creative benefits. Although we boast in our wealth and trust in our riches, it is the word of God that causes all things to be and to continue. A mandate is upon us to walk in and by the word of God, to fulfill His purpose, obey his instructions, and not be led astray by other voices, no matter how influential or persuasive they appear to be. Appearances can be deceiving.

Of all his good promises which he promised by the mouth of His holy prophets, not one word has failed. While we struggle to endure the slings and arrows and the challenging winds of purposeful opposition, it will be incumbent upon us to continually pray that God reminds us of the word upon which he has caused us to hope and in the midst of affliction to find and receive comfort.

The word must be the continuing confidence for recovering and renewing our youth, the only power qualified to motivate the cleansing of our ways and as the only power that will authorize a personal discipline and spiritual passion for sanctification as a general lifestyle as well as a church covenant.

The “I will build” declaration of Jesus is a self-revealing, self-productive word.

A Plain Vision

Moving from Prophecy to Fulfillment

“Write the vision and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it.”

“For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie, though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.” (Habakkuk 2: 3, 4)

“Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech.” (II Corinthians 3:12)

The vision given was a plain, forthright and direct testimony of the unlimited, totally sufficient power of God active in a graveyard setting where defeat, disappointment and loss prevailed.

The vision also contained a power that could enlighten the general reader and cause him to be aware of his need for personal urgent commitment to the message

“That he may run that readeth it.”

“For an appointed time” gave the vision an element of extended duration which resulted in wearing down, gradual loss of interest, and defections through trials and tribulations. “Though it tarry” compounded the extended duration by adding an element of prospective uncertainty as to time.

“Wait for it,” is a command connected to an obligation of commitment to trust and expect the vision to be fulfilled. Against hope believing in hope as Abraham who waited twenty five years for his ‘miracle child,’ Or as Isaac, who waited twenty years for a set of ‘miracle twins,’ Esau and Jacob.

Ezekiel, Habakkuk and Bishop Patterson all agreed that the power to get things done is in the message of the plain vision which supersedes strategic planning, synergistic initiatives, and motivation driven by potential success. Also, a progressive seasoning of thirteen years was attached to the vision given to Joseph before he was summoned to service.

Briefly note:

“Moreover he called for a famine upon the land... He brake the whole staff of bread... He sent a man before them, even Joseph, who was sold for a servant... Whose feet they hurt with fetters... He was laid in iron... Until the time that his word came... The word of the Lord tried him...” (Psalms 105:16-19) He received the vision of the night, was hated by his older brothers, thrown into a hole in the ground, sold to a caravan for twenty pieces of silver, sold again to the Egyptian captain Potiphar, tempted by Potiphar’s wife to commit adultery with her, lied about, framed and sent to prison (all his spiritual gifts intact and working effectively) where the seasoning process was brought to a victorious conclusion.

“It will surely come.” The guaranteed certain surety that God will keep his word, fulfills his plan, and supply all our needs according to his riches in glory.

It surely came to a young man seasoned by betrayal, temptation, and captivity and qualified him to serve in and during the general collapse of social stability and financial infrastructure “when money failed” (Genesis 47:15). He also found in his heart the grace to become reconciled to his betrayers (you meant it for evil, but God meant it for good), and the prophetic foresight to charge them to carry his remains with them in the exodus 400 years in the future.

I suppose as we move forward in these rural environs of Missouri, Iowa, and Illinois, that the most fulfilling testimony I can give is that Bishop J. O. Patterson is right. He sleeps with the fathers, but yet I can hear him saying: “A preacher with a message can start a revival in a graveyard.”

The Word of God is Right,

His power is everlasting,

Heaven and earth shall pass away,

But His word shall not pass away

Selected Bibliography

Census of Population, U. S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census General Population characteristics Missouri P.C. 80-1-B27 MO

Rural Churches in Transition, Carl A. Clark

The Broadman Press, 1959

Rural America, edited by Suzanne Fremon and Morrow Wilson

H. W. Wilson Company, 1976

Secretarial and Treasury Notes, Church of God in Christ, Hannibal congregation,

Moberly District, 1933-1966

64th Annual Holy Convocation Souvenir Book, Church of God in Christ of Western Missouri, featured autobiography, Bishop Virgil Moses Barker, August 1980

The Holiness Pentecostal Tradition

Vinson Synan

Wm B. Eerdsmans, 1971-1997

1907-1951 Yearbook Church of God in Christ

1960-1961 Yearbook Church of God in Christ

1985-1986 Yearbook Church of God in Christ

The Holy Bible, King James Version

Gesenius’ Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon,

Wm. B. Eerdsmans, 1976

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[1] “Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: Therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me.” (Ezekiel 3:17)

[2] IBID 1:3.

[3] IBID Chapters 2 and 3.

[4] “The word of the Lord came expressly unto Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans, by the river Chebar; and the hand of the Lord was there upon him.” (IBID 1:3)

[5] A brief summary of a brief treatment of bone. The New Encyclopedia Britannica, volume 2, page 356, fifteenth edition 1998

[6] A summary of “Revivalism” By Edith L. Blumhofer, the Oxford Companion to United States History, edited by Paul Boyer, Oxford University Press, page 664. Published 2001

Table of Contents

Copyright

Revival in a Graveyard

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Revival in a Graveyard

The Dry Bones Survey

A Preacher with a Message

Failures and Losers

Prophesy

I Prophesied as I was Commanded

Running Up the King’s Highway

Sinews (37:6)

No Breath

Breath

Renewal

The Ministry

Revival

Cut Off for Our Parts

So What’s Next?

Death

At the Graveyard

God Intends to Minister Here

Ye Shall Know (37:13)

Spiritual Quickening

A Testimony

Prayer

Preaching

Providence

To Endure Hardness

Resurrection

The Challenge Before Us Remains

A Plain Vision

Selected Bibliography