The Kingdom

Mel Tari

Cliff Dudley

First Edition: 1988

Cover Photo Credit:

Smithsonian Institute

Photo NO. 77-12984

Typesetting:

A.G.A.P.E. Graphics, Berryville, AR

Unless noted Scripture quotations are from the New American Standard Bible, © The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977.

© Copyright 1988 by New Leaf Press, Inc. All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations in articles and reviews. For information write: New Leaf Press, Inc., P.O. Box 726, Green Forest, AR 72638.

Library of Congress Number: 87-062656

ISBN: 0-89221-150-4

Digital ISBN: 978-1-61458-289-2

www.newleafpress.net

Dedication

To the loving memory of Papa Tari who is with Jesus and now knows all about The Kingdom.

And

To David Joseph Tari our new son who is looking forward to The Kingdom.

And

To my precious wife Joyce who is a daily example of The Kingdom.

Contents

1. Thy Kingdom Come

2. What is the Kingdom

3. Restoration

4. Revelation

5. Relationship

6. Repentance

7. Riches of the Nations

8. Staying In Balance

9. To The Nations

1

Thy Kingdom Come

On October 17, 1981, I was on my way from Colonial Williamsburg to Norfolk, VA, where I was to preach that night. I remember it so well because that was the time that God began to impart to me the revelation knowledge to write this book. Since then I have been studying the Scriptures concerning this revelation and now, after six years, the time has come to share this with the Body of Christ.

There is a misunderstanding among many Christians about the Kingdom of God. When Jesus came two thousand years ago, He said in His first preaching, “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” (Matt. 4:17) Then when He spoke again in Matthew 10:7-8, He said, “The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons; freely you received, freely give.” The Kingdom of God is here. If I cast out the demons by the power of the Holy Spirit, then the Kingdom of God is among us. The problem was that the Jews at that time misunderstood the meaning of the Kingdom of God and what it would be. Their understanding was that Christ and the Jews would overthrow the Roman Empire and Christ would establish His physical Kingdom. That is why a lot of people followed Jesus. When they saw the miracles happen, turning water into wine or the multiplied bread and fish, they saw the physical manifestation of the Kingdom. They were hoping and longing for Jesus to set up a physical Kingdom so that Israel could obtain the full glory that she once knew during the time of David and Solomon. Yet, they missed the purpose of Christ’s coming. Jesus said to Pilate, “My Kingdom is not of this world.” (John 18:36a) He came to bring about and restore the relationship that was broken between man and God.

If we go back to the book of Genesis, we can understand what God had in mind from the beginning and then we can understand and see the whole picture. After God created the world, He said in Genesis 1:26, “Let us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness.” He did, and then in verses 27 and 28 He blessed them; and we read, “And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him male and female He created them. And God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” He then, in a sense, put the key of the Kingdom in man’s hand. So man was given the dominion, the authority, to rule over the planet earth at that time.

Unfortunately, sin entered the heart of man, and man rebelled against God. Instead of doing what God wanted him to do, he aborted the plan and purpose of God. While man is ruling this planet, he must be obedient and subject to the King of Kings. For He is the ultimate ruler, the ultimate King. The rulership and dominion on this planet cannot be the way it is supposed to be unless we are in subjection to the King of Kings, who is the owner and ruler of everything. When man rebelled against God and sin entered in, we lost all our authority and dominion that God had given to us. In the beginning we did not have today’s world-wide problems like sickness, war, and lust. They simply did not exist during that time. The animals were in subjection to man; the world was in perfect order. There were no earthquakes, floods, or other calamitous problems that we see today. With the entrance of sin, all of our problems began to develop.

When sin entered, the first death occurred in the spirit of man. “And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of knowledge of good and evil you shalt not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you shall surely die.” (Genesis 2:16, 17) Man did not die physically, but spiritually he was dead. In Ephesians 2:1 we read, “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins.” Their death came first spiritually. Then they were affected mentally and physically, and as a result, man’s mind is not as good now as it was then. Man’s ability, his mind, emotions, and everything, began to deteriorate at that point. His then dead spirit affected man in his soul and his physical body, and man eventually began dying physically. The manifestation can begin in any form of a disease. The order of death that enters in starts with the spirit, soul, and then the body. When Jesus Christ came to redeem us, His first concern was to take care of man’s spiritual problem and to bring life again to his dead spirit.

Jesus said in John 5:24, “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.” That is eternal life, eternal life within our spirit. Once that takes place, man is given charge of this planet once again. We are now entering the time when Jesus is going to come back again and rule this earth for a thousand years. From there we will go on to eternity to come. The book of Revelation tells of the new Jerusalem, the new earth, the new Heaven, and God living again with man. It will be a time when the little lamb will lay with the lion. The Bible definitely tells us about a beautiful existence in the future. Revelation 3:12 states, “He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he will not go out from it anymore; and I will write upon him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God, and My new name.” Revelation 21:2 adds, “And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. Revelation 21:10 continues, “And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God.”

When Jesus comes back again, we are definitely going to see the spiritual and the redemptive life that he brought to us the first time around. Eventually the whole world will be restored. When God created the planet, it was a beautiful world. But when sin entered in, it was destroyed. God now has to bring back the planet and man to His original plan. There are many Bible verses in the Old Testament that show God has a Kingdom. Psalm 22:28: “For the Kingdom is the Lord’s : and he is the governor among the nations.” (KJ) Psalm 103:19b: “...and his Kingdom ruleth over all.” (KJ) Psalm 145:11: “They shall speak of the glory of thy Kingdom, and talk of thy power.” (KJ) Psalm 145:13a: “Thy Kingdom is an everlasting Kingdom.” (KJ) I Chronicles 29:11: “Thine, O Jehovah, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is thine; thine is the Kingdom, O Jehovah, and thou art exalted as head above all.” (KJ)

Daniel 2:44 has the God of heaven setting “up a Kingdom which shall never be destroyed...” Daniel 4:3 talks about the everlasting Kingdom and we find that also in II Peter 1:11. In Daniel 4:34b it says, “...and his Kingdom is from generation to generation.” (KJ) Daniel 7:14 talks about the dominion, the glory and the Kingdom. The Old Testament definitely speaks about the Kingdom of God.

As I stated before, Jesus said in the beginning. “Repent because the kingdom of God is at hand.” John the Baptist spoke of the coming Kingdom. Jesus spoke of the Kingdom that is coming. The disciples spoke of the Kingdom that is coming. The New Testament church speaks about the Kingdom coming. Matthew chapter 4:17 and 23 states, “From that time Jesus began to preach and say, “Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand...And Jesus was going about in all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the gospel of the Kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people.” Jesus spoke of the gospel of the Kingdom. In Matthew 25:34b He said, “...inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”

This Kingdom has been prepared from the foundation of the world. It has always been there in God’s mind; it was there in God’s original plan. It existed in the beginning for a while, and then sin entered in and goofed up the whole thing. Now we are in the period before Jesus returns as the King of Kings.

The question I want to answer now is, “What is that Kingdom?”

We need to discuss what the church and Christians need to do to bring about this Kingdom. How is that Kingdom going to be and so forth. What is our part in it? In the past few years the Lord has given to me several words. He began with the first word RESTORATION.

The situation of the world today is parallel to the situation of the Old Testament Israel before the first coming of Jesus. Israel went through a time of captivity, spiritual decay and decline. There were wickedness and sin. All the problems and troubles that we are experiencing right now were experienced then.

Usually when Christians talk about the second coming of Christ and the signs of His coming, the first passage of Scripture that comes to mind is Matthew 24:3-13 where Jesus talks about famines, wars, earthquakes, false prophets and what not. People have written a lot of books concerning this. Hal Lindsay has a good book (Late Great Planet Earth) about what is going to happen before Jesus Christ comes again. Unfortunately, most of us only point out the negative things that are going to happen before Jesus Christ comes back again. I believe, as we study the prophesy here, that two sides or a twofold prophecy exist. On one hand we see the problems; no one with his eyes open will dispute that. Matthew 24 speaks of the things that are happening in this generation. When Jesus spoke in Matthew 24:4-13, He prophesied about the problems, but in verse 14 He said, “And this gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in the whole world for a witness to all the nations, and then shall the end come.”

I think there is another problem that the church has had in these last two thousand years. When we talk about the Gospel of the Kingdom, we always separate it. We talk about the Gospel, the Good News, for people to get saved. And the Kingdom is something that will come in the future when Jesus comes again. When we read the Bible, it talks about the gospel of the Kingdom. The Gospel is the good news that the Kingdom of God has come to destroy the kingdom of the enemy, which is really a system. The Bible says a person is a slave to sin, and we are slaves in that sense. A borrower is a slave to the one that he borrows from. There is a Kingdom there, a system and a greater power that rules us. Sin is certainly a power that has ruined many lives.

The Gospel is always the Gospel of the Kingdom that God wants to again rule over our lives, like it was before there was sin. As God rules over our lives, the effects of the devil, disease, wars and so forth, will be taken care of.

When Peter spoke in the book of Acts chapter 3, he was speaking of the second coming of Jesus. Yet in the same chapter when he talked about the signs of the second coming of Jesus, he did not mention Matthew 24, even though he was there when Jesus said it. He mentioned something else that I believe is worth studying and understanding. Matthew 24:3-13 is one side of the coin and Acts 3:18-22 is the other side. “But the things which God announced beforehand by the mouth of all the prophets, that His Christ should suffer, He has thus fulfilled.” That was the first coming of Jesus. There were a lot of prophecies before Jesus came, and all those prophecies were fulfilled. God was establishing a precedent, and all He was saying is that if He said something, He did it! This means if all the prophecy concerning the first coming of Jesus Christ was fulfilled, then all the prophecy of the second coming of Jesus Christ also will be fulfilled.

After Peter established this, he came to the prophecies concerning the second coming of Christ. Acts 3:20-21: “and that He may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you, whom heaven must receive until the period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time.” What he is saying is that after Jesus came back the first time around and finished His job here, He went back to Heaven. He must stay there, He cannot come back until. . .What is that?. . .until periods of restoration (plural) of all things which God has spoken out of the mouths of His prophets. There are prophecies concerning the second coming of Jesus that need to be fulfilled before He comes back again. There are two things. We are going to see the problems on one hand that Jesus prophesied about, and the world is going to experience those. On the other hand the church of Jesus Christ is going to experience, what I call, the period of restoration. There are other words that you can use instead of restoration: refreshing, renewal, revival, but regardless of what you use, it will happen.

Why? Isaiah 59:19b says, “. . .When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him.” (KJ) So this always happens. When the devil does something God is not going to sit back and do nothing. God will always counterattack the work of the enemy; and when the devil kicks up his heels, so to speak, the Holy Spirit will do something to counterattack that work. Paul said in Romans 5:20b, “. . . But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.” (KJ) I want to put more emphasis on the words “much more”, so that brings understanding. Jesus prophesied about all problems. However, in light of Isaiah and Romans, it is clear that at the same time that all of these problems are taking place, we the church can expect God, by His Holy Spirit, to move in a tremendous way in order to bring a counterattack or balance against this work of the enemy. So we will see two forces at work before Jesus comes again: the forces of evil and the forces of God. I believe we are the generation that will see a tremendous work of the Holy Spirit and the return of Jesus Christ.

In the early days of the charismatic movement, we used to sing the song “ALL OVER THE WORLD, THE SPIRIT IS MOVING. . .” I believe that we will see great revivals moving like the one in Indonesia. We haven’t yet seen it to the degree like we sang in the song, “The glory of the Lord will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea.”

It is very clear in Isaiah 60:1-2: “Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee.” (KJ)

There is a contrast here. When there is darkness covering the earth, deep darkness in the people, the prophet said, “Arise because the glory of the Lord will shine upon you.” Shine, to such a degree that Isaiah says, “And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.” (Isaiah 60:3) (KJ) So we can see when the darkness deepens, the glory of the Lord shall also arise shining brighter. That is why the message that I want to get through to the world, and especially to the people of God in this generation, is this: We are living in a very exciting generation, and even though problems are increasing, it is not a time to despair for God’s children. This is a time to look up. It is a time to be encouraged and to seek God. With all these problems taking place, it is a time that we can expect the Spirit of God to move in a tremendous way. Rejoice, for Christ is coming soon!

2

What Is The Kingdom?

In Luke 16:16 Jesus said, “The law and the prophets were proclaimed until John; since then the gospel of the Kingdom of God is preached, and everyone is forcing his way into it.”

The Gospel of the Kingdom of God began at the time of Jesus. Genesis 1:28, from the time man was created until the time of John was the age of the law and the prophets; however, when Jesus arrived on the scene, from that moment on — the gospel of the Kingdom was preached. In Matthew 24:14 Jesus talked about the preaching of the Gospel of the Kingdom to all nations. “And this Gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.” So as we go to the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus taught the disciples to pray, “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Matthew 12:28 states that the Kingdom of God has come unto you, so definitely the era of the Church is actually the era of the Kingdom. Because the Kingdom began when the King of Kings Jesus came. He came the first time nearly two thousand years ago. In the meantime until now we have been preparing for the return of the King of Kings. We in this generation are in a very special era simply because we are in the last of the last days. We are in the era of time when we need to be involved and let the Holy Spirit lead each one of us to do the work of God. Instead of waiting for Jesus to come back “with a perfect Kingdom,” I believe that we should begin to occupy and conquer the land and influence the world that we are living in today. Because the enemy certainly is. The people of the world have been involved in every area of government, education, every aspect of human life, and have managed to destroy the lives of millions of people because of it. Through every aspect of communication, education, medical science, government, business and so forth we can become the light and the salt of the world to influence people for God.

Acts 1:3 describes the chosen apostles: “To whom also he showed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the Kingdom of God.” (KJ) Between Christ’s resurrection and His ascension for forty days He spoke and taught the disciples concerning the Kingdom of God. Luke 9:2 states, “He sent them to preach the kingdom of God, and to heal the sick.” (KJ)

In 9:11 He spoke unto the people of the Kingdom of God and healed the sick. In verse 27 He said, “But I tell you of a truth, there be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Kingdom of God.”

The disciples have been dead for a long time. Jesus said that they would not die until they saw the Kingdom of God. So they must have seen the Kingdom. Definitely they saw the Kingdom, or at least the beginning of it. In Luke 9:60 Jesus said, “... go thou and preach the Kingdom of God.” (KJ)

In verse 62 He talks about people who are not fit for the Kingdom of God. Luke chapter 10:11 says, “...be ye sure of this, that the Kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.” (KJ)

In verse 18 of Luke 11, Jesus talked about the kingdom of Satan because He said, “And if Satan also is divided against himself, how shall his kingdom stand?”

When we talk about the Kingdom of God, we in America have a problem understanding the idea of the Kingdom because we have been a democracy for two hundred years. The idea of a Kingdom is a bit alien to the American mind. But for those of us in other countries, especially in England who has a Queen, or Scandinavian countries that have monarchs, it is easy to understand Kingdom language. In Indonesia we used to have kings and queens. When I grew up on the island, we had kings and queens even in the little territories.

When Jesus taught the disciples to pray, “Thy Kingdom come” and “Thine is the Kingdom,” in essence He was saying the whole world is going to be God’s territory. This is where the Kingdom of God is, and we are a part of that Kingdom. In Colossians 1:13 we read, “Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son.” (KJ) the Kingdom of God is here and now. It might not be visible yet in the sense of a Kingdom where you have the kings and the territory, but the Kingdom of God is here because Jesus is the King of Kings and the world is His territory. We are the sons and daughters, princes and princesses of the Kingdom. We rule and reign together with Jesus (Eph. 1:5-6). So, if we talk about the Kingdom of God, we talk about this world where God wants us to rule and reign. Let’s go back to Genesis, chapter one. God gave man dominion over this planet, and Matthew 25:34 tells us that the Kingdom has been prepared for us from the foundation of the world.

So the idea of the Biblical Kingdom here is the rule of Christ over his people. And the church is certainly, in that sense, the Kingdom because Jesus is the King, the Head of the Church. He is the King of kings of His people. So the Church of Jesus Christ is really the Kingdom. I believe when Jesus comes back again, the invisible Kingdom will become visible. I believe that now is the time when the invisible Kingdom becomes more and more visible by us allowing God to use us to control or to possess the land in these different areas of service. Then the Kingdom can start becoming visible.

Hebrews 1:3 says, “And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature...”Jesus was the exact representation of the nature of God who is unseen, who is invisible, who became visible in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ in what He was doing, and in the way He was living while He was here. The world today cannot see the person of Jesus. We Christians must become His representative as we allow the Holy Spirit to work through us. Then we can become the representation of the invisible Jesus. We become the representation of that invisible Kingdom.

When John the Baptist came, his message was simply this, “Repent, because the Kingdom of God is near.” (Matt. 3:2)

When Jesus came, He said the same thing in Matthew 4:17, “Repent, for the Kingdom of God is near.”

The disciples (Matt. 10, Luke 9:1-2) were told to teach repentance because the Kingdom of God is near. The same thing happened in the early Church that preached the same message of repentance because the Kingdom of God is near. Paul also preached about the Kingdom of God. Acts 28:23: “And when they had set a day for him, they came to him at his lodging in large numbers; and he was explaining to them by solemnly testifying about the Kingdom of God, and trying to persuade them concerning Jesus from both the Law of Moses and from the Prophets, from morning until evening.”

Paul, as he was explaining to them the Kingdom of God, also said to them that Moses and the Prophets had talked about the Kingdom. We see this in Genesis 1:26-28 where Moses wrote about God giving man dominion over the Kingdom. Then in Deuteronomy 28:1-14 we see Moses told the Israelites about all of the blessings that they were going to receive when they follow God. The blessings in the fields, the blessings when they go out, the head not the tail, give and not borrow, definitely show that when one walks with God, there is a visible impact of that walk in the world in which one is living.

An invisible relationship with God always brings about a visible result in the life of that person. You can tell that with the Israelites. Whenever their relationship with God was wrong, you can see the visible manifestation of that wrong relationship. For instance, they were taken captive, conquered by other nations. There is always a physical manifestation of a damaged invisible relationship with God. Whenever Israel had a right relationship with God, there was always a visible manifestation in the form of blessings and prosperity.

In Hebrews Chapter II we have a beautiful example of a right relationship bringing visible results. Verses 32-34: “Well, how much more do I need to say? It would take too long to recount the stories of the faith of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah and David and Samuel and all the other prophets. These people all trusted God and as a result won battles, overthrew kingdoms, ruled their people well, and received what God had promised them; they were kept from harm in a den of lions, and in a fiery furnace. Some, through their faith, escaped death by the sword. Some were made strong again after they had been weak or sick. Others were given great power in battle; they made whole armies turn and run.” (LB)

Daniel also speaks about the Kingdom of God in Daniel 2:44, “And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a Kingdom which will never be destroyed, and that Kingdom will not be left for another people.” Daniel 7:14: “And to Him was given dominion, glory and a Kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and men of every language might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which will not pass away; and his Kingdom is one which will not be destroyed.”

Daniel 7:18 is interesting because it says that the saints of the highest one will receive the Kingdom and possess the Kingdom forever and for all the ages to come.

Verse 27 tells us that the sovereignty, the dominion, and the greatest of all the kingdoms will be given to the people, to the saints of the Highest one.

When Phillip preached in Acts 8:12, he preached the good news of the Kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ.

It is very, very clear from the Old Testament all the way through the New Testament that the Kingdom of God was an idea that was in the heart of God from the beginning. When Jesus came and restored our relationship with God, that restored the authority for us to rule. That is why Jesus said, “In My name they will cast out demons.” (Mark 16:17)

Now casting out demons means that the demons are subjected to us. That is our authority, that is our Kingdom life. Instead of the devil walking all over us, (or some demon) we tell him, “Go in the name of Jesus."

A person who gives an order for somebody (or some demon) to go is walking and living the principles of the Kingdom. When you command somebody (or some demon) to go, you are the king, the master. For instance, Jesus laid His hand on the sick and the sick recovered. That is Kingdom living. The disease, virus, and bacteria that rebel against us and try to destroy us are subject to us. That means we have authority over the sickness and can bring forth healing in Jesus’ name. That is Kingdom life.

The Kingdom of God is like a wheel made up of a hub and spokes. The center, of course, is the hub. But the hub of the wheel alone will not function. It must be connected to the spokes in order to have a wheel that is able to move and do what it is intended to do.

The Hub is the spiritual life as written in Matthew 6:33, “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you.” If you haven’t taken care of this, you haven’t taken care of anything. Until you and I have been born again, we are not alive in the real sense of the word. You are alive physically and walking around, but as far as God is concerned, your spirit is still dead and you cannot communicate with Him. That is why the most important message of the Church is to be born again. Once this has been taken care of, Jesus is the center of our life, and the hub is in its proper place. However, it is not enough to make the wheel turn. We have to have the spokes. These spokes represent government, finance, food, communication, media, etc. It means that once people are born again, God will call some of us to be in the “M1” ministry, which are Christians who lead people to the Lord and help them with the hub of their life. Then there are some of us who are not in the “M1” and “M2” ministry. These work for the government, business, schools, radio, TV, etc. (The “M1” and “M2” ministries will be explained fully in a following chapter.)

That means we don’t make our Christian life and walk with God only spiritual. (Again I refer to Christ as the hub and to the spokes as an invisible relationship with God which must bring about a visible result, a visible manifestation in our daily life. That is what I believe is the Kingdom of God.)

When Jesus comes back again to rule and reign during the millennium, the Kingdom will be more manifested during that time. After the millennium when Satan is released, he and the people who were taking his side in the fight against the Lord will be destroyed. Then the new world and the new Jerusalem will be established and the Kingdom will be visibly established. When we talk about God, it seems that God is not somebody that we can see or touch. So everything becomes abstract. When we talk about the Kingdom, it is also an abstract thing. Who knows where it is?

One day, I was asking the Lord, “Where is heaven? What is heaven?”

Everybody has his own idea. To one it is over the mountain. To another, it’s streets of gold or the other side of the Eastern Gate or crossing Jordan or the house over the hill. Wherever or whatever, it is something abstract to us.

As a little boy, before I knew that Jerusalem was a physical place here on earth, whenever people talked about Jerusalem, I thought they were talking about it being somewhere like heaven. It was not there. When I went to Jerusalem I realized it was real and was here and now.

I think that the same thing happens to many Christians when we talk about Jesus or God. They seem so abstract, something you can’t touch, feel, or see. I believe that the time has come for us to start to think about the Kingdom of God in a different way altogether. That is why I was asking the Lord, “What is heaven? Where is heaven?”

The Holy Spirit said to me, “Heaven is not a matter of distance or a direction. It is a matter of dimension.” If heaven was a matter of direction, we could say that heaven is up that way. For us in America, heaven would be up that way. But if a person on the other side of the earth in Indonesia or Australia pointed “up there” toward heaven, he would be pointing in a totally different direction. It would be down to us in America.

Or if we say heaven is a distance — how far is far? Is it a thousand miles away, a million or a billion miles away? So the Lord said to me, “It is not a matter of distance or direction; it is a matter of dimension.”

Now remember before we had all of these telescopes, we didn’t see the galaxies out there. We thought that space was empty. Once we had the big, powerful telescopes, we could see out there and were able to enter into another dimension.

Before the microscope was invented, we couldn’t see the germs and the atom. We thought that air was empty. But now that we have the microscopes, we can enter that dimension and see things that we never have seen before, but have always existed. Take a wooden chair, for instance. It looks like it has a solid frame, but if you look at it under the microscope, the molecules are running back and forth; and so it is not solid in a sense, it is in another dimension. So let us call Heaven the seventh dimension because seven is the perfect number of God. When we go to heaven, we are not going a certain direction or distance. I believe that we are entering into the dimension of God.

That is why the scriptures say that we are surrounded by a cloud of witnesses. (Heb. 12:1) They are here; we just don’t see them because we are not in their dimension.

Daniel 7:27 states, “And the Kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the Kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High, whose Kingdom is an everlasting Kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.” (KJ) from this Bible verse there are some conclusions:

First, the saints will rule. You and I will rule.

Secondly, it says, “The greatness of the Kingdom will be given to the saints.” The question now is this: should we have this Kingdom now, or should we just sit back and do nothing and let the devil destroy the whole world so that there will be nothing great to give to the saints?

That is why I am taking the position that we Christians should begin to possess and influence the world in every aspect that we have been talking about. Because as we build it and allow the grace of God to touch it, we will possess it.

I believe that God gave us television so that we could preach the gospel on the airway. The devil stepped in and now uses television to have all these porno movies and all the terrible news. It is used the wrong way. Remember, the devil always tries to take it one step ahead. Before the tabernacle was built, the golden calf was built first. So this should be an encouragement for us Christians. Whenever we see the devil uses something — like the gold to build the golden calf, don’t be disheartened. Don’t think that gold has no use in the Kingdom. Just remember, since Satan is building a golden calf, whatever that golden calf is, we must remember that the building of a tabernacle will follow suit. That is our indication.

As Christians we must ask God how we can use this medium in order to bring the Gospel and the glory of God to the Kingdom. Instead of running away from it and putting our head under the sand, we must use the same medium. Remember the gold that was used to build the golden calf did not belong to Satan. Satan has never created an ounce of gold. That gold belongs to God. Mankind has just misused it.

Scientific knowledge must be balanced with spiritual knowledge. If those two are balanced, then the scientific knowledge will become a blessing. If it is not, then it becomes a curse.

We Christians need to work and labor to make the countries great so that they can be given to Jesus later. How should that be done? Revelation 11:15 says, “And the seventh angel sounded: and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The Kingdoms of this world are become the Kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.” (KJ) Since the Kingdoms of this world will be given to Christ, I believe that the people of God need to seek God, seek the revelation of His Spirit because knowledge is going to increase in these last days.

The more the world advances in knowledge, the more important it is for a Christian to be involved and preach the Gospel so that the transforming power of Jesus will change people’s lives. The increase of knowledge without the increase of the awareness of God and the fear of God will destroy mankind.

Revelation 21:24 says, “...the kings of the earth shall bring their glory into it.” It means the glory and the honour of the nations unto the new Jerusalem. Verse 27 says, “...only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.”

That is why it is important for us to preach the gospel of the Kingdom unto all the nations. Because, as we preach the gospel to them, they will accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Because every country of the world must be involved in the Kingdom of God. Then their names will be written in The Book of Life. As their names are written in The Book of Life, they can bring those nations to Christ for the glory of God.

Psalm 10:16: “The Lord is King forever and ever.”

Psalm 47:7-8: “God is the King of all the earth...God reigns over the nations.”

So you see, the idea of the Kingdom is not a new idea. God has always been the King. This earth has been His Kingdom all along. Isaiah 6:5: “...my eyes have seen the King.” Wherever the King is, there is the Kingdom. Isaiah 33:22: “...the Lord is our King; he will save us.” Isaiah 43:15: “...the creator of Israel, your King.” Jeremiah 10:10 talks about the everlasting king. Jeremiah 23:5: “Jesus, the King that shall reign and prosper.” (KJ) Jeremiah 46:18 talks about the King; His name is the Lord. Jeremiah 48:15 and 51:57 show that God is a just King that destroys His enemies. In Mark 10:15, Jesus said, “Truly I say to you whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it at all.”

Psalm 145:12 talks about the glory and the majesty of the Kingdom. Psalm 145:13 says the Kingdom is an everlasting Kingdom. Daniel 4:3 claims His Kingdom is everlasting.

One day I was talking with a friend of mine and began to share with him this idea of the Kingdom that it is not only spiritual but it is also physical. He said to me, “Mel, Paul barely mentioned the physical part of the Kingdom in his epistles. So it seems that it is something spiritual that you cannot see or touch.”

I went to the Word and read Colossians 3:1-4: “If then you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on the earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.”

Now if we had to set our minds only on things above, it seems like it is a contradiction to begin to talk about the Kingdom of God in the sense of education, communication and the things that we can see. So it does seem like Paul was talking only about a spiritual Kingdom in these verses. However, in I Timothy 6:7-19 we read, “For we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either. And if we have food and clothing, with this we shall be content.” Then he talks about fighting the good fight and those who get rich will fall unto temptation. Also how the love of money is the root of evil. It looks like Paul does not want us too involved in those earthly situations.

If we look into the Bible very carefully, we are going to find out that Paul doesn’t talk about having money; he talks about the love of money as the root of all evil. It is the attitude we have toward money that is evil.

If the scientific knowledge available to us is not combined with the spiritual walk with God, then all we will have is trouble. If Jesus Christ is first, foremost, and the center of our lives; then out of that relationship comes the revelation knowledge of God, so that we can be involved in these different areas of life.

After talking with my friend and exploring those Bible verses, a question came to mind. When Paul said, “Don’t be involved with the world,” did he mean the world of sin or the physical world around us? I began to look in the Word to find the scriptures that could back up the idea of the Kingdom of God involving the realm of the physical as much as it involves the realm of the Spirit. This is what I found: I Timothy 4:4 says, “For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected, if it is received with gratitude.”

The verses before that talk about marriage and food. According to Paul marriage and food are created by God to be gratefully shared. Now food is something very physical. Marriage is also very physical even though it is also an emotional and spiritual relationship. Paul’s writings do talk about the physical aspect of the Kingdom of God. If we combine the above verses with Colossians chapter 3 where we are to seek the things above, then we have the proper balance. Colossians 3 talks about the things above; that is the hub of the wheel. I Timothy 4:3 speaks of marriage and food; those are the spokes of the wheel. If they are connected, the hub and the spokes together, you have the wheel of the Kingdom. If you take them apart, then that is when we will have problems. The problem with most of us is that we try to separate them. Either you are going to be spiritual or you are going to be physical in dealing with the Kingdom. God in His wisdom combined them both together.

Let us go to the book of Genesis. Sin entered in, that is rather physical. Having a garden and eating fruit is also physical. Yet in the garden there is also a spiritual aspect.

There was the physical world that God created. There was the garden, man, woman, and animals they tended; yes, they had to work. In addition to all of the above, they had a conversation and a relationship with God Himself. This is the way that it is supposed to be instead of separating the spiritual and the physical. We have to combine them; there has to be a balance and a correlation between walking with God and the world of the physical.

God even made man physical when He could have made us angels floating around somewhere. Jesus was also physical with a human body. After His resurrection He ate bread and fish even though He had a glorified body, and one day we will have a body just like His. (The Son of God became man forever.) When this mortality is covered with immortality, it does not mean that we lose our physical bodies when we go to heaven; it will be a glorified physical body.

In studying the Scriptures it appears that Paul did not mention much about the physical side of the Kingdom. Was it because the Israelites put so much stress on the physical side of the Kingdom? In Acts 1:6 they asked, “...Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the Kingdom to Israel?” (KJ) that is why Paul, I believe, had to bring balance by stressing the spiritual.

Romans 8:18 says, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”

Is it a spiritual glory only? Or maybe, it also talks about a physical part. Verses 19-21 continue, “For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not of it’s own will, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.”

So creation, the world, is longing for the revelation of the Kingdom because the creation of the physical world has been destroyed by sin and Satan, the invisible part. And if Satan and sin, these invisible things, have destroyed this physical world, the creation; then redemption and the Spirit of God and the Kingdom should bring forth the restoration of this physical world. That is why the Bible talks about creation longing for the Kingdom of God. Verse 20: “the creation was subjected to futility.” It is not what was intended to be by the Creator. Verse 21 states that Creation, the physical Kingdom, will be set free from the slavery of corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.

He is talking about the physical creation. This world will be set free one of these days to bring forth the glory of God the way it is supposed to be. Verse 23 talks about the redemption of our body. When you talk about the Kingdom of God, you are not just talking about a spirit. This body will be redeemed. Apparently sin and sickness have taken away a lot of life and abilities that God has created. That is why we get sick, grow old and eventually die. A redeemed body is a free and glorious creation. (Genesis 12:24-26)

Romans 8:32 tells us, “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?” (KJ) In “all things” he is not just talking about spiritual, but he is also talking about physical blessings that we can receive.

Psalm 84:11 talks about the good things.

Psalm 34:10 talks about the hungry lion, but the righteous shall not lack any good thing.

Psalm 67:6-7 states that the earth will yield its produce.

Romans 1:20 claims that since the creation of the world, His invisible attributes, His power and divine nature, have been clearly seen. The world is the expression of God’s invisible attributes or nature.

The Kingdom of God is the outward manifestation of the eternal God.

Romans 4:17-21 talks about Abram who will become the father of many nations because of his faith. God renewed his biological body function.

In Romans 14:6 Paul said, “...he who eats does so for the Lord, for he gives thanks to God.”

In Romans 15:25 Paul was going to Jerusalem to serve the saints. How did he do it? We find him in verses 26 and 27 ministering to them in the material things, bringing them the money that they needed.

II Corinthians 8:9: “...Christ, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor.” (KJ) Did He become poor spiritually? Of course not. However He was poor in worldly goods. The sad part today is that we can be very rich in goods and very poor spiritually. I am convinced that it can be both. There is no reason why we cannot be spiritually and physically rich.

II Corinthians 8:10-20 talks about the money and material gifts to the church. II Corinthians 9:7: “...a cheerful giver,” is talking about money or material things. Verse 12 talks about supplying the needs of the saints. In verse 13, Paul gives praise for the “confession of the gospel of Christ, and for the liberality of your contribution...” Paul considered a physical contribution to be a very special thing. In II Corinthians 11:8 Paul said, “I robbed other churches, taking wages of them, to do you service.” (KJ)

In Philippians 4:15-18, Paul talks about a gift that is an acceptable sacrifice, well pleasing to God.

In II Corinthians 4:12 and Acts 18:3, Paul works making tents to support the work that he was doing for God.

Should we build tents today for the work of the Kingdom of God? The tent would not have to be like Paul built; it could be a corporation involved in every area of commerce: energy, education, transportation, communication, etc. All these are simply tools for the purpose of the Kingdom. So if we Christians were like Paul, we would be involved in all of these areas and use them for the glory of God.

I can go on and on here, for as I go through my whole Bible, I could list Bible verse after Bible verse:

In II Corinthians 12:4 Paul describes a man in Christ who, “was caught up into Paradise, and heard inexpressible words, which a man is not permitted to speak.” Paul said that he was not sure if he went up there in spirit or in body. I believe he went there physically because Paul was a man who was used to seeing visions and having dreams. So if it was something that was a vision, he would have said, “I went there in a vision.” Paul is not the kind of man who apologizes for having a vision. The fact that he said he was not certain if he was in the body or not gives me the indication that he was caught up physically.

Why did he hear something that he couldn’t tell? Was it because the time had not yet come? That is a good question.

Some aspects of the Kingdom are for the end times and were not for that age. God told Daniel things that he was not supposed to reveal in total, and he didn’t. That also happened with John. John received a revelation from God. As he went to write it down, the angel told him not to. Our only advantage over them is the distance of time.

If it was forbidden for man to hear it, why did God bother to give him that experience in the first place? It’s because the timing of God must be right.

In II Corinthians 13:12 the Bible talks about the holy kiss. A holy kiss is not something spiritual. It is a physical thing, maybe just a peck on the cheek; it is a physical expression of our love to one another.

When you talk about signs, wonders, and miracles, most of those are in the physical level. When a healing takes place, it is a physical thing.

Galatians 4:1: “Now I say, as long as the heir is a child, he does not differ at all from a slave although he is owner of everything.” The Bible says here that we are owners of everything. Verse 7 says that we are heirs, which means we are no longer slaves, but we are sons; we are heirs through God. Are we owners of everything spiritual or owners of both spiritual and physical? Now God owns the cattle on a thousand hills; He is the owner of what He created, which is the whole world plus a lot more. If we are heirs to that, then we are heirs to all the spiritual blessings that there are, but we are also heirs to what God has created.

In Haggai 2:7-8, it says that God owns all the silver and gold. If we are heirs, then it is ours.

Galatians 6:6 reads, “And let the one who is taught the word share all good things with him who teaches.” I believe it doesn’t say he is sharing just spiritual things with him, but physical as well.

Galatians 6:10 tells us, “So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all men...” Now how do you do good to all men? Only by preaching to them? Sure that is good; sometimes you preach to them, and sometimes you give them food. That is why the Bible said, “If your neighbor is hungry, feed him; if he is naked, clothe him. If he doesn’t have a place to stay, you invite him in.” (James 2:15) The Bible never separates the world of the Spirit and the physical the way we are doing. It is always in one basket, so to speak. When God looked at everything, it was both spiritually and physically.

Ephesians 3:3-4 talks about the mystery, and verse 6 tells us we are fellow partakers of the promise of Christ. Verses 9-12 will make it very, very clear, “And to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God, who created all things; in order that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places. This was in accordance with the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and confident access through faith in Him.”

When Paul talked about the unfathomable riches of Christ, was it only spiritual riches or both? What are spiritual riches? Is it a greater dimension or a nothingness like the Buddhist people say? No, it must be something real because the Kingdom of God is real. When most of us talk about the Kingdom of God, we talk about something that we can’t touch or understand. But the Kingdom of God is real and we can both see and touch it.

Sometimes it is like the wind, you cannot see it, but it is certainly there and you can feel it.

Praise God that both the Kingdom and God Himself became visible to us through Jesus Christ!

Colossians 1:13-16 sums it up quite well, “For he has rescued us out of the darkness and gloom of Satan’s kingdom and brought us into the Kingdom of his dear Son, who bought our freedom with his blood and forgave us all our sins. Christ is the exact likeness of the unseen God. He existed before God made anything at all, and in fact, Christ himself is the Creator who made everything in heaven and earth, the things we can see and the things we can’t; the spirit world with its king and Kingdom, its rulers and authorities; all were made by Christ for his own use and glory.” (LB)

3

Restoration

The Kingdom of God touches us in the spirit first, but it also must affect us in the soul and the body. Satan is an invisible being; but when he does something, you had better believe that it will become visible. When sickness hits you, it will soon be visible on your body. You can see it. When Satan destroys families, the forces of evil are unseen. But the source of evil is soon seen in a visible way through the results.

If that is the case, even though God is invisible and the Spirit is invisible; if we walk with God the source, the work of God must become visible, one way or another. For instance healing, the work of God in our lives, in our families, or in our nation are visible results, and we can see the manifestation of them. The Kingdom of God, first of all, is the hub — the invisible Spirit life. That has to be foremost and the most important. Then come the spokes and one of the spokes could be government. The Prophet Daniel was involved, for instance, in government. That is why he was the second man in the Kingdom and used his influence to release the funds for the rebuilding of the second temple in Jerusalem during the time of Ezra and Nehemiah. (Ezra 6:4: “...with three layers of huge stones and one layer of timbers. And let the cost be paid from the royal treasury.) I believe even today Christians must be involved in government. Whether it be as a mayor in a little town or the President of the United States, a senator, congressman, or member of a school board; whatever it is, we need to be involved because Jesus said we are the light of the world. If we put our light under the bushel where people cannot see it, we do not do much for the Kingdom. We are to be the salt of the earth. In order for salt to be useful, it must be mixed with food before it becomes effective.

We Christians must be involved in the world today to bring the grace of God and Jesus Christ to the surrounding nations, counties, cities, villages, and every aspect of life. If we are not involved, they are going to teach our kids that we come from monkeys and the humanists are going to take over completely. Many of our schools and universities, the half of which used to be fine Christian institutions like Harvard and Yale, today can hardly even mention Jesus because we Christians have chosen not to be involved in the area of education. Communication, transportation, banking finance, commerce, food production, energy, print media, television, radio, entertainment, film, and the arts are all areas that little by little have been taken over by people who do not believe in God. Satan is not the originator of anything; he is only an imitator and destroyer. He takes something good that God created and he perverts it. He has taken sex — perverted it; he has taken music — perverted it; he has taken art — perverted it; he has taken everything good that God has created and perverted it. Satan cannot create, only God is the Creator. The time has come for God’s people to be involved with God in such a way so that He can restore that which Satan has destroyed. By becoming involved and by allowing the Holy Spirit to use us in every aspect of our human existence, we will begin to possess the land that God has promised. We must live according to the principles of the Kingdom. The grace of God can then become visible and be a positive impact on the world.

Jesus Christ is the representation of the nature of God the Father. The Church must be the representation of Jesus and we are a long way from it. It is very important that the church be restored first; then we can be the agent of God to bring it to the nations.

It is important for Christians to see that the Kingdom of god is now and it is here. The Kingdom of God is among us. We must not only see the Kingdom of God as something spiritual and emotional, but physical in our world today. So when Jesus comes back again, He is not going to rule in a by and by; He is going to rule in a visible situation. He is going to be in a world with a visible Kingdom.

One might wonder, “What is restoration? How do we enter into this restoration and become a part of it?

When I began studying restoration, I had this problem. Romans chapter 14:17 states, “For the Kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.” (KJ) So I thought I missed the point by thinking that the Kingdom is something physical. It is only spiritual according to Romans 14 (that is the hub part of it). When I studied it further, Paul also understood it as a physical Kingdom, (that is the spokes part of it). Out of that spiritual joy, peace, and happiness, must come the spokes. The effect of the Kingdom must be seen in our every day life.

Jesus Christ will perfect it; we cannot develop a Kingdom so perfect that we think we don’t need Him or that our goodness will cause Him to return. We cannot perfect it because even as redeemed as we are, we still experience the power of sin and Satan still exists. We cannot bring the Kingdom to perfection and set it up until Jesus Christ returns.

There are two extremes here. The first is that we will just do nothing. Let the devil run rampant destroying God’s people. Many of us today have the attitude of, “what’s the use? Let Jesus come again and renew it. There is nothing that we can do about it anyway.” What then is the use of God’s Grace? What is the need of the power of the Holy Spirit if we cannot do something? God did not save us to be nincompoops!

In the beginning, God created a beautiful world and created man to do something. It is God’s intention from the beginning that whatever He does on this planet, man must be a part of it. So together with God we can restore this planet, or we can choose to work with the devil and ruin it.

To counteract this, we must declare our salvation more and work in the power of the Holy Spirit and occupy until He comes. We have to begin to, as partners of God, capture territories. We need to permeate every aspect of society and begin to allow the grace, power, the wisdom and the knowledge of God to permeate those areas through us. We must be alive in our salvation and labor for Jesus. Then when He returns, He can perfect it and finish it up. We still need Jesus to come back again because the power of sin and Satan must be destroyed. Only He can clean up this world from the effects of sin and the power of sin and Satan. Then we can go into eternity to come.

The second extreme is to believe we can build the Kingdom of God to perfection so that Jesus can come back again. I think that this is the danger; we have to watch which way the pendulum swings. We either go too much to the left or too much to the right. Like in demon possession, people can become so extreme that every time somebody sneezes, they see a couple of demons coming. Or the other extreme — there are no demons whatsoever. Both of those are extremes. I think the truth is more in the middle somewhere.

Somebody asked C.M. Ward, the great American evangelist, a question about Armenianism and Calvinism, as to which doctrine was right. He answered, “You can stand on either bank of the river and argue and fight, but you will only find truth in the river.”

The point is that in the beginning God made this planet, and man was the ruler, and we ruled in God’s behalf. Something should have been done at that time, but we missed it. We have goofed it so far, and what we lost — the paradise lost — must be rediscovered. The Kingdom that God created at the beginning of time according to Matthew 25 needs to be reestablished again. This should be done while we are awaiting Christ’s return to set up His reign for one thousand years here on earth during the Millennium.

The position that I am taking right now is that we have something to do while we are waiting for His return besides all of us preaching. The reason that I say we have something to do is because it does not make sense that we were all saved to do the same thing. If we all were preachers, then we wouldn’t be involved in education, in the government, or anything else. We would simply wait until Christ comes back to do everything. That just does not make sense at all.

We must be involved! We need to be involved in such a way that we will win some battles. We really need to make an impact. We are the light of the world, and our light needs to expel the darkness. We are the salt of the earth and need to be putting our flavor on mankind. If our effectiveness is not one hundred percent, I do not mind. If Christ has to come to bring the perfection, that is fine with me; but I just can’t tolerate the idea that we do nothing and allow evil and darkness to rule the world. That must not be. What is the point of salvation? What is the point of ruling and reigning with God? What is the purpose of the grace of God within us to save us from sin and transformation that has taken place within us? What is the point of us being the body of Christ and Him the head?

Because He is the Head, He gives us the ideas. The head gives the command, but the finger does the work, the foot does the walking, the mouth does the talking and the rest of the body does the functioning.

How can we enter into this restoration? How can we become part of this move of God in these last days? I believe that we are on the threshold of one of the greatest moves of the Holy Spirit that the world has ever seen. I believe there are four things that this generation is going to experience. (I will discuss them fully in later chapters.) There will be as follows:

1. A release of God’s power.

2. A great harvest of souls.

3. A release of the wealth of the nations.

4. A preparation of the church for the coming of Christ.

Most Americans like formulas: seven ways to be healed, ten ways to keep your marriage together, eleven ways to keep your healing, and what not. We always like to find out “the way” to do it. After God spoke to me about Restoration, He said, “The only way to enter into this restoration and to be a part of what I am going to do is by the way of Revelation.”

4

Revelation

Many years ago Kenneth Hagin was very sick and almost died. God spoke to him with the Rhema of the Word from Mark 11:24, “Therefore I say unto you, what things so ever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.” (KJ)

Brother Hagin heard from God and claimed the promise as God gave it. There were times that he doubted it, because he got worse. However, he kept confessing and believing, and finally the healing came. He is still alive fifty years later. He stood firm on the Word that God gave him and he was healed.

The problem with most of us when we heard Brother Hagin’s testimony was saying, “Ok, the secret is to confess the Word and stand on the Word.” That is right, but that is not all. Actually, the foundation was the revelation of the Word, then the confessing of the Word, and then standing firm on the Word. Then you see the results or the promise. But most of the people missed the key point, and that was the revelation.

Let’s go back to my book Like A Mighty Wind to the incidences and miracles that we said took place in Indonesia. In each instance if you look very carefully, God had definitely spoken, “Do this or do that...” It was definitely God speaking to His people; and as a result of the response to the revelation of God, we see the release of God’s power. This is something that people need to remember: God is not obligated to fulfill anyone’s dreams or desires, but He is obligated to fulfill the Word. If God has promised something and He tells you or anyone to do it, He is obligated to fulfill it. That is the only obligation that He has. That is why it is important before we claim that God wants to do this and God wants to do that, to be certain that we know that this is what God has revealed to us, it agrees with the Word, and that it is the will of God.

We see this in the life of Joseph. Joseph did not become second in command of Egypt just because he wanted too. God revealed to him in a dream that he was going to become a Prime Minister in Egypt.

Moses began his “ministry” and tried to lead the Israelites before God called him, and he lost it. He killed a man and the next day he tried to make two men make peace. They asked him if he was going to kill them like he killed the man the day before. Ministry without the revelation took Moses to the mountains until God called him. Then God spoke to him and told him to return and lead the children of Israel. That was the beginning of a successful ministry.

That is also true of David. He was called into the ministry by revelation. God sent Jesus Christ to earth to do His ministry. The same is true of Peter and Paul. If you search the Bible through, you will see that those who were successful in the ministry were those that had received the revelation of the Word of God in their lives.

We can see in Daniel’s life that point of revelation. God revealed to him that the time of captivity was over. Daniel 9:2 talks of a time of restoration coming. “In the first year of his reign I Daniel understood by books the number of the years, whereof the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem.” (KJ) When Daniel knew that Israel would be restored, he made the calculation. He knew that Jeremiah said it was only going to be seventy years. He told Ezra, Nehemiah, and the people that the captivity would soon be over. They then returned and began to build the temple. When they finished the foundation, they ran out of money and ran into all kinds of problems. God used that problem. A letter was sent to King Darius asking for help. Daniel was sitting there next to the king as second in command, and because of his involvement, was able to influence the king in the right way. The king wrote back a letter to them and told them to use money from the treasury to finish the temple. We are able to see here the importance of the revelation in the restoration of the second Temple in Jerusalem.

By knowing the revelation of God we can move accordingly and see the release of God’s power. The four points of restoration can only take place if we have the revelation of the will of God. Let’s take power for instance. It is very easy for people to say that God can do it, so we can just go around and pray for sick people and try to raise people from the dead and try to see the release of God’s power, but we have never seen it that way and we know it! After Like A Mighty Wind was written, a lot of people tried to do this and to do that to make a miracle happen. For example, there was a man in Arkansas whose eighty-six year old mother died. He froze her body and began praying for her resurrection, referring to Like A Mighty Wind as his example. This went on for months and nothing happened, except the press made a heyday of the situation. Of course, he ended up burying his mother several months later. They never experienced anything. The reason is very simple. They did not receive the revelation of the will of God as to how, who, what, when and where He was going to release his power.

Souls need to come into the Kingdom. We need to find the revelation of the will of God. How can we win a soul to the Kingdom? You simply can’t treat everybody the same. In Indonesia in the last few years, God has revealed to us the key to reaching the Moslem people, bringing them to the Kingdom of God and a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. When we found that key, many of them came to the Lord. One of the keys was their seeing the manifestation of the power of God. You have to approach the Moslems in the right way. When you want to bring the Jewish people to the Lord, the best way to do it is the way that Jesus did it. You don’t begin by the book of Matthew or Romans. You have to begin with the book of Psalms and the book of Isaiah. Then you lead them to the Lord.

Don Richardson, who wrote Eternity In Their Heart, is confident that in every tribe and nation of the world the Holy Spirit has left something with those people. That is the key to reach that nation. You have a perfect example of that with Bruce Olson when he went to the Motalone Indians of Columbia, South America; he found the key. It was the banana stalk. They believed God was to be found in the banana stalk. He cut it in half and spread the various “unborn” leaves before them. Then he showed them the Bible and the leaves on which God would speak to them. Before long they accepted Jesus as their Saviour.

In every tribe, nation, and people there is a key to reaching the hearts of those people. That key, we can only find it by way of revelation. God alone knows which way to approach that certain group of people to bring them to the Kingdom. I believe that when we find this key, we will have more success as far as souls coming to the Lord are concerned.

Every businessman needs to seek God so that God can tell him what business to be involved with, how to do it, with which partner, how to get the finance for it, etc.; so that that business can prosper for the Kingdom. Then the finances can be released for the work of the Kingdom. Revelation is very important. Having the revelation of the will of God, we know how to do it, when and what to do. We will see the success that God intended for us as His people and see the restoration take place.

If you will take the first five Books of the Bible and flip them open anywhere, it is very possible that you will find these words, “Then the Lord said to Moses.” It was very easy for Moses because he had met God. Most of us in the Charismatic movement have only heard from God once — when He called us to Salvation. Then for the rest of our lives, we tell what God spoke to us ten to fifty years ago. We live only from that experience. That is not the way God wants us to live. We must hear daily from God for His directions in our lives. The secret of the success of Moses’ ministry was that he knew exactly, on any given situation, what God wanted him to do. As he did what God wanted him to do, the miracles took place. This happens all the way through the prophets in the Old Testament times.

Let’s look at the experiences of Moses, Elijah, Daniel and the other prophets. Then we will know for certain that when God tells us to do something and we do it, the miracles are always there. We can learn the same lesson from the New Testament. When Jesus told them to do something, the miracle happened — like fishing, the multiplication of bread, and the turning of water to wine. Those all happened in response to somebody listening to what Jesus was saying and doing it. This generation must come back to receiving the fullness of God’s revelation. Daniel 12:4 predicts, “Knowledge will increase in the last days.” I propose that the knowledge is not only there as scientific knowledge but also spiritual knowledge.

When God spoke to Daniel, he understood it. That is a scientific as well as a spiritual knowledge. It means that if we see the increase of the scientific knowledge, we must look for the increase of the revelation of the spirit. With every revival there is always something that happens. When the Wesleyan revival came, the steamboat was discovered. Why? So that they could use a faster boat to go to the whole world to preach the gospel. Later on when the Azusa Street revival began, the radio was invented. We then began to us the radio to reach the world for Jesus. When the charismatic movement came along, television was used at that time to preach the gospel. So you can see that God releases the scientific knowledge at a certain time for a certain purpose. Combined with the spiritual revelation taking place at that time, the gospel can go out. God always deals with us in a very balanced way.

Whenever there is an increase in the realm of science, we must expect it in the spiritual realm as well. That is why I believe that this is the generation that is going to see one of the greatest revivals that this world has ever seen. Why? Because there is an explosion in the world of science. If God does not increase the awareness in the realm of spirituality, that science is going to kill all of us. We always misuse it if it is not balanced with the fear of God and spiritual things.

Look at Daniel 1:17-20, “And as for these four youths,” not just Daniel, but his buddies, “God gave them knowledge and intelligence in every branch of literature and wisdom...” This is talking about science in those days “literature and wisdom.” “...Daniel even understood all kinds of visions and dreams.” So see the spiritual and the physical, the science and the spiritual; together he got it. Verse 20: “As for every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king consulted them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and conjurers who were in all of his realm.” Ten times better, you know scientists tell us that we only use ten percent of our brain capacity. What it simply means here is that Daniel used his full brain capacity and the rest of them just used the normal capacity, which is only one tenth of the brain. This was sub-standard to what God desired. So in these last days as knowledge increases, man will be able to use his brain capacity more and more.

I saw an advertisement on the plane the other day of a man claiming he could teach people to use more of their brain capacity. This might be possible. You know scientific knowledge could find ways to use certain parts of the brain that are dormant. That shows me that there is going to be an increase in the realm of the Spirit. As we seek God and are close to Him, He can reveal to us not only the things of the Kingdom and the spiritual realm, but He can also give us revelation knowledge in the physical realm. I have met a lot of people who received knowledge and revelation from God. I met a person who can build a satellite for millions of dollars less than is being spent to build them today. There are a lot of people that God has given revelations for growing food (better than what we are doing today), housing, transportation, etc. What is going to happen as people receive that revelation because they walk with God? They will create a wealth that we can use to preach the gospel and finance the work of the Kingdom before Jesus comes back again. God’s purpose is for Jesus to rule over the whole world during the millennium. After that He is going to rule throughout eternity. That is God’s ultimate purpose. So we might as well start to move in that direction. This is why revelation is so very important.

Revelation is a Biblical term for information or an idea. Like this book, tape recorder or a telephone, anything that we see in the physical realm once began as an idea. It was an idea in somebody’s mind. Somebody got the idea how to build a table; they cut the wood and sawed it, smoothed it out and put it together to make a table. Somebody got an idea to build a tape recorder. Somebody got the idea to build a telephone. Cars, airplanes, and boats were once just an idea in somebody’s mind.

As a matter of fact, the whole world began as an idea in God’s mind because before the world existed, God had it in His mind first. That idea in God’s mind was followed through, and it became the world. You and I were once only an idea in the mind of God. Why? In Genesis 1:26 God said, “Let us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness...” We did not exist then. We did, however, exist in the mind of God. Revelation is important. As we receive the idea, we receive the information; we can follow it through and create that tangible thing. So when you receive a revelation from God, let’s say that God told us to go and pray for a person, go and do this. And as we follow it, it will materialize; it will become visible. The way for the invisible kingdom to become visible is by the revelation of the will of God. Once we know the will of God, have the information, and follow it through by faith, then it will be manifested in the physical.

That is why when somebody gets healed, it is a physical manifestation of the invisible will of God that is revealed to the child of God. The will of God must be utmost in our daily walk with Jesus Christ. However, the only way we are going to receive revelation is by establishing a daily intimate, strong, close relationship with God through Jesus Christ.

5

Relationship

Without knowing Jesus Christ as your personal Saviour, you are not connected to God, nor will you receive information or revelation from Him. Our relationship with God and our fellow man must be right. The way to judge our relationship with God is to judge our relationship with man. I John 4:20 states, “If a man say, “I love God”, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?” 21 states “And this commandment have we from him, that he who loveth God love his brother also.” (KJ)

That is the way that God approaches everything. The standard of how well your relationship is with God, the invisible relationship, is measured by how good your visible relationships are with man. By the way, that also includes the relationship that you have with your mate. The unity of the body of Christ is very important. When somebody falls down, like Jim Bakker, instead of kicking him we should go and lift him up. We don’t have to say that he did the right thing, but we sure could give him the support and still love him, still pray for him. God forgave him, and people should forgive him too. After all he is a human being; we all have made mistakes. Later in the chapter we will discuss what to do when a brother falls.

The Church of Jesus Christ cannot be trusted with a revelation from God, so that we can enter into revival, until our relationship with God and one another is fixed. Revival does not begin when you hear God. Revival begins when your relationship with God and your fellow man is restored and in good order. After I accepted Jesus as my Saviour, the great Indonesian revival broke out. We were all excited and wanted to go all over the world and tell everyone about Jesus. However, it wasn’t all that simple. First God told all of us to get our relationships in order. This was without exception. The Lord spoke to me and said, “Mel, before you become a team member and preach the gospel, you have got to make everything right between you and your family, your friends, and everybody in town that you have stolen from or wronged. That is the first and foremost requirement for becoming a team member. If you need to pay restitution, do it!”

I used to steal peanuts and candies from the local store. The Lord spoke to me once again and said, “Mel, before you leave the area and become a team member, you go to the store, confess to the man, and pay him for what you have stolen.”

I said, “Boy, Lord! I don’t have the money.”

The Lord said, “I will give you the money.”

He gave me the money; I went to the man and confessed.

The store owner said to me, “Mel, you are the first thief that has ever confessed to me. You really have found Jesus as your Saviour.”

As a result he was converted and came to the Lord. That was one thing that God demanded from us in Indonesia — clean relationships. Many people who read Like a Mighty Wind thought those miracles were something like pulling a rabbit out of a hat. They thought perhaps it was some sort of a magical thing. It certainly wasn’t magic...It was following God’s principles! LIVING RIGHT WITH GOD AND LIVING RIGHT WITH OUR FELLOW MAN.

Daniel guarded his relationship with God more then anything else. When he was told that he could no longer pray three times a day, he had to choose between praying and being put to death in the lion’s den. He chose the lion’s den. Why? Because Daniel’s relationship with God was more important to him than life itself. That is why Christianity must be more than going to church three times a week.

If we would behave in a marriage like we do in the church, where we only work on our relationship with God three times a week and only an hour at a time, we would be in serious trouble and our marriage would not work on that basis. Somehow we have the idea that Christianity and a relationship with Jesus would work on that basis; it will not. We have to maintain a twenty-four hour intense, strong, daily relationship. There has to be a viable relationship with God and the same type with our fellow man. This relationship has got to be there. Because only through this type of relationship can we receive the revelation that will lead us into restoration.

It is important for Christians to know that we are members of the same body. For example, when you stub your toe, you don’t spank your toe for getting stubbed. You don’t gouge your eyes out because your eyes didn’t see the stone. You simply don’t do it that way. You use medication or sutures or whatever the hurt toe needs to restore it to health and keep it from hurting. A sore toe can bring blessing to the rest of the body. However, a toe that is cut off, I don’t care how much you hate your toe, can never help you again. Let us guard our brothers and sisters in the body of Christ, so we can hear from God and receive His revelation.

The Scripture is full of verses on relationships. As a matter of fact, just listing them would be a book in itself. Yet one of the hardest things for man to do is to have loving relationships with his fellow man. Perhaps that is why the Church today is in such a dilemma. We simply do not love each other. For example, the PTL scandal:

The media has taken the scandal of PTL and named it the “Holy War.” It is interesting how they came to use that term. Could it be because we Christians started using the media to throw rocks at the Bakkers?

No matter what Jim Bakker’s sin was or how “bad,” if he confessed it to the Lord, Jim had the promise of I John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Psalm 103:12 states, “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.”

The Church had the attention of the world through national TV, and we failed with statements like these:

“Jim and Tammy Bakker are cancers that need to be removed from the Body of Christ.”

“They are getting what they deserve.”

“Let them resign? We have already thrown them out.”

“They should be stoned.”

“Serves them right.”

“They are disgusting.”

“They have been dismissed for sexual misconduct and alleged homosexuality.”

The list could go on and on as we Christians picked their bones. The world watched and scoffed at us as we ripped, slandered and tore at one another. Hundreds of thousands of dollars of the Lord’s money has been spent for various lawyers with little or no regard for God’s Word, and it appears to have just begun.

This should have been a time of forgiveness, tough love and restoration. But instead the world saw us fight, slander, hate and seek revenge. Shame on us!

Jesus praying in the Upper Room said in John 17:20-21, “Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; that they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.” (KJ)

The Holy War, as the media calls it, has left many Christians confused and dismayed and the world laughing at us. I feel while I am writing about relationships I should speak to this issue.

One of the scriptures in the area of relationship and how we treat our fellow brothers and sisters who sin is I John 3:11-16, “For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother’s righteous. Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you. We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death. Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him. Hereby perceive we the love of God, because He laid down His life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.” (KJ)

The fact that the brother has sinned doesn’t give us the reason to hate him, to mistreat him and to excommunicate him from the body of Christ. We must go to him and seek to restore him to his walk with the Lord.

I think the situation with Jim Bakker is a good example to bring in since it is public knowledge. Jim confessed his sin of whatever he did seven years ago. If the Bible is true and it is, then by his confessing his sins, God has forgiven him and has removed that sin from existence. It is wrong now for us as Christians to continue to crucify him after he has made things right with God. It is a prevalent situation among the body of Christ that we focus so much on the sin and not on the forgiveness and grace that is available to every sinner. This error has happened in the body in a lot of areas.

When the demon teaching came along, we focused so much on the demons that we almost lost our view of Jesus. When the healing teaching came, all they talked about was the healing and we almost forgot the Healer. When the faith teaching came along, we had faith in our faith instead of the Author and finisher of our faith, Jesus Christ.

Even much of the Charismatic movement fell into this trap. Many were more concerned that a person spoke in tongues than they were with his relationship with Jesus Christ. Many thought if you had spoken in tongues, you had arrived and that was it! They forgot that it was only the beginning of a closer and more committed walk with Jesus. We always manage, it seems, to take a certain teaching or aspect of Christianity and focus on it, instead of focusing on Jesus and our unity in the Body.

We must never condone sin and say that it is OK to sin and take sin lightly. Yet when a person who has sinned asks for forgiveness from the Lord and He forgives him, we must extend to him that same forgiveness. It is a tragedy, but Christians are the only army that I know of when their comrades fall on the battlefield, instead of helping them, let them die. We must help them and put ourselves on the line to help our brother. Instead, many step on them and shoot them again when they fall. This never happens in the real army that goes to battle. Every other word they speak is likely a four letter word, but they have more loyalty to their buddies then we Christians have for each other. IF THERE IS A CANCER IN THE BODY OF CHRIST, THIS IS IT: THE LACK OF LOVE IN OUR RELATIONSHIPS!

I heard a man say on TV that Jim and Tammy Bakker were cancers that needed to be removed from the Body of Christ. Now if Jim Bakker had not confessed and didn’t repent and continued to live in adultery, then I agree that is a cancer. We Christians and ministers cannot allow sin in any shape or form to destroy our walk with Jesus.

However, when Jim confessed and tried to remedy the situation, perhaps in a poor way, we cannot call it cancer. I believe the statements that were made by fellow evangelists and Christians on TV towards Jim are the worst type of cancer there is in the body of Christ. We need the grace of God to help us have a Christ-like attitude for one another. Instead of working against each other and rejoicing that the other one fell or is in trouble, we must practice verse Romans 12:15: “Cry with those that cry. Laugh with those that laugh. Rejoice with those that rejoice.” When one member of the body hurts, for whatever reason, we have to be there to help him and help that part of the body to be healed and hopefully restored. A ministry like PTL that God has risen falls down. The loss will be felt by the body of Christ and a lost to the Kingdom. So we should be guarding each others’ backs and ministries and cry for the mistake that has fallen on any ministry. Unless we support the ministries and the people that serve, the cause of the Kingdom will not be furthered.

Anytime that we rejoice or not quite care about the problems that are happening in one aspect of the body or of one ministry, then we are making the same mistake. It could even be a worse mistake than the problem that exists in the ministry already because of sin or whatever is going on. The last prayer of Christ in John was that we might be “one”. Christ said over and over, “If you love Me, you will obey My commandments.” And Christ’s commandments are to love God and love each other. Let us remember his example in Romans 5:8: “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (KJ) That is the criteria of a true love. It is easy to love someone when they are all right, forgiven, spiritual and serving God marvelously. It doesn’t take grace to love that kind of person. But it does take the grace of God to love somebody who is unlovable, who is a sinner. Our love to sinners shows how much we really love God.

Let’s look again at the situation with Jim Bakker. Those who knew Jim or heard a rumor that Jim was supposed to have done something wrong should have gone personally to Jim in private and said, “Jim, we heard a rumor that you are doing this or doing that.”

If he confessed it at that time, they should have prayed with him and extended forgiveness to him. It Never should have gone out to the public. And I believe those that took it to the media will be judged by God. That sin was committed privately and should have been handled privately. There was no need for the body of Christ to know that Jim slept with Jessica Haun. What can you and I do seven years later? Jim repented seven years ago, and to Jesus Christ it never happened! Instead, the brothers got on TV, ran down Jim, and harmed the body by making us peeved at Jim and Tammy and lose our love for the TV ministries. It also gave the devil and his people reason to mock the gospel of Jesus Christ. A lot of people said, “Christians are all a bunch of fakes.”

The media mocked Christians and hurt the cause of Christ. Who would want to become a Christian after what was read in the media even though most of it was untrue? But if we can guard each other and protect each other to be what God wants us to be, the people in the world would say, “Boy, look at those Christians. They really stand up for each other. They are really loyal to each other, and look how they love.”

We are not saying that we like what Jim did seven years ago; we don’t. What we are saying is that we recognize that the guy fell, and all of us know that we too have fallen. Perhaps we have not committed adultery physically, but we may have read porno, had lust, envy, strife, jealousy, etc., etc., etc., and the list could go on. Maybe God told us to do something nice for someone, and we failed to obey Him. That is also sin and falling. We recognize not only that a sin has been committed, but we most of all recognize the great justice of God, the forgiveness, the blood that has never lost its power. We love our brother Jim Bakker, and we want him to apply the Blood of Jesus, His forgiveness, and go on with the ministry that God has called him to accomplish.

Look in the Bible. There are very few leaders in the Word, a very few, that have not fallen. THAT IS THE POINT; God is not calling perfect people to serve Him. He is calling sinners like us! HE forgave us and transformed us so that we can serve Him and be an example of that transforming power of God and not our own self-righteousness and goodness. Imagine a man like Jim, who fell like that and confessed. If we all had the right attitude toward him and supported him to go on with his ministry, he could do so with more compassion and understanding for people. Jim could say, “Look people, even when I was in the ministry, I goofed and I learned from it.” He could admonish other people to be careful in the ministry and to help each other out. That could be a tremendous testimony to the world about the grace of God. By battering down someone like Jim who fell, we are trying to show the world how good we are who didn’t fall. We are flaunting our self-righteousness instead of the righteousness of Christ and the grace of God. I tell you, we failed just as much as poor Jim. Maybe his sin wasn’t as bad as ours if we knew how God really looked at it.

Those of us who supposedly didn’t fall and kept our lousy attitude toward him have more to answer to the Lord for than Jim. Especially because of the wrong attitude that we had by not praying and supporting him, we ended up seeing a wonderful ministry that God had established, ruined.

We will have a lot to answer for in the presence of Jesus one of these days. What if Jimmy Swaggart, Oral Roberts, or I sin for some reason and perhaps feel what it is like to be shown no compassion or understanding by brothers in Christ. The Bible has a lot of warnings; judge not lest you be judged or you will fall into your own trap. Take heed when you stand lest you fall. We have never been called into the ministry of judgment; judgment belongs to God alone! The only ministry that we are called to is the ministry of reconciliation. (II Corinthians 5:18)

When David sinned, he didn’t resign as king. When he sinned with Bathsheba and God confronted him with the sin, David did the right thing. He confessed and fasted. The entire kingdom knew about his sin, so he confessed publicly. One right thing that David did was very important; he stayed in his position as king. By his staying not only was he able to make restitution and confess, but he kept the kingdom moving according to God’s plan.

However, on another occasion when Absalom was fighting him, David ran away from Jerusalem. David had more trouble because he ran away from Jerusalem; and, in a sense, gave away the kingdom. Israel suffered more in that episode then the other one, because David left the kingdom. By staying in Jerusalem and confessing his sin, repenting, fasting, and paying the price, the kingdom didn’t suffer because David was still there. But when the conflict with Absalom happened and David ran away from fighting the battle, that is when a lot of people died and suffered because David didn’t stay in his position where God had put him to be used as a king.

God anointed him to be King of the kingdom, and God must be the only one to take him out from the kingdom. We can see this in the course of King Saul. David never tried to take the kingdom away from Saul. David realized this principle, and that is why he was a man after God’s own heart. He never touched God’s anointed. He knew that God was the one that anointed Saul and put him in the kingdom, and it would be God that would take Saul away from the kingdom before David would step in.

Saul not only sinned according to David, but according to God. David could have said that since Saul had sinned, let him resign from the kingdom and let me take over from this point on. He never did. It was God who put Saul on the throne of Israel, and it would be God who would remove him. David stepped in when his time came.

We in the ministry should be careful. If God is the one who put Jim Bakker in the ministry, which He did, then it must be God who takes him out, not us! We have no business messing around with God’s appointment and God’s calling in one man’s life. We can certainly pray for him and love him, but we have no reason to run him out of town.

Is the ministry supposed to belong to people who never make mistakes in their lives? Is that the kind of people who are supposed to serve God, those who have never made a mistake? The ministry is for sinners who have, by the grace of God, been forgiven and transformed. Those are the people God calls to serve Him.

Sin comes in different forms. God told Joshua to go and posses the land. He didn’t obey God. Joshua didn’t take all the land that God had given him either. He might not have sinned the sin of commission, but he sinned the sin of omission. If we had never sinned, we would be Jesus Christ. If any one of us is sinless and can cast the first stone, then we can be the saviour of mankind. That would be proof that we are Jesus Christ.

There is no such man because the Scriptures say that all have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God. And how short is short? Remember that the grace of God that works within us leads us from glory to glory. None of us have arrived. We are waiting for that perfection that happens when Jesus comes back again.

All of us need to be on our faces before the Lord seeking His forgiveness. Yes, relationship is utmost in truly hearing from God. The Church must conduct itself in such a way that those (especially ministers) that fall into sin can come and confess, get help and be restored without the risk of having their sins exposed to the world, thus losing their ministry.

6

Repentance

Restoration requires repentance. There are several areas of repentance that I would like to discuss in this chapter. The first being that we have lost our first love. This is brought out in Revelation chapter two where Jesus talks about the church in Ephesus. This is a good example of the church today in these last days. The Ephesus church had done many good things. They had good preaching, sound doctrine and everything seemed to be simply perfect. Today it would be considered one of the very best churches. Yet Jesus pointed out to them what they were missing; they had lost their first love. People, that first love is Jesus Christ! That is what has happened in the Church today. With all our program’s etc., Jesus has taken a back seat. We need to repent of that and put Christ first in all that we think and do.

Jesus talked about repentance in the Gospels; but in the first three chapters of Revelation, it is almost constant. Sinners need to repent unto salvation, but the saints need to repent unto restoration. There is a difference. Most of us in the church have repented unto salvation, but we have not repented unto restoration and restoring our relationship with God and our fellow man.

Let us look at what Jesus said to the church at Ephesus in Revelation 2:2: “I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars.” (KJ)

We can tell by this verse that this church is really keen in working for the Lord and can even spot the false prophets. They have suffered for the gospel and certainly applied themselves in spreading the good News. We today would certainly feel ashamed in their presence. Let’s see what was said in verses 3 and 4: “And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name’s sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted. Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.” (KJ)

The Church today must repent from the loss of their first love and again make Christ life itself!

I would like to quote from my book America Jesus Is Here (New Leaf Press). The Word tells us that without love we are nothing.

“That was the problem with the Ephesians; they worked hard for God, but there was no love. Many times we get so busy until we almost forget Jesus himself.

“A second thing He said to the church in Ephesus was, ‘You have tried those people and found that they are false apostles.’ Wasn’t it wonderful how they were able to distinguish between truth and error? This is one of the gifts of the Spirit listed in I Corinthians 12, the gift of discernment.

“Do you know what happens when you have discernment and you don’t have love? You end up being the biggest criticizer in the world. I think this trouble is coming into the charismatic movement, and it worries me!

“As soon as I returned to America, one of the first things I heard was that somebody was saying someone else was going off the deep end. Someone else was saying that somebody else was wrong and has been following false teachings. One charismatic leader was criticizing the other charismatic leader. Christians were criticizing other Christians. They all may be true and maybe there is something in his doctrine that isn’t quite right, and their discernment is true. But the thing that hurts me in their discernment is that they have no love. That is dangerous.

“When you are only able to discern, but you have no love to minister to that person and bring him back into the fellowship and the truth of God, then you are causing just as much trouble as that person who has gone off the deep end.

“It doesn’t do you any good to brag about the discernment you have because discernment without love does the Kingdom, or you, no good. The Lord Jesus Christ was telling the church in Ephesus, ‘You have discernment; you know who is the false prophet, but, unfortunately, you have lost the most important thing that is love.’”

The sin that is rampant in the Church today is the almost unrecognized sin of SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS, which is forgetting the grace of God. Most are going around with the attitude that we are better than everyone else, and we need to repent of that. The Church reeks with that sin and is keeping the work of God from going forward. We have forgotten that we are where we are today not because we are so good, but only by the grace of God and the transforming power of the Holy Spirit. If we are where we are by the grace of God, then if somebody falls short, it is not our responsibility to judge him. It is our responsibility to restore him. We, as God’s children have been called to the ministry of reconciliation. The reason that He did not give the ministry of judgement to us is because we are all sinners and a sinner cannot judge. Only God can judge because He alone is not guilty of sin.

When you repent, you have to repent of something. We need to HAVE AN UNDERSTANDING OF WHAT SIN IS. The church usually thinks that if you are a homosexual, boy you are a big sinner. Adultery is the number two big sin. Divorce is also really big, except today everyone is doing it, so the church is winking its eye at that sin. The love of money, that probably is pretty big too. Lying is kind of small. Gossiping, hating your brother, back biting, sowing discord, putting a brother down, and not doing what God tells us are hardly noticed or even dealt with in the Church, let alone confessed.

One doesn’t have to go out in the ocean until it is 1,000 feet deep to drown. One can go out until it is 500 feet deep to drown, or only 100 feet, or 10 feet, or one foot. Yes, even when your nose alone is under water, one can die. It isn’t how deep the water is, but the fact that one cannot breathe. A person doesn’t have to be a homosexual or an adulterer to be a sinner. The smallest sin you can think of makes one a sinner.

That is made very clear to us in Galatians 5:19-21, “...when you follow your own wrong inclinations your lives will produce these evil results: impure thoughts, eagerness for lustful pleasure, idolatry, spiritism (that is, encouraging the activity of demons), hatred and fighting, jealousy and anger, constant effort to get the best for yourself, complaints and criticisms, the feeling that everyone else is wrong except those in your own little group — and there will be wrong doctrine, envy, murder, drunkenness, wild parties, and all that sort of thing. Let me tell you again as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.” (LB)

It is very interesting to note the various sins included in those verses. All of us at one time or other, are to be found guilty. Sin is sin and short is short, and we had better stop constantly judging our brothers!

Perhaps some people sin more and some less. That doesn’t make us who sin less any “less of a sinner.” We need just as much of the grace of God as the one who has been down in the ditch ten times over.

For example: you have three apple trees. One tree produces a thousand apples, the second produces a hundred and the third, none. You cannot call the tree that bore the most fruit the only one that is an apple tree. The one that did not give one piece of fruit is still an apple tree. Perhaps it was too young to as yet bear fruit.

The Church cannot really repent until we understand what sin really is and quit being so high and mighty. As we repent, our relationship with God and man will then be rested. That relationship will be the basis for the revelation which in turn will kick in the restoration that we are discussing in this book. We will not see a real revival in this generation until repentance takes place in the Body of Christ.

Repentance is what happened in the Indonesian Revival when the Holy Spirit came down. On that very first night in the church where it all began, I was aware of people being baptized in the Holy Spirit, praising the Lord, speaking in tongues, etc. those things were glorious, but I tell you, I can still remember like it happened yesterday, was the sense of our loss. We suddenly knew that without the grace of God, man was never going to make it to heaven. People all over town were crying, “God I am lost. I need Your help.”

One could sense true sorrow unto repentance; you knew it was there in action. Yes, we began to repent. The Lord commanded us to burn all the worldly records and dirty books. We began to destroy everything we had that was not pleasing to the Lord. It was real repentance, and we had to make things right with those we had wronged. It was a real cleansing of the Holy Spirit that took place in the revival. That is why I believe the Revival has lasted so long. After twenty-two years it is still going on because the foundation was right. And the foundation was repentance!

I liken repentance to building a temple. Before you begin building a large building you must dig a big hole and take out all the dirt until you hit bed rock. Then you can pour the foundation and begin to build. That is repentance. Dig out all the dirt in your life so that your foundation is sure and solid. Then you can lay that foundation that we call relationship, and from there comes the revelation. Together they bring about a great revival and a mighty move of God, and that is the building that one can see. Then the Majesty of God will be seen in the church. When we walk in the reality of the Kingdom, we will have an impact on this world because our foundation has been laid right.

During the Revival it took some people quite some time to get things taken care of. One night during the prayer time at church, a man who was known as the town’s chief sinner had a vision. In that vision God took him back and showed him all his sin up to that very night. He stood there in church and bawled like a baby. He confessed every sin that the Lord had revealed to him in the vision. As suddenly as a blot of lightning, God cleansed him and set him free. You could see the change in his face and eyes. When he accepted Jesus, one could see that he had been born again. He was a new creature, and he knew it because he had repented and confessed all of his past sins and put them under the Blood of Jesus Christ.

I have seen where God dealt with people for days and weeks before He finally got through to them to repent. I have to be careful here because some people in America will think they have to cry ten days and tarry before God will hear them. It is not a matter of time but of the completeness of the repentance and our acts of forgiveness! When God reveals something to us, we must deal wit it, confess it, and make it right with restitution or whatever else needs to be done. In my own life, I repented of the “big things” right away. However, it was weeks before I allowed the Spirit to convict me of the “little” things. For instance, I didn’t stop smoking for two years after my salvation because I really didn’t think it was wrong. But when the Lord revealed to me it was wrong, I stopped that very day. There were other things the Lord revealed to me that were wrong, and I also dealt with them. It is true that God deals with most of us a step at a time, but whenever the revelation comes, we must deal with it right then and there. We must understand that repentance is not a onetime act; it is continuing. There is the onetime repentance unto salvation, but after that there must be the constant attitude of repentance. We must always be open to God’s dealings with sin and be ready to walk in the light as God reveals it to us.

Let me quote from my book Like A Mighty Wind that is about the Indonesian Revival:

“During the out-pouring of the Holy Spirit in our church, God dealt with our sins in a very personal way. To many He gave words of knowledge to reveal these sins.

“One night a woman went to one of the men in the church and said, “Brother, you have committed adultery and the Lord wants you to repent. You have never brought it to the light.”

“That brother’s wife was there, and she got mad. “I know your secret now,” she said.

“Oh, no, I’ve never done it!” the man replied.

“What do you mean, you have never done it!” the woman with the gift of knowledge said. “I will tell you the details.” And she gave the exact date, the place and the name of the other woman involved. And then she said, “Now can you still deny it?”

“Finally, the Spirit of God fell on the man and he confessed his sin.

“His wife still continued to get mad, so the Lord sent another person to minister to her about her sins. And she started confessing her sins also.

“All over the church that night, people confessed their secret sins. And the Lord really cleansed their lives of all of those sins and made the people ready to be used in His service.

“Also, many people had witchcraft in their homes and did not want to confess it, so the Lord would tell some other brother in the church the exact person and place where he was keeping his fetishes. Then he couldn’t deny it and would have to confess and get rid of it. In this way, the Lord opened to us that night the truth concerning demonic powers. Many people without realizing it had been under the bondage of Satan.

“One of the brothers was told he had liquor hidden in his house.

“No, I don’t have any there,” he said, and refused to repent.

“The Lord told the people that were ministering to him that if he didn’t repent he would die in twenty-four hours.

“The next day when the man came to the meeting, he was told that he had only one hour left to repent.

“If you don’t repent, you will die,” the people said.

“I don’t care; I don’t have any liquor,” he said.

“When it got to within five minutes of the time, they tried to help him, but he still said, “Nah, I don’t have any secret sin.”

“Please,” they begged him, “confess your sin.”

“Then there were only thirty seconds left, and he said, “Nah, don’t tell me that stuff. You’re crazy.”

“Finally they pleaded as others counted 9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1.

“Then the man fell down and died.

“There are so many people who refuse to bring their sins into the light and ask the Lord to forgive them. In the Indonesian revival, confession was one of the characteristics, for the Lord wanted us to be set free from demonic power and to cleanse our hearts so we could live holy lives. First the Lord would bring all of our sins to light. Then we would ask Him to forgive us and heal our broken hearts. We would renounce all demonic relationships of the past. After this, God enabled us to preach the Gospel. When we went out, we could see the power of God moving.

“It’s simple, you know, this Christian life. If the Christian life were complicated, we in the heathen country could never have become Christians. When the Bible says something, we just take it as it is, believe it, rest, smile and let God do the job.

“Praise Jesus for the simplicity of the Gospel. Our Gospel is often fooled around with. When we read Mark 16, we begin to question why we don’t find it in the most ancient manuscripts. So we begin to dig a hole here and dig a hole there for God’s Word. We study it ten years and say, “Oh, in this manuscript we have it and in this manuscript we don’t have it,” so we must ponder and think it over before we make any decision.

“We in Indonesia are not smart enough to do that. The missionaries brought us the “Black Book” and told us that the whole Bible was the Word of God and we were to believe it. So we believe it. And if we were so stupid to do so, God used even our stupidity for His glory, for by His power He proved to us that His Word is true. I praise God that no matter what the scholars in America might say about some verses, we in Indonesia have experienced all the things in Mark 16 by the power of His Holy Spirit.”

If we Christians keep that attitude of repentance, walking and living daily in a close walk with Jesus, our sin will be kept under control. That is where I John 1:9 comes in: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (KJ)

We often use that verse for the unsaved; however, that verse is for the saints. Praise the Lord that when we sin, we can come to God, confess it, and then He will cleanse us and forgive us. That is repentance!

7

Riches Of The Nations

In Mark 1:16-20 we read, “And as He was going along by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew, the brother of Simon, casting a net in the sea; for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” And they immediately left the nets and followed Him. And going on a little farther, He saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who were also in the boat mending the nets. And immediately He called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants, and went away to follow Him.”

In the heart of every Christian should be the desire to be called by God and to serve Him as were Peter, Andrew, John and James. If I asked you now if you would like to be an apostle for the Lord Jesus Christ, the resounding answer should be, “YES!” To be called like Peter, Andrew, John and James would be the greatest experience a man or woman could have in their lives.

These four men called of God became four of the greatest apostles of their day. Because of their ministry the church began on the day of Pentecost, and today we have seen the message of Christ go to the world over. There are millions and millions of people who are following Jesus as their personal Saviour. So you can say that the call and the ministry of Peter, Andrew, John and James has been very successful. I know that you and I want to follow the Lord in that same fashion. Unfortunately, not all of us have the privilege of serving God in that same manner.

When you are called into the five-fold ministry as an apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor or teacher, I call that an “M1” ministry. The “M” stands for the book of Mark and the “1” stands for Chapter One. It tells us about Jesus calling these four men into the ministry.

I thank God that twenty-two years ago He called me into the “M1” ministry. I do not have to elaborate on the importance of this kind of ministry. We would all agree that this is a wonderful ministry in which to be called. But I want to show you another kind of ministry that is just as valid, needed and as important as the “M1” ministry.

The Church in the last 2000 years has recognized the position of the “M1” ministries with full acceptance and rightly so. However, the Church has failed to recognize what I call the “M2” ministries. “M” again stands for the book of Mark and the “2” stands for the Second Chapter. Let me share this with you so you will know where I am headed. Mark 2:1-4 says, “And when He had come back to Capernaum several days afterward, it was heard that He was at home. And many were gathered together, so that there was no longer room, even near the door; and He was speaking the word to them. And they came, bringing to Him a paralytic, carried by four men. And being unable to get to Him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above Him; and when they had dug an opening, they let down the pallet on which the paralytic was lying.”

The Bible does not tell us who the four men were or what they did for a living. They were not apostles or preachers...for if they were, they would not have been on top of the roof; they would have been with Jesus while He was speaking. I would like to suggest that they were businessmen. One of them was most likely a builder. The reason I say that is because before one would break open a roof to go down, he would have to know what he was doing — like knowing where the beams were. If he did it wrong, he could break the beam that he was standing on. Instead of lowering their paralytic friend down, they would all have fallen from the roof top, probably to their death. Those men knew what they were doing.

What I am saying is that they were not in “a ministry.” They were just normal everyday people serving the Kingdom of God. After the paralytic was lowered down, Jesus told him his sins were forgiven and he was healed. He then picked up his mat and walked out the door.

What do you think that man did after he was healed? I think he was a grateful man who bowed down and thanked the Lord. Then he walked out of the house, went to the top of the roof, found those four friends that had the nerve to lower him down into the presence of Jesus, and gave them thanks. Even though those four men were not ministers, they had a very special ministry. You would never be able to convince the man that was healed that they were not ministers. They may not have been apostles or teachers, but they were used of God to help in this very difficult situation. This is what I call the “M2” ministry.

In the last 2000 years the Church has not given the laity the chance to fulfill their calling in the Church. I have met a lot of businessmen who pray that one day they will make enough money to retire and then be able to serve the Lord. There are two words that are misused among Christians. We tend to describe work as either secular or Christian. If a person is in the “M1” ministry, it is called a Christian or spiritual work. If you are in the “M2” ministry, then it is called secular work. We need to redefine “Christian” and “Secular.” Ones work is Spiritual and Christian if God called you to do it, and it is secular if you are only doing it for money, whether you are a preacher, evangelist, or plumber.

There are those called to the “M1” ministries and those called to the “M2” ministries. It is the “M2” ministries and their results that I want to discuss in this chapter.

God has nothing against richness as long as it produces in man good works and stores treasure for the future in heaven. That is what Paul wrote to Timothy in 1 Timothy 6:17-19: “Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy; that they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate; laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.” (KJ)

God wants us to use our riches for a good purpose and His glory.

That is why we need to be involved in the world of commerce, business and every aspect of life. It is true that we can do good for people, and we can serve God and be a blessing. James 2:14-16 talks about true faith as a releasing of works by feeding and clothing the poor. If we do not feed and clothe the poor, James said that our religion is not worth a dime. You may be real spiritual, but if you are not giving, you are not what God wants you to be.

There are millions of people who are hungry and dying the world over, especially in Africa. As we Christians become involved in Kingdom living, the manifestation of the Kingdom can reach these people by bringing them food and the gift of Jesus Christ. That is the expression of the love of Jesus and the Kingdom of God that is in us.

In Luke 22:15-16, Christ said, “...with desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer: for I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the Kingdom of God.” (KJ)

We can see here both sides of the Kingdom, the physical and the spiritual.

We are created according to the image of God; that is why in I Thessalonians 5:23, Paul wrote, “And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray to God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (KJ)

Christ constantly talked about caring for the physical needs of people, the spiritual needs, and the mental needs. Today there is a great emphasis put on the healing of the body. In every meeting it seems like there is the healing line and many people are teaching “how to heal.” In the atonement, as recorded in Isaiah 53, we are taught that by His stripes we are healed. But it also says that the chastisement of our peace was upon Him. So our souls and minds were also cared for. It also says that He was bruised for our iniquities — that takes care of our spirit. Therefore, Christ died for our mental being, our physical being and our spiritual being. People, let’s claim all of the healing that was offered in the atonement...not just the physical.

Psalm 23 tells us that, “The Lord is my Shepherd.” We seem to be afraid of anything that is physical because it might be worldly and materialistic. If we take away the world of the physical, where are we going to be? We are physical beings in this life. Our work must be a way of living and serving Jesus Christ no matter what our vocation.

Usually, when we Christians talk about serving God, what we have in our mind is something like teaching a Sunday School class if we are looking for a “small” ministry. But then if we want to “really” serve God, we will try to be a missionary, an evangelist or a pastor; then we have a ‘sacred’ job. When most people who work in what we call the secular world get converted, and especially if they are filled with the Holy Ghost, their prayer is that God will give them a ministry. I have seen this happen time and time again. Because of this pressure, many will come ask me to pray for them so that they will have their “ministry”.

Those of us who are not working as evangelists, pastors, etc., say we work in the secular world. It is considered the job one must have to put the food on the table. It certainly is not a work that is considered holy. We need to come to the understanding that if God calls an individual to do a certain thing, then that is a sacred work. For instance, Daniel was never a preacher; he was a prophet of God and a government official in the Kingdom of Nebuchadnezzar. He had an “M2” ministry.

We all know that a preacher can stand in the pulpit and speak and not be doing a sacred work. If preaching or becoming an apostle is only a way to earn a living, and if God has not called him, then he is doing a secular work. However, if a farmer, publisher, or a businessman is working in that profession because God wants him to be there to work that business, so that He can then release its profits for the work of the Kingdom, then he is doing a sacred work. Again, that is an “M2” ministry.

I recently returned from Indonesia where I spoke to about 3,500 young people coming from 89 cities for a conference. I shared with them the five-fold ministry found in Ephesians 4:11-12 which says, “And he gave some, as apostles; and some, as prophets; and some, as evangelists; and some as pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, to the edifying of the body of Christ.” (KJ)

These are the people who are called by God to a specific ministry. But these are not the only people who are ministering to the Lord, who are serving God. In Luke 8 we find that a certain group of women who followed Jesus ministered to Him out of their substance. They never preached a sermon or healed the sick, but they were there day in and day out cooking the meals and doing the laundry, and as a result they were a primary part of the ministry of Jesus and His disciples.

Acts 8:4 says that the disciples stayed in Jerusalem during the time of persecution. The rest of the congregation was scattered all over Judea and Samaria. Now these are people that were probably farmers, shepherds and what not, with different occupations. But as they scattered all over Judea and Samaria, the Bible says that wherever they went, they preached the Word. So there are other ways to preach the Word and serve God, especially in these last days. There is absolutely a place for business in the Kingdom of God today. We’re no different from Paul who made tents to get the money to finance his missionary journeys. God wants us to build “tents,” corporations in different countries, so that we can finance the work of the Kingdom. Through these funds we can send out missionaries all over the world to win millions and millions of souls for Jesus in these last days.

When we talked about restoration before, we talked about seeing the restoration of the power of God in our lives and reaching the world for Christ. We all know this cannot happen unless we have the funds. If we want to use radio and television, publish books, hold seminars and crusades, build churches, and help national leaders, we will need millions and millions of dollars.

I came back from Amsterdam where about 8,000 evangelists from 174 countries gathered. As I was sitting in the auditorium looking at them, I said, “Lord, these 8,000 or so people need at least a million dollars a month just to do Your work, if they only use about 100 dollars a person. Lord, for the work to be effective, You know that each man would need at least $1,000, and that would come to eight million dollars a month. Lord Jesus, help us to see this new vision for advancing the Kingdom.”

We all know that the need is far greater than that. Dr. Billy Graham said that there are almost 100,000 evangelists serving God full time. For these 100,000 we need a billion dollars a month for them to be totally equipped to go and preach the gospel and reach this generation for Jesus Christ. The needs for the funds are there. You and I know that the church has been raising money: we pass the offering for mission work, we ask for money through radio and television programs, newsletters, etc. Often we preach the Word for a few minutes and then spend the rest of the time raising money. By the time we finish, the impact of the message is totally gone. Some of those methods are good ways to raise money, but I believe that there is a better way. I believe we need to trust God for a revelation as to how to have our own corporations generate the funds for the work of the Kingdom. There are billions and billions of dollars out there that can still be available for the work of the Kingdom. We need to know how to capture those funds for the Kingdom.

About two years ago, while I was in Tahiti, the Lord spoke to me to read Ecclesiastes 2:26: “For God giveth to a man that is good in his sight wisdom, and knowledge, and joy...” (KJ) God gave Joseph the knowledge that there would be seven good years of harvest and then seven years of famine. Then after that, He gave him the wisdom to take advantage of that situation. As a result, Joseph became the Prime Minister of Egypt. He became a person of power who controlled all of Egypt for Pharaoh and was able to save his own family too. As a result, Israel was spared from death, and the Messiah came as a result of sparing his family. Joseph had an indirect role in making sure that God’s covenant with Abraham would be fulfilled. I believe that God is going to give us knowledge and wisdom as business people, how to build and acquire businesses for the work of the Kingdom. When I talk about prosperity, I am not talking about just sitting there and praying, “God, prosper me, so everyone will know that I am rich and can do all things the rich do.”

I am talking about working, fasting, planting seed and praying for prosperity so that the Kingdom of God can be advanced. One of the mistakes we have made in the ministry occurs when somebody gives a large donation like $100,000. We often take it and spend every cent of it at once. Yes, it does good, like building an orphanage; I’ve done that myself; I have been guilty of the same thing. We build an orphanage, build this, or build that; and then after we build the particular building or that particular outreach, we have to go and raise more money just to maintain what we built to begin with. We have not learned the idea of sowing seed. When I talk about sowing seed, I’m not just talking about giving it away. I’m talking about planting it in the ground so that out of that seed, it can grow and bring more fruit. I believe that when God talks about sowing seed, He is not just talking about giving it to some ministry.

We have a good example of how to invest money in Matthew 25:14-29. “Again, the Kingdom of Heaven can be illustrated by the story of a man going into another country, who called together his servants and loaned them money to invest for him while he was gone. He gave $5,000 to one, $2,000 to another, and $1,000 to the last — dividing it in proportion to their abilities — and then left on his trip. The man who received the $5,000 began immediately to buy and sell with it and soon earned another $5,000. The man with $2,000 went right to work, too, and earned another $2,000. But the man who received the $1,000 dug a hole in the ground and hid the money for safekeeping. After a long time their master returned from his trip and called them to him to account for his money. The man to whom he had entrusted the $5,000 brought him $10,000. His master praised him for good work. “You have been faithful in handling this small amount,” he told him, “so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Begin the joyous tasks I have assigned to you.” Next came the man who received the $2,000 with the report, “Sir, you gave me $2,000 to use, I have doubled it.” “Good work,” his master said. “You are a good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over this small amount, so now I will give you much more. Then the man with the $1,000 came and said, “Sir, I knew you were a hard man, and I was afraid you would rob me of what I earned, so I hid your money in the earth and here it is!” But his master replied, “Wicked man! Lazy slave! Since you knew I would demand your profit, you should at least have put my money into the bank so I could have some interest. Take the money from this man and give it to the man with the $10,000. For the man who uses well what he is given shall be given more, and he shall have abundance. But from the man who is unfaithful, even what little responsibility he has shall be take from him.”’(LB)

If a ministry has a million dollars, they would be wise not to use up the whole amount. They should invest some of that money in such a way that the interest out of that investment can be used to further the work of the Kingdom. The same is true for the Mel Tari Evangelistic Association. One day the Lord said to me, “Mel, tell them not to eat up all the seed. Take the million dollars, use it as a seed, plant that first, invest it wisely, and out of that million dollars you will have the funds to really work the kingdom.”

The last half of Ecclesiastes 2:26 says, “...but to the sinner he giveth travail, to gather and to heap up, and he may give to him that is good before God...” (KJ)

What the Bible is saying here is that there are a lot of wicked people out there who, without knowing it, have been working hard with their finances building corporations, so that God can give them to His children. Proverbs 13:22 tells us, “...the wealth of the sinner is stored up for the righteous.” James 5:3 says that the rich people are collecting treasure for the last days.

Even though there has been a lot of wealth misused and abused, there is more wealth left over on this planet to build the Kingdom and to bring souls unto Jesus.

One day I said to my friend Ray, “Ray, you have gone through the fire for many, many years. It is time for you to have a change.”

Ray was a millionaire when he was only thirty years old. He owned his own Lear Jet and built one of the first high-rise buildings in Houston. This was twenty some years ago. Ray didn’t know the Lord then, and he used the money to build a big house in Beverly Hills and a million dollar home in Houston with marble imported from Italy. He had nice cars, traveled and associated with Hollywood stars, political figures, the famous and the powerful of that day. Then, through a series of misfortunes, he lost it all. Like Howard Hughes, you can have all that money, but without Jesus you still have nothing. Jesus Himself said that you can gain the world, but what is the use of gaining the whole world if you lose your soul? Money in itself does not serve the purpose of God unless our hearts are right with Jesus. If Jesus is the center of the hub, then the wealth can be used in the right way for the purpose of the Kingdom.

I told Ray that there were going to be successful corporations that people have built, but for some reason they are going to lose them, and God is going to turn them over to us Christians. The reason that He is going to do that is so that we can get unlimited funds and use it to build the Kingdom.

Those of us who love the Lord, He can give us the corporations that we can control so that the finance can go to the Work. Do not be misled; the reason God is going to prosper His people and give us this control is not so we can have bigger cars and bigger houses; that is not the purpose. The ONLY reason for prosperity is so that the funds can be used to win souls for the Kingdom.

Like Israel with all of that gold from Egypt; God did not send them some place where they could find shopping centers to buy new clothes and new wagons. God sent them out into the wilderness. There in the wilderness God supplied them with manna, meat when they needed it, and water from a rock. God provided protection for them; their clothes and shoes never wore out and their daily necessities were supplied by God. The gold and the silver were not for them to use for their own purposes. They were to be used to build the Tabernacle of God. If we look closely, we can see that same parallel for this generation.

Sometime later Ray came to me and said, “Mel, there is this older gentleman that has a corporation that is worth 250 million dollars. He does not have an heir, and by a miracle I found out about this corporation. A certain lady sent me a batch of papers about a particular deal and accidentally put one page in the middle about this company. It was not for public knowledge. I took a look at that paper and wondered why it was in that batch. I liked the company on that one page better than the original deal. So I called her.

“Ray, you are not supposed to know about that. How do you know that information?” she asked me.

“It is here in the middle of the package that you sent me.” I told her.

She said, “That was an accident.”

To make the story short, Ray contacted the man and the Lord willing, this corporation worth 250 million dollars will be owned by us. He liked Ray and knew that Ray could finish the building of the corporation the way he wanted it to be done.

A couple of months later, a banker called Ray and said, “Ray, we have a corporation called All Seasons Resorts that is near bankruptcy. This corporation has eleven resorts all over the country and for the first three years made ninety million dollars. However, they did not manage it right. There are roughly 15,000 members that paid $6,000 to belong, and for that $6,000 they have the privilege to go every week to one of the resorts and enjoy a fun filled family vacation with twenty-four hour security. It is a good deal. It is better than a time-share. In a time-share you go one week per year. If you happen to be sick that particular week you lose your week until the next year. In this company you can go anytime you want to.”

We took a look at the company and liked it. We knew it could be a profitable company if it were managed right. The bankers told us that for a million and a half dollars this company could be ours. Ray told me about it and we began to pray. We had three groups of investors join us. Two groups came in with a half a million dollars each. The Mel Tari evangelist Association became the third investor.

This money came to us in an interesting way. In 1985 I went to Tonga to preach. Usually, when you preach in America or Europe, you can expect a love offering that will cover at least half of your expenses. People are very nice when there is money left over. Sometimes, you can use it for your ministry. This is how the ministry has been supported through the years. I never really have felt free to ask for money by sending out newsletters, even though I did it once, with no response. That is why I am a firm believer that God has to have a different way to raise or bring in the funds for the ministry. When God called me into the ministry twenty-two years ago, He said to me clearly, “Mel, if you need a dollar or a million dollars, I will give it to you. Do not ask anyone else for money.”

I really believe that there is a better way to acquire the funds for the work of the Kingdom. I’m not saying that those who send out newsletters or ask for money are wrong; that is a good way. But I just believe that there is a better way. The better way is for Christians to ask God to reveal to them what kind of company they can own or participate in that will bring in millions and billions for the Kingdom. All Seasons Resorts, Inc. is a case in point.

I went to Tonga, which is a Kingdom north of New Zealand. I know the King of Tonga very, very well. That is another story in itself. I went down to Tonga by invitation of His Majesty. His family has been ruling the Kingdom for about 1,000 years. They are one of the oldest ruling monarchs in continuous succession. The King is very good friends with Her Majesty the Queen of England, Queen Elizabeth II and the Prince of Spain.

While I was there preaching, I was probably in one of the most difficult times of my life. In the flesh I didn’t want to go. I knew that going into those countries would never produce a single penny. Instead, it would require money from our own pocket. But the Lord wanted me to go so I went. I went never expecting a penny. Out of those meetings I met a person who didn’t look like she owned a penny to her name. She really didn’t have money, only some stocks that were given to her by her parents. She said to me, “Mel, I don’t know if this stock is worth anything, but I want to give it to you to invest in the Lord’s work if it is worth anything.”

I had told her how we needed to use money wisely instead of using up the seed that came in. we need to plant them first, and out of that seed we could use the fruit for the work of the gospel I said to her, “I’ll give you three days before you give it to me. Go and pray about it, and if you are sure that God wants you to do this, write me a letter explaining to me that this is what you want to do, that you are doing this voluntarily, and that you know this is what God wants you to do. Sign it and have two friends sign it.”

She did. The stock certificate was in Hawaii. On the way back from Tonga, I stopped in Hawaii and picked up the stock from one of her friends that was keeping it for her. I brought it back to California and put it in a safe deposit box. I forgot about it until about six months later. The woman that had given me the stock was in America and told me that the company was going to be sold and I should see about the stock. I contacted the company, and she signed the stock over to the Mel Tari Evangelistic Association. A couple of months later, near the time we needed the $500,000, the company was sold. The stock brought in $400,000. The other $100,000 was given to us in another way altogether. We had the half million dollars and purchased All Seasons Resorts.

I have a suggestion for people who want to be involved in the world of business for Jesus. Instead of promising, “Lord, when You prosper me, I’ll give You this money and that money,” give the stock of the company up front for God’s work. You could also set up a trust fund or something like that; so when the Lord blesses you, the money would go straight into His work. Because later when you are very rich, it is easy to renege or forget your earlier promises to God.

It is very important to remember that building the kingdom before the second coming of Christ literally involves every member of the Body of Christ. It is not a one man ministry or denomination. That is why this can be a unifying factor for the Body.

Even though it looks like one person only plays a small role in the Kingdom, everyone is needed. Because the Kingdom embraces the entire world and all of God’s children.

We need to allow the Holy Spirit to help us be able to relate and live with one another, to work with each other in seeing that the Kingdom will be established.

It is very important for every child of God to know our place in the Kingdom so that we are not trying to do a hundred things at once. God wants us to excel in the calling He has equipped us to do. WE MUST SEEK HIS REVELATION so we are doing exactly what He has called us to do!

His Kingdom will come and as Christ said, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

8

Staying In Balance

There are some teachings going on in the world today using the term “The Kingdom Now.” I want to make clear as to the danger of this teaching in this chapter. Dr. David Allen Lewis said that we must not use the same terminology without explaining it, and it looks like we are guilty by association.

It is very important to note that when I talk about revelation, I am not talking about a “new revelation” that supersedes, betters, or is more up to date than the revelation that already exists in the Word of god, the bible. The Bible must always be the foundation or the check for what we receive today. If what we receive does not agree with the Word of God, then we are the ones who will have to adjust to the Word...there is no other way!

In the “New Age Movement” for instance, most of the prophets say, “We believe in Jesus Christ; we believe in the Bible, but our revelation is newer than the Bible and enhances it.”

By saying that, they are trying to either cancel out the power of the Bible or use their terms as a way of justifying what they call the truth, even though it is definitely opposed to what the Bible teaches...and that is error! By calling it the latest truth or a “new” revelation, they are saying if it doesn’t match with the Bible, it is because the Bible is old-fashioned and out of date. Many well known teachers are giving all sorts of new revelations...beware.

When I talk about being involved in the Kingdom today and building the Kingdom, I am not saying that man by his own strength without the second coming of Jesus Christ will or can perfect the Kingdom. What I am saying is this: By the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit and because of the nature of the time in which we live, we as Christ’s Bride must be prepared by Kingdom Living. However, because the presence of sin and Satan are still here, man cannot create a perfect world so that Jesus can return. We must involve ourselves as much as possible in every area of daily life of education, government, etc., to win souls into the Kingdom and bring glory to God. The fight is still on between the Holy Spirit that is at work within us, the Church, and the spirit of the Evil One that is at work in the world.

Paul talks about the meeting in the air; most Christians use the term rapture to describe that event. I want to convey the idea that the time of the coming of Jesus and meeting Him in the air is the point of transformation where the dead in Christ are raised and receive their new and glorified bodies. Those who remain are also transformed and receive a new body at that time. It is at that time of the coming of Christ and only then when “everything will be made perfect.”

During that millennium there are still people who don’t know the Lord. At the end Satan is released and there is a war between Jesus and His saints and the people who will go with Satan. At that time Satan, his demons and sin will be totally destroyed. Only then can we talk about living in perfection the way God wants it to be and not one day sooner. This needs to be very clear. If not, you will be confused and led astray by those who think we can now live such a good life as to force the return of Christ.

One of the advocates of the Kingdom Now said, “Jesus Christ cannot come back today because He does not have a definable bride. As long as Christians are preaching that Jesus is going to sit on a little gold chair in Jerusalem and re-gather the natural tribes of Israel, identifying the bride is impossible! If Christ came back, to whom would He come? Jesus Christ is held captive in the heavens simply because we have not understood by the spirit who the Bride of Christ is or to whom God is betrothed.” THE FOLLOWING IS A LIST OF SOME OF THE KINGDOM NOW BELIEFS:

The church replaces restored Israel.

The Book of Revelation is non-prophetic.

Men are deified as gods.

Satan is bound now and cannot deceive the nations.

Christ cannot come now because the church must grow up.

The Bible does not have a plan for the nation Israel.

The antichrist is a system, not a person.

Christ’s second coming took place at His ascension.

(NEW WAVE THEOLOGY, Robert Crabtree, M.A.)

The list could go on and on. Remember, the Holy Spirit will guide us in all truth...beware of false teachings.

The “New Age Movement” that has been going on for years and is gaining momentum in this country talks a lot about reincarnation. This is one aspect of the deception happening in this generation. We as Christians should know that the Bible has no place whatsoever for reincarnation. The Bible states there will be a resurrection and eternal life or damnation. Reincarnation is a Hindu philosophy. I grew up with it in Indonesia, so I know what is going on. You live now, then you are reincarnated to be something else, perhaps even a cockroach. Hopefully, after a couple of reincarnations or as many reincarnations as necessary, you attain a position as a god. Again, this is man’s way to bypass Jesus Christ and God’s grace. Man, by his own efforts, wants to be God. That is totally opposite of what the Word of God teaches and will lead a man straight to hell.

The “New Agers” try to make man into God and depose Jesus to one of the boys, a good guru, one of the masters, or one of the prophets. However, every Christian knows that Jesus is the Center, the Son of God, the Saviour, God incarnate, and there is NO equal to Him on the face of the earth, past, present or future. He is the only Lord, Master and Saviour. The Lord Jesus Christ is the center of everything and must receive preeminence and glory!

We as God’s children are sinners saved by the grace of God. When people claim that before Jesus comes back again, we will obtain perfection; just remember Adam and Eve. Before the fall they were perfect; and if we can do that, they certainly should have been able to. If in their perfection they goofed, how do you think that we who have been tainted by sin can make it to perfection? We cannot do it!

By the grace of God we are going to go from glory to glory. As the Bible says in Proverbs 4:18, “But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, that shines brighter and brighter until the full day.”

So the completion will not come until the Son of God — Jesus Christ, The Bright and Morning Star — comes back to earth in person. Even so, come Lord Jesus!

9

To The Nations

When sin entered into mankind, it destroyed our personal walk and life with God. Even today, we as individuals are troubled and influenced by the evil one. As a result of the individuals losing the glory and being tainted by sin, the family is not the way it is supposed to be. The first fight in the first family has been going on to this very day in families all over the world. That we have divorce and the breaking up of the family in this generation as never before in the history of mankind is the work of sin and Satan.

Israel as a nation is by no means where it is supposed to be, even though it is a country that has a covenant with God. They are not living today in that covenant. The nations of the world are not the way they are supposed to be, and the planet earth definitely isn’t the way God intends it to be. The fall has made everything less than what God intended it to be.

There are seven kinds of restoration. They follow:

1. THE INDIVIDUAL.

Restoration must begin with each individual in their own personal relationship with God. Then and only then can they function in the Kingdom in the fullness that God wants them to be as His precious children.

The following verse reflects the restoration of the individual. II Corinthians 3:18: “But we Christians have no veil over our faces; we can be mirrors that brightly reflect the glory of the Lord. And as the Spirit of the Lord works within us, we become more and more like him.” (LB)

2. THE FAMILY.

With the restoration of the individual, the family can be restored. Malachi 4:5-6 says, “See, I will send you another prophet like Elijah before the coming of the great and dreadful judgment day of God. His preaching will bring fathers and children together again, to be of one mind and heart, for they will know that if they do not repent, I will come and utterly destroy their land.” (LB)

The following verses reflect the restoration of the family. Ephesians 6:1-4: “Children, obey your parents; this is the right thing to do because God has placed them in authority over you. Honor your father and mother. This is the first of God’s Ten Commandments that ends with a promise. And this is the promise: that if you honor your father and mother, yours will be a long life, full of blessing. And now a word to you parents. Don’t keep on scolding and nagging your children, making them angry and resentful. Rather, bring them up with the loving discipline the Lord himself approves, with suggestions and godly advice.” (LB)

3. MARRIAGES.

We see in these last days, the move of the Holy Spirit to bring restoration to the family. We can also see the impact of the work of the Holy Spirit in restoring marriages and relationships with couples. On the other hand, we are going to see and hear in the world, because of the “New Age Movement,” you can do no wrong doctrine. The world will become more and more permissive. When the marriage vow has no meaning whatsoever, people will live loosely and turn their backs on God. That will be the other extreme. When marriage is no longer sacred, there comes a point as with families in Communist countries where there is no such thing as a real family, and the government raises the children. But we see God, by the Holy Spirit restoring the family the way He intends it to be. The family will be the unit that worships God together.

The following verse reflects the restoration of the marriage. Ephesians 5:23: “For a husband is in charge of his wife in the same way Christ is in charge of his body the church. (He gave his very life to take care of it and be its Savior!) (LB)

4. THE CHURCH.

The marriages of Christians in these last days will truly reflect the relationship between the Church and Jesus Christ. It is safe to say that most marriages today do not quite reflect the relationship that exists between Jesus and His Church. But by His grace that will change. This is what God wants to bring about when restoration takes place in the Body of Christ. The kind of relationship that exists in the family can reflect the relationship between God the Father and us His children.

The following verses reflect the restoration of the Church. Ephesians 2:19-22: “So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household, having been built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together is growing into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.”

5. ISRAEL.

At the coming of Jesus, Israel as a nation will reach her full glory again. Because the Son of David, Jesus Christ, will be on the throne. It is stated well in Romans 11:25-27, “For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery, lest you be wise in your own estimation, that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; and thus all Israel will be saved: just as it is written. “THE DELIVERER WILL COME FROM ZION, HE WILL REMOVE UNGODLINESS FROM JACOB. AND THIS IS MY COVENANT WITH THEM, WHEN I TAKE AWAY THEIR SINS.’”

6. NATIONS

As God brings restoration to the church, there will be a change in the nations of the world. In the last twenty years I have seen a tremendous change in my country, Indonesia. Indonesia used to be at the bottom of the totem pole — so to speak — as far as ranking in the world community.

When the gospel penetrated the nation and some of the people in leadership started living for the Lord and began caring for the people instead of putting the wealth into their pockets, the change came. Today, the country is improving economically and spiritually in many ways.

As one goes to the nations of the world, you see a perfect example of this. Countries that have the freedom to preach the Gospel, even though they are far from perfect, are being blessed by God. For instance, America. Because of the faith and love of God of our founding fathers and the religious freedom that exists, it is the most blessed of all countries in the world. Many European countries are the most advanced in the world because of the Christian influence. However, some who have turned their backs on God have suffered or failed.

Many of the Third World Countries, where the Gospel has not penetrated usually have a dictator that squanders all the countries’ riches on himself. They don’t seem to care if the people are poor, sick, uneducated, etc. They try to keep them that way because the more uneducated and poor they are, the easier they are to control. When the Gospel penetrates a person and he knows he is a child of God, he is not going to live in the darkness, the dirt, the poverty and the sin that were destroying him. Yes, when the Gospel comes, the people begin to advance and a change takes place in the nation.

As Christians become involved in the world and become the salt and the light of the world, we will see a change in the nations.

There is a wonderful change taking place today in the nation of Kenya. President Moi is a believer and has opened Kenya to the Gospel as never before. One can see the reforms and advancement since Moi became president. On Monday, January 14, 1985, the headline of the Kenya Times read, “FEAR GOD, MOI TELLS KENYANS.” The article in part read as follows: “President Daniel arap Moi yesterday joined other worshippers at a Sunday service at Africa Inland church, Kilgoris, in Narok district.

“Greeting wananchi (the people) outside the church after the service, President Moi said that the beginning of wisdom was the fear of God and urged wananchi to be humble in order to succeed.

“He said people should always guard against arrogance and should not put wealth before God but should respect the sanctity of human life.

“President Moi noted with satisfaction that peace now prevailed in the area."

Of all of the African countries, South Africa is, I would say, the most advanced.

When America’s forefathers came to this country, some of them were Huguenots that left Europe to freely worship God. Some came to America, and some went to Africa and established the country of South Africa for God. That is proof that in nations where the Gospel is preached and there is freedom, liberation and restoration in Christ, the nations’ position in the world is advanced.

Indonesia had the stone age tribes in the islands; and before the Gospel came to the country, they were cannibals. Their customs, habits and the way they did things made them prone to disease and death. We then came to Jesus; that is when the change started taking place.

I grew up on the remote Island of Timor. Before the Revival began, we were still worshiping the demons and living in constant fear. We didn’t care about personal hygiene, or our state of well being. But when my people came to know Jesus and God began to clean them on the inside, suddenly they wanted to be clean on the outside. They wanted to live in better housing, and their living standard improved because there was now a reason to live.

When one serves the devil, he lives in constant fear and is not free to rise to his full potential. Once Jesus has set him free, he doesn’t have to be afraid of the devil. He begins to be free to develop the full potential that the Holy Spirit has given to him. Before he knows it, his faith has lifted up his standard of living in his own home and eventually the nation.

The following verse reflects the restoration of the nations. Revelation 21:24: “And the nations shall walk by its light, and the kings of the earth shall bring their glory into it.”

7. THE EARTH OR PLANET.

After Jesus comes back again, this planet will be restored to the way it was when God created it, to its original state.

Revelation 21:1-5 states, “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He shall dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be among them and He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there shall no longer be any death; there shall no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.” And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” And He said, “Write, for these words are faithful and true.’”

In the order of God’s restoration, I have put the Church in the middle. I believe that the Church is central in God’s redemptive plan. The Church is the Body of Christ, and as It rises to It’s full potential, we will see restoration in individuals, the family, marriages and the local church. The influence of the Church in the preaching of the Gospel can also bring about the restoration of Israel, the nations and the planet. The Church is central in God’s plan. The Church must realize that we are God’s agent and partner to bring about this great move of the Holy Spirit in these last days.

I was reading in Dr. David Lewis’ book Smashing the Gates Of Hell (New Leaf Press) about the “New Age Movement” and all the demonic forces of the proposed one world government. If you didn’t know Jesus Christ, you could be frightened beyond measure. Dr. Lewis’ book must be read by every Christian.

During these last seventeen years, I have seen how Eastern religions have penetrated the United States and other countries of the world. In a way it is discouraging when you see the influence that they have in the media, case in point: Shirley McClain and all of her reincarnation and hearing voices from the past. Yet, it is also at the same time an encouraging sign simply because when the enemy comes in like a flood, God will raise up a standard against it. Where sin abounds, grace does much more abound. So when we see the devil and his people planning for the coming of the antichrist, for the new world order, as they call it; it is not the time for Christians to be afraid. God is preparing for the return of His Son Jesus!

The “News Age Movement” is trying to counterfeit the real thing that Christ wants us Christians to do. The fact that this is a new world conspiracy, a new religion, a new economic system, and a new political system shows us that it is all the counterfeit of what God is going to do. If there is a counterfeit, then there must be the real thing. It is the responsibility of Christians to seek the revelation of the will of God to know what is the Kingdom of God and how we can be involved in establishing it!

Eventually, Christ is going to rule and reign over this planet, and His Kingdom will be established in this world. The people that are trying to set up a world kingdom and order have the right idea; only they are not looking to the living Christ to guide them into truth. They are pursuing it by man’s own greatness and man’s own mind and ability. It is also God’s plan to set up a world Kingdom and order; however, man will not be the center. The Lord Jesus Christ alone will be the center as the King of Kings.

Indeed, there is a new world coming. Only that new world is not the one that the “New Agers” are planning. They are building a golden calf. Satan has tried to jump one step ahead of God to build a counterfeit like the Israelites built their golden calf. Satan knows that God is planning to build a Kingdom where Christ will rule, reign and have the preeminence and glory, so he is putting in his last efforts trying to steal that glory. Praise God he won’t and can’t.

God is releasing from the throne revelation of the Kingdom of God that we need to build. That is why we must not develop a theology of escapism. We must not be fearful when Satan does something. I like the way Dr. Lewis explains it. “Sometimes we see the occult doing something and because that happens also in the church we call it error, because we think we are copying the occult. That is not the truth. The truth is that Satan is copying God’s way.”

We the Church are the victors and Jesus Christ is our King. Let us be strong in the power of God. Jesus Christ is coming and soon. Let us go forth NOW and advance the Kingdom of God.

“I, Jesus, have sent my angel to you to tell the churches all these things. I am both David’s Root and his Descendant. I am the bright Morning Star. The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” Let each one who hears them say the same, “Come.” Let the thirsty one come — anyone who wants to; let him come and drink the Water of Life without charge...He who has said all these things declares: “Yes, I am coming soon!” Amen! Come, Lord Jesus! The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.” (Revelation 22:16, 17, 20, 21) (LB)