Momentous Times

We live in momentous times.

This is a time of great darkness. It is also a time of great opportunity to shine forth the glory of God.

Events in the Middle East are hurtling planet earth towards a third world war. It looks like the prophecy in Isaiah chapter 17 will soon come to pass i.e. Damascus will become a ruinous heap.

This is not the time to be a slacker if you are a believer. The Middle East conflagration could quickly escalate into a global conflict and, if Russia and China get involved, this means we could literally be under direct and imminent threat of nuclear attack.

For those of us who remember the Cold War, with the TV warnings and the siren drills, it will seem strange going back to times when being wiped out by nuclear explosion was a real fear for many.

In our fellowship, some have had dreams and visions of awful events happening. They all seem to point to a nuclear attack. I myself had a very profound dream where I saw the terrible results of an attack from the air here in Scotland which could only possibly be a thermonuclear explosion.

Now it has to be said we are not gloom and doom people. We are very much Word of Faith and positive folks. We are looking to God for a mighty revival and total reformation of society. We are believers, not fearers!

But sometimes you just have to be honest. It has to be remembered that men like William Branham and A.A. Allen - men who couldn't remotely be described as anything other than positive in their ministries - were both given terrible visions of great disasters coming to America and the world.

As I say, God will only entrust people proven in a love and faith walk with such stuff  because there are too many sons of thunder running around gleefully looking for judgment.

We preach grace, mercy and love but we all must remember there is another side. Sadly, many who are presently preaching grace and mercy are telling us now that there is no other side, that God does not judge in this dispensation. Well, they have to airbrush quite a lot of the Bible out to get that idea afloat. And not just the Old Testament.

We also must remember that God's judgment on Babylon requires of us as believers to heap the double on her and rejoice in her fall. Sadly, today's Babylonian Christians would probably send food parcels and tweet messages of support for God's stricken enemy. That's if they are not included in her downfall, it has to be said.

When it all comes down to it, we are poised at this momentous time between two possible futures, one of great revival, restoration and reformation or one of horrific disaster and judgment. In reality, it will be both. Remember that God's light arises in times of gross darkness.

My own ministry is to Britain and I can only answer to God for that. So my responsibility is to implore God for mercy but allow Him to fulfill His own purpose in our land. If that involves times of great tribulation and even the manifestation of the portents of disaster many are seeing, then so it must be. 

Being a Christian carries with it an awesome responsibility. You can pretend all you want that when bad things happen to nations it is because the people there are reaping what they themselves have sown. Of course, that is true but it is only one side of the truth. The other reason judgment comes to nations is because of the Lord's Prayer.

Remember the heart of this prayer is: Thy Kingdom come; Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven.

When you really push God with the Lord's Prayer, He answers it. He answers it by its own terms. He removes the stuff on earth that isn't present in heaven. That includes bad people, bad leaders, bad systems, bad stuff.

Now this can be accomplished by revival and reformation. But what happens when people dig in and refuse to hear the Word of God? 

In other words, sooner or later - IN ONE WAY OR ANOTHER - God will answer the Lord's Prayer.

When you think about it, the Second Advent of Jesus Christ is the ultimate answer to this prayer.

To many who are picking things up from the Holy Spirit, this is not a business-as-usual time, if ever there is or was such a time. This is a time when God's people need to really be God's people, rejecting the circus of distractions thrown up by the world to keep us from our God-ordained purpose. 

Will my terrifying vision, which really shook me up I have to say, come to pass i.e. will there be nuclear warheads exploding in Britain? Or was it just a warning?

I will only say this: if it wasn't just a warning, it was certainly a warning.

According to scholars, Damascus - a very ancient city - has never been a ruinous heap. This makes Isaiah's prophecy yet future at this time. There is also a prophecy in Jeremiah chapter 49 which speaks of the ruin of Aleppo. This is presently happening. I recommend Pastor Ken Davidson's excellent message on the importance of the current Syrian conflict. Here is the link:-

http://www.donaghcloneyelim.net/images/stories/media_files/may12/SyrianConflict_and_EndTimes.mp3

The Substance Of Things

We know that faith is the substance of things hoped for (Hebrews 11:1) and that faith comes by hearing the Word of God (Romans 10:17). We can then say that substance comes by hearing God's Word? So what is substance?

Substance in the Greek is hupostasis, which means "that which stands under" or the "real essence" of something. It means the very nature of something, that which is more real than its manifestation (check W.E. Vine's definition). In short, when a thing is in hupostasis form, it is more substantial i.e. has more substance than when it is in manifest form!!

Take healing, for example. Your healing exists in the glory realm. It cannot be tampered with or lost there. But you can lose your healing here. However, if you do, you can get it back anytime because it is in the glory realm! It's like those saints in Hebrews 10:34 who took joyfully the spoiling of their goods - they did so because they had in heaven a better and more enduring SUBSTANCE! They knew where they had got it and they knew how to get it back! Incidentally, the word "substance" used in Hebrews 10:34 is not hupostasis but it is a word that complements our understanding of hupostasis. It is huparxis and it means that which pre-exists. When you are healed here on earth it is because healing exists in the invisible realm.

The things you require here on earth exist already in another dimension - the glory realm. Your function here is to MANIFEST i.e. bring into the light these things. This means you are to bring them into the visible realm, where molecules are under the speed of light. Once you go past the speed of light you go into the invisible realm. All of reality is a spectrum. The speed of light is the point where the material, physical realm and the spiritual realm meet on the spectrum. God supplies all our needs according to the superabundance that is in the realm above the speed of light (Philippians 4:19).

Manifestation is simply the appearing of these things in the natural realm, the lower-than-lightspeed realm. Your part and mine is not to be a scientist and examine how God does this; it is simply to make sure we are full of substance (faith) so that it happens! It's not that the Lord doesn't reveal the how, it's just that you needn't know everything about it to use it. Millions of people who know nothing about the physics of electricity know how to boil their kettles, heat their homes and wash in their electric showers.

Your only toil under the New Covenant is to pack your inner man with substance. This means you cram God's Word into your heart by filling your mouth with it. The rest of faith is a rest of SUBSTANCE!! Once you have enough substance in you to fulfil your need or desire, you can sit back and let your faith (substance) manifest that need or desire for you. It is faith (substance) that does the job! Therefore, your only pressure is to make sure you are full of substance. Tank up on God's Word all the time to make sure you are full of substance.

Substance is heavenly materiality. When something is in faith form, it is actually more real than when it shows up in the physical. That is one reason why sometimes when we see our prayers answered in the physical it is actually quite matter of fact. Things in the glory are eternal; they are not subject to change as they are here in the natural. You can be robbed of a blessing here on earth but it is always there for you over there.

Receiving by faith is simply transferring the Word of God into our hearts. Take His Word and begin to speak it and you receive the answer to your prayer. Prayers aren't answered when the thing shows up in the natural dimension; they are answered when you receive substance from God's Word. That is why all His promises are yea and amen because all His promises are in His Word. God's promise is not "I will do it" - it is AMEN!!

It is done.

Fill up on substance today!

No Other Name...

Sometimes I come across things which provoke my spirit. Today I noticed an ongoing discussion in my Facebook ticker concerning whether or not people of other faiths could be considered brothers and sisters in Christ. A pastor friend of mine – Andy Dempsey of Freedom Church in Uddingston – was the discordant note in the conversation. He was arguing for the exclusivity of Christ. From what I could gather, those who opposed him and argued for the brotherhood with people of other faiths, were all people who regarded themselves as followers of Jesus Christ. I was stupefied. I try to shun “debates” on matters like this. As it was, I couldn’t contribute to the discussion anyway since I am not a Facebook friend of the person who started it.

Let me be clear about one thing. I am no hater of other faiths. I do think that there is a “witch hunt” approach to non-Christian faiths by some Christian people. I have even written a book called The Conspiracy Against Muslims. Unlike many Christians, I don’t see Muslims as a threat; quite the opposite. But I would never call any man or woman a brother or sister in Christ unless they were Christians. That is a fundamental to me. I don’t see how any Christian could see or say it otherwise. To call a Buddhist, a Judaizer, a Muslim or a Hindu “brother” is to denigrate Christ. To a genuine follower of Jesus, this is unthinkable. It’s not an issue of which faith is superior; it is an issue of who is Lord?

The Lordship of Christ is foundational and fundamental. It cannot be reasoned with or reasoned away. It is not in our remit to bargain it down by sharing it with Buddha, Mohammed or other created beings. Christ saves and He alone. Salvation is in no other Name. What is interesting about this online debate is it started with a reference to the Queen’s Christmas Day speech in which she boldly proclaimed the exclusive rights of Christ and His saving power. Many Christians traditionally get frustrated by the Queen’s Speech as it is often appallingly and disappointingly multi-faith. Yet on this occasion, Her Majesty delivered a potent message that exalts Christ and people who call themselves Christians immediately talk about being “brothers and sisters” with people of other faiths.

This reference to the brotherhood of man may seem harmless and to speak against it may appear trivial and petty. Yet the terms “brother” and “sister” applied to each other as Christians reflect the reality that we have been called from the darkness of this world into a special family where God is our Father. This could only happen by and in Christ Jesus. It is not for “good” people of all faiths or none. It is for people saved from sin. To say otherwise is to treat Christ’s death and sacrifice as meaningless. The Queen in her speech said we need a Saviour. Sadly, some who name the Name of Christ don’t seem to agree with her. Well done to Andy Dempsey for speaking out against this folly.

Let us remember that it is not arrogance to claim that Christ alone saves; it is arrogance to proclaim otherwise. Calling people of other faiths our brothers and sisters is to undermine who Christ is and what He has done for us. This is shocking arrogance and comes from an improper understanding of our relationship with the Lord. A lot of Christians today need to go back and get saved again the old-fashioned way! Jesus isn’t our guru – He is Lord of all!

Also there is absolutely no salvation in any other, because there is absolutely no other name under heaven given among men in which we must be saved.
ACTS 4:12 HERITAGE BIBLE

Your Primary Task

Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men,

for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity.

For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior,

who desires all men to be saved and to come to a full true knowledge of the truth.

For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ

Jesus,

1TIMOTHY 2:1-5 VW

There is often a mentality in reading Scripture that means we read “religiously” i.e. we just see things as a collection of unrelated verses; we see neither theme nor cause and effect. This passage is a classic example. The proof that most Christians have no clue what these verses mean is all around us. The truth is, this passage is one of the most powerful passages in the whole Bible!

Paul says “FIRST OF ALL.” This is vital. It means what it says. It means this is your primary task! Your primary task is to use all kinds of prayer – supplications, prayers, intercessions, giving of thanks – for ALL MEN. This doesn’t mean everybody you know or all your Facebook buddies. Prayer for all men means prayer in accordance with the Abrahamic Covenant – that God would bless every nation and family on earth. It is prayer cover for the whole planet, ultimately. IT IS PRAYING FOR THE PURPOSE OF GOD THAT GOD MAY BE ALL IN ALL. Paul’s vision was “all Israel saved” (Romans 11:26). You could say it is prayer for revival.

Well most Christians are OK with that; prayer for revival is a great idea. So – with so many praying for revival, why isn’t it happening? I mean to the extent it should. The answer is many Christians neglect verse 2! You are supposed to pray for kings and for those who occupy high positions of authority. If you don’t, you are big-time missing the point. You see, verse 2 says that the result of such prayer is a culture of peace, tranquillity, godliness and dignity. The word “dignity” means honesty and probity. This means living in a nation free from crime, violence, corruption and depravity! Could you use some of that?

Then we read in verse 3 that such praying is good and acceptable in the sight of God. So it’s very simple: if you want to please God, pray for kings and people in authority. This creates an environment which is peaceful and godly. In other words, an atmosphere ready for revival! Verse 3 goes on to say that God desires all men to be saved and to come into full true knowledge of the truth. This means revelation knowledge. How plain do we need it? The key to revival is to pray for our national leaders! This is very biblical. Revivals in the Old Testament were led by kings of Judah – men like Josiah and Hezekiah.

This is the Key Of David in action. As we pray fervently for our monarch and other leaders, God responds by pouring out His spirit. We in the United Kingdom are blessed because we actually have a King/Queen to pray for. We are superabundantly blessed because our royal throne is the Throne of David in the earth. All men being saved and walking in revelation knowledge sure sounds like revival to me! And this is the reward for praying the Key Of David – praying for our royal throne and national leaders.

Verse 5 takes it further; it speaks of Christ being the only Mediator. This means we will live in a land free from idols and multi-faith mindsets. In other words, a Christian nation! God wants what we want – it’s just that we are not doing it HIS way. Simply praying for God to move is only part of the key, brothers and sisters.

Now I know some won’t accept this. Some won’t even see it. It is only the Church of Philadelphia that has the Key Of David revelation. Many will choose to stay in Sardis because it has a good name and great track record, despite it being dead. Some will try to prove me wrong and redouble their efforts to pray down revival by ignoring verse 2. At least they’ll be praying, I guess. But you can’t argue with God. Please remember that Paul was related to British royalty and that the church he wrote to in his Epistle to the Romans was the church that met in the Palatium Britannicum. Timothy was of British royal descent so both these men knew the importance of praying for kings and the importance of royalty itself in God’s strategic plan.

I hope you can see that hostility or ambivalence toward royalty is directly against the very heart of God and is, in itself, counter-productive to God moving. The solution is simple: repent and pray for our royal house and throne. Or be a carcass in the wilderness.

NB. This is written primarily to people in the British Isles. If you live in a country with no monarch, you can, of course, pray for ours! Certainly you can pray for your own national leaders and believe God to move in power.

True Foundations

And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets...

1 CORINTHIANS 12:28

The need for the recognition and releasing of apostolic and prophetic ministry is becoming ever more apparent in the Body of Christ. Those of us who see the Sardis/Philadelphia transition in the Body understand that only the full expression and implementation of these two offices will bring about the perfect man of Ephesians chapter 4. Yes, you can find the apostolic and prophetic in the Sardis paradigm but the full expression can only be in Philadelphia. Put bluntly, apostles and prophets must be given the ranking here ascribed by Paul. You can't fit these offices into pastor-driven structures; you must build the Church upon apostles and prophets (Ephesians 2:20).

You can have a successful church without these foundations but it must remain Sardis, which is dead; successful, that is, by the standards of Sardis. The Church of Philadelphia, the church of the perfect man, will only be built upon true foundations. There have been attempts to radically overhaul some churches in the Sardis paradigm by making them conform to apostolic principles but you can only build upon a true foundation. Altering the building doesn't change the foundation...

Many years ago I spectacularly failed the Lord by being embroiled in a big scandal. Getting right with God was easy - I repented and that was it. Some Christians don't know that if you foul up AFTER you are saved, the blood of Jesus still works! But I had sense enough to know that I had to deal with the horizontal, with my fellow believers. I knew one thing: no pastor could fully restore me. It would take an apostle directly above me in authority. In the leadership structure of the church I was in at that time, this man was over my immediate pastor and the man who pastored him. I had had no personal dealings with this man but I contacted him and after a period of time in which this man measured the level of my repentance and sincerity, he granted me full restoration under his apostolic authority. I also learned later that he sternly warned others not to give me a hard time for messing up and that I was the real deal.

Some things take apostles; it's that simple. I thank God for my upbringing spiritually in the Apostolic Church. The "Appy" was a forerunner to that which is to come but, like all other Sardis concepts of the apostolic, it's understanding of the office is too limited. What God will do through apostles and prophets in the coming years is mindblowing. Exciting times lie ahead, brothers and sisters!! 

A great example is Revelation 18:20 where apostles and prophets are mentioned in the destruction of the Babylonian order on planet earth. Those who long to see the fall of Babylon and the ushering in of God's Kingdom economy must recognise that this can only come about through the Body of Christ coming into its full and perfect expression. This necessitates the offices of apostle and prophet becoming the foundation of Church and not the extension.

Prayer That Brings Revival

Honour all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king.
1 PETER 2:17

This is a very powerful scripture because it perfectly describes the posture of the Church of Philadelphia. It is the perfect expression of how to balance, as it were, the tensions of allegiance we are supposed to have as Christians. 

There is a deep truth at the heart of this verse and it is this: you cannot honour all men if you do not honour the king. The biggest problem with the Church today is that Christians do not know how to honour people. This is why evangelistic endeavours bear so little fruit. Christians see "unsaved" people in a vampiristic way - they are there to "turn" into believers. If they do not convert, they are regarded as worthless by many Christians. Don't tell me this isn't so, I've been around this too long. Deep down you know it's true. And so do unbelievers; they smell our hidden agendas behind the facade of concern. You see, Jesus honours people. He never condemns or belittles.
 

A lack of honour is the biggest failing of the modern Church. This is no more evident than in the ambivalence shown by many Christians toward our monarchy here in the UK. Many believers forget that we live in a KINGDOM with a monarch anointed by God. No politician has this sacred calling. It is shocking that so many Christians ignore and even mock the monarchy in this nation. If you do not honour the sovereign, you cannot honour all men; the two are mutually inclusive of the other.

Paul charges us in 1 Timothy chapter 2 to pray for all men then immediately after says to pray for kings and all who are in authority. The reason is simple: God has set things up in such a way that the destiny of a nation and its people is inextricably linked with the destiny of its anointed monarch. As goes the Throne, so go the people. A good king can lead the people to peace and prosperity, to greatness and victory. A bad king will do the opposite. Thus to honour the king is to honour all men. To denigrate the king, even by a lack of prayer, is to dishonour all men. These are spiritual matters you cannot afford to ignore.

It is clear from a cursory reading of 1 Timothy 2:1-4 that praying for kings brings peace (manifested in things like reduced crime rates) and honesty back in to society. Such an environment is then conducive to men being saved i.e. a revival atmosphere. Anciently, kings were the harbringers of revival in biblical times e.g. Hezekiah, Josiah. That so many miss this is nothing short of criminal in a society so blighted by multiple problems like ours is.

It is my personal belief that our British Throne is the continuation of the Throne of David in the earth; the descent of our Royal House (and that of virtually every other European monarchy) can easily be traced back to King David. You might not share that belief but the importance of praying for kings still applies and is biblically mandated. Imagine a godly king upon the British Throne - a monarch sold out to Jesus, tongue-talking, devil-stomping, Word-preaching fanatic just like King David. What could God do with such a king? The Scottish preacher John McPhee had the vision of the King (Jesus) within the king on Britain's Throne. Yes, this is an Arthurian vision but it has also been reality more than once in our history. The need for it to be so again is greater than ever in this 21st century.

By praying for kings (and other leaders in Parliament, civil service, military, education etc) you are effectively praying the Kingdom of God down since heaven is a Kingdom ruled by a King and peopled with kings!! I am sure you would agree with me that Britain's best future is one where it is patterned after heaven. Praying for our monarchy is the best way to accomplish this. Seek God until He reveals this secret to you. Do not buy into the blatantly obvious disconnect of thinking kings were good in the past and the future is about a King called Jesus but as for today, we should be governed by politicians. I put my faith in an anointed sovereign over a self-serving politician any day. Yes, we have had bad monarchs but we have had some shocking prime ministers too. Ultimately, we are ruled by one person in all our forms of government so why not stick with the Bible one?

A new book on the descent of Queen Elizabeth II from the biblical King David is available. It is called Daughters Of Destiny and is authored by Glyn Lewis. Price is £9.50. If you want to get this fascinating book, email me and I will send you a copy along with some free books. If you don't want this book but would like to read more on the importance of praying for kings, email me and I will send you a free copy of my book The Key Of David.

A New Paradigm

It can be a terrible thing to receive revelation from God; terrible in that it makes you fear Him but also because it means you can no longer escape truth and its fearful implications. What is, IS, and there is no denying, deflecting or escaping it. The Lord has been deepening and broadening our understanding of the Sardis/Philadelphia paradigms and it is both exhilirating and dreadful.

What is eye-opening is the harsh reality that Sardis is blind to so much of Philadelphia. Moreover, such blindness has no excuse - even though it is actually of God - because it is a wilful ignorance. Sardis folks have no interest in Philadelpia and this is a decision, not an accident. Improving Sardis is what those of Sardis see as being their task in God, along with making it more appealing to the world. Yet Sardis is death and is for the dying. Only Philadelphia has resurrection life. We are not referring here to individual salvation but something way beyond that. Philadelphia's agenda is not to escape eternal damnation but to bring heavenly glory on earth. Philadelphia is, of all the churches, the church of paradox. It is very much heavenly-oriented but also earthly-minded. 

Philadelphia is inherently Johannine because it is about love of the brethren. Compared to Philadelphia, the brotherly love of Sardis will look like hate. In fact, it often really is. Sardis has no place for those who are not of Sardis. It has a hard time recognising them as brethren. And Sardis has no clue of the synagogue of satan; again, this is reserved for the church of mysteries, Philadelphia. Sardis is the modern church and there is something very postmodern about Philadelphia in that it seeks no pat answers. Sardis has its systematic theologies and its Bible answer men. To Sardis, the Bible is "a manual of successful living" and the book that contains all the answers. But Philadelphia is content to have the Bible be a "book of mysteries." Sardis functions in an either/or paradigm; Philadelphia has a both/and approach. Philadelphia is the church that refuses to box God.

Of course, there are many wonderful things in Sardis. It holds enormous appeal to many and it can boast of great treasures. More people have come to faith in Christ under the roof of Sardis than any other era. It has the reputation of being alive and Sardis saints would fight you if you said otherwise. They are proud of their history and their reputation. But the problem is that it is God who says otherwise. What God says is death is, quite simply, death. The remarkable thing is that the first to see it are probably what Sardis calls the "lost" or "unsaved." This is why Sardis is declining in numbers. It is a frightful thing to behold. Of course, Sardis blames the lost themselves as well as the devil and much of Sardis smugly decrees that such decline and declension is all part of the prophetic plan of God.

Sardis is the church of prophetic timelines and charts, the church that seeks to know all things, where mystery is abominated. Sardis has all the answers but doesn't actually know what the questions are. Sardis is obsessed with the antichrist and the mark of the beast and terrifying people into thinking they may be "left behind." This is why Sardis is told that the Lord may come as a thief. Also, Sardis is where you will hear about "giving big so that God can bless you" and where slick preachers will pray "the anointing of Abraham" on you - for a certain donation, of course. Philadelphia has no such blessings to sell since these things are not for sale but are freely given. A Philadelphia saint knows he/she is rich and has no need to manipulate what he/she can manifest by faith. For the blessing-selling huckster of Sardis, however, the warning of Jesus coming as a thief should be very clear.

God loves Sardis folks but that love implores them to repent. Sardis is tainted and imperfect. It is not the vehicle God has chosen to bring about the restoration. That which Sardis longs for, it cannot actually enter into. Like those who wandered around the wilderness and drank of the Rock which is Christ, they cannot enter into the Promised Land. These things were written for our example here at the end of the age. Drinking of Christ is not enough. There is a higher dimension to walk in than Sardis. Sardis people are rabid about Jesus-centredness. But you can't be Jesus-centred if you reject truth! Sardis is a remnant paradigm but Philadelphia is a fullness paradigm.

These truths are being contested in the spirit even as you read this. God is seeking to take us into the Philadelphia paradigm just as He wanted to take Israel into the land. The problem is that Sardis must die first, just as many had to die who were older generations in the wilderness. The modern church must die that the postmodern church may come forth in resurrection life. These terms modern and postmodern are just ways of helping us understand, though technically the term "postmodern" means future or after time. Thus the Church of Philadelphia is a church that draws upon the powers of the age to come.

I cannot make you see Philadelphia, dear reader, only God can. I can pray for you and counsel you to lay hold upon Him. Seek the Lord. If you are blind, ask that you may see. Mysteries await you if you will die to Sardis.