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!