Discerning Seasons (7) - Remnant Rising

When the tipping point is passed, the forces of evil are impressed by their numbers and assume they are winning. They do get to work more evil on earth, but they are still losing. They can never win the larger battle, because Jesus won a complete victory on the cross, and the Holy Spirit is at work to make it a reality in history. Nothing that happens on earth, now or in the future, can nullify the victory of the cross. Getting the numbers on earth enables the power of darkness work more evil in the world, but it does not prevent God from accomplishing his purposes.

God has infinite power and wisdom, so he does not depend on numbers to accomplish his purposes. He will often choose to work with a small, overwhelmed group of people, so that his glory can be revealed through them. All he needs is a few people:

• seeking his Kingdom first;
• listening to the Holy Spirit;
• bound together by love;
• willing to take up the cross;
• and follow Jesus.

A small of committed remnant, working with the Holy Spirit, can defeat a large array of opposing power.

When the tipping point is passed and the world is flooded with evil, God raises a remnant. They will be in the world, so they will not escape the pain, but by standing together, they will rise above it to do God’s work. He can accomplish more through a small committed than the forces of evil can accomplish with a free hand.

• Moses stood alone on the shore with his hand stretched over the sea, and God destroyed chariots and horses of the mighty Egyptian Pharaoh (Ex 14:27-28).

• Gideon defeated a Midianite multitude with 300 dedicated men (Judges 7:7).

• David achieved great victories with 30 might men (1 Sam 23).

• Elijah and the Holy Spirit defeated an army Arameans (2 Kings 6:18-20).

• When the loyal followers of Jesus had been hiding behind locked doors, Peter preached in the power of the Holy Spirit and three thousand people came to faith in Jesus (Acts 2:41).

• Peter and John were thrown into jail by the temple authorities, but the Holy Spirit brought another two thousand into the Kingdom of God.

Each of these victories came at a time when God’s people seemed to be overwhelmed. The remnant often suffered greatly, but because they stood together, and walked with the Holy Spirit, God was able to accomplish his purposes through them.

On several occasions, God got things underway with a woman serving or praying alone.

• God used a young girl called Miriam hiding in a swamp (Ex 2:7) to save Moses who rose to deliver all the children of Israel and bring then under God’s covenant.

• Hannah cried out of her bitterness for a son whom she dedicated to the Lord (1 Sam 1:1-11). God used her to raise up Samuel, who released David, who defeated the enemies of Israel.

• The prayers of the prophetess called Anna opened the way for God to send redemption through Jesus (Luke 2:36-38).

The remnant is often starts off invisible, hidden on the edges of society and away from the corridors of power.

• David started his ministry in a cave called Adullum, surrounded by the distressed and the discontented (1 Sam 22:1-2).

• Jesus began his ministry in Galilee away from the distractions and power plays of Jerusalem.

The remnant does not confront evil head on, but works quietly in hidden places. By remaining out of sight for a time, it gains time to develop and grow. The forces of evil are obsessed with hierarchy and power, so they concentrate their attention on the places of power and privilege where their authority is growing. They will not notice the move of God that is gathering strength in the shadows until it is too late. By the time that they notice the remnant that the Holy Spirit has equipped, it will have multiplied out to become an unstoppable force.

The LORD Almighty has sworn,
Surely, as I have planned, so it will be,
and as I have purposed, so it will happen.
This is the plan determined for the whole world;
this is the hand stretched out over all nations.
For the LORD Almighty has purposed, and who can thwart him?
His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back (Is 14:24, 26,27)?

The Lord’s hand is stretched over the nations. He will accomplish his purposes and nothing can thwart him. A season when he appears to be pushed out of the world often comes just before the Holy Spirit move in power to reveal his glory.

Discerning Seasons (6) - Corporate Spiritual Strongholds

I have just realised that when I wrote the article called Tipping Point in the series on Discerning Seasons, I left out this important category. So here it is. The full article can be found at Discerning Seasons.

Christians with authority in the secular world can amplify God’s authority in their culture by submitting to the Holy Spirit. The reverse is true. The forces of evil can leverage their authority in a similar way by building corporate spiritual strongholds.
When the people with power in a society all begin to believe a lie, it seeps into the hearts and minds of those who submit to their authority. The lie becomes a corporate mental stronghold affecting everyone living. The lie could be a religious belief, a negative attitude about themselves or bad attitude to other people.

A corporate mental stronghold is a false idea that takes hold in a culture so that it is accepted by everyone in the area. When demonic powers can attach themselves to the lie that is accepted everywhere in a culture, they can establish a corporate spiritual stronghold. Everyone who submits to the powers of the city or nation open themselves to the same spirits.

Paul referred to spiritual powers that have a corporate spiritual stronghold over a city or nation “principalities and powers”. By concentrating on a spiritual weakness that pervades a culture, these spiritual forces can concentrate their power and amplify their authority. The spirits that have control over political and religious leaders can gain huge authority, if the people submitting to these leaders have similar attitudes and beliefs. (Peter Wagner describes a corporate spiritual stronghold that has taken hold in Japan.)

Even though there are many Christians in the society, the principalities and powers have amplified their authority by controlling the people with political or religious power.

Corporate spiritual strongholds are really difficult to beat.

• The political and religious powers have given the spirits permission
  to be there. Christians can pray and bind the spirits, but as soon as
  they turn their back, the people with authority effectively “pull
  rank” and give them permission to return.

• Some Christians have been seriously harmed when engaging in
  spiritual warfare against principalities and powers that have been
  given permission to be there by people with greater authority.

• When new people move into positions of authority, they are quickly
  overwhelmed by the spiritual forces and begin to go along. This is why
  democratic change often fails. The newly elected government is soon
  dominated by the same spirits, so nothing changes. (Think Obama).

Corporate spiritual strongholds are there with permission of political
or religious leaders, so these leaders will have to be kicked out or
changed before the stronghold can be removed. The key to changing the
spiritual situation is changing the people with authority.

• Paul urged Christians to pray for kings and people in authority,
  so they would change their hearts and boot out the principalities and
  powers (1 Tim 2:2).

• Jesus urged those who are preaching the gospel to seek out the
  person of influence in a town (Matt 10:11).

• The prophet Daniel changed the spiritual climate in Babylon when
  the kings acknowledged his wisdom and spiritual authority.

• When the people of Nineveh heard Jonah’s preaching and
  repented, the king of Nineveh also shook himself free.

• Influencing the authorities that keep corporate spiritual
  strongholds in place is an important part of the prophetic minsitry.

If the corporate stronghold is really strong and those with authority
in the society are staunch in their support, the only solution might be a Destructive
Judgement that sweeps them away. For example, when the Kings of
Babylon got too hard, God allowed the Medes and Persians to destroy them.
Daniel gained influence with Cyrus the Mede (Dan 6) and the he submitted
to God. A destructive judgment will be God’s last resort, because it is
hard to avoid collateral damage.

Types of Prophetic Event (2) - Warning Events

When the Christian influence declines and society is close to the tipping point, the powers of evil begin to show off. The devil is not very creative, so he just does on a smaller scale, what he would like to do, if he had much more authority, but does not. These events are warning signs for those who alert. Christians who understand their times will able to discern these signs and get an early warning of what is going to happen, if society continues in the way that it is going.

When Jesus was asked about a couple of nasty events that had occurred, he rebuked the people for being able to read the weather signs, but not understanding what was happening in their time.

He said to the crowd: “When you see a cloud rising in the west, immediately you say, ‘It’s going to rain,’ and it does. And when the south wind blows, you say, ‘It’s going to be hot,’ and it is. Hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky. How is it that you don’t know how to interpret this present time (Luke 12:54-56)?

They asked about some Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices another group who have been killed when a tower fell on them. His response is interesting.

Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem (Luke 13:2-4)?

These events were not the judgment of God falling on people who had fallen into sin and rejected him. They were sign of the general state of Jewish society. Jerusalem was getting close to a tipping point. God’s influence in Israel had increased significantly when the people started following Jesus, but now their initial fervour was slipping away. If the people turned against him, the forces of evil would cement their authority in the land.

Jesus warning was blunt.

I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish (Luke 13:5).

These two events were the powers of evil flexing their muscles. Jesus warned that if the nation continued on its current path towards the tipping point and without turning away, evil would gain greater freedom in their county and worse destruction would follow . If they pursued their opposition to Jesus right to the end, they would completely lose God’s protection and be totally exposed to evil. That is exactly what took place.

The people of Jerusalem rejected Jesus and he was crucified. These actions totally eliminated God’s protection. Forty years later, the Roman armies besieged Jerusalem and smashed down its walls. Many people who had taken refuge in the temple had their blood spilt on the floor. The final destruction copied the warning events but on a far greater scale. The two events described by Jesus were a “type” of what would happen, if the nation continued on its current direction.

People with discernment soon realised the people of Jerusalem would not receive their saviour and would harden their hearts against God’s plan of redemption. Jesus confirmed their understanding when he prophesied the destruction of Jerusalem and warned his followers how to escape the devastation by fleeing to the hills (Luke 21:20-24). Christians who had discerned these events and heeded Jesus warning, were able to escape to safety before the Romans laid siege to Jerusalem.

Warning Events have the following characteristics.

1. Warning events are not sent by God.

2. Minor occurrences of evil are often a sign that society is getting close to the tipping point.

3. Being abnormal and unusual, these events are noticed by everyone.

4. The forces of evil begin to show off and try out the evil they intend to do, if they get greater control of society.

5. They are a warning of more serious perils that will follow, if people do not get back under the protection of God.

6. Warning events reveal the mind of the devil, as they are often a type of what he will do if he is given a free hand to wreak worse evil.

7. Warning events are indiscriminate. They can hurt sinners and the righteous, because the devil does not care who he hurts.

8. The event says nothing about the character of the people who are harmed and everything about the nature of the society they live in.

9. These events are not redemptive; just destructive of relatively innocent people.

10. God can usually restrain the forces of evil to limit the scope of the tragedy.

11. God always works good in the midst of evil, so the Holy Spirit uses the shaking to stir up his church.

12. Christians who understand the times can sharpen their gospel preaching.

13. Seeing the powers of evil overstepping the mark should stir up the church to push back against them by preaching the gospel boldly.

14. Christians who can interpret the warning to get a sense of what is going to happen in the future will be able to prepare in advance for the next crisis.

15. Warning Events are usually ignored by the world.

16. Warning Events are often ignored by Christians, because they just assume that the disaster is a judgment against bad people. This self-righteousness produces complacency that causes them to miss the opportunity to prepare.

17. Warning Events are a sign of significant authority shift in society. If society continues on this current path, evil will become the new normal and Evil Events will become more frequent. Christians should use the time between to prepare.

Spiritual climates change slowly, so a number of years might pass between the warning and the fulfilment. The Church should use the time between to rise up and cut off the fulfilment by preaching the gospel in power. If the number of Christians increases significantly, God’s authority will be expanded, and the principalities and powers can be squeezed out again.

Protection
Christians should heed the warning and get together to protection themselves and their families. We will be more secure, if we live close to others who are committed to supporting each other. Those who stand alone can be picked off one by one.

The Bible teaches teaching is that we should deal with evil by resisting it.

Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you (James 4:7,8).

Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith (1 Pet 5:8-9).

These commands are plural. Protection from evil is achieved by Christians coming together to support each other. The same applies to the spiritual armour in Ephesians 6. The armour is not for individual protection. The spiritual armour only works among a group of Christians are bound to each other by love.

Christians must make sure that they understand what is happening their times and take appropriate action.

Types of Prophetic Event (1) - Shaking Judgments

Four different types of disaster can take place on earth, depending on the situation that prevails and the level of God’s influence.

1. Shaking Judgments
God will sometimes send a tumultuous event on earth as a judgment to shake up people who are forgetting about him. These judgments may be political, economic or natural events. Shaking Judgments usually take place when God’s people are in a majority and God still has wide freedom to act on earth. People will be beginning to open the door to evil.

These Shaking Judgments have several important characteristics.

1. God’s judgment of his people is always redemptive. His sole purpose is to draw them back to him.

2. God does not actually send the shaking. He just withdraws his protection allows people to experience the consequences of their behaviour for a short time.

3. The event occurs when God temporarily lifts his protection in a particular time and place, rather than because he decides to something evil.

4. People who are slipping into rebellion against God may be shaken from their complacency. Those who are getting casual in their relationship with God can be jolted back to faith.

5. The Shaking Judgment is a short sharp shock that lets people briefly experience the consequences of continuing down the dangerous path they have chosen.

6. The Shaking Judgment gives people a glimpse through the door to evil that they are thinking about opening.

7. God warns of the shaking in advance by his prophets (Amos 3:7). This confirms that the event is allowed by God and not just a random event.

8. The prophets specify the sins that are upsetting God and tell the people what they must do to get back on track with him (eg Jer 38:17-18).

9. The fulfilment of the prophecy confirms the prophet’s message and the need for people to change their behaviour.

10. People who listen to the prophets can prepare in advance. Often the prophets will tell them what to do to survive through the judgment. Heeding the warning enables them to survive through the disaster. (God’s protection is not magical, as Christians assume, but comes from knowing what to do and doing it).

11. Christian who refuse to prepare and change will sometimes fail the test. The Letters to the seven churches warned that was God was going to shake the churches in Ephesus, Pergamum, Sardis and Laodicea and that some would not survive the shaking (Rev 2,3). Warnings of shaking should not be taken lightly.

12. People who are protected and prepared can reach out in mercy to those who are feeling lost and shaken.

13. Shaking Judgements often affect the ungodly most, not because they are picked out, but because they are not prepared.

14. Shaking Judgements are primarily directed against God’s people, The Old Testament prophets like Isaiah and Jeremiah mostly warned of events that would shake Israel. Jesus spoke judgment against Israel in his big prophecy (Matt 23:33-24:34), but his primary purpose was to warn his people how to escape the destructive judgment by fleeing to the hills at the right time.

15. In the New Testament, Shaking Events were primarily directed against the Church. The Jerusalem church was persecuted, because their leaders had refused to take the gospel out into the world (Acts 8:1).

16. God disciplines his children, as a father disciplines his sons.
    

    Nevertheless, when we are judged in this way by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be finally condemned with the world (1 Cor 11:32).

    God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. (Heb 12:10)

17. Shaking Judgments are always redemptive. God’s sole purpose is to draw people back to him.

18. Shaking judgments are often covenant judgements. The troubles are often the consequence of failure to keep a covenant between God and his people.

Remnant
God sometimes uses traumatic events to shake people loose, so he can draw them back to him, but he does not do this just for fun. He will only send shaking judgement, if he has a remnant faithful to him, who are equipped to serve those who are shaken and get them back on to the right way. If the remnant is not prepared to demonstrate the love of God during the crisis, it is wasted and evil benefits. A crisis can open people’s hearts, but if no one is there to pour oil on their wounds, the scars will harden their hearts to the gospel.

An earthquake cannot preach the gospel. This was true in Paul’s day. The Philippians jailor became a Christian after the earthquake that opened the gates of his jail.

The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. He then brought them out and asked, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" (Acts 16:29-30).

This was not a spontaneous response to the earthquake. What made the difference was seeing the faith and joy of two men who had been “stripped and beaten” “severely flogged” with “their feet fastened in stocks”.

About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them (Acts 16:25).

The jailor became a Christian, because he had seen two wounded and bound men praising and worshipping God in the middle of the night. The jailor was a hard, tough man. His heart was blown open, because he saw the Holy Spirit working in the lives of Paul and Silas during their time of crisis.

If his earthquake had struck on any other night of the year, the jailor would not have become a Christian. He would have cursed and beaten the prisoners and carried on with life. The living faith of Paul and Silas made the difference.

A Shaking Judgment is mostly wasted without a prepared remnant.

America
America is still quite a long way from the tipping point, so people with discernment should expect to see Shaking Judgments, as the Father attempts to shake those who are slipping away in hope of drawing them back. Prophets should be active in providing advance notice and helping God’s people to prepare. Christians should make the most of the time to proclaim the gospel and turn their nation around, before the tipping point is reached.

Discerning Seasons (5) - God Squeezed Out

When the tipping point is passed and the number of Christians shrinks dramatically, God’s authority gets squeezed out. The forces of evil begin to get a free hand on earth. They get to determine what happens on earth and God has very little influence. This is the third stage.

We reap what we sow. When a society turns away from God, it eventually loses his blessing and protection. There might be is an interim period, where peace and prosperity continues, based on a backlog of faith from the faith of previous generations. Unfortunately, that legacy of blessing eventually runs dry and the society begins to experience what its lack of faith deserves.

To western eyes used to living under inherited blessings from generations of faith, this situation will seem like something terrible, but this level of chaos and catastrophe is normal in many parts of the world. A community that rejects the one who protects it should not be surprised if it loses its protection.

Surely the arm of the LORD is not too short to save,
nor his ear too dull to hear.
But your iniquities have separated
you from your God;
your sins have hidden his face from you,
so that he will not hear….
No one calls for justice;
no one pleads a case with integrity.
They rely on empty arguments, they utter lies;
they conceive trouble and give birth to evil (Is 59:1,2,4).

God’s power has not changed, but his authority to act has been truncated.

The full series is at Discerning Seasons.

Discerning Seasons (4) - Amplifying Authority

Christians with authority in business or politics can amplify the authority of God even further. People like Joseph, Jeremiah or Isaiah are really important. Their position in the political system increased their influence. When they pray for God’s will to be done, his authority on earth is dramatically boosted. A small minority with authority in business or government, who understand God’s will and pray for the release of his Spirit in their sphere of influence can have a huge impact on earth. They give far more authority to God than is taken by the majority who simply ignore him.

Abraham is a great example. He pleaded for Sodom to be saved and God agreed to save it if ten righteous men lived in the city, although he already knew there were not ten good men in there (Gen 18:32). This number is often taken out of context and applied to other cities with no understanding of the extent of Abraham’s authority in Sodom.

Sodom and the surrounding nations had been controlled by the King of Elam (which is in modern Iran) for thirteen years. When they rebelled, the King of Elam and some allies came against them and defeated them. Many people, including Lot, were taken captive and their property stolen. Abraham took his fighting men and defeated the King of Elam and his allies. He recovered the captives and their property (Gen 141-17).

The King of Sodom offered Abraham all his property, as anyone would in those days, if they met someone tougher than them.

The king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me the people and keep the goods for yourself” (Gen 14:21).

The King was offering to pay tribute to Abraham as a more powerful leader, but Abraham told him to keep his people and his property. By submitting to Abraham, the King of Sodom gave Abraham immense authority in Sodom (that he mostly chose not to use). Abraham’s relationship with God and the pagan king’s surrender gave God authority to act in Sodom. It also gave Abraham the authority to plead for Sodom to be saved

Abraham’s faith and authority pushed the tipping point way over to the left.

Discerning Seasons (1) - Authority on Earth

Most Christians believe that God is in control of the world. He decides what happens on earth. If something bad happens, God must have allowed it. When a disaster occurs, he gets the blame.

This view is not true. Not only does it create confusion, it portrays God as cruel and nasty.

Many other Christians believe that we are in what they call the “end times”. Things on earth will get worse and worse, without any rhyme or reason. Their only hope to escape before things slip too far down the gurgler. Not only is this view wrong (the end times are not mentioned in the scriptures), but it creates confusion about what God is doing and how we should respond.

When God created the earth and mankind, he took a huge risk, because he decided to give authority over earth to humans.

The highest heavens belong to the LORD,
but the earth he has given to mankind (Psalm 115:16).

He gave this authority without recourse, so he cannot snatch it back, if it is used unwisely. This has a serious consequence. Since humans have authority here, we decide what happens on earth. Whenever something bad happens, some person, or group of people has allowed it to happen.

This principle is essential for understanding prayer. Prayer is not persuading God to do what he does not want to do. Prayer is finding out what the Father wants to do and giving the Holy Spirit permission to do it. I have written about this in Prayer and Authority.

Understanding human authority is also important for understanding events on earth. In this series of posts, I will set out a framework for understanding how this works.

The full series is at Discerning Seasons.