Prophecy Today was originally a bi-monthly printed magazine. Within our archives, there is a treasure trove of messages from God to the Church at that time. Over time, we plan to put all of our archived material onto the web for those who wish to search for it. But certain messages, as well as being of historical significance, also still have something to speak to the Church of today. With that in mind, over the month of August, we will be publishing and featuring some of these messages.

This first one was originally published in November 1989, not long after the tumultuous events of the breaking of the Iron Curtain. Clifford Hill wrote of the three ‘trumpets’ or calls from God in the time of Gideon. Cliff felt that the first of these two ‘trumpets’ were being blown at the time of writing to call out to the Church of 30 years ago. Now, in 2021, the time has come for the third ‘trumpet’ to be blown.

The Three Trumpets

The pace of change among the nations of the world continues unabated. The September exodus of thousands of East Germans to the West was remarkable for the route they took, which was through Hungary and represented the first major tearing down of the Iron Curtain between East and West Europe since the days of the Berlin Blockade back in the late forties. The political ferment in the satellite nations of the Soviet Union is rapidly becoming an unstoppable force for change in these regions. The spirit of national pride and the desire for freedom have never been broken. The Baltic States, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, are clamouring for independence while the rise of nationalism in southern provinces such as Armenia and Azerbaijan is complicated by ethnic and religious divisions.

USSR facing break-up

The problems of the Soviet Union are compounded by severe economic trouble. If a nation is unable to feed her population (and there are now growing doubts of Russia’s ability to survive without western help) that nation cannot expect to maintain internal unity and cohesion. It is a well-established fact that ‘glasnost’ and ‘perestroika’ have been forced upon the Communist authorities. ‘Openness’ and ‘reform’ were anathema to the old Stalinist regimes which kept the people largely in ignorance of what was happening both inside Russia and in the outside world. But Chernobyl changed all that and the fall-out was not simply radio-active pollution of the land but social and political reform of a depth and far-reaching consequences that could not have been envisaged before 1986.

Just one month after receiving the prophecy that God was about to shake Russia, the Chernobyl explosion occurred.

What is happening today is no less than the break-up of the Russian Empire – the last surviving European Empire in the post-World War Two period. All the European Empires have disintegrated – Spain, Portugal, France, Germany, Holland have all lost their imperial outposts and the years since 1945 have also seen the disintegration of the British Empire, the most extensive Empire the world has ever known, and this has changed the political face of the world. The prophecy of Haggai 2:6, repeated in Hebrews 12:26, “I will shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land. I will shake all nations,” is undoubtedly coming true today. Only a few years ago it would have seemed inconceivable that we would be talking today of the demise of the Soviet Union, yet this was just the message prophetically received in 1986 at the Carmel/Jerusalem international gathering led by the PWM Team. Just one month after receiving the prophecy that God was about to shake Russia, the Chernobyl explosion occurred.

Worldwide upheaval

It is not only Russia and the Communist nations that are being shaken. There is not a nation in the world today that is not experiencing enormous social and economic upheavals. Far-reaching and fundamental changes are beginning to take place in South Africa. The student-led pro-democracy movement in China, although temporarily halted by violent repression that followed the massacre of Tiananmen Square, has by no means disappeared from the social and political scene of the world’s most populous nation. China is in the grips of a rising groundswell of fundamental change that the authorities will not be able to contain.

The greed and avarice upon which the whole western economy is built will inevitably come under judgment. God has a way of allowing the nations to be shaken at the point of their pride.

The gods of the rich nations of the West are prosperity and economic growth. The fear of the western nations is economic collapse. But the stock-market crash of two years ago was a warning of the fragile nature of the economy and a foreshadow of things to come. The greed and avarice upon which the whole western economy is built will inevitably come under judgment. God has a way of allowing the nations to be shaken at the point of their pride. There are many other ways in which the shaking of the nations is gathering momentum. The spread of AIDS continues to take its inexorable toll; violence, lawlessness and terrorism continue unabated; so too do the natural disasters of hurricane, flood, drought, famine, and earthquake.

Understanding the times

These are all signs of the times and if events such as these had occurred in the days of ancient Israel, the prophets would have been thundering forth their messages of warning and their urgent calls for repentance. The signs of the times clearly indicate nations in rebellion against God – and therefore out of harmony with the whole natural created order – and nations at war with one another. If the primary relationship with God is not right, then all the relationships with mankind will be affected. Anyone who has even a superficial knowledge of the nature and purposes of God as revealed through the Bible, through the message of the prophets, through the record of God’s dealing with his people and through the life, death, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, should be able to interpret the signs of the times and recognise the growing danger of world disaster.

It is a matter of constant amazement to me that so many people in the churches today, including many of the most brilliant theologians, appear utterly blind to the significance of what is happening in front of our very eyes in this generation. Day after day the news media brings us fresh evidence of the most startling and impelling nature indicating the plight of the world and the urgency of seeking God’s way before it is too late to turn back. Yet it appears that their eyes are veiled; they are blinded by the gods of this world, by false teaching and deceptive philosophies. This is also something that is foretold in scripture for these times. Paul speaks about the time coming when men will not put up with sound doctrine but will turn away from the truth and turn aside to myths (2 Timothy 4:4).

Idolatry

The apostate church, prophesied in the Book of Revelation to emerge in the last days, is already taking shape with New Age teaching becoming firmly established in many of the main-line churches of America and Europe, with the teachings of eastern religions becoming incorporated into religious practice and ritual within these churches. I have recently been hearing strong warnings from the Lord concerning the enemy within our gates and I believe the time has come for Christian believers, who care for the truth and who love the word of God, to take a stand.

Gideon’s army

I have recently been taken back to the account in Judges 6 and 7 of Gideon’s army, which I believe has great significance for our time. Gideon’s army was not an army of professional soldiers but a body of believers who were prepared to put their trust completely in God and to give total obedience to his word. Even though God’s strategy for the battle appeared utterly irrational, they trusted him and the tiny band of ordinary, insignificant men with their ridiculous weapons were used to rout the enemy and pave the way for the entire army of Israel to drive the invaders from the land.

Three trumpetsBlowing the shofar, by Matt Ray

Three trumpets were blown in the biblical account of these events. The first was when God responded to the cries for help from his people who were suffering under the oppression of the enemy. He sent them a prophet who explained why everything had gone wrong, that is, he interpreted the ‘signs of the times’ and called them to turn away from the worship of idols and return to the one true God who alone could save them. The second trumpet was blown by Gideon to mobilise the fighting men and bring them together for training in preparation for the battle. The third trumpet was blown by the three companies of Gideon’s army when they surrounded the Midianite camp and began the assault upon the army.

1. The first trumpet was for interpreting the signs and turning to God.
2. The second trumpet was for mobilisation and training.
3. The third trumpet was for the battle to commence.

Mobilisation and training

Through the ministry of this magazine, we have for some time been blowing the first trumpet of warning of interpreting the signs of the times and of calling to repentance. We believe that the time has now come to blow the second trumpet. God is mobilising believers all over the world and calling them to commence serious training in preparation for the coming battle against the spiritual forces of assault, not only upon the secular nations, but actually upon the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. God is arming his people with the sword of the Spirit, the word of God for this spiritual battle, and reminding us that the weapons of our warfare are not carnal. He is also reminding us that the situation is urgent and that we will be overwhelmed if we continue to rely on our own intellectual abilities and physical strength. He alone is able to arm his people: not by might, nor by power but by the Spirit of the Living God.

Serious business

I believe God is calling us to the serious task of training. Training involves sacrifice, dedication, perseverance – it is a serious business. An athlete in training gets rid of surplus weight and willingly sacrifices personal comforts, desires, and pleasures in order to attain the standard of fitness that is essential to achieving success.

The pandemic is only the curtain raiser to the main battle that will soon be breaking when all the pillars of society – the major social institutions – will crumble.

The word I have been receiving is that we are not to stop blowing the first trumpet since there are still many Christians who have not yet perceived the significance of the times in which we live, but it is time for those who understand the times to be like ‘the sons of Issachar’ who not only understood the times but also knew what God was saying to his people (1 Chronicles 12:32). We have to pass on that understanding to others and we have to play our part in the task of training as well as allowing ourselves to be trained in the strategy that God is giving to us for overcoming the deceit and stratagems of the enemy.

A word for 2021

After prayer, I believe the time has come for the third trumpet to be blown, although preparation is still needed. We are indeed already in the opening skirmishes of the great battle for the faith – the clash between the forces of darkness and the eternal truth of God. The pandemic is only the curtain raiser to the main battle that will soon be breaking when all the pillars of society – the major social institutions – will crumble.