Discussing with other Christians the unfolding darkness in our world and the ever-increasing list of problems and issues we wrestle with usually involves a few major topics. Such is the level of wickedness that we see around us, for many it is becoming bewildering, like a dark tide of evil overtaking the world.
God’s reset
I’m often asked to share my views on our present government, Covid-19, The Great Reset, Agenda 2030, Net Zero, The Russia-Ukraine war, wokeism, 15-minute cities and the spectre of social control through Central Bank Digital Currencies. It is quite a list, reflecting an astonishing scale of societal change in just three years.
Yet, St. Paul gives us the correct perspective on this wrestling in Ephesians 6:12.“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”
My summing-up on the major issues we face often surprises. I explain that I have decided to shift my focus from these issues and what, for example, Klaus Schwab and the WEF may be planning in their ‘Great Reset’, and since I accept that God is allowing the changes we see, I contemplate the thought that this is all part of His reset.
Since I accept that God is allowing the changes we see, I contemplate the thought that this is all part of His reset.
Nothing I perceive happening in 2023 is out of alignment with biblical prophecy. 2 Timothy 3:1-5 could have been written for today: “But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.”
We must of course resist evil, but as Christians we also accept that this may lead to our being impoverished, imprisoned, wounded or damaged in health. Persecution is not new to the Christian faith, though for many decades we have been spared it in these islands.
Crossing Over
As Sarah Winbow and I wrote in ‘Crossing Over’ last year, “A new phase of history has begun, and we see the titanic struggle between good and evil unfolding before our eyes with alarming speed. The book of Daniel and his experiences of the awesome power of God in a pagan nation should give us the confidence that even when all seems lost and the consequences of sin seem overwhelming, God reigns supreme. He will be with His people and His purposes will be fulfilled.
“The battle we face is not for the faint of heart and will require a level of courage and commitment to our faith that many of us have not experienced and never imagined before. We face an uncertain future in a rapidly changing world and there is much work to do. As we respond to this call, beginning with repentance and in prayer, we will be challenged about how we will use our time, our finances, the resources we have seen as our own.”
Durable and substantive
Early in my Christian journey, I met an American Christian leader called Arthur Burk of Sapphire Leadership Group in South Carolina. I hadn’t heard of him in years, until I read his geo-political perspective of March last year. There were two statements in it which I found very profound: “We will need a faith more durable and substantive to transcend the process of God dismantling secular humanism’s structures and fantasies.
Second, light shines the brightest in the darkness. In this season that has just begun, we can expect to see God raise up a few leaders who understand that their role is to broker an encounter with the Infinite God, rather than being a demi-god to the distraught and defeated.”
We will need a faith more durable and substantive to transcend the process of God dismantling secular humanism’s structures and fantasies.
‘Leaders brokering an encounter with the infinite God’ – that’s something I have not simply read about, but have personally experienced. The first time was many years ago when I hosted Messianic Jewish leader Dr Howard Morgan in a local church in North Yorkshire. More recently I had an extraordinary experience in Israel, on the Galilee with another Messianic teacher and worship leader Arni Klein. I will try to describe what happened.
Brokering an encounter with God
One morning during my stay, a group of Jewish believers who regularly met together came to the house with one purpose: to worship. For hours people simply played and sang to the Lord. No agenda, no theme, no sermon or teaching. We were there in a space where our only intention was to please the Lord with our offering of worship. The sound would be best described as musicians creatively ‘jamming’ together, sometimes harmonising, sometimes singing in words of English or Hebrew, sometimes in tongues. The sound was beautiful, at times rising to a peak with a strong element of percussion and at other times becoming quiet and solemn.
No agenda, no theme, no sermon or teaching. We were there in a space where our only intention was to please the Lord with our offering of worship.
Then, after a few moments of quiet one person spoke out: “Right now, the enemy is trying to undermine and attack us.” I didn’t understand. During the time of quiet, I had seen a picture in my mind, something like Jacob’s ladder – a sort of spiral staircase with angels travelling up and down and pouring a ‘libation’ from an ancient jug. It sounds far-fetched, but I was there, feeling it, experiencing that the presence of the Holy Spirit was near. Seconds later every cell-phone in the room ‘pinged’ loudly as an emergency government message came in.
The text message was that Israel’s IDF soldiers had discovered and destroyed tunnels which Hamas had planned to use to attack that part of Israel. We had received a message by the Spirit moments before that text message came in.
The following day I visited a museum in Jerusalem. I stood transfixed before a glass cabinet displaying an ancient clay jar – just like the one I’d seen the previous day in my waking vision. There was also a framed picture of the spiral staircase from that vision. It was an unforgettable encounter.
Great spiritual battle
Messianic believers in the land of Israel really are on the front line in the battle with the enemies of God. Messiah will return to Jerusalem and Jewish people will be there, however Satan tries to prevent it. This tiny plot of real estate in the Middle East is the crucible of world history – and the Lord is calling His people to worship.
David enquired of the Lord for direction and, God gave him an entirely new battle strategy
King David, renowned as the greatest worshipper in biblical history, adored God, and he set up the Tabernacle for the Ark of the Covenant, a centre for worship. In his second battle with the Philistines who came after him on hearing that he had been anointed king over all Israel, David enquired of the Lord for direction and, God gave him an entirely new battle strategy (1 Chron 14:14-16).
Let us recognise the great spiritual battle truly taking place in our own islands. In our human strength we will not prevail. I have spent time listening to my dear friend Arni Klein describing the call to dedicate specific places and our time to lift up the Lord’s holy name and welcome Him. Places where nothing else happens but the worship of our Lord.
Houses of worship
Arni is convinced that the principles of David’s Tabernacle are critical to this time. David placed the Ark of God’s Presence in a tent and taught that God inhabits or is enthroned upon the praise of His people (Ps 22:3). David understood that God’s people, through worship, could enter into spiritual agreement with the heavenly symphony around God’s Throne. As Arni puts it:
“to minister before the Lord day and night, gazing with unveiled face at the glory of the Lord… David understood that for God’s Kingdom to come to earth, there needed to be a place dedicated to ministering to the Lord…. For thirty-three years the Ark was housed in a special tent. After David’s death, it was placed in Solomon’s Temple to again be visited by one man once a year. David’s Tent was a prophetic picture of what would one day be.
“This holy space was birthed and sustained out of the passion for the Lord in David’s heart. We see it in his declaration in Psalm 132:3-5, ‘Surely I will not go into the chamber of my house, or go up to the comfort of my bed; I will not give sleep to my eyes or slumber to my eyelids, until I find a place for the Lord, a dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob.’ Such passion goes beyond manifest expressions. It is all-consuming. Father seeks such worshippers with hearts like David’s. They will create for Him a dwelling place and lay the earthly foundation of His Throne.”
Father seeks such worshippers with hearts like David’s. They will create for Him a dwelling place and lay the earthly foundation of His Throne.
Arni is not the only one to have seen the importance of this and movements aiming to re-establish the Davidic pattern of worship have been seen before. He asks, “Could it be that in thinking of this in mostly spiritual terms we have missed something? Could this be the hour for God to be enthroned on earth as He is in Heaven?... The longing of our heart is for such places to be established in the Land [Israel] and replicated throughout the nations. We have referred to them as Israeli Embassies of Worship…centres of intercessory worship. As we understand Scripture, this precedes the great awakening we are crying out for. ‘After this I will return and will rebuild the tabernacle of David which has fallen down; I will rebuild its ruins, and I will set it up; so that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord, even the Gentiles who are called by my name, Says the Lord who does all these things.’” (Amos 9:11,12)
Consider David’s response in the face of war: “Though an army may encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; Though war may rise against me, in this I will be confident. One thing I have desired of the Lord, that will I seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in His temple. For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in His pavilion; in the secret place of His tabernacle He shall hide me; He shall set me high upon a rock.” (Ps. 27:3-5)
Coming soon: Part 3 – An atmosphere of miracles
