The Carmel event brought together men and women with prophetic ministries from more than 40 nations around the world. They were each invited to bring a trusted intercessor so that there was someone to pray with them in their own language. The objective was to share what each of them was hearing from God in their own nation, and secondly to wait upon the Lord collectively, to discern what God was saying to his church and to the nations in the mid-1980s.

The Jerusalem gathering, meanwhile, was open to Christians around the world to come together for a week of teaching focusing largely upon the message of the biblical prophets and their relevance for today. A second purpose was to hear from those who had been at Carmel the previous week.

"The objective at the Carmel gathering was to share what each of us was hearing from God, and to wait upon the Lord collectively"

These two events were an outcome of conversations between a number of leaders with intercessory and prophetic ministries. A small group of seven leaders took overall responsibility for calling and organising the two events. They were Johannes Facius (Denmark), Clifford Hill (England), Cecil Kerr (Northern Ireland), Lance Lambert (Israel), Steve Lightle (USA), Gustaf Scheller (Switzerland), and Kjell Sjoberg (Sweden).

Gathering locations

The Carmel Gathering was held at the Yaarot Ha’Carmel, originally built as a healing and rehabilitation centre for the survivors of the European Holocaust. It was provided by the German Government as part of their reparations after the Second World War. The number of Holocaust survivors entitled to use its facilities was diminishing so it was gradually being transformed into a hotel. We were the first Christians ever to use the building and there were about 20 elderly Jewish men and women in residence. The building was in an isolated position on the eastern summit of Mount Carmel not far from the site where we believe that Elijah confronted the prophets of Baal (1 Kings 18), with its spectacular views across the Valley of Jezreel (Armageddon).

In Jerusalem guests were scattered across many hotels but the meetings were held at the Binyanei Ha’Ooma Israeli National Conference Centre. There was a full programme of seminars during the day with large meetings in the Assembly Hall in the evenings. The stage was dominated by a spectacular model of Two Olive Trees with Seven Candlesticks and a Golden Bowl as described in Zechariah 4, which illustrated the theme verse, “Not by might nor by power but by my Spirit says the Lord Almighty” (Zech 4:6).

The Carmel Gathering: described by one of the Leaders

It is difficult to describe the experience of those who met at Carmel. It was a mixture of a sense of awe and an intense struggle with our own emotions. We had agreed that there would be no formal speeches. We were there to hear from God, not from each other, so there was no agenda and no formal programme. We took it in turns to report what we were hearing from God in our own part of the world. But this led to people making speeches. We were all preachers! We were used to speaking – not listening to others! We were also from many different cultures, so it was not easy to achieve unity.

Confusion

By the middle of the week there was considerable anxiety in the leadership group. We had heard nothing that we could clearly identify as being from God. We knew that at the end of the week there would be 5000 people in Jerusalem waiting for us to report what we had heard. The pressure was intense. We were all leaders; used to exercising leadership, but here nobody knew what to do!

It was at this stage that we realised the significance of the fact that we were 153 in number. That was the number of the 'big fish' in the net which Simon Peter and the disciples pulled from the Sea of Galilee when they had breakfast with Jesus (John 21:11). It slowly dawned on us that we ourselves were the blockage to hearing from God – it was a humbling experience and we wept before the Lord in penitence.

Fast of Words

That morning we received a message from a young Messianic believer in Jerusalem who said she felt the Lord was calling for “a fast of words”. We had never heard of such a thing but we knew this to be a word from God. He was telling us to shut up and listen! We declared 24 hours of silence.

It was during this time of silence that many words were received. They were shared in an orderly fashion at a time of worship and there was a clear pattern in what was reported and there was full agreement in accepting the words. At last, we had heard from the Lord and we had something to report in Jerusalem.

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