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Many people who have experienced a spiritual dream may write off the event as some type of weird result of eating too much pizza before retiring for the night. Some believers even have the attitude, “Well, if God wants to show me something, He can just show me!”
This brings up a good point: Why can’t the Lord just show you what is going to happen without using all the strange symbolism often accompanying a spiritual dream? I believe I have found an answer to that question.
Editor's note: Pentecost is Sunday, June 12. In this article, the late Art Katz, a Jewish believer whose prophetic and teaching ministries were internationally recognized, tells why some of the biblical promises about Pentecost have not yet been fulfilled for Israel.
“And it shall be in the last days,” God says, “that I will pour forth of My Spirit on all mankind [alt. ‘flesh’]; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; even on My bondslaves, both men and women, I will in those days pour forth of My Spirit and they shall prophesy.
And I will grant wonders in the sky above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke. The sun will be turned into darkness and the moon into blood, before the great and glorious day of the Lord shall come. And it shall be that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Acts 2:17-21).
Don’t look back: Three words that together make up what I believe is a timely prophetic utterance for the body of Christ in this hour. Let me write them again: Don’t look back.
Many are carrying hurts and wounds from the past. We don’t shake them off and come up higher because we keep looking back to the people and circumstances that crushed our hearts. Instead of allowing the Holy Spirit to use the injustice to propel us to places of greater authority in the kingdom like Joseph did, we rehearse our past in our own minds like a scratched CD.
As one looks across the face of the earth today, it doesn't take a large amount of spiritual discernment to see that things are shaking as has been prophesied over the past few years. Many voices, including mine, have spoken over what is known as the Rim of Fire nations, or the Pacific Rim. These are approximately 40 nations that ring the Pacific with some sort of volcanic activity.
The tragedy in Japan brings this prophetic shaking starkly to the forefront of the news. Many are asking the question, "What is taking place?"
As God’s children, we never have any reason to fear. If we stay close to Him, that will always be true, no matter our circumstances. Our Father is good. Our Father is loving. Our Father is more than we could ever expect. His goodness extends into all areas of life—including the battles we find ourselves in.
When we are attacked, some of us prepare for the long haul. We build fortresses and walls and settle down for a decade-long siege. We do not realize and perhaps aren’t open to the possibility that there is goodness even here, in the midst of hardship.
What’s coming in the next few years? There’s bad news and there’s good news. The prophet Amos in ancient times brought a set of indictments against Israel that read very much like the sins of America and the Western world.
1. They rejected God’s law (Amos 2:4). In many ways too numerous to list here, so have we.
2. They believed in lies concerning false gods and demonic philosophies (Amos 2:4). The list of deceptions in modern times is long and spans a range of doctrines and philosophies, from open theism taught in the church to post-modernistic philosophy dominant in the world around us. The former denies the foreknowledge of God and, by extension, the fullness of His sovereignty; the latter writes God out of the equation altogether. And those are just two examples.
Editor's Note: The following prophetic message by Jim Goll was given on the eve of the new century, as the year 2000 was approaching. It preceded 9-11 and the U.S. military campaigns that followed; the corporate scandals of Arthur Andersen, Enron and others; the collapse of the U.S. "housing bubble"; the federal bailout of Wall Street and the national banking system; and other major events directly affecting the U.S. in the decade after 2000. It is being offered today as an encouragement that God's prophets are speaking; but also as a reminder, as James says, that "storm warnings are being issued to the church" yet "these times of hardship" can still become "great days of hope" for believers.
Today, on Cinco de Mayo and as part of the 60th annual National Day of Prayer in the U.S., thousands of intercessors will gather in Dallas and Mexico City and at the U.S.-Mexico border to cry out for a breakthrough of God’s power. The focus of our prayers will be to take down the drug cartels and secure our nation’s southern border against drug trafficking and violence.
In response to a prophetic directive given by Cindy Jacobs of Generals International, the United States Hispanic Prayer Network has spearheaded the implementation of a highly strategic 21-day prayer and fasting initiative that culminates today. We have contended in prayer for righteous trade, peace and security along the two nations' border.
Our institutions are rusting out. Let me say from the beginning that I am an optimist for the human race and for creation in general. God will have His way with creation, and people are amazingly resilient and adaptable. But I am a pessimist about the ability of our major institutions to survive this century. The rust has gone beyond cosmetic. The core of our institutions are rusting. The church, government, educational system, military and economy are in terminal trouble. It's not that some form of them all won’t survive. All of these functions are going to survive; but the institutions that carry these functions now may not.
We are grateful for all the traditional Seders that are being held as believers from the nations are being restored to the biblical Jewish roots of our faith. I encourage you to participate in them as the Lord leads. Gather your family and friends together for a meal and "remember this day"—the Passover and the "last supper." Passover began at sundown yesterday, April 18.
You may choose to use a Haggadah (traditional Jewish way of remembering the evening). Or you may choose simply to read the Passover story from Exodus 12 and the account of the Passover evening meal with Yeshua and His disciples on the night of His betrayal (see Matt. 26:17-30) and to celebrate your own deliverance from slavery through the blood of Yeshua.
Jesus preached the gospel of the kingdom of God. Everywhere He went He preached the same message, “Repent for the kingdom of God,” or “the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (see Matt. 4:17, Mark 1:15). All throughout the gospels, we find that Jesus’ emphasis was on the kingdom.
The primary reason Jesus came was to inaugurate the kingdom of God. Often, we hear that the reason Jesus came was to die on the cross. Jesus did come to die on the cross, but that death on the cross was for the purpose of establishing the kingdom of God.
There were multitudes of people when Jesus preached the message of the kingdom. Some missed it—others did not.
Throughout the history of God's dealings with man, He has revealed Himself as a covenant-making God. The Almighty made major covenants with Noah, Abraham, Moses and David; He renewed His Abrahamic covenant in His call to Isaac and Jacob. Each covenant initiated a new wave of redemptive power into the world and forever impacted the human condition. The word covenant means, "to fetter" or chain together. It was the highest form of commitment that two individuals could share. Any of several rituals were employed to express the covenant partners' unity.
The spectacle of Golgotha stands center stage for men and angels, demons, and principalities and powers in all ages. What happened outside the gate of Jerusalem 2,000 years ago is still unfolding. The cross is a spiritual mission in natural history creating a human spectacle of supernatural achievement. The absolute completeness of Jesus’ atoning work was done according to non-negotiable conditions of righteousness that issues a personal invitation to each of us and has a totally practical application!
The morning seemed strange. The dream was unique, unnerving. There were several parts to it that left me seeking, vigilant. I shook my head when I awakened. Was I in some sort of weird frame of mind? Was this dream significant or one to be filed in the circular file? Was it the devil just disturbing me, or was it God speaking to me? For a while I thought I was just being harassed until I began to recall the totality of the dream and review all its parts. I finally woke up to the fact that God was speaking to me—I was not just having a pizza dream. A couple of parts from the dream are to be shared publicly.
There is a great battle raging for the souls of mankind, and as Christ’s return draws nearer, we see this battle intensifying. As never before, the church must be ready for the days ahead, armed with the truth of God’s living Word. Today, I want to share with you a vision God recently gave me of pulpits shaking.
The good news is we believe this shaking we are about to speak of is all a part of God’s preparation. He is preparing His Church for a greater work in the earth, and everything not grounded in the truth of God’s Word must be stripped away. This shaking is something to rejoice in, knowing that God is at work in us all, preparing us as vessels to do greater works in the earth, for His Kingdom and glory.
The Watch of the Lord is a global prayer network begun in 1995 in response to the Lord asking us, "Watch with Me."
In January 1995 we invited about 20 people to spend the following Friday from 10 p.m. until 6 a.m. on Saturday keeping the "night watch," fasting sleep for spiritual reasons. We gathered to wait on God in worship and prayer and share in communion through Jesus' body and blood in the Lord's Supper.
Every Friday since, we have done the same. We have celebrated the watch with as many as a thousand watchmen present. And now there are watches throughout the United States and abroad. We find ourselves in the midst of a renewed visitation that is manifesting the glory of the Lord!
I am calling you from beyond! You have been held in a place that I am calling you from. I am beyond where you are now. Come from where you are to beyond! Come from where you are to beyond! Come from where you are to beyond! For I am marshalling My army and I am calling you forth. I am causing you to be raised up. I am calling even the dry bones to come together this season. I am calling together and raising up this mighty army. You will go forth in My name. You will see kingdoms brought down. You will see kingdoms raised up. This is the season and the hour that I am marshalling My army.
Egypt is in transition. President Hosni Mubarak stepped down, clearing the way for the armed forces to restore order and shepherd a transition to civilian rule in the September elections. An Open Doors source in the area says the reaction by Egyptian Christians to his resignation is mixed, and it is unclear how the resignation will affect the country's 10 million minority Christians. A spokesperson with Voice of the Martyrs says Egypt's military doesn't have a very good track record when it comes to Christians. There is still much communication going on—e-mails, phone calls, facebooking, tweeting, blogging, and perhaps also an increase in Bible reading, as we try to discern the course Egypt will take and how it will affect the world.
There are at least three Scripture passages that will ultimately come to bear on Egypt:
It is imperative that the body of Christ accurately discern the times and seasons we find ourselves in. As the sons of Issachar, we too, must be aware of not only what God is doing at the moment, but we must be aware of what is looming before us.
I have been listening intently to what the Spirit of the Lord is saying for this hour. As we enter into 2011, I believe God in His goodness, is giving us insight and direction for the upcoming season.
Like you, I am greatly distressed about the situation in the Middle East. Below is a word to the Christians in the Middle East and the worldwide church, along with a prayer guide for Egypt and the Middle East.
There are certain things that I have not written to all, but I believe that the Muslim Brotherhood is behind much of this, or at least taking advantage of it. As you may know, Mubarak just announced today that he will not seek re-election. We must continue to pray for stability in Egypt, for a peaceful transition that will not result in leadership by the Muslim Brotherhood and Sharia law.
