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The End of an Era and
the Beginning of a Greater One

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In March 2006 a world-famous evangelist came to Jakarta, Indonesia for a historic Crusade. During one of the evenings, a crowd estimated at 400,000 people---the largest in the history of Indonesia---gathered to hear him speak. Great miracles of healing were witnessed, giving glory to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ in Muslim Indonesia. As great as this event was, it signaled perhaps the end of an era and the beginning of an even greater one.

At the 2006 Resurrection Day service at Abbalove, one of Jakarta’s most vibrant and thriving megachurches, Pastor Eddy Leo brought up a significant point. Crusade sponsors calculated that about 400 people were healed at the historic meeting. Percentage-wise, we could conclude that one-tenth of one percent of the people who attended the meeting received a miraculous healing. (Of course it is understood that not everyone who attended the meeting was infirm.) These are the results achieved at an evangelistic meeting where one person does all or most of the ministry. I call this type of ministry one-man-show, superstar evangelism.

God has begun to do something new and better which involves the body of Christ ministering instead of just one individual. This takes the focus away from the celebrity evangelist and puts the spotlight on the body of Christ---alone the true representative of Christ on earth. When no one person or ministry can “take the credit” for the miracles, God receives more glory.

For example, at an evangelistic healing service I witnessed in April 2006 in Manado, Indonesia where the gospel was shared, there were approximately 2,000 people present. After the gospel was proclaimed, trained believers representing the body of Christ came forward to minister healing to the infirm according to Luke 9:1-2 and 10:1, 9. The purpose of this was to demonstrate to the lost that the gospel of the Kingdom of God is indeed true. The number of people who immediately afterwards came forward to give public testimonies of their healing was estimated to be at least fifty. About a half dozen of these involved tumors and growths that shrank and disappeared. A simple calculation shows that the percentage of people attending the meeting who were healed (and testified) was at least 2.5%. Comparing this to the 0.1% of the people who were healed at the historic meeting in Jakarta, we see that the percentage of people healed in Manado as seen in this light was at least twenty-five times greater than the number healed in Jakarta.

Now God is certainly glorified whether 0.1% or 2.5% of the people are healed. But when far more people are healed, God certainly receives more glory. And when the body of Christ is involved in healing the sick in Jesus’ name instead of simply one individual evangelist, God receives more glory. The “superstar” is Jesus Christ instead of the renowned evangelist. (Great fame and the often accompanying lifestyle of the wealthy can be a personal stumbling block to the “unworthy servant” of God.)

In a much smaller evangelistic Crusade later the same month in predominantly Hindu North India, there were a bit over 100 people present. Those who gave testimonies of their healing after the trained believers ministered to them exceeded twenty in number. Thus in this case up to perhaps 20% of those attending were healed in Christ’s name. The miracles along with the preaching of the gospel resulted in at least 50 Hindu people (comprising nearly all of the Hindus who were present at the meeting) deciding to follow Christ as their Lord and Savior that evening.

These are not isolated incidents. Whenever believers are taught to heal the sick the way Jesus and His disciples did in the Scriptures, similar results are witnessed when these believers are actively involved in ministering to the sick at evangelistic events.

In a January 2004 Crusade in Eastern Rivers State, Nigeria, the host pastor reported to me that 2,000 infirm people had been healed over four nights of meetings. He said the attendance was 5,000 people.

Only when the Church wakes up and stops depending on the one-man-show evangelists will she fulfill the Great Commission. Jesus Christ has already given to every believer authority to heal the sick and cast out demons for proclaiming the Kingdom of God (John 14:12; Mark 16:15-18). At this time the Church can in fact be taught how to use this authority to heal the infirm as Jesus did. The age of the superstar evangelist is fading away; the age of the nameless, faceless believer has begun.

 

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The Restoration of the Kingly Anointing to the New Testament Church

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The favored approach to miraculous healings in many New Testament churches and gatherings today is actually from the Old Testament. It is adapted from 2 Chronicles 20 where Jehoshaphat and his men took an unusual stance toward a vast army advancing against them.

2 Chronicles 20:21 After consulting the people, Jehoshaphat appointed men to sing to the LORD and to praise him for the splendor of his holiness as they went out at the head of the army, saying: “Give thanks to the LORD, for his love endures forever.” 22 As they began to sing and praise, the LORD set ambushes against the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir who were invading Judah, and they were defeated.

As they moved in a priestly/prophetic function by praising the Lord, God Himself moved against their enemies. Christian gatherings today similarly rely on the priestly/prophetic anointing in order to bring about miraculous healings and deliverance. In such gatherings believers praise the Lord while dancers worship Him in song and dance. The Lord is pleased and responds by healing the infirm and delivering people from demonic oppression and so forth.

Such an approach is indeed based on Scripture. However, even in the Old Testament it was an exception to the rule---most of the time Israel’s armies had to engage their enemies in actual and direct combat. Neither is it the predominant approach utilized by Jesus and the early disciples as found the gospels and Acts. There miraculous signs and wonders were the direct result of Jesus and the disciples exercising their “kingly anointing” over disease and demons. Instead of the Father responding to praise and worship by stretching forth His hand from heaven to heal the sick, Jesus and the early disciples healed the infirm directly by exercising the authority given to them over disease and demons for the purpose of proclaiming the Kingdom of God to the lost. They laid their hands on the sick and with authority commanded diseases and demons to go. This is a manifestation of the kingly anointing which is being restored to the Church today.

Today there are only a few specially-anointed ministers of the gospel who understand how to move in the kingly anointing in order to heal the sick and cast out demons. But we are in the end times and the Lord is restoring the kingly anointing to His entire Church. Part of Jesus’ promise in John 14:12 is being fulfilled---anyone who believes in Him will do the works that He did.

The priestly/prophetic approach of Jehoshaphat will continue to be utilized in the context of building up the body of Christ. But the kingly approach of Jesus and the disciples for healing the sick and casting out demons will ultimately come to take its place as the most effective and scriptural way to prove to the world that our God is indeed the only true God and that Jesus is the only way to Him. The former is for the body of Christ in a meeting of believers; the latter is an evangelistic weapon to be used outside the walls of the Church to win the lost in the world.

 

 

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The "Second Gun" of the Church

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When one thinks of healing in today’s contemporary church culture, one might think of a meeting held in a church where mostly believers have gathered to worship God through Jesus Christ. When the worship is powerful, the “presence of God” may be felt. The “anointing” is present and miracles may take place. There may be words of prophecy, wisdom, or knowledge; miraculous healings might take place as the gift of healing is manifest through the Holy Spirit. Indeed Scripture teaches in I Corinthians Chapters 12 and 14 that these gifts of the Holy Spirit are for building up the body of Christ and that they can be manifested when believers come together to worship the Lord. (Miraculous healings can also take place in a "Healing Room" where prayer plays a prominent role---again more of a church-based activity.)

However, how can such miracles take place outside the context of church or a gathering of believers? Outside of this context there is usually no anointed worship and no felt presence of God. Believers on the average spend only a few hours per week in worship services; the overwhelming majority of their time is spent outside of “church.” They spend more time at home than at church. Even more of their time is spent at work “in the marketplace.” From the point of view of the proclamation of the Kingdom of God and the Great Commission, it is even more important for the miracles to happen in the marketplace than in church.

It is well and good for believers to be touched physically or otherwise by God. But it is even more important for the lost to witness or experience the miracles since they are the proof to the world that our God is the only true God and that Jesus Christ is the only way to Him. Believers, whether or not they experience God’s miraculous touch, are by definition already saved. But the lost often cannot believe and be saved unless they first witness miracles.

John 4:48 “Unless you people see miraculous signs and wonders,” Jesus told him, “you will never believe.”

Jesus did miracles primarily to prove to the lost that He was in fact the Christ, the Son of God and that He had power to grant eternal life to those who believe.

John 20:30 Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. 31 But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

God in His wisdom has indeed provided a means by which such miraculous signs can take place “in the marketplace.” It is called the authority of the believer to heal the sick and cast out demons as the Kingdom is proclaimed to the lost. Its operation is usually separate and distinct from the operation of the gift of healing.

The New Testament abounds with examples of the operation of this authority. Jesus Himself never prayed for the sick, but usually issued commands to diseases and demons based upon the authority the Father had given to Him. He gave a measure of this authority to His followers and taught them to heal the sick in the same fashion. In Acts, we often see the disciples (like Peter and Paul) continuing to exercise this authority over diseases and demons by the giving of authoritative commands. Obviously there were instances in which the gift of healing was also in operation, but the exercise of authority was in fact commonplace. This authority was often used to do miracles outside the walls of the church, where in fact the lost are found (pun intended).

When the Church learns and applies the authority over disease that she has been given for her witness “in the marketplace”---that is, anywhere outside of worship gatherings---then the lost will take the gospel of Jesus Christ seriously; the Great Commission will be fulfilled. This is the “second gun” that the Lord is restoring to His body.

 

 

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How should the Church respond
to the spirit of Islam?

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The end time enemy of the Church is the spirit of Islam

Terrifying video clip of the spirit of Islam
at work in Hezbollah

Unless decisive action is taken, Iran is poised to put nuclear weapons in the hands of the followers of Mohammed. To me it is clear that this is the time at which fundamentalist Muslims want to realize the restoration of the former golden age of Islam. Their approach is dictated by the spirit of Islam---by the spirit that drove the prophet Mohammed to proselytize his religion in the Sixth Century through the power of his sword. It is the same today: Islam is to be promulgated by physical force, war, and conquest. Recall the two kidnapped western journalists who were released after they "converted to Islam."

For some, World War III has already begun---the "clash of civilizations" of the last days. What should be the response of the Church of Jesus Christ? The Church has encountered the enemy in different incarnations in its long history. The enemy of the Church during these endtimes is the spirit of Islam, the ultimate spirit of anti-Christ. Our response should obviously not include physical war---that is the responsibility of our nation's government and military---but our response is war in the realm of the spirit. However, I am not talking about the kind of spiritual warfare with which the Church is already familiar. I am not talking about prayerwalks and prayer gatherings in public places. I am talking about the war that Jesus commanded us to prosecute until He returns.

Luke 10:9 Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God is near you.’

The only way that Muslims will take the gospel seriously is for them to consistently witness powerful miraculous signs done in the name of Jesus Christ. Otherwise they will continue to view our gospel as a corrupted religion. The Church must take the gospel in the power of signs and wonders to public places where the world can see the visible proof that Jesus is the only way to the Father.

John 10:37 Do not believe me unless I do what my Father does. 38 But if I do it, even though you do not believe me, believe the miracles, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father."

This is the warfare that two thousand years ago Christ commanded the Church---not just a few anointed superstar evangelists---to wage until He returns. So far the Church has disobeyed this command and failed to execute it.

But in these last days the Lord is restoring the spirit of power and boldness to the Church for real war...

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In Scripture we find different ways by which the Lord heals infirmities through His people. Two of these ways can be classified as the authority to heal on the one hand, and the gift of healing on the other hand. These two have different functions. Luke 9 describes the function of the authority to heal.

Luke 9:1 When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, 2 and he sent them out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick.

The power and authority to heal and to drive out demons is given specifically for the context of preaching the kingdom of God to the lost. For those who do not yet believe, seeing miracles can be an aid to faith in Christ. In contrast, the gift of healing is given primarily to build up the body of Christ, that is, those who already believe in Christ. The Apostle Paul, referring to the function of the gifts of the Spirit for the body of Christ, taught:

1 Corinthians 12:7 Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. 8 To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit,

In Chapter 14, continuing to teach on the purpose of spiritual gifts, Paul adds:

1 Corinthians 14:26 What then shall we say, brothers? When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. All of these must be done for the strengthening of the church.

It would appear that the primary venue for the manifestations of the gifts of the Spirit is in gatherings of believers. In such meetings believers are ministered to, strengthened, and blessed in various ways. Among other benefits, believers can be healed from their infirmities as the gift of healing is manifested. For example, as believers worship the Lord in a gathering, the presence of the Lord may appear and the sick are miraculously healed.

We see then the difference between the gift of healing and the authority to heal.

Let’s take the analogy of the United States of America. When America is threatened by foreign enemies, she sends out her armies to fight. The American military has unparalleled power. Through displays of “shock and awe” it is able to defeat the enemy. This is analogous to the Church sending out believers to proclaim the Kingdom of God to the lost, heal the sick, and cast out demons. Awesome power is released as they exercise their authority over disease and demons by rebuking them and commanding them to go in Jesus’ name. The sick are instantly healed and testify of God’s healing grace. The message of the gospel is confirmed by the miraculous signs and precious souls enter the Kingdom of God by putting their faith in Jesus Christ. The Church is indeed capable of putting on such displays of “shock and awe”---that is, signs and wonders---to defeat the enemy. We have seen this happen time and time again after disciples of Jesus are taught to exercise their authority to heal the sick.

The normal picture back home in America, by contrast, could not be any more different. Soldiers and tanks and incredibly destructive weapons are not needed in the streets. There is no need for displays of military might or “shock and awe” in our neighborhoods---those are reserved for our nations' enemies. Instead, we enjoy our peace and prosperity. We celebrate our blessings at various holidays throughout the year. We like to give one another gifts, especially around Christmas time, to bless and encourage one another. This is analogous to believers blessing one another with gifts and manifestations of the Spirit during their gatherings.

However, if we take an honest look at the Church, we see that there is not yet a healthy balance between “military” and “civilian” activities. (Writers in the past referred to these as sodalities and modalities, respectively.) Most of the activity of the Church today consists of “civilian” gatherings of believers where they are built up through the word of God and manifestations of spiritual gifts. Rarely does the Church send out believers as a well-trained and well-equipped “military” force to engage the enemy kingdom. Rarely do we hear of armies of believers going out to the lost to heal the sick, cast out demons, and save souls through the preaching of the gospel. The awesome “signs and wonders” that the Church is capable of displaying against the enemy kingdom is yet to be seen.

However, there is now in some quarters of the Church an awareness of the necessity of going out to engage the enemy. For some reason it does not consist of the visible “shock and awe” of miraculously healing the sick and proclaiming the Kingdom boldly in public as commanded by our Lord Jesus Christ. So far it consists of spiritual warfare “in the heavenlies” through prayer gatherings in public places and during prayerwalks. (We may note without passing judgement that there is debate within the larger body of Christ concerning the scriptural nature of such warfare against demonic beings.) But it must not end there. We must obey what Jesus commanded us to do in the earthly realm:

Luke 10:9 Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God is near you.’

As the recent war in Lebanon clearly showed, air bombardment alone cannot win a war. Ground troops must be committed. During these last days the Lord has revealed to us how to train and equip foot soldiers to win the war on the ground and take actual territory for the Kingdom. We are now able to equip believers to heal the sick the way Jesus and his disciples did to demonstrate to the world that the Kingdom is near. Souls actually escape from darkness and enter the Kingdom of God by putting their faith in Christ. It can no longer be simply theoretical; the victories must be seen here in reality.

John 14:12 Truly, truly, I say to you, He who believes on Me, the works that I do he shall do also, and greater works than these he shall do, because I go to My Father.

 

What if there is little or no freedom to preach
the gospel in our Muslim country or region?

 

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On the lighter side...

 

 

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The Theology of Helplessness and
the Paralysis of the Church

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For hundreds of years the Church has been taught what could be called a “theology of helplessness.” According to this perspective, believers are generally helpless and can only wait and trust God to move in response to prayer. In fact, we are taught that the weaker we are, the better off we are. The apostle Paul wrote:

2 Corinthians 12:9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

However, the weaknesses of which Paul speaks here involve insults, hardships, persecutions, and difficulties for the sake of the gospel. Even the “thorn in the flesh” which forms the context of this verse is some sort of physical weakness. But in terms of faith, power, and personal holiness, Paul was anything but weak.

Yet the pervasive theology of helplessness leave us feeling that God’s glory and power are somehow positively correlated with our failure and lack of faith. One wonders if this misinterpretation of the Scripture to the Corinthians had its origin in people trying to justify their own failures and personal weaknesses.

Of course there is some truth in this theology. Indeed there are situations we face in which we can only pray and trust the Lord. At such times we are to be still and wait for God to deliver us. The error is applying this to every situation. There are circumstances in which the Lord has given us the authority to act in His name. When we have such authority, we are not simply to pray and wait upon the Lord.

As an everyday example, how would a parent get an active young child to go to bed when it is well past his bedtime? Would the father pray and then wait upon the Lord to move the boy to bed? It’s likely that God would not answer such a prayer. He has already given the parent authority over the child, and the parent should simply tell the child firmly to go to bed. Any parent who would rather pray and trust the Lord to carry out the parent’s responsibility is guilty of stupidity and likely laziness as well.

Yet there are areas in the life of the Church where we have been given authority and the responsibility to act, yet we pray to the Lord and wait helplessly for Him to act for us. Are we any less guilty than that parent?

Luke 9:1 When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, 2 and he sent them out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. …6 So they set out and went from village to village, preaching the gospel and healing people everywhere.

Luke 10:1 After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. …9 Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God is near you.’

In the context of proclaiming the Kingdom of God to the lost, the Church has clearly been given authority and commanded to heal the sick and cast out demons. Nowhere in the four gospels did Jesus teach His disciples simply to pray for the sick as He sent them out to preach the good news. (We acknowledge that in the context of ministering to infirm believers as taught in James 5, prayer can be in order. However, it can be argued that even James taught about healing the sick, not only prayer for the sick.)

Yet because of the doctrine of cessationism (“no more miracles”) as well as the prevalent theology of helplessness, the mere mention of believers “healing the sick” raises eyebrows and suspicions of false teaching. But if one does not subscribe to cessationism, how does one deal with the Lord’s commands in Luke to heal the sick?

Asking God to heal the sick is not vastly different from asking Him to get your child into bed. In neither case is anything likely to happen. We can now understand why miraculous healings are so rare today in contrast to the Book of Acts. In Acts, the disciples were constantly preaching the gospel and healing the sick to bring souls into the Kingdom. Healings are rare in the Church today simply because we have failed to obey Christ’s command to heal the sick as we proclaim the gospel to the lost.

Why have we failed to heal the sick? Cessationism notwithstanding, we have failed to heal the sick and cast out demons generally because we lack faith (Matthew 17:14-20). The disciples’ failure to heal the boy with the epileptic demon elicited a stinging public rebuke from Jesus. He clearly expected them to be able to do the miracle in his name, and when they failed, he was visibly upset and disappointed.

According to the theology of weakness, we would expect Jesus to have been pleased or at least certainly not frustrated upon hearing that his disciples had failed due to their weak faith. Did not their weakness bring glory to God? Didn’t their weakness make them strong in God’s sight? No, because of their weak faith, the demon continued to torment the boy and God was not glorified and Jesus was not pleased. (One cannot argue convincingly that their failure brought Jesus into the picture to promptly heal the boy and thus bring glory to himself. Jesus was in the very process of training his disciples to do the works that he did, and was obviously hoping it was successful.)

Failures in ministry or our personal life due to lack of faith do not in themselves glorify God. This is twisted pseudo-spirituality at its best. Yes, to the glory of God we can be forgiven or restored, but our failures in themselves are generally just that in God’s sight. Lack of faith leading to sin or failure do not glorify or please God.

Hebrews 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please God…

God is glorified and pleased when by faith His Church uses the authority entrusted to her to obey His commands successfully. Among other things, He commands us to proclaim the Kingdom of God, heal the sick, cast out demons, and make disciples of all nations. We do not ask the Lord to come down from heaven to proclaim the gospel and disciple all nations. That is clearly our job. Why therefore do we ask Him to heal the sick and cast out demons, and after that do nothing but wait on Him?

It is time for the Church to revisit and reconsider the theology of weakness that has paralyzed her and contributed to her failure to complete the Great Commission a very long two thousand years after Christ gave us that mandate.

See the companion article below on "The Days of Gideon"...

 

 

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These are the days of Gideon

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Judges 6:1 Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD, and for seven years he gave them into the hands of the Midianites. 2 Because the power of Midian was so oppressive, the Israelites prepared shelters for themselves in mountain clefts, caves and strongholds.

This can be likened to the current situation of the Church. We are so oppressed by the enemy that we hide in our churches and practice our religion. Not only we do not know how to overcome the enemy in the world outside, we have adopted a strategy of defensive retreat.

… 6 Midian so impoverished the Israelites that they cried out to the LORD for help. 7 When the Israelites cried to the LORD because of Midian, 8 he sent them a prophet, who said, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: I brought you up out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 9 I snatched you from the power of Egypt and from the hand of all your oppressors. I drove them from before you and gave you their land. 10 I said to you, ‘I am the LORD your God; do not worship the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you live.’ But you have not listened to me.”

There is a movement of prayer and intercession now in the Church. In response, the Word of God tells us that He saved us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of light. He gave us the land or nation where we live so that we could proclaim the gospel and disciple that nation in order to fulfill the Great Commission of Jesus Christ. But instead we have disobeyed God and adopted the practices of the people that live around us, “worshipping their gods.”

11 The angel of the LORD came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. 12 When the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon, he said, “The LORD is with you, mighty warrior.”

But the Lord is now speaking to mighty warriors like Gideon around the world who even at this moment are still hiding in fear from the enemy.

13 “But sir,” Gideon replied, “if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our fathers told us about when they said, ‘Did not the LORD bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the LORD has abandoned us and put us into the hand of Midian.”

These “Gideons” are currently wondering where are the great signs and wonders that frequented the Church in the Book of Acts. Because of manifestations of such power the early Church grew explosively and earned the respect of the community. Acts 5:12-13 tell us: "The apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders among the people. And all the believers used to meet together in Solomon’s Colonnade. No one else dared join them, even though they were highly regarded by the people." But today some theologians would tell us that the Lord has taken away these weapons and that such signs and wonders have ceased.

14 The LORD turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?”

But the Lord tells us, “You already have what you need to defeat the enemy and fulfill the Great Commission. Have I not given you power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, and sent you out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick?” (Luke 9:1-2)

The Church is like an army of foot soldiers each of which has been equipped with deadly M-16 submachine guns. However, all of the soldiers have their guns strapped to their shoulders. Some are completely oblivious to the presence of the weapon hanging at their side. Others know of the weapon but have not been trained how to use it. Still others are afraid to use it.

But today the Lord is teaching His “Gideons” how to use the powerful weapon entrusted to the disciples of Christ 2,000 years ago.