The
Lord is now restoring to the body of Christ something vital for
fulfilling the Great Commission during these end times. It is something
that has been missing for most of the history of the Church. Two
millennia ago Jesus Christ gave the Church the Great Commission.
Still we have not yet completed it. One of the primary reasons
for the delay is the inability of the Church to prove to the lost
that our God is the true God through miraculous signs. In stark
contrast, the early church of Acts understood how to heal the sick
and cast out demons as the gospel was proclaimed. As a result the
gospel spread throughout much of the known world at that time.
But as the Church became an institutionalized religion, this understanding
was lost. I am convinced this is why billions of Musl__ms, Hindus,
Buddhists, and adherents of witchcraft refuse to take the gospel
seriously. As Jesus told the royal official whose son lay sick
in Capernaum, "Unless you people see miraculous signs and
wonders, you will never believe."
But during these last days the Lord has shown us how to restore these miraculous
signs to the Church in accordance with John 14:12...
"I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been
doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father."
This will not happen overnight; it will likely take many years for the Church
to be equipped in this way. But it has begun...
I was
in a certain city equipping believers in End Time Evangelism. After
the training, we held an evangelistic meeting to provide the trained
people with actual “battlefield” experience. This is
what happened at the meeting….
I
preached the gospel and asked the Lord to confirm it through
miraculous healings as the trained believers laid hands on the
sick. Many miracles took place as they exercised their authority
over diseases and demons in Christ. Among them: a boy born with
a hole in his heart could no longer hear the telltale "swishing" sound
of his heartbeat. A woman had come to the meeting with a large
hard cancerous tumor in her stomach and pain in different parts
of her body because of the tumor and the chemotherapy. Through
tears of joy she testified that her stomach had become soft and
all the pain had disappeared. A woman had come with several growths
in her breast and because of them, debilitating fear. She could
no longer find any of the growths and her fear had vanished in
the name of Christ.
Christ's authority to free the people from the prison of infirmity proved that
he also had the legal authority to forgive the sin that had put them in prison.
When I gave the invitation for people to receive Jesus Christ, precious souls
responded. It was most glorious. The saints rejoiced at what the Lord had done
through them.
Some
time later an anointed evangelist from another country came to
hold a Healing Service in a local church in that area. Some of
the believers we had trained were members of that local church
and attended the Service. One of them wrote me the following about
the meeting…
The
Service was so similar to your teaching except that it was a
one-man-show. The first night of the meetings, we (those who
had attended your training) felt so frustrated because we had
to restrain the burning desire to minister to the sick. The second
night we just went ahead doing just as you taught us, like the
evangelist [on the platform] but we had to stop before getting
the job done because a pastor stopped us. In fact by that time
some had already been healed as we ministered. What an impact
it could have made if the whole body of Christ in that big hall
had ministered with authority and commanded healing together
with the evangelist just as you did with us…what a pity
and a waste! I could not help noticing the disapproving way the
pastors and some elders looked at us while we were ministering
to the sick---that very disapproving look---you know our church
has a kind of mentality that allows only certain people to pray
or minister and we happened to be not those 'certain people.'
It is not that we wanted to show off, but the need was there.
So many sick people were queuing up waiting to be prayed for.
Maybe the way we ministered with authority opened their eyes.
Anyway all praises and glory be to God for all the miracles,
the fruit and the harvest from those two nights. The evangelist
is indeed a man of God and has an apostolic and prophetic anointing.
Just
like Moses was unable to take the Israelites into the Promised
Land, the current generation of specially-anointed evangelists
has failed to lead the Church to fulfill the Great Commission.
Their meetings focus on the anointed ministry of one man or one
woman. Of course they have brought much glory to God in their time.
I believe they have now fulfilled their purpose.
An army of nameless and faceless Joshuas is now being raised up
to invade and take possession of Canaan. The
Lord has begun to fulfill Jesus’ promise in John 14:12…”Those
who believe in Me will do the works that I have done.”
It will
be the Body of Christ consisting of multiplied millions of trained
believers who will preach the gospel, heal the sick, and cast out
demons like Christ did, who will fulfill the Great Commission.
Where a handful of world-class evangelists failed in this particular
regard, this huge army of nameless and faceless little ones will
get the job done.
What
is the primary work of the five-fold ministry?
Ephesians
4:11 It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets,
some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, 12 to
prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the
body of Christ may be built up… (NIV)
Their
work is to prepare God’s people for works of service. “One-man-show” ministries
do not generally do this, although there may be exceptions. They
usually draw much attention to themselves and pay relatively
little to equipping the body of Christ. Now is the time for the
five-fold-ministry to fulfill the primary purpose of its existence:
equipping us to do the works that Jesus did.
The
End Time Model of Evangelism
Other teachings