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