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Preparing for a prayer campaign

Since the end of 2013 we have been expecting to see the fall of Mystery Babylon begin in late 2017. We are now almost at that point in time, and God has scheduled a prayer campaign for August 23 to prepare for it. I first wrote about it at the end of the weblog dated July 4.

https://www.gods-kingdom-ministries.net/daily-weblogs/2017/07-2017/update-on-coming-events/

The State of the Union

We are seeing more and more chaos and talk of revolution as the 99-year “New World Order” (1919-2018) comes to a close. The clashes in Charlottesville, VA and Barcelona, Spain are only symptoms of a dying age as we transition into the Kingdom of God. The old order is fighting for its life, recruiting as many people as they can to fight for their own enslavement.

There are forces operating behind the scenes that neither side really understands, and most do not understand how they are being used to bring about chaos. The Babylonians are experts in setting forth “causes” to motivate everyone to fight for. To do this, they must motivate people on both sides, because a one-sided war is no war at all. My advice: do not join the war and do not be a pawn in their game. Each side claims to fight for justice and freedom, but neither side understands the agenda of their manipulators.

“Oh, but we can’t just do nothing!”

The choice is not between joining the war and doing nothing. The choice is responding by the flesh or by the Spirit. Engaging in prayer campaigns and spiritual warfare is the real solution. The world thinks that the solution is killing off one’s enemies. God’s solution is to cause them to repent.

This is also the difference between Islam and (genuine) Christianity. One says, “God is great!” (allah u akbar). The other says, “God is love.” Our concept of God determines our actions, for we imitate that which we worship according to our understanding of our God (or god).

Throughout history, even Christians have not truly believed in the power of prayer. For this reason, they often say, “God helps those who help themselves.” Or they say, “We must put feet to our prayers.” What they mean is that prayer is asking God to help our flesh accomplish its goals. We want to be children of the flesh, and we want God to bless our fleshly ways. That is the religious thing. Hence, most Christian religionists miss the point completely.

The Babylonians count on the fact that they can pit fleshly Christians against fleshly non-Christians and thus destroy both of them—or bring them further into bondage. Only the overcomers have the solution to this problem, because they actually believe that God is sovereign, that His plan will prevail, and that prayer appeals to God to fulfill that plan. This is the true prayer of faith.

We are coming into a time of chaos and destruction, because Babylon means “confusion.” When Babylon is exposed, confusion is seen everywhere. But God is not merely destroying the Babylonian world order; He is building a Kingdom at the same time. Though we too are involved in the overthrow of Babylon (through spiritual warfare), our main focus is not on the negative, but on the positive work that God is doing through us. We must build as fast as God tears down in order to minimize the chaos.

The Great Shaking

Haggai 2:6, 7 prophesied that which we are now seeing in the world:

⁶ For thus says the Lord of hosts, “Once more in a little while, I am going to shake the heavens and the earth, the sea also and the dry land. ⁷ And I will shake all the nations; and they will come with the wealth of all nations; and I will fill this house with glory,” says the Lord of hosts.

The world is already shaking, but the great shaking of all nations is about to begin. Its purpose, God says to Haggai, is to shake loose “the wealth of all nations” and to “fill this house with glory.” The next verse shows that God lays claim to all the gold and silver, which He created and therefore owns. By extension, this shows the Law of Creator’s Rights. Men own the labor that they have put into that which God has created, but God owns the substance itself. That is, He owns His labor, wherein He labored six days to create all things.

Yes, there is a great transfer of wealth coming, but the real wealth is far more than gold and silver. It is people. It is land. It is the nations themselves. God is claiming it all for His Kingdom. This is the start of the restoration of all things. The beast systems were given dominion for a season in the days of Daniel and Nebuchadnezzar; but now that season is ending in 2017, as I have explained so often in past writings. Now the transfer of dominion and the wealth of nations is coming. Those who are merely focused on the Prosperity Message without understanding the Kingdom will be disappointed in many ways unless they repent (change their thinking).

Building the Kingdom

Christians have spent much of their energy building fleshly kingdoms, including church organizations. They have defined “church” in terms of earthly organizations, rather than as people. The Greek word for “church” is ekklesia, which should be defined according to its Hebrew equivalent, kahal, “congregation, assembly.”

When Jesus spoke of building the church, He was not talking about constructing church buildings or priestly hierarchies. He was talking about edifying the people, feeding the people with the truth of the word and pointing them to Christ. Organizations per se are not evil in themselves. But when organizations usurp the place of Christ, they are evil. When men rule the church and pray that God will support their carnal plans, they are antichrists. Such men teach that men can be saved only by submitting to their authority, rather than by submitting to the authority of Jesus Christ.

This is the chief problem with King Saul, the classic Pentecostal in the Old Testament. The people of Israel wanted a man to rule over them and did not see the situation as God saw it. God said to the prophet in 1 Samuel 8:7, “they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me from being king over them.”

God knew it. Samuel understood it. But the people did not see the subtle difference. Even though Saul was truly anointed as king, he was still a usurper, beginning in his second year. As soon as he began to assume that his calling meant that God had committed Himself to support Saul’s fleshly will, whether right or wrong, he became an antichrist.

Most Christians do not know the Scriptures well enough to understand this problem, so they have fallen into the same trap. The result is that they have entered into an indirect relationship with Jesus Christ. They must go through a human mediator (pastor, priest, apostle, pope, etc.) in order to have a valid relationship with Jesus.

This indirect relationship is based upon the Old Covenant. Paul tells us in Galatians 4:24 that a bondwoman is under the Old Covenant. As a slave, she does not have the right to follow God, for she is bound by the will of her master. If God tells her to do something, she must go to her master to get his permission. This is not a problem if the master truly hears God, but the practical reality is that human masters are often fleshly minded. There is where the problem lies.

 Many Christians are Old Covenant believers that have put themselves in bondage by submitting to human masters.

Another big symptom is that believers base their salvation upon their own vow to God, much like Israel did in Exodus 19:8. “I was saved when I decided to follow Jesus,” they say. Well, certainly it is good to make such a decision, but if that is the basis of our salvation, then we “fall from grace” the moment we break our vow by sinning again. Such a belief then causes us to doubt our salvation and to get saved again every time we fail to fulfill our vows. I know. I was a casualty of the Old Covenant for many years until God revealed the New Covenant to me.

The New Covenant is based on God’s promise (vow, oath), wherein God vows to turn our hearts so that we will be His people and He will be our God. We see this in Deuteronomy 29:1, 12, 13, which is the second (New) Covenant by which God led Israel into the Promised Land under Joshua.

New Covenant believers are those who believe the promise of God to make us His people. Old Covenant believers believe (have faith in) the promise of men to become the people of God through the power of their own will to be obedient. This may seem like splitting hairs, but it is a crucial distinction in Scripture. For those wracked by doubt on account of their own imperfection, understanding this distinction can be very liberating and life changing.

Everyone ought to make a decision to follow Jesus, but they should also understand that if they sincerely do so, it is evidence that God is fulfilling His New Covenant vow in their lives. One should never take credit for it, for if we claim salvation by our own will or vow, we will lose it the moment we sin or fall short of the glory of God.

During the Pentecostal Age of the past 2,000 years, the church has followed the example of King Saul, who was crowned on the day of wheat harvest (Pentecost) in 1 Samuel 12:17. We ought to follow the example of King David, who was crowned on the 59^th Jubilee from Adam. Saul prefigured the Age of Pentecost; David prefigured the Age of Tabernacles.

Saul was the church; David was the overcomer.

Renewing the Covenant Prayer Campaign

The prayer campaign on August 23, 2017 is called Renewing the Covenant. The call is to have faith in God and His oath, rather than to have faith in our own vows and good intentions. This is what will make the difference in the days ahead when God begins to shake the heavens and the earth. Babylonian citizens will be shaken, but so will most of the church. Yet God is shaking things in order to motivate people to find firm ground. This is His way of fulfilling His vow to turn our hearts.

The purpose of the prayer campaign will be (in part) to gain a better understanding of the firm ground on which we stand in this chaotic time of shaking. The New Covenant is our protection and empowerment, so that we ourselves will not be shaken. Hebrews 12:26, 27 says,

²⁶ And His voice shook the earth then, but now He has promised, saying, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heaven.” ²⁷ And this expression, “Yet once more,” denotes the removing of those things which can be shaken, as of created things, in order that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.

All things will be shaken, not for an evil purpose, but for a good purpose. The shaking will take place over a period of time, in order to allow people time to find firm footing in the Kingdom. To the extent that non-Kingdom beliefs, attitudes, and things are in our lives, that is the extent to which we will be shaken. So let us seek His Kingdom and place our faith in Him and in His promise, so that we may “receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken” (Hebrews 12:28).