The Day the Sun Stood Still (Chuck Missler)

Do you really believe that?Chuck, you ve got to be kidding! That’s often the reaction by some to the idea that we take the Long Day of Joshua seriously.

The days were just not long enough for some of Joshua’s battles. In the Battle of Beth-Horon, responding to Joshua’s request, the Bible says the sun stood still to extend the day for Israel to defeat their enemies.

Why Joshua?

  • It is a manual for spiritual warfare;
  • It is a prophetic anticipation of the Book of Revelation;
  • It deals with the background to Israel’s claim to the land, which is presently being contested by the current Peace Process.
  • It contains some of the most fascinating passages in the Old Testament.

The Name of the Book

It may come as a surprise that the name Joshua, in Hebrew, is essentially equivalent to our Lord’s name in Anglicized Greek: Jesus. That was designed to get our attention.

Furthermore, as a military commander, Joshua’s actions at Jericho strangely parallel the events in the Book of Revelation: he first sends in two witnesses, he defeats the enemy with seven trumpets, and he seems to ignore the numerous ordinances in the Torah.

The Levites were exempt from military duties yet they are in the march against Jericho. The Ark of the Covenant is also in the march. They are supposed to rest on the seventh day yet on the seventh day they march seven times as much!

What is really going on?

And who really fought the battle of Jericho? Despite the declarations of the popular song, it wasn’t Joshua. It was a mysterious personage who identifies Himself with the Burning Bush of 40 years earlier: our Lord Himself!

The kings aligned themselves with a leader who called himself “The Lord of Righteousness.” (Does he foreshadow the Antichrist?) The kings are subsequently defeated with signs in the sun and moon and then hide in caves.

An Anticipatory Model?

As we examine the Book of Joshua carefully, we notice that it seems to be a precursor to the book of Revelation: another Yehoshua, as Commander-in- Chief, will dispossess the Planet Earth of its usurpers first sending in two witnesses, then with a series of judgments of sevens finally defeats the kings with signs in the sun, moon, etc. The kings hide in caves, etc.

Rahab, Woman of Destiny

Where was the most dangerous spot in Jericho? On the walls! Think about it. Where was the safest place in Jericho? In Rahab s house. Where was Rahab’s house? On the wall.

It is Rahab, a Gentile of dubious reputation who becomes the mother of Boaz, the hero in the Book of Ruth who links Bethlehem with the House of David. (You cannot really understand the Seven Sealed Book in Revelation unless you have studied the Book of Ruth as a book of prophecy!).

Rahab subsequently emerges in the genealogy of the Son of God–which is a study in itself.

Two Memorials

When they cross the Jordan (in a manner conspicuously parallel to the crossing of the Red Sea 40 years earlier), 12 stones are erected on the Gilgal side, after crossing.

Also, just prior to the Jordan returning to its regular flow, Joshua sets up 12 stones in the middle of the Jordan, which will then be covered with the waters.  Strange.

These are not only commemorative of their deliverance, they are prophetic of ours: the baptism of His death, and the deliverance by His resurrection.

It is interesting that, much later, John the Baptist, at this very spot alludes to these stones in his challenge to the Pharisees and Sadducees.

Practical Applications

Perhaps the most important aspects of this military book are the practical insights for spiritual warfare. Its parallelism with Ephesians is also instructive.

The first issue is, who has the initiative? Remember, it was God who declared war on Satan.  When Christ first announced the church, He pointed out that the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. It is the church which has the initiative! That’s you and I, isn’t it?

What does “Crossing the Jordan” signify spiritually? Going to heaven? Hardly. There are enemies there. Warfare. Setbacks. The ingredients of success and failure in their adventures are detailed for our own instruction to gain victory instead of defeat.

After they cross the Jordan, they get circumcised! For 40 years Israel was not circumcised! It is remarkable that while they were miraculously provided for throughout their wilderness wanderings, they were not rebuked for not maintaining this sign of the covenant.

Is there an intentional parallel between this and the Jewish diaspora, during which they “are not my people”?

They are in enemy territory. So are you and I. (But are we adequately prepared? Ephesians warns us to “put on the whole armor of God.” You must do this before not during the battle!)

If you are not under attack, perhaps it is because you are not relevant, or perhaps you are already relegated to where the enemy wants you.

We may not realize this as we should, but no conflict, no crown. If we are truly Christians, then we will be in real warfare.

The Prophetic Horizon

As the nations of the world line up to challenge Israel’s rights to the land that God covenanted to them, another Yehoshua is getting ready to give them the surprise of their lives! He, too, is preparing to dispossess the land in fact, the entire Planet Earth of the Usurper and his followers!

The Book of Joshua also introduces the Shofar and the cycle of the Jubilee. After each seven sabbatical years (49 years), the next year was to be a Jubilee Year: all debts were forgiven, all slaves went free, and the land returned to its original owners.

Peter, referring to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, alludes to the time of restitution of all things, which is regarded as an allusion to the Jubilee.

Many suspect that the Jubilee, too, will prove to be prophetically significant, and we are approaching the 70th Jubilee!

As we sit back and watch the emergence of a European Superstate, the rebuilding of Babylon, the positioning of Magog and the Muslim allies to attack Israel, and the Vatican positioning to lead a worldwide ecumenical movement and to internationalize the Temple Mount in Jerusalem we realize that the stage is being set for the big climax. It’s time to do our homework! It’s time to diligently find out what God has said about these things.

What Makes a Good Leader

A good leader has three elements.

They must have a vision – a destination to go to or they cannot lead people there.

They must have a plan – if they don’t know the route to the destination they cannot lead people there

They must have influence – if no one wants to follow them to the destination along their route, then they are not leaders.

 

I think you should be able to sum up each of these in a sentence.

E.g.

My vision is to create a word of faith, multi-racial, cell church in London that lifts the life of people across the world.

My route is to develop strong cell leaders, train people in righteousness and evangelise using personal discipleship and healing crusades

My influence is found in caring for people as individuals, loving them and letting them love us, showing them out to step out in their giftings and teaching the Word in a clear and relevant way.

 If you cannot sum up what you are doing so succinctly, I would challenge you to do so immediately.

Blessings,

Benjamin

A Call to Prayer by Andrew Wommack

I think all Christians would agree that we should be praying for our nation during this critical time in our history. Judicial activists are no longer interpreting the law but attempting to legislate from the bench. By using these activist judges in our courts, the ungodly are systematically attempting to remove all reference to and influence of God in our society. It’s even become politically correct to discriminate against Christians. Christianity is also the only religious influence that can be prohibited by law. We need the intervention of God to turn this situation around.

Prayer is a powerful weapon. But, there is a right and a wrong way to pray. Just like any powerful weapon, without the proper instruction, it may be useless or someone could get hurt. Wrong prayer is not only ineffective, it can also release the power of the devil. I’ve experienced this firsthand.

In the beginning of my walk with the Lord, I listened to a teaching which used an example of a teenager who felt very ineffective in witnessing for the Lord. This young man prayed and asked the Lord to do whatever it would take to use him as an effective witness in his high school. He specifically asked God to give him cancer and take his life if that was the only way he could show others the power of God in his life. The next day he came down with leukemia. At his funeral, four of his classmates accepted the Lord because of the way he had dealt with his terminal illness.

At that time, I didn’t know that God had redeemed us from sickness. I had been taught that in God’s sovereignty, He controlled everything that happened to us. So, I bought into this teaching “hook, line, and sinker.” I then gave this tape to a close friend of ours. She also accepted it as truth to the point that she prayed this same prayer. The next morning, she was rushed to the hospital and diagnosed with leukemia. At her funeral, four people accepted the Lord also.

Since then, I have learned the truth. God did not answer those prayers by giving two teenagers leukemia. Certainly, God received a measure of glory when those eight people accepted the Lord, but God doesn’t kill one of His children so that others can be saved. Satan is the killer; it was Satan who took advantage of the open doors these wrong prayers created. That’s why it’s important to know how to pray.

On this National Day of Prayer, millions of Christians will be praying for God to move in our nation. Typically, they will be pleading with an angry God to turn from His impending judgment and have mercy. That’s wrong praying. And as I’ve testified, wrong praying can open the door to wrong results.

There is a right way to pray for our nation. But first, we need to recognize that God isn’t angry any more. The war between God and man is over. That’s what the angels proclaimed at the birth of Jesus. Luke 2:14 says,

“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.”

These angels weren’t saying that from then on, peace would reign on earth and wars between people would cease. That certainly hasn’t happened. They were proclaiming the end of the war between God and man. Jesus paid a price that is infinitely greater than the sins of the whole human race. God loves the world, not only the church, but the whole world. He’s already paid for their sins as the Scriptures say in 1 John 2:2,

“And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.”

Therefore, His mercy is now extended to all man not the judgment we read about in the Old Testament. In the Old Testament, God’s punishment was poured out on individuals and entire nations. In the New Testament, God’s judgment was poured out on Jesus. Now, God’s mercy and grace are ours.

Through His mercy, we avoid getting the bad things we deserve, and through His grace, we receive the good things we don’t deserve. The nearly-too-good-to-be-true news of the Gospel is that we don’t get what we deserve, we get what we believe. Jesus has made all that God is and has, available to us, and it is through faith that we access that grace (Rom. 5:2).

So, the typical Christian is making intercession to an angry God, asking Him to turn from His fierce wrath, but that’s the wrong way to pray. I can just hear someone say, “But that’s exactly what people did in the Old Testament!” That’s true, but there is a major difference between the Old and New Covenant. That difference is Jesus. Jesus has forever changed the way we approach God and how we appropriate His favor.

Let’s look at an Old Testament example of intercession that will be used by many as the benchmark for the way we should pray on this National Day of Prayer. Moses was pleading with God for the nation of Israel. The children of Israel molded a golden calf and had an orgy as they worshiped it. The Lord became so angry that He told Moses he would destroy those people and make a new nation through Moses’ seed. Moses told the Lord in Exodus 32:12,

“Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy people.”

It’s amazing that a mere human being had the audacity to speak to God this way! What’s even more amazing is that God allowed Moses speak to Him this way and actually repented (Ex. 32:14). This example will be held up all across this land as the standard we are supposed to emulate.

However, this is not the way that we, as New Testament believers, should approach God. Galatians 3:19 refers to Moses as a mediator. The dictionary defines a mediator as “someone who seeks to resolve differences between two or more conflicting parties.” It was appropriate for Moses to act as a mediator because Jesus had not yet come, and the atonement for man’s sins had not yet been made. God and man were not reconciled.

But now, because of Jesus, God has been reconciled to man. All that is left is for man is to be reconciled to God, and that should be our message (2 Cor. 5:19-20). To approach God as an adversary who is ready to destroy us is to approach God without Jesus. It doesn’t honor the mediation that Jesus purchased. First Timothy 2:5 says,

“For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.”

When Jesus became our Mediator, He put all other mediators out of business. In the days of Moses, it was appropriate and necessary for him to act as a mediator and intercede for his nation, pleading with God to turn from his wrath. Why, because Jesus had not yet come and taken His place as the only Mediator. Now that Jesus has come and has paid for the sins of the whole world, it is wrong to continue to pray the way Moses did. It’s against everything Christ accomplished. In other words, it is anti-Christ. I know those words are strong, but they are the truth.

How then should a New Testament believer intercede for their nation? Start by praising God for what He has already accomplished through Jesus. Then take your place in what Christ has already done, and use your authority as a believer to speak God’s blessing over your nation instead of the curses that Christians so often pronounce. It’s really that simple. There is tremendous authority given to us if we will use it, and there is awesome power in our blessing.

Before I learned these truths, I used to say that God would have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah if He didn’t judge America because we are just as deserving of judgment as they were. But now that I know the truth, I say, “If God does judge America, He will have to apologize to Jesus because Jesus satisfied God’s demands of justice.”

That doesn’t mean that America is safe from the consequences of continuing on its current path. God won’t judge America; He has already judged Jesus on our behalf. But the farther we walk away from the Lord, the farther we get away from His protection. God won’t force Himself or His blessings on us. We have to pursue them and obtain them through faith. Without a change in the hearts of the people and a change in the direction we are headed, we will forsake our own mercies (Jon. 2:8) and reap death instead of life (Rom. 6:16).

Jamie and I encourage you to be a New Testament intercessor on this National Day of Prayer. Honor Jesus by approaching a loving God who has already made every provision for the revival this nation so desperately needs. Speak words of faith that release the goodness Jesus has so graciously provided. And then, do your part in sharing this good news with your friends and neighbors.

Most of America will be praying for a move of God, but I will be praying for a move of God’s people. God has already done His part. It’s up to us to take this good news to the world. God isn’t mad anymore. He’s not even in a bad mood. God loves us. Glory to God in the highest and, on earth, peace, good will toward man

Propehtic Word by Kenneth Copeland (2008)

“Pay Attention to Me…My system is stronger than ever.”

Don’t pay attention to or make any plans based on what the media says

or what the politicians say. Stand on My Word in John 16. Pay attention to Me.

I [the Holy Spirit] will obey verses 13-15. I will show you things to come. I will

lead you through troubled times. I already have THE plan for you, and it’s very

good. Follow it. It will not only get you through, it will place you in a very high

place—a rich place—a strong place of victory.

You will have to discipline yourself and be diligent to listen to Me. All the

other voices will have a plan, a word, an idea for your future and security.

Don’t listen to Babylon’s system. It has fallen apart. My system is stronger than

ever. My kingdom is flourishing, and THE BLESSING is the place to be.

Keep your eyes on My Word. Listen to it. It will guide you and I will

perform it. Love Me. Love My people as I have loved you. Walk in it. Love never

fails, and neither does My plan.

Be very cautious to stay completely clean from covetousness. First

Timothy 6:10 must live in the forefront of your thinking. If you will do these

things and continue therein, you will come into your wealthy place. A place

lifted up. A place in Me already planned and prepared for you now. Here. Not

heaven—not yet. But it will seem like heaven right in the midst of all the

trouble, and you’ll be able to reach out to untold numbers of suffering people

with the Good News of the gospel.

I’m coming very soon. Sooner than you think. Keep your eyes on Me and

you’ll get the job done.

—Prophecy delivered by Kenneth Copeland

Oct. 19, 2008

Can Sin Cost You Your Salvation

Recently I was asked about whether a repeated sin such as looking at pornography will cost you your salvation.  The simple answer to this question is NO!  The longer answer, which I gave, I have reproduced below to encourage and help anyone who feels they may have lost their so great salvation. 

Dear (name deleted),

You cannot lose your salvation! It is not like your car keys where you put them down and then don’t know where they are. Your salvation is a new birth that creates a new you. You cannot lose your salvation because you cannot lose you – you is who you are.

Your salvation is you – it is you being alive spiritually having been born again and now living in him. However, you can reject the life of Christ from inside you and if you do this intelligently, deliberately and freely as a mature Christian, you will essentially die spiritually again and then there will be no more redemption for you.

This is found in Hebrews 6.3-4 among other places. But sin will not cost you your salvation. It might harden your heart and lead you to the place where you willingly reject God, but it in itself won’t make God reject you, to say otherwise is to insult the precious redemptive work of our Lord Jesus at Calvary.

So why should we not sin, and how can we avoid sin? The answer is in Romans 6. Romans 6.1-13 tells us that sin is not part of our nature. The more you meditate on the fact that you are in Christ, that you have been redeemed, that love coarses through your veins, that you are spiritual alive, that you are the righteousness of God, the less attraction sin will have on you. It is not normal or natural for you to sin. It is like an eagle banging its head on a tree – it is painful, it is not part of its nature. Just because someone else did it, doesn’t mean you have to.

Sin is powerful, sin is attractive, sin is pleasureable. I know that and you know that. However, Christ is more powerful, more attractive and more pleasureable. Seek your peace in Christ.

Keep confessing outloud: “I am righteous, I am wise, I am love. I am born again and my life is pure and peaceable.” Say it again and again. Keep these Words in your heart and mouth day and night and you will have great success.

Romans 6.14 onwards show us that sin makes us its slave. When we have a desire to sin, whether it is to lose our temper, act greedily, or watch porn, there is a lie in our minds that says if I do it this one LAST time, it will satiate the hunger.

Sin will never satiate hunger – it will only ever increase the hunger and make it worse. Fill up your time with worship and with prayer and with fellowship. Talking about pornography specifically, pornography is a substitute for intimacy. Not necessarily sexual intimacy. To really beat a pornography addiction, you need people around you who are like minded who care for you and think like you. People you can call day and night who will just be there.

Hope this helps,

Ben

Three Waves – The Second Wave, a Wave of Financial Integrity

As the people cast out demons, healed the sick and had the most phenomenally accurate words of knowledge and words of wisdom, two things happened

Firstly, there was a backlash of persecution from cessationist Christians.  Not from the world, not really – much more from Christians who denied the Scriptures and the power of God.  This persecution took the form of exclusion from meetings, people were forced to stand down from leadership positions.  Some pastors were removed from their churches, other pastors virtually expelled their entire churches for speaking in tongues and laying hands on the sick and seeing them healed.  This caused a few people to back off and stop their new life of faith and miracles and joy.  However, far more people were galvanised by this and it caused them to dig into the Word to understand the Biblical basis for seeing miracles and the gifts of the Holy Spirit.  It caused them to spend much more time with the Holy Spirit as their comforter and friend, and the wave of miracles grew more intense.
In the places where the persecution was strongest, often involving creative miracles of limbs re-growing and organs being restored.

The second thing that happened is that some people who had been involved in the most religious, non-charismatic churches realized that the grace and power of the Holy Spirit was free and completely by the grace of the Lord Jesus.  At the same time, many of the people moving in the gifts were very young Christians, some only being Christians for a few weeks or even days.

Some of these people started – or continued – in some of the vilest sins.  Some of these started to be exposed and revealed.  It threatened to derail the revival spreading through London and at this stage had started to affect churches in the home counties and in some areas in north England, Wales, France and eastern Europe.

Just at this time, several Christian ministers started to preach on purity and integrity in a powerful way.  Thousands flocked to hear sermons on holiness and purity throughout London.  People started to learn how to think on what is right, how to form pure and wise relationships and how to be honest in all their dealings.  It was a beautiful move and it dovetailed into the healing wave that had just past.  People started to learn how to live their life on the Word, not just on their gifting or anointing.  A small group went into an excess and said they could live how they like and started swapping partners, but this group stopped almost as soon as it started.

I have referred to this wave as a wave of financial integrity because that is how I saw it.  All the things I described above happened in my vision, but the crest of the wave was this: churches started to deal with money in an open and honest way.  I saw Christian leaders weeping before their churches because they had operated the church finances as an extension of their own bank accounts.  I saw elders apologize for manipulating people into giving to their causes.  Some people were repenting of making up causes to raise offerings and this was revealed.

Now, I know for a fact that there is excesses like this inside the charismatic church, but what surprised me when I saw this happen was that it was as much the traditional churches that had leaders repenting and making restitution as the charismatic churches.  Several pastors had raised money for an orphanage that did not even exist, and they were getting right with God and returning double the money to everyone who had given.

It was wonderful to watch.  And as it happened, as people – especially leaders – were honest, were owning up – there was a new level of trust across the body of Christ.  A Pentecostal minister would admit his folly, and instead of shooting him down, the local Anglican church would love him and reach out to him and restore him.  The Baptists were praying for the Assemblies of God, and the URC were praying for the Elim, and this opened up a number of joint meetings which led to many people being saved, healed and delivered.

The irony was that when this was dealt with, people actually became more generous with their money.  People who had never given more than a token amount to the church were giving 30-40% of their income into offerings for their churches.  Money was being distributed to the poor in London like never before.  A number of churches were getting together in different localities and buying buildings to use as shelters for the homeless and as soup kitchens, and places where people could be cared for and supported.  In many areas, one church was organising the whole project but would be amazed when other churches in the area would just send huge offerings with no strings attached.

As this wave started to subside – and I don’t mean that the integrity had ended, any more than the healings and miracles had ceased at this stage, but rather that this as a focus was ending – there were so many Christians who were fellowshipping with people they never thought they would fellowship with.
This is when the third wave I saw hit.

Wisdom Distilled (IV)

When we use the word good to describe God, it means exactly the same as what it means when we use it to refer to a human.  God is kind, gracious, always willing to forgive and always willing to heal.

A Powerful Lesson From ER « Great PC Games

This is a really powerful lesson for all of us. Enjoy!

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Example of Witnessing to Someone with Pink Hair

A great example of witnessing, Enjoy!

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Three Waves – The First Wave, a Wave of the Gifts and Power of the Holy Spirit

Two weeks ago, while I was praying for the future of Tree of Life Church, I saw three waves of the glory of the Lord flow across London.  It was not an open vision but it was as clear as any vision I have ever seen from the Lord.  This vision was not exclusively for Tree of Life Church at all, but for all Christians across London.

The first wave was a wave of the gifts and power ministries of the Holy Spirit.  I saw churches that were Pentecostal in theology but not in practise suddenly explode in their services with messages in tongues, interpretations, words of knowledge for healing, words of wisdom that lead to marriages being restored and people being released into prosperity and abundance.

I saw churches that have had great sermons, great truths suddenly have great manifestations that caught everyone by joyous surprise.

I saw Christians who had been opposed to the gifts of the Holy Spirit standing in the streets of London sharing prophetic words with complete strangers.  People were weeping and repenting and coming to faith in the street – the power of the Holy Spirit was leading people to be witnesses, as taught in Acts.  I saw backsliders suddenly get excited about their faith again.  I saw healing crusades with thousands in attendance, people being healed of cancer, people getting out of wheelchairs, I saw deaf ears open and blind eyes open.

I saw healing being like a dinner bell calling people from all walks of life in London to the Lord Jesus Christ.  Jesus said himself that Him healing the sick shows that He has the power to forgive sin.  And I see Him healing people and people realizing that He is the Lord over sin and sickness.

I see Muslims, Hindus, atheists, people from every creed and belief system becoming Christians as they see the healing power of the Lord.  I saw children being healed, I saw the Lord healing people.

What was most beautiful about this all is that this move of the Spirit was not focused around one pastor or one evangelist.  Every Christian, including day-old Christians, were laying hands on the sick and seeing them healed.  Every Christian was speaking words of faith and seeing those words materialize in the physical realm.  Every Christian was excited about the gifts and power of the Holy Spirit.  Five fold ministers were doing their real calling: the works of the believer and equipping the saints.

I know not every Christian will flow with the Holy Spirit, but when I saw this vision it was as if every Christian was.  Christians that no-one would have expected to step out in faith were jumping out of the boats of religion and walking out on the waters of the Spirit-led life.

Some churches were struggling to adapt to the power of the Lord and some Christians would step out in faith and then fall back to safe and routine as they started to grow in maturity.

As people started to realize the gifts were no substitute for maturity, and started to ask the Lord for an increase in wisdom and revelation, the second wave hit.

I will outline that in the second post, but I will end this post with this: there is coming to the church of the Lord Jesus Christ in London, England a move of the gifts and power of the Holy Spirit.  The Word of God says desire spiritual gifts – and I encourage everyone reading this to ask the Lord right now for the gifts of the Holy Spirit to operate fully in their life and in the life of every Christian in London and across the world.

This is such an exciting time to be a Christian, such a wonderful time to be alive.  Praise His name for ever!