A New Decade

‘God wants us to understand the times in which we live and the ways he is working out his purposes today’

 EDITORIAL

I am continually being asked to prophesy something nice for the 1990s. Well-meaning friends point out that nearly all the prophets are speaking of revival and bringing messages of hope and encouragement to the people. ‘Why can’t you do the same?’ l am told. The truth is, I long to do so. Day and night I cry out to the Lord to release me from the burden of this ministry or to change the message. I get no release from either.

I am not given to emotionalism or to the public expression of my own deepest thoughts and feelings. But I think I owe it to all our readers to tell you that in private I often weep before the Lord for what I see coming upon the nations and coming upon the church. I long to tell you nice things, to speak of peace and to fill your hearts with joy. But my greatest fear is that the day will come when I will have to stand before the Lord and account for the ministry to which I have been called.

Even if we lose all our readers I can do no other than declare the things that I am hearing from the Lord. I am not meaning to sound dramatic, nor do I set myself up above other servants of the Lord whom I love and respect. But this one thing I know, I often try to write about things I have worked out in my mind but a kind of paralysis overtakes me so that I am stuck for words. They simply will not come, but when the Spirit of the Lord is upon me the words flow. In this Editorial, at the beginning of the 1990s, I am attempting to declare the whole counsel of God as I have received it.

The 1990s will be a period of enormous change. Throughout this century the pace of social, economic and political change has been increasing. That pace of change has accelerated in the second half of the century, building up to a crescendo in the last years of the 1980s, with the walls coming down in the crumbling Communist empire, especially in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. The pace of change in the 1990s is going to be even greater, with even more breathtaking events that will stun the nations and cause great fear and foreboding.

It is for this reason that God is giving forewarning to his people so that they may be equipped and prepared to stand firm as the shaking of the nations intensifies. The word of the Lord to his people is: Fear not little flock, for / am with you. I will never leave you. I am your Rock and your Fortress, your Shield and your Protector. When the storm breaks around you do not fear for I am in control. I, and I alone, can still the storm. Only in me will you be able to stand. Take heart and do not be afraid for I have already overcome. I am he who is King of kings and Lord of lords.

At the Issachar Conference in north Wales one of the PWM Team received a picture of a barren hillside, desolate and dark. Gradually a great light came upon it and the whole hillside was flooded with light. Then a white horse appeared with a rider sitting upon it, clothed in gleaming armour, and in his hand he held a sword which he lifted up on high. It was an awesome sight, with the entire surrounding countryside bathed in glorious light which seemed to emanate from the rider on the horse. This was followed by a prophecy that referred us to Isaiah 13 and to the rider on a white horse in Revelation 19:11-16 who was called ‘faithful and true’ and on whose robe was written the name ‘King of kings and Lord of lords’.

This was just one more sign that the Lord is taking the battlefield and calling his people to rally to his side, to raise a banner among the nations so that all may receive the glory of the Lord and may hear his word faithfully declared among all peoples — that there is salvation in no other name than Jesus and that the scriptures are the true and faithful word of God that is unchanging and can neither be added to nor taken away from. The Holy Spirit is active among us today to alert us to the significance of the times in which we live and the way in which God is working out his purposes. Any word we receive by way of revelation does not add to scripture; it enables us to perceive the significance of those parts of scripture that are being fulfilled today and to know how the Lord is directing the mission of his church.

The scriptures relevant for the 1990s are still primarily centred around the prophecy concerning the shaking of the nations which was first given to Haggai (2:6,7) and repeated in Hebrews 12:26-29. A specific word for the 1990s is to be found in Isaiah 21:11 and 12, where someone calls to the watchman asking the time and how much of the night is left. The watchman replies, ‘Morning is coming, but also the night. If you would ask, then ask; and come back yet again.’

God wants us to understand the times in which we live and the way in which he is working out his purposes. This is an exhortation to be persistent in intercession, in waiting upon the Lord, and in learning to stand in the counsel of God so that we can understand his ways and interpret what the Spirit is saying to the churches today. This requires much patience in learning to listen, in studying the word of God, in watching what is happening in the world and in seeking for divine wisdom.

The watchman declares, ‘Morning is coming but also the night’. It is a mixture of good news and bad, of light and darkness, of joy and judgment —who can stand in the day of the Lord? Only those with an upright heart and clean hands, who have not bowed the knee to Baal nor been corrupted by the values of the world. As Amos reminded Israel, the day of the Lord is a day of darkness as well as light., The righteous truly will rejoice to see the presence of the Lord in power, but there will also be wailing and gnashing of teeth.

This is the teaching of Jesus and we ignore it at our peril. The Lord is equipping the church to enable us to stand, and to stand firm in his strength. He is looking for a body of believers whose eyes are upon him, the Lord of the church, the author and perfecter of our faith, but who are also alert to the strategems of the enemy. The church needs to discern where the Lord is raising his banner so that we may rally to him and allow him to be the leader of the army. He alone knows how to direct the battle to bring about the assured victory. Paul foresaw the fulfilment of this victory in Ephesians 3:10, when through the church the Lord Jesus will engage the principalities and powers of darkness that seek the destruction of mankind.

This is what I foresee coming in the 1990s. The collapse of the world economy will be a judgment on the greed and corruption of the nations. God will bring this about by using the East to bring judgment upon the West. For several years I have been hearing about an earthquake hitting London and, as I said a year ago, I was unsure whether this was physical or economic. I now believe a physical earthquake will hit Japan, bringing enormous destruction to Tokyo that will trigger economic earthquake tremors throughout the world and especially in London. For those who have shares in the big insurance and banking institutions it will be a day of disaster. It will be a day when the proud will be humbled and the powerful will be powerless. It will pave the way for the establishment of a one-world economy which is prophesied in scripture for the end-times.

The economic upheaval will also create a climate for worldwide political change. As the Communist empire continues to crumble so too will the mighty empires of the West. This will prepare the way for one-world government which is also prophesied in scripture for the end-times. At first this will be regionalised, as is already happening with moves towards a ‘united states’ of Europe and with other regional groups of nations such as those emerging in south-east Asia and in Africa. A unified system of government enacting and enforcing international law will be advocated as essential for the right administration of a world economy as well as for the establishment of international peace and harmony among the nations.

Islamic fundamentalism will become even more violent before fading away as a consequence of their failure to destroy Israel and retake Jerusalem for Allah. The pressure upon Israel will intensify through the growing power of the peace process which will gain momentum alongside the ‘green’ movement promoted by the conservation network.

The New Age movement, which now dominates the conservation and peace movements, will gain momentum through the 1990s. Their philosophy is that we are in the last decade of the old order that culminated in the Capitalist and Communist empires, each dedicated to the other’s destruction, and we are about to enter a New Age with the dawn of the age of Aquarius in the year 2000 AD.

Leading New-Agers under the umbrella of the United Nations have established a University for Peace whose chancellor, Dr Robert Muller, has outlined the objectives of the movement, which is to infiltrate every area of life worldwide. Those objectives are the formation of a one-world economic system, a one-world political system and a one-world religious system or ‘cosmic spirituality’ as Muller describes it.

Addressing a conference of the University for Peace in Costa Rica Muller said, ‘I hope that religious leaders will get together and define before the end of this century the cosmic laws which are common to all faith…They should tell the politicians what the cosmic laws are, what God, or the gods, or the cosmos are expecting from humans... We must hope also that the Pope will come before the year 2000 to the United Nations, speak for all the religions and spiritualities on this planet, and give the world the religious view of how the third millennium should be a spiritual millennium, a millennium which will see the integration and harmony of humanity with creation, with nature, with the planet, with the cosmos and with eternity.’

The New-Agers are determined to infiltrate churches of all denominations in order to promote a single world religion which will be based upon a Hindu concept of the cosmos and cycles of creation with a Buddhist concept of peace. This one-world religion based upon a mixture of the pagan gods and denial of the uniqueness of salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ is also prophesied in scripture for the end times.

Finally, what lies ahead for Britain? I see a period of immense political upheaval which could bring about a period of severe judgment upon the nation, with Christ-denying politicians gaining power leading to the imposition of restrictions upon the proclamation of the gospel and persecution of believers. Many warnings have already been given to Britain that have been ignored. The warning signs have become more frequent and more devastating, but still there has been no turning of the nation to God.

God is giving a last chance to the Conservatives to get it right. They must stop selling off the nation’s precious resources for private profit. This is abhorrent to God — especially water privatisation! They must repeal the law on abortion, re-enact laws on witchcraft that restrict the activities of occultism and especially restrict those who are initiating children into satanic rites. They must review the Obscene Publications Act to clamp down on pornography. They should not go ahead with proposals that will effectively ban Christian broadcasting and the propagation of the gospel through radio and TV.

They should review the whole of government financial policy to stop favouring the rich and penalising the poor, to bring in legislation to curb the greed of the powerful and the suffering of the powerless, to enact measures to take greater care of the poor, and to ensure that Britain plays a full part in aiding developing nations and in caring for the world’s poorest people. Government needs to be reminded that it is righteousness that exalts a nation, not economic prosperity.

Churches need to be warned of the onslaught of the enemy within our gates, especially through New Age teaching. The very nature of deception is that it is closely allied to truth, otherwise it would fool nobody. Beware of those who proclaim light and love and joy and peace but who neither declare the Lordship of Jesus nor glorify Christ. Beware also of false hopes of peace and revival. Revival will undoubtedly come to Britain but there is a cost. The cost is repentance. If there is no repentance the nation will be broken and revival will come out of the breaking and the shattering of the nation and of the church.

Revival will not come through celebration, neither will it come through charismatic triumphalism which is the same as evangelical triumphalism with the volume turned up. Revival will come only through brokenness, through those who have allowed Christ to crucify the flesh and who have been broken of human self-will and pride and who long only to see the love of Christ shed abroad, and whose own faithful lives of discipleship reflect the love of Christ and bring glory to the risen Lord.