Dear Friends
In that half-way world between waking and sleeping, the picture of Gethsemane formed in my mind. I saw our Lord in anguish of soul, agonising in prayer concerning the atrocities He was to face to redeem mankind. In His time of sorrow, He needed the people He called friends, to intercede for Him in His darkest hour. But, alas, they did not grasp the seriousness of the situation and fell asleep instead. Though they fell asleep in Gethsemane, they woke up in hell, when a baying mob of haters, and religious agitators, supported by armed police and menacing soldiers descended upon them. In one moment their memories of wonderful ministry, turned into a nightmare.
Lessons from the days of the Messiah
I could not help but draw a parallel with the situation in which we find ourselves today. While thousands upon thousands of Christians were agonising in their Gethsemane of persecution and martyrdom, much of the western church was slumbering fitfully in a Disneyland of make-belief, where God was some kind of Santa Claus who would give them what they want and rapture them when trouble came. Now we too are waking up in hell, where to our horror, the baying crowd of Globalists are turning democracy into dictatorship, giving anti-terrorist police power to become terrorists, who terrorise the very people they are supposed to protect!
Lessons from history
We have been here before. Leading up to WW2 the Nazis were spreading tyranny through their GESTAPO and menacing military SS units in 1939, while the German Church was sleepwalking into hell. They woke up to the nightmare of the holocaust for which every repentance came too late. Because they did not want to believe what they heard and saw evil had prospered because good Christian men - did nothing.
But we are not too late today. There is still time to pray – there are more people praying in the world today than ever in the history of the world. Irreligious people are praying, non-Christians are praying as you can see in this picture where hundreds of people in Montreal are crying out to God for help.
God hears
Like the Israelites who were oppressed by a tyrant called Pharaoh, so people the world over are crying out in protest against the tyrannical control of demonic political systems and its enforcers. The Bible reminds us that God hears the cries of the oppressed:
The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God. God heard their groaning and remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac & Jacob….(Ex. 2:24)
God hears the cries of the oppressed. He hears the sobbing of the abused. He hears the sigh of the lonely. He hears the whimpering of the abused child. He hears the murmur of the alcoholic. He hears the groaning of the sick. He hears the cry of the prisoner. He hears the sound of suffering rising from the earth and He hears you, right in the middle of a world that is not fair and a life that is hard. He hears and He cares enough to turn the world upside down to bring help- top the helpless, deliverance to the oppressed, healing to the sick and salvation to the people Christ loved and died for.
God is building His Kingdom in our day
Amidst the terrifying scenes in a world that is out of control, we must remember that God so loved the world – this world, with His eternal and unfailing and Divine Love. This is the reason for this conflict, because God is building His Kingdom: ‘From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, suffering violence (as) forceful men lay hold of it.’(Mt 11:12)
God’s Kingdom is being advanced through forceful men and women who not just ‘believe’ in God, but who knowGod, as only the people who ‘know’ their God will be strong and become forceful enough to advance His Kingdom (Dan.11:32)
The spiritual transition from believing in God (b.t.w. the devil also believes in God) to knowing God, is through suffering violence, enduring hardship, accepting suffering and pain, all of which are part and parcel of the Christian Life. It is through these experiences, people of faith become forceful believers.
God’s purpose for you
God’s vision for the last days is to raise forceful men and fierce women of God whose weakness was turned into strength by the power of the Holy Spirit (Heb 11:34). It is for that reason God has promised to pour out His Holy Spirit in the last days, to raise up a people of power who will be the standard the Spirit raises against the evil that is flooding the earth: ‘when the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him’ (Is.59:19)
Fearless men and fierce women of God pray fierce prayers: ‘Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered: let them also that hate him flee before him.’(Psalm 68:1). This is to be our prayer ‘for the power of the wicked to be broken’ (Ps.37:17)
God’s plans cannot be thwarted
History teaches us that God has always put his enemies to flight. He took down Pharaoh and destroyed his tyrannical kingdom. He took down Nero and destroyed his evil empire. He took down Hitler and wiped out his demonic Reich, to name a few. God did this by setting ambushes against His enemies (2.Chron 20:22), which caused confusion among them to the extent that they rose up and destroyed each other. Let God arise and let His enemies be scattered!
Most Bible prophecies give us the worst case scenario, i.e ‘evil prospers when good men do nothing’. But when ‘good men’ rose up in prayer and obedience, God changed destiny of nations and the history of the world. This is not a time to be cowed into submission by the principalities and powers that tyrannise the people. This is a time to lift up our eyes to the God who chose the weak things of the world and turn them in to conquerors!
Power from on High
It’s time to stop being nice in prayer. The enemy fights dirty and we must pray for God to take down the wicked and empower the righteous with Holy Ghost audacity that makes them forceful men and fierce women of God, who are ‘strong and very courageous:’ (Josh 1:6-9) ‘Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged… for the Lord Himself goes before you and will be with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you…(Deut.31:7-8)
When we focus our eyes on Who goes before us, we can face anything that is ahead!
This great OT promise has been reiterated with an even greater reality of ‘Christ IN us the hope of Glory.’ So we are not afraid, for ‘Greater is He WHO IS IN US than the one who is in the world.’ (1.Jn.4:4)
There will be an outpouring of His Spirit on the earth that will be totally unprecedented and it is not the devil who will celebrate the grand finale. God will! We will: ‘For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.’ (Hab. 2:14)
I send this letter with my prayer that you may lay hold of the fact that ‘God has not given us a Spirit of fear but of Love (which casts out fear), Power (which makes us courageous) and a sound mind (that keeps us sane’) 2. Tim. 3:17.
I pray that God may empower you to be and become strong and very courageous, fearless and audacious in the Power of His Holy Spirit that even though people in the last days will be wicked, the children of God will be strong and mighty in the pulling down of strongholds.
With best regards and every blessing
Pastor Werner
Tuckton Christian Centre 306-8 Iford Lane Bournemouth BH6 5NG UK
