October 2015
October 15, 2015 ·
7 Questions for this Presidential Election season: (Remember I am apolitical)
1) Seeing that Presidential Elections don't change Roe vs. Wade, and nor does whoever is President seem to affect abortions (they went up in Reagan's years and are way down in Obama's years)- Is it possible that another issue should rise to the forefront as a more important litmus test for a President?
2) Was Jesus seemingly more Conservative or Liberal/Socialist? i.e. Would Jesus' stances on issues and people sound more like Donald Trump or Bernie Sanders?
3) Is it more important to vote for the right President or pray for the President that is in?
4) Do people that come into a country illegally automatically lose all human rights consideration for the rest of their lives?
5) Are human lives that are not born-- equal, more important, or less important than those lives that are already born?
6) WWJD. If Jesus were pastoring us today in what order would He prioritize the following:
a. Border Security
b. Treatment of Immigrants
c. Treatment of illegal immigrants
d. Criminal Justice inequities (the plight of urban America)
e. The Economy
f. The Environment
7) The Bible says that all authorities are placed there by God. It also says the heart of a king is in His hands. With this assurance can we relax that whoever gets elected is what God has for us at this time- or does a democratic process knock God out of this place of authority?
Feel free to post an opinion on any one of these or just Like it as good food for thought- to pass on.
Beware of the Political Spirit in this season and recognize it by it's divisive and prideful nature and the absence of compassion and understanding it carries. Right and left- we can all do better.
Here is the reality. It takes a Right Wing and a Left Wing to properly fly- whether you're an eagle, a duck, a plane, or a nation. If you listened to the respective Republican and Democratic debates it was remarkable the lack of overlap on the topics considered most important by each party. There were clearly two different sets of priorities. One, in essence, spoke of the needs of the Right Wing and one on the priorities of the Left Wing. If we could pull the best out of both wings we will have a nation properly flying. The question for the next election is in which way will we make an adjustment. Too long in either direction will have us heading on a wrong path and in danger of spiraling out of control. There are significant right and left issues yet worth properly addressing and bringing reform to. I believe the Lord will override the process - while yet giving us free will, and have us go in the direction we need to go at this time...I know this perspective greatly harms the incentive to demonize the opposition -but consider that as an option as well
OK, people let's cut out the ridiculousness. These are not the worst of days, these are the best of days. Best of days does not mean there are no problems, only that the kingdom of God is forcefully advancing all over the world, and doing so at an unprecedented pace.
This year 100 million people will come to Jesus. 1 in every 3 on the planet already say they are believers in Jesus Christ and that is the highest ratio ever. Muslims all over the world are encountering Jesus and over 25,000 a day are coming to Christ. Quit worrying about them coming and forcing Sharia law on us. They are about to seriously upgrade the world-caliber of believers that exist today. They are the product of an upgraded spiritual birthing as it from encounters with God they are having, rather than the logical mind of reason- as in many western conversions. "Logical" conversions tend to breed the powerless, spectator yet "principled"(legalist) Christianity, that marks western-styled Christianity. Passionate, sold-out, risk-taking, supernatural-expectant Christianity is the new brand on the loose and it is soon coming to an outlet near you.
There are now over 700 million people filled with the Holy Spirit. (160 million of those are Catholic Charismatics, where there is a wildfire of the Holy Spirit that no religious fire-fighter can put out). That means 1 in every 10 on the planet is Holy Spirit-filled. Never, ever has there been such a high ratio and it is dramatically increasing every day. China is on fire and at least 30,000 are coming to Christ every day. By 2030 there will be at least 300 million Chinese believers and long before then, they will have taken over as the nation with the most believers on the planet. There are now 200 million, millionaires in China (yes, you read that right) and many of them are believers including many in high government. India will pass 100 million believers by 2020 and it may be 150 million by then.
You want more proof? Over 80 abortion clinics closed in the United States last year and two/thirds of all abortion clinics have closed since 1990. Abortions are down 40% since 1990- in the United States. Divorces are down 20% since 1990. Teenage pregnancies are down to their lowest since 1940 when they started surveying it.
Still not convinced? The world's extreme poverty level has gone down from 50% in 1980 to 20% now. This is the lowest it has EVER been perhaps since the Garden of Eden. By 2030 this is projected to being below 5%. I could go on and on, but despite what you have heard these are not even close to the darkest days ever and are, in fact, the opposite of that.
Want to know the most concerning matter to report on in the entire world?
It is not the world economy, it is not ISIS, it is not President Obama nor is he any small percentage of the "antichrist", it is not immigrants that might have terrorists mixed in, it is not even Iran. All of these have heavenly caps on what they can do which are being enforced by the massive deployment of angels presently on the planet.
The biggest negative on the planet is the fearful, anxiety-infused, and doom-expectant American believer. Unfortunately, we have exported that fear to believers of other nations as well, as they suppose we are on to something they can't see. They are wrong- and if you are from another nation please don't sacrifice your joy or expectation by listening to prophets and magazines of doom from this nation. They are all wrong and they have all been wrong for many years- with some of the most famous being wrong for decades. Go ahead and check their records. If you don't stay at 1-star Hotels then don't take your prophetic cues from 0-star "prophets". Yes, I said that. If a prophetic word does not instill in you courage and hope- then vomit it immediately. It is literally toxic to your spirit. Prophecy is to "strengthen, encourage and comfort", (1 Cor. 14:3) and that is how New Testament prophecy functions. Calling down fire from heaven died in the Old Testament.
The righteous are bold as lions and charge when all else flee. This boldness is also a joyous boldness as the kingdom of God advances- not in "concern"- but in JOY in the Holy Spirit. Beloved Saints it is time to arise with crazy, carefree, courageous faith, hope, and love- and the sooner we get on with this the sooner the fear gets exterminated. To assist this our Lion King is about to roar into the face of His church and it is going to activate the superhero "sleeper cells" in each of us. Get ready to rumble with Papa's Roar -and the sin He is going after, is fear, doubt, and unbelief.
I wanted to encourage my friends from Canada who I know may be troubled by the election outcome of Stephen Harper losing his Prime Minister position to Justin Trudeau. There is no doubt that Stephen Harper has brought a blessing from God on Canada- but it doesn't have to go into any kind of remission because Trudeau is now in. If believers respond appropriately to the surprising turn of events you will actually see an accelerated move of God in your nation- and in fact, this may happen even if you respond incorrectly. Let me explain.
This and the recent liberal-leaning elections of Australia and the UK are not in themselves determinant of the ultimate direction these nations will go in. (Apart from an unexpected shift it is likely the direction of our own upcoming U.S. Presidential election as well.) Actually, they are just a blip on the destiny radar of the respective nations.
Because of the underdeveloped status of our present Christianity, it is no real tragedy that we are not exerting the influence we ultimately will. If I can be dreadfully honest, the brand of Christianity we are presently known for is so below what it needs to be that we would be getting premature inheritance that would just damage us and the name of Christ. This I say though I am believing and preaching the 7 Mountain mandate everywhere.
Right now our "conservative" Christian brand is not the voice of vision and the voice of hope. Rather our brand is much more enmeshed in multiple layers of fear-- beginning with our fear of "end-times" scenarios, followed up by our fear of not being able to control people's sexual behavior, followed by our fears of ISIS, immigrants and the world economy collapsing. I don't know why most western Christians even want to be in power, because by and large they have no hopeful plan but rather their "conservatism" comes across as a desperate and anxiety-driven. Grasping for the holding on to the mediocrity we have carried as a society.
I can assure you that the light of God that will rule over entire nations (Is. 60:1-3) will not be a light so pickled in fear. We are known for being the protectionists of our borders and our economies in such a desperate way that we sound entirely like orphans. We are also known for being panicked about the LGBT community and the fact that gays can marry. Do we really think it is worse that less than 3% of the population can legally marry than it is that we have a critical shortage of love in the household of faith? Or that we have a critical absence of His presence in a very high percentage of our churches? Or that we have a critical absence of power in His church- though He said: "the kingdom of God is not in word but in power"?
If God were going to judge us as nations He is not going to do so because we voted "liberals" into power. Nor would He do so because we lost the "sanctity of marriage" by allowing gays to marry. Nor would He judge us because we might have leaders that raise our taxes. Neither would judgment come because we have gone "soft" on immigrants or soft on our borders. We instead would be judged for not being the "salt" we are called to be.
Presently, we are confused between "leaven" and "salt". We think we are being "salt" when we are, in fact, being "leaven". Jesus warned of the leaven of the Pharisees- which was all about "conservative" behavior. They were the rules committee and Jesus plainly warned us our righteousness better exceed that. Being "salt and light" is about the world seeing our good works and them glorifying God because of it. The world doesn't glorify God when they see "leaven" only when it sees "salt or light".
Our critical need is not to be the world police force for sexual morality, but to be the world force of love, presence, and divine power. Jesus said if we would do that, then the Holy Spirit would take care of the sin problem ("He will convince the world of their sins"). The reason we won't stop being the rules committee is because we are good at that and we are not so good at creating a habitation of the Holy Spirit. That needs to change - and it will change.
Joseph, Daniel, Nehemiah, and Esther (to name wonderful 7 Mountain prototypes) did not go to the "tops of their mountains" because they carried a code of moral laws that was better than everyone else's. They had great personal character but none was on a mission to export it. Instead, they carried love, presence, and power of God on them. Pharaoh would say of Joseph, "The Spirit of the living God is on this man!". Virtually the same would be said of Daniel and because of that love, presence, and power- both would remain at the tops of the government mountain for decades. Neither Esther nor Nehemiah had governmental favor because of their affectation for the 10 Commandments. Think about it. None of these were given a place because they were part of the rules committee of heaven.
If all we, as believers, have to bring to our nations' mountaintops is the imposition of sexual morality and protectionism then it is ultimately a good thing that we find ourselves "losing" right now. It does not mean God is about to judge society. It means He yet needs to "judge" us (actually grow us up). He is very patient with society's ills because He is having to be immensely patient with His own church. But the good news is He is unbelievably patient with both of us.
So Canada (and Australia, UK, etc) be encouraged and be revived. God has yet an amazing destiny before you and you will be a nation that ultimately walks to the Light of the sons of God. Keep praying. Keep prophesying. Keep declaring. Keep believing. And keep upgrading in the areas that really matter. We need zero fingers pointed at society and societies' choices. They will continue to upgrade--as we do.
I have a dream of a new breed of Christian governmental leaders. These are filled with hope, with faith, with love - and they declare a bright future over their cities and their nations. They don't only panic over sexual mores- but they greatly care about inner cities' quality of life. They care about the status of immigrants. They care about the state of prisoners. They care about planetary stewardship. They consider first the state of the outcast and the forlorn- not because they are "socialists" or "liberal" but because this is how their Savior showed up on the planet.
This type of Christian leadership will release so much presence of God into society that sexual sins and abortions will drop to unprecedented lows- not because laws have been changed- but because hearts have been changed. Our awesome and amazing Holy Spirit will do His part as we advance our part. He has already been doing a whole lot more than we recognize- despite us. So yeah, let's get involved and arise up the mountains of society- but first let's encounter our love, presence, and power-filled Holy Spirit. Until we do we won't last long in government power even when we make it.
This is all going to dramatically change - but we are in the early, early stages of it all. (which is why I recommend my latest book "Seven Mountain Renaissance: Vision and Strategy Through 2050) Canada, Australia, the UK, USA - all four of you have your best days ahead of you, and you will all four be a blessing to the nations of the world. You all four have a very key and strategic and even partnering role in the coming days. Arise and shine.
A November to Remember: Goliath Beheaded and a Wonderful Thanksgiving
We are entering a most remarkable month as we follow a pattern I spoke about in my Rosh Hashanah 2015 word from the end of August. As you will remember entering into September and October, there was a prevalent foreboding that many were under, induced by a wide range of “prophetic” perspectives. Out of these perspectives, came out many very negative projections based on reading the “blood moons”, “shemitah”, and other supposed unchangeable patterns. There were "doom dates" of Sept. 13, 14, 24 as well as October in general. The stock market would crash to 6000. An asteroid would strike us. Sudden surprise nuclear wars and massive tsunamis were in the “prophetic” mix, as well as “martial law in America” -and too many other doom scenarios to even list. I never stopped to study them but was just inundated with them- generally in response to my prophetic perspectives that said these things were NOT going to happen. I was told by many I was going "out on a limb" by saying none of these things would take place when so many others were saying the opposite.
I am writing this on Oct. 30th, 2015, and I think it has been clearly seen, that there was nothing that happened in either month that signaled the doomsday scenarios that had been projected. The Dow Jones went UP 1500 or so in Oct. The S and P average is UP 11%- as is the NASDAQ exchange. If you look at the October graph on the stock market you will see it lost it’s volatility and does not have the high up and down swings that had been normal. The day to day shifts are the calmest in a long time. It doesn’t mean all aspects of the stock market are sound- but it does go with what I was lead to share.
In my Rosh Hashanah message, I laid out the prophetic track for September-December. I had a parabolic comparison with the 4 sequential victories of David over the lion, the bear, Goliath, and plundering the Philistines. We are right on track with what I shared, which is why we can be excited for November. For September I said, “the lyin’ lion” will be hushed. This had to do with the general expectation induced by the various “prophetic” voices and publications. October was the month “the bear would be tamed”, and I said that spoke of the stock market but also the next step in stomping out the plague of fear ( I have never used that term- but it just hit me that this is what it has been- a plague). As I already confirmed the bear market was tamed during October, as it was necessary that fear not be given an outlet during the month that panickers were looking for opportunities to panic. Now we are in a November to Remember- and let's get excited together.
November: A Time to Risk and Beheading Goliath with His Own Sword
The atmosphere is so shifting and changing that we are now being enabled to behead our personal “Goliaths”. There have been many who have been as the children of Israel were during the 40 days of Goliaths’ taunts and “prophetic declarations” -that froze the nation. Perhaps you had chosen to "hide and whine" instead of "arise and shine”. Maybe you added “hoarding" to that mix, as you were instructed this is how you prepare for “what is coming”. Instead there is a reality now available for you to take out Goliath- with his own sword. As David did, you must run towards him fearlessly and risk it all. When David went after Goliath he risked his whole future and life itself- should his assumption of a God with a different narrative not pan out. Now is the time for all who have hoarded, or pulled back, or speculated in fear- to fully break the grip of the wrong prophetic narrative. Do it like David did. Chase down the taproot of fear, itself.
I will say that over the last two months I have heard of more significant financial and career breakthroughs than I have over any two month period. There are sons and daughters of the King who have broken out into multi-million and multi-billion dollar breakthroughs because they didn’t freeze in fear, but in the face of adverse winds of doom proceeded forward. It is unlike anything I have ever seen. Many who have been waiting for breakthrough for years and years- suddenly found it- ironically (or not) in the months the sky was supposed to fall in. Fear will cost you some serious kingdom ground - BUT a great recovery is available- if you will throw all Goliath-inspired caution to the wind and go after kingdom destiny. Without faith, it is impossible to please God! Whatever steps of “caution or wisdom” (translate FEAR) that you took in order to not need faith- you now want to reverse in order to get back your kingdom edge. Face your fear. Take it out with its own sword.
Great help from heaven is being sent on our behalf in November, in order to make it a November to Remember. Unavoidable relational and financial advancements are commanded for us in November. However, none of it will happen if we don’t shut Goliaths’ mouth of access into our lives. Identify the fear source and cut if out of your spiritual diet. Great winds of wealth and winds of wonder (from prophetic word of the year for 2015- 4 Winds of W) are blowing right now and will be increasing in November and December. Your sail will not be up to catch them if you are in fear. GET IN FAITH AND DO SOME RISKING. The kingdom “stock" prices are about to explode and it is time to - buy, buy, buy! Sow into kingdom advancement. Your best returns will come from investments of faith you make in November- as well as December.
A Wonderful and Wonder-filled Thanksgiving
Very key in this November to Remember will be a remarkable Thanksgiving. We have just broken out of a 14-year cycle of trial and refinement- and you will feel it this Thanksgiving. There has been released a wonder-filled wind of reconciliation and connecting for family and friends- and expect a sweet time together as you hoist your sail and yield to that wind. Relational estrangements from many years are going to be repaired and one of the first signs to know to expect that is when you will hear from family members wanting to connect that haven't wanted to connect in a long time. This Thanksgiving and this Christmas will be an amazing healing time for families and you only have to yield to it. Solid family relationships will go to yet another level of love and closeness as great bonding will take place. Many significant physical healings will also happen as families take the time to pray over each other. Jehovah-Rapha will be visiting our homes this Holiday Season and amazing testimonies will come from it. Much healing and even new important relational connections will happen this whole November- but especially around Thanksgiving.
From November 11 on watch for business, career, and relational situations that seem to be dead- coming alive again. If you have been seeing a lot of 1111, you should be particularly encouraged that God wants to do this for you. John 11:11 has the Lord telling that Lazarus is not dead but only sleeping. Many dead seeming things will prove out to have been only sleeping. I expect to hear significant testimonies of this reality.
So, finally, do your part in making November memorable by executing fear and by lifting your sails of hope and faith. Whatever you look for you find, so make sure to be looking for the amazing things your Papa has destined for you this November. He is eager to show to all that He is still the Psalms 23, Lord - who is on duty as our Shepherd- and we lack nothing because of it.