Last week we discussed how we are a part of the holy nation. In times of conflict, every nation has to mobilize its army to meet the threat. The greater the threat, the more who will need to be mobilized, and at times, when the threat is great, a whole nation may need to be mobilized. Right now the holy nation is mobilizing with a prophetic army in increasing numbers. However, we need to understand what it means to be a prophetic army rather than a traditional military force that uses “carnal” or physical weapons. We must not get diverted and fall from our higher calling. The weapons we have been given are divinely powerful, far more so than all of the guns and bombs of all of the other armies on the planet.
As we also discussed previously, Tolstoy likened prophecy to a fire that is lit in a dry wood—it will burn and burn until all of the wood, hay, and stubble is consumed, and the gold, silver, and precious stones are purified. Tolstoy used this example to illustrate what he perceived to be the prophetic anointing that came upon some to address the evils of slavery. He said it became a fire that could not go out until virtually the whole world was burning with it. Soon slavery was virtually eradicated from the earth.
There are prophecies from God that go out to transform society and can even bring civilization-wide changes like the eradication of slavery. These rarely are in the Old Testament style of booming forth “thus says the Lord,” but they are nevertheless from Him. It has been light from God that has brought most of the great advances in civil behavior that we call civilization. Many of these are rooted in the great truths that were given through Moses to Israel, with the ideals being carried around the world through merchants and other means. Just as the Lord would heal nine blind men that would not even return to thank Him for it, God loves people and will do many things for their good, even though few will acknowledge Him for it.
The eradication of slavery was caused by prophecy from God, which did not come in a form like we see in the Old Testament, but it was nevertheless anointed words from God. One of the most prophetic books written in Tolstoy’s day was Uncle Tom’s Cabin. This book started a fire that could not be put out until the evil of slavery was consumed in America. When Abraham Lincoln met the author, Harriet Beecher Stowe, he said to her, “So you’re the little lady that started this great war,” meaning of course the Civil War.
We may wonder why the Lord did not address the evil of slavery when He walked the earth. He did. It is not specifically addressed, but it is powerfully addressed. Jesus boldly attacked the foundation of all human slavery with the only thing that could truly set people free—the truth. Paul wrote that “where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty” (see II Corinthians 3:17), making it clear that liberty was the Lord’s intent. “In the fullness of time,” God moves. In the fullness of time, He moved to destroy the institutions of slavery in the West, though there remain other forms of slavery such as economic slavery. It is our job to follow the Captain of the hosts as good soldiers, and to mobilize where His work is being done or His fire is burning.
A fire is burning in the U.S. now that was lit by prophecy. The fire is increasing and illuminating ultimate issues that go beyond the health care bill. If this is a true prophetic fire, it is going to consume the wood, hay, and stubble that have grown up in the nation and purify the treasures. However, just as the same fire was lit by Wilberforce in the U.K., and it did not become a “wild fire” that started a Civil War, slavery in America could have been eradicated without the violence of the Civil War. If the fire that is now burning in America, which has been ignited around the health care legislation, is properly controlled, it will not degenerate into violence, though we can be sure that this is the devil’s intent in order to discredit and sidetrack it from using its most powerful weapons.
If you read the Special Bulletins I’m posting, there are definite sparks in them that I know will start or keep fires burning. Those issues are burning in my own heart, and I cannot help but to speak about them or I feel that I will be consumed by them. Even so, there are also controls in these Bulletins that are intended to keep the fires contained so that they do not become wildfires.
Passion is good. The nation is waking up, and the church is waking up from its Laodicean slumber. The call to the Laodicean church was for it to be “zealous and repent” (see Revelation 3:19). The zeal that is now coming on so many Christians is most encouraging. However, let us also keep in mind that “self-control” (see Galatians 5:23) is also a fruit of the Spirit.
The rage of immature Christians screaming at abortion doctors or at those seeking abortions has hurt the pro-life movement far worse than all of its critics. The damage done by even more deluded souls who would kill an abortion doctor in the name of pro-life is many times more damaging. Again, “the weapons of our warfare are not carnal” or physical, but they are “divinely powerful” (see II Corinthians 10:4). The divinely powerful weapons are such things as truth and love, which can accomplish much more than armies.
This increasing fire rising is real and from God. True warriors run to the sound of battle, not away from it, so it is good to jump into the fray. However, while keeping the passion and fire, also keep your control, and keep in mind that Satan will not cast out Satan, so rage will not cast out deception. Jesus said, “But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you” (Matthew 12:28). Passion and zeal are from the Lord, so stay in His Spirit. Do not let anyone deceive you into departing from using your more powerful spiritual weapons, and do your best to help others who may not have your maturity in this.
