The Church at Sardis (1400-1844) was proclaimed to be dead even though they had a name that they were alive, and so they were exhorted to wake up and strengthen what remained. This was a period of relative stagnation in the restoring to the church what had been lost through the Dark Ages. Yet the church responded to its wake-up call from the Lord. The next church period was one of the most remarkable, as addressed in Revelation 3:7-12:
"And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write, 'These things says He who is holy, He who is true, "He who has the key of David, He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens":
"I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name.
Indeed I will make those of the synagogue of Satan, who say they are Jews and are not, but lie—indeed I will make them come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you.
Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.
Behold, I am coming quickly! Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown.
He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more. I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God. And I will write on him My new name.
The period from the 1844 Advent Movement to about the mid-1990s saw some of the greatest advances in the recovery of truth and life in church history. Great revivals came like waves that swept over much of the earth and touched virtually the entire body of Christ. Two of the most spectacular for worldwide impact were the Welsh Revival and the Azusa Street Revival, which morphed into the Pentecostal Revival. These two took place at the beginning of the 20th century and coincided with the birth of the Zionist Movement for the Jews to retake their Promised Land. 1948, the year Israel was declared a nation, also saw the Extraordinary Healing Revival, the Latter Rain Revival, and Evangelistic Revival, spearheaded by the emergence of Billy Graham. In 1967, The Charismatic Renewal began, during which baptism in the Holy Spirit was poured out on virtually every denomination. This also coincided with the Jewish retaking of Jerusalem in the Six Day War.
The Charismatic Renewal gave birth to more churches, more high-impact ministries, and led to more salvations than any previous move of God in history. It was also the seedbed for unprecedented unity in the body of Christ. Much of this was facilitated by the emergence of television ministries spearheaded by Oral Roberts, Pat Robertson, Jim Bakker, Paul and Jan Crouch, and others. These gave a platform to those from many denominations, enabling those from different denominations to hear what other movements were doing and saying. Thus began an unprecedented interchange throughout the body of Christ that has continued.
Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker were especially devoted to hosting any ministry from any denomination on their hugely popular daily PTL program. Heritage USA became the third biggest attraction in America—up to six million Christians visited a year from possibly every nation and denomination. At Heritage USA, Christians from different backgrounds met other Christians from different backgrounds and an appreciation and respect for the different parts of the body began. This truly was an age of “brotherly love,” the meaning of the name “Philadelphia.”
This also sparked a worldwide revival and ingathering of new believers, and it was estimated that more people came to the Lord in a sixteen-year period (from 1988-2006) than had come to Him in the previous church age (from the Day of Pentecost until that time). Of course, this was somewhat due to there being as many people alive on the earth as had lived from the first century of the church until now. Nonetheless, it was the largest ingathering of new believers into the body of Christ by far in history.
During the peak of this ingathering it was estimated that about 375,000 people were born again every day worldwide. Most of this took place in eastern Europe, Asia, South and Central America, and Africa, beginning what many considered “the harvest that is the end of the age.”
In 1987, I received a panoramic vision over a two and a half day period in which I was shown the harvest that would make the end of this age (this vision is recorded in my book, The Harvest). In this vision, I was shown two waves of ingathering that would sweep over the earth. The first would be the biggest ingathering in history, so great that many would consider it to be the last harvest, but it was not. The first one was the gathering of the laborers for the next one that would be much bigger.
In this vision, I was shown that there would be a time of relative quiet after the first wave that the church would need to get ready for the next wave. We have been in this period of relative quiet for almost twenty years, and we are seeing signs of the next wave beginning. When this vision ended, the harvest was still going on and growing, so I did not see the end of the age.
