Thousands attend Bloemfontein prayer service for SA’s future

“Faith like Potatoes” preacher Angus Buchan’s It’s Time prayer service has seen thousands of South Africans flock to Bloemfontein.

The prayer service‚ which was meant to begin at 2pm today‚ kicked off late this afternoon as organisers waited for hundreds who were stuck in traffic on the way to the massive event.

“We are tired of people taking the law into their own hands.  We are going to call upon The Lord to bring justice‚ peace and hope to our beloved South Africa‚” Buchan said in a statement on his website.

Buchan is well known for his television sermons and the popular move‚ Faith like Potatoes‚ based on his book by the same title.

Some people travelled from as far as Cape Town to attend. Thousands are expected to camp overnight.

The Intercape bus company also provided transport to those travelling from the Western Cape and other parts of the country.

In a statement the bus company said it had arranged 29 coaches for the event – 24 from Cape Town‚ with others coming from Upington and Pretoria.

Some in attendance estimated that over a million people had traveled to Bloemfontein for the service.

Here it is. The two rivers prophecy.

Alan

"One"

1 heart + 1 mind = 1 voice

In a night vision I was in the heavens with the angel of the Lord and we were looking down on the United States. I asked the angel of the Lord when revival would come again to the United States. He looked at me and said, "It has never left. It is still here." He continued and said, "The river of the Toronto Blessing and the river of The Pensacola Outpouring shall come together and be as One." He then declared to the earth, "They both will lose their identities into the other, as the leaders, through humility, become as One."

He looked at me again and said, "The Spirit of the Lord will draw other streams into this river called 'humility', and it will grow wider and wider as more streams become as One." As I looked at the rivers coming together, I heard Him say, "This new river will be seen all over the earth. This opportunity is being offered, but must be prayed in. Call the intercessors and may it begin."

Note: In the night vision I saw the faces of John Kilpatrick and Randy Clark.

 A Thankful Heart:

The Lifestyle of a People That Can See the Invisible God

By: Alan Smith

  Psalm 100: Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands!  Serve the Lord with gladness; Come before His presence with singing.  Know that the Lord, He is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.  Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting, and His truth endures to all generations.

  Hmmm: to be a person that is really thankful; thankful for all things.  Is it possible for us to be transformed into this heavenly creature?  Does the condition of our hearts determine what we see?  Does the condition of our hearts help to focus our spiritual eyes?  How can we see this invisible God we love?  I mean, how can we really see Him?  But then we have to ask, is He really invisible or do we just need eyes that can see Him?  Let’s take a spiritual journey and explore a little of the invisible world.

  Things we see can be a language.  The things we see around us do not come out of nowhere.  They were created according to something in the invisible realm.  What if we look at a “key” verse that unlocks this unseen world?

  Col 1:16  For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him. (KJV)

  So we can see that the scripture above has given us a road map into the unseen world.  The Bible is teaching us that there are two worlds: one is visible and the other is invisible.  Both worlds were created by Him.  The created world, which is the visible, gives us the capacity to understand the unseen world, which is the invisible.  The created world is a reflection of the unseen world.  The unseen world has two speeds in which it moves.  It moves faster than the naked eye and it moves slower than the naked eye.  Let me give you an example.  Can we see a tree or a child grow?  I think not, but we can see a miracle of life.  It is just moving at a pace that is slower than we can see with the naked eye.

  On the other hand, there are also things that move faster than we can see.  This means there is part of this creation that we just cannot see with the naked eye.  This part of creations makes up the unseen world.  God gives us revelations in which we can understand and see the unseen world.  One of these revelations is that of the “thankful heart”.  If God is in an unseen world, perhaps we need the capacity to go where He is.  It is becoming very evident that we cannot enter into this world with our own understanding.  The scriptures reveal to us a truth.  We see in Psalm 100 above that we are to Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.  If we are truly going to enter into this unseen world and into His presence, we first must do this with “thanksgiving”: thanksgiving unto Him.  Are we truly thankful to God?  I often find myself not very thankful at all.  On the contrary, I find myself very unthankful most of the time.  Why, we might ask ourselves?  Could it be that what we focus on determines what we see?  If what we see in the invisible world is determined by the condition of our hearts; then an “unthankful heart” sees that which is dark and depressing.  It is always seeing what is going wrong on the planet.  A “thankful heart”, however, can see dark as well as light, but chooses to focus on the light and the good.  It sees what could be on the planet if our hearts were truly thankful for the opportunity that God has given us.  I pray that we will consider our ways and become a thankful people unto our worthy God for all He has and is doing for us.  

Blessings,

Alan

Someone today is being distracted from God's plan for them. Be encouraged and pass by the distractions of this world. Stay on the path for you have a package within you to be delivered at your expected end.  Do not look to the left or to the right, look straight ahead and keep your heart on the promises of God.

Blessings Alan

Proverbs 4:25-27  (NKJV)  25 Let your eyes look straight ahead, And your eyelids look right before you.  26 Ponder the path of your feet,  And let all your ways be established.  27 Do not turn to the right or the left; Remove your foot from evil.

Jennifer LeClaire is now sharing her reflections and revelations through Walking in the Spirit. Listen at charismapodcastnetwork.com.

God's people, who are called by His name, have humbled themselves and prayed, sought His face and turned from their wicked ways—and, little by little, God is making good on His 2 Chronicles 7:14 promise to forgive our sin and heal our land.

Indeed, after decades of fervent prayer, identificational repentance and prophetic intercession, revival fire is breaking out in American cities. Some are marked by glory. Others are marked by salvations. Still others are marked by miracles—but all of them are flowing from the river of God.

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I believe these revivals are not only an answer to prayer—they are just a down payment of what the Holy Spirit wants to do as He fulfills another measure of the Joel 2:28 prophecy charismatics love to declare: "And it will be that, afterwards, I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; then your sons and your daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, and your young men will see visions."

San Diego's Fire and Glory Outpouring

The fire and glory in San Diego started during a January 2016 conference. Jerame Nelson hosted Bobby Conner and Joshua Mills at Heart of God Church. Nelson says that from the beginning of the meeting, there was an unusual manifest presence of God in the room.

"Miracles were happening quite easily, and people were really getting touched by God during the worship times," Nelson says. "The atmosphere of the meetings was electric, and there was such a great hunger in the people attending every single session."

Nelson reports several cases of stage 4 cancer, birth defects and glaucoma healed. Metal plates and pins surgically inserted into people's bodies dissolved, deaf ears opened, along with salvations and Holy Spirit baptisms. People are flying into San Diego from Fiji, Hungary, England, Brazil, Mexico and other nations to experience the outpouring.

"I feel there was a literal flash that sparks faith for revival again in America and within the nations," Mills told me. "People from Seattle came down to the meetings and took that fire back with them. Now they are also stewarding a move of God."

Fire certainly spreads, especially when there are credible prophetic words that foretold the awakening to fan the flames. About four years ago, James Goll, president of Encounters Network, says he had a prophetic dream about a revival beginning in San Diego, then going to seaports up and down the West Coast.

Later, James says he had other dreams in which he saw that fire spread to Mexico in a crusade-type mode. He says the Lord told him, "Do not call the West Coast the Left Coast, but there will be such a move of My Spirit that it will be the Righteous Coast."

The West Coast Rumble

James told me he also saw the Lord would give Nelson a spearheading assignment concerning this movement of signs and wonders in which healing and miracles would become "easy." And he saw other leaders anointed to lead revival in other cities. This awakening has become known as the West Coast Rumble.

"Eventually there will be so many different pockets and centers opening up that it will be impossible to track it all," James says. "It will not be like the past when there was primarily one location where the nation or the world came. ... There would be so many hubs opening up and so many new things happening that this movement will not be one ministry centered, not one city or region centered, not one apostolic center highlighted or one leader centered. But it all begins with someone and somewhere."

The West Coast Rumble landed at Seattle Revival Center in Newcastle, Washington. At the beginning of 2016, the Lord told Darren Stott, lead pastor of the revival center, it was time for his ministry to live up to its name. He called a retreat among his leaders to press in to what the Lord was saying.

When he returned home on Monday, Stott saw Nelson testifying on Periscope about the miracles at the Fire and Glory Outpouring in San Diego and immediately took a team to Southern California. The next weekend was the Seattle Revival Center's Declaration conference, which also featured Conner.  

"Bobby Conner grabs the mic and starts tapping it as if somebody was knocking on the door," Stott told me. "And then he asks, 'Do you know what this is? I'll tell you what it is. It's Jesus knocking on the door, and He wants to know if anyone's going to let Him in.' And then he took off prophesying."

Miracles started manifesting that same afternoon. Stott reports that a woman who had her breast removed in cancer surgery felt it growing back. He admits when the revival broke out, his team was both excited and terrified—they didn't want to do anything to "mess up" what the Holy Spirit wanted to do.

Ryan LeStrange, president of the New Breed Revival Network, flew out to minister at Seattle Revival Center some weeks later. He told me the level of hunger immediately caught his attention. He describes the atmosphere as pregnant with the prophetic and a rich miracle anointing.

"There were atmospheric miracles of pain, bleeding and joints being healed," LeStrange reports. "On my last night there, a blind lady came down front with her arm in a sling. I prayed for her and told her to open her eyes. She said she was seeing dimly. We prayed again, and she could see clearly, and she took her arm out of the sling and started moving it."

Then there's the young woman who had been bedridden for 10 years who came from Utah. She was lying in the meeting on a cot and rose up and started moving her legs. Other reports from the Seattle Revival Center include people suddenly finding gold crowns in their mouth—there are photos to prove it.

The Appalachian Awakening

Meanwhile, the Appalachian Awakening—as it's come to be known—is marked by mass salvations, but healings are also breaking out. The revival is burning at the West Virginia-Kentucky border, and the secular media are even taking notice. This revival made the front page of the State Journal with the headline "Revived: Message of hope, tangible help is healing hurting communities in West Virginia."

At the center of this awakening is a Tennessean evangelist from the Church of God named Matt Hartley. On April 10, Hartley preached at Regional Church of God in Delbarton, West Virginia, under the leadership of Pastor Mitch Bias. He was then invited to speak to Mingo Central High School's Prayer Club.

Four hundred students attended the meeting, and 150 responded to Hartley's salvation message. In less than two weeks, at least 3,000 youth got saved.

"It's a climactic time," Bias told CBN, noting that prayer paved the way for this outpouring. "I think the many years of creating a spiritual vacuum inside of kids by not teaching them the true reality that there's a destiny in God—time, plus chance, plus matter (have) produced a vacuum on the inside. I think when they hear a message of hope, it really speaks to them because they're kind of hanging in a spiritual limbo. And they press into it quickly to take it because they know that's the truth."

The students are now acting as powerful evangelists in their own right. Some of them are taking to Facebook, Twitter and other platforms to announce what is happening and invite other youth to join the Holy Ghost party. Others are sharing testimonies.

"The Spirit of the Lord is just sovereignly moving in the hearts of young people in very rural mountain regions of West Virginia," says Rick Curry, a revivalist born and raised in Kentucky who tours the nation preaching awakening. The youth are meeting in a field house in West Virginia. Meeting attendance surpasses the population of the town—and Curry estimates about 85 percent are middle schoolers, high schoolers and young adults. But the evening meetings are more of a celebration of what is going on in the schools during the day.

"Two elementary school girls started fasting during their lunchtime," Curry says. "They wanted to minister to the kids but weren't sure the best way to do it, so they took a shoebox and cut a hole in the top and wrote 'prayer requests' on the side."

"During the lunch period, students dropped their prayer requests inside the box, and at the end, the little girls would pray over them," Curry says. "On one day alone, 18 kids were saved at that school. Over in Pike County, Kentucky, revivals are also breaking out in the schools and in Bowling Green, Kentucky, and Lima, Ohio, students are getting saved by the hundreds."

Azusa Now Ripples

Although some of these revivals broke out before tens of thousands of fiery believers ascended on the Los Angeles Coliseum for Azusa Now—which marked the 110th anniversary of the Azusa Street Revival that birthed the Pentecostal movement in the United States—some are convinced that April 9 was a turning point for the nation.

I declared on that day that awakening is here and it's coming—and agreed that it was a day of demarcation in America. It was a show of desperation and unity in the church. Prophetically, it was a shot heard around the world. Something shifted in the spirit in the City of Angels that day. If you could pull back the curtain on the spirit realm, I believe you would have seen an intensified war—and we're winning that war.

Lou Engle's Azusa Now wasn't the only prayer event on April 9. United Cry gathered 30,000 pastors in Washington, D.C. Reset America will gather tens of thousands on the Mall in D.C. to cry out to God again.

"TheCall Azusa will act as a 'rocket booster' to the entire movement," James says. "It brings together the streams of the prophetic and prayer with the power—supernatural culture—with evangelism. The merging of these two great streams will create combustion or a convergence where this rocket shoots forth apostolic and prophetic evangelists, not just to the West Coast but globally. It is another booster to the movement that shoots forth signs and wonders evangelists globally."

Cal Pierce, director of the International Association of Healing Rooms in Spokane, Washington, agrees wholeheartedly—and with tears. As he sees it, Azusa Now shifted the bride of Christ from the waiting room to the delivery room, and amazing divine encounters and healings are on the rise. Even the way Pierce is praying for the sick is shifting as God creates a new wineskin in which to pour the new wine.

"Prior to Azusa Now, the body of Christ was so concerned about the future and looking at the elections and global economies," Pierce told me. "A lot of believers were in fear and wondering what's going to happen. Azusa Now shifted us. We are beginning to understand that no matter what man does, it's not going to change God's will or what He's preparing to do—to pour His Spirit out through His bride."

Pierce told me he's seen more divine encounters in the 30 days after Azusa Now than he did in the first 16 years of the Healing Rooms ministries. Choking back tears, he tells the story of a little boy born with his umbilical cord wrapped around his neck. Doctors gave him no hope to live throughout the day. A Healing Rooms team prayed, asked for the newborn's name and called out his destiny. Little Wyatt was healed.

Pierce is also seeing the atmospheric miracles LeStrange noted in Seattle. In his meetings, Pierce is not agreeing that people are sick. He agrees with the Word of God—by His stripes we are healed (Is. 53:5). When he preaches this word, people begin to testify of healings without anyone laying hands on them.

"We're seeing these types of miracles now on a continuous basis—things our eyes haven't seen and things our ears haven't heard before," Pierce says. "He's releasing His presence and His glory.

"Now is the time for our destiny. Now is the time for the bride of Christ to begin to step into the fullness of what Jesus preached. We know that God is getting ready to pour out His Spirit upon all flesh, and His kingdom will be preached into every nation, and revival will be released around the world."

Jennifer LeClaire is senior editor of Charisma, director of the Awakening House of Prayer and author of many books, including The Next Great Move of God: An Appeal to Heaven for Spiritual Awakening. Visit her online at jenniferleclaire.org.

Take a look at what God is doing in West Virginia in what has become known as the Appalachian Awakening at appalachian.charismamag.com.

Jennifer LeClaire is senior editor of Charisma. She is also director of Awakening House of Prayer in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, co-founder of awakeningtv.com, on the leadership team of the New Breed Revival Network and author of several books, including The Next Great Move of God: An Appeal to Heaven for Spiritual Awakening;Mornings With the Holy Spirit, Listening Daily to the Still, Small Voice of God; The Making of a Prophet and Satan's Deadly Trio: Defeating the Deceptions of Jezebel, Religion and Witchcraft. You can visit her website here. You can also join Jennifer onFacebook or follow her on Twitter. Jennifer's Periscope handle is @propheticbooks.

Burlington Revival Meeting

Has the Next Great Spiritual Awakening Begun in Burlington, NC?

JULY 8, 2016 By THE PATHWAY

http://cdn.charismanews.com/images/stories/2016/04/Facebook-Azusa-Now-heidi-baker.jpg" alt="Heidi Baker speaks at the Azusa Now event." title="Heidi Baker speaks at the Azusa Now event." class="CToWUd a6T" tabindex="0" />Heidi Baker speaks at the Azusa Now event. (Facebook)

Join us on our podcast each weekday for an interesting story, well told, from Charisma News. Listen at charismapodcastnetwork.com.

Where West Virginia and Kentucky meld together, God is meeting his people. The revival is so strong that secular news sources determined it was front-page news.  

"The message of hope is a message that resounds with everyone," Pastor Wayne R. Crozier, of Abundant Life Ministries in Charleston, told the State Journal. "People want hope, and that is what the church offers. The Bible describes the church as a city that is sitting on a hill, one that people can look up to—there's hope there."

Crozier added, "It's my belief that our hope doesn't come from the White House or the governor's house—it comes from God's house."

The hope follows a vision God gave Ryan LeStrange, an apostolic minister, co-founder of awakeningtv.com and senior leader of New Breed Revival Network.

"I watched as fire moved from the borders into the heart of state," he previously told Charisma News of Kentucky. "The fire was going in and out, pulsating like the beating of the heart ... (It's) the ignition of many fires that are ultimately going to set the heart of the state on fire." 

But revival has traveled beyond Kentucky, reaching the coasts of the United States.

In Seattle, "We began to notice an unusual manifest presence of God invading the meetings," Jerame Nelson, 35, wrote on elijahlist.com. "Miracles were happening quite easily and people were really getting touched by God during the worship times." 

In Los Angeles, Azusa Now sparked a renewed passion for Jesus. 

"Many stepped out in great faith to see God's kingdom come to this generation. If all of this was done and only one person got saved or healed, it would have been worth it," writes Jennifer A. Miskov. "However, we know that many entered into God's kingdom and many others were restored, healed, and set free that day. We don't know how many lives these ones will touch in the future but these will be the inheritance of what was poured out at Azusa Now." 

On the other side of the country, United Cry drew thousands despite poor weather, and David's Tent continuously cries out for awakening. Come summer, 1 million are expected to gather to declare the name of Jesus over America. 

As for West Virginia, "It's incredible what is happening here," Mitchell Bias, pastor of the Regional Church of God, said. "The kids are not only getting saved, but they are finding purpose and destiny—that's what it's all about."

I felt I should post this report today. It took place almost three and one half years ago but something about it is prophetic to our future.

Alan Smith

(Revival Christian Church)

Join us on our new podcast each weekday for an interesting story, well told, from Charisma News. Listen at charismapodcastnetwork.com.

In China, some 30,000 people a day are turning to Christ. Is this historic move of the Holy Spirit changing how the communist state treats Christians?

Dorothy Sun was attending a house church meeting in China last spring when four police officers started to pound on the door and shout for those inside to open up. Upon entering, they immediately demanded to see everyone’s identification cards. A female church leader quickly stepped forward and rebuffed the order—telling the policemen that everyone in the room lived in the building, had forgotten their IDs and were gathered to celebrate the nation’s Labor Day. After back-and-forth shouting with the leader over her dubious answer, the officers left.

Such exchanges are what many outside China’s borders believe is the norm for the Chinese church—and what Sun says is part of the ongoing secreted crackdown on Christians that Chinese authorities have practiced for decades. A native of China, Sun has personally felt the sting of government persecution, having spent six years in prison and 14 more working in a forced-labor factory as penalties for her faith. She has since become a U.S. citizen but returns to China annually with her husband, Freddie, who also has been jailed there for his faith, to work with house churches that refuse to register with the government. These indigenous believers, the Suns say, are spiritually alive and spreading the gospel despite the government’s opposition.

“China is thriving,” says Freddie Sun of the nation’s faithful. He estimates there are 150 million Protestants and Catholics, compared with 60 million communist party members. “Every day, 30,000 people believe in Jesus—even communist party members. It’s the greatest revival in church history.”

By all accounts, the Holy Spirit is moving in unprecedented ways in the world’s most populous nation. But not everyone agrees that this move comes in the face of government opposition. In fact, American missionaries who have lived in China for decades believe the Chinese government has drastically shifted in recent years, which has ushered in an era of greater religious freedom today that’s contributed to this remarkable revival.

Amazing Changes
Dennis Balcombe, a charismatic missionary from California who moved to Hong Kong in the late 1960s, says the situation for Christians in mainland China is more nuanced than many observers describe it.

“It’s not like there isn’t persecution, but it’s isolated,” says Balcombe, who knows the Suns and doesn’t discount the reality of their experiences. He too emphatically believes the nation he now considers his home to be spiritually alive.

“I’m very optimistic about what I see in China,” he says. Balcombe has visited modern coastal cities with churches numbering in the hundreds of thousands, and even rural congregations in which thousands gather to worship throughout the week. He describes one church that even maintains a 24-hour prayer center with volunteers from 400 congregations and has a seminary of 500 students.

Balcombe was banned from visiting the country’s mainland for seven years—something he attributed to his refusal to pay a bribe—but today he sees a new openness toward the church on the part of many government officials, who recognize that Christians have played a major role in China’s economic rise.

Balcombe calls stories of ongoing persecution “outdated” and no longer truly descriptive of Christianity in China. In many parts of the country, he adds, house churches are even encouraged. Because thousands of such churches exist in many cities, government officials are hard-pressed to register them all.

However, the government does restrict churches—in three primary ways: (1) size (megachurches are frowned upon); (2) political matters (these must be avoided); (3) orthodoxy (orthodox Christianity must be preached). Pentecostal and charismatic beliefs are now considered orthodox. While Balcombe can’t imagine democratic government coming to China soon, he says his goal isn’t to change government policies anyway, but to lead as many people to Christ as possible.

Now that he is no longer involved in the day-to-day pastoral duties of the Hong Kong church he founded, Revival Christian Church, Balcombe travels regularly to the mainland. After recent visits, he says he’s been “amazed” by the changes taking place across the country and the explosive growth of the church.

In particular, he’s encouraged to see spiritual revival spreading to the government-approved Three Self Patriotic Movement (TSPM) churches as well. Balcombe says this is prompting a historic union between TSPM and house church leaders—the latter who were often persecuted by their “government-sanctioned” brothers and sisters.

Balcombe recently accepted an invitation from a TSPM pastor to preach in his church, and the missionary conducted a daylong teaching session during which nearly everyone was filled with the Spirit, spoke in tongues and prophesied.

“I’ve never seen this in America,” he says. “I saw hungry people, people getting healed, and heard of stories of revival. It’s like the book of Acts. Living here we have a completely different perspective [than Westerners have].”

Keep the Peace
James Carpenter, an American missionary who oversees a house church in Shanghai, is witnessing the same revival fervor Balcombe sees. “When I lived in America, if you could lead somebody to the Lord once a year that was good,” he says. “Here I can lead somebody to the Lord once a week. People are so hungry for God.”

Carpenter (who asked Charisma not to use his real name) prefers as a pastor to maintain a low profile with the government. However, he says this is due to his American heritage (officials don’t like Westerners mixing with Chinese citizens in religious services) and to ever-shifting government policies about social or religious conduct across the nation.

“What is OK today might get you in trouble tomorrow,” he explains. “China is all about keeping social unrest off its shores. Every decision is driven by a desire to keep the peace. What appears to be religious intolerance is motivated most of the time by religious fanatics making trouble.”

Regarding interference or persecution by the authorities, Carpenter says government spies have attended his church meetings and he has been the subject of clandestine eavesdropping. But he says these realities don’t represent constant oppression. He insists that as long as a house church remains under 100 people, it doesn’t encounter trouble with the government, generally. If it does, the conflict usually is rooted in complaints from neighbors, particularly in urban areas when services get too loud, he says.

The Suns have had a different experience, however, in their involvement with China’s house churches. Dorothy Sun serves as the co-director of the China division of Christian Aid Mission (CAM), a Virginia agency that trains missionaries in 122 nations and operates 146 Bible schools throughout every province of China and Tibet. She says the Chinese government’s persecution of believers is just as commonplace today but has become masked to the outside world by the nation’s economic growth.

“A lot of people are deceived by the five-story buildings and modern hotels they see pictures of,” says Dorothy, referring to the architectural makeover of Beijing done in advance of the 2008 Summer Olympics. “They never know about the suffering churches and the oppression people suffer from the government.”

Practicing in the Open
Though opinions differ on the degree of that suffering and the extent of the church’s growth—Balcombe places the number of current believers between 80 million and 110 million—the spiritual fruit of this shift is undeniable.

Carpenter has noticed that as churches grow beyond the small-group size, they also seek to be more grounded in biblical doctrine, which opens a door to opportunities for deeper ministry. “They say, ‘Will you talk about the Holy Spirit?’ and I talk about the Spirit for three days,” he says. “I will even get into the baptism of the Holy Spirit. I’ll ask and everyone in the room wants it, whether it’s 15 or 150.”

Balcombe says another trend is for believers to leave houses in favor of meeting in church buildings, or to rent hotel rooms and other places in which to gather. In any large city on any Sunday, he says, hundreds of thousands of these congregations meet in hotels, restaurants and other public places. In areas such as Wenzhou, a large port city in the southeast, congregations build their own buildings that can seat 1,000 or more. He notes: “This is great for evangelism, as they attract many [people].”

Due to this new openness, Balcombe advises against using the term underground church, saying it has negative connotations of a government trying to wipe out Christianity.

“Many still use the term house church in China, but it needs to be defined. To a Chinese Christian it is any church not under the Three-Self Patriotic Association,” he says. “Some meet in buildings with a cross, but as they are not TSPM they are considered house churches. We might use other terms, like nonregistered, local or independent churches.”

Regardless of the term used to describe the vehicle in which the Holy Spirit is moving, the central focus for locals and missionaries alike is how God continues to bring hope to a people once oppressed.

“It is revival,” Dorothy Sun says. “In 1949 the communists took over and there were less than 40 million Christians. Going through all kinds of persecution, we doubled it to more than 80 million. Like the Bible says, when a kernel [of wheat] dies, later you will see a harvest. This is what is happening.”

It’s also a harvest especially noteworthy for American believers, who, as Balcombe and the Suns point out, have much to learn from their Chinese counterparts. Dorothy Sun stresses that revival can only come to the U.S. if people turn back to God: “If you think you are strong and rich, there will be no miracles around you.”

West Virginia Outpouring Sees Thousands of Conversions, Healings and Holy Ghost Baptisms

Join us on our podcast each weekday for an interesting story, well told, from Charisma News. Listen at charismapodcastnetwork.com.

Pentecostals are closely involved in a sudden spiritual awakening across southern West Virginia that has produced hundreds of conversions, healings and baptisms in the Holy Spirit.

Billy Carrico of Bethel Temple Assembly in Nolan says the spiritual atmosphere in his region is so ripe doors are opening naturally.

"We walk into a restaurant and people are talking about God," says Carrico, whose church is located about five miles north of Williamson. The Williamson Field House has hosted a number of nightly meetings that have drawn upwards of 2,000 people in a county with only 27,000 residents.

"People who aren't necessarily going to church are talking about it," says Carrico, who has baptized several recent converts at Bethel Temple. "Every church is being affected."

Among the miracles he has observed in recent weeks is a person with poor vision whose eyesight improved after prayer and a woman who had been unable to bear children who is now pregnant. There is such excitement that Carrico says youth pastors have been gathering before revival meetings to plan ways to disciple the flock of converts.

Katie Endicott, the Prayer Club sponsor at Mingo Central High School, says the move originated with impromptu preaching by Logan High student Skyler Miller at his school in late March.

Then, on April 10, Pentecostal evangelist Matt Hartley preached at Regional Church of God (Cleveland, Tennessee) in Delbarton, prompting an invitation to speak to Mingo Central's Prayer Club.

Of the 400 students who attended, 150 responded to Hartley's invitation to receive Christ as Savior, Endicott says. She estimates more than 2,000 people have accepted Jesus as their Savior since late March.

And although Miller—who gave God the glory for his healing from leukemia—helped light the spark, the credit for this wave belongs to God, Endicott says. She says this awakening is larger than any one person, school, church or denomination and reflects decades of prayer and sowing seed.

"When Miller started preaching in the hallways it inspired students to rise up and be bold in their faith," Endicott says. "We had never seen that many souls come to the Lord in such a quick time," she says of the 150 who responded to Hartley's invitation.

"We knew there was something unique going on."

Social media has helped spread the word in rapid fashion, with students announcing preaching plans at their schools on Facebook, Twitter and other sites. Many are sharing praise reports and answers to prayer.

Youth pastor Jacob Robinette of Misfit Ministries says he has been in contact with personnel from six high schools in the region that want the gospel preached to students.

"During this movement of God, don't look at man," said Robinette on the Twitter site #JesusIsBetter. "Man didn't start this. (God's) breath blew over the region and awakened us." Among the many meetings that sprang up after Hartley's talk at Mingo Central was a rally at the school's football stadium in mid-April. The meeting ran for nearly four hours, concluding with a baptismal service in a portable tank.

A few days later, organizers moved meetings to the Williamson Field House to accommodate the crowds.

This move couldn't have come at a better time, says Carrico, who works at the Mingo County Day Report Center for probationers doing community service. Economic conditions are tough in the county, where unemployment is around 14 percent, nearly double West Virginia's rate and almost three times the national average.

"I see the effects economics has on drug use and crime," Carrico says. "But it's when I'm pressed and have turmoil in my life that I look and say, 'I need to focus on my prayer life, fasting and my relationship with God.' "

Not only are people who lack hope finding it through this revival, the youth pastor says attendees of Bethel Temple's youth group are excited to see the kind of activity that confirms their faith. "It lets them know that Jesus is Lord and He is who He says He is," Carrico says. "We're moving into a time when He's going to pour out His Spirit on all people. God's coming to show His power." 

Join us on our new podcast each weekday for an interesting story, well told, from Charisma News. Listen at charismapodcastnetwork.com.

We are living in the greatest times the world has ever seen. God, by His divine plan, chose for us to be alive right now in this time—not in the days of the Welsh Revival, or in the days of Azusa or any other time in church history.

That means that God sees something in us. He sees the potential that we have to bring heaven to Earth and a mass harvest of souls come to the knowledge of God. The exciting part is He wants to use you and me to do it.

I was recently reading some statistics about church growth in other parts of the world, and I was astonished at how different they are compared to the church in the U.S. in the past. The article stated that, in China, there is a person born again every three seconds, which comes to 28,800 people every 24 hours! I minister in Brazil often, and that country is seeing a revival sweep across it that is bringing societal transformation. 

At a service I recently ministered at in Brazil, the service didn't start until around 10 p.m. My thoughts were, "Who is going to show up to a service that starts that late?" To my surprise, when I arrived, the place was packed with 2,000 young adults who were 18 years of age and under. They were there to seek God and worship. I was blown away. Try calling a service at 10 p.m. in most places in America and see how many show. 

What is the key to this type of move in these other places? As I have sought the Lord over this question, He keeps taking me back to this one key—hunger. Those who are hungry for God will be filled. It's kingdom economics; where there is a demand there will be a supply. God will always pour Himself out on those that are desperate for Him.

What about the church in America? Aren't we desperate? My answer to that question is we are beginning to be. For years, I would say no, the church hasn't been hungry for God. However, I am seeing that change in our nation rapidly. There are places I know of that are starting to experience real revival and transformation as a result of seeking hearts that are committed to devotion with the Father. 

I can take you to Batesburg, South Carolina, and show you what hunger looks like. Damon Thompson, a powerful voice to this generation, has been leading a revival there for two years now that has not stopped. It's not just good services, but it is spilling into the community. The town was once had one of the highest crime rates per capita in South Carolina, but since the revival there it was just named one of the safest cities in South Carolina in the local paper.

A couple years ago, we started to experience the winds of revival blow through our region again. Myself and several other leaders gathered weekly to pray and seek God to come.

The Lord was faithful to answer our cry of hunger, and several leaders started to experience unusual moves of the Spirit in their meetings. One friend of mine, Rick Curry, saw the Lord walk through the back of His church one Sunday morning and Rick was out in the Spirit for several hours after that encounter. He held meetings at his church nightly after that with several senior leaders, which quickly became known as the Gulf Stream Revival and spread all over the gulf coast. We were seeing hundreds come to the Lord every weekend as it moved throughout the panhandle of Florida.

There are many other places where this is happening in America. I know of a move of God in the hills of West Virginia where a young youth pastor named Kaleb Hanshaw moved to take a position at a church just a couple years ago. I remember talking with Kaleb as he made this move to West Virginia from Bartow, Florida. His purpose for moving was to see a generation in that community experience revival fire.

Recently his labor has paid off, as he and several other youth pastors have come together for extended meetings because God is pouring Himself out among the youth in the schools. They are filling the local high school stadium as students are coming out and getting saved and baptized—1,500 so far. It is revolutionizing their community.

These are just a couple of places I know of. We can't lose hope for our nation! God is doing something that is unique and the dead stale religion of yesterday is not the inheritance for our future. Our inheritance is revival, awakening and a nation on its knees bowing to a holy God!

Continue to pray for hunger in your community and believe that if God can do it in Florida, South Carolina and West Virginia, then He can do it where you live also! 

Chris Mathis serves as the lead pastor of the multi-racial, multi-generational Summit Crestview in Crestview, Florida.

Environment of Servanthood

It may be hard to believe but we were created out of the loneliness God felt. God wanted to create Himself a companion; a being that would reflect His love back to Him that He might experience true, pure love Himself. Out of the earth, He created man. Then man fell into temptation which drew the love away God had created. He would later go down to earth and buy back what He had created for it is in choosing to follow Jesus that we are given a pathway back to the Creator God. In that choosing, we are volunteering ourselves to be in a true spiritual relationship. But why is that so important? What does that look like? In this teaching I try to uncover the spiritual impact of volunteerism and its power in bringing about revival.

http://alansmithpodcasts.podbean.com/?source=pb

Things still do not feel right to me. It seems to me that the spiritual atmosphere of our country is so negative that it is creating a dark greenhouse effect that is breeding and growing every horde of hell. With the negative comments and attitudes that our elections are creating to the moral decay of our country hell seems to be on the move.  It is with this in mind that I summit the following article on what I believe is one of the major unholy perceptions that hell is using which is crippling our churches, our nation and even the world. With this in mind I also believe that the Church of the Kingdom has the power of the cross and the anointing of heaven to combat, destroy and then deploy God's Kingdom perceptions of hope and victory to this dying world.  

Alan

 Cynicism: A Deceptive Perception of Witchcraft

By: Alan Smith

• Gal. 6:2-4: Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.  If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.  Each one should test his own actions.

Cynicism, what a word!  How could this possibly be a problem, you might ask?  I thought being “cynical” was just a word for people who are not like me?  Let’s take a closer look at this word, because in my studies, I am finding that this is a spiritual disease.  A person who has allowed “cynicism” to be part of his/her “perceptions” is a person that will soon be divided from church, family, and friends.  Pretty strong statement, huh?  I believe when this spiritual disease invades a person’s mind that his/her spiritual man becomes sick and will eventually die!  Did you know that when “cynicism” has been introduced into your thoughts, your perceptions have been invaded by the powers of darkness?  Here is the definition of the word “cynicism”.

• Cynicism: An attitude of scornful or jaded negativity, especially a general distrust of the integrity or professed motives of others.

Have you ever let your thoughts run wild, seeing only what is wrong with every thing?  Perhaps it has been more subtle than this for you.  Maybe you started out just trying to help some one in trouble, but then began to see yourself as the “great, wise one”.  Or maybe you have told yourself that your gift of discernment is kicking in when you have seen “hidden motives” in other people.  Remember, there is a very fine line between having “discernment” and being “cynical”.  Again, I believe being cynical is the worst thing that can ever happen to anyone.  The danger and destruction of this spiritual disease is staggering; and spiritually, it is deadly.  Most of the time, you do not even know you are doing it.  One of the problems with this deadly “perception” is that you believe it is the Holy Spirit giving you this internal prophetic information; when actually it is a projection from the dark side of your own heart.

Let’s do a brief history lesson on the origin of this word, cynical.  In ancient Greece there was a group founded by Antisthenes called Cynics, and cynicism was their philosophy.  Their belief system was built around the “perception” of neglecting anything that was not furthering their perfection of virtue.  Therefore, they considered themselves the chief judges in the matters of human behavior.  These Cynics were very intelligent and were even sought out for judgment about certain matters.  They perfected the art of “criticism” and used “sarcasm” as part of their language of communicating their beliefs.  One of their trademarks was that of ridiculing the behavior and motives of others.  As time progressed the Cynics sold their homes and all of their possessions.  Their “perception” was that all of these “things” were against “virtue” and were ultimately bad.  They believed in their philosophy of religion, which was cynicism, to the extent of neglecting personal hygiene, family obligations, and society.  Ultimately, they believed they were “happy” because every thing around them was bad, except for their perfect way of thinking.  Their “perceptions” of cynicism caused them to become isolated from every one around them, and therefore, singled them out of society.  The term “Cynics” is actually derived from the Greek word “kuon”.  In English the word is “dog”.  This word was given to Cynics because they ultimately lived like dogs in the outskirts of Rome.  Nearly 2000 years later, writers such as Shakespeare and Swift used heavy sarcasm and satire to ridicule human behavior, thus reviving cynicism into human culture.

I’m sure you may be wondering at this point how you can know if you have been infected by this spiritual disease?  First of all, you must understand that this disease or “spiritual destroyer” must have a place where it attaches itself and grows.  This place within you is “pride”, and pride is the fertile ground of this “fatal disease”.  Cynicism will take root and grow at a rapid pace in a perfect environment of pride.  It is a spiritual disease that must first seduce and then deceive its carrier.  How can you know if you have allowed this to happen?  You can know if you stop carrying each others burdens and start thinking too highly of yourself.  This disease is “pride” on steroids.  Christ has called us to help, and not to condemn one another.  Let’s explore cynicism further to see how it evolves within our thinking.

I believe there are 4 stages to the disease of cynicism.  Below, I have listed these stages of development.

Stage one of this fatal disease is “hopelessness”.  Cynicism starts taking over when “hope” begins to diminish.  Diminishing hope is “bate” on a spiritual hook.  Satan’s attack is to discourage you, because he knows when you are discouraged you are a candidate for his religion and philosophy of “cynicism”.  In this stage you will lose hope in your friends, family, and the church of Jesus Christ.  As imperfect as we all are, we are still to love each other in our imperfections, for we are looking unto that day that we will all be like Him.

• 1 John 3:2-3: Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him , for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.

Hope in Him, and not in every thing that is wrong with every one, purifies your “thoughts” and helps create fresh perceptions that are full of fresh ideas of life and not of death.

Stage two of this false religion is “criticism”.  When you become better at “criticizing” than loving the unlovable, you know that you have started this journey of deceiving yourself.  This deceptive road is a very lonely road.  The further down this path you go, the less people you see traveling with you; thus creating a spirit of fear and loneliness.  For some reason you will say to yourself, “I feel the best I have ever felt in my entire life and I have never thought more clearly”.  However, deep inside, you feel alone, scared, tired, and very unhappy.  What a deception!  This “criticism” will cause you to bear a false witness in your heart against the ones you once loved and respected.  You have now not only taken the bait, but you have begun to swallow the hook.

• Exodus 20:16: Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.

Stage three of this deadly spiritual disease is feeling very “intellectual”.  The further from the Spirit of God you get, the smarter you think you have become; only making it harder for the truth of God to invade your thoughts and change your perceptions.  This deceptive, lonely road has been paved with stones of pride laid by your very own intelligence.

• Gal. 6:3: If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.

Stage four is the stage of death.  The bait has been taken, swallowed, and now the hook has been set.  Your thoughts have been taken captive by the evil one.  When you have been fully captured by this false religion, you have lost “faith” in the things that once had tremendous spiritual value to you.  You can be certain that your “faith” has been robbed from you when this evil perception starts living in you.  This is the weapon of Satan to stop spiritual revival within you.  This type of thinking seems right, but it brings death to your soul and spirit.  This capturing of your thoughts is the most deceiving weapon upon the Christian church.  It is a subtle spiritual virus that will invade your perceptions, thus changing your realities into ones of dividing you from the Body of Jesus Christ and others.  It also prevents any harmony in your life.  Let’s once again consider this scripture.

• Gal. 6:2-4: Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.  If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.  Each one should test his own actions.

My prayer is for each one of us to identify this scheme of the dark side and to not participate in any of its activity.  Each one of us must test our own actions to see if they are truly in harmony with the Kingdom of God.

Blessings,

Alan

How to Test Prophecy

By: Alan Smith

Many have asked me, “How do I know if a prophecy is from God?”  Also I have been asked about the prophesy and prayer in LA, the AzusaNow.  My reply is as follows: we must first consider scripture.

1 Corinthians 14:3-4: But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort.

      1-Edification—improvement, instruction, or enlightenment, esp. when morally or spiritually            uplifting.

      2-Exhortation—A speech or discourse that encourages, incites, or earnestly advises.

      3-Comfort—To soothe in time of affliction or distress.                                                                To  ease physically; relieve: comforted the feverish patient with a cool cloth.

In the New Testament scripture, we see that prophesying does include edification, exhortation, and comfort. It is interesting to note that it does not include “future telling”. Here is where we need to be very careful. New Testament prophecy is to be divinely inspired edification, exhortation, and comfort. New Testament prophecy is to be prayed-in. By this I mean when someone gives me a prophecy, it means that it is a possibility to be prayed-in. It also means that the prophecy is a spiritual possibility and through prayer, sometimes much prayer, the prophetic word will come true. A true word of prophecy is the Lord letting me know what is possible in my life through prayer.  When I apply faith through prayer, it means that I am praying for what I cannot see to become real. Our faith and belief is what calls the prophetic word into being. Therefore, we see that a true prophetic word should be divinely inspired and the content should be something that I can agree with through prayer. Let me give you an example.

      a-I am at church and someone comes up to me and says, “The Lord told me to tell you that He loves you very much, and that He is here to heal your pain of the loss of your husband.”

      b-To agree with this prophecy, my response would be, “Dear Lord, thank you for seeing me here and loving me. I pray and receive your loving kindness and I pray that you would begin to heal my pain, in Jesus name. Amen.”

To test the prophecy, the prophecy should be of a nature that I would want to pray it into my life. If you do not feel you can pray it in, it is probably a false prophecy. Remember, it is the nature of the prophecy you are testing. Let me give you another example.

      a-I am at church and someone comes up to me and says, “The Lord told me to tell you that He is going to bring judgment on your house because of your husband’s drinking.”

      b-To test the prophecy, we use prayer. Can you feel good about praying-in judgment upon your house? Of course not. I don’t feel good about agreeing with this prophecy. Therefore, the prophecy fails the test.

Azusa Now was and is trying to agree with a prophecy and pray it in. Into our lives, our country and our churches. The goal is to keep praying until we see it come in.

Always remember, you can judge prophecy with the prayer test. Also, if it is “future telling”, we are warned in the Bible against this.

There you have it: my understanding on how to test prophecy.

Blessings,

Alan