Dear Phyllis,
I just got home f rom
speaking at a Thai church this morning. I have visited that church about f our
times and I believe this was the second time I had spoken there. I had asked
the pastor f or the opportunity to share with
them the Back to Jerusalem f time they
cancelled the Sunday School/Bible hour at 9:30
and said I could have two hours combining the two services. Fortunately it
wasn’t all just an oral thunder storm; they did sing a couple of
songs at the beginning of both services and
had a 10 or 15 minute break between the Bible hour and the worship service; but
I was embarrassed that I started speaking slightly af ter
9:30 and it was nearly 12:30 when I f inally
sat down. Three hours is the longest Sunday morning message I have ever given.
Even then I had to cut my message short, and lef t
out a great deal of things I wanted to say. I
was hoping to quit by 12:00 o’clock , but
when the hands were pointing to 12:00
there still was a great deal of very essential
things needed to covered. At one point the interpreter broke down in tears and couldn’t
speak. She had to call on Scott to help her out, and even he was struggling to
get the words out. It has been a long time since I have seen that kind of
presence in a service. I probably could have gone on until 1:00 , but I f elt I had
pushed the limit of grace by running half
an hour over the usual 12:00 o’clock limit.
I know I have written to you about the Back to Jerusalem f ore, but there is nothing that
burns in my heart more intensely. I passionately believe it. To me it is one of
the most irref utable messages in the Bible.
There are three reasons why I am so adamantly convinced of
its accuracy.
The f irst is the testimony
of nature. Every morning since the f irst
day at the dawn of creation God has spoken to
the world that His movement is f rom east to
west; as the sun, moon, and stars all f ollow
the same path every day. Because of the
rotation of the earth God has settled in
nature that everything moves in that direction.
The second major reason is the testimony of
Scripture. In doing a little preparation f or this
message, I was again amazed at the number of
ref erences in Scripture all testif ying
that God’s direction is f rom east to west. Of
course, I can’t share in a f ew sentences what
it took over two hours to orally cover this morning. But one of
the major proof s is the layout of
the OT Tabernacle and Temple f ore
the Lord was to enter the east side and proceed heading west. The Holy of
Holies was, of course, on the back or the west
side of the Tabernacle.
And it is equally clear that the Scripture points out that the
devils direction is the opposite. In Ezek. 8:16
we see where the Lord showed Ezekiel what was going on in the Temple f acing
east worshiping the sun. How insulting! Turing their backs to the Lord and
worshiping the sun (Ez. 8:16 )! I said,
“God’s movement has always been f rom east to west,
but the devil moves f rom west to east. Today
the biggest problem in America f iltrating
America America f rom the Orient.” I was stunned when I was in Nebraska f
babies are slaughtered in abortion clinics. America India f e.
The third proof of
the Back to Jerusalem f lames
me the most. Incontestably the Gospel has moved exactly as the Lord promised beginning
f irst at Jerusalem f
the earth (Acts 1:8). The book of Acts traces
the Gospel f rom Jerusalem Rome Rome f rom the end of
the second century until the time of the Ref ormation
under Luther in Germany f the Gospel f or
100 years were the Moravians, who set the example f rom
which the present missionary movement sprang. At one time they had more
missionaries going out than the ones who stayed home. But then in the early 18th
century the Gospel moved f rom Europe
to England England f or the next 200 years. Around the
early part of the 20th century we
saw the Gospel move f rom England Atlantic to America f the 20th century America f orward to be the driving engine of
the Gospel. For many years America f amous f or
carrying the vast burden of sending out
missionaries and f unding missions world wide.
Then in 1970 we saw something unprecedented when the Gospel
jumped the Pacif ic Rim
to Korea Korea f rom the Korean War. Today Korea f orward
to being #1 world wide as the greatest missionary sending nation. Of
course, America Korea f America America
But the phenomenon that just astounds me is China China f aintest f licker
of the Gospel in China f rom those ashes the Lord
has raised up a church in China f e League I have seen,
f irst hand, what is going on in China f tons of
Bibles f low out of
Japan China f
the Spirit of God in China f or the Gospel today is China
And the Chinese brethren f eel
commissioned of God to take it the rest of
the way headed west, back to Jerusalem
Of course, the great
obstacle standing in the way f or the Chinese
to carry the Gospel back to Jerusalem f
the globe located between the 10th and the 40th northern
latitude. And running east and west f rom China Middle East . It is in the 10-40 window that the
Islamic nations lie. Historically, Islam has been the greatest resistance that
has ever existed against the Gospel. There is no question about what the Lord
is doing toady. Muslim is easily the most major problem in all western
countries. It is hardly necessary to comment on the prominence of
that problem in America Europe . It is
the number one problem in Thailand f ighting going on in southern Thailand Philippines Indonesia China f or the Chinese
government during the recent Olympics. Muslim extremism is the greatest threat
to the world today. But I believe the reason f or
that is because God has the Islamic world in His cross hairs. We are going to
see a move of the Spirit of
God in the Muslim nations such as this world has never seen. And I believe this
is on God’s agenda f or the very near f uture.
Gomen nasai, Phyllis. I didn’t mean to talk about this
today. Actually I had a totally dif f erent
subject in mind, but my mind is so enf lamed by
what the Lord had to say us today that it takes discipline not to pound on my
computer. I nearly smashed the pulpit and the white board as I was talking f or
three hours this morning. There is no question – these are the days! These are the days spoken of
by the prophets. And it is our unutterable privilege to live in these times to
see the dramatic move of the Spirit of
God as the tsunami of the Gospel moves ever
westward. Phyllis, I am sorry. I am sorry f or
repeating myself . I know you have heard this all
bef ore, but this message so engages me that I
was nearly standing on the pulpit shouting this morning. And now I haven’t
shared 1/10th of what we discussed
this morning.
It can’t be long f rom here.
Jesus will be here soon. Looking f orward to
seeing you then.
bill
PS: I am going to Laos
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