19 February 2012
Dear Phyllis,
There is a dear brother here that I meet with each week for lunch. Last week I got to talking to Gary about the Back to Jerusalem Moment. He suggested, “Why don't you write this up in a letter?” I'm sure I have, but it may be well worth while to reemphasize it from time to time. There is no topic that I feel more keenly than this.
Spiritual things come in waves. In my brief walk with Jesus for the past 55 years I have seen several. There are major international movements and many smaller local movements. They arrest peoples interest, and there is a great deal of enthusiasm for that particular message for a time. But like waves on the ocean, they all have their high points and then fade away.
Pammy's circle of friends are enthusiastic Christians, concerned for revival in Chiang Mai. They have sponsored several large meetings to promote revival. I am sympathetic with their cause, but have serious reservations about to what degree these are really sponsored by the Holy Spirit. To me they have the flavor of earnest Christians trying to do God's work mans way. Yesterday they had their annual “revival” meeting and got a high voltage speaker from Singapore. He was a very good speaker and had a lot of unusual testimonies, but as I listened to him, I had a strong impression that I was watching a rerun of an old movie under a new name. His message was “We are now in the Third Day Church”.This caught my attention as it was a new expression for me. But as I listened to him, I thought,“Naru hodo (I see), but I have heard all this before.” I felt terrible. Everyone was supposed to be exploding with joy at the announcement that this is the Third Day, which will be characterized by an amazing unprecedented, city and nation transforming revival. Chiang Mai is going to be transformed and Thailand will become another Korea sending out thousands of missionaries. There were probably 50 or more pastors of small struggling churches, but soon these churches will become mega running into the thousands. The speaker had seen it in his church in Singapore, and it could happen anywhere “if only a pastor has enough faith”. The more he spoke the colder I got. Of course, anyone who questioned this message was full of unbelief hindering God.
There were several things about his message that I didn't like. One of which was a strong conviction that his message on faith was fundamentally wrong. Perhaps the biggest things was that I have heard all of this about the sweeping revival that was going to transform America, Japan, and other places, but I have watched the unchecked deterioration of these countries for 50 years. Perhaps I may be wrong, but one other feature that disturbed me was, that in all of his message he said nothing about the Lord Jesus. He talked a great deal about power. We all need power to do healing, miracles, and great and mighty wonders. That sounded good, but he said nothing to elevate Jesus or make Him higher.
I sat there listening to him from 10:00 in the morning to 4:00 in the afternoon getting cooler and cooler spiritually, and warmer and warmer with anger. We didn't go back for the evening meeting. I am sure this was a keen disappointment for Pammy's friends who are so concerned to see revival in Chiang Mai. I want to see revival also, but I don't think this is the way the Holy Spirit is going to do it.
I say all this because it gives me an increased conviction that the Back to Jerusalem movement is incontestably correct. I intensely believe this for three reasons.
First of all I see in nature that the loudest message God has ever given man is, that His movement is fundamentally from east to west. Because of the rotation of the earth, ever since the first dawn of creation, man has watched the sun, moon, and stars rise in the east and steadily move from east to west. If there was nothing else in nature, this should be one message man should understand that God's movement is basically from east to west.
Secondly, I see this clearly in scripture. I have never heard a message or read anything on this subject, but I see a clear message of a directional orientation in the Bible. Nearly every major event from the beginning of Abraham's leaving the Ur of the Caldees to follow the Lord, to Israel's entering into the promised land, the return from the Babylonian captivity, Christ's Triumphal entry into Jerusalem, to the final return of Christ; every thing is a movement from the east to the west. Another major message is the layout of the OT Tabernacle and the Temple. These were laid out from east to west. Every morning from the days of Moses to the Crucifixion of Christ, the priest entered from the east and proceeded west to come before the Lord. The entrance was on the east side and the Holy of Holies was on the west. And the movement of the Gospel on the book of Acts was clearly from east to west, beginning at Jerusalem and ending in Rome.
Conversely, in scripture, we see the devils movement is from west to east. Adam left the Garden east of Eden (Gen. 3:24). When Cain went from the presence of the Lord, he went east (Gen. 4:16). When Lot separated himself from Abraham to go to Sodom, he went east (Gen 13:`11). When the Lord told Ezekiel to bore a hole and look inside the Temple to see what was going on in secrete in there, he saw the elders and priest with their backs to the Lord facing EAST worshiping the sun (Ezek. 8:16). When the Jews went to Babylon they went east. Very clearly in the Bible the Lords movement is from the east to the west and the devils movement is reverse – from west to the east. We will see in a minute that the movement of Christian mission has always been from the east to the west. But today the greatest menace in Christian (?) nations is the occult which is eastern religion coming to America – west to east.
We have seen in both nature and the Bible that God's movement is from east to west, but the third incontestable proof is church history. The book of Acts shows that the early movement of the Gospel went exactly as Jesus said in Acts 1: 8. It began in Jerusalem and expanded to Judea – Acts 1-7. Then it went to Samaria – Acts 8:(5). From chapter 11 on, it began to go to the uttermost parts of the world; going first to Antioch – Acts 11. In chapter 13, Paul and Barnabas set out on the 1stmissionary journey and went to Cyprus – Acts 13:4. On the 2ndmissionary journey Paul got as far as Galatia and then wanted to head back east towards Asia (what is now Turkey), but was forbidden of the Holy Spirit. Then he had the Macedonian vision to head west to Philippi – Acts 16. At the end of the book of Acts we see Paul in Rome – Acts 28.
Church history is nothing but a continuation of the Acts of the Holy Spirit. In the book of Acts we see the Gospel going as Jesus told beginning first at Jerusalem and heading to the utter,most part of the earth – going from Jerusalem to Antioch, Ephesus, Philippi, and on to Rome. All of this is clearly from east to west. For the next 1,000 years the Gospel was more for less dormant in Rome until the time of the reformation under Luther. At that time the center of Christian activity moved further west from Rome to Germany. For the next 200 years most of the movement of the Holy Spirit was in Germany, largely through the Moravian. But then at the beginning of the 18th century the center of the Gospel moved from Germany to England under the Wesleys. For the next 200 years, England was basically the custodian of the Gospel. Then at the beginning of the 20th century the Gospel crossed the Atlantic to America. For the 20th century the US has been the strongest bastion of the Gospel carrying the vast bulk of world missions. This is an over-simplification, but it is incontestable that for 2,000 years the center of Gospel strength ad activity has moved steadily from Jerusalem to Rome, Germany, England and on to America.
In 1970 we saw something unprecedented when the Gospel jumped the Pacific rim and an amazing revival broke out in Korea. Today Korea is the most Christian nation in the world and has moved up to the #1 spot as the number one nation sending out more missionaries and funding more mission activity than any other country. America is now #2. But then for the past two decades we have seen something totally unimaginable in an unprecedented movement of the Holy Spirit in China. With my association with New Life League, I can testify from first hand observation and experience of the astounding spiritual awakening that has, and is, taking place in China. I have heard first hand of weeping pastors in China pleading for tens of thousands of Bibles. I have seen millions of Chinese Bibles pouring off the astonishing presses at NLL in Hatoyama. I have seen an enormous number of containers leaving Yokohama for China. The testimonies coming out of China are like the book of Acts, and it is arguably greater than anything Paul ever saw. There is no question that Asia is now the hottest spot on earth for the Gospel. But most of the intense activity of the Holy Spirit today is in eastern and central China. Here in Chiang Mai we are due south of Kunming in Yunan province My personal travel and activity in China has been in western China. Most of my friends are working in this area. We are not seeing the amazing phenomenon that is happening in eastern and central China today, but the tide is rising.
Without question, what has happened is that this world has seen an irresistible tsunami of the Holy Spirit that started at Jerusalem. It swept across the Mediterranean, it moved across Europe, it went across England, and went to America. In the past four decades we have seen this tsunami move to Korea and now in China. Jesus said that the Gospel would be preached around the world an then the end would come. Based on the trajectory and its path for the past 2,000 years, I am totally convinced that this tsunami will keep heading west, and in the very near future we will see a moving of the Holy Spirit in Islamic countries that will eclipse anything previously done.
The Chinese church feels singularly commissioned of God to carry the Gospel back to Jerusalem and they are presently sending out thousands of missionaries. There is a major focus on the 10-40 window. This is basically the Islamic block countries. It is significant that the Chinese are the only ones who are capable of doing this. Through years of persecution, the Chinese church has become tough and utterly fearless. American missionaries do not have the heart or courage to face danger or death. The Chinese do. Americans are a liability in the Middle East but the Chinese are welcomed.
There is a correlation between the core of the Holy Spirit activity and world power. The countries that have been the custodians of the Gospel have also become the leading world power. There is little doubt but what China is rapidly becoming the dominant economic power in the world. China is rapidly on the rise and America is fading like a falling rock. Along with her commission by God to carry the Gospel back to Jerusalem I believe we are going to see China become perhaps the major world power to enable the church to do it.
As the sun, in its daily course, brings light where it is presently shining, but leaves darkness after it passes by; so the tsunami of the Gospel has produced the same phenomenon. When the tsunami pass on westward, terrible darkness has engulfed the countries that once had a strong Christian foundation. North Africa and the Middle East once had very strong churches. The Seven churches in Revelation 2 and 3 were located in what is now Turkey. Countries that once saw wonderful revival in Europe, England, America are now in the throes of increasing darkness. If the present demographic shift continues at its present rate, very soon France, England and other European countries are likely to become Islamic states.
Forty years ago there was a major movement in the states of Later Rain. We were told of sweeping revivals that were going to transform the churches in America and make America like the New Jerusalem. The church was going to become perfect to welcome Jesus back. I haven't heard much of Later Rain in recent years but I do know that most of its main prophets are gone from the scene.
What I heard Friday that we are now in the time of the Third Day Church was a new message for me but it sounded very much like an old story with a new name. I would like to see sweeping revivals, but I seriously doubt that this message is going to bring it. On the other hand I do intensely believe that what we have seen for the past 2,000 years of the westward movement of the Holy Spirit will continue until the Gospel gets back to its starting point in Jerusalem. And I believe this could all happen very quickly.
Even so come quickly Lord Jesus,
bill
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