Charismatic Civil War?
Someone posted on a forum I belong to, posing the question, “Must there be a charismatic civil war?” Some have gone so far as to say that God WANTS there to be division in the Church. A number of prophetic voices over the years have said that this will happen. I didn’t know, until recently when I had some visions and dreams of my own with a related theme, what the content of those prophecies were.
Here’s my reply to that question. I wrote the [edit] part when I was nearly done, so that readers will have some clarity. I’m not claiming my words here as prophetic per se - but I will say that I wrote what the Lord put in my heart, word by word and line by line.
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I don’t think that God necessarily WANTS there to be a division within the movement. I do, however, think it will happen.
It’s amazing to me how much the vision/dreams I had recently (posted on my blog) are similar to what other prophetic folks have been saying for a long time. I’d heard that some folks had said there’d be a church split but I kept my nose out of what was being said… so I really didn’t know the content of those prophecies until someone from this board commented about it the other week.
[editing as I finish to say - please take what I'm about to say to the Lord in prayer and judge it accordingly, because as I type the Holy Spirit has been all over me to say these very words.]
I don’t think Lakeland will be the dividing line. I do, however, think that revival will be. There are some who have a genuine hunger for the presence of God and who will seek that Presence with all their heart, with all their soul, with all their mind, with all their strength. Some will do so as a part of an established move of God, like Lakeland or Argentina or wherever/whomever. Others will be at the forefront of new moves of God around the world. Still others will have revival all on their own in the midst of the (spiritual) desert.
Revival doesn’t have to be a tattooed preacher hooting and hollering about angels and visions as the worship leader passes out under the keyboard in the glory. Revival DOES have to be about the manifest Presence and Power and Glory of God, however He chooses to show up, wherever He chooses to show up, through whomever He chooses to show up.
There will be people who not only embrace that, they seek Him.
And then there will be people who focus not on God… who pursue not Jesus… but who pursue what they feel are evils, who judge their brothers and sisters, whose time is taken up not in prayer and in seeking His face, but in denouncing men’s actions before the world. Even where their accusations are in fact correct, their motives are not and they do not understand that if they turn to seek God, He will handle problems as they come up.
There WILL be a division within the church - some will choose to seek God at any cost, working out their own salvation with fear and trembling, loving their neighbor, carrying the power of His presence with them everywhere they go. Some will choose instead to seek man’s approval, they will build kingdoms of hate rather than the Kingdom of God, instead of focusing on Christ’s finished work on the cross, they focus on “purity” but miss the Pure because they have made Him, in their minds, nice and neat and only able to work in the ways they have envisioned Him.
The dividing line isn’t Lakeland. It’s God Himself, and whether people will truly choose Him, or grasp at lesser things.
July 9th, 2008 at 10:35 am
We know the Bible speaks of a great falling away of the church, which we are the church. Says that many elect of God will be falling away also seeking not after God, but after man. I like your insight on this and we must remember its God we must seek daily