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                             God Needs You Now

                A Tidal Wage Of Sin Is Flooding Our Nation

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By David Wilkerson
July 16, 1990
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          Sometimes I wonder if we haven't already surpassed the
          wickedness of Sodom and Gomorrah. In fact, I believe if
          you could gain a congressman's confidence, get him
          alone and have him spill out his heart to you, he would
          confess, "It's worse than anyone can imagine. It's
          hopeless. Things are out of control, and it's just a
          matter of time before our problems bury us!"

          Ecologists have become the modern-day doomsayers.
          According to them, our planet is disintegrating. Acid
          rain is ruining forests; topsoil is vanishing; rain
          forests are being cut down; the ozone layer is
          evaporating. With the drastic weather and famines we've
          experienced of late, it appears we are headed for the
          "greenhouse effect."

          There is so much bad news, so many warnings, so many
          nervewracking crises, we can't compute it all. So we
          simply decide to turn it all off! For most people, TV
          has become the great escape from reality. Others use
          alcohol and drugs to dull the mind and find temporary
          relief.

          Christians see the satanic warfare going on in America
          and can't believe it's happening so fast - and so
          blatantly! Here in New York City, homosexuals were
          honored recently as the Empire State Building was lit
          up with lavender-colored lights. All the while, these
          homosexuals are becoming more militant and violent.

          Politicians, economists, writers and the masses who
          live here say, "New York City is going to hell in a
          handbasket. The devil himself has become king - and the
          city is dying fast!"

          I think the majority of Christians here would like to
          escape to some safe, quiet hideaway in the mountains to
          keep from being tainted by all the iniquity surrounding
          them. Many despair, saying, "What can one Christian do
          about all this moral degradation? What can one church
          do in such a huge, wild and wicked city? It's enough
          for me just to stay close to Jesus, so I don't get
          carried away with the flood..."

          "Is there really anything I can do - a poor,
          insignificant Christian like me? I have no money, no
          training, no influence - only a great love for Jesus!"

          We often expect God to move in one of two ways: Either
          by sending a supernatural outpouring of His Holy Spirit
          to sweep multitudes into His kingdom; or by sending
          judgement to bring people to their knees or destroy
          them.

          But beloved, that's not God's method of changing things
          in an evil day. His way of rebuilding ruins has always
          been to use ordinary men and women whom He has touched.
          And He does this by filling them with His Holy Spirit
          and sending them into the warfare with great faith and
          power!

          God uses people, not angels, to proclaim His Word to
          the lost! Yet the Lord has not done much about the sins
          of this generation because He hasn't yet found
          believers desperate enough to seek the fullness of the
          Holy Ghost and power!

          The Church has been cheated during the past fifty years
          by men who sought God's power for fame and personal
          glory. They lined their pockets with money and gave
          themselves proud titles: "Full of Faith and Power,"
          "Man of the Hour," "Miracle Worker" - while passing out
          blessings for a fee! I call it charismatic indulgences.

          We made little gods out of them and idolized them. Now
          we're giving the same status to a new generation of
          prophets!

          No wonder the devil continues undisturbed - smirking,
          unimpressed by all the talk of power and authority in
          the Church. The Church has done a very wicked thing!
          Like Israel, we have wanted a human king. Christians
          sit back in the congregation and watch the pastor or
          evangelist do what all believers are called to do!

          Yet even now the Holy Ghost is bringing down all the
          stars and dethroning all the religious kings. He is
          destroying spiritual empires, literally spewing out of
          His mouth all ministerial idolatry!

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                           God Is Doing as He Has
                           From the Beginning --
                        Making Two Important Moves!

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          First, He is raising up a holy, apostolic ministry,
          consisting of men totally given to the Word and prayer.
          They do not lord it over anyone. They are weeping men
          with hearts that are rent with no plan in mind but to
          seek, hear and obey God!

          Second, God is calling you into immediate service. He
          needs the common man, the layman! He uses people whom
          the high priests would call "unlearned and ignorant
          men" (Acts 4:13).

          The Bible also says that in the Upper Room at
          Pentecost, "they were all filled with the Holy Ghost"
          (Acts 2:4). All became mighty in battle -all were bold,
          powerful witnesses! These Spirit-filled believers did
          not include just Peter, James, John and the other
          well-known disciples, but also the widows, the young,
          the servants and the handmaidens!

          We know that Stephen was full of the Holy Ghost - "full
          of faith and power" (Acts 6:8). He was not an apostle
          nor an ordained minister. In fact, he was chosen to
          serve tables for the church so the disciples could
          devote themselves to prayer and the ministry of the
          Word. Stephen was an ordinary man full of the Spirit of
          God!

          And what of Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas and
          Nicolas, all of whom served tables. They all were
          laymen! Scripture says they were "full of the Holy
          Ghost and wisdom" (Acts 6:3).

          Philip also was a layman and a table-server. Yet he too
          was full of the Holy Ghost. Scripture tells us he went
          to Samaria where he preached on the streets, prayed for
          the sick, cast out demons and believed the Lord to
          raise the lame and crippled. "And the people with one
          accord gave heed unto those things which Philip spake,
          hearing and seeing the miracles which he did.... And
          there was great joy in that city" (Acts 8:6,8).

          God's plan to save Samaria was a man full of the Holy
          Ghost and power! Philip was a man so humble, so filled
          with Jesus, that he could leave great works in
          Jerusalem and Samaria - and go by God's leading to one
          man in the desert! (See Acts 8.26-40.)

          How is God going to witness to New York, the modern
          Babylon - a city full of crime, drugs, homosexuality,
          hatred, violence and godlessness? He won't do it just
          by great preaching, no matter how convincing and
          piercing it may be. He won't do it by church meetings
          alone, nor by powerful worship and lively praise, nor
          even by a Holy Ghost shaking of the house!

          God will proclaim Himself in New York City the same way
          He wants to in your city or town - through the witness
          of all who go out into the highways and byways to
          preach His gospel!

          Gods testimony here in New York is not that we have
          church in a theater on Broadway. It is not that we have
          a packed house. It is not that we experience glory or
          incredible showers of blessing. It is through men and
          women, widows, unemployed, rich and poor alike - all
          laymen whom God stirs."

          You are God's witness to your city. He uses laymen who
          get alone with Him, are stirred in their hearts, seek
          Him in prayer, rend their hearts - and go forth like
          Philip, full of the Holy Ghost, faith and power!

          If God has not been using you, it's probably because
          you have not been usable. That's what happens to
          believers who get "caught up in gazing at the glory."

          The disciples basked in the glory when Jesus was taken
          up into heaven. They could have stood there forever,
          enjoying the warm glow, but the angel of the Lord
          lovingly rebuked them: "Why stand ye gazing up into
          heaven?" (Acts 1:11).

          There is a danger in wanting to sit inside the church
          "gazing at the glory." Jesus told His disciples, "Wait
          on Me. You need the Holy Ghost and power. I need you to
          be My witnesses!"

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                  Get Your Eyes Off the Times and Seasons,
                  Which Are In the Father's Power Alone!

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          As soon as the disciples heard about receiving a
          baptism of power, they asked, "Lord, wilt thou at this
          time restore again the kingdom to Israel"? (Act 1:6).
          Jesus answered in no uncertain terms: "It is not for
          you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father
          hath put in his own power" (verse 7).

          Stop and think about what their question implied:
          "Lord, You mean beginning in that room, with just us,
          You will restore the kingdom of Israel? Are we to be
          the ones to bring down Herod and Rome? Are we the ones
          to cleanse the land, set up the kingdom and bring You
          back?"

          We know that Jesus had to deal with some of the
          disciples concerning their lust for leadership and
          authority. But I sense something else in their question
          here that went beyond a thirst for place and power. It
          was a human need to be involved in some great, final
          destiny! It was a need to be special - to be the right
          people at the right time!

          In their hearts the disciples may have been saying,
          "Lord, where are we in Your prophetic schedule? It
          would be a great spiritual incentive to know we are at
          the end of one dispensation and that a new day is about
          to dawn. How excited we'd be if You'd let us know we
          are living and ministering in a day of destiny - that
          You are using us to wrap it all up!"

          Saints, this same need to be people of great destiny is
          in all of us to some degree. But Jesus' response to
          this was blunt: "It is not for you to know the times."
          Jesus is not looking for men of destiny or kingdom
          builders. He wants only witnesses unto Himself! He is
          saying, "The issue is not the 'prophetic hour,' or some
          great destiny appointed to you. I must have witnesses
          to this present generation!"

          This deeply convicts me! Like so many others today, I
          want to know where we are at this very minute on God's
          prophetic clock: Why is communism falling? When will
          the economy collapse? Are we about to enter the
          tribulation? Is God gathering the final remnant? Are we
          about to see judgements fall on New York City and
          America?

          Then I hear Jesus say, "It's not for you to know. Wait
          on God. Become filled with the Holy Ghost. Get God's
          power - then go witness!"

          In the Old Testament God did nothing until He first had
          warned the people through His prophets. In the New
          Testament He says to us, "For Moses truly said unto the
          fathers, a prophet shall the Lord your God raise up
          unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye
          hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you"
          (Acts 3:22).

          That prophet is Jesus! And He is saying, "Get your eyes
          off the times and seasons and stop flirting with
          thoughts of destiny. Get the power of God to witness of
          Me to your present generation.

          Saints, all the Old Testament prophets are dead. Paul
          is dead, the apostles are dead - God now has only you
          and me to testify of the power of Christ!

          We are to live in a state of watchfulness, waiting in
          expectancy with our lamps trimmed and burning. We are
          to yearn and look for His appearing. Yes, we are to
          preach about His coming and warn of His judgements -
          but first and foremost we are to be His witnesses!

          We hesitate to witness to Jews because we think it
          might not be the proper prophetic time. We ask
          ourselves, "Are the times of the Gentiles nearly
          fulfilled? Will the Spirit soon fall on natural Israel
          and take away the veil from their eyes?"

          I know this has greatly hindered the Church's ministry
          to the Jews! We desire to know if we are being
          prophetically precise so we won't waste our "efforts."
          Yet Jesus answers, "It is not for you to know the times
          just witness!"

          We haven't experienced a prophetic block, nor has the
          hardness of the hearers' hearts been the hindrance to
          us. It is that we have lacked the willingness to work.
          We have not had enough power of God in us to reach out
          in faith to the lost!

          We want revival, blessings, outpourings, stirrings! We
          want to stay in church, calling down the glory of God
          upon us! We want to hear more preaching! That's all
          fine. But Jesus said, "You will receive the Holy Ghost.
          You will be given power to go out and witness!"

          We want to rejoice in the Lord's glorious presence -
          and His presence will increase as we seek Him. But we
          need to remember what causes Him and all of heaven to
          rejoice: "Joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that
          repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons,
          which need no repentance" (Luke 15:7). "There is joy in
          the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that
          repenteth" (Luke 15:10).

          If we pray for a mighty outpouring of the Holy Ghost
          upon the body of Christ, it must result in a body of
          powerful witnesses going everywhere to lift up Jesus to
          the lost!

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                    It Takes More Than a Love for Jesus
                      and a Compassion for Lost Souls
                      to Qualify You as His Witness!

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          Those who were headed for the Upper Room loved Jesus
          dearly. They were compassionate, self-sacrificing,
          soul-loving. But they were not yet qualified to be His
          witnesses!

          They had been taught in the school of Christ. They had
          healed the sick and cast out demons. They had performed
          miracles. They had seen Jesus clothed in His eternal
          glory on the mount.

          They had been nearby when He sweat drops of blood. They
          had seen Him hanging on the cross and had seen His
          empty tomb. They had seen Him resurrected. They had
          eaten with Him and talked with Him in His glorified
          body. They even had seen Him ascend into heaven! Yet
          still they were not ready to witness of Him!

          Why couldn't Peter go to those milling crowds in
          Jerusalem and immediately testify to His resurrection?
          Hadn't he witnessed that event firsthand? Couldn't he
          preach, "Jesus is alive! He ascended into heaven!
          Repent!"

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                         The difference is found in
                       the Power of the Holy Ghost!

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          Peter makes a powerful statement to the chief priests:
          "And we are his witnesses of these things; and so is
          also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that
          obey him" (Acts 5:32).

          Through the words of the Holy Ghost -- speaking through
          Peter -- the priests "were cut to the heart, and took
          counsel to slay them" (Acts 5:33). The Holy Ghost also
          had spoken through Peter on the day of Pentecost, and
          all who heard "were pricked in their heart" (Acts
          2:37).

          Stephen, filled with the Holy Ghost, preached to the
          religious leaders: "Ye stiff-necked and uncircumcised
          in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost:
          as your fathers did, so do ye.... When they heard these
          things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on
          him with their teeth" (Acts 7:51, 54).

          When you emerge from seeking God, full of the Holy
          Ghost, you can stand with boldness before fellow
          workers, family - anyone - and your witness will
          provoke one of two reactions. They will either cry out,
          "What must I do to be saved?" Or they will literally
          want to kill you! You will speak a word that cuts to
          the heart.

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                        There Is a Kind of Reviving
                        and Outpouring That Lines Up
                           With the Word of God!

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          If you look for it in the church building, you will be
          disappointed. Had you visited the Upper Room a few
          hours after the wind blew in and fire fell and the
          building was shaken - and you wanted to experience
          something miraculous - you would have been
          disappointed.

          You see, the wind of the Spirit blew all the people out
          into the streets - into the temple court, the
          marketplace! You could have asked, "Where is the
          revival, the supernatural wind? I'd like to experience
          some of this shaking I've heard about. Does it feel
          like a mini-earthquake? Can I see some of those tongues
          of fire?" But you only would have been directed
          outside.

          You would have been pointed to 120 witnesses on the
          streets, preaching Jesus in the power of the Holy
          Ghost! That's where the revival was - and always is!
          That's the outpouring! The wind, the fire, the Spirit -
          it's now in God's witnesses!

          If God blesses this church with another Pentecost - a
          time of revival and refreshing from heaven - word will
          spread. Curious people will come around, asking, "Well,
          where is it? What can we see? What can we feel? Do
          people fall down under God's power?"

          You won't find it in the praise and worship! You won't
          find it in special excitements - dancing in the Spirit
          or being slain under the power. These are all wonderful
          experiences, but they can be counterfeited and
          duplicated in the flesh, and few today can discern the
          difference today.

          If there is an outpouring according to God's plan, you
          won't find it in the church! You'll have to go to the
          housing projects, the schools, the subways, the job
          sites, the offices, the marketplaces! You'll find it in
          the secret closets of prayer!

          In this kind of outpouring, you'll find numerous homes
          where saints are fasting, praying and weeping, crying
          out to God for their children and the unsaved! You'll
          see witnesses going into all places, speaking out in
          the power of the Holy Ghost!

          You get the Holy Ghost and you go! That is the
          outpouring! It is not one big bonfire in the church. It
          is 20 or 200 or 2,000 little fires being ignited all
          through your city or town!

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                      Jesus Will Become Our Prophet!

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          "For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall
          the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren
          like unto me; HIM SHALL YE HEAR IN ALL THINGS
          whatsoever he shall say unto you" (Acts 3:29).

          If you're looking for a true prophet in these end
          times, the Holy Ghost will lead you to no one other
          than Jesus! The resurrected Prophet of these last days
          speaks from glory to all who take the time to hear Him.

          Multitudes of Christians today are running about
          looking for a prophet to get a few crumbs of blessing
          or direction. Beloved, I've found my Prophet! He reads
          my mind and tells me everything I need to know! He is
          Jesus! And the Bible says, "Hear Him in all things!"

          A strong warning exists for those who don't heed this:
          "And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will
          not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among
          the people" (Acts 3:23).

          So many lives are being destroyed; the faith of many is
          being shipwrecked. Few want to hear the true Prophet -
          they'd rather have their ears tickled by
          self-proclaimed prophets who are no more than
          fortune-tellers.

          A true prophet must line up behind Samuel and all who
          followed him - to bless the people by "turning away
          every one of you from his iniquities" (Acts 3:24-26).
          True prophets don't seek validation by signs, wonders
          or miracles. They don't try to gain your confidence by
          revealing secrets. They show you the difference between
          the holy and the profane by turning you from your sin.
          They point you back to Jesus through repentance!

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                             Judgement Warning

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          You may be asking, "You've spoken much of witnessing.
          But what about warning of coming judgements? Indeed,
          I've said often that God sent us to New York City to
          raise up a holy remnant and to warn this city of coming
          judgement. Shouldn't we now invade the city with books
          and literature filled with warnings of economic
          collapse, hydrogen bombs, race riots, food shortages
          and sudden calamities?

          No! All of that can and probably will happen - but that
          is not the greatest judgement!

          The real judgement results from the rejection of
          Christ! "Every soul, which will not hear that prophet,
          shall be destroyed from among the people (Acts 3:23).
          This same Judgement falls on compromised Christians who
          refuse to hear Jesus' voice!

          When the Holy Spirit comes He pierces the heart,
          warning of sin, righteousness and judgement. And this
          is how He does it. The wind of His Spirit blows us onto
          the streets preaching the resurrected Jesus and warning
          the people, "If you won't hear Jesus and repent, you
          will be destroyed from among the people!"

          How God brings about that destruction is up to Him.
          This is the judgement we must preach: "He that
          believeth on him is not condemned: but he that
          believeth not is condemned already, because he that has
          not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of
          God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come
          into the world, and men loved darkness rather than
          light, because their deeds were evil" (John 3:18- 19).

          Witnesses, going forth in the power of the Holy Ghost
          bringing the light of Jesus, also bring judgement upon
          those who refuse to hear and who cling to their evil
          deeds!

          Beloved, this is the judgement, as it has been
          throughout the ages: the rejection of Christ. Yet as we
          heed the voice of our Prophet, Jesus, our earnest
          prayer is that many will heed - and repent!

          ---
          Used with permission granted by World Challenge, P. O.
          Box 260, Lindale, TX 75771 USA.

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