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                    The Lord's Testimony To the Nations

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By David Wilkerson
May 31, 1999
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          "This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all
          the world for a witness unto all nations; and then
          shall the end come" (Matthew 24:14).

          Many in the church today try to determine the nearness
          of Christ's return by reading the signs of the times.
          We see such signs in particular events -- for example,
          the return of the Jews to Israel. Yet one of the
          clearest statements Jesus makes about his second coming
          is contained in the verse above: The end will come only
          after the gospel has been preached to all nations -- as
          a testimony.

          The word that Jesus uses for "witness" in this verse is
          the same Greek word used for "testimony." It means,
          literally, "proof of the fact." Christ is speaking here
          of not just preaching the gospel, but presenting it as
          a testimony. In short, he says, the gospel we preach is
          effective only if it's backed up by a life that
          testifies to its reality.

          You'd think that in America, a nation filled with
          thousands of evangelical churches, there would be a
          strong gospel witness. In one large southern city
          alone, there are over 2,000 evangelical churches, one
          with a membership upwards of 15,000 people.

          But many such churches have compromised the true gospel
          of Christ. Divorce is rampant in their congregations.
          And many of their young singles lead permissive,
          sexually active lives. How could this be, you ask? The
          fact is, even with all the evangelical preaching in
          many of these mega-churches, there is very little
          testimony of Christ's lordship in the people's lives to
          back it up. They are not a true witness to the city or
          the nation.

          Of course, there are exceptions. In the particular city
          I'm thinking of, I know of a handful of young ministers
          who've begun spending much time on their faces before
          the Lord. Now, when they deliver God's word, they speak
          with power and authority. The gospel they preach is
          backed up by a testimony of intimacy with Christ and a
          holy walk. And they're beginning to see the difference
          in the congregants' lives.

          I think also of a Baptist pastor who at one time
          planned to build a huge new building. His congregation
          was growing rapidly, and he'd begun studying the
          church-growth movement. But then his wife was stirred
          to pray and seek the Lord, and soon the pastor was
          doing the same. He quickly gave up his dream of huge
          numbers and began to be a testimony of what he
          preached.

          For a recent sermon, the pastor set up a big screen at
          the front of the church. He told his congregation,
          "God's Spirit has been speaking to me about the sins of
          this church. And today we're going to see them in front
          of our very eyes!"

          The pastor then flashed sin after sin on the screen --
          fornication, adultery, alcoholism, drug abuse,
          pornography. Then he began his sermon: "We're not about
          to start building a big church right now. We've got to
          get Christ's living tabernacle straightened out before
          we can do anything else. We have to live this gospel
          first!"

          Today the Spirit of God is moving mightily in that
          church. People are flocking to the Lord, getting their
          lives straight -- because they're hearing a gospel with
          a testimony behind it!

          I'm amazed and perplexed by the scores of ministers,
          both young and old, who run all over the world looking
          for strategies to produce growth in their churches.
          Today, many preachers attend seminars, conventions and
          "think tanks," where young ministry professionals use
          charts and polls to show them how to build larger
          churches. Other ministers flock to "revivals," hoping
          to learn new methods of how to have the Holy Ghost fall
          on their congregations.

          Right now, missions societies are sending out more
          workers than ever before. Their rallying cry has
          become, "We have to get more manpower on the mission
          field! More qualified men and women are needed to win
          the nations to Christ."

          But too many of the missionaries being sent are coming
          home within a few years. They've been beaten down,
          discouraged, flailed by demonic forces in those foreign
          nations. Why? Their lives didn't match the gospel they
          preached! They never developed a firsthand knowledge of
          Christ's lordship or of the fullness of the Holy Ghost.

          Beloved, it takes more than new ideas or strategies to
          touch nations for Christ. All our plans are in vain if
          Jesus isn't enthroned in every area of our lives!

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                        This Is a Tragedy in a Time
                         When Antichrist Forces Are
                        Coming to Such Great Power!

                      -------------------------------

          Never in history has there been such a wild rush of
          demonic spirits bursting forth from the bowels of hell.
          Lawlessness is sweeping the earth, with nation rising
          up against nation. And it's all happening because Satan
          has unleashed his demonic hordes in a final war against
          the saints!

          Yet God is never caught off guard by anything that
          happens in our world. He isn't surprised by the awful
          drug plague or the blood-bath of abortion. So, what is
          his response in this time of turmoil and depravity?
          What does he propose as an antidote to the apostasy and
          growing demonic power? What will God do in such a time
          of ruin?

          His answer is the same as it has always been -- to
          bring forth the victory of Christ in a renewed way. God
          has always responded by raising up a fresh remnant of
          men and women who will be a pure testimony to his
          saving and sanctifying power. And the same is true
          today. His plan is to bring onto this scene of
          antichrist activity a body of separated, Christ-filled
          overcomers -- godly men and women who'll live in total
          submission to his government and lordship!

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                            We See This Pattern
                           Throughout the Bible!

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          Consider the plight of Israel in Egypt. God's nation
          was in incredible ruin, with widespread apostasy. Satan
          had Israel under his heel, manipulating the political
          powers of the day to make laws against them and
          persecute them. The enemy was ridiculing and mocking
          God's testimony on earth.

          It was a dark hour in Israel's history. And over time
          the people grew discouraged. They began backsliding,
          indulging in the pleasures and sensuality of Egypt.
          Idolatry and fornication became rampant. Israel's
          situation seemed hopeless. The faith of the nation was
          slowly dying.

          What was God's response to this rising power of
          darkness? Did he stir up surrounding empires to act as
          his rod against Egypt? Did he incite a civil war among
          the Egyptians? Did he send avenging angels? No -- God
          did no such thing. He had a totally different plan.
          Instead, he laid his hand on a single man, raising up
          Moses!

          Moses was a man of prayer, totally shut in with God. He
          said no to the pleasures, ease and temptations of
          Egypt, living instead under the total rule of the Holy
          Ghost. He had no agenda or ambition of his own. He
          forsook all his human ability, relying on the great I
          AM as his sole provision and resource. And he came from
          holy ground, with a firsthand vision of God's holiness.

          So, in the blackest hour of Israel's history, when it
          looked as if God's people would succumb to the enemy,
          the Lord raised up in the midst of it all a man who
          would act as a testimony. And this one man brought down
          a whole nation while raising up another. God did it all
          through one man!

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                           We See This Same Plan
                            Embodied in Samuel.

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          Here we see another generation of apostasy, depravity
          and backsliding. At the time, the ark was gone from
          Israel. Eli, the nation's high priest, was lazy and
          complacent, allowing his sons to debauch the
          priesthood. Under their leadership, adultery and
          fornication were rampant in the temple. But Eli had
          become so used to his life of ease, he wouldn't do
          anything to stop them.

          At one point the Lord wrote the word "Ichabod" over the
          whole religious system, meaning, "The Spirit of the
          Lord has departed." Once again, satanic forces had
          risen to great power. And to the natural eye, God's
          work had lost so much ground, the odds of recovery
          seemed improbable.

          But the Lord had a man in place all along -- a little
          child named Samuel. While all the ministers around him
          were indulging in fornication and gluttony, Samuel was
          learning to hear God's voice. And as he became more and
          more intimate with the Lord, the Holy Spirit filled him
          with a prophetic word. He became a testimony -- living
          proof of the power of God!

          Scripture says that as Samuel grew, none of his words
          fell to the ground -- meaning, he consistently spoke
          with power and authority. And because of his godly
          authority, no nation was able to lift a hand against
          Israel for over forty years.

          Once again, the Lord raised up a single man as a
          testimony to a whole nation. God needed no army, no
          human organization, no "new thing." All he needed was
          one righteous man -- someone whose ministry was
          committed totally to his holy ways!

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                          We See This Same Pattern
                            In Nehemiah's Time.

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          In Nehemiah's day, the walls of Jerusalem were in
          ruins, the city a literal pile of stones. And the
          church was totally backslidden, with no witness left.
          The wicked powers surrounding Israel persecuted them
          severely, mocking every work they tried to undertake.

          How did God respond in such a time of ruin? Did he send
          a well-trained militia out of Shushan to help them? Did
          he send a palace guard to smite their prominent
          enemies? No, God once again raised up a single man --
          Nehemiah.

          Here was a man with God's burden on his heart. Nehemiah
          spent his time praying, fasting and mourning, because
          he was broken over Israel's condition. He also
          continually dug into God's word, grasping prophecy and
          moving in the Spirit.

          Although Nehemiah served as cup-bearer to King
          Artaxerxes, he remained separate from all the
          wickedness surrounding him. In the midst of all the
          sensuality, immorality and godlessness taking place in
          Israel, he maintained a holy walk with the Lord. And,
          in turn, everyone who heard him preach was purified in
          soul.

          Soon a revival of holiness swept the land. "The priests
          and the Levites purified themselves, and purified the
          people, and the gates, and the wall" (Nehemiah 12:30).
          The house of God also was purged, with everything of
          flesh cast out. Nehemiah sent workers into the temple,
          telling them, "I want every piece of filth out of here.
          Don't leave anything that has to do with idolatry or
          sensuality. Take it all out and burn it!"

          Beloved, this is God's concept of revival! It's all
          about sweeping out every chamber in our heart that's
          unclean and unsanctified. He wants no dark places left!

          Where did Nehemiah get such spiritual authority, to
          cause compromisers to tremble, and to bring back godly
          fear to the temple? The king didn't give it to him. No
          church bishop gave it to him. He didn't learn it from a
          Bible school.

          No, Nehemiah got his authority on his knees -- weeping,
          broken, wanting to know God's heart. And because he was
          a man of prayer, he was able to confess the sins of a
          whole nation: "...that thou mayest hear the prayer of
          thy servant, which I pray before thee now, day and
          night...and confess the sins of the children of
          Israel...both I and my father's house have sinned. We
          have dealt very corruptly against thee, and have not
          kept the commandments..." (1:6-7).

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                        There Is a Shocking Account
                        Of Apostasy and Backsliding
                        In Ezekiel's Time -- and in
                       Such Times, God Looks for One
                      Who Will Become His Testimony!

                      -------------------------------

          Israel in Ezekiel's day was lewd and proud. Men
          committed abominations with their neighbors' wives and
          even defiled their daughters-in-law. The once-holy
          prophets backslid, becoming lovers of money and no
          longer discerning between the holy and the profane. And
          the nation's leaders became ravening wolves, seeking
          after dishonest gain, shedding blood, speaking lies and
          vexing the poor. It all sounds so similar to our times!

          Israel so forgot God's ways, the Lord said of them,
          "The house of Israel has become as dross to me!" The
          nation grew so weak, worldly and powerless that God
          made them a laughingstock to the secular world. He
          said, "...therefore have I made thee a reproach unto
          the heathen, and a mocking to all countries" (Ezekiel
          22:4).

          What a searing indictment! God was saying to Israel,
          "You've so despised holy things, giving yourselves over
          completely to lust, I'm going to take away your
          witness!"

          The prophet Ezekiel was an older man at this time,
          about to pass out of the picture. So, how did God deal
          with the situation? He told Ezekiel, "I sought for a
          man among them, that should make up the hedge, and
          stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should
          not destroy it: but I found none" (verse 30).

          Imagine it -- Israel's fate rested on whether God could
          find just one righteous man to rely upon. Yet he said
          to Ezekiel, "...but I found none. Therefore have I
          poured out mine indignation upon them..." (verses
          30-31).

          God said the same thing to the prophet Jeremiah: "Run
          ye to and fro through the streets of
          Jerusalem...seek...find a man, if there be any that
          executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth; and I will
          pardon it" (Jeremiah 5:1). He told the prophet, "I'll
          pardon the entire nation if I can find just one man
          who'll stand in the gap. All I need is a single soul
          who's wholly yielded to my will!"

          Beloved, today we hear a Babel of voices in the church
          crying for more relevant, contemporary ways to reach
          the world. And so many bizarre, fleshly programs are
          being tried. Yet, in my many years of ministry, I've
          seen these kinds of programs come and go. They rely
          totally on appeasing the flesh; they have nothing to do
          with the cross. The crowds they draw live empty,
          unfulfilled lives, having never been exposed to the
          gospel of separation from the world and its lusts. The
          world scoffs at these programs, recognizing them all as
          mere foolishness.

          Any minister or promoter can develop such chaff. A
          person can even live like the devil and implement
          seemingly godly programs. In fact, all you need is a
          sharp mind and the strategies of a CEO to build a
          mega-church. Yet if you do it apart from God -- without
          his righteousness or holiness -- it will be a stench in
          his nostrils. It is a gospel not backed by a true
          testimony. It has no power to deliver!

          I've also noticed over the years that the more
          backslidden a preacher becomes, the more he turns to
          the entertainment gospel and "new works" to bring in
          crowds. And he relies on numbers and finances to judge
          his own success. But there is no accompanying testimony
          to such works -- because they're of another gospel,
          another Jesus!

          A truly godly pastor has only one goal in his ministry:
          to give no rest to his soul until he has crowned Jesus
          Lord in every area of his life -- and to bring both
          himself and his sheep under the governing rule of the
          Holy Spirit!

                      -------------------------------

                         Any Person Whose Life Is A
                       Testimony to the Keeping Power
                        of the Gospel Will Become A
                      Prime Target of Satan's Wrath!

                      -------------------------------

          If you hunger and thirst for the fullness of Christ,
          Satan will declare outright war on you. When he sees
          evidence that your commitment is real -- your diligence
          in prayer, your denial of self -- he'll use every
          weapon in hell to try to destroy your testimony. Why?
          That testimony is God's answer to apostasy and ruin!

          This is what the fiery furnace in the story of Daniel
          is all about. Satan devised an elaborate plan to
          destroy the only testimony of God's power left in
          Babylon. It culminated in a white-hot oven, meant to
          kill all living proof of God's gospel truth.

          Three godly young Israelites served in high government
          offices in Babylon -- men who were visible testimonies
          of the gospel they preached. They had separated
          themselves from the sensuous lifestyle of Babylon,
          committing their lives instead to prayer. These three
          men weren't prophets or priests, but mere laymen. And
          they remained faithful to God and pure in heart in the
          midst of the idolatrous masses.

          Of course, this stirred Satan's rage, and he entered
          the heart of Babylon's evil king. Immediately the king
          erected a huge golden statue and declared it the
          official national god, an object to be worshipped. Then
          he summoned every official and servant from every
          nation under Babylon's thumb, so he could introduce the
          new religion. When the ceremonial music began, everyone
          was to bow to this new god.

          Satan also prompted the king to erect a huge brick
          furnace and to stoke it so the white-hot flames were
          visible to everyone. I ask you -- why did Satan do
          this? Surely he knew there wasn't a governor, judge or
          sheriff anywhere in Babylon who would resist the new
          decree. They didn't need to be seduced or threatened.

          In fact, they all must have been dumbfounded,
          wondering, "Hey, who wants to rock the boat? We've
          having it fine -- we've got prosperity, food and drink,
          the good life. And this new religion is easy on the
          soul. Who would want to give up all this?"

          So, what was the fiery furnace all about? It was
          totally the work of Satan -- a manipulation rigged by
          him to destroy the three young laymen. He wanted to
          kill off the only remaining testimony of God in
          Babylon!

          The devil went so far as to corrupt a king and his
          entire government just to get to three men. He created
          a situation so severe, with the danger so high, nobody
          in his own human strength -- not even the godly young
          men -- could face it without crumbling.

          Yet at the first sound of the music, they didn't bow.
          Satan was infuriated at this! Then, out of the mouth of
          the king came these awful words, "...and who is that
          God that shall deliver you out of my hands?" (Daniel
          3:15). "...heat the furnace...seven times more than it
          was wont to be heated" (verse 19).

          Now the devil had God's servants in his sights,
          threatening, "Who do you think you are, that you can
          escape the fate I've laid out for you? I'm going to
          bring you down and destroy your testimony completely!"

          Likewise today, the heat we face is many times hotter
          than it was a generation ago. For example, Satan has
          rigged the entire technology of our age -- corrupting
          it with seduction, sensuality, lust and temptation. Why
          do we face such a white-hot furnace of temptation
          today? Why are lust and sex being used to sell every
          conceivable kind of product? Why are there hundreds of
          porno websites on the Internet? Who's the target of
          this flood of filth?

          Surely it's not the wicked masses -- those who are
          already Satan's children, according to scripture. It
          isn't the secular world, which has already been
          seduced. No, Satan's target is none of these. Rather,
          he has manipulated the media to snare the hearts of
          overcoming Christians. He wants to weaken and destroy
          the testimony of the gospel!

          Right now the furnace is being heated seven times over
          in the lives of many believers. Satan has created
          situations in their homes, on their jobs and in their
          relationships that are more intense than ever. And many
          once-strong Christians are giving up, quitting on God.
          They no longer pray for help. Instead, they think, "My
          trial is too intense for me to survive!"

                      -------------------------------

                          Praise God, These Three
                          Men Kept Their Testimony
                         And Crushed Satan's Plan!

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          p> God turned the devil's scheme into an opportunity to
          expose the whole nation of Babylon to his testimony.
          Because the three young laymen would not bow, the Lord
          delivered them. And they brought to the nation a clear
          manifestation of the Lord Jesus Christ!

          The king of Babylon testified, "...Did we not cast
          three men bound into the midst of the fire?...Lo, I see
          four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and
          they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like
          the Son of God" (Daniel 3:24-25).

          Suddenly, the king nullified his first decree of idol
          worship. And he quickly issued this new decree:
          "Therefore I make a decree, That every people, nation,
          and language, which speak anything amiss against the
          God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, shall be cut in
          pieces, and their houses shall be made a dunghill:
          because there is no other God that can deliver after
          this sort" (verse 29).

          Beloved, it all happened because of the testimony of
          three men -- righteous lovers of God who were willing
          to lay down their lives in faith. These three humble
          working men were responsible for changing the laws of
          the land!

          Yes, things are going to get hot economically,
          physically, mentally, spiritually and in every other
          way. But God has already placed his hand on separated,
          godly men and women in every place. And his gospel will
          be preached as a testimony.

          Then the Lord will come!

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

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