The Pensacola Trip Report

My friend Phil and I just returned from Pensacola last evening. Since Darla was unable to accompany me, it was good to have Phil along. This felt like the Stephen and Philip in the book of Acts. You may recall from my studies on the book of Acts that these two were types of the two doves and two goats in the book of Leviticus.

In that sense, the trip seemed connected to the principle of the Two Witnesses. Traveling there and back, we read the biography and some sermons of John G. Lake, who was one of the more prominent healing evangelists in the early 1900's in the time of the early outpouring of Pentecost.

What impressed us both was how the Pentecostal and Charismatic movement is so different from what John G. Lake preached. Some of the teaching is the same, of course, but the heart of it is quite different. I don't know, but perhaps the condition of the Church a century ago was similar to what it is today. Maybe John G. Lake was trying to correct that condition but simply failed to do so. I do not know enough about that time period to say for sure.

John G. Lake spent some time in South Africa in 1908, but also set up "healing rooms" in Spokane, where about 100,000 people were healed. The Surgeon General in Washington D.C. later announced that Spokane was the healthiest city in the world, based on hospital and medical records of the time.

Phil and I heard more stories when we got to Pensacola. David Hogan told us that they had seen close to 500 people raised from the dead so far, with 50 of them in just the past year. Of course, that is in addition to countless "lesser" miracles. As a result, he and his team have established 1000 churches to serve 100,000 new converts to Christ. He preaches the gospel in some of the most dangerous areas in Mexico, where there is war raging in the southern part of the country.

He told of one community of believers who were called out one night by about 200 soldiers who were sent to kill them if they did not deny Christ. The believers refused to deny Christ, of course, and so the soldiers fired upon them, emptying their clips. None of the believers were struck by the bullets, and today 175 of those soldiers are evangelizing Mexico.

In another incident, a javelina (wild pig) attacked and pushed a believer over a 120-foot cliff. He landed on his back, splitting open his head and breaking nearly every bone in his body. His son came running to him and called him back by name. He awoke and started breathing, but he was still a physical wreck. It was 3 hours by 4-wheel-drive to the nearest hospital, which refused to treat him. Nonetheless, within a few weeks he was fully healed and continues to preach the Gospel to this day.

All of these testimonials, along with those of John G. Lake, served to raise my consciousness and confirm the type of ministry that lies ahead for many of us. The current 76-day period of the new Prophetic Year began last Nov. 12, the day after the IHOP in Kansas City began to experience a new wave of healings. Though we have not yet arrived at the end of this cycle (Jan. 27), and do not have that second date to bear witness to the first, the trip to Pensacola appears to confirm what God has in store for us for the year 2010.

Recall that 2010 is 390 years from the time the Pilgrims landed in Plymouth Rock. They said that they came here to have the freedom to establish the Kingdom of God. They did not want to have men ruling over them, as Saul (1 Sam. 8:7). They wanted to be ruled directly by Jesus Christ, and in so doing they were reversing the decision that Israel had made in asking for a human king. God took it personally, telling Samuel in 8:7,

"Listen to the voice of the people in regard to all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me from being king over them."

The 390-year cycle has to do with the idea of "No King in Israel." Hosea 3:4 says of the Israelites who had been sent into captivity to Assyria, "For the sons of Israel will remain for many days without king or prince."

When Samaria fell in 721 B.C. they began their long time of tribulation without a king. 6 x 390 years later came to the year 1620 when the Pilgrims landed. The 7th period of 390 years brings us to the year 2010 and the present time. It appears, then, that we are about to get a King.

And so in the early hours of New Year's Eve, I proclaimed Rev. 11:15 at the all-night prayer meeting, "The Kingdoms of the world have become the Kingdom of our Lord (Jesus) and of His Christ(amointed ones, His Body), and He will reign for the ages of the ages."

Now, with the revelation received on this latest trip, it appears that God is raising up an anointed body of people who know how to rule and reign in life, even as Jesus Himself showed us by His own work and ministry. It comes through the revelation of the Living Christ in Rev. 1:17, 18,

"Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, and the Living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades."

The revelation of His death on the cross is the revelation of Him as the Redeemer who paid for the sin of the world. The revelation of His resurrection, however, is how we ought to be living our lives today. Moreover, His resurrection led to His ascension to the Throne, by which power He reigns as King over all that He redeemed -- which is the entire Universe. All things have been subjected to Him.

I believe that we are coming into a day and an hour in which this will become a greater revelation to us. We will then be able to walk this out in life, knowing that we are part of the body of Christ. Many of us have already exercised various levels of the authority in our daily walks and ministries. But I believe this is about to increase exponentially, simply because we have arrived at the appointed time in the plan of God.

The King that is being crowned this year is more than just Jesus the Head. It is also the Body of Christ, through whom He intends to subdue nations and eventually to put all things under His feet. Paul says in Rom. 16:20, "And the God of peace will soon crush Satan under YOUR feet."

It is still too early to know how this will come about. We are still in the stage of learning by observation and hearing the Word of the Lord. But something was stirred up in our hearts this past week, a fresh revelation and anointing that has encouraged and strengthened us by the Spirit.

I will have more to say about all of this in the days ahead.