The Great Outpouring

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Earl Henderson
5 years ago
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1 The Great Outpouring The heavens have opened. We re in a real and powerful move of God. It began around the World and has now come to the United States. Ministers and prophets have proclaimed it for years and we are seeing the beginning of it in Florida it will spread. A prophet of God said that this move will come from the street because we in the church have rejected the move and power of God whether we realize it or not. (I believe that is true. Most of our best spirit-filled churches have gone seeker-friendly where the power of God is not allowed to move in the main auditorium. Or, the Holy Spirit is so controlled from the platform that His moving is severely limited.) And with the outpouring CONTROVERSY! A well-known and solid in the Word minister of the Gospel said to me a few days ago, You ll see three things in any move of God. 1) The Power of God. 2) Demonic Activity. 3) Flesh wanting to be seen. 1) The Power of God. In any real move of God you ll see the Holy Spirit draw men and women to Jesus Christ in real repentance. You ll see miracles, signs and wonders. What are those signs and wonders what should we expect. Let s look at what Jesus actually said: Matthew 10:7, 7 And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. 8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give. Mark 16:15, 15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. 16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. 17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; 18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. In Acts the following miracles, signs and wonders happened: Acts 2 Speaking in Tongues Flames of fire appeared People appeared to be drunk Hearers heard the speakers in their own language Acts 3 Lame man was healed Acts 4 place was shaken and they were filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the Word of God with Boldness Acts 5 Ananias and Sapphira are struck dead for lying to the Holy Spirit Sick brought into the streets that Peter s shadow might fall on them

2 Angel opens the prison doors and frees the imprisoned Disciples Acts 6 Ordaining Deacons who serve and preach and pray Acts 7 Stephen s martyrdom Acts 8 Philip the Evangelist (ordained as a Deacon in Acts 6) holds meetings in Samaria miracles of healing and casting out demons Simon the sorcerer sees and believes Peter and John lay hands on the new believers and the Holy Spirit falls Simon offers money for this power and is rebuked Philip is translated about 20 miles to Azotus Acts 9 Saul falls under the power of God in the vision He is blinded The Lord speaks to Ananias to go pray for him, and receives a Word of Knowledge as to where Saul is and a Word of Wisdom of what will be in his work for God. Saul is filled with the Spirit his eyes are healed and he begins preaching Without going on in depth through every chapter (though please do) you see the types of miracles, signs, and wonders which happen. PLEASE NOTE: There is no gold dust. There is no oil dripping from the Apostle s hands filling cups. Could these things happen and be of God? Yes. However, in light of someone receiving sight, or the lame walking, someone covered in glitter or dripping with oil would seem quite a frivolous thing to me. Perhaps of more interest no one tattoos and pierces themselves silly. No one knees anyone else while praying for them. The prayers recorded are simple, Silver and gold have I none but such as I have give I thee, in the Name of Jesus of Nazareth rise up and walk. There is no BAM! Sha-BAM! No one points an imaginary pistol (forming their hand into a pistol with the index finger) and shoots the seeking so they fall under the power. Can God work in and around all of our human frailties and nonsense? The church at Corinth was having great moves of the Power of God so much so that Paul had to give guidelines for moving in the Gifts of God all the while they were getting drunk literally on the communion wine! (1 Cor. 11:21) 2) Demonic Activity. Job 1:6, 6 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them. I find this fascinating,... and Satan came also among them. Wherever you find God at work the devil won t be far behind. A glaring example is Acts 16: The girl with the spirit of divination. The demon said, These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation. Now why, you may well ask, would the devil say such a thing? Remember this slave girl made money for

3 her masters by telling fortunes. Once in a while the devil will give you enough truth so you ll believe the next thing out of his mouth! I believe she was trying to get in with the right crowd so she could deceive the whole multitude after the Apostle s left. If you can t beat em, join em. Paul recognized the devil and rebuked the demon (Acts 16:18). Deception is still a great tool of the enemy today perhaps his greatest tool, especially against believers. Out of the great outpouring known as the Welsh Revival came wonderful works of God as well as many excesses. Jesse Penn-Lewis and Evan Roberts (the evangelist so mightily used by God in that outpouring) together wrote, War on the Saints to give instruction and wisdom for moving in the Spirit of God. In the appendix, they give some examples. "A very holy and useful woman says, that soon after receiving the baptism of the Spirit, there came to her one night in the church, a wild abnormal impulse to throw the hymn-book at the preacher, and run over the church screaming; and it took all her will power to keep her hand from throwing that book, but she had common sense to know that the Holy Spirit was not the author of such a suggestion. If she had yielded to that sudden feeling, it would have likely given the fanatical demon admission to her emotional nature and ruined her life-work. She is a person who knows the mighty demonstrations of the Holy Spirit, and understands God sufficiently to know He is not the source of wild and indecent conduct..." "another person said he felt like rolling on the floor, and groaning and pulling the chairs around, but he distinctly perceived that the impulse to do so had something wild in it; and a touch of selfdisplay contrary to the gentleness and sweetness of Jesus; and as quick as he saw it was an attack of a false spirit, he was delivered. But another man had the same impulse, and fell down groaning and roaring, beating the floor with his hands and feet, and the demon entered into him as the angel of light, and got him to think that his conduct was of the Holy Ghost, and it became a regular habit in the meetings he attended, until he would ruin every religious meeting he was in..." (both quotes from WAR ON THE SAINTS unabridged Edition, 9 th edition, Thomas E. Lowe, Ltd., New York) The scriptures tell us to submit to God and resist the devil (James 4:7). 3) Flesh wanting to be seen. I watched a worship leader once have their left hand shake terrifically as they held the microphone in their right hand. As they wanted to shift the mic to their left hand it stopped shaking and the right hand shook. I watched a musician shake, bend and twist until it came time to play the keyboard and it stopped immediately then as their services were not needed they began the almost uncontrolled spasms. If we were really and suddenly standing before the Lord of Lords and King of Kings do you really think we d have all those gyrations, spasms and contortions. I wonder? We wouldn t act that way before the President or before the Queen of England. I

4 personally think many would react by bowing or prostrating themselves on the ground with praise and worship and perhaps weeping. People trembled from fear in scripture. Demons convulsed people as they were commanded to leave. When the Holy Spirit does something, remember, he always lifts up and magnifies Jesus, always that is his stated purpose. John 16:13, 13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. 14 He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. 15 All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you. I would give 3 guidelines of discerning whether some impression is of God or the devil or flesh: 1) Prove all things test everything with the Word. Kathryn Kuhlman was oft known to say, If I tell you one thing and the Bible tells you something else the Bible is right! If your preacher or the evangelist tells you one thing, and the Bible tells you something else, the Bible is right! If you cannot find a teaching or action in the Bible run from it. (1 Thess 5:21) 2) Common Sense The Bible calls it wisdom. (Prov. 4:7) Much of the excesses and flesh we see today are simply a lack of good old-fashioned common sense. Where are good manners, taste. Sometimes when I watch the way our Charismatic Saints act in church, I wonder if there are any real gentlemen and ladies left on the earth? James tells us, 17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. (James 3:17) 3) Fruit 20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. (Matthew 7:20) What is the fruit of the teaching (after the thing has passed 1 & 2 above) or the action? Does it bring glory to God? Does it bring attention to self and inflate pride? Is Jesus lifted up and are men and women brought to the Lord? (John 16:13) Are Christians established in their faith. (Rom 1:11) I know of a man a big sturdy shipman who was healed of cancer in Kathryn Kuhlman s meetings. My friend, Ruth Fisher, prayed with him and was a first hand witness to this miraculous incident. Frustrated in not receiving he shouted out in desperation, Damn it, God! Give it to me! God heard him in his colorful shipman s tongue and graciously healed him of cancer. The story of Sam Doud s healing is recorded in Miss Kuhlman s book, NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE WITH GOD, The Big Fisherman (minus his exclamatory prayer). God answered, yet in proving all things I cannot find Damn it, God! Give it to me! anywhere in the Lord s or the Disciples recorded prayers so I would never teach men and women to pray that way just because God in His great mercy heard

5 the cry of a man s heart and healed him! Common sense alone should tell the gentleman the lady that that prayer is usually inappropriate. John the Baptist was an eccentric character in his dress and lifestyle. Elijah was an eccentric character. Ezekiel had visions so strange some have tried to adapt his teachings into Starships and Aliens! Can God work and use the strange and unusual? He certainly has done so. Should we accept every manifestation at face value? The late Pauline Parham, daughter-in-law of Charles Fox Parham of the Topeka, Kansas outpouring in 1901 said, The night Dad Parham walked into the Azusa Street Revival witches were holding a séance at the altar and people thought it was of God! (When Parham tried to bring things in line with scripture those who didn t want someone raining on their parade promptly ousted him from their revival!) Yet, history says that thousands upon thousands came from all over the world and received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit taking the Power of God back with to their peoples. On the one hand outpouring that changed the World on the other hand, Pauline said, Dad Parham always felt that fanaticism entered Pentecost at Azusa Street. (Quoted from a televised interview I conducted with Pauline Parham many years ago.) I want the real. I believe I have seen the real in Lakeland, Florida. I believe I have also seen demonic activity and the flesh. The Reverend William Mark Bristow

Holy spirit in manifestation (part two)

Holy spirit in manifestation (part two) Corinthians 12:7-11 lists nine evidences of the holy spirit. The nine are not to be considered all inclusive rather some of the things the spirit enables a believer