March 12, 2009
I wish this report were not necessary, but it is.
From time to time, charismatic preachers/evangelists/TV personalities get what they call a word from God. They do not mean an insight or a flash of wisdom. They attribute the source to God.
I don't get words from God. I am a Presbyterian. We rarely receive these words from God. We may run across some providential footnotes from time to time. That's about it.
These words from God are not taken very seriously for long in charismatic circles. The men and women who get them usually move on to new words and new visions. They don't follow through on the old ones for two or three decades. Nobody pays much attention.
But, once in a while, one of them gets a word from God that the media pick up -- maybe out of curiosity. This has happened to a minister named David Wilkerson. He wrote a paperback book three decades ago. He has not gotten much publicity since.
He writes:
I am compelled by the Holy Spirit to send out an urgent message to all on our mailing list, and to friends and to bishops we have met all over the world.AN EARTH-SHATTERING CALAMITY IS ABOUT TO HAPPEN. IT IS GOING TO BE SO FRIGHTENING, WE ARE ALL GOING TO TREMBLE - EVEN THE GODLIEST AMONG US.
Frankly, every time I look at the chart of the adjusted monetary base, I also tremble. The economy these days is worth trembling over. But this is not what Rev. Wilkerson is saying.
For ten years I have been warning about a thousand fires coming to New York City. It will engulf the whole megaplex, including areas of New Jersey and Connecticut. Major cities all across America will experience riots and blazing fires--such as we saw in Watts, Los Angeles, years ago.
Ten years is a long time to predict something that has yet to happen.
I was a child near Watts, in what later became "the 'hood." As an adult, I saw the view from the KTLA helicopter. It was bad. Blacks were burning down homes and stores owned by blacks. The streets were in and out were patrolled, just in case anyone thought he could torch white neighborhoods. No one did. The riots were contained geographically.
There will be riots and fires in cities worldwide. There will be looting--including Times Square, New York City. What we are experiencing now is not a recession, not even a depression. We are under God's wrath.
He then quotes a verse from a psalm and a passage in Jeremiah.
He has invoked the language of an Old Testament prophet. Those men operated under a major constraint. Anyone in Israel who spoke a prophecy in the name of God took a great risk. If it did not come true, he was executed.
If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them; Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. Ye shall walk after the LORD your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him. And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death; because he hath spoken to turn you away from the LORD your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, to thrust thee out of the way which the LORD thy God commanded thee to walk in. So shalt thou put the evil away from the midst of thee (Deuteronomy 13:1-5)
Wilkerson continues:
WHAT SHALL THE RIGHTEOUS DO? WHAT ABOUT GOD'S PEOPLE?First, I give you a practical word I received for my own direction. If possible lay in store a thirty-day supply of non-perishable food, toiletries and other essentials. In major cities, grocery stores are emptied in an hour at the sign of an impending disaster.
As for our spiritual reaction, we have but two options. This is outlined in Psalm 11. We "flee like a bird to a mountain." Or, as David says, "He fixed his eyes on the Lord on his throne in heaven--his eyes beholding, his eyelids testing the sons of men" (v. 4). "In the Lord I take refuge" (v. 1).
I will say to my soul: No need to run...no need to hide. This is God's righteous work. I will behold our Lord on his throne, with his eye of tender, loving kindness watching over every step I take--trusting that he will deliver his people even through floods, fires, calamities, tests, trials of all kinds.
Note: I do not know when these things will come to pass, but I know it is not far off. I have unburdened my soul to you. Do with the message as you choose.
What about prayer for the nation? Silence.
This prediction is all over the Web.
He has done this before (1993):
Predictions are not prophecy. Prophecy, so called, comes in the name of God. God's name is invoked. This is a violation of the commandment, "Do not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain" (Exodus 20:7).
There are no more prophets. The Mosaic law governing false prophets no longer applies. Anyone who says he is a prophet is either self-deceived or a charlatan. His followers are unaware that the office of prophet ceased in A.D. 70 at the fall of Jerusalem. If it didn't, then false prophets should be executed, according to the Bible.
He says: "Do with the message as you choose." I will tell you what I will do with it. I will ignore it.
Here is what I have done, and not because I got a word from God. I created a prayer page to help gain God's blessing rather than His wrath. It targets the inner city. It targets neighborhoods like the one where the church I attended for years is located, until I moved from Memphis in late 2008. Take a look. I posted it last year.
Buy a month's supply of food and say some prayers. But don't concern yourself about Rev. Wilkerson's prediction. He has been making it for a long time. It's only because the economy is so bad that he is getting a hearing.
© 2022 GaryNorth.com, Inc., 2005-2021 All Rights Reserved. Reproduction without permission prohibited.