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The Decade
Beginning December 13th, I have had a number of profound visitations from the Lord. All of which have been associated with 4:30 in the morning. On the fourth of these visitations which took place on December 30th, I heard these words repeatedly, “The time has come. The time has come.” It was as if the Lord was shouting at me from heaven. When I looked at the clock and saw it was 4:30, the Holy Spirit finally revealed to me that the time 4:30 represented 430 years. In Scripture, 430 years is a very significant number—according to Exodus 12:40-41, this was the period of time that the children of Israel spent in Egypt.
Exodus 12:40-41 “Now the length of time the Israelite people lived in Egypt was 430 years. 41 At the end of the 430 years, to the very day, all the LORD's divisions left Egypt.”
As I reflected on this verse and the other verses which discuss this period of time in Scripture, the Lord spoke the following things to me. He told me that we were entering into a critical season in the history of the church. That like the “Exodus” itself, this decade would be characterized by the following things: First, divine judgment on oppressive spirits, structures, political systems, religions, philosophies, and nations. Second, these judgments would result in deliverance and freedom from bondage and oppression. This deliverance, which will be both personal and corporate, will affect every sector of our world. Third, this will be a supernatural decade. There will be incredible manifestations of God’s miraculous power as He moves to set his people free. Finally, the exodus took place during the Jewish month of Abib, which means “ears of corn” and speaks of ripening harvest. This will be a decade of unique, divine harvest in both the United States and around the world.
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The Developments
Specifically, as I have considered this decade, the Holy Spirit has shown me ten of the critical developments that will unfold during this decade. They are by no means inclusive or exclusive.
Ten Developments of this Decade
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Theological Conflict: With the continued increase of religious pluralism and syncretism, the battles faced by the Church will no longer simply be ecclesiastical and liturgical; they will become deeply theological as well. If the Church does not clearly articulate the Biblical reality of the historic doctrines of the Christian faith, its congregants will be swept away by religious relativism. This is especially true for high-school and college students, as well as young professionals. Their growing desire for expository preaching that deals with the great questions of the faith is one indicator of the battles that lie ahead. While I was praying over this issue, the Lord spoke to me that these theological battles over issues like the authority of Scripture, the nature of the Godhead and the exclusiveness of Christian soteriology will be raging by the end of this decade.
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The Re-Articulation of Christian Feminism: While the Church continues to debate the ecclesiastical role of women, universities nationwide continue to define feminism in increasingly appealing ways to young women. If the Church does not engage with this generation on this issue we will lose the most educated, confident, and capable generation of women in American history. If we do not clearly articulate a Biblical view of feminism that synthesizes both motherhood/family and the right of every women to experience the fullness of her God-given destiny, then these women will be forced to look elsewhere to define femininity and find affirmation in their desire to walk in all that God has for them.
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Redefining Adoption: We live in an hour when American families are being destroyed at an unprecedented level. Part of God’s answer to the continued deterioration of the American family is a re-definition of adoption. During this decade, we will see both a continued increase in the number of Christians adopting, as well as a shift in the very concept of adoption. Adoptions, which are typically associated with legally adopting infants and toddlers, will become more and more non-traditional. Although traditional adoptions will also continue to increase, we will see the parent-less of all ages being placed in families. As the Spirit of Adoption continues to move on the hearts of God’s people, even older couples who would have never considered a traditional adoption will open their homes and their hearts and begin to parent a broken generation. As the Holy Spirit continues to bring His church beyond multigenerational worship, into intergenerational ministry the practical manifestation of the “spirit of adoption”, through all forms of adoptions, will be critical.
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Redemptive Judgments in the Middle East: While praying, God clearly spoke to me that He is going to begin the process of visibly judging those nations which are characterized by their hatred for Israel and/or their persecution of the Church. More specifically, we will see the visible dealings of God among the more militant Muslim nations. This is the case because the sins of fundamentalist, militant Islam have “reached its full measure”. These nations will begin to experience the redemptive judgment of God. I say “redemptive” because this decade will also be characterized by a continued harvest of precious Muslims. Economically, the effects of the financial meltdown in Dubai will be felt throughout the Islamic world. As the decade progresses, financial shakings will also be experienced by other wealthy Muslim nations. Although these economic problems will effect the funding of terrorist organizations, the angst, rage, and impoverishment produced by this downturn will fuel terrorism throughout the decade. In the end, however, God will have His way with Islam. More specifically, the Lord spoke the following word to me, “I will publicly smite the Prince of Persia and break their ambition.” Whether the “Prince of Persia” refers to the physical leadership of modern day Iran and/or the spiritual powers that rule the nation, I do not know. One thing is for certain, the turmoil we are seeing in Iran is by no means over. We must never forget how much God loves the people of Persia. He used Persians to free His people from their exile in Babylon and to finance the escape of Mary, Joseph and Jesus from Israel to Egypt. Though the government of Iran will be shaken, the evangelization of Persians both in Iran and around the world will continue to grow in power and in scope.
Although I am not classifying Israel as a nation under judgment, before leaving the subject of the Middle East, let me talk about Israel for a moment. While praying, the Lord spoke the following words to me, “Israel’s decade of sorrows”. There is no way I can put into words the pain I saw and felt. I could see craters in the ground and there was the smoke of explosions as I heard the nation wailing. I believe Israel will experience some of the most horrific terrorist attacks in her history. In the middle of this pain, however, God will continue to build His precious church in Israel. As the church grows during this time of national pain, however, there will be a more visible backlash against the Messianic movement in Israel.
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The Continuing Transformation of China: The ongoing spiritual transformation of China will continue. In fact, over the coming decade the gospel will penetrate even the most elite segments of Chinese society. However, this spiritual transformation will also result in radical political change. While praying, I saw the streets of China filled with millions of its citizens. Above them was a gigantic dragon puppet, which is typically associated with the Chinese New Year parade. In anger and fury, they pulled the puppet to the ground and destroyed it. This puppet symbolized the current Communist government of China. Whether this political transformation will be fully realized within this decade, I do not know. One thing is for certain, the current Communist regime will be overthrown by its own people.
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Divine Immigration: No matter how many laws America passes, or how many border fences we build, the massive influx of immigrants from Latin America will continue unabated. Sociological reasons aside, I am convinced that the Holy Spirit is bringing them to our nation. There is a pattern in Church history which could be termed as the “Go and Come” mechanism. In other words, if we do not go and evangelize a particular group of people, they will come to us. If we will embrace and disciple this divine influx of humanity, these culturally Christian immigrants may well be the very “salt and light” that ultimately preserves the moral center of American society. Despite the differences Evangelicals have with Catholicism, because of their stands on the sanctity of human life, God has not forgotten them. The continued influx of Latinos into America will prove to be the re-vitalization of American Catholicism. Latin-Americans will eventually rise to incredible positions of power within the Catholic Church, both nationally and internationally.
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Christians in Politics: When it comes to political party affiliation, over the coming decade many Christians will go from being hyper-political to almost apolitical. Deeply discouraged and betrayed over the corruption and duplicity of both parties, numbers of Christians will be tempted to drop out of the political process. However, if the Church will embrace her calling to be the nations‘ priest, prophet and pastor, by the end of the decade we will see the emergence of one of the finest generations of young American politicians in history. Although many of them will be casually affiliated with one of the major parties, they will be neither Democrat nor Republican in their hearts. If the major parties do not rediscover their Judeo-Christian roots another major political party will be birthed. While I was praying and pondering these issues, I saw Lady Liberty prostrate on the ground in the late stages of pregnancy. An American flag had been draped over her. I believe she was pregnant with both the next generation of politicians and a new political order. Whether this birthing will be the transformation of a current political party or the birthing of a third party, I do not know. I do know that the Church can no longer settle for token visits to the Oval Office when we are called to disciple the Daniels and Esthers of this generation.
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The Decade of the Supernatural: The Lord clearly spoke to me that one of the marks of this decade will be the manifestation of His supernatural power. As in Exodus, God will demonstrate His supernatural power as He comes to deliver people out of their personal and collective captivity. These supernatural experiences are critical because in our increasingly post-modern world people are crying out for spiritual truths. Tragically, the average minister spends most of his/her time seeking to reproduce what the world will always be able to do better, instead of believing God to produce those things that the world can never imitate. Furthermore, without the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit there is no true healing for the broken human soul. This fresh outbreak of supernatural power will be directly related to the clear proclamation of the gospel in evangelistic settings and to the tending of human soul through demon deliverance and soul healing.
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Evangelism and Church Growth: As I was praying over the United States, the Lord showed me a large, dark cloud hovering over the US. This cloud represents the recession and the other problems that we are currently facing as a nation. People were looking at the cloud with expressions of fear and consternation. Lightening began to flash, and it began to rain. The next thing I knew, there were pastures of green grass spreading everywhere, even on concrete and in deserts. There were flocks of sheep giving birth to lambs. I was taken aback by both the speed of the births and the strength of the lambs. As I have pondered this vision, I have come to believe that the decade we are entering will be filled with evangelism and church growth. God is going to rain on the evangelistic seeds we have been faithfully planting. . Among those groups that I see God moving in are: Latin American immigrants, students, and baby boomers. The Lord spoke to me that this recession was a wake up call to the baby boom generation. Even as many of them will have to continue working well into their “retirement years”, so their spiritual work is not done either. As we place our trust in the transformative power of the Gospel, we will be amazed to see the statistics that arise out of what God will accomplish in this decade.
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America’s Economy: As many of you know, in the last decade God spoke to me through a vision of a jockey on a race horse. In this decade, God gave me a new metaphor; I saw myself inside of a race car. My hand was gripping the steering wheel. Everything felt very constrained and controlled. The next thing I knew, the car was slowly moving forward. As the checkered flag dropped, all of the cars began to increase their speed. I saw that I was racing around a gigantic oval track. As I increased in speed, I began to break out of the pack and chase down the lead cars. The car leading the pack was red. As I was attempting to pass it, its engine began to disintegrate, and I had to slam on my brakes. This took place after four and half laps. I slammed on the brakes so hard that I went into a skid. Although I never crashed into the wall, the car was definitely out of control. The words “thirteen months” came to me at this point. I eventually came out of the skid and continued the race with no major damage to the car. Although it is very hard to interpret your own visions, these are my thoughts on the matter. America’s economy will slowly recover. Well before the decade is over it will begin to accelerate. However, this acceleration will be affected by a sudden breaking in our economy, which will result in thirteen month period economic skidding. Prophecy aside, I would like to speculate on a few things I have been wondering about. I have to wonder if the red car with the disintegrating engine in the race is China. If that is the case, their economic problems would both “put the brakes” on the US economy as well as bring the major political destabilization that I have been sensing will come to their country. Whatever be the case, there will be a period where our economy seems to skid out of control. However, we will regain control and continue our economic acceleration.
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The Demands
Although this decade is filled with tremendous promise, it will also place heavy demands on our lives. I believe that Deuteronomy 4:34 perfectly captures the reality of what it will entail to experience the promise of this decade.
Deuteronomy 4:34 “Has any god ever tried to take for himself one nation out of another nation, by testings, by miraculous signs and wonders, by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, or by great and awesome deeds, like all the things the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your very eyes?”
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“Testings”
Although God dealt with the gods and people of Egypt, we must never forget that the children of God were also severely tested during this time. In fact, the closer they came to their final breakthrough, the more the pressure and stress on their lives intensified. Despite the vital importance of things like “boot camps” and assessment centers for church-planters, they can never fully reproduce the hellish pressure of planting and leading a church in a broken world. Examples of the warfare and stress involved in birthing a spiritual nation can be seen in the story of Israel’s exodus out of Egypt.
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Miraculous Signs and Wonders
In our increasingly post-modern world, people are crying out for spiritual realities. Through the presence of God and the gifts of the Holy Spirit, we have the ability to help people experience a supernatural reality that the world can never fully imitate. Tragically, the average minister spends most of his time seeking to reproduce what the world will always be able to do better instead of believing God to produce those things that the world can never imitate.
Furthermore, this same supernatural power is vital to the whole process of discipleship and spiritual wholeness. Where once ministers realized they were called of God to set the captives free, there is now an over reliance on Christian psychologists and counselors. As much as I believe their role is critical and regularly refer people to them, this does not negate the call of God on Christian leaders to cast out demons and heal the broken hearted.
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“War”
Three of the greatest challenges we face in the ministry are work, weight, and warfare. No matter how skilled we become at the work of the ministry or how graced we are to bear its weight, we must never forget that we have also been called into a violent conflict with an implacable foe. Without prayer and the exercise of spiritual authority we will never win the battles that this warfare entails. Specifically, the whole issue of every leader having a prayer shield of committed intercessors will be vital during the next decade. As the kingdom of God continues to advance into the heart of darkness, the enemy’s retaliation against leaders and their families will be vicious.
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Did it occur to you that in the vision of the racecar that you had, it spun out of control 4 1/2 times, and perhaps this is also related to the 4:30 am. waking in which the Lord revealed it meant deliverance, freedom & a harvest of souls. Thank you for sharing this word. God bless 