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Goodness Gracious, Great Balls of Fire!
In 1908 a piece of heavenly rock, approximately 50 - 60
yards in
diameter, traveling 12 to 20 kilometers per second or more,
entered our
atmosphere and exploded over the frozen forests of Siberia
with 2,000
times the force of the atomic bomb exploded over Hiroshima
in 1945. The
event was in a desolate region called Tunguska, populated
only by
wildlife and a few reindeer herdsmen. If that extraterrestrial
chunk
had landed in the ocean or a desert, or most any other place
for that
matter, it would have gone largely unnoticed. However it
exploded over
one of the earth's richest sources of fuel in that the forests
of
Siberia contain one fifth of the earth's trees.
The fiery blast of the exploding asteroid (or comet) ignited
one of
histories greatest fires. Observers say that in a short
period of time
there arose over the tops of the northern larks a ball of
fire that
reached such a critical heat level that it traveled faster
than, and
even in the face of, the winds that generally drive a fire.
Trees burst
into balls of fire far in advance of the rolling storm of
flame by the
shear heat and momentum of this great fire. It was said
about this fire
that it would have burned the entire earth if it had not
run out of fuel
in the vast expanse of the Pacific Ocean.
Goodness gracious, what a powerful visual picture! Great
balls of fire
exploding with violence from the still, green trees as the
momentum of
the aggressive bonfire carried it over creeks and rivers,
across
prairies and meadows over the hills and down valleys. It
became an
unstoppable beast feeding an insatiable appetite on a vast
fuel supply
potentially threatening the entire world. This is both frightening
and
thrilling at the same time. Frightening because of the obvious
horror
of the literal fire but thrilling when you make the leap
from this
literal experience and apply it a spiritual vision.
Fire holds a special significance for us as Pentecostals
because tongues
of fire were God's signatures on the initial believers.
The generation
that lives today, like never before has a global appetite.
Small
outbreaks and even large, yet locally contained, outbreaks
are frequent
but do not satisfy the demand for a fulfillment of our collective
belief
in the prophecies of worldwide harvest. For us there will
be no
substitute and no compromise. It will be the whole gospel
to the whole
world.
We have an approaching heavenly event that promises to be
a spiritual
awakening with Tunguska like proportions. This time it is
not an
asteroid but a juggernaut of incredible spiritual force
that is the
culmination of 2,000 years of pent up prayer and faith for
a coming age
when the spirit sweeps the entire earth. We are living in
the golden
era that will see answers to prayers that the apostles prayed
while in
dungeons of despair those many eons ago. Prayers never die
but they
orbit in space until they collide with God's perfect timing
and enter
our atmosphere of reality.
January 7, 2001 the gathering of spiritual focus and endeavor
will
explode over one of the world's great sources of spiritual
fuel, the
nation of the Philippines. The spiritual hunger of the Filipinos
is
legendary among the religious organizations of the world.
The current
Pope visited the Philippines a few years ago and announced
to the world
that there is no greater evangelistic nation than the Philippines.
He
made the statement that the Philippines was to be the headquarters
for
worldwide evangelism for the entire Catholic church. The
Muslims are
pouring untold millions into the Philippines with the goal
to build a
mosque in every city, town and village in the next couple
of years. The
Mormons employ over 3,000 missionaries from North America
to blanket the
nation with it's doctrine.
General Douglas McArthur, as well as countless other strategists,
recognized that the Philippines were the key to Asia. Whoever
controls
the islands of the Philippines had his hands on the jugular
vein of
Asia. Signs in the major airports of Asia reveal a shifting
sentiment
in Asia's global position. They claim that this coming millennium
is,
"The Asian Millennium." The Roman Empire owned
the first millennium
then it gave way to Europe and North America in the second
millennium
but now, westward the tide as it appears there is indeed
a power shift
toward the vast population of Asia. Thirty years ago two
thirds of the
worlds wealth was tide up in the American stock exchange
but today the
markets of Asia posses the two thirds and that number is
growing at an
ever quickening pace. The vast majority of the world's people
live in
Asia. China has passed the one billion mark in population
long ago and
now the nation of India has joined them as the only other
nation with
one billion souls under its flag. There can be no question
that if you
are planning a global catastrophe for the kingdom of Hell
it must be
initiated in Asia. The greatest source of combustible spiritual
fuel is
in the Asian region. You owe it to yourself to play an important
role.
On December 31, the last day of the year 2000, thousands
of saints from
North America will board airplanes and descend from the
sky for the Holy
impact of the Philippines. The New Year will come with the
largest
airlift the apostolic age has ever seen. It will be an unmistakable
announcement to Hell that, "This is our Millennium!"
Upon arriving the force will be divided into 50 teams that
will spread
out strategically to the 50 major cities of the Philippines.
These 50
teams will each hold crusades and all who take the trouble
to join the
team from North America will be involved. There will be
no bystanders
and no watchers. We are not planning to wound the enemy
but are going
for the jugular. There will be evangelism leading up to
the big events
of all types. We will be involved in forms of evangelism
that may never
have been attempted before but will be birthed, spontaneously
out of
this faith soaked environment. Entire church choirs from
North America
will be employed on street corners, shopping centers and
market places.
Entrances to the cities will be celebration stations with
streamers and
worshiping heralding the coming event. Teams of local Filipino
saints
will guide the visitors from other countries of the world
around their
cities to witness and evangelize. All this effort leads
to the big
crusade in each of the 50 cities.
Now put up your spiritual periscope and focus on January
7, 2001. Feast
your eyes of faith on the scene as it has the potential
to be.
The mass choirs, made up of Filipinos and North Americans
are singing
and the crowd is large and pressing in at each place. Preachers
preach
short messages and conviction sweeps the audience with shuddering
groans. Then the 50 crusades synchronize the call for repentance
all at
the same time. If you have ever been present when a crowd
of Filipinos
repents then you can testify to the fact that there is nothing
like it
under the sun. This is pouring spiritual jet fuel on the
dry and hungry
souls. All it will take is a single spark. Turn your periscope
to
heaven for a moment. Can you see it? It is a volcanic eruption
of
molten joy while hundreds of thousands, even millions, repents
simultaneously.
Now back on earth the ungodly appetite for entertainment
that the enemy
has built into people will be used against him to fan the
flames. In
the Philippines it has become a tradition on Sunday evening
for families
to gather around their sets. Television stations will be
compelled to
carry this huge event just because it will be a curious
happening. It
will cause Hell's device to pipe to almost 30 million households,
what
will be for many, their first exposure to a new way to God.
The cameras
of the nation are directed at the preachers and the studios
are flashing
scenes from the 50 crusade sights giving the viewers the
realization
that they are witnessing an important national event. "Live
from
Cebu...live from Baguio...live from Davao..." And on
and on it goes.
The masses of people are now repenting and the impact on
the viewing
audience is electrifying. Filipinos repent with the fervor
of a mother
pleading for the life of her baby in the hands of a murderer.
In the
Manila crusade there will be literally millions doing that
one thing
that Catholicism taught them right. The art of unbridled
repentance.
Then, simultaneously, the fire falls on the 50 crusades.
Your spiritual
periscope is glowing red now with the heat of a million-soul
revival
radiating from 50 points. It is a flame that can leap barriers
that
have stopped other fires in the past because of its intensity.
The new souls speaking in tongues are a mass of action and
tears and the
engineers in the television stations are at a loss for what
to do. The
traditional religion in them is not as strong as their sense
that they
are covering a divinely orchestrated moment. The Catholic
Cardinal
rings the private line of the station manager and screams,
"Get that
trash off of the air!" They quickly go to commercial
and the phone
lines begin to ring off of the hook with the public demanding
that they
continue covering this most unusual happening. The thousands
of
visitors from North America are impacted like never before
and are great
balls of fire, laying hands on every head they can get near.
Everything
that will burn is glowing white hot.
The next day the planes are full of great balls of fire
that can't wait
to get home. Every mouth is singing the praises of a great
God and
every heart is overflowing with joy with the experience
they had just
been an important part of. The planes flying home are an
armada of Holy
Ghost fire rolling over the Pacific Ocean to spread the
flames wherever
they touch down. This is not just a Philippine revival it
is a world
wide break through. It is our best chance to sweep the globe
with a
baptism of fire. Goodness gracious, the whole earth is a
great ball of
fire!
If earthly fire can reach a critical temperature that it
is unstoppable
then why can't a spiritual flame be the same? The only limit
to the
size of a flame is the fuel that it feeds on. The spiritual
hunger of
the 70 million Filipinos is at an all time high. Now is
the time!
Let's reach our world, be a part of the greatest event the
apostolic age
has ever seen. When you get back to your home church and
your people
look into your eyes they will see the flicker of a distant
fire that has
finally come home. The last thing they say in English before
they
launch into tongues may be, "Goodness gracious, great
balls of fire!"
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