Wild Time of Revelation

By David Hobbs

Like I said in my last post, in talking about this 2-hour, 5 day a week intercessory prayer meeting I have been attending: it’s phenomenal!

Not long after the “ripper” prayer meeting of last post, I started another meeting with the usual zero feeling. I prayed through the first hour just as dry. But when we began interceding together in the second hour, the Holy Spirit came and wrapped Himself around me like a warm blanket. I went from no feelings to being in the middle of His presence in a matter of moments. Duane was playing the piano like he does during the second hour, and I began quietly singing along in the Spirit as others prayed.

Full on in the Spirit now, I was sensing a mighty rolling coming from heaven like when thunder rolls and rumbles through the sky after a crack of lightning. It’s hard to explain but I was sensing a convergence of sound and vibration between heaven and earth.

Suddenly I saw it! When we are all in harmony with heaven--all aligned to God’s will for us, though each having his/her own individual part--there is a harmonic convergence connecting every one of us with God Himself in a harmony of God’s perfect will. Then Jesus’ prayer is truly fulfilled: "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” This harmonic convergence is like an invisible, spiritual grid connecting each one of us to God. Whatever God’s will, as it evolves from moment to moment, is automatically transmitted down that grid to each one of us connected to the grid and immediately put into effect by the Holy Spirit in us working with our spirit. Then perfect harmony returns the way it was before sin introduced disharmony and dissonance into the creation. Wow! That was rich.

Then I had a revelation of the effect that has on Satan’s kingdom. I remembered this film clip we saw in physics’ class about a suspension bridge built in Washington State in 1940. But as heavy as it was, it wasn’t heavy enough! Four months after completion, a storm sent 40+ mph winds against the bridge. The bridge picked out one of the frequencies of the wind and began to vibrate in sympathy with it. Soon the whole bridge was heaving and rippling in a giant sine wave. It’s crazy to watch. You can see it on YouTube under “Tacoma Narrows Bridge Collapse.” It oscillated and undulated until it broke apart and fell into the water below. God said, “That’s what happens to the kingdom of darkness when all my people are in harmony with Me: the vibrations created are amplified to such an extent that the enemy’s kingdom vibrates to rubble."

Then He reminded me of the “concrete vibrator” that cement layers use when they pour cement. Cement, when poured, does not flow out perfectly. It is honeycombed with air bubbles that weaken it. But they throw in this metal cylinder that is vibrating so intensely it liquefies the cement, which fills in every air pocket. So the vibrations from heaven, when joined and amplified with the harmony of those on earth, liquefies Satan’s kingdom and causes it to lose its structure.

Another thing I was reminded of later is the phenomenon of waves in the ocean. Most of the time the waves are choppy and don’t accomplish much. On rare occasions though, they happen to align together and produce a mighty wave that has been known to wash sailors off the deck, or fishermen off the rocks and out to sea. It only happens when they align and all their force is added together instead of being at cross-purposes. It can only happen in the spirit when we are all aligned with God’s will.

Then I understood why Satan tries so hard to divide the church. Every time there is a breach in that spiritual, harmonic grid, it weakens until its effect is nothing more than choppy waves in the harbor. Every time a person takes their eye off the Lord and onto another person or thing, they sever their own connection to the Father and lose the power of their note in His symphony. No wonder the enemy goes about so much spreading discord among the brethren. The one thing he can’t afford is for us to all get on the same page in the will of God. Then his kingdom will come crashing down just like the Tacoma Narrows Bridge.

Think of it: a huge, multi-ton bridge of cement and steel brought down by nothing more than a stiff breeze blowing through it, all because of the power of harmonic vibration! I left that prayer meeting fairly burning with understanding and excitement over the ways of God. I had to tell somebody, so now I’ve told you!

One Ripper of a Prayer Meeting!

By David Hobbs

We hear a lot about demonic attacks, and I’ve experienced a number of them. But I had never experienced anything like what I’m about to relate to you.

 I’ve started going to this intercessory prayer meeting at my old church led by Stephanie, my long time prayer compadre, and Cheryl, the pastor’s wife, with whom I have spent hundreds of hours in prayer over the last 10 years. Because of the seriousness of the days we are in, the meeting runs 2 hours a day, 5 days a week. We spend the first hour mostly praying in tongues--the first half of which we pray independently, and the second half we sit together in a circle holding hands while we pray. Then we take a few minutes to let people share what they saw or experienced in this first hour praying in the Spirit. The second hour we intercede (“pray into”) those things which people saw in the first hour. Usually there are 6-8 prayer warriors praying, but I have counted as many as 13.

The prayer can be quite intense and I often leave wrung out physically and emotionally, yet energized wondrously in the spirit from crying out to the Lord. Many times I start out with my soul completely dry. I have to go through the motions for a while, but almost invariably the Holy Spirit will come on me at some point and I will be completely quickened. It’s a wonderful prayer meeting!

Two weeks ago to the day we were in the second half of the first hour, circled up and praying in tongues. I sensed a lot of spiritual energy in the room, like static electricity in the air before a thunderstorm, but it wasn’t coming together in focus on any one thing. Then Stephanie launched into a song in the Spirit. Now when I sing a song in the Spirit, it is usually free-flowing and melodic. But Stephanie’s song was martial in character, crisp in cadence like a military marching song--loud and emphatic. It was powerful, but still didn’t draw everyone together. I tried to find a place to flow with it but couldn’t.

When we shared what we were experiencing, I said that I sensed a lot of spiritual energy, but it seemed unfocused. I got some agreement to that. Then we went into the intercession time, but people began slipping away. Stephanie had to leave, and others as well. About 20 minutes into it there was only Cheryl and me and dear sister Sherry, who rarely says anything, though she experiences things deeply in her spirit.

Then it happened!

When I see things in the Spirit I get momentary flashes of mental images, like in my Walking in the Spirit book, where, in the chapter “Spiritual Warfare in the Garden House,” I kept getting images of hideous, angry, demonic faces while feeling their presence in my spirit.

Now, suddenly I saw images of flashing swords, rearing horses, and the chaos of battle. “I think there’s a spiritual battle going on!” I said excitedly to Cheryl, “I’m going to pray into it!" We both started praying and the Spirit swept in and energized us incredibly. The forces of heaven had launched an all-out attack against the armies of hell in the room and we were right in the middle of it!

The battle was no contest. The hosts of heaven were victorious wherever they turned, just like when they went out in front of Israel’s armies in the Old Testament. It’s never a question of who is stronger--God’s forces are always stronger. The question is whether the people of God can qualify for heaven’s help. This morning we had qualified and the battle was engaged. I began casting down demonic strongholds over the area and calling in everything the devil had stolen from us: our health, our callings, our resources, our children, our hopes, our vision—demanding that he restore it all with interest, demanding that he give up all his ill-gotten gain--that he restore seven-fold. We called out for total victory in our area and for the hundred mile radius around us—no more sickness, no more suicides, no more crime, no more demonic influence--the Kingdom of God here on earth just like it is in heaven.

It came in waves. One wave would pass and then another one would come with new images which sparked new prayers. At one point I saw the gates of hell bulging from the pressure coming against them. “The gates of hell shall not prevail against the church!” I shouted over and over. “The gates of hell shall not prevail!” I saw the gates again in vision form splintering as the pressure against them caused bits of wood to break loose and fly off. I never saw them burst open as I hoped, but they suffered significant damage.

The time went on and on with the fire and glory of God all around us and the hosts of heaven routing the wicked foe on every hand. I really thought that we had entered a new reality in God, that this was Armageddon or something--that we had crossed over a divide never to return.

There are times that does happen in the Bible. Enoch walked with God and one day, “poof!” was no more, for God took him. He entered a new realm in God never to return to the old normal. Joel 3:18 says a day is coming when:

 … the mountains shall drip with new wine, the hills shall flow with milk, and all the brooks of Judah shall be flooded with water; a fountain shall flow from the house of the Lord and water the Valley of Acacias.

 Zechariah 14 talks about a similar day:

 6It shall come to pass in that day that there will be no light; The lights will diminish. 7It shall be one day which is known to the Lord—neither day nor night. But at evening time it shall happen that it will be light. 8And in that day it shall be that living waters shall flow from Jerusalem, Half of them toward the eastern sea and half of them toward the western sea; In both summer and winter it shall occur.

 There definitely are such “suddenlys” in the Bible. But not this time. After an incredible half hour the troops rode off and the prayer meeting ended right on time! Still, I was pumped up all weekend. And even now when I relate the story to someone, I get pumped up all over again. I had never seen God launch an attack on the hordes of hell, let alone doing it right in my presence. It was, as my sister Cheryl so aptly put it, “one ripper of a prayer meeting!”

Biggest Hindrance to Church Getting on War Footing--The Rapture Doctrine

By David Hobbs

THIS IS THE 7th IN A SERIES OF POSTS REGARDING THE CHARGE THE LORD GAVE ME TO "CALL THE CHURCH TO A WAR FOOTING."

The biggest hindrance to the church in America getting on a war footing vis its belief in an imminent rapture. The notion that we will be snatched out of here at any time, certainly before any major hostilities erupt, means we won’t have to face the major spiritual armies massing against us. I run into this all the time; people start to talk about what’s about to come against us in the church, then they catch themselves and say, “Wow, I’m glad we’ll be raptured out of here before that happens!” When I worked for the government we called this a “short-timers attitude.” Since you were going to leave soon, why worry about things going on—just leave them for the next person to deal with. In the military too, when you got within a month or so or your separation, you not only quit worrying about problems, you almost quit working altogether. The same thing in school; we called it “spring fever.” A lot of the church has a bad case of this “spring fever” so they certainly don’t want to hear about the necessity of going on a war footing.

No one can deny the rapture as it’s taught by Paul in 1 Thes. 4:16-17 and 1 Cor. 15--it’s in the Bible. It’s going to happen just like Paul says. But when is it going to happen? That is the million-dollar question that everyone thinks they know the answer to. But the wrong answer could plunge an unsuspecting church into a fight for its life against forces it is totally unprepared for. “That’s just your opinion, Brother Hobbs, what makes you think you know better than we?” The short answer is: because there are scriptures being totally ignored like they weren’t even in the Bible. But they are there, and we’d better consider them now while we still have time.

First let’s look at the end time scenario as it is commonly taught. The world gets wickeder like the Bible says. The perilous times come that Paul mentions in 1 & 2 Timothy. The stage is set for the anti-Christ to come forth and take over the world, but he can’t. Something is in his way, holding him back.

In talking about the rapture in 2 Thes. and how the Thessalonians misunderstood his teaching in 1 Thes., Paul goes into a fuller explanation in 2 Thes. 2 starting in verse 3:

 "Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God. Don’t you remember that when I was with you I used to tell you these things? And now you know what is holding him back, so that he may be revealed at the proper time. For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth …" [NIV] 

 So who or what is is holding the anti-Christ back? “Gosh Brother Hobbs, everyone knows that--it’s the church!” (More specifically, the power of the Holy Spirit working through the church.) As the teaching goes, the church is now holding back the anti-Christ until the church is removed from the earth via the rapture. Then the anti-Christ comes forth and the world enters into tribulation, the bowls of wrath are poured out, the beast is judged and the wicked perish while the Christians are safe in heaven at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.

 That’s a nice story, but does it fit reality? Has the church been holding any wicked or evil thing back? Abortion? Homosexual agenda? Corruption? Violence? Societal breakdown of all kinds? What power of evil has the church held back in the last 50 years?

 If it doesn’t fit reality, how does that rapture-narrative fit with scripture? Look at Rev. chapter 12. It’s a poetic look at the war between God and the dragon (the devil). There is a woman there also who represents the people of God, both Old and New Testament. She gives birth to a Son (Jesus) who has come to defeat the dragon. The dragon tries to kill him at his birth (using King Herod) but is unable to, and Jesus flees to Egypt. Since he can’t kill the Son, the dragon goes off to make war against the woman and her seed. At this point the author interjects a clarifying point so we know exactly who this seed is: “those who keep God’s commands and hold fast their testimony about Jesus.” That sounds like us! He is going off to make war against us!

Then in chapter 13, up from the sea comes the beast. We know this is the anti-Christ because in verse 6 he has a great swelling mouth, which blasphemes God and those who dwell in heaven. So here he comes to make war against us like it said in chapter 12. But we’re not here, right? Though the rapture is not mentioned, yet we have to have been raptured away for the beast to rise out of the sea, right? (Since before this the church has been holding him back.)  Then what is the meaning of Rev. 13:7:

[the beast] was given power to wage war against God’s holy people and to conquer them. And it was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation. All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the Lamb’s book of life, the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world.

 Daniel too saw this beast (along with three others) rising out of the sea in Dan. 7. This last beast was especially ferocious and had an imposing horn (the anti-Christ) which “was waging war against the holy people and defeating them (vs. 21).” Verse 25 says again, “The holy people will be delivered into his hands for a time, times and half a time.”

Wow! Somebody’s got some wires crossed somewhere! Nowhere does it say or imply that this will be a substitute people of God raised up to replace the raptured church. No folks; we are the holy people of God, and we will be delivered into the anti-Christ’s hands right before the end. Are we ready for that? Are we ready to give our lives if need be? Or are we so sure we’re going to miss it that we are living careless and at ease? Only you can answer that for yourself, but God told me to “call the church to a war footing,” so I have to assume that many, if not most of God’s people, are unprepared for what the scriptures warn is coming.

Let’s look at the rapture again in 1 Thes. 4. Paul says that those who are alive when the rapture comes must wait for all the dead in Christ to rise from their graves and be given new, bodies. Then “we who are alive and remain” will also “meet the Lord in the air.” So all those who have ever been Christians throughout history will leave, and then every Christian still alive will leave. How many Christians does that leave on the earth? Exactly none. Then who is the anti-Christ making war against and overcoming in Dan. 7 and Rev. 13:7?

Verse 8 also implies that there are some of God’s people left, because it makes a distinction between those of the world who accept the mark of the beast, and God’s holy people who don’t. That would be a wasted sentence if it didn’t apply to anyone. And God doesn’t waste words. Besides, why would there even be warnings in the Bible about taking the mark of the beast if all the Christians were gone when it was rolled out? The Book if Revelation is a book of warning to the church, not to the world.

 Jesus confirmed that there would be Christians on the earth up to His coming at the end of the tribulation period, because He said that God's judgments would be so severe that unless those days were shortened, no flesh would live. But “for the sake of the elect,” God would shorten those days (Mt. 24:22, Mark 13:20). I don’t know of any scripture that indicates there will be a time that there are none of God’s people on the earth, as would be the case after the rapture (as it's taught).

 People go to great lengths to get around this problem, such as saying that the 144,000 mentioned in Rev. 14 were Jewish evangelists, who, after the rapture, got saved somehow and then God discipled them, raised them up, empowered them--all without the church’s help--and then they quickly evangelized the earth. Never mind the problem raised by what billions in the church failed to do over 2000 years, these 144,000 were able to do in a snap. (if that were the case, why even have the church for all those years? That would make it a colossal failure! Why reward it by rapturing it out? Rapture out the 144,000 evangelists instead! They’re the real heroes.)

So maybe people who were not saved before the rapture, got saved by seeing the rapture and missing it. All kinds of things are possible, but is there any scripture to back them up? Isn’t the whole rapture scenario just human speculation with little scriptural evidence? For most of its 2000 year history, the church has done just fine without it. It’s only been around since 1830.

But there is scripture that the anti-Christ is going to be allowed to make war on the saints and overcome them. Shouldn’t we be preparing for that event? We know it’s going to happen. God told me, “Call the church to a war footing.” Would you put human speculations ahead of heeding His voice?

The rapture scenario that makes the most sense to me is that it occurs at the second coming of the Lord; that after rising to meet the Lord in the air, the whole entourage accompanies Him back to the earth where He takes His throne and assumes His millennial reign. The verb used in the Greek for “meet” refers to guests going out to meet the guest of honor to escort him back to the estate.

Paul clearly identifies it as "the coming of the Lord" [1 Thes. 4:15]. The idea of a "secret" rapture with the trumpet blast of God, the Lord descending from heaven with a shout, the voice of an archangel, every Christian grave being broken open simultaneously around the world with bodies rising out of them as they’re being transformed, along with 3 billion Christians rising from the earth also being transformed, all being a “secret” event, is … well, mind-boggling. Rather, I see it as a cataclysmic event of epic proportions. The way Paul ends his account in 1 Thes. 4:17 agrees with this. It is the final, climatic, ultimate consumption of biblical history. The breach opened between God and man in Gen. 3 has been closed “And thus shall we ever be with the Lord.” Amen!