Time Has Come (Pt. 5)

Most Christians believe that Jesus will one day return in power, glory, and judgment to reward His followers and to punish those who have rejected God. But the question that divides the hearts and minds of many believers—and sometimes even divides Christians into separate camps and denominations—is whether believers will experience some or all of the tough times described in the book of Revelation and other prophetic scriptures.

For many years I preached that Christians would not have to endure the horrors of the Tribulation, that Jesus would return and take His people out of this world. Admittedly, most of my thoughts on the matter were not original, nor were my views based on years of studying the Scriptures and reaching valid biblically based conclusions. For the most part, I simply believed what I had heard sincere men and women of God teach, namely, that Jesus was coming back before the seven-year Tribulation in an event called the Rapture.

Although the word rapture does not appear in the Bible, we based our ideas on a passage from Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians. The apostle encouraged believers with these words:

For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord (1 Thessalonians 4:16–17, nkjv).

Although this passage does indeed describe the Second Coming, we drew some unwarranted conclusions about when and how this event would occur. This “catching away” of the saints, which is what the word rapture means, was to take place secretly, as far as unbelievers were concerned. Only believers, it was thought, would be able to experience and witness the appearing of the Lord. Suddenly, Jesus was to appear in the air, and in the twinkling of an eye we would be gone, whisked off the ground to meet the Lord in the sky. The dead in Christ, believers who had died prior to His coming, would rise first, and together we would all meet Him in the air. From there He would take us to live with Him eternally. Later, Christ would return again, this time in power and glory to judge the world and set up His eternal kingdom. The Rapture was to happen, of course, before any events of the Tribulation began to pummel the earth.

One of my favorite prophetic Scripture verses is, “Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man” (Luke 21:36, nkjv). I placed a heavy emphasis on the word escape, because I was convinced it went against God’s loving nature to allow His people to go through the horrors of the Tribulation.

My thinking on the subject changed when, in prison, I searched out the passages that described the Rapture that precedes the Tribulation. To my amazement, I could not find any. I found certain scriptures that other preachers .and I twisted and conveniently interpreted to fit my “prosperity” messages, but when I allowed the Bible to speak for itself, I realized that my notions of a pre-Tribulation Rapture were not based in scripture.

(Excerpt from “Time Has Come”)

Time Has Come (Pt. 4)

You are not in Darkness

Many sincere people are asleep at the wheel.  Some are cavorting with the devil, veering increasingly off course toward destruction. Others see the dangerous direction we are heading, but they naively hope that Jesus will come and save us before we hit the rocks.  Escaping the coming tribulation would be wonderful, but I’m convinced that we must go through some of these tribulation events. After years of studying the Scripture, I find little evidence that Jesus is going to return for Christians before the difficult times of Revelation begin to happen on earth. Although I’m certain Jesus is coming, we may indeed be here for what Jesus called the “beginnings of sorrows,” (Matthew 24:8, NKJV) and perhaps much more.  We need to understand the signs of the times and recognize the events leading to the Lord’s return.

In churches all across America, I’ve asked congregations, “How many of you believe that Jesus is going to come for us like a thief in the night?”  It’s a bit of a trick question, but I use it to make a point.

Most hands go up.  Nearly everyone has a vague familiarity with the idea that Jesus will return when we least expect Him.  Those who have made headlines in recent years for their foolish, unbiblical predictions of Christ’s return tend only to further convince us that we cannot know when Jesus is coming.

But if you look at the Scripture carefully, you may be surprised.  The Word does not say that He is coming like a thief in the night for believers.

“For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night.  While they are saying, ‘Peace and safety!’ then destruction will come upon them suddenly like birth pangs upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.  But you brethren, are not in darkness, that the day should overtake you like a thief; for you are all sons of light and sons of day.  We are not of night nor of darkness; so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober. (1 Thessalonians 5:2-6 NASB).

Do you see that?  You are not to be in darkness.  You are not of the night.  You are to be watching and waiting, already prepared for the coming of the Lord. You will have advance information, namely, signs you can recognize that His coming is near.  You will not be caught unaware.  Or at least you should not be.

Jesus said, “My sheep know my voice.”  They recognize not just the sound of His voice, but the truth of His words.  If you are a fan of John Grisham novels, you recognize the author’s voice in each of his books.  If you’ve read the great writers from the past, such as Shakespeare, you recognize their style.  Similarly, if you study the Scriptures, you can know the voice of Jesus and recognize the truth of His Word. By becoming familiar with His voice, you will be able to recognize when something is consistent with what Jesus said or whether it is an idea concocted by someone else, well intentioned though they may be. There is no reason for you to be caught off guard by the cataclysmic events that are about to happen. Revelation will help you to be ready.

(excerpt from Time Has Come)

Time Has Come (Pt. 3)

Many first-century believers—including, no doubt, the Apostle John—expected Jesus to return within their lifetime. When He didn’t, some people became disillusioned and discouraged. They did not understand that certain things had to happen in history before Christ’s return. For instance, according to Jesus’ own words, Jerusalem had to be under Jewish control before the end-times events begin to happen. That did not occur until 1948, when the nation of Israel was re-established, and Jerusalem once again came under the governance of the Jewish people, though both Christianity and Islam have sacred sites there.  Consequently, most, if not all, of the prophecies recorded in Revelation, can easily be fulfilled in our generation. Now, when the prophetic mysteries begin to unfold, they will occur in rapid succession. That’s why you need to have your heart right and your house in order now, ready today for the return of Jesus Christ.

At the same time, the Apostle Paul warned that “the day of Christ,” including the Lord’s climactic return, would not happen until the “man of sin” is revealed.  This is the Antichrist who “takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God.”

If the Antichrist is going to be on the rise, wisdom says we should prepare to go through some difficult days before the Lord’s return. I know you are hoping that Jesus will come prior to the tribulation period, and so am I.  But what if you are living right where you are today when the “four horsemen of Revelation” begin to ride, when unprecedented natural disasters strike the world, and when the Antichrist appears?  What will you do? Will you even understand the significance of these developments? All of these things and more are definitely going to happen; the only question is when.


Excerpt from Time Has Come

Time Has Come (Pt. 2)

In some ways, I feel like I can relate to John, the author of the Revelation.  It was through suffering,  imprisonment and the subsequent solitude that John found himself “in the Spirit” and ready to see, hear and record the spiritual mysteries of the Revelation.  John’s dedication to Jesus cost him everything, but his suffering paled in the light of those spiritual mysteries given to him to proclaim to Jesus’ followers – but these mysteries were reserved for another time, another age.

Daniel was instructed to “shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end” and that time is now.  We know it’s now because Jesus told us the signs to look for in Matthew 24, Luke 21, and in the deeply prophetic book of Revelation.  The time has come for the mysteries of Revelation to be revealed and each one confirm and herald the Second Coming of Jesus, Hallelujah!  The Revelation is not bad news – the Revelation is the Good News!

David once said that he would not give to God that which cost him nothing.  If there is one work of my lifetime that I could choose to do again above all others, it would be this book about my Revelation studies.

So today, these ‘mysteries’ that I share with you are a precious thing – a costly thing – that I joyfully give to you and others in hopes that they might help you to be prepared in the days of the Revelation.  We are surely in those days right now, and like the sons of Issachar, we need to understand the times and the seasons in which we live and know what to do.

Even as we see the world coming apart, we don’t have to be afraid.  In fact, we should view the very fact of our existence in this prophetic countdown as evidence of God’s invitation to be an active participant in the greatest event this world has ever seen – an event for which TIME HAS COME – the Second Coming of Jesus!

Time Has Come (Pt. 1)

I couldn’t be more excited about my new book, “Time Has Come.” This book has been many years in the making, and for me personally, it’s the most significant work of my life in print.

Almost 25 years ago when I was in prison, I studied every word of the book of Revelation and God illuminated things to me that I had never seen before.  I hadn’t seen them because I was too busy building and expanding Heritage USA.  I loved Jesus, but it took a prison experience for me to “come away” with Him and get still long enough to develop a deep relationship with Him – deeper than I had ever had before in the spotlight of celebrity renown – and deep enough that He could trust me with the mysteries He wanted to reveal to me.   

When I came out of prison, I had over 400 typewritten pages of study on the book of Revelation, and a new perspective on the emphasis of my teaching ministry for the rest of my life.  Where I had previously taught a regurgitated prosperity message, I now knew that not only was I wrong, but the Revelation message was diametrically opposed to what I had been teaching. 

These studies and this perspective are what I now share in my new book, “Time Has Come.”  The book of Revelation is a mystery to most people, even those who are within the Church, but it shouldn’t be – especially not now because it is happening right before our eyes.  If the Church is asleep and cannot see that this age is about to come to an end and that Jesus is coming very, very soon, and its leaders do not preach the return of Jesus (in favor of a much more upbeat message), then the consequences are almost too terrible to ponder. 

I received a few invitations to preach shortly after I was released from prison, but I was shocked and appalled when I heard time after time, “Jim, you can preach anything but the Revelation.  We don’t want to scare our people and the Revelation is such a heavy topic.” 

(to be continued)

Can Dry Bones Live Again?

What could be more unlikely than a pile of human bones living again? It doesn’t seem like a very intelligent question to ask and an even more impossible thing to actually occur.

Yet, God Himself asked the question of Ezekiel as he looked out over the valley of dry bones:

And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live?

and I answered, O Lord God, thou knowest. —EZEKIEL 37:3

As Ezekiel looked at the dry valley of bones, he had no hope. He saw only bones that appeared to be dead, dry and beyond hope.

There was a reason God asked Ezekiel if the bones could live. God wanted Ezekiel to know that the bones could live, and that he had a very important role to play in their living. Let’s read on:

Ezekiel 37:1-10: Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD! 5 This is what the Sovereign LORD says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. 6 I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD.’”

7 So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. 8 I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.

9 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Come, breath, from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’” 10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feeta vast army.

In these last days, there are many of God’s people that appear to be dead, dry and beyond hope. The battles have been fierce, and while they appear to be defeated, don’t count them out just yet. In fact, it is the Lord’s heart to count them in! The Lord is raising up an army – a vast army from the bones of those who appear to be lifeless and without hope!

It is the prophetic call and responsibility of the Church to speak life to the dry bones within. The Lord said “I will build my Church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it!”

From my own personal experience, when you have been down for such a long time, and someone tells you that you CAN get up – it’s as life-giving as the very breath you breathe! You can rise again! You may have been told it’s over, you’re done. But, God says NOW is the time, NOW is your time!

Jesus came to give hope to the hopeless. It’s time we learn to speak life to those who need encouragement and hope. When you speak words of life, you are literally creating the will to live – and that is Jesus’ heart!

NOW is the time to speak life to someone!

The Joy of the Birth of Jesus!

There’s nothing that compares to the joy of the birth of a new baby.  This week, we’ve been blessed with the greatest blessing a family can have – a new baby!  Little Lori gave birth to a baby girl, Olivia, on December 20th!  To say that we are excited is an understatement.  We are elated!

To have this birth happen at Christmastime is a double blessing for our family because we also love to celebrate the birth of Jesus!  When Jesus was born, He was received with great joy because many knew of His mission to be the Savior of the world.  But before all the joy, there was to be great sorrow in what he would endure on the Cross.

In John 16:20-22, this is recorded:  I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn over what is going to happen to me, but the world will rejoice. You will grieve, but your grief will suddenly turn to wonderful joy. It will be like a woman suffering the pains of labor. When her child is born, her anguish gives way to joy because she has brought a new baby into the world. So you have sorrow now, but I will see you again; then you will rejoice, and no one can rob you of that joy.

I can promise you that before Olivia was born, Little Lori suffered in labor to bring her forth.  But, the moment she was born, there was only one emotion in that room – JOY!

Jesus suffered tremendously here on this earth – even going to the Cross so He could give all of those who would receive His sacrifice NEW BIRTH!  Now that’s something to celebrate and be joyful for!

Jesus Brought Joy even before He was Born

Even before Jesus was born, He brought joy to the world.  Luke records this in chapter 1:  But the angel said, “Don’t be afraid, Zechariah! God has heard your prayer. Your wife, Elizabeth, will give you a son, and you are to name him John. You will have great joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth…”

John the Baptist was born to announce the coming of the Christ Child, Jesus!  

The Birth of Jesus Foretold

In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a village in Galilee, to a virgin named Mary. “Don’t be afraid, Mary,” the angel told her, “for you have found favor with God! You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High.

Mary Visits Elizabeth

A few days later Mary hurried to the hill country of Judea, to the town where Zechariah lived. She entered the house and greeted Elizabeth. At the sound of Mary’s greeting, Elizabeth’s child leaped within her, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.  Elizabeth gave a glad cry and exclaimed to Mary, “God has blessed you above all women, and your child is blessed.  Why am I so honored, that the mother of my Lord should visit me?  When I heard your greeting, the baby in my womb jumped for joy. New Living Translation

The Word of Jesus’ Birth brings JOY!

Matthew records in chapter 2: And the star they had seen in the east guided them to Bethlehem. It went ahead of them and stopped over the place where the child was.  When they saw the star, they were filled with joy!  They entered the house and saw the child with his mother, Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasure chests and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. New Living Translation

News of Jesus’ birth brings Joy to the shepherds!

Luke records in chapter 2: That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified, but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people.  The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! New Living Translation

Mary and Joseph bring Jesus to the Temple!

Luke records in chapter 2: At that time there was a man in Jerusalem named Simeon. He was righteous and devout and was eagerly waiting for the Messiah to come and rescue Israel. The Holy Spirit was upon him and had revealed to him that he would not die until he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. That day the Spirit led him to the Temple. So when Mary and Joseph came to present the baby Jesus to the Lord as the law required, Simeon was there. He took the child in his arms and praised God, saying, “Sovereign Lord, now let your servant die in peace, as you have promised. I have seen your salvation, which you have prepared for all people. He is a light to reveal God to the nations, and he is the glory of your people Israel!” Jesus’ parents were amazed at what was being said about him. Then Simeon blessed them, and he said to Mary, the baby’s mother, “This child is destined to cause many in Israel to fall, but he will be a joy to many others. He has been sent as a sign from God, but many will oppose him. New Living Translation

Jesus brings Joy to His Father in Heaven!

Matthew records in chapter 3:  After his baptism, as Jesus came up out of the water, the heavens were opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and settling on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy.”  New Living Translation

 

We are to be filled with Joy!

Philippians 4:4 Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again—rejoice! 5 Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do. Remember, the Lord is coming soon. 6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. 8 And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. 9 Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you. New Living Translation

Always remember this…

Nehemiah 8:10: And Nehemiah continued, “Go and celebrate with a feast of rich foods and sweet drinks, and share gifts of food with people who have nothing prepared. This is a sacred day before our Lord. Don’t be dejected and sad, for the joy of the Lord is your strength!”  New Living Translation

Blessing study

Luke 6:21-23: Blessed are ye that hunger now: for ye shall be filled. Blessed are ye that weep now: for ye shall laugh.

22 Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man’s sake.

23 Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy: for, behold, your reward is great in heaven: for in the like manner did their fathers unto the prophets. KJV

Phil 3:1 Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord

KJV

Phil 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice.

KJV

1 Thess 5:16  Rejoice evermore.

KJV

David’s Army Pt. 1

When I came out of prison in 1994, E.V. Hill gave me a prophetic word from the Lord that I would raise up a “David’s Army”.  From the scriptures, we know that this is a fairly ragtag bunch, yet God used them in mighty ways to protect and restore His beloved Israel.

In the Last Days, God is using whoever has a heart after Him.  You may think “well yes, He always did” and that’s a true statement.  But David’s Army came together in a time when the illegitimate authorities of the day were failing.  Saul had tried to win Israel’s battles but he did it in his own strength and with his own wisdom and he failed – but there was a time that all of Israel was enamored with him.

If you will remember, Saul’s kingship was the result of the proud and rebellious demands of a disobedient Israel that was much more concerned with how the king looked than with whom God had chosen.  The Bible says Saul stood a head taller than most men and was very handsome.  David, on the other hand, was a ruddy kid that God chose when He sent Samuel the Prophet to anoint him as King.  David was God’s choice – and Saul was the people’s choice.

Well, God gave Israel just what they asked for, but told them they would regret that choice in the years to come and they did.  But only after many of their sons had lost their lives because Saul was proud and  disobedient, and he went out to battle and made other decisions without consulting the God of Israel.  Eventually this disobedience caused him to be so hardened that he even consulted a witch.  Saul, in the end, committed suicide in a battle he could not win because God was not with him.

David, on the other hand, always consulted God before he went out to battle the enemies of Israel.  One such incident is recorded in 2 Samuel 5:24 when God spoke to David and said, “And it shall be, when you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the mulberry trees, then you shall advance quickly. For then the LORD will go out before you to strike the camp of the Philistines.”  The principle is this:  Always seek God’s wisdom before you do anything and wait for His answer.  Ask God “what should I do?”  When you do that, He will go before you and move in your behalf!

In the Last Days, the true leaders of the Lord’s Army will arise, and they will inquire of the Lord what they should do.  Many of them will have been stripped of any self-importance in the valleys of life as David was, yet they go forward to do battle with the enemies of God because their heart belongs to Him alone – and God Himself has ordained them!  Man did not do it, and man cannot undo it.

As the leaders of the Lord’s Army arise, the Lord is going out before them to move in their behalf!

Seeing with the Eyes of Jesus

I’m excited to see my good friend, BeBe Winans again this week.  BeBe always encourages, always uplifts, always loves on me and our family when he’s here.  If I could keep him around, I would!  We need more real friends like BeBe.  The Bible says in Proverbs 17:17, “A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.”  BeBe Winans is my friend, one that I can trust because his opinion of me doesn’t flow with the tides of public scrutiny – his opinion of me is settled in a lavish grace that gets its foundation and instruction from the very heartbeat of Jesus.

Jesus knew (knows) the hearts of people, and even when they failed (still fail), His love covered (continues to cover) them and didn’t (still doesn’t) expose them.  Jesus was and is tender, kind and gentle and His goodness leads people to repent of their sins so as not to grieve His heart (Romans 2:4). The love of Jesus is just the opposite of harsh and carnal judgment of people.

I am currently doing a series of teachings I titled “To Know Him” which will eventually be a book that contrasts the humble heart of one who knows they are utterly helpless and dependent on Jesus, with the proud heart that exhibits the harshness of judgment.  Jesus outlined the contrast in the Beattitudes when He said, “blessed are those who mourn (sorrow for their sins and the sins of others), and “blessed are those who are poor in spirit” (they know they are helpless in and of themselves, and they know they have great spiritual needs.)

The love of Jesus is always for and not against, always rooting you on to restoration and redemption, never satisfied to draw a conclusion from a failure but always moving you toward the final liberation from sin – salvation.

BeBe and I are going to talk about his new book about the life of Whitney Houston.  BeBe and Whitney were friends, and more importantly, brother and sister in the Lord.   You see, when Whitney passed from this life, there were many people who said she didn’t deserve the honor and the respect that the many who loved her and those who were close to her gave her.  Brutal people proclaimed her failures and sins as they scoffed at her legacy.

BeBe’s own personal knowledge of her couldn’t let the treachery of harsh judgment stand, and because he knew her as a Child of God who loved the Lord, he will tell the story of Whitney Houston from his eyes – eyes of love.

When my sins and failures were paraded before the world in the media, brutal people reviled me and said awful things that weren’t true, and put treacherous words in print – and they still do to this day!  It isn’t easy to live with the knowledge that there are people out there in this world who hate you and don’t mind telling others just how much!   But throughout the times of my life when others went out from me like a receding tide, BeBe never wavered in his love and adoration for me.  He looked beyond my sin and saw my heart – and he was (is) a friend who loves at all times.

I told Lori recently that if I die before the Lord comes, I know the media headlines will no doubt read, “The Disgraced Jim Bakker Dies.”  But for those who really know me and love me, maybe one day one of them will write about “The Jim Bakker I Knew.”  My legacy is not with my failures, but in the knowledge of the Blood of Jesus, which covers every single one of them, just as it did Whitney’s.

Time to Possess the Land

In Joshua chapter 1, we read about the account of Joshua receiving instructions from the Lord to go into the land He had given them and to “possess” it.  That word, “possess”  in Hebrew is yarash or yaresh and it means to take possession of, inherit, dispossess.  The connotation here is that God gave the Israelites the land, but they had to first cross the Jordan River, and second, fight for it.

“Taking the land” has been a common theme in Christian teaching and preaching, but never has it been more applicable than in these treacherous times we are living in and will be facing in the coming years.

If you haven’t noticed already, the spiritual warfare necessary to do anything at all for God has reached a new intensity.  If we are to accomplish the things which the Lord have given for us to do, it will take a new level of resolve and spiritual strength – not natural strength.

These battles to “possess” the land cannot be fought in our own strength.  They must be fought in the power and strength of the Lord’s might, and His will and purpose for giving us the land in the first place.  If you try to do something in your own strength that isn’t in the plan of God, you can be sure that it will backfire and you may be left bruised and bloody, wondering what went wrong.

The first step in any battle plan is to “know that you know” that it’s the Lord’s will.  If you “know that you know” He has given you the land, then there is no journey too difficult, or battle too hard to fight in order for you to “possess” the land, because He will be with you and He will anoint you for the struggle.  The kingdom of heaven is ours when we give up our own will to accomplish His will.

As we see the Revelation Days unfolding, it’s not time to shirk back or give up and just wait for Jesus to return. No!  It’s time to finish what He has given us to do and it’s time to “possess” the land.