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Where We Are in Prophecy--Part 4

After I finished yesterday's web log, it occurred to me that some newer readers might have gotten the impression that I intend to start a new church denomination based upon the feast of Tabernacles. I want to assure you that I have no such intention. No one has ever been able to "join" an organization led by me. God's Kingdom Ministries has a mailing list, but no "membership" as such. The true Church, after all, is not a matter of membership in an earthly organization, but a relationship between you and God. If God says you are a member of the true Church, then you are. It has nothing to do with a piece of paper signed by men.

Being part of the Tabernacles Church is a matter of the heart, and though I certainly can recognize fellow members when I meet them, my recognition does not make them members. There is no way to "join" and no way to be excommunicated by men. The members of  the Tabernacles Church have lived and died since Adam, but I believe we are living to see the beginnings of the Tabernacles Church Age. I suspect that most of today's "members" do not have a clear understanding of their "Home Church," and it is my particular calling to help clarify this to them according to the understanding He has given me of times and seasons.

The signs of God's workings were occurring long before I had any understanding of them. Time cycles began to manifest in my life in November of 1981, but I had no serious understanding of this until some years later. In 1991 the Father began to open up this realm to me more, and because I had kept records of events for 10 years, I was able to see how God's timing had governed my life over the years.

At the same time, I came to see that the Age of Pentecost (i.e., the reign of "Saul") was about to end on Pentecost Sunday, May 30, 1993, as this was the end of the 40th Jubilee cycle of the Church since Acts 2. My wife and I fasted and prayed for 10 days leading up to that day--a parallel to the disciples waiting in the upper room for 10 days after the ascension of Christ to the day of Pentecost. On that Pentecost in 1993 we saw many events (signs) that confirmed the view. I cannot relate these events in such a public forum, because they involve real people playing their roles as "Saul."

But I will relate one particular story that happened at Indian Hills Baptist Church in North Little Rock. The pastor's teenage daughter had a vision on May 30, 1993 at the beginning of a week-long Bible Camp. She saw Jesus on the cross, and she was stabbing him repeatedly. When she was exhausted and stopped this, Jesus came off the cross and gave her a hug. A couple days later, she told her father about the vision. His initial reaction was, "Oh, God, forgive her." The Lord then told him, "The Jesus that she stabbed was not Me; I was the One who gave her a hug. I would that everyone would stab that Jesus, because it is no Jesus at all, and the Jesus that you have been preaching is not Me at all."

It is remarkable for any pastor to get such a revelation. Most are unable to hear such a thing. He told the Church about this and let them know that the Jesus he had been preaching was not the real One. He told them that they would learn about the real Jesus together. Well, of course, many people could not handle this, and they left that church in order to find a church where the pastor seemed to know who Jesus is.

This should not be understood to mean that he was an unbeliever or that he had been worshiping a false Jesus per se. It was more a matter of not really knowing the mind and heart of Jesus. The Church under Pentecost has constructed an understanding of Him that is not very accurate. The Church, in effect, has painted His portrait incorrectly, and that portrait hardly resembles Jesus at all.

The pastor's daughter (who had the vision above) was picturing a new group of people being called out of the Pentecost Church into a better understanding and vision of who Jesus is. It is the Jesus of LOVE, not the Jesus who is often angry and unapproachable. I have talked to many Catholics and ex-Catholics who were of the "old school," whose impression was that they were simply not worthy of approaching a holy Jesus without being in danger. They were instructed to pray to Mary instead, asking that Mary pass on a message to Jesus. After all, "a good Jewish boy always does what his mother tells him to do."

I realize that the Catholic Church has changed greatly in recent years, but even so, it is a good illustration of the stern and unapproachable Jesus that has been presented to so many Christians. The Jesus that the girl saw on May 30, 1993, however, had a heart of love, who also desired that we all see Him for who He really is. This is why He is establishing a Tabernacles Church. It is not to spite those who think of Him as One who would torture people in hell for a single sin, but rather to raise up a body of believers who could show the world His true character.

It is the mercy of God that He would give us a better understanding of Himself.

The pastor in North Little Rock (Dick King) began then to focus upon preaching the love of God. The Lord instructed him not to teach from the Old Testament and the Law until he could do so through the eyes of Christ via the New Covenant. When I finally met him last June (2007) at a conference in Peculiar, Missouri, he heard me say in my teaching on the law, "We cannot understand the law unless we see it through the eyes of Jesus; we have to have a New Covenant view of the law."

When he heard that, he nearly fell out of his chair, because that is what he had been waiting for since 1993. Needless to say, we bonded immediately.

Likewise, from my perspective, I had discussed with my friend Ron for some years about the role of Little Rock, Arkansas in prophecy. In Matthew 16, Peter received the revelation that Jesus is "the Christ, the Son of the living God." Jesus then says in verse 18, "Thou art Petros (a stone, or little rock), and upon this petra I will build My Church." This was spoken at Caesarea Philippi (vs. 13), at the Grotto of Pan, which was also called "the gates of hell." This cave was situated at the base of a huge rock. (You can see pictures of it online.)

God often gives revelation by illustrating it with earthly objects and locations. I have seen this kind of revelation many times over the years. In Matt. 16 Jesus took the disciples to "the gates of hell" in Caesarea Philippi in order to give them the revelation of building the Church on the Rock which is Christ. Peter was a type of the Rock. His name means "Little Rock."

And so Ron and I have discussed Little Rock, Arkansas, and we have often wondered how that city would factor into the revelation of the Tabernacles Church being established in our day. It was only when I met Dick King last June that this revelation began to come together. And in discussing prophetic timing with him, we discovered that on May 30, 1993 his daughter had received this life-changing revelation of Jesus on the cross.

Events tells us WHAT is happening. Timing tells us WHY and gives us the understanding of the mind of God. And so we began to see that the Church in North Little Rock was a type and a sign of something God was doing on a much greater level than even they had realized. He is building His Tabernacles Church on this "Little Rock," so to speak.

So I visited with them and shared the Word last November and again a week ago. The revelation has clarified as time has passed, and it is time now to share this with you in this present series.