An Apostolic Vision

By Lanny Swaim

Table of Contents (Scroll down to view all)

1. Foreward

2. An Apostolic Vision

3. A Fruitful Encounter

4. Riding a Circuit

5. Two Night Visions

6. The Worldwide House Church Movement

7. A New Reformation of the Church

8. A Confirmation of this Apostolic Vision

9. Another Confirmation of this Vision

10. No Formula

11. A Children of Issachar Company

12. Sowing and Reaping

13. The Third Day

14. In Conclusion

Foreward

In that day shall the LORD of hosts be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty, unto the residue [remnant] of his people. Whom shall he teach knowledge? And whom shall he make to understand doctrine? Them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts. For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little.

Isaiah 28:5, 9-10

Over a period of 30+ years the Lord has given me a vision for the greatest spiritual awakening the world has ever known, which will entail a new reformation of the Church.

The following is an account of that vision. While this account of the vision primarily focuses on eastern North Carolina where I reside, I believe it is applicable to whatever area you may reside in as well.

An Apostolic Vision

Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.

Habakkuk 2:2-3

Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.

Amos 3:7

Several years ago I was made aware of a prophecy given by Derek Prince in Jacksonville, NC in 1975. Prince was a well-known teacher during the Charismatic Movement of the late 1960’s and early 1970’s.

PROPHECY DELIVERED BY DEREK PRINCE

SUNDAY, APRIL 6, 1975

DELIVERANCE EVANGELISTIC TEMPLE

JACKSONVILLE, NC

I have found favor with you here in eastern North Carolina. I will personally visit you. There will be a revival greater than that of the great Wales Revival at the turn of the century [20th Century]. There will be kings and leaders who will come from north and south and east and west to study the eastern North Carolina phenomenon.

As Prince finished giving this prophecy that April morning in 1975, someone in the middle of the congregation stood up, holding his Bible in his hand and yelling, “I’ve got something. I’ve got something!” Loudly he began to read Zephaniah 2:6. “And the sea coast shall have dwellings. Cottages for shepherds and folds for flocks.”

Four months later, in August of 1975, the Onslow County Full Gospel Business Men’s Fellowship was holding a dinner meeting at King’s Restaurant on Gum Branch Road between Jacksonville and Richlands, North Carolina. Dr. Charles Woodhouse, MD, was the guest speaker that night. After he was introduced he said, “I don’t know how to tell you this but I don’t have a thing to tell you tonight. I have been wrestling with the Lord for the last two weeks, asking him to give me what he wants me to tell you. He hasn’t given me a thing. This afternoon, as I was praying in my bedroom at the guesthouse where I am staying, I got angry with God for not giving me anything to say. I told him I was going to open my Bible and tell you whatever I opened to. As I opened my Bible, I opened to Zephaniah. I said, ‘Zephaniah, who is he? What did he ever do?’ I read through the first chapter and didn’t see anything. I started on the second chapter and there it was. Verse six, ‘And the sea coast shall have dwellings, cottages for shepherds and folds for flocks.’ Today, as I flew in over Emerald Isle on my way to land, I somehow felt that the Lord has found favor with you here in eastern North Carolina. That he is going to visit you.”

I have become somewhat of a keeper of this prophecy, believing that it is yet to come to pass. There have been some individuals since 1975 who thought they would be instrumental in initiating and bringing this prophetic word to pass. Some of them have since passed on to their reward, without seeing the fulfilment of the Prince prophecy.

Many people in eastern North Carolina are aware of this prophecy. Some have a “wait and see” attitude about it. Others continue to believe that God is calling out and raising up believers that will be instrumental in bringing it to pass. And some don’t believe it will ever come to pass, simply dismissing it as just another failed prophetic word.

But I find it interesting that after all these years, it is still known and remembered. Most prophetic words given in meetings are perhaps remembered for a while and then forgotten.

A few months ago I met a lady who was actually in that meeting when Prince gave this prophetic word.

A Fruitful Encounter

In the spring of 2000 I met Miguel Escobar. Miguel was a revivalist who at the time of his passing in 2019 had ministered in over ninety nations. Beginning in 2001, Miguel and I ministered together numerous times and became good friends. Several years ago I met Miguel and some other ministers in Christiansburg, Virginia, to spend some time in prayer at a Christian retreat center that was closed for the winter. Miguel shared with me an idea he had for revival centers all over the United States.

From Christiansburg we traveled together to minister in Newnan, Georgia. We stayed in the home of Preston Haag. One morning at 4:00 I was awakened and the Lord began speaking to me about Miguel's idea. He told me it would come to pass and that I would be a part of it. I then had a mental vision and saw myself ministering in Germany and Miguel ministering in Switzerland. We both boarded private jets and flew to the same location in the United States to minister the next night at one of these revival centers.

The next morning I told Miguel and Preston what the Lord had said and about my vision. A few weeks later Preston and some others started The Harvest Center in Newnan as a beginning to the fulfillment of this vision for revival centers. He and some others who joined him were given the use of a store space on the main street in downtown Newnan. They had their first meeting on a Friday night and over 80 people showed up with only word-of-mouth advertising. Some couldn't get in and stood on the sidewalk outside with the door open so they could hear.

I was present at that meeting so this is a first-hand account.

God’s presence manifested with signs, wonders and miracles and this continued for many weeks thereafter. I ministered there several times, primarily leading worship. The meetings frequently lasted until around 3:00am. People were born again, baptized with the Holy Spirit, delivered of demons and healed. I've seen much gold dust there, oil running out of people's hands and I've sweated oil out of my forehead as I was leading worship. Numerous times a sweet smell would come into the room and often angels were heard singing.

I believe these revival centers will be much more than we saw in Newnan. I see these centers becoming apostolic umbrellas or hubs with ministries and house churches being connected to them, sending many around the world proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom.

Like other revival moves of the past, the Newnan Revival lasted for a while and then became history. But also like other revival moves of the past, it was a stepping stone, moving us toward the greatest spiritual awakening the world has ever known, which I believe we are now in the beginning stages of.

Riding a Circuit

In 2004 the Lord told me to start monthly meetings in various places that would be another step toward fulfilling Miguel's vision of revival centers. During the last half of 2005 I had three meetings in operation, which eventually grew to more. These three were Brunswick County, Wilmington and Jacksonville, all in eastern North Carolina. The Jacksonville meeting was not growing very much and I considered shutting it down, but the Lord spoke to me and said that I had to continue going to Jacksonville.

Robert and Ann Meadows had been coming to that meeting since the first night. They had started a meeting in their home in Maysville, NC (between Jacksonville and New Bern) and then moved their meeting to a modular building across the road from their house. Robert and I were both aware of the Derek Prince prophecy.

Robert and I met one Monday morning at his house to talk and pray about this prophecy and about the Jacksonville meeting. The Lord instructed us to move the Jacksonville meeting to the church building across from Robert and Ann’s house (Jacob's Well Christian Fellowship Church).

Robert had shared an open vision with me that he had seen as he was driving home one day. In a field across the road from Jacob's Well Church he had seen a large building with acres of parking lot. (He actually saw this with his physical eyes, as if it was actually there.) The Lord told him this was a training center where people would come for a period of time and then go out all over the world. Another man saw this same vision and Robert's daughter dreamed it. All three saw it independently of each other and then shared it with each other. Since then others have seen it.

As Robert and I were praying together in his living room that Monday morning, I told him that every time I thought of this vision the Lord had shown him, I heard the Lord say, “16,000 people.” Robert laughed and said the Lord told him the main auditorium in the building would seat 15,000 people.

As I was driving back toward Wilmington on US Highway 17 that afternoon, I asked the Lord, "Why did you tell me 16,000 and you told Robert 15,000?” The Lord quickly spoke to me and said the main auditorium would seat 15,000, with a 1,000 seat overflow room where smaller meetings could also be held.

In Prince's prophecy he said that kings and leaders would come from north and south and east and west to study the eastern North Carolina phenomenon. As I was continuing to drive down Highway 17 that day, I asked the Lord, “What is the phenomenon?” I thought phenomenon was a strange word for the Spirit to use in a prophetic word. Immediately he said to me, “The phenomenon is my glorious Church, built according to my blueprint and functioning according to my plan.”

Considering the portion of scripture that was read after Prince gave the prophecy (Zephaniah 2:6), and then read again in a Full Gospel Business Men’s meeting four months later, it seems clear to me that the prophecy has to do with house churches; the seacoast shall have dwellings, cottages for shepherds and folds for flocks.

Two Night Visions

Several years ago my wife, Cathy and I were attending a local church that met on Sunday mornings and had cell groups that met in various homes during the week. I had hoped the cell group meetings would be times when we could practice and learn to flow in the gifts of the Spirit, according to 1 Corinthians 14:26, ministering to one another, being led by the Spirit to do so. However, the cell groups were very controlled by the leadership of the church. At best they were Bible studies and social get-togethers. Bible studies and social get-togethers are good but I had hoped for more, having been involved in a house church in the early 1970’s where the meetings were led entirely by the Holy Spirit, as individuals were inspired to start songs, read scripture, prophesy, deliver a short teaching, etc.

During this time, while Cathy and I were attending this local church and involved in a cell group, I had a night vision. I was asleep but it was too real to have been a dream. I saw Jesus sitting on a very large throne that appeared to be some kind of a rock structure. I couldn’t see His face because it was brighter than the sun and yet, I knew He was looking at me and I could look at Him without being blinded. He said, “The (name of the church we were attending) has it backward. They think the church comes together on Sunday morning and breaks up into cell groups during the week, but the cell groups are the church and they come together on Sunday morning.”

A friend later pointed out to me that this was the pattern of the Jerusalem Church of the first century:

And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.

Acts 2:46-47

And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.

Acts 5:42

We know from Paul’s epistles that the churches he established also met in homes.

Four years later I had another night vision in which the Lord appeared to me in the same way He had appeared to me in the first one. This time he said to me, “It is time to start that church.”

I said, “But Lord, I’m not a pastor,” thinking that most independent churches were started by pastors

He said, “You are an apostle.”

So the next morning I asked Him, “What is an apostle?”

I knew apostles in the Bible started churches and nurtured them but I felt there must be something else I didn’t know. What would a modern day apostle’s function actually be? He led me to 1 Corinthians 3:9-10:

For we are labourers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building. According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. (emphasis added)

The word masterbuilder in Greek is architekton. It is where we get the English word architect. So an apostle is the one with the blueprint.

Remember what the Lord told me about the phenomenon that Derek Prince prophesied for eastern North Carolina? “The phenomenon is my glorious church, built according to my blueprint and functioning according to my plan.”

Many are looking for a revival/move of God like those of the past, but what is now happening in the beginning stages in the United States and already accelerating in other countries will go beyond anything God has done in the past, including the first century Church.

The Worldwide House Church Movement

James Rutz is the author of a book documenting the house church movement going on in much of the world. The book is entitled Megashift, first published in 2005. On page one he says this:

A leper is healed in the marketplace.
A paralyzed man leaps from his bed.
A small bit of food feeds a large group.
Storm clouds turn on a dime.
The gospel is preached in one language, but heard in another.
A desperate woman with a flow of blood is healed.
A demonized man chained up for years is delivered and set free.
The sound of a mighty, rushing wind is heard during a meeting of believers… yet there is no wind.
Withered limbs are restored.
The deaf hear, the blind see.
A girl is raised from the dead.
And Jesus appears in a vision to one of His chief persecutors.

Great historic events by any measure. And all have happened in the last twelve years.

After 2,000 years of people praying, “Thy kingdom come,” it has. And you are about to dip your toe into it.

On pages 26 and 27 he makes these statements:

Campus Crusade for Christ now estimates we’ll see a billion new converts in the next ten years. My numbers project a net growth of the body of Christ at a billion and a half. But any way you slice it, the kingdom is expanding at a heart-pounding pace.

Within a few years, at current rates, the character of whole nations will be transformed. Majorities will become minorities and vice versa.

As national strongholds of sin are dismantled and pits of misery cleaned up, the true purpose of God for many nations will be revealed. We are in the early stages of a total transformation of our planet.

On page 25, at the time of the book’s publication, Rutz says there were 175,000 new believers being added to the Church every day throughout the world!

I was pondering all this and thinking about how here in the United States, while we are beginning to see signs of a great spiritual awakening, for the most part it still seems to be small in number compared to the entire Body of Christ in America. Then the Lord began to show me the reason this remnant in the Western world appears to be small and growing slowly. He is preparing a people in the Western world, primarily the United States, to go and teach those in nations where the Kingdom is expanding so rapidly; and to be the firstfruits of that expansion in the Western world. This preparation is a process that takes time.

We in the United States are not going to be left out. We will once again be at the forefront of what God is doing in other nations, as has been the case in history. Only this time we will get it right like never before, having been through a process of maturing unlike any other group in history, fulfilling Paul’s statement in Romans 8:18-19:

For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.

In the Hebrew culture of the Bible, a son was a mature child, ready to inherit all his father’s wealth and walk in all the authority of his father’s name. We of this remnant, who have been in an intense time of preparation, are about to be revealed to the Church and to the world.

While God can and is raising up and bringing to maturity servant leaders in other nations, I believe he is also preparing a remnant in the United States for the task of discipling around the world.

A New Reformation of the Church

I believe the revival centers that Miguel talked about and the vision Robert Meadows and others have seen in that cotton field near Maysville, NC will be catalysts, becoming apostolic umbrellas or hubs connecting many house churches, where the five-fold functions mentioned in Ephesians 4:11 will be in operation, equipping the saints for the work of the ministry. I believe this is a pattern or picture of what the true Church will look like structurally. This will not be another denomination, organization or even an association but an organism, whose movements are orchestrated by the Holy Spirit and whose structure is built by Jesus Himself.

While there is a certain amount of organizational structure to this emerging Church, I believe it is more about the Kingdom of God coming within us as individual believers and as that corporate man, the collective Body of Christ; one with each other and one in the Lord as He manifests Himself fully in us and through us, causing us to be not only His representatives on earth but to possess His nature and character, being carriers of His blessing and His goodness/glory; manifesting the Kingdom of God in/on earth as it is in Heaven.

We have crossed the threshold of the day (millennium/see 2 Peter 3:8) when we will become the glorious Church (see Ephesians 5:25-27) that Jesus will present to Himself a perfected/completed Bride. We must lay down all traditions and ideas of men and build according to God’s blueprint. For most of the last two days (millennia) of Church history the Church has been focused on doing church. It is time to focus on being the Church, which will determine how we do church.

Every move of God, every revival, every outpouring of the Holy Spirit has been but stepping stones to the day we are now entering. I believe we are about to see God’s power manifest in a greater measure than ever before as it issues out of His nature and character being fully developed in us.

God continues to connect me with others who share this vision. As an apostle and prophetic voice, part of the ministry he has chosen me for is to find and connect others of like mind. For some, what I am seeing is confirmation. For others, it is a clarification of what they have been experiencing but perhaps not totally understanding. I am in awe of how the Spirit is speaking the same things to so many at the same time. There is definitely a remnant company of believers coming into the unity of the faith and that is incredibly exciting.

There are already house churches meeting in perhaps every city in the United States. In Megashift, Rutz writes of a meeting in a gymnasium somewhere in the United States, bringing together a network of 93 house churches. However, many and perhaps most of the house churches currently meeting in the United States are doing so independent of each other.

Several years ago I was working at my desk when the Lord interrupted me and said, “You are a catalyst.” Catalyst was not a word I was accustomed to using, so I looked it up to see exactly what it meant.

As I thought, a catalyst is a connector.

Sometime later I met a lady who knew something about chemistry. She told me that in chemistry, when the chemist pours two components into a test tube that will not mix together (one goes to the top and the other to the bottom), a third component called a catalyst is added, causing the two to mix together. The catalyst also mixes with them becoming lost in the process. As this happens, heat is generated.

The two night visions I had happened over 30 years ago. As an apostle and a catalyst, I believe it is now time for those night visions to come to pass. It is time to start that church.

The Lord has been preparing and positioning a remnant of believers to bring this to pass, and He is about to connect us into a unit that will be led by the Holy Spirit.

What is about to take place, as I have already said, will be much more than another revival/awakening/move of God. It will literally be a new reformation of the church.

A Confirmation of this Apostolic Vision

A few years ago I was ministering in Pennsylvania and staying with a couple in Waynesboro. They attended a monthly home meeting in Mechanicsburg with around a dozen other couples. This group was supporters of Darrell and Lorrie Fields, writers of an incredible book every American should read; The Seed of a Nation: Rediscovering America. This monthly meeting was a time when Darrell and Lorrie would bring the group up to date on things they were doing and pray about their ministry.

The couple I was staying with invited me to go with them, and since I was a visitor to the meeting, Darrell asked me to share a little about myself.

I briefly shared about the great awakening many have been prophesying for America and about the new reformation of the Church that is coming, which will entail the vision I have been given for networks of house churches connected into apostolic hubs.

Darrell looked at me and prophetically said, “The new reformation of the Church will sustain the awakening.”

Later that evening I saw the visible glory of God all over Darrell. It was like he was incased in a transparent glow of some kind. It’s really impossible to describe. I don’t know if anyone else there saw it, but I did and it confirmed to me that Darrell Fields was someone I should listen to.

Another Confirmation of this Vision

Tommy Tenney wrote a book entitled, The God Chasers. In the book he tells of an experience he had while ministering at a church in Houston, Texas.

It was the third Sunday in a row he had been invited to speak. When it became time for him to go to the podium, the pastor asked him if he was ready. Tommy felt something was about to happen, and told the pastor he wasn’t quite ready. The pastor then got up, went to the podium and read 2 Chronicles 7:14. Tommy got up from his seat on the front row and went to the back of the room, near the sound board. He wanted to be in a position to see whatever was about to happen.

He then heard thunder echo through the building as the pastor was picked up by invisible hands and thrown about ten feet backward, collapsing to the floor. As this was happening, the clear acrylic podium fell forward, splitting in half horizontally about midway before landing on the floor.

Immediately people began running toward the front, crying out to God in repentance.

The pastor remained on the floor for 2 ½ hours as the Spirit continued to move, independent of anyone controlling the meeting.

This was the 8:30 service, and when the 11:00 service began no one left from the first service. The people coming into the building for the second service were immediately engulfed in the powerful, manifested presence of God.

Eventually, some ushers picked the pastor up and dragged him to his office, where they all fell out in the Spirit and didn’t return.

The meeting continued until 1:00am Monday morning, and every night thereafter for several weeks.

James Rutz, in his book, Megashift, which I have already mentioned in a previous chapter, recounts this Houston Revival but then points out that the people of that local church missed what was perhaps the most important thing God was saying.

When the pastor was thrown backward from that acrylic podium and it split in half, God was saying that He is finished with the church system where everyone sits in pews and gets spoon fed by the pastor or a guest speaker every week.

At some point, either during or after the several weeks of revival meetings, the broken podium was removed and another one put in its place.

No Formula

I’ve been making the point that small groups meeting primarily in homes should be the norm for our church gatherings. But to say that is the only way we should meet is to ignore other aspects of the first century church, which I believe to be the pattern we should study.

And then there is the question of how we should conduct a small group meeting.

To say there is a formula or one way to build in the first century pattern, is to fall into the same trap most modern day churches have already fallen prey to.

In the Jerusalem church of the first century, they met and broke bread from house to house, but also met daily in the temple (see Acts 2:46-47 & 5:42).

It appears that the house churches the apostle Paul founded and nurtured, came together from time to time in larger groups, such as when Paul was in Troas and preached all night in an upper room before leaving town (see Acts 20:6-12). Perhaps the upper room was a borrowed or rented facility, large enough to hold several house churches.

In Megashift, Rutz mentions a meeting of 93 house churches coming together in a gymnasium.

In the night vision I mentioned in a previous chapter, Jesus told me that cell groups (house churches) come together on Sunday morning. However, in Megashift, Rutz cautions against house churches coming together too often, which might cause them to fall into old traditions and habits rather than being led by the Spirit.

We know that in Ephesus, Paul met in the lecture hall of Tyrannus for a period of about two years, preaching every day from about 10:00am until about 2:00pm, according to the Amplified Bible (see Acts 19:1-11). And somehow, because of Paul’s time in Ephesus, all of Asia heard the Gospel.

So while the primary way we should gather on a regular basis should be in small groups, primarily meeting in homes, there are times when we should come together in larger groups. These larger groups may incorporate anointed teaching/preaching, corporate worship led by an anointed worship leader or team, interaction and fellowship between the various house churches in attendance, etc.

These larger meetings may be a time when smaller groups can better learn how to conduct a small group meeting led by the Holy Spirit, plus an opportunity to learn worship songs that can then be used in the smaller group meetings.

In the larger meeting the five-fold giftings/functions may also be recognized and find support, as well as other ministries.

A Children of Issachar Company

And of the children of Issachar, which were men that had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do; the heads of them were two hundred; and all their brethren were at their commandment.

1 Chronicles 12:32

Looking back over history, biblical and more recent, it seems God has a habit of starting with a remnant. At times it was just one person or family, such as Abraham or Noah. At other times it was a people group. The Israelites were a remnant of all the people on Earth in the Old Testament. Later, after the ten northern tribes were scattered, the Jews were a remnant of the entire nation of Israel. The first Christians were a remnant of the Jews.

During the Dark Ages, history records various remnants of true believers who were persecuted by the Roman Catholic Church.

Today there is a new remnant, who I believe Joel prophesied about.

It shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call upon the name of the LORD shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call.

Joel 2:32 (emphasis added)

This remnant is made up of anointed trailblazers/pilgrims/firstfruits who are preparing the way for others to follow.

Some of us have been through years of preparation, sometimes enduring severe tests and trials, much like Joseph did during the 13 years between the time he was sold into slavery by his own brothers until he became the number two man to the most powerful king on earth at that time.

I suppose that would make us a Joseph Company. But we are now becoming an Issachar Company as well, understanding the time we live in.

While we were experiencing years of preparation for the great awakening and new reformation of the Church that has now begun, we had no idea how long that time of preparation would last, even to the point of wondering at times if it would ever end; perhaps even having doubts about the purpose of our preparation, if in fact there was a purpose.

Because of the work He has done in us, and the understanding He has given us of how the Kingdom of God/Heaven operates and is manifesting on planet Earth, we are not only a Children of Issachar Company but also a Trumpet Company (trumpets were blown in ancient Israel when an important announcement was about to be made), announcing/prophesying this awakening/reformation of the Church, which will reveal the Kingdom coming in/on Earth as in Heaven.

But now, as we see the beginning stages of the awakening, the Holy Spirit is quickening to us the reality that we are moving from declaring a future move of God, into the actual move.

Sowing and Reaping

To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-2

When God mentions something twice in scripture, we should take note that what He is saying is very important. In Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 He uses the word, time, 28 times.

Verse 2 of the third chapter of Ecclesiastes speaks of a time to plant, or sow, and a time to gather the harvest of that which was sown. The harvest cannot come without seeds being planted, then germinated and growing to maturity until a specific window of time, when the harvest can then be reaped.

I believe this verse of scripture has to do with much more than farming. We who have been born into the Kingdom of God/Heaven must discern when and how to advance that Kingdom.

Often, we advance the Kingdom with declarations that are in agreement with what God has said or is saying, speaking into existence what He has purposed, and taking action based on our declarations as we are led by the Spirit.

On the timeline of history God starts at the beginning. But from the eternal perspective, He always starts at the end.

I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient time the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure.

Isaiah 46:9-10

It’s important that we know where we are on the timeline of history and where God is taking us from here. That’s why a correct eschatology is so important.

During the time we of this modern-day remnant have been in preparation, God has been sowing into us His character and a much clearer understanding of His Kingdom. As this has been taking place, we have been sowing declarations of that which is coming and that which has now begun into the Earth.

That time of sowing has now produced a time of harvest. Because we have understanding of the time we live in, we know we must take advantage of this window of opportunity and move into the harvest. The time of sowing has now produced the time of reaping.

Surely we were born for such a time as this!

Like Moses on the backside of the desert tending sheep, we may have become comfortable with the time of preparation we have learned to endure, but like Moses, we cannot stay where we are, but must now reap what we have been prepared for.

Many of us in this remnant have reached a time in our lives when most are slowing down and looking at passing the baton to the next generation, but like Joshua and Caleb, we cannot afford to retire. We must expect God to renew our strength and enable us to continue on, because the revelation and wisdom we now have is of great importance to disciple those who are entering into the Kingdom and coming to a better understanding of the Kingdom; a ripe harvest ready for reaping.

So I’ll say it again; surely, absolutely, without a doubt we were born for such a time as this; actually, for this time.

The Third Day

In a previous chapter I mentioned 2 Peter 3:8, which compares a day to a thousand years. Before closing, I thought I should clarify why I included that comparison in the text of this apostolic vision.

Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures, to day and to morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected.

Jesus in Luke 13:32 (emphasis added)

Come, and let us return unto the LORD: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up. After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight.

Hosea 6:1-2 (emphasis added)

And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark: but it shall be one day which shall be known to the LORD, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light. And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one.

Zechariah 14:6-7 & 9

Beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

2 Peter 3:8

There is a parallel between the seven days of creation and the seven thousand years the Bible focuses on.

I believe God has made provision not only for the Hebrew calendars but also for the Gregorian calendar, knowing that a time would come when the entire world would count chronological time by the Gregorian calendar, which came into existence long after the Hebrew calendars. I believe Daniel’s prophecies can only be understood utilizing both the Hebrew and Gregorian calendars.

The way history is playing out at the present time seems to me to be confirmation that Peter’s statement about a day equaling a thousand years and a thousand years equaling a day is being counted utilizing the Gregorian calendar.

If that is in fact the case, and I am convinced it is, we have just crossed the threshold of the seventh day (millennium) of/since creation, which is also the third day (millennium) of the Church.

The seventh day is the Sabbath, a day of rest, prophesied by the writer of Hebrews.

For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day. There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.

Hebrews 4:8

It is in finding this rest that at least a remnant of the Church will come into perfection experientially, preparing the way for all others to follow, which is what Jesus was speaking of when He said, “The third day I shall be perfected.”

As we enter this third day of the Church, which is the seventh day of/since creation, a remnant is beginning to get a glimpse of this perfection/completion.

When Jesus walked out of the tomb on the third day after the crucifixion, His body was not perfected even though it had become immortal. He still had the nail scars in His hands and feet and evidence of the spear that was thrust into His side.

We know this because in John 20:27 He told Thomas to put his finger in His hands and His side, where he found the nail and spear scars and believed that Jesus had actually been raised from the dead.

So when will His body (the Body of Christ) be perfected? In this third day (millennium) of the Church.

He was eternally scarred so we (the Body of Christ) can be eternally perfected.

Biblically, a day begins at evening. So the darkest part of the day comes first, followed by the dawning of the day. However, Zechariah prophesies of a day when it will be light during the evening; that light overcoming the darkness.

Saints of God, we are in that thousand year day; a day Isaiah prophesied:

ARISE, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles [nations] shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.

Isaiah 60:1-3

It will be in this day (millennium) that the Church, the Lord’s Ekklesia (Greek for Church meaning a governing/legislative body), will come to completion/perfection, reigning over the earth as kings and priests to our God (see Revelation 1:6 & 5:10).

The Lord has given me this apostolic vison over a period of 30+ years, and I believe the Derek Prince prophecy from 1975 is about establishing a model of His glorious Ekklesia in eastern North Carolina, that kings and leaders will come from all over the world to study.

I don’t claim to have all the details as to how all this will be established, and I suspect the eastern North Carolina model will not be the only one, but I know it is time for it to happen.

This vision is too great for any one person or even a group of people to establish. The Lord Himself will have to build it. But we do have a part to play in it, and we will do our part as we are led by the Spirit and empowered to do so.

EXCEPT the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it…

Psalm 127:1

Amen (so be it).

In Conclusion

The account you have just read is a vision whose time has come.

Several years ago I led worship at a small local church in Southport, NC. After I had been there a while, the Sunday morning services were packed, with standing room only. Many prophecies came forth that the fulfillment of the 1975 Derek Prince prophecy would begin with that little congregation. Some even said they saw (in the Spirit) people lined up the street in front of the church building, unable to get in.

During this time, I had a mental vision of a map of Brunswick County, where Southport is located, and a fire began under the map and then burned up through the map. The fire then spread up the coast of North Carolina to neighboring counties and towns.

There was a small group of ladies who had started a home meeting in Southport, and then acquired the building where I led worship. They were not happy with the way the Sunday morning meetings were going, even though the congregation was growing rapidly.

Each Sunday as I led worship, the presence of God manifested in that little church building in supernatural ways, much like what I had seen and experienced at the meetings in Newnan, Georgia, which I told about in a previous chapter.

It seems this group of ladies felt they had ownership of that church, and as the Spirit started moving powerfully and the congregation grew, they saw their control slipping away. Because I was the worship leader, somehow the blame for that fell on me, so they approached the pastor, who I might add they had chosen to be their pastor, and asked him to have me stop leading worship.

He gave in to them, and there was nothing for me to do but to step down. Soon thereafter I left the congregation, and the Sunday morning numbers soon dwindled down to only a few, as it had once been.

During this time I met Jay Jones, originally from Washington, NC, who at that time was living in Jacksonville, NC and sitting under the ministry of Kelley Varner. Kelley was a teacher with a Kingdom message that was probably ahead of his time, a forerunner of things to come.

During his lifetime Kelley wrote 60 books, and while his following was a remnant of the church world at large, they were scattered all over the world.

I had become aware of Kelley’s teaching and attended monthly meetings he had in Richlands, NC, near Jacksonville.

Jay was also present at those meetings but we didn’t meet there. We actually met at some revival meetings where I was leading worship near Holden Beach, NC.

We didn’t see each other for a while after the Holden Beach meetings, but then reconnected at a furniture store in Wilmington, NC were I was painting and he was laying carpet. After that we stayed in touch and a few months ago (at the time of this writing) we traveled together to some meetings in West Virginia where Lynn Hiles was ministering. Jay had met Lynn some years before. Lynn also sat under the ministry of Kelley Varner.

During our time together, while traveling to and from and attending the meetings in West Virginia, we talked much about the apostolic vision you have just read about. Like me, Jay has felt for many years that he would have a part in the fulfillment of the Prince prophecy.

After his time in Jacksonville, Jay had moved back to Washington, NC and operated a floor store there for a number of years. On Thursday nights he had a healing meeting in his store, which I attended from time to time.

After selling his business, he opened a ministry in a building he renovated, which he named The Cave, after the cave of Adullam in 1 Samuel 22:1, where future King David hid from King Saul. While ministering at The Cave, Jay held a 100 day revival, which I attended numerous times.

While the attendance was relatively small at these meetings, he livestreamed with hundreds of views.

For various reasons he eventually shut down The Cave and was planning to start a home meeting at his house. But before he could get his home meeting started, through a series of events that could only have been orchestrated by God, he rented an old church building just outside of Washington and is now (at the time of this writing) having a Thursday night healing meeting and a Sunday morning meeting there. At the direction of the Lord, he named this ministry The Grace Place.

Every weekend I travel to Washington and lead worship at the Sunday morning meeting.

After the trip Jay and I took to West Virginia, I dropped him off at his home in Washington and then drove back to Brunswick County. Before leaving Washington, Jay told me that if God said anything to me on my way home about what we were to be doing together, to call and let him know.

I heard nothing on my way home until I got passed Jacksonville on US Highway 17. The Lord told me that the fulfillment of the Prince prophecy was supposed to have begun in Brunswick County and spread up the coast, but that because Brunswick County had refused it, now it would begin in Washington and move down the coast.

So here we are (at the time of this writing), simply doing whatever God says, one step at a time, one day at a time, expecting the complete fulfillment of this apostolic vision. God continues to connect us with others who are becoming instrumental in this mission, as we look forward with great anticipation toward the greatest awakening the world has ever known and a new reformation of the Church (Ekklesia).

So for now I’ll close, knowing that in time there will be much more to write.

The Grace Place
2109 West 5th Street
Washington, NC

Thursday evenings @ 7:00
Sunday mornings @ 10:30