Kingdom Manna (7)

Table of Contents (Scroll down to view all)

1. Worship for Revival

2. Revival History

3. A Reformation to Sustain an Awakening

4. A Gathering of Remnant Believers

5. Times of Refreshing

6. John Knox

7. Two Night Visions

8. Apostolic Training Centers

9. Terminology Matters: Church

Worship for Revival

By Lanny Swaim

When he [Jehoshaphat] had consulted with the people, he appointed singers unto the LORD, and that should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army, and to say, Praise the LORD; for his mercy endureth for ever. And when they began to sing and to praise, the LORD set ambushments against the children of Ammon, Moab, and mount Seir, which were come against Judah, and they were smitten.

2 Chronicles 20:21-22

When we praise and worship the Lord, we don’t do it to get Him to do something. We do it simply because He is worthy of our praise and worship. And we do it because we love and adore Him.

But in the above scripture reference, we see the singers going into battle ahead of the soldiers, with a specific purpose in addition to expressing love and adoration to Him. The result of their singing praise to the Lord God ensured the defeat of their enemies.

Recently, as I was working at my desk, I heard the Lord say, “Worship for revival.”

While this is not a new concept for me, I am very cautious about worshiping in expectation of anything other than to express our love and adoration to the Lord. However, I realize that it is scriptural at times to worship in expectation of something beyond simply worshipping to express our love and adoration to Him.

I know that worshipping the Lord in Spirit and in truth activates the spirit realm. Perhaps the most profound occurrence during worship is that people experience the manifested presence of God.

Often the gifts of the Spirit are activated, with people in the congregation receiving prophetic words and/or visions. Sometimes angels are seen and/or heard singing. At times individuals receive healing. I remember on one occasion during worship, an older lady who was nearly blind had her sight restored.

I’ve seen other manifestations of God’s presence. Gold dust appearing. Oil running out of people’s hands. Often a sweet smell comes into the room.

I could go on and on, but I want to point out that we weren’t worshipping to get these manifestations to happen. We were simply worshipping and they did happen.

However, I believe there are times when we worship expecting the result of a God ordained purpose, as did the singers in the above scripture reference.

I also believe that worship will be the hallmark of a group of Christians I often refer to as The Remnant Bride of Christ, who are pilgrims and trailblazers opening the way for the greatest move of God the world has ever known, ushering in a new reformation of the Ekklesia (Greek for Church meaning a governing/legislative body).

And as the worshipping Remnant Bride of Christ we will be worshipping not only to express our love and adoration to Him, but to usher in His Kingdom manifesting on Earth as it is in Heaven, bringing about an actual convergence of Heaven and Earth, moving us closer and closer to the fulfillment of Revelation 11:15.

The kingdoms [nations] of this world are become the kingdoms [Kingdom] of our Lord [Jesus], and of his Christ [the Body of Christ]; and he [we] shall reign for ever and ever.

Surely, absolutely and without a doubt we were born for such a time as this!

Revival History

By Lanny Swaim

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 28:9-10

History records many revivals, awakenings, moves of God, etc. But each remained for a short period of time and then faded into historical memories; precept upon precept, line upon line, here a little and there a little.

To list and record something about each of them would require the writing of a book, but I would like to mention a few in this article.

Perhaps one of the first such events is mentioned in Acts 19:9-12, where the apostle Paul preached for two years in the lecture hall of Tyrannus in Ephesus, where somehow all of Asia heard the Gospel because of Paul’s time in Ephesus, as God preformed many miracles at the hands of Paul.

As Paul and other apostles traveled to the ends of The Roman Empire at that time, they were accused of turning the world upside down with the Gospel (see Acts 17:6).

But Jesus had taught that a seed must fall into the ground and die to produce fruit (see John 12:24). By the end of the first century heresy had crept into the apostolic Church, and then in the fourth century the Roman Emperor Constantine made it legal to be a Christian in The Roman Empire, followed seventy years later by Emperor Theodosius making it law that all Roman citizens had to be Christians, essentially marrying Church and state, an act of spiritual adultery when the Church divorced her bridegroom, Jesus.

The seed had fallen into the ground and died, lying dormant for centuries to come.

In 1859 a group of believers in Wales were praying for revival and God answered their prayers with a major move of God in Wales, which actually saw many baptized with the Holy Spirit and receiving the gift of tongues.

In 1904 many in Wales were praying for another revival like the one in 1859. God raised up Evan Roberts, a coal miner in his twenties, to spearhead a revival that literally changed society in Wales. For two years there was almost no crime in Wales and many taverns became places for church gatherings. Many visited Wales to see what God was doing there, which may have influenced The Azusa Street Revival in Los Angles in 1906, where many incredible signs, wonders and miracles became the norm for over two years. Some Pentecostal churches and denominations today consider Azusa Street to be their beginning.

In the mid-twentieth century The Charismatic Movement or Renewal as it was referred to, saw the baptism with the Spirit cross most if not all denominational boundaries. This coincided with The Jesus People Movement that Time Magazine dubbed The Jesus Revolution among young people, which saw many teenagers and young adults come into The Kingdom of God.

All these events and numerous others not mentioned here, were but stepping stones (precept upon precept, line upon line, here a little, there a little), to the greatest of all spiritual awakenings that is now in its beginning stages in The United States and throughout the world.

This awakening will also entail a new reformation of the Church, which will sustain the awakening. This awakening will never end like all the other moves of God throughout history, and the Church will be perfected; a glorious Church without spot, wrinkle or any such thing, holy and without blemish (see Ephesians 5:27).

This awakening will be the ultimate fulfillment to the prayer Jesus taught us pray, “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth as in Heaven.”

This is the continual coming of Jesus, not a future event but an ever present reality, literally changing the world as we, the Ekklesia (Greek for Church meaning a governing/legislative body) disciple the nations, returning creation to God’s original intent, which is no less than the restitution of all things (see Acts 3:21).

Surely, without a doubt and absolutely, we were born for such a time this!

A Reformation to Sustain an Awakening

By Lanny Swaim

Isaiah 28:9-10

In our last Kingdom Manna teaching (see above) I used this same scripture reference, and then opened with the following statement:

A few years ago I connected with Andy Sanders, an itinerant minister in upstate New York who owned and headed up a publishing company. I had already released my first paperback book entitled, Kingdom Manna, published by McDougal & Associates and edited by Harold McDougal.

I sent the book to Andy, who had one of his editors critique the book and make some suggestions of things I might add to the book to make it even better. Andy’s wife, Cathy, is a graphic artist, and she designed a new cover for the book that was much better than the original, which was my idea. Cathy has also designed the covers for my other published paperback books released since Kingdom Manna.

In 2016 Andy connected me with someone in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, who set up a ministry trip for me to Pennsylvania, Maryland and New Jersey, which involved numerous engagements over a period of more than two weeks. I followed up that trip with others over a period of four years.

On one of those trips, I was invited to a home meeting by a couple I was staying with in Waynesboro, PA. That meeting, in Mechanicsburg, was headed up by Darrell and Lorrie Fields, authors of an amazing book entitled, The Seed of a Nation; Rediscovering America.

Since I was a visitor to the meeting, Darrell asked me to share a little about myself. I briefly spoke about a soon coming great awakening that was being prophesied by numerous prophetic voices at that time, and about a vision the Lord has given me for networks of house churches connected into apostolic hubs, which will be a new reformation of the Church.

Darrell then commented to me, “The new reformation of the Church will sustain the great awakening.”

Unlike the revival moves of God in the past, this awakening will never end, because, as Darrell pointed out, a new reformation of the Church will sustain it.

God is not going to bring another revival/awakening like those of the past, which will be but another stepping stone (line upon line, precept upon precept) to something greater. And in order for that to happen, there has to be a new reformation of the Church.

At the time of this writing (2025) that great awakening has begun, and it is time for the new reformation of the Church to begin as well.

And begin it will, because, surely we were born for such a time as this.

A Gathering of Remnant Believers

By Lanny Swaim

It shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on 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)

When Peter quoted from Joel 2:32 in Acts 2:21 on The Day of Pentecost when believers were first baptized with the Holy Spirit, he stopped short of mentioning the remnant whom the LORD shall call.

Why do you suppose he did that?

Perhaps he realized that the remnant Joel had prophesied about was still in the future and didn’t apply to that notorious Day of Pentecost.

I believe that to be the case, and I believe the remnant Joel was prophesying about is in existence today.

Joel’s remnant is a present day remnant of The Body of Christ, having received and continuing to receive revelation of The Kingdom of God, giving us a much clearer understanding of the Kingdom than has been realized up until now.

We are a firstfruits company, pilgrims and trailblazers, paving the way into a glorious reality heretofore unknown to believers.

We are The Remnant Bride of Christ, currently being taken out of The Body of Christ in order to complete The Body of Christ, just as Eve was taken out of Adam in order to complete him.

And we are scattered over the face of the earth, often secluded individuals, but appearing more and more as small pockets of like-minded believers, seeing and experiencing much of the same, carrying a Children of Issachar anointing (understanding the times) and a trumpet (prophetic) anointing, encouraging one another as we come into the unity of the faith, speaking as one voice, prophesying a great awakening and new reformation of the Church, but even more than that, a time when the nations will become The Kingdom of God, literally and experientially bringing The Kingdom of God on Earth as in Heaven (see Revelation 11:15).

Recently I was in a meeting in Thurmont, Maryland, where a group of these remnant individuals came together for several hours, each one being led by the Spirit to encourage and enlighten one another.

I had been asked to minister at this meeting, primarily by leading worship ushering in the manifested presence of God, but I was pleasantly surprised to discover God’s manifested presence already moving among the people present before I sang the first note.

However, this meeting was but a prelude to the meeting that was to come. Nancy Taylor Tate, of Parousia Ministries, who had hosted this gathering in a restaurant, invited anyone who wanted to and could to come to her and her husband’s house and continue meeting.

And that is where it became so evident that we were remnant believers carrying very weighty anointings that, when joined together in the unity of the Spirit, became a prophetic voice as a trumpet speaking into the atmosphere so near our nation’s capital, prophesying The Kingdom of God superimposing itself into The United States of America and ultimately, the entire world.

I can’t begin to tell you how encouraging it was to be in that group of remnant believers, some having traveled some distance to be there.

I am aware that there are more of us scattered throughout the earth than we know, but this was the first time I had been with that many of us in the same room.

What an incredible experience!

I believe much was accomplished that day, and I believe there will be similar meetings as the remnant is brought together by God in gatherings, assembling for the common purpose of advancing The Kingdom of God in earth as in Heaven.

Surely we were born for such a time as this!

Times of Refreshing

By Lanny Swaim

Repent and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.

Acts 3:19 (emphasis added)

There have been numerous revivals, awakenings, renewals, moves of God, times of refreshing, or whatever you want to call them since the Church was first born on The Day of Pentecost after Jesus ascended.

None of these events in and of themselves have brought the Church to completion/perfection, as incredible as some of them were.

Some of them are well known, others lesser known, and some probably completely forgotten. Some were well known when they occurred, while others were barely known outside the area where they occurred.

But God has used them all to bring us to where we are today, on the threshold of the greatest spiritual awakening in the history of the Church and the world.

In this article I want to give you a brief history of some of these times of refreshing, and a prophetic look at where we are as a result of these events and where we are going from here on the timeline of history.

Surely we were born for such a time as this.

I’ve been taught and I have taught that Jesus didn’t come as the Son of Man to free the Jews from Rome as most probably hoped He would, but that He came to free them from sin. However, I’ve come to realize that is only partially true.

When Jesus told his disciples to go into all the world and preach the Gospel (see Mark 16:15), more than likely He was referring to The Roman Empire, which according to scripture and to history they accomplished in the first century.

In Thessalonica they were even accused of turning the world upside down (see Acts 17:6).

I believe the fall of The Roman Empire was the direct result of the Gospel being preached throughout The Roman Empire.

If this is true, it explains why Jesus didn’t preach what I refer to as The Gospel of Personal Salvation that the Church for the most part has been focused on for many years. Jesus preached The Gospel of the Kingdom, having taught His disciples to pray, “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth as in Heaven (see Matthew 6:10).”

Down through Church history, the numerous moves of God have for the most part been perceived as getting people born again so they can go to Heaven, but I submit to you that the real purpose of the various moves of God has been for the purpose of bringing Heaven to Earth.

One of the greatest examples of this is The Welsh Revival of 1904, which literally changed society in Wales. For about two years there was almost no crime in Wales and many taverns became places for church gatherings.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Getting back to the first century, perhaps the first and one of the greatest of these events we refer to by different names, took place when the apostle Paul preached every day for about two years in Ephesus. Acts 19:10 informs us that all in Asia heard the Gospel because of Paul’s time in Ephesus.

This was without radio, television or the Internet. Quite amazing!

We are also told that God wrought special miracles at the hands of Paul (see Acts 19:11).

Fast forward to 1859:

In 1859 revival broke out in Wales, starting with united prayer and worship as believers from various denominations came together, which was unusual. Powerful preaching led to an estimated 100,000 conversions, impacting society. Interestingly, this move of God cannot be attributed to any one individual, although Humphrey Jones and David Morgan were instrumental in igniting and spreading it. It was marked by church buildings being full, spontaneous singing and a noticeable manifestation of God’s presence. It is very possible that it may have been inspired by an 1857-1858 move of God in America.

The 1857-1858 evangelical movement in The United States and Canada became known as The Businessmen’s Revival and/or The Third Great Awakening. A New York City businessman, Jeremiah Lanphier, began an hour long prayer meeting for businessmen during the lunch hour on Wednesdays. Only six people showed up at the first of these prayer meetings, but from there it grew to many and even to numerous meetings across the city every day of the workweek, eventually spreading to other cities across The United States and even into Canada. Perhaps the economic uncertainty of that time fueled the hunger for spiritual solace in many businessmen. It is estimated that as many as one million people made decisions to follow Jesus as a result of this movement. There was significant church growth and the many changed lives impacted society, continuing on throughout The War Between the States (1861-1865), with revival fires burning in the North and the South. The revival became known for the manifested presence of God rather than being based on doctrine. Could it be this move of God was a precursor to Full Gospel Business Men’s Fellowship International, which began about a hundred years later and spread to possibly as many as 160 nations?

With some considering this to be The Third Great Awakening in the United States, let’s take a brief look at the first and second great awakenings.

The First Great Awakening, led by key individuals such as George Whitefield and Jonathan Edwards, took place in the American colonies during the 1730’s and 1740’s. Sermons focused on a personal relationship with the Lord and a new birth experience. This movement resulted in unity among the colonists but also caused division among denominations, opening the door to growth in small groups such as the Baptists and the Methodists. More than likely, this awakening paved the way for the development of self-governance, leading to The American Revolution.

A sermon Edwards preached is considered by some to be the kick start to this first great awakening. Entitled, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, it seems the awakening was founded on a fear based gospel rather than a grace/love based gospel. Nevertheless, this movement resulted in many coming to a new faith in Jesus as their Savior, which obviously impacted society.

The Second Great Awakening took place from the 1790’s through the 1840’s, a much longer period than The First Great Awakening. A key figure in this revival was Charles Finney who believed revival was the result of prayer and inspired preaching. He resided over numerous revival meetings, which became known as camp meetings on the American frontier. These meetings were known for much emotionalism as the result of the Holy Spirit’s manifestation during these often very large gatherings. Much like The First Great Awakening, this movement saw much growth in Baptist and Methodist congregations, plus the establishment of new groups. Also, like in The First Great Awakening, society was impacted, bringing about reforms such as The Abolitionist Movement and temperance concerning the consumption of alcohol.

In 1801 The Cane Ridge Revival took place in Kentucky, considered by some to be the peak of The Second Great Awakening. Led by Presbyterian minister Barton W. Stone, it is estimated that as many as 30.000 people attended these meetings, which were characterized by much emotion, including people jerking and falling out under the power of the Holy Spirit. It began as a traditional, ritualistic communion service that was evidently interrupted by a genuine move of the Spirit. The momentum of The Cane Ridge Revival spread throughout the American frontier, sparking other camp meetings that eventually led to present day denominations being established.

I’ve already briefly mentioned the Welsh Revival of 1904, which was the result of Christians in Wales praying for another revival like the one in 1859. God raised up a coal miner in his twenties named Evan Roberts to spearhead this revival. Roberts preached three times a day, seven days a week for a period of about two years throughout Wales. These meetings were accompanied by manifestations of the Holy Spirit, including speaking in tongues. Many became Christians during this move of God in Wales, which, as I have already stated, literally changed society in Wales. People from other countries visited Wales to witness what God was doing there, and about the time The Welsh Revival ended, in 1906 The Azusa Street Revival began in Los Angles, California.

A small group of black Americans had started a prayer meeting at a house on Bonnie Brae Street in Los Angles. As the Spirit began to move in these meetings, more and more people came. One of them was William Seymour, who had learned about and was preaching the baptism with the Holy Spirit accompanied by speaking in tongues, even though he himself had not yet received the Holy Spirit baptism. As others at the Bonnie Brae Street meeting did receive and spoke in tongues, eventually Seymour received as well. As the crowd grew, everyone coming couldn’t get in the house. With the meeting going on inside and outside the house, the disturbance in the community eventually involved local law enforcement and the meeting was shut down.

At this point, one night Seymour was led by the Holy Spirit to go into a white section of town where black people were not allowed after dark. He was led to knock on a certain door, and inside he found two white women praying. He asked them what they were praying about, and they responded that they were asking God to send someone into their neighborhood to start revival. Seymour said, “I am the man.”

He found a rundown stable on Azusa Street and rented it. He cleaned it out, set up some makeshift benches and a podium, and began having meetings, which went on twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, with a racial/ethnic mixture of people coming and going for different periods of time. Seymour moved into the upstairs of this building, coming down to the meeting for various periods of time. The makeshift podium was a box, and Seymour would often stick his head inside the box and remain there instead of preaching, and often it was as he remained with his head in the box that many miracles took place. There are accounts of incredible miracles during the two years this meeting continued, along with much speaking in tongues and prophecy.

Alfred Garr, a white man who pastored a church in Los Angles, shut down his church and moved the congregation to the Azusa Street meeting. Later Garr moved to Charlotte, North Carolina where he pastored a very large church known for the many miracles that continually took place in their meetings.

At times flames of fire were seen shooting out the roof of the Azusa Street building. The fire department would be called only to find there was no fire.

Around two years into The Azusa Street Revival, Charles Parham, a white man who had been instrumental in introducing Seymour to the baptism with the Holy Spirit, visited Los Angles and attended the revival. Parham was a racist, and seeing various ethnic groups worshipping together, he caused quite a controversy, which was perhaps the main thing that led to the end of The Azusa Street Revival.

However, numerous Pentecostal denominations today consider The Azusa Street Revival to be their beginning.

Interestingly, at the same time The Azusa Street Revival was going on in Los Angles, a similar but less publicized revival took place in Dunn, North Carolina.

Throughout Church history there have been many other revivals, awakenings, moves of God, etc. So many that to document them all would probably require the writing of a book, and there are numerous books available about some if not many of them.

Between 1949 and 1953 there was a major awakening in the Hebrides Islands off the coast of Scotland, involving many people and packed church buildings.

In the 1960’s and 1970’s The Charismatic Movement or Charismatic Renewal as it was often referred to, saw the baptism with the Spirit accompanied by speaking in tongues and other gifts of the Spirit, including healing and prophecy, cross many if not all denominational boundaries in Protestant Churches. The Roman Catholic Church was also a part of this movement. Beginning in The United States, it quickly spread internationally, especially in Latin America, Africa and Asia.

The Charismatic Movement coincided with The Jesus People Movement among young people, which Time Magazine dubbed The Jesus Revolution.

I was very much involved in both, having been initially born again in the spring of 1970 and baptized with the Spirit that summer.

There are other more recent local and regional revivals I won’t mention here, which you may be aware of.

In the spring of 2000 I met Miguel Escobar, a revivalist who at the time of his passing had ministered in over ninety nations. I was blessed and honored to travel with Miguel for a period of time, witnessing many supernatural manifestations of the Spirit.

Miguel had a vision for revival centers all over the United States. He didn’t see that vision come to pass, but I believe it will. However, I believe these revival centers will be a catalyst for apostolic hubs overseeing networks of house churches. Miguel’s vision, in concert with an apostolic vision the Lord has given me, will be much more than another revival. It will encompass a new reformation of the Church, which will sustain the greatest of all spiritual awakenings that is being prophesied and has now begun.

And this will impact societies and governments like no other move of God has until the present time. All the times of refreshing I have mentioned here and the many others have been but stepping stones to what is about to take place, because, saints of God, The Kingdom of God/Heaven is coming in earth as never before.

I must say it again. Surely we were born for such a time as this!

John Knox

By Lanny Swaim

In our last Kingdom Manna teaching (above) we took a brief look at some of the revival moves in history, focusing on how these moves often impacted society and politics.

As I often mention in my writings, the Greek word that translates as Church in English is Ekklesia. It is not a religious or spiritual word, but a political word, and literally means a governing/legislative body.

As the Lord’s Ekklesia, we are here to literally take over the world. Not by coercion or force, but by changing hearts.

The Gospel of the Kingdom, which is the gospel Jesus preached, is not about getting people saved so they can go to Heaven.

In Romans 10:9 the apostle Paul states:

If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

Salvation is not instantaneous at the time we are initially born again (born from above). Paul didn’t say believe and you are saved, he said believe and you shall be saved. Salvation is the process of maturity/sanctification that enables us to be useful to The Kingdom of God.

As we become more useful to the Kingdom, we become more effective as the Ekklesia.

In this writing I want to take a brief look at the life of a man who lived this reality, at great cost but with great passion.

John Knox

1514 – 1572

Born three years before Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the church house door in Wittenberg, Germany, John Knox grew up in early 16th Century Scotland. Scotland was predominately Catholic, and Knox attended the University of St. Andrews where he studied theology, becoming ordained into the Roman Catholic priesthood in 1536.

He studied under John Major, a prominent Scottish scholar who advocated for church reform and was critical of the abuses within The Roman Catholic Church.

Knox too began questioning traditional Catholicism, and was also influenced by George Wishart, a Protestant Reformer and Calvinist who was burned at the stake as a heretic in 1546.

Knox was very vocal in his efforts to reform the Church in Scotland, also becoming a man of much prayer, known to pray, “Lord, give me Scotland or I die.”

It seems that down through history many of the great moves of God have been birthed by much prayer and intercession. Evan Roberts, who was very much involved in the Welsh Revival of 1904, was known to often pray all night long while preaching three times a day, at great cost to his health.

As an apostolic intercessor myself, I was recently pondering why we should pray so intensely and so much in concert with what God is doing. I found myself wondering, “Is it really necessary?” Suddenly I was reminded that Jesus often prayed all night long during His ministry before going to the cross.

I came to realize that when we intercede for people and situations, we are not trying to get God to do something but are instead coming into agreement with Him that His plan will play out just as He has planned. And as we pray and intercede, something happens in us, equipping and empowering us to be the vessels He uses to implement His plan and see it carried out.

During the time John Knox lived, many in Scotland were allied with the French in an effort to ensure that Catholicism survived and thrived in Scotland, in opposition to The Anglican Church in England and The Protestant Reformation.

In 1547 Knox was captured by the French and spent nineteen months as a galley slave. During this time he survived by spending even more time in prayer, establishing an intimate relationship with the Lord.

In 1549 Knox was freed due to intervention by the English, and was ordained in England as a Protestant minister during the reign of King Edward VI, himself a Protestant.

After the early death of King Edward VI, Queen Mary Tudor, also known as Bloody Mary, a staunch Catholic, came to power and Knox fled to Geneva, Switzerland, where he became a close friend of John Calvin.

In 1559 he returned to Scotland, believing that prayer could change history.

Queen Mary Stuart summoned Knox at least five times to appear before her, and is quoted as saying, “I fear the prayers of John Knox more that all the armies of England.”

Eventually, with the weakening of French influence in Scotland, in 1560 the Scottish Parliament approved The Scots Confession, a creedal confession of The Scottish Reformation, which was written by Knox and five other reformers.

As a reformer, Knox also had much influence over education in Scotland, and is credited with starting The Scottish Presbyterian Church, which spread to America with many Scots migrating to The New World.

John Knox understood that true reformation begins in the heart, and that prayer is the seed of every revival.

He was a man born for his time, as we have been born for such a time as this.

Two Night Visions

By Lanny Swaim

For God speaketh once, yea twice, yet man perceiveth it not. In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, in slumberings upon the bed; then he openeth the ears of men, and sealeth their instruction, that he may withdraw man from his purpose, and hide pride from man.

Job 33:14-17 (emphasis added)

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

In the early 1970’s, as a young Christian, I attended Sunday morning meetings in the home of Doug and Miriam Carty in High Point, NC. We met in their basement, sitting in folding chairs in a circle, with an inner circle and an outer circle. When I attended there, there were usually about 60 people present at each meeting.

We met according to 1 Corinthians 14:26:

How is it then, brethren? When ye come together, every one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation. Let all things be done unto edifying

We started each meeting by passing around bread and wine (actually grape juice), partaking of what is commonly referred to as communion.

From that point on, no one led the meeting except the Holy Spirit. There was no preacher, no worship leader, other than the Spirit.

Most of our meetings were probably 80% to 90% praise and worship, with different ones beginning songs, mostly short choruses we all knew. We all joined in acapella and sang each chorus several times. Sometimes we would sing familiar hymns we knew. Occasionally someone would play guitar and sing a song to the group, often something that person had written.

Sometimes someone would read a scripture. There would be messages in tongues with interpretation, usually by two different people. Often just a prophetic word would be given. Occasionally there would be a short teaching, usually around five minutes or less.

We were encouraged to keep whatever we contributed short, leaving room for everyone else to contribute.

There were four elders in the group, and usually at least three of them were present. However, they were not there to lead, but simply as overseers. If someone got out of order, they would correct, if possible after the meeting instead of embarrassing the person who was out of order during the meeting.

In the two years I attended I only recall that happening once.

We were encouraged to always be led by the Spirit and not to just interject something we wanted to say or do. Amazingly, in a group that large, it was rare that two people ever started to speak at the same time.

At the end of each service, there was always a recognizable theme that flowed throughout the meeting, even though it came from numerous individuals with no preplanned agenda.

It was a beautiful thing to behold and always edifying. God’s presence always manifested and I think was felt by all.

Eventually I left there for various reasons and attended more traditional church gatherings, but I was never quite satisfied with anything else.

Over thirty years ago my wife and I attended a large Vineyard Church in Wilmington, NC. The Vineyard movement was known for much praise and worship, and the Vineyard we attended had several worship teams that took turns leading on Sunday mornings.

The Vineyard we attended had cell groups that met in homes during the week. We attended one and I had hoped it would be like the house church I attended in High Point all those years ago. But each week the cell group leaders were given a sheet by the leadership at the Vineyard, giving the cell group leader control over the meeting with subject matter, etc.

At best these cell group meetings were Bible studies and social get-togethers, which are okay, but I had hoped for more.

The Vineyard Movement was started by John Wimber, a musician himself, and had many good aspects. What I am about to write is in no way intended belittle The Vineyard Movement. I am just reporting what happened.

While we were attending The Wilmington Vineyard and involved in a cell group that met on Oak Island, the Lord appeared to me in a night vision. I was asleep but it was too real to have been just a dream.

He was sitting on a very large throne, which appeared to be a rock structure. His face was brighter than the sun, but I knew He was looking at me and I could look straight at Him without being blinded.

He said, “The Vineyard has it backward. They think the church meets 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.”

Four years later He appeared to me again in the same way and said, “It is time to start that church.” I said, “But Lord, I’m not a pastor,” thinking that most independent churches were started and led by pastors. He replied, “You are an apostle.”

The next morning my question to Him was, “Okay Lord, what is an apostle? What does a modern day apostle really do?”

He led me to 1 Corinthians 3:10, where the apostle Paul wrote:

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.

The word masterbuilder is translated from the Greek word, architekton, where we get the English word architect. So an apostle is an architect. An architect has the blueprint and knows how a building is to be built.

But the Church is not a building made with hands (see Mark 14:58 & Acts 17:24). Instead, it is a people.

A true apostle understands this. The Church was never intended to be an organization and it certainly is not a brick and mortar building. The true Church, which is not a good translation of the Greek word Ekklesia (meaning a governing/legislative body), is a people.

A thorough study of The New Testament reveals that this people in the first century met primarily in small groups in homes, breaking bread (communion) and assembling together according to 1 Corinthians 14:26 (above).

Occasionally they came together in larger groups, perhaps in a rented or borrowed facility, such as when Paul was in Troas (see Acts 20:6-8).

Occasionally there were other types of meetings, like when Paul preached every day for about two years in the lecture hall of Tyrannus in Ephesus (see Acts 19:9-11), or when the Jerusalem church met daily in the temple and from house to house (see Acts 2:46).

But I think we can glean from scripture that the most normal, regular way the first century church met was in small groups in homes. And this is confirmed by what Jesus said to me in those two night visions over 30 years ago.

Since that time, He has taught me other functions of an apostle, which in some ways and at various times include all the other five-fold giftings mentioned in Ephesians 4:11. Perhaps one of the most important functions of an apostle is prayer (intercession), which I often find myself doing during the night when I am unable to sleep.

Today there are many house churches meeting in The United States and throughout the world. James Rutz documented this in his book, Megashift, which I highly recommend.

From my observation, here in The United States, most house churches are meeting independent of other house churches. Some are meeting for good reasons, but others for the wrong reasons, such as having been hurt (wounded) in traditional churches. Many are meeting in much the same way as larger more traditional churches, just in a smaller group in a home, with perhaps a little more freedom for individuals to ask questions and/or express their thoughts. For the most part, apostles are not involved in or have any oversight of these house churches.

The Lord has made it clear to me that it is time for that to change. He is going to establish models of apostolic hubs overseeing networks of house churches.

Apostolic Training Centers

By Lanny Swaim

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.

This prophetic word was given by Derek Prince on Sunday, April 6, 1975 at Deliverance Evangelistic Temple in Jacksonville, NC.

Derek Prince was a well-known teacher during The Charismatic Movement of the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. The last years of his life he lived in Jerusalem.

All these years later, some believers in eastern North Carolina are still aware of this prophetic word. Some are convinced that it will never come to pass, while others are still waiting for it.

I find it interesting that after all these years it is still known and remembered. Recently, I actually met a lady who was in that meeting in Jacksonville all those years ago.

Several years ago I was holding monthly meetings in several different cities in North Carolina. One of those meetings was in Jacksonville. I had been made aware of this prophecy and always had copies, which I made available on my sales table for free.

The Jacksonville meetings started out small and didn’t grow. At best only four or five people were attending every month. I was considering shutting it down but as I was lying on my couch unable to sleep one night, the Lord spoke to me and told me I had to continue going to Jacksonville.

A couple (Robert and Anne Meadows) from Maysville, a few miles up US Highway 17 from Jacksonville, attended the Jacksonville meeting every month. The hotel room we met in cost $100 each month, and at the end of every monthly meeting Robert would put a $100 bill in my hand, which covered the cost of the meeting room. So even though the meeting remained small, the only cost to me was traveling to and from Jacksonville.

Robert was aware of the Prince prophecy and we sometimes talked about it. He told me about a vision he had while driving on NC Highway 58 that runs between Maysville and Cape Carteret. Robert’s family farm, which he owned with his siblings, is on Highway 58 and Robert lived on one corner of the property (Robert has since passed but Anne still lives there as of this writing).

While Robert was driving home one day on Highway 58, suddenly he saw in an open vision a very large building with acres of parking lot out in the cotton field on the family farm. He asked the Lord what that was and the Lord told him it was a training center where people would come in for a period of time and then go out all over the world.

Robert later learned that a friend of his had seen the same thing, and that his daughter had dreamed it. Since then others have seen it.

I met Robert at his home one Monday to pray about the Prince prophecy, his vision of the training center, and the monthly meeting I continued to hold in Jacksonville. As we were praying, I looked at Robert and told him that every time I thought of the training center, I heard the Lord say, 16,000 people.

Robert told me that when he had the vision, the Lord told him the main auditorium in the building would seat 15,000 people.

While we were praying that Monday, we were led by the Lord to move my Jacksonville meeting to a church building across the road from Robert’s house, which I did. He and Anne had started the church meeting in their home and then put a modular building on property across the road from their house. The meeting did grow some there but still wasn’t very large. However, we continued to meet there for several months.

On my way home that Monday, while driving south on Highway 17 toward Jacksonville, I asked the Lord, “Why did you tell me 16,000 people and you told Robert 15,000?”

Immediately I heard Him say, “The main auditorium will seat 15,000 with a 1,000 seat overflow room, where smaller meetings can be held as well.”

Then I asked Him, “What is the phenomenon in the Derek Prince prophecy?” Phenomenon seemed to me like a strange word to be in a prophecy.

He said, “It is my glorious Church, built according to my blueprint and functioning according to my plan.”

I suddenly realized that is what kings and leaders will come from north, south, east and west to study.

This will be no less that a new reformation of the Church, comprising networks of house churches connected into apostolic hubs.

I believe the training center Robert and others saw in that cotton field will not only train and equip believers to go out all over the world, but will be a gathering place where networks of house churches can come together periodically for large worship services and teaching, plus fellowship and interaction for edification and unity.

While it will take finances to build, maintain and staff such a facility, imagine if all the money spent to build, maintain and staff all the church organizations and buildings scattered over the landscape was not necessary. With believers meeting primarily in homes with no paid staff, a tremendous amount of money would be available to send people all over the world.

Perhaps the biggest problem with current teaching on The Kingdom of God/Heaven is that most are still trying to fit it into the old model of church. That’s trying to put new wine into old wine bottles. We are in a time of transition, and while God has allowed it and even blessed the current system, the time is at hand when the new wine (revelation) of the Kingdom now being received and taught will have to be put into new wine bottles (a new reformation of the Church), or the bottles will break and the new wine will be wasted.

I have learned that a new system cannot be started simply by criticizing the old system. A new system has to be put in place of the old system, and saints of God, it is time.

But God is going to have to build it.

Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it.

Psalm 127:1

However, we do have a part to play in the building of it. And for those of us who can see it, we will do our part, because, surely we were born for such a time as this.

Terminology Matters: Church

By Lanny Swaim

But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment, for by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.

Matthew 12:36-37

In our last Kingdom Manna teaching, we looked at how new wine cannot be put into old wine bottles, in relation to how most who are seeing the Kingdom more clearly than in the past are still trying to fit this new revelation (new to them) into the old model of church.

Even those who are beginning to see that there needs to be and actually has to be a new reformation of the Church, often still use old terminology to describe certain aspects of the reformation, which is very misleading and causes confusion and dulls understanding of the Kingdom and how it works.

Perhaps one of the greatest misuses of terminology is the word church. Actually, the Greek word translated as church in most translations of the Bible is ekklesia. The most literal definition of ekklesia is a governing or legislative body, and it is not a spiritual or religious word. It is a political word, used by the Greeks as a government term.

Jesus and other New Testament writers often used secular terminology to describe spiritual functions. Many of the uses of the word church came to be long after Jesus walked the earth as The Son of Man, and after the first century Church had disappeared for the most part, replaced by The Roman Catholic Church; a dead, religious organization.

The true Ekklesia is not an organization or a building. It is a people.

To call a building a church is a gross misinterpretation of Ekklesia.

Words matter (see Matthew 12:36-37 above). To use the word church to mean a building where believers assemble makes church an idle word, void of its real meaning. The Day of Judgment mentioned in Matthew 12:36 (above) is the millennium we have now entered into, which is the seventh day (millennium/see 2 Peter 3:8) since creation and the third day of the Church.

Much that God has allowed and even blessed in the past is no longer going to be accepted in this day (millennium), and the wrong use of important words such as church will cause many to fall short of their God-ordained destinies. That result is not something anyone should want to be responsible for, and to think it is not a matter of importance, is to be deceived.

Often the misuse of church is taken to even greater error, such as when a pastor stands in a pulpit and says, “Isn’t it good to be in the house of the Lord today?”

To imply that a building is God’s house diminishes the reality that God’s dwelling place is in a people, not in a brick and mortar building. This encourages a mindset that makes the true Church purposeless in their role as the Lord’s Ekklesia.

Many times when receiving an offering in a church meeting, I’ve heard the one encouraging people to give say, “Bring your tithes and offerings into the storehouse,” comparing the church building to the temple in Jerusalem.

Tithing is a whole other issue we will look at in a future teaching, but to compare a church building to the temple is a far stretch. There is no comparison. To say something like that is manipulation, and manipulation is witchcraft.

So to think that it doesn’t matter if you call a brick and mortar building with a steeple on top a church, or the house of God, or the storehouse is dead wrong.

To say you are going to church is impossible when we are the Church (Ekklesia).

To say you are having church when actually assembling together as the Church, is absolutely crazy.

Words do matter, and words produce results, good or bad.