Houston
& Hurricane Ike:
The
priest are the prophet are here, but where is the king?
Jesus Christ fulfilled three Old Testament types when he appeared on earth 2,000 years old---priest, prophet, and king. After he died and rose from the dead he ascended to heaven and left behind the Body of Christ to complete the work that he had begun on earth. Now the Church is to fulfill the Great Commission. As Jesus has the three offices of priest, prophet, and king, his Body on earth is also given three different offices: the priestly, the prophetic, and the kingly.As New Testament priests, we offer up sacrifices to our God: prayer, praise, worship, and even our bodies as living sacrifices. As New Testament prophets, we build up the Church by speaking forth the word of God. The Church already has understanding of the purpose of the priestly and prophetic offices and she is functioning effectively in them. However, the Church by comparison is ignorant of the third office, the office of king.
The priest is hereAs an example of the priestly office, much prayer and intercession were lifted up to the Lord on high for the Houston area as Hurricane Ike approached from the Gulf of Mexico. The prayers were a manifestation of the priestly office. The Lord heard the prayer and many were spared from the devastation caused by the storm.
The prophet is also hereLong before Hurricane Ike was formed in the Atlantic Ocean, Chuck Pierce of Glory of Zion Ministries prophesied over the Houston area. Below are portions of the prophesy:
"I have chosen Houston as the port city where I will rest My presence in the midst of a strange happening in this nation. I will cause My presence to be established in this city. I will cause enemies of My Spirit who have resisted My presence in the past to welcome My presence. I'm going to shake Galveston in a way that it has not been shaken since the beginning of the last century. This is a time for Me to come full circle. Galveston will begin to run forward into My presence in Houston. That which is resisting My presence in Galveston will be overtaken."
"I am raising up the Body in Houston to receive an outpouring of My presence. As I flood the people of Galveston to Houston, I will return them with a flood of My presence. Faith is now your guide. For faith will explode in the very hearts of this city and ten surrounding smaller cities of this area. This will be a faith explosion that will begin to occur because victory has entered Houston and you have gathered to receive a new anointing of grace."
The words mentioning Galveston are especially accurate, in particular "I'm going to shake Galveston in a way that it has not been shaken since the beginning of the last century." This is a direct reference to the calamitous hurricane of the year 1900 which took 6,000 lives in Galveston. Moreover, as was prophesied above, people from Galveston did evacuate their island as Hurricane Ike approached, some of them fleeing to Houston several miles to the north. These happenings foretold in advance by Chuck Pierce are a manifestation of the prophetic office.
The prophecy also includes a promise of an outpouring and flood of God's presence upon the Houston area.
So far we have seen the manifestation of both the priestly office (prayer) and the prophetic office (the prophecy) regarding Houston and Hurricane Ike. What is missing is the manifestation of the third office---the office of king. How does the kingly office complete the picture?
The prophecy speaks of a "faith explosion" in Houston in connection with "a new anointing of grace" for victory. Let us examine what this might mean and how it will be accomplished in its fullness. It will take place when the Church moves obediently in the third office---the office of king. At present, the Church is relatively ignorant regarding this office.
But where is the king?The "faith explosion" prophesied by Chuck Pierce should result in the advance of the Kingdom of God in Houston. The Kingdom of God will be proclaimed in Houston and Galveston with power, and souls will be saved and be discipled. This is the primary function of the Church on earth---the fulfillment of the Great Commission. How will God fulfill this prophecy? God will fulfill this prophecy through the Church when she understands and functions in the third and final office, the office of king.
The prophecy will not be fulfilled if the Church simply prays and then waits for God to show up sovereignly in her meetings. Moreover, as long as the Church goes about evangelism as usual, the prophecy will not come to pass in its fullness. By evangelism as usual we mean a pastor sharing the gospel during a Sunday morning worship service to the normally few unsaved visitors who are brought by church members. By evangelism as usual we mean sharing the gospel at occasional evangelistic meetings where a special speaker has been invited to preach, and where most of those in attendance are already believers. Such evangelistic efforts, while laudable, fall far short of hitting the target---fulfilling the Great Commission. Even when we add the efforts of individual believers sharing the gospel in the marketplace and elsewhere, we are not getting the job done.
The Church must admit that with her feeble evangelism as usual she has failed to obey the mandate Christ gave her 2,000 years ago. The prophecy for Houston will fail to come to pass unless the Church returns to Scripture and to the type of evangelism that Jesus taught his disciples. It is not debatable that we are responsible and accountable to God to study and to obey Scripture with regard to evangelism before God's conditional promise will come to pass fully. It will not come to pass if we simply stay seated in our church pews. What in fact does New Testament Scripture teach about evangelism?
Luke 9:1 When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, 2 and he sent them out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. …6 So they set out and went from village to village, preaching the gospel and healing people everywhere.
Luke 10:1 After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. …9 Heal the sick who are there and tell them, 'The kingdom of God is near you.'
Today the Church does not understand and does not obey what Jesus commanded his twelve disciples and later his seventy-two disciples to do. We do not go from town to town preaching the gospel and healing people everywhere. We no longer heal the sick in a town and tell them, 'The kingdom of God is near you.'
Today we depend mostly on specially-called servants of God to preach the gospel to the lost in special meetings and events. The seventy-two ordinary disciples who are to be sent "to every town and place" are nowhere to be found. We are not taught, as Jesus taught his disciples, to heal the sick to demonstrate to the lost that our God is the only true God and that Jesus is the only way to Him.
Matthew 28:19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.
But the Church has not been taught to obey the Lord's commands to heal the sick and cast out demons for the sake of the gospel. Some teachers today even hold to cessationism---that these commands are no longer valid. The result is that we have disobeyed the Lord's command to heal the sick when we proclaim the gospel. The ineffectiveness of our evangelism, especially in non-western cultures, is a reflection of this.
Unless the Church obeys the Lord's command, the prophecy for Houston will not come to pass in its fullness. The Church will be able to obey the Lord only when she understands and functions in the kingly office. This third and final office is not for ministering to the Lord as is the priestly office or for ministering to the body of Christ as is the prophetic office. Rather the kingly office is for destroying the works of the enemy: proclaiming the kingdom of God to the lost and healing the sick to demonstrate to the lost that Jesus is in fact the promised Messiah, the Savior of the world.
The primary characteristic of a king is that he possesses authority to give commands to those who are under his authority. Jesus Christ gave authority over diseases and demons to his disciples as he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God to the lost. The disciples exercised this authority not by praying or prophesying, but by giving authoritative commands directly to diseases and demons---just as Jesus did. When they exercised this authority properly, diseases and demons obeyed their commands. People were healed of infirmities and delivered from demons. The miracles were signs to the lost that identified Jesus as the promised Messiah.
Similarly, when God's servants today are taught how to exercise this authority over diseases and demons---how to function in the kingly office---they will be able to heal the infirm in the context of preaching the gospel to the lost.
This is already taking place around the world and in the Houston area as well. The Lord is restoring the third and final office to the Church in Houston so that the prophecy over the area will be fulfilled.
The street ministry Take it to the Streets headed by Michael Dyke is one of several real-life examples of this. Michael has been preaching the gospel faithfully for well over thirty years. In April 2007 Michael attended The Elijah Challenge Basic Training in Houston where we taught believers how to heal the sick to confirm the gospel to the lost. Not long after that, the Lord began to use Michael and his team to perform miraculous healings in the open-air as they boldly preached the gospel on the streets and in public places. They have been reaping a harvest of souls, including hardened gang members. Below is a testimony of a boy who was miraculously healed in front of a Texas movie theater as Michael's team was sharing the gospel there.
"We have been consistently witnessing here on the streets of Brazoria County. One of our missionaries, Joshua Brown, saw a powerful miraculous healing on a night when we were witnessing at the Starplex Cinema. Such things are happening very commonly now. As we were out witnessing for Jesus Christ, Joshua was sharing with a boy who had been in a motocross accident several months earlier. In the accident the T-1 and L-4 discs in his spine had been completely demolished.
Joshua explained to him about the power of God's Word and the authority Jesus gave to those who believe on Him. When the boy mentioned that he was still suffering from horrible pain in his back, Joshua asked him if he wanted to be healed. The boy consented. Joshua laid his hand on the boy's back, commanded the back to line up correctly (because his spine was twisted due to the accident) and his spine to be completely healed. Immediately they heard popping sounds in the boy's back, and all pain was gone! His back was aligned correctly, and the boy was so surprised that he accidentally swore!"
The boy's testimony can be viewed on YouTube at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJBsguZzzz8
Luke 9:6 So they set out and went from village to village, preaching the gospel and healing people everywhere.This Scripture from the gospel of Luke is now being fulfilled in the Houston area through Michael Dyke and his team. As the Lord raises up a large army of such believers in the Houston area to do similar works on the streets, in neighborhoods and apartment complexes, in the marketplace, in small groups, in churches, and in one-on-one evangelism, the prophecy through Chuck Pierce will be fulfilled.
When a believer understands the authority over disease and demons given by the Lord for the confirmation of the gospel, the believer can become very bold and free in sharing the gospel to the lost. We become like Elijah on Mt. Carmel who challenged the priests of Baal to a contest of power. We can boldly proclaim to the world, "My God is the only true God, and I will demonstrate it to you in power. Bring the sick here." This will be a fulfillment of the "faith explosion" prophesied by Chuck Pierce.
Not only that, the Lord is fulfilling John 14:12 around the world in order for the Church to complete the Great Commission. The disaster in Houston and crisis after crisis around the world today have made it clear that we are at the end of days. The body of Christ will in this age do the works that Jesus did, including proclaiming the kingdom of God, healing the sick, casting out demons, and making disciples. After that the prophecy about the return of the King of kings---the Lord Jesus Christ---will be fulfilled.
John 14:12 "I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing."
As New Testament priests, we pray and worship the Father as Jesus did. As New Testament prophets, we equip and build up the body of believers as Jesus did. As new Testament "kings," we destroy the works of the enemy as Jesus did for the sake of the Great Commission to the lost.
Would you like to read reports from other servants of God like Michael Dyke who trained with The Elijah Challenge? Click here.
Luke 10:9 "Heal the sick who are there and tell them, 'The kingdom of God is near you.’"
