The Lord is now restoring to the body of Christ something vital for fulfilling the Great Commission during these end times. It is something that has been missing for most of the history of the Church. Two millennia ago Jesus Christ gave the Church the Great Commission. Still we have not yet completed it. One of the primary reasons for the delay is the inability of the Church to prove to the lost that our God is the true God through miraculous signs. In stark contrast, the early church of Acts understood how to heal the sick and cast out demons as the gospel was proclaimed. As a result the gospel spread throughout much of the known world at that time. But as the Church became an institutionalized religion, this understanding was lost. I am convinced this is why billions of Musl__ms, Hindus, Buddhists, and adherents of witchcraft refuse to take the gospel seriously. As Jesus told the royal official whose son lay sick in Capernaum, “Unless you people see miraculous signs and wonders, you will never believe.”
But during these last days the Lord has shown us how to restore these miraculous signs to the Church in accordance with John 14:12…
“I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.”
This will not happen overnight; it will likely take many years for the Church to be equipped in this way. But it has begun…
I was in a certain city equipping believers in End Time Evangelism. After the training, we held an evangelistic meeting to provide the trained people with actual “battlefield” experience. This is what happened at the meeting….
I preached the gospel and asked the Lord to confirm it through miraculous healings as the trained believers laid hands on the sick. Many miracles took place as they exercised their authority over diseases and demons in Christ. Among them: a boy born with a hole in his heart could no longer hear the telltale “swishing” sound of his heartbeat. A woman had come to the meeting with a large hard cancerous tumor in her stomach and pain in different parts of her body because of the tumor and the chemotherapy. Through tears of joy she testified that her stomach had become soft and all the pain had disappeared. A woman had come with several growths in her breast and because of them, debilitating fear. She could no longer find any of the growths and her fear had vanished in the name of Christ.
Christ’s authority to free the people from the prison of infirmity proved that he also had the legal authority to forgive the sin that had put them in prison. When I gave the invitation for people to receive Jesus Christ, precious souls responded. It was most glorious. The saints rejoiced at what the Lord had done through them.
Some time later an evangelist from another country came to hold a Healing Service in a local church in that area. Some of the believers we had trained were members of that local church and attended the Service. One of them wrote me the following about the meeting…
The Service was so similar to your teaching except that it was a one-man-show. The first night of the meetings, we (those who had attended your training) felt so frustrated because we had to restrain the burning desire to minister to the sick. The second night we just went ahead doing just as you taught us, like the evangelist [on the platform] but we had to stop before getting the job done because a pastor stopped us. In fact by that time some had already been healed as we ministered. What an impact it could have made if the whole body of Christ in that big hall had ministered with authority and commanded healing together with the evangelist just as you did with us…what a pity and a waste! I could not help noticing the disapproving way the pastors and some elders looked at us while we were ministering to the sick—that very disapproving look—you know our church has a kind of mentality that allows only certain people to pray or minister and we happened to be not those ‘certain people.’ It is not that we wanted to show off, but the need was there. So many sick people were queuing up waiting to be prayed for. Maybe the way we ministered with authority opened their eyes. Anyway all praises and glory be to God for all the miracles, the fruit and the harvest from those two nights. The evangelist is indeed a man of God and has an apostolic and prophetic anointing.
Just like Moses was unable to take the Israelites into the Promised Land, the current generation of specially-anointed evangelists has failed to lead the Church to fulfill the Great Commission. Their meetings focus on the anointed ministry of one man or one woman. Of course they have brought much glory to God in their time. I believe they have now fulfilled their purpose. An army of nameless and faceless Joshuas is now being raised up to invade and take possession of Canaan. The Lord has begun to fulfill Jesus’ promise in John 14:12…”Those who believe in Me will do the works that I have done.”
It will be the Body of Christ consisting of multiplied millions of trained believers who will preach the gospel, heal the sick, and cast out demons like Christ did, who will fulfill the Great Commission. Where a handful of world-class evangelists failed in this particular regard, this huge army of nameless and faceless little ones will get the job done.
What is the primary work of the five-fold ministry?
Ephesians 4:11 It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, 12 to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up… (NIV)
Their work is to prepare God’s people for works of service. “One-man-show” ministries do not generally do this, although there may be exceptions. They usually draw much attention to themselves and pay relatively little to equipping the body of Christ. Now is the time for the five-fold-ministry to fulfill the primary purpose of its existence: equipping us to do the works that Jesus did.