Prophetic Headlines Discussion
Session 1: Issues Affecting Our Near Future
I.
Introduction to the Series:
A. Heavy Prophecies:
In this series we are going to look at some of the things that God's
prophets are declaring are on the horizon for us in America. There is
coming a series of events that can only be described as The Perfect Storm
(a term John Paul Jackson has been using for years to speak about these
events and trends); the resulting impact promises to permanently change
this country and our way of life. It includes great difficulties that have
been appointed to our nation in order to awaken the Church to turn
towards the Lord. We are going to enter into some provoking discussion
about what is being prophesied, what has already unfolded and the
effects of what is coming.
B. When I First Came Across These Headlines:
1. Unbelief:
I normally approach subjective prophecies like these with a good bit
of skepticism until I have reason to think otherwise because there are
so many voices out there that are far more soulish than revelatory.
2. Disconnect:
Even after I confirmed the sources as reliable with a history of
prophetic accuracy I still didn’t really know what to think about all
this. It all seemed too heavy to be able to really put my faith in it, and
if I did believe it then I still had no feeling for what it would look like
or how it could possibly happen.
C. Events that have Now Already Unfolded:
1. 9.1+ Quake Rocks Japanese Island (on March 11th, 2011 a 9.0
earthquake occurred off the coast of Japan devastating the island).
2. The Trial for the Unborn - the conscience pulse of our nation. To vote
or not to vote, and a nation hanging in the balance (occurred during
the presidential elections in the Fall of 2012).
3. India’s Shaky Ground – Northern Quakes Challenge Infrastructure
(occurred 9/20/2011).
4. Emergency Meetings of Economic Advisors Called in Europe
(occurred July 10, 2011).
D. Events that We Appear to be in the Middle of Now:
1. The Meteor Showers of 2012 and 2013 (occurred November and
December 2012)
2. Overhauling the FDA; unveiling the corruption of payoffs and buyouts
1
(2 states have now legalized recreational use of marijuana).
3. The Embattled Bill of Rights, the Basis of Our Freedoms on Trial (the
series of recent shootings are now causing government officials to
revisit gun laws).
4. The Last battle of the Marine Corps; the few and proud may become
fewer. Necessary or Unnecessary? Corps or single Brigade? Will they
survive (current discussion around downsizing the Marine Corps)?
E. God Revealing His Plan to His Servants:
As a simple foundation of prophecies like these, it is helpful to know that
it is actually God’s way to speak to His prophets before He brings
judgment. It’s not new or odd; this is the way God has promised to
interact with His people.
“When disaster comes to a city, has not the Lord caused it? Surely the
Sovereign Lord does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the
prophets (Am. 3:6-7).”
“Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; so hear
the word I speak and give them warning from me…Say this to them…As
surely as I live, those who are left in the ruins will fall by the sword, those
out in the country I will give to the wild animals to be devoured, and those
in strongholds and caves will die of a plague. I will make the land a
desolate waste, and her proud strength will come to an end, and the
mountains of Israel will become desolate so that no one will cross them.
Then they will know that I am the Lord, when I have made the land a
desolate waste because of all the detestable things they have done (Ez. 33:7,
27-29).”
“But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He
will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell
you what is yet to come (Jn. 16:13).”
F. References for this Series:
1. Terry Bennet transcript:
(http://www.terrybennett.net/mbinterview.html)
2. Terry Bennett headlines:
(http://www.terrybennett.net/headlines.html)
3. John Paul Jackson perfect storm word:
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sNnKVl3jAs)
4. John Paul Jackson headlines:
(http://preparingfortheperfectstorm.com/john-paul-jacksonsprophetic-headlines/)
II.
The Two Prophetic Voices of this Study:
A. About Prophets:
1. Not infallible men:
All of us (including anointed prophets) are flawed humans beings who
struggle with sin, we are capable of poor choices and all have bad
2
days. It isn’t wise, safe or real to put someone on a pedestal and see
them as infallible.
2. Not infallible prophecies:
It is important that we understand that the prophetic gifts are like all
the gifts of the Holy Spirit in that they are subject to the believer’s
participation with the Holy Spirit. This means that the perfect words
of God have to make it through an imperfect vessel before they come
out. We need to understand that this leaves a margin for error, where
it’s possible for some parts of a prophetic word come to pass while
other parts may have been misunderstood by the prophet and not
come to pass.
3. The Impact of prayer:
Another dynamic that can impact the fulfillment of a prophetic word
is repentance and prayer. These things can change, limit or in some
cases total avert the unfolding of prophecies that God really was
speaking. See Jonah and Nineveh (Jh. 3:1-10) and Hezekiah and Isaiah
(2Ki. 20:1-6).
4. Uncertainty of timing:
For even the seasoned prophets timing is always the hardest element
to identify. It is the tendency of the messenger to prescribe a time
frame even when the Lord did not and it’s normally human error to
assign the time frame as immediate or near in it’s fulfillment. An
added difficulty in clarifying timing is that sometimes the Lord will
unpredictably give a time extension out of His mercy (2Ki. 22:19-20).
B. Mostly Unimpressed with Prophets:
I want to say from the start that I am mostly unimpressed with the
majority of the prophecies that I hear. I think that many of those who are
being called “prophets” today really aren’t all that prophetic. Much of
what is being “prophesied” I believe would far better be categorized as “I
think this is what the Lord is up to” rather than declaring it as
“prophetic.” Godly men and women should be allowed to say that they
think that the Lord is highlighting this or that or that they think
something will go a certain way. We need those types of godly voices and
their perspective is valuable. What I don’t think is super helpful is a lot of
what happens in prophetic circles where everyone prophesies everything
all the time and there is no accountability or weighing of these words.
C. Proven Character and History of Prophetic Accuracy:
The prophetic words we will be looking at in this series however come
from two men who have decades of proven prophetic accuracy; Terry
Bennett and John Paul Jackson. Both men served with Mike Bickle during
the 1980s and were involved in IHOP’s prophetic history.
1. Terry Bennett:
Terry is mentioned in Mike Bickle’s Encountering Jesus series, Terry’s
insight and friendship remains valuable to Mike still today.
2. John Paul Jackson:
I think it is valuable to point out that after Todd Bentley’s fall John
Paul Jackson took one of the strongest (and Biblical) stances of any of
3
the Charismatic leaders regarding the appropriate path for Todd’s
restoration.
G. Disclaimers:
1. Not speaking on behalf of these men:
I am not in any way representing or speaking on behalf of Terry
Bennett or John Paul Jackson, in fact my ideas and comments may
vary greatly from what they think. In this series we are attempting to
take and discuss the things that these men were shown asking the
Lord for increased clarity (which is the role of the teacher).
2. Not following our normal teaching pattern:
Most of what we will cover in this 3 part series is extremely
subjective, which is not normally how I teach. This content however
is very pertinent to the hour we are living in and even the calling on
this house, but the specifics are not found in the scriptures.
III.
Signs of the Times:
A. Lesser Judgments Promised Before the End:
In the following prophecies Jesus described the generation in which He
would return, He prophesies about twelve trends. Jesus doesn’t waste
His words, these global trends were given as signs that we are living in
the last generation, and they need to be discerned by the Church.
“Many will come in My name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and will deceive
many. You will hear of wars and rumors of wars…for all these things must
come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation…and
there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes…All these are the
beginning of sorrows (birth pains) (Mt. 24:5-8).”
“When you hear of wars and commotions, do not be terrified; for these
things must come to pass first, but the end will not come immediately…
There will be fearful sights and great signs from heaven…There will be
great distress in the land…There will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in
the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and
the waves roaring; men's hearts failing them from fear (Lk. 21:9-11, 2326).”
B. The Twelve Trends:
1. Falsehood: false Christs, false prophets, many deceived
2. Wars: kingdom against kingdom
3. Ethnic conflict: nation against nation
4. Revolutions: civil war and civil revolts
5. Rumors or war: economic warfare, sanctions, military positioning
6. Great distress in the nations: civil panic
7. Famines: global food shortages
8. Pestilences: new strains of diseases, epidemics
9. Great earthquakes: 8.0 to 9.0 + quakes becoming regular occurrences
10. Roaring waters: tsunamis and hurricanes
11. Fear: fearful events, unavoidable tragedies, men fainting from fear
4
12. Signs in the sky: great signs from Heaven
C. God’s Desire to Expose Motives:
1. America thinks that we are in fine standing:
“All a man’s ways seem innocent to him, but motives are weighed by the
LORD (Pr. 16:2).”
2. Bringing to light hidden agendas and motives:
“Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait till the Lord
comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose
the motives of men’s hearts. At that time each will receive his praise
from God (1Co. 4:5).”
3. Judgment teaches righteousness:
Nothing reveals the wicked state of the human heart like when God
sends His judgments. The purpose is actually that we would repent
and call out to Him.
“When your judgments come upon the earth, the people of the world
learn righteousness (Is. 26:9).”
D. Prepare the Landscape for Even Greater Judgment:
If the Bible is true then we need to understand that much worse things
are coming that far exceed the difficulties declared in these headlines.
The fulfillment of the headline prophecies are only a beginning of where
things are headed in the end time drama. They serve to prepare the
Earth, the lost world and the Church for the much greater perils that
await us.
“See, the Lord is going to lay waste the earth and devastate it; he will ruin
its face and scatter its inhabitants…The earth will be completely laid waste
and totally plundered…The earth is defiled by its people; they have
disobeyed the laws, violated the statutes and broken the everlasting
covenant. Therefore a curse consumes the earth; its people must bear their
guilt. Therefore earth’s inhabitants are burned up, and very few are left…
all gaiety is banished from the earth. The city is left in ruins, its gate is
battered to pieces. So will it be on the earth and among the nations, as
when an olive tree is beaten, or as when gleanings are left after the grape
harvest (Is. 24:1-13).”
IV.
Heart of the Headlines Message:
A. Recognize Our Real Adversary:
God is demanding. Our nation hasn’t thought much about what it means
when we put ourselves in opposition against God. God is adversarial
against any and all who do not align with His purposes. America, even
much of the Church in America has become adversarial to Him and
5
thought He has patiently waited He is now about to act in ways that
express His displeasure with the paths we have chosen.
B. Bring to Light the Pastoral Crisis in the Land:
The Church in America is in a crisis right now and we don’t even know it;
we have settled for being entertained instead of encountering the living
God, we have compromised the truth for the sake of larger numbers and
we have reduced the Christian life to attending a weekly meeting.
“I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either
one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I
am about to spit you out of my mouth. You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired
wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are
wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold
refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you
can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you
can see. Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and
repent (Re. 3:15-19).”
1. Buying God’s refined gold:
This speaks of addressing our spiritual bankruptcy; there are few
whose hearts have much relationship with God at all. We are to
pursue Him and allow Him to refine us as we draw nearer to Him
2. Wearing His white clothes:
Righteousness isn’t optional but our Church culture scoffs at living
holy calling it legalism or old fashion or just refusing to address it al
all. God is calling His people to walk in holiness.
3. Putting in the eye salve of the Lord:
We have settled for self-help instructions instead of pursuing the
revelation of God. We don’t read our Bibles because we’ve settled for
a weekly message that someone else prepared for. But Jesus is
inviting us into the knowledge of God, to pull back the veil that we
may see Him more clearly.
C. Remove Our Distractions -Our Stuff:
God is about to help the Church in America as a whole by removing our
distractions and destroying the strength that we’ve been leaning on. The
Lord has blessed America with financial prosperity, great influence,
peace, and a great standard of living; but instead of causing us gratitude
we’ve used these things as props that have masked our desperate need
for God leaving us to believe everything is fine. This idea was key in what
the Lord showed Terry in his 2010 encounter.
“I heard this cry come up, “No!” from the people of God because our
distractions, our stuff was being burned up...The people of God, particularly
our culture, the western culture, was greatly disturbed and distressed at the
loss of so much of our things.”
D. Awaken a Generation:
1. God’s desire:
6
At all times and in every way God desires that each generation would
be awakened to Him. He is willing to use any means to accomplish His
purposes.
2. Swinging the pendulum:
When His abundance and blessings do not cause the hearts to turn to
Him then He sends destruction and disaster instead. Though He
prefers blessing, and He always starts there, He refuses that our
hearts would remain far from Him, He puts up a real fight for our
affections. He is in the business of removing everything that hinders
love.
3. Power of difficulty:
Great devastation has a propensity to move the human heart into a
humble posture of crying out to God. It also has the adverse effect on
those who are bent on wickedness, only serving to further expose the
evil that was in their hearts.
V.
Sound Discipline Appointed to America:
We are going to look at some prophetic words that Terry Bennett shared
with Mike Bickle and the IHOP-KC leadership on August 30th, 2010. I believe
these words will help us to better understand the context for the headlines
and to better interpret the events that we will be looking at later in this
series.
A. Terry’s Interaction with the Lord:
Terry has had a series of powerful encounters with the Lord beginning in
2007 where he was shown severe judgments that would soon to be
brought against America as a result of how far our nation has strayed
from God.
1. Can prayer cancel the crisis?:
During one of these encounters Terry had in 2007 he was trying to
figure out what the Church could do about the coming trials and he
asked the Lord; “What would it take for our nation to be turned back
to this original intention?”
2. The Lord’s reply:
In a very concerning manner that doesn’t leave any hope for canceling
the crisis the Lord responded; “Sound discipline has been appointed
unto your nation.”
3. Beginning in 2010:
In a later encounter Terry had in June 2010 the Lord said, “The time of
sound discipline is upon us.” As if to say that our nation has now
entered into that prescribed season of sound discipline.
B. The Five Angels:
In that June 2010 encounter Terry was shown 5 angels. One at a time
they came into the meeting he was having with the Lord. Each of them
was commissioned by the Lord for the immediate season of time; each
was given a mission to carry out and was given authority and power to
fulfill their mission. Below are the five angels and what they were
commissioned to do.
1. Angel over the winds:
7
2.
3.
4.
5.
The first one was given authority and power over the winds of our
nation (I’m assuming this means tornadoes, weather patterns, etc.).
Angel over the waters:
The second one was given authority and power over the waters. This
included the sea, the rivers and the ocean (I’m assuming this means
hurricanes, typhoons, the tides, etc.).
Angel over the lands:
The third one was given authority and power over the lands. This
included the seismic activity in our nation (I’m assuming this means
earthquakes and volcanoes, shifting tectonic plates, etc.).
Angel over the heavens:
The fourth one was given authority and power over the heavens, this
was power to shut up the heavens or to unleash a deluge. This also
included the stellar part of the heavens as well (I’m assuming this
means comets, the sun, etc.).
Angel over America:
The fifth angel was given authority and power over America as a
nation; to determine whether to raise up the nation or to tear it down,
to determine whether America would remain a nation or not (I’m
assuming this means civil unrest, civil war, even foreign invasion).
C. Fall / Stop / Confusion:
The below quotes also all come from the August 2010 encounter Terry
had with the angel Gabriel. He was shown a series of words that were
being proclaimed over the world (governmental structures, society as a
whole, our systems, daily life, etc.). Each of these words was then
accompanied by a counterpart word that was a directive for the Church.
1. Fall and bow:
a. Fall for the world:
“First word He spoke was to the world, He said, “Fall”. When He said
this I saw the infrastructures of nations, some nations themselves,
structures within cities of nations began to crumble and they began
to collapse.”
b. Bow for the Church:
“fall” to the world, it is “bow” to the Church, that is the place of
worship, that is the place of awe and reverence, the place of
communication, communion and intercession before the Lord. When
the Father said “bow” to the church it brought us right back to, what
is in the book of Revelation, chapter 2, for the church of Ephesus,
first love. It brought us right back to that.”
2. Stop and go:
a. Stop for the world:
“Secondly He said the word, “Stop”. When He said this, I heard this
grinding sound like machinery coming to a halt. I understood that
throughout the world He was going somehow, which the last thing
8
gave me an idea as to how, He was going to bring some of the
machinery of the world to a halt.”
b. Go for the Church:
“When He said to the world, “stop”, He said to the church, “go” it was
a release like the book of Acts.”
3. Confusion and know:
a. Confusion for the world:
“The last thing He spoke was, “Confusion”…At that moment, I saw
then, the sun did this weird, funny thing, I do not even know how to
describe it but its affect on the earth was incredible. It was like a
storm with flares and all of that and the gravitational pull of the
earth increased. The magnetism of the earth increased. The tilt of
the earth was altered so that time itself changed all over the earth. I
continued to see the affects of that was the satellites were both
blinded and some of them were yanked out right out of the sky. He
blinded the communications of the earth. Cell phones, all types of
things, military hardware, commercial hardware, people were
blinded, GPS was useless, the magnetic north itself altered which
affected all forms of travel especially by sea and by land.”
b. The Church will know God:
“Then when He said, “Confusion” to the world, He said, “Know” to the
church with this scripture, “people will know their God and do
exploits (Da. 11:32 NKJV)”. It was wonderful for the body of Christ
but it was also full of calamity to the entire world…The only safe
place is near to the Lord and that is the safety of the heart not
immunity to some of the events and happenings that are coming.”
VI.
America’s Unresponsiveness:
A. Addressing Our Prayerlessness:
The Church in America isn’t much interested in prayer yet, the Lord aims
to confront that. In our lavish lifestyle and comfortable environment
we’ve found a way to make everything work without prayer. That way of
life is about to be challenged and so is our prayerlessness; the Church will
need to lean on the Lord unlike anytime in American history.
B. Outpouring on those Who Pray:
We’ve talked about this before but it bears repeating again and again that
God promises to do things when His people pray that He should not be
expected when His people don’t pray. Further, God sees the ones praying
(people, ministries, and even places) and He promises to respond to those
people differently than how He will. This is a real simple Biblical
principle that is reiterated often in the scriptures; people and places that
pray will see God move on their behalf in a far greater way than people
9
and places that don’t. We just haven’t yet seen this principle unfold
before in such dramatic ways.
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door
will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds;
and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. “Which of you, if his son
asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a
snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your
children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those
who ask him (Mt. 7:7-11)!”
C. The Perpetual Solemn Assembly:
It is all to common when we read a famous prayer passages to downgrade
greatly the severity, the context, and the requirements of what is being
described (Jo. 2:12-17, Zph. 2:1-3, 2Ch. 7:14-15). The passages that talk
about prayer causing God to turn away from judgment weren’t afternoon
prayer assemblies where attendance was optional and mostly ignored by
the community of believers. We are talking about situations where
everyone was about to suffer great tragedy unless God broke in. When
they came together and prayed it was dire intercession until the situation
changed, not a few hours of prayer and then back to business as usual.
“Even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with
fasting and weeping and mourning.” Rend your heart and not your
garments. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and
compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from
sending calamity. Who knows? He may turn and have pity and leave behind
a blessing...Blow the trumpet in Zion, declare a holy fast, call a sacred
assembly. Gather the people…say, “Spare your people, O Lord (Jo. 2:12-17).”
D. Pockets of His Mercy:
Simply put, if the people of God will pray then the Lord will do more;
when the Church doesn’t pray then He does less. It is the Lord’s desire to
show mercy, especially to His people, but when judgment has been
appointed to a nation then judgment is eminent. Most times however,
judgment is dispersed across a nation and it is found in a constant flow of
severity in every place in all the same way. This leaves room for the
saints to cry out for God to spare them individually, to protect their
household, their community or even town while the majority of the rest
of the nation will still be experiencing sound discipline. This is what we
often refer to as a pocket of His mercy, small areas (though there is no
defined limitation to the size parameters) where the judgments are
avoided or dramatically lessened. God’s promise for us is all the more
true in dire times.
“if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray
and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from
heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. Now my eyes will
be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place (2Ch.
7:14-15).”
10