The Lord Of The Harvest
February 2020 |
The Message Of The Cross
On our program, The Message of the Cross, we were discussing a word that the Lord had given us concerning the dreams of Pharaoh that were interpreted by Joseph. If you’ll recall, the seven fat cattle and the seven good ears of grain in Pharaoh’s dream symbolized the greatest harvest that Egypt had ever experienced, but the seven lean cattle and seven thin ears represented the consuming famine that followed. (Gen. 41). After Joseph interpreted Pharaoh’s dreams, Pharaoh set Joseph over all the land of Egypt. To prepare for both harvest and famine, Joseph had great receptacles built to store the grain so that there would be food for the people during the famine—a famine such as Egypt and the Middle East had never known before.
Pharaoh
Now hear me on this: I believe that the dream of Pharaoh has something to do with the end-time as well. It was not just pertaining to what took place in Egypt four thousand years ago. No, it also has to do with some things now.
Egypt saw a great harvest of grain, but I believe a move of God is coming that will bring in the greatest harvest of souls such as the world has never seen before, such as the church has never seen before, where hundreds of thousands, if not millions, are going to be swept into the kingdom of God. And, like the famine that followed Egypt’s bounty, immediately following this harvest of souls will be the great tribulation period, as represented in Pharaoh’s dream by seven lean cattle and seven empty ears of grain. Jesus said this great tribulation will be worse than anything that has ever taken place on this planet and never will be again. That’s how bad it will be when it comes. (Mat. 24:21)
But again, immediately preceding this great tribulation, I believe, will be a great harvest of souls. I don’t necessarily see revival, as we didn’t see revival in Pharaoh’s dreams; it was a harvest.
Harvest
You say, “Well, how can there be a harvest without a revival?” Well, it can be, as the Word goes out. I wish to heaven that there would be a revival, bringing people back to the cross; I would to God that were the case. There will be some, I believe, who will experience a great move of God in their hearts and lives that you could constitute as a revival. But overall, as far as the denominational world is concerned, it has lost its way. Even the great Pentecostal denominations that once touched this world for Christ, and thank God for that, are losing their way now. And, I say that with sadness; I don’t say it with any gladness of heart at all.
In 1993, give or take, the Lord told me, “My church is sick, the whole head is sick, and the body is full of sores.” These are words out of Isaiah concerning Judah, but the Lord gave it to me concerning the church today. “My church is sick,” He said. “The whole head is sick, and the body is full of sores that no medicine can mollify.” And, that’s the condition of the church today. But when the Lord gave me that, He also gave me something else on that day some years ago. He said, “I’m going to start a move at Family Worship Center that is going to girdle the globe.” Hallelujah to the Lamb. As the Lord spoke that to me I thought, “How in the world can it be? How is it possible?” But with God, all things are possible. Praise God. The old song says:
Let down your net, down into the waters,
There’s a blessing waiting you cannot contain,
Let down your net, down into the waters,
For He’s pouring out the latter rain.
The Network
Glory to God. Of course at that time, I had no knowledge of a television network. I had no knowledge of what God was going to do. We were struggling to try to hold on to what we had, and not looking like we were going to make it. But, thank God, by His grace, we did make it. And, I’m beginning to see now: It’s not what is going to be, but it is a beginning—the Lord is moving and touching hearts and lives all over this world, and I thank God for it. I thank God that He’s using vessels such as this evangelist, even though we’re not worthy of anything, to be honest with you.
The Dream
God called us for world evangelism when I was eight years of age. At that time, I didn’t really know what world evangelism was. All I knew was missionaries, and I didn’t know much about them. But God gave me a dream when I was about ten years old. In that dream, I found myself standing out in front of our house up in northeast Louisiana. I looked to my right, and I saw a replica of the globe, about the size of a basketball, and I knew it was this planet, Earth, suspended in space. It turned, slowly, and I could see the continents on it. As I looked, it did not seem strange to me that this thing was just hanging in space with nothing holding it up.
Then, all of a sudden, I saw a figure standing under it, a little bit off to the side, looking up at the globe. Instantly, I knew the figure was Satan, but somehow there was no fear. I looked at him as he stood staring at the replica of Earth. Then he turned, looked at me, and said, “You will not do it. I will stop you.” I didn’t know what he was talking about. What did he mean? At the time, I didn’t know, but since then I have come to know exactly what he meant. Satan turned back and looked at the globe again for a period of time. Then he turned back at me and said the same identical words again: “You will not do it. I will stop you.”
World Evangelism
I came to learn through the years that God had given us a commission for world evangelism, to touch this world for Christ. Satan did try to stop us—and he came very close to doing so. But by the grace of God, he did not succeed, and by the grace of God he will not succeed. Praise the Lord.
I don’t know how many more in the world that God is calling, but I do know that He has called this ministry for world evangelism.
I remember when we were trying to get people to help us with the translation work. We had gotten a few, but trying to translate programming twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week is horrendously expensive. Anyway, the Lord spoke to me and said, “Forget about that, about the translation. Every door that I open, no matter where in the world it is, go through it.” Until then, I hadn’t thought about it, but many times a great percentage of populations do speak English. I thought how some of them will get saved, and they’ll work as a missionary in their own countries; and others, who are already saved, will give this message of the cross to their friends and relatives. The Lord said, “Every door that I open, no matter where in the world it is, go through it,” and so that’s what we have done and are doing.
We recently went on in 40 countries in Africa. We’re also on every major cable system in the United States except for one, and that one had adamantly refused to air our programming. Then, all of a sudden, they changed their minds and put us on—we’re not on their entire system, but we will be very shortly. I’ve been praying for the Philippines, and the Lord has opened the door there as well. I could go on and on about how the Lord is opening up different regions for us to get the gospel through. Praise God.
Everywhere
The Lord told me, “Everywhere that signal goes from these television cameras”—He said everywhere—“My Spirit will go with it,” and brother, there is nothing that the Holy Spirit cannot do.
The Lord told the great prophet Zechariah, “Not by might, nor by power (not by human might or human power), but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts.” (Zech. 4:6).
Our Lord Himself said, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord” (Lk. 4:18-19). This is the acceptable year, glory to God.
Ladies and gentlemen, I believe that many of you feel and sense it as well that God is about to do a powerful thing—a mighty move—glory to God!
Tribulation
But this tremendous harvest is going to be followed by great tribulation such as the world has never known. That means the rapture of the church is near—it is close. The Word of God says: “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words” (I Thess. 4:16-18).
Praise God. It’s going to happen—the rapture is very close. And so this great harvest, I believe, will be the last great harvest—the last one—that this world will see before the rapture of the church takes place, followed by the coming great tribulation.
Strangely enough, in the great tribulation there will be millions saved—the Bible says a number that no man can count as millions are martyred for the cause of Christ.
But before that time, a harvest of unprecedented proportions, I believe, is coming over this world. I sense it in my spirit, I believe it in my heart, and I believe that many of you do too.
The Vision
In 1985, the Lord gave me a vision of a harvest, and, about two years ago in prayer, the Lord refreshed that vision. Once again I saw it—the fields of cotton as far as I could see in every direction. As preachers, we picture fields of grain symbolizing the harvest, so why did I see cotton? The Lord took me to His Word where He said, “Behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest” (Jn. 4:35). And in Luke, He said, “Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest (who is Jesus Christ), that he would send forth labourers into his harvest” (Lk. 10:2).
The Lord said to me, “I have called others for localities, for certain areas of the world. But I have called this ministry alone for the entirety of the world.” And if you think about it, it’s not so difficult to understand. That’s what our ministry has been called to do from the very beginning—to touch this entire world for the cause of Christ.
The Commission
Anyway, as I saw this vision of the harvest again, the Lord said, “The commission that I gave you on July 1, 1985—that commission is still in force.” I was shocked and didn’t know how to take it because thirty-four years earlier He had said, “Don’t fail Me, because there is no one else to do it.” And I remember thinking then, “Lord, I tried my best, but I can’t do it all.” At that time, we had a tremendous move of God in Russia, in what was then the Soviet Union and many there had come to the saving knowledge of Christ. Even so, I felt that I just could not do all that the Lord desired to be done at that time.
So this time, when I heard the Lord say, “The commission is still in force. Get it done,” I realized that when God calls us to do a certain thing, at the same time, he calls a lot of other people as well, to help. And that’s where you come in. Without you, we can’t do it. He has called you, as well as me. Your support—both prayerful and financial—is not just happenstance, so please don’t look at it that way. Understand that God has placed you where you are and has given you a burden for this ministry to touch this world for Christ, and that means you are a part of it. That’s a tremendous honor and privilege of unprecedented proportions. The commission is still in force: Get it done. And by the grace of God, we will.
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