Church As We Know It is Over : by Don Nori Snr

The Church is at a major crossroads in her multi- millennial sojourn through time upon this earth. She has some very big decisions to make. But most of us are not aware of the change that is in the Wind. For church, as we know it, is over.

The church, (the one being built by Jesus, not this monstrosity of a system we incorrectly call the Church), will move on with the gentle sound of His voice. The Church He is building will not need an earthquake, a hurricane, or pixie dust floating in the air to get her attention. His sheep hear His voice and follow Him because they follow His voice. This will be a big test of who we really are and whose kingdom we are really building. If it is His Kingdom, we will leap at the sound of His voice and go where he leads us. If we are building the counterfeit, we will not be so inclined to move very quickly. For there is much to lose and much to risk in responding to Him whilst building anything of our own.

The charismatics, the Pentecostals and the revivalists are all crowding at the river Jordan. The Holy Spirit is urging, calling, leading them to cross, but few have the faith to cross because few have the faith to risk what they have built. Maybe that is the problem…we have built it and it is OURS. We must protect what is ours at all costs, even at the cost of moving on with the Lord. It is always so easy to camp along the river rather than risk the dangers of fording the rapids, even when you have the voice of the Lord drawing you on..

So we invent, discover and imagine all kinds of histrionics to keep everyone satisfied where they are… on the wrong side of the river. We go around the things He has shown us again and again. We devise newer and more complicated ways of saying and doing the things we have know for years. Oh, we will occasionally look longingly across the river, wondering if there really is more over there, but the safety is always here. Few will admit that we have lost the faith, the daring and the adventure of our earlier days. Although denominationalism is anathema to us, we gather around the same things and build the same walls and defend our position with the same conviction and piety as all those who have gone before us.

But those who do not cross the river do not change the world. It is true, they do not rock the boat, but they do not see anything new, experience anything deeper than what has been “felt and telt” many, many times and for many, many years.

God does not talk in circles. He has a definite destination in mind and He fully intends to have a people that will be willing to be lead to the deepest reservoirs of His love and the very fullness of His Life.

Church as we know it is over. He is about to wrestle control of His own church from the carnal hands of insecure, angry, controlling and legalistic men and women, to build His own church, just as He promised He would.

Church as we know it is passing away. The thing we have called church is but a dim shadow of the life-giving, empowering wholeness of that for which Jesus died, rather, rose from the dead to lavish upon mere mortal men.

We have asked for wealth when He wanted to give us nations. We focused on our healing when He wanted to make us healers. We have searched for mercy and compassion when He had called us to carry those same treasures to a dying world. We are self-examining when He wants us to be pouring ourselves out so others can find Him.

There is no doubt. The self-centered, need-oriented, program-driven, growth-addicted destiny-snatching, dream-killing counterfeit is about to be replaced by His church; a company of loosely connected people held together only by the bonds of love. This people is the Christ-centered, Kingdom-declaring, light-shining heart throb of God Himself. His people hear His voice and respond with joy and anticipation, not fear and uncertainty. They are a devil-ignoring, life-giving, God-honoring group of worshipers whose greatest fulfillment in life is to be called to His service by the gentle sound of His voice. This church understands that the hands Jesus will stretch out to heal will be their hands. They know they are His hug, His smile, His encouraging word and the world’s only hope of glory.

The solution is clear…You are the church that Jesus Himself, is building!

It is 5:00 a.m. I have been up all night praying and agonizing over the condition of America. While praying for the nation in general, and also concerning a gathering this summer to cry out for awakening in America, I felt drawn to the book of Joel. While reading it, this word began to stir in me for our nation. I know it is lengthy, but please read it prayerfully. Not since October of 2000, have I been so burdened for America. At that time I issued a call to prayer, which, due to the favor and anointing of the Lord on it, went viral. Millions received it and
prayed. My heart cry is that the same thing happens with this word, for I am actually more burdened now than I was then.

America is in a horrendous crisis of monumental proportions, a season much like Israel in the days of Joel. This Old Testament prophet warned of devastating judgment coming to Israel, but laced the warning with hope and God’s mercy if certain things occurred. That is precisely where we are in America. We Americans are a confident and optimistic people, which is often good, but can also create a dangerous denial and crippling passivity. This is happening with many. But please do not be deceived by those who are saying everything is fine. The truth is that we, as a nation, are in serious trouble. Listen to these words from Joel – they are accurate for us today:

What a day! Doomsday! God’s judgment has come. The strong God has arrived. This is serious business! … Shake the country up! God’s judgment’s on its way – the Day’s almost here! (Joel 1:15, 2:1; The Message)

The State of the Nation

If God brought corrective but serious judgment to Israel, we are horribly deceived if we think it will not happen to us. If something doesn’t happen to lessen this judgment-and it can be lessened–we are headed for very difficult times. The economy is going to be devastated. The stock market will go well below where it went a few months back-a crash is coming, and soon. More terrorism and violence will occur in our land, perhaps even war. In my spirit I’ve seen buildings crumbling and cities burning. Devastating natural disasters will take place. In general, hard times will be prevalent. Why is this so? Because we have turned from God and His ways. Consider the true condition of America. This assessment is bleak but accurate.

1) Our government is in decay. The current leaders of Congress promote homosexuality, abortion and socialism, while arrogantly ignoring God and the wishes of the people. They are proud, power-hungry, selfserving, career politicians, not the statesmen/women we so desperately need. Our President fits the same description. Along with the above, while honoring-in the White House-the Muslim day of prayer, homosexual activists and a coalition of atheists, he refused to honor the time-honored traditions surrounding the National Day of Prayer. And along with Congress and the President, we have many Judges with no regard for God’s word, the Constitution or our true history. The predictable verdict is in: America is in a moral and spiritual crisis of such magnitude that it is almost unbelievable.

2) What does this look like practically? From my grandparents’ day until now, we have gone from 65% of Americans having a biblical worldview to now 4% of today’s young people sharing these beliefs. This is staggering! Apart from an absolute miracle, which I believe is still possible, we have lost a generation of Americans to Satan and secular humanism. Generally speaking, we are a narcissistic, self-loving nation that has accepted a culture of death, perversion, drugs and violence. We have murdered 51 million babies in the womb and to satisfy the cry for a toleration of immorality and perversion, we are ready to throw away 6000 years of honoring God’s definition of marriage and family.

3) The church, which is supposed to be salt and light for this mess, is neither. Though a remnant has remained faithful, for the most part the church of America has become totally irrelevant and completely ineffective. We have produced lukewarm Christians and a generation that doesn’t know God or His ways. Our pulpits are filled with smiles, not tears; entertainment, not passion; and self-help stories, not prophetic truth. Our feel-good messages and mega fun-centers have anesthetized us to the reality of our condition and, as opposed to offering solutions, are actually part of the problem. We, the church, are not changing our world, we’re being conformed to it. It’s easier to find the truth about our condition as a nation on talk radio than in our churches. We have left our first love and abandoned our cause. In short, an apostate church, an ungodly government and a culture of death, perversion and self-centeredness has earned us an appointment with judgment.

There Is Still Hope for America

But there is still hope. God desires to bring a Third Great Awakening to America. It can be truly amazing – millions saved and delivered; all of society impacted in a huge way; the youth of America finally introduced to the true Christ in all of His power. But please hear me when I say this: “our prayers and actions will determine the magnitude and timing of this awakening; and the level of awakening will determine the magnitude of our judgment. Again, the hope-filled words of the prophet Joel are very pertinent: But there’s also this, it’s not too late-God’s personal Message! Come back to me and really mean it! Come fasting and weeping, sorry for your sins! Change your life, not just your clothes. Come back to God, your God. And here’s why: God is kind and merciful. He takes a deep breath, puts up with a lot. This most patient God, extravagant in love, always ready to cancel catastrophe. Who knows? Maybe he’ll do it now, maybe he’ll turn around and show pity. Maybe, when all’s said and done, there’ll be blessings full and robust from your God! (Joel 2:12-14; The Message)
What powerful words of hope! Re-read them. Our God is so ready to show mercy. But not to the proud and indifferent! The prescription to turn a crisis such as Joel warned of and that which we face today, and the trigger that releases the spirit of awakening to offset it have never changed: repentance, humility, prayer and fasting. Please hear me: This is our only hope for a reduced sentence. Judgment cannot be fully averted but it can be lessened.

A Joel 2 Gathering: Wilderness Outcry

With this in mind, I now believe more fully than ever that a strategy recently given to some colleagues and me is from the Lord. There are and will benumerous opportunities for Americans to gather corporately and cry out to theLord, but this is one that I know God has ordained and will use greatly. Through dreams and other confirmations, He has spoken and directed several national, spiritual leaders to call for a “Joel 2 gathering.” We are calling for tens of thousands of believers to join us this June 14-18, for 5 days of worship, prayer and some form of fasting (a meal a day, etc.) in Poplar Bluff, Missouri.
(Though we will have worship Monday and Friday, the heart of what occurs will be 3 days, Tuesday through Thursday.)

Listen once more to the words of the prophet Joel-he articulates what we are calling for: Blow the ram’s horn trumpet in Zion! Declare a day of repentance, a holy fast day. Call a public meeting. Get everyone there. Consecrate the  congregation. Make sure the elders come, but bring in the children, too, even the nursing babies, even men and women on their honeymoon- interrupt them  and get them there. Between Sanctuary entrance and altar, let the priests, God’s servants, weep tears of repentance. Let them intercede: Have mercy, God,  on your people! Don’t abandon your heritage to contempt. Don’t let the pagans take over and rule them and sneer, and ‘so where is this God of theirs?’

(Joel 2:15-17; The Message)

A Call to the Entire Nation

Can you hear the passion and desperation in these words from the prophet? One translation says: “Sound the alarm.” No one was exempt from Joel’s call: spiritual leaders had to come; young and old had to come, even nursing babies; honeymoons had to be postponed! No one was excused. And
this sweeping appeal is no less appropriate today. I plead with you to hear the call: we have come to a Joel 2 time in America! So much hangs in the balance!
How we respond to Him today will decide what America looks like for the next 50- 100 years!
This Joel gathering will be led by individuals who have truly been mantled by God for such a time as this: Lou Engle, who carries the greatest mantle of our day for solemn assemblies and Nazirite consecration, will lead much of the gathering. Lou feels this could launch the next phase/generation of the Nazirite movement that was embodied in The Call gatherings of the last 10 years.
(Please go to www.wildernessoutcry.com to read a dream one of Lou’s spiritual sons had about this gathering.)

Karen Wheaton and Damon Thompson of the Ramp will also be leading the gathering with Lou and me. Without question, the Ramp has the greatest mantle of/for awakening that I know of anywhere. They will be releasing this anointing. There will be approximately 25 very anointed worship leaders joining us – the worship will continue 24 hours a day, pausing only for a few short messages – as well as other national leaders from around the nation. This is not a concert and it isn’t a festival. It will truly be “presence” driven, and the Holy Spirit is going to hover over us for these special days and nights as we humble ourselves before Him. Can you imagine what it would be like if thousands of people from all 50 states did this in one accord for several days? I don’t know if there has ever been a gathering quite like it.
Many of those attending will be camping in tents and campers on the land. We have room for 35,000-40,000 people to camp on this incredible property. (Go to www.wildernessoutcry.com to register for a site.) Many others will camp in nearby campgrounds, and for traffic flow reasons, be bussed back and forth
throughout the day and night. Still others will stay in nearby hotels and also be bussed in. Even if you have to stay as much as an hour away, I assure you that these days will be some of the most significant of your life! And just think, in Joel’s day they walked for hours-probably days-to join the gathering.

Please come! It is not too late for America. Together we can release the transforming effect of a Third Great Awakening. If Woodstock 40 years ago could change a nation, what could thousands of believers crying out to God for several days accomplish?! We would like to have people from all 50 states, all ages and all walks of life. We can do this! (We already have a group coming from Hawaii.) It is a small thing to ask for the Lord and the future of this nation. Help us sound the alarm. Even if you absolutely cannot attend, spread the word. Send this email to everyone you know.
I hope to see you in Poplar Buff, Missouri, as together we answer the call and cry out for mercy and awakening. Here is a final quote from Joel that states what I am believing for, not just through this gathering, but because of the many prayers and the true repentance that I believe will take place in the coming days in our land:

At that, God went into action to get His land back. He took pity on His people. (Joel 2:18; The Message)

May it be so, Lord!

For awakening and reformation,

Dutch Sheets

We’ve faked the power of Pentecost long enough. Let’s set aside the imitations and reclaim the real deal.

Shortly after Elijah was carried to heaven in his fiery chariot, a group of young prophets asked Elisha to go with them to build new living quarters near the Jordan River. While one of the young men was cutting down a tree, the blade of his axe fell in the water and sank into the murky depths of the riverbed (see 2 Kings 6:1-7).

The construction project came to an abrupt stop. This was before the days of flashlights and sonar devices. These guys were in trouble.

“Let’s ditch our counterfeits and our cheap substitutes, and ask the Lord to restore the axe blade. Let’s cry to Him for a pure, unadulterated, genuine, life-changing, planet-shaking revival.”

Knowing that his friends could not replace this expensive iron tool they had borrowed, the young prophet cried to his mentor Elisha for help. The wise prophet threw a stick in the water where the axe head had sunk. Immediately the heavy iron blade floated to the surface—defying the laws of physics and proving that nothing is impossible with God. Elisha’s faith saved the day.

We can gain so much comfort from this story. It reminds us that God has power over the natural world. It also proves that He cares about the seemingly trivial details of our lives—and that He is even willing to bail us out of the messes we make.

As I have meditated on this passage in recent days I’ve also applied it to our current situation in the American church. It illustrates how desperately we need to recover what we’ve lost.

Perhaps you’ve noticed that our blade is missing. I don’t know exactly when it fell off the handle, but it seems as if we’ve been trying to build God’s house without the sharp edge of His genuine anointing. We’ve traded the real for the phony. We’ve cheapened Pentecost to the point that it’s been reduced to dry religious programs and circus sideshow antics.

We’ve mastered the art of hype. We know how to fake the anointing. We push people to the floor during our altar times. We know how to manipulate music and crowds so that we can create the atmosphere of the anointing. But in so many cases the real anointing isn’t there. In its place is a hollow imitation.

Some charismatic leaders today are even selling specially handcrafted oils that promise the Holy Spirit’s power. Others sell scented candles that claim to bring God’s presence. And last year one brother was traveling the country with feathers in a jar—claiming that these belonged to an angel with healing powers.

Lord, forgive us for our charlatanism. We need the blade back! We must cry out to the God Who has the power to raise iron from the bottom of a river.

We are not going to advance Christ’s kingdom, or build His victorious church, using scented oils, fake charms, ear-tickling prophecies and goofy charismatic gimmicks. This is all wood, hay and stubble destined for the furnace. What we need today is the sharp blade of the Word that is empowered by the Holy Ghost and fire.

In my world travels during the past few years I have met humble Christians who carry the genuine anointing of the Spirit. I’ve spent time with Chinese believers who see miracles inside their prison cells. I’ve met an Indian evangelist who has seen six people raised from the dead. I’ve met a Pakistani apostle who regularly sees Muslims healed during outdoor gospel meetings.

Last week I interviewed an Iranian church leader whose ministry is leading 5,000 Iranians to faith in Christ every month. In the midst of persecution and political upheaval, a New Testament—style revival is erupting in that Shiite Muslim stronghold-all because the church in Iran is weilding the axe head of genuine Holy Spirit anointing.

Where is the God of Elisha? There is a cry in the American church today that resembles the cry of the desperate young prophet in 2 Kings 6. We have not been good stewards of the Holy Spirit’s gifts, and now the precious power of God has eluded us. We dropped it. Yet we are beginning to acknowledge our blunder.

Let’s fully humble ourselves. Let’s repent of fakery and fraud. Let’s ditch our counterfeits and our cheap substitutes, and ask the Lord to restore the axe blade. Let’s cry to Him for a pure, unadulterated, genuine, life-changing, planet-shaking revival.