Showing posts with label MorningStar. Show all posts
Showing posts with label MorningStar. Show all posts

MorningStar Prophetic Alert & Call to Prayer

Introduction: This is a call to prayer from a reliable intercessor leader, about an issue that would affect the Pacific Northwest as it affected other areas of the region. We've shared the with a handful of prophetic intercessors in the Northwest and we're getting confirmation back.

A brief word of explanation: when God reveals the enemy's plans like this, it's as if He's saying, "This is what is planned now. Do you approve this, or will you change these plans?" (Refer to Genesis 18:16-33 for another example)

Please join me in changing the plans.

As the Lord gives you additional insight, please feel free to forward it to northwestprophetic(at)gmail.com.

For your prayerful consideration...
"Dear Friends of MorningStar,

In the last twelve hours, four intercessors have contacted me regarding prophetic alerts of violence and/or war. This actually fits in with other alerts that have come in separately, including one last week that had "global impact."

We are not sure where this pertains to, but there is a common theme of being asleep or not prepared causing injuries.

The Lord has raised up this network for such a time as this. Please pray and seek the Lord, and if He shows you anything, please share it with me. I will put the pieces together so that we can pray more effectively.

If there is anything I know, it is how powerful this combined force is! Do not underestimate the power of our praise, prayer, intercession, declarations, and decrees. We CAN avert danger where ever it is planned. Whatever is in the heart of God, we CAN bring it forth in the earth.

So, let's stir ourselves up in our most holy faith and avail ourselves to the Most High God that we may be His watchmen, His gatekeepers, and His warriors. You know your post. Run to it now.

I bless you and pray that the God of peace will saturate you with His peace and that His authority and dominion will prevail over the plans of the evil one. Remember who you are in Christ, and who He is in you!

Tracy Schellhorn

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Friends,

The confirmations are rolling in concerning this alert of brewing violence and/or war.

Please keep seeking the Lord, and continue to pray. There is more to this puzzle, and even more I'd like to share, but for now let's officially consider our alert level raised.

Something is brewing, and the Lord wants us to know about it. Let's find out what He wants us to do about it.

Tracy Schellhorn

Revival & the Todd Bentley Restoration I

By Rick Joyner

I first want to apologize for this Bulletin being long overdue. We have tried to cover most of the issues that people have had questions about concerning Todd’s restoration in video bulletins simply because it was so much easier and faster that way. However, not everyone has been able to watch all of the videos, so I will try to address the most important issues and commonly asked questions in a series of Special Bulletins. I also want to apologize for this Bulletin being a bit long. Future Bulletins on this subject will be shorter; however, I want to answer some of the frequently asked questions in as much depth as possible in this one.

Present Status

After nearly a year and a half of working with Todd, I recently felt that it was time to release him into some limited ministry in our local church. This does not mean that Todd has been released back into ministry in general, nor does it mean that Todd is nearing the end of his restoration process. We do not know how long this will be, and as from the beginning, we want to be confident that it is the Lord’s timing with each step that is taken.

Before Todd will be fully released back into ministry, we will ask for a council to endorse this, which will be composed of those who are respected throughout the body of Christ as true elders in the church. Of course, they would need to come to the comfort level that would enable them to become part of this council, which we think would be a worthy test of Todd’s present spiritual condition. This is not to imply that this would endorse anything that Todd has done in the past; rather that he recognized his mistakes and his sins, has genuinely repented of them, and has adequately “shut the gates of hell” that gave the devil access into his life in every area where this happened, making him now fit for release back into ministry.

At the same time, the expectation of this process should not be interpreted as resulting in Todd being made perfect or that some of the nuances of his style, which have been offensive to some, have been dealt with. There is no guarantee that Todd will never fall again, just as there are no guarantees for any of us. However, he will probably be far less likely to fall than those who have never fallen but have judged with pride or condemnation those who have. We see clearly in the Scriptures that the Lord has a lot of mercy for sinners, but none for the self-righteous, and that such pride usually precedes a fall.

This is not to imply that all who question or oppose Todd’s release are doing this out of pride, but it is a form of pride to make important or sweeping judgments with partial information. Therefore, we will try to provide all of the information possible to keep people from stumbling in this way and to judge Todd and our process rightly.

Todd is now very much in touch with the grace and mercy of the Lord, and to that degree, he will be made stronger in the Lord. As the Apostle Paul explained, the Lord’s grace is made perfect in weakness (see II Corinthians 12:9), and Todd has had some major weaknesses. The anointing on Todd’s ministry seems stronger than ever, which is probably a result of this deeper revelation of the grace and mercy that he needs. The miracles have been spectacular, and at least in one case have been lifesaving. I live to do the will of the Lord and to see as many people touched by God as possible. I will not make any apologies for this. It might have made my job easier if Todd was not so anointed, but that is up to the One who knows what is best far better than I do. Therefore, I resolve to be thankful for it and enjoy it, and I do.

We have received many testimonies from those watching our meetings on our IPTV channel at www.MorningStarTV.com. I’m sure that at least some of the explosive growth of those watching MorningStar TV is because of Todd. Since MorningStar TV is already being watched by people in more than 140 nations, I have heard a few concerns that this seems like Todd is being released back into international ministry. I can understand this objection; however, I do not agree with it. People are free to watch or not watch these meetings, just as they are free to come to our church or not come. We have visitors from many other nations in virtually every meeting we have, so what is the difference except in degree? Whether they visit our local church or if they watch our services on Morningstar TV, sometimes Todd will be ministering. I am glad to take the heat to see as many people touched as we are currently seeing.


Reason for Release in Local Church

I felt that it was time to release Todd into limited ministry in our church because I had the leading of the Lord to do this. To me, this always trumps every other reason, but I had some other reasons, too. Some of the major issues, or strongholds, which had caused Todd’s problems, failures, and sins had been understood and repented of with considerable depth by Todd and Jessa. Todd’s personal relationship with the Lord has been restored and strengthened. Todd has an understanding of, and a vision for, entering the rest of the Lord, and he has done this to a great degree. As far as his spiritual health, Todd is probably now in a better place than many other ministries I know. However, he does still have issues that could hurt him, or cause problems in the future, some of which we have not even addressed yet. Therefore, he is still very much in the process of restoration, and so is everyone else that I know, including myself.

We are all in a restoration process if we are not perfect yet. So where do we draw the line and say that people are at a level of maturity where we can release them into ministry? This is one of those questions worthy of deep consideration because its impact on the church has been, and will be, huge. My position is that if we are going to do this right, we need to consider how the Lord did it. How did He do it?

In Luke 10, the Lord sent the seventy out in teams of two. They cast out demons, healed the sick, and preached the gospel. They were so successful that the Lord said He saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning. It was in Luke 11 that these disciples came to Jesus and asked Him to teach them to pray. Think about it—they did all of this and they did not even know how to pray yet!

Look at the condition of the leadership in the church when the Lord went to the cross and basically left everything in their hands. They were fighting over who was the greatest on the very night He was crucified. They could not even stay awake for one hour to pray with the King of kings in His most desperate hour, then betrayed and denied Him, fleeing from Him when He needed His friends the most. This is after three years under the greatest Mentor there will ever be!

It is hard to understand why the Lord would trust so much to men in any degree, much less to be representatives of His kingdom. In looking at the great heroes in the Bible, it seems that every one of them had failures and were a major embarrassment in some way, often in many ways. He is the King, so I have resolved to keep it simple and follow Him regardless of whether I understand everything or not. I am also resolved to do my best to stand for His truth and His people, regardless of the consequences.

It is interesting that the person who is considered the very first evangelist in Scripture is the woman at the well, since she was the first to go forth proclaiming Jesus to be the Messiah. She had been divorced five times and was living in sin at the time. It would be much easier to explain if the Lord had chosen someone far less controversial for this great honor.

Then there is the embarrassment of Peter, who lived with Jesus for several years, had seen all of His miracles, and had the revelation from the Father of who Jesus was, then denied Him three times in one night—one of the worst things he could do. Just a few weeks later, he was again in leadership preaching one of the most important evangelistic messages ever preached on the Day of Pentecost. I’m quite sure most of those new converts wondered just what kind of leadership the Lord had given them in the church. From the beginning, we certainly have had a leadership that would definitely be a stumbling block to those who care about appearances.

Many leaders feel that these embarrassing falls from those in high visibility in the church are causing many to stumble, and doubtless they do. However, the self-righteousness manifested by many when this happens is probably causing far more to reject the church and our message. How can anyone trust our message of redemption and restoration when we will not even restore our own fallen?

An even more important point is that those who are forgiven much love much and tend to have more real faith—which is having a dependence on who Jesus is, not on who we are. Those who are immature are more dependent, and those who have received the mercy and grace of the Lord in a fresh way seem to be the most powerful in sharing it in a way that lead others who are struggling to receive salvation—making them some of the most powerful evangelists.

Being an elder in the church is a different matter. Many think that being any of the equipping ministries listed in Ephesians 4 automatically makes one an elder, but it doesn’t. If this were true, why would Peter and John have to verify that they were elders in their Epistles? Being an elder is often superficially understood in much of the modern church movements. The New Testament model adopted by the early church was from the nation of Israel. In the church, we often honor people with these positions just because they have some maturity and wisdom, but in Israel an elder was a gatekeeper and a judge. Even prophets were not considered elders, but like watchmen on the walls of a city, they communicated what they saw to the elders who sat in the gates. However, it was the elders who determined the action to be taken from their reports.

This is a study worthy of much more depth than we have a place for here, and even though any minister could be an elder, having a ministry does not make you an elder. The woman at the well may have done a great job as an evangelist by getting people to meet Jesus, but this did not make her an elder. On the other hand, Peter was certainly an elder, a gatekeeper to the entire body of Christ, opening the gate of salvation to both the Jews and the Gentiles, having great authority over the church of the first century. Even so, he was prone to some serious mistakes, too.

Todd may never be an elder, but he has already led an estimated one million people to the Lord, and I think he is destined to lead many millions more to salvation. This is fruit that remains, too. We were recently visited by the leader of more than twenty-two hundred churches in India. He told us about how people go to villages all over his region and ask young children their names, and a good number will say, “Todd Bentley.” Their parents named their children after him because he led them to the Lord in his crusades there. This church network, one of the strongest and fastest growing in India, credits much to Todd’s work there. His crusades did not leave new believers who had to make it on their own, but left churches, orphanages, and schools by raising up and working with strong local leaders. Of course, this was not done just by Todd, but by his whole team.

A large part of my motivation for seeing Todd restored to ministry is to see more of this kind of fruit, and I am not at all ashamed of it. Many years ago, I was shown Todd’s calling. I know that what he has yet to do will greatly eclipse what he has already done. As Bob Jones said when the Outpouring broke out in Lakeland, “This is just previews of coming attractions.”

Even so, one of the greatest concerns I had about Lakeland was the prima donna attitude that began to manifest on Todd. People with this syndrome don’t think the rules that apply to others apply to them. This will cause you to start thinking you are the main reason for the revival, not Jesus, and not the lost. You’ll start seeing yourself as more important than any one person is, and even essential to the plan of God. This is the root of pride, which likely caused the fall of Satan, and has caused many falls since.

One of the biggest open doors to this prima donna syndrome is low self-esteem and rejection. These can cause one to be driven to prove their value to others. This is why the foundation of Todd’s restoration was entering the rest of the Lord and finding his acceptance in what the Lord had done, not what he could do. True faith has to be coupled with patience to attain the promises.

One reason why I felt it was time to release Todd into some limited ministry was because I have seen people with serious strongholds in their lives get free almost immediately when they receive the great encouragement that comes from being used by God when this is coupled with patience and rest in the Lord. This seems like a paradox, that he would start getting the prima donna attitude by being used, and could get free of it by being used.

As the law of inertia teaches us, you cannot steer something that is not moving. Likewise, Todd doing some ministry will allow us to see and deal with some of these things that could cause him to stumble again. I felt that him doing some ministry again would bring some things to the surface so they could be dealt with in a more controlled place. However, my real reason for releasing him into some limited ministry was a clear leading from the Lord.

Todd still has some open doors that could trip him up in the future. At times, he has to fight the discouragement that would naturally come with the failure of his marriage, the way the Lakeland Outpouring ended, and the loss of just about everything he had built over the last decade of very hard work. If he allows these feelings of failure to become a drive in his life, he will likely burn out again, and the next time could be the last. I want to be with him while he works through some of these.

When I was a flight instructor, I could fairly accurately tell which mistakes a student would make. I would not let those students solo until they had made those mistakes with me in the cockpit so they would not kill themselves. However, no matter how much I tried to explain their tendencies that I considered dangerous to them, until they actually made the mistakes while flying, they did not get it. It was time for Todd to start flying again, but I am going to be very close to him for a while, for his sake, and for anyone else who might later get in the plane with him.


A Visitation

I was not asking for confirmation of this step with Todd because I was confident in the leading I had, but confirmation did come in a very powerful way. Bob Jones had been saying for some time that he knew he was about to have a “face-to-face” encounter with the Lord, and he did. In this encounter, Bob was told to come to our Sunday morning service and lay hands on Todd for his release, and then to break off of Todd and MorningStar the negative spoken words against us from other Christians. The effect of this prayer was so powerful that it was like having the sky go from dark and overcast to clear blue instantly.

In 1988 and 1989, Bob Jones operated in a level of the prophetic that I have not seen in him since. This was true in some ways of the prophetic ministry in general. Then a great persecution was raised up against the prophetic ministry in the church, and some prophetic people did not respond to it well, including Bob. Much of the high-level prophetic ministry was also hindered by the doubt sown in the church about the prophetic. Even Jesus was hindered in His ministry by doubt, and prophetic people were faced with so much doubt after this persecution that many quit traveling to try to help the church.

MorningStar became a haven for many wounded prophetic people, and we grew stronger in the prophetic, but even here it has taken a lot of plowing, hard work, and dry times. We only saw occasional flashes of the high levels we had seen in 1988 and 1989. Since Bob had this visitation, it seems as if he has been catapulted back to a very high level. When he prayed to break off the negative words that had been spoken against us, it seemed as if our whole prophetic ministry here had the shackles taken off, and we are again beginning to see remarkable things that have us in awe daily. It seemed to be the same with Todd—he was instantly in a new place.

At the first meeting when Todd preached, I felt he had one of the greatest messages on hunger for God that I have ever heard. It was not just about the words or concepts that he was teaching, but there was a tangible impartation of hunger for God like many had not experienced in a very long time. You cannot have that kind of impartation if it is not working in your own life. This was the greatest witness that the restoration process I have been leading Todd through has been working. I do believe that above any knowledge or personal discipline we have, it is our love for God that keeps us hungry for Him more than anything else.

Loving God is our main job description as human beings, and it is the main way it will be determined if we have been successful in this life. This is going to be the main thing that keeps Todd, or any of us, on track in this life.


Immediate Revival?

In that meeting, and virtually every meeting since, the presence of the Lord has been stronger than we’ve experienced in a long time. It seems to be increasing as the hunger in us is increasing. This is what we signed up for in the beginning—the manifest presence of the Lord. We are having great miracles and prophecy, but this is better than all of that. We may be in the first stages of an authentic revival. We’re not calling it that yet, but it seems like it is the beginning of something remarkable, and the beginning of it all was Bob’s visitation and prayer for us.

In our first MSU class after the students returned from the Christmas holiday, I asked Jason Hooper to say a short prayer over them for spiritual hunger. The power and presence of the Lord fell so strongly that their two-hour class lasted for twelve hours. The students skipped their meals and everything else just to stay in the presence of the Lord. Soon others were gathering. Then Bob and Bonnie Jones came. Todd said he had felt surges of power going through him all day, and when he heard that something was happening at Heritage, he jumped in his truck and came over. By early evening, the place was virtually full. Better than anything was the powerful, tangible presence of the Lord.

Students and people who had been a part of some of the great revivals and moves of God in recent times said that they had never been impacted as much as they were that day, and it has been getting better. If it had stopped with that one day, I think many of the students would have thought that it alone would have been worth coming to the school for.

We did not know if it would last, but we decided to gather the next night to see if the Lord would move like that again. He did. We have continued these meetings for almost a month now. I have felt that virtually every one was a dramatic encounter with the Lord. At this time, Todd has been there for less than half of them and has only ministered in a handful. There have been noteworthy miracles, waves of the joy of the Lord, and an uncommon prophetic anointing, regardless of who was leading the ministry. We also seem to have gone to a new level of anointing in worship, and all of our worship tends to be pretty high level.

We are obviously in the first stages of something major. It is not built around Todd’s ministry or anyone else’s. I’m thankful we had released him to minister in our local church because he has been a large part of what’s happening, and he will no doubt be a big part of what unfolds. He may be in the forefront for a period of time, and then others will. Todd is just one of about a half dozen who are being used on the forefront of this, and we expect that number to grow. Several have an anointing similar to Todd’s, but others are different, but no less God. I am “the designated driver,” and I am the primary one with the authority and responsibility to steer it. If I do my part right, I will free the others from having to do this, and I expect all of them to go to a new level. To do this, I need to know where the Lord is leading us, and I do have a general map that I have been shown, beginning thirty-five years ago.

When we planted a church here, we began with the team ministry concept because we were shown that this was not only biblical, but would be necessary for the revival that was coming to this area. After living here for a short time, I started to meet older people who told me about the prophesies from as far back as the late 1930s and early 1940s of this coming revival. None of these had lost hope, but were sure it would come one day. This could be it.

If it is the beginning of what I was shown, it will grow into something more remarkable in some ways than anything we have experienced in our lifetime. If this is the beginning, we will soon be in the greatest of all of the Great Awakenings, and a tithe of all Americans will soon be born again and filled with the Spirit. That is thirty to forty million people who will be added to all who are already born again. These will also be added to a real New Testament church life because the church is going to be transformed into this.

If what is happening here is what I was shown, then no man or group of people will be the face of it. MorningStar will not be the face of it either. This one will be about Jesus, not us.

If this is what I was shown, we will have the greatest anointing for worship, preaching, the prophetic, miracles and healing, and everything else, but no one will leave here talking about us—they will leave talking about Jesus and the encounter they had with Him. The King will be manifest in the midst of His people and the gospel of the kingdom will go out.

Once we have experienced the manifest presence of the Lord, we are ruined for anything else. What good is the most glorious temple if God is not in it? If God is in His temple, then it does not matter how glorious or spectacular the temple is—it will not be the temple that gets your attention. If people come here and then leave talking about any of us, or even the great experiences that they have here, it will have fallen short of what it is supposed to be. If this becomes a Todd show, or a MorningStar show, we will have fumbled in what we were being entrusted with.

One of the main promises we were given thirty-five years ago was for Isaiah 60:1-5 to be manifested here—the visible glory of the Lord appearing on His people. We are earthen vessels. When this comes the way it is supposed to, as this text declares, it will not be the vessels getting the attention, but rather the glory of the Lord. However, that glory is going to be on His people. We must resolve that we, the temple, exist for God, not the other way around. If we are the ones who start getting all of the attention, then we have somehow lost the real glory.

Some of us experienced this once before in a meeting in the mid- 1970s in Eastern North Carolina. Since then, I have visited many of the great revivals and moves of God and have been able to be a part of some of them, which I am very thankful for. I’ve seen the pillar of cloud appear right in front of me, and I have been in meetings where the weighty presence of the Lord pinned everyone to the floor, but nothing I have seen since has measured up to a fraction of what we experienced in that one meeting when the visible glory of the Lord came.

When His glory comes like that you can be changed more in one meeting than in years of teaching or counseling. Of course, we need the teaching, counseling, and spiritual disciplines, but we need His presence and His glory much more. We were given a taste and then a prophecy—that to see this come to the church was our destiny and calling. This has been a motivation in everything I’ve done since.

When I took on the ministry of helping Todd through his restoration, I honestly did not connect him with this move that we knew would one day come to the Charlotte area. However, when I thought of what I was shown years ago about Todd’s calling, and what we were shown would one day break out here, I now see how they could fit. When I first took on the restoration of Todd, I thought he might move here for a period of time and then would probably go back to Abbotsford. When Todd was severed in a way that was obvious he would not be a part of what was then known as Fresh Fire—Canada, I did hope that he would find a permanent home here. He and Jessa are greatly loved here and appreciated. However, that is totally up to them when this process is over.

Ultimately, I think Todd will go out to do large crusades in the nations again, but it will help him a lot by serving as a part of a team in which he is not the leader. When he goes out, I think he will know the value of a team so that the pressure does not rest on just one person.

A huge factor in the breakup of Todd’s marriage was his marriage to ministry and the pace that he tried to keep up, which led to two major burnout episodes. If God would rest after six days, who are we to think we don’t need this? It’s quite a presumption to think we can do something God did not even try to do. Presumption is pride.


Restoration and the Favor of God

Many years ago, I had a dream in which one of my children had fallen into a sewage ditch and could not get up. Covered in filth, no one would help my child. People only scorned or jeered at my child, which was one of the most grievous things I have ever experienced in a dream. Then someone came and helped my child out of the ditch, and cleaned and helped them to go on their way again. In that dream, I would have given everything I owned to that person who had helped my child. I was thinking what I could do for them when I heard the voice of the Lord say, “Jim Bakker is My child. Will you help him?”

When I asked Jim Bakker to speak at a conference right after he was released from prison, I did take some heat for it, and some on my staff even thought I was risking everything. I may have been, but I also had no doubt that I would gain the Lord’s favor, which is far more valuable than having man’s favor. I know the reason that we were able to acquire the former Heritage Grand Hotel and Conference Center and other parts of the former PTL property, at a tiny fraction of its value, was because of the favor of God we received for helping Jim.

I actually did not do very much to help Jim Bakker, and others may have done much more, such as Tommy Barnett. I also think we have received such a huge benefit from our friendship with Jim that it would have been well worth it without getting the property. We did get the most remarkable home for our ministry that I could ever imagine, and we have even more of the favor of God in other remarkable ways.

No doubt it has been a huge risk to help Todd. Of course, I lost some friends, and we lost some people and partners. I have no guarantee of how this is going to turn out, and I have had restoration failures before, too. However, I try not to weigh the possible costs or benefits in such matters, but rather just try to be obedient. If I get rewards here, fine; but I’m just as good to get them in heaven.

No doubt some people will never accept Todd’s restoration to ministry, and we did gain a few more enemies, some of whom were friends before, but I know that the favor of God is worth more than any cost we can pay in this life. Even with the controversy, we gained far more friends than we lost, and we have even had a net gain in partners for our ministry. I also think the greatest favor of all could be one of the greatest revivals in history, resulting in thirty to forty million new brothers and sisters in Christ just in America. If we are trusted with this, which is yet to be determined, it might be linked to this risk we took in helping Todd.

In Mark 10:29-30, the Lord gives us a wonderful promise: “Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or farms, for My sake and for the gospel's sake, but that he shall receive a hundred times as much now in the present age, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms, along with persecutions.” In my ministry to date, I think every time I have taken a major risk to help someone, or to speak or write something that I was given but knew it would be controversial, the benefits gained always outweighed what I had risked by at least one hundred times. It is always right to do what you think is right regardless of the risk or potential reward, but the Lord is faithful to reward those who do so. Along with it, “persecutions” may be expected.

The Lord did nothing but what was right. I’m sure I’m not doing everything perfectly. I have made some mistakes and will probably make more. Not all of our critics are wrong, and many have a sincere desire to protect the truth and to protect God’s people. Much of what is said and written about me and Todd is false, but some we do need to consider. What I think is false I will answer for the sake of others who are being caused to stumble by it. I do not have time to deal with some that seem less important right now, but as I have time, I may try.

Regardless of how right we are, if we are about to see a major revival break out, the persecution will also break out on a correspondingly high level. This too “comes with the territory” as the Lord Himself taught. With the increase of power and impact in Jesus’ ministry, the persecution went up accordingly. With the undeniable resurrection of Lazarus, the Lord’s enemies determined that it was time to kill Him. I have no doubt that the persecution will ratchet up dramatically with the increase of the favor of God. This is biblical. So what kind of favor is that? Ask the Jewish people who have been His “chosen people.” It may not seem like favor to those who care about earthly things and the favor of men, but to be considered worthy to suffer shame for His name’s sake is one of the greatest honors we can have in this life and will be an eternal honor in heaven. It’s not fun, but I’m not here to have fun—I’m here to do the will of God. I fully trust Him for any reward He thinks that I deserve or any honor such as persecution that He thinks I need.

Again, this is not to imply that I am doing everything right, but I am trying my best to keep it simple and seek to be obedient. The same crowd that was crying, “Hosanna,” when Jesus entered Jerusalem was crying, “crucify Him,” just five days later. Therefore, I think it is foolish to put our trust in people’s opinions whether good or bad, but I seek to please the Lord. As the Apostle Paul wrote in Galatians 1:10, “If I were still seeking to please men I would not be a bondservant of Christ.” Because of this, seeking the approval of men can be the main thing that diverts us from the true course of serving God. Nothing irks men, especially religious men, more than this, and they will persecute you for it. I do have many who I consider peers, and I know are friends who will tell me the truth when I need to hear it. I am accused of not having this, but I actually have far more than anyone else I know.

The demon-possessed were easy for the Lord to deal with. The sinners were attracted to Him, but it was the religious community that persecuted Him. I knew that the result of going into this process with Todd would be to expose and help many get free of an evil, self-righteous religious spirit, which has dominated the church throughout most of her history. To get free of some things, they have to be exposed. So I knew all along that this was about much more than Todd or me. For the sake of those who are bound or influenced by this religious spirit, I will be straightforward in confronting it whenever and in whomever it rises. I would expect no less from those who are my own true friends who see it rising in me, and I certainly do not claim to be perfect in this either.

We cannot go into the future carrying some of the things we’ve been carrying in the church. I am going to be addressing these issues boldly and candidly in future Bulletins about Todd’s restoration for his sake, your sake, and even the sakes of our opposition, some of whom will be helped. To try to write them all at once would require a book, not a bulletin, so I am preparing a series of these Bulletins to address them. I hope to address most of the questions people have about this process and to help clarify the doctrines of marriage and divorce which the whole church is in desperate need of.

When I say I will try to address almost all of the questions, there are many questions that I still have. I have sought answers, and I am still seeking them, but I have to admit at this point that I don’t have all of the answers. One thing almost everyone agrees on, and we should, is that the sanctity of marriage must be protected and strengthened in the church, certainly not weakened. I have no doubt that the result of this process can do that.

I also have no doubt that many will be surprised at our conclusions, but I think most will actually end up agreeing with them. We already have a good list of people who began, in some cases, vehemently disagreeing with us who now agree with us. As this process is laid out, I think this list will grow. It will also no doubt cause more opposition from others. Even so, it would be a terrible presumption for us to think we are right about everything, but at least we want to be open about what we are doing and why. I am quite sure anyone who follows this process with us will benefit from it.

Thank you for caring enough to read this Bulletin regardless of your position on what we are doing. I think you will find the future Bulletins to be even more interesting. We will cover many subjects related to divorce, remarriage, the restoration process, judgment in the church, and other important topics.

By Rick Joyner, Morningstar, now posted on their website.

Todd Bentley is a native of the Pacific Northwest region.

Visit Northwest Prophetic for a complete archive of regional prophetic words, or to submit a word. Submissions welcome, particularly from or about the Northwest.

Sons of Thunder Prophecy

Editor's Note: This prophecy does not specifically address the Pacific Northwest. Nevertheless, I include it because it has relevance to the Northwest, and it has been shared with me by several Northwest prophets as an example (from their perspective) of prophecy for the Northwest.



The following word was shown to me beginning in August 1990 as a result of three dreams I had.

In August the Lord spoke to me through a dream. Prior to that dream He gave me a scripture, Isaiah 21:6, which says, "This is what the sovereign Lord says, 'Go appoint a lookout and have him report what he sees'." When the Lord gave me that verse He said, "I'm doing this in your life. I'm appointing you as lookout. You will see things, and when you see these things, you report them." I am now reporting to you what I have seen.

The first thing I saw in the dream was a flatbed trailer with a curtain behind it and two guitars on guitar stands sitting on the trailer. It looked like a stage but it wasn't a stage in a theatre; it was a mobile stage that could be moved into the streets or parks. This trailer was at a carnival or at a fairground. The two guitars were sitting on their guitar stands with the microphones in place and the curtain was there. The colour of these guitars was the most vivid, electric blue that I could imagine. They were acoustic guitars and that caught my eye; you would never see an acoustic guitar that was electric blue.

I then saw that the curtain was the same colour, and it captured my attention. As I stood and looked at it, two men came walking out from behind the curtain with sheet music in their hands. They were very excited as they looked at this, and they pointed out the different notes and the different measures, cadences and all the different features of this music. It was obvious that they could not wait to play this music. I looked over their shoulders and I could tell by looking at the music that it was a new song. It was not new like someone had just written it, but it was new in quality.

In the dreams my thoughts were, "This is new like the Beatles' music was new." When the Beatles appeared in the sixties it was a new sound and it took the world by storm. Whenever one of their songs came on, you would automatically turn it up; it had a special quality that caught your ear - it turned your head. It was the most arresting sound that our generation had ever heard. I remember looking at that sheet music in this dream and thinking that this music was going to be just like that, with one very significant distinction - this was of Christ. I stood on that platform thinking - "Wait 'til these people hear this song!" I couldn't wait to see this happen, but the dream ended.

After I had written the dream down, the Lord spoke to me and said, "I'm about to release a new kind of song in the streets. It will bring a revelation of the truth and it will usher men into my presence." I filed that away until about a month later when I had another dream.

In the second dream, I was taken to a large church which had a stage. There were rooms on either side of the stage. The room on the right side was the equipment room - it had pianos, microphones, speakers, cables, cymbals, and drums; it looked like a garage packed with stuff. I looked around and saw a power amplifier over in the corner. The amp was unplugged, the cord had been wrapped around it, it was dusty like it had been sitting in the corner for awhile. I dusted it off. What I then saw took my breath away. I gasped with a sense of discovery but also dread because of what I was holding in my hand. I held the power amp that the Beatles had used. I knew in that moment that this box was the source of their sound and their power.

I realized that people would do anything to have this amp. There are bands who for years have been looking for that sound - and for that power. They had been doing everything within their scope of imagination to get that power. Here it was and I was holding it in my hand. I felt hunted; I felt vulnerable; I felt that I was threatened. I knew that I could be hurt by those who would do anything for the amp. As I stood there holding it, I asked aloud this question, "What is it doing here?"

Suddenly I was out of the equipment room and standing behind the pulpit at this church, still holding the amp. The church had grown to five times the size that it was at the beginning of the dream. There was a balcony and the place was packed with people. As I looked at all these people (they were oblivious to my presence), a woman stood up in the middle of the church, and a light shone on her. She began singing a song of the Lord. Her voice filled the auditorium, and all she sang was this: "In the name of Jesus Christ the Lord we say unto you, be saved." She sang it over and over. She would turn to her right and sing, then turn to her left and sing; then she would turn behind her and before her and sing the same thing. As I watched her sing, it was like a wind blowing on a wheat field. These people began to swoon in the presence of God and men and women were collapsing in their seats, converted to Christ, just by the power of that song. That was how the dream ended.

When I awoke, the Lord said that there was going to be a new and distinctive anointing and sound restored to music that will turn the heads and capture the hearts of men for Jesus Christ... Simply singing the truth in the name of Jesus Christ, "We say unto you be saved," will release the power of His Spirit in such an awesome display that men and women will collapse in their seats and be converted to Christ. But the Lord said that a key to this will be this new anointing He is about to give to His music.

The Lord said that in 1970 He lifted the anointing for that extraordinary music that could arrest the attention of men, and for twenty years He has held it in His hand. He is about to release it again. He said that it does not belong to the world, it belongs to the church. That's why it (the amp) was in the church's equipment room, because it is part of the church's equipment. Music does not belong to Satan, but he has stolen much of it and seeks to use it for his own evil purposes. Music was given to worship the Lord but Satan has turned it for self-worship, which is the reason we tend to worship musicians, and they tend to require that people worship them. That is all part of the perversion of the fall.

True worship and true music belong to Jesus Christ. They are given to His church to serve Him with. The anointing the Lord is about to release on music is going to sweep the world in a manner like the Beatles did when they first came out. It's going to be a music that is new in kind, new in sound, arresting in its content; it will stop traffic, and it will turn men's heads and capture their hearts, but this time it will do it for the Lord.

In this dream I saw the balcony scene when the Beatles first played on the Ed Sullivan Show. I saw the kids pulling their hair, crying... That is what I saw - the same emotion, the same devotion, the tears in the eyes and that earnest look of love and adoration on the faces, but this time they were crying for Jesus! When this anointing comes on the music He is about to give His church, and His servants step forth in true service and worship to Him with these gifts, He will display the Holy Spirit in such a way that it will bring that kind of adoration to the Son of God, not to the musicians or our own self-centeredness.

I know that there can be some misunderstanding with this Beatle connection, but that is how it was related to me in the dream and I later saw this principle related in the Scriptures. Psalm 68:18 reads: "You ascended on high, you led captivity captive and gave gifts to men - even among the rebellious ..." "The earth is the Lord's and all it contains" (Psalm 24:1). It all belongs to Jesus Christ... The Lord makes His sun to shine on the just and the unjust. He makes His rain to come on the wicked and the righteous. Gifts and talents are given by the Lord, even though we may use them for evil.

We are now on the threshold of a prophesied new move of God which will be precipitated by a musical revival that encircles the world. God is going to bring praise into the streets. The choir that preceded the army of Jehosaphat will once again lift up the banners and strike the chords, only this time they will turn the hearts of men to Jesus Christ and not to themselves. They won't be saying, "John, Paul, George, and Ringo," or, "l'm of Paul, I'm of Apollos, I'm an Evangelical, I'm a Baptist, I'm a Catholic, or I'm a Lutheran." This time the adoration will be to one person alone Jesus.

I was then given a third dream. Again I was taken to this large church where I had seen the amplifier. This time the church was empty except for one man. He was up on the stage playing a keyboard and singing to the Lord. It was a beautiful song, and he was crying because of the tender exchange taking place between him and the Lord. He was writing the song right there, just making it up as he went. I was greatly moved by this song and the man's pure worship. I had a camera with me and I decided to take a picture of this to remember it. I took two Polaroid pictures that came out immediately. When I looked at these pictures I was stunned because both of them were glowing with a golden light. I looked up and I then could see it on the man. The entire platform around him was also glowing like gold. I knew that it was the anointing of God.

I went up to this man and said, "Brother look at this," but it startled him. He quickly turned the instrument off and stepped back. I said, "Look at this, look at the anointing of God that's on you." He looked at the pictures only for a second, and putting his hands in his pockets, he shrugged his shoulders and started kicking on the ground shyly saying, "Oh, gosh I didn't know you were here, I'm so embarrassed." As he was going on like this I just looked at him and asked, "What are you doing? You don't have to apologize for this - this is the anointing of the Lord."

Immediately the dream changed. I had these two photographs in my left hand and a parchment scroll in my right hand. I looked at that scroll and it was a letter written by an unknown soldier of the Salvation Army forty years ago. It was signed Unknown Soldier. I read this letter and it was a prophecy. It said that the time would come when the Lord God will release into the streets an army of worshipping warriors known as the 'Sons of Thunder'. They will bring forth praise into the streets that will birth evangelism and praise and give many children to God.

I was duly impressed with this prophecy but I didn't know what to do with it or the photographs of the man worshipping. Suddenly the dream changed one more time. I was in the sky, about a hundred yards or so above the ground and I was over a highway. The highway was ten lanes wide and it only went in one direction. As far as I could see in both directions the highway was completely grid-locked, jam packed with Hell's Angels, shoulder to shoulder, wheel to wheel, just revving their motorcycles. I knew intuitively that this was the broad path that led to destruction; I knew that I was looking at lost humanity.

Then I saw on the side of the road, in single file, a group of motorcyclists who were the only ones moving. What caught my eye was that they were in single file and were moving in single file on the shoulder on this highway. They were headed towards a field that was about a mile and a half away. In the middle of this field there was a stone that was almost like the Washington Monument, but it wasn't that tall. It was a monolith-like stone, and I knew that these motor-cyclists were headed toward it. I also knew that they were headed there for the purpose of touching it, because when they touched it they would receive power to come back and lead all of these Hell's Angels to Christ.

I felt that I also had to get to that stone, and that I had to be there when they got there. In the dream I was able to fly like an eagle, so I swooped down to get a closer look at the motorcyclists who were in the single file. I could see on the back of their jackets the words 'Sons of Thunder'. I knew that this was the army of worshipping warriors about which the unknown soldier from the Salvation Army had prophesied.

I hastened over to this stone, but when I got there it was completely surrounded by officers of the law. They were locked elbow to elbow in riot gear with clubs and masks waiting for a big riot. My first thought was, "Oh NO! These guys are not going to let us get near the stone." I was so grieved. Then I had the thought that all that was necessary was for this parchment and these photographs to touch that stone; if they touched that stone the anointing that this prophecy spoke of and the anointing that I saw on that man of music would be released on these Sons of Thunder. They would then be empowered to go into the streets and turn the Hell's Angels to Christ.

So I started to walk past the line, but they wouldn't let me through either! Suddenly I got an idea - I took the parchment and I folded it into a paper airplane, put the photographs down in the crease in order to sail it over the heads of the officers into the stone. I knew that I would only have one chance and that I could not miss. The stone was so large that the only way I could miss would be to fall short. This may be the most important issue for us. The only thing that can stop us is our stopping. Will we fall short or will we touch it?

I took the airplane with the photos and prophecy and let it fly. It flew as straight as an arrow. Just when it was about one foot from touching the stone the dream ended! I desperately wanted to go back to sleep and finish the dream but I could not. Then the Lord began to speak to me about it.

The Lord said that the stone which I saw was symbolic of Him ("The stone which the builders rejected..."), but that it was also symbolic of the monument that men have built to Him. These men now feel that they must protect that monument from the very people He is calling to Himself. The 'officers of the law' stand in riot gear ready to defend the Lord from those that they don't think are worthy enough to come near Him.

The Lord then said, "Say this to the man of music. Stop submitting to false humility. Stop apologizing for the anointing of God which is on you." There are many who in the privacy of their intimate times with the Lord sing the song of the Lord which is glorious. But when they come into the church or into the presence of people they let the fear of man choke the song. The Lord says "Stop it! You do not need to apologize for that anointing." It is the glory of God that rests on you and the Lord is saying that it is now time for you to bring forth that which He has put in your heart to do. Sing the song of the Lord for the salvation of the lost. And your ministry in this will begin at the burial site of the fear of men.

The Lord said, "Say this to the church: 'Stand in the light, lift up your voice and sing in the streets. Sing the simple message of the gospel - in the name of Jesus Christ the Lord, be saved. Lift up your voice as a witness to Christ and the Spirit of God will cause people to be converted'."

The Lord said to the Sons of Thunder: "I'm not endorsing a motorcycle gang. That is not My point. These are symbols which speak of the issues involved. A motorcycle is a quick, agile means of transportation and represents those who rid themselves of their excess baggage. It can go where other vehicles cannot go." The Lord is calling men and women into a ministry of evangelism that will take them places where the churches cannot go. And like the stigma associated with motorcycle gangs, there will be rejection and misunderstanding associated with this ministry. Some will not understand why they go into bars and associate with people who look demonic (and sometimes are), just as the Lord Himself was misunderstood for His associations. Even so, the word of the Lord to the Sons of Thunder was be in the world but not of it!

Then the Lord said, "Say this to the officers of the law: 'Put down your clubs and stop defending Jesus from people who you don't think are worthy enough to touch Him. Open your doors and let those people come in. Stop being so enamored by the monument that you take your eyes off the living stones'."

Then the Lord said this, "The last call is a call to intercession." He said to me that the dream ended the way it did for an important reason. He wanted us to know that while it is going to happen, it is not happening yet. It's about to happen, and between now and when it does there is a call for intercession. When the prophecy of that unknown soldier of the Salvation Army of a generation ago and the vision of the anointed man of music are joined hand in hand by those who will intercede, and those two things touch the heart of Jesus through intercessory prayer, the anointing will be released on the Sons of Thunder. And the Sons of Thunder will be released into the streets. We will then see a worldwide move of the Spirit of God.

There are three groups that actually make up these Sons of Thunder. They are the musicians, the evangelists who are not musicians and the musicians who are evangelists. Some who are musicians are being called to be a Son of Thunder even though they are not evangelists. Some are evangelists who are being called though they are not musicians. Of course, there are some who are both evangelists and musicians. In some cases there will be musicians on a flatbed trailer, drawing the crowds for the evangelists. When the musicians who have dedicated themselves to the Lord Jesus Christ begin to play this new song, the Spirit of God is going to move in that crowd. The evangelists will touch these people and explain what is happening to them. The Sons of Thunder are both the musicians and the evangelists who work together.


By James Ryle,

©1991 MorningStar Publications Inc.

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