Truly these are the most exciting times in the history of mankind to be alive. How anyone living today can be bored is beyond me. My grandparents were born just before the dawning of the twentieth century. In those days they traveled by horseback, enjoyed outdoor toilets, and lived their daily lives not much differently than the people two thousand years ago, without the domestic conveniences we now take for granted. Just in the span of their lifetimes they have seen the advent of radio and television, automobile and jet transportation, space travel, nuclear power, satellite communication, and the computer. And change only seems to be accelerating.
But in the eternal scheme of things this technological progress is small potatoes compared to the revolution that has transpired in the last 100 years. I am talking about a revolution that is not being reported by the media, not understood by secular society, not being touted by the millennial documentaries. What revolution am I talking about? It is the Pentecostal revolution. It is the spiritual reawakening that is happening today in preparation for the kingdom of God coming upon the earth. One might say it burst forth in 1900 in Azusa Street in Los Angeles, when a few mainstream denominational preachers got together seeking what the New Testament calls the "baptism in the Holy Spirit." They received; they got filled with the Holy Spirit, and a new dynamic power was loosed in the Church which has spurred the most massive evangelization of the world since the resurrection.
As Jesus promised, "John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now...you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses...even to the remotest part of the earth."
As I was saying, we live in exciting times, and they are about to get even more exciting. The Spirit is saying that in the next ten years the communist regime in China will collapse. Though it is hard for Westerners to believe, there are already more Christians in China than in the United States. The epicenter of Christianity is no longer in America, though our missionaries planted the seed. When this massive underground force moves to the forefront we will see the blossoming of the Church on earth and the final spread of the gospel to every tribe, tongue, and nation. When that happens, Jesus will return to reign over His earthly kingdom for a thousand years. This could easily happen in our lifetimes, my friends.
So if you've had the feeling that God is on another galaxy long, long ago and far, far away, give yourself a reality check. Read and study the book of Acts and find out about the baptism in the Holy Spirit. Build your faith to receive the Spirit, and ask Him to fill you. Persist at it. Get in on what's happening today and don't miss out. Carpe diem!
@ copyright 2001 by Scott H. Northrup. All rights reserved.