I know of a few people who were touched by the Holy Spirit at a young age. They actually experienced the presence of God that the Holy Spirit can manifest when He is present.
They became God's hungry children!
Lonnie Frisbee said, "It only takes a one split second touch of the Holy Spirit to change a life. That one touch will do more then years of seminary could ever do."
Some of those who were touched are now caught in a kind of no man's land. They can't seem to find a church or place where the presence of the Holy Spirit is manifested like it was for them early on.
They know what it is like and how it was for them to be touched by the person of the Holy Spirit. Some of them say that they do not like Pentecostal churches but they also do not like dry and boring churches either.
They keep hoping that one day they will once again experience being touched by the Holy Spirit like they first experienced it so long ago.
Some of these people have simply given up, figuring that it was all just an emotional experience of their youth. Others have accepted that such things just do not happen these days.
There are men who recently had a big gathering to support that such things do not happen today and that in fact those who say they do and who believe they do are evil.
But some men have visions of more about to come.
One man, with a prophetic ministry, named Paul has had several specific burdens and prophetic expectations for the Body of Christ today and in the days to come.
He has had reoccurring visions concerning the end time, which he believes are rapidly approaching. About 30 years ago the Lord gave Paul a vision that has occurred to Paul more than 100 times and still reoccurs to this day.
It is a vision of the last days when sports stadiums all over the United States are filled with thousands of people. In this vision, people are being healed and miracles are happening to thousands in the
It seemed the whole earth was turning to Christ.
Television news reporters are broadcasting stories of resurrections and miracle healings. None of the secular reporters could get near the men on the platform. They did not know who the men were. Paul described them as "almost faceless men."
He hears a TV anchorman saying, "There are no sporting events to report tonight because all the stadiums, ball parks and arenas are being used for large revival meetings and are filled with people crying, ''Jesus is Lord, Jesus is Lord."
In these visions, Paul saw these men minister for three days and nights without food, water or change of clothing. Supernatural strength enabled them to continue for these long periods.
In the vision, Paul is standing at the crossroads of life and sees a billboard that says, "Joel's army now in training."
People are being trained to walk in obedience to Jesus. They have learned patience and endurance, have the power of God and having done all, they know how to stand against the enemy.
"They will have the mind of Christ," Paul said. "They will partake of the heavenly calling and be a new breed, God's dread champions." Those ministries will be filled with such passion for Jesus and the power of the Spirit that the host of darkness will dread their impact.
Paul said in the midst of the Laodicean church age of lethargy and apathy, that God was preparing in hiddenness an army to pull down enemy strongholds, and go forth in the power of God and have pure and undefiled religion.
"He's going to do this with a people who have stripped themselves and separated themselves from the world, the flesh and the devil," Paul said. "They will realize the end time is here and that things are in a mess and things at the end time are different.
Just as it required total sacrifice on the part of the disciples to begin this thing, it will require an equal commitment from us to complete the task in the end times. Joel's mighty army, as described in Joel Chapter 2 is the army of God - not a wicked army, as some have thought.
They are the ones with 'feet of iron not mixed with clay', with the wisdom of God alone, not imitators of other men of God. Some of the superstars of the Church will fall. The Lord will have an army of holy anointed vessels to usher in His kingdom so that no one man can take credit for it. It will be to the glory of God alone."
I hear a lot of ministers sharing stuff along these lines lately. We may get jaded and doubt what they are saying. We may just write them off as people simply trying to drum up some excitement in their own ministries etc...
Is there any truth to what they are telling us? Can there be another great out pouring of the Holy Spirit upon the earth coming? Why does the Holy Spirit seem to come and go like the wind?
There is a much bigger picture here.
Let's start from the beginning. The Bible.
Joel 1:1-4
1 The word of the Lord that came to Joel the son of Pethuel.
2 Hear this, ye old men, and give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land. Hath this been in your days, or even in the days of your fathers?
3 Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation.
4 That which the palmerworm hath left hath the locust eaten; and that which the locust hath left hath the cankerworm eaten; and that which the cankerworm hath left hath the caterpiller eaten.
Joel 2:23-32
King James Version (KJV)
23 Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God: for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month.
24 And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the vats shall overflow with wine and oil.
25 And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you.
26 And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you: and my people shall never be ashamed.
27 And ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the Lord your God, and none else: and my people shall never be ashamed.
28 And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:
29 And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit.
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.
31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord come.
32 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord hath said, and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call.
It was a wonderful day when God first began to pour out His Spirit as He foretold in these great prophecies of the prophet Joel. It was nearly 850 years after this prophecy was made that God began the fulfillment of it.
Acts 2:1-16
King James Version (KJV)
2 And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.
3 And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.
4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
5 And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven.
6 Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language.
7 And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans?
8 And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born?
9 Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia,
10 Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes,
11 Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God.
12 And they were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this?
13 Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine.
14 But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words:
15 For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day.
16 But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel;
Then Peter quoted the passage in Joel 2:28-32
On this great day of Pentecost, the dispensation of the Holy Spirit opened, and the Church was born in great power and glory.
The book of Acts in the New Testament tells us many stories of the miracles, signs, and wonders which blessed that early Church.
From that day until now, the Holy Spirit has been in the earth bringing to us the blessings of Christ Jesus, our Savior and Lord. How great have been the experiences and blessings through the years: salvation, healings, a true New Testament ministry, visions and revelations in the Spirit, and gifts and abilities of the Spirit.
When that strange happening occurred- 120 Christian believers being filled with the Holy Spirit and speaking in different languages which they had never learned- no wonder the bystanders were amazed and said, "What meaneth this?"
The verses from Joel, chapters 1 and 2, cover the entire Church age.
Volumes have been written on Church history, yet these few verses from Joel 1:4 to Joel 2:25 cover the entire story of the Church, even the chapters not yet recorded in history and the things that are yet to come.
Joel's vision revealed a beautiful, fruitful vineyard which was slowly eaten by ravages of insects and then was miraculously restored by God's hand. What a wonderful picture this is of the Church.
The Church began with great glory and wonderful miracles and signs. The vineyard was then full of fruit. The early Church had the gifts of the Holy Spirit, the miraculous divine word of wisdom, the word of knowledge, miraculous faith, gifts of healing, the working of miracles, prophecy, the discerning of spirits, ability to speak divers kinds of tongues, and the ability to interpret them (1 Corinthians 12:8-10).
That early Church also had the fruit of the Spirit-love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance (Galatians 5:22,23).
But God had seen and foretold in the days of Joel that the Church would not remain in its beauty and power. Then came the palmerworm into the vineyard. The diabolical forces began to destroy the miracles and signs, and the supernatural gifts of the Spirit and the fruit disappeared.
It was not long after the time of the apostles that a slow deterioration began in that apostolic Church. The locust continued eating. Already the palmerworm had destroyed the fruit, and the locust began to eat what was left.
The centuries passed, with the Church being stripped of the fullness of the Spirit and prayer and humility. Formality and sectarianism took over. Denominationalism and sectarianism have always been an evidence of lack of divine life and love in the Church.
There is not one verse of Scripture in the Holy Bible to authorize the various forms of division which we call denominations in the Body of Christ. Men came, claiming to have the Holy Spirit, who did not have any Biblical evidences of having received, such as speaking with other tongues.
They had no Biblical evidences of possessing the Spirit, such as the fruit of the Spirit. Then came the cankerworm, eating what the locust had left. The cancerous eating of the vitals of the vine continued until the divine holiness and life-flow into the Church was corrupted and finally died.
The last devastation was to come to the vineyard by the caterpillar. The vine was stripped of its fruit, its leaves and the bark were gone, cancerous holes were in its heart, and the caterpillar nested in its roots and hollows.
Likewise, the Church also came to have its very root life destroyed; the root of the Church is its salvation experience-justification by faith in Christ. When this was destroyed, it signaled the beginning of the dark ages. We call them Dark Ages, and they were dark.
The angels of God must have looked at the Church in that hour and wept; for the light was gone, and the night without Jesus Christ became the Dark Ages.
But weep not for the former glory which has departed, for Joel 2:25 says, I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpillar, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you.
God declared, I will restore, and then came a glorious time in the history of the Church as God slowly
The first step of restoration had come. The Lutherans and Protestants were persecuted and martyred, but what God had done remained.
All the tortures of the inquisition, the maiming and blinding of the believers, the scourgings, and the burnings at the stake could not destroy the work of God in restoring the Church.
The restoration of the Church followed with the work and ministry of great men like John Calvin, John Knox, Fletcher, and hundreds of others. Satan could not hold back God's move to restore in those days, and he cannot stop it now.
As generations passed, God restored more. The holiness movement sprang forth; that our above quoted prophet Paul was involved with. But always the story was the same: as soon as one church movement grew cold, lost its first love, or fought higher truths, it lost out spiritually.
Often it became highly organized with man-rule instead of God-rule, and the people refused to walk in the light God gave them, and so the Lord God stepped over their little denominational and sectarian walls. He left them to their dying forms and rituals and ceremonies and He took with Him a hungry band of believers.
They were the called-out of the called-out. Thus a fresh new step was made in God's restoration of the Church.
O Churches that bear the name of the Lord, do you have a name that you live, but are dead (Revelation 3:1). Men who are moving on with God marched down through the centuries.
Read of John Wesley who endured bitter persecutions. With every church in England closed to the
Stoned, rotten-egged, he moved on with God, and another new step in the restoration was made.
Then followed men like Charles Finney and a host of others; but alas, in those very movements the fire began to wane, and they turned to a social gospel. With organization, church suppers and programs, they, too, began to erect sectarian walls.
Then came William Booth with the Salvation Army, and it was a great day in his thronged church
History tells us of the power of God in the Salvation Army with its all-night prayer meetings and men and women slain under the power of God.
About half a century ago another movement was born which was much like the story in Acts 2. It is called the great Welsh revival and was initiated under the ministry of Evan Roberts. It led to subsequent outpourings of God's Spirit all over the world, with men and women of every nation beginning to
The rain of heaven was falling on the humble and the empty, and Satan fought it as he had always done before. All of the movements of God which had closed their doors to further revelation fought it too.
Preachers also fought this movement and called it many names. It is a tragedy that those who were persecuted for former light a few years before were now persecuting those who were moving on into greater light.
This new light was but a restoration of the baptism of the Holy Spirit as it was experienced by the early New Testament church. As the years passed, those who fought the light began to dry up, and they followed the pattern of the denominations before them. They became strongly sectarian and cast out the new light and all its messengers.
Thank God that His truth is marching on! Nothing can stop the rain. Calling names and becoming angry will not stop the rain from falling. You cannot sweep back this mighty tide with a little broom.
God is moving to complete the final steps for restoring the Church in these last days.
For 450 years, from the days of Martin Luther,
It is sad but true, that those who received the Holy Spirit and even spoke in tongues are now fighting the present restoration of the gifts of the Spirit, the fruit of the Spirit, the ministries, and the spiritual authority of Christ in the believer which are recorded in Ephesians.
Many of those truths will be found only in a New Testament church. God is moving again in the earth. Hear Him and rejoice. Receive this illumination from God's Word and walk in His new light.
The glorious Church without spot or wrinkle (Ephesians 5:27) will soon come forth again in the earth. God said,"I will restore all the years..." Take care that you do not follow the crowd and speak
Evangelical Fundamentalist, listen! Holiness people, listen! Pentecostals, listen! God is moving on! Will you move on with Him, or will you in unbelief raise your man-made denominational walls a little higher and sink into the pits of formality and deadness like the denominations before you?
Jesus People are you listening?
Firefall People are you listening?
Emergent People are you listening?
God will surely step over your walls, just as He did in other generations; and He will lead His people, the hungry and humble in
Press on into every scriptural New Testament church experience and endowment of the Holy Spirit. Put away your doubts and fears, and dare to walk on with God, even at the cost of persecution and man's disfavor.
It is better to please God than to please man. Take care, lest it be said of you as the prophet Isaiah wrote: "This is a people robbed and spoiled; they are all of them snared in holes, and they are hid in prison houses; they for a are prey, and none delivereth; for a spoil, none saith, Restore. Who among you will give ear to this? Who will harken and hear for the time to come?"
Isaiah 42:22,23.
This is a day of restoration, the restitution of all things (Acts 3:21). This is a day He will pour out His Spirit upon all flesh (Joel 2:28).
To speak truths and to know we speak the Word from God is a great blessing to us. The prejudices and sectarianism of the multitudes will never stop God's hungry children from moving on with God.
One small chapter in the continuing move of God in the earth.
Do you want to march on with God? Are you willing to give up your preconceived notions of what a move of God should look like and be like? Are you willing to open up and receive of the richness that the Holy Spirit can bring?
Cry out! Yearn! Desire for the move of God in this your time.
The story is vast and great and impacts the life of many upon the earth.
I am hungry for something from God!
Send The Fire Today!
This is a very old audio and anointed tape that has been put up on YouTube by my friend Erik J a few years back.
Those who are being called by the Holy Spirit always end up with tears streaming down their faces after they listen to this.
They leave with their cups full to overflowing, captured by the Holy Spirit.
Others reject it after only a few minutes into it and leave having gotten nothing at all from it.
Their cups empty and upside down as it were...
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