9/11 REVERSAL: Prophetic Restoration of a Nation and the Glory of God

In 1994, as a prophetic warning to the nation some seven years before the 9/11 attacks, Dr. David Franklin wrote “A Call to Righteousness: Impending Judgment.” Drawing conclusions from Ezekiel’s chapter 12 desolation, destruction, dispersion, despair and prophetic hope in chapter 14, he warns that:

(1)   When a nation persists in violence, the Sovereign Lord confronts and holds responsible
(2)   When a nation forgets God, He allows for times of repentance
(3)   If repentance is ignored, God will expose and execute judgment on an unfaithful nation.

The book continues with a call for international righteousness (p. 10) and a critique of the debt-free myth proclaiming a time of economic shift (p. 11-12). Remember, this warning was written two decades before anyone in America had mentioned foreclosure, crises or global economic crises. But my favorite chapter still is the interpretation of Ezekiel’s vision of the departure of the Glory of God (p. 20-21).

I read this book back in 1999 and frankly had forgotten about it until 2011 when, at a young ministers training camp in the mountains of Bulgaria, we experienced what we consider the most genuine appearance of the Glory of God in our whole ministry. We wrote about it then and presented our observation at the 2012 Missions Conference at the Good Shepherd Church of God inPahokee,FL. The four points of our observation carry a tremendous prophetic resemblance to what Dr. David Franklin had proclaimed in his book 18 years ago:

(1) Every time God renews His covenant with His people, He shows His presence.

(2) We know that God is present in the covenant, because He shows His glory. It happened to Moses and his generation. And it also happened to Solomon several hundred years later.

(3) When a generation looses the vision of the Glory of God, God begins renewing His covenant again with a new generation.

(4) God is not satisfied with a people who know the signs and the blessings of the covenant. He rests not until He is revealed as the God of the covenant.

 

Why Americans Attend Church in 2021

This is probably one of the church statistics you didn’t even realize you wanted to know.Two-thirds of people in a Pew Research survey say they attend church for four main reasons:

• To become a better person (68%)
• To introduce faith to their kids (69%)
• To find personal comfort (66%)
• Grow closer to God (81%)

As Pentecostals historically…

As Pentecostals historically (and as a movement)

We have been looking for power when we should have been seeking after His presence

We have been looking for gifts and signs and wonders, when we should have been looking for fruits of the Spirit and of character

We have been looking for preachers and prophets to follow, when we should have been looking for God’s presence to abide in

We have been looking for prophetic words and utterance, when we should have been taking more time in personal prayer

We have been growing, when we should have been going

And going when we should have been learning in the Spirit

We have been looking for more ways to build, when we should have been looking for more ways to move and go

We have been looking for ways to influence the world, instead of looking to be uninfluenced by God

And in our desire to be leaders and influencers, we have forgotten how to be led by God

And for a long time as a movement, we have existed at the borderline, at the verge and at the danger of gaining our rightful place in human history, but loosing our royal position in the GLORY of GOD

BUT ONE THING WE DID GET RIGHT: The Baptism with the Holy Ghost  (watch the full message)

Read also: Last Days Great REVIVAL

20 recent Pentecostal articles in light of the upcoming Pentecostal Sunday celebration:

1. The Forgotten Azusa Street Mission: The Place where the First Pentecostals Met
2. Diamonds in the Rough-N-Ready Pentecostal Series (Complete)
3. 95th anniversary of the Pentecostal movement in Bulgaria
4. Toward a Pentecostal Solution to the Refugee Crises in the European Union
5. Historical and Doctrinal Formation of Holiness Teachings and Praxis among Bulgarian Pentecostals
6. Pacifism as a Social Stand for Holiness among Early Bulgarian Pentecostals
7. The Practice of Corporate Holiness within the Communion Service of Bulgarian Pentecostals
8. Sanctification and Personal Holiness among Early Bulgarian Pentecostals
9. First Pentecostal Missionaries to Bulgaria (1920)
10. Historical and Doctrinal Formation of Holiness Teachings and Praxis among Bulgarian Pentecostals
11. The Everlasting Gospel: The Significance of Eschatology in the Development of Pentecostal Thought
12. Online Pentecostal Academic Journals
13. What made us Pentecostal?
14. Pentecostalism and Post-Modern Social Transformation
15. Obama, Marxism and Pentecostal Identity
16. Why I Decided to Publish Pentecostal Primitivism?
17. Historic Pentecostal Revival Tour in Bulgaria Continues
18. The Land of Pentecostals
19. Pentecostal Theological Seminary Address
20. A Truly Pentecostal Water Baptism

Trends and Issues Affecting the Next American Spirituality

Three Trends and Three Issues Affecting Asian Missions” by David Barrett bring focus on obvious antipode of missionary need in the Western hemisphere today. The Macedonian Call to 3.7 billion Asian people with some 9% Christians is no small issue in global missions. At the same time, America becoming the 3^rd largest mission field in the world is the obvious missions gap in the Western hemisphere. The parallels in post-modernity are many.

About 20 years ago, a book called “The Next American Spirituality” summarized the culture of today’s American spirituality and its relation to the apostolic church. The main question is, “What would a theology of the church look like that took seriously the fact that North America is now itself a mission field?”

To answer the question, Gallup and Jones examined how America does Biblical spirituality, using the gathered data to analyze its shift and direction. According to their survey, the marks of the next American spirituality were going to be (in short):

1. Bull-market church growth

2. Self-centered religion of me and thee

3. Hunger for experience – any experience

4. Search of roots amid the relativism

5. Quest for community resulting in self-belongingness and self-realization

In our current context of ministry two decades later, all of the above signs are evident and true. This is due on hand to the constant shift in the cultural paradigm, as well as the obvious shift in the identity and practices of the Christian church in the postmodern context. It almost seems like instead of being the model, the church is following a model, which not only changes the churches identity but interferes with its original evangelistic goal and global mission.

Prophetic Message of Over 30 Years Brings Peace in 2021

On November 9, 1989, the Berlin Wall, the physical representation of the Iron Curtain was brought down. The standing shoot-to-kill orders of the border guards fell.  It meant the end of the Cold War, a war which was waged on political, economic, and propaganda fronts and it meant the end of the Communist Regime in Bulgaria.

Seven months prior to this historic occasion, a Danish journalist by the name of Johny Noer along with his family came to Bulgaria traveling in a Pilgrim Convoy to share one message.  The message which was declared throughout Communist Bulgaria was not well received and many threats against his family were given to the point of arresting him, confiscating his passport, separating him from his nursing wife and children and escorting them out of the country via separate routs.  The outlawed message was: “LET MY PEOPLE GO!”  He literally shouted it from the roof tops of open air events in which there were thousands of desperate listeners searching for hope of liberation.  This message shook the spiritual foundations of Bulgaria forever.

Exactly 25 years later, our ministry invited brother Noer and his wife to Bulgaria again to proclaim the same message: “LET MY PEOPLE GO!” By miracle, we were successful in getting them into the country even though they had been blacklisted and were not permitted to return.  By miracle, we received permission to hold gatherings on election day and by miracle, the funds came just as needed to rent the largest auditorium in the city.  The year was 2014 and during one of the many sermons he preached during this revival crusade, along with declaring to “LET MY PEOPLE GO”, a prophetic message was given which was not fully understood until this past year.   The message, given in broken English translated into Bulgarian, was exact details of the Corona Virus Pandemic.  Astonished by the Word of protection for God’s people, we shared this video clip on social media in 2020.  But what astounded us the most was that the video was blocked for containing false information about Covid-19.  Over 30 years later this message is still being outlawed by the powers of darkness.

In Exodus 5, when the Israelites brought the words from the Lord and asked to be let go and be able to worship, Pharaoh said, “Who is the LORD that I should obey his voice and let Israel go? I do not know the LORD, and moreover, I will not let Israel go.” But regardless that “Pharaoh” does not know the Lord and forbids worship to the point of arrest and tries to keep God’s people behind the Wall, there is hope in the next part of the story.  There is God’s promise for deliverance, the plagues and having to make bricks without straw will be in the past.  And no matter the modern-day attempt at censorship, manipulative propaganda or shoot-to-kill silencing orders, we will shout it from the Mountain Tops, “LET MY PEOPLE GO!”  We will worship even if we have to go to the wilderness, wherever or whatever that may be.  We will shake the spiritual foundations of this country once again.

In the beginning of 2020, the Lord spoke to us what the verse of the year would be for 2021.  It is only now that we fully understand its significance.  When Jesus appeared to the disciples after His resurrection in John ch. 20, they were hiding behind closed doors in fear.  But Jesus came, stood among them and told them “Peace be with you!”  This first command for peace and presence calmed fears restoring social order and justice.  And in 20:21, Jesus told them again, “Peace be with you”.  This second command was a strong imperative salutation to “GO”.  Then He breathed on them to receive the Holy Spirit and sent them out as the Father had sent Him.

This year, we are not to live in fear behind closed doors.  We shall receive the Resurrecting Power of the Holy Spirit and go out.  It is this Power which shall be our covering which Johny Noer spoke of in 1989 and 2014.  Today, we have hope of liberation from any Wall, Curtain, Regime or Order. Jesus is amongst us standing undefeated.  In 2021, may peace be with you as you stand up to go out declaring “LET MY PEOPLE GO” and do not take no for an answer.

January 1, 2021 Cup & Cross Ministries International, John 20:21

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oO3f3vvZSeY

Can Christians celebrate Hanukkah?

Hanukkah, the Jewish Festival of Lights, began Sunday, a holiday which starts on the 25th of the Jewish month of Kislev and lasts for eight days. In the Gregorian calendar it begins December 2 and concludes December 10 in 2018. Hanukkah is also known as the Feast of Dedication, and while it is not written about in the Old Testament, it was an observance Jesus took part in during his earthly life.

“At that time the Feast of Dedication took place at Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the colonnade of Solomon,” John 10:22-23 recounts.

The holiday is fundamentally about the miracle of God being with the Jewish people during a time of great hardship and persecution.

THANKFUL in 2020

10 Reasons to Be Thankful in the Midst of COVID-19 Pandemic

1. Families spend more time together at home and in nature
2. Gas prices have decreased
3. Eating around dinner table has replaced going out to restaurants
4. Prayer and return to the Faith has increased
5. Homeschooling has become popular
6. Open-air church meetings are coming back
7. Communities are rallying together to help one another with less individualism
8. Politicians are working more cohesively
9. We are resourceful and not wasteful appreciating small things and basic necessities
10. We are going back to the basics of a slower more grounded lifestyle

A Biblical View of the City: Gateways in Modern Day Missions

The city attracts multitudes of people, which makes a desired center for evangelism. Jesus used the city to present His ministry. Paul and the Early Church made it a goal to their mission to establish a new church as a community of believers in many cities of importance within the ancient world. The city strategy has not changed in modern day missions either. Recent analysis of migrant churches in the United States reveals the predominant majority of them are located in cities which have a high influxation and concentration of immigrants. Such localities are called “gateway cities”. Immigrants typically enter the United States through one of these cities and settle there. These areas contain over half of the foreign-born population in the United States as follows:

1. New York, NY Foreign born population 18.7%

2. Los Angeles, CA Foreign born population 27.1%

3. Houston, TX Foreign born population 12.3%

4. Washington, DC Foreign born population 8.6%

5. Miami, FL Foreign born population 33.6%

6. Chicago, IL Foreign born population 11.1%

7. San Francisco, CA Foreign born population 20.0%

I was called … Celebrating 30 Years of Global Ministry

During the month of September, our ministry is celebrating 30 years in Global Harvest. I was saved in my hometown of Yambol Bulgaria on August 9, 1990 and baptized with the Holy Spirit seven days later. In two weeks time, God called me to preach and I preached my first sermon one Friday night in September at the Church of God in the mountain town of Pravetz, Bulgaria where a small group of Pentecostal believers had kept the faith during the long years of the Communist Regime. At that time, Pravetz was known as a stronghold of Communism where the Communist president who ruled Bulgaria for 36 years was born. Many, including school officials, did not receive our faith and openly tried to suppress its expression. All night prayer meetings were a weekly event, and chain fasting almost never stopped. The Bulgarian Church of God was still underground.

Only 14 were present at the meeting as I preached from Genesis chapter 14. Little I knew that just a few short months later, the youth group of the church would count over 100 strong and growing, and with the Berlin Wall now fallen revival was on the way. That night in Pravetz Bulgaria I just preached a sermon from the Word. That same Word, which God still claims cannot return void. For Revival must go on …

Now 30 years later, the time to tell the story has finally come!

 

This book should have been published seven years ago in 2013. Its original subtitle was going to read “7 Years in Bulgaria.” Instead, it took seven years to finish it with all documents, research archives and new cases. Now, it is finally here and it finally reads like a story – not just choppy interviews, deposition documented testimonies or court records, but a story of struggle, strength and solitude. A story of life and a story of us.

1995-96 The establishing of the first Bulgarian Church of God in Chicago and its first split

2000-01 The contracted building of the ministry center for the Central Church of God in Sofia

2002-03 The church split in Southaven and what followed next

2005-06 The post-communist split of the Bulgarian Church of God and consecutive sub-denominations

2010-13 The social media network that cost us millions (of souls)

2016 The vote that forced to kill a church

2019-20 The sale of the ministry center for the Central Church of God in Bulgaria

READ: CONFESSIONS of a Pentecostal Preacher

I was baptized…

As we are approaching 30 years in ministry in 2020, the centennial of Bulgarian Pentecostalism, a quarter of a century since we started the Bulgarian church in Chicago and several other important anniversaries, I have felt compelled to finally complete several books that have been long in the making. As I was digging threw some old documents just recently, I came to my first recorded account of being baptized with the Holy Spirit. Being a fifth generation Pentecostal, this experience is important too me and I have written and spoken about it in many occasions. However, this first account I have recoded many over 20 plus years ago is a personal recollection I would like to share today:

That night my cousin started to talk to me after church asking me if I was saved. I obviously was not, so she told me that God could change my life in one prayer. I refused to pray, but she kept on talking and I realized if I did not pray the prayer then, I never would. When I repeated the prayer after her, she asked me if I felt anything. My answer was, “No.” She assured me I would feel something soon.  After this, everyone went home. As soon as I got home I took my pack of cigarettes and I threw them out the window. Indeed that night, something happened. For the first time in my life I felt free. It was August 11, 1990.

The next day was Sunday, and I took my first communion in church. On Monday I started fasting for the baptism of the Holy Spirit. I talked with my cousin that night telling her about my decision to fast three days for the baptism. She said that I did not need to fast because the Holy Spirit was already given to the believers and the only thing I needed to do was to receive Him.

On Thursday night (August 16, 1990) we had a healing meeting during the first Pentecostal conference after the fall of Communism. After the sermon, the preacher said we were going to do three things: first – we would all prayer together, second – he would pray for us and third – he would tell us to do what we have not been able to do and we would do it. And so we did. We all prayed. Then he prayed. I remember praying for the baptism. When he said, “Do what you were not able to do before” the Holy Spirit filled me, and I started to speaking in tongues and have not stopped since then.

A month later I returned to school. Everything was different then. I witnessed to all my school-mates the first night I was there, telling them about the change in my life. Only one decided to go to church with me. He got saved that following Friday. It was on the night when I preached my first sermon.

I had been involved in the church for a few months, when my pastor asked me to start working with the youth group. I started with twelve people, many dreams, and no experience. The results were likewise. Our youth meetings on Tuesday night were filled with prayer and praise, rather than long sermons. We would often get together for prayer, and pray all night long. Our expectations were great. I remember praying that everyone I looked at would get saved.

A few months later, in the spring of 1991, when the Lord blessed us abundantly, people from our school started coming to the little building at the end of the town, a former communist club, where we had our meetings. Many were saved during our meetings. A number of skinheads, drug addicts, people that everyone knew in school, came to our meetings, were delivered and joined the youth group. Everyone in the group received the baptism with the Holy Spirit. I distantly remember one night when 26 people were filled during and spoke in tongues the prayer. The youth group grew quickly with the hundreds in attendance. For all of us that had prayed for revival, this was a time of refreshing and encouragement…

1992 in the city of Pravetz, we experienced one of the greatest student revivals

1993 I graduated from the school there

1994 I came to the States to start college

1995 The Bulgarian church in Chicago started

1996 Bibliata.com was started

Now 30 years later, the time to tell the story has finally come…

 

This book should have been published seven years ago in 2013. Its original subtitle was going to read “7 Years in Bulgaria.” Instead, it took seven years to finish it with all documents, research archives and new cases. Now, it is finally here and it finally reads like a story – not just choppy interviews, deposition documented testimonies or court records, but a story of struggle, strength and solitude. A story of life and a story of us.

1995-96 The establishing of the first Bulgarian Church of God in Chicago and its first split

2000-01 The contracted building of the ministry center for the Central Church of God in Sofia

2002-03 The church split in Southaven and what followed next

2005-06 The post-communist split of the Bulgarian Church of God and consecutive sub-denominations

2010-13 The social media network that cost us millions (of souls)

2016 The vote that forced to kill a church

2019-20 The sale of the ministry center for the Central Church of God in Bulgaria

READ: CONFESSIONS of a Pentecostal Preacher

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