Here’s a podcast on this post- also, take note of the IMPORTANT request for a donation for my buddy Chris Ferguson. His laptop was STOLEN while he was leading prayer here at IHOP. He needs a new one as it was the only one he had. Can you give $10? $100? Anything will help Contact me at john@praytherevolution.com if you can donate literally anything… even a dollar!!
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Th
ere are a few points where I don’t agree with Brother Swaggart, but, man, I love his teaching!
I’ve jumped into my time machine and gone back to the 1980’s… when I attended Jimmy Swaggart Bible College. I wasn’t one of the big Jimmy Swaggart fans back then (I didn’t know a lot about him), but I loved the anointing and life in the school there, so I attended in 1987.
I’ve been watching him lately again, and find myself craving the fiery, cross-centered, cross-driven messages of holiness and passion.
He was teaching on the issue of grace the other day, and mentioned the response of many Christian leaders to the 9/11 tragedy. So many said that it was God’s judgment because of the sinners, homosexuals, liberals, etc. Jimmy made the point loud and clear. The judgment was not on the homosexuals, thieves or atheists. The Bible is not ambiguous at all here- the initial arrival of judgment is focused on the church!
There must be a movement of repentance, holiness and solid preaching on the reality of hell, in addition to the other key biblical truths. We have to grab hold of that Leonard Ravenhill might! We need the Rod Parsley fire! We need some Jimmy Swaggart boldness!
I continue to be gripped by the reality of hell lately. It’s messing me up. I find myself seeing game show contestants on TV or pictures of people on billboards or in advertisements or others who are working hard to live a good life… people who are just like you and me in so many ways. People who want to sleep a few extra hours in the morning, who need coffee to wake up, who think about where they are going to spend vacation, who have been wounded by people, who are insecure, who are seeking a better job, who are making comments about the weather, the financial situation or the people they dealt with that day.
Normal people. People that will die. Some will be caught totally by surprise. Others will live a long life and will have lots of grandkids who love them. There will be pictures of grandma and grandpa and lost loved ones on family’s walls. Some will have had a very successful life, others mildly so. Most of these normal people with normal lives who live normal days and think normal thoughts will die and suffer continual torture and torment and evil and fear and perfect hopelessness hour after hour after hour, century after century… forever.
Please, let’s bring back the fire to the pulpits so people can avoid the fire of torment that would invade their lives, suddenly, very soon.
If you haven’t read it yet, I recommend picking up my book “The Terror of Hell.” It depicts a terrifying dream that I had of being taken to hell. Here’s a portion from that book:
How could I be going to Hell?
What I was experiencing messed with my theology to a radically uncomfortable degree. The Holy Spirit was making sure I would never be the same
again. Mission accomplished.
I count the early 1990’s as the most significant season of my life to date. God had invaded my life. The Holy Spirit took me beyond a mere acceptance of Jesus as savior to a place of breath-taking experience in his ‘invisible realm’. The suddenly all-consuming desire of my heart was to ‘be with God’ every moment of my life. I was craving and experiencing a legitimate, reportable and constantly weighty manifestation of the presence of God in my life. The desire and th e cry of my heart was, “More!”
In those early years, many things happened that I’ll never forget- but one event shook me like no other before or since. I had a dream. I was living in an old, vacant church building as the care taker. My massive 5’7” 150 pound frame must have been quite threatening to any would-be intruder! I had spent many hours praying in this empty building alone as the Lord was forming me in some very memorable ways. One night I laid down for bed as I did every other night. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. I prayed myself to sleep as I had done so many times before. What was about to happen as I slipped into sleep that fateful night would change me. Forever. In fact, because of the terror I experienced that night, the next thirteen years I would often pray as I went to sleep, “God, please don’t give me any dreams tonight.”
::You can purchase this book online at www.praytherevolution.com/resources.htm.
