It has just come to my attention that well known minister David Wilkerson posted “AN URGENT MESSAGE” on his blog last Saturday, March 7, 2009. Evidently, the content of this post has drawn quite a bit of attention and criticism since then due to the seriousness of the message. He starts by saying:
“I am compelled by the Holy Spirit to send out an urgent message to all on our mailing list, and to friends and to bishops we have met all over the world.
AN EARTH-SHATTERING CALAMITY IS ABOUT TO HAPPEN. IT IS GOING TO BE SO FRIGHTENING, WE ARE ALL GOING TO TREMBLE – EVEN THE GODLIEST AMONG US.
For ten years I have been warning about a thousand fires coming to New York City. It will engulf the whole megaplex, including areas of New Jersey and Connecticut. Major cities all across America will experience riots and blazing fires—such as we saw in Watts, Los Angeles, years ago.
There will be riots and fires in cities worldwide. There will be looting—including Times Square, New York City. What we are experiencing now is not a recession, not even a depression. We are under God’s wrath . . .”
So what are we as Christians to make of this warning? Certainly, David Wilkerson is a time tested minister of the gospel, and known to be a man of great conviction and sincerity. His evangelistic work over the last six decades has literally impacted hundreds of thousands of lives world wide. I think his credibility and reputation alone are strong enough reasons to consider his words carefully as not something he would say unless under direction of the Lord, as far as he is concerned anyways.
My first reaction to this was a question I asked myself. Is it so far fetched to believe something like this could happen in today’s global environment? Well, of course I teach Bible prophecy and am fully aware of world changing events such as these that were prophesied to unfold in the last days. Some would say, ya but this is America? God wouldn’t let this happen to America, would He? I think it is extremely important that we not forget two things about the God we serve. 1. He hates sin. 2. He is merciful. When you think about it, it almost seems like an oxymoron, but in reality, knowing and trusting these two things about Him forces us to elevate ourselves up to a higher place in this knowledge to see how God operates.
For example, someone might look at the Old Testament stories when God instructed the Israelites to kill off their enemies in battle after battle, including all of the women, children, and animals. They may ask, if God is so merciful, why would he command such a thing to be done? It is a good question, but it is asked out of a heart that has doubt in the mercy of God. If you really knew and believed that God truly is merciful,even though you may not understand it, you would know His every move is done out of mercy because that’s who He is. Then why kill the women and children? From God’s vantage point, He would know it’s not about killing the people but eradicating the evil practices of idolatry. He didn’t want any survivors to infect His people with their sinful practices. So then, it was in His mercy He commanded this in order to minimize sin from destroying untold numbers of people otherwise, and their children from reaching the age of accountability and winding up in hell. Even though sometimes we may not see His purposes at first, we never have the right to doubt His motives. God is Merciful!
Why did I say all of that? To say that, unfortunately, sometime it takes calamity to wake people up out of the aweful slumber of sinfulness and arrogant attitudes of self reliance. Why would God allow something like David Wilkerson’s prophecy to happen? Not because He’s a mean God of judgment, but because He’s a merciful God who desires all peope to wake up and come to Him for salvation.
David Wilkerson is not the only one who has sounded the alarm for this country. Kenneth E. Hagin wrote practically the same thing and the same events would happen to America in his book “I Believe In Visions.” It was in a vision he had in the fall of 1950 that the Lord showed him the following:
“About that ime the Holy Spirit came upon me again. It seemed as if a wind were blowing on me, and I fell flat on my face on the platform. As I lay under the power of God, it seemed as if I were standing high on a plain somewhere in space and I could see for miles and miles around me, just as on can stand on the great plains of the United States . . . As I looked to the west, I saw what appeared to be a tiny dot on the horizon . . . soon I could see it was a horse. As it came closer I could see a man upon the horse . . . When the horseman came to me, he pulled on the reins and stopped . . .He passed a scroll from his left hand to his right and handed it to me.
As I unrolled the scroll . . . “he said take and read” At the top of the page in big, bold, black print were the words “WAR AND DESTRUCTION.” I was stuck dumb. He laid his right hand on my head and said, “Read in the name of Jesus!”
First I read about thousands upon thousands of men in uniform. Then I looked and saw these men marching, wave after wave of soldiers marching as to war . . . I looked at the scroll again, and again I looked to see what I had read about. I saw the skyline of a large city. Looking closer, I saw the skyscrapers were burned-out hulls. Portions of the city lay in ruins. It was not written that just one city would be destroyed, burned, and in ruins, but that there would be many such cities.”
This portion of Kenneth E. Hagin’s vision sounds almost identical to David Wilkerson’s URGENT MESSAGE when he said,
“For ten years I have been warning about a thousand fires coming to New York City. It will engulf the whole megaplex, including areas of New Jersey and Connecticut. Major cities all across America will experience riots and blazing fires . . .”
These are not the only two men who have spoken these things. Many ministers have related dreams and vision in recent days attesting to something of this magnitute on the immediate horizon of time. I believe we are at the threshold of some major events that will shake humanity at a level as never before. Jesus himself prophesied that the day would come when there would be,
“upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth.” (Luke 21:25-26)
Undoubtedly, there are certain calamities that will bring about the “distress of nations” that Jesus said would come. But the good news in all of this is that God’s motives are always good. He protects those who follow Him and know His voice. Now is the time to draw closer to our loving Father as never before. And no matter what lies ahead, never never forget, HE IS MERCIFUL!!!
by John Wiertzema
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