Lester Sumrall's 7 Troubling Prophecies Over America - JENNIFER LECLAIRE CHARISMA NEWS

Lester Sumrall's 7 Troubling Prophecies Over America

 7/12/2016 JENNIFER LECLAIRE  charisma news

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Lester Sumrall went home to be with the Lord in 1996, but his legacy continues—and his God-breathed prophetic words are still alive.

In a 1987 video capture, Sumrall, whose spiritual father was Smith Wigglesworth, shares seven prophetic insights God revealed to his heart earlier in his walk with the Lord. I wish they weren't accurate, but it seems he heard rightly. You can watch the video to see all the warnings. I'm going to focus on just one of them.

"I said, 'God, I don't understand this at all.' He said, 'You're going to see it and here are seven things to watch.' And God gave me seven things to observe. Number one was, America will depart from its historic faith. Now at that time, the Supreme Court hadn't done any of those strange things, such as permission to kill unborn babies and giving such rights to homosexuals. See, none of that happened."

None of those things had happened when the Lord first spoke to Sumrall but many things have happened since. The man of God received these revelations before Roe v. Wade, before the Supreme Court decision to sanction homosexual marriages and before the growing persecution of Christians in America. Indeed, conditions have grown much worse since Sumrall first heard the Lord speak—and since he released these prophecies.

Departing From the Faith

Sumrall pointed to this Scripture in his teaching: "Now the Spirit clearly says that in the last times some will depart from the faith and pay attention to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their consciences seared with a hot iron..." (1 Tim. 4:1-2).

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We've certainly seen this happen. Numerous high-profile Christians have turned from Christ to trumpet atheism. Numbers of others have come out as gay. Entire denominations are rejecting sound Bible doctrine for fear of offending people or because the spirit of the world has deceived them. And who knows how many others have backslidden and are on the edge of the Great Falling Away?

At the same time, we see end-times theologians insisting the Lord is coming back soon while engaging in heated debates over when that will happen, if there is really a rapture, and other things we probably won't know until we see it with our eyes. One thing is certain: Jesus will not return for a church without spot or wrinkle unless the falling away comes first ... (1 Thess. 2:3). We don't have to agree on all the signs of the times but we shouldn't ignore the ones that are clear. And the Great Falling Away, at this point, is clear. It has started.

Believing the Devil's Lies

We've witnessed more than one man of God with a major ministry platform bow a knee to doctrines like universalism, deceiving and being deceived with this deadly heresy. Despite many in the church lifting their voice against heretical teachings, these deceived ministers hold fast to their demonic doctrine.

We've also watched famous pastors speak lies in hypocrisy—lies that left many hurt, wounded, and disillusioned—and yet they remain adored and adorned in the megachurches that made their name great. Clearly, the conscience of some influential church leaders has already been seared with a hot iron (1 Tim. 4:2). Some have become the proverbial blind leading the blind.

The Bible tells us to work out our salvation with fear and trembling (Phil. 2:12). We need to get at it because this is sure: Jesus is coming back for a glorious church without spot or wrinkle (Eph. 5:27). I believe the spots and wrinkles will fall away before His return. The gates of hell are trying to prevail against the church and will ultimately fail, but not before enticing some believers into heresy, idolatry and other sin.

I don't believe in once-saved, always-saved doctrines. I believe you can lose your salvation. I don't think it happens overnight. I think it's a slow progression down the slippery slope of deception. I often ask people who are deceived this question: "How would you know if you were deceived?" I've never met one who was deceived find an answer for the question. Rather, they insist that they cannot be deceived or that they would know if they were. If we don't think we could be deceived, we're deceived already. And if we are deceived, we wouldn't know it unless the Holy Spirit broke in and opened the eyes of our heart.

So is the Great Falling Away already underway? I believe it is. We're seeing full-blown apostasy in the church. We need to be watchful and pray. I pray that the Lord would count me faithful, that I would not be deceived in these last days, and that I might be a pure vessel the Lord can use to sound the alarm. What about you? 

Jennifer LeClaire is senior editor of Charisma. She is also director of Awakening House of Prayer in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, co-founder of awakeningtv.com, on the leadership team of the New Breed Revival Network and author of several books, including The Next Great Move of God: An Appeal to Heaven for Spiritual Awakening;Mornings With the Holy Spirit, Listening Daily to the Still, Small Voice of God; The Making of a Prophet and Satan's Deadly Trio: Defeating the Deceptions of Jezebel, Religion and Witchcraft. You can visit her website here. You can also join Jennifer onFacebook or follow her on Twitter. Jennifer's Periscope handle is @propheticbooks.

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Why Do So Many Pentecostals and Charismatics Not Speak in Tongues Anymore?

Now is the time to step up our prayers and not back down. (Flickr/Creative Commons)

Why Do So Many Pentecostals and Charismatics Not Speak in Tongues Anymore?

 9/18/2015 BERT FARIAS charisma news

This is an important word for those who believe in tongues. If you don't believe in them, or you believe they are not important, or that they are a gift for a chosen few, or that they've passed away and are no longer relevant for today, then this word is not for you. You can stop reading right here. But if you are under leadership who do not believe or speak or emphasize this supernatural language, you may want to consider getting out of the ditch your leadership has dug for you, especially if you are young and the better part of your life is still in front of you.

Let me start strong. Tongues was the making of such world changing ministries as John G. Lake, Oral Roberts, and Kenneth E. Hagin. Someone asked Lester Sumrall how often he prayed in tongues, which generated this terse respond: "When I'm not preaching." The apostle Paul told the Corinthians that he prayed in tongues "more than all of them put together," one translation says. Yet modern churches who seem to know better are departing from this sure way.

I travel to churches for a living so I see firsthand how much of a diminishing emphasis there is on praying in tongues these days. There is a marked difference between now and just 20-30 years ago. Even in the back room in pre-service prayer there seems to be less and less of praying in tongues. And singing in tongues is even rarer and almost unheard of. More and more Christians seem to be uncomfortable and unfamiliar with this realm. This neglect is hurting the church. This de-emphasis is diminishing her power and effectiveness. And this is exactly what the devil wants.

The use, value, and scope of tongues is so vast that it is difficult to sometimes put into words. If we are not careful some of these things will fade away in this new generation. I'm seeing it. There are certain elements of prayer, for example, that will be lost to our youth if those who are older and more experienced in these areas fail to pass them on.

There is a book in my library I often refer to. It is called, Tongues: Beyond The Upper Room, by the late Kenneth E. Hagin. Every believer should have that book. Every church should teach thoroughly from it. Every minister should read it regularly. There are certain men of old like Hagin and many others who were sent by God with light from heaven for their generation. The challenge with each new generation is to keep the light of the Holy Ghost that these men brought to us. There is a new church methodology that is making it easier to lose this light. There is new ministry philosophy that is content to let it slip away because according to their wisdom, it doesn't bring in the numbers or the big bucks.

In the aforementioned book, there are some mind-blowing testimonies of the miracle working power of God that was manifested through those who strongly believed and practiced praying in tongues. One testimony is told of one Brother Boley, a missionary to Africa. He would travel by sail boat to some primitive islands to preach the gospel to unreached tribes. One night on his return to the mainland a storm arose at sea. This was at the turn of the 20th century when they had not light nor navigation equipment.

The storm was so bad that they reached a point of two choices. They could stay out at sea and be swallowed up by the turbulent waves, or direct the boat toward shore through the coral reef, where in all likelihood it would be smashed to pieces. Either way, barring a miracle, there would be loss of life to all on the boat.

Unbeknownst to Brother Boley, one of his helpers back at the mission station on the mainland had a burden to pray that night. Not knowing the situation or even quite what she was sensing, she prayed in tongues for about two hours. Then the burden lifted and she had a note of victory that the answer had come. The Old Pentecostals called this "praying through"—something so few Christians know anything about today. This is one of the elements modern Charismatics are losing.

Kenneth E. Hagin heard Brother Boley in person share this testimony, or else I would've had a hard time believing it myself. Around the same time that the burden of prayer lifted off this woman the boat took off in the air like an airplane and sailed over the dangerous reef and landed in the harbor where the waters were calm and peaceful. There was much rejoicing and not a life was lost.

Why are we not seeing and hearing more testimonies like this today? It's simple. Because we are not praying very much in other tongues. The next wave of God's Spirit is dependent on the prayers of God's people. Ministers who know and have experience in these areas need to teach more on the Holy Ghost and prayer, and then demonstrate some of it to the people. The Lord told Kenneth E. Hagin that the greatest move of God would come through the combination of the solid foundation of the Word that's been built over the last few decades and the power of the Holy Ghost that will be manifested as we learn to enter into this deeper realm of prayer.

Here is a powerful quote from Hagin in the book I referred to here:

"Oh yes, we've seen the power of the Holy Ghost in a limited fashion, but a wave is coming that will bring His power on a higher level and in a far greater measure than we have ever seen before. I can see that wave out yonder in the deep waters. It's coming!

"Don't stay on the old wave of yesterday's move of the Spirit. Swim out to the deep waters of the Spirit realm by praying in the Holy Ghost, and get on the next wave of God's purposes for this hour. Then keep on praying so you can ride that new wave as it builds in divine power and glory.

"I'm convinced the wave that is coming will be twice as high as the healing wave, the Charismatic wave, or the faith wave. In fact, it will be twice as high as all of them put together! I believe it is going to be the wave that sweeps us right on into the shores of the Glory World!"

It is surely not a time to back off from the Holy Ghost and praying in tongues. Instead, it time to double up and triple up in praying in other tongues so that we can see our mighty God display His great power in this gross time of darkness in the earth.

Bert M. Farias, revivalist and founder of Holy Fire Ministries, is the author of several books including The Real Spirit of Revival and the newly released, Prayer: The Language of the Spirit , as well as the highly acclaimed My Son, My Son—a beautiful father-son memoir co-written with his son Daniel for the purpose of training up a holy generation. He ministers interdenominationally and cross-culturally in nations, churches, conferences, crusades, on the streets, and in homes. He and his wife also host The Holy Ghost Forum—a school of the Spirit. Follow him at Bert Farias and Holy Fire Ministries on Facebook or @Bertfarias1 on Twitter.

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