Bobby Conner’s prophecy in the mid-‘90’s had and continues to have
attention-grabbing authority and validity about it. In part, it
said:[1]
I was then told that the coming volcanic activity near Bend,
Oregon, would announce the beginning of one of the greatest
healing revivals in history. This healing revival will start
around Hamilton, Ontario and then blaze across Canada to
Vancouver. From there, it will turn down the Northwest Coast of
the U.S. and cross the Pacific to the Far East…The Lord said that
this local area in the Northwest was a seedbed of the healing
anointing that was upon John G. Lake. The sign of volcanic
activity around Bend, Oregon, is that the Lord is turning up the
heat, but it will bring about a refining and purifying of His
people so He can release healing in the earth in an unprecedented
way.
I’m convinced that this word is significant for the incipient
healing revival that is upon us. We would do well to study the
heritage of John G. Lake and to “re-dig those ancient wells of
revival”. Not that we want to focus on a man or that we want to
dwell on the past, but rather because God gives us examples and He
works through history and he works through men and women who have
pioneered and “shown the way”. It seems that there are things in the
spirit that can be inherited. If we will “be faithful in a little” I
believe God will, one day, take us beyond even what John G. Lake,
Amiee Semple MacPherson, Kathryn Kuhlman, Charles Price, John Wimber
and others experienced. But we do thank God for these wonderful
pioneers who have gone before and blazed a mighty healing trail.
The Secret of His Power
Several things stand out in the life of John G. Lake that point
to the reason for his incredible power and authority. Among these
things are his attitude towards wealth, his consecration and his
willingness to die for what he held dear. In these things, he stands
in stark contrast with much of the emphasis of the church today.
Dr. Ward M. Tannenberg in his biography[2],
on the life of John G. Lake tells of how in his early years, Lake
possessed an ability to acquire wealth and how, Lake, when he knew
he was called into the ministry freely and gladly gave up this
wealth.
Tannenberg states, “The first day he opened his office, he made
$2,500.00 on a real estate deal. At the end of the twenty-one
months, he had over $100,000.00 in the bank, a $30,000.00 paid-up
life insurance policy and real estate valued at $90,000.00.
“His wealth increased from there but when he knew he was called
into the ministry he gave all his worldly possessions away. Again,
Tannenberg states, “In April, 1907, he closed his office door for
the last time and disposed of his bank account by giving to various
religious and educational institutions. Fred R. Burr, of Winamac,
Indiana, who was his financial agent, assisted him in disposing of
everything, including his real estate holdings.”
Lake then led a life of walking by faith for all his financial
needs along the lines of George Mueller. Does that mean that in
order to have a healing anointing, we must give up all our finances
and live by faith? No, I think the example and lesson for us
from his life was for us to emulate Lake’s radical obedience and his
willingness to endure hardship for the sake of the gospel! What an
example.
In the ninth chapter of Acts, Paul was assured by God, through
Ananias, that his life would not be one of ease, but it would be one
of power. God said to Ananias:
“…Saul of Tarsus…a chosen vessel unto
me, to bear my name before the Gentiles and kings, and the
children of Israel; for I will show him, how great things he must
suffer for my name’s sake.”[3]
That is the message Jesus Christ, the crucified, resurrected and
glorified Son of God gave to the Apostle Paul. He was not going to
live a life of holy ecstasy, being pain and worry-free, and ride in
a limousine. He was destined for a drastic life-style, a desperate
struggle, and an incredible series of experiences. He was destined
to see the dead raised, the sick healed and a multitude of captives
set free-and he would himself, personally, pay the full price for
God’s glory and anointing to rest on him.
What was the full price? He gives a list in his second letter to
the Corinthians.
“Of the Jews, five times I received
forty stripes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I
was stoned, three times ship-wrecked, a night and a day I’ve been
in the deep, in journeying often, in danger of waters, in dangers
of robbers, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from the
unbelievers, in danger in the city, in danger in the wilderness…in
the sea…false brethren, in weakness, and pain, in watching often,
in hunger and thirst, in frequent fasting, in cold and nakedness.”[4]
They stripped him; they lashed him with an awful scourge until
bleeding. Lacerated and torn, he fell helpless and unconscious. Then
they doused him with a bucket of salt water to keep the maggots off
and threw him into a cell to recover. That was the price of
apostleship. That was the price of his healing anointing. But God
said, “He shall bear my name before the Gentiles and kings, and the
children of Israel.” God alone qualified him as His messenger.
Consecration
There is a character of consecration here manifested that is
sometimes lacking in our day. God is about restoring it.
John G. Lake asks the question in a sermon given in 1908:[5]
Do you want to know why God poured out His Spirit is South
Africa like He did no where else in the world? There was a reason.
The following example will illustrate. We had 125 men out on the
field at one time. Our finances got so low we could not even mail
to these workers, at the end of the month, a $10.00 bill. The
situation was desperate. What was I to do? Under these
circumstances, I did not want to take the responsibility of
leaving men, and their families, on the frontier without real
knowledge of what their conditions were.
“Some of us at headquarters sold our clothing, certain pieces of
furniture, anything we could, to bring these 125 workers off the
field for a conference…
“One night in the conference, I was invited to leave the room for
a minute or two.
“When I came in, I found they had rearranged the chairs and had
placed on a small table, at one end, the bread and the wine.
Old Father Van Der Wall, speaking for the company said,
‘Brother Lake, during your absence, we have come to a conclusion.
We have made our decision. We want to serve the Lord’s Supper. We
are going back to our fields. We are going back if we have to walk
back. We are going back if we have to starve. We are going back if
we, our wives, and our children face death if we have to die, we
have but one request…if we die, we want you to come and bury us’.
Lake, in the same article, goes on to say, “Jesus Christ put the
spirit of martyrdom in the ministry. Jesus instituted His ministry
with a pledge unto death…on the last night He took the cup, “when He
drank, saying”. Beloved, the “saying” was the significant thing. It
was Jesus’ pledge to the 12 who stood with Him, “This cup is the New
Testament in my blood.” Then He said, “Drink all of it.” Friends,
the group of missionaries that followed me went without food and
went without clothes…this is the kind of consecration that
established Pentecost in South Africa.
Historians declare, “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the
church.” Could it be that a difficulty in our day is that we have so
little seed in the western church? In China they have much seed and
they have much power. The church needs more martyr blood.
Lake declared[6], “If I were
pledging men and women to the Gospel of the Son of God, as I am
endeavoring to do tonight, it would not be to have a nice church and
harmonious surroundings and a sweet do-nothing time. I would invite
them to be ready to die.”
That was the spirit of early Methodism. John Wesley established a
heroic call. He demanded every preacher be ready to pray, ready
to preach and ready to die.
That is always the spirit of Christianity. When any other spirit
comes into the church, it is not the spirit of Christianity. It is a
foreign spirit. Lake declares, “The reason we never had splits in
our work in South Africa…(is)…men who are ready to die for the Son
of God do not split. They do not complain the first time they get
hunger pangs.
Power to Raise the Dead
David Hogan, in Mexico, walks in an amazing anointing. He and his
team fast completely every second day, plus they do other fasts
throughout the year as the Lord directs. They have approximately 200
people raised from the dead as a result of this ministry. The secret
of his power? Hogan says it’s that their lives are not their
own-they have been bought with a price… it is their consecration,
unto the death.
I remember listening to David Hogan in his tape series on his
ministry[7]. In it he talked of how
he doesn’t even, usually, like to leave Mexico-especially for North
America. Why? Because of what he perceives to be our lukewarmness,
our compromise and our unwillingness, sometimes, to lay down our
lives and to lay it all on the altar.
Freedom
Because of what Jesus did on the cross, you and I now have a
freedom. Paul said, “We preach Christ
crucified.”[8] Why? Because
it is our power source. Paul said, “It is
the Power of God!”[9] If you
want power and authority to heal the sick, preach the cross. But
don’t only preach it - live it.
The cross brings us freedom. It’s a glorious freedom. It’s also a
death sentence! It spells death to the old way of life.
The Lord has blessed me tremendously but He says, “be willing to
die” (The flesh wants to live).
The apostle Paul said, “I die daily”.
Theologians sometimes spiritualize that. They interpret it to mean,
“I die to self daily.” No, the context is clear, Paul was saying,
“The threat and the possibility of physical death is ever before
me.”
Dutch Sheets said, “The cross is not something you wear around
your neck-it’s supposed to wear us.”
“If anyone wishes to come after me”, Jesus said,
“let him deny himself, take up his cross,
and follow me.”[10] The
cross is where we die daily.
Witnesses
Jesus said, “You will receive power (most
of us like to have that) after the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and
you shall be my witnesses.”[11]
The Greek word is martyrus. It means
martyrs (ouch). When we are anointed with the Holy Spirit and
empowered and equipped and given power to heal the sick and raise
the dead-we are also given a call to be “witnesses” – again Greek
martyrus meaning “living evidence”,
living, walking, breathing evidence that Jesus is alive and that we
are willing to “lay down our lives - even to martyrdom if the call
comes.”
A Glorious Healing Anointing
Bobby Conner said it, “…the beginning of one of the greatest
healing revivals in history…”, that is what is upon us. Bobby also
said, “The Lord is turning up the heat.” Why? It will bring about a
refining and a purifying so He can release healing in the earth in
an unprecedented way.
My encouragement to all of us is this: yes, let’s submit to the
refining and the purifying. Let us take this glorious anointing for
healing to the ends of the earth. Let us also look at the life of
John G. Lake for that “seedbed of the healing anointing that was
upon his life.” We ignore the secret of his power at our own peril.
I’m convinced that the secret of his power was in his radical
consecration and, not a martyr complex, but a true and
holy spirit of martyrdom.
[1] Prophetic word given by Bobby
Conners, 1996. Bobby is now associated with Morning Star Ministries
and Rick Joyner
[2] A Trumpet Call, Johannesburg,
South Africa, 1908.
[3] Acts
9:11, 15-16
[4] II
Corinthians 11:24-27
[5] A Trumpet Call, Johannesburg,
South Africa, 1908
[6] Ibid
[7] Tape series available through
Brownsville, Florida Revival Centre
[8] I
Corinthians 1:23
[9] Ibid
[10] Luke
9:23
[11] Acts
1:8
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