VISIONS OF THE COMING MOVE OF GOD

by Andrew Strom.

The following dreams and visions are taken from my book, "The Coming Great Reformation". For a much fuller discussion and insight into these visions and the coming worldwide 'shaking', Reformation and Revival, please see this book. (It is linked at the end of this article).

AN OPEN VISION OF THE BRIDE OF CHRIST


The following is a vision that was given to a friend of mine  who
is  very  experienced in the 'prophetic' area, late in 1993. This
gentleman has many years of Christian ministry behind him, and in
the last few years has been given a number of stunning dreams and
visions about the coming move of God. However, he  told  me  that
this particular vision was probably the most powerful of all.  It
unfolded before his eyes like a movie in  technicolor,  with  God
speaking  to  him  about aspects of it as he watched. God had al-
ready been speaking to us here in New Zealand  about  the  coming 
Revival being a kind of "street-church" Revival - in other words, 
the whole thing taking place ENTIRELY OUTSIDE THE PRESENT  CHURCH 
SYSTEM.  And  I believe that this vision gives a particularly im-
portant overview of this great move of God that is about to hit.

Here is what my friend saw:
Basically, it was a  traditional  wedding  scene.  The  radiantly
beautiful  Bride  had  just  stepped out of the Cathedral and was
standing on the top step, just outside. My friend was  told  that
the  Bride  was LEAVING `CHRISTENDOM' (AND ALL THAT GOES WITH IT)
FOREVER, leaving the `church' system behind. The Groom  (who  was
Jesus)  took  her arm, so that He could lead her down and proudly
display His beautiful Bride to all the world.

Still inside the Cathedral were all the relatives (these were the
various `streams' and denominations of the church as we know it).
Suddenly, while the  Bride  was still on the top step, an  invis-
ible hand gave her a beautiful lily (which had been  plucked  out
by the roots). This was her bridal `bouquet' (her new  anointing,
perhaps?) and for some reason it seemed to be given to her rather
late. She threw this bouquet backwards, and some of her relatives
in the church, who had been watching her with great jealousy  and
awe, made a grab for the bouquet. Two of them seemed to snatch it
up. The Groom then led the Bride down the steps and  through  the
huge  crowd of cheering people down below, who had been unable to
get into the Cathedral. In a later vision, my  friend  was  shown
that  after they had made their way through this huge throng, the
happy couple were then taken away on their honeymoon,  which  was
to last for a thousand years.

When  speaking  of the 'end of the age', Jesus Himself often used
'wedding'- type analogies. In the parable of the  five  wise  and
the five foolish virgins, for instance (which is obviously refer-
ring to CHRISTIANS), Jesus divides the believers into two groups.  
When  the  watchman  cries, "Behold, the Bridegroom cometh; go ye 
out to meet Him!", fully HALF of the (supposedly 'Spirit-filled') 
Christians suddenly find that there is a severe lack of "oil"  in 
their lamps! Because of this, they are completely shut out of the 
marriage feast. Again, in Jesus' parable  of  the  wedding  feast 
(Mt 22 v1-14), the King sends out His servants to tell those  who 
have  been 'invited' that everything is now ready, and that it is  
time  to  come  and  celebrate His Son's marriage. But these 'in-
vited' ones make  light  of  it,  maltreating  His  servants  and  
refusing  to  attend.  The  King then sends His armies to destroy 
their city and raze it to the ground, and sends out His  servants 
once  again,  into the highways and byways, compelling everybody, 
'both good and bad' to  come in  and  rejoice  with  Him  at  the 
marriage of His Son.

Like  that  last  parable,  I believe that we now live in days of
tremendous danger for those who have already received their  `in-
vitations' to the coming wedding feast. As in every Revival, many
who have been invited, many who `should be there', never make it,
and their places are taken by the  unknowns,  the  outcasts,  the
meek,  the  despised  and  the  rejected. So let those  who  have
`reputations' to protect, those who are counted amongst the "wise
and prudent", those who are seen as 'somebodies',- let  them  all
beware! For these are days  not  only  of  great opportunity, but
also of great danger. "For many are called but  few  are  chosen"
(Mt 22:14).

It is my belief that God is going to delight in using the  "fool-
ish  things  of this world to confound the wise" in this Revival.
As always, He is going to use the "little" people  -  the  people
who  are  of  no account - to humble the powerful, the successful
and the mighty. 

Be assured of this: Jesus must have His virgin Bride.  He  cannot
return until a Bride is prepared for Him that is literally "with-
out spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing". That is what  this  Re-
vival is all about: to bring into being and display His beautiful
Bride to all the world.  In physical terms, this `Bridal' company
of saints will not look particularly amazing or special. Like the
original apostles, they will be ordinary people with an extraord-
inary calling and anointing. Many of them will no  doubt  seem  a
little rough or `ill-suited' (from an outward point of  view)  to
be endued with such power, but this will only serve to bring  God
all the more glory. They may not look like much on  the  outside,
but these men and women will have hearts that are  literally  "as
pure  as  snow".  They  will be a people who know exactly what it
means to walk in total heart purity before God. To Him, they will
be vastly more precious than all of the "gold or pearls or costly
array" of this entire Universe. And they will go forth with great
power, "destroying the works of the devil" in His name.

However, one thing  is  for  sure:  The  church  in  her  present
`Laodicean' state is in no way prepared for such a harvest. Sure-
ly it is obvious that a church that has so largely become  little
more  than a blessings-oriented "happiness club" has no chance at
all of bringing in the greatest harvest in history?  Despite  all  
the  talk  of  `blessings'and good times, today's church is about 
as far away as she could be from the on- fire  militancy  of  the 
early  church.  And  yet  despite her comfortable compromise, her
happy mediocrity, and the sick malaise that lies at the heart  of
almost  all that she says and does, still we hear her wonderfully
`positive' cry (just like Laodicea): "We are rich  and  increased
with goods, and have need of nothing."  How today's marketing and
`positive imaging' men must love such sentiments! And yet how God
detests them! Jesus' reply is very straight-forward: "Because you
are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I WILL SPEW YOU OUT OF MY
MOUTH"  (Rev 3 v16). Surely it cannot be long before all that Je-
sus has promised is fulfilled, and Judgement truly "begins at the
house of God"?


WHAT IS A "GREAT REFORMATION"?


In  recent  years,  God has been speaking prophetically worldwide 
not only of the great `harvest' that is about to occur, but  also  
of  the  great  "shaking" and Reformation of the church that will 
accompany it. Clearly,  the  comfortable  Western  church  is  in 
desperate  need  of  a massive `clean-out' and Reformation before 
she can ever hope to take part in  such  a  mighty  harvest.  But  
what  exactly  will such a great shaking and "Reformation" bring? 
Before we answer  this  question,  it  is  important  to  realize  
that  when  God's  people  fall  into  a state of worldliness and 
compromise, it is almost always the  leaders  and  shepherds  who
are  held  largely  responsible  for the backslidden state of His
people. We see this all the way down through the history  of  Is-
rael as well as the church. God will certainly not hold the lead-
ers blameless when His people fall into such a `Laodicean' state.
As  the  apostle James wrote, leaders are to be subject to a much
"stricter" judgement (James 3:1). It is clearly only possible  to
have a lukewarm church when the leaders are lukewarm, just as Is-
rael was only able to fall into idolatry and sin when  her  kings
and shepherds were men of compromise.

God's answer to this problem is "Reformation". After giving ample
warning, God will suddenly act, to either completely  strip  most
of  the existing leaders of their position and authority (and re-
place them with truly Godly men) or else to raise up an  entirely
new  movement with new leaders to bear His standard in the earth.
And He will often bring great shaking and judgement upon His peo-
ple in order to see such a Reformation succeed. For God MUST have
a people in the earth who are fully displaying His grace and glo-
ry  to a dying world. And He must have bold and anointed warriors
to lead His people into battle. He has proven time and time again
down through history that He is quite willing to take extreme and
drastic measures to ensure that this is so.

A couple of excellent examples of the `great'  or  "complete  re-
placement"  type  of  Reformation  are: God's replacement of king
Saul with king David (thus beginning the `golden era',  with  Is-
rael unified and God-centred, mighty in battle and utterly glori-
fying to Him); and the "Great Reformation" under  Martin  Luther,
where  God  swiftly  acted  to annihilate papal authority and the
domination of Catholicism in much of Europe, raising up such hum-
ble  `men of valour' as Luther, Zwingli, Knox, etc, as leaders in
their place. It is also interesting to note the almost  identical
words  that Jesus spoke to the Pharisees and Chief Priests in His
day as had been spoken to king Saul when He was rejected  as  the
leader of God's people - essentially: "The kingdom shall be taken
from you and given to another" (Mt 21:43, 1 Sa 28:17).  This  is,
in  essence,  what  lies at the heart of every true Reformation -
the rejection of the old leaders and the  old  systems,  and  the
raising  up  of  new leaders and a "new movement", etc. It is the
`kingdom' being taken away from one and given to another. For, as
history  clearly shows, there must very often be a new leadership
and a `new wineskin' to go with God's new outpouring. He has been
forced  to take this kind of drastic action many times throughout
history when His leaders have let Him down, and from what He  has
been  saying  recently,  it seems clear that He is about to do so
again. God cannot live with a sick, tepid, `Laodicean' church for
long.

In my own studies on this subject, I have been particularly drawn
to three of the most effective Reformation/Revival  movements  in
church  history.  These  were,  of course, the `Book-of-Acts' Re-
vival, the Wesley Revivals of the  eighteenth  century,  and  the
Salvation  Army  Revivals of the nineteenth century. All of these
were largely `street-based' or  `open-air'  based  Revival  move-
ments,-  extraordinarily  effective  and long-lived in their day.
All of them involved  large-scale  "repentance"  preaching  (with
great  convicting power), and the latter two involved the raising
up of a new Revival music - a "battle" music, utterly  glorifying
to  God. As I have said before, I believe that the coming Revival
will in essence be like the "sum" of all the Revivals  that  have
gone  before. God will move very suddenly to raise up the unknown
warriors that He has been preparing in secret for many years  es-
pecially  for  this time. And they will suddenly spring forth, as
if from nowhere, a mighty army, ready to do battle in the name of
the  Lord  and  of  righteousness. So it has always been and ever
will be, with the greatest moves of God.  He  keeps  His  `secret
weapons' hidden in preparation, then suddenly unleashes them upon
the world. New Revivals are almost  always  born  in  a  `stable'
rather  than a palace. They are often birthed in surroundings ut-
terly unimpressive to the eyes of men. And often, no room can  be
found  for  them "in the inn". Thus they are born outside, in the
unspectacular places where the `success and image' men would nev-
er think to look.


THE INCREDIBLE "STREET-CHURCH" OF TOMORROW


For the past fifteen years or more, all over the  world  God  has
been  warning  His  people of the great "shaking" and Reformation
that are about to come upon His church. In 1982, for instance, in
a  very  powerful  visitation, one well-known American intercess-
or/leader was clearly spoken to by God:  "I am  going  to  change
the  understanding and expression of Christianity IN THE EARTH in
one generation". As we have seen in the vision of the Bride,  she
was seen leaving 'Christendom' (and all that goes with it) forev-
er - leaving behind the 'church system' as we know it. From  this
and  many  other  visions and prophecies, etc, in New Zealand, it
has become obvious to us that IN ORDER TO BE PART OF THE NEW MOVE
OF  GOD  IT  WILL BE NECESSARY TO COMPLETELY LEAVE TODAY'S CHURCH
SYSTEM (- but only when God says). This is not "rebellion".  What 
God  has shown us in this regard actually has a tremendous amount  
of  historic  precedent,  both in Scripture and in church history 
(Luther, Wesley, Booth, etc).

Of  course, those with a vested interest in maintaining the pres-
ent church hierarchies and systems will be violently  opposed  to
such  an  idea. Many reformers faced enormous opposition from the  
established church leadership of their  day  for  precisely  this 
reason.  This  is  why true Reformation and Revival are often the 
most controversial and the most persecuted  spiritual  events  of 
their time.

Something  that  God  has made very clear to us in NZ is that the
coming Revival is to be a "street-based"  (or  `open-air'  based)
move  of  God.  Today we have a "meetings and buildings" oriented
church, a church that is hidden away in `boxes' from the eyes  of
the world. But, like the early church (where they  met  daily  in
the  huge  open-air  temple  courtyard - probably the most public
place in all Jerusalem), and also like the mighty Wesley and Sal-
vation  Army  Revivals,  the  coming  move  of God is to be truly
street-based. (There will also, like the early church,  be  gath-
erings of the saints from "house to house" - Acts 2:41-47).

God  is  also  going to use this Reformation and Revival to smash
down the institutional walls that separate the Christians.  Jesus  
has  never  stopped  desiring  that there be only "one" undivided 
body. Today, however, just  amongst  the  Pentecostal/Charismatic  
Christians alone there are so many separate "labels", groups  and 
denominations that it is almost impossible  to  count  them  all.  
Many  of them seem to operate almost like competing corporations, 
selling a similar "product" under  different  labels. It's ridic-
ulous!  And the whole church system today is set up in such a way  
that it just ensures that  these  divisions continue.  These  are 
`structural' divisions that have been virtually set in concrete -  
"institutionalised" divisions that are simply accepted  and  per-
petuated by each new generation of Christians.

God is going to smash down these `walls' in this Revival. How? By
bringing  His  people  out from underneath all these "labels"! In
one very significant vision several years ago, a NZ  prophet  saw
God  firing "flaming arrows" into the churches. These flaming ar-
rows were `on-fire' ministries, speaking the word of God.  Howev-
er,  the  Pastors  were  rushing  around  trying to damp down the
flames! God then sent a "mighty wind" to fan the flames, and sud-
denly  the  doors  of  the churches burst open and all the people
flooded out onto the streets to become one huge throng. I believe
that this is an exact picture of what is about to take place, and
in many ways it also illustrates the whole  concept  of  "Reform-
ation" rather well.

Another local intercessor was also shown  a  vision  relating  to
this  several  years  ago,  while deep in prayer. The first thing
she  saw  was  church  buildings  of  every kind - stained glass,
steeples, plain and modern, etc. This part of the vision  was  in
black and white. The churches all looked abandoned - like a ghost
town,  with  birds  nesting  in them and doors and windows askew,
etc. And in each church, the intercessor saw a huge  old  curtain
or `veil' that was in absolute tatters.

The second part of the vision was all in colour. She saw hundreds
of Christians outdoors (with guitars, etc) fellowshipping togeth-
er  in the open air. She knew that these Christians had abandoned
their church buildings and `divisions', and were now  fellowship-
ping  freely  out-of-doors. When she asked God what the huge tat-
tered curtain in each of the abandoned churches represented,  she
was  told  that when Jesus was crucified, the veil/curtain in the
temple was rent, thus allowing the  people  free  access  to  the
`holy  of  holies'. However, the churches had raised up this veil
once again. But now these structures had been abandoned, thus al-
lowing the common people free access to God's holy-of-holies once
more. What an astounding vision!

One of the best examples I know of a truly "street-based" Revival
movement  was the early Salvation Army (1860's to the 1890's). In
those days, the Salvationists were largely a bunch of  `on-fire',
praying  zealots,  given  to  holding open-air street meetings in
which their brass bands would  crash  away  raucously  and  their
preachers  would  exhort  the people to repentance under a mighty
anointing. Their motto was, "Go for souls, and go for the worst!"
Many  early  Salvationists  were  arrested,  and there were often
full-scale riots involving huge mobs, etc.  The  newspapers  were
full of it. The Salvationists were both controversial and notori-
ous. And thousands upon thousands of people were converted. With-
in days of the first tiny contingent of Salvationists arriving in
New Zealand, the following cable-gram was despatched  to  General
Booth in England: "Dunedin, Auckland blazing. Christchurch short-
ly. Reinforce sharp."

There can be  no  doubt  that  God  desires  a  loving,  militant
"street-level" Church today. After all, isn't that what the early
church was all about? I believe that it will  become  common  for
incredible  signs,  wonders  and  miracles to be performed on the
streets as a result of this coming Revival. In  fact,  I  believe
that  we  are  about to see a demonstration of God's glory in the
area of the miraculous that will be even more powerful  than  the
book of Acts.

Enormous  love,  enormous  boldness and `joy unspeakable' will be
just some of the characteristics of this Revival. And  everything
will  be  bathed  in prayer.  In fact this Revival is going to be
BUILT on prayer. As Charles  Finney  said,  "Revival  comes  from
heaven  when heroic souls enter the conflict determined to win or
die... `The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence and the  violent
take  it  by  force.'"  There  is no substitute for faith-filled,
Spirit-fired  "agonizing" prayer. Only those who are prepared and
praying  will  be involved in this Revival from the beginning. As
history shows, great blessing can only ever fall when the  people
of God learn to seek His face with all their heart.


THE "VIOLENT" NEW MINISTRIES


Along  with  the  picture of a radiantly beautiful Bride, God has
also often likened the coming move to an army being prepared  for
battle,  and  then attacking the enemy with great violence. I my-
self believe that spiritual aggression and daring faith  are  all
part and parcel of the Bride's radiant beauty. She will "love not
her life unto the death" (Rev 12:11). All over the  world,  there
have  been  numerous  dreams  and visions that speak of the great
army of God that is about to arise and do battle.

The following is a dream that was given to a  prophet  friend  of
mine,  who has received a large number of stunning dreams and vi-
sions about the coming move of God over the past  four  years  or
so.  This  particular  dream  was  given to him four times. It is
probably the most `unusual' one that he has ever been given,  but
he  knows  that  it is of God. I believe that it may well give us
vital insight into God's battle strategy for the last  days.  The
first  thing  that  he  saw  was what seemed to be fallen angelic
princes, drifting high above the earth. Though they were obvious-
ly  very  evil,  they had the appearance of loving, `saintly' an-
gels. They appeared to be gloating at the ease  with  which  they
held  sway  over the people of the earth. Under their direct com-
mand were much uglier beings with huge swords -  the  `strongmen'
over nations - who were sent down to earth literally to cause men
to kill one another, to make them willing to lay down their lives
for nationalistic causes, etc. Basically, these `strongmen' would
use any possible means to cause human beings to die  young,  par-
ticularly on a large scale.

Now  here comes the really bizarre part. It appeared in the dream
that somehow, the highest demonic princes were able to `feed'  on
the  spiritual  life  that  was  released  when these people were
killed. It was brought up to them in the form of `manna'  by  the
strongmen.  In  the dream, my friend heard the fallen princes say
to the strongmen, "Go down and kill as many humans  as  you  can,
for  it is the last days, and we must store up as much `manna' as
possible before the end." Suddenly, in the dream, a spaceship ap-
peared,  full  of  mighty  men and women of God. They saw exactly
what was going on, and for a while they tried to warn the  people
of the earth. However, this achieved very little, so they mounted
a direct attack against the strongmen. They  didn't  bother  with
the  lower-ranked  demons. They went directly for the `palace' in
the heavens in which the strongmen themselves were based.

When the spaceship reached this palace, the captain and the other
leaders  (the  `five-fold' ministries) from the ship stormed into
the palace,  leaving  behind  a  support  crew.  Using  space-age
weapons (hand-held lasers, etc), they attacked the strongmen with
deadly skill and great daring. These were highly trained special-
ists.  They  worked  as a team, and they were utterly fearless in
battle. The strongmen were terrified. They were  trying  to  kill
the  five-fold  ministries  with their swords (not their guns for
some reason), but were unable to do so. The  strongmen  were  de-
stroyed  one  by  one,  and soon the corridors were littered with
their dead bodies. The demonic  princes  over  them  were  panic-
stricken,  knowing  that  their  support  and protection was fast
evaporating. It was a total rout, a complete victory for God.

Now some of you may have found the above dream a  little  `unusu-
al',  to  say  the  least. However, when my friend, who was given
this dream four times, prayed about it, he realized that some  of
the concepts contained in it would have been almost impossible to
understand if they had not been put across in such a way. I  have
noticed  that in dreams and visions, God often uses the most sim-
ple illustations to shed light on the most profound truths. I be-
lieve  that  this  dream and others like it, give significant in-
sight into the great spiritual war that is about to be waged.

We are told in Heb 12:26, "But now He  has  promised,  `Yet  once
more  I  will  shake not only the earth but also heaven.'" And in
Rev 12:7 we read: "And there was war in heaven: Michael  and  his
angels  fought  against the dragon, and the dragon fought and his
angels, and did not prevail, neither was their  place  found  any
more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast down, that old ser-
pent called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world: He
was  cast  out  into the earth, and his angels were cast out with
him."

I believe that the dream recounted earlier is speaking of the vi-
tal  role  that  the  end-times ministries will also play in this
victory over Satan. We can tell that  humans  (not  just  angels)
will have an integral part in this victory because just two vers-
es later we read: "And they overcame him  by  the  blood  of  the
Lamb,  and  by  the  word  of their testimony; and they loved not
their lives unto the death" (Rev 12:11). I do  not  believe  that
what  is  spoken of in the dream is merely a `prayer' battle - to
be fought out by the intercessors (though prayer will  be  vital,
of  course.  In  fact,  the  battle must be won in prayer first).
Rather, I believe that somehow, in the coming Revival,  when  the
new  ministries  have  been  raised up and anointed by God, there
will be direct confrontations between  certain  of  these  `five-
fold'  ministries  and  the `strongmen over nations' that we have
spoken of.

When these strongmen have been destroyed, and Satan and the  rest
of  his  angels  have  been  cast  down to earth by God's angelic
armies, then I believe we will see the period on earth  known  as
the  "Great Tribulation", where unprecedented deception, darkness
and persecution will arise. Right through the last days `harvest'
period,  I  believe  that there will be persecution, earthquakes,
natural disasters, `wars and rumours of wars', etc. But when  the
real  Tribulation  begins,  darkness and persecution will greatly
increase. In fact, I believe that many  Christians  will  be  im-
prisoned  and  killed towards the end. "Woe to the inhabitants of
the earth and the sea!  For  the  devil  has  come  down  to  you
having great wrath, because he knows that his time is short" (Rev
12:12).

One  thing that seems to have been coming through again and again
in NZ, is the fact that the army that God is now  preparing  will
attack  the  kingdom  of darkness with incredible violence - with
reckless daring  and  ruthless  aggression.  They  will  make  no
`treaties'  and  they  will  take no prisoners. In one way, as we
have discussed, I believe that Jesus is waiting at the right hand
of  the  Father  until His enemies are made a `footstool' for His
feet. In another, very real way, He will truly be with us by  His
Spirit, triumphantly leading His people into war.

A  prophet friend of mine, who until recently has only rarely re-
ceived dreams or visions, was given a particularly  powerful  vi-
sion  about  two  years ago.  He said that it was so real that it
was literally just like being there. This vision  only  lasted  a
short  time,  but  it had a very powerful impact on him.  What he
saw was this: He was standing in what appeared to  be  a  valley,
staring  at  something the size of a mountain that had just burst
up through the surface of the earth. But this was  no  mere  vol-
canic  eruption.  What  my friend saw was, in fact, the head of a
gigantic white horse that had  literally  burst  up  through  the
ground.  Around  it's  head,  molten lava was spurting. My friend
said that he was frightened by the look of sheer ferocity in  the
eyes  of  the  creature.  There could be no denying that this was
truly a `war' horse, fiercely intent on the battle to come.

One of the things that strikes me as very significant about  this
vision  is  the  fact  that THE WHITE HORSE'S HEAD HAS NOW BROKEN
THROUGH THE SURFACE OF THE EARTH. "... and behold a white  horse:
and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him:
and he went forth conquering and to conquer" (Rev 6:2). "... From
the  days  of  John  the  Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven
suffers violence, and the violent take it by force" (Mt 11:12).

Who could doubt that we live today on the verge of the  most  mo-
mentous  days  in  the history of the church? The Revival that is
coming will surely be the greatest outpouring of the Holy  Spirit
that  the  world  has ever known. It will be "the former rain and
the latter rain in the first month, and the floors shall be  full
of  wheat,  and  the vats shall overflow with wine and oil" (Joel
2:23-24). We live in a time when God's mighty `men and  women  of
valour'  will once again roam the earth, and when "the people who
do know their God shall be strong and do exploits"  (Dan  11:32).
The apostles, prophets and evangelists that are about to arise in
these last days, will be amongst the most  anointed  warriors  of
God  that  have ever trod the earth.  They will literally walk in
the resurrection glory of Jesus Christ. Endued with  `power  from
on  high', they will go forth, a fearful army, "conquering and to
conquer", and nothing will stand in their path.


THE COMING "NEW MUSIC".  


About  ten years ago I became greatly inspired by things that God
was showing me about the early Salvation Army Revivals.  My  wife
and  I are both musicians, and God began to particularly draw our
attention to the concept of anointed "street-music" - a  kind  of
"Revival"  music,  to  be  taken out onto the streets just as the
early Salvation Army had done a century before. As I said before,  
the early Salvation Army was truly a 'Revival' movement in  every
sense of the word - born out of the great Awakening of 1859-60 in
Britain. And they carried  this  tremendous  `Revival'  anointing
with them, out onto the streets.

One  of  the  most controversial aspects of this new movement was
the rather loud, "uncouth" praise-music  that  they  employed  in
their  street meetings.  What they had done, in fact, was to take
the 'pub' music - the 'drinking' music of their day,  and  trans-
form  it  into  loud, glorious praise music that the street-level
people of those times absolutely loved (though  you  can  imagine
the  storm  of  controversy in religious circles!) However, there
was really nothing new in this concept. Both  Martin  Luther  and
John  Wesley,  as  well as William Booth, have been credited with
the saying, "Why should the  devil  have  all  the  best  music?"
Street-level  Revival  requires  street-level praise music! If it
utterly glorifies God, what does it matter  if  it  is  a  little
`noisy'?  (Actually,  one eyewitness commented of an early Salva-
tion Army band that, "It sounds as if a brass band's gone out  of
it's  mind!")   This  was truly `battle' music - a call to repen-
tance and to war.

In 1993, having been involved in several Christian bands by  this
stage, we received some amazing  confirmation of this whole con-
cept of "Revival street-music". This  confirmation  came  in  the
form  of a taped message by American preacher James Ryle, who had
been given a  series  of dreams and visions several years earlier
which spoke at length of the new "street-music" that would  arise
with the coming Revival. This new music would be fresh, different
and ear-catching, just like the Beatles' music when it first hit.
It would  be  a music that would literally sweep the world. These
tapes were tremendous confirmation of many things  God  had  been
showing us about the coming  Revival. I was literally in tears as
I  listened  to  them.  [To  read  an account of these dreams and
visions  by  James Ryle, please see his "Sons of Thunder" article
at my web-site].

It  was after this that I began to learn that God was speaking to
a number of prophetic people in New Zealand about the coming "new  
music"  also.  One  local  intercessor was given the same amazing 
vision on three seperate occasions while deep in prayer.  In  it,  
she saw thousands upon thousands of (mostly young) people gather-
ed in the streets, praising God with all their might  to  a  new, 
modern  kind  of  praise-music.  Non-Christians coming near would 
fall to their knees under great conviction, the presence  of  God 
was  so  strong. This anointed vision was so real that the inter-
cessor wept whenever she received it. She believes that it's ful-
fillment is very near now.

Another  NZ  prophet was given a very powerful vision in which he
found himself in vast stadiums all over the world. He  said  that
in  each  place,  the  same team was on stage, ministering to the
people. He said that in one stadium  (which  he  could  tell  was
somewhere  in  Asia) he remembers looking over at the rest of the
team (which included a band of musicians and  singers)  and  then
out  at  the  vast crowd, and he noticed that instead of watching
the platform, the people in the stadium were all staring up  into
the  sky. In other words, they were looking to JESUS, rather than
to the human vessels that God was using. It is JESUS who must get
all  the  glory.  There have been numerous dreams and visions all
over the world of stadiums full of people, gathered to  hear  the
gospel and to see and experience the great 'latter rain' outpour-
ing of God's Holy Spirit.

Of course, music will only be one part of this  overall  picture.
There will be incredibly anointed preaching and dramatic healings
and miracles that will glorify God in the most profound way also.
But  the  interesting  thing  about 'music' is the impact that it
has, especially amongst the youth. No doubt we are all  aware  of
the tremendous way in which the devil was able to use popular mu-
sic in the late 1960's to literally  "eastern-ise"  the  thinking
and spiritual beliefs of an entire generation. (A 'cultural revo-
lution' from which the West has never fully recovered). Isn't God
more  powerful  (and  more  'creative'!)  than  Satan? Therefore,
shouldn't true Christian music be the most  stunning  music  that
you or I have ever heard? And shouldn't it be used to take  terr-
itory away from the devil?

I  believe that many 'new music' ministries are about to arise in
true "Revival" power to glorify God on the streets of every city.
After all, why SHOULD the devil have all the best music? This  is
part  of the devil's territory that will definitely be "taken" in
the coming Revival, I believe.

The new music that is about to arise will  contain  many  of  the
same  themes  as  the  other forms of 'Revival' ministry. All the
different types of ministry will work together. This 'new praise'
will not be suited to a comfortable, peace-time church, but rath-
er to a warlike people - a people preparing to "take the  kingdom
by force". It will be SO SIMPLE, yet powerful, and above all else
it will exalt the name of JESUS CHRIST, our Warrior King. It will
also be a call to repentance and to war. Do not expect this music
to be something of mind-blowing complexity. Rather, expect  some-
thing  of  an  almost child-like simplicity and `catchiness', but
also with real power.

It will not be the slick "professional"-type musicians  who  will
unearth  this new sound. No! Many of these lack the necessary hu-
mility -  too  busy  seeking  technical  polish  and  perfection.
Rather,  it  will  be  those  with a simple heart after Jesus - a
great love and a hunger for Him - this is by far the most  impor-
tant  factor. It is SPIRITUAL PREPARATION, not musical perfection
that God is looking for here. Only those who have died to  pride,
died  to  slick  "showmanship"  and died to the desire to glorify
themselves, can ever hope to have a part in  this  anointing  and
this  `new sound'. Like other end-time ministries, I believe that
God is about to raise up many unknown and 'hidden' Christians in-
to  this  music  area. Truly, "many that are first shall be last,
and many that are last shall be first" (Mt 19:30).


TWO REVIVALS?


The following vision was given to the same prophet  who  received
the open vision of the Bride leaving Christendom and also the one
about the fallen angels drifting high above the earth, etc.  This
one was given to him around that same period (1992 / 93), and may
give us some idea of the approximate TIMING of the coming move of
God. (Please remember that he received this  some  months  before
the 'Toronto blessing' was even heard of here). In this dream, he
found himself in a large auditorium full of people. Many of these
people appeared spiritually 'fat' and overfed (including many  of
the  leaders),  while the rest seemed small in comparison. At the
front of the auditorium he saw people FALLING DOWN  LAUGHING  AND
CRYING, etc, and the words that were clearly spoken to him to de-
scribe  what  he was seeing were: "LAODICEAN REVIVAL". He noticed
that it was essentially the large,  overfed  looking  people  who
were  really  becoming  'caught  up' in this laughing, crying and
falling, etc.  In  the dream, my friend was taken and seated with
the small people. And as he watched, a great gulf began to appear
between the large people (who were still caught up in their 'Lao-
dicean revival') and the little people, who were  being  steadily
drawn  away  from  this  scene until a yawning gulf had developed
between the two groups. Suddenly a great  tide  of  young  people
flooded  in all around these little people, and the little people 
began to minister to them in  the  power  of  Jesus  Christ.  The  
prophet  knew  that  this  was the beginning of the true Revival. 
Glory to God!

Notice  in  the above dream of the "TWO REVIVALS" that it was the
'Laodicean revival' that came first, followed after  an  interval
by the genuine Revival. This dream is confirmed by the well-known
prophetic allegory, "Escape from Christendom" (published by Morn-
ing Star several years ago) which also contains two revivals, one
counterfeit  and  one  genuine. It also seems to fit in perfectly
with the pattern found in the book of Joel.

A  friend  of mine who is quite a well-known prophet in Australia
and editor of a widely-read prophetic Journal  in  that  country,
was given a very significant vision in 1995.  In  it,  he  saw  a
great  army  snaking  through the jungle like a giant serpent. At
it's head was the banner, "Joel's Army". Meanwhile,  off  in  the
jungle by itself was a  single,  separate  battalion.  It  stood,
waiting.  This  battalion was in the shape of a great square, and
at  it's  head was a banner: "Gideon's Army". It was much smaller
than the first. It seemed evident that Joel's Army was  going  to
war,  but  that  Gideon's  Army  had yet to receive it's marching
orders. My friend was certain  from  this  vision  (although  the
implications  were  utterly  shocking  to  him at that time) that
"Joel's Army" in the vision was referring to the current  'bless-
ing' or "renewal" movement worldwide. And yet it was  clear  that
those  who  were  marching with Joel's Army would miss out on the
true move of God which Gideon's "remnant" Army would  participate
in.

It  is  interesting  to  note  that the Scriptures openly declare
Joel's Army to be an army of LOCUSTS, which sweeps through immed-
iately  prior  to  the  genuine Revival, devouring and destroying
every good thing in the land. First comes this great army of  lo-
custs  devouring everything, then God drives the locusts away and
sends a great Revival, and a great outpouring of His Spirit "upon
all flesh". (If you don't believe me, just read the book of  Joel
for  yourself.  It  is very clear. There can simply be no dispute
about  it). So why are we being told in some circles that joining
up with Joel's Army is such a desirable thing?

I wonder whether those involved with today's "blessing"  movement
worldwide  really  are  prepared  to consider the implications of
what I have shared here. There is much more to say on  this  sub-
ject,  but  it  is largely covered in my 'Toronto', Pensacola and
"Joel's Army" articles at my web-site.  Please  remember  though,
that the very same man who was given a number of the  dreams  and
visions of the coming move that we have shared here, was also the
very  one  who  received  the  vision describing today's blessing
movement as a "LAODICEAN REVIVAL".   (Which  clearly  equates  to
"Joel's  Army"  in  the other vision). To me, the implications of
all this seem abundantly clear.


IN CONCLUSION...


One of the most important points that I want to  emphasise  again 
at the close of this article is that what is coming will be over-
whelmingly a REPENTANCE REVIVAL. Many visions  have  shown  large 
crowds  of  people  gathered  in the streets and the fields under 
AGONIZING CONVICTION OF SIN.  Deep repentance and  true  holiness 
will  be amongst the most important characteristics of the coming 
move of God (like many past Revivals). And another very important
factor is that this is to be a "street church" Revival, involving
LEAVING BEHIND ENTIRELY our present church systems and structure. 
Can you imagine the kind of "shaking" and upheaval that would  be 
required  to  cause  today's  Christians to utterly abandon their 
church buildings in this way? This is exactly the kind of shaking
that God has promised will come  upon  the  church  in  the  near 
future. Tell me friend, will you be ready for this?  

As  I  have said, I believe that we now stand on the verge of the
most momentous days in the history of the  church.  However,  for
many  these  will be days of great peril, as well as of great op-
portunity. My prayer is that what has been written here  will  in
some  way help to inspire as many readers as possible to pray and
prepare for the tremendous era of `change' that God is  about  to
visit upon His church. Surely, as always, only those who are pre-
pared and praying can expect to be involved in the  coming  great
move  from  the beginning. May God bless and inspire every one of
you, as you continue to seek His face with all your heart.