The Elisha Commission

To understand where we are going as a Church we need to have a better understanding of where we’ve been and why we’ve been there. Looking back at 2007, we find that for many in the Body it was a “make or break” year of wilderness testing, perfecting and completion. It was a year of being “tried by fire”, filled with both extremely bitter and sweet moments.

Fire Brings Purification

Fire is an agent of purification that God uses to qualify us and prepare us for His higher kingdom purposes. That fire comes in the form of grievous trials of varying kinds, ranging from bankruptcy and betrayal to sickness and slander. What makes these trials most unbearable is when they come through the hands of trusted brothers and sisters in Christ.

Malachi 3:2, 3 “He is like refiner’s fire and like fuller’s soap. He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer to the Lord and offering in righteousness.”

I Peter 1:6,7 “In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved (distressed) by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes , though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

What we must keep in mind is that the Father is Lord over our trials, and that our wilderness of testing is intended to not only humble us and test the genuineness of our faith, but also that our lives might be righteous expressions of Christ (Deuteronomy 8:2).

Fire Brings Sanctification

Sanctification means “to set apart or separate for a sacred purpose, to consecrate, purify, or make holy.” The fire of God separates the gold from the dross, the pure from the profane, the genuine from the counterfeit, and the holy from the defiled. As it were, 2007 was found by many to be a year of betrayal, covenant-breaking and separation, where true colors and heart motivations were revealed.

Separation is inevitable when the fire hits. The pure, genuine and holy, who pass God’s final tests after a season in the wilderness, are promoted.

Deuteronomy 8:16 “ (God) fed you in the wilderness with manna, which your fathers did not know, that He might humble you and that He might test you, to do you good in the end.”

We must remember that God tests us to elevate us, whereas Satan tempts us to eliminate us. As we become vessels of honor fit for His use, God ultimately desires to promote us to ambassadorship to establish and expand His kingdom.

In late December of 2007 I heard the Lord say to the Church, “Allow Me to heal the pain of rejection, betrayal and separation, for I meant it for your good, that I might humble you, test you and promote you to a new position of authority and bring you to a new place where relationships are not merely convenient and cordial, but covenant. For if you will enter through the new gate I am opening I will fulfill all the covenant promises I have made you.”

Separated for Judgment

However, the fire not only brings separation for promotion’s sake, but also judgment to the profane, counterfeit and defiled, who fail God’s tests. For instance, in the Old Testament, when Korah and his company rebelled against Moses in the wilderness, the Lord commanded the people to separate themselves from Korah, his people and possessions, for judgments sake (Numbers 16:20-35).

Numbers 16:20, 24, 26 “And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, “Separate yourselves from among this congregation, that I might consume them in a moment. . . Get away from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. . .Depart now from the tents of these wicked men! Touch nothing of theirs, lest you be consumed in all their sins.”

Similarly, in the last days of the Church, the Lord will separate the nations. The righteous nations will inherit the kingdom, and the unrighteous nations will be cursed to the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels (Matthew 25:31-34, 41).

Matthew 25:32 “All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats.”

When the fire fell in 2007, many were painfully separated from relationships, associations and churches not only for promotion’s sake, but also for judgment’s sake. As a result, many have been shaken and disjointed. Some have been so stunned through their traumatic separation that they remain grieved and paralyzed. Others, having realized the Lord’s hand in their separation and have been healed. For some of these, a door of divine promotion opened almost immediately. Others in 2008 will find their place of prosperity through divine appointments, where strategic relationships will develop into lasting, kingdom-building, covenant alliances.

Judgment at the House of God

Despite conflicting prophecies that may come forth for 2008, one thing is crystal clear. The time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God (I Peter 4:17).

I Corinthians 11:31-32 “For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world.”

There are three stages of judgment outlined in the scripture above; judgment of oneself, judgment by the Lord, and condemnation with the world. As a body, the Church has failed to judge itself. Consequently, we not only remain in our sins, but also are not prospering (Proverbs 28:13).

The Lord chastens His church through His delegated authority, the five-fold ministry offices, but primarily through His prophets. Because prophets have, for the most part, shirked their mandate to preach repentance, the chastening hand of the Lord has been stayed and the church remains defiled. Therefore, the Lord has had to allow the church to be judged with and by the world.

I Timothy 5:20 “Those who are sinning rebuke in the presence of all, that the rest may also fear.”

This season of judgment by the world began twenty years ago in 1987, when one of the world’s largest televangelists, based in the Carolinas was exposed in an adulterous affair and was later convicted and sentenced to prison for mail fraud. In 1988, another popular Assemblies of God televangelist, based in Louisiana, had been photographed in a motel room with a prostitute.

Interestingly enough, twenty years later, the cycle of judgment has started again, only this time, with even greater frequency and intensity. In March 2005, one of the internationally known “fathers” of the prophetic movement confessed to long-term problems with homosexual activity and heavy drinking. In November of 2006, the president of the National Association of Evangelicals confessed to consorting with a male prostitute and later resigned as pastor of his 14,000 member church.

In August 2007, internationally known pastors of a very large Florida congregation divorce. Coincidentally, after their “million dollar wedding” in 2003, another pastor was found beating his wife, an internationally known minister, in a hotel parking lot, after which they divorced. In October 2007, a lawsuit is filed against a large Oklahoma based Pentecostal university, accusing the school of wrongful termination of employees and misappropriation of funds, after which the president resigned.

In November of 2007, the former pastor of an internationally known Georgia based church, confessed to committing adultery with his brother’s wife. His supposed nephew, who is really his biological son, is now senior pastor of the church. Concurrently, the U.S. Senate Finance Committee launches an investigation into the financial activities of six prominent charismatic television ministries.

The editor of a popular Charismatic magazine in the January 2008 issue clearly summarizes the fallout of such public exposure of private, clerical sin. He states, “Many unbelievers now associate ministers with wife-swapping, wife beating, no-fault divorce, gay affairs, financial investigations, and $10,000 a night hotel rooms. We need a Holy Ghost house-cleaning.” Indeed much of the world views Christian leaders as a laughing stock of weak-willed, greedy hypocrites.

As a result, the name of the Lord is being defamed among the nations, placing a reproach on the Church and the Gospel message and is greatly affecting the end-time harvest that the Church should be reaping. We do not need another evangelistic program, but rather an old-fashioned revival, accompanied by fiery, Spirit-inspired, repentance preaching, altar calls and tears.

Vindication, Sanctification & Multiplication

In December 2007, a dear friend of mine, who is a prophetess, was given three words for 2008: vindication, sanctification and multiplication. These three words communicate not only what the Lord wants to begin to do in 2008, but also how and why He is going to do it. Simply put, the Lord will begin to vindicate His name, by sanctifying His Church in order to multiply the harvest.

The prophet Ezekiel, in his description of Israel’s depraved condition, paints a clear prophetic parallel of the American church. He describes how Israel defiled their own land by their wickedness, bloodshed and idolatry and how the Lord then judged Israel by scattering them among the nations. Because this judgment on Israel defamed and profaned the Lord’s holy name among the nations, the Lord promises to vindicate His great name by bringing Israel into their own land. There he will sanctify and cleanse them from their filthiness and idols, and multiply and bless them, so that never again would Israel bear the reproach of the nations (Ezekiel 36:16-32).

The prophet Joel mirrors Ezekiel’s prescription of sanctification as a means of vindicating the reproach of Israel among the nations, and multiplying their harvest.

Joel 2:15, 19, 27; 3:14 “Blow the trumpet in Zion, consecrate a fast, call a sacred assembly, gather the people, sanctify the congregation . . . I will no longer make you a reproach among the nations. . . My people shall never be put to shame. . . Behold I will send you grain and new wine and oil, and you will be satisfied by them . . . Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision.”

However, Joel also offers the only means through which sanctification can come, that is repentance.

Joel 2:12 “Now, therefore”, says the Lord, “Turn to Me with all of your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.” So rend your heart, and not your garments; Return to the Lord your God.”

1988 ~ The Elijah Task

Throughout the Old and New Testaments, God’s primary agent to catalyze repentance has always been His prophets. In 1977, John and Paula Sandford wrote a book entitled, “The Elijah Task – A Call to Today’s Prophets and Intercessors”. In this book they described the company of prophets that the Lord would be raising up who would come in the power and “the spirit of Elijah, which is the spirit of repentance”.

In 1988, at the height of scandalous church activity, the Lord birthed the modern-day prophetic movement. Dr. Bill Hamon, in his book “Prophets and the Prophetic Movement”, describes in detail how the modern prophetic movement was birthed on October 15^th, 1988. Dr. Hamon describes how John the Baptist had prepared the way for the Lord’s first coming and how God was now raising up a company of prophets in these last days to prepare the way for the second coming of Christ. The New Testament confirms that the coming Elijah that Malachi prophesied about was indeed John the Baptist (Matthew 17:10-13).

Malachi 4:5, 6 “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.

Clearly, John the Baptist prepared the way for Jesus by preaching a message of repentance. Indeed, “The Elijah Task” of John the Baptist was hallmarked by the following popular phrase with which John the Baptist and Jesus commenced their ministries:

Matthew 3:1,2 “In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!’”

Matthew 4:17 “From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’”

The Lord’s intention in birthing the prophetic movement in 1988 was not only to meet a divine timeline regarding His overall plan in restoring the five-fold ministry offices and to activate the saints in the gifts of the Holy Spirit. The Lord also strategically launched the prophetic movement in 1988 to sanctify and cleanse a defiled church through the preaching of repentance, so that Jesus’ name and Gospel message would be vindicated among the heathen and a harvest of souls reaped.

Yet over the past twenty years, we have seen relatively few prophets that have taken “the Elijah task” seriously by preaching a heart-rending message of repentance. Instead, most of the Church’s paradigm of a prophet’s ministry is equated to ministering in personal prophecy to endless lines of expectant Christians. In recent years, some so-called prophetic ministries have become renowned because of the presence of gold dust and angel feathers in their meetings. How far we have fallen from the mandate the Lord has given His prophets to preach repentance.

2008 ~ The Elisha Commission

Seeing how the prophetic movement has strayed from the Lord’s intended purposes and how it’s participants have fallen into varied pitfalls and abuses, some have chosen to abandon the movement altogether. Others, however, sense that God is bringing a reformation to the prophetic movement, one with a new mandate, mantle and message.

There are times when God’s intended purposes for a particular person or movement are not fulfilled, and the Lord has to replace or reform it. For example, there are reasons (too detailed to mention here) why the prophet Elijah disqualified himself from completely fulfilling his mission and ministry. As a result, the Lord anointed Elisha to replace Elijah.

I Kings 19:16 “Anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from the town of Abel-meholah to replace you as My prophet.” New Living Translation

Predecessors complete their mission and then appoint successors to continue their work. Replacements, on the other hand, complete a work that their predecessors could not finish. Elisha was therefore Elijah’s replacement, not his successor.

A generation can be defined as the amount of time that it takes for people of a particular culture to reproduce. For some it may be forty years, thirty years, or even twenty years. For example, the modern day “Generation Y” is defined as those born between the years 1980 and 2000.

In 1988, the Elijah Task engaged the first generation of New Testament prophets that the Lord restored to the Church. This Elijah generation of prophets did a great job demonstrating and activating the saints in the gifts of the Holy Spirit, but did not, as a whole, preach repentance. As a result, a generation later, the Body of Christ is in an even greater defiled state and is in desperate need of repentance and cleansing.

In 2008, the Lord is commissioning the next generation of prophets, the Elisha Commission, to replace the Elijah generation of prophets. Not unlike Elijah, the Elijah generation of prophets, released in 1988, will continue preaching and ministering for a season. However, the Body of Christ will begin seeing this new breed of prophets arise, the Elisha Commission, whose ministry will be hallmarked by repentance preaching and altars filled with heart-rent Christians. These prophets will also demonstrate and activate the saints in spiritual gifts, but they will also help turn the tide of iniquity and remove the reproach of sin that is on the church. The cleansing that will occur will purify, revive and unify the Church, allow the name of the Lord to be lifted up, and result in multitudes in the valley of decision being drawn to the life saving power and gospel of Christ.

The Lord is opening a new gate in 2008, and releasing the next generation of prophets, the Elisha Commission. The church’s role is to not only open their gates to this nameless, faceless generation of prophets, but also to expedite their arrival and effectiveness through intercession. Open the gates, we pray O Lord in 2008, and commission your Elishas to come forth, in Jesus name, Amen!