After a short break on the coast followed by a weekend course on living in Holy Spirit’s anointing, I trawled through my in-tray and was very pleased with the following good news. Both items are related to visionary and prophetical words, the first comes from our county town, and the second from the wider Middle-East.

Can These Bones Live?

Dr Clifford Hill reacts as follows to what happened during the Pentecost celebrations:

“If anyone thought that Christianity was dying in the traditional churches of Britain, what happened in Winchester Cathedral last week would have shattered their illusions!”

He reports the ancient, hallowed building and grounds were packed out at that evening’s celebration. This was the culmination of nine days of prayer events for the evangelisation of Britain, as invited by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York. The Pentecost weekend itself culminated in six ‘Beacon events’ with video links to Canterbury Cathedral where the Archbishop, Justin Welby, gave a message based upon the Lord’s prayer, which he said was “reassuring enough to be on the lips of the dying and yet dangerous enough to be banned in cinemas!”

Read Clifford’s full report here, which closes with his asking,

“Was this a sign that something special is beginning to happen in the old denominational churches? Will the spiritual life of the nation be transformed by a new generation embracing the gospel in their own culture as the Holy Spirit breathes new life into the unchanging message of salvation and “Jesus is Lord!” is once again heard on the lips of children and young people?”

In my humble opinion, “Yes it is a sign” and my initial thought was of the prophetic promise heard at Ffald-y-Brenin retreat centre, as blogged two years ago in Resurrection Coming to the Anglican Church.:

‘The usual morning liturgical prayer time got overshadowed by the Lord, who reminded them of the raising of Lazarus. They were told He’s going to call the Anglican Church out of its grave and bring it back to life!’

Of all the words published in this blog this may be exceptional because it was the first to be severely criticised, as related in this post about our later visit to Ffald-y-Brenin.  Also, this latest event reflects what others have observed of an increasing number returning to the Anglican fold and other churches – yet without denominational divisions as in bygone eras. And, of course, readers of this blog are aware of many prophetic words about a new era in the Church and move of God in the UK; eg, brought by Heidi Baker (with updates).

Intense Persecution Brings Harvest of Muslims

The exciting news continues of many Muslims seriously doubting their faith and looking and turning to Jesus in reaction to it being returned to its original barbaric practices. As blogged about Iran and a significant warning in Mecca (here and here respectively), as well as other posts, this is personally encouraging in view of a vision I had in 1992 on the fall of Islam (see this email).

Another morning email Is There Any Good News From the Mid-East? alerted me to Joel Rosenberg’s latest post, in which his friend Tom Doyle answers,

“Yes, despite intense prosecution we’re also seeing a great harvest of Muslims turning to Christ.”

After providing several wonderful examples, especially of those martyred on a beach in Libya to the shock of the world, Tom asks why is it that Muslims are now coming to faith in Christ in significant numbers? His answer:

“One of the reasons is that Islamic terrorists are killing violently for their faith, while followers of Jesus are dying peacefully for their faith. Muslims are watching the violence and it has soured them towards their religion. It has also opened them up to the possibility that there may be something to this Jesus after all. They see hate in Radical Islam and love among the Jesus followers, even as they are taken to be executed. What a contrast.

“Yes, Christians are being persecuted openly in the Middle East. But they are standing strong, and this has served to spread the gospel even more rapidly. In a world of bad news, that is very good news.”

Indeed it is. And as noted in Good News: Christian Revival in N Africa, the Cartheginian early Church author Tertullian observed the same and formulated the famous dictum:

“The blood of martyrs is the seed of the Church.”

[Credit: Hand Pressing News Icon by Watcharakun, courtesy of Freedigitalphotos.net]