Is There An End Time Harvest of Souls?
By mallisle
Thu, 09 Apr 2020
- 5520 reads
1 likes
Lots of people are talking about an end time revival. The statement that there will be an end time harvest of a billion souls is quite often made on Christian television. Much of this has to do with the prophecy made by Smith Wigglesworth of an end time revival. The well known 1947 prophecy of Smith Wigglesworth is poorly documented and it is difficult to know if it ever happened. In order to verify this story, it is necessary to know where Smith Wigglesworth was when he said it and who he said it to. The old man who makes some tremendous prophecy about the end of the world before he dies has become a caricature. Smith Wigglesworth did make several prophecies about what has become known as an end time revival in the 1930s that are better documented. He spoke to Dr Lester Sumrall in 1939 and World Harvest Radio made a video of this person's account in the 1980s which is still on Youtube. He also spoke at a conference in Australia in 1936.
What was Smith Wigglesworth saying about revival in the 1930s? He told Dr Sumrall, “I see a healing revival coming right after World War II. It’ll be so easy to get people healed. I see it! I see it! I won’t be here for it, but you will be.” There has been a lot of healing in the years since World War 2. “I see another one. I see people of all different denominations being filled with the Holy Ghost.” This has happened in my lifetime. Since becoming a Christian in 1981, I have seen the Holy Spirit and healings change from being controversial happenings in marginalised churches to becoming mainstream, the supernatural gifts of the Spirit being generally accepted and practised in most denominations. This is very different to the situation in the 1930s when Smith Wigglesworth was speaking. “After that the third wave,” he started sobbing. “I see the last day revival that’s going to usher in the precious fruit of the earth. It will be the greatest revival this world has ever seen! It’s going to be a wave of the gifts of the Spirit. The ministry gifts will be flowing on this planet earth. I see hospitals being emptied out, and they will bring the sick to the churches where they allow the Holy Ghost to move.” In an Australian connference in 1936, Smith Wigglesworth said, "Australia you have been chosen by God for a great move of the Holy Spirit. This move of God will be the greatest move of God ever known in mankind’s history and will start towards the end of the 20th century and move into the 21st century. This move of God will start a great revival in Australia, spread throughout the whole world and usher in the second coming of Jesus. This will be the final revival before the coming of the Lord."
What is Smith Wigglesworth alleged to have said in 1947? "During the next few decades there will be two distinct moves of the Holy Spirit across the church in Great Britain. The first move will affect every church that is open to receive it, and will be characterised by the restoration of the baptism and gifts of the Holy Spirit. The second move of the Holy Spirit will result in people leaving historic churches and planting new churches. In the duration of each of these moves, the people who are involved will say, ‘This is a great revival.’ But the Lord says, ‘No, neither is this the great revival but both are steps towards it.’ When the new church phase is on the wane, there will be evidence in the churches of something that has not been seen before: a coming together of those with an emphasis on the word and those with an emphasis on the Spirit. When the word and the Spirit come together, there will be the biggest move of the Holy Spirit that the nations, and indeed, the world have ever seen. It will mark the beginning of a revival that will eclipse anything that has been witnessed within these shores, even the Wesleyan and Welsh revivals of former years. The outpouring of God’s Spirit will flow over from the United Kingdom to mainland Europe, and from there, will begin a missionary move to the ends of the earth." I first read this prophecy on a website published in 1999 which said that Lady Diana will be raised from the dead. Is it fake news? If this prophecy was invented in the 1990s, it is simply a summary of the many similar prophecies that Smith Wigglesworth made in the 1930s that are accurately recorded and a reflection on some of the things that have happened since. There again, as Smith Wigglesworth was in the habit of giving prophetic words to non-famous Christians like Dr Lester Summrall, who had simply visited him at his home, he may well have given this exact prophecy to someone shortly before his death. The 1947 prophecy might be genuine and is certainly in the character of the kind of things Smith Wigglesworth did say.
The 1936 prophecy says that the great move of God will start in Australia and spread all over the world. The 1947 prophecy says that it will start in Great Britain and spread over Europe to the rest of the world. Is a New Testament prophet infallible? No. That is one of the serious problems that the old Brethren churches had with the gift of prophecy or the gift of tongues with interpretation. They thought people were adding pages to the Bible, that revelatory gifts were equivalent to Scripture. They are not. A Christian who is prophesying can see a picture in their mind and is interpreting it. The words are simply their own interpretation. I have given words of prophecy or had similar visions. I knew that two churches in Gateshead would merge together a long time before they actually did and also felt that the Jesus Fellowship in Leeds and Sheffield would merge together. Both happened and at the time it was impossible to know. The prophet senses something is going to happen and sees it in their spirit. It would be difficult for Smith Wigglesworth to see where a move of God would begin. Speaking in Australia, he can see it happening in Australia and spreading out across the rest of the world. 10 years later in the United Kingdom, he can see it happening there and spreading out across the world. So he said it would begin in Australia and said it would begin in the United Kingdom. Looking at the book 'That None Should Perish' by Ed Silvoso I wonder if the mighty move of God began in South America, or at least some new ideas like Church Planting Movements originated there. It is difficult to know where something begins. With respect to those people who are saying, in the 21st century, that there will be an end time harvest of a billion souls, many of them are regarded as having a prophetic gifting.
Is this in the Bible? No. Some people put an awful lot of emphasis on verses about the bride making herself ready (Revelation 19:7.) God wants a beautiful bride. In our statistical computer driven world God wants a bride who has passed her Ofsted inspection and is numerically successful. Rapid church growth statistics are essential to God's beautiful bride. They're not. I think it's dangerous to try and prove everything Christians believe from the Bible. The Bible is God's salvation plan. (2Timothy3:15-17.) It was never intended to be used as a proof text. If something contradicts the Bible it is wrong. Some Christians get angry about these prophecies and say that they contradict scriptural descriptions of the end times. What about the great falling away of Matthew 24:12,13? What about the terrible times in the last days of 2Timothy3? There is one thing in the Bible that does require an end time revival, as these prophets see it, or I would argue very strongly that it does. 'This gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world and then the end will come'(Matthew 24:14.) Modern Church Planting Movements can only work if a particular people group are very open to God. We plant churches by inviting people around to a Bible study group and then each of the people in that Bible study group will evangelise a friend, who will evangelise another friend and bring them into the church. By the end of the year there will be several Bible study groups. This works in an unreached people group who haven't heard the gospel before but are very open. Modern missionaries talk about finding the person of peace, the first member of the tribe who is not yet a Christian but is very open to God and very likely to become a Christian. Each cell group will eventually reproduce itself when they find another person of peace. The Church Planting Movement has been tried in Britain and has failed. Why? When coronavirus first came to the UK the government tried to control it by building up herd immunity. If 10% of the population caught the disease, a sufficient number would be immune. We are now starting to get mumps, measles and rubella amongst university students because of the MMR vaccine scare in the 1990s. Too many young people were not vaccinated and they no longer have herd immunity. Western societies have a strong herd immunity to the gospel. It is impossible that one will tell another and he will tell his friend. Churches can only be planted and unreached people groups can only be evangelised when God pushes the evil forces that hold back the gospel out of the way. Why do western Christians hate doing evangelism? Because no one listens. It's frustrating when a person who dedicated his life to preaching in Newcastle City Centre can't recall seeing a single person actually become a Christian right there and then in front of him. An end time revival and harvest of souls must happen if the world is to be reached with the gospel. Technology is helpful but it is usually helpful to a church that is already there. It is part of the equation and not a replacement for planting churches. A rapidly growing church needs Bible study materials for its cell group and publications to which it can refer an interested person of peace. The satellite, mobile phone and echo dot speaker will be part of that. They will massively enrich the new churches but we need a revival on a world scale to plant churches among every unreached people group.
Matthew 24 and Mark 13 describe a church that is heavily persecuted. So does the book of Revelation. This end time harvest of souls won't be an easy ride. In South India in the 1990s Dr Steven Alfred said that the church was growing so rapidly, it was growing faster than the population. In time, everyone in India would become a Christian. The church in South India is still growing in the 2020s and there are terrorist attacks on churches. The same is true in Nigeria. Looking at 2Timothy3, there will still be people who have a form of godliness but deny its power, so we don't get a perfect church either. In Matthew 24 there will be an increase in false Christs, false prophets and false teachers. The rest of 2Timothy3 does talk of terrible times in the last days. I'm not going to write a letter to the Prime Minister to say that our revival will 'change our society' as someone did in the book Fire In Our Hearts. The last days are a very mixed bag of persecution, terrible times but nevertheless world revival.
What was Smith Wigglesworth saying about revival in the 1930s? He told Dr Sumrall, “I see a healing revival coming right after World War II. It’ll be so easy to get people healed. I see it! I see it! I won’t be here for it, but you will be.” There has been a lot of healing in the years since World War 2. “I see another one. I see people of all different denominations being filled with the Holy Ghost.” This has happened in my lifetime. Since becoming a Christian in 1981, I have seen the Holy Spirit and healings change from being controversial happenings in marginalised churches to becoming mainstream, the supernatural gifts of the Spirit being generally accepted and practised in most denominations. This is very different to the situation in the 1930s when Smith Wigglesworth was speaking. “After that the third wave,” he started sobbing. “I see the last day revival that’s going to usher in the precious fruit of the earth. It will be the greatest revival this world has ever seen! It’s going to be a wave of the gifts of the Spirit. The ministry gifts will be flowing on this planet earth. I see hospitals being emptied out, and they will bring the sick to the churches where they allow the Holy Ghost to move.” In an Australian connference in 1936, Smith Wigglesworth said, "Australia you have been chosen by God for a great move of the Holy Spirit. This move of God will be the greatest move of God ever known in mankind’s history and will start towards the end of the 20th century and move into the 21st century. This move of God will start a great revival in Australia, spread throughout the whole world and usher in the second coming of Jesus. This will be the final revival before the coming of the Lord."
What is Smith Wigglesworth alleged to have said in 1947? "During the next few decades there will be two distinct moves of the Holy Spirit across the church in Great Britain. The first move will affect every church that is open to receive it, and will be characterised by the restoration of the baptism and gifts of the Holy Spirit. The second move of the Holy Spirit will result in people leaving historic churches and planting new churches. In the duration of each of these moves, the people who are involved will say, ‘This is a great revival.’ But the Lord says, ‘No, neither is this the great revival but both are steps towards it.’ When the new church phase is on the wane, there will be evidence in the churches of something that has not been seen before: a coming together of those with an emphasis on the word and those with an emphasis on the Spirit. When the word and the Spirit come together, there will be the biggest move of the Holy Spirit that the nations, and indeed, the world have ever seen. It will mark the beginning of a revival that will eclipse anything that has been witnessed within these shores, even the Wesleyan and Welsh revivals of former years. The outpouring of God’s Spirit will flow over from the United Kingdom to mainland Europe, and from there, will begin a missionary move to the ends of the earth." I first read this prophecy on a website published in 1999 which said that Lady Diana will be raised from the dead. Is it fake news? If this prophecy was invented in the 1990s, it is simply a summary of the many similar prophecies that Smith Wigglesworth made in the 1930s that are accurately recorded and a reflection on some of the things that have happened since. There again, as Smith Wigglesworth was in the habit of giving prophetic words to non-famous Christians like Dr Lester Summrall, who had simply visited him at his home, he may well have given this exact prophecy to someone shortly before his death. The 1947 prophecy might be genuine and is certainly in the character of the kind of things Smith Wigglesworth did say.
The 1936 prophecy says that the great move of God will start in Australia and spread all over the world. The 1947 prophecy says that it will start in Great Britain and spread over Europe to the rest of the world. Is a New Testament prophet infallible? No. That is one of the serious problems that the old Brethren churches had with the gift of prophecy or the gift of tongues with interpretation. They thought people were adding pages to the Bible, that revelatory gifts were equivalent to Scripture. They are not. A Christian who is prophesying can see a picture in their mind and is interpreting it. The words are simply their own interpretation. I have given words of prophecy or had similar visions. I knew that two churches in Gateshead would merge together a long time before they actually did and also felt that the Jesus Fellowship in Leeds and Sheffield would merge together. Both happened and at the time it was impossible to know. The prophet senses something is going to happen and sees it in their spirit. It would be difficult for Smith Wigglesworth to see where a move of God would begin. Speaking in Australia, he can see it happening in Australia and spreading out across the rest of the world. 10 years later in the United Kingdom, he can see it happening there and spreading out across the world. So he said it would begin in Australia and said it would begin in the United Kingdom. Looking at the book 'That None Should Perish' by Ed Silvoso I wonder if the mighty move of God began in South America, or at least some new ideas like Church Planting Movements originated there. It is difficult to know where something begins. With respect to those people who are saying, in the 21st century, that there will be an end time harvest of a billion souls, many of them are regarded as having a prophetic gifting.
Is this in the Bible? No. Some people put an awful lot of emphasis on verses about the bride making herself ready (Revelation 19:7.) God wants a beautiful bride. In our statistical computer driven world God wants a bride who has passed her Ofsted inspection and is numerically successful. Rapid church growth statistics are essential to God's beautiful bride. They're not. I think it's dangerous to try and prove everything Christians believe from the Bible. The Bible is God's salvation plan. (2Timothy3:15-17.) It was never intended to be used as a proof text. If something contradicts the Bible it is wrong. Some Christians get angry about these prophecies and say that they contradict scriptural descriptions of the end times. What about the great falling away of Matthew 24:12,13? What about the terrible times in the last days of 2Timothy3? There is one thing in the Bible that does require an end time revival, as these prophets see it, or I would argue very strongly that it does. 'This gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world and then the end will come'(Matthew 24:14.) Modern Church Planting Movements can only work if a particular people group are very open to God. We plant churches by inviting people around to a Bible study group and then each of the people in that Bible study group will evangelise a friend, who will evangelise another friend and bring them into the church. By the end of the year there will be several Bible study groups. This works in an unreached people group who haven't heard the gospel before but are very open. Modern missionaries talk about finding the person of peace, the first member of the tribe who is not yet a Christian but is very open to God and very likely to become a Christian. Each cell group will eventually reproduce itself when they find another person of peace. The Church Planting Movement has been tried in Britain and has failed. Why? When coronavirus first came to the UK the government tried to control it by building up herd immunity. If 10% of the population caught the disease, a sufficient number would be immune. We are now starting to get mumps, measles and rubella amongst university students because of the MMR vaccine scare in the 1990s. Too many young people were not vaccinated and they no longer have herd immunity. Western societies have a strong herd immunity to the gospel. It is impossible that one will tell another and he will tell his friend. Churches can only be planted and unreached people groups can only be evangelised when God pushes the evil forces that hold back the gospel out of the way. Why do western Christians hate doing evangelism? Because no one listens. It's frustrating when a person who dedicated his life to preaching in Newcastle City Centre can't recall seeing a single person actually become a Christian right there and then in front of him. An end time revival and harvest of souls must happen if the world is to be reached with the gospel. Technology is helpful but it is usually helpful to a church that is already there. It is part of the equation and not a replacement for planting churches. A rapidly growing church needs Bible study materials for its cell group and publications to which it can refer an interested person of peace. The satellite, mobile phone and echo dot speaker will be part of that. They will massively enrich the new churches but we need a revival on a world scale to plant churches among every unreached people group.
Matthew 24 and Mark 13 describe a church that is heavily persecuted. So does the book of Revelation. This end time harvest of souls won't be an easy ride. In South India in the 1990s Dr Steven Alfred said that the church was growing so rapidly, it was growing faster than the population. In time, everyone in India would become a Christian. The church in South India is still growing in the 2020s and there are terrorist attacks on churches. The same is true in Nigeria. Looking at 2Timothy3, there will still be people who have a form of godliness but deny its power, so we don't get a perfect church either. In Matthew 24 there will be an increase in false Christs, false prophets and false teachers. The rest of 2Timothy3 does talk of terrible times in the last days. I'm not going to write a letter to the Prime Minister to say that our revival will 'change our society' as someone did in the book Fire In Our Hearts. The last days are a very mixed bag of persecution, terrible times but nevertheless world revival.
https://endtimesprophecyreport.com/2015/06/15/smith-wigglesworth-apostle...
https://ctntp.uk/smith-wigglesworths-prophesy/
https://ctntp.uk/2018/12/29/smith-wigglesworths-1939-prophecy/
https://ctntp.uk/smith-wigglesworths-prophesy/
https://ctntp.uk/2018/12/29/smith-wigglesworths-1939-prophecy/
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