DREAD CHAMPIONS
DREAD CHAMPIONS
Sunday, May 27, 2018, the Year of Our Lord
Pastor Carolyn Sissom
This Memorial Day we again honor those brave warriors who fought and died for out nation that we may live in peace and freedom. I was researching on the internet
“Great Warriors” and I discovered a website which lists the ten great warriors of history. To my amazement, Lieutenant Audie Murphy, a Texan is listed as #7. He joins the company of such men as Alexander the Great, #1; Julius Caesar #5; and Spartacus #9.
“True boldness is released from an encounter with the Holy Spirit. Scripture paints a picture for us; the righteous shall be bold as a lion.”
Two weeks ago, the LORD gave me the name of our July conference, The Scepter of the King. Kirk Harris came up to me after service and said he saw a scepter with a Lion’s head.
The Lion is a type of Christ (Rev. 5:5).
The Lion is a symbol of God’s mighty protection for His people (Is. 31:4).
The Lion is a symbol of strength (Jdg. 14:18; 18:2; Samuel 1:23).
The Lion is a symbol of courage (Prov. 28:1).
The Lion is a symbol of ferocity (Gen. 49:9; Numbers 24:9)
The Lion is a symbol of the tribe of Judah (Genesis 49:9).
The Lion is a type of God’s executing judgment (Lam. 3:10; Hos. 5:14).
The Lion is a type of brave, bold and righteous (Prov. 28: 1; 2 Samuel 2:23)
“The Spirit of God (Theos) is raising up dread champions in our day. We are watching history unfold before our eyes. These are challenging days that call for valiant men and women to step forward into their divine destinies.
Scripture notes outstanding brave warriors from the tribe of Gad who went to David in the wilderness.”
1 Ch. 12:8: The Gadites separated themselves unto David into the hold to the wilderness; men of might, and men of war fit for the battle; that could handle shield and buckler, whose faces were like the faces of lions, and were as swift as the deer upon the mountains.
“The writer of Chronicles introduces these men as aggressive experts with weapons of protection and reveals their immense value and worth. (1 Chronicles 12: 9-14).
The leader is Ezer; Obadiah was second in command; Eliab was third in command; Mishmannah was fourth in command; Jeremiah was fifth in command…These men were army officers, the weakest was equivalent to a hundred troops, and the greatest was equivalent to a thousand. Can you comprehend this? Imagine the quality of leadership spoken about in the lives of these men.
These mighty men crossed the Jordan in the first month when it had overflowed all its banks; they fought all who lived in the valleys, causing them to flee to the east and west. The men didn’t hesitate---they moved at a moment’s notice, accomplishing all they set their hearts to do.
The prophet Daniel says when a person truly is aware of who God is, he or she will be released with awesome power to accomplish outstanding deeds for God.
Daniel 11: 32b: …the people that know their God shall be strong, and do exploits.
Christianity is not passive, it is powerful.
The Spirit of the Lord is calling for the Lord’s army to arise, taking hold of the Kingdom with true spiritual power and force. Remember the Lord stated that forceful saints would take the Kingdom of Heaven.”
Mt. 11:12: From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence and violent men take it by force.
John the Baptist was the first martyr in the New Testament killed by violent beheading. Violent men continue to attack Christians.
Battles will increase, however the victories will be overwhelming.
“We are mighty, not in our own strength, but in the Lord’s power and might. It is only by the power of God’s spirit that we are enabled to overcome the schemes of the enemy.
These are exciting days of conquest and confrontation, building and battling.
The Lord has issued an ultimate command. It is unmistakably clear. As followers of Christ we are to be bold, brave, and extremely courageous.
For the Church this is our hour. Through prayer the conquest---the act of conquering---has commenced. This is neither warm-up nor scrimmage; this is the real thing. It is not time to hold back. Now is the time to give your all to the Kingdom of God. With a spirit of excellence, you must be giving everything for advancing the cause of Jesus Christ.”
We have a President who is protecting Christianity in our nation. He is protecting our right to worship; the tenants of our Faith; our freedoms and our liberty. We don’t know how long this opening will last. The forces of Hell are fighting to do everything they can to remove him. It is up to the church to resist those forces, go into the heavenlies and fight the powers and principalities who have assigned themselves to destroy the constitution, the nation and our religious freedom.
Not only has Almighty God called you and I to be brave and courageous, He has commissioned us for these important days. We need to be prepared for the conquest, which brings about a swift and sure change. God’s plan for His people is the plan of victory, not defeat.
Jer. 29:10-11: For thus says the LORD, that after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place. For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.
I pointed out last night at the Abundance of Rain Conference that we are in a seventy year cycle of the LORD:
It has been seventy years since the beginning of the Latter Rain Revival which began in the spring of 1948. It has been seventy years since Israel was declared a nation. It has been seventy years since the Democratic People’s Republic of North Korea was established as a communist country.
Seventy is the number of perfect spiritual order; fullness of accomplishment; release from Babylon; set for increase and a generation.
People of God…We are set for an increase.
There is an appointed hour when God will bestow His latter rain and bring in the Harvest of the earth. The coming of the latter rain is the coming of the Lord into the midst of His people. That is exactly what the prophet Hosea declared: then shall we know if we follow on to know the Lord; his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth. (Hos. 6:3).
Joel 2:23: Be glad, you children of Zion, rejoice in the Lord your God; for he has given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month. The floors shall be full of wheat. The vats shall overflow with wine and oil.
This passage had a partial fulfillment at Pentecost. Peter declared: This is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel… Pentecost, however, is a harvest of First-fruits. The fullness of the harvest is the Feast of Ingathering in the seventh month when the wine and oil were gathered in. “Be glad then you children, and rejoice in the Lord, you’re God; for he has given you the former rain moderately…” Dispensationaly this was Pentecost, when God first poured out His Spirit in showers of the former rain.
In the past seventy years since the time of the visitation of the Holy Spirit in what is known as the Latter Rain Revival in 1948, there have been divisions within the Pentecostal, Charismatic and Latter Rain (Third Day) communities of believers. All have received the Holy Spirit and the gifts of the Holy Spirit. However, there are diversity of the gifts and revelations. Many who I have known in the Latter Rain have been hurt, often bitter, misunderstood and rejected by their brothers in the Pentecostal and Charismatic circles. Yet, in the same measure, there has been division between the Pentecostals and Charismatics just as there has been division between the denominations.
This should not be. If we believe Pentecost was the former rain; and if we believe as I do, there was a powerful outpouring of the Holy Spirit in 1948 to the precious saints who ushered in the Latter Rain, then we should all be expecting and apprehending the former rain and latter rain coming together and flow as one river in unity.
This has always been the case at Eastgate Church. As you know, I have been faithful to bring in all streams from Pentecost, Charismatics, Faith, Prophets, Apostolic and Latter Rain. Yes, at times there is turbulence when the streams come together; but I don’t stop mixing it up.
In the past few years, I have begun to notice that denominations, Pentecost, Charismatics, Faith, Prophets and the Apostolic are beginning to embrace the gifts and callings within. However, I can’t say that emphatically because our church is separated from the mainstream. We mind our own business, take care of what is before us, love everyone, and follow Jesus Christ.
I am asking the LORD, can it be that after seventy years of division, is this the time when you are extending your scepter and bringing together the former rain and the latter rain that your Body will become one glorious, overcoming, victorious Body of believers. The Bride of Christ and our Heavenly Bridegroom bringing the Man-Child into maturity.
Now is the time for the warriors of the Lord to willingly join hearts and egos to become history makers and world changers. God has an exact time for this great event to happen on earth. I do not want to be outside of it. I am in it. In this church we embrace and receive all nations, nationalities, denominations, Pentecostals, Charismatics, Deliverers, Latter Rain, and Messianic. They may reject us; but we do not reject them. Yes, they must come up under the flow of the river in this church; but their river is welcome to flow with us.
I will close this exhortation with a quote from President Ronald Reagan in his second inaugural address in 1985:
“History is a ribbon, always unfurling. History is a journey. And as we continue our journey, we think of those who traveled before us…Now we hear again the echoes of our past: a general falls to his knees in the hard snow of Valley Forge; a lonely president paces the darkened halls and ponders his struggle to preserve the Union; the men of the Alamo call out encouragement to each other; a settler pushes west and sings a song, and the song echoes out forever and fills the unknowing air.
It is the American sound. It is hopeful, big-hearts, idealistic, daring, and fair. That’s our heritage. That is our song. We sing it still. For all our problems, our differences, we are together as of old, as we raise our voices to the God who is the Author of this most tender music. And may He continue to hold us close as we fill the world with our sound---sound in unity, affection, and love---one people under God, dedicated to the dream of freedom that He has placed in the human heart, called upon now to pass that dream on to a waiting and hopeful world.”(American Patriot’s Bible)
Arise church for we must join the warfare in the heavens for this nation, our constitution, our freedoms, our Faith, and for the glorious, overcoming, victorious church.
Carolyn Sissom, Pastor
Eastgate Ministries Church
Scripture from K.J.V. – I entered into the labors of Bobby Connor, Dread Champions as indicated by quotations. (P. O. Box 933, Bullard, TX 75757) Comments and conclusions are my own and not meant to reflect the views of Prophet Bobby Connor. Quotes from sermon, Latter Rain, given by Carolyn Sissom 5/24/18.