The “Revival Served On A Platter Of Ruin” Prophecy

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Chuck [Porta],

So far as I know, there never was an official written transcript of the prophecy.  When Coach McCartney gave it (in late October of 1998, at a by-invitation-only leaders conference on revival prospects for America, called together by Bill Bright in Atlanta and involving mostly Evangelical leaders, though a few charismatics like John Cedar, Bill M., and Linda Rios Brooks also took part in it), Linda took notes on the prophecy, passed it on to her then-colleague in the Crossroads TV program here at the time, Alan Langstaff…and Alan then shared her notes with Antioch staff, including me at church and school (as well as ACTS missions teacher John Halverson).  I then passed it on right away to Larry as well.  Linda meanwhile (mistakenly) assumed that the prophecy dealt with Y2k — so when that became a bust, she seemingly lost interest in the prophecy and did not, apparently, mention it publicly again afterwards.  But Larry, John, Alan, and myself kept it on the radar screen, and both Alan and John published it a few times over the years.

As I recall it, there were five parts to the prophecy, per Linda’s original notes:

1. Yes, I am bringing revival to America, says the Lord.
2. But many will miss being a part of it, because it will not turn out to be the kind of revival that everyone is looking for —  so they will not embrace it, will not honor it, will not give it its proper place in their midst when it comes, says the Lord.
3. What is coming is not a society-transforming, culture-reshaping revival as has sometimes occurred in the past: rather, it is an outpouring of the Spirit that will coincide and coexist with upheaval all around.  It will be, then, a revival “served upon a platter of ruin.”
4. Its purpose will be to equip and strengthen people in the churches during difficult times that are coming.  Harvest will come, but the revival’s primary purpose is not harvest, but instead the sustaining of genuine faith while the world around them is frequently abandoning that faith.
5. Churches that embrace this revival must be ready to follow it “all of the way”: by its very nature, it cannot just be “added” to a church’s “program”: it comes not to enable church programs to find extra wisdom or zeal or energy in order to “succeed”, but so as to rebuild or reshape or refocus each church in a necessary direction of deeper trust and surrender and obedience together.  The Spirit comes as Lord, not as “servant” of our own intentions, when we let Him have His way….

In about 2010 or so, I called Bill McCartney in Florida, long-distance, to find out if he recalled any other details about the prophecy.  By that time, he was having memory issues, and thought there might have been some connection to Israel’s own last-days spiritual awakening to Jesus as Messiah — but could no longer remember enough particulars to know for certain whether he was possibly combining the “ruin in America” prophecy with a different (though related?) one dealing with what he was then calling “the Road to Jerusalem”.

If “the Road to Jerusalem” is somehow spiritually and practically connected to “revival [in America] to be served upon a platter of ruin”, then President Trump’s moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem on May 14, 2018 may well have been a “trigger” of some kind for BOTH “streams” to begin to flow, blessing whatever portions of the Church are continuing to stand with Israel in the midst of the present tumult.
I guess we will simply have to wait and see?….

In Jesus,

Lance

Re: The Kingdom Of God [comments in response are welcome – LW]

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According to the Old Testament prophets, the Kingdom of God is the people, place, and time-frame wherein God Himself rolls back sin and evil among mankind and within Nature, and rules directly — through His Messiah, as resident, supernatural, and historical-personal-covenantal King — in perfect justice, peace and righteousness from Jerusalem over all of the nations.  During that time, God’s Spirit “covers” all of the earth, and brings salvation-history to its promised Sabbath-rest.

 

Matthew and Paul depict the working of the Spirit, between the Incarnation and our Lord’s return to establish that Kingdom, as being a time of “earnest”, “foretaste”, or “first-fruits” of the Kingdom, where Jesus’ name is honored in faith and hope and love.  This “walking in the Spirit” heralds and somewhat demonstrates the Kingdom “ahead of time”, and therefore to some extent participates in it.  But the life of God’s people during this interim time is NOT the actual “Kingdom” itself: rather, its “embryonic” presence here and now beckons to people to freely choose to become citizens of that Kingdom, so that when it DOES come (at the King’s own return) in promised power and glory, they will be a resurrected and sanctified part of it!

 

In addition, Paul and John describe life as it exists AFTER the earthly Kingdom: there will be a Final Judgment of humans and angels, with the wicked being cast into Hell and the children of God being welcomed into an eternal and perfect New Heavens and New Earth that is part of a transfigured cosmos, where death is no more.  This New Heavens and New Earth does not negate or take the place of the (earlier) covenantally-promised Kingdom of God upon the earth, but rather represents a NEW BEGINNING that takes place AFTER the “consummation” of the Kingdom.  In  a sense, BOTH can rightly be called “The Kingdom of God”; but in I Cor. 15, Paul calls the first (the 1000 years Kingdom on earth) “the kingdom of {God] the Son” and the post-Judgment New Heaven and New Earth “the Kingdom of [God] the Father”, in which the Spirit Himself will not just “cover” but also FILL “all things” eternally.
 
It is therefore a gross error either (1) to neglect the Rev. 20 Millennial Kingdom, during which time Jesus the Messiah rules the earth, per Psalm 2, Zechariah 14, etc., from a believing and resurrected Israel (also represented among the nations by a remnant resurrected Church during that time), on the one hand; or (2) to over-inflate the Church’s importance by claiming that (in some form) she IS “the Kingdom” here and now, ruled not directly by Jesus Himself but rather by alleged “apostles and prophets” as His “delegated” earthly authority, on the other hand. The Church’s role rather is to herald the Gospel and to demonstrate something of the coming LIFE of the Kingdom, through the Spirit in Jesus’ name, but NOT to pretend to a power or authority or “perfection” that is not yet fully allotted to her (or even possible yet for her) in her present not-fully-sanctified state. (Apostles and prophets have their place, but they do not take the place of the King Himself!)< /div>

 

Thus, when Paul refers to “Christ in you — the hope of glory!” (in Colossians), he is NOT saying that the Church itself is mankind’s “hope” — of course, only Jesus Himself is!  — but what he IS saying, is that, because believers have indeed put their trust in Christ and experience the life of His Spirit within them, therefore they can be assured that God WILL “finish what He has started” in them: He does not merely cause them to become “born again” and thus to be adopted as “children of God”, but also — when our Lord returns — WE SHALL BE LIKE HIM, such that our inward natures and character are so “re-made” as to be fit vehicles for carrying His glory in the Age and World to Come!  The focus, then, is still not on US but rather always on JESUS!  We never “replace” Him here on earth, we only reflect His presence to those with the heart and the eyes to see.

 

—  Lance Wonders