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How Long...

Revival?

By Malcolm B Heap, Midnight Ministries

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Many sincere believers eagerly anticipate revival in Britain.

A number of contemporary prophecies indicate it will come. But will it fulfil expectations?

When will it come and how long will it last?

I was at a non-denominational meeting of Christians in the south of England in 1993, just minding my own business, when God spoke to me. He spoke in my head. It was a prophetic ‘word’.

The people there were all praying for revival and God answered their prayer. What God said to me was this:

Revival will surely come. It will pass through and overflow...

I was a bit taken aback at first. Why should He speak to me with this ‘word’? I was only a visitor, and certainly no one of any repute.

I was a builder for 17 years, and never sought anything to do with ‘ministry’. In fact, I shied away from the limelight in any form. I still tend to do.

I wrote down what I clearly ‘heard’ God say. It was not an audible word, but it was strong enough to ‘feel’ that it was an ‘outside’ prompt. It was not me conjuring up the words. And anyway, I certainly wouldn’t have thought it up! Back then I was somewhat ‘green’ about this thing of revival, and the last part about passing through and overflowing didn’t make much sense to me.

Revival Will Pass Through

I mused on what this ‘word’ might mean, and as I did so, God revealed more to my mind. Since I have explained this more fully in the article True Revival [contained in Articles of Faith, Vol 2 (£5)] I will not repeat that here, except to say this.

1. If a celebrity were to pass through your town, unless you were expecting him you wouldn’t know of his coming.

2. When he arrives, if he isn’t recognised, his visit will not be of any consequence.

There is a parallel for us to note concerning what God is about to do in the spirit.

1. He is the greatest Celebrity! But His coming is experienced by those with a particular expectation. Ironically, it is not necessarily those who have been seeking revival who will experience it! Only those who truly hunger and thirst for righteousness will be filled (Matt 5:6). Those who are seeking an experience will be disappointed. God is not primarily in the business of giving goose-bumps! He is in the holiness business.

2. God always surprises. He uses new people and new places. He raises up from the unseen those who will be His next ‘crowd-pullers’.

For these and other reasons, this coming revival will pass through. It will not stay. The majority will not recognise the performers, and the message they will bring will not satisfy the ears of most.

God has a work to do, and His work is not to please the personal desires or aspirations of those who seek secondary matters. Primary matters on God’s agenda involve preparing the Church in holiness.

Unfortunately, too much about revival has come to centre around ‘performers’ and ‘performances’. Many are in danger of losing the real focus which is on God and becoming like Christ in disciplined Christian living. It’s not primarily about being slain in the Spirit, laughing, crying, rolling around on the floor, or any other physical result of receiving a touch from God.

If those manifestations occur as a result of true brokenness in the one Jesus has touched, that is fine. But they are secondary. They are effects of revival, not revival itself. Revival has its core in the heart response of man to God’s call.

First and Last Revivals

The Father calls and His children respond. This is the essence of revival. It always has been and it always will be. It is generated by God, not by man.

In John 6:44, Jesus states that God initiates anything to do with salvation. Revival does not come by the will of man (Jn 1:13). It is the result of a sovereign act of God. He initiates it by divine fiat. Our duty is to respond and gratefully accept what He gives.

It may shock some, but the majority do not want what is coming. The next revival will present challenges that most don’t want to face. It’s not going to be easy.

Nor was it easy for the early Church. Jesus’ first major revival in the New Testament, of course, was that which occurred on Pentecost. You know the story, but one overlooked aspect is that they were keeping Pentecost. If they hadn’t been, they would have been out of the will of the Father and wouldn’t have received.

We know that Pentecost is the Feast of Firstfruits and it pictured the coming of the Holy Spirit into believers to make them the firstfruits of God’s harvest. But what if it had been another holy day which fore- shadowed that event? What if it had been, say, The Day of Atonement? The Church does not ordinarily observe that day, but it is in the same league as Pentecost. There is no difference in holiness between any of God’s annual holy days (Lev 23, Deut 16).

God is telling us something very significant by using one of these occasions to pour out His Spirit on those who were ready! The Church, for the most part, has overlooked this matter. It needs to reform.

Then there is the matter of being ready. The disciples had been taught by Jesus for 3½ years prior to this event. It was an intensive programme. And the end of it was humbling.

Peter was crushed after he betrayed His master. The other disciples were equally mortified to have to look back at how they disowned Him and fled.

God produced this humbling. It wasn’t something that the disciples maintained by their own supplications. It was a fearsome thing that came upon them. Panic overtook them when their preconceived notions of how things would work out, utterly failed! All their ideas collapsed around their heads! They locked themselves into the upper room where they met, fearing that their end would be next!

Their world had come to an abrupt end.

The same must happen to the present Church, too. Renewal has come and gone, but renewal has not transformed the Church as fully as God desires. For revival to occur, God has to totally crush the preconceptions of... dare I say it... you!

Your preconceptions must be shattered. You have faith that the organised Church you see is in step with what God wants. But it is not! It is woefully out of step in many ways with what God intends. If I were to list some of the things which must be reformed in its structure and observance, you would shut me down at this juncture.

But the example of the disciples in about 33 AD should be sufficient to illustrate the point for now.

After they were crushed and humbled, God could pour out His Spirit. Elation followed.

That’s the part that people like. It’s the part that people are praying for. It’s the bit they want and which they recognise. The trouble is, it’s not coming before the painful bit which comes first, and too few may be really responsive to that!

The first NT Pentecost was the occasion of the first major NT revival. The last one in this era is mentioned in Revelation 7. Likewise a terrible crushing occurs first, after which there can be great rejoicing. John sees a mass of people, vast beyond number. He asks the angel who these people are. The angel replies:

These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb (Rev 7:14, NIV).

The Millennium soon follows when all people have their opportunity to receive salvation. God calls everyone to know Him then, unlike now.

What is interesting to note from John’s account are the words about the ones who are accepted – “they have washed their robes”. They DID something. They responded to what God asked them to do.

Revival hinges upon our willingness to respond to God’s sovereign call. We have to put on the robes of righteousness Jesus offers us if we are to be part of His bride (Rev 19:7,8). He doesn’t put them on us, as some claim. He gives them to us, but WE must put them on.

Too many preach an empty message of grace, as though Jesus has done it all for us. He hasn’t. Otherwise anyone and everyone could be saved. James wrote that our faith is exemplified and amplified by our works (actually Jesus’ works in us). Works by themselves don’t save, but neither does grace without a proper response.

The revival around the corner will only benefit you to the extent you put on the robes of righteousness He offers you then.

When Is The Revival Coming?

People always like to know when something is coming. Historians pigeonhole events by dating when they occurred and we have a similar mindset. But God doesn’t give dates in the Bible – and rarely in contemporary prophecy, either – not surprisingly. If we knew when everything would occur in a nice neat sequence, we would tend to sit back on our laurels and fail to achieve what God wants.

However, He has given many indicators about the future. What we receive from God we regularly publish in our Newsletters and other articles.

One that we printed in September 1996 was a word God spoke to me in July 1996. It was very cryptic. He just said: This nation has three years left. I thought at the time that He meant Britain had three years remaining before the great tribulation to come. But it is possible He meant that its ability to morally reform would cease from 1999. Consequently, Britain is heading into ‘deep water’.

National troubles are now escalating, and have done so markedly since 1999. [This part revised, 2002.]

The turn of events for the worse often generates a certain seeking of God. And humbling caps it off. This national demise may well be instrumental in triggering the approaching revival.

Paul Slennett and Clifford Denton have written in Earthquake in the City about a prophecy God has given concerning an earthquake which will ruin London and this country’s economy. Other calamities and setbacks will also send shockwaves through the nation.

On top of that, a feature of the coming revival will be the raising of the dead. You may have read of the dozen or so people Smith Wigglesworth raised from the dead in his ministry. He died in 1947, so many of our generation have not heard of his exploits. But what is to come will dwarf those wonders by comparison.

God told us in 1993 that at least 50 people are to be raised from the dead! Then between 1994 and 1996 God gave various dreams indicating that Diana would have some contact with us. I had sent her some of our publications and I wondered whether they would bear fruit. But the way God works is beyond our reasoning. Little did we know that she would die in a horrific car crash! It was even further from our minds that she would one day be brought back to this mortal life. But that is what God has said. (More details about those revelations follow.)

I don’t think there has been a personality that has captured the hearts of so many people as Diana. If she is the tool God uses to grab the attention of this nation so He can proclaim His message to this people, who is going to argue with God? Would you? Do you disbelieve Him?

Remember Thomas? He could not bring himself to believe that Jesus would rise from the dead. There are many unbelieving ‘believers’ in the Church today who mock at this prophecy that Diana will be raised. They will see it. I hope they will believe then!

One last thing. God told us also that this revival will last about two years. It will pass through and overflow.

Malcolm B Heap. First written 12 Mar 1998

Midnight Ministries, PO Box 29, Aylesbury, HP17 8TL, UK

Diana

Queen of Hearts

Around Midnight between August 30th and 31st, 1997, Princess Diana was fatally injured in a car crash in Paris. She died shortly afterwards.

The calamity stunned Britain.

Tributes flowed in. She has been hailed as the most popular public figure of the 20th century. There is no doubt that this young woman captured the hearts of the majority in this country and the hearts of many more around the world. Because of her good looks, position in society, and charitable heart she earned a very prominent place – which she didn’t really want, because it caused her to be hounded by the paparazzi.

She lost her privacy and became the victim of so many people’s scrutiny and fantasy. Yet she just wanted to be an ordinary person, and to be treated as such. Instead, she became a sacrificial lamb, slain on the nation’s altar of desire because of its unfulfilled aspirations.

Indications From God

Over the years, God has given us various prophetic revelations about Diana, which show that she figures prominently in His plans for this nation – and, by extension, the world. Despite the fact that this will attract great ridicule, I share those briefly with you here, knowing that most people will not understand. I hope you can grasp the scope of what God is about to do. It is almost mind-boggling!

♥ The first ‘word’ about Diana was in 1994, when our son Richard received a prophetic word that she would one day meet with us in our cellar. He was standing in the cellar at the time when God spoke – while we were in the process of digging it out. (The cellar can be used as a meeting hall to worship God.)

How could Diana meet with us unless Diana is raised from the dead?

♥ The second ‘bit’ of revelation was given to our daughter Tonya on 7th January, 1996. She was given a dream of a little ship which depicted our ministry. Tonya was on the back of this boat. She saw Princess Diana sitting in a corner of the boat next to Helena. Many other people were sitting all around outside the boat.

I believe that symbolism depicts the massive publicity which will come from Diana’s return. It will give the gospel of Jesus Christ a huge boost!

About a decade ago, my wife prophesied that the gospel would go to this land via publicity. The ordinary man will not listen to ‘wafty’ church leaders. He is not shaken by anything the Church says – hardly surprising considering the division that exists as a result of a plethora of watered-down teachings! But God has said that this nation will have a witness before it goes into captivity (Hosea 9:12, KJV and NKJV). He will shake it!!

♥ On 9th March, 1996, Helena was given the following dream:

Diana visited our home and was talking with Helena, who wanted to give her a drink of water. Helena was looking for a nice glass to offer her the water in, but didn’t think we had anything suitable. Eventually she did find a suitable glass and gave her a drink.

Diana’s hair was dishevelled and she was concerned to have it put right. She sat down in a little hairdressing room where there were people who could help her with her hair.

Then the scene changed. Helena was shopping. She saw one large slab of cheese from Albania and took especial note of that and determined to buy some. But she had no money in her purse so went to Richard and got the money and went back to pick up the shopping.

Then Richard was showing Helena a bright blue bottle. She said, “That’s nice. Don’t throw that away. We can put the pens in it.”

Interpretation: In the future she will have contact with us, particularly Helena, who will give her spiritual help. Water symbolises the Holy Spirit. We may not think we have the best means to present what people need spiritually. But seek and you will find. There is always a way when it is God’s will to reach a person who is in need.

Her consciousness about her hair is perhaps allegoric of her inner feelings of failure, and her desire to straighten out her spiritual appearance. She was all too aware of her own inadequacy and insufficiency as a wife and as an heir to the throne. She has suffered feelings of grossly diminished self-worth, even self-hatred. She will need an understanding compassionate heart to help her receive the Holy Spirit and heal those inner wounds. Helena will be able to help her initially drink in the Spirit of God. Then others can help her too (the little room with others present).

What the cheese from Albania means we don’t know. We’ll have to wait and see. Albania’s people suffered horrific oppression, deprivation and injustice under an iron-fisted rule. It was the ultimate in despotic autocratic tyranny. Diana suffered somewhat in that way too, in her personal life.

Perhaps Richard will handle our money. We don’t have any of our own! We have debts. So, perhaps the dream reflects the way our son Richard (and elder daughter Tonya and a few others) are supplying our present financial needs.

The attractive blue bottle may represent a container for the water of the Word of God. Blue is a royal and heavenly colour. The bottle may represent MM publications, which contain heavenly things which people tend to underestimate their value.

♥ In another short dream which I (MBH) received in the mid-nineties, Diana appeared at our doorstep disguised as someone else (presumably so she could escape the paparazzi). Jokingly she said, “Do I look like my look-alike?” There were some other details in the dream, which I don’t now remember. The dream conveys her sense of humour and her desire to meet with us.

You may make what you like of these dreams, but there is only one proper overall meaning from God. What I believe He is saying is that Diana will not remain just a celebrity to be remembered. She will return again – be restored to physical life!

If that blows your mind, then read of the exploits of Smith Wigglesworth who raised (some say) a dozen people from the dead by the power of God. His faith did not stop when their hearts did. His faith was centred on God. He saw beyond the natural, into the spiritual dimension, and what he saw he grasped.

I believe God wants us to see certain things from what I have related to you here. He didn’t give them for entertainment, but as part of His grand design. The gospel is going into all the world for a witness before Jesus returns. What better personality to use to convey a final ‘blast’ to the United Kingdom and to the world than via Princess Diana?!

If you can see it, grasp it too, and the faith of the mustard seed will grow as it lives in you. Don’t let your vision of Jesus die! Allow Him to stay alive in your heart, and when the time comes for this greatest ‘publicity stunt’ of all time to occur, He can use you to fulfil your part in it.

Remember:

♥ All things are possible to those who believe (Mk 9:23).

♥ God will shake all nations before the Desired of all nations comes (Haggai 2:7).

♥ The gospel will go to the ends of the earth before His return (Matt 24:14).

♥ God always uses human instruments to reach others.

♥ You can be part of His team. He will use you, if you make yourself available, obey Him implicitly, and exercise what He gives you. Malcolm B Heap, 1st Sept 1997.

Diana to be Resurrected!

The caption above may come as a shock and provoke disbelief. I dare say it will encourage ridicule and scorn. The statements of prophets from time immemorial have done that, so it is nothing new.

What is new is the revelation.

God speaks in many ways to us today. One way is through His prophets, as He has always done in the past (Amos 3:7; Num 12:6; Eph 4:11).

New revelations to prophets precede and accompany new moves of God. There is a message God wants conveyed to His people as an essential part of this next move He will instigate. You will hear of this message, although it is not a welcome one to most. It will come on the wings of an eagle.

Diana will be raised to life also as a part of what God is about to do on the earth. It will be a sign from God. The appropriate response on your behalf is to believe the sign and believe His prophets (Jn 14:11; 1 Kings 17:24; 2 Chron 20:20).

Subsequent Dreams

Sept 10th 1997. A friend staying with us had a dream about Princess Diana coming back to life. It was vivid. This person’s mother and father also figured in the dream, reassuring her that her parents are not lost (and will probably be converted because of Diana’s return). In this dream about Diana, she was made aware of a strongly pungent smell, as of a rotting body.

Meaning: Confirmation of what God gave us prior to Diana’s death, and confirmation that Diana will indeed come back again. The smell may indicate a long delay before we see her.

30th October1999. M. Dream of Diana.

Diana was sitting with Helena at a table for two outside a café. There were other tables nearby and others were sitting talking together. It was a public place. I drove up with someone else in their car. I was sitting in the passenger seat. He pulled up rather sharply, and I was projected forward suddenly. Taken aback by seeing Diana. I was a bit overcome with trepidation at the situation and reacted by standing up, grabbing hold of an upright bar on this vehicle, and swinging around to face the other way. It was a knee-jerk reaction. When I turned around, Diana had gone. She asked about her accounts, what she should do about them.

Meaning: Diana will return from the dead. She will have a close relationship with Helena [they have the same birth date], who will get on very well with her. My response typified how I will find the coming events daunting, to say the least. I would rather do manual work, or something in the background out of public gaze, away from the inevitable publicity which Diana’s return will bring. Humanly, I don’t want to face the publicity surrounding Diana’s return. But Diana will only be with Helena for a while. She has her own life to live after she returns. Matters to do with her accounts will be a real difficulty for a while.

2nd December 2000. Helena. Diana’s Return.

God was using different methods to accomplish healing. Someone’s head was opened with a big knife. I was telling about Diana being brought back to life in order to be a witness for the gospel to the rich and famous. Some people were listening.

Meaning: God has to use some drastic measures to get through to some ‘thick skulls’ before He can help and save them. Diana’s return will be one such measure, which God will use to get through to some of the rich and famous.

The following text, quoted from a document published by Pioneer Network on 12th September 1997, was published (but later removed) by the Jesus Army at: http://www.jesus.org.uk/diana.html.

Diana

Flowers In Every City

God is At Work in the Nation

In May 1997 God spoke to a lady in Sheffield, England, about a day of mourning when the whole nation would put flowers in the cities. That ‘word’ was fulfilled by the events surrounding the funeral of Diana (1st July 1961 - 31st August 1997).

On Friday 16th May 1997 a 45 year old lady^[1] from Sheffield received what she believed was a ‘word’ from the Lord:

I felt God say to me: ‘I’m at work in the heart and spirit of the people of this nation. I am doing a work, which at the moment, is very, very unseen. But it is happening quicker than you think. Things are happening much more quickly than you think. And as a sign, this shall be a sign, that there will be a day very soon when the whole nation will mourn. And the whole nation will put flowers in their cities.’

On Sunday 18th May, a seminar was held at her church. During this event one of those taking part offered to pray for people and asked this lady in particular what he should pray for with regard to her own ministry. She told him about this “word” and explained the nature of what she had received. She went on to explain that she didn’t know what to do with it as it seemed unlikely that this was for her local church. She was counselled to keep this to herself, pray over it and wait until either there was more to the prophetic ministry or the Lord showed her when and where this should be made public.^[2]

On Sunday 31st August 1997 as the woman was preparing for her church meeting, her husband, a public transport driver came into the home. He told her that his passengers had given him some bad news. Diana, Princess of Wales had been killed in a car crash. She knew immediately that this was the event that
was related to what she had received over 3 months previously.

That morning, she stood before her church and not only gave what she had received previously but in a quite extraordinary way prophesied what was about to happen:

I felt God say to me: ‘I am at work in the heart and the spirit of the people of this nation. I am doing a work which, at the moment, is very, very unseen. But it is happening quicker than you think. Things are happening much more quickly than you think. And as a sign, this shall be a sign, that there will be a day very soon when the whole nation will mourn. And the whole nation will put flowers in their cities.’

I feel now that this is the day. I will tell you the rest of it.

‘When that day happens the sign is this: the speed at which the heart and the spirit of the people of this nation can be affected, that is the speed at which I will work among this nation. Do not think that what you see and hear of are small, insignificant happenings. Do not despise the day of small things. For I tell you, when you see this sign, I am on the move,’ says the Lord. ‘And I am on the move in the cities of this nation and where flowers are laid, My Spirit will be moving faster than those flowers are removed.

‘For I am bringing the power of My Spirit to bear on the cities of this nation. And this nation, as fast as that mourning went through the nation, joy will go through this nation. And I tell you, says the Lord, that you will know the miraculous entering your lives. I tell you that you will see changes in areas where you never expected to see changes. You will see relatives who you never expected to see, coming into the kingdom of God. You will know areas in your life where you’ve battled and battled and never overcome – and you will overcome in a day, says the Lord. For I am at work in this nation and I will bring this nation to its knees before me and they will know the joy of their salvation in the mighty risen Lord Jesus.

‘Therefore, rejoice. And do not let that spirit of mourning pervade your own spirit. Do not let that spirit of mourning grasp at your heart. For you have joy inexpressible in your hearts. Therefore, let the rivers of living water flow from within you and know that you will have many opportunities from this point to speak of My grace, to speak of My love, to see in action My Spirit at work. Know that I will be with you in that and you will see the miraculous,’ says the Lord.

(From a document published by Pioneer Network on 12th September 1997.)

MM Comment

For God to prophesy that He is “at work in the heart and spirit of the people of this nation” and link that to the death of Diana (via the flowers in every city following her death) tells a bigger story than most realise.

There are some myopic Christians who don’t see very much of God’s plans being worked out, or understand that He is working in the spirit of every person He is drawing to Himself – even many who are not yet at the place where they can accept Jesus as their Saviour and Lord, but who are being prepared to be brought to that place. Shallow Christians can only perceive obvious superficial occurrences – things which they can assess with their intellect. They tend to regard God’s children as only those who profess Christ on their lips. They dismiss as unbelievers any others who, though they might have some beliefs, don’t believe in Jesus the way they do. They have a very mechanical ‘appreciation’ of who is saved or who is unsaved, and that is based upon the present status quo in the person’s outward confession. Anyone who does not profess Jesus to be Christ and follow Him outwardly, they claim is not a Christian and he will go to hell when he dies. Thus, a large number of Christians assumed that Diana had her chance, failed to be converted in her life, and has gone irretrievably to hell. If that were the case, God would not utilise her death to say that He is at work in this nation in a way these believers don’t yet see.

God says in this prophetic word that He is very much at work in the people of this nation, and He is doing a work that is very unseen at the moment. These Christians fail to appreciate that Diana’s death is part of that work, just as Jesus’ death was part of the work He was doing nearly 2,000 years ago in Judea.

I do not mean to idolise or deify Diana by comparing her death with Jesus’ death, but there is a comparison. Jesus was known to be a good man (we know that He was much more besides – He was very God!), yet He was sacrificed due to the sins of the people. Diana was perceived by many millions to be a good person, doing charitable acts and showing compassion to the downtrodden and disadvantaged in society. Could her death have some link to the sins of the people, too? (In a different way to Jesus’, of course.)

The people in Jesus’ time failed to believe His words and change their lives. Only after His death and resurrection did those whom God had called come to truly believe, embark on the Christian life and begin to die to themselves.

Jesus’ death drew attention to their sins. He died to pay the price of their sins, as Peter told them in Acts 2. God used the death of Jesus to bring them to be convicted of sin, so that they could then repent and change. This happened after Jesus died and was raised again.

The death which had appeared to be total disaster for true believers in God turned out to be glorious victory. By Pentecost, 7 weeks after Jesus’ resurrection, things had totally turned around for the disciples and the work of God. God had used the traumatic events – and it was unseen to them at the time how God was doing this – to bring about their brokenness, conviction and repentance. He is still working the same way today. He is bringing sons and daughters to Himself, and He is drawing them with tears of brokenness, followed by the joy of discovering Him.

The prophetic dreams which we have recountedreveal that Diana will return in physical life! When that event occurs, just as Jesus drew many to God through His resurrection (and Lazarus too, see John 12:11), likewise many will be brought to God in this nation. It will instigate a nation-wide revival.

God is doing a work in this nation, but you don’t see much of that at the moment. You will see much more in the tumultuous events shortly to come!

Malcolm B Heap, Nov 1998

Footnotes:

^[1]Whilst this woman’s name is known, she has been protected by anonymity from undue and unwelcome attention.

^[2]I have it confirmed in writing that I heard both the nature and content of the prophetic word on Sunday 18th May 1997. Gerald Coates, Pioneer Network.