I think it's pretty safe to say that David Wilkerson, the pastor of Times Square Church in New York City, has stopped checking his 401(k). Excerpt of something he put out today:
I am compelled by the Holy Spirit to send out an urgent message to all on our mailing list, and to friends and to bishops we have met all over the world.AN EARTH-SHATTERING CALAMITY IS ABOUT TO HAPPEN. IT IS GOING TO BE SO FRIGHTENING, WE ARE ALL GOING TO TREMBLE - EVEN THE GODLIEST AMONG US.
For ten years I have been warning about a thousand fires coming to New York City. It will engulf the whole megaplex, including areas of New Jersey and Connecticut. Major cities all across America will experience riots and blazing fires--such as we saw in Watts, Los Angeles, years ago.
There will be riots and fires in cities worldwide. There will be looting--including Times Square, New York City. What we are experiencing now is not a recession, not even a depression. We are under God's wrath. In Psalm 11 it is written,
"If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?" (v. 3).
God is judging the raging sins of America and the nations.
There's more, but you get the gist of it. Now, you can take it seriously, or you can laugh at it. Personally, I don't take it seriously, but I will note that a friend in NYC who used to go to Times Square Church said that in the three months before 9/11, people in the church were constantly praying for the city because they had a sense that something terrible was about to happen. Me, I don't take it seriously because I have no reason to, not knowing much of anything about Wilkerson. But the thing is, I do believe, as most Christians believe, that prophecy is real.
The question is, how do you know when to take a particular prophecy seriously, and how do you know when to disregard it? History is replete with prophets whose predictions amounted to nothing. But do we know of any modern prophets whose predictions actually panned out? How do you know ahead of time whether or not to take them seriously?
(Frankly, readers who believe all prophecy is bunk, please hold your fire on this thread. Your position is certainly a valid one, but I'm really more interested in hearing from people who believe that God does from time to time send forewarnings to His people through prophets, and who have some idea how to discern true prophecy from false prophecy.)
UPDATE: To clarify, I think Wilkerson could be right, but I don't have any reason to believe he is ... though there's an entry in the comboxes below that, in tandem with what my NYC friend said about the atmosphere at Times Square Church just prior to 9/11, makes me somewhat more disposed toward taking Wilkerson seriously in this. But if I did take him seriously, I'd be planning on doing some radically different things in the coming days ... and I'm not. So there you are. Maybe I'll be sorry, who knows...
UPDATE.2: A reader posts this collection of Wilkerson prophecies that never came to pass, suggesting that you probably won't go wrong if you bet against the pastor.
Add to Del.icio.us
Add to Technorati
Add to Digg
Add to Newsvine
Add to Facebook
Add to StumbleUpon
Subscribe
It is easy to feel clever and confident when we see no storm on the horizon. One massive catastrophic event would change everything. Now is not the time to scoff, but is rather the time to humble ourselves and pray.
I have been listening to or reading David Wilkerson's teachings for over 30 years and he is definitely a man of God and takes his calling as a "watchman" very seriously. He is one of the only preachers you can trust to speak the truth and he has no hidden agendas. You can get on his website and listen to any of his sermons.....the Holy Spirit is working through this man in a powerful way.
I am a product of Rev. Wilkerson's obedience to GOD over 50 years ago! I went through the Teen Challenge program and am proud of THE LIVING GOD WHO healed me from 20 years of addiction. I am now over six years clean. If David Wilkerson had not have obeyed GOD all those years ago, so many would be dead or the living dead from addiction. Think of all the families, communities, churches, etc. that have benefited from one man obeying what GOD told him to do.
I have read the warning from Pastor David, as it was widely circulated via email. I have also prayed and asked GOD to guide me through this because if it does come to pass and the warning IS from GOD, I do not want to think I was so smart or credentialed that I let my family be endangered all because I wanted to be a prideful and arrogant person.
This blog site was awesome! Just like KimClement. Please visit KimClement.com because there's a lot information about prophecy, prophet, and etc.
Archie
Archie, if you believe Kim Clements "prophecies" I have a nice bridge over the river in New York that I'd like to sell you. Kim Clements is a 100% false prophet who will tell you whatever you want to hear as long as you give him money. He is from the discredited and closed "Kansas City School of the Prophets" which produced nothing but pillow prophets who told you all the good things God was going to do to this nation. Not one of them had any truth in them, nor do they now.
If you want to know what God is about to send upon this nation read my blog www.watchman2009.blogspot.com
Post a Comment
By submitting these comments, I agree to the beliefnet.com terms of service, rules of conduct and privacy policy (the "agreements"). I understand and agree that any content I post is licensed to beliefnet.com and may be used by beliefnet.com in accordance with the agreements.