CRAVING FOR THE HOLY SPIRIT
Since the moment when the Lord called me to bring this prophecy about the forthcoming outpouring of the Holy Spirit to the youth, I have experienced time and again at various colleges and schools that the Spirit touched hundreds of souls at such occasions. Our youth countrywide are experiencing a deep craving for the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit. If they do not find it at the local church, they will so easily become prey to the supernatural power of Satan, through drugs and the occult!
PAUL’S WORDS TO TIMOTHY
Paul wrote in 2 Timothy 3: 1-3
“This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good.”
These words by Paul to the young Timothy are truly realising in our time. The number of cases with which Annatjie and I have been dealing of parents being cursed by their teenage children, or insulted, or even assaulted, is absolutely shocking. In several of these cases a family had almost been ruined completely by the time somebody called for help. In many cases, too, these problem teenagers had already been through a series of treatments by therapists of all sorts, psychologists or psychiatrists, with their parents’ medical funds exhausted, before they approached us.
ONLY GOD CAN SAVE US
Only when the Holy Spirit intervenes and the youngster is saved by Jesus Christ, change can be perceived. As for myself, I am totally nonplussed with so many people reluctant to acknowledge that our youth are in dire need of a complete change. Only God, through His grace, can save humankind from its insane state of sinfulness. We have indeed been witness of a complete change among youth groups, through the working of the Lord, who before had been used even to murdering members of their rivals.
INFLAMED WITH PASSION
The Holy One made a promise to the youth of this generation which is going downhill – therefore Satan is striking at them with such force. I believe that Satan is utterly in awe of this downpour of the Spirit, as he realises that it will mean the end of his terrorist reign on earth. Wherever I have the opportunity to address people, whether in churches or elsewhere, I call on parents and church leaders to prepare themselves for that day when the youth will become inflamed with a passion for Christ Jesus. Too often in the past ignorant parents and church leaders have, through their cleaving to the tradition and their own lukewarm relation with the Gospel, been a stumbling block in the path of the youngsters, extinguishing their enthusiasm completely. I would like to draw the attention of the reader to the following text from Malachi 4: 5-6 – the final words God spoke to Israel for a period of 400 years, during which there was no communication:
“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD. And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.”
LOVE, INSTRUCTION AND DISCIPLINE
The true meaning of these words is that God made the promise that, before He has to come and destroy mankind on account of their horrendous ungodliness, He will intervene with prophetic powers to reconcile parents and children. The state of any nation will start deteriorating when parents and children hate each other. In what way could it be possible for our children to find the way to the Lord if they are not led through the love, the instruction and the discipline of God-fearing fathers?
CALLING JOHN THE BAPTIST
We know, too, that this prophecy referred to the task and calling of John the Baptist, as recorded in Luke 1:15-17:
“For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother’s womb. And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God. And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
The important point here is that John had already been filled with the Holy Spirit before his birth (see Luke 1:30-42). Filled with the same Spirit as the prophet Elijah, John brought reconciliation between fathers and children, thereby preparing a nation for the Lord.
GOD WILL WORK WITH THE YOUTH
We believe that that final outpouring of the Holy Spirit will mean the final fulfilment of all these above-mentioned prophecies from Scripture. And it is obvious that the youth are going to fulfil a most important role. Sadly, the fact that such large numbers of children have lost their way can be ascribed to the fathers in particular, not honouring their noble task of acting as priest or prophet of the family any more… The fathers no longer administer to their children the Spirit and power of the Word of God. They are too busy serving other gods, leaving this important task to other, false priests. Therefore I believe that God is going to work predominantly with the youth, for which only He will receive the glory. I myself have come across so many cases where the father has found the Lord through the child having been in the power of Satan and saved only through the intercession of Jesus and the Holy Spirit! Praise the Lord for such wonderful prophetic promises in His Word! Fathers, you must manifest these promises over your children!
