Saturday Message, Part 1 - Gordon Hickson (June 21, 2008) | Life Bible Church

fourth year of having Rachel come to Life Bible

Church and this year her husband got to come

and Gordon worked for I'm gonna try to get this

right if I get it wrong you just correct everything

I'm saying and you have that freedom hallelujah

but he worked alongside Reinhard Bonnke how many

have heard of Reinhard Bonnke the great evangelist

he was in part of his team and organizing Crusades

back in the 80s is that correct yeah And so they've

been in ministry 21 years He's ordained an assembly

of God preacher, but God opened the door. This

is he told this story at a conference I think

Rachel told it to us last year the year before

God opened a door through the Anglican Church

for him to take really one of the great flagship

churches of all England the Oxford Church and

so the very center and hub of all Education and

where the governments of the world send their

brightest right there and that flagship church.

He's placed Gordon and They begin to make some

sweeping changes. The Holy Ghost is moving in

the Anglican Church They're baptizing and getting

people filled with the Holy Ghost It's a wonderful

thing and it's a great privilege to have a great

man of God come and share tonight So would you

is welcome? Pastor Gordon Hickson as he comes

And then tomorrow, Rachel's going to be talking

about opening the gates of hope, the gate of

heaven, the gate of glory, the gate of legacy

and inheritance, also the gate of relationships.

I'm talking a lot about understanding gates that

are shut and gates that are open. So that'll

be tomorrow, but tonight I'm going to be talking

about opening the gate of nations. So Father,

we just... Look to you tonight. We thank you

for such a sense of your glory in this place.

We want to still our hearts. Pray that you speak

to each one of us. Lord, will you impart faith?

Will you lift our vision to the horizons? Let

us see and understand. Let us catch what you're

doing. Jesus name. Amen. Well if you got your

Bibles why don't you turn with me to Psalm 2.

Well it's so good to be here. Just stay standing

please just for a while. I just feel there's

so much of God in this place. And I can't preach

yet. I just feel, let's just wait on the Holy

Spirit right now. I just have such a strong sense

just during the worship that there are people

here who desperately need a miracle. We sang

it again and again. You're the God of the impossible.

And I just feel we can sing it but we've got

to receive it right now. And there's pain in

this body. There's people who've come here believing

God for a miracle. And if you believe in God

for a miracle, I don't care whether it's for

healing or a relationship or financial, whatever

it is, if you believe in God for a miracle, He's

here. He's here. If that's you, I just want you

to lift your hand right up high. And I hope it's

not everybody because the rest of you are the

prayer team. If somebody's got their hand up

close to you, come on, let's be family. Let's

believe God's going to touch down. I don't want

you to pray for them. I just want you to give

them something right now. Father, right now we

want to thank you. There is so much of you in

this place right now. We declare you're the God

of the impossible. And Father, we declare the

release of your Spirit into every one of these

situations. Come on, if you see somebody near

you with their hand up, if there are people here

who don't have somebody standing with them, just

go and touch somebody who's got their hand up.

Father, every place, Lord, just come and touch

down. We just release. reconciliation where it

is needed right now. We command reconciliation

right now. We release healing. Be healed in Jesus'

name. We break off every confusion of those of

you who are totally lost in confusion. We break

it off. We release that miraculous power of God

right into your life right now. Receive it. Just

draw it down from heaven. Receive. Receive right

now. Just take hold of it. Just drink God in.

Breathe in deeply. Just drink deeply of the Spirit

of God. Jesus said, come to me and drink. Drink.

Take hold of Him. Take hold of Him. Take hold

of Him. And Father, we declare over every one

of these situations, and we agree together tonight,

that you're going to connect to every single

person whose hand is up. We agree together that

you're the God of power. the God of miracles,

the God of healing, the God of provision, the

God of guidance. Lord you're the Al Shaddai,

you're the all -sufficient one for every single

person here. So we thank you. We thank you. And

I also felt just before I preach, I don't want

you to sit through my message here tonight if

you feel miles away from God. I don't want you

to sit there just feeling miles away from God.

There are people here tonight who are just desperate.

You may well know God, but you just feel a long

way away. You may not know God, but you're still

far away. And hey, if that's you and you just

feel a long way from God, I just want you to

come, come to Him right here. Just come up the

front. We're just gonna, we're just gonna pray

for you that you'll just know the closeness of

the Holy Spirit. Because so many of us here can

just sense tangibly the presence of God. And

if you're not feeling that right now, I just

want you to come forward. We're just going to

pray for you that you will just feel and sense

the presence of God, that He's right there with

you. It doesn't mean you're a bad person, it

just means you've been through stuff. And that

stuff, we're going to lift it off you right now.

Just gather together in the middle. I don't want

you to be separated, I want you to be close together.

Just draw in together, right in together in the

middle. I want you to be shoulder to shoulder.

I want you to be part of the family. Just come

in together. Just draw in. I want somebody to

come and stand with them. Right now, don't think

of anything else. Just lift your face to heaven.

Lift your face to heaven and receive. Come on,

no more shame. Just lift your face to heaven.

He loves you. He loves you. He loves you. He

loves you. Just drinking. Drinking His love.

He loves you. He loves you. He loves you. He

loves you. He loves you too. The Holy Spirit

is right there for you. He loves you. Come on,

He loves you. He loves you. He's right there

for you. Just drinking. He loves you. He loves

you. Your father loves you. He loves you. He

loves you. He loves you. Oh, he loves you. Oh,

he loves you. He loves you. Holy Spirit. He loves

you. Just drink tea. Holy Spirit. Yes. Yes. Yes.

Just drink it in. Drink it in. Drink it in. Thank

you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus.

Father, we want to thank you that the Lord is

our shepherd. Lord, you come with a shepherd's

heart tonight just to love every person here,

just to draw us into that place of security and

peace. Each one of those that's responded. We

just commit them to you pray that that Envelope

of love would just come around them that they

would feel bound into the body bound into you

in Jesus mighty name We'll give them a hug and

you can go and be seated and hopefully you'll

enjoy You'll enjoy it a little bit more tonight

If I can have a little bit more monitor on here,

that would be great. Well, God is good. He's

so good. It's so good to be with you. I just

feel that I'm part of the family. Rachel's been

here four years and it's very easy to slot in

to places where Rachel's been. God bless you

guys. She sends her love but she's been struggling

with this illness for about two months and her

energy levels are slowly getting better and better

but I just told her to rest tonight because she's

going to be preaching tomorrow morning. But we

want to do a series tonight and then the next

two services tomorrow morning called Open the

Gates 2008. Open the Gates. And tonight I'm going

to be talking about opening the gate of nations.

We've sung a lot tonight about nations. And I'm

going to be talking about different things around

the nations, but specifically focusing on the

Islamic world, opening the gate of the Islamic

world. This is a wonderful song. Some of you

may remember last time that Rachel was here.

She came with Helen, Helen Aza, who's part Egyptian.

And earlier on this year in March, they both

went back to Egypt and they went just north of

or just south of Alexandria in Egypt. And they

went to a prayer camp. Unfortunately, I couldn't

find the PowerPoint that she had earlier on.

But she had a PowerPoint showing this camp they

went to in the desert. And they were just shocked

to see this massive great structure in the middle

of the desert. And they had about 10 or 11 ,000

people there from all these Islamic nations just

crying out to God. They streamed it live on the

internet, and they entitled it Egypt for Christ,

completely blatant. And they could have easily

been arrested, but they just blatantly said,

we're going to just go for it. And Rachel was

just thrilled to see this right in the heart

of Egypt, the mother of the Islamic world. They

were just seeing the Spirit of God moving. And

she's now got her two books, which are about

to be published in Arabic. And she's just really

excited. Helen's going to be going backwards

and forwards into Egypt writing training material.

And they just believe that those books will be

used to help train people in prayer, train people

in faith, and in aspects of breakthrough. So

in Psalm 2, why do the nations conspire and the

people plot in vain? The kings of the earth take

their stand and the rulers gather together against

the Lord and against his anointed one. Let us

break their chains, they say, and throw off their

feathers. The one enthroned in heaven laughs.

The Lord scoffs at them, and he rebukes them

in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath,

saying, I have installed my king, my king, on

Zion, my holy hill. I will proclaim the decree

of the Lord. He said to me, you are my son. Today

I have become your father. Ask of me and I will

make the nations your inheritance, the ends of

the earth your possession. You will rule them

with an iron scepter and you will dash them to

pieces like pottery. Therefore, you kings, be

wise. Be warned, you rulers of the earth. Serve

the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling.

Kiss the sun. lest he be angry, and you be destroyed

in your way, for his wrath can flare up in a

moment. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.

You know, we just are people who are privileged

to live in the end times, a time when God is

busting open every power block that has stood,

every stronghold that stood against the gospel

is beginning to be dynamited. This last hundred

years have been remarkable. 70 % of all the people

who've ever been saved were saved in the last

100, 110 years, since 1900. Phenomenal outpouring

of the Spirit. But probably 70 % of all of those

have been saved in the last 30 years. Incredible

things have happened in the last 30 years. The

body of Christ has just has kept on doubling

and doubling. It took 70 years from 1900, it

took 70 years for the body of Christ to double

to 1970. But then it only took 22 years for the

body of Christ to double again. And then it need

10 years for the body of Christ to double again.

So there is an exponential curve. There is an

explosive force of the kingdom advancing across

the world. We worked a lot with, I was the Crusade

Director for Reinhard Bonnke. And in the years

that I was with him, about five years, I worked

a lot in Africa. Then I became his international

director out of Africa. But when we were in Africa,

we just watched God harvesting a combine harvester

just going through Africa. And sub -Saharan Africa

is today about 57 % saved. Phenomenal outpouring.

What used to be the dark continent is now the

lighthouse, or one of the great lighthouses of

the world. Many of the presidents are now born

again. just remarkable men who would just stand

up and declare there are no other solutions for

Africa. The only solution is Jesus Christ. And

in fact, the president of Zambia addressed all

the presidents of Africa and said to them, we

have only one solution. With all the poverty,

the things that are happening, famine, there

is only one solution. And because of the desperation

there, people are turning to the Lord all the

time. Nigeria is exporting evangelists and church

planters right around the world. The biggest

churches in Europe are all led by Africans. The

biggest churches in London are led by Africans.

The biggest churches in Ukraine, Pastor Sunday

Adelijah, are led by a Nigerian, Sunday Adelijah,

and Henry Madhava, who is a Zimbabwean. All over,

God is just releasing that lighthouse to touch

the world. Rana Bonka has felt that he needs

to keep on hammering through in Nigeria because

so many Africans live in Nigeria. It is such

a massive nation. Some of our greatest crowds

have been there. Our biggest crowd was in Lagos.

We had 1 .3 million people in one service. I

mean, you can't even imagine. It's just a sea

of faces for acres and acres. In fact, for kilometers.

And they just put sound speakers all the way

down. such a hunger for God in that nation, the

power of God breaking through with such miracles.

God has swept through Latin America and what

was a stronghold of the Catholic world has now

so many Catholics have come to faith. So many

of them are watching God moving in a charismatic

Pentecostal revival through Latin America. Then

right throughout Asia, you see Korea that didn't

even know the name of Jesus 150 years ago. Today

has the largest churches in the world. Just extraordinary,

the largest Pentecostal church, the largest Baptist,

the largest Presbyterian church. I mean, all

of these big ones, I think Cho Young -gi's church

is now about 800 or 850 ,000 people. So God is

sweeping through those areas. I worked for about

five years with a man called Brother Yun. Some

of you may have read his book called The Heavenly

Man. And if you read that book, it's probably

one of the most popular books in England at the

moment. For two years running, it was the bestseller.

Talking about the revival within China. But in

1949, the curtain closed. Mao Tse Tung took over.

Every church was closed or burned down. Every

pastor was either killed or sent to a labor camp.

Every Bible burnt. They literally extinguished

the church in 1949, but they forgot one thing.

They couldn't get rid of the Holy Spirit. And

it just got driven to the grassroots. Now, what

had happened was the body of Christ was about

800 ,000 people in China, but it was completely

locked by denominationalism. It was just completely

frozen because a denominational spirit had locked

it, and it was frozen. It just could not go anywhere.

So God allowed this sweep right through to extinguish,

annihilate every denomination, but the Holy Spirit

was left. And within 50 years, only 50 years,

it grew from that 800 ,000 to 100 million today.

And not only that, they then had a clear vision

from God to raise up 100 ,000 missionaries to

be trained in China. At this present time, there

are about 30 ,000 of those ones being trained

to go as missionaries out of China, to go right

through the Hindu, the Buddhist, and the Islamic

world, all the way from China back to Jerusalem.

They believe in China that the gospel went...

out around the world finally reached them and

their job was to complete the circle and bring

the gospel back to Jerusalem. And so they are

invading, one in four people are now speaking

Chinese. They are invading that world. Right

through the Hindu world, God is moving powerfully.

500 million Dalit people, that is the untouchables.

have given up Islam. They've publicly renounced,

sorry, Hinduism, publicly renounced Hinduism.

Doesn't mean that they're Christians. But there

is a vacuum in India now where missionaries are

needed in India to bring those 500 millions to

Christ. And so many thousands are being swept

into the kingdom right at this moment. There's

tremendous turbulence, but God is sweeping through

India in the same way that he swept through Africa.

In the Buddhist world, it's the same. One Buddhist

monk was raised from the dead, and having been

raised from the dead, he then led about 200 other

Buddhist monks through to Christ. That's caused

quite a stir. That kind of breaks the normal.

But you can see that God is on the move. We're

living in that last moment of history. When God

says, ask of me, I will give you the nations

as your inheritance. The trouble is, the body

of Christ don't tend to believe what God says.

I remember the prophetic words back in the 80s.

God says, I'm going to break down the iron wall,

the communist wall, and I'm going to sweep through

the whole communist block. None of us really

believed it. And so in 1989, the body of Christ

was not ready. And then suddenly down it came.

The communist wall just opened up. But since

then, people have got ready and they've taken

the gospel right through the Soviet Bloc. Many,

many thousands have been swept into the kingdom

through the Soviet Bloc. But at that time, the

prophetic word was this, I'm going to break down

the iron wall of Islam, but I'm also going to

break down the gates of Islam. And Islam will

be discredited. And I think many people have

just struggled with that, because to us, we kind

of feel Muslims are the enemy. Tonight, I want

to change your way of thinking. And I'm not going

to apologize for it, but I'm going to talk about

God's passion, absolute passion for Muslim people.

And I want you to catch God's heart tonight for

Muslim people. Some of you here may well find

yourself going to reach Muslim people because

this is one of the greatest, the most thrilling

challenges of our time. David Duplessis back

in the 60s prophesied that in these days, our

days, God was going to open the eyes of millions

of Muslims. The scales were going to be taken

away and they would suddenly wake up to realize

that they were in deception and that millions

of Muslims would begin to start coming to Christ.

We never believed it, but it's beginning to happen.

I'm going to share stories today. Now, reading

this Psalm, you've got to start looking with

the eye of faith. Because unless you look with

the eye of faith, you will never believe what

God's doing. If you look at Europe right now,

where I live, I live in Britain, you see the

turbulence, the conflict, and the opposition

of Islam. You see Muslims advancing rapidly right

through Europe. You see England really in...

in a significant danger of being overtaken by

Islam. And unless you have the eye of faith,

you'll begin to despair. Our God reigns. He sits

enthroned in heaven. He sees these spirits conspiring.

He sits enthroned in heaven and he laughs because

he knows the end from the beginning. He knows

there is about to be the most extraordinary breakthrough.

Now we've got to be real. Romans 419 talks about

how Abraham faced the facts that his body was

as good as dead. We need to face the facts that

Islam is strong and it's invading places right

across Europe. But we've got to be fully persuaded

that God is able to do what he's promised. He's

able to break through and touch these precious

people. I live in the city of Oxford, center

of the universe. We are the center of the universe.

I always used to think that Watford was, but

now I know Oxford is. But seriously, Hitler chose

Oxford to be his world government center. Why?

Because out of Oxford, every nation's ideology

is framed. People send their academics, send

their politicians into Oxford. They are educated

in Oxford. And then what happens to them in Oxford,

it touches the nations. That's why Hitler chose

Oxford. Now Islam in the early 80s also chose

Oxford. I work now with a young man by the name

of Sam, I won't give you his whole name. But

back in the 70s, 80s, he was in one of those

Islamic cells in Oxford, strategizing how to

take Oxford for Islam so that it would become

the center of Islam. And then it would affect

all of the colleges and then export the ideology

of Islam right across Europe and the known world.

Now he got saved. Praise God. Some beautiful

Waiwama went up to him, pointed a finger in his

face and said, Jesus is the Prince of Peace and

you need peace. And fortunately, she was wise

enough to back off before she got hit. But this

young man, Sam, went back to his hotel and said,

God, you need to tell me the truth. I desperately

need peace. Who is Jesus? And Jesus appeared

in his room, physically, and just spoke to him

and said, I am the way, the truth and the life.

And Sam and I got together, we set up a thing

called the Bible Channel, and we, from his bedroom,

we began to create these... these TV programs

in Arabic, and then in Urdu, and then in Farsi.

We began to send them over satellite networks

to cover the whole of North Africa, Middle East,

and now into Central Asia, and particularly in

Pakistan. And God is using him powerfully, apostolically,

to reach many of the Muslims. But you see, right

today, we are living in an Islamic attempt to

take Oxford. Tremendous turbulence. And I have

a group which pray with me every Tuesday called

Mahabha. Mahabha means love. And we are just

believing that God is going to turn things around.

We're going to see significant strategic apostolic

Muslims saved in Oxford. And then we will send

them out to various nations around the world.

I came to faith back in the 80s with Reinhard

Bonnke. I was the mug who got sent into Islamic

nations. I was a crusade director. And we had

the prophetic word coming again and again. And

God began to say to us, and virtually every prophetic,

every time we had a prophetic gathering, he began

to speak to us and said, I'm going to break down

the iron gates of Islam. And I'm going to give

you the treasures and darkness. We'll read that

verse later on. It's Azhar 45, verse two and

three. I'm going to break down the iron gates

of Islam." And so Reinhardt began to start saying

to me, come on, we need to go and touch these

gates of Islam. And so he sent me to Mombasa.

Mombasa was the entry point of Islam into Africa,

totally closed Jericho of Islam. I went in there

and I began to pray and pray and pray and I began

to bind the spirit of Islam and try and start

moving there. And then while we were praying,

God just told us to shut up and to stop praying

against Islam. And he said to us, listen, Islam

has no power. He said, what has locked up this

city is that there are two church leaders who

hate each other and are constantly fighting.

God said, get them reconciled and the city is

yours. They were both Bible school students who

came with the same passion to reach Mombasa.

And the enemy, all he had to do was just get

them fighting, and the spirit realm was paralyzed.

And you see, Isaiah 59 says God's hand is not

too short to save, but it's our iniquity. It's

the body of Christ that stops God moving. Hear

me. It is our fault that God doesn't move in

places. We often think it's the pagans. God's

hand is not too short to say if it's our iniquity

and sin. And I got these two men reconciled and

instantly the spirit of God began to move in

the city. And what was a complete impossible

city just opened up to the gospel. We saw thousands

of Muslims saved. One of those leaders now has

32 ,000 people in his church. And Mombassi is

now becoming a Christian city. That was the first,

my first. a mission into an Islamic base. Then

I went to Malaysia. And in Malaysia, totally

Islamic nation, I didn't really want to go there.

I went to every other nation. Reinhardt sent

me on walkabout to look for places where God

was about to land. And I couldn't find the place.

And eventually I rang Rachel from out in the

far east somewhere. I said, God, darling, where

do I go? And she said, God says, go to Malaysia.

because that's where we need to go. So I thought

I had no faith. I went into Kuala Lumpur. I bought

a ticket to go in at lunchtime and out at tea

time because I had no faith. But as I arrived,

I said to them at the airport, where's the nearest

church? And I walked to this Assemblies of God

church and I said, can I see the pastor? And

the pastor, Prince Gudaraknam, I asked to see

him. And as I walked into his office, he looked

at me and he thought he'd seen a ghost. because

in his hand was a pen. He was just signing a

letter. Dear Reinhard Bonnke, God has spoken

to us that now is the time for Malaysia. Please,

can you send your representative to see me? Actually,

we had a prayer meeting. We just exploded. We

just thought, wow, this is a God thing. Now,

I went back to England to get Rachel, and I said,

Dani, I hope you don't mind going to prison,

but we're going to preach in Malaysia, because

the YWAM has got locked up the year before just

for preaching in the streets. And I didn't get

his, it was Telex in those days, I didn't get

his Telex saying that, please don't come. So

I arrived, all the other church leaders had told

him, don't let us come. I arrived and just said,

guys, we're going to take this nation. And they

said, sorry, you know, it's off. You're not doing

anything here. So I was desperate. And it was

that nation where God anointed Rachel. The Spirit

of God fell on Rachel powerfully. Suddenly, in

a moment, she transformed into this general of

intercession. She began to go from church to

church, mobilizing them. And what was impossible

became possible. It was illegal to get a police

permit for the crusade. We prayed. They gave

it to us. It was illegal to get the stadium,

even for Muslims. And we prayed, and they said,

no way. We've got the Southeast Asia semi -finals

of the football on those days. There's no way

you can touch the stadium. So we got the Christians

praying again, and they rang us and said, hey,

we've decided to move the football. Now, when

God moves the football, you need to believe there's

revival on its way. 24 hours before we stepped

into that stadium, they played their checkmate.

They just said, no way are you allowed to bring

Bonnke. You can have the crusade, you cannot

bring Reinhard Bonnke to this nation. Well, hey,

God knows those things are gonna happen. And

a few weeks before that, we'd been preaching

in a church and this man walked up to Rachel

and he said, I've been looking for you." He said,

I'm a member of the government. But he said,

I've just been to Washington, and I met Christ.

He said, I've given my life to Christ. He said,

if you ever have any problems, come and see me.

Here's my card. So I rang this man. His name

was Dennis Ignatius. And I said, Dennis, it's

a disaster. I said, we've got the crusade. We've

got all the publicity. People of thousands are

going to come. But who's going to preach? Bonky's

not allowed to come. And he just burst out laughing.

And he said, you won't believe this. I've just

been made the undersecretary of state for foreign

affairs. He said, I'm in charge of every embassy

and consulate right across Europe and in the

United States. I'm picking up my phone right

now to command the embassy in Bonn, Germany to

give him a visa. Checkmate. Now, we've got a

God that just sweeps through. If we stand in

unity and stand in faith, nothing is impossible

for the body of Christ. The final thing that

brought me to faith was that in one city in northern

Ghana, totally Islamic city, the mullah, that's

the priest, was totally blind. He was like a

normal human being, he needed healing. So he

snuck in the back of the crusade. All the people

were Muslims. He said, would somebody pray for

me? And eventually he said, no, they weren't.

You'll have to come up on stage. So he actually

came up on stage. Reiner Bonnke prayed for him.

He was instantly healed. Instantly healed. Both

his eyes totally opened. And Reiner Bonnke passed

him the mic and just said, now who has healed

you? And he said, I know today that Isa, Jesus.

Isa is the word, the Islamic word for Jesus.

Jesus Isa has healed me. And the whole crowd,

about 80 ,000 people, began to chant, Jesus is

the son of God. Jesus is the son of God. Now

that's how quickly one miracle can open up a

whole city. So I came to faith and ever since

then I've had a passion to reach these people

because I believe they are so precious. I want

to very quickly look at the roots of Islam so

that you can understand why These people are

like they are. You see, Islam was birthed amongst

the Arab people. Arabia was totally polytheistic,

many, many gods. And Allah was the father of

the gods. Allat was the mother of the gods. They

had about 360 gods. And they were all kept. These

idols were kept in a place called the Kaaba in

Mecca. Now, the caretaker of the Kaaba was Muhammad's

father. And the sad thing is that Mohammed's

father died before he was born. His mother died

when he was only six years old. So here you have

a young man who is very poor and he was orphaned.

And deep inside him, he had a hatred of this

place, the Kaaba, a hatred of polytheism. And

you can see the influence right from his early

years of the orphan spirit and the lack of the

father's love. As he grew up a very damaged child,

he was influenced by his encounter with Jews

and also by Christians, Christians who came up

from Yemen, and also by one Syrian monk who deeply

influenced his life. His eighth wife was actually

a Christian from Egypt. But he hated polytheism.

And as a damaged young man with that orphaned

spirit, he used to spend a lot of his time alone.

And he, at the age of 40, was in a cave really

praying and seeking God. And what he thought

was the angel Gabriel appeared to him. And this

angel told him to proclaim that there is only

one God, Allah, and that Muhammad was to be his

prophet. Now to give him his due, he actually

went back to his wife and said that he'd had

a demonic encounter. He really thought that that

was a demonic thing. But his wife at the time,

Khadijah, persuaded him there was some good mileage

in this and she persuaded him to grab hold of

that revelation and to run with it. But you see

the whole thought about one God had been sewn

into him by Christians. They'd been quoting to

him Deuteronomy 6 .4 and Mark 12 .29 that the

Lord our Lord, the Lord is one. Now that seed

of deception grew in in Muhammad, and slowly

grew amongst his friends. And he gathered in

the next few years, about the next 12 years,

about 100 disciples. And eventually, in the AD

52, he fled to Medina. And he had about 100 followers,

but the anger inside him of being rejected got

fueled into a hatred. And he returned six years

later to take hold of Mecca, and he killed so

many people there. and he announced a jihad,

a holy war, against all the infidels. He only

died four years later, but the power of that

demonic deception took root. And listen to me,

listen to this. It only took 100 years, because

of the power of that deception, to sweep all

the way right through into India, in the East,

and right the way through to Spain in the West.

And it was finally halted by the French at the

Battle of Tours. If they had not halted the Muslims

at the Battle of Tours, England today would be

an Islamic nation. Vive la France. Praise God

for the French. You know, we were at war for

about 100 years in England, but we just thank

God for the French. But you see, at that time,

the spirit changed its tactics and then began

to start infiltrating instead of using vicious

tactics of warfare, it began to change its tactics,

began to use guerrilla warfare, and began to

use politics and also ideology through universities.

In Islam, there are only two words for territory.

There is Darul Islam, land that has been taken

by Islam, and Darul Harup, which means the land

of warfare, land that has yet to be taken by

Islam. That is the only concept of land, land

that has been taken by Islam, a land that is

yet to be taken by Islam. So we cannot be fooled

by the peacemaking activities because behind

it there is a spirit that wants to take territory.

Now if you look at the Quran you realize that

no documents were produced, no written documents

were produced for about a hundred to a hundred

and fifty years after Muhammad died. That's a

long time to keep an oral tradition. 100 to 150

years just passed from mouth to mouth to mouth.

You've contrasted that with the vast amounts

of biblical manuscripts, most of which they only

started about three to five years after the resurrection.

That is how close our manuscripts are to the

fact of the resurrection. Islam can't show that.

You see, Muhammad was illiterate. Most of the

culture, they were illiterate people. What he

picked up though, were seeds of truth from Jews,

seeds of truth from Christians. And so as these

traditions were passed down, there were seeds

of truth written into the Quran. And what is

interesting is understanding that as you read

the Quran, because you see that there are 97

references to Jesus, he's called Isa, or to the

Messiah, Masih, Isa Masih, Jesus the Messiah.

And inside the Quran you will discover that they

call Jesus the only one who is sinless. That's

in the Quran. He is the only sinless one. He's

the only one in the Quran who came by virgin

birth. He is the only miracle worker and the

only healer in the Quran. In the Quran he's also

the word that came from God by the Spirit. He's

also The one who is translated to heaven and

hear this he was also in the Quran the one who

is coming again as the Messiah But can you believe

that all that truth had been spoken to him by

Jews and Christians and he picked it up and He

began to in and put that as part of that document

So the seeds of the destruction of Islam are

already inside their book The major conflict

though was the cross It's always been the stumbling

block, it always will be the stumbling block.

Because to a Muslim it's heresy to say that Isa

Masih, Jesus the Messiah, is the son of God.

They cannot conceive that God would have a son

and that he would secondly be crucified. It's

just beyond their thinking. They cannot believe

that God could ever do that. And they believe

that all Christians are complete heretics because

they have three gods. They have Jesus, they have

the Father, and they have Mary. You see, they've

got the whole thing wrong. They think our Trinity

is the father, the son, and Mary. The concepts

are very, very weird. They come to England and

they think that we're a Christian nation. And

they think that girls, booze, and drugs is Christianity.

You know, they think that's how Christians are.

They think that is what a Christian nation does.

And so they really are offended by Christian

nations. But you see, these are precious people.

They have got 99 names for God. Most of them

are Jewish and Christian names. But there are

two missing. The two which are missing represent

the wound of Islam. What is missing is the concept

of the Father God and the concept of the God

of love. Those two names are not in Islam. Now

why is that? Because this deception was sowed

into the Ismaili people. the Arabic people, most

of whom descended from Ishmael. And if you know

the story of Ishmael, born in the house of Abraham

through Hagar, the servant girl. Ishmael and

Hagar were rejected from the father's house.

And if you look at that, you realize that Ishmael

had that deep wound in him of being rejected

by the father's love. He had lost the father's

love and he'd also suffered rejection. deep deep

wounding in him and it was passed down the generations.

And that woundedness created the landing ground

for the deception of Islam when it finally came.

The people were waiting for that demonic deception.

That is why it spread so quickly through those

people. But it is also, not only their wound,

it's also their Achilles heel. And if you're

talking to a Muslim, there's no point trying

to debate theology, Muslim versus Quran. You've

got to go straight for the Achilles heel. If

you begin to talk personally in your testimony

about how you personally have encountered the

Father God, and you've experienced the love of

God in your life, it's light years from their

experience. They are longing for Father. They're

longing for intimacy. They're longing to know

love, but they can't because it's impossible

in Islam. And so when you just talk to them about

how you've encountered God like that, they get

incredibly hungry. And they long for that experience.

They are precious people. Muslim means one who

is submitted to God. Muslim means submitted.

One who is submitted to God. So when they're

asking you, are you Muslim? Most of the missionaries

I know working in the Muslim world don't say,

no, I'm not a Muslim, because that's just an

offense. They say, I am not a Muslim in your

sense. I am Muslim as a believer in Isa. who

you see in your book, the Quran. I'm a follower

of Isa. I'm totally submitted to God in the form

of Isa. And that begins to bring them to ask

questions about Isa Masih. Now we're quite a

divided body, the body of Christ, but Islam's

also divided. There are many sects, many sub

-sects. There's a large divide there between

the Sunni Muslim and the Shiite. The Sunni Muslim

represent probably one billion people. There

are about 70 plus million Shiites, mainly in

Iran, but all of them have the basic fundamental

belief and basic Shahada, which means what they

shout out from the minarets. There is no God

but Allah and Muhammad is his prophet. They all

have the same five pillars of religion, the ritual

prayer to make a five times a day, the month

of Ramadan where they all fast, the two and a

half percent tax to the poor, the pilgrimage

once in their lifetime to Mecca, and also the

commitment to a holy war against infidels. Every

one of them believed that as their background.

But most of us misunderstand the Islamic world.

We often think that they're Arabs, but most Muslims

are Asian. 200 million Indonesian are Muslim.

Vast numbers of Indians are Muslim. They're not

rich. They are incredibly poor. They're not violent.

The vast majority of Muslims are loving, peaceful

family people. They're precious. I love them.

They're wonderful family people. Most of them

are not religious. They are just nominal Muslims.

They're born, just as we're born in a Christian

nation. They're born Muslim. That is the way

they're born. And they are not unreachable. Most

Muslims are reachable. You need to realize that

one in every four people in this world is Muslim.

One in every four people in this world is Muslim.

Now, if you look with the eye of unbelief, you'll

think, whoa, this is scary. The Muslims are coming.

But if you look with the eye of faith, you think,

wow, what a harvest. This is fantastic. dear

old Napoleon, you know Napoleon? He was just

a great man of faith, he wasn't a Christian,

but he just had faith. And you know when he was

being surrounded by the British and he gathered

his soldiers together and he said, he said, men

listen to me, the enemy are in front of you,

the enemy are behind us, they are to the left

and the right, come on men you cannot miss. Now

that is the faith level you've got to have with

Muslims. We cannot miss. There is just such a

vast harvest out there. But what you have to

understand, and I want to bring to your understanding

tonight, is that the people and the spirit are

two different things. The people are the most

wonderful, wonderful people. The spirit is a

spirit of antichrist. It is demonic. It is evil.

And we've got to bind that spirit and release

the people. It is a spirit that works through

deception, through incredible sexual uncleanness,

and through intimidation and fear. And I made

a huge mistake. I used to send missionaries out

all the time into the Islamic world. My biggest

mistake was that I didn't deal with people in

their personal lives. And I trained them in the

Islamic. culture and train them to go and reach

Muslims, but I didn't deal with deep issues of

personal life. My best missionaries I sent out

to Uzbekistan, within one year the wife was in

adultery, within two years the husband was a

homosexual because I hadn't dealt with sexual

wounds of their past. They got taken out. I sent

two girls to Egypt, both single. Within six months,

both girls fell morally. If we don't deal with

those areas of fear, and cleanness and openness

to deception, then we are a sitting target. We've

got to live holy, pure, and know that every area

of our life is in the light before we step into

trying to reach Muslims. It is so important.

Now what does the Bible say? Isaiah 45 says this,

and this is a scripture that I've taken. And

it's one that God has spoken to us. It was spoken

to Cyrus, but God spoke to us about the Islamic

world. And it said in Isaiah 45 verse 2 that

Isaiah 45:2

he's going to subdue nations before him. He's

going to strip kings of their armor. He's going

to open doors before us. Gates will not be shut.

And listen to this. He says, I will go before

you and I will level the mountains and I will

break down gates of bronze. and bars of iron

and give you the treasures in darkness, riches

stored in secret places. And I believe that the

Bible is saying that strongholds are going to

come down. These people are treasures in darkness.

You know, when we start thinking about them and

start praying about them, we often think that

there's a huge stronghold that is holding them

back. The stronghold, in my experience, is in

the mind's and the hearts of Christians. It is

not out there in the Islamic world. Most Christians

are fearful of Muslims. When I worked in the

town of Watford, which was my last city that

I worked in, I had four churches in that area.

I began to work with Muslims. I got to know the

Muslim council very well. We had a reconciliation

time with them, loved them, and they actually

opened their hearts to us. I went and apologized

to them for our attitude towards them. And they

just literally opened up and asked us to help

them teach their women English. asked us to help

them look after the kids during the holidays

and also asked us to open a prayer center to

pray for their sick in the name of Jesus. I remember

after 9 -11, I sent an email to all the churches

saying, come on guys, we've got to love the Muslims

because they're going to be terrified. Now most

people wanted to kill them. I said, come on guys,

we're going to give them flowers. And I got hundreds

of flowers and I put them outside the mosque

after their Friday prayers, called all the leaders

and said, come on, join me, let's give all these

Muslims a flower. And you know, not one single

leader came. They were all terrified. Just five

intercessors joined me, and we pressed a flower

into every Muslim's hand and said, listen, we're

true believers in Jesus. We don't hate you, we

love you. You know, many of them just burst into

tears. One guy just hugged me and he said, I

don't care what church you come from, I'm coming.

And literally, love, love, love never fails.

And the sad thing is that the fear and the unbelief

in the hearts of Christians has prevented us

from touching the greatest harvest field in this

world. That is why right now we're just strategizing

to open up a prayer center for Muslims in Oxford

to be healed. And we have this wonderful prayer

center where we meet together every week, Mahaba,

Oxford, praying for Muslims. Recently we baptized

a couple of Muslims. One had given his life to

the Lord when Jesus appeared to him. And his

friends came and stabbed him through the heart.

They held him down. They stabbed him through

the heart. And he flinched as the knife came

down. It went just past his heart through his

lungs. Jesus just came, touched him, totally

healed him. And he escaped from where he was.

He's had such an encounter with God. He just

knows God so closely. Another girl, Jesus appeared

to her in a dream. And she walked past the church

one day and she said, that's the man. That's

him. He appeared in my dream. And she was led

through to Christ. See, God's beginning to touch

these ones. Numbers 14, verse nine. You've got

to hear what the Bible says. It says, do not

fear the people of the land. Their protection

is gone. Their facade, it's irrelevant. God is

with us. We've got to believe that. Romans 1

.16 says that the gospel for us is the power,

the dunamis, the power of God for the salvation.

Not just of everybody, including Muslims. There

is no defense against the gospel. No defense

provided it comes with power as signs and wonders.

I know that people will go out and preach the

gospel, but if you don't come with signs and

wonders, they won't believe you. You've got to

come with signs and wonders. And all the way

through Africa, we demonstrated the gospel with

signs and wonders, and that's what brought them

to faith. The leader of India, Gandhi, who was

a Hindu, he criticized the body of Christ because

he said, you Christians have in your possession

a document with enough dynamite. to turn the

whole world upside down and bring this war -torn

world back to peace. But you treat it like mere

literature. He was desperate for somebody to

demonstrate the power of God. He was actually

kicked out of a church in London because he was

Asian. He was so offended by Christians because

they would never give him what he saw was real

in the Bible. He could have become a born -again

spiritual Christian, but we failed. The gates

of hell will not prevail against the church that's

come to faith. And I believe that is what's going

to happen. Now very quickly I just want to tell

you about what God is doing. I'm going to close

with this. More Muslims have come to faith in

Christ in the last 30 years than the entire history

of the Islamic world. Since 9 -11 1 .5 million

Muslims have come to faith. In Algeria, 16 ,000

Berbers have come to Christ in only 20 years.

In Kazakhstan, 15 ,000 have been saved from just

one church planting movement in only 15 years.

In Kashmir, 12 ,000 Muslims have turned away

from their militant jihad to become Christians.

In another Asian country, 150 ,000 were saved,

and 4 ,000 churches were saved in only 10 years.

In a number of nations now, there are messianic

mosques, totally Muslim, they take the shoes

off, they look like Muslims, but they open the

Bible, they teach people from the Bible, teach

them about Jesus and the power of God. I know

that many of the people who've been kicked out

of Muslim nations who are now asylum seekers,

are just desperate to discover the truth about

Christianity. Friends of ours in Norway have

led 300 Muslims to Christ in only 18 months just

by loving them and bringing them into their culture.

The Jesus film has now been seen by about five,

it's been seen five billion times since only

1979. That film is a very, very popular film

amongst Muslims and now the passion is also being

seen by so many of them. It's now in 863 languages

and Muslims love to watch the Jesus film. I would

say that today probably 90 % of Muslims have

come to faith through a dream or through a personal

encounter with Jesus. All the time, they're coming

to Christians and saying, I've had a dream, I've

had a dream, I've had a dream, I've seen him.

And Jesus started this trend a few years ago

by going to the first place in Islam where a

missionary went in 1390, a man called Raymond

Lowell. He went to reach Muslims in northern

Algeria, a place called Boujia. He was martyred

there. They threw stones at him and he was martyred.

He was left for dead. Raymond Lowell on the beach

but some Spanish mariners found him and they

put him on the boat and they began to sail back

to Spain. As they were sailing across to Spain

this man suddenly stood up bolt upright suddenly

faced towards the West and began to start going

into a prophetic almost like a prophetic vision

And he reached out his hand and he said, I can

see an undiscovered continent. He said, peoples

from around the world would come to that continent.

They will be mixed together. And then the fire

of God will hit that continent. And the gospel

of God will just explode out to touch the whole

of the world. He then died in the arms of Christopher

Columbus's grandfather. Christopher Columbus's

grandfather told his son, who told Christopher

Columbus this prophetic word, who then was so

stirred he set out to discover the hidden continent.

There is a destiny in the states. There is a

fire that has fallen and there is yet to be an

explosion out of this continent to touch the

Islamic world. But back a few years ago, God

wanted to demonstrate how quickly he could do

it. And he revisited Bougia. And in one night,

every single family had a visitation from Jesus.

Every family had a dream or encounter with Jesus.

They came running out on the streets. The entire

village was saved, the Kabili people. And the

Kabili people now are the evangelists of North

Africa. They've gone up into the Atlas Mountains.

Many villages have been brought to faith through

the Kabili people. You see, God can do it just

like that. but he wants us to get in on the action

and to enjoy the fun of this end -time harvest.

Many of the top businessmen in the Muslim world,

royalty and the upper -class Muslim families

have Christian nannies because they want educated

people to look after their kids. Most of these

nannies are Christian. They come from India,

they come from the Philippines, they come from

those nations. They're educated because they're

Christian. The girl who brought Rachel up from

India, Wendy, who Rachel's parents picked up

from a rubbish dump. They brought her to healing.

They brought her to Christ. And then she taught

Rachel about Christ as a young child. Rachel

met her years later in England as the nanny to

the princes and the princesses of the Prince

of Abu Dhabi. From a rubbish tip to looking after

the kings and queens of the future. That's what

God's doing in these families. He's ruining them.

because many of the sons know that Christ is

alive. Satellite programs are beamed out right

now, the one that I've been running, the Bible

Channel, Satellite 7, the Miracle Channel. They

are touching the whole of the Muslim world at

the moment. Egypt, if you look prophetically

in Isaiah 19, is called my people. God owns the

mother of the Islamic people. He calls them my

people. That is why Rachel's book is in Arabic

now. That is why Helen is going to be going.

Helen Azer, who was here last year, is going

to go in and out of Egypt. They've been to the

cave church there, where they have about 20 ,000

people meeting in this cave. The underground

church was multiplying it 100 % a year in Cairo

and 600 % a year outside in the villages. It

is exploding. The largest Christian, the largest

Islamic nation of 200 million already is 25 %

Christian because of the speed of conversion.

The Islamic government are too embarrassed to

give statistics. Now as we come to close, nothing

is going to happen unless somebody takes the

gospel. Somebody has got to be willing. to sacrifice

and be sacrificed for the sake of the Gospel.

The Gospel is exploding through the Muslim world

because people have been sacrificing. A man we

worked with, he had 18 attempts on his life.

When they couldn't kill him, they killed his

12 year old daughter. And he still kept on preaching.

I believe God is challenging some of you. As

we start talking about the gates of the next

two days, God is challenging some of you. to

say, come on, this is a nation of comfort, this

is a nation of wealth, this is a nation where

you have all sufficiency. Some of you have got

to be willing to lay everything down. Some of

you may well be called to the Islamic world,

but I don't know whether it's here or it's there.

It's not about crossing the sea, it's about seeing

the cross. Some of you need to see the cross

and be willing to sacrifice your life. and lay

it on the altar. Because no sacrifice, no fire.

Some of you are desperate for the fire of God

in your lives. No sacrifice, no fire. You need

to put your life on the altar. Tonight I know

I've talked for a long time, but I just want

to say a simple challenge out there. Let's just

stand where you are. And I want you to consider

seriously, what is my life worth? What am I doing

with my life? If you want your life to count

in this generation, you need the fire of God

I'm just gonna simply challenge you you may not

well be you may well not be called to the Muslim

world But some of you are but some of you know

that God is tugging your hearts You know that

you know that you know that you're called To

take the gospel to advance the kingdom, but if

you want the fire of God in your life, you need

to humble yourself the foot of the cross. And

I'm just going to ask you to come and kneel at

the front and just say, God, I'm willing to sacrifice

and be sacrificed. I want the fire of God in

my life. Let's just really cry out to him and

say, God, I don't care what it costs. I don't

want my life to be wasted. I so want fire. I

so want your fire in this generation. God, will

you come? Will you come? Will you come? Will

you come? So Fathers, we come to a close tonight.

We just bow at the cross. God, we want to empty

ourselves of every area of compromise, every

area of fear, every area of deception. every

area of uncleanness. God will you do a deep,

deep work. Holy Spirit will you come right now

and draw those things out of us. If you are interested

in hearing other podcasts or contacting Life

Bible Church go to www .lifebiblechurch .org

or call us at 541 -995 -8282.