Wall of Fire

Let me tell you how this prophecy came about. Gwen and I had just returned to our motel in Sacramento, California, after a crusade meeting. I turned on the TV, scanning the dial to find a news program. One of the channels was playing a video musical of a famous — young rock singer. It was so diabolical I could not turn it off — Iwas too stunned by what I saw.

I called Gwen and she, too, was horrified. Demons were caressing the young singer. Skeletons rose from graves. Sadomasochists were beating victims, hideous occult creatures danced with humans; blood spurted, and there were overt displays of violence. It was a vision right out of hell. We simply could not believe television would show such demonic filth.

I turned it off in holy anger, went into the bathroom and knelt, weeping. A terrible, dark foreboding swept over me. I thought of my grandchildren. What will it be like when they are teenagers, if it is so devilish now?

My mind was flooded with tragic images of the moral decay in American society: a nation given over to sex, violence, bloodshed, satanism, sadism and godlessness.

The same week there were news reports of little children being molested in day–care centers all across the nation. An 85–year–old operator of one day–care center was indicted for sexually molesting both boys and girls. Even parents were being jailed, accused of sexually abusing their own children. The stories seemed too dreadful, too frightening to be happening in America.

That very day I was informed that the police in a small northwest city broke up a big drug ring being operated by the most respected doctors, lawyers and businessmen in that town. They were sending teenagers to hell for the almighty dollar.

An elderly woman in Chicago lost $44,000 — her life's savings — to rid her house of "brick cancer." Nation–wide, thousands of elderly people have been embezzled and cheated, leaving them heartbroken and penniless. The criminal contractors and con artists get off scott free and live like kings on their stolen money. Every day the headlines tell of the growing numbers of the elderly who are beaten, robbed and killed in their homes. What kind of perverted minds can perpetrate such violence on helpless, infirm grandparents?

I thought of the millions of children victimized by divorce and separation of parents. What will it be like a decade from now when these angry children take out their hostility on society? What of the three year–old girl in Harlem I saw sitting on the stairs of a dilapidated tenement, trying to stick a toothpick in her arm, pretending it was a needle? She wanted to be like her big junkie brother.

And what about the flood of homosexuality? Will our grandchildren be forced to sit in classrooms where it is taught that homosexuality is a respectable way of life — or even a preferred lifestyle? I wonder if God could take it no longer and sent a curse upon this whole group? AIDS has at least a two year incubation period, just as leprosy. This modem leprosy will eventually destroy more homosexuals than the fire and brimstone did in Sodom.

After what I had just seen on television, and the mental visions of the moral landslide in America, I cannot remember a time when I felt so depressed, so hopeless about the future, so worried about what my children and grandchildren must face.

But the Holy Spirit came upon me, stood me on my feet and poured an encouraging prophetic word into my heart. It was a marvelous experience. I heard no voice, except in the inner man — and it was clear and divine. What I heard from the Spirit took away all the foreboding darkness and dispelled all my worries and fears about the future. Let me share what I saw and heard.

This clear prophetic word sounded in my soul — "GOD IS GOING TO SAVE YOU AND YOUR CHILDREN AND ALL HIS PEOPLE BY BECOMING A WALL OF FIRE ABOUT THEM."

This Wall of Fire will grow higher, wider, more intense as evil increases. God is going to raise up a holier, more righteous, more dedicated, more devoted generation than in any time in history. Where sin abounds, grace will much more abound.

God is going to secure to Himself a holy people, protected by a Wall of Fire — so intense the devil and his hordes will be thrown into chaos, unable to get to those behind God's Wall of Fire.

• I was reminded that God has not been caught unaware of present deteriorating conditions in the land.

Has God not warned us in His Word that evil men would grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived? There would come a great falling away; men would become lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God. God would be mocked; leaders would be ridiculed. Men would be given over to reprobate minds, men turning to men and women to women for sexual pleasure. Men would become heady, high–minded, self–willed, drunken; children would become disobedient to parents. Adulterers and fornicators would flaunt their sins; even Christians would turn to adultery and fornication, while still covering the altar with their tears. Men's hearts would fail them for fear as they watched the calamities falling upon the earth.

• When the enemy comes in like a flood the Spirit of the Lord raises up a barrier. That barrier is a WALL OF FIRE. I was directed by the Spirit to the prophet Zechariah. How glorious it was to find there these amazing words. "For I saith the Lord, will be unto her [God's people] a wall of fire round about, and will be the glory in the midst of her" (Zechariah 2:5).

This prophecy clearly tells us what God is going to do for us, for our children and our grandchildren. As long as the Lord tarries, He will protect His children with a Wall of Fire that Satan and his demon hordes cannot penetrate. Never again will there be but two over-comers who enter the promised land, as Joshua and Caleb. God is going to secure and protect a certain group of believers. Not all who cry Lord, Lord, will enter that Wall of Fire.

• Who are these who will be protected by this great WALL OF FIRE? There can be no mistake about who they are. An angel was sent to mark them and take inventory of those who grieved over sin, personal and national.

Zechariah said, "I lifted up mine eyes again, and looked, and behold a man with a measuring line in his hand. Then said I, Where are you going? And he answered, To measure Jerusalem" (Zechariah 2:1,2).

Ezekiel tells us more of the angel's mission "And the Lord said unto him, Go through the midst of the city,, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and cry for all the abominations that are done in the midst thereof" (Ezekiel 9:4).

The church is the New Jerusalem, the city of God. God is right now taking its measure, setting apart those who have a dread of sin — those who deplore evil in the land and who weep over it.

• The angel was given two other instructions. God, in His determination to raise up a holy city (people) and populate it with a holy multitude, sent forth this message in two parts.

"Come forth, and flee from the land of the north" (Zechariah 2:6).

The north is symbolic of evil, of communism, of its stepchild humanism. Out of the north will come godless armies, marching on Israel.

• Zephaniah warned, "He will stretch out his hand against the north"' (Zephaniah 2:13).

• Jeremiah prophesied, "The Lord said unto me, Out of the north an evil shall break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land" (Jeremiah 1:14).

• Isaiah cried out, "Howl…cry…for there shall come from the north a smoke [or evil influence]" (Isaiah 14:31).

• Jeremiah, speaking for God, said, "Set up the standard toward Zion: delay not: for I will bring evil from the north" (Jeremiah 4:6).

What is this evil wind from the north the angel of God warns us to flee from? It is more than communism. It is more than secular humanism. Those are not the evils that have infiltrated God's house. God's greatest concern is the man–centered gospel now propagated by ministers and, evangelists who are under the influence of this "wind from the north:"

There is an evil wind from the north blowing into God's house, deceiving multitudes of God's chosen people. It is a kind of humanism wrapped in scriptures. It is a scriptural take–off on Napoleon Hill's book, Think and Grow Rich.

This perverted gospel seeks to make gods of people. They are told, "Your destiny is in the power of your mind. Whatever you can conceive is yours. Speak it into being. Create it by a positive mind set. Success, happiness, perfect health is all yours — if you will only use your mind creatively. Turn your dreams into reality by using mind power."

Let it be known once and for all, God will not abdicate His lordship to the power of our minds, negative or positive. We are to seek only the mind of Christ, and His mind is not materialistic; it is not focused on success or wealth. Christ's mind is focused only on the glory of God and obedience to His Word.

No other teaching so ignores the Cross and the corruption of the human mind. It bypasses the evil of our ruined Adam nature, and it takes the Christian's eye off Christ's gospel of eternal redemption and focuses it on earthly gain. Saints of God, flee from this wind from the north! It will lead you to despair and emptiness.

Another wind from the north is pornography and sensual television viewing. I now hear so many confessions from Christians and ministers who have become habituated to pornography, X–rated movies, cassettes, and filthy television programs.

Years ago, in my book THE VISION, I warned that our American homes would become porno palaces where God's people could vex their souls on filthy X–rated TV. Soon, rooftop discs, costing less than $500, will bring into homes all the Playboy satellite programming.

I prophesy here and now, the time is not far off when Christians who are truly devoted to the Lord Jesus Christ will not be able to have a TV set in their homes. Soon, only backslidden Christians will be able to keep one in their homes — and those who sit and watch such filth will become as Lot in Sodom — vexed, immoral and insensitive to all that is spiritual and holy.

The angel of the Lord cries out "Flee, from the spirit of the north — come forth and breathe only the pure air of holiness and separation."

"Deliver thyself, O Zion, that dwellest with the daughter of Babylon" (Zechariah 2:7).

Zion is the church; Babylon is the world. God will no longer permit the daughter of Zion to walk hand–in–hand with the daughter of Babylon.

Israel was told to possess the land from the Jordan to the Euphrates. God closed the Red Sea so they could not go back to Egypt. But their problem was not going back — but going too far!

When the Lord revealed this to me, I saw that the problem in the church today is not backsliding — going back to the bold and outrageous sins of the past. The problem is going too far, presuming on God. You see, Babylon was just beyond the Euphrates, near the border of the Holy Land. The Israelites were crossing over into Babylon, indulging with harlots, and returning to God's house to cover the altar with their tears. God said to them:

• "When I had fed you to the full, then you committed adultery, and assembled yourselves by troops in harlots' houses. Everyone neighed after his neighbor's wife. And that is why your children have forsaken me" (Jeremiah 5:7–8).

• "When you were chastened, you did not grieve…you have refused instructions: you have made your face harder than a rock; you refuse to return" (Jeremiah 5:3).

It doesn't take much discernment to know that America is becoming one great House of Harlotry. But do you know that God's house is now polluted with adultery, homosexuality and fornication? Men of God, well known, now leave their wives and families, pick up with another woman — and they never miss a beat. They go on as heroes — loved and applauded.

Thank God for the growing number of Christians and ministers who have rejected the siren call of the flesh and who are growing in holiness and purity. But God is even now exposing those who are carrying on secret affairs. I prophesy that soon all homosexual pastors and evangelists who claim to be Spirit–filled will be exposed and cast out of the ministry. Some of them have lived a lie for so long they are now spiritually dead. They may have crowds, they may make a lot of noise and appear to be so spiritual — but soon the Holy Spirit of God will bring their secrets all out in the open. The prophet Malachi speaks of a refining fire coming to purge the sons of Levi — the ministry.

Why are the children rebelling? Why are they forsaking the Lord? Zechariah said it is the result of adultery and cheating.

Pastor, evangelist, Christian — Beware! Your sin is soon going to find you out! The daughter of Zion will no longer be permitted to be cozy with the daughter of Babylon. You are going too far! Forsake it! Walk away! If not, the Wall of Fire is not for you. Rather than God's holy mark on your forehead, you face the mark of the beast.

• God is going to fight fire with fire! When fire fighters fight a forest fire, they go ahead of the fire and burn out entire sections, creating fire breaks. The fire dies because there is nothing left to consume.

Our God is a consuming fire. For those willing to walk into that wall of fire, all sin and self will be consumed by His holy fire. When the worldly sins of lust, adultery, sensuality come roaring down, it will find nothing in you to consume. You will be able to say with Christ, "The wicked one cometh and hath nothing in me."

The prayer of all God's devoted people should be, "Oh God — consume me. Let Your holy fires rage through me, burning out all worldly lusts, all pride, all earthly desires that are unchrist like. Prepare me for the troubles and testings that are soon to become so intense and powerful. Refine me in Your blessed fire"

• The Glory of the Lord is within the Wall of Fire! "And I will be the glory in the midst" (Zechariah 2:5). Satan will rage with anger. He and the demons of hell will be confused and thwarted because they do not know what is within that Wall of Fire. They cannot touch it, see it, or stop it. Those within that Wall of Fire are not only safe, they are in the glory.

God's interests are within that wall. Outside the Wall of Fire, there will be confusion and growing chaos. And the worse conditions get, the higher and more intense the Wall of Fire will become. Christ will become to His devoted ones a surrounding wall — aWall of Fire that will never die.

Let the homosexuals and sadists flaunt their evil ways! Let the punkers rock and ridicule society with their silly, evil manners! Let the devil come down to earth with great wrath, knowing his time is short! Let the wicked rage!

Let the communists and humanists preach and practice their atheistic doctrines! Let the nations prepare for war! Let society indulge like fallen Rome! Let the mad masses be consumed with the cares and riches and honors of this doomed world!

None of this matters now to those within the Wall of Fire! All that matters to those within the Wall is the glory of God. Those who see and touch that glory will go forth into all the world — still within the Wall of Fire — and they will bring true life to all they touch.

Ten men, from all nations and languages, shall take hold of them, saying, "We will go with you for we see God in you" (Zechariah 8:23).

What irresistible witnesses they will be who live within the Lord's Wall of Fire! Men of stature shall come to them; they shall fall down before them seeking help and consolation, making supplication to them, because, "surely God is in thee" (Isaiah 45:11,14).

"Even to him shall men come" — to him who has found in Christ righteousness and strength (Isaiah 45:24). The man within the Wall of Fire will be sought out by those in need. He will not have to seek out those who are in despair — they will instead seek him out.

• The future is bright and glorious for those who claim His promise to be a Wall of Fire! God has forever dispelled from me any fear or concern about my children's future. Should the Lord tarry, our children and grandchildren will have about them a wall higher, wider, hotter than in any other generation.

There is coming a new pioneer spirit for the work of the Lord among the young generation. Even now young married couples are flocking back to the inner city to raise up churches. One of my own sons now pastors an inner city church in downtown Detroit. In nearly every major city now dozens of house churches are springing up. Bold, fearless, devoted, Christ–consumed young couples are giving their all for the gospel. I marvel at what is happening. The churches once fled to the suburbs — now God is raising up modern day street evangelists who are putting the devil to chase in our corrupt cities. They know what it means to be surrounded by God's Wall of Fire.

"Thus saith the Lord of hosts; If you will walk in my ways, and If you will obey my instructions, then you shall judge my house, and keep my courts — AND I WILL GIVE YOU PLACES TO WALK AMONG THESE THAT STAND BY" (Zechariah 3:7).

This Wall of Fire is not stationary. God promises the obedient a place to walk among those who stand by. The Wall of Fire is that invisible force round about those who walk in the holy fear of God and who live in obedience and total dependence upon the Lord.

Look to the Lord today, and claim His promise to be to you a Wall of Fire round about. Expect His glory to be revealed. Pray for your children! Believe and claim this promise for them. That is exactly what the Holy Spirit has led me to do. I, by faith, will see my posterity behind that Wall of Fire.