Marc Dupont Ministries

Biblical Grace Under Assault

God’s grace does not give us the freedom to do what we like and get away with it. It releases the power of God’s Word and Spirit to become individuals conformed to Christ.

Over the last few years a number of ministries have embraced a perception of grace that, Biblically speaking, is demonically distorted. True God given grace does not give us the freedom to do what we would like and get away with it. Rather, it releases to us the power of God’s Word and Spirit to become individuals conformed to Christ Jesus. Two passages found in Romans- 8.29 & 12.2 both address the conformity God is after in our lives. Perhaps more directly to the point, however, is Peter’s writing found in 1 Peter 1.14-16, which reads:

“As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

1) The assault of Old New Age Gnosticism

There are three primary sources feeding the current perversion of grace. First is a resurgence of Gnosticism. This, in essence, as with much of ancient Gnosticism, is a false separation between what is spiritual and what is physical. In ancient Gnosticism there was the teaching that the two were completely unrelated. In effect the belief was that what one believed and nourished in the spiritual realm was unrelated and untouched by one’s actions within the physical realm.

The emerging Gnosticism in the contemporary church is not so much due to a deliberate teaching as it is from a growing ignorance and ignoring of the Word of God. In some church circles where things like prophecy, healing, and impartations of the Holy Spirit are valued there is also, unfortunately, a devaluation of the written word of God. This vacuum of ignorance has sucked many into a spiritual climate with a lack of regard for the holiness of God. That holiness is what we were born again to experientially walk in. To reference Peter a second time, 2nd Peter 2.20-22 warns that those who have come to know Christ Jesus but return to practicing former sins are like ‘dogs who return to their own vomit’.

To some degree the current hunger for spirituality and spiritual experiences devoid of an appetite for the Person and ways of God is witchcraft. This witchcraft manifests in two essential ways: 1) a hunger for spiritual experiences aside from the Lordship of Christ, and 2) a prevailing of anti authority attitudes. Witches love to move in spiritual dimensions but also despise authority, which is in keeping with the demonic realm. As well, as was with Jezebel, there is usually a fascination with perverse sexuality. To sum up modern day Gnostic traits emerging in the church there is a hunger for spirituality while there is a de-emphasizing of the Lordship of Christ governing one’s attitudes and actions. The false application of grace provides the loophole to continue in doing what one feels like doing and still praying the prayer “bless me, Lord”!

What has also, in a huge way, fed into current Gnosticism is a de-emphasizing of the Biblical mandate to make disciples. In many churches today the gospel is reduced to the two things: 1) free fire insurance, to escape the flames of hell, and 2) consistent teaching from the pulpits that God simply wants to give us formulas for success regardless of our lifestyles. Of course, God does want to bless people, but not apart from our embracing God’s principal of dying to self and living for Christ by embracing Christ’s ways. Galatians 6.7 reads: “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap.”

If we sow to carnality that is exactly what we will reap- bondage and death, on many differing levels. The growing mantra today is “it’s okay to do what you like. God will forgive you.” Forgiveness is the result of repentance. Repentance, essentially, means to see things from a higher perspective (God’s vantage point) and to change one’s behavior accordingly.  The remedy is church leaders must return to preaching the gospel of ‘the kingdom’ that Jesus preached and seek ‘its righteousness’ not merely its blessings. Otherwise, when a so-called Christian is continually grieving the Holy Spirit it is the spirit of this age that rules them, not the Spirit of the living God!

2) The Assault of Fear

As much as the church growth movement has been a help to many leaders for the last several decades, I believe, it has also proven to be a curse for some. It has mandated the wrong measuring stick. God measures the success of leadership by things like obedience, fruitfulness, and the making of disciples. Strictly using the ‘nickels, noise, and numbers formula’ to qualify/quantify one’s ministry is like trying to assess heaven by earth’s standards. By many church standards today Jesus would have to be labeled as a poor leader due to His message of ‘eating His body, and drinking His blood’. Because of that message He went from the multitudes following Him to barely the twelve. It would be a contemporary pastor’s worst nightmare. Jesus, however, measured success by obedience to the Father, not the accolades of man or the size of the crowd!

Proverbs 25.29 states “the fear of man brings a snare, But he who trusts in the LORD will be exalted.” Due to success being primarily measured purely by numbers there has come about a great fear of offending church attendees by saying the wrong thing from the pulpit. That ‘wrong thing’ too often means anything that might cause that attendee to stop attending. Without necessarily intending to we can inadvertently become pleasers of men rather than of God. We must constantly remind ourselves that the gospel message itself (if Biblically preached) is offensive. It is offensive simply because God calls people to die to themselves and change their behavior. Less than a changed lifestyle is less than Biblical Christianity.

When the incomplete message of ‘it’s okay, God loves you just the way you are’ prevails there will be very little room for the Spirit’s conviction for change. The other half of that message is begging to be preached: “He also loves you too much to leave you the way you are”! Yes, by all means let’s be as welcoming and as friendly as the good news itself to all. But a physician who won’t warn a patient about a growing cancer tumor out of fear of depressing, or offending that patient is a lethal care giver! There is after all a sorrow the Spirit can release that leads one to repentance. (2^nd Corinthians 7.10)

We need to learn to discern between religious condemnation and the Holy Spirit’s conviction. The former wraps people up in the legalism of religion, while the latter opens people up to the potential of healing and abundant life in Christ!

The current statistics of 50% percent of all Bible believing, church going Christian men and 20% of the same group of women being addicted to pornography tell us that something is seriously out of order in the church today.  As if that is not enough of a problem there is almost the same percentage of divorce in the church as there is among non-church goers. If the ancient boundaries that God has established for healthy living are moved then we have managed to learn to graze in the camp of the enemy without fear of consequences! If the foundations are destroyed, or at least obscured, what can the righteous do?

We can begin by proclaiming and praying for a return to God’s standards of ‘grace based holiness’. If judgment starts first with the household of God, then it is probably a safe bet that judgment will start first with the gatekeepers of the church- leaders. We can either fear man, or fear God, but not both at the same time.

3) The Assault of Unsanctified Compassion

Due to past movements, which practiced a focus on the control of individual Christians, the word ‘accountability’ has almost been thrown out the window. Accountability, Biblically speaking, is not so much a thing of control, but rather of encouragement and strength. The truth is all healthy relationships demand some sort of accountability in order to function well. A relationship where there is a fear, or pride, based resistance to honesty is doomed to fail to reach it’s potential.

Out of fear of treading on people rights, or offending people in one’s church, accountability has become neglected. So when problems arise due to ongoing destructive behavior (sin) there is too often the tendency to issue blessings based on ‘unsanctified compassion’. Many church attendees and members want prayers of blessing and breakthrough despite the fact that the hurtful condition they are in may be due to reaping what they’ve sown. To continually bless some one who will not truly repent (change) from destructive behavior is comparable to giving throat lozenges to some one dying of throat cancer and thinking that because the pain is temporarily gone all is well.

In contrast to unsanctified compassion Paul and Jesus were seemingly harsh. Paul wrote,  “if anyone is not willing to work, then he is not to eat” regarding the distribution of charity to poorer church members. There was absolutely no sense of unearned entitlement with Paul! Obviously, he was not speaking of those who simply could not work. When it comes to those who refuse to stop coarse sinning Jesus said to treat them as sinners, not as redeemed members of a congregation. (Matthew 18.17) Jesus also, categorically, without any ambiguity what so ever, stated that a man who leaves his wife to marry another woman is to be treated as an adulterer- a flagrant practicing sinner. (Matthew 19.9) Of course, this is excepting when his wife first committed adultery. Today there is a veritable plague of men and women in church leadership abandoning the ‘wife (or spouse) of their youth’ for a younger version! Truths regarding marriage, such as oneness and covenant, which God emphasizes have been treated as obsolete by many current ministry leaders. God simply sees this as sin on a grand scale. Yet the church has learned to sweep adultery, financial impropriety, substance abuse, and many other sins under a heavy carpet incorrectly labeled ‘grace’.

The love of Christ does not negate accountability. Rather, it gives a context for which healthy accountability can function.

There are those who claim that it is incorrect to call Christians into account for sin due to a very lopsided view of the grace of the cross. Please note: I am not speaking of those in the process of coming to Christ, but those who claim to be Christians and desire good standing within a congregation, or a ministry.

The grace of the cross is simply not available aside from truth. The apostle John tells us that not merely mercy was realized through the cross but ‘grace AND truth were realized through Jesus’. (John 1.17) Psalm 85.10 tells us “loving kindness and truth have met together; Righteousness and peace have kissed each other.” This is a prophetic picture of the grace of Christ. To claim forgiveness, as in one’s sins being washed away without truth (repentance) renders transformation an impossibility.

Should we have compassion for victims of sexual and substance addiction? Totally! But Biblical compassion is far more than feeling sympathy for the victim. It is to be moved by God in such a way that we lovingly call the victim into a sense of responsibility for their choices and assist them in reaching out to the power of God’s compassion. It must be stated, however, that God will not violate one’s free will. One must make the decision to reach out to God and trust in His power to change. That power through the Word and in the Holy Spirit cannot be experienced aside from repentance. We must take repentance out of the dusty church closet of shame and condemnation and view it as a great gift that God has given us to move towards wholeness & holiness.

Pseudo Restoration

Due to the onslaught of adultery taking place among church leaders today there has arisen a common scenario of what I call ‘pseudo restoration’. Pseudo restoration is a less than a real healing process that in many ways is simply waiting until the dust settles and then reinstating the still fallen leader back into their ministry position. Pseudo restoration has more to do with spinning the message than it does true accountability of the messenger.

Just because an individual takes a short break from ministry does not necessarily mean the root issues have been dealt with! It takes real time to realize God’s convicting truth in one’s innermost being. Merely feeling sorry for being caught and the damage one may have caused by one’s sins is less than knowing truth on a deep, deep level.

Partially the syndrome of quick fix restoration is due to the church not always grasping the importance of Christ like character being the foundation for one’s ministry. But, mainly, it is due to unsanctified compassion. We say ‘look at the high calling’ and ‘well, there under so much stress due to ministry’. Both are an affront to God. How can one claim to be a servant of Jesus and refuse to honor the ways of Jesus? Jesus after all stated that if we truly love Him we will obey His commandments- the Word of God!

True restoration takes time.

As stated it takes time to allow God’s truth to filter past layers of guilt, shame, and bring about deep down change at the root level. It takes time to rebuild equity and trust between a leader and his/her followers and supporters. It takes time to close the doors to condemnation so that the enemy can no longer manipulate one through the memories of sin. It takes time simply to rebuild trust in one’s own self towards one’s own will. When we see patterns over several years of sexual sin, or financial impropriety, or substance abuse some of the blame lies at the church which places greater value on that stumbling leader’s ministry than on the leader as a person in need of true, not false, compassion.

“If the foundations are destroyed what can the righteous do?”

(Psalm 11.3) Edmond Burke is credited to have written “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” I believe that God is calling church leaders today to rise up and begin to champion grace based holiness. Grace based holiness is teaching the truth in love, without condemnation!  While the foundation of Christianity can never be destroyed we can quench the Holy Spirit to the degree that we render the church impotent in moving in the fullness of the grace and power He has for us. He is after all ‘the Holy Spirit’. I believe that God is calling the contemporary church to essentially four responses in regards to the plague of misperceived grace, which is afflicting many ministries and congregations.

1)   Pray for a revelation of God’s heart and power to walk, model, and champion grace based holiness especially for leaders. Let’s cry out for a revelation that would cause us to echo the cry heard around  God’s throne- ‘holy, holy, holy’. Isaiah 6.3 & Revelation 4.8

2)   Begin to boldly, yet, with love & humility, educate and encourage the church in what the Bible has to say regarding healthy behavior to the point of hating sin! It is possible to hate sin, and yet love sinners- after all Jesus did it.

3)   Become intentional about taking to heart Paul’s admonishment to “not grieve” (offend) the Holy Spirit- the very presence of God in our lives and midst! After all we no longer belong to ourselves. He is the one who is in us to do His will & good pleasure.

4)   When serious sins do emerge in the life of a leader, let’s learn to value them as a person, more than their ministry. Let’s take the time to deal with the source of the issues rather than simply putting on the band-aid of ‘time out’.

Marc A. Dupont

Mantle of Praise Ministries, Inc.

November 2010

Who’s on the throne of the local Church- the princes of profit, or the prophetic Serving King?

For more than the first half of the last century the overwhelming challenge for the church came from those Bible and Seminary teachers who championed a liberal perspective of the Scriptures. Truths such as the virgin birth of Christ and the infallibility of the Scriptures were not only questioned but often times derided and rejected as foolish by the very people who should have been championing God’s supernatural power interacting with our natural limitations. That battle has largely been won by those who believe the Bible as being completely true and completely inspired by the word of God. It is interesting that certain groups such as some Anglicans in the UK and some Episcopalians in the US who have theologically embraced liberal moral standards due to a liberal interpretation of the Scriptures have themselves been recently derided and rejected by their African counterparts within their respective denominations.

This battle is well addressed by Pastor Mark Hoffman in his book “On Earth, as it is in Heaven”. One particular chapter is aptly titled “the battle for the soul of the church”. In the final section for Pastors and leaders Mark concludes with the argument that the huge battle we currently face is the tension between churches and leaders who are Kingdom led and inspired versus those who are church growth led and inspired. The former group places a much higher priority and dependency on prayer, worship, and God’s voice, and power where as the latter group is more focused on prevailing methodology based on what ‘seems to be working’ in today’s culture. No matter how learned we may be it seems that each leader needs a personal revelation that they cannot face today’s giants while wearing another king’s armor.

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A message for church leaders by Doug Roe, senior pastor of the Dayton Vineyard Christian Fellowship, of Dayton, Ohio

Last summer I found myself on a road trip with a group of pastors who were pondering the pitfalls and struggles of ministry. As we were talking I offered the following challenge: A struggling pastor could escape those pitfalls if he could make five basic changes in how he approaches life and ministry.

Later, one of the ministers remembered my words and asked me if indeed I thought that reshaping one’s ministry could be as simple as “Five easy steps.” I reassured him that I truly believe this is possible and went on to explain how I have lived this out over the last eleven years of my life. I explained how it took me 2 years to realize I was how terribly I was stuck! Our church lacked both growth and excitement. In short, we bordered on boredom. So I began to seek God and to ask Him to teach me what needed to change. At the time, our congregation consisted of about 50 people. Now, about 3,000 people call the Dayton Vineyard their church home. The real excitement to me is not how many attend but how much is happening each week. In the last month we have seen over 250 people turn their lives over to Jesus Christ. We have also seen about 25 people receive physical healing. One couple who had given up on having children announced that they are now expecting twins!

I attribute these successes to the following changes that God has made in my life:

# 1 Create an encouraging environment

One Monday morning after a somewhat difficult Sunday service, I found myself sitting at McDonalds pondering what had happened the day before. Some kind soul had delivered a “prophecy” declaring that we were going to have a huge snow storm the following week. We were also admonished to buy candles, water, and blankets. The only problem was that it was the middle of the hottest summer Dayton had experienced in many years! Coincidentally that same Sunday, three families decided it was time to find a new church home. So there I was, sitting in McDonalds drinking my coffee and asking God for help. I felt that the Holy Spirit asked me what it was I liked about McDonalds. I reasoned that it was because I liked the consistency of the product, the friendly atmosphere, and the play area for kids. I then felt the following challenge: “If you create an atmosphere like this on Sunday morning, I will fill it with lost and hurting people that need God.” Later, I summed up that encounter by declaring that from now on, the atmosphere of the Dayton Vineyard would be, “Safe, Fun, and Anointed.”

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by Marc A. Dupont, January 6, 2009

When God allows us to be hemmed in by impossibilities, He is merely setting the stage for us to experience the miraculous!

Jesus warned that the last days would be typified by wars, rumors of war, earthquakes, and famines. (Matthew 24.6 & 7). While it is hard to absolutely state we are in the “last” last days, the years of 2008 & 2009 certainly are experiencing the very things Jesus spoke of. In a parallel prophecy, Haggai predicted everything that could be shaken would be shaken! (Hag.2.6 & 7). As with Jesus’ prophesy, Haggai’s is in many way being fulfilled, as well. Everything from the global economies and politics to the weather patterns have been shaken over the last few years. Historic cold and snow in places like S. America and S. Africa, the western world economies being shaken (complete with the island nation of Iceland basically bankrupt) and as 2009 began- fierce fighting between Israel and Hamas terrorists in Gaza. As if that were not enought there is the fighting in Iraq, Afghanistan, the heightened tensions between Pakistan and India, and the genocide, which has taken, place in Darfur, and a severe cholera epidemic in Zimbabwe!

There is a very different side of the coin regarding these prophecies, however. On the one side are the disasters- natural, economic, war and the threat of war. The mitigating factor, herein, is fear. The fear factor of these disasters is exponentially multiplied far beyond the mere sum of the events. Completely contrary to naturally minded thinking regarding the state of the world, however, is what God has spoken and is speaking! Haggai encouraged us to not be afraid- due to the fact that God’s Spirit is abiding in our midst. Jesus Himself stated that when all of these things were to happen to not be afraid, nor to let our hearts grow cold- dulled through fear and unbelief.

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by Marc Dupont, August 2008

Since the beginning of the Charismatic movement in the sixties there has been a fresh exploration of the spiritual gifts within the Body of Christ worldwide. While moves of the Holy Spirit replete with the operation of the spiritual gifts have taken place since the beginning of the church (the church was birthed on the day of Pentecost- a day of great power in the Holy Spirit), the charismatic movement ushered in a fresh hunger for everyday Christians to move in the charisma gifts of the Spirit. It is clear from the Apostle Paul’s epistle to the church of Corinth that everyday Christians are to be seeking after the supernatural gifts of the Spirit. (1 Cor. 14.1)

Historically speaking, however, with a few exceptions, the realm of the spiritual gifts has been reserved by church leaders as strictly for church leaders. In the famous Pentecostal moves of the Holy Spirit over the last 100 years it has primarily been the well known evangelists, preachers, prophets, and apostles, and to a lesser degree the pastors and elders of Pentecostal type churches who ministered with the gifts of healing, miracles, word of knowledge, prophecy, etc.

Over the last forty years, or so, since the heyday of the charismatic movement there have arisen a number of charismatically gifted men and women who have had a God given burden for releasing everyday men and women in the gifts of the Holy Spirit. People like John Sandford, Francis McNutt, John Wimber, and Ian Andrews are just a few of those contemporary pioneers who did what Jesus did with His disciples. He modeled, trained, and released people into the supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit for the work of the Kingdom of God. Today a large portion of the body of Christ in the Western world nations can trace their current focus on team ministry to what was rebirthed in the church at large in the sixties with the Charismatic movement and especially in the 70’s and 80’s as many traditional churches caught vision of team ministry. Today there are millions of Christians all over the world who take seriously the Apostle Paul’s encouragement to seek after the spiritual gifts (1 Cor. 14.1). In this article I would like to briefly discuss some of the root differences between the charisma gifts of the Holy Spirit and the callings God gives for our very lives.

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by Marc Dupont, May 2008

In September of 06’ I wrote an article entitled “Something Wonderful is Happening”. The gist of the article had to do with the increase of freedom for healings and miracles the Holy Spirit was releasing. I equated the season with the “certain seasons” of John 5, when an angel of the Lord would stir the waters of the Pool of Bethesda. As well, I related in the article how I had sensed the Lord say to me in the mid 80’s that many in leadership at that time would live to see a great freedom for healing, miracles, and evangelism such as experienced in parts of Africa, Asia, and S. America that have helped produce authentic revivals.

We received quite a bit of positive feedback from a number of ministries globally who, basically, were experiencing the same sort of increase for healings, miracles, and signs and wonders. Since that time, some 18 months ago, there has continued to be consistent increases of the Kingdom of God moving in the power of God’s compassion.

Now, however, in the spring of 08’ (for those nations in the Northern hemisphere) there is a definite increase again! The picture, as I see it, consists of huge waves coming in to shore, but also with the tide coming in. When the tide is out even if there are waves they don’t have much impact unless one is far out in the waters. When the tide is in, however, you don’t have to go very far to experience the might of the ocean.

There are two occasions in the gospel books of Jesus instructing disciples who were fishing to try again. The first occasion is in Luke 5 when Peter, James, and John (future disciples at that moment) had been fishing all night without any catch of fish. Jesus, having had Peter take him out in his boat in order to speak to the crowd then instructed him to merely go out to deeper waters and let out the nets. Peter, although doubtful, did as Jesus instructed and then had to signal for the other boats to come out and join him because of the size of the catch. Peter, according to Luke 5.8 &9, was seized with amazement and immediately humbled himself before Jesus in the boat and, essentially, worshipped Jesus. As I wrote about in the afore mentioned article, God is doing things that are truly wonderful so that again the church might be caught up with a sense of awe and wonder regarding the person of God.

Some 3 years later, after the crucifixion and resurrection, Peter and six of the other disciples have turned back to fishing as they are not quite sure where Jesus is at and what He is doing. And just like that meeting of Peter with Jesus in Luke 5 they have again fished all night but have not caught any fish. This time however, rather than telling them to go out to deeper waters Jesus, standing on the shore, simply told them to let out the nets on the right hand side of the boat. John 21. 6 reads: “So they cast, and then they were not able to haul it in because of the great number of fish”. Many, many churches and leaders have over the last many years, including the last 18 months gone into the deeper waters of the Holy Spirit. And for sure, all of our lives should be characterized by growth in God, and learning to walk more fully in the ways of God. Knowing, however, that even though sanctification and consecration are life long pursuits, there does come God’s sovereign times of reaping exponentially where we have been sowing. Two years ago it was a time for going into the deeper waters of faith, intimacy with God, and pursuing the Kingdom. Now, however, the tide has come in and we don’t have struggle so far out in the waters to catch the wave the Holy Spirit is bringing. It’s not a matter of going into deeper waters, but simply, go to the other side of the boat, if where we’re at is not happening.

Over the last 4 weeks, or so, I have had numerous calls and emails asking me what I think about the outbreak of revival in Lakeland, Florida. Without having had the opportunity to visit the meetings I can only say I am tremendously excited. Several days after the meetings began I received a group email that Todd Bentley’s ministry sent out to many leaders. As I read it I felt a leap of the Holy Spirit with in me. Along with many others, I have believed for years now that we would live to see times when our stadiums would be filled with people worshipping God and experiencing the power and glory of God. While this sort of thing is common in parts of Africa and a few other places it is very uncommon in our western world cities. I believe Lakeland to be a picture of what’s going to come about on a wide level.

While there have been and, indeed are a few evangelists who do pack out large venues and move in the Holy Spirit’s gifts; for the most part they are old school. They are old school in the sense that although they are there to see people get saved, healed, and delivered, their ministry very much centers around their ministry, their gifting, and their calling. While the kingdom does move through them they are to some degree less than fully Biblical in their focus. The apostle Paul wrote to the church of Ephesus that the pastors, teachers, evangelists, prophets, and apostles are not given to the church merely to do ministry but rather “for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ: until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.”

If we talk about “new school” evangelistic and prophetic ministries we can say that they not only move themselves in the power and revelatory gifts of the Spirit, but more importantly, they impart gifts to others and train everyday Christians in the gifts of the Holy Spirit. In the times I have been with Todd Bentley I have been impressed by His heart and passion for not just ministering in the gifts, but for training and equipping every day saints to do the same. In short, I believe Lakeland is a torch of faith and encouragement for Christians everywhere that we are very much in the deeper waters and it’s very much a time to just let out the nets and begin to see the exponential increase of the catch God wants to bring.

One of many noteworthy miracles I have recently seen the Lord do originated while I was in Johannesburg, S. Africa in December of last year. While ministering in some meetings there I received words of knowledge from the Lord to pray for people with various types of cancer. One of the types, in particular, was cancer of the blood. At the end of the meeting a lady came up and asked if she could receive prayer in proxy for a friend dying of this type of cancer in Scotland. I agreed and laid hands on her as she stood in for her friend thousands and thousands of miles away.After receiving prayer for her friend she went home and called her friend in Scotland and related the prayer and prayed for her. Almost immediately, her friend reported back a dramatic improvement in health. After several days the doctors were seeing a great improvement in her and ordered a round of blood tests. When they saw the results they thought they had mixed up the chart with another patient’s as these tests showed a cancer free patient!

The day I began to write this article I received a phone call from a businessman in Norway who is very involved with church leaders throughout the body of Christ in his nation. He related to me that recently while I was ministering at a prophetic conference in Kristiansand, Norway a man experienced a very significant healing. He is, in fact, the father of one of the conference organizers. Over 30 years ago, while in a foreign country he was severely beaten to the point of having many bones broken. For over 30 years he has been in great pain. While in the prophetic seminar he was completely healed!

The first healing mentioned transcended thousands and thousands of miles. The second transcended over 3 decades. Like the man at the pool of Bethesda who had been lame for 38 years, or like the man born blind in John 9, we are definitely in a Kingdom season where God is rending the heavens and releasing the power of His compassion in the western world nations. It is very much a time for those who know the times and seasons- like the Sons of Issachar, to rise up. It’s time for fresh vision, focus, and energy to throw out the nets, for the harvest is, indeed ripe and the catch is ready to be caught!

“The sons of Issachar, were men who understood the times, with knowledge of what Israel should do” 1 Chron. 12.32

by Marc Dupont, September 2006

The word “wonderful” is not really part of my active vocabulary. I think this stems back from when I was about 8 years old. When we would visit my grandmother we would be forced to watch the Lawrence Welk show. Lawrence Welk, inevitably, would comment “wonnerful, wonnerful” after many of the songs and dances. And then the Beatles made their first appearance in the US on the Ed Sullivan show, which was broadcast nationwide. You instinctively knew in two minutes the Beatles would never use the word wonderful to describe their music. At that precise time in my life the word “wonderful” became associated with the archaic and boring.

The current pop word for “wonderful” is “awesome”. Although the word “awesome” is more in tune with my generation, I refuse to use the word because it has been so trivialized. For example, if a waitress brings a hamburger that really looks good the customer might look at it and proclaim “awesome”. Just as the word “wonderful” was trivialized, so has the word “awesome”.

The true meanings of both words have to do with things, events, and acts that are simply amazing. Not so much things and events that are nice, pleasant, and even a blessing. But, rather, things that are so out of the ordinary that they are baffling. For that reason, Biblically speaking, miracles and healings are sometimes referred to as “signs and wonders”, as in wonderful. The book of Acts tells us in the early days church of Jerusalem there was a continual sense of “awe” due to the continual manifest presence of God’s power, holiness, and compassion.

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by David Orton, April 2006

“The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field…” – Mat 13:44

The laws of the Kingdom of God are contrary to the ways of men.

Hidden from the casual seeker, the Kingdom is not superficial to be stumbled upon. It does not lie on the surface and is not obvious – it is “like a treasure hidden in the field”. It is in fact, concealed, obscured from our natural perceptions.

Christ the King – the Rock of Offence

This fact flavors the whole coming of Christ the King in his first advent. The promised Messiah did not come as the anticipated warrior-King delivering Israel from Roman tyranny. To the contrary, born in obscurity he came as a humble Nazarene, the son of Joseph riding on a donkey. Thus, Nathaniel’s exclamation, “Can any good thing come from Nazareth?” (Jn 1:46). Defying human expectation of an earthly kingdom he became a stumbling stone – the rock of offence (Rom 9:32, 33).

Even after association with him as his closest intimates, throughout his earthly ministry, the disciples still misunderstood the Kingdom. After the resurrection and despite forty days of Jesus speaking concerning the Kingdom of God, nursing hopes of a worldly kingdom, they could still ask, “Lord, is it at this time you are restoring the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6).

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by David Orton

Part 1 of 2

“…until a time of reformation”  Heb 9:10

Part 1 of this teaching will explore the spirit of the New Reformation and Part 2 the structure. Christ’s coming triggered a ‘reformation’, inaugurating a new order.

The letter to the Hebrews is a transitional and therefore reformational book. Using both comparison and contrast, it shows the superiority of the new over the old, calling the believing Hebrews into complete transition. With a foot in both camps, they were caught in the external requirements of the old, despite having put their faith in Christ in the new.

The Greek word ‘reformation’ in our text (Hebrews 9:10) is ‘diorthosis’, meaning ‘a making straight, a rectification, correction’. But what was the nature of this ‘reformation’ – what was it rectifying or correcting?

The “Appointed Time”

The answer to this will provide the DNA of every future reformation. Beginning with Christ’s first coming there have been various ‘times of reformation’ in the history of the church.  The word for ‘time’ in our text is ‘kairos’, which is qualitative time, referring to a critical moment, which may not recur, in which certain events and actions must occur. It therefore carries with it a sense of urgency and destiny. This is in contrast to ‘chronos’, referring to quantitative time, to its general flow.

‘Kairos’ moments are ‘appointed times’ in history: “You will arise and have compassion on Zion; For it is time to  be gracious to her, For the appointed time has come.  Surely Your servants find pleasure in her stones And feel pity for her dust.  So the nations will fear the name of the LORD And all the kings of the earth Your glory. For the LORD has built up Zion; He has appeared in His glory.”  Psa 102:13-16

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by Marc Dupont, May 2004

Well over a decade ago I came up with what I called “the 5 Dupontisms”. The 5 Dupontisms were a response to people who asked me for prophetic words that rarely sought the person of God for themselves. While I am a great believer in prophecy and inspired words of exhortation, etc. I believe God intends New Testament prophecy to supplement and/or to encourage one in one’s own priesthood. Our Lord Jesus gave His life in order to restore each of us into a priesthood- a relationship of intimacy with God.

The book of Romans is, most likely, the most important theological book of the New Testament. The heart of Romans, however, is chapter eight. One of the powerful insights the apostle Paul relates in this incredible chapter is found in verse fourteen. He states “all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God”. This is an outstanding statement. Basically, Paul is saying it’s not those who give the most money, who pray the longest, or those who make the greatest sacrifices who are qualified to be called the sons of God. Rather it’s those who through the door of the cross, seek God’s face, and begin to emerge in a communicative relationship. In essence, like Jesus, who was led by the Spirit, we too, because of the forgiveness of sins, can walk in a relationship of intimacy with God .

Hence, the “5 Dupontisms” were a bit of a barbed, rhetorical response to those I sensed needed to press more into God themselves rather than simply looking to another for a vicarious word. The “5 Dupontisms” went like this:

1. Read your Bible
2. Give – time, energy, & money in service
3. Go home- be focused on your own sphere of life
4. Stop sinning
5. Pray more

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