Shadow of the Steeple Ministries

God’s Indignation Reaching the Boiling Point!!  

With all of the recent events taking place in America and most recently the Peace Accords signed with Iran, which is a further step in our forsaking God’s Chosen People, our beloved America stands squarely in the cross hairs of God’s impending judgment.  The shooting in Chattanooga is only the beginning of what will become commonplace across our land, even on a much larger scale.  Our only hope is for revival and that it takes place prior to the cataclysmic events that will totally decimate our land.  Revival, defined as a renewed zeal to serve God, an increased awareness of the presence of God, a new love for God and His Word, a new hatred for sin, resulting in a great harvest of souls being born into the Kingdom of God.  

We perhaps have a little time before the dreadful events begin, however, we must join forces in prayer for revival…that it first begins with each of us and then spreads to family, church and community.  Every prior revival has come about as a result of….a concerted, united and sustained prayer effort.  It’s time to pray as individuals as small groups and churches.  Now would be a good time for us to throw away some of our denominational differences and join forces and ask God to send revival…for the sake of our children and grandchildren.

Our church began meeting on Sat. evenings several weeks ago and praying specifically for revival.  God is looking for intercessors to stand in the gap and to make a difference.  Pray for protection for our families and friends and prepare us for what lies ahead and most importantly to pray for those who are lost without a Savior.  Time is short!!!

Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.  Luke 21:36

If you too feel a burden to pray for revival, share this email with others on your list. Most of all find someone or some group to pray with…ask God to send a revival that will sweep over this entire region.

Don Harkins

Shadow of the Steeple Ministries

David Brainerd poured a lifetime of holy passion, prayer and preaching into four short years. He ministered from 1743-1747 among the Native Americans, dying of tuberculosis at the age of 29. Brainerd once wrote in his diary, I longed to be a flame of fire continually glowing in the divine service and building up of Christ’s kingdom to my last and dying breath. That prayer was abundantly answered.

Charles Spurgeon, the great theologian and preacher of the Gospel wrote that….his entire theology could be condensed into four words……Christ died for Me! in reality this should be sufficient motivation for all of us to be determined to pray and pray diligently until revival touches our lives, our family, our church and the entire community surrounding our church.

Continue praying for revival. May we pray as if our life and the life of our children and grandchildren depended upon it. Consider praying that soon all of the empty seats of our churches are filled with lost people, who are seeking the touch of all mighty God upon their lives and lives of their family. After praying in that manner, it’s incumbent upon us to go into the highways and to compel them to come join us in our services.

I pray that we have a Brainerd among us who will step up and become a “flame of fire” glowing and illumnating the darkness around us in this wicked world.

Our Lord is definitely up to something and revival is on the way. Soon our buildings will be overflowing with men and women despeately seeking answers to life’s perplexities. I pray that we have sufficient trained workers who can minister to and disciple the throngs soon heading our way.

God bless,

Don Harkins
www.sos-go.com

are we guilty?

In Matthew 12:13, our Lord was very strong in his rebuke and subsequent cleansing of the temple by casting out all of them that sold and bought and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves (poor man’s sacrifice).  And He said unto them, It is written, My House shall be called The House of Prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.

So, what was wrong with what they were doing in the temple? Was it the commerce? Was it the selling of items and the exchange of money that was the problem? We like to take it there but let’s consider that maybe this was a spiritual problem and those things were only the outward display of the problem. Notice that Jesus commands them with few words, but those words are a quote from scripture found in  Isaiah 56:7.  He doesn’t just tell them that it is wrong for them to buy and sell in the temple. He instead goes directly to the real problem which is that the temple is no longer a true house of prayer. The blessing that the temple should be to the people has been “stolen” and it is now a weight upon the shoulders of the poor, lost souls.

As a testament to answered prayer and when the churches were truly Houses of Prayer, we can trace back to instances where the church engaged in intense prayer…back to the Upper Room, the First and Second Great Awakenings, the New York Prayer Revival just prior to the Civil War, the Welsh Revivals and others and see how God moved in miraculous ways.  I can personally attest to the fact that when the church which I belong to prayed many years ago….suddenly a “spirit of prayer” swept over the entire congregation and God shook that place and they went out and turned their world upside down for Christ.  As a result, a dozen or so young men were called into the ministry, cottage prayer meetings were organized throughout the surrounding  mill villages, four or five sister churches were established and are still vibrant even today and a dynamic prayer group was organized and still petitioning God on behalf of the needs of others some 60 plus years later.

Even though prayer is a popular subject in the Christian Book Stores and we have continuous seminars and conferences on the subject, we still read of statistics that the church prays less now than any time in the last 60 years.  Further, the alarming polls which indicate that both clergy and laity pray only a few minutes a day is an indication of the Prayer Condition of our churches.  Most of us including the clergy most often rely upon our own abilities, training and know-how to operate from week to week. And we normally only go to our knees and pray when we hit a hard place in the road.

So, how is that scenario in the early Temple any different than what is so evident in the modern-day, Western Evangelical Church.  Who suffers or who loses out or in theory robbed when the church does not pray or how could the Modern Day Church also be accused of the same charges placed upon the early church some 2,000 years ago.  Consider the 60 million babies that have been aborted, because the church did not pray. Our children face danger every day in the schools and are no longer allowed to read the Bible or pray, because the church did not pray.  America’s pornography, alcohol and drug epidemic continues to rise, because the church did not pray.  Untold millions are perhaps lost and suffering in hell today, because the church did not pray. And we could go on and on and identify other social ills and those who have lost out because many of our churches have not been a true House of Prayer as intended by our Lord. This was and is real crime; the theft that God will not allow to continue. 

If our Lord were to visit our church and each of us individually today, what would He find displeasing to Him and what would He in turn throw out as He’s done previously in the Temple. Perhaps, He would find an overemphasis of music, entertainment and non-essential programs and meetings and make the plea that His House once again becomes a House of Prayer. And in His personal visit, what would be the outcome. Out of 168 hours God gives us each week, how much time do we  spend in prayer versus time spent on watching the T.V., the computer, the IPhone, movies, entertainment or even time spent following our favorite team or favorite celebrities.

The big issue remains that after evaluating the above, do we continue business as usual or do we turn to God for such a time as this.  In 11 Chronicles 7:14 and Revelations 3:19, we are given the road map to Revival and the elements necessary for revival, namely humility, repentance and prayer. God help us all to Pray earnestly for Revival for the sake of our children and grandchildren!   True Revival awakens in our hearts an increased awareness of the presence of God, a new love for God, a new hatred for sin, and a hunger for His Word. – Fehsenfeld.

 Time is running out and Jesus is Coming Soon!

Don Harkins
Shadow of Steeple Ministries
www.sos-go.com

The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble, and He knoweth them that trust in Him. Nahum 1:7

There’s much being written today concerning a possible cyber attack upon America’s electric grid via an EMP, which several nations including China, N. Korean, Iran and other rogue nations now have the capability to launch over America. Gone, at least for a period of time would be all of our electronic devices….TV’s, phones, lights, etc. Most of us have experienced several days without power and remember the hardships we faced during those short periods of time. I shutter, to think of some type of prolonged outage and all of the unrest, chaos and helplessness that will prevail over our entire nation. Perhaps, it would be incumbent upon all of us who are born again Christians to pray with a sense of urgency and become more “intimately acquainted” with the One who reveals the mysteries of the ages to his Beloved and also to encourage our family, friends and others to do the same.

Without being an alarmist, perhaps our Lord will use events like these to get the attention of the Church and thus bring about a great end-time revival. God forbid that happens before the rapture of the church; but if it does, we must be prepared to minister to those who will be roaming aimlessly, searching for help and answers to the great unrest gripping our land. It’s, however comforting to know the One who has the answers and… “knoweth them that trust in Him.”

Don Harkins

We enter a new year with trouble, trials and perplexities on ever hand…in our government, schools, churches, and in our society as a whole.  In light of where we are as a nation and in looking at God’s Word relating to biblical prophecy, one of my prayers for the new year is that God not only gives me wisdom for the hour but also a greater sense of discernment.  Discernment is often described as simply being able to tell right from wrong.  However, in the day in which we live, I believe it goes deeper than basic right and wrong.  I read just today a more eloquent definition as “being able to tell not only right from wrong but more importantly the difference between what is right and what is almost right”.

We are told in Matthew Chapter 7 that there are “Two Ways of Life…the straight and narrow,  and further of the false teachers…Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.” The “Wolves” are all around us and on every corner of life.  We must be vigilant in these last days and warn those around us of these “ravenous wolves.”  As true born again Christians, we are compelled to identify them and point out to others the same, even though we will be classified as being judgmental, out of touch, narrow minded, etc.

“Ye shall know them by their fruits.”  Matthew 7:15-16

Another year has passed so swiftly by and we are now approaching what, for most of us, is the busiest time of the year as we prepare to celebrate Christmas, the birth of the Savior of all mankind. There’s so much to do in preparation for this most eventful occasion…shopping for our loved ones, planning our Christmas Celebrations and cooking our family’s favorites. There will be Office Parties, Church Parties and Programs and finally our celebration with the ones we love the dearest. Countless hours will be spent on decorating our homes and planning just for this one special occasion.

As we consider the true meaning of Christmas and the fact that many of us are recipients of the greatest gift ever afforded mankind, let us not forget the fact that Jesus wants to reign supreme in all of our lives.  For those who have never accepted this gift and to those who have perhaps become wayward, Jesus longs to become our “all in all”.

Just like Mary and Joseph over 2,000 years ago were searching for a room in the inn, so our Lord desires to occupy the throne of our hearts where he rules and reigns over the affairs of our lives.  One commentator writes that we should not desire “more of Him” since we are complete in Him, but rather we should remove “more of the stuff” in our lives so that Christ can indeed have preeminence.

May we all strive to limit our time spent on the mundane and focus more on Him and in spreading His Glorious Gospel to all mankind…to the lost and alone.

And may your heart be filled and overflow with the blessed Hope that we have in Christ during this most joyous time of the year.

A Very, Merry Christmas to You and to Your Family.

Don Harkins    
Shadow Of The Steeple Ministries     website:  www.sos-go.com

By:  Don Harkins

The other day while riding the stationery bicycle at the Greenville Heath System’s Life Center, I noticed a gentleman in front of me whose back of tee shirt read: Live Life….Committed to Fitness. The occasion was my daily, morning routine visit with the purpose of keeping my arthritic knees operational.  I, along with probably 100 others were very committed in our daily routines….walking, running, pulling, stretching and jumping, and some were even stretching their physical prowess to the limits.  In other words, some were laboring and sweating very intensely.  After reading the tee shirt my mind quickly went to this thought.  While there is certainly nothing wrong with the commitment to physical fitness. I wondered how many of those going through rigorous physical exercise were equally committed to their “Personal Spiritual Fitness” and to the spiritual condition of those around them.

Time is such a precious commodity and the lack of time is often the excuse we use in not spending quality time with our Lord.  Recently, I was convicted along these lines pertaining to time.  For years, I had been a “political and sports junkie”, watching, listening and reading everything I could find pertaining to sports and politics. I also spent considerable amount of time writing op/ed. articles to the local newspaper.   I have now realized that these think matter very little when we consider eternity.  With the help of the Holy Spirit my focus has now turned more to: knowing Him and making Him known.

The overreaching question perhaps for all of us to consider might  be:  How much time do we spend in our  everyday life pleasing the natural man as opposed to the quality time that we spend with the Master?…..Time is Short and the later is what will really matter at That Day!