"The Hidden Springs" by Arthur Wallis

One of the traditional charges against the Charismatic Movement in the 1970's and 80's was that there was no much Biblical depth to what the charismatic teachers taught. That charge is becoming less and less viable as Terry Virgo's recent invitation to the FIEC Council suggests. Interestingly enough one charismatic leader who escaped the charge (even Terry himself came under fire at a Westminter fraternal hosted by Peter Lewis for teaching on apostolic ministry) - was Arthur Wallis. Arthur Wallis was very much a statesman of the Charismatic Movement in the United Kingdom like Ern Baxter was in the USA. Arthur always taught with the Word of God first and foremost in his mind. It is with interest then that I present his teaching from a Restoration Magazine I discovered while re-organising some of my library. The theme of the magazine was; "The New Testament Prophet" and contributers to the magazine included David Mansell and Alan Vincent (who worked with Terry Virgo and what was Coastlands for a while).

"A prophet of God" - what does the phrase conjure up in your mind? Moses stretching out his rod to part the Red Sea? Elijah calling down fire from heaven? Or maybe Agabus predicting a severe famine throughout the world? In this article we are not so concerned with the spectacular revelations of the prophet, as with the hidden springs of his life and ministry. Or to put it more colloquially, let's find out what makes the prophet tick.

According to God's estimate being takes precedence over doing. In other words God's primary concern is with a man's character and only secondarily with his ministry. The reason for this is not far to seek. What we do must spring from what we are and if what we do appears more spiritual than what we are, sooner or later (and it is usually sooner) our doing is sabotaged.

This is vividly illustrated by the tragic history of Samson, whose spectacular feats against the Philistines were offset by his own carnality. In the end he spent his last days a prisoner of his enemies and never achieved a full deliverance for Israel.

Though the theme of this issue of the magazine is the NT prophet we shall find that all the basic principles that govern this NT ministry are to be found in what the OT teaches us, especially when we investigate the hidden springs. Let us look at the earliest prophets mentioned in the Bible.

We have to reach almost the closing book of the Bible before we learn that the first prophet in the history of mankind was Enoch. We would never have known if Jude had not told us (v14). We don't usually think of Enoch as a prophet but as the saintly man who walked with God for 300 years. Just to think that we consider ourselves if we have a day's unbroken fellowship with God! So Enoch set the standard, living as he did in the dawn of human history, for all successive generations of prophets. Someone has described him as an Alpine climber last seen heading for the summit. And of course we have the inside story. He didn't slip and break his neck. He made it.

1. The prophet is called first and foremost to a life of intimacy with God.

It wasn't that Enoch had it in him. The record in Genesis 5 makes it clear that he didn't start to walk with God till he reached what we now regard as retiring age. Life really began for Enoch at 65! That should teach us that it's never too late.

This brings us to Abraham. He is the first man that God ever called a prophet and in quite a surprising connection. Not because he brought some stupendous prediction like Enoch who prophesised the day of the Lord at the dawn of human history. A tribal king called Abimelech had taken Abraham's wife for his harem, thinking her to be Abraham's sister with the result that a judgement of barrenness had fallen on his household. God spoke to him in a dream and having explained the situation told him; "Now return the man's wife for he is a prophet and he will pray for you and you will live" (Genesis 20:7).

2. So the first thing that God ever said about a prophet was that he was a man who had access to God - not just a man who prayed, but a man who got his prayers answered!

It is significant that Abraham the prophet was also called "God's friend" (2 Chronicles 20:7, Jas 2:23) and this is clearly illustrated in connection with his prayer life. God was about to bring destruction on the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah for their heinous wickedness. "Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?" God asked Himself. Why should He? Abraham was His friend with whom He was accustomed to sharing His secrets, so He shared this one with him. The result was what God intended. Abraham got involved. He wrestled with God in prayer. Although these two great cities were not saved by Abraham's praying, Lot and his family were, and that would have been one of Abraham's major concerns in his intercession.

This friendship, this intimacy with God is one of the most beautiful features of Abraham's life. God loved to walk with him under the stars and share with him His heavenly secrets. What exciting times they were. Sometimes the magnitude of what God promised him was enough to stagger his faith but "Abraham staggered not". God would say to him when he still had no child "and try to count the stars. That's how numerous your descendents will be". And on another occasion; "Look as far as you can to the north and to the south and to the east and to the west. All this land I am going to give to your descendents".

3. So the prophet is privilidged to share God's secrets and to what God plans to do. "Surely the Lord God does nothing without revealing His secrets to His servants, the prophets". (Amos 3:7 RSV).

The next great prophet in the line of succession was Moses.

We may think of him as the prophet par excellence of the OT for he enjoyed face to face communion with God beyond that generally experienced by prophets. God said of him; "I reveal myself to (a prophet) in visions, I speak to him in dreams. But this is not true of My servant Moses ... With him I speak face to face, clearly and not in riddles" (Num 12:6-8).

To him it was revealed that the greatest prophet of all, the coming Messiah, would be a prophet like himself (Deut 18:15). Moses unique-ness is confirmed by his obiturary; "Since then no prophet has arisen in Israel like Moses who the Lord knew face to face" (Deut 34:10).

There are two expressions used of Moses that are characteristic and that must shape our whole thinking about the hidden springs of the prophet's ministry. The first we find in the above quotations from Numbers when God refers to him as "My servant Moses". Again and again he is called the "servant of the Lord". In coming to know God, the prophet's attitudes and inner disposition have been so shaped that all self-possession, self-importance and independence of spirit have been eliminated. His posture before the Lord is that of the servant waiting at the door-post to come to the master's call or to run to do his bidding or to stand forth to speak his word.

The other expression is "Moses, the man of God". From then on "man of God" became a synonym for a prophet. It is used of Samuel and of David, and of Elijah and of Elisha. Many prophets in the record are anonymous. We simply read; "A man of God came ...". What does the experience suggest? That here is someone whose relationship with God is deep and intimate and real. He knows God. A brother and I were discussing a young man in the church whose lack of spiritual progress was giving us cause for concern, when my friend remarked; "What he needs is a big dose of God". The same could be said of many believers. A prophet is someone who has had just that.

That is what we must have if we are to be a prophetic people. There must be a God-conciousness about us. We must feel at home in His Presence. Our fellowship with God must be one of reverent intimacy. Something of the inner life of the man of God must characterise the people of God.

Inevitably a man of God is someone in who a goodly measure of the character of God has been formed. There is a saying; "You can't walk with a miller without getting flour on your shoulder". You can't walk with God, spend time with God without something of God brushing off. There were many sons of the prophets at the time of Elisha but the woman of Shunem discerned there was something different about Elisha. She described him as a "holy man of God". When Elijah suddenly appeared in the courts of king Ahab with an ultimatum from heaven, no-one knew who he was or where he came from. So first he presented his credentials; "As the Lord God of Israel lives, before Whom I stand" (1 Kings 17:1). Here was an ambassador who had come from heaven's courts, who was accustomed to standing before the King of Kings.

4. These are the only true credentials of a NT prophet. He is a man who stands before God. He comes to men from God's Presence to speak God's Word. This is the secret of his authority.

There are those today, even as in the past, who claim to be the prophets, but who cannot produce these credentials. They have not been standing before God. They have not been hearing what God was saying. They speak the visions of their own mind, the thoughts of their own hearts and not from the mouth of the Lord. They may even speak what is true and biblical, but it is not God's "now" word. Listen to what God says about such; "I did not send these prophets, yet they have run with their own message; I did not speak to them, yet they have prophesied. But if they had stood in My council, they would have proclaimed My words to My people" (Jer 23:21-22).

There is always a temptation to put prophets, whether biblical ones or present-day ones on a spiritual pedestal. "They must be of different stuff from us" we say to ourselves. James will not allow us to get away with such thinking. He tells us firstly that we must look on them as examples of a man who prevailed in prayer, he anticipates our objections by saying first of all that he was a "man just like us" (5:17). At one point he ran away in fear and then even gave way to self-pity and self-justification. Nevertheless he accomplished the will of God.

Let me say it again; the prophets are our examples. They are there to challenge and inspire us. We are to be motivated by the same prophetic spirit. How could it be otherwise if we are indeed a prophetic people. Prophets were never intended to monopolise the audience chamber of the King of Kings or to "corner fellowship with God". There are many councils over which the Almighty presides and if you are not called to stand before God in the same council as the prophet then be assured that there is one in which your name is called, and where God will share secrets that you need to hear. The health of that pot plant in your home is determined in great measure by what lies below the surface of the soil. You cannot have a healthy plant and an unhealthy root. Let me ask you, what have you got hidden beneath the surface? Is the hidden life robust and strong, or weak and sickly? Is our spiritual root system suffering from neglect? What about the hidden springs? Have they dried up? It is in this hidden area most of all that the life of the prophet should provoke and challenge us.

Once we are convinced that such a life of fellowship with God is for us too, the big question is how to get there. "You will seek Me and find Me", God is still saying, "When you search for Me with all of your heart". Those who have the experience are those who want it badly. There are scores and scores of true believers who would love it, yet they never enjoy it. Why? Because they don't want it with all their heart. Those who enter in are those who hunger and thirst for it. This is invariably where the failure lies. The remedy is to ask God to show us why we are not hungry for Him. It may be for the same reasons that the seed of the sower in the parable did not bring forth fruit (Luke 8:12-14). If so when we have dealt with all that He has shown us, we will find a growing hunger within. Otherwise it may be simply lack of motivation. We must ask God to show us the unspeakable honour and privilidge of being invited to stand before the God of the whole earth. "Blessed is the man you choose and bring near to live in your courts! What joy! What fulfillment! What fruitfulness! What harmony! What security!

Once we are really motivated there must come the discipline of curtailment. This is the discipline of the lumberjack who stops working in order to sharpen his axe.

Some of us will never find God in this way because we are much too busy working for Him. Our activism is our biggest hindrance. We must lay aside all our self-justifying arguments and learn all over again from the story of Martha and Mary what our Lord considers is the "one thing needful".

Finally we must learn to wait on God by restraining our much speaking in His Presence. Only so we can train our ears to listen. There are some 15 or more Hebrew words used in the OT that are translated "wait" but with various shades of meaning, such as to wait patiently, to wait in silence, to wait expectantly and to wait in hope. If we are constant and persevering God will draw near and speak. He will reveal Himself to us and we shall understand what it was that so captivated David that this fellowship with God despite the affairs of state became his consuming passion;

"One thing I ask of the Lord, that will I seek - that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek Him in His temple" - (Psalm 27:4).

Revival For a Mission!!

As I understand church history much of the charismatic movement came under fire for promoting an introspective theology that the baptism of the Holy Spirit was a personal experience for a personal encounter with a personal God. That's partly true - but everything within me - my heroes such as Ern Baxter and Rob Rufus and Terry Virgo all argue that there is more to it than that. I was tremendously encouraged recently in reading a book called "Revive Us Again!" - this was a book published by Harvestime and edited by David Matthew with contributions from Bryn and Keri Jones, Terry Virgo, Arthur Wallis and David Mansell. It was David Mansell's chapter that thrilled me the most - in the chapter he presented a wonderful portrait of the Kingdom of God.

The book is out of print sadly - so here is the chapter reproduced;

"A radical goal for radical Christians" by David Mansell

"If future revival is not to run up a cul-de-sac we will need to be more radical than our predecessors".

We are looking praying and working for world revival. Anything less falls short of God's intention. Anything less would fail to bring in the kingdom and bring back the King. It would be a tragedy if this generation passed into history leaving behind only a memory and anothher book as an epitaph to a revival that came and went. The main point of Jesus' last words to His disciples and the apostolic preaching in the early chapters of Acts was an explanation of how God intended the Pentecost revival, which brought the church to birth, to progress.

Revival would lead to greater revival. Beginning at Jerualem, the fire would spread first to Judea, then to Samaria and then to the remotest part of the earth (Acts 1:8). The outpouring of the Spirit would be like the latter rain that swells the grain ready for harvest. There would be times and seasons, each time of refreshing rain being followed by another. Season would follow season just as spring would follow summer would follow winter and all would find their destiny in the autumn harvest. Through these seasons of testimony to the Lord Jesus in all the earth, together with times of refreshing from heaven, God would restore to His people all that the prophets had promised.

A time of repentance, turning to the Lord, refreshing and restoration would engulf the entire world so that God could send the Christ, the anointed King from heaven to claim His inheritance (Acts 3:19-21).

A Call for Radical Christians.

The story of revival is both thrilling and sad. Thrilling to see what God can do when He breaks into people's lives, sad to see how every wave of revival so far has finally spent its energy on the beach of religious self-interest.

Where future revival leads will depend very much on where we want it to lead. If it is to bring God's purpose for this world to it's appointed conclusion, we will need to be more radical than our predecessors.

Revival is like a flood. It will not run in the channels cut by our preferences, prejudices and traditions. When it comes, it overwhealms, invades, takes over and sweeps away all that lies before it. It is no use preparing a way for the Lord by prayer and humbling ourselves if, when He comes, He finds the route full of road-blocks and diversions to protect our private lives, personal hobby-horses and denominational entrenchments. God will never revive a fence.

He will never revive what He has sentenced to die.

In revival there is a dying as well as a bringing to birth. The chaff burns while the wheat is gathered into the barn. Being radical is not an end in itself; it is allowing God to do with us what He likes, when He likes and as often as He likes.

Being radical is removing now what God will remove, and doing now what God Himself will do when He breaks in with revival.

What are we waiting for? If we really want what revival will surely bring to the world, why not let it begin in us today?

Divine Breakthrough.

I once read in a church report on a two-week evangelistic outreach; "Nobody was saved but the saints were encouraged". The revival we are looking for will do more than encourage the saints! A glance at an atlas of world religion shows that after two thousand years of gospel preaching, billions are still totally unaffected. The Bible tells us to expect the following areas of breakthrough in revival;

1. The Gospel Preached.

The gospel will be preached worldwide in such a way as to challenge every ideology, expose every false religion and undermine every society based on evil, corruption and injustice. In their place will arise the community of the redeemed, having the glory of God.

Justice, love and racial harmony will spring like a fountain from hearts washed clean by the blood of Jesus and empowered by the abiding Presence of the Holy Spirit.

2. True Unity.

Unity of those who truly own Jesus as Lord will be a prominent feature. No ecumenism, no compromise, no cosmetic gestures, just one heart, one mind and one soul for Jesus.

3. Outpouring on Israel.

There will be a mighty outpouring of the Spirit on the nation of Israel. It's magnitude and effect on the world are described as "life from the dead" (Romans 11:5).

4. Islamic Nations Turn to Christ.

Isaiah prophesied that "In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. The Assyrians will go to Egpyt and the Egyptians to Assyria. The Egyptians and Assyrians will worship together. In that day Israel will be the third along with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing on the earth. The Lord God Almighty will bless them saying, 'Blessed by Egypt My people, Assyria my handiwork and Israel my inheritance" (Isaiah 19:23-25).

5. Demonic Powers Overthrown.

Again it was Isaiah who prophesied, "In that day the Lord will punish the powers in the heavens above and the kings on the earth below" (Isaiah 24:21). Demons achieve their evil ends by controlling the hearts of men in general (John 13:27) and kings in particular (Daniel 10:13). They are the powers of this dark world, the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms against whom we stand (Ephesians 6:12). They control the whole world system (Ephesians 2:2, Revelation 18:2, 23). "The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet" says Paul (Romans 16:20). The power of the Holy Spirit is the power to drive out evil spirits (Matthew 10:1, Mark 16:17). The evidence of the release from demonic strongholds will be striking. The whole realm of the occult will be exposed and lives set free from its snare. Heathen will be released from superstition to turn to Christ.

Society will be dramatically influenced. Drunkenness, addiction, homosexuality, fornication, blasphemy, greed, injustice and arrogance will be dealt a mighty blow as the spirit of repentance moves from community to community, town to town and nation to nation.

6. Nations Turning to Christ.

The Bible envisages times of national breaking in of God's Spirit (for example Zechariah 12:11 - 13:2). In the days of Jonah the entire city of Ninevah turned to the Lord (Jonah 3:1-10). Again we read in Acts 9:35 "All those who lived in Lydda and Sharon saw (Aeneas, the paralytic man who had been healed) and turned to the Lord".

Imagine the social impact; everyone in the town born again! Imagine this happening in nations throughout the world!

The Presence of God.

"Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down" prayed the prophet (Isaiah 64:1).

Revival is the coming of God Himself.

The prophet is sent only to prepare the way for the Lord to Presence Himself personally among His people - a Presence that will achieve what the ministry can never achieve, be it ever so anointed. Luke observes that in the early days of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit 'everyone was filled with awe' (Acts 2:43). This has characterised every revival since. 'The Holy Ghost descended on us; not indeed as a 'rushing, mighty wind' yet as the gentle zephry till it filled the whole place. So powerful was the influence that none of us could speak for some minutes. We all gave vent to our feelings in floods of joyful tears'

When God draws near, there is a deep sense of the reality of divine things and a need to be right with God, a seriousness yet a lightness of spirit that overwhealms the heart. Such awareness is experienced not only in meetings but also in the street, driving in the car or in a resturant. Suddenly God draws near, and one is almost overpowered with the awareness of it. When revival comes, we expect this Presence to abide on every heart and in every home where Christ is owned as Lord. So powerful is the effect of this divine Presence that sinners are seized with conviction and converted to Christ.

Angelic Appearances.

The Bible speaks of 'signs and wonders'. Sometimes these were miracles of healing while at other times the veil was drawn back so that what is normally invisible to the natural eye became visible; angels appeared. Angelic appearances and heavnly singing occur in times of revival. In the 1859 revival Evan Jones describes a meeting in which; "A heavenly sound was heard in the song of praise ... the song of praise continued for more than forty minutes without interuption'.

The same phenomenon occured at the Dales Bible Week in 1977. On several evenings after the meeting was over and the auditorium vacated and locked up for the night, heavenly singing was heard coming from the building at two or three o clock in the morning. This was not only reported by those on site; people living in the houses near the site complained about the singing in the early hours of the morning!

During the same week there were several angelic appearances, particularly to the young. One six-year old boy lost in the crowd and anxiously awaited by his parents suddenly turned up full of smiles. When asked how he found his way, he replied 'Oh a nice ghost in a shiny coat showed me the way'.

During a time of testimony another lad of six was asked what he enjoyed most about the Bible Week. He replied; "I liked it best when all the angels came and flew around the children's meeting playing their trumpets and praising God".

Realising Our Destiny.

Destiny implies destination. To speak of ourselves as a people of destiny we must know where we are going. Duncan Campbell wrote, "How many today are really prepared to face the stark fact that we have been outmanoevered by the strategy of hell because we have tried to meet the enemy on human levels by human strategy? In this we may have succeeded in making people church-concious, mission-concious or even crusade-concious without making them God-concious".

Our destiny is to bring God-conciousness to a God-oblivious world and we do it best when we stop trying too hard and are concious only of the Presence of God abiding with us.

When John the Baptist cried, "Look the Lamb of God" it was not to make a dramatic point in his sermon but because he saw Jesus literally approaching" (John 1:29). "Look ... I see heaven opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God" cried Stephen as full of the Holy Spirit, he gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God. God Himself had opened heaven and broken in to make the final appeal! The hearers were cut to the heart as they found themselves standing in the presence of a man standing in the Presence of God.

The Lewis revival in north-west Scotland saw this same drawing power of God's Presence among His people. As the little group seeking revival experienced the coming of the Holy Spirit in the middle of the night they opened the door of the building where they were meeting to discover that a crowd had gathered. God had brought conviction of sin upon the townspeople one by one and each made his way from his bed to the place of prayer to seek the Lord.

Revival will lead us to the fulfillment of our destiny - and all creation waits in eager expectation for this time when the sons of God will be revealed (Romans 8:19).

Gifts of the Spirit by David Mansell

From the Restoration Magazine - January/February 1977

The term 'charismatic' has made its presence felt in modern Christian vocabulary and evidently intends to stay. Someone who speaks in tongues finds himself referred to as a "charismatic Christian" and his church will merit the label "charismatic" if they permit and practice the gifts of the Spirit mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12:7-11.

Would you think me critical if I said that many charismatics need to become charismatic (using the word in this popular sense)? The church at Corinth knew of the existence of spiritual gifts and manifest them in their meetings. Yet to this church Paul had reason to write; "Now concerning spiritual gifts brethren, I do ot want you to be unaware" (1 Corinthians 12:1). He set out in chapters 12 to 14 to shew those who possessed God's means, how to achieve God's goals.

Most of the members of the church at Corinth had "moved in the spirit" before coming to a knowledge of the Lord Jesus. Even today prophecy, visions, tongues and revelations operate in pagan temples as well as Christian congregations. How then can we distinguish between demonic spirits operating behind the facade of dumb idols and the Spirit of the living God? The first lesson we need to learn is how to avoid deception. As in all His ways, God makes it so simple that even a child need not remain "unaware".

Trying the Spirits.

Paul offers two tests which will infallibly reveal the source of any spiritual manifestation. The first relates to the manner in which a person operates the gift and the second deals with the place given to the Lord Jesus. "You were led astray ... however you were led" (1 Cor 2:2). Paul selected words to convey the sense of men being carried away by an irresistable force.

Man has always sought supernatural experiences because God created him a spiritual being.

When the Corinthians had previously opened themselves to that unholy spiritual realm they had felt themselves taken over without their own personal cooperation much in the same way that those who mind bending drugs are taken on a "trip".

In contrast, the Holy Spirit does not take us over in some semi-hypnotic passivity. "The spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets" (1 Corinthians 14:32).

The one who speaks in the power of the Holy Spirit has full control of himself and can hold the revelation he has received until the previous speaker has concluded his contribution.

Whereas the Holy Spirit upbuilds men in their union with Christ, lying spirits aim only to destroy. God is not looking for open minds into which He can drop a prophecy here or a word of knowledge there. He speaks His word into the herats of those who walk with Him. "The secret of the Lord is with those that fear Him" (Psalm 25:14). When that "secret" is openly prophesied, the personal conviction of the spokesman will accompany it's delivery. "Now just relax and speak out whatever comes into your mind". Such advice suits the sceance better. If you follow such counsel in order to receive a prophecy, the consequent utterance will almost certainly be the product of your vivid imagination rather than a revelation of God.

"No-one can say "Jesus is Lord" except by the Holy Spirit" (1 Corinthians 12:3). Of course anyone may mouth those words without in fact worshipping Jesus and submitting to His lordship.

We cannot test a prophet merely by the correctness of his confession but by the attitude of his heart. No man can say in loving, willing worship, "Lord Jesus!" and his utterances inspire in the hearts of his hearers the assurance that Jesus is Lord.

"The testimony of Jesus is the spirit (that motivates) prophecy" not merely it's subject matter. On the day of Pentecost Peter announced "Jesus having been exalted to the right hand of God ... has poured forth this which you both see and hear" (Acts 2:33).

The gifts of the Spirit demonstrate on earth Jesus' enthronement in heaven. Jesus rules by sending forth the word of prophecy to declare and accomplish His will here on earth. He rules in situations of confusion by giving words of knowledge and wisdom and discerning of spirits. He rules over sickness by gifts of healing. He rules over apathy by faith and miracles. He rules over our present mortal limitations by enabling us to pray and worship supernaturally in tongues and interpretations. Our God reigns!

He does not try to prove it by these gifts. Rather He gets on with the task of reigning in and through His churchby means of these manifestations.

Let us then work together with God to establish His Kingdom.

If his heart does not beat in response to the enthronement of Jesus Christ, the charismatic will find that he has lost his charisma.