"WHAT GOD TAUGHT PROPHETS AND THE PROPHETIC MOVEMENT ABOUT SEPTEMBER 11, 2001"

 

Steve Shultz: "WHAT GOD TAUGHT PROPHETS AND THE PROPHETIC MOVEMENT ABOUT SEPTEMBER 11, 2001"

Flashing Back to the Day

Like most history-changing events, most of us remember exactly where we were, and what we were doing on September 11, 2001.

My wife came running into the room in the early morning to tell me that there had been a terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, and a second plane had just hit the second tower.

Rushing to throw on my robe (as we are on west coast time), I ran out to watch the unending reports on every network and virtually every channel. Like everyone, prophet or not, saved or not, I was stunned beyond words!

Now that I've had five full years to process what happened on the day that forever changed the world in which we live, here is some of what I believe God has shown His people.

And of course, being prophetic, I want to concentrate on what I believe He's has shown His Prophetic People.

1. GOD ALWAYS KNOWS AHEAD OF TIME WHAT EVENTS WILL HAPPEN. THIS DEMONSTRATES HIS GREAT GRACE!

"Surely the Sovereign LORD does nothing without revealing His plan to His servants the prophets." Amos 3:7

Why would I suggest that just God's "knowing" of the future demonstrates His Great Grace?

It's simple really. If He knows what will happen (He seems to always tell someone or some prophets), that means He can, and--history shows that HE DOES OFTEN intervene in huge ways to stop, to prevent, and to protect many lives.

I will someday ask Him about the other innocent lives that were lost, but only HE knows all the reasons some are lost while others (people who are both righteous and unrighteous) are saved from the same tragedy.

WHAT HAPPENED WEEKS AND MONTHS BEFORE 9/11

Months before 9/11, I kept receiving at The Elijah List--right to me personally, impressions sent in by people all over the USA, who were interceding for God's people and for America. Time after time, people would email me and ask me, "I keep hearing 911! What do you think that means?"

I didn't have a clue!

I'd love to go back in time and take all those reports more seriously, and call for more prayer. It's for this reason, that I've taken later prophetic words to heart, even calling for special prayer on other dates--dates when nothing seemed to happen. Only Heaven knows if these other more recent events were mistakenly received as if being from God--or if these events were actual warnings, which through prayer prevented more catastrophes. For instance, we called for prayer on 03/03/2003, because so many were receiving warnings about that date. Yet Nothing happened. Was it a wrong word or did we prevent catastrophes through prayer?

GOD'S SECRETS--HIS RIDDLE, HIS CODE

Little did I know, that prior to that terrible day, "911" was indeed God's emergency "riddle" in not-so-hidden code, in which He was telling us to call out to Him for help regarding what was about to hit the earth.

I could never tell you now, though I wish I could, if this 911 tragic event in New York, was preventable through prayer. But it will forever be TO ME a lesson to take it more seriously--when so many people are emailing me the same calendar date, or the same "code" so to speak.

God was certainly getting our attention--the attention we would unfortunately pay closer attention TO only after the tragedy itself.

2. GOD ALWAYS TELLS SOME OF HIS PEOPLE BUT HE RARELY GIVES ALL THE SPECIFIC DETAILS.

"It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of kings." Proverbs 25:2

Why does God hide Himself, and make us search Him out and search matters out? I don't know. I only know it's true that this is one of His important "ways."

One prophet told me later, after 9/11, that only a few weeks before the 9/11 event, he came out of the bathroom of an airliner, and had the strangest experience. He "knew." He said to me, "When I came out of that door, I would discover that the plane had been hijacked by terrorists, and we were going to crash into a tall building," (words to that effect).

This prophet, though "shown" the attack by experience, of course, didn't know what to do with the supernatural experience. For his own reasons, God had hidden the exact details including the date and place to most prophets, even the most discerning prophets I knew.

God kept His promise of sharing His secret of what would occur (though I don't believe God caused this event), but He hid the specific details of what, and where. Why? I wish I knew. Nevertheless, we are all learning to pay closer attention to such words, experiences, and calls to prayer.

Another prophet, Kim Clement, five years BEFORE 9/11, said, "We, America, would retaliate for what they did to us, when they flew in the air over Long Island." I have it on "taped" CD, and we have sold this CD clip with this prophecy, for years since 9/11. Remember that this prophecy of retaliation for the planes flying over Long Island was recorded five years before the event. (Click here to see America on Her Knees CD.)

In both of the above cases, these two high-level and "tested" prophets had the specific dates, the specific place, or the specific event fundamentally hidden from them!

We do not fully understand the mind or the ways of the Lord. Perhaps God hid the specifics in order to bring about His righteous miracles, and allow the USA to know what time period we had entered into. Many of the prophets state that we entered a seven-year period of war beginning on 9/11. (Click here to see The Future War of the Church, written by Chuck Pierce in 1997.)  This book was published a full four years before 9/11, and Chuck states that terrorism would be the major issue of the coming years.

3. GOD ALWAYS WORKS MIRACLES AMIDST TRAGEDIES, DEMONSTRATING HIS UNRELENTING GRACE

"...and call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor Me." Psalms 50:15

God wants us to know that no matter how disobedient we are or have been, He will nevertheless, answer us, if we call upon Him in the day of trouble.

Even as I write this, miracle stories are still being told of heroes who were in the right place at the right time. How could this be? Was this sheer coincidence, or did God prepare many of these people for years, to be ready to act in this crisis situation?

One prophet just days ago, told me of a story of a window washer, stuck in an elevator with men in suits as the plane hit the tower. When the elevator stopped between floors, he was the only one who knew just where they were stopped. Without lights, this window washer used the only hardware on him, and cut a hole in the elevator, allowing all of the executives, male and female, to crawl out under the men's restroom sink, known only by the "blue collar" worker. All those stuck in the elevator survived because this one man was prepared. God had done the preparation. God was demonstrating His Grace---He was the pre-determined answer to many families who would pray as the towers burned.

Again, God, for reasons known only to Him, didn't prevent this attack, but had put into place the heroes who would be the answer to the prayers that would be prayed at those crucial moments.

God allowed many still-untold miracle stories, and dramatic "placements" of people and individuals, in order to help in a time of emergency prayers.

4. WHILE GOD SEEMS TO ALLOW SOME OF THESE TRAGEDIES, HE DOESN'T WASTE THE GRIEF--HE SHOWS US HIS "WAY" TO DECREE, TO PROPHESY, TO PRAY, AND TO PREVENT FUTURE TRAGEDIES

I cannot forget the reactions on 9/11, from my own Elijah List staff, and specifically, my personal assistant. As I entered the office of the Elijah List, having been stunned by the events only hours earlier, I saw her still weeping while typing at her desk.

The Bible is clear that God's will is accomplished when we:

"Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep. Be of the same mind one toward another." Romans 12:15-16

This is a mysterious thing, but since we, in the Body of Christ, carry within our temple (our own being) the Spirit of God (that meaning when we weep), we are partnering with God to weep where He is weeping. We are doing the work of Heaven.

Further, God wants us to know that when a tragedy happens, it is not always because those in the accident were more evil or "guilty" than those who didn't die. But it is a sign--a call to repentance, at least the way Jesus presented it...

Jesus said, "Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them--do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish." Luke 13:4-5

5. GOD BECKONS HIS PEOPLE TO CRY OUT FOR YET MORE GRACE!

"Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." Hebrews 4:16

God calls us to boldness. It would not be called boldness if it did not take boldness to ask for certain things. We must grasp this. God is not wasting words here. If what you ask does not cause a hearer to say, "That's pretty bold to ask that!", then it may not be bold ENOUGH.

I am convinced that future prophets, prophetic people, and simply The Body of Christ, will be used in unprecedented ways; both to prevent many planned tragedies by satan himself, and also to offer assistance if a tragedy cannot be prevented.

We've learned in the last year, that were it not for the Church, many suffering from Katrina would have been lost or unfed or homeless. Most of those stories are left un-reported by the secular media of course. The Church of Jesus Christ, no matter the denominational name, has more resources, both in people and money (when pooled together in unity), than the Federal Government itself has.

Beyond that, God sets prophets in place to prepare, warn, or even to decree against an event.

If Elijah could say, for instance, under the Old Covenant:

"Now Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, 'As the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word.'" 1 Kings 17:1...

...How much more, under the New Covenant, must the Church--the People of the Kingdom of God, have the authority in this way?...

"I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone--for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth." 1 Timothy 2:1-4

WE MUST LEARN FROM OUR PAST MISTAKES

In order to take the fullest advantage of God's Goodness and His Grace, and in order to prevent many future tragedies, we must pay attention to the voice of God.

I didn't pay enough attention in the first half of my life. I plan to make up for that by paying attention in the last half of my life...because God was clear that He was always speaking.

I just needed to "get" that I was actually also HEARING. I just didn't know it.

Jesus said it like this (and I love the encouragement this passage ends with):

"My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand." I and My Father are one." John 10:27-30

Blessings,

Steve Shultz