David Wilkerson's Prophecy
Some of you may have read or heard about David Wilkerson's prophecy of impending cataclysmic judgment from God. He says God has shown him that terrible destruction is about to come upon the US. His warning is not couched in terms of warning signs leading up to Christ's return but rather in terms of God's unrestrained anger. He warns people to buy up at least a 30 day supply of food and other necessities. You can read the prophecy at David Wilkerson's blog. Who is David Wilkerson? He's a sincere and widely respected Pentecostal and Evangelical leader, who founded a tremendous church in New York City many years ago. He is also famous for his role in the true story (book and movie) called "The Cross and the Switchblade" . He is also the founder of the highly successful drug and alcohol rehabilitation outreaches known as Teen Challenge Centers.
In a few bullet statements I want to share why I think Wilkerson's (and anybody else's) prophecy of God's punitive judgment on America is false and misleading. I believe Wilkerson is a sincere lover of Jesus and a man of God. But I think his theology of God's judgments is not correct and that it misinforms his interpretation of world events. I say this with a sober sense that I too have much to learn. May God have mercy on me in any area where I still do not have the mind of Christ. Here are several reasons why I think Wilkerson is wrong in his latest prophecy:
1. I do not believe God is presently pouring out punitive judgment on nations. Has God punished nations in His wrath before? Yes. He flooded the earth in Noah's time. But he gave a rainbow as a sign that HE WOULD NOT DO THAT AGAIN. He destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. But He told Abraham that He would spare Sodom for the sake of ten righteous people. But ten were not found. I believe there are many more than ten righteous people living in America presently. But this is not the main reason why I think God is not going to punitively judge America.
2. God's punitive judgment was poured out upon Jesus at the Cross. The cross was a judgment on our sin. God hates sin so much that He cannot just wink at it. He must judge it. And He did judge it at the cross. This removes God's wrath from all who trust in Christ and turn from their sins. Those who reject Christ will pay the price of facing God's full wrath after the great and final judgment (see 2 Thes 1:6-10 and 2 Peter 3:3-13). I'm afraid some of the prophets of judgment have failed to understand the intensity of God's wrath that was visited upon Jesus at the Cross. God's wrath is fully satisfied in the payment Christ gave at Calvary! But those who reject this payment are "storing up wrath for the day of wrath", which is the final, end-time judgment of all people. As the 2 Thes and 2 Peter passages I refer to above clearly indicate, God's final answer for the sin problem is not the Cross but the Day of Judgment. God is not punishing sinners for their sins presently, but is patiently enduring their wickedness. Yes, there are consequences for sin presently. People who sin still die. (That's all of us.) People who sin still reap the consequences in their own bodies and minds (see Romans 1). But if God were to pour out punitive judgment on a nation presently on the piece of real estate we call America today, He'd have to turn around in several hundred years and do it again. For sinners will follow our generation and be just as wicked. The sin problem will never be answered by temporary punitive judgments. But payday is coming. And God will finally and ultimately rid His world of those who despise His authority and reject His Son.
3. We are not under an Old Testament scenario, but a New Testament one. God is patiently enduring the sins and crimes of the nations, while the gospel is being preached to all the nations. But the end will come and God's wrath will come upon all who in the end have rejected Jesus.
4. God does presently chastise nations - and even individuals - but it is NOT punitive, it is redemptive. God has subjected the world to futility, to wars, to earthquakes, to famines, etc. All these are His merciful wake-up calls to all the earth's inhabitants: "Repent for your time is short. It is appointed for a man to die once, after this comes the judgment." God's present judgments in the earth are not because His anger needs to be appeased, but because His mercy needs to be recognized! The terrible Tsunami several years back is a good example. God was not pouring out His anger upon Muslims and Hindus but was mercifully making them face their mortality. Many thousands have turned to Christ in those areas of the world as a result.
Someone might well say, "What about Anania and Saphira in the Book of Acts. Didn't God strike them down?" Yes, He did. And this should serve as a warning to us all. God is serious about preserving the purity in His church. Were they false believers or just compromised believers? I don't know. But Peter said that Satan had "filled their heart...to lie to the Holy Spirit" (Acts 5:3). I believe God removed them for the sake of the health of the church. I think His motive was love and mercy upon His church and not rage at sin (in that moment). Ananias and Saphira still have to face the Day of Judgment in the future! Does God still judge posers and hypocrites in the church? Yes, if it will serve His purposes of facilitating the spread of the gospel and preserving the vitality of His church. Jesus is building His church and the gates of Hell will not prevail against it.
5. If God were punitively judging nations today, then is seems that Western Europeans would be severely punished even before America. I say this not because they are worse sinners than Americans, but because they have more fully turned their backs on the gospel as nations. All the Protestant reformers were Europeans. Europe has turned its back on great gospel light. And I don't make this point to lull backslidden American Christians further into spiritual slumber. If God were looking for reasons to destroy nations today, He'd not have to look farther than America. But my point is that today God is looking for reasons to spare souls and nations. He finds the only reason He needs and the only reason He accepts in the Cross where Jesus died. This payment for sin at the Cross will be sufficient until the full number of those being saved comes in. At that time, Christ will return and finally and ultimately deal with His enemies.
6. America is not the new Israel. Too many Christians in America somehow confuse American with God's kingdom. America has been a blessed nation, but America is not the Israel of God! God's purposes and plans have never revolved around America. God has blessed America not because of America but because of a believing remnant that lives here. Christians in American are part of a heavenly family and kingdom that's not of this world. America like every nation before and after it is terminal. Don't confuse America with God's kingdom and God's church.
There you have my ideas on the subject. And I admit that this is not the final word. God's Word is final and I only see through a glass dimly. I welcome your comments and interaction.
Mr. Dane:
I do not know much about Bible prophecy. All that I can tell you is that the events of Wilkerson's book The Vision written over 30 years are all coming to pass before our eyes as we speak. I think that we should at least listen to what he is saying.
God bless
Jose,
Thanks for the comment. I'm by no means a Bible prophecy expert either. Hopefully the tone of my article was respectful and kind. I in no way want to dishonor David Wilkerson, for I hold him to be a sincere man of God. If in a few months New York city is burned down and the worst terrorist strikes we can imagine happen, bringing America to her knees, then I will quickly acknowledge my error.
I certainly do not claim that America doesn't deserve judgment. We do. But none of us deserved a Savior to die on the Cross for us either, but God gave us better than we deserved. I beleive He is storing up His wrath for the Day of Wrath and righteous Judgment, the last Day. In the meanwhile He is not doling out punitive judgment. But that's exactly what David Wilkerson seems to be saying is about to happen.
May God have mercy on us all.
Dane
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Mr. Dane,
According to Matthew 24 and Revelations 6, the first five seals are opened up before the signs of the return of Christ. Specifically, the third seal speaks of harsh economic times. I would say then, that scripture supports a global economic collapse. Although Wilkerson's prophecy doesn't speak of economic collapse, NY is one of the key financial centers in the world. I believe that during these times of crisis it is a chance for the body of Christ to respond and reach out to those around us. Certainly, having a little extra food around could be one means of helping others. Our church pantry has things flying off the shelf every day. To your six points above:
1. Released judgment doesn't mean it will directly impact believers and non-believers the same way.
2. Yes, Christ's work was finished on the cross. I go back to Revelations 6:8, "I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth." Again, this occurs before Christ's return.
3. See Matthew 24 and Rev. 6
4. Whether events are interpreted as punitive in nature or redemptive depends on if the tornado hits my house or your house.
5. That logic leads only to spiritual pride. God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.
6. Replacement theology is hypocrisy. Clearly America is terminal, but Israel as a nation is not terminal.
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Hi Jason,
You make some good points. I certainly am not saying that God does not chastise nations and individuals. And I am not saying that God does not use providential circumstances to get the attention of people. Economic collapse very likely turns some people to God. Elijah predicted economic collapse and three years of hard times followed. A few people drew closer to God, but most people didn't.
But Bro. Wilkerson's prophecy makes no reference to Christ's glorious return or of God using economic collapse as a means to humble people and bring them to Christ. Wilkerson might hold to these convictions. But the tone he conveys in his prophecy is not the tone you portray in your comments. Wilkerson is vexed in his righteous soul and is convinced God cannot endure America any longer. It's too late. God is going to destroy life as we know it in America. I personally do not think this is the case, for the reasons I gave.
Does America deserved to be judged? Yes. But perhaps not a lot more than the people of Athens in Paul's day (Acts 17). And Paul told them that God has winked at sin in the past but now is calling all to repentance...For He has fixed a day that He will judge all men..." The warning Paul uses is not, "God is about to destroy Athens with sudden cataclysmic disaster" but rather "God is going to judge each of you in a great last day's judgment - so you better get ready."
May God help us all to draw near to Him, to accept His mercy, and to respect His wrath.
.Dane
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I thought your comments were pretty right-on. I do think you're absolutely correct in that Bro. Wilkerson is absolutely a lover of Jesus and a man of God.
He's been close to 100% so I'm not ready to through the baby out with the bathwater - but I do have a slight "take it with a grain of salt" attitude.
Sally
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It amazes me how we as believers have put the King of the Universe into a box and have decided what He will or will not do. Yes, Christ has delivered us from the wrath of God's judgment in regards to our eternal salvation through faith -- but . . .
How he moves upon the nations in these last days of the "fig tree leafing out" is HIS own will, that moves sovereignly so, apart from our religious doctrines of choice. Hebrews declares a great shaking to come of ALL we see and the even the unseen. We must be ready, looking up in faith, enduring until the end.
I suggest you read info at Lance Lambert's website, all by a devout Jewish man who loves the Lord Jesus and lives in Jerusalem. Read his prophetic messages and discover how the nations play into God's plan for Israel in the last days.
God bless!
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Dear Dane,
I have been watching Rev. Wilkerson's prophecies since 1973 when he wrote the
book, " The Vision " (you should read it ...)
He told " Jim Baker " the very DAY his
ministry would fall !
He told the very DAY the stock market would drop, he took several church members to Wall Street and watched it happen !
You are going to look like a fool along
with many others, when a nuclear bomb
explodes in New York City in 2009.
I know you won't post this message
because, people " Can't handle the Truth !"
BDM
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Dear Brent,
I too have watched Bro. Wilkerson's prophecies for several decades. I used to be an avid follower. But I began to see that a number of his prophecies were not coming to pass. I have come to believe that God's fuse is not as short as Bro. Wilkerson apparently thinks.
I would like to clarify that my article on Wilkerson's prophecy was not an attack on the man. I was very careful to honor his character and contribution. But my concern was the punitive-type motive that he obviously feels is consuming all of God's attitudes toward America.
I was careful to express an admission that America fully deserves to be destroyed. I also deserved to be destroyed while I was in rebellion to God. But God was merciful to me because His wrath was appeased at Calvary and He was inclined to draw me to Himself through the gospel of Jesus.
Your last two paragraphs contain two separate prophecies. Right now you are batting only 50%. You said you "knew" that I wouldn't print your comments. And the reason that I wouldn't print it, according to you, is apparently that I "cannot handle the truth." It's sad that you can make such a sweeping judgment of a man you've never met (and I fear you may have formed your conclusions without reading any other article on my blog. I'm not sure how you can so easily and fully judge someone.)
Your other prophecy appears to be that a nuclear bomb will explode in NYC this year. I certainly didn't read that in Bro. Wilkerson's prophecy. So I assume that's your prediction. I hope you are wrong. What bothers me most about your statement is the spirit it seems to be given in. It reminds me of the "sons of thunder" who asked Jesus if they could call down fire on Samaria. Jesus told James and John that "you don't know what spirit you are of. For the Son of man didn't come to destroy mens lives but to save them." I certainly don't know you, but the impression you give in your comments is that you hope a bomb goes off in NYC so that Bro. Wilkerson, and perhaps yourself, can be exonerrated.
Time will certainly reveal who can and who cannot "handle the truth." You may be the one who is right about this. There are about 15 weeks left in 2009, so the truth will be known soon. May God be merciful to me, a sinner. And to you as well. I pray God's peace be upon you.
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Dane
I wanted to tell you that I appreciate the Spirit in which you responded to Brent. You are a Godly man, who is exhibiting the fruits of the Spirit...and I appreciate that.
I too respect David Wilkerson, and perhaps his prophecies will come to pass. I hope, like you, that God does not send judgment to the US, but He might. He is God and He can do what He will. As you say in your post...we do deserve judgment.
That said, it would behoove all who read this to stop watching for signs and wonders...and instead make sure they have their eyes fixed and focused on Christ. That way, if a bomb wipes us off the face of the earth (or an earthquake...or a meteor, etc) we'll be ready to go.
I'm wondering if those who believe Wilkerson's prophecy are tirelessly working around the clock to win the lost to Christ. If I were so sure I knew the day and time the judgment of America was coming...I'd be knocking on doors and dragging all my family and friends to the altar - wouldn't you?
Thank you for your ministry.
Kelli
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Kelli,
Thanks for your encouragement and wise words. Truly we should look to Christ alone in these days.
Dane
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