SPECIAL: DAVID WILKERSON’S DEATH AND LEGACY

Hi All:

Many of you may not have heard, but well known Pastor David Wilkerson was killed yesterday in a head-on collision.  I don’t know how many of you know who he is, but he was the man that wrote the book “Cross & Switchblade” several decades ago now.  Well known former gang leader in New York, Nicky Cruz became a Christian through D. Wilkerson’s ministry.  Teen Challenge, which many of you have heard of, also was started by David Wilkerson and continues to this day, as well as several other connected worldwide ministries.  He also authored a number of books, some of them trying to wake America up to its despicable spiritual condition.

I won’t go into all of the things that have been done by this true servant of the Lord, other than to mention that he was still pastoring a large congregation in Times Square, just blocks from where the twin towers were brought down.

I had the chance to meet him once personally some years ago spend time in close contact with him for a couple days through a citywide crusade I helped put together, and I found him to be a down-to-earth humble man.  That never changed, no matter how successful he was with what God gave him to do. Others will now need to carry on.

It is worth mentioning that many of the things that he said and wrote about in his books were not always received well by the religious world, particularly in America.  He was criticized, belittled, ridiculed, and practically spat upon as a harsh, deluded false prophet.  Religious leaders arrogantly questioned who this modestly dressed preacher thought he was to say the things he was saying!  I watched this go on for years.  As the years have now passed, it turns out that what he said would happen in America has been coming to pass, just as God said they would.  Just weeks ago I revisited some of his earlier writings and was astounded at how accurate the intricate details have turned out to be.  Those that were quick to blast him before their congregations and organizations have turned out to be the fools, not David Wilkerson.  But, he never took offense, and stayed true to his calling.  That’s more than many leaders can say today.  We often think that we have a special revelation from God and then arrogantly criticize many that in God’s book of records have accomplished way more than the ones doing the criticizing!  There is a lesson to be learned there.  His reward in Heaven will be great because he was willing to listen to the ONE that knows it all, and deliver the message he was asked to deliver.

People like him have never been popular in society, especially in religious circles.  Jesus infuriated the Pharisees when he confronted them with how they treated the prophets of God over the centuries.  In Pastor Wilkerson’s case, they didn’t murder him, but might as well have. I’m sure many wished that he would disappear off of the radar.  There is a heavy lesson to be learned here.  Just because we’re not “comfortable” with the message being delivered, doesn’t mean it isn’t from God.  In fact, God has made it a point over the centuries to sticking people with a spiritual darning needle to wake them up if need be.   D. Wilkerson’s message was sometimes like a stick in the eye, but from God, nonetheless.

Many people are slumbering today, and that includes a high percentage of professing Christians.  God is practically hollering His warnings today for us all to wake up and see what’s going on!  The things that God has been laying on my own heart and mind for the last three years has not been all that well received either.  We sometimes don’t like what people are saying, or maybe their style of delivery, but WHAT ABOUT THE MESSAGE??  Is the message from God!  It is proving to be so.  We are hurtling toward events that God says will cause people to have heart attacks due to what they are seeing coming on the earth.  WE ARE THERE!  We have been experiencing the first wave of foretold events these days and they are unprecedented in recorded history. This is the prelude to what the Bible calls the “Great Tribulation”. Does that sound extreme?  Many think so!  But, “the proof is in the pudding.”

Here’s a thought that God dropped in my mind at the moment when I received several e-mails telling of Wilkerson’s death.  David saw many of the developments happen one after another that he spoke of decades ago, but never received vindication for most of what he wrote because things were still unfolding.  God’s wheels of justice seem to turn slowly, but they do keep turning!  Here is what God dropped in my mind: Events that David Wilkerson spoke of that have not happened yet, will now begin to happen rapidly.   One voice after another is being taken out of this world and home by the Lord God.  Billy Graham, who had the distinction of being the President’s preacher,  will go very soon, and that will prove to be notable marker in God’s timing of events.

I hope you understood what I just said, because there is not doubt in my mind that this is what will happen.   I have this  morning also heard others confirm these very thoughts, so I know it is God.

It should concern us that this man’s voice has been removed from its position of warning—unless all is well between us and God.  A shallow mental assent is not enough!  God requires a real RELATIONSHIP with Him.   Pastor Wilkerson’s voice being removed at this time is only because it was God’s time.  He was faithful in passing on what God showed him, and the choice has always been with us what we do with God’s message.

Many avoid the subject of today’s world events and Biblical prophecy like the plague.  People call it “gloom and doom”.  I agree that we can’t camp out with the subject of prophecy, but avoiding it is even worse.  It offends God, because He had it written!  I find that it has become a powerful tool in reaching people.  And…reaching them NOW is important.  The world is unraveling, and 2011 will continue to be increasingly catastrophic.  2010 broke all recorded worldwide records, but I can tell you that when 2011 is looked at this coming New Year’s, it will have been much, much worse.  We can choose to ignore the implications, but to our great loss, as well as those we are given responsibility for, or we can face them head-on and equip ourselves and others with how God instructed us to face these times that He amply warned us about.  Take your pick!

Whether you take all this as “gloom & doom” or not, here is what I see: MY KING IS COMING AND IS ABOUT TO CALL ME HOME!     IS HE YOUR KING? See to it TODAY!

Jake