Times and Seasons-Tom Burns' Prophetic Encounter the Morning Hamas Attacked Israel (Oct. 7th)
Times & Seasons - A Call To Action
At 1:30 AM on the morning of Saturday, October 7, I was awakened by the Lord. As I laid in bed. I heard Him speak five things to me:
Know the times and seasons, especially season changes.
Get in formation.
Be an army, not an individual soldier.
Close order drill.
Know your roles.
After I made notes on what he said, I rolled over and went back to sleep.
When I awoke the next morning, I read the headlines that Israel had been attacked by Hamas earlier that morning. The attack had been ongoing for about two hours when I received the above words from the Lord. I immediately knew that there was a link between what was happening in Israel and what the Lord had said to me.
The attack in Israel was tragic. The brutality of the attack is horrific and unimaginable. But, it demonstrates the hatred and brutality of our enemy. We have to remember that as Ephesians 6:12 says, our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against rulers, against powers, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in heavenly places. 1 Peter 5:8 also warns us to be on the alert because our adversary prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to destroy. Lastly, John 10:10 compares our enemy to a thief whose only purpose is to steal, kill and destroy. I realized that the enemy behind feeding Christians to the lions and other atrocities during the time of the Roman Empire is the same enemy that was behind this attack on Israel. This is also the same enemy that is at war with and wants to destroy Jesus’ Church.
The attack is also a marker of a key change of seasons in the world. It has already been referred to as Israel's at 9/11. Just as the 9/11 attacks against the United States impacted countries around the world, we can expect shockwaves from this attack to reverberate far beyond the borders of Israel as well.
There are important lessons that the church must learn from this attack. The five points that the Lord showed me are just a starting point. Just as the nation of Israel is being called to enter into a new level of warfare, I believe that The Church is being called to prepare for war as never before.
One final point about the 9/11 attack from the 9/11 Commission report, “They were at war with us. We were not at war with them.” We cannot let the same be said about The Church in this new season. We have to be awake and vigilant with regard to the attacks coming from our enemy, Satan.
Know the times and seasons, especially season changes.
After the magnitude of the news about the Israeli invasion settled in, I started to look at the individual points that the Lord had shared with me earlier that morning. The first point was knowing the times and seasons, especially season changes. Immediately, I was reminded of the sons of Issachar as described in 1 Chronicles 12:32. I knew that they were men who understood the times. However, when I looked up the Scripture, I was surprised to see that they also had the knowledge of what Israel should do. Not only did they know about the times, but they knew about what needed to be done as far as a response.
I was also reminded of Isaiah 60:1-3. In this passage, Isaiah encourages us to arise and shine for our light has come. But he also warns that deep darkness will cover the earth and the peoples. There is a relationship between increasing darkness and the rising in the glory and the light of the Lord on us. The more we shine, the more darkness will rise up to try to counter attack and counterfeit what we're doing. But, verse three gives us the promise that if we persevere, the nations will come to our light and kings to the brightness of our rising.
I was also reminded about a principle that I learned years ago, nature hates a vacuum. This is true in the physical world and it is true in the Spiritual World. The COVID shutdowns over the past few years created a spiritual vacuum that the enemy aggressively used to attack the nations. During the shutdowns, governments decided what organizations were essential and nonessential. In many places, churches were deemed to be nonessential and not allowed to open while businesses such as bars and strip clubs were allowed to operate normally. This created a spiritual vacuum that the enemy rapidly and readily invaded and resulted in much of the moral depravity that has spread so quickly over the past several years. In the absence of the churches, darkness abounded. Many churches were driven by fear and gladly complied with the shutdowns. Instead of saying, ”We have what a sick and dying world needs.” These churches said, ”Go away. We're afraid of you. Don't come near us.”
The COVID situation reminded me of 2 Timothy 3:1-5. In this passage, Paul talks about what will be happening in the last days and how difficult times will become. Finally, he addresses men and churches that hold to a form of godliness but deny the power of God. He further warns that we should avoid such men as these. We have got to learn how to stand and operate in the power of God, not just clinging to a form of godliness.
I was also reminded of the rebuilding of the walls around Jerusalem during the time of Nehemia. In the fourth chapter of Nehemiah, it describes how Nehemia deployed the Israelites to rebuild the wall. He had half of the men standing behind the workmen carrying spears and swords, ready to be able to go to battle in an instant. All of the workers carried their swords at their sides. We are entering a time where warfare is going to be increasing. The attacks are going to be increasing in boldness and severity. We need to be prepared with all of our armor, ready to fight, ready to repel the attacks of the enemy, ready to stand in the place of God's power in our lives.
Get in formation.
To me, getting in formation is a military term. Basically it means get into your assigned place. Usually it precedes a call to attention or a call to listen to orders. It can also be a call to get into your assigned position as the unit goes into combat.
The Roman Testudo or the Roman turtle was a military formation that was used during the time of Christ. In this formation, soldiers positioned their shields in a way to provide an almost impenetrable defense along the front, sides and the top of the formation. This formation was both an offensive and a defensive formation. It was defensive because it protected the individual soldiers from attack by the enemy. It was offensive because it allowed the unit or the formation to move forward as a unit towards the enemy that they were attacking.
As I looked at my notes, I realized that, “Get in formation” easily became, “Get information.” Looking at the Hamas attack against Israel, one of the immediate conclusions was that it was a massive failure of Israeli intelligence. The question that immediately came to my mind was, ”Where are the watchmen?” In ancient Israel watchmen were positioned on the walls. Their job was to see the enemy coming at a great distance and sound the alarm so that the city and the military could be prepared to defend against the attack before it happened.
The call to get in formation is not only a general call to the Church, but it is also a specific and urgent call for the watchmen in the Church to get into their position on the walls.
2 Kings 6:8-12 describes how the king of Aram was warring against Israel. Every one of his attacks was thwarted by the Israeli army. In a rage, he wanted to know who was betraying his plans to the Israelites. His advisers explained to him that Elisha the prophet was telling the Israeli King the things that the king of Aram was saying, even in his bed chamber. We need the prophetic watchman to arise to know what the enemy is saying and plotting even in their bed chambers and to announce to the church so that the church can prepare and respond to the enemy attacks before the attack happens.
Be an army, not individual soldiers.
Much is said about cultivating our individual relationship with the Lord. The Lord wants us to have a personal, intimate relationship with Him so much that He has sent Holy Spirit to live within us! But in addition to our relationship with Him, He is also concerned about our relationship with other believers. As Jesus put it, the greatest command is to love God and the second greatest commandment is to love our neighbors as ourselves.
Once we enter that warfare arena, it is necessary for us to operate as an Army not as individuals. The most common compound name of God in the Bible is Jehovah Sabaoth or the Lord of Hosts. Although Sabaoth is translated as Hosts, it is a military term and it really means Armies. A better translation may be the Lord of Armies. He is the Lord of the Angel Armies of heaven. He is also the Lord of the Armies of Jesus.
As was earlier mentioned, getting in formation means getting together with other Christians in a way where we can form a unit that is capable of advancing as well as protecting each other. In addition to operating as fighting units, our units need to be able to cooperate with other fighting units, ultimately creating armies.
And beyond even fighting as armies. We need to be able to fight and cooperate with the other armies that are involved in the battle. During World War II, armies of all of the allies were placed under the command of a single, Supreme Allied Commander, General Dwight Eisenhower. General Eisenhower commanded the US Armies. He also commanded the English armies and the French armies. This was necessary to bring coordination between the different fighting forces as they opposed the axis armies of Germany and Italy. In spiritual warfare, our Supreme Commander is Jehovah Sabaoth, the Lord of Armies. We need to cooperate within our army and we also need to cooperate with the angel armies.
As we come together as a single fighting force, we will have the greatest victories over our enemy.
Close order drill
To most non-military people, close order drill doesn’t mean much. But any person with military training knows that close order drill is one of the key elements of basic recruit training. In its simplest form, close order drill is the process of getting a group of recruits to act as a unit as they march from one location to another. But there is much more involved in close order drill than simply the act of marching as a unit. During my time in recruit training in the Marine Corps, we spent more time working on close order drill than in virtually any other topic that was part of our training. Close order drill is important for several reasons.
First, and foremost, close order drill promotes teamwork. Recruits learn how to operate as a unit, or a team, instead of a group of individuals. Commitment to teamwork is the foundation on which an effective fighting force is built. There were times when we were marching from one part of the training depot to the next that the drill instructor would simply let us listen to the sound of our feet hitting the pavement as we marched. The sound was as a single footfall instead of a group of people. We were marching “as one!”
To function as a team, the first thing that you learn is how to listen to the orders of the drill instructor. And not only listen but to immediately respond, to immediately obey.
Another lesson from close order drill is to trust that those that are around you are going to be obeying their orders as well. This allows each member to focus on their assignment and not be concerned about what the person on your left or your right or in front of you or behind you is going to do. You know that they are going to obey the command just as you do.
I know that the enemy is never going to be afraid of a military because we march well. But a military unit that functions as one, that obeys instantly, that obeys completely is a fighting unit that the enemy fears. Our enemy does not want us working together. He does not want us functioning as a unit. He definitely does not want us functioning as one.
I believe that one of the biggest deficiencies in the Church today is that we do not foster or encourage teamwork among the members. We do have leadership teams within the church. We may have praise and worship teams within the church. But when it comes to equipping individual members to work as teams focussed on kingdom building, we come up woefully short.
I was recently given the opportunity to become part of a team that was ministering in the nation of Kazakhstan. The Lord put together a team of amazing individuals with diverse complementary gifts. At first I struggled with working in a true team environment, because so much of my effort in the past had been towards gaining personal recognition and personal affirmation of my spiritual gifts. But, over time, the Lord showed me the importance of the team. And He has brought me to the place where now my highest goal is to see our team be successful in sharing what the Lord has to give to the people that we're ministering to.
We have to remember that the Word says that we all see in part and we prophesy in part. To be able to give a better picture of the whole, we need to operate in teams. We need to bring our different perspectives. We need to bring our diverse gifts. We need to come together to see God's Kingdom built
Know Your Roles
According to some estimates, less than 5% of Christians know their role or function within the body of Christ. No military can stand where only 5% of the fighting force knows what their job is or where they are supposed to be. As a Church, we have to place an increased emphasis on helping people to discover and develop their Spiritual Gifts. Then we need to help them find and get into their position within the body.
In the Marine Corps, as with other branches of the American military, each Marine had a basic assignment, called a Military Occupational Specialty or “MOS.” Some Marines MOS was basic infantry or frontline combat operators. But others had specialized roles that involved working in the supply warehouses to ensure that food and ammunition and clothing got to the fighting troops in a timely manner. Others would have responsibility for food preparation and ensuring that the fighting forces were fed. When we did not fulfill our assigned role, we weakened the ability of the frontline warriors to be able to fulfill their role.
Summary
I believe that we are entering into a time and season of great change. It is a time of revival and awakening. It is also a time of great darkness as our enemy attempts to thwart and hinder the move of God. If the church is not prepared for the attacks of the enemy, it will also be a time of great suffering and destruction.
The Bible says that Jesus came to destroy the works of Satan. As His disciples, as Christians, our goal is to look like Jesus and to do the things that Jesus did. That means that our goal is to destroy the works of Satan. In other words, discipleship requires warfare! It is time that we learn, as a Church, to wake up to get into position, to know our roles and to be prepared to participate in the fight that Jesus started. We need to destroy the works of Satan and release the kingdom of God and on this earth!
