My Dear Friend,

I will refrain from prefacing this message with "Thus saith the Lord," but I do believe, I hope, I am conveying the mind of God as He gives me grace to perceive it.

In the last few years several prominent American Christian leaders have fallen from grace in one way or another, beginning with the Ravi Zacharias situation. Other major Christian voices, such as Charles Stanley, have fulfilled their days and passed into Christ's presence. You may wonder what is happening. I believe we are witnessing God "changing the ministerial guard." If so, it is a harbinger of a new thing.

God is preparing to change the church's season. "He changes the times and seasons" (Daniel 2:21). And every time He changes our season, He changes our leaders. The Bible establishes this. After Joseph died, Moses was born to lead the Hebrews. After Moses passed, Joshua was raised to shepherd Israel. After King Saul was slain, David stepped in to guide Judah, and later all Israel, in the ways of God. After David breathed his last, Solomon was coronated King of Israel. This same process is happening again, now, as I write. Why?

God's people follow their leaders. Always! Right or wrong, orthodox or heretical, pastors lead their sheep into the very spiritual pastures in which they live. Good leaders guide the redeemed into uncompromising righteousness, but immature, sinful, or divinely uncalled leaders bring them into sin, folly, and confusion. We are where we are today in the American church because our leaders have led us here.

Godly pastors have led their people into godliness. Bible-loving pastors have directed their people into rich, biblical studies and spiritual insights. Spirit-filled pastors have led their sheep into the lifestyle and gifts of the Spirit. Ignorant pastors have caused their people to be content in ignorance. Excessively intellectual pastors have escorted their people into the arid land of mere intellectualism.

Political pastors have led their people into political obsessions. Greedy pastors have steered their people into covetousness. Christ-seeking pastors have ushered their disciples into a deep devotional life. Proud pastors have directed their sheep into inflated self-esteem, presumption, and arrogance. Humble pastors have led their folds into meekness of spirit and willingness to suffer for Christ's sake. Mission minded pastors have directed their congregants to support and pray for missionaries. Uncompromising pastors have trained their sheep to be uncompromisingly upright. Compromised pastors have led their people into spiritual or moral compromise.

This law of spiritual reproduction remains constant from generation to generation: spiritual leaders always reproduce their own kind.

Therefore, our generally confused, weak, spiritually dry, morally compromised, lukewarm "Laodicean" condition is the direct result of the spiritual and moral shortcomings of Evangelical, Pentecostal, and Charismatic leaders over the last 40 years. Not all but many of them. Far too many. Had many more pastors been completely sold out, uncompromising, selfless, deeply knowledgeable in God's Word, fully led by God's Spirit, and thoroughly tested and proven, we would be very different, a "Philadelphian" church (see Revelation 3:7-12).

So, here we are, lost and wandering in the howling, strange, no-man's-land of 2024 American Christianity. Many of our churches are spiritually weak or dead and are hemorrhaging members. Sin has taken over our culture. Ahab and Jezebel, not David and Abigail, are leading us. Political dysfunction and judicial corruption is filling and killing our formerly fair and functionally sound nation. But all is not lost.

In fact, all is about to change! Historically, spiritual awakenings have always occurred in the lowest and worst times.

Our generation is no different. In His amazing, undying, unmatched, covenantal love and unswerving faithfulness to His biblical plan, God is about to send a mighty awakening that will rock the church. And He will continue rocking us until, spiritually revived, we are restored to God's biblical order and our rightful influence as the salt of the earth and light of the world. Then we will rock this world! One more time. After this, Jesus will come at some point in the near future. How near? I don't know. No one knows. Including any teacher, pundit, or prophet who claims to know.

But I know this. To re-teach, re-train, and re-lead His bride people into our Promised Land of genuine, New Testament Christian maturity, Jesus, the great Shepherd of the sheep, will now - He must! - bring forth many new undershepherds whom He has been secretly training for this hour and this task.

Who are they? Where are they? Specifically, I cannot tell. But I believe I can describe them.

They are Christians whom God has trained like David and Moses. At this very low moment, they are living a spiritually elevated life. While the church has walked far from Christ, they have walked closely with Him. They are quietly, faithfully, and contentedly keeping small flocks of believers by night, guarding them from the adversary's predatory heresies and strategies. But soon these unknown spiritual overcomers will come to our attention. When they do, they will give the same sterling leadership to the body of Christ that godly leaders have given in the past. How long will they serve?

Until the body of Christ becomes the bride of Christ. Until she is set apart, beautiful, strong, and wise. Until she is shining with the gold of God: purified, proven, priceless faith and a wealth of biblical and experiential knowledge of God.

These emerging leaders are modern-day Pauls. They are filled with divine revelation. They possess clear, full insight into His last-days plan for the church, Israel, and the nations. They must know what lies ahead to know where to lead us - and what causes and fads and other distractions we must avoid.

Some are like Peter. They have stumbled in the past and know the purging humiliation of failure. But they chose to not let defeat define them! They have now been thoroughly restored, trained in God's Word, taught of His Spirit, proven in countless fiery tests, and freshly anointed with power from on high to heal our present spiritual weakness here below.

Because their hearts have been broken, they have the clear insight and tender compassion - deeply ingrained by the Spirit - to heal our broken hearts, which have been long grieved by unrealized expectations. For decades we have hoped for Jesus' appearing, but the Bridegroom has tarried. For decades we have hoped for a Book of Acts church yet been disillusioned and discouraged by a Book of Judges church: leaders, churches, denominations, and ministries stubbornly doing what is right in their own eyes instead of simply following the time-tested, soul-liberating, church-maturing light of God's Word and Spirit.

Like Moses, these leaders have spent a vast quantity of quality time on spiritual Mount Sinai. Figuratively speaking, they have been sitting at the Great I AM's feet, hearing His voice, and studying the divine, authoritative "pattern shown [to] thee in the mount" (Hebrews 8:5). This is not the pattern of a visually impressive Crystal Cathedral or mega church with "Ichabod" written over its doors, but rather one of a humanly unattractive, ordinary looking, skin-covered tabernacle. But this tabernacle is fit and ready to host the very glory of God. Friend, that holy God-tent is us, the church God's Spirit is about to awaken, raise, and inhabit.

As this new generation of leaders rises, they will steadily restructure our churches and ministries to conform to God's New Testament pattern. No more will our congregations be built according to self-serving plans copied from this satanically led culture. Rather, all the parts of this new God-tabernacle will be crafted and constructed by the divinely appointed, Spirit-anointed "Bezalels" of our time.

And the parts of this tabernacle will fit together. In perfect unity! And the structure will be erected. Swiftly! And the cloud of glory will descend upon it. And fill it! And the river of the Spirit will overflow and bless millions in this desperately dry world with living water from above. Then, when God's tabernacle-church is completed, deeply united, Spirit-indwelt, as God designed it, and fully functioning in ministry, it will be time for our grand exodus. In the blink of an eye, Jesus will appear and catch us away - from bondage to glory, from this spiritual Egypt to our heavenly Promised Land.

But before we go physically to heaven, we must make a spiritual exodus from bondage to glory on this earth. How? By leaving our spiritual immaturity behind and growing into full spiritual maturity. We progress on this pathway by passing many key milestones: seeking God in the secret place, Bible teaching, much prayer, godly counsel, ever-increasing praise, worship in spirit and truth, humble self-examination, pastoral correction, the Spirit's guidance, sacrificial giving, faithful service, many kinds of tests, and suffering for Christ's sake endured well - until God's appointed time for our departure arrives.

The apostle Paul described our departure: "For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord" (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17). "In a moment, in the twinkling of any eye" (1 Corinthians 15:52).

God will release this miraculous moment - our exodus - as soon as the church is ready for eternal union with Christ. By then, we will have fulfilled our divine mandates to witness, evangelize, and disciple believers from all nations. When the all-powerful Holy Spirit catches us away, we will be in the exact condition Paul envisioned and recorded in Ephesians:

• A thoroughly SPIRIT-INDWELT TABERNACLE (Ephesians 2:19-22)

• A CHRISTLIKE MAN church, or an entirely Christlike body of believers (Ephesians 4:11-16, esp. v. 13)

• A thoroughly PURIFIED BRIDE (Ephesians 5:25-27)

• A SPIRITUAL ARMY of God-armored militant intercessors (Ephesians 6:10-19)

This is the thoroughly New Testament, spiritually mature church Christ will translate into His presence. Above! Suddenly! Forever!

So, prepare yourself. Then get on your watchtower. Look expectantly until God makes this prophetic word a performed word. Until you see, and experience, the rising of new leaders, revived churches, restored glory, a mature body of Christ, and a new Exodus.

Maranatha - He comes!

Dr. Greg Hinnant

GREG HINNANT MINISTRIES