“He who has ears to hear, let him hear!” (Matthew 11:15)
It was about 15 years ago. In a remote village of the Ahka tribe in Northern Thailand, an old woman named Ah Pin was stricken with an illness that caused her to completely lose her sense of hearing. Tragically, every day was difficult for her. Life went on, but it was tough trying to manage village life without being able to hear a sound — but then one day in March of 2016, something happened. A team from America showed up in her village. I was leading that team. Proper arrangements had been made between our tribal contacts and the village elder. Soon after entering, I found out about Ah Pin. I asked what her condition was. Something was clearly wrong. She looked so dejected. I was informed that she was stone deaf and had been that way for 10 years. Upon hearing this, and intense desire to pray for her welled up inside. Thankfully, my desire was fulfilled. I was granted permission to lay hands on her and pray. In the Name of Jesus, I commanded deaf spirits to come out, and instantly Ah Pin began to cry out. I didn’t know why at first. Even before I had an opportunity to ask through an interpreter, whether she could hear, she was screaming, “Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!” Then I found out what had happened. She was so startled and excited, all at the same time, by all the sounds she was now hearing clearly — that she responded with intense joy (Acts 8:8). Simply hearing sound was an experience she had not had in such a long time. Everyone nearby was getting happy!
Because of his distance from the scene of the miracle, one of our team members, a pastor, heard this woman loudly crying out and thought someone was being delivered of demons. What was actually happening was the effect of someone so ecstatic, so beside herself, that she didn’t know what else to do except to cry out for joy. We have pictures of this dear woman show an old tribal lady smiling ear to ear through all of her wrinkled skin, with me right behind her, smiling with her.
I wouldn’t trade an encounter with God like that for anything in the world. It was amazing experience, one that I hope every believer has the opportunity to be a part of — to lay hands on the sick, command sickness and disease to depart and to watch the person be miraculously healed by the power of the living Christ (Mark 16:18).
For years Ah Pin had physical ears on the sides of her head — but she didn’t have ears to hear. That’s where many people are today. Experiences like this let me know that God is on the move today, and we thank the Lord for it. Often times when we exhort one another to believe God for the impossible, we’ll quote the scriptural question, “Is anything too hard for God?” (Gen 18:14, Jer 32:27, Luke 1:37) and it’s right to do so. But all too often, we stop short of applying God’s miracle working power into realms beyond our personal lives, our families, our past experiences, or once in awhile, our church or neighborhood.
“Is anything too hard for God?” Right now, we’re in need of a national miracle — one that will affect the entire world. That’s why people from around the globe are right now, praying for the United States of America. The Bible says the thief comes to steal, to kill and to destroy (John 10:10). No matter how idealistic you are; and whether you like to hear it or not — all of these things have happened and are happening. We’ve been stolen from in many ways, Americans’ lives have ended needlessly, and our hopes, dreams, and futures have been destroyed. Every force of the enemy has seemingly been marshalled in an international manhunt. The result has been that an intense national election was stolen, and a national destiny hijacked — all by the inspiration of the evil one through evil people which he has trained in his maniacal attempt to stop the plan of God. Can he do it? Will he pull it off? I don’t think so. But he’s sure going to give it a try, and that’s what we’re undergoing right now here in the good old USA.
The upcoming national miracle will require ears to hear. Already, people that have spoken by the Spirit about this miracle about to unfold, are being scoffed at, persecuted and ridiculed — just like the prophets of old. Many proven prophets have an assignment by God over the nation to alert the Body of Christ concerning what the Lord desires to do in this hour, so that Believers — as many as have ears to hear — will stand in agreement and declare the will of God about national revival and the need to prepare ourselves and engage in spiritual war. Many of those prophetic voices I have come to respect and pay attention to — ministers like Hank Kunneman, Robin Bullock, Amanda Grace, Timothy Dixon, Kat Kerr, Kent Christmas, Chris Yoon, Tim Sheets, Albert Milton, Johnny Enlow, Manuel Johnson and so many more — and I’m probably forgetting some that should also be mentioned. Truth be told, there are perhaps hundreds of prophetic voices on the national stage confirming the things God is doing.
As expected, there’s also a backlash, but I’ve noticed how these true prophets seem completely undaunted by all of that. They’ve all been denigrated. They’ve been called false prophets. People have tried to, not just make light of them, but to cast out their names as evil. Still, they continue to speak the word of the Lord, apparently not paying attention to the attacks. I happen to believe what they’ve said about a massive revival, a national awakening, a worldwide outpouring and both the vindication and return of the president that we actually voted for last November, rather than the person illegally installed in his place.
I assure you, I’m not following two incongruent trains of thought here. Let’s remember that nothing is impossible with God. The healing of someone’s physical hearing and the restoration of the Church’s ability to hear God’s voice are virtually, if not actually, one in the same. Jesus said, “My sheep hear My voice” (John 10:27). One of the things that confirms the truthfulness of the words spoken through God’s true prophets is the response of those same prophets towards their critics. In this case, like water off a duck’s back, it has no effect. Contrary voices have amounted to nothing more than barking dogs who have no bite.
I know there’s some that say it doesn’t matter who’s in office, that God has a plan and He’s going to do what He wants to do regardless of that. It does make a difference. There was a reason God raised up Moses and not someone else; Sampson and not someone else; David and not someone else. I could go on and on and on. God’s choice is God’s choice, and our thinking won’t change that when He needs His man in position for His purpose. We may or may not like that sometimes, but we had best agree to what He says. This is not about Trump or Biden. This is about Jesus being King of Kings and Lord of Lords. This is about the Great Commission. This is about the church fulfilling her destiny in this end-time hour.
Herein lies the problem with too much of the Church in this time. (Actually, there are a number of problems we must overcome — and I believe one of the major lessons of the year 2020 was that the Church remains weak in many areas. We have deficits that need to be made up before Jesus returns.) Here’s the problem I want to hone in on: One of the greatest needs that we have is for hearing! Like Ah Pin, we may have the apparatus, but we still don’t have the capacity. We don’t just need ears; we need ears to hear. However, just like that dear Ahka tribal woman in her remote village who cried out when her hearing was restored, many will cry out with joy when their spiritual hearing is restored, too. Right now, there are people in the Church who are in need of hearing, but in their case, they don’t even know it. I’m not against them. I don’t put them down. I just realize they have a deficit; that they are in need of hearing. They’re not hearing the word of the Lord because they don’t have the capacity to hear the word of the Lord. They need their hearing restored. They need ears to hear.
Some people reading this right now relate to what I’m saying, while others do not. Those who already have ears to hear are probably in the fight, and they’re contending for the Word of the Lord. They’re not trying to act like it’s a time of peace when it’s really a time of war. Do you remember in the book of Ecclesiastes Chapter 3? There it says there’s a time for peace and there’s a time for war. There is a time for every purpose under heaven. Under heaven is where there’s time. In heaven is where there is no time. Because we’re not in heaven but under heaven, we live in the realm of time. This side of heaven, we will always have periods of time we have to deal with. God has a time for every good purpose. The question is, do we know what time it is? If we have ears to hear, then we will know the timing of the Lord. I’ll tell you what time it is. It’s time for the restoration of the nation.
Having said that, let me talk about what this restoration looks like. This is not just going to be getting back to where we started before our election was hijacked, or even before COVID or the advent of faux news. It is so much more. You see, the Bible says that when the thief is found (our enemy Satan is the thief), he’s going to restore sevenfold and give all the substance of his house (Prov 6:30-31). In a thief’s house, everything is stolen — so those that recover the goods have the right to it. The devil has no right to anything on this planet, Beloved. The Church is learning that we have the right to all things because “the earth is the Lords and the fullness thereof” (Psalm 24:1). What’s more, He put us in charge of this planet.
It may be difficult for some people to receive, but let me remind you of what Jesus said, in what we call the Great Commission. After defeating Satan and all of hell, He declared, “All authority is given unto me both in heaven and in earth. You are to go, therefore, and to teach all nations” (Matt 28:18-19). Praise God. He didn’t just tell us to “go make converts. And by the way, He didn’t even just say, “go make disciples.” What He said was, to go “teach all nations” — all ethnic groups; all people groups; all socio-linguistic groups; and yes, all geopolitical divisions on the planet. Praise the Lord! We are to do everything that Jesus told us to do — and He told us to take charge of the planet. That’s what He wanted for Adam in the 1st place but Adam didn’t follow through. Jesus, the last Adam, did follow through. But not only did he succeed 2000 years ago at the cross; and not only did He succeed 2000 years ago when he was raised up from the dead. He also succeeded when He transferred all authority and power to the Church in order for us to be able to teach and instruct all nations on the earth in His Name (not by force, but in his Name; in His stead).
I’m believing that the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ is getting ears to hear what the Spirit is saying to the Church. Not only will God use the Church to build the Church, but God will use the Church to restore all things to Himself (Acts 3:21). That’s Bible — and remember what else Jesus said. In Matthew 24:14, while expounding the end times, Jesus said that this gospel of the Kingdom would be preached to the ends of the earth and then the end would come. Praise God. I submit to you, my friend, that the gospel is not being preached while we’re in lockdown; we’re in the middle of a so-called pandemic; while the government is trying to shut down churches; when we are unable to meet without all kinds of regulations; when we’re being taxed for things that violate what we believe in; and while money is being taken away from us hand over fist. No, it’s not going to happen that way. It’s going to happen when we have the right kind of spiritual leadership and the right kind of political leadership, so that the gospel can go forward and be preached to the ends of the earth.
I want to remind you that we’re not talking about just the gospel of Salvation but the gospel of the Kingdom, where the King rules and God’s Kingdom is established. In the Psalms, we’re informed that righteousness and justice is the foundation of God’s throne (Psalm 89:14 Amp). Everything is going to be made right so that we can continue to fulfill our assignment, fulfill the Great Commission and glorify Jesus the King. The alternative would be for God to simply wave the white flag and say, “Well Satan, I guess you won. I’m going to let you keep everything you stole. The planet is yours.” I don’t think so! Are you with me? If you are, then you have ears to hear. Let’s believe God for the miraculous! But just like I cannot physically open the ears of a woman that was deaf for 10 years, so we cannot reverse all of the evil that’s being perpetrated in this nation during this time period. But we know who can — and we can take His Word and speak it in His Name. We speak in order to affect the miraculous that God wants here on the planet. He just needs our cooperation. The fact is, God cannot do anything on the earth without human cooperation, and that’s why I’m asking you to stand with me and believe God for the miraculous, for the restoration of the nation and for the completion of the Great Commission in these end times before Jesus comes. Amen.
If you’re confused about all this, I have nothing unkind to say, only compassion in my heart towards you. If you really don’t understand what God is doing, you’re a lot like Ah Pin, the old lady in the Ahka village. Dis-ease of some kind blocked your ability to hear. I cannot miraculously change that, but I can pray and God can fix the problem. I love you and want you to know that I am praying for you. I believe God will give you ears to hear.
Good word Craig! I really enjoyed reading your article on hearing! Praise God! God bless you and continue to use you for His kingdom purposes!
AWESOME,ANOINTED WORD,Craig! Abbey and I are in full agreement. Have been stirred by Holy Spirit for months to pray Is.11 and Ephes. 1 all, espec. 15-23. Hungering and craving for our hearts eyes to be wide open. We love all we hear from you, Craig. Always have loved your spirit and messages. Yearned to support your ministry over the years. Love to partner with you all now. Burt
Thanks Craig! Your message is right on. We really need to heed the signs of the times. Please pray for my sister, Mary Stocker. Coming to the end of treatments, but she is still believing in God’s healing. God’s blessings! Virginia
Glory to God! So enjoyed reading this! Bless you and all that you do with and in Christ!