A Great Shaking Before a Great Awakening

We are in a season that God is setting up “The Greatest Show on Earth”. God is going to “Show up and Show off”. I have been saying this for quite a while. But I have also been teaching that everything that can be shaken will be shaken.

The last few weeks we have all been affected by the Corona Virus and our lives have been completely uprooted from our normal routines. I live in the City of Los Angeles and at this current time we are under quarantine. We have been instructed by Governor Gavin Newsom that California’s 40 million residents should stay home indefinitely and venture outside only for essential jobs, errands and some exercise.

The Corona Virus: A Great Shaking Around the World

And this is not just happening in California – but all over the world. There is a great shaking that is taking place and many people are fearful. There has been reports of stockpiling of food, toilet paper, hand sanitizer and other items. Restaurants, bars, theatres, businesses and gyms have all been instructed to close. Most people have never experienced this in their lifetime! What is going on?

God is allowing this shaking to come all over the world because He wants us to seek Him. He wants to pour out His glory upon the earth and is preparing the earth for a great end-time Harvest of souls.

Hebrews 12: 26-28

“At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, Once more I will shake not only the earth but the heavens.” The words “once more” indicate the removing of what can be shaken – that is, Created things – so that what cannot be shaken may remain.

Therefore, since we are receiving a Kingdom that cannot be shaken, Let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and Awe, for our “God is a consuming fire.”

The Azusa Street Awakening

We can learn much from studying history. Many of the greatest moves of God have always had a shaking before the awakening came. One of the examples that I will give you is The Azusa Street Revival in the City of Los Angeles.

Here is the story of the history of the shaking that led up to the Azusa Street Revival. William Seymour, a black holiness preacher, and his friend, Edward Lee were instructed by the Lord to fast ten days, beginning April 6, 1906. They were just three days into their fast when Lee asked Seymour to pray for him, so that he might receive holy spiritual power with the gift of tongues, as at Pentecost. Seymour laid his hands on his friend and brother in Christ and prayed for him. Immediately Lee burst forth in an unknown tongue and exclaimed, “At last! This is that!”, referring to Peter’s words on the Day of Pentecost.

Later that evening they were at the home of Richard and Ruth Asbury at 214 North Bonnie Brae Street, Los Angeles, where a group of black people had gathered to worship. Seymour rose to preach and recounted the experience of earlier that day. Shortly afterward Lee lifted his hands and spoke in tongues and Douglas Nelson described what happened. “The entire company was immediately swept to its knees as by some tremendous power. At least seven, and perhaps more, lifted their voices in harmony of strange new tongues. Some rushed out to the front porch, yard and street shouting and speaking in tongues for all the neighborhood to hear. Thus, on the evening of April 9, 1906, the 20th century Pentecostal movement was born in a black ghetto of Los Angeles among the poor, despised and rejected black members of a white dominated and fundamentally racist society.

Resulting from this initial experience, numbers increased very rapidly to include whites as well as blacks, and it became necessary to rent an old African Methodist Episcopal chapel at 312 Azusa Street, where the seating consisted of wooden planks laid across boxes. But something happened just a few weeks after this initial outpouring that was to shake things up and really put the fear of God in people.

At 5:12 am on the morning of April 18, 1906, San Francisco was struck by a deadly and powerful earthquake. Most seismologists believe the quake exceeded 8.0 on the Richter scale. Though it only lasted between 45 and 60 seconds, the earthquake left over 3,000 people dead, destroyed over 28,000 buildings, and rendered over a quarter of a million people homeless. The devastating disaster caused panic throughout southern California, and the saints of the newly formed Azusa Street Mission, who viewed the convulsions as a sure sign of God’s judgment and might, used the opportunity to escalate evangelism and call men to repentance.

Frank Bartleman, who chronicled the early Azusa Street Pentecostal revival in Los Angeles, was spiritually spurred by the event and went to great lengths to spread the gospel in the weeks following the earthquake. Before the quake, Bartleman had written a tract entitled, “The Last Call”. He and other Christian workers in the City distributed over 10,000 of the pamphlets on April 22nd. While many other preachers in California were working overtime to prove that God had nothing to do with the earthquakes and try to allay the fears of the people, Bartleman and others felt compelled to warn others of their need to speedily repent and turn from their sins (II Chronicles 7:14).

Frank Bartleman reported that the atmosphere in Los Angeles was frenetic. He reported that business in the city was at a standstill and that the “people were paralyzed with fear and that men were at a breaking point”. He said that “I found the earthquake had opened many hearts”.

There is a Great Awakening Upon Us!

With what we are seeing transpire around the world with the pandemic of the Corona Virus many people are afraid and opening their hearts to God. There is a great awakening upon us! Let us use this time to tell others about Jesus and wake up their hearts to accept the Lord. It seems that there are some interesting parallels from the Azusa Street outpouring in 1906 and to what’s happening around the world in the year 2020.

Let us all pray that men and women around the world will open up their hearts to God and turn from their sin and seek God’s face. It was prophesied by William Seymour during the Asuza Street revival that a greater move of God was going to come upon the earth 100 years after that movement. I believe that we are at that time now! Let us use this opportunity to tell others about Jesus and to turn their hearts back to God! We are at a time for “The Greatest Show on Earth” to begin.

II Chronicles 7: 13-14

“When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to Devour the land or send a plague among my people, if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and heal their land.”

The Greatest Show on Earth

We have shifted into a new season and God is releasing new mantles and mandates for a Great Harvest. Last year I started hearing in my spirit that “The Greatest Show on Earth” was going to come to the earth. I live in Los Angeles and have been involved in producing media for the Kingdom. When the movie “The Greatest Showman” came out on 12/22/17 I knew that this was a prophetic sign from God that things were going to change radically.

“The Greatest Showman” was about P.T. Barnum who started a circus with people, who in the natural, were very odd and who some people would call freaks. But the show was very entertaining and made the people laugh and enjoy themselves during the production. I have seen the movie five times and it always speaks prophetically to me that God is going to use people we would not even imagine during this next move of God.

In 1996 I was instructed by the Lord while speaking at a conference in San Diego to start reaching out to the youth. I stepped out by faith with a group of women and just started praying. We were instructed by God to start looking for venues and we jumped in with both feet. We didn’t know what we were going to call the concert – but we proceeded to be obedient to the Holy Spirit.

“Youthwave” Concerts

A few days later, I was driving home from the gym on Crown Valley Parkway in Orange County, when suddenly God spoke to me and said, “A greater move of God is coming than the Jesus Movement. I want you to call the event “Youthwave” and the slogan is “Be a part of the NEW WAVE”.

The first Youthwave concert was at the Anaheim Vineyard on September 13, 1996 and there were over 5,000 young people in attendance. That night just happened to be Rosh Hashanah – the Jewish New Years. That was over 22 years ago.

In the meantime, God had me doing Youthwave concerts in various locations in Southern California for another 11 years. Some of the places he had me go were San Diego State Open Air Theatre (representing schools); Oceanside Amphitheatre (representing the beach/coast); Calvary Chapel (where Jesus Movement broke out with Lonnie Frisbee); Jackie Robinson Stadium in Compton (representing inner cities); Camp Pendleton (representing the military bases). Each of these locations were representing a different demographic and area of society where God wanted to touch.

The last Youthwave concert was in 2007 at the Orange County Fairgrounds in Warehouse 14. We had the well-known group – “Skillet” come play along with many other groups. I have not done a concert since then but now God is breathing upon these dry bones again and I’m relaunching the Youthwave concerts again starting in San Diego.

The significance of this venue at the Orange County Fairgrounds was that a young hippie named Lonnie Frisbee was hitchhiking on Fair Drive when Chuck Smith’s daughter’s boyfriend, John, picked up Lonnie Frisbee and drove him to Chuck Smith’s house.

You see, Chuck and Kay Smith, had been pastoring a tiny church in Costa Mesa, California for over 17 years. Their church was very small and not growing. Chuck had been thinking about quitting the pastorate. Chuck and Kay used to go down to Laguna Beach, California and watch dozens of hippies lining the streets. Chuck would shake his head and say, “Dirty Hippies, why don’t they take a bath!”

His wife Kay replied, “Chuck, don’t say that! We need to pray that God is going to reach these kids…our kids are about the same age!” The heart of a mother appealed to her husband to think differently. Chuck told his family “If you see a hippie bring one home…I want to talk to them!”

That’s exactly what happened! God orchestrated and staged the whole encounter where Lonnie Frisbee was brought right to his door. The thing he initially disdained became his destiny!

This radical hippie named Lonnie had an encounter on a mountain several months earlier. He went to Tahquiz Canyon near Palm Springs, California. He cried in a loud voice, “God if you’re real – reveal yourself to me.”

“I’m putting a light on you to reach lost people”

All of a sudden, the atmosphere of the canyon changed. Lonnie had a vision of the Pacific Ocean. But instead of being filled with water – it was filled with people in darkness. Jesus appeared to Lonnie and told him “I’m putting a light on you to reach lost people”.

The rest is history. Lonnie Frisbee and his wife, Connie, moved in with Chuck and Kay. They started evangelizing the beaches and hundreds of hippies started coming to Calvary Chapel. So many people started coming that within a few months they had to erect a tent on the property. They started doing mass baptisms at the beach at Pirates Cove near Corona Del Mar. Time magazine heard about it and started covering it as “The Jesus Movement”.

A greater move of the Holy Spirit is upon us. It will be greater than Azusa Street and the Jesus Movement combined. It will help facilitate the billion-soul youth harvest which prophet Bob Jones was shown by God in a vision many years ago. It will truly be a wave of God’s spirit and will touch the youth in a great wave of Glory – YOUTHWAVE!

The Greatest Show on Earth has Begun

The Greatest Show on Earth has begun. It will bring in those people who many would never think God would use. In fact, I interviewed Lonnie’s former wife, Connie, several years ago on my television program “Now is the Time”. Connie told me that Lonnie was shown before his death that the LGBT community was going to be touched by God in a tremendous way. That they would be one people group who God was going to reveal himself to and restore.

In closing, Lonnie was molested as an eight-year old boy for two years. He tried to tell his mother and step-father. They didn’t believe him. Lonnie got into the homosexual lifestyle at 15 years old in Laguna Beach. But at 17 years old he was touched on that mountain by God’s spirit. He was used by God as a catalyst to spark a movement where millions were touched.

Lonnie did not own the title of being homosexual. But at times in his life he struggled with his identity. Just as many in the body of Christ struggle with addictions to alcohol, pornography, drugs, etc. Lonnie died in March of 1993 due to complications arising from AIDS. He had gotten very bitter the last year of his life because he felt that the church wanted him for his anointing and the power God placed on him – but they didn’t really want him. But the last two months of his life God revealed himself to Lonnie as Father! He came full circle and finally felt embraced as a son and surrendered into the loving hands of God on March 12, 1993.

This will be a move where God is going to bring Malachi 4 back to his church, “Behold I will send you Elijah the Prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And He shall turn the heart of the Father’s to the children, and the heart of the children to their Fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.” In this great coming move of God – Fathers and Mothers will love these new converts and disciple them into their destiny. It will truly be the “Greatest Show on Earth”. And as one of the songs from the movie “the Greatest Showman” states – “It’s everything you ever want, it’s everything you ever need…and it’s here right in front of you….this is where you want to be.”

God is going to bring forth his family. And it will be about community and unity. It will be about complete instead of compete. Where the manifestations of the sons and daughters will truly arise to take their destiny. God is going to be the Director and it might look like a three-ring circus. But it will be “The Greatest Show on Earth.” And millions will want to come and be a part of this show!

Just grab hold of it and hold on for the ride of your life!

The City of Angels – Time to Crown this Town

The City of Los Angeles has a history for spiritual awakenings. I believe that a greater move of the spirit is at hand and it will come very quickly. On Friday, 13, 2014 at the Staple Center in Los Angeles, the LA Kings went on to win the Stanley Cup Championship in double overtime. I had not really been following the games but I would hear people excitedly talking about this as time progressed. You see, in the playoffs they had initially lost the first three games and the next one they would have been eliminated.

But the coach of the Kings, Daryl Sutter, had them focus on working together as a team! They pulled it together to win and go into the Stanley Cup Championship against the New York Rangers. It was an incredible victory! I sensed that something was going on in the spirit and God was using this as a metaphor.

“I Am Going to Pour Out My Spirit in a Double Portion Over the City of Los Angeles and California”

And then on Friday 13, 2014, in the evening I was at a prayer meeting in Los Angeles, CA. At 8:00 p.m. I heard these words speak through me by the spirit of God, “Just as I poured out my Spirit in 1906 during the Azusa Street outpouring I am going to pour out my spirit in a double portion over the City of Los Angeles and California which will reach the world. I chose a black man named William Seymour to bring forth a movement! And now I am going to crown the LA Kings to show the world that you can come from behind to win. Watch me move now and see a great power play and the GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH to begin.”

There were eight of us at this small gathering and I knew that something had shifted. I knew the LA Kings were going to be playing their final game but only The Lord knew the outcome of the game. So on Saturday morning when I woke up I googled to see the outcome. And I was excited to see that they had won in double overtime! God is going to give us double for our trouble! Many have been hearing that a greater move of God is coming than the Azusa Street Outpouring. But for some of you who don’t know about what Azusa Street was let me give you a little history lesson.

William Seymour was a one-eyed black man who was the son of former slaves. He was hungry for God and attended a bible school in the south where he had to sit outside the door to learn. Segregation had even infiltrated the Christians and the Jim Crow laws were in effect. He was invited to come out to Los Angeles and be the pastor of a small church. He arrived on February 22, 1906, and started preaching to small crowds on Santa Fe Street. His message was that the “Next move of God” was getting ready to be poured out in Los Angeles and that the congregation should be expecting and believing for the power of the Holy Spirit to come!

When he went back that evening for another service the church had been padlocked! The woman who had invited him to come out and be the pastor did not believe in the baptism of the Holy Spirit of which William Seymour was contending for.

He eventually found his way over to a home on Bonnie Brae street where a small group of people would come and pray. The couple felt sorry for William Seymour in that he was homeless and penniless and invited William to stay with them. He spent hours in prayer and fasting before the Lord. One day one of the men told William that he had a dream where the 12 apostles came to him in a dream. They told him he could be filled with the spirit this man asked William to pray for him. William prayed for him and immediately this man was filled with the spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues. They were ecstatic! What they had been praying for was now happening.

Now the news spread quickly around the neighborhood and many came to this small house and received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. William and the others at the house also received this outpouring as well. Before long there were crowds of people outside and surrounding the house. Eventually the porch fell in because of the weight of all the people but no one was hurt.

Miracles at 312 Azusa Street

William was told he would have to find another facility to meet in. So he started looking around and found an abandoned two story building located in the old downtown industrial district on 312 Azusa Street. It had once been a church but now the first floor was used as a stable with rooms to rent upstairs! They cleaned up the building and started inviting people to come and experience the presence of The Lord! People started flocking to this small building and were experiencing God’s presence and power. All different types and demographics of people starting coming. It was as if God opened a portal of heaven over that place and poured out His love and power. Miracles were in abundance and the glory of God was so present that people would fall on their face repenting of their sins.

The first secular news reports of the revival appeared on April 18, 1906 (Just 9 days after the outpouring started)! It was the same day that the devastating earthquake in San Francisco happened! God was indeed making a statement. The message at the mission was “The Love of God”! People were careful not to speak negatively about anyone and love each other….no matter what their age, color, economic situation, etc.

By the summer the crowds had reached staggering numbers – often into the thousands. The scene had become an international gathering place! Thousands of pastors and missionaries had come from across the globe to come to Azusa Street to experience a touch of God. They then went back to their continents and impacted their culture with the same message and power.

It is stated that over 550 million Pentecostals and Charismatics can trace their spiritual ancestry back to this awesome event! William Seymour had been shown by God that after 100 years there would be a greater outpouring in Los Angeles than Azusa Street. Another wave is at hand of God’s spirit and the Lord is going to Crown this Town! It’s not just for LA but the whole world. God is making us Kings and through the media the message will be broadcast around the globe and affect billions. Arise and shine your light has come! Let’s take hold of this message and press into the Lord. He can take a handful of people who are in unity to change the world. Let’s believe that this is the time of history for this to happen. Let’s go for the GOLD!