The Vision for 21st Century Evangelism(Prospects and Challenges.) The vision for the 21st Century Evangelism is going to be considered in line with the vision of the holy waters (Living Water) spoken about by the Lord through the mouth of His servant the prophet in Ezekiel Chapter 47:1-12. AFTERWARD he brought me again unto the door of the house: and, behold, waters issued out from under the threshold of the house eastward: for the forefront of the house stood towards ht east, and the waters came down from under from the right side of the house, at the south side of the altar. 2. Then brought he me out of the way of the gate northward, and led me about the way without unto the utter gate; by the way that looketh eastward; and, behold, there ran out waters on the right side. 3. And when the man that had the line in his hand went forth eastward, he measured a thousand cubits, and he brought me through the waters; the waters were to the ankles. 4. Again he measured a thousand, and brought me through the waters; the waters were to the loins. 5. Afterward he measured a thousand; and it was a river that I could not pass over: for the waters were risen, waters to swim in, a river that could not passed over. 6. And he said unto me, son of man, hast thou seen this? Then he brought me and caused me to return to the brink of the river. 7. Now when I had returned, behold, at the bank of the river were very many treats on the one side and on the other. 8. Then said he unto me. These waters issue out toward the east country, and go down into the desert, and go into the sea: which being brought forth into the sea, the waters shall be healed. 9. And it shall come to pass, that every thing that liveth, which moveth, whithersoever the rivers shall come, shall live: and there shall be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters shall come thither: for they shall be healed: and every thing shall live wither the river cometh. 10. And it shall come to pass, that the fishers shall stand upon it from en-gedi even unto En-eglaim they shall be a place to spread forth nets; their fish shall be according to their kinds, as the fish of the great sea, exceeding many. 11. But the miry places thereof and the marishes thereof shall not be healed; they shall be given to salt. 12. And by the river upon the bank thereof, on this side and on that side, shall grow all trees for meat, whose leaf shall not fade, neither shall the fruit thereof be consumed: it shall bring forth new fruit according to his mouths, because their waters they issued out of the sanctuary: and the fruit thereof shall be for meat, and the leaf thereof for medicine.
Vision for the 21st Century evangelism will be discussed under these headings: for the purpose of clarity based on the Ezekiel passage. i. The sourceii. The nature of the wateriii. Man’s involvementiv. Prospectsv. Challenges But before we go further, I would like to define some terms, which are very relevant to the topic under discussion: 1. Evangelism: This simply means preaching the good news to every creature (of the whole human race) with a view of discipling them. Mk. 16:15; Mtt. 28:19. The good news is that Jesus Christ, the son of God died on the cross of Calvary for the sins of the whole human race that anyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. Jn. 3:16. 2. Vision: This means the plan to reach a particular target or goal in any given situations or circumstances in life. 3. Prospects: Means the benefits or gain to be derived or get from a set goal in life. 4. Challenges: Means the side attractions, obstacles and oppositions that could be on the way to achieve the set goal. Challenges could be positive ort negative in nature. The Source: Afterward he brought me again unto the door of the house and behold waters issued out from under the threshold of the house eastward; for the forefront of the house stood towards the east and the waters came down under; from the right side of the house, at the south side of the altar Ezekiel 47:1. The source of flow of the holy waters or the living water is the Sanctuary, the house of God from the altar. The holy waters issued out of the sanctuary are the precious seed of God, the word of God, in short, the goof news. The nature of the water and its flow: Apart from the fact that the water was holy and is ever holy, it was not a stagnant water but a flowing water body. This flowed steadily and increased in proportions both in depth and in size until it became a mighty river. Ezekiel 47:3-6. This steady flow and the dimensional increase of this holy water body is a clear revelation of what the move of the Holy Ghost is going to be in the very near future, even in the 21st Century Church. The Church is going to be a living Church, not in principle or by name but in reality. The Church shall become more vibrant, alive and each member shall become a channel through which the living water shall be willing in the days of His Power. Ps 110:3. As these holy waters turned and became a mighty river, which flowed to the east country, to the desert zones, to the sea and to other nations of the world, so shall the move of the Holy Spirit be in these last days. Ezekiel 47:8. It is going to be mighty as a whirlwind and shall cut across all the nations of the world. “Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord; His going forth is prepared as the morning ad He shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth”. The move of the Holy Ghost in these last days is going to be as a heavy down – pour (rain) upon the whole earth. Man’s Involvement: “And it shall come to pass that the fishermen shall stand upon the banks of the Dead Sea, from Engedi even to Eneglaim. And there shall be a place to spread forth nets, their fish shall be according to their kinds, as the fish of the great sea, exceeding many”. Ezekiel 47:10. Engedi (a city of Judah) is a place 400 feet above the west shore of the Dead Sea where immense fountains of warm waters flow out from beneath limestone cliffs. It is a fertile plain and a replica of the mountain of holiness from where the net shall be spread. In the book of Isaiah the prophet it is written, “it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD’S house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow unto it. Isaiah 2:2. All these are pointer to the fact that in these last days, the Church (believers) will be prepared to ascend unto the mountain of the LORD’S house from where the nets shall be cast into the water for a big catch of fishes. Engedi is symbolic as revealed in the vision of the body waters. But who shall ascend unto the hills of the LORD? Or who shall stand in His holy place? Ps. 24:3. He who walks and lives uprightly and blamelessly, who works righteousness and justice, and speaks and thinks the truth in his heart. He who does not slander with his tongue, nor does evil to his friend, not takes up a reproach against his neighbour. In whose eyes a vile person is despised but he honours those who fear the LORD, he who swears to his own hurt and does not change. He who does not put out his money for interest (to one of his own people) and who will not take bribe against the innocent. Ps. 15:2:5. You may say in your heart, we know all these, but is the Church of today alive in all these areas? In the forth coming worldwide move of the Holy Ghost, the latent power in the Church today shall melt and flow for the benefits of mankind, as we shall discuss later. The people of God shall hate sin in all its ramifications and shall desire to be as their God. They shall cast their nets and shall get a big catch because they shall operate from the platform of riotousness. Then shall they know what it means to be led by God and their efforts shall be fruitful. It is going to be a harvest time from the four corners of the world. All the methods of man are failing today in, the proceeds from the four corners of the world. All the methods of man are failing today in the church of Jesus Christ but in the next move of the Holy Ghost, the new s et of and possibly the last set of the fishermen shall be taught by the Holy Ghost and they cannot afford to move an inch without taking directives or hearting from the master of the work. Prospects: “Then said he unto me, these waters issue out towards the east country, and go down into the desert, and go into the sea; which being brought forth into the sea, the waters shall be healed. And it shall come to pass that every thing that liveth, which moveth, whilthersoever the rivers shall come, shall live.. and the fruit thereof shall be for meat, and the leaf thereof for medicine. Ezekiel 14:8-9,12. From the above passage, we can understand that the flow of the holy waters cut across the different arts of the earth, so also shall the rain of revival affect the different parts of the world. The holy water had one important quality among others, and that is, the healing nature that was made evidence as it came into contact with any living things including plants, fishes and even other water bodies (the sea), they were healed. This is a true picture of the entire world which has been infected with sin and so, the whole world is spiritually sick and needs healing. In he book of Roman 8:19-23 reads thus, for the earnest expectation o the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travialeth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also …….. From the above we can understand clearly that the whole creation had been in bondage since the fall of the first man Adam. The sin of Adam affected not only human beings but equally affected the plants, animals, fishes and all creatures in general. They are all waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God, the last generation preachers (fishermen), they have the word and so they have the solution to their groaning. From this perspective, we can draw the line and with emphasis say that the next century evangelism, the emergence of the Holy Ghost ruled and directed fishermen, is going to be accomplished with much blessings both spiritual, physical, material and others. The creation shall be free from the present groaning. We see traces of spiritual freedom this time but it shall be more that time. Challenges: In verse II of our text, it is stated that the miry places thereof and the merishes shall not be healed, but shall be given to salt. The miry places are the swamps and the marshes that are around the main river. They appear like part of the flowing river but are not. There is water in them quite alright but not as the flowing river and their appearances to people are deceitful. People think that they are part of the main river but they will dry up in dry season and cake up like salt. The main river will continue to flow steadily, maintaining its course whether in dry or rainy season. It does not know whether variations and changes Church that are not founded on the Lord Jesus Christ, the Rock of Ages, which today appear like the true Church but are just the synagogue of Satan, deceiving the people with their lying wonders shall all dry up. They are the swamps and the marshes that shall not be healed but shall cake up just like salt. Their days are numbered. In the days when the sons of God shall emerge with the full Holy Strength, the fake churches shall not find it easy to cope just in like manner to what happened to Pharaoh’s magician before Moses and Aaron. But the sons of God must be in the main stream of the flow of the Holy Ghost move. We as the sons of god must be alive as this water and this must be reflected in our daily prayers, studying of the word of God and other areas of commitment like visitation, personal evangelism, giving of support to the brethren and God’s work etc. Our lives shall completely affect the entire world of ours. In conclusion, the vision for the 21st Century Evangelism will still be based and centered on the Lord Jesus Christ’s method as illustrated in Luke 10:1-12. The method of teaching and getting the people grounded in the word of God – the basic salvation message, then sending them out in two by two. The concept of fishing will be strictly upheld, each fisherman will at his own location along the moving water body will cast his net for a catch. This last generation or fishermen shall be very desperate o their assignment because they will come back to render an account to their master, so they wouldn’t want to miss their bearing. Luke 10:17. The interest and the joy of the work will consume the whole attention of these forthcoming fishermen. The zeal of the LORD’S house shall consume them, then I ask, what about you, the bench warmer believer? Get prepared brethren, great things of joy are ahead. May the LORD find you and me worthy to be enlisted in Jesus Name Amen. The fishermen discussed in this paper directly refer to our Church leaders whether as big or small Pastor. The challenge is before us as leaders who will direct the fishing exercise and manage the result of the catch. We will fail if our attention is not focused on the Lord of the harvest, there is need for us to prepare ourselves spiritually, climb the spiritual ladder a few more step higher than the level where we have settled for too long. Then shall we become ready vessels for the master’s use to prepare others and to gather in the fruits into the barner. And at the conclusion of things, we shall shine as stars in the Kingdom of our great God forever. By Rev. Arch. A. O. Iweriebor
