God is Restoring the Church Part 1 Kathryn Kuhlman Joel as an Overview of Church History

That which I am giving you from the word of God is vitally important to all of us. And remember, this comes from the highest authority in heaven and earth. It comes from thus saith the Lord. Turn, if you will, please, to that little book of Joel. It's a very sharp book. and yet vitally important, especially to those of us living today. For the whole picture in this little book is of the end time of this present age, of the times of the Gentiles. It's more important to us today than any generation that has ever lived. Let me begin reading, if you will, please, the first chapter of Joel. The second verse. Hear this, ye old men. Give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land. Hath this been in your days, or even in the days of your fathers? Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and let their children another generation. That which the palmer worm hath left, hath the locust eaten. And that which the locust hath left, hath the canker worm eaten. And that which the canker worm hath left, hath the caterpillar eaten. Now, go a little further, into that second chapter, and I will rest. to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the canker worm, and the caterpillar, and the palmer worm, my great army which I sent among you. Go a little further, don't stop there, and it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out of my spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. Your old men shall dream dreams. Your young men shall see visions. And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my Spirit. This is the very Word of God. Now, pause just a moment. On the day of Pentecost, some 3 ,000 souls were saved. And then we see Peter and John going up to the temple, going up to pray. And they passed a lame man at the beautiful gate who asked alms of them. And Peter answers, silver and gold have I none. I have nothing material that I can give you. But such as I have I given to thee. In the name of Christ, rise up and walk. And something happened. You talk about a miracle service. You and I stand awed when we see men and women get up out of the wheelchairs. We've seen some mighty miracles. But this was a glorious miracle service. at the gate of the temple. The lame man was healed instantly. And whether the priests in the temple believed in manifestations or not, I do not know. I've wondered many a time. But at any rate, the man went into that temple walking, leaping, and praising God. Oh, I missed it. That was one miracle service I missed, I wished. I could have been there. But one thing I do know, it was the same pal the Holy Ghost that went through that body of that lame man. I don't think they had wheelchairs then. He had been brought to the gate of the temple and probably had to be taken home, carried home. They didn't have wheelchairs. But we do know that the lame man was healed. Instantly, he went running into the temple. Oh, that was glorious. Now in Acts, the fifth chapter, the 16th verse, we see the multitudes out of the cities round about Jerusalem bringing sick folk and those that were vexed with unclean spirits. And they were healed, everyone. Sick were brought forth into the streets. laid on beds and couches, that at least the very shadow of Peter passing by might overshadow some of them. Signs and wonders were wrought everywhere by the hands of the apostles, true to the word of our Lord, who had said, Greater works than these shall ye do, because I go to my Father. In other words, he's saying, even greater works because the Holy Spirit will come unto you. All physical healing is of God. All healing is of God. The same Holy Spirit that flowed to the bodies then is the same Holy Spirit that flows through bodies now. The church in those days stood blazing with the full Pentecostal power and the glory of the Holy Spirit. The words of Jesus were fulfilled. In deed and in truth, they were endued with power from on high. There was timid Peter, who just a short kind before the coming of the Holy Spirit, had seen Jesus look into his face and say, Peter, I pray that thy faith faileth. Timid Peter, who had once feared a little girl who asked him if he knew Jesus, he was so timid that he denied that he even knew Jesus Christ. Oh, beloved, it was thrilling in the early church when they were conscious of the power of the Spirit. illiterate men and women were turned into flaming evangelists the outpouring of the holy spirit was not unto the jews alone but unto the gentiles also every gift all the fruits of the spirit were manifested in the early church until the nine gifts and the nine fruits of the Spirit hung as eighteen perfect apples upon the perfect tree. And we read the scripture. For to one was given by the Spirit the word of wisdom, to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another the gift of healing by the same Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discerning of spirits, to another diverse kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. The early church, so conscious of the power of the Holy Spirit, The sick were healed. Miracles were wrought. Oh, it was glory. Each of the nine fruits was in the church. Love, joy, peace, goodness, gentleness, faith, meekness, temperance, long -suffering. It was perfect. But something happens. The palmer began to work. And thus ends the first chapter of the early church history. Leaving the tree rooted and grounded in the faith of Jesus. Every limb, every branch, every leaf. The fruit in perfect power and strength. All glorious days of love and unity. Days when none called ought that he had his own. Days when the children of the Lord had all things in common. Days when they were beaten and imprisoned. Days when prison bonds were broken. Signs and wonders were wrought. Oh, we've often wished they might have continued. But they didn't. Slowly but surely. The palmer worm began to work. And one day, the palmer worm appeared, eating and destroying as it went. Until as the years went by, the gifts and the fruits of the spirit began to disappear from view. Not so many sick were healed as they used to be. Not so many miracles were performed. Faith was on the wane. When someone in the assembly had a message in tongues, there was no one who had the gift of interpretation. Messages and prophecy were not so frequently given as they used to be. The fruits of unselfish love and joy and peace were also attacked. by the palmer worm who grew bolder and bolder day by day and gradually the eighteen apples began to disappear from the stanch and upright tree which had stood so gloriously heavily laden for so many years after the coming of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. It did not stop with the havoc wrought by the palmer worm. The enemy never stops. Other years and other worms took up the work of destruction which the palmer worm had left off. And that which the palmer worm hath left hath the locust eaten. And now we see the locust at work in the church. The work of the locust is, of course, wrought upon the leaves. He strips and lays barren all that he touches. Thus not only were the gifts and the fruits of the Spirit lost sight of, by the vast majority of believers, but the personal incoming and indwelling of the Holy Spirit was also lost, as humility and godliness and the manifestations of the Holy Spirit also vanished. The Holy Spirit, as gentle as a dove, was quenched and grieved. and stifled until he silently withdrew his wonder -working manifestations and joy and gladness were withheld from the sons of men and the church grew cold few miracles practically no power there always was A few of the faithful who were filled with the spirit. Saints through whom God manifested himself in a real and a supernatural way. It was a sad day. It was a very sad day for the church when the leaves were thus stripped from the tree and the locust had done its work. but days that were still more sad were to follow for we read that which the locust hath left hath the tanker -worm eaten after the fruit and the leaves had been destroyed the tanker -worm immediately made his appearance and began his work upon the branches and the tender shoots of the tree, making cankerous and unsound that God -fearing work of holiness. Oh, beloved, that's one thing that the Holy Spirit brings into an assembly and into the life of a Spirit -filled person. And that is holiness. But soon holiness began to disappear. As the sap, the life of the tree was consumed and the branches became more and more tenuous. And unsound things that used to seem sinful appeared sinful no longer. The world that used to be barred outside the doors of the church now leaned back in contented lethargy in the cushioned pews. Christians let down more and more in the high standard of holiness under the Lord, which they had been holding so dear to their hearts, and now it trailed, bedraggled, and unnoticed in the dust. Quickly upon the trail of the canker worm followed the caterpillar. And then we read that that which a canker worm hath left hath the caterpillar eaten. The perfect tree is no longer perfect. Script of her fruits. Script of her leaves. Her branches made white. Laid clean bare. It was not long until the trunk and the roots began to decay, and the caterpillar made his nest in the decayed and rutted hollows of the tree. No tree can eke out its existence long without leaves through which to breathe, and its branches and limbs through which the sap and light courses through its veins. For a believer to live without Holy Spirit, The very breath of life, or the holy life as Jesus is revealed by the Spirit, coursing through his veins, is to eke out a meager, barren existence, nowhere recorded in the Word of God. It wasn't long. The fruit was gone. The leaves gone, the branches bare, the trunk decayed. Not only decayed, but rotten. A nest for the caterpillar. In other words, the fruits and the gifts of the Spirit were gone. The baptism of the Holy Spirit was denied. Separation and holiness was gone. Justification by faith was gone. The power, the glory of the Holy Spirit was no longer there. The church stood in name only, without power. She entered into the Dark Ages, and no wonder they are called the Dark Ages. Ah, dark indeed is the night without Jesus, for he is the very light of the world. And when the church lost sight of justification by faith, when they lost sight of the atonement, when they began to deny the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, when the church began to deny the very deity and divinity of the very Son of the Living God, there was a total... eclipse and we find men and women groping in this darkness trying to win their way to heaven by doing penance sure read church history it's all there but watch something he does not leave us in Total darkness. God had a perfect plan. And God is never defeated. Always remember that. It was his plan that the church should go out in glorious victory. And I promise you upon the authority of God's word that his church will go out in glorious victory. Know that. Believe that. God will carry out his plan to the crossing of every T, the dotting of every I. And back there in that little book of Joel, Way back there in that little book of Joel, the Holy Spirit, through Joel, gave us a picture of the church today, his church. And I can promise you upon the authority of God's word that we're on the threshold of the greatest restoration The greatest spiritual restoration that the world has ever known. You say, Catherine Cooman, how can you say that in the light of that which is taking place in the world today? I give it to you upon the authority of God's word. For God's word said, I will restore to you. the years that the locust hath eaten the pankoworm the caterpillar and the palmerworm my great almy which i stand among you oh look up rejoice look up my friend our redemption draweth nigh The restoration comes as meat in due season, as line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little, until today we are nearing the completion of this restoration, and Jesus is coming soon to take his church, a perfect church, not a defeated church. A perfect church, his bride, his fruit -laden tree unto himself, transplanted from earth to heaven. The tree will bloom and yield her fruit by the great river of life forever and ever and ever. And he is restoring his church to that to which it was. at the very beginning. Beloved, this is one of the most thrilling things that I could give you. Look up, rejoice. Do you wonder why this great coming out from the Catholic organization, from the Protestant organizations, Why today there are literally thousands of Jews who are becoming interested in the Word of God, the true Messiah, the things of the Spirit? Things are happening today in the church that didn't happen 25 years ago. That didn't happen 15 years ago. Here we're meeting. Catholic priests, Protestant ministers, rabbis, in one place of worship, all hungry for the things of the Spirit, all seeking the things of the Spirit. I will restore to you all this great coming out. is nothing more less than prophecy being fulfilled i will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten the tanker -worm the caterpillar and the palmer -worm the great restoration is taking place now