Sid: My guest John Finn has had several visitations from the Lord in which the Lord showed him that because of what is coming to America it is, and not just America to the world, it is vital for us to recapture what the first church had. And the first church had a revolution in relationships and I have to tell you the more you talk about it John, the more excited I get about; it’s almost in the American culture, in church it’s a missing commodity.
John: Well, one of the things the Lord has spoken to me about this is just fairly recently was He said, “You’re going to see the emergence of an underground economy of Christians just like in Acts Chapter 2 where no one had any lack because no one said what they had was their own.” And he wasn’t talking about everyone moving into little communes, He was talking about the sense that you know what, the Lord is my ultimate supply and if I have two coats, you can have one of them. You know if I have 2 gallons of milk I’ll give you one of them because the Lord will take care of me. And we’re already starting to see glimpse of that, certainly within our network we are seeing that, we are able to contact people in our network to give money, thousands of dollars. We have helped pay mortgages and car payments and tuition and repair cars and all the different things that are required to keep people going. If there is a need larger than a local house church then, I find out about it and we put the word out to the network and people respond; people travel back and forth. And this is one thing that is going to continue to happen as stresses in the world happen.
Sid: And I have an idea people aren’t doing it to get, there doing it out of a heart of love, out of a heart of love because we’re in relationship with one another.
John: We have an affiliate in Fiji where one of the brothers is very ill and I just received an email today who has been praying diligently, “Do you have an update from Fiji?” People genuinely, even if they don’t know anyone more than email or you know internet phone, sometimes we actually visit back and forth with each other, but even if it’s just over the internet people get genuinely concerned and say, “You know I can’t send much myself but I can send twenty-five bucks to help pay their medical bill.
Sid: John, our time is slipping away, what did the Lord show you about the future of the United States in reference to catastrophes?
John: Well, one of the things that He shared with me, and this was, this was actually right around the time of the elections last fall before any policies were in place or doctrines, so to speak of a new administration. But He told me that, “There would be three earthquakes in this nation, and He said, “Two of which you would not think of as being in the normal earthquake prone area,” but He said this, He said, “It won’t happen until the new administration policies are all in place and the government will be very stressed to meet all the needs.” And He said, “Also there will be a hurricane that will hit and maybe a second one,” because sometimes He kind of hangs sometimes on His words, you kind of get a feeling, but specifically what He said, because of hurricane and natural disasters, He did say that plural, He said, “It will stretch the budget of the country even more,” He said, “And then the earthquakes will happen.” So you know that’s something to look out for.
Sid: John, “Where are these earthquakes going to take place and these hurricanes?”
John: Ha-ha, that’s a good question, I don’t know the answer to that, but I had a sense of the Midwest with the two that were unexpected.
Sid: So, it looks like we have a short window of time from what you’re saying?
John: And, you know if people don’t hear what the Spirit is saying, they’re not going to make proper preparation, I think back to the book of revelation, where each time it says, “Hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches.” And that’s why there has been a tremendous move in the Body of Christ and for those that heed it. For people to get out of debt, for people to set their lives in order, and believe me I’m not a doom and gloom, I am fully believing and fully praying that the United States will be one of the mountains, one of the nations that stands with Israel when it faces it faces its World War III. But it doesn’t preclude, that doesn’t mean that difficult times won’t happen between now and then.
Sid: Now the Lord’s told you something about World War III.
John: Well, it’s actually illustrated very clearly in Ezekiel Chapter 38 and 39 about the alignment of the nations with Russia. If you modernize the names of what it meant in Ezekiel times, it’s very clear the nations that will form alignment including Russia, Libya, Sudan and Persia as Ezekiel I note as Iran. What is interesting is Sid, this is something I really haven’t talked very much outside of our network of home based churches but one of the things the Lord told me a couple of years ago is that Russia is training terrorist units and funding a lot of it because they have an eye for Middle East oil. And the Lord also shared with me, “Watch out for Putnam, this was a couple of years ago, watch out for Putnam, he will be in charge of Russia again, and then watch out. And so…
Sid: He also gave you and indication of when everything was going to happen in reference to an alliance between Russia and another country.
John: Well, one of the things he said is “Watch Turkey, He said, “Watch Turkey now.” And of course in Ezekiel 38 Turkey is called, “Turgama and it will come in alliance with Turkey but what I didn’t know at the time when He told me that was that Turkey was trying to become a member of the European Union and France and some other nations are dead set against Turkey becoming part of Europe. And what the Lord had told me was, he said, “Watch for Europe to reject Turkey and nearly throw it into the arms of Russia.
Sid: But when Turkey aligns with Russia what will happen?
John: They will try to invade Israel.
Sid: Okay, I want you to give me a brief picture, a snapshot of what one of your house church meetings look like.
John: Well, what happens is we gather together at a particular time and it varies here in Tulsa, we meet at 10:00 on a Sunday morning usually, but not always. Sometimes around our network it will be in the evening, it will be another day of the week, maybe a Tuesday evening but always you know being Christians you can’t start anything on time. So for the first half hour or so people are just coming and visiting and catching up because when you’re in house church your relationship with one another and often times there are phone calls and sometimes people get together for lunch in between, but the first half hour is kind of catching up from all of that. And then somewhere around the bottom of the hour thirty minutes into it whoever is leading that week and we do rotate leaders as we rotate homes usually; the leader will ask for prayer requests or if there are any needs there present.
Sid: Well, that takes the pressure off of you rotate homes and rotate leaders.
John: Oh, it’s not all on one person’s shoulders, and also it empowers people realize they do have something to share. You know when Paul said, “Everyone of you have a Psalm,” well if you think of Psalm as something of worship, but also prayer comes under that and so we have people that are gifted in worship or gifted in intercessory prayer. And Paul went on to say doctrine which is teaching, something God taught you or revelation which is something God showed you this week, something really neat that you saw in the Word as the Lord spoke to you. And then He mentions tongues and interpretation, gifts of the Spirit. And so when people are empowered to lead all they have to do is share what comes naturally within just share naturally what the Lord has on their heart. And I’m telling you we have some of the best discussions; some of the best prayers; some of the best miracles; some of the best healings that happen when people are just free to be empowered to go with what they feel the Lord is leading them to do.
Sid: What I’m hearing you say is, “Everyone gets empowered!”
John: And that’s the beauty of it, because we all have Christ in us. And I now tell you we had some people come, one lady in particular I’m thinking of who said, “Now, I’m not use to this, so don’t expect me to talk the first week or so.” And I said, “No problem, just come and be a part and everything.” Well that lasted about one week, ha-ha and in fact it didn’t even last that full first time because by the time things had rolled around about forty-five minutes later, there was a big discussion going on about something and she just jumped right in with both feet, felt completely normal, completely natural, completely at ease. And that’s the nature of house churches, everyone gets accepted; Paul said this in Galatians 2:9 He said that Peter and James perceived the grace that was in Paul and Barnabus. Peter, James and John perceived that grace that was in Paul and Barnabus and that’s really what it’s all about. It’s, when you can sit there across the living room from somebody and they may not be from your socioeconomic or even race or even background but you can perceive the grace of God in their heart and you can look at them and say “Wow, that’s neat how the Lord saved you; that’s fantastic!”
Sid: So, you’re seeing Jesus in the person and not a title?
John: Exactly and what you’re doing, you can love the grace. This is a hard time that people have they say “How can I love that person?” You don’t have to, love the grace, perceive the grace of God that is going on in their life and in their heart. Love that grace.
Sid: This is My commandment, that you love one another.
John: And, that’s how you do it; perceive the grace in one another. You strip away all the normal social things that you might think might bind us together or drive us apart and you just look for that commonality in Christ. Where have you received the grace of God, and I can latch on to that and I can love that in you.