Excerpt from the Book:
The Call
By Rick Joyner
Then a second voice spoke, “I, too, confirm this truth. The Judgment
of God is about to be revealed on the earth. Even so, “Mercy triumphs
over judgment.” The Lord always extends mercy before judgment.. If
you will warn the people that His judgments are near, his mercy will
save many. I did not recognize the one speaking, but it was another
man of great stature and nobility, with a brilliance that indicated a
high rank.
“I am Jonah,” he said “When you understand the Lord’s judgments,
you understand His ways. However, even if you understand them, it
does not mean that you agree with them. Understanding is necessary,
but it is not enough. The Lord also wants you to agree with Him. “You
have often asked for the Lord’s presence to go with you. That is wisdom.
I was a prophet, and I knew Him, yet I tried to flee from His presence.
That was a great folly, but not as foolish as you may think. I had come
to understand the great burning that comes with His presence. I had
come to understand the responsibility that comes from being close to
Him. In His presence, all wood, hay and stubble is consumed. When
you draw close to Him with hidden sin in your heart, it will drive you
to insanity, as many have learned through the ages. I was not trying
to flee from the will of the Lord as much as I was fleeing His presence.
“When you ask for the reality of His presence, you are asking for the
reality that you have seen here to be with you. Heaven is your true
home, and it is right for you to yearn for this. Even so, he is a Holy God,
and if you will walk closely with Him, you too, must be Holy. The closer
that you get to Him, the more deadly hidden sin can be.” “I understand
this,” I replied. “That is why I asked for the Lord’s judgments in my
own life.” “Now I must ask you this,” Jonah continued. “Will you seek
Him?” “Of course.” I responded. “ I desire His presence more than any-
Thing. There is nothing greater than being in His presence. I know that
many of my motives for wanting to be with Him are selfish, but being
with Him helps to set me free from that kind of selfishness. I do
want to be with Him. I will come to Him.
“Will you?” Jonah continued. “Until now you have been even more
foolish than I was. You can come boldly before his throne of Grace at
any time and for any need, but rarely do you come. Yearning for His
presence is not enough. You must come to Him. If you draw near to
Him, He will draw near to you. “Many have come to know and follow
His ways, but they do not come to Him. In the times that you will soon
enter, they will depart from His ways because they did not come to Him.
You have laughed at my folly, which was great, but yours is even greater
than mine. However, I do not laugh at your folly-I weep for you.. Your
savior weeps for you; he intercedes for you continually. When He
weeps, all of heaven weeps. I weep because I know how foolish His
people are. I know you because you are just like me, and like me, the
Church has run to Tarshish, desiring to trade with the world even more
than sitting before His Glorious throne. At that same time, the sword
of Gods judgments are hanging over the earth. I weep for the Church
because I know you well. “I am guilty!” I pleaded. “What can we do?”
“Great storms are coming upon the earth,” Jonah continued. “I slept
when the storm came upon the ship that I was in while running from
the Lord. The Church is also sleeping. I was the prophet of God, but
the heathen had to wake me up. So it is with the Church. The heathen
have more discernment that the Church at this time. They know when
the Church is going the wrong way, and they are shaking the Church,
trying to wake you up so that you will call on your God. “Soon the
leaders of the world will cast you overboard, just as the men in that
ship had to do to me. They will not let you keep going in the way you
are headed. This is the Grace of God to you. He will then discipline you
with a great beast that comes up out of the sea. It will swallow you for
a time, but you will be vomited out of it. Then you will preach His mess-
age.”
“Is there no other way? I asked. “Yes, there is another way,” Jonah
replied, “although this has come and is coming. Some are already in
the belly of the beast. Some are about to be cast overboard, and some
are still sleeping, but almost all have been on the ship going the wrong
way, seeking to trade with the world. However, you can judge yourself
and He will not have to judge you. If you will wake yourself up, repent
and go the way He sends you, you will not have to be swallowed by the
beast.” “is the beast to which you are referring the one in Revelation 13?”
I asked. “It is the same. As you read in that chapter, this beast is given
to make war with the saints and to overcome them.. This will happen
to all that do not repent. But know that those who are overcome by
this first beast will be vomited out of it before the next beast comes,
the one that comes up out of the earth. Even so, it will be much easer
for you if you repent. It is much easer not to be swallowed by the beast.
“Just as Lot ’s story is a warning to those who are given over to perver-
sion, my story is a warning to the Lord’s prophet, the Church. The
Church is running from the presence of the Lord. It is running to activity
In place of seeking the Lord’s presence. You may call your activity “min-
istry.” But it is actually running from the presence of the Lord. As I have
said, the Church is running to Tarshish so it can trade with the world
and seek treasures of the sea, while the greater treasures-the treasures
of heaven-few are seeking. “The sin of wanting to trade with the world
has entangled the Church, just as I was entangled in the belly of the beast
with the weeds wrapped around my head. The weeds, the cares of this
world, have wrapped themselves around the mind of the Church. It toke
me three days to turn to the Lord because I was so entangled. It is taking
Christians much longer. Their minds are so entangled with the world,
and they have fallen to such depths, that many have no hope of getting
free. You must turn to the Lord instead of away from Him. He can un-
tangle any mess, and can bring you up from the greatest depths. Run from
Him no longer! Run to Him!”
