THE TRUTH ABOUT JOEL’S ARMY
by Andrew Strom
In recent years there has been much said and written about theconcept of Joel’s Army being the great end-times army of Godlywarriors who bring Revival in the last days. However, it isvery clear from the Scriptures that the army in Joel that theyare referring to is actually an army of LOCUSTS which God sendsas a JUDGEMENT upon the land. It is only later, after this armyof locusts has devoured and destroyed every good thing in theland, and has then been driven into the desert and the sea byGod, that He sends a great outpouring of the Holy Spirit and amighty “harvest”. In other words, this locust army of judgementand devastation sweeps through first, and it is only after ithas been driven away to destruction by God that true Revivalcan come. This is very clear from the Scriptures.
I have no doubt at all that the book of Joel is truly an “end-time” book, prophesying a series of events that culminates inthe end of the age and the return of Jesus Christ. It is cert-ainly a very important book for us to study, and it is clearlyvital that we understand what it predicts will take place inthese last days.
Right from the beginning of Joel, it is clear that this devour-ing army coming upon the land is a judgement from God: “Whatthe cutting locust left, the swarming locust has eaten. Whatthe swarming locust left, the hopping locust has eaten, andwhat the hopping locust left, the destroying locust has eaten.”(Joel 1:4). In fact it is clear that it is GOD HIMSELF whoraises up and deploys this army against His own people and theland: “The land is like the garden of Eden before them, butafter them a desolate wilderness, and nothing escapes them…They leap upon the city, they run upon the walls; they climb upinto the houses, they enter through the windows like a thief…The LORD utters His voice before his army, for His host is ex-ceedingly great; he that executes His word is powerful. For theday of the LORD is great and very terrible; who can endure it?”(Joel 2:3-11).
But soon after this we read: “Then the LORD became jealous forHis land, and had pity on His people. The LORD answered andsaid to His people, ‘Behold, I am sending to you grain, wine,and oil, and you will be satisfied;… I will remove the north-erner far from you, and drive him into a parched and desolateland, his front into the eastern sea, and his rear into thewestern sea; the stench and foul smell of him will rise, for hehas done great things.'” (Joel 2:18-20).
And now that this devouring army has been driven away to des-truction, we read of the great Revival that God then sends uponthe land: “He has poured down for you abundant rain, the earlyand the latter rain, as before. The threshing floors shall befull of grain, and the vats shall overflow with wine and oil.I will restore to you the years which the swarming locust haseaten, the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter, my greatarmy, which I sent among you” (Joel 2:23-25).
And now comes that famous Scripture, prophesying the great’last days’ Revival: “And it shall come to pass afterward, thatI will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and yourdaughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, andyour young men shall see visions…” (Joel 2:28).
After this, Joel goes on to speak about the great judgementthat will overtake the whole earth at the end of the age, andthe return of Jesus Christ to establish His glorious kingdom.
THE FULFILLMENT OF JOEL’S PROPHECY?
In my view there can be little doubt that we have alreadyentered the period that the Bible calls the “last days” – thevery time that Joel prophesied about (and also the time thatthe New Testament speaks of again and again as being a periodof great deception and danger for Christians – even the ‘veryelect’).
I find it very significant that for years, prophetic ministriesaround the world have been shown by God that they would soonsee the rise of “Joel’s Army”. Many of them have obviously in-terpreted this to mean an army of anointed ministries that Godwill raise up to bring in the great last-days “harvest” ofsouls. But as we have seen, in reality, what God has beenspeaking of here is the raising up of a devouring army oflocusts, to bring judgement upon the land (the church, I be-lieve) immediately prior to the genuine Revival. Some have evenbeen told by God that they will “stand before Joel’s Army” (ie.this army of locusts). But is this really a privilege?
My own belief is that this army of locusts which “devours theland” in these last days, may well be strongly linked to themany warnings in the New Testament of a great ‘apostacy’, withseducing spirits and ‘lying signs and wonders’ that will sweepthrough the church in these latter times. The picture of a hugearmy of locusts devouring everything seems to me to fit verywell with the concept of a great deception or apostacy whichsweeps through the church, likewise devouring everything init’s path. And the time-frame for these predicted holocaustsseems pretty much identical also.
Jesus Himself declared that in the last days, many deceivers”will come in my name”. He said that the deception of that timewould be so great that if possible even the ‘very elect’ wouldbe deceived (Mt 24:24). The apostle Paul prophesied that in thelatter days, “perilous times will come”, and that men would be”lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God”. He predictedthat there would be great apostacy involving ‘seducing spiritsand doctrines of devils’ (1 Tim 4:1). And it is obvious fromthe above Scriptures that much of this will arise from WITHINTHE CHURCH. We are also told in the Bible that in the lastdays, those who are not “lovers of the truth” will be deliber-ately given over by God to ‘believe a lie’, to come under a”strong delusion” involving ‘lying signs and wonders’, etc.(2 Thess 2:9-12). And of course, as always, such judgement mustfirst begin in God’s own house (1 Peter 4:17).
Many of you who have read my article on the Toronto Controversywill know that as both a Revival historian and a writer on the’prophetic’, right from the outset I have been implacably op-posed to this movement which has recently been sweeping throughthe church. As I wrote in that article, if Toronto is from Godthen why does it seem literally identical to many counterfeitmovements which have destroyed genuine Revivals down throughhistory? And why are the manifestations absolutely identical tothose found in the occultic Chinese ‘Qigong’ movement, as wellas Franz Mesmer’s occultic healing practise and the “Kundalini”manifestations found in the Rajneesh and Ramakrishna cults,etc? Why are such manifestations found throughout the New Agemovement worldwide, and yet nowhere in the Bible?
In some Christian circles today, the “peer pressure” upon lead-ers to accept this movement (or at least to keep any qualmsabout it to themselves) has been quite incredible at times. Ihave to say that I have been utterly staggered that such an ob-viously suspect and ‘strange’ movement has been able to sweepthrough the church so easily, when the Bible clearly warns usin the last days to BEWARE OF DECEPTION, AND ESPECIALLY OF”LYING SIGNS AND WONDERS”! Surely it is obvious that we are now paying a heavy price for all the shallowness and experience-centred soulishness that we have sown in the years of the Charismatic Movement. God has indeed seemingly given the Laod-icean church over to believe a lie, a “strong delusion”, and millions are now falling prey.
It is interesting to note the hidden strategy behind the spreadof this movement in the church. In America, it first gained apowerful foothold in the “Faith/prosperity” movement throughthe likes of Rodney Howard-Browne and Kenneth Copeland, etc. Itwas then imported via some Vineyard pastors directly into theToronto Airport Vineyard church, which was a far more “accept-able” platform from which to launch the movement worldwide. (Italso brought the American ‘prophetic’ movement on-side, as itis closely aligned with the Vineyard in the USA). From Torontoit spread like wildfire to England and many other countries.It had successfully ‘distanced’ itself from it’s Faith/prosp-erity roots. And now, in 1995/96 we hear of what seems to beyet ANOTHER version of this movement, right in the middle ofthe conservative American “Bible-belt” – the so-called ‘Pensa-cola Outpouring’. Obviously, this version will be far moreacceptable to the conservative Bible-belt Christians, and sothe Leopard changes it’s spots yet again, in order to impact awhole new sub-culture, and distance itself from previous taintsor associations. And who can say where all of this will end, orwhat will finally emerge from it?
Joel makes it clear that the great invasion of locusts that heprophesies for the end times, is to be a form of massive”judgement” upon God’s own people. We are told in the Biblethat ‘judgement begins at the house of God’ (1 Pe 4:17). And itis interesting to note that the word ‘judgement’ very ofteninvolves a ‘separating’ or a categorising. The sheep are separ-ated from the goats, the tares are separated from the wheat,before judgement falls. (So that the righteous are left un-touched). This ‘separating’ or dividing is very much a crucialpart of the judgement process. And this is why we can expecta separating to take place through this current deception, ifit truly is a judgement brought upon the Laodicean church byGod. It is my strong belief that God is using this movement to”test” His people immediately prior to the great last-days Re-vival (just as the wilderness tested the children of Israelbefore they could enter into the promised land – and only atiny remnant survived from that entire generation. The rest allperished in the wilderness).
In 1984 one of the major prophetic groups in America received aword from God to the effect that, just like the king’s butlerand the king’s baker in the story of Joseph, the church wouldbe placed in a ‘dungeon’ by God (a place of ‘death’, of waitingand of testing) for about the next ten years, and at the endof this period, part of the church (the butler) would beraised up as an honoured servant of God, and the other (thebaker) would lose it’s head. (Again we see here a ‘separating’before judgement falls). Others, such as Howard Pittman, havelikewise stated that God has shown them that there will be aprocess of “culling” before a remnant can be found who willpossess the “promised land” (Revival) in His name. This is ex-actly the same as what the children of Israel went through (aprocess of testing and ‘culling’ by God), so that only thosewho were worthy would inherit His promise. It seems harsh, butthis has simply always been the way. Judgement must alwaysbegin at the house of God.
While I certainly believe that Joel’s Army is an army of de-vouring locusts, I am also definitely a believer in the greatlast-days outpouring of God’s Spirit upon “all flesh” which isalso prophesied in Joel. This great Revival is clearly to fol-low immediately after the plague of locusts has swept throughthe land. As Joel states, this outpouring is to be a time ofabundant restoration and “harvest”. And though the thought of”Joel’s Army” itself doesn’t thrill me too much, I do believethat God will Himself raise up His own ‘remnant’ army (a kindof “Gideon’s three hundred”) when genuine Revival falls, togather in this enormous end-times harvest. This is clearly tobe the final great “harvest” in history, immediately prior tothe terrible judgements of the end of the age. Such a greatoutpouring of God’s Spirit “upon all flesh” just before the endis entirely in keeping with His character, because as historyshows, He has always brought great mercy before He has broughtgreat judgement. Therefore if we are nearing the final “greatjudgement” of all time, then surely we can expect the greatestever harvest immediately prior to it?
As I have recounted in my article on the Toronto Controversy,God warned us prophetically in New Zealand well before the term”Toronto” was even being spoken here, that before the genuineRevival would come a “Laodicean revival” which would involvelaughing, falling, crying, etc. (This was all seen in a veryspecific dream by a prophetic friend of mine). After this ‘Lao-dicean revival’ had swept through, he saw the beginning of thetrue Revival (a separate movement altogether), with thousandsof young people gathered, etc. I believe that this was an exactpicture of what is occurring, and about to occur, in the church right now. I have no doubt that genuine Revival is now immin-ent, though clearly only a ‘remnant’ who have not become “caught up” in deception will truly play a part in it.
http://crash.ihug.co.nz/~revival/joel.html