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 “People Will Use Your Name for Good or Bad” in a Movement of God, says Charles Simpson

As we draw closer and closer to this great coming move of God, we can sometimes wonder what it is like when God SUDDENLY pours out His Spirit. There are those that have gone before us, in previous generations, who have experienced such events and movements of God’s Spirit. Charles Simpson, one of the leaders in the Charismatic Renewal Movement, is one of these. He recently sat down with Greg Lancaster and shared what it is like to suddenly be right in the middle of God pouring out His Spirit.

When talking about an outpouring of God’s Spirit, some have described it as an “explosion”. Imagine having all the needed ingredients all together in one place. All it takes is a single match and there will inevitably be an explosion. As Simpson explains, “it’s a dynamic that happens that you have no control over…it’s a wonderful explosion in some regards. But, there’s all kinds of debris in it too.” Simpson continues to explain how differently people perceive things when something is identified as a “movement”. “Once you identify, and you get identified, say, as a movement…once that happens, then anybody associated with the movement becomes you.” Simpson also highlights that it was not in his own doing to label something as a movement, but other people’s decision to do so.

Without this wisdom and life experience, we can become shocked, surprised, or even offended when the same type of situation happens in the next move of God. Simpson also shares about how people will misuse your name in association with anything they consider to be negative press. “You know, they’re not going to make a big deal about somebody’s name they hardly know that was abusive. But, it’s your fault, and then people out there will use your name to create their own thing.” This very reality happened to Jesus Christ and it also happened to Paul, who before coming to Christ, was Saul of Tarsus. In humility, Simpson openly shares that he has made mistakes, and how people continue to misuse your name. “People will use your name for good or bad, and, I’m not saying we never made any mistakes, we certainly did; but they tend to get magnified the further out you go.” It is these moments that highlight the magnitude of importance that we are all rightly related to godly authority. “There are people who never were under any authority that were trying to exercise authority, and that’s not right.”

An important truth to remember in these types of moments is that it is God moving, not ourselves. We should never feel compelled to defend ourselves, even if something is an outright lie. Simpson explains, “God has never let me run around defending myself. Well if you don’t let God defend you, you’re in trouble.” As Isaiah 50:8 reveals, “He who vindicates me is near.” As Simpson recounts his childhood memories from Louisiana, he recalls timeless wisdom that his father passed on to him, “don’t defend yourself. Your friends don’t need it and your enemies won’t believe it”. How very true that is.

In the midst of attacks and accusations, there are also great and mighty things that take place in a move of God. As Simpson has shared, he has witnessed and experienced many negative things, but he has also witnessed the transformative power of the Holy Spirit. “It’s a wonderful thing to have somebody tell you, ‘God used you to change my life’, and that was happening where people would come to one of us, or all of us, and say you know, ‘I was here, but now I’m here thank God’”. As Simpson continues to express the amount of testimonies that were never publicly announced, Greg shares a wonderful point that we must all remember. “Isn’t it amazing, the good things, which were like 98-99%, which was God moving, the glory of God, but people focus on the human frailties where things happen, like the sons of Sceva…you think about that much impact that America shifted in a positive light because of what God was doing, and you guys were a part of; it’s just a powerful thing.”

As Simpson recounts the many wonderful things that God was doing during the Charismatic Renewal Movement, he’s reminded about the urgency for America to experience another move of God’s presence. “I think America is gonna need another [revival] right away. We need to see God move. And I think in some places, He is moving, and He’s preparing the ground, perhaps all the political stuff that’s going on now will help encourage people to seek God.” Considering these realities, Simpson expresses his thoughts on the timing of the next move of God. “We’re due for a visitation from the Lord.” Our faith rises when we remember these wonders of the Lord in past generations knowing that God can do the same great and mighty works in our generation.

These truths are so deeply encouraging and can strengthen us in the days ahead. Be sure to see the whole conversation with Charles Simpson, and so much more. Also shared in this segment: 7 Sons of Sceva, The Jesus whom Paul preaches, Golden Meadow, Louisiana, Baptism of Holy Spirit, The Welsh Revival, The Hebrides Revival, Azusa Street Revival, Charles Seymour, Kanye West, and Justin Bieber.

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A New Wave of Revival is Coming to America as the Church Gets Back to Family-Charles Simpson

When we look at the present landscape of America, combined also with the mighty transformations of individuals like Kanye West and Justin Bieber, we can see that God’s Spirit is on the move. When we look at what God has shown others about this next move of God, we can begin to see that it will be unlike anything we have ever seen. Rick Joyner has said ‘1,000 a week joining your fellowship’. Bob Jones has said this will be ‘a billion-soul harvest’. Charles Simpson, one of the leaders in the Charismatic Renewal Movement recently sat down with VFNtv and talked about this soon coming great move of God.

If we can see that this harvest will be of such unimaginable magnitude, we can see the need for pastors to be raised up and taught in the things of the Lord. Recounting a prophetic night vision with the Lord, Greg Lancaster shares what the Lord showed him about the need to raise up pastors. “I’m asking this question, and everybody is in their 20’s or 30’s, and I said, does anybody here feel that they’re called to be a pastor. Some raised their hands high. Some raised their hands a little bit, but there was just a diversity of those who raised their hands.” In this encounter he was shown all these people, pastors, in a bunkhouse made of ice. “They were pastors on ice”, so to speak. As this encounter continues, Greg took one step, and the Lord broke his heart for all of the pastors. “God just broke my heart and I began to talk about what it’s really like to be a pastor, and that, the brokenness, the pain, and that you need what it’s going to require of you.” As Greg highlights the awareness that the harvest is huge, he expresses the urgency for pastors, and he asks Simpson’s wisdom.

As Simpson responds, he describes a visualization that some people might not consider when they hear the word ‘pastor’. “I don’t think you’re going to have professional pastors. I think you’re gonna have lay pastors or people who are bi-vocational, and I think that is going to happen more and more.” With these words in mind, he describes the grim realities many pastors are facing today. “I don’t think that young people want to be pastors, the smart ones. It’s one of the hardest jobs in the world, and thousands are bailing out of it because of the expectation, and the culture is going in a different direction.” Simpson expresses how the present model of Church isn’t realistic and what he believes will take place. “You can’t pastor 1,000 people. No way! You can pastor pastors who pastor pastors, but that becomes very remote. And so, I think you’re going to see small groups and you’re going to see leaders emerge and they’ll be Biblically oriented people, Spirit oriented people.”

Knowing this coming move of God requires relationship, Greg recounts the recent actions from Mike Bickle, one of the leaders at the International House of Prayer-Kansas City, who recently realized “I’ve been fathering a vision, but not fathering a family”. At the 2018 One Thing Conference, Mike Bickle, and his leadership hosted the Church from China, who understood the need to be family, stepped down from hosting the Conference and learn how to be family. There is a global shift to family taking place in the Body of Christ. Family is not an institution. It can be very messy, but it is God’s design that we be family.

In light of what Greg talks about, Simpson describes the fruit that comes forth from families. “Families become tribes and tribes become nations.” Jesus called us to love one another as family and He called us to be His disciple and to make disciples.  Simpson describes the hallmark characteristic of a genuine disciple. “To me, the test of a true disciple is that they make disciples, and a lot of our quote ‘discipleship programs’ don’t produce disciple makers, they produce education Christians.” Looking at the spiritual fathers China, Simpson explains how one lives their life that results in becoming a spiritual father. “I think that what you’ll see is, those who produce disciples that produce disciples will be spiritual fathers like there are in China, and they might be the patriarch of a million people, and that will happen because they replicate.” As Simpson points out, this is essentially what we are not seeing in the Western Church. “The Western Church does not replicate. It gets people to join the church, but the members are not replicating.” It’s important to know that God has called us to relate as spiritual families. Family is His idea. It is relational. It is organic. It is Biblical.

These truths are so helpful to us moving forward in the days ahead and how to better navigate our individual circumstances, than trying to make decisions without this wisdom. See the full conversation with Charles Simpson, the need for us to be rightly related to one another as family in Christ, and so much more. Also shared in this segment: Kanye West, Justin Bieber, rightly related, pastors on ice, Holy Spirit, prophetic encounters, Rick Joyner, Bob Jones, End Time Harvest, pastors, brokenness, One Thing Conference, International House of Prayer Kansas City, spiritual fathers, disciples, the vine growing naturally, relational, organic, spiritual families, and missionaries.

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