A Book Review By Dene
McGriff
I love how
Kenneth Uptegrove begins in the forward to his book: “We
are coming into the worst of times and the best of
times—all at the same time.” It is a shame that most of
the church has all the wrong expectations thinking they
are going to be spared having to take a stand and be a
witness in the last days. This will be the church’s
finest moment – not something to be feared. Ken goes on
to say that “time is God’s will in motion.” Most
Christians are stuck in time, stuck in teachings that
have been passed down from one generation to another.
Prophecy doesn’t hold much interest to many believers
because they are told that it has already happened, or
the church will rapture escaping any “tribulation” or
that the church will take dominion over the earth.
We don’t really want to
be bothered by God’s talking to
us. We know enough. We have our life insurance
policy. Now we just want to get through, keeping hearth
and home together. But instead of escaping, Ken sees a
powerful role for the church: “Presently we are waiting
for the Church in our generation to be pruned and
revived, then harvest will be imminent. In that harvest,
the Church will celebrate over a great gathering of
souls for Jesus.”
His goal is to “bring
unity and community to the body of Christ.” He
encourages us to get back to the basics. The church is
entering its finest hour and the harvest is ripe.
Unfortunately, there are wheat and tares in the harvest
and deception is rampant in the church. That doesn’t
mean there are not many believers within the church; and
that God desperately wants to reveal Himself and His
plans to His body. Many will be lead away into
deception, escapism or the political church. But others
will rediscover community and the body life with other
saints and find refreshing revival in His presence, an
anointing for service and a willingness to give all for
Him.
I urge you to preview
this
book and let God speak to your heart. This may very
well be much more than the “next” great move of God but
the “final” move before His long awaited coming.
Maranatha! Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
[Dene
McGriff is a popular, prolific writer at
The Tribulation Network
]
God's
Plan for the
Second Coming
New Book Addresses restoration of God’s
church
Many Christian books focus on what God has done in the
past, but Kenneth Uptegrove's new book, Dawning: The
Next Great Move Of God: Bringing the Church to -
Spiritual Awakening - Spiritual Power - Spiritual
Victory, takes a closer look at what the Bible says God
is saying to His church today. Uptegrove offers this
encouraging glimpse into God's plans for the church just
prior to the Second Coming of Christ:
1.
Peter’s Pentecost sermon revealed that
the last days
started on the day of Pentecost and will end on the day
of the Second Coming. Therefore, nothing has been
removed that God set in place on the day of Pentecost.
This is the continuationist versus the cessationists
view.
2. Prior to the Second Coming God will restore the
Spiritual power, authority, and purity of His church to
what it was under the leadership of the Apostles. The
glorious Bride of Christ will make herself ready.
3. Old Testament History shows that God’s people fall
into apostasy innumerable times only to be restored to
the purity of the Word of God time after time. God sent
prophets to bring restoration every time His people fell
from His Holy Word. But God’s people often killed the
prophets and continued in their error. In the past 2000
years (as in the prior 2000 years) this repetition of
history has occurred many times.
4. If the church is not aware of this history lesson,
then the church has no way of knowing our present state
of Spiritual welfare. And if/since the church is not
aware of our present state we cannot know what God is
about to restore in our midst in our immediate future.
5. The question arises: In the repetitive loops of
history where are we presently at in our loop? Are we at
the zenith of the loop? Or are we on the downward side
or upward side of the loop? Uptegrove says that we are
on the upward side, close to the zenith.
6. What will God do to restore His church to that
zenith? Who will move with God in this next great move
of God, and who will not? What is yet to be restored?
What are the erroneous teachings that God will remove
from His church?
7. This book explores all these issues in a most
gracious manner. The reader will be stretched by these
revelatory insights found in the Bible. If the Scripture
passages in this book were listed together they would
fill over 10 pages. There are 12 pages of documentation,
and a list of over 40 people quoted in the book. This is
a well thought out, well documented, thoroughly
Scriptural and academic book that can be understood by
all mature Christians.
Uptegrove is a self-taught scholar of church and Bible
manuscript history, Holy Land archeology and
eschatology, which involves the teachings of “end time
prophecy." In 1987 he left his career as a computer
programmer analyst to go into full time ministry to
study these subjects and write articles and books.
 |
Dawning: The Next Great Move of God,
has three themes running through the book.
Overview of
Book:
|
This book shows the reader that the
Bible says God is reviving and restoring His
church—again—to be all it can be just prior to the
Second Coming. The reader will see promises,
prophecies, commandments, and blessings in the Bible
that their traditions—no matter which traditional
group they come from—have kept them from growing into.
Since this book addresses the entire community of
Bible believing Christians, at least one of these
treasures has been kept from them, and they can now
have it. This book speaks to the reader in a gentle,
gracious voice. The author’s heart is for every reader
to sense the fruit of the Spirit in every page—every
assertion.
Section
One: “Spiritual Awakening.”
For years many Bible believing Christians have been
fasting and praying for revival . . . for a great end
time harvest . . .for the next great move of God! Since
the expected has not happened yet, many of the faithful
are asking, “Why not? After all, we have done all we
know to do.”
The answer is revealed in an old saying that says, “If
you keep on doing what you have always done—maintaining
the status quo—you will continue to get what you have
always gotten.” So, doing all we know to do is resulting
in us continuing to get what we have always gotten. And
we halfway admit this accusation when we see the need to
ask God for a revival.
What many Christians are calling revival is actually a
harvest. Revival is bringing back to life what was
dying; harvest is a reaping of souls. Therefore, the
church must first be revived before she can participate
in a great harvest of souls. Revival is not a new
program or pastor or appearance—it is a passion for our
coming Bridegroom, Jesus Christ. The Great Harvest that
is yet to come must wait until the church submits to a
vision for revival. Spiritual vision originates with God
and focuses on Christ. Such vision
captures an understanding of Christ’s role in the
Kingdom of God.
Solomon said, “Where there is no vision, the people are
unrestrained” (NASB), “ . . . and
perish” (KJV) (Proverbs 29:18). Ryrie’s Bible
Commentary on this verse says, “Without prophetic
revelation from God, people are unrestrained and fall
under judgment.” A suggested reiteration might
be: “Because the Christians in America lack
visionary revelation from God, they do not understand or
experience the revival they pray for.”
Spiritual awakening involves understanding the state of
the church, as it is today, and where God is taking us
in the latter part of these “Last Days.” And spiritual
awakening always involves a reformation, restoration
process.
Despite the fact that Martin Luther was mislead on some
doctrinal issues, he was right to take the huge
God-inspired risk that changed the world. So must we. As
A.W. Tozer said, “No revival is without reformation.”
But as God progressively awakens the church spiritually,
the antichrist system will also raise up with ever
increasing power and debauchery. Will you be ready for
such a time as this?
Summary:
Section One
contains insightful information into the present state
of the church; and then goes on to prepare the reader
for the Bible prophecies they are about to see in the
rest of the book. These Bible prophecies will show very
literally and unmistakably where God is taking His
vitalized church just prior to the Second Coming.
Section
Two: “Spiritual Power.”
The work
of God can only be carried on by the divine power of
God. Martin Luther said that the great revelation God
gave him was but a beginning. Luther said the
reformation he started was to be a continuous, ongoing
series of restorations that would continue until the
Second Coming of Jesus. So far, history has proven him
correct. Part of the restoration, reformation process
that God is bringing into the church today is the
restoring of the knowledge of spiritual power to the
church. It is sometimes overlooked that Christianity is
a supernatural religion—a spiritual relationship with
Jesus Christ.
The church
is a spiritual organism fighting spiritual battles. Only
spiritual power can make biblical truths function as God
ordained. This is a sensitive area of theology that
needs to be investigated further by most of Christendom,
with a lot of grace and tact.
In Romans
8:29 Paul tells us that the Holy Spirit is conforming
each Christian to the image and example of Christ. This
means that doctrinal groups can be reformed as the Holy
Spirit stretches them individually and corporately. And
despite this changing, they still can retain their
traditional identity and style of worship. If we do not
see this conforming, reforming process then we can only
conclude that we are seeing resistance to the Holy
Spirit.
Did the
ministry of the Holy Spirit change somewhere along the
time-line after the day of Pentecost? Or, have the
ministries (that God introduced to us in Ephesians 4:11)
been diminished or removed sometime after Paul wrote
this passage? If so, what scripture has nullified or
diminished or altered the teaching of some other
scripture? After all, Bible believing Christians only
receive scripture as proof for any teaching.
This author wishes to show that the ministry of
the Holy Spirit has never changed, and that no scripture
in the New Testament has replaced the teaching of
another one. Therefore, part of the restoration process
will be the restoring of what has been lost or
misunderstood or neglected. The truth that God restored
through Martin Luther (the priesthood of the believer,
and that we are saved by grace and not by works) is now
fundamental doctrine in many doctrinal groups, and so
shall the restoration of these spiritual truths be found
in many doctrinal groups in the next great move of God.
The author argues persuasively that if a
teaching is scriptural it is to be practiced, but within
the style and demeanor of whatever doctrinal group in
which God has placed each Christian. Since the author’s
presentation is both scholarly and gracious, the reader
will be stretch and blessed for having read it, even if
the reader is not fully persuaded.
Summary: Section two
shows revelatory insight into Bible truths that are
about to be restored to the church in the next great
move of God. Being conformed to the image of Christ is a
growth process. To not grow is to stagnate and die
(i.e., do what you have always done and get what you
always gotten). But to flow with the Holy Spirit brings
life and growth (i.e., reformation brings revival, and
restoration brings the supernatural power of God).
Section Three: “Spiritual Victory”
Victory in our victorious, undefeatable Jesus is our prophetic battle
cry! But, victory comes through obedience to the Living
Word. And the obedient Bible believer receives ALL of
God’s provision, promises, and preparation. Picking and
choosing which of His scriptural gifts we will or won’t
accept amounts to telling God “No.” We say “No” because
“A natural man does not accept the things of the
Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him, and he
cannot understand them, because they are spiritually
appraised” (1 Corinthians 2:14).
Too much of our faith comes out of our experience—our failures—rather
than from God’s promises and omnipotence—and we don’t
always know the difference. Sometimes we don’t even have
a Biblical understanding of genuine faith that gives
us the authority to become children of God.
Some of the major
insights in section three give a better definition of
such terms as: (1) “Unity of the faith,” (2) “Doing the
works that Jesus did,” (3) “Overcomers,” and (4) “The
Bride of Christ.”
Here is a glimpse into the insight from the
chapter on “Doing the works that Jesus did.” Jesus said:
“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in
Me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater
works than these shall he do; because I go to the
Father” (John 14:12).
Since Jesus said “he who believes,” does this
prophetic commandment speak to those of us
who believe today? If
so, then we must confess that—for the most part—we have
fallen short of this commandment. This exposes our
limited faith and understanding of who Jesus is, and our
need for a sovereign, end time move of God.
Thinking in terms of the trinity, the three are
ONE, and the Holy Spirit is as much the “Spirit
of Christ” as He is the “Spirit of God” the Father. As
these Scriptures attest, the Holy trinity cannot be
separated.
“In
that day you shall know that I am in My Father, and you
in Me, and I in you.”
(John 14:20).
“Test
yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine
yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about
yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed
you fail the test?”
(2 Corinthians 13:5).
We are not gods, but
divinity resides within us. The New Agers have it all
backwards. Because they think they are gods they miss
God altogether. But because divinity indwells us, we can
do divine things. Rather, the Divine can manifest
Himself through us, the Divine being the Spirit of
Jesus. If anything is of God, God did it.
Jesus is in every
Christian—collectively—continuing His ministry, and
doing (as always) what He sees the Father doing (John
5:19-21). Since there are at least one billion
Christians world wide, His accumulative work through us
certainly can exceed what He did in person.
Christians do not need to strive to do the
things that Jesus did because Jesus is in us
to do the things through us that He did
2000 years ago! Only our unbelief and resistance can
stop Him.
We Christians gained our
common salvation in Christ Jesus because Jesus sought us
and bought us, and His Spirit indwells us. We did
nothing—God did everything. Therefore, if anything is of
God, it is because God alone CAN do it and
DOES do it. The lives of many Christians have been
strengthened and encouraged when they grasped this Bible
truth.
Summary: Section three
is rich in revelation into the Word of God, and offers
real encouragement to all Christians. This section
builds on the first two sections, and draws the truths
found in those sections to a logical conclusion.
|
|
WHY
I WROTE THIS BOOK—a short bio
|
I received Jesus as my
Savior at age 10. Even though my parents did not serve
the Lord or in any way encourage my spiritual growth, I
persisted in my understandably immature faith until I
married my wife at age 26. At that time we both started
into a spiritual growth process that lasted those 43
years before her death in 2005, and ever since.
A man’s passion and mission
in life comes out of his unique life experiences. My
passion to write this book had its roots in my Junior
High years when my life-long quest for Godly knowledge
and wisdom began. Back in 1901 I would have been called
a Gentleman scholar, a person who is
self-educated. What formal education I have was gained
in many technical schools for my career as a computer
programmer, and two years of college.
At age 50 I left my career
to go into full time ministry. But I was not called to
be a pastor or evangelist. The first assignment that I
felt led to do was to submerse myself in studying church
history and Bible manuscript history. Two years later I
studied the history of all eschatologies (teachings on
end time prophecy). My interest and research in Holy
Land archeology has continued over the years. My passion
to understand the breadth and depth of God’s creation
and plan for mankind also led me to study archeology,
cosmology, paleontology, and anthropology. But my studies in these
areas were superficial in that I was looking for God’s
hand rather than man knowledge. Leonard Ravenhill
told me that I was educated in "the Holy Ghost school of
silence."
History, anthropology, and
archeology all show that mankind makes the same mistakes
and learns the same truths over and over. Loop after
loop of finding and losing Bible truths. And in every
loop we also see error mixed with the truth. As Solomon
said, “There is nothing new under the sun.” A thin
string of continuity can be traced throughout church
history, but not in some doctrinal group. This
stronghold of truth was the Holy Spirit revealing truth
from God’s Holy Bible to a few brave hearts in every
generation.
Can the church today
understand where we are spiritually if we do not know
our history? And can we see where God is taking His
church in these last days if we do not know our history?
That is why I wrote
this book, to show where the Bible says God is taking
His church just prior to the Second Coming.
My book, Dawning: The
Next Great Move of God, is not a history or
science book, but the book comes out of my understanding
of all these interrelated subjects. Time after time
throughout history God has brought reform and
restoration to His church to bring her out of those
shameful loops. And just prior to the Second Coming God
will restore His church to an unprecedented level in
history. His plan is to at last conform us to the New
Testament model Jesus established before His ascension.
In short, my book is a biblically based teaching, not an
academic opinion.
Even though my wife and I
have been long time members in good standing at a large
Southern Baptist church (at First Baptist Church in
Springdale, AR), my education and experiences have taken
me into a much broader understanding of the church than
the denomination God has placed us in. Therefore, I am
not speaking as a Southern Baptist, but as a student of
the Bible and a prophet to the Church of Jesus Christ.
This is the only book of
mine that has been published. I did write another book
that was titled: Understanding Eschatology—End
Time Events Viewed Through Church History. Even
though it was a 300-page book, only 50 copies of a
56-page excerpt of the book were published for a church
in Springfield, MO. Since I could not reach an
irrefutable conclusion in the book, I chalked it up as
research and study for my own benefit. Over the years I
have written many articles that were published, and a
number of them are posted on my website at
www.arkhaven.org.
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WHAT MAKES THIS BOOK
DIFFERENT
FROM OTHER BOOKS ON THE MARKET?
|
This book is
written to all Christians who believe that the Bible is
the Holy, infallible Word of God. A lot of research and
quotes from the Bible, and over 40 notable authors were
used to show where the Bible says God is taking His
church just prior to the Second Coming.
The main theme throughout the book states that
just prior to the Second Coming of Christ, God is going
to revive the church and bring in a great harvest.
Martin Luther believed that the Reformation was to be an
ongoing process—culminating in the Second Coming. And as
A.W. Tozer said, “No revival is without reformation.”
Most Christian books are written on what God
has done in the past and what can be learned from those
historical events. There are also many books devoted to
various needs, issues and problems confronting the
church today, as well as methodologies to address them.
However, too little is published on what the Lord
currently is speaking to the church. The author says,
“By God’s grace this is what I have attempted to do in
this book.”
See the article on “Why I wrote this book” for
further insight into what makes this book different.
This book is written to believing,
thinking Christians who believe that the Bible is the
Holy, infallible Word of God.
The ideas presented in
this book will provoke thought, and will stretch,
inspire, and greatly encourage the reader. The author
never attacks or defends any doctrines; he only presents
ideas and scripture for the reader’s consideration in a
gracious and loving manner. No matter how much the
reader agrees or disagrees with any particular point in
the book they will—none-the-less—enjoy this book.
Read about the
author, Kenneth Uptegrove, at http://www.arkhaven.org/about_author.htm
To see a directory of all the chapters in the book go to the book index page
