Dick Eastman - The Jericho hour

To Bill and Vonette Bright

for your example, inspiration and partnership in working toward closure of the Great Commission in our generation

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

T HE AUTHOR of Proverbs wrote, "Withhold not good from them to whom it's due, when it is in the power of thine hand to do it" (Prov. 3:27, KJV). In the spirit of this timely proverb I wish to use the power of my pen to acknowledge with gratitude those who have given many extra hours of sacrificial labor to prepare this manuscript for publication.

Very special thanks goes to Linda Thede who completely retyped the manuscript several times and also devoted many hours in preparing the substantive index that appears at the end of the book. To Marie Reyes I say thank you for preparing the very first draft of The Jericho Hour, and to Faustino Ruivivar I gratefully acknowledge your meticulous editorial gifts. To my wife, Dee, I thank you for putting up with my many long nights of extra work while the manuscript was being finalized. To Dick Koeth , a gifted consultant to our ministry, I express special thanks for suggesting to me during the early days of the fall of communism in Eastern Europe that the church was now entering the Jericho hour. From that conversation emerged this book and its title. And to Tommie Femrite , a committed personal intercessor, special thanks for an obedient "word" in a prayer time that prompted me to add the last chapter to this book.

Special acknowledgment also goes to our ten thousand fulltime staff and devoted field volunteers in the ministry of Every Home for Christ. They physically take a message of the gospel of Jesus Christ to more than 350,000 new families every week,

resulting in over 500,000 annual decision cards being received for follow-up. May this book help mobilize the prayer and financial support each of these so desperately needs to help finish the task of world evangelization in our generation.

Capturing the Momentum of a Season of Suddenlies

The Great Condition to the Great Commission

A Fresh Perspective on the Nature of Prayer

Coming to Grips With the Nature of Our Conflict

Seven Steps to Victory-Assured Warfare

The Joshua Call for the Jericho Hour

Mobilizing Special Forces in the Battle for the Nations

Seven Qualities for Aggressive Warfare Intercession

Establishing Siege Strategies for Our Loved Ones, Cities and Nations

Personal Encounters With Prophetic Intercession

Closing in on "Closure" of the Great Commission

Catching a Glimpse of the Lamb's Book of Life

Taking New Territory Through Fasting and Prayer

The Joshua Posture for Possessing God's Promises

INTRODUCTION

T HE WONDER years of world evangelization are here! Some missiologists and church-growth experts believe it is quite possible that more souls could come to Christ between now and the end of this century than in all of recorded church history. This book is about that harvest and how an emerging understanding of strategic-level "warfare prayer" followed by unprecedented united evangelism strategies is making it possible.

Of course, implicit in any discussion of warfare is that one side will ultimately win. Further, the side that gains the victory will claim the spoils. For believers the spoils of victory are the souls of men and womenSatan's most cherished possession. Indeed, in all of our talk of spiritual warfare we must not forget this essential fact.

As David Bryant, president of Concerts of Prayer International, explains, "If our warfare doesn't result in the fulfillment of the Great Commission, it hasn't succeeded."1

Edgardo Silvoso , the Argentine missions strategist, adds: "We must measure all our results of spiritual warfare in how much we loot the enemy's camp."2

According to both Bryant's and Silvoso's analyses, the church has been making encouraging headway in its warfare for the nations. At the start of this decade, missions researchers estimated that the church was growing by approximately seventy thousand new Christians per day. Now that figure may well exceed a

hundred thousand daily. Some missiologists believe that number could grow significantly in the immediate days ahead as barriers hindering the spread of the gospel continue to fall. I believe the church has entered the wonder years of world evangelization.

On the pages that follow, I have chosen to share numerous personal prayer experiences as they relate to the mobilizing of a specialized force of intercessors and foot soldiers committed to seeing the world evangelized in our generation. The purpose of these insights is to encourage and inspire the reader to become much more intimately involved in this harvest. Our generation could well witness what missiologists describe as "closure" concerning Christ's command to evangelize the whole world.

And there is reason for optimism. The world is changing so rapidly that, in a period of less than eighteen months at the start of the final decade of the twentieth century, twenty-three new nations were formed, most resulting from the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe. With these changes have come remarkable open doors for the evangelization of those once restricted regions. Could similar miracles be waiting on the horizon for other dark regions of the earth? In spiritual terms this is the Jericho hour. True, some of the remaining Jericho-type walls keeping the church from possessing its promise of reaching every tribe, tongue, people and nation with the gospel (Rev. 5:9-10) have yet to fall. But the mortar of centuries-long bondage clearly appears to be cracking, and the faint sounds of a shaking are coming from the distance.

Introduction

Let's take a closer look. This is the Jericho hour.

ONE

THE JERICHO HOUR

Capturing the Momentum of a Season of Suddenlies

month-long burden for the communist-controlled nations of Eastern Europe, a burden which had commanded the focus of my prayers almost daily.

Later my burden would birth a physical act of prayer that would take me to a higher level of strategic intercessory involvement and require the six-thousand-mile journey. But it started with a midnight prayer encounter. Tears were flowing as the words flooded my heart: "I want you to confront the strongholds of communism in Eastern Europe." I had heard this quiet voice before, and I knew God was speaking. But I didn't understand what it all meant.

"How, Lord?" was my simple question.

Clear instructions followed: "I want you to go to the Berlin Wall, lay your hands upon it and command it to come down in My name!"

My mind was flooded with the phrase "In Jesus' name, come down!" But I knew I had to travel in person to the wall to obey God's directive. True, prayer can go where God can go because prayer touches God, and God is everywhere; yet, for reasons beyond our understanding, God sometimes calls His children to on-site pilgrimages of prayer.

A chill swept over me as I approached the graffiti-covered western side of the Berlin Wall. I was glad my assignment was only five words and not a directive to spend a whole night in prayer at the wall! I felt little courage as I stepped toward this infamous monument to oppression. Indeed, as I reached to touch the wall I withdrew my hands quickly, my eyes darting to the right and left to see if anyone might be watching.

Shocked by my sudden sense of embarrassment, I realized I had come a considerable distance with a very simple, clear assignment. At once I pressed both hands to the huge wall and delivered my five-word prayer directive: "In Jesus' name, come down!" It was over in an instant.

In retrospect I wondered how a real man of faitha George Muller, a Hudson Taylor or maybe a Charles Finneymight have prayed. I pictured one of these faith giants commanding the wall to fall and then rushing back from the towering structure to observe its imminent crumbling. But I just stood there. The fact is, I really didn't expect the wall to fall. Had it fallen, it would have crushed me. But, more significantly, the East German troops would have rushed to the break and simply reestablished this huge obstacle that stood as a mockery to freedom.