Elijah Among Us , livre ebook

ELIJAH AMONG US

© 2002 by John Loren Sandford
Published by Chosen Books a division of Baker Publishing Group P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287 www.chosenbooks.com
Ebook edition created 2011
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
ISBN 978-1-5855-8542-7
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE ®. Copyright © The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission. www.lockman.org
Scripture marked NKJV is taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1979, 1980, 1982, by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture marked KJV is taken from the King James Version of the Bible.
Scripture marked NRSV is taken from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA. Used by permission.
Scripture marked AMPLIFIED is taken from the Amplified ® New Testament. Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1987 by the Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
To my wife, Paula For 51 years my loving and faithful partner
CONTENTS
Foreword
Acknowledgments
Introduction
PART 1 HISTORY OF THE PROPHETIC OFFICE
1. The Birth of the Prophetic Office
2. Warnings Before Sins Are Committed
3. Changes in the Office
PART 2 FUNCTIONS OF THE PROPHETIC OFFICE
4. Blessing
5. Healing
6. Pronouncing Judgment
7. Warnings Before Tragedies Happen
8. Protection Through Discernment and Words of Knowledge
9. Personal Words and the Prophet’s Character
10. Personal Words and Dark Speech
11. Receiving Personal Words
12. Dreams and Visions
PART 3 PURPOSES AND TASKS OF PROPHETS TODAY
13. Intercessory Prayer
14. Reconciliation
15. Spiritual Warfare
16. Other Prophetic Purposes and Tasks
17. The Coming Wave
Bibliography
Index
About the Author
FOREWORD BY DR. BILL HAMON
WHEN I BEGAN WRITING my first book, Prophets and Personal Prophecy, in 1983, I did a thorough search to find books written on present-day prophets. The only significant book I found on the subject was The Elijah Task by John and Paula Sandford. Now in Elijah Among Us—Understanding and Responding to God’s Prophets Today, John again brings much wisdom and maturity to ministering the prophetic. He not only gives scriptural proofs and examples, but his many illustrated life experiences also make the prophetic real and understandable.
John mentions 1988 as the year of the prophets and the emergence of modern-day prophetic ministry. I agree that the modern prophetic movement was sovereignly birthed into the Church in October of 1988. At that time, God began bringing forth a company of prophets in the spirit and power of Elijah to fulfill Malachi 3:1, 4:5–6 and Isaiah 40:3–5. Just as John the Baptist fulfilled the “prophet Elijah” prophecies for Christ’s first coming, so now a company of prophets are fulfilling those “prophet Elijah” prophecies by preparing the way and making ready a people for Christ’s second coming.
During my almost fifty years of being a prophet and ministering prophetically, I have known many prophets. I have seen “the good, the bad and the ugly.” Thankfully, my years of experience in prophetic ministry have witnessed 90 percent of the good and only 10 percent of the “bad and ugly.” There have been, and still are, a few false prophets operating in the church. However, many who are called false are really just immature saints who do not fully understand how to properly administer their prophetic gift.
Elijah Among Us can help prophetic ministers function properly in the Church. John Sandford is fully qualified to write on this subject. He is a father in the faith and a pioneer of prophets and prophetic ministry. John and Paula have proven their credibility by many decades of consistent, quality prophetic ministry. From what I have learned and experienced, I can say that this book is not just for those who want to be prophetic, but it is for everyone who wants to minister the life of Christ. It is especially beneficial for those who desire to minister with wisdom and maturity.
I highly recommend this book for all Christians and particularly for those who minister to others. Great blessings and benefits will be obtained by any who read and learn from this work. Thanks, John, for sharing all this knowledge and life-giving experience with us. God bless you and all who read this book.
Dr. Bill Hamon Founder/President/Bishop of Christian International Ministries Network Author of five books: The Eternal Church; Prophets and Personal Prophecy; Prophets and the Prophetic Movement; Prophets—Pitfalls and Principles; and Apostles, Prophets and the Coming Moves of God.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
IN SOCIOLOGY CLASSES at Drury University in the late forties, I learned that the discovery of how to store food delivered mankind from incessant hunting and gathering and enabled culture to arise. Likewise, communication through speech and the ability to remember first gave mankind the capacity to retain knowledge and improve by experience. I have never so greatly appreciated the truth of those teachings as during the writing of this book!
On May 25, 2001, during the time of writing, I suffered a heart attack. My cardiologist, Dr. Dean Hill, informed me that ten years ago doctors would not have known how to do an angioplasty or insert a stent. I was grateful to have both of these procedures. The alternatives—open-heart surgery or weakness without surgery—would have incapacitated me and caused our publishing date to be long delayed. But these relatively simple new procedures and the subsequent enforced cancellation of our traveling schedule gave me opportunity to complete the manuscript before our deadline. So, my first thanks are to the medical staffs of Kootenai Memorial Hospital in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, Sacred Heart Hospital of Spokane, Washington, and Lewisville Medical Center of Lewisville, Texas, and to the researchers whose works have so rapidly advanced knowledge in the medical field.
As it was, from Memorial Day until November 7, I was in hospitals ten times, due to complications with reactions to medicines and the need for insertion of a pacemaker! Preventricular contractions and an extremely low heart rate caused fatigue and necessitated the pacemaker, which was installed just this week on November 6, 2001. The writing of this book has been the most intense, even dangerous, spiritual warfare I have ever endured—from beginning to end! Not only did I experience attacks upon my health, but frequent, odd computer crashes, crazy interruptions of online procedures, lost bits of manuscripts and books from which quotes were to be taken, etc., ad nauseum. The devil surely does not want this book published! Therefore, my second thanks are to the countless intercessors who responded to so many calls and prayed for me faithfully through it all. It could not have been accomplished without your persistent support.
Thirdly, I am vastly impressed by the rapid maturing of the Body of Christ in these days. Knowledge and wisdom other prophets have shared with me personally and through their books have been an immeasurable help in amassing the information shared here—especially whatever wisdom has filtered down.
Usually, Paula and I write together, so most of our books have been joint projects. This book, however, has been my sole essay. Nevertheless, had it not been for her incessant care for my health and sometimes frantic intercession, this book could never have found expression, much less completion. In January 2001, we celebrated our fiftieth wedding anniversary, and I am inexpressibly grateful to God that He brought us together. He knew we had to be a team, though this time the writing is mine.
Bob Dilley of Odyssey Tek, our local computer expert, has been invaluable. This crazy computer insists on doing what this computer illiterate tells it to do, and Bob has faithfully rescued me from countless errors. With the help of a friend, I managed to delete the entirety of chapter 9 just after writing it under an anointing that could never be recaptured. Bob Dilley brought in special software and worked diligently for several days until he finally recovered the chapter. And he set up a special shared folder in his office server, giving Grace Sarber, the editor, and myself access, thus avoiding what often occurs when long e-mail transmissions garble manuscripts.
My thanks to Grace Sarber, editor for Chosen Books, who faithfully plugged away at making my often erudite ramblings interesting and understandable for common lay readers.
And my thanks to my fifteen-year-old grandson, Jacob. How in the world do these youngsters know what they do about computers? Numbers of times, when I couldn’t figure out how to do something on the computer, he came and said, “Oh, that’s easy, Granddad,” and just instantly did it! Miraculous!
I want also to thank two of our sons, Loren and Mark. Mark, who wrote A Complete Guide to Deliverance and Inner Healing with me, read the entire first draft and tackled me about many expressions, suggesting wiser and more scriptural ways to say things. Loren added advice, especially concerning chapter 1 about the possibility of true prophets making errors.
Finally, how could anyone sufficiently thank our wonderful Lord?! Days on end, I wrote under His powerful anointing, delightfully surprised at what He poured through me into my recalcitrant computer. Again and again, He pulled me up out of sickness and desperate tiredness and filled me with e