AN OASIS IN THE DESERT

Chapter Six

AN OASIS IN THE DESERT

The account of how God led His people through the dry desert of worldly change would not be complete without also the accounting of an oasis which God had placed in this dry thirsty desert. God’s ways are sometimes strange to us and cannot always be fully understood. He has always had someone in every era and generation who would stand for righteousness and truth. Such ones as these would dig in with God and plant their roots deep by a well of life-giving water. By doing so they served as an encouragement and strength for those who were traveling the dry barren pathways.

In His infinite wisdom, God had raised up such a people prior to the time of the Concerned to have them ready for their special work. This group of people worshipped in a small local church off the beaten path in the city of Cleveland, Tennessee. God began to bring this congregation together about seven years before the call for the Solemn Assembly. They were brought together in a local church which had nearly collapsed for lack of members and leadership. God nurtured them and led them gently step by step into a place of deep spirituality with Him.

God did not choose to work through this church because they were small. He had sent the same summons to other churches who refused His call. A message in tongues on March 5, 1989 was sent to a much larger Cleveland church. The message said; “This is the day of My Spirit. He has been sent afresh to finish the work I am doing in the earth. Follow Him on your knees. Do not miss this opportunity. Be not lifted up in pride. Trust not in your own wisdom, nor on your own strength. It will fail you and is failing you. I am your strength, I am your security. Listen to My Spirit, obey His Word. This is His day. The work will be finished shortly. Don ‘t miss this visitation for there will not be another. I the Lord hath spoken.” After this congregation and some others refused His call, He therefore turned to one who would obey Him and seek His face in preparing themselves for a special mission.

Prayer is the channel through which one reaches God and finds His will. After finding God’s will, prayer is the channel through which one learns to submit to that will. God moves in answer to prayer. When prophecy decrees that an event will happen, then prayer becomes the spark which ignites the fuel to cause it to happen. When the set time arrives for God to perform His work, He will move through a people or a person whom He has already prepared by a holy calling and anointing to pray for the thing to take place. As they pray, God answers by performing His mighty works.

In choosing this local church, God was not excluding others. For He worked through many individuals as they yielded to Him. For reasons known only to God, He chose a local church body through which to call the general Church together in a Solemn Assembly through which He would do a great work of delivering His people from man’s bondage.

The South Cleveland Church was brought together by God for a special anointed work. As we prayed and sought God, He began to speak to us in ways which were mysterious at times. The first noteworthy message to the Church was in the spring of 1989 when God spoke to us and said, “Lead out in Prayer.” A few weeks later the Pastor received a letter from the Tennessee State Overseer for the South Cleveland Church to lead the State Convention in the first session in prayer and devotion. This was a confirmation of a holy calling upon our local church to a special prayer ministry.

Again in the summer of 1989, God spoke to the Church and said that a storm was coming. Not long afterwards, Hurricane Hugo ravaged the Carolina coastline and caused damage into the millions of dollars. Less than a year later a spiritual storm began to brew within the Church. This storm began in its fury in May of 1990 when our aged General Overseer was replaced. It culminated with the reorganization of the Church of God in July, 1993. Another storm of a political nature took place during this period. This was a war in the Middle-East which involved several nations including our own. Desert Storm, as it was called, was fought in the early part of 1991. These natural and political storms caused us to understand the nature of the spiritual storm which would ravage the Church of God. They also served to help confirm God’s word which He had spoken to us about the storm which was coming upon the Church.

During a revival in October of 1989 in the devotional service on October 17, God spoke to us and said, “I will shake the earth and the heavens also removing those things that can be shaken that those that cannot be shaken may remain.” We rejoiced at this message, not realizing the full import of it. When we returned home after service, we were shocked to find on the television news that a devastating earthquake had shaken San Francisco, California. There is a three hour time difference in Tennessee time and California time. To the best of our ability, we were able to pinpoint the time of the message with the time of the earthquake. The earthquake rocked San Francisco just prior to the world series baseball game which was scheduled to take place near there that evening. There was a spiritual shaking coming upon the Church of God and God warned us of it and again He confirmed His word with a natural event.

The Holy Ghost spoke to our congregation numerous times about things which were interrelated to the events of the time period which we were then passing through. The Holy Ghost message which called for the Solemn Assembly confirmed the fact that God had indeed raised up this little congregation for a special work, that work being to call the general Church together in a Solemn Assembly to seek God in turning our allegiance back to Him. In this message, the Holy Ghost said; “…do not look to the Concerned and cast an evil eye. I have raised them up to do a work…but Lo now, my people, I say, the work I have called you to do is even greater. For thus saith the Lord, I have told you to call all My people together to sit in the council as the Church of God.” The Concerned was instrumental in bringing the remnant together while the South Cleveland Church was instrumental in causing the Concerned and the entire Church to focus on the precise will of God.

It would be nearly impossible to tell of all the things which transpired in our local congregation, but these few are mentioned for a portrayal of how God was working in our midst. The following excerpts from a Holy Ghost message is a typical example of the way God was preparing us for the special work of using our Church as an instrument in calling for the glorious Solemn Assembly which was used to break the yoke of bondage from off our necks, so we could once again go free. This message and interpretation came forth on January 17, 1990. “My children, I told thee that within a short time I would move. You don ‘t understand this move but keep your eyes on Me because I will do a glorious work among thee. I have chosen many individuals that I work through in strange ways. They will suffer much but when My glory comes, Iwill be glorified by them. I have chosen them that are ready and prepared themselves for the time that I will move because I have led them into places that many know not, that they will be able to stand under the things I will let them go through. Fear not My little ones. Do not be afraid. Seek me continually. I will do that great work. Many have went on and played their own games. I am still working through you, so seek me. When you see things wrong, pray, take it to the throne of grace that has the answer. Don ‘t take it to the world. They cannot give you anything at all, but My benefits come down unto thee. My children look up, thy redemption draweth nigh.”

During this time of great excitement and anticipation an anointed prayer cloth ministry was begun in the local Church. Many prayer cloths were sent out far and wide to encourage any who were in need of a divine touch from God. God blessed this ministry as many testified to being divinely healed. This prayer cloth ministry continued up through the Solemn Assembly. More than 3,000 prayer cloths were prepared by the South Cleveland Church for the Solemn Assembly.

The ministry of prayer and believing on God for a special work which He said He would do was seasoned with the anointed preaching and teaching of the Word of God among us. Many unusual happenings occurred during these years of preparation and waiting on the Lord. It is sufficient to mention these few here as a descriptive means to convey to the reader the enigmatic moving of the hand of God upon this congregation. This congregation was not perfect. The perfect state of the Body has not yet been reached. We had only humbled ourselves and were attempting to obey God to the best of our ability. God, by Divine decree, had seen fit to use us for His Divine purpose. The least anyone could do under such circumstances would be to simply obey God. This was truly our only purpose. To be a part of this lowly congregation has been an humbling yet rare privilege.

The South Cleveland Church was dissolved in a meeting during the noon break on Sunday of the Solemn Assembly. The congregation was re-organized into “The Church of God of Cleveland.” In November a member donated the church five acres of land to be divided equally between the local church and General Headquarters. Since the local Church would be moving and erecting another building, another name was selected. This name was “The Church of God, Zion Hill.” A ground-breaking ceremony was held on a cold day, December, 12, 1993 with 93 people in attendance. The erection of the new facilities along with the new General Headquarters office building was begun in March, 1994.

To our great disappointment, the pastor became disillusioned and left the Church, taking some of the members with him and started his own independent congregation. A new pastor was appointed in July, 1994. The local church has gone through many changes in growth and expansion since that time. Only two families of the original South Cleveland Church remain members of The Church of God today.