David Shadbolt was our last speaker at the Toby Carvery before Covid-19 hit. He has since also joined us via Zoom. A Business Consultant, with an international ministry, and Author of ‘God’s Healing for Businesses’, David believes God uses businesspeople to illustrate His goodness to the world. Through his website, Unwrap TV – David presents video clips to encourage you to grow in the gift of prophecy.
Dick Bell reports back on David’s message to CTN during lockdown and how this links with his military experience in the Royal Airforce.
David Sadbolt spoke to Crosslinks Exeter via zoom on Friday morning (11 September 2020). He had come before in February with a radical approach. His take on the Covid-19 pandemic was that we are in the early phase of a military invasion of earth by the Lord. Whatever the Lord is up to, it is global. That, whenever the Lord has done a global thing in time past, there has been massive collateral damage.
David’s provided three illustrations of this. The first was the Flood. The second was that of Moses in Egypt. Included in that was the journey through the wilderness and into the Promised Land. The third illustration was the arrival of Jesus and the advent of the Gospel in the Roman Empire.
We do not yet know the tactics that the Lord is up to, but David thinks that this is a glorious opportunity for the Christians to show themselves and grab the occasion. He said that God is looking for opportunities to show off through us.
‘Christians must wake up. It’s not a time for despondency but of opportunity’
David Shadbolt
I would like to share my take on this from a military perspective since I am a military man. So let me give you the military illustration of General Montgomery in the North African desert – El Alamein. Montgomery went alone onto a golf course while he mapped out a strategy to beat Rommel. He then gave that strategy to his administrator, who worked out for him all the equipment he could have.
Montgomery again went onto the golf course to modify his strategy, governed by the equipment he had – how many infantry divisions, tanks, aircraft, and naval bombardment from the sea. When once he had got his plan completed and all his equipment in place, he was able to start his campaign and beat Rommel.
God has been planning His campaign for a little while. He needed to get His equipment prepared, in place and ready. This is my take on that:
- His Church is His infantry. He is the General, we are the people who wage war and confront the opposition.
- There has been a considerable increase in real Christianity taking place underground in the Churches of all denominations, both inside and outside the denominations. God has been bringing His people back to the Bible and to the centrality of Jesus through His Holy Spirit. God has also been putting into place GOD TV and other TV channels. Also Christian radio. This is now a global phenomenon, so that people can be reached anywhere in the world with the Gospel.
- There has been a lot of prayer and crying to the Lord for the terrible state of the world in which we live, and a global increase in unbiblical and ungodly perceptions.
- Christians are being humbled. None of us knows what to do, what is going on, or what God might be planning to do. We are empty of ideas and knowledge. That is, we are all coming to the end of relying on our own resources. Hopefully, that means we are ready for His.
- There has been a global increase in natural phenomena – global warming, droughts, floods, fires, famines, and now a plague. Even locusts. All these have made mankind, and politicians in particular, jittery and insecure.
- The plague has started to cripple many nations’ economies. All those who rely on profit to survive, and who control the major wealth of the world, are all going under. God is shaking what is of man. The scripture in Hebrews 12:26-29 says that this will reveal what cannot be shaken, which is the Kingdom of God.
- Many are going to lose their jobs and their security, many are going to be unable to feed themselves, and there is going to be an economic recession, experienced globally.
- As David Shadbolt said, “Christians must wake up. This is not a time for misery, or for despondency. This is a time of huge opportunity”. Indeed it’s time to get out and do the job God has saved us for – to bring people to Jesus. We do not have to weep for the death of our comfort culture. If it’s messy, that is what war is all about.
- The war has started. God has allowed the plague to happen exactly on time, and has initiated His invasion. Put on your armour. Get ready for battle. Be the first to enlist and step out in faith and do for Jesus. Positive Evangelism – done courteously – must be top priority in our lives. This is today’s global invasion of earth from Heaven. It is our generation’s opportunity for Jesus. Could it be the last before the End Times?
