In a previous article I took a look at several alleged prophecies concerning the Philippines. All but one was anything close to being a prophecy. It is that prophetic vision which I will be reviewing in this article.
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Published in 1992 by Rev. Bill Perry this slim volume is the culmination of the author's many years of mediations upon and subsequent visions of the Philippines. The gist of it is that the Philippines will be used by God to spread the Gospel across the globe in an End Times Army. What follows are some of the more pertinent passages and my commentary upon them.
It is my desire through this book to challenge people to make an impact on the “10/40 Window” with the Good News of the Gospel. This window is a geographic area defined as the countries within an imaginary line starting at the 10th Degree Parallel North to the 40th Degree Parallel North stretching from N. W. Africa eastward to Japan. Approximately 97% of the “Unreached People,” in the world needing to be touched by the power of the Gospel live within this window. Also it is my purpose to encourage the Filipinos especially, to recognize their destiny and strategic geographic location as a doorway into this “10/40 Window.” I believe they have an important work to do along within their Asian brothers and sisters. They have a significant role to play in the tremendous revival that is happening in this part of the world!
Until the 10/40 window has been effectively evangelized, the Great Commission will remain significantly unfulfilled. Nations still must be discipled and their nationals must begin teaching others to teach others. Until then, most of the 1.3 billion “Unreached People” plus the 1.2 billion “Partially Reached People” in this region will remain isolated from the power and demonstration of the Gospel. This includes the Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists and other Eastern religions predominant in this “10/40 Window.”
Jesus, the highest authority of all, said, “And the Full Gospel of power and demonstrationof the kingdom” (the Gospel that Jesus preached) “shall be preached in all the world and then shall the end come! (Matt. 24: 14, italics are my implied emphasis). This “world” includes the masses of the unreached in this “10/40 Window.”
The 10/40 window is as follows:
In a burst of end times evangelism Filipinos will be sending missionaries to this part of the world to preach the Gospel. The end cannot come before this happens.
So also, we as the Church must realize that a great End-Time spiritual war is about to take place. We are hearing it in the spirit and in the message that the Holy Spirit is sounding throughout the earth in prophetic words and in the songs coming forth. In the coming chapters, we will see that it is time for the Army of the Lord to begin rising up and preparing to take the Gospel throughout all the world. Many agree that God is raising up an Army in this day and that it will be an End-Time Army doing those things which God has ordained. Truly an Army is arising!
An end times army is rising.
As Joel had prophesied, the Church was birthed in the flames of the Holy Spirit. In fact, there was a time when every church as “Full Gospel,” practice power evangelism and moved in the gifts of the Holy Spirit. The early Church had great power and great grace (Acts 4: 33). The Church continued this way through the next couple of centuries or so. Then Constantine became a Christian and made a decree that everybody was suddenly a “Christian.” The only problem was that you cannot legislate Christians! You cannot make everyone a Christian by law. It has to be the result of a change of the heart through the blood of Jesus Christ.
In the flow of events after 325 A.D., the Church started losing its power. A structural church with the blessing of the state began to emerge and the spiritual Church began to loose its supernatural power. One cause of this was that the pagan influence prevalent at that time was accommodated by the Church and encouraged by the State. The Church began celebrating pagan holidays and observances and introduced idols into the Church. Many traditions of men were also added to the Church. The “spiritual” Church continued to “fall away” getting further and further from God’s pattern found in the New Testament.
By the early 1500’s, near the end of the Dark Ages, the only vestige of New Testament Christianity left in the Church was the Apostles’ Creed. Then God broke through and brought “Justification by Faith” back into understanding and spiritual experience. God started a two-fold process. First, He had to restore the Church once again to a full power Church. Secondly, He had to prepare a mature bride, without spot or wrinkle, which would become the powerful End-Time Army. THIS SO FAR HAS BEEN A 500-YEAR PROCESS!1
According to Bill Perry the Church lost its mojo after Constantine came to power, converted to Christianity, and declared everyone to be a Christian. The power of the Church declined steadily until the Reformation. Since then the End Times Army has been in preparation.
Of course the army will be deployed to a war zone which is the 10/40 window.
When there is going to be a war, you want to know where the war zone is. If you don’t know where the war zone is, then you are likely to end up stepping into a minefield, or find yourself in serious trouble somewhere or you could even miss the war altogether. I would like to suggest that the war zone can be found in the “10/40 Window.” The term “10/40 Window” originated with Luis Bush, Argentine-born mission executive and International Director of AD2000 Movement and Beyond. He introduced the concept at the Lausanne II Conference in Manila in July 1989 and missiologists have been using it ever since. It refers to an imaginary line from the 10th Degree Parallel North to the 40thDegree Parallel North and covers the area from Japan over to Northwest Africa. IT IS IN THIS AREA WHERE NINETY-FIVE PERCENT OF THE UNREACHED PEOPLE OF THE WORLD LIVE (Fig. 1). This is why I call it the “War Zone.” This is a war zone for which we need to pray and into which we should take our “Swords of the Spirit” and take a harvest.
I was so excited when I saw this, because I realized the relevance of the “10/40 Window” in relation to the prophetic words coming forth over the Philippines and to what I have been sensing in my spirit for the past 5 years. There is indeed a battle zone in the spiritual realm over this area. Creation and the Garden of Eden, according to many scholars, happened almost in the center of this war zone. Jerusalem is also near its center, as are Iraq and Iran. Much of Ancient History and future history lies here. It all began here and Scripture tells us that it will all end here. Jesus’ return to earth will occur in the center of this war zone. Perhaps this is the reason there is such an intense spiritual battle raging over the region and incredible spiritual darkness and strongholds dominating the area.
This “10/40” War Zone is composed of the areas we know as the “Near East,” the “Middle East” and then the “Far East” where the Philippines is geographically located. It includes the nations of China, Japan, India, Pakistan, Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Kampuchea (Cambodia), Myanmar (Burma), Thailand and many other Asian, Arabian and African countries. Let us look at the position of the Philippines in this war zone and the critical part the Filipinos are destined to play.
The Philippines is the 14th largest country, population wise, in the world. However, it has been like Gideon, who considered himself the smallest, youngest and poorest among the brothers, and from the least of families, yet he was mighty when used by God! Even young David, the youngest, smallest and weakest, was mightily used of God with his small sling shot and five stones. The Philippines has an abundance of natural resources. Although much of the profits have been taken from the country through graft, corruption and exploitation, there are still great amounts of natural resources being discovered and potential wealth yet to be developed. But I feel perhaps the Philippines’ greatest resource is its 68 million people, an untapped treasure of underemployed PEOPLE POWER.
Bill Perry says when he first came to the Philippines in 1987 he quickly realized how strategically located the Philippines really is, both geographically and spiritually.
In January 1987, when the Lord opened the door for me to come to the Philippines for the first time, I became aware of the strategic location of the Philippines in the natural. Also during the trip I began to realize in the spirit how the Philippines was spiritually strategic as well. I was surprised to find that so many people lived in the Philippines and that it was the 14th largest in population in the world and the second largest group of English speaking people. I was amazed that it was less than 1000 miles to Vietnam, only 700 miles to Hong Kong and even closer to Borneo and parts of Indonesia (Fig. 2).
In fact as I studied the airline map of the Asia-Pacific area, I came to realize that two-thirds of the world’s population can be reached in about 2-5 hours by plane from Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport. (You can’t say that about the United States or Europe. Trips from the East Coast of the United States to this strategic area often take 26 hours.) With Indonesia to the South, China to the Northwest, Japan and Korea to the Northeast and the Indo-China countries and India to the West, the Philippines is in the center! I was excited to realize that this is less than one-half to two-third distance from New York State to California. It was also the first time I comprehended that the land space containing two-thirds the population of the world wasn’t much bigger than the United States and Canada. I began to see in the spirit that the Philippines was indeed a spiritual launching pad or stepping stone to Asia and I began to understand the spiritual destiny of this country tucked between the Pacific Ocean and the South China Sea. Excitement welled up in my spirit with unexpected joy and anticipation as I landed in Manila that January morning. Having lived in the Philippines for five years, that excitement is still there and is growing as I witness the seeds of this vision already starting to come forth and grow.
Bill goes on to explain his vision of the Philippines as a man in military armor with a flaming sword which he reaches out towards Vietnam, China, and Hong Kong.
Then something happened. Flames started blazing up in various areas of the Philippines, in Manila, Baguio and other parts of Luzon: Cebu, Iloilo, Bacolod and other parts of the Visayas: and Davao, Cagayan de Oro, Zamboanga City and other parts of Mindanao (Fig. 4). Then it became the burning bush of Asia with the flames of God’s glory all over the islands (Fig. 5).
Then in the vision an interesting thing happened. The sword that was Palawan reached out and touched Vietnam and then flames burst forth in Vietnam also. Then he saw the sword move on and touch China and Hong Kong and flames burst forth in these areas, too (Figs. 6 and 7).
Then the sword continued to touch other parts of Asia and Southeast Asia was ablazed in the Spirit, as was the Philippines (Fig. 8).
Bill Perry says that in 1991 the Lord brought to mind five reasons why Filipinos are strategically placed to be in this army.
In the Spring of 1991, the Holy Spirit brought to my mind several reasons the Filipinos are in this strategic position and how they have everything needed to go into this area as an army. The Filipinos can go in as an army of spies, like Joshua and Caleb went into Canaan. They can also go in just as the children went into Jericho, fully seen and waging war!
The Filipinos can do both because they blend in so well. First, as Asians, they have black hair! Nearly everyone in the “10/40 Window” has black hair. Blondes just don’t fit in. Most of the people of the “10/40 Window” have brown skin and black hair. Those with black hair and brown skin blend in better and are more quickly accepted than foreigners with the lighter hair and skin of European and Western origins. They can move around without drawing much attention and without being noticed. When traveling to Hong Kong and China with a Filipino team, I would often be asked to stay behind in Hong Kong, so as not to attract attention when they made critical trips to visit the underground church inside Mainland China.
Second, Filipinos eat rice that is a major food of most people of this area and Filipinos can handle eating rice three meals a day!
Third, the Philippines offers a microcosm (a miniature world) of preparation. There are the cold mountainous areas of Benguet and Mountain Province to prepare them for cold countries like Tibet, Mongolia and Nepal and all those countries on the Northern edge of the “10/40 Window.” We have personally experienced almost freezing in those mountains doing ministry in the Northern part of the Philippines during the cold months. On the other extreme, there is hot Manila, the lowlands of Southern Luzon, and the thousands of Philippine islands to the South toward the equator to help them adapt well to all the other hot humid areas of the “10/40 Window.”
As there are still areas of unreached tribal people, Buddhists, Muslims and others to be evangelized there are many opportunities for learning to minister to these hard to reach people. Many Filipinos have had experience as missionaries to their own country.
Fourthly, Filipinos have a natural ability with languages. Most of them speak two, three or more different languages. Everyone has his own dialect that his family taught him. If this dialect is different from the major regional language, he will endeavor to learn that language as well. Then there is Tagalog, the national language, taught in all the schools as a common language with which everyone communicates. Throughout the Philippines there are one hundred and seventeen or more different dialects. Also, most geographical moves by a family require them learning another language. Clearly, God has given the Filipinos a bi-lingual and multi-lingual gifting. Because they have well-exercised and developed their language gifting, most Filipinos can learn languages faster than Westerners can.
Finally, what is most important is that most Filipinos also speak English, the market language of almost every single country that the “10/40 Window” war zone. English is the medium of instruction in most Filipino schools and is often used on television and radio as well as on street signs and billboards all over the Philippines. South Korea is an Asian nation with about 30-35% born again Christians, but most cannot go out of their country to minister the Gospel effectively, because they do not speak English. However, the Filipinos know and speak English well. The importance of this cannot be overlooked as a command of the English is not only a requirement for many opportunities, but even the door-opener. The former Eastern Block Communist countries and even the Russians are making the learning of English a priority in order to be able to communicate and get into the world market. Even China has opened its doors to foreigners who can teach English.
Unlike most Asians, the Filipinos have not only the ability to read and write English, but they are easily understood when speaking the language. I have English speaking friends from other Asian countries, but I sometimes have great difficulty understanding their English and often that of Africans and Europeans who do not speak English as their native language. You sometimes have to listen three or four times to understand their sentences. But the Filipino speaks very understandable English. Very clearly God has equipped them to take an Army into the war zone this year, next year and the coming years. As it is often heard in the Philippines and I know it to be true, “Yes, the Filipino can!”
Filipinos have black hair, eat rice, live in a varied climate, can speak multiple languages, and most importantly they speak English. Those are the five reasons Bill says the Filipinos have been chosen to be a part of this end time Army.
Sadly though missions work costs money and the Philippines is poor. Therefore we need to pray that God will supply the dough.
The Philippines has had an economic challenge. However, while many are willing to go on missions, they are hindered by weak economy. I believe that God can use a transfer of funds to the Philippines, through both supernatural and natural economic means to put things into place. Let us pray that the Philippines will prosper and that the Church and Christian businesses will flourish. We need to pray, act and believe that God will bless the Philippines in this way. As mentioned in the Bible, God has given us the power to create wealth and jobs. The Philippines’ resources are rich, but they have been exploited. Let us “in Jesus’ Name,” claim this country’s wealth for the people and to send the Filipinos into the harvest. Let us pray that many more people will have businesses and that as the Bible says…the wealth of the wicked will be transferred into the hands of the righteous (Prov. 13: 22). Pray that they will get their funds and we will experience the Biblical promise of the blessing of God, because God has given us the ability to create wealth (Deut. 8: 18). Then as a people of God, who have learned to give biblically, the Filipinos will spread the Gospel throughout Asia and the world. Even as I am writing this book, I am encouraged by the news of rich oil finds here in the Philippines.
Please just give 1% of your earnings and the 10/40 window can be conquered for Christ.
The “10/40 Window” is the last frontier to conquer. We must penetrate and establish beachheads for the Gospel in this war zone, but it cannot be done without money. I would like to challenge every individual reading this book, every church and every businessman to give just 1% of their monthly or annual revenues, over and above their tithes and current giving to help take and evangelize this final frontier. If we start now and give until the job is finished, the Gospel will go forth and the harvest will be completed. It doesn’t matter into which organization or ministry involved in the “10/40 Window” you plant your money. It will assist the common effort and ultimately will help to impact and reach 95% of the unreached people in the world with the Gospel. The important thing is to decide to “make a difference” by giving your 1% to those ministering in the “10/40 Window.”
Though the “10/40 Window” may appear to be an overwhelming giant, an empowered Church, focused on its target like David with the stone in his sling, will cause this last great giant, the “10/40 Window” to fall. We will see it ablaze with the Spirit and real Holy Ghost revival.
That is the sum and substance of this so-called prophetic vision for the Philippines. Filipinos will evangelize the 10/40 window as an End Times Army. They are fit to do this because they have black hair. eat rice, live in a varied climate, speak many languages, speak English, and are conveniently situated only a plane ride away. But this cannot be done without money which YOU need to send.
This is laughable. This is offensive auto anyone who understands the Bible, Church history, and Filipinos. Jesus Christ said he would build his Church and the gates of hell would not prevail against it and yet Bill Perry wants us to think the Church lost its Holy Spirit power after the conversion of Constantine. It's blasphemous.
Not to mention there has historically been a lot of missionary activity in the 10/40 window. That is the area where the Church was born and where missionaries have been continually sent. This nonsense is the fruit of Bill's Pentecostalism which is a denial of the fulfillment of the book of Joel on the day of Pentecost 50 days after the resurrection of Jesus Christ and seeks signs and wonders. That search leads for outright lies such as the following:
The American church has tried at various times to have effective missionary work to reach the Navajo people but without much success. Recently, some Filipinos tried to do the same thing. This time the Indians related better because of their own Asian roots, and a more similar skin color and of course the same black hair. But most importantly they heard the Gospel fluently presented in their own language for the first time. The Filipino team learned Navajo in less than 6 months and have been able to start a growing church! Because of their natural gifting the Filipinos have turned a difficult situation into a success!
The first Christian missions to the Navajos began in the late 1800's and the Bible was fully translated into Navajo by 1986.
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| https://www.nytimes.com/1986/01/20/us/navajos-welcome-a-native-american-bible.html |
They were copies of the first complete Bible to be translated into a language of people who were the original natives of what is now the United States. And as the sun set behind the sandstone bluffs around this little reservation town Saturday night, several hundred of the Navajo faithful gathered in the basketball bleachers of the community center to receive them.
''It's done,'' said Lois Martin, the widow of Geronimo Martin, one of the pioneer Navajo translators who began the project 40 years ago. ''It does my heart good to see the complete word of God in Navajo hands at last.''
The New Testament was finished first and was published in 1955 with help from the Wycliffe Bible Translators, a California society that promotes the translation of Bibles into different languages.
''The Lord supported us, but Wycliffe helped pay for it,'' Miss Hill said.
So, the line about Filipinos being able to reach the Navajos because they look similar is total bunk.
It has been 30 years since this book was published and this vision has yet to come to pass. There is no reason to think it ever will.
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