Imagination

Like many of you I was saddened to hear of the passing of Prophet Paul Cain. Knowing that the lives of prophets are parabolic my prophetic imagination immediately started watching for signs related to his death. I searched within my spirit for the inner voice and witness of Holy Spirit to listen and discern what was their message for the Church in the transition from earth to glory for this consequential prophet who fathered the movement that released the prophetic in the Body of Christ.

In my reading and searching I came across a parallel based on the fact that Paul Cain died on the exact day that Abraham Lincoln was born 210 years before. Although secularist and the intellectually religious overlook this element of Lincoln’s life, the sixteenth president was very prophetic, seeing events; both literal and symbolic in dreams and visions.

Lincoln also was opposed by the religious leaders of his day because he did not attend church or declare a particular membership with a denomination. Like Lincoln Paul Cain has been summarily dismissed by mainstream religious movements who reject prophets and the prophetic reality of today.

Lincoln was born to fulfill the purpose of God in the19th Century, growing through the challenges to his presidency and a war that almost destroyed the United States. Paul Cain was born during the Great depression to fulfill the purposes of God in the 20th Century fathering a movement that changed the face of the Church.

After I considered the prophetic connection between Lincoln and Cain the Holy Spirit led me to consider the parallel of deaths between Cain and two other prophets who died in February. Bob Jones who died on February 14, 2015 (Valentines Day) and John Paul Jackson who died on February 18, 2015.

All three of these prophetic voices were connected in the eighties and were instrumental in the restoration of the prophetic to the Body of Christ. From the eighties until now the recovery and restoration of the prophets has ushered the Church into the promise of Acts 3:19, “the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.” One of the meanings of the word is breath, to breathe again. That is an accurate description of the prophetic in that it causes the believer to breathe in the Spirit or be inspired by the manifestation of the prophetic.

Because of the restoration of the prophetic through many prophets, which Cain, Jones and Jackson were a part of their ministries, both collectively and individually caused a fresh breath of creativity to create a breeze in the Church rescuing many from the staleness of religiosity and the powerlessness of ritualistic traditions. Creativity is a wind blowing through the Church and the wind is increasing!

Each of these prophets contributed to the creative recovery of the Church. Bob Jones, a creative storyteller whose life was a parable declared the coming of a worldwide movement of 24-hour intercession and worship that would touch every nation of the earth. We witnessed the manifestation of that prophecy in Kansas City, Missouri through the International House of Prayer, a creative expression of heavenly worship and the restoration of the tabernacle of David (Acts 15:16).

John Paul Jackson helped us to recovery the value of our dreams, a way that Holy Spirit communicates to believers. According to Joel 2:26 and Acts 2:17 “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions.”

Paul Cain demonstrated some of the greatest levels of words of knowledge that have ever been seen in the Body of Christ only paralleled by the contemporary prophetic ministry of Shawn Bolz, who was mentored by Jones and Cain.

Because of their obedience to the Lord and their courage under great rejection and persecution these three prophets and many others who have left the earth for the glory of Heaven, have left us a liberty of creative expression that represents the beauty of the Lord and the splendor of His glory. Before the prophets came forth the Church had not seen this level of creativity since before the times of the first reformation.

The prophets have set us free to be the image of God filling the earth with the fruits of our redeemed imagination.

Paul Cain, Bob Jones and John Paul Jackson fathered a movement that is still birthing prophets and prophetic people who have a heart to demonstrate 2 Peter 1:19 – “And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.”

I believe with the passing of Paul Cain we will now see a greater light shining in many dark places as we stand, as prophetic creative people at the edge of a new day dawning and the ascending of the morning star rising in our hearts. We build on the foundation they laid, they are not the foundation, Jesus is. Thank you Paul, Bob and John Paul for all that you gave us to run on to the end of our race.  You have run well.