April 1978
The Honeymoon is Over
The following prophecy was sent to The Fountain Trust, and was published in the Charismatic magazine RENEWAL. We wrote to the Editor, Tom Smail, in the following way –
“The purpose of this letter is to say that as we read your editorial in RENEWAL 72 we could not help but feel at one with you in the matter of the darkness that is now pervading all spiritual activities. We have many times commented on the difficulties of even praying and seeking the Lord’s will, far greater than in years gone by, when we first knew the baptism of the spirit in 1967.
“I was quietly contemplating these things, when the Lord made His presence known to me, and constrained me to write down what He was saying. I therefore submit this to you without any further comment, knowing that you will ‘test all things and hold fast to that which is good.'”
Yours sincerely in Christ, Arthur Eedle.
The honeymoon is over and the skies are grey,
And the good days now linger as memories,
Even as dreams in the night,
So whence came this thick darkness, says the Lord?
Did I not leave you light?
Did I not feed you with bread?
Did I not bless you with a rich harvest?
Where then are my Josephs?
Where is my prophetic word?
Have they stored it?
And who has a map to point the way?
And for what purpose was my initial outpouring?
How have you sought to use it?
You have sought to build up my church;
But who in fact is the Builder?
You have grasped at the doves of healing
Only to see them fly away.
Where then do you need the power of my Spirit?
Is it not for the valley of the shadow of death?
Indeed I seek to build my house,
But there is another who seeks to destroy it,
And I am looking for the man who will stand in the breach,
One upon whom I have poured out my spirit of supplication,
One who sees the need,
And with trembling yields himself a living sacrifice,
One who remembers that good seeds only multiply
When lost in the darkness of my soil.
It is in that darkness that you will have my Spirit,
When it shall seem that I have forsaken you,
It is then that you will need my rod and my staff,
For no man can go through that valley alone.
This is why I have poured out my spirit in these end days, says the Lord.
Where is my Moses? Where is my Paul?
Where are those who will intercede against this destruction?
Who can bear to be anathema that others might have life?
Who can bear to look upon that life-eternal
Granted to him from heaven above
Not as a prize too great to sacrifice?
Where are my twenty-four elders?
Have they not testified of their willingness
To cast away their crowns
At the sight of the Wounded Lamb?
Furthermore, the sign of the prophet Jonah
Is still upon the face of all the earth,
And without this sign there can be no authentication;
Without the fellowship of His sufferings
The power of the Spirit must return to heaven.
If the plight of Nineveh be in your hearts,
And the condition of the church brings anguish to your souls,
Then know that I am a God of mercy
Whose compassions fail not.
He who loses his life for my sake
Shall gain it one hundred-fold
And shall witness the wealth of my last harvest, says the Lord