I just got this message today that short of two days ago, on April 27, 2011, David Wilkerson, founder of the Time Square Church in New York City, Teen Challenge ministry and author of the "Cross and the Switchblade" has died in a car crash in Tyler, Texas on U.S. Route 175. His wife Gwen was with him and she is in critical condition.
In a radio broadcast and a Christian blog posting the Lord had spoke about some of the older saints would be going home to be with Him this year. Is this just the beginning of what the Lord said would come to past? I do believe it with all my heart it truly is. It is a sign for sure that the Lord's words are true and the His words are being fulfilled according to what he said.
My condolences go out to the Wilkerson family and the Time Square Church who has lost great pastor in the Lord. It is now a time that the Lord shall raise up new disciples in His name and by His Mighty Hand. These are known by Him and He knows them by name and they know their calling. He shall rise up a humble and contrite hearts that shall obey His will and carry out the mission He has set forth.
David had did the mission the Lord had told him to do, then he died. Rev. Wilkerson's last blog post stated the following: "To those going through the valley and shadow of death, hear this word: Weeping will last through some dark, awful nights," he wrote, "and in that darkness you will soon hear the Father whisper, `I am with you. I cannot tell you why right now, but one day it will all make sense. You will see it was all part of my plan. It was no accident."
David Wilkerson was born May 19, 1931 in Hammond, Indiana, to a line of Pentecostal preachers. After he was ordained in the Assemblies of God, he married Gwendolyn Carosso who served beside him in ministry for 57 years. Wilkerson served as a pastor in small churches in Scottdale and Philipsburg, Pennsylvania, until he saw a photograph in Life Magazine in 1958 of seven New York City teenagers charged with murder. He later wrote that as he felt the Holy Spirit move him with compassion, he was drawn to go to New York in February 1958. It was then that he began a street ministry to young drug addicts and gang members, which he continued into the 1960s. In 1958, he founded Teen Challenge, an evangelical Christian addiction recovery program affiliated with the Assemblies of God, with a network of Christian social and evangelizing work centers. Wilkerson gained national recognition after he co-authored the book The Cross and the Switchblade in 1963 with John and Elizabeth Sherrill. The book became a best-seller, with over 50 million copies in over thirty languages, and is included in Christianity Today's "Top 50 Books That Have Shaped Evangelicals". In the book, Wilkerson tells of the conversion of gang member Nicky Cruz, who later became an evangelist himself and wrote the autobiographical Run Baby Run. In 1970, Cross and the Switchblade was turned into a Hollywood movie starring Pat Boone as Wilkerson and Erik Estrada as Cruz.
In 1967, Wilkerson began Youth Crusades, an evangelistic ministry aimed at teenagers whom Wilkerson called "goodniks"—middle-class youth who were restless and bored. His goal was to prevent them from becoming heavily involved with drugs, alcohol, or violence. Through this ministry, the CURE Corps (Collegiate Urban Renewal Effort) was founded. It was intended to be something of a Christian version of the Peace Corps and Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA). In 1971, Wilkerson moved his ministry headquarters to Lindale, Texas, where he founded World Challenge, an organization whose mission is to promote and spread the Gospel throughout the world. Wilkerson believed that In 1986, while walking down 42nd Street in New York City at midnight, the Holy Spirit called him to return to New York City and to raise up a ministry in Times Square. He founded and became the pastor of Times Square Church, which opened its doors in October 1987. The church first occupied rented auditoriums in Times Square (Town Hall and the Nederlander Theater), later moving to the historic Mark Hellinger Theatre, which the ministry purchased in 1989 and in which it has operated ever since. From the 1990s, Wilkerson focused his efforts to encourage pastors and their families throughout the world to "renew their passion for Christ". In his own words: "I've been an evangelist for 50 years, but I didn't want to preach to pastors until I had gray hair, until I'd pastored. Now after 15 years of pastoring, sharing the hurts, pains, and difficulties of the ministry as a pastor, I felt the Lord finally release me, that I might have something to say."
Wilkerson and his wife Gwen moved to New York City at the inception of Times Square Church in 1987, and in 2006 began splitting their time between New York and Texas. They have four children and eleven grandchildren. His son Gary Wilkerson has also begun to gain recognition as a Christian minister and evangelist. At this writing, Gary, his son, write in Brother David's blog, " Like King David of old, after having served God’s purpose, he died. I know if my father were able to encourage you with his words today, he would invite you to give your all to Jesus, to love God deeply and to give yourself away to the needs of others. The works he began outlive him. We can all attest to his impacting us—not only in his preaching, writing and founding of world-changing ministries, but in his love, devotion, compassion and ability to stir our faith for greater works."
His last blog entry: Wednesday, April 27, 2011
WHEN ALL MEANS FAIL
To believe when all means fail is exceedingly pleasing to God and is most acceptable. Jesus said to Thomas, “You have believed because you have seen, but blessed are those that do believe and have not seen” (John 20:29).
Blessed are those who believe when there is no evidence of an answer to prayer—who trust beyond hope when all means have failed.
Someone has come to the place of hopelessness—the end of hope—the end of all means. A loved one is facing death and doctors give no hope. Death seems inevitable. Hope is gone. The miracle prayed for is not happening.
That is when Satan’s hordes come to attack your mind with fear, anger, overwhelming questions: “Where is your God now? You prayed until you had no tears left. You fasted. You stood on promises. You trusted.”
Blasphemous thoughts will be injected into your mind: “Prayer failed. Faith failed. Don’t quit on God—just do not trust him anymore. It doesn’t pay!”
Even questioning God’s existence will be injected into your mind. These have been the devices of Satan for centuries. Some of the godliest men and women who ever lived were under such demonic attacks.
To those going through the valley and shadow of death, hear this word: Weeping will last through some dark, awful nights—and in that darkness you will soon hear the Father whisper, “I am with you. I cannot tell you why right now, but one day it will all make sense. You will see it was all part of my plan. It was no accident. It was no failure on your part. Hold fast. Let me embrace you in your hour of pain.”
Beloved, God has never failed to act but in goodness and love. When all means fail—his love prevails. Hold fast to your faith. Stand fast in his Word. There is no other hope in this world.
Posted by David Wilkerson
In those days of "The Cross and the Switchblade" the pace of events was slower as the Lord's coming was much farther off. There was no e-mail and no Internet so news travelled slowly. If you wanted to know something you had to wait for the book to come out and then get a copy and read it. If you were really in a hurry you might be able to find something in a magazine. Then it was rumoured that David had received some kind of vision. A lot of people said "he's really flipped". I got a copy of the book ("The Vision") and read it. I believed that in principle God could cause someone to prophesy in His name but had He really spoken through David? The style of the book seemed intermediate between a direct literal word from the Lord and the author's personal convictions of what he believed God had shown him. The book was written with an urgency that suggested that the events described were supposed to happen rather soon, yet the events were so extreme, almost outlandish, that an immediate fulfillment seemed rather unlikely. God's timescale is a little different from ours. He is very old and very patient. He sees the beginning from the end. Although we may not see the fulfillment as soon as we expect nevertheless His word always comes true. According to www.wilkersonpublications.com the message that David's vision should be dated to April 1973. So it was exactly or almost exactly 38 years before his death, which is a number of some biblical significance. The day he died was Wednesday 27th April. Owing to the 2 day difference between the Gregorian and Julian calendars this was the anniversary of Wednesday 29th April AD 33. This was the day before the the last supper; it was the day Lord departed from the temple and gave the Olivet discourse to His disciples. In this He described the events and judgments that will come at the end of the age, and gave the parable of the fig tree and other parables too. (For dates in the life of the Lord Jesus refer to "The Restored Vision" by A. E. Ware). You see the day David died was the very same day the Lord Himself told his disciples the things that He showed David. That day was also notable for the ferocity of the tornados that killed many people in the US. Many have noted the link between storms in the US and God's anger concerning the US's actions in relation to the land of Israel. There is a big clue in the location where David died. I am not too hot on US topography, but the region is known as Palestine and the report of the crash was published in the Palestine Herald. The site is about a mile from the outflow of Lake Palestine. That makes 3 times now that the Lord has given us signs highlighting 'Palestine': The destruction of the space shuttle Columbia on 1st February 2003. The first reports of falling debris came from the town Palestine, Texas. It seemed to speak of the impending destruction of America over the 'Palestine' issue. The rescue of Jessica Lynch from Palestine in West Virginia on 1st April 2003. The thing happened just across the way from the ruins of Ur where Abram's family lived, presumably including her biblical namesake Iscah. The rescue ended with the graves being emptied and both the living and the dead being taken up into the air. And now David's death, in the region of Palestine, Texas. I think the location of David's passing shows its importance as a sign and should remind us of the significance of the earlier events. I also think the date strongly underlines the significance of his message. I think we have to view it as being the Lord authenticating the message that David gave us. I also think it is also a big hint that these things will happen soon.
In those days of "The Cross and the Switchblade" the pace of events was slower as the Lord's coming was much farther off. There was no e-mail and no Internet so news travelled slowly. If you wanted to know something you had to wait for the book to come out and then get a copy and read it. If you were really in a hurry you might be able to find something in a magazine. Then it was rumoured that David had received some kind of vision. A lot of people said "he's really flipped". I got a copy of the book ("The Vision") and read it. I believed that in principle God could cause someone to prophesy in His name but had He really spoken through David? The style of the book seemed intermediate between a direct literal word from the Lord and the author's personal convictions of what he believed God had shown him. The book was written with an urgency that suggested that the events described were supposed to happen rather soon, yet the events were so extreme, almost outlandish, that an immediate fulfillment seemed rather unlikely. God's timescale is a little different from ours. He is very old and very patient. He sees the beginning from the end. Although we may not see the fulfillment as soon as we expect nevertheless His word always comes true. According to www.wilkersonpublications.com the message that David's vision should be dated to April 1973. So it was exactly or almost exactly 38 years before his death, which is a number of some biblical significance. The day he died was Wednesday 27th April. Owing to the 2 day difference between the Gregorian and Julian calendars this was the anniversary of Wednesday 29th April AD 33. This was the day before the the last supper; it was the day Lord departed from the temple and gave the Olivet discourse to His disciples. In this He described the events and judgments that will come at the end of the age, and gave the parable of the fig tree and other parables too. (For dates in the life of the Lord Jesus refer to "The Restored Vision" by A. E. Ware). You see the day David died was the very same day the Lord Himself told his disciples the things that He showed David. That day was also notable for the ferocity of the tornados that killed many people in the US. Many have noted the link between storms in the US and God's anger concerning the US's actions in relation to the land of Israel. There is a big clue in the location where David died. I am not too hot on US topography, but the region is known as Palestine and the report of the crash was published in the Palestine Herald. The site is about a mile from the outflow of Lake Palestine. That makes 3 times now that the Lord has given us signs highlighting 'Palestine': The destruction of the space shuttle Columbia on 1st February 2003. The first reports of falling debris came from the town Palestine, Texas. It seemed to speak of the impending destruction of America over the 'Palestine' issue. The rescue of Jessica Lynch from Palestine in West Virginia on 1st April 2003. The thing happened just across the way from the ruins of Ur where Abram's family lived, presumably including her biblical namesake Iscah. The rescue ended with the graves being emptied and both the living and the dead being taken up into the air. And now David's death, in the region of Palestine, Texas. I think the location of David's passing shows its importance as a sign and should remind us of the significance of the earlier events. I also think the date strongly underlines the significance of his message. I think we have to view it as being the Lord authenticating the message that David gave us. I also think it is also a big hint that these things will happen soon.
The Cross and the Switchblade Movie
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