Sid:There is a gift called the gift of prophesy it is a supernatural gift. I have to tell you many people that call themselves prophets I get very disappointed with because I read about the accuracy in the Tenach, in the Jewish scriptures of the prophets. I don’t see that same degree of accuracy among many people that call themselves prophets. And I have to believe their also is a lack of understanding of the gift of prophesy especially under the New Covenant. And I have on the telephone Ben and Brenda Peters that both move in the gift of prophesy and I’ve got a lot of questions for them and I believe they’ve got a lot of answers for me. I’ve just finished read their book “Prophetic Ministry Strategic Key to the Harvest” and Ben you said in your book that when you look at the people coming to the Lord in the New Testament what percentage is involved in something supernatural occurring?
Ben: Actually in the whole scripture I did a research for a previous book on signs and wonders and I discovered that it’s very clear that over 90%, somewhere between 90 and 95%, of all of the cases of conversions in scripture were the result of something supernatural occurring which did include prophetic ministry.
Sid: Well, how in the world did we slip from that to almost everything being cerebral, at least here in the west?
Ben: Well that’s a very good question over the course of time the fire of passion for God grew cold and as a result the power ebbed away and religious people had to excuse and explain their lack of power. So they came up with different doctrines to say that God didn’t do these things anymore; God doesn’t speak to people anymore like He used to. Because for one reason the Bible was complete, or the apostles were gone and so on. These had no biblical bases really; the arguments were very very weak but these were widely excepted because everyone wants to excuse the lack of power in the church.
Sid: I want to find out a bit about you and Brenda. I’m starting with Ben and this intrigues me, there was a real turning point in your relationship with the Lord and it was at Bible college tell me about that.
Ben: Okay I grew up in a very strong Christian home and I had a desire at an early age to preach it was like God drew me as a little boy when I heard a good preacher preaching and I’d feel in my hear that’s what I wanted to do.
Sid: Now by the way I see here in my notes you had quite a godly heritage.
Ben: Oh yes actually I did; both of my grandfathers were preachers, one was a Bible School Principal and a Pastor; one was an Evangelist and a Pastor and my parents grew up…
Sid: In one of my favorite places the former Soviet Union.
Ben: Yes, yes. So my parents met actually in Canada when they both were able to leave both their families they were able to leave the Soviet Union after the revelation and they met in Bible school in Mennonite Bible Schools.My grandfather on my mother’s side became an early Pentecostal Mennonite which was not a popular thing in those days. Eventually my parents were excommunicated because they wanted to teach healing and the power of the Holy Spirit; they journeyed on with the Lord and ultimately I went to a Christian Missionary…
Sid: I have to ask you a question is that the same individual one that you were just talked about your mom’s dad that had that supernatural experience in prison?
Ben: Oh yes, yes.
Sid: You got to tell me about that.
Ben: He was doing traveling ministry going from town to town and preaching the gospel. After the revolution it was a gradual take over and a gradual restriction of religious freedom that took place. But the police started to arrest him and take him into the police headquarters. The one time the Lord just told him to walk out when the man stepped out of the room. And he walked right out right passed the guard and appeared to not even see him and he just headed back home and was free to leave the country later on. So that was one of his experiences where God intervened supernaturally. My mother had had supernatural experiences as a young woman also; one time she was walking home in the dark and a light shone on her path and she thought there was a car coming behind. And those days there was just a few cars, but there was no car and that light stayed with her all the way home. So I had this heritage and I was raised to believe in the supernatural.
Sid: Okay so you’re in your first year of Bible school and there’s a prayer meeting that’s going on and the leader says to you and to everyone in the group what are your burdens.
Ben: Right.
Sid: What happened to you?
Ben: Well he was asking for prayer requests because we were having a prayer meeting he asked to get some prayer requests so we had something to pray about and this was a dorm meeting at Bible School. Immediately when he said that “Do you have any burdens?” the Holy Spirit spoke to me “You don’t have any burdens because my family is all saved” and I was enjoying Bible School, I knew people that weren’t saved but I didn’t have any I knew I should have more burdens for them and I didn’t really have any. And so when it came my turn to respond to the man the young man that was leading the prayer meeting I said “My burden is that I don’t have one.” And I chose to humble myself in that situation and be honest with the group and…
Sid: How could you be in Bible School and not have anything to pray about? It’s hard to understand, but guess what there are a lot of people we’re speaking to right now that maybe they’re praying for their immediate family but that’s about so it’s pretty similar.
Ben: Right what God was saying is I didn’t have any supernatural burden for anybody I wasn’t in intercession, I didn’t have His heart basically I knew better and I was enjoying Bible School, I wasn’t in rebellion but I just in that place of I loved the Lord, but I never penetrated His heart. I never allowed His heart to penetrate mine and change me on the inside so that I’d be passionate for His Kingdom. So at that moment God did something and from that moment on God began to draw me in a powerful way. Every morning I’d be waking up earlier than we were supposed to wake up which everything was scheduled even our devotional time after a half an hour of bathroom time 6:00 to 6:30, then 6:30 to 7:00 we were in our rooms, 7:00 was breakfast and then classes began and I was waking up earlier like 5:00 God was waking me up.
Sid: Was that something new or had you been waking up at 5:00 a.m. normally?
Ben: Absolutely new and I would get up and I would go to a place where I used to practice my voice lessons, a little piano practice room. I would get on my knees on my little piano bench and I would spend an hour to two hours every morning, mostly weeping, reading through the book of Acts and crying out for God to restore the power. What He gave me was a burden not just for a few souls but He gave me a burden for the whole church; He gave me a burden for His Kingdom, He gave me a burden for the fact that we’re so powerless in the church, and I knew it wasn’t God’s fault. I had seen some miracles, I knew that it was our fault that we had strayed from the passion of the early church; and so I…
Sid: We’re you a weeper before that personality wise or was this new to you also?
Ben: That was new; that was really new. I had a tender heart but I wasn’t one that would weep and intercession at all. But I would read through half the Book of Acts every day for every two days I’d read through the Book of Acts again and again and again. And tears would stain my Bible as I would just cry and weep and this was totally different. Then when I would leave the place…
Sid: Now correct me if I’m wrong because we’re doing this by telephone Mishpochah from their home in South Beloit, Illinois it sounds to me like you’re almost weeping as you’re speaking to me now.
Ben: It moves me when the Holy Spirit reminds me of that time in my life because that totally changed my future and my destiny. Just that when I often say “You never know when one small decision to be honest, to be humble before God can change your entire course of history, your destiny.”
Sid: Out of curiosity did you ever miss the first time the classmates are supposed to get together for whatever purpose because you were in intercession?
Ben: Well, what happened is as I said breakfast was at 7:00 and I may have been there since 5:00 – 5:15 or so, but the presence of God was so precious to me that the activity that I could hear breakfast going on it didn’t attract me because I didn’t want to leave that place. I never fasted before at all really. And I wasn’t really doing it to fast I just didn’t want to leave the presence of God until…
Sid: Now help me understand this, you didn’t want to leave the presence of God, but you had the presence of God before this you walked with the presence of God or was this a much higher dimension than you had ever experienced?
Ben: Oh this was much higher this was a whole new level, and I really believe it’s available for all of us.
Sid: Well, you know what I sense that presence is on this radio interview right now. In your heart of hearts Ben I’m holding up your new book “Prophetic Ministry.” Why did you write this, what benefit will someone have from reading it?
Ben: Well, I had written an earlier book on prophetic ministry, one of my first two books. It was no longer in print and I knew that I needed something to replace it and then God gave me a fresh revelation of the fact that in most cases where miracles began to happen prophetic ministry proceeded it. Of course the greatest example is Jesus who had a man go before Him that the people said “John did no miracle, but everything that John spoke of this Man was true.” And John spent his ministry preparing the way for Jesus by prophesying of His coming prophesying what He would do. And when He arrived on the scene John said, “Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.” And what he was doing was prophesying Jesus’ destiny that He would suffer and die for us and that He would take away our sin. And all of John’s ministry was prophesying to preparing for the miraculous.
Sid: I’m sorry we’re out of time Mishpochah…
Tags: its supernatural, Sid Roth