Scrape the “False Layer”, Wash the residual Dirt and Proclaim God’s Design
On Friday 24th November 2017, we gathered in the chambers of South African Parliament in Cape Town as a group of Christian leaders, for the purpose of praying for South Africa. This was a historic, pivotal and prophetically significant gathering as we met in the very chamber where the laws of Apartheid were enacted. The only difference this time was that we were gathered as believers of different race groups and gender, under the authority of Jesus Christ, offering prayers and petitions, and making declarations before the highest court and institution of power in the entire universe, the throne of God. During this meeting, I saw the vision of the Lord for our nation that played out in three significant phases.
Phase 1:
As soon as we began praying, I saw the hand of God scraping a plastered wall. I knew by revelation that this plastered wall was labelled in the spirit as “the false layer” – a false identity that the enemy had imposed on our nation through history. It felt as though all the efforts to build the nation within the context of “the false layer” was nothing but futility – within this spiritual context of the false layer, there would never be any solution for our nation. Any human effort offered within this context would amount to nothing – I felt this helplessness even within the House of Parliament itself. But as we prayed on Friday 24th November 2017, and as we offered prayers of repentance, each racial group taking ownership of its contribution to the chaos of the nation, there was granted in the spirit authority for us (Church) to see the false layer and to scrape it off and remove this false identify that had been imposed on us by the enemy. This is the false identity of Race and Racism. Apostolic revelation will empower us to refuse to build in this false space – new definitions of the Spirit cannot be poured into old wineskins of old identity. We must remove the false layer of the “first man”.
Phase 2:
I began to see the second phase of the vision – the washing of the wall after the scraping. God was releasing the authority for us to wash the wall and to remove the residual dirt after the scraping process. The water was His Word (not the ideas, principles and ideologies of man). I feel a season of the unlocking of the wells of the Word of God that will unleash the waters of the Spirit. There is coming from heaven apostolic revelation that will transform and reform the nation (revelation for nation building). God will wash away the residual dirt to take the nation through a purification and transformation process. This will be a season of the “cutting of the foreskin” and the “removal of the reproach of Egypt”. There is a shift in the spirit from the “Moses” generation of leaders that confronted injustice to the “Joshua” generation of leaders that will establish the nation upon new foundations. Like Joshua, these leaders are instructed to “make flint knives and circumcise” the new and younger generation, to get them ready for the task of establishing the new season (Josh. 5:2). The young people must be prepared and transformed so they can be mature and ready for the task at hand. This season of circumcision will include confrontation of incorrect interpretations of our history. Like Joseph, we shall begin to see the hand of God behind our painful past (Gen. 50:20, Ps. 105:17). This will be a season of massive spiritual transformation that will open the eyes of many to see with clarity the shortcomings of their own flesh, humanity, race and culture. There is coming a time for every race to bow down before Christ in full conviction and repentance – this will not be a carnal worldly sorrow that is inspired by the historical record, but godly spiritual sorrow that is inspired by the spiritual record. The letter of the Spirit that convicts (i.e. the revelation of Christ) will transcend the letter of the law that condemns. And just as blindness has produced argument and finger-pointing between races, cultures and even between genders, the washing through the Word will expose the sin of the flesh, discrimination and segregation, and it will instead produce sight and repentance.
Phase 3:
The third phase of this vision was the revelation of a beautiful artistic design on the wall. The removal of the false layer through the process of scraping and washing resulted in the revelation of a formerly hidden artistic design. This is the apostolic identity of the Spirit for the nation of South Africa – God’s blueprint for the nation. The false layer was hindering us from seeing God’s design for the nation and God permitted this for a season. God is now giving us the ability to “read the design on the wall” and interpret it for the nation. This is the replacement of the identity of Race and Racism with the identity of Christ. This will come with apostolic revelation for us to see the “manifestation of the Word in the flesh” (the manifestation of the Christ in the context of South Africa) and to quantify the dimension of Christ for our nation. Instead of trying to fix “the first man”, we shall replace him with “the second man” by apostolic revelation and teaching. Instead of trying to fix “the first Adam”, we shall replace him with “the last Adam”. There shall be granted in the spirit the power not to try and fix “the old” but to see the nature and design of “the new” and to establish it upon the land. God will grant revelation and power for us to fix the old by declaring the new covenant (Heb. 8:13) to facilitate the exodus in the spirit out of the old South Africa to the new South Africa. The legal code condemned the old but could not establish the new. It is by apostolic wisdom and authority that the foundations of the new shall be established (1 Cor. 3:10).
A release of Apostolic grace:
In the process of this vision, I felt the time of the release of the Apostolic Grace that is taking place in the spirit for the nation of South Africa. Apostles and Apostolic Builders are being released with grace and authority (1) to scrape the false layer, (2) to wash the residual dirt and (3) to proclaim God’s design for the nation (this sequence is important in the spirit). God is sending apostles. I see that this three-phased process must begin in the house of God (the Church in SA) – “judgment begins in the house of God” (1 Pet. 4:17). God will begin by “establishing obedience in His house first” before going out to “bring every argument under the authority of Christ” in our land (2 Cor. 10:3-6). He is replacing “a form of transformation, a form of righteousness” with true authentic spiritual transformation in His house (the Church). He is removing the “stains, wrinkles and blemishes” of South Africa in His Church and is replacing them with the glory of the Nature of Christ (Eph. 5:27). The Church in South Africa has taken the very shape and form of the nation, but there is a season of opportunity to take off the carnal garment of race, to transform and change things so that “we are no longer conformed” but we’re leading this march of transformation in the spirit.
Attachment:
In the last couple of weeks, I’ve heard the Lord say that He is breaking the old boundaries of Race in the spirit and is establishing new Apostolic boundaries. The apostolic spheres of God will override the spatial setting of Apartheid. Angelic powers have been released to draw out new apostolic spheres in the spirit according to God’s predestined plan (Prov. 8:27, 2 Cor. 10:13). Churches that have been limited according to homogeneous, racial and social boundaries will suddenly experience spatial breakthroughs as God opens spheres to establish new Communities of Diversity. An evil and a false apostolic spirit fell upon Hendrik Verwoerd to declare and establish the boundaries of Race over this nation. This man was in fact the apostle of Darkness (2 Cor. 11:13-15) – his declarations were so powerful that they have shaped and defined the very psyche of the nation (there is not a single sphere of life in SA that is not affected by Race and Racism, including the Church itself). This shows us that we fight not against flesh and blood (it is not simply the policies of Verwoerd we are fighting against) but against spiritual powers in the heavens (Eph. 6:12) – spirit beings more powerful than us but that will surely be conquered through the power of the Holy Spirit in us. God is now releasing a true Apostolic spirit to declare new apostolic boundaries and orbits (just as boundaries of Race were enforced by principalities, new Apostolic boundaries of Christ will be displayed by the Church before the same principalities, Eph. 3:10). God is breaking the law of racism and is replacing it with the law of Christ. This will produce new grace and authority for us to establish Communities of Diversity anchored not in humanistic efforts and ideas but in the Revelation of the Humanity of Christ. I see even new, unprecedented cross-cultural and cross-racial marriages that will begin to take place across the nation as a sign that God is breaking forth to establish a new pattern of existence in our nation. God says “your sons and daughters shall fall in love beyond the set boundaries of race as a sign of these movements and shifts taking place in the spirit”. There will be power to break forth and remove “homogeneous and racial lines” in the spirit and bring people together based on the understanding that they are “co-heirs and sharers in Christ” (Eph. 3:6). This is the season of opportunity to establish the vision of “One New Man” (Eph. 2:11-22). This cannot be achieved through the laws of the land, it requires the law of Christ to enter the human heart. This vision of One New Humanity outlined in Eph. 2 will not be established through humanistic principles, but God will grant portals of revelation in the spirit for us to see definitions of Christ and establish them in the land. Just like Jacob saw a portal in the spirit that brought resolution to his life issues, we also shall see a ladder that connects that land with the heavens (Gen. 28:10-22). Seals are being broken by the slain Lamb and scrolls are being opened for us to press beyond the ideas of man and see the design of God (Rev. 5). Like Peter, we are being taken beyond the realm of humanism and humanistic definitions into a realm of revelation where “flesh and blood” cannot function (Matt. 16:17). “There” in the “visions of God”, we will see the design of the temple; we will see the design of the nation (Ezek. 40:1-2, Ezek. 43:10-11). This will break Race and Class and it will usher in a season of integration and diversity through Christ. I see neighborhoods that have lived side by side in a state of hostility and inequality coming to a new space of co-existence and mutual honour. And I see new economic hubs forming as a result of this process. There is a spatial apostolic anointing that is being released by God that will change mindsets and culture, redesign human spaces in South Africa and produce new cultural interactions and integrated community activities.
This vision means that God heard our prayers on the 24th of November and has already moved to act on them. He in fact answered us at the same time as we were praying. By God’s grace, we offered prayers of surgical precision in the spirit that moved the heart of God. Like Elijah, our prayers were powerful and effective, and they facilitated a shift in seasons. This is the appointed season of the Lord’s favor for our nation. It is the day of vengeance of our God (Isa. 61:2). The Lord is calling us to scrape the false layer, to wash the residual dirt and to proclaim the new design for the nation.
Robert Ntuli
LivingStones Agency
Durban, South Africa
LivingStones Agency 