Download PDF version:  The Sinking of the U.S.S. Church

In a recent vision I saw the Church as a large cruise ship covered with cracks that were visible from a distance. In an instant large pieces of the ship began falling into the ocean. As a result, all of the people in the ship fell into the water. Within a few seconds, the ship was totally destroyed.

Further revelation came in a time of prayer last year when I asked the Lord if we were going to witness the breaking up of the United States given the political, economic and moral crisis the nation was in at that time and still is. As quickly as I asked the question, the Spirit brought an answer. He said, “No, this is not the breaking up of the country. It is the breaking up of My Church”.

We are about to witness a massive outpouring of the Holy Spirit that will destroy the structures (organizations, systems, programs, etc.) man has erected in an attempt to “operate” without the Holy Spirit. Structures that have been built to keep people out of His Presence (the ocean) will be dismantled. The U.S.S. Church is big. The Lord is bigger. He will not fix the Church man operates that he labels as “ministry”.

The Lord is bringing a seismic shift, the equivalent of a mighty spiritual earthquake that will come in an instant that will not only bring life to His Body, but destruction on His enemies. The Lord has confirmed this by other visions and revelations of this outpouring using images of an avalanche, a massive tsunami wave and columns of His holy fire coming from heaven 100 miles in diameter. In an instant, He will take back entire regions. Make no mistake; He has determined to take back that which is His.

Many of the Lord’s servants have seen this earthquake, but they did not understand what it meant. I would submit that the earthquake the Spirit is bringing is not physical in nature, it is spiritual, and its effect will be enormous and far reaching. Nothing will be left of the old structures. His Church is broken and she has attempted to bring the Gospel to the world and fulfill the Great Commission without The One who commissioned her—the Holy Spirit. Attempting to cruise on the high seas, she will disintegrate under her own weight because of the weakness of her structure. (Luke 13:6-9)

The ocean that His Church will collapse into is the Holy Spirit. He will bring life, not death to His people. In regions He has chosen, in a moment, a massive and abundant outpouring of His Spirit will bring revival and His Church will find itself in the ocean of His Spirit. Some will resist this move. None will escape.

The Lord has used multiple visions and revelations to confirm the outpouring of the Spirit He is about to bring. It is unprecedented in the Church. It will bring tremendous, sweeping and lasting change.

Those churches and groups that flee to “high ground”, resistant to this move of the Spirit, will ultimately find that the ocean of His Presence will reach them as well. The flood will come swiftly and will catch leaders off guard. In one vision it was revealed that a particular leader of a global ministry would be caught off guard by this move. Because of this he and the ministry the Lord entrusted him with found themselves in peril. Deliverance came from the Lord but not until he realized the depth of the catastrophe he had walked into.

If this is true for one, it is true for many of the Church’s leaders. In another vision, I witnessed a rushing and powerful river, the Holy Spirit, headed at an angle to the front doors of church. As it moved, I saw the pastor and the leaders inside. They made a decision not to allow the Holy Spirit to enter. When that decision was made, The River shifted course and ran down along the side of the church. The current was so swift and powerful that the foundation of the entire wall collapsed. I then saw the pastor was immediately caught in the current and was about to be swept away, but the leaders who joined him in the decision attempted to hold on to him. But the current was too powerful. Finally, unable to hold him, the pastor was swept backward in the river.

The pastor’s face was full of terror. At that moment, I heard the Holy Spirit say, “Change or perish.” This is the judgment that awaits leaders that resist the move of the Spirit in the coming revival. It is the equivalent of the judgment that came to the unfaithful servants who tended the nobleman’s vineyard but said, “We do not want you to rule over us!” (Luke 19:14 & 27 NASB) In like manner, the systems, structures, leaders and decisions they have made that have been designed to keep the Spirit away from His people will be swept away.

He will deliver His flocks from systems and structures that have been created by Church leaders that have resulted in keeping His people in bondage. The structures have been designed to keep His sheep, His people, in sun-scorched pastures. Nothing will keep the Lord from ministering to His own people. Not even a pastor! If they won’t feed those the Lord has entrusted to them, the Lord will feed and care for them Himself!

The outpouring that many in the Church have been praying and crying out for is coming with blessing and judgment. Resisting the Spirit is rebellion, which the Bible declares is the equivalent of witchcraft. (I Samuel 15:23) It is time for leaders to remove the hindrances to the Spirit that they themselves have built.

It is time to align ourselves with heaven and repent of doing things our own way, living a life described in Judges where “every man did what was right in their own eyes” (Judges 21:25 NASB) rather than hearing and obeying the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the leader. We are the followers. Our confusion of this foundational point has caused the Lord to take His stand against us and what we have built without Him.

The time has come to change, or we shall perish. If we will align with the Lord, He will align with us!

Mark C. Biteler