The “Revival Served On A Platter Of Ruin” Prophecy

Chuck [Porta],

So far as I know, there never was an official written transcript of the prophecy.  When Coach McCartney gave it (in late October of 1998, at a by-invitation-only leaders conference on revival prospects for America, called together by Bill Bright in Atlanta and involving mostly Evangelical leaders, though a few charismatics like John Cedar, Bill M., and Linda Rios Brooks also took part in it), Linda took notes on the prophecy, passed it on to her then-colleague in the Crossroads TV program here at the time, Alan Langstaff…and Alan then shared her notes with Antioch staff, including me at church and school (as well as ACTS missions teacher John Halverson).  I then passed it on right away to Larry as well.  Linda meanwhile (mistakenly) assumed that the prophecy dealt with Y2k — so when that became a bust, she seemingly lost interest in the prophecy and did not, apparently, mention it publicly again afterwards.  But Larry, John, Alan, and myself kept it on the radar screen, and both Alan and John published it a few times over the years.

As I recall it, there were five parts to the prophecy, per Linda’s original notes:

1. Yes, I am bringing revival to America, says the Lord.
2. But many will miss being a part of it, because it will not turn out to be the kind of revival that everyone is looking for —  so they will not embrace it, will not honor it, will not give it its proper place in their midst when it comes, says the Lord.
3. What is coming is not a society-transforming, culture-reshaping revival as has sometimes occurred in the past: rather, it is an outpouring of the Spirit that will coincide and coexist with upheaval all around.  It will be, then, a revival “served upon a platter of ruin.”
4. Its purpose will be to equip and strengthen people in the churches during difficult times that are coming.  Harvest will come, but the revival’s primary purpose is not harvest, but instead the sustaining of genuine faith while the world around them is frequently abandoning that faith.
5. Churches that embrace this revival must be ready to follow it “all of the way”: by its very nature, it cannot just be “added” to a church’s “program”: it comes not to enable church programs to find extra wisdom or zeal or energy in order to “succeed”, but so as to rebuild or reshape or refocus each church in a necessary direction of deeper trust and surrender and obedience together.  The Spirit comes as Lord, not as “servant” of our own intentions, when we let Him have His way….

In about 2010 or so, I called Bill McCartney in Florida, long-distance, to find out if he recalled any other details about the prophecy.  By that time, he was having memory issues, and thought there might have been some connection to Israel’s own last-days spiritual awakening to Jesus as Messiah — but could no longer remember enough particulars to know for certain whether he was possibly combining the “ruin in America” prophecy with a different (though related?) one dealing with what he was then calling “the Road to Jerusalem”.

If “the Road to Jerusalem” is somehow spiritually and practically connected to “revival [in America] to be served upon a platter of ruin”, then President Trump’s moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem on May 14, 2018 may well have been a “trigger” of some kind for BOTH “streams” to begin to flow, blessing whatever portions of the Church are continuing to stand with Israel in the midst of the present tumult.
I guess we will simply have to wait and see?….

In Jesus,

Lance