The Clearing Podcast - Where Eagles Fly

 Awakening #1 – When the Last Apostle Died Up to now I’ve used my newsletter to send out stories of God’s power as I have researched them out of centuries past. You can still hear these stories, my Glory Through Time teaching on my YouTube channel, my podcasting through iTunes or on my website. […]

What Do the Prophets Say? The Third Great Awakening Part III Join me for a review of decades of prophecy about an end time great awakening. Recorded Live at The River Church Toano. January 23rd, 2021 Watch Video on our YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/TheClearingMedia Please subscribe to our TheClearingMedia YouTube channel if you like it. Thank […]

What Time Is It? The Third Great Awakening Part II (Where are we in God’s unfolding plan for the Kingdom of God?) Recorded Live at The River Church Toano. January 16th, 2021 Watch Video on our YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/TheClearingMedia Please subscribe to our TheClearingMedia YouTube channel if you like it. Thank you!  

The Third Great Awakening Part I Recorded Live at The River Church Toano. January 9th, 2021

Vision Seven Most people think that the Book of Revelation prophesies the end of the world. In reality, it prophesies “a new heaven and a new earth where righteousness dwells” (2 Pet. 3:10). The Kingdom of God is “the renewal of all things,” when Yeshua will bring the whole earth in harmony with heaven. Yeshua […]

Jerusalem! When Jesus said to Pilate, “My Kingdom is not of this world,” He didn’t mean that it was “in heaven.” He meant that it was not a “power and might kingdom,” like Rome. The prophets had all said that the King would return to the earth to rule from Jerusalem (Zion). These same prophets […]

Transformed Hearts Peter’s second sermon is the most concise presentation of the timeline of the advance of the Kingdom of God on earth (Acts 3:19-21). In the present age we will experience “times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord.” In the next, Jesus comes back “to restore all things.” These are two parts […]

The Second Advent. A look at I Thess. 4:16-18, which pictures five events closely associated with the return of Jesus. 1) A loud command or roar (announcing the Day of the Lord); 2) the voice of the archangel giving the command of judgment against those in rebellion against God; 3) the trumpet (shofar) call of […]

Vision Six. (Rev. 17-19) Subject: God’s Judgment over the World System. In light of the inevitable destruction of the world system with all its sin industries, we should pay attention how we invest our time, carefully evaluating which works are destined to be “burned up.” The world system consists of a matrix of deceptive ideas […]

Vision Five. (Rev. 15, 16) Subject: God’s Judgment over Sin. As in the time of the Exodus, God will provide refuge for His people as He judges the earth. He will keep His people in safe “Goshens” as He calls them to be a house of prayer for all nations. It is increasingly incumbent on […]

Vision Four –  (Rev. 12-14)  Subject: Israel. Israel is pictured as a woman, and the Christians are her offspring.  Jews will be persecuted because they are the people who produced the King.  The King returns to replace the world system (“Babylon the Great”).  The King will rule from Jerusalem.  The number three and a half […]

Vision Three. (Rev. 8-11) Subject: The Creation. The Creation itself will increasingly reflect the sickness of the human race in rebellion against God. The last (seventh) trumpet Represents the final victory of Christ. Between the sixth and seventh trumpet blasts, God downloads His special promises for His faithful ones. The “two witnesses” are based on […]

Vision Two. (Rev. 4-7) Subject: Human history from God’s perspective. The Ascension of Jesus was the turning point in history, based on Daniel 7. The scroll is the title deed of the world. Jesus alone paid the price to purchase the whole world from its bondage to the deceiver. The tearing off of the seals […]

Rewards for Overcomers. Being an overcomer means resisting worldly pressures and popular thinking, to embrace the thoughts of the King. Those who succeed in living as Kingdom citizens will receive these rewards: 1) we will eat of the tree of life; 2) we will not be hurt by the second death; 3) we will receive […]

Revelation: Vision One –  (Rev. 1-3)  Subject: The Church. A unique community because it has at its center Yeshua the Priest-King.  The seven churches of Vision One are representative of the “whole, complete and perfect” Church; therefore the gifts and warnings Jesus gives apply to us as well as the original churches in John’s circuit. […]

Revelation Introduction – The Book of Revelation announces how Jesus will complete the tasks God has given Him, destroying the hostility and futility of the human race toward God.  At the end of the story, Jesus gets rid of the Deceiver “so he can deceive the world no longer.”  The Book of Revelation is not […]

Do We Need a Christ? From God’s point of view, Adam’s disobedience reflects two problems in the human race: sin and satanic deception. The first coming of Jesus took care of the problem of sin. The second coming will take care of satanic deception. Both sin and deception must be dealt with if Jesus will […]

Focusing on the Kingdom – The original gospel of Jesus was “the Gospel of the Kingdom.”  Jesus understood Himself to be the fulfillment of that gospel, and so did His disciples, the Apostles of the Church.  Today, God is showing us that He has every intention of fulfilling the Gospel of the Kingdom as He […]

The Jewishness of Jesus – At the same time that Rome turned Christianity into the official religion of Rome, the popes of that time created a new idea about how Jews and Gentiles relate to each other. Replacement theology came into existence.  No longer are Gentiles grafted into Israel.  Gentiles are replacing Israel as the […]

Dispensationalism and “Left Behind” Theology – John Nelson Darby, a member of the Plymouth Brethren, invented yet another eschatology that moved Christians back to a belief in the physical return of Jesus to reign on earth for 1000 years.  But before that happens, Darby claimed, Jesus would come back for a secret “rapture of the […]

Postmillennialism – With the worldwide great awakenings of the 19th and 20th centuries, followed by the missions movement, there came a great hope that God was going to win the whole world to Christ, purely by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in spiritual awakening.  Thus, the Church would grow and grow and take over […]

Allegorical or Predictive? – Beginning with Isaiah, we have prophecy that describes the rise and fall of earthly empires.  All of these empires were future to Isaiah, though to us, they are historical.  All of the prophecies of Isaiah except those that concern what is yet in the future, have come to pass, demonstrating that […]

The Rise of A-millennialism – Teachings 4-7 deal with the history of eschatology.  My teaching begins by portraying the rejection of the original idea–that Jesus will return historically to restore all things—in preference to a new doctrine, which has been called a-millennialism (which means “no millennium.”) Under this new doctrine, Jesus will not return to […]

The Gospel of the Kingdom – In Ephesians 1, the apostle Paul lists seven ingredients in the Gospel of the Kingdom, of which the salvation of our souls is only one.  The purpose of the Kingdom of God is not “salvation,” but that “Heaven and earth will be united under one head—Jesus Christ.” “Creation will […]

Recovering Apostolic Teaching – God continually leads us back to the Bible to connect with His original vision as revealed to the apostles and prophets of old. Unfortunately, the Church lost the original vision of the Kingdom of God during the fourth century, when the Roman Catholic Church sought to supply the Roman Empire with […]

End Time Introduction – The Kingdom of God operates not by human principles, but by God’s higher ways.  He trains us to wield authority as His Royal Priesthood, and to minister in the power of the Holy Spirit.  The same is true as we move toward “Part B” of the story, the return of the […]

Summary – By tracking God’s mighty deeds of the past, we can draw some conclusions about the advance of God’s Kingdom throughout the centuries.  Acts 3:19-21 is the most concise biblical summary of the coming of the Kingdom of God.  It is a story with two historical parts.  The first consists of “times of refreshing […]

Back to Jerusalem – Through the influence of many praying westerners, the Christian faith spread through much of China.  However, the Communist movement resulted in the complete eradication of all Western churches—and the house-church movement resulted.  During this season, in the early 40’s, Jesus began to visit His Church with a spirit of prophecy.  One […]

The Goforths of China – Jonathan Goforth and his wife Rosalind visited Korea just as this great visitation of God was occurring.  They interviewed the missionaries, wrote their own account of what had happened, and then returned to Manchuria, just to the west of Korea, where they had been missionaries for years.  Back in China, […]

The Great Korean Revival – A group of Presbyterian and Methodist missionaries in Pyongyang heard about the great outpouring of the Spirit in India and inquired, “Why couldn’t God do the same thing here?”  They prayed for months, until in January of 1907, the Holy Spirit was poured out at Pyongyang Presbyterian Church.  Thousands were […]

Azusa – The Welsh Revival sparked revivals all over the world—in the Kassia Hills in India, and at Azusa in Pasadena.  God used William Seymour, a black man, son of a slave, to lead the most extraordinary and powerful manifestation of His presence in the twentieth century.  Fire fell from heaven on the lowly building […]

Worldwide Awakening – After the death of Dwight Moody in Chicago in late 1899, the Chicago Bible Institute was renamed the Moody Bible Institute, and was led by R. A. Torrey. Torrey was led to pray regularly for a worldwide great awakening, the prayers lasting three years.  Then, guided by the Holy Spirit, Torrey put […]

Western Tribes. God kept the westward momentum of His Kingdom going through an extraordinary outpouring of prophecy among the tribes of the Columbia Plateau in the Pacific Northwest in the 18th century, roughly corresponding to the eastern great awakenings.  Each prophecy, a different one for each tribe, pointed to Jesus, fueling a curiosity about Jesus, […]

1857! By the year 1857, the effects of the Second Great Awakening were starting to be forgotten.  Suddenly another great wave of awakening took over in Ireland, Scotland and the U.S.  Again, for the third time, it was as though God were engineering things trans-continentally.  In Charleston, the Holy Spirit fell in Anson Street Presbyterian […]

Finney and Abolition. During the waning years of the Second Great Awakening, God raised up a lawyer in New York who was profoundly used, for a decade (1820’s) to bring whole towns to Christ.  Finney was not a devout abolitionist, yet a great many of those converted under his ministry became the leading abolitionists of […]

The Second Great Awakening. The awakening of 1799 in America (paralleled by the Clapham Sect movement in London) was far greater in breadth, length and influence than that which had happened 65 years before. One of the most influential leaders was a Presbyterian named James McGready who stirred up prayer for “the worst place in […]

Slave Prayer – Following Gabriel’s Rebellion in 1800, it became illegal for slaves to assemble throughout the southern states for “religious” purposes (because the cause of the rebellion was stated to have been “Methodists, Presbyterians and Frenchmen.”) Nonetheless, slaves were all the more diligent to come together for Christian prayer, and even contrived to pray […]

Robert Carter III – A prime example of the stirring of indignation against slavery came in the 18th century. Robert “King” Carter had been one of the most notorious plantation owners to own slaves in Virginia. But his grandson Robert—after his conversion to Christ at the hands of a Baptist evangelist—could not justify to his […]

John Newton – While power and might Christians championed the institution of slavery, spiritually awakened Christians began to sense that God wanted to use them to destroy this institution, as had St. Patrick in Ireland during the fifth century. John Newton, who had been pulled into slave trafficking in Africa as a young man, devoted […]

The Great Awakening – Beginning in 1735, the concept of spiritual awakening went to a whole new level. God showed that He could awaken several nations simultaneously! An extraordinary downpouring of the presence of God in Northampton, Massachussetts spread to dozens of other communities in America. Then, as several pastors in the region of Cambuslang, […]

Protestant Persecutions – The spiritual awakening of Scotland could not go unopposed. As King James VI of Scotland became (also) King James I of England (thus creating a new entity called Great Britain), he championed the Divine Right of Kings—meaning, he considered himself—not Jesus—as the de facto head of the Church. In doing this, He […]

Scottish Awakening – The Lollard movement also went north, to Scotland, where it eventually produced the Scottish Reformation. Leaders in Scotland, called into the prayer of faith in God’s word, were to experience spiritual regeneration on a scale not known for centuries. During the time of George Wishart, John Knox, John Welch and Andrew Melville, […]

Moravians! In the 14th century, there emerged in England a grass-roots movement known as the Lollard movement, resulting from translations of the Bible into English at Oxford. John Wycliffe became associated with this and provided some leadership for it. This back to the Bible movement was picked up by John Hus in Bohemia, leading to […]

God’s Track Record – What we are tracing here is not Church history, but the track record of the mighty deeds of God over the last 2000 years. However, there have been four movements that have tried to cover up those mighty deeds, making it difficult for us to see and acknowledge them: Roman Catholicism, […]

Mediaeval Mercies – During the Middle Ages, God reached out to the Roman Catholic Church with two monastic movements, to remind people of the original “by my Spirit” vision. The first was the Cistercian movement (led eventually by Bernard of Clairvaux), which sought to revive the original Rule of St. Benedict, which was based on […]

The Middle Ages – Power and might Christianity corrupted the Church of the Middle Ages, until the whole concept of “Christianity” became unrecognizable.  Control of the Papacy fell to a few Italian families who vied for control of vast wealth and influence.  In the end, a second “Vatican” was established at Avignon in France, with […]

The Next 700 Years. The advance of the Kingdom of God can be seen as a conflict between two versions of Christianity.  During the first 700 years, “by my Spirit” Christianity prevailed in the West, up to the Synod of Whitby in 644 A.D. “Power and might” Christianity prevailed during the Middle Ages, leading to […]

The Triumph of Rome. For fifty years, there were two contrasting Christian churches in Britain: a “power and might” church and a “by my Spirit” church, growing side-by-side.  This unstable situation was resolved at the Synod of Whitby in 644 A.D., in which the Roman Church edged out the Celts, who began the slow and […]

Reintroducing Rome.  Just as Aidan (from Iona) established the outreach to Anglo-Saxons at Lindisfarne, Rome came back into the picture in 597 A.D.  It’s first archbishop, a Benedictine monk named Augustine, set up shop at Canterbury, and challenged the Celts to accept his authority.  Lacking the one quality (humility) that would have won their allegiance, […]

Columba and Kentigern.  After establishing 30 houses of prayer in Ireland, and after making a pilgrimage to honor Martin at Tours, the hot-headed Columba created some serious problems in Ireland—and was banished from his homeland in the middle of the sixth century.  Founding the prayer community at Iona, Columba succeeded in bringing the Picts and […]

Patrick and the Irish. As a teenager, Patrick was whisked away from his home in Dumbarton, Scotland, to be a slave in Ireland.  This improbable beginning set him on a journey of prayer, which God would build into one of the greatest examples of Kingdom transformation the world has ever seen—as described by Patrick himself […]

Evagrius, Cassian and Germanus. Evagrius of Pontus, experiencing the temptations of wealth and power in the Byzantine Church, fled to the deserts of Egypt, where he became the leader of the spiritual descendants of Anthony at Nitria.  Two men—Cassian and Germanus—attached themselves to him, then carried the teaching of the Desert Fathers into Gaul, and […]

The Early Celts. The Desert Fathers, beginning with Anthony, continued to live by the original “by my Spirit” pattern Jesus modeled out for them.  Martin of Tours picked that up from the biography of Anthony by Athanasius, and passed it along to Ninian, who planted it in Scotland in 397 A.D.  Scotland became a matchstick […]

Power and Might. When Constantine moved to make Christianity the official “religion” of Rome, Pope Sylvester I assumed that he was to form an alliance with the Roman emperor.  In this way—beginning in 313 A.D.—Christianity stopped being a “by my Spirit” kingdom, and began to function as a “power and might” religion. My teaching shows […]

By My Spirit. Jesus fulfilled the ancient king-prophecies, but declared that His kingdom was not “of this world.”  It was not a “power and might” kingdom, but a “by my Spirit” kingdom.  My teaching articulates seven features of how His Kingdom operates—the basic patterns of real Christianity, which entered into the Roman world to transform […]

The Hope of Rome.  The ancient Hebrew prophecies spoke of a new kingdom that God would instigate during the fourth great world empire of the ancient world: the Roman Empire.  The great promise of that empire was this: that they would civilize the surrounding “barbarian” nations by conquering them.  Caesar began the process of “civilization” […]

In experimental Christianity, you find something in the Bible, then you ask God to teach you how to walk in the reality of it—to walk by faith. Early on, I was confronted with the gift of tongues described in the Bible. I give a little history of this gift, and explain why I don’t teach […]

When we come together with other people, the dynamics of prayer changes dramatically. That is why it’s best to follow the pattern that Jesus gave us for together prayer. Start with worship. Then focus on the Kingdom of God—God’s will, before asking for anything for ourselves. We also clear our hearts of any residue of […]

Jesus warns us to “buy oil”—especially as we see that the time of His return is drawing near. The purpose seems to be so that we can resist deceptions that will overcome the world at that time. I add several more ways to enrich our daily quiet time with God—secrets of the secret place. The […]

The nuts and bolt of a quiet time. Bible. Prayer Journal. Alertness. Asking God to speak. Then I describe in detail the most ancient, time-tested approach to actually hearing from God. This is a four-step process of opening your heart to Him and His word, abiding in Christ, and letting His word abide in you.

We are invited to “draw near to God, then He will draw near to us.”  Jesus teaches us to spend personal time alone with God.  This teaching gives suggestions for how to build into your life a daily personal quiet time.  You can reserve a space in your home exclusively for God, and I encourage […]

“The Christ” is Jesus’ title, not His last name. The title means “The Anointed One—“ anointed to be King. Even before He died, He was already training His disciples how to receive and minister to people as “anointed ones”—Christians, and the believers came to be called. The anointing described in John 14-16 is aimed to […]

The Holy Spirit is the way Jesus becomes King in our lives.  He is “by my Spirit” kind of King, not a “power and might” kind of King.  It is actually to our advantage that Jesus went away (at His ascension, after His death), because then He was able to send the Holy Spirit to […]

If our quest cannot be achieved except by “faith working through love,” genuine love requires an act of surrender. We have to stop being in control; we have to surrender our lives to God. Let go and let God. Then we can gain a peace unavailable anywhere else. Some find surrender easier to accomplish than […]

People by nature are on a quest for abundant life. America and the West have achieved a great abundance in our life-style. Yet despite these obvious advances, there is a level of brokenness and disillusionment that is confirmed by statistics. Incarcerations, addictions, suicides, broken homes, even health statistics are not what we would have hoped […]

For me, the four most important rewards for a life of walking with God are these: Walking with God positions us to learn our true destiny, for which He created us in the first place. It enables us to form stable relationships with people, because we learn to depend on God, not people, to be […]

I tell stories from my 35 years as a pastor, in which I devoted a significant part in the rewarding work of making disciples, “teaching people to obey what Christ commanded.”  I also tell the story of the Hebrides Revival, when, according to one of the leaders of it, the presence of God lifted when […]

I tell several stories of Christians who reached out to lost people (or to people who are experiencing spiritual awakening) and established a long-term relationship with them, as Jesus did with His disciples.  Keep an eye out for people you can invest in to teach them how to follow Jesus.  It’s the Great Commission, straight […]

When I was searching to step over into a walk with God, I needed someone to help me negotiate the step.  This step was a big one!  God provided just the person for me.  I believe God can provide someone like that for you, and I encourage you to look for that person, and take […]

My experience in 1972 when I stepped out of being a mere church-goer, and began to walk with God in the power of the Holy Spirit.  I had to have some help with this.  A lady who was already walking with God explained how to do it, and helped me with my doubts and questions.  […]

Welcome to The Clearing – Where Eagles Fly… this is our Podcast powered by iTunes.   I’m Doug McMurry, director of The Clearing Where Eagles Fly in Virginia, and I want to announce now, August 2019, something new I’m developing.  I am turning all of my video teachings at my website, TheClearing.us, into audio files […]