Visions

I don't normally do this, but I feel compelled.
In March of last year, I had a vision. Since that time, I have heard of others having similar visions.
And now, David Wilkerson has posted a vision and warning on his blog. There are too many people seeing the same things to just ignore it.
Here is my vision:

"A few days ago, I and my wife were doing our morning prayer, and as she was praying, I suddenly saw a city in the distance, with smoke pouring out of the buildings, seemingly under attack of some sort.
Then, superimposed upon that, I saw an eagle, a bald eagle.
As I looked at the eagle, I saw that it's beak had a band around it, so that it could no longer 'speak'.
As I comtemplated that, I noticed that it's feet also were fettered to the ground, so that it could not go anywhere. And as I was looking at that, I noticed that the feathers in the wings were disappearing, one by one, and soon it's wings were plucked.
Then the scene changed, and I observed many bodies lying on the ground, and hundreds of ravens coming and landing, and feasting on the bodies. The end.
I did not received any words with that."

I was not clear on the exact location of the dream, but New York seems likely. I was also not given a timeframe.

David Wilkerson suggests stocking up a month's worth of food, due to the resulting riots and chaos. Probably not a bad idea, but stocking up food and all that is not the point.
I believe that the point is, learn to trust God now, as opposed to some stockpile.
God provided manna and quail for 40 years, He fed Elijah with a raven, provided the widow with an endless supply of oil. He can and WILL do those things for us too. He doesn't limit His provision to supersaints of yesteryear. All those things He did with them, He can and will do for us today.
How do I know this? I have been living this last six years totally and completely dependant on God for everything. And He has never failed me in those six years. In fact, He has provided abundantly more than I needed. He has proved Himself faithful, and I have absolute trust in Him.
I don't say this to brag about my own 'super-spiritual self'. I am saying this is exactly where we all need to be, now as opposed to later.
The church in this country needs to wake up. And, as we have seen down through the millenia, the only way we wake up is to find ourselves in a situation where we have no resources to turn to but God.
The churches in this country that ARE awake need to think about what is coming, because when it does come, people are going to flock to the churches in droves, and those churches better have an idea of what to do with them, how to help them and comfort them.
It is likely that martial law will be enforced, our means of protection will be taken from us, due to 'necessity' our sovereignty will evaporate into a North American Union, our monetary system will be more 'globalized', our rapidly evaporating 'constitutional rights' will completely disappear, and we will find ourselves sitting under a dictatorial rule that we shamefully voted into power.
Churches will be forced underground, and THEN the true church will be revealed.

The Divine 'Template' of the Christian Life

Many people, as they read these Old Testament scriptures, view them as little more than historical narratives, and fall into debates about their validity, how they apply or compare to other historical documents, scientific understanding, etc.
It is believed by many that these early books are derived from others, such as the Babylonians and Syrians, and base this upon the assumption, scientific or otherwise, that the Babylonian documents and others ‘predate’ the Pentateuch.
It is NEVER considered by these that perhaps the Babylonian documents and beliefs were conversely based upon the Pentateuch, or at least the understanding of those who wrote and lived the Pentateuch.
So when they come to the record of the lives of the patriarchs they discover nothing beyond a piece of ancient biography.
But in doing so, they reduce the Written Word to a dead book, unable to see anything applicable to their own lives.
They will never come to the realization that this ‘Word of Life’ is a living book, charged with vitality; a book which must have about it a freshness which no other book, outside of the Sacred Canon, possesses; a book which speaks to our day, which is pertinent and applicable to our own times.
One truth which Scripture reveals about God is, that He changes not, for He is "the same yesterday, and today, and forever." Therefore, it follows that, fundamentally, His ways are ever the same. Said another way, He deals through all time with men, especially His own people, upon the same principles.

That said, if what we have just said is correct, should we not expect to find that God’s dealings with Abraham and the other Patriarchs forecast and foreshadow His dealings with us?
That, stripped of their incidental details, the experiences of Abraham illustrate our experiences?

Though much that is recorded in the Word is ancient, yet none of it is antiquated.
Because the Bible is a living book, every portion of it has some message which is applicable and appropriate to our own times. Because God changes not, His ways of old are, fundamentally, His ways today.
Hence, God’s dealings with Abraham, in the general, foreshadow His dealings with us.
Therefore, to read most profitably the record of Abraham’s life, we must see in it a portrayal of our own spiritual history.
And, I would add, not focus on how it applies to those around us, but to us.

In a word, Abraham should be regarded as a 'sample believer'. A Divine Template, if you will, of the Christian life. As such, there will be a close correlation, in the broad outline, between Abraham’s history and ours.
I read, then, the life of Abraham as recorded in Genesis, not merely as a piece of inspired history (though truly it is that), not as an obsolete narrative of something which happened in the far distant past, but as a portrayal of the experiences of Abraham’s children in all ages, and as a description of God’s dealings with HIS own in all time.

Due Time....

Galatians 6:9 Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary.
When is 'due time'?
Studying the life of Abraham will give you a good perspective on 'reaping in due time'.
But, when you plant a garden, you till the soil, fertilize it, and place the seeds in the soil. Then you water it.
Short of keeping the weeds away, that's about all you can do. But, in due time, those seeds spout, and grow, and become mature plants that bear fruit.
Some seeds sprout quickly, others take a while to start until conditions are just right. But inevitably, they will grow, and you will reap what you have sown. (Hopefully you have sown good seed, and not that of thorns and thistles).
The things we plant in this life will eventually grow and mature, and we will reap whatever it is we have sown, whether it be of love and peace, or otherwise.
When we labor in the kingdom, we till and weed, planting the seeds of the Word in people's hearts. Eventually, that will grow and bear fruit. But we must be patient, for sometimes it takes a good while.
Eventually we will see the fruit, and it will bear the seeds of even greater harvests.

Complexities

A dear friend of mine was studying the spirit and the soul recently, becoming amazed and almost overwhelmed by the complexity we humans possess. He made the brilliant observation that 'because we are made in God's image, we are far deeper that we think we are.'

That may seem simplistic at first, but in actuality, it is a profound truth.

God is a very complex Being, and so far past our finding out that we could not bear any more than a mere glimmer of His Presence, and because He loves us, that's all He will give us, lest we be destroyed.

People read through the Bible as if it were a novel, and become disappointed or disallusioned by what they read, because God is not at all like what they have created Him to be in their minds.

Even His very word is far, far more complex than what a casual novelistic style of reading will reveal. Layers upon layers upon layers, such that we mere humans can never come to the end of it.

Why should it be any different with us, who are nothing more that the works of His Hands, we who are made in His Image?

Before the microscope, man cut into men for the cause of learning, and found a complex miriad of organs and tubes and bladders and vessels, all working together harmoniously, for the most part, except when one or the other failed and the body ceased to function at all.

Then they developed the microscope, and discovered a whole new set of complexities they could not even have imaged previously, individual blood vessels carrying oxygenated blood to every portion of the body, and even the very blood much more than a simple red fluid, comprised of white cells and red cells and many other things they had to create names for. At that time, it was assumed that the cell was the smallest portion of a man, or any object.

But then came the electron microscope, and once again, another whole world of complexity was revealed, rendering the 'simple cell' into a complex machine with hundreds of parts, and whole libraries full of information previously unknown. The genome was discovered, then decoded (required whenever a 'code' is found to exist). Somehow, the existence of that very code and what it implied escaped many, or they intentionally ignored the implications. (But God knows, for He wrote the code. We indeed are the product of the Words of His Mouth, spoken into existence.)

And now we understand the individual proteins and the particles that comprise them. And we think we have discovered the smallest things in existence.

In all that complexity, it nowhere even touches on the whole realm of soul and spirit. Nor will I here. But I could not allow such a gem of an obeservation to go by unmentioned.

'Fixing' The World

Everywhere we turn today, we see Christian brothers and sisters caught up in the evils of this world. Not caught up as in partaking of it, but rather caught up trying to 'fix' the world.

They believe that if they speak enough, or pray enough, or demonstrate enough, or even whine enough, that they will be able to make this world a better place, to rid the world of the evils of abortion, homosexuality, drug abuse and terrorism, and on and on.....

While seemingly a grand and noble venture, abounding in opportunity for congratulations and 'well done's', it is nevertheless NOT what God has called us to do. Rather, we are called to 'come out from among them'.

Lot was confused by this same issue. He chose the valley of Jordan to live in because of it's beauty and abundance in water and vegetation. But Sodom was there. It was a blemish in the land. And very quickly we see Lot 'sitting in the gate' of Sodom, an idiom for having a position of authority, a judge. He thought that he could 'fix' Sodom. He, who saw no need to judge himself, became a judge of the world, condemning them and 'showing them the light', as it were.

But in the end, we see that his efforts were useless, and the city was not changed one whit for all his effort and judgment. In fact, he himself had sunk to such a low that he now equated them as 'brothers'.

Now Lot was righteous. The Word says so. But not because of his actions. That fact is testified by him being 'brought out' of Sodom before it's destruction. His 'salvation' was not in question. But he was a carnal man. And when he was brought out, he came out smelling like smoke, and all the works of his hands burnt up. He was left with nothing but his two daughters and a jug of wine for all his efforts of 'fixing' that which cannot be fixed.

In the end, this world will burn up, and we cannot save it. It's destiny is predetermined. So why do we spend so much time trying to fix it? Instead, we should be coming OUT of it, and leading others OUT.

Degrees of Light

Many times through my life, I have become impatient with my brothers and sisters in Christ, frustrated that they could not see what I see, or understand what I understand. Many have been the harsh thoughts and harsh words and judgments toward those, who for whatever reason did not live up to my expectations of them.
I have since come to realize that each of us are right where we are by God's grace, and that the light that one stands in, he stands only because God has brought him to that place, and to that degree of light. Not all are in that place, nor can all endure what light each of us may have.
It is through God's tender love and mercy that He so deals with us. If He were to reveal His full light to a babe in Christ, that very light, good and blessed in itself, would destroy that babe, and so God reveals Himself, His light, in degrees, according to our ability to handle it.
And thus, there are some standing in one place, while others are in quite another place, each being right where God has allowed him to be, for his own sake. And if this be true, then far be it from us to judge another for the amount of light that one has, or does not have.