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.