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Engulfed in Flames

 

Engulfed in Fire

 

In the early 1990’s I knew something was wrong inside-too much negative feeling for the current environment. Just after starting counseling/therapy, I had my first dream from God that I remember now. It was 15 years later that I could hear an interpretation clearly:

 

I stood in the upper story of my own house in my own village, a tiny suburban community that was really just a post-WWII suburban development. I was completely alone. Suddenly a spontaneous fire burst onto the town, completely engulfing every house in a transparent orange flame. I panicked and sought deliverance but had not hope in normal terms.

 

Yet I tried to save myself. I ran to the stairwell and started down. I wondered that the flames seemed to be there but I was unscorched? I ran to the door, expecting death at the opening, but still I ran, terrified. Terror was my feeling, but somehow hope pushed me out that door.

 

I ran to the back of the house and off into a clearing behind it. I could see the reflection of flames so bright they made the forest seem like fire without smoke also. The reflection caught my attention, as the forest was a bit different from the large urban greenbelt surrounding my town in real life. This forest was virgin timber, tall and unexploited. It was wilderness.

 

As I made the clearing, there stood my older brother, passive and staring at the fire as if mesmerized. I hugged him. He was the only other person in the scene. He was a huge comfort to me as a child and is close now, but he barely showed life-statuesque and paralyzed almost, not even lifting his arms.

 

I felt something extraordinary about it all: surviving a fire, being isolated and alone, in an impossible place and an unresponsive sibling facing the fire, my facing the wilderness.

Dream Ends

 

Comments: I first felt this dream’s genesis sprang from opening up my heart to speak about disturbing things never before discussed by me with others (and avoided often with myself 🙂 In other words I  felt it was residual fear from my past. I was terrified in the dream, but amazed, too. Now remembering it, I am just amazed-the fear has healed. 

 

About 15 years past the time I dreamed this, an unforgettable experience from the fear I felt in it, I received a surprise from God. In the quiet of early morning, I felt the inner voice of Him say, “Do you want to know what that dream meant?” Just like that. I just said, “Yes,” even though because of years of not giving any consideration to dreams, or “visions” (communication from God with pictures) I had a hint of “I must be making this up” wanting to stand in to protect myself.

 

The Lord just took me to a passage about “Cities of Refuge.” In fact, he took me to a commentary on the subject also. I learned. Knowing already that God directed the Israelites to build six cities: three east of the Jordan and three west, more or less equidistant, I wondered at the reason given.

 

God explained to the people that He hates it when innocent people are killed, but even more when the accidental killing of innocent people triggers more killing of more innocent people. So, He asked them to build refuge cities. When someone accidentally killed someone else, the instructions were: flee immediately to a city of refuge. Why?

 

In the East at that time, and in much of the world even today, still, the concept of bloodguilt and family justice prevailed. A person was assigned in each family to assure proper inheritance (money/position) for each individual. Boaz, an example of this in the Book of Ruth, was Ruth’s assigned protector- a “kinsman redeemer.”

 

Often, in fact usually, the family would also assign this person or someone to avenge the loss of life to a family. Anger often came first, and with it thoughts of revenge, when someone in the family died. Money might redeem loss of life, but usually people had high life risk. Accidents happen daily. Yet usually a person who ran over another, for instance, would be judged by the family or not get a fair trial or hearing in their own town. The emotion of the moment, the desire for family justice flowed to death. People would be stoned or just murdered in the name of justice.

 

God hates that as a gross injustice, so he set aside the City of Refuge. A person in Israel was instructed to run to the closest Refuge City, if an accidental death occurred and they were involved to possible vengeance, then offer their story to the city elders who sat at the gates as judges. If given refuge, this person could remain living there in that C.O.R. until a trial took place there, or until the current high priest in Jerusalem died. Then the person was protected-their life was redeemed by refuge and fair trial or by permanent forgiveness.

 I diverged, but to explain the interpretation God gave me of my dream:

 

 The “wilderness” in the dream was my heading to build cities of refuge. My “brother” in the dream represented a “kinsman redeemer” appointed to give me my proper inheritance and also as a sign of the reason for the cities.

 

 I saw the “fire” was the cleansing fire of God; a work of God He did in my life and in America where I live. I had life threatening injuries to my heart that needed healing early in life, and barely escaped the “fire” of healing. I felt and was alone in this at times, yet I escaped the powerfully negative emotions that surrounded my heart like a spider’s web.

 

He removed toxic shame, terror and anger from my heart. I thought it would kill  me-the pain as it surfaced surprised me. I will post later more about this. 

 

 God was telling me in this dream, and now years later in the quiet of the day, that my calling was to build refuge communities for people. He even told me as I wrote the thoughts presented by the Spirit of God, that some of the communities would be invisible networks (like online social networks, for instance) and others would be real physical cities.

 

 Today, many people face the same fate of death. I read that it is not uncommon in the Mid-East still, for instance, to see someone gunned down in the streets by a “kinsman redeemer”, a man seeking justice for a dead relative. My actual brother did missionary work with outliers in the jungle in Melanesia. A similar form of justice prevails there. Money or blood is required when anyone dies for any reason. Someone has to pay.

 

I have not fully discovered the meaning of this dream, but I hear so many people say, “Follow your dreams!” I did not know that I would someday literally follow an actual “dream”! The “wilderness” in this dream relates to the wilderness in the preceding dreams-it represents unused fertile space for building community. Join me. Let’s build safe and vital communities. 

Giant Construction Site Prepared

A large un-cleared forest lay on the horizon as I dreamed the scene; un-cleared except for an enormous clearing in the midst of this wilderness. There was not much definition but life seemed to be bubbling from under the surface.

 The whole scene was dark, yet I could see lights in the woods where the cleared area emerged. It was as if a new community as big as a city was to be built. Off to the East a long line of trucks laden with materials waited to move in. Today the dream reminds me of nighttime road or building construction done while others sleep-again the trucks with materials line up and wait to supply the builders-gravel, concrete, lumber, bricks and mortar.

 That was it. I remembered when I woke a companion dream blogged on this site. Described in that dream also was a huge construction site and enormous supply of materials for ministering to perhaps what will be the largest number of people in history coming to faith in Christ.

 What would the signs of such an awakening be: Isaiah 59 says that preceding awakening in his future was:

 “No one enters suit justly,

No one goes to law honestly,

They rely on empty pleas, they speak lies.” V.4

 So a time like this will occur and we see it now. Everyone hates the injustice and corruption all around us. Yet, God promises in my dream, and in Scripture to Isaiah that in such a time:

 “So they shall fear the name of the Lord from the West,

And His glory from the rising of the sun.” Isa. 59:19

 I believe God has gone ahead of us to the time of my dream and further back, quietly clearing the way for the construction. He is going to give us the material for the massive project to funnel the mass of new people.

 Others have said they see stadiums full of people; so many the churches are not big enough to hold them. We need some construction of social networking tools as provided on the www and Internet right now.

Pulled Over by a Traffic Cop

Pulled Over by a Traffic Cop?

Scene 1: I was in a theater setting with lights low watching a “movie.” Sitting in front of me were normal looking people, but also some who did not “seem normal” to others but I suspected undercover agents.

 The exceptions were men dressed like FBI agents under cover but not disguised well enough I could not tell they were Feds-short hair, white shirts but no suit jackets. Maybe the “pagers” were giveaways. They were sprinkled out among all the other people watching this attraction on the screen, but sitting next to each was a boy. The boys seemed under 10 years old but certainly not more.

 I realized when I noticed, in the dark, that boys were with agents, “I can see this but others cannot.” The boys were in training. They were protégés of undercover agents. Usually in my dreams this means angels (agents of God with authority and power) who are watching over. This was the case in part.

 

Scene 2: I was driving west into the sun on a four lane highway with little traffic. I came to a 4-Way stop. Without warning or provocation, a traffic cop pulled me over. The pullover was strange. As I looked into the rearview mirror, I could see the “squadcar” was a 1947-1951 model car. I was born in ’47 and came to know Christ in 1951. It was parked going in the opposite direction and at an angle stopping me from going backward. That seems pretty obvious now to interpret.

 The policeman came up, wearing a helmet, but a light coming from the east blinded me. Then the blindness wore away and I felt ashamed and afraid.

 “We need you to come and help train Ricky’s boys.”  Immediately I knew the reference. This referenced an unforgettable passages from a book by a man named Rick Joyner whom I had never met nor knew much about. His book said a time would come when young, powerfully spiritual kids would come;  we must help them walk into the greatest spiritual time of history-meaning the older people must be spirtual parents to these young hungry “warriors.” 

-Dream Ends-

Of course these warriors do not kill but love people into submission. If you are one of these trainer-agents on earth, or if you are one of the “kids” and want to talk about it, give me a shout. If you are not, let the words of Gamaliel speak to you, “If these people are wrong, it will fade. If not, we should not oppose them.” Who knows, your dreams might be valuable. 

 This dream came to be true in my life already in part. The second part is the “movie” and the pager. I believe the social and electronic media represented by the screening of a movie, training and “pagers” which are like Twitter today, and the movie like U-tube or Facebook. All the media are on the web. 

So, this month I started in earnest doing what the dream gave me future knowledge about-I am entering the social media on the internet to encourage the spritual parents (also Feds) and the “kids.”  I am 61. This dream came to me years ago but the timing for it was now, as indicated by my other dreams and many, many other confirmations. 

 “I will send a messenger” (traffic cop in the dream)

“But for you  who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings.” (this was a reference to the bright light blinding me first)

 “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.” (mentoring the young heart to heart)

Prophet Malachi Chapters 3&4 excerpts ESV

If you want to join me or need help, write a comment to a post or send me a Twitter. This is an exciting time to be alive. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bahama Bob’s Trading Post

Driving through the Southwestern U.S.A. this year, déjà vu occurred for two dreams. I am sharing one in this post, then another later:

In my own vehicle, a sedan, I was concerned at first at the amount of traffic, especially trucks. It was very heavy traffic, even at times eight or ten vehicles. They were mostly large trucks at one time to pass. In this dream, I was on a two-lane highway in the Hill Country of Texas, heading into West Texas.

It was déjà vu in that I drove there on a two lane until I was on Interstate 10 in real life this year, and the State of Texas rewards cars with performance engines in good repair; the speed limit is 80 mph, higher than most of the vehicles can withstand safely:

 Back to the dream, I was passing with no problem five to ten cars and trucks with one attempt, and on big hills, even uphill, going very fast. After several hills and passing many cars, I went up on a mountaintop and the road ended at a place. I looked at the place and parked my car in a dirt parking lot, seeing a very large plantation or mission style building.

God spoke to me, and said, “This is Bahama Bob’s, where you can get everything.” I was very happy both driving and in the end, although I woke curious what this general store was in real life.

It was the type of trading post seen in islands all over the world, or on byways everywhere, especially remote wilderness-It was a place of abundant provision. The dream was meant to be an encouragement to me and you,  but also to point out action for me, an assignment and a blessing. 

This blog is the result of that dream. God says “Feed My sheep” and hungry people love that God is alive and has all the provision they need. Many people dream and throw the dreams away, and visions too, not valuing them. Yet the ones from God are treasure and can address everything in our lives. Joseph and Daniel said they interpreted dreams by asking God. I do the same thing. You can too, so my prayer is that you will find everything you need from God, and that the things you dream and envision that are from God, and you will usually know, so fear not, will be part of that full provision.

Why the Bahama’s, does it fit just me? No. Until just recently I never owned but one island shirt and do not favor the beach. I have never been to the Bahamas. The Bahamas are, and always have been, a place of refuge and relative safety. Freeport, Bahamas, is a giant container port where you literally can find everything. Ships drop off huge supply and trade the loads down to Panama Canal sized ships at Freeport. It is a banking refuge, a tax haven, and a place of escape and rest for many people for many reasons.

Isaiah 35 represents the “Highway to Holiness” a clear interpretation for this dream. The last verses say, and I summarize, that the joy and other things eluding us for so long will be available-all of it. We are not to fear the seeming obstacles-God protects those who seek and find Him. (just a note for those who do not know, Texas has about an inch per year less rainfall for every fifty miles west, so West Texas is more and more a desert.

The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad; the desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocus; it shall blossom abundantly
and rejoice with joy and singing. (Isa. 35:1-2)ESV

God has a place for everyone that is the place of safety and provision-whatever we need is in His presence and He wants us to find that:

     “You will bring them in and plant them
      In the mountain of Your inheritance, 
      In the place, O LORD, which You have made 
      For Your own dwelling, 
      The sanctuary, O Lord, which Your hands have established.” Exodus 15:17

This is not only a real place in certain circumstances, it is a spiritual meeting place in all cases. It is out of the hand of God that all desires are met.

A Key to a Castle

Sailing in the Irish Sea, I dreamed (three and a half years ago) that I was in an old place. It felt and looked like a castle, an old keep, but it also seemed vaguely like a monastery and the stewards seemed like monks, but not quite. The people who administered the place were called “stewards” in the dream. 

 

 

    I was sitting in a lecture setting inside the place and a man spoke. Before he spoke, I was able to “see” with my minds eye at least nine generations of stewards, and this man was one of them. He had light colored hair, and was nice in appearance. The noticeable trait he carried was that he seemed tired. 

He said, to a large group of we “outsiders,” that this place we sat, this castle, was to be given to a new steward. The “men” called before him were faithful to keep the place, but now that was coming to an end. The people in the audience were there to be candidates for the new stewardship award. 

The scene then changed and the location within the castle changed. We now sat in a darker place for the audience, and a wall separated us. Then a key was held by the man in charge. He said “Now I will pick the new steward.” At the same time, God spoke to me in my heart, not out loud but through a true knowing. I was to be picked. 

So, I sat down and was quiet, holding my hand out. The others, however, eager to receive the key, stood and leaned over the short wall and stretched out their hands. So now my “chances” seemed slim but I knew. The steward put the large key into the hand of one man on my left, then took it out before releasing it. Then to my right, he actually set the key and released it into the hand of someone else near me standing over me as I patiently and quietly sat with my hand lower and harder to find. This recipient seemed very happy. I knew better.

The next move was very quick-the older steward went back over and took the key out of the hand of this man. Now again, many hands stretched out for it. Instantly and unexpected by the others, he put it in my hand. I looked at this key. It was huge, key to a very big door. It had a sort of metal cylindrical cup on the end of it with a lid on top. The lid was opened and nothing was inside. 

Two days later I found myself in a castle at the special invitation of the Lord of a manor that was many generations old. He was giving a private tour to a group of us, yet this was unusual, since they never gave public tours as a policy. I was introduced to him as someone who raises money for special projects and who is interested in building and preserving community, both spiritual and physical together. He asked for help, as in the dream! He was perhaps the 15th generation of lords who owned and lived in this castle, and he wanted to find a way to preserve the history and the land. His son was not interested in the place. 

Most old castles were being taken down and this one needed major repair or it was going to be lost, faded as in the dream. An interesting side note, and not without interest, this real castle had a wall around 2,000 acres of land. I asked why the wall was built initially? The Lord of the manor said, “It was built by the lord during the potato famine. He wanted to save the lives of the starving poor people of that area , so he paid a penny a day to workers to build a wall, a wall he really did not need.” The people loved the lords of that manor and still do for doing this. He took their best interests above his. 

The dream interpretation was somewhat literal at first, since I wound up in a real castle looking for a new steward. I did not get the key, not yet. I feel it also represents a generation of leaders, referred to in the dreams and visions adjoining this one on leadership. 

God wants faithful leaders and He is going to choose them:

 “‘And I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding…” Jeremiah 3:15

⁷ “And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write, 
‘These things says He who is holy, He who is true, “He who has the key of David, He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens”: ⁸ “I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name. ⁹ Indeed I will make those of the synagogue of Satan, who say they are Jews and are not, but lie—indeed I will make them come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you. ¹⁰ Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth. ¹¹ Behold, I am coming quickly! Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown. ¹² He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more. I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God. And I will write on him My new name. 
¹³ “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”’ Revelation 3: 7-13 NASV

I feel this dream prophesies the changing of the guard, and it also seems to set the stage for trouble, trouble that is sent to test people on the earth. Many have already been tested and some of us will be needed as servant leaders, people who have the best interests of our charges at heart. I represented the people in Rev. 3 who have a little strength left from a long battle with evil forces. The evil was religious in nature. I was not strong in relation to the others in the dream. I was chosen out FOR my weakness, making me qualified after passing a period of testing. I represent the coming new leaders in the dream, a passing of the guard.

Neglected People Called Directly by the Spirit

I “saw” in my mind’s eye suddenly a typical church. It was a church building I had not seen inside before but felt I knew it. It was in a typical neighborhood and in the center of my town by population distribution. 

As it panned into my view, I saw people on their knees like sheep, dressed in white (reminding me of sheep.) This was interesting because they not only were on their knees but also were in the ancient position for giving birth, also called the position of “travailing” or intense prayer, so famous for James the brother of Jesus. 

Most of the people were women, children and young people. They all had their heads toward the church, more or less. However, they all were OUTSIDE the church on the lawn all around.

The People, Looking Like Sheep, Were Outside on the Lawn

None were inside. No people were in there at all except Jesus. 

 

Jesus stood tall and transparently through the top of the building in the middle, about a hundred feet above the roof it seemed by normal scale (and of course this sort of thing is not about normal scale usually.)

So, all the people in white, on their knees like sheep but  in travailing prayer, were facing and worshipping Jesus. This seemed so wonderful and the heart of passages like, “Jesus the head of the church.” This group was not giving lip service, they were worshipping Jesus but not inside the walls of a building for that purpose: they were outside. This was fulfillment of many prophesies, but one in particular was pictured: “And you are my sheep, human sheep of my pasture, and I am your God, declares the Lord God.” Ezekiel 34:31.

After much prayer and even some days reflecting and praying on this, I knew some things. God spoke to me about it through Ezekiel Chapter 33 and 34. In the last of Ez. 33, God told the prophet to tell the people His message, and (to take some paraphrase for effect) “and by the way, they are not going to listen effectively.” 

God said the people would call the prophet a nice man, say his words were beautiful but would ignore his message of holiness and readiness, altertness. 

Then in Chapter 34 of Ezekiel, God says what He will do about it, and this links to the former dream about unfaithful leaders. I will paste Ez. 34 here, but to summarize, God said He would lose patience with leaders who were unfaithful by consuming the sheep, consuming the resources of the sheep, and all this partying while the sheep were at risk and without shepherds, exposed in the wilderness to predators who also consumed them. God said he would not tolerate this any longer and would replace the shepherds who do this. 

He said He would separate the sheep from the goats (again I am paraphrasing) and the fat sheep who had taken away resources from other sheep and mistreated them, making them thin and weak, would be taken out. This is what I saw in the vision-they were “weak” sheep, children, women and young representing all of us who have been shoved aside to fatten up others and kept hungry. 

God told me He was not only going to do this with leaders in the Body of Christ, but beginning soon, God said, He was going to take out and replace leaders in all areas of life who were doing this; government leaders, business leaders, media leaders etc. About a month later, the scandal at Enron erupted onto the headlines, and just a little later in time, the scandal in Jackson MS concerning Worldcom developed and took down the leaders. Within a few years, over 750 public corporations had similar events and leadership changes, along with the United Nations, the Catholic Church scandal (consuming the sheep through sexual scandal) and other leaders in Protestant groups and even in sports. 

So, we are in a stage where God is still removing and replacing leaders who are not taking the best interests of the people at heart. Jesus told his good friends, the Sons of Thunder James and John, who asked him which was the greatest who would sit at his right and left hand, 

“ And Jesus called them to him and said to them, ‘You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many’.” Matthew 10: 42-45 ESV

So, many voices have warned the leaders, as Ezekiel, and they often were told what Ezekiel was told in the latest part of Chapter 33-we like you and we love your message. Most did not listen, change or repent. So, here is what God did in that time and is doing now, and is the heart of the vision as well extracted from the esvstudybible.org (which can be sampled for free): (following is Ezekiel 34 ESV)

Prophecy Against the Shepherds of Israel

 

    The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy, and say to them, even to the shepherds, Thus says the Lord God: Ah, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep? You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool,you slaughter the fat ones, but you do not feed the sheep.4 The weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the injured you have not bound up, the strayed you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought, and with force and harshness you have ruled them. So they were scattered, because there was no shepherd, and they became food for all the wild beasts. My sheep were scattered; they wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. My sheep were scattered over all the face of the earth, with none to search or seek for them.

7 “Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: As I live, declares the Lord God, surely because my sheep have become a prey, and my sheep have become food for all the wild beasts, since there was no shepherd, and because my shepherds have not searched for my sheep, but the shepherds have fed themselves, and have not fed my sheep, therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord:  Thus says the Lord God, Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will require my sheep at their hand and put a stop to their feeding the sheep. No longer shall the shepherds feed themselves. I will rescue my sheep from their mouths, that they may not be food for them.

The Lord God Will Seek Them Out

11 “For thus says the Lord God: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out. As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land. And I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the ravines, and in all the inhabited places of the country. I will feed them with good pasture, and on the mountain heights of Israel shall be their grazing land. There they shall lie down in good grazing land, and on rich pasture they shall feed on the mountains of Israel.  I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord God. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them in justice.

17 “As for you, my flock, thus says the Lord God: Behold, I judge between sheep and sheep, between rams and male goats. 18 Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture, that you must tread down with your feet the rest of your pasture; and to drink of clear water, that you must muddy the rest of the water with your feet? And must my sheep eat what you have trodden with your feet, and drink what you have muddied with your feet?

20 “Therefore, thus says the Lord God to them: Behold, I, I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep.21 Because you push with side and shoulder, and thrust at all the weak with your horns, till you have scattered them abroad, I will rescue my flock; they shall no longer be a prey. And I will judge between sheep and sheep. And I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd. And I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them. I am theLord; I have spoken.

The Lord‘s Covenant of Peace

25 “I will make with them a covenant of peace and banish wild beasts from the land, so that they may dwell securely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods. And I will make them and the places all around my hill a blessing, and I will send down the showers in their season; they shall be showers of blessing.  And the trees of the field shall yield their fruit, and the earth shall yield its increase, and they shall be secure in their land. And they shall know that I am the Lord, when I break the bars of their yoke, and deliver them from the hand of those who enslaved them. They shall no more be a prey to the nations, nor shall the beasts of the land devour them. They shall dwell securely, and none shall make them afraid. And I will provide for them renowned plantations so that they shall no more be consumed with hunger in the land, and no longer suffer the reproach of the nations. And they shall know that I am the Lord their God with them, and that they, the house of Israel, are my people, declares the Lord God. And you are my sheep, human sheep of my pasture, and I am your God, declares the Lord God.”

Translation Notes

[1] 34:16 Septuagint, Syriac, Vulgate I will watch over 

[2] 34:22 Orsave

Corrupt Leaders offer False Peace and Superficial Healing

Years ago I dreamed this, and I had no idea what it meant when I woke, and was not even sure if I should journal it, it seemed so “crazy.” Yet, it turned out to be one of my most unforgettable dreams from God and a theme for our time, which is failed leadership; or rather more clearly to the point, the world suffers greatly from the lack of servant leaders, devoted selflessly to help the people they lead:

My brother was driving with me across a high mountain pass and road, and it was darkest night. We drove in our station wagon, about 1960’s looking, until getting to a dangerous place, we stopped. The road was perilously thin having also no railing or margin. The dropoff was deadly and immediate. It reminded me of the most dangerous roads I have ever heard about, like the road in Peru that kills people almost daily, or the road along the top of Glacier National Park in the U.S.A. Most of us have one road in mind and imagine that. 

We attempted to round a very sharp, almost 90 degree turn, but our lights shone across the atmosphere a thousand feet above the mountain floor into nothingness and we could not see around the bend that must be negoitated to get to our destination. 

The lights brushed a little the valley we wanted. It had grass six to eight feet high and occasional signs of ancient ruins under the grass, but was basically virgin and uninhabited for modern times. It was massive.

Thus, stuck in a dangerous bend we backed up and realized we did not have the right vehicle for the road at that time. We eventually turned around on this dirt road and went until we found a camp site-this was very surprising as this was all wilderness. In the camp were 0thers and they “befriended” us. I noticed my brother was a “target” of these three particular people who took an interest in us: 1) a woman dressed in what vaguely seemed gypsy dress, a man dressed as a 1960’s hippie holding up a peace sign with his fingers, and a woman who just spoke of evil when my brother was not around. They thought I was asleep, but I could hear them, “Let’s see how we can lead this man into to evil,” they conspired together, but all along they seemed NOT to be who they were but just “nice” people.

The gypsy wanted to use fortune telling and divination, the other woman was boiling things in a big pot and was using witchcraft, and the hippie was telling us with his fingers “peace” but speaking of evil with the women-deceit was the scene. They appeared to have our best interests at heart but had only their own agenda, and it was evil. 

I hated hearing this and could not sleep, so I toured the campsite. First I found  a cave that really represented an ancient quarry. Through some cuts of rock removed in ancient times I could see the valley below, a window as it were. It was gorgeous-proverbial “green pasture” and verdant valley of a person’s dreams hundreds of feet below. Again, signs of ancients inhabiting the valley and the mountain were in this cave-like structure and seen from it. The main cut of rock I recognized was the shape of a Keystone. This caught my attention as it was upside down from the shape of a normal arch support stone at the top of any Roman style arch-the old early gothic rounded arches.

I tried now to go to sleep again, but the only place available was at the back feet of five horses. I felt unsafe. Any of them could kick and were big enough to kill me with a kick. So, I moved to each different animal until I was walking past the last one, and was really afraid even to walk so close behind. I stared at the last one, the largest, and felt something strange about it. Then I saw it had a bullseye on it and suddenly I started laughing as I heard a voice say, “This is not a horse, it is a jackass!” The dream ended here. 

I asked God at 5:00 AM what this dream meant if anything. Not much came, so I got my Bible out and just flipped it open to get ready for some meditation. It opened up to Jeremiah, so I started reading it feeling some leading from the Spirit. In Chapter 6, my heart stopped.

“For from the least to the greatest of them, everyone is greedy for unjust gain;and from prophet to priest,everyone deals falsely. They have healed the wound of my people lightly (superficially, not deep enough), saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace.” Jer. 6:12b-14

I felt the heart of God suddenly about leadership. God gives leaders authority and power to do what Isaiah 61 says, “Preach the gospel to the poor and bind back together the broken hearts.”

But the dream showed me why at times and in certain places I am uncomfortable and should be. The leaders are involved in ungodly and even thoroughly unholy things and are leading people astray. God hates this. Yet it is shrouded and covered up offered as godly advice and everything needed. It is not God’s way.  People go to some leaders for help and are told they are fine. Just memorize this verse, or change what you are doing in this area and you will be fine. Behavior modification is offered and it is not even accepted widely in psychology anymore, but it often gets superficial observable “results.” Yet people still hurt deeply, carrying anger, hurt, fear, shame, heavy sorrow in their hearts chronically with no help on how to remove these things. Yet the ancient path is permanent peace in the heart, the heritage of God’s adopted children (Romans 7 and 8.)

The three kinds of error mentioned by Jeremiah were the three people in my dream and this confirmed it as a major message of God to my heart about his heart-he wants the “priests, ” called shepherds, too, to do their calling, to take away the heaviness and pain, not pronounce the people healed and say, ‘Peace, Peace’ when there is no peace. The hippie was funny (holding up the peace sign to also signify the Scripture in Jer. 6), as was the jackass, but the dream was dead serious as well.  I knew later that the five horses and donkey were references to II Kings Chapter 7. People in Samaria were starving under seige and were saved by lepers at the wall who discovered a miracle God had done against the enemy army through angels. God fed his people but the leaders were not listening. 

The other passage that confirmed this dream so remarkably was in the same chapter of Jeremiah:

“Thus says the Lord: “Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls.” (It comments about the leaders next saying, ‘but they did not.’) Jeremiah 6:16 ESV

 I was standing by the ancient path (in the dream) looking for the signs of the ancient path,  to spend the night and saw what was “off the path.” What I asked God is ‘what is the ancient path?’ He has continued to answer that question for many years afterward, as this dream comes to mind often. I think the summary is that God wants to walk with man as in the garden and fellowship. He spoke to Abraham. Job, the oldest book, says God speaks to man through many ways all the time “to save him from the pit.” 

In the words of Jesus, when asked about his family who came to take him home, “For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.” Mt. 12:50 ESV. That is the ancient path.

God spoke with Joseph, Daniel and all the prophets, and David. He fellowshipped with Jesus, the first apostles and everyone that will follow the ancient path. However, many of us are not in the proper vehicle to follow the ancient path. We might need a new one, or we might need some R&R to tune in. It is God’s way, not man’s way. We do not think alike at all. 

I was in an old vehicle. I needed one in good repair, even a motorcycle would have been a better vehicle, often in my dreams vehicles are modes of life and ministry. God was telling me I needed a new “ride,” perhaps and I needed to travel when the time was right, in the “sunlight”  not in darkness with artificial light of man (headlights.) He was also telling me I could see the error but my “brother” was yet unaware of it. He wants me to help people get on and stay on God’s path, sometimes just a narrow dirt track in the mountains. Scott Peck’s bestselling book calls it the Road Less Travelled. 

The other passage that came to mind is not literal, but it was a strong impression. Jesus is called the “cornerstone” and of course is not a stone literally. This stone was a “keystone” so that does not fit exactly, but what I felt was that I was seeing foundational and structural truth to my life in this dream. The structures of the Body of Christ cannot hold without the keystone of unselfish leaders-people who just do what God wants for his sheep. “Feed my sheep” Jesus said. And He is the Cornerstone, not any man.

Unused Infrastructure

I am still in the frontier of all this, both dreaming and blogging, so join me if you are too: I dreamed years ago about going “off road” with a bus full of prisoners (friends who were unable to break out to freedom in some ways.) I just jumped up, moved into the drivers seat and started driving. We were trying to cross a canyon and were at a dead end-no bridge. I started the bus off the end of the “dead end” and down a grassy slope, then down concrete stairs that were quite bumpy. People were yelling at me “you will kill us-you cannot go there!”

Yet I knew I could and should. We hit a road and then drove through a dark sort of arched pavilion. The people yelled again “it will not fit-you will wreck the bus.” The sides and top were not big enough it looked to them. We went through the darkness anyway and missed by a quarter inch maybe.”

Coming out the other side I got off road again and went to the “riverbed” in the canyon and stopped at a grassy spot on the bank. Then I looked and the words “unused infrastructure” were spoken by God to me. It came as I looked out over an endless chain of canals or bayous (as also called in the Gulf Coast region and other French influenced areas) connected by bridges. There were no people! It was just a huge thing that others thought useless and even dangerous. There might be gators in those places (I guess now this, it was not in the dream, just that for whatever reason it was not being used at all-vast and endless but needed to be recognized as useful.)

It might be likened to Venice or Amsterdam (or half the country of The Netherlands) but empty. The visionaries saw Venice as a series of canals, and Amsterdam also as a world class port, but the “practical people” saw these places as places where the bubonic plague killed tens of thousands, swampy diseases continue to lurk, and the water was unmanageable. Problems were seen, not solutions.

So, I am writing my first ever blog about a dream: that the www and internet, a connected series of “bayous” if you will, almost empty considering the size and scope of its future, will become an infrastructure that promotes good things, redeemed in quality and assisting in building community that brings health and peace to many.