The Trumpet

25 years ago, I was blown out of a sound sleep by the sound of a deep LOUD blast of a trumpet the likes of which I have never heard again until recently. We lived out in the middle of nowhere. I got out of bed shaking and went into our "sitting room" to pray, very aware that it was a warning of things to come. I heard the words of what was to come. "America is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird." Shortly after that the Lord miraculously moved us from our tent in Hawaii to Oregon. My flesh said that was the last place in the world I would want to be considering that warning but inside me there was this burden from the Lord, "That is where the need is. That is where we should be..."

Things have changed a lot since then. We are like the proverbial frog that gets boiled to death one degree and a time so slow that he doesn't even try to get out and save himself. It goes from cold that is he is used to warm and somewhat comforting. He gets lazy. It starts to feel good. Until it is too late to escape. His muscles are so relaxed he doesn't even realize that he can no longer move them. His brain is foggy. This can't be happening he is thinking or doesn't even notice that the temperature is now raising very quickly. All he can do now is sit there and get boiled. It's too late? Is it?

There used to be so many nations that used to stand back and admire the USA. It was what they wanted to become. If that wasn't the case it was the nation that they most feared. It was called the greatest nation in the world. The land of the free and the home of the brave. Then the cold war was over. The USSR was dissolved and became a friendly nation. China became one of the USA's greatest trading partners. It was a time of prosperity for the people. There were so many opportunities. Even though there were two parties they seemed to get along ok. The presidency was a respected position both inside and outside of the country. When he spoke the whole world listened.

Without belaboring what brought that about, look at where the USA is today. A divided government that is almost useless. An economy that without constantly pumping it up artificially is like a balloon that is waiting  crash in one day. Well over half the population is trying just to survive month to month. Two wars that in the final analysis ultimately have been lost. Invading a sovereign country under false pretenses and ruining it's population's lives. A war on terror that has multiplied it enemies. Covert activities encouraging "democracies" that has made some parts of the world a mess. Friends cannot trust it. Enemies ignore it. The president speaks and the world now sees mere hollow words. The nations that used to admire it now stand back and scratch their heads wondering what happened to such a great nation in such a short time.

What's even more perplexing, maybe even revealing is to observe that "God" is more and more not welcome any more. It is becoming more and more popular to mock Him, to deny that He even exists and to treat those that follow His Son Jesus like they have some strange disease that needs to be eliminated. The nation that once used to be the missions capital of the world has now become a mission field in all reality.

Friends the water around the edge of the pot is starting to bubble. How do you like it so far?

Dream - The Coming Storm

Today, I found myself needing a rest in my heart and mind from things so I lay down on the couch for a "few minutes" and found myself in a state where I was neither awake or asleep. I had this very long dream unfold where I was trying to get into someone else's basement because I was aware that a "tornado" was coming because the sky had gotten very dark and ominous. Apparently the house had been abandoned because I got into the house very easily.

While I was pounding on the door of that basement to get to safety, I discerned that there was somebody down there but they wouldn't respond or let me in. I forced my way in and found I had interrupted a man who had kidnapped an older middle aged Asian woman and was attempting to rape her in that basement. Just as I was about to intervene, the storm and it's destruction came and I quickly pulled the woman into a small space in the basement for safety. The only thing I was aware of was the darkness, the incredibly loud noise of houses being destroyed and the sense of the fearful power of that storm.... When the storm seemed to have passed and we went out from that small space, the man had been pierced through with debris and was dead. The entire house had been destroyed.

We went out and saw devastation everywhere for miles and miles as we walked to find an area that was not devastated. Most of the dream (over an hour) was walking and seeing endless miles and miles of the devastation. If it was a "tornado," it was like no tornado on earth...

While we were walking, it became apparent that those who had survived the storm, (and there didn't seem to be many) had become desperate in their quest to survive to the point where they were acting like packs of animals. They were roaming about in the miles of devastation raping, murdering and stealing at will. Even from each other. They seemed to bear the same character as the man in the basement. Even though they were committing evil, they had no sense of remorse. It was like they expected their victims to submit to their evil as though they were somehow justified in what they were doing.

The woman had apparently suffered some kind of trauma earlier in her life and she could not speak as a result of that trauma. That is also why she could not call out when I was banging at the door of that basement in the beginning. Even though she had suffered trauma earlier in life, which I suspected was rape, she had an abiding air of purity to her and I had a deep sense that I needed to be her protector and reassure her of the purity of my intentions to do so.

Apparently we were walking to the place where the woman lived and when we finally got there, to my surprise, the house was completely intact. I asked her, "This is your home?" and she lowered her head like someone in shame. Discerning the situation, I then said to her, "You are a slave in this house?" She nodded yes. She had been a slave in that house all her life... It didn't seem like anybody was there but she insisted upon staying there despite the danger of the roving gangs finding her so I reluctantly went off to find my children...

Then I slid out of the dream completely rested and in a wonderful sense of peace. Ironically(?) my facebook news-feed was still on and when I went to the computer, there was a short post from an acquaintance who mentioned that he was having spiritual dreams of a very destructive tsunami... The thought went through my mind and heart, "Pay Attention!"

Several hours later, I had some insights come to me even though I wasn't especially looking for it.

• That the massive destructive storm was financial in nature and more devastating than anyone can even conceive of.
• The Asian woman was those people who live in a communist dominated Asian country (or countries) that had (have) suffered greatly during the communist takeover of their country and had been made to be silent and serve the communist agenda that has ruled their country all these years.
• Her purity is found in the believers in the Lord Jesus (the church) among them that has been purified through the fires of suffering and persecution.
• The rapist was trying to gain control of her and get her to submit to what he wanted from her.
• His terrible death was the judgement of God.
• Both the rapist and the gangs of  lawless men are those who control the finances of the world through their wealth and power, so much so that some of them survive the financial destruction of the "storm."
• Their self-serving nature will no longer be subject to any form of conscience towards others.