The Test
Last night at church, we had a special missions’ emphasis meeting. We learned about the country of Venezuela. And, there was a test to see how much we knew about the country prior to the lesson. I did not know the test was coming, so I was not prepared. I got 5 out of 10 correct, so I scored 50%, which is not passing.
As I was contemplating this morning’s dream before the Lord, he reminded me about this test and the importance of the information that I did learn from it. For instance, half of the leadership and people in Venezuela are socialistic and half are not, kind of like the kitchen of my house had a divider between the eating area and the cooking area. The eating area had like a picnic table with benches, so this sounds like the socialistic side where everyone shares what someone else prepares for them, whereas on the other side we are free to work for our own food. And, it was the left side of the kitchen that had the table with benches.
At this meeting, they passed around pictures of Venezuela and I saw a picture of a hillside with houses built one on top of the other. So, again, this reminded me of this house in my dream that was built on top of other houses. And, my house had a basement that was suspended in space between my house and the houses beneath me. I learned that approximately 85% of the people dabble in spiritism. Plus I read in my commentary on Ezekiel 21 that the king of Babylon used the practice of contacting departed spirits (suspended basement) in order to hear their advice.
Another thing I learned, which I already knew, is that Venezuela is southeast of the USA. In the dream, my house was to the left (south) and my DIL’s (the one married to my military son) was to my right (north), so this (my) house was south and across the border from the USA, basically, which would fit with Venezuela. Then, in the scripture it describes the king of Babylon as coming from the south and the east and leading his forces to the north and the west. From where I was standing on the street, my house was south, my DIL’s was north, so I was facing west.
Ok, concerning the “piece of glass,” this is related to the sharpened, polished sword that is going to come against us from the south and from the east. It is made ready for the hand of the slayer, and I took it in hand. As we know, the slayer is both God and it is Babylon in this scripture. The fact that I was checking out this piece of glass or what was behind it and because it was left “in process” in trying to put it back, this action symbolizes to me what the scripture says about it being used twice or three times and then as soon as someone thinks he has escaped the sword, then it is pulled out again before it is set back to rest in its place. So, even if we miss the first judgment, we should not think that we have somehow escaped.
This judgment is to be indiscriminate. It will affect those who are openly idolaters as well as those who claim to be believers in Jesus Christ. The passage states that it will impact both the righteous and the unrighteous, which my commentary states seems to be in direct opposition to what Ezekiel stated earlier about the righteous being protected. I have also struggled with that seeming contradiction. The commentator suggested that those who have an “appearance” of righteousness will be impacted, but as we know, if we get hit with a nuclear bomb, it won’t pick and choose. So, the way for sure we are protected is through our salvation – protection from the punishment of sin and an eternity in hell.
My commentary also states that Ezekiel was to “act out” the grief the people would feel when Jerusalem fell. I think that is acted out in this last paragraph of my dream where I don’t pass the test, I wasn’t prepared, and so I lose my job. That is what the people will feel. My commentary states that when the judgment came, the people would know that it was the Lord who had drawn the sword. The people could not claim ignorance (i.e. I didn’t know there was going to be a test) when the judgment of God would actually begin. In reality, when this judgment comes, I should be out of a job, because my job has been to give these messages of coming judgment.
The sword of judgment was coming because Israel, and in this case, America, has despised these warnings, God’s advice – our leaders ignored much wise counsel in this financial crisis on Wall Street in order to further their own agenda. The people in America do not think that God will judge us and most people believe things are going to return to normal because they always have. The first victims of the sword were to be Israel and her princes. For us, that would be America and our government leaders, in particular our president or the presidents in waiting.
On the surface, this sounds like something is going to happen to Barack Obama and since the conversations about a new president being tested were referenced to Barack Obama as the new president, then I assume here that this is speaking of that kind of testing; of a new president, and when John McCain’s face came into my mind, the Lord gave me the song about going through the fire “again” and it was John McCain who said he had already been tested, so it sounds like he is going to be “tested again.”
Then, this passage of scripture talks again about Zedekiah, the “prince” of Israel. In Tuesday’s dream, I was struggling to see who this prince among us is here in the USA – whether Barack Obama, John McCain or George W. Bush. Well, this passage of scripture talks about King Zedekiah being deposed. In Tuesday’s passage, it was King Jehoiachin who was initially deposed, Zedekiah was then made ruler, but he violated his oath of allegiance to Babylon, so now he is deposed. He was stripped of his authority, his crown removed, blinded, and imprisoned for life. So, this sounds like John McCain, because he has previously been imprisoned in a POW camp, and the man in the shower in Tuesday’s dream was short like he is.
Then, there was the vision with Sarah Palin backing into a parking space that was occupied by someone else, and I had the feeling that she was going to replace someone. In this scripture, it talks about the proud prince being humbled (like the man in the shower was) and the lowly who were allowed to remain taking his place in managing the land of Babylon. So, it appears that it is John McCain who is out of a job because even though he says he has already been tested, he didn’t realize there was going to be another test, he wasn’t ready, and so he failed. At least, that is what this looks like.
Interestingly enough, the king of Babylon takes Zedekiah back to Babylon where he imprisons him. If “Babylon” for America is Venezuela at this point in history, and Zedekiah is John McCain, then he would be taking him back nearly to where he was born, for McCain was born in Panama in South America just west of Venezuela.
May God make his will known to each of our hearts through the reading of His Word in the Bible and through the witness of the Holy Spirit within each one of us. Amen.
Resources: NIV Study Bible; The Bible Knowledge Commentary
This was in the news today about John McCain's time in a POW camp:
http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/US...r-In-Vietnam-Released/Article/200810415126616
Last night at church, we had a special missions’ emphasis meeting. We learned about the country of Venezuela. And, there was a test to see how much we knew about the country prior to the lesson. I did not know the test was coming, so I was not prepared. I got 5 out of 10 correct, so I scored 50%, which is not passing.
As I was contemplating this morning’s dream before the Lord, he reminded me about this test and the importance of the information that I did learn from it. For instance, half of the leadership and people in Venezuela are socialistic and half are not, kind of like the kitchen of my house had a divider between the eating area and the cooking area. The eating area had like a picnic table with benches, so this sounds like the socialistic side where everyone shares what someone else prepares for them, whereas on the other side we are free to work for our own food. And, it was the left side of the kitchen that had the table with benches.
At this meeting, they passed around pictures of Venezuela and I saw a picture of a hillside with houses built one on top of the other. So, again, this reminded me of this house in my dream that was built on top of other houses. And, my house had a basement that was suspended in space between my house and the houses beneath me. I learned that approximately 85% of the people dabble in spiritism. Plus I read in my commentary on Ezekiel 21 that the king of Babylon used the practice of contacting departed spirits (suspended basement) in order to hear their advice.
Another thing I learned, which I already knew, is that Venezuela is southeast of the USA. In the dream, my house was to the left (south) and my DIL’s (the one married to my military son) was to my right (north), so this (my) house was south and across the border from the USA, basically, which would fit with Venezuela. Then, in the scripture it describes the king of Babylon as coming from the south and the east and leading his forces to the north and the west. From where I was standing on the street, my house was south, my DIL’s was north, so I was facing west.
Ok, concerning the “piece of glass,” this is related to the sharpened, polished sword that is going to come against us from the south and from the east. It is made ready for the hand of the slayer, and I took it in hand. As we know, the slayer is both God and it is Babylon in this scripture. The fact that I was checking out this piece of glass or what was behind it and because it was left “in process” in trying to put it back, this action symbolizes to me what the scripture says about it being used twice or three times and then as soon as someone thinks he has escaped the sword, then it is pulled out again before it is set back to rest in its place. So, even if we miss the first judgment, we should not think that we have somehow escaped.
This judgment is to be indiscriminate. It will affect those who are openly idolaters as well as those who claim to be believers in Jesus Christ. The passage states that it will impact both the righteous and the unrighteous, which my commentary states seems to be in direct opposition to what Ezekiel stated earlier about the righteous being protected. I have also struggled with that seeming contradiction. The commentator suggested that those who have an “appearance” of righteousness will be impacted, but as we know, if we get hit with a nuclear bomb, it won’t pick and choose. So, the way for sure we are protected is through our salvation – protection from the punishment of sin and an eternity in hell.
My commentary also states that Ezekiel was to “act out” the grief the people would feel when Jerusalem fell. I think that is acted out in this last paragraph of my dream where I don’t pass the test, I wasn’t prepared, and so I lose my job. That is what the people will feel. My commentary states that when the judgment came, the people would know that it was the Lord who had drawn the sword. The people could not claim ignorance (i.e. I didn’t know there was going to be a test) when the judgment of God would actually begin. In reality, when this judgment comes, I should be out of a job, because my job has been to give these messages of coming judgment.
The sword of judgment was coming because Israel, and in this case, America, has despised these warnings, God’s advice – our leaders ignored much wise counsel in this financial crisis on Wall Street in order to further their own agenda. The people in America do not think that God will judge us and most people believe things are going to return to normal because they always have. The first victims of the sword were to be Israel and her princes. For us, that would be America and our government leaders, in particular our president or the presidents in waiting.
On the surface, this sounds like something is going to happen to Barack Obama and since the conversations about a new president being tested were referenced to Barack Obama as the new president, then I assume here that this is speaking of that kind of testing; of a new president, and when John McCain’s face came into my mind, the Lord gave me the song about going through the fire “again” and it was John McCain who said he had already been tested, so it sounds like he is going to be “tested again.”
Then, this passage of scripture talks again about Zedekiah, the “prince” of Israel. In Tuesday’s dream, I was struggling to see who this prince among us is here in the USA – whether Barack Obama, John McCain or George W. Bush. Well, this passage of scripture talks about King Zedekiah being deposed. In Tuesday’s passage, it was King Jehoiachin who was initially deposed, Zedekiah was then made ruler, but he violated his oath of allegiance to Babylon, so now he is deposed. He was stripped of his authority, his crown removed, blinded, and imprisoned for life. So, this sounds like John McCain, because he has previously been imprisoned in a POW camp, and the man in the shower in Tuesday’s dream was short like he is.
Then, there was the vision with Sarah Palin backing into a parking space that was occupied by someone else, and I had the feeling that she was going to replace someone. In this scripture, it talks about the proud prince being humbled (like the man in the shower was) and the lowly who were allowed to remain taking his place in managing the land of Babylon. So, it appears that it is John McCain who is out of a job because even though he says he has already been tested, he didn’t realize there was going to be another test, he wasn’t ready, and so he failed. At least, that is what this looks like.
Interestingly enough, the king of Babylon takes Zedekiah back to Babylon where he imprisons him. If “Babylon” for America is Venezuela at this point in history, and Zedekiah is John McCain, then he would be taking him back nearly to where he was born, for McCain was born in Panama in South America just west of Venezuela.
May God make his will known to each of our hearts through the reading of His Word in the Bible and through the witness of the Holy Spirit within each one of us. Amen.
Resources: NIV Study Bible; The Bible Knowledge Commentary
This was in the news today about John McCain's time in a POW camp:
http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/US...r-In-Vietnam-Released/Article/200810415126616