The Age To Come

I feel led to repost the first prophetic vision I had back in 2002.  It’s not rocket science, but it needs saying, and it needs hearing.

Blessings,

Peter

This vision was given to me when I asked the Lord why I felt like I was starving at our then current church.  I was feeling increasingly frustrated that there was something very real and vital missing from us.  The vision given was specifically for that church but I feel it has a wider application.

I saw a tree, most particularly the root structure, in profile.  The soil was shallow and there was a large boulder, or mass of rock underneath.  Most roots spread out widely into shallow soil.  While the tree was alive, there was no depth to sustain the tree should there be a drought.  Neither was there sufficient depth of soil to feed the tree properly.

At the same time I also saw a tap root, extending down through the heart of the rock.  The root had the potential to grow and break up the rock, which was preventing a deep and healthy root system.

This vision is both a warning and a hope.  The tree represents the Church, in particular the western Church.  The warning is that the Church is reliant on shallow soil, and as a result it cannot grow further and it cannot withstand times of trial.  We spread our roots widely through all the avenues of shallow faith and faint spiritual reality.

However, the hope is also with us.  The tap root (perhaps representing Jesus) has already drilled through the rock (which represents all that which would prevent the growth of the Church).  This Root is like a promise, a potential to us.  If we direct our efforts through this Root, we can spread deeply and widely, and can begin to break up the rock.  That may appear daunting, and will not be easy, but it is possible, the strength is there.  We are all called to go deeper, with all the potential that lies there.

Both the warning and hope are held out to us.  It requires a response.

To have a heart that is aligned with Yours.  To see what You are doing and do likewise.  To care about the things that You care about.  That is my desire.

So easy to focus on trinkets, things of no eternal value.  But we are finite creatures, with finite time.  So quickly it flies away.  Take captive every thought for Christ, the Book says, and it is right.  For on what you focus, there will your heart be also.

Not to say there is not room for interests, for hobbies, and the suchlike, but the relentless round of entertainment, of the endless procession of worldly things, can distract, confuse, beguile and mislead.

Better to have a heart that is focused on the things of the Lord – on His things, not on our concept of what serving should be.  His yoke is easy, and His burden light.  Ours, often not so much.  How much we miss by refusing Him, even as we think we serve Him.

Lord Jesus, help us care about the things You care about.  Help us to be where you are also.  Amen.

After some time away, I wanted to finish this series with something from the Fisherman, posted originally in 2007.

It is better, friend, that you get caught now
Even now, at last light
This is all that remains
The eternal Now
The final Choice

Therefore, choose
Choose now
Be caught by Love
Or spin and tumble into the eternal Dark
Alone and lost, forever

Choose

I will leave that with you for now and, God willing, I will post more shortly.

As this series comes to a close, I want to focus on the Church, the bride of Christ. In Jesus’s eyes, we are the pearl of great price, as He is also to us. I feel His lamenting over our fallen condition; so often we fall very short of what we could be, what He intends us to be. Truly did Jesus say, “when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18 v8b). We could be so much more! Yet, so often we find the ‘comforts’ of Egypt to be preferable to His promises. Why? Because it is hard, and we prefer the precariousness of false comforts. Still, He loves us so much, it will not stay this way….

The snake and the Church
16th February 2006

I saw a giant snake, long and thick, coiled around a reclined human figure. The figure was pasty white and bloated, obviously unhealthy. The figure seemed oblivious to his position (the figure seemed masculine, but the sex was not important), and was stuffing his face with cake.

It’s as if I was seeing this with the Lord. I perceived the snake as satan / the world, and the reclining figure as representative of the Church. I saw the grip that the world had on the Church, and the oblivious nature of Church to the entwining coils. Indeed, for me the relined posture and the cake represented an active complicity in the whole picture.

I guess I expected the Lord to be angry. But instead I became aware of his great compassion and unbounded love for the whole Church. Even a Church that was willingly complicit in its own enslavement. It often seems that way, either I get a sense of profound judgment, or of unlooked for and undeserved compassion and love. This time it was most definitely the latter, and I had the sense that I was given some understanding of how the Lord views our (western) Church.

As I was looking at this, I became aware that the Lord was totally in charge of this situation, and that He was biding His time. “When I’m ready……..”. I saw an axe in place to lop off the snakes’ head. The impression I had was that it would be an immediate and cathartic action – an overnight judgement. For the man, the human figure representing the Church, it would be to his ultimate salvation and healing. I saw that if this was not done, the Church would undergo a slow death through engorgement. The Lord made me aware of this, and that His judgement on the snake was to be to the Church’s salvation.

However, it would be far from easy, not comfortable in any way. For the man, it would be deeply painful, just like a drug addict forced to kick his habit. For a Church entwined by the world, and deeply complicit in that entwinement, this would be a most painful salvation; indeed to the Church it would seem nothing like being saved, at least to begin with.

The Lords’ ways are not our ways, nor His thoughts our thoughts (Is 55 v8).

Consider also His judgment of the false teachers that lead His flock astray….

2 Peter 2
1But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. 2Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. 3In their greed these teachers will exploit you with stories they have made up. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping. ……. 17These men are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them. 18For they mouth empty, boastful words and, by appealing to the lustful desires of sinful human nature, they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error. 19They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity—for a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him. 20If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. 21It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them. 22Of them the proverbs are true: “A dog returns to its vomit,” and, “A sow that is washed goes back to her wallowing in the mud.”

For those who assume that Christianity is (or should be) ‘nice’, ‘kind’ or ‘gentle’, may find the above a little disconcerting. Why such a harsh denunciation? Well, before answering that question it’s worth considering first the genuine article.

That fact is Christianity is not safe, it is not timid, it is not about being nice and kind. Aslan is not a safe lion. He is, however, good. The Way of the Cross costs everything, and nothing, simultaneously. The path of salvation is free, and it will claim everything you have. It is the pearl of great price that costs both the finder and creator everything. It is our only hope, and it is a Hope that leads us to a Life that is beyond compare.

It is the beautiful sunrise, the music of angels, the new seed risen from the earth in springtime, the tall redwood lifting majestically from the forest floor, the white expanse stretching to the horizon in the deep cold of winter, the mysteries of the ocean depths, the high peaks of the distant mountains. It is all these things, and more, moving to places where words and human imagery do not suffice. Sometimes, when the veil is thin, we know. Othertimes, the weight of the world seems to all but crush that hope from us. This is our Hope, our only Hope, that Christ died, and rose, and even now prepares a place for us who have believed in His name, taken up our cross and followed Him.

When you understand this, when you can see these things, even though they seem far off, you must therefore understand why the harshest judgment is rendered to those who would lead the people astray. These false teachers and prophets who, not having the Truth within them, take the things of God, and turn them to the doctrines of demons.

The greatest heresy is the one that contains the greatest amount of truth. We respond to the truth, and then run the danger of swallowing the lie too. The things of God are used for the most debased ends – rather than conforming ourselves to the word of God we conform the word of God to our own image, twisting and perverting the Bible so that it will say what we want it to say, using it as a cheap salve to our rapidly deadening consciences.

No wonder there is such a great condemnation to those who ‘return to their vomit’, and more than that, actively encourage others to enter the same degradation. Those who would call good evil, and evil good. There is such a Life, such a Prize ahead of us, no wonder that those who seek to deceive, to offer a cheap gaudy imitation, are judged most severely.

What do we do when we discern those who are unrepentantly preaching heresy? Who will not be corrected, and whose consciences are seared? We know, for it is in the Book – flee from them, flee far from them. The Lord knows our frame, knows we are dust. Grappling with them is like grappling with the tar baby. The more we try to correct, the more they twist and turn, adding a dash of heresy here, and unorthodox thought there, until it is hard to discern anything. We are at spiritual risk while we stay near such people. Hence – flee from them – their mouths are like the open grave and their way leads only to death.

We must be sober, alert, and aware, for the time grows short. Deception will increase, even deception that will sway the elect. What then are we to do? For, in our humanity, we cannot discern, or understand the nature of all heresies.

Well friends, we can do no other and no better than to turn everything, including ourselves, over to God. He knows our hearts. If our hearts are for Him, it is because His heart was first for us. He knows our frame, and if we do not lean on our own understanding, but on Him, then we are leaning on the Rock of Ages that cannot crumble. There is no better place to be. He will keep our feet from stumbling, our eyes from blindness, our heart from hardness.

If we always keep our eyes fixed on Him, the Author and Perfecter of our faith, we will run the Race to the finish line, there to claim the great Prize for which Christ died.

As a diversion from the ‘prophetic words’ series, which will come to an end soon, I thought I would re-post this from January 2010. The reason being, that after something of a hiatus, this oddity seems to be back in a significant way.

Please read the original post:

I still don’t know exactly what to make of this. The only other thing that has occurred to me, inasmuch that ‘6’ is a sign of man’s number, indicating incompleteness / imperfection / falling short as compared to the completeness signified in ‘7’, so ’11’ may be regarded as having a similar relationship to ’12’ (another number that appears to signify completeness in the Bible).

I am no expert in such things, nor do I wish to get into numerology. Still, it would not come as any surprise to me that a verdict of ‘falling short’ would be rendered against our culture, our society. If so, then we may well be facing the scales of Justice, and sooner than we would like. Justice for the sins of others is easy to pronounce, but what about Justice for your own sins? If you will not go through the gate of Mercy, then you have no option but to go through the gate of Justice. I know of nobody who can attempt the latter unscathed. Therefore, find the former, while it still may be found! Tomorrow may be too late.

I write this choice on your hearts,
Life, or Death,
Hope, or Despair,
In the ink of eternity.

What I write,
No man can erase,
I wrote the stars,
I can write your heart.

When the Story that is being written,
Is opened, and read,
Where will you be?
The Story, from which all stories are written,
Where will you be?

Be not deceived,
As I am the Author,
So also the Perfecter,
The Story is Mine.

So, what part will you play?
As the Story is written,
The choice is given you,
To write with Me,
Or to write that which will fail.

To write letters on the ground in pale ash,
Now here, now blown away in a swirl of wind.

Or to write letters in fire,
Burned into the soul of the universe,
Letters that will pass into eternity,
For nothing perishes that resides in Me.

What if your story is over tomorrow? What kind of story might it be?

Do not trust in what can be seen, in the comfortable, in the familiar; rather trust in the Unseen One on whose scales everything is measured.

10th April 2007

I saw a tranquil subtropical scene, lush greenery, a house amongst the growth. At the same time I saw as an immediate backdrop an enormous pyroclastic cloud that was about to sweep through this scene, taking all before it.

One moment, the greenery, the buildings, tranquility. The next, destruction – all is swept away.

I was aware of the immediate nature of the event, how everything appears peaceful, the same as normal, and then it all suddenly changes.

I saw the need to prepare – not trusting in our immediate surroundings and the false sense of security that it gives – but to see in the Lord and prepare in Him, to be secure in Him ahead of this time.

What has been desert will become fruitful land, and what has been fruitful land will become desert (Ps107 v33-35). How often it is that the Lord turns the established order on its head – perhaps to afflict the comfortable, and comfort the afflicted, both of which is to our good, and His glory.

From here.

How much do we desire the Living Water of Life? And how often do we find ourselves at the broken cisterns, drinking in the illusions, pretence lending a form to the madness?

How much of the Church’s history have we lived in a desert, grasping at withered husks, once alive but now long dead, deluding ourselves that we see life, that we are actually in an abundant and verdant land, flowing with milk and honey?

The Church’s history sometimes seems like an arid desert. On occasion it is drenched by the grace of God, leading to an abundant flowering, as the whole desert blooms into life. But then we trust to that beauty and no longer look to the source. So, in time, the beauty withers, and what once was verdant, becomes parched desert again. And we again delude ourselves that the withered husks that once contained life, still do.

All through the ages, I see oases in the midst of this, places where the beauty of God can be seen amidst the arid barrenness. And those that cling to the husks, they hate these places, they rail against them, they close their eyes and blaspheme against them – for the Life that is contained within reveals to them their poverty – showing the illusion for what it is – a sham and a mockery of the kingdom.

Yet, just like the desert, there are still seeds of faith sown within the arid land, faithful deposits left by those now long gone. Would that we might pray for, desire, beseech and seek the rain of Grace – to water what has long been desert, and see those seeds grow once again. What beauty there would be!

One day, one final day, there will flow a River, the River that makes glad the City of God. Then the desert, the desert that so many of us dwell in, will become forever verdant and fruitful. We will at last enter in to the fullness of life that He Himself has ordained for us – ordained before the founding of the world.

Apologies for the haitus, but the previous post is really the core of the message. Will anybody hear it, until it is too late? I do not know, but I will proclaim. Do you feel that the hour is late? Can you feel the storm clouds gathering? The economy, the social, the political; it is said the whole world will worship the beast and receive his mark. The world turns away in apostasy; what was unthinkable a generation ago is celebrated today. And we imagine that our comfortable existence will remain, when ALL that will be left is a hideous strength.

The axe is at the foot of the tree.
Matthew 3 v10-12
(John the Baptist speaking to the Pharisees and Sadducees)
The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. “I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.

There will be storms. There will also be grace. Please read this word from 2006 – ‘Such a time as this’.

The signs are there – we have seen the storms that are coming and they will rattle us out of our false security. There is, as ever, only one resting place and that is Jesus. We are given, by the grace of the Lord, time in which to prepare. Or time to pretend that everything will stay the same.

The storms to come will bring both adversity and revival, persecution and blessing. When our false securities are stripped away, so we will have to lean on our real Security. Or dance away to other false gods. Indeed, the very storm that will appear a curse will produce the greatest blessing – when we have eyes to see it.

So be of good heart. The devil does not have the final say. He lost – and lost a long, long time ago. All the smoke and mirrors, all the thunder and lightening, all the fierce roaring and raging are no more than the death throes of a wounded beast.

Even when the storm rages around you, when you are beset all around and the devil seems to hold all the cards from an unassailable position, remember it is simply a lie. He is a usurper apeing God. He has lost, and he knows it. His time is short, and getting shorter.

God has already procured the victory. The gates of hell will never prevail against the Church, His elect. Yes, the storm may rage, but press into Jesus and there you will find the victory, the victory that was won before the ages ever began.