Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Reality Check

Early this morning I had one of those dreams that leaves you with more to think about after it is over. While it was in no way prophetic, I feel that it left me with truth that I need to share. Skipping all the strange unnecessary dream elements, the main part of the dream was about a woman approached by an angel who was extremely distressed by the lack of respect shown to "the baby/child" (Jesus). The angel told her she would receive visits every Sunday night. Thus a movement was started at the woman's home which later started a prominent evangelistic center in her town. Jesus visited these meetings which was very exciting to those attended. Then as happens in dreams I became one of the crowd at a meeting. I was skeptical that God was truly behind these meetings. To me Sunday didn't feel like God's first choice of a day to meet and angels don't interact with us in the way the angel met the woman. But then I told myself I wanted to be closer to Jesus and if this was Jesus...I cautiously reached out to touch his hand. The love felt so strong and real, it was hard to resist. Saying that this experience was false felt like turning and moving into the outer darkness.

When I awoke and pondered the dream I finally came to the conclusion that this is what it will be like in the days not far ahead of us. The delusion will be very strong as Jesus warned in Matthew 24:23-24. The love of the false Christ will feel so real. We must learn to walk by faith and not by sight and we must begin today. While I am not advocating a dry, formal religion neither can we accept any doctrine or leader that does not agree with the Bible. Feelings will be no more of an indication that we are in God's will than they were for Jesus on the cross.

Reality is also a problem for the people here in Selawik. Spiritual manifestations are common. A church member recently shared with Warren things that are seen by the villagers here as well as things he has seen personally. Our friend believes that these things are exactly what they appeared to be. This is a real challenge. Apparently Bible reading alone has not been enough to combat error here. Naturally we cannot say that these things are just imagined, yet we must find a way to show that not everything we see is what it seems. Please pray that we will have wisdom.

The great controversy between good and evil is strong and people need to know what is true and what is false. Are you becoming more grounded in the truth every day? Are you sharing truth with others in ways they understand?

Blessings,
Verity

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Wow, a vivid reminder not to trust our senses. Everything needs to mesh with the Word of God.