This study has by far been the most difficult so far of God’s calling. There have been times I behaved like Daniel and probably more times I have behaved like Jonah. At this point, I pray to be like Noah, praying, listening and building one step at a time as commanded.
Like many whose parents came to receive Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior in the early 70s, I was raised with the hope of meeting Jesus in the clouds someday. Car rides with my dad talking about prophecy and the end times, being a child asking my mom if I should come find her first if I saw Jesus in the clouds and she told me, “just go, I will meet you in the clouds with Jesus.” As a teen, I read Hal Lindsey’s Late Great Planet Earth. It was the point in time if I remember correctly that 24 of his 25 prophetic words had come to pass. He was the first person I would call a modern-day prophet I became aware of.
Life rolled on, college, work and marriage. It was when my first marriage ended that I found myself seeking the Lord as never before in my life. I had never been a great reader, more of a numbers crunching girl, but I decided to read the Bible cover to cover no matter how long it took. About a year and three months later, I had reached the end of reading the book of Revelation for the first time.
During this time, I started to see visions of my soul in heaven. I just wanted to be closer to God and like the woman seeking scraps from Christ, I saw myself under God’s table, similarly surviving on scraps. I just wanted to be close to Him, serving Him and the other holies surrounding Him. I saw myself transition to moving around the table, serving those enjoying the feast. I was so grateful to have a place in His presence I was happy to serve! My heart had a willingness to do whatever was necessary to be with the Father, to be close to Him.
Through the years, my heart has continued that path and I believe my spiritual growth on earth has aligned to the visions of that servant in heaven. I started gathering crumbs under the table, a beggar, with only a basic level of understanding of salvation. Through dedication and a heartfelt desire to serve, those visions have evolved as I have grown up next to Christ and ultimately rested in peace at the feet of God the Father.
It’s amazing sharing quiet time with the Lord and being given His wisdom. As I dedicated more and more time to learning His word, He shared more. He was patient as I asked childlike questions and helped me along with some egregious sin in my life that had been plaguing my spiritual growth. Being an introvert, it was fun to share personal private time one-on-one with the LORD!
48But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more. – Luke 12:48 KJV
God through Holy Spirit had been calling out scriptures and connecting verses reinforcing specific messages. He was showing me discrepancies between the doctrine I was raised with and the word of God I was seeking to better understand myself. Several times I tried to begin cataloguing what others had written regarding the end times and the return of Jesus Christ and I was so often left more confused.
Having completed the second book God called me to write, Revelations, a fictional story of spiritual warfare on earth and in heaven, Holy Spirit told me this was the next work to be completed and that no other writing planned would be accomplished until this was done. So, once again I said, “yes” to God, “not my will God, but Yours.”
Fear of confrontation regarding what God was showing me resulted in many stops and restarts, but I was confident in the voice of Holy Spirit. I did not ask for God’s entire plan, just the next step. He told me to start with His word and His word alone. That direction got me rolling to complete His work. I was back in His word, calling out the elements He had shown me and those He added in along the way, always keeping His word as the foundation for everything.
There have been many struggles along the way, particularly when fearful thoughts of preaching that contradicted what the LORD was showing me. Despising confrontation, I have prayed many times for this cup to pass, one most recently apologizing to God and handing this work back to Him, sorry I could not complete it. Once again, He was patient with me and led me again to focus only on His word first. He reminded me of a time I saw a famous, spirit filled man of the LORD on TV questioned about the return of Jesus Christ and the rapture doctrine. The preacher responded essentially, “it’s a great idea for a story, but it isn’t scripturally sound.” God told me I was not alone in my understanding of scripture as He was showing me.
He also reminded me of another pastor I saw interviewed preaching the rapture doctrine. Listening to him speak, Galatians scripture came to mind.
19Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, 20Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, 21Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. 22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. 24And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. – Galatians 5:19-24
When questioned about the timing of Christ’s return being different from the rapture doctrine, the minister became noticeably angry. The thought of the timing of Christ’s return being different from his belief made him visibly upset. The interview was short and no time was allowed to dig into scripture supporting his view. But what stood out was the anger that rose up in this minister, it just did not feel like the Spirit of God to me.
Counter to that minister’s belief, I have heard and read another minister’s work who was completely adamant the rapture doctrine was false. Unfortunately, his work too lacked scripture and was presented in such an arrogant manner, it wasn’t work I was comfortable sharing with others.
14Keep reminding God’s people of these things. Warn them before God against quarreling about words; it is of no value, and only ruins those who listen. 15Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth. 16Avoid godless chatter, because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly. 17Their teaching will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, 18who have departed from the truth. They say that the resurrection has already taken place, and they destroy the faith of some. 19Nevertheless, God’s solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription: “The Lord knows those who are his,” and, “Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness.” – 2 Timothy 2:14-19 NIV
Scripture says we are not to quarrel over minutia. It ruins those listening. Engaging in godless chatter makes us ungodly. That has been where I allowed myself to stay, quietly hidden, for years avoiding confrontation. However, God through Holy Spirit hit me hard one day with two simple words regarding the rapture debate, “false doctrine.”
Let those words sink in. FALSE DOCTRINE. God’s word is very clear regarding those who teach false doctrines, or as some translations call them, “doctrines of devils”. It is with great fear, healthy, heavenly fear of straying from God’s design, that has kept me quiet for so long. My greatest fear is to profess any message that does not align with God’s word, which is why God continuously pointed me back to His word first to bring this work to completion.
Both God and Jesus tell us in scripture there will be a great falling away in the last days, before Jesus returns. False doctrine preached to support “itchy ears” will contribute to this falling away.
3For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; 4And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. – 2 Timothy 4:3-4 KJV
We as children of God are not to fear the last days. We are only to fear God. To be His saints in the last days, we are to steep ourselves in scripture with prayer and fasting. Scripture tells us at the time of the abomination in the temple, God’s saints will “do exploits”. The same way the serpents from the staffs of Moses and Aaron ate the serpents of the staffs of the magicians in Egypt, God’s exploits will be greater!!
We choose every day to grow closer to God or further from Him. It is that simple. We saw in scripture the prophets of the Bible and the walk they took through life with the LORD. Daniel was faithful in his calling. Jonah was greatly challenged, not wanting to do what he was called to do. And let’s not forget Ezekiel, who was called to send a message to Israel by lying on his left side for 390 days, only to be told to then lie on his right side for another 40 days!! This reflects the level of dedication the LORD deserves! And with dedication, we can trust God to act.
Many years ago, I learned of a group I would call modern day prophets. They were a group of orphaned children in China in the early 1920s. In a town called Kotchiu, a Reverand H. A. Baker and his wife Josephine, missionaries in China, opened a home for these orphaned children. Adullam Home was a place of comfort and rest for these homeless children. The couple prayed for these children and asked God to move in their lives. Their prayers were answered in a great way when Holy Spirit power poured out over the home and the children, with many of the children seeing visions. The children saw many parts of heaven and would take turns prophesying and documenting visions of what was and what was to come. To the missionaries, the parental leaders of the home, both steeped in God’s Word and His ways, the message to them from God was clear. Stay out of the way! Holy Spirit was working through these children who were considered the least according to worldly societal evaluation and God was moving in spectacular ways.
Upon learning of the prophecies of these children, what struck me was how identical their visions were to scripture. These were children who knew very little if anything of the Bible or Jesus Christ when the visions began. As Holy Spirit began to pour out onto those at Adullam, the children were first brought to repentance for their sins and then salvation through the blood of Christ. Holy Spirit met them where they were, led them and brought them into God’s family. From that point forward, they continued to grow in understanding with visions of: heaven, hell, the transition of death, the lake of fire, the end times “super-man”, the “man of perdition” according to scripture, tribulation, the saints on earth, the return of Christ, the casting of the devil into the pit and the final judgment.
After considering the path these children of God followed, one element resonated deeply with me. Their relations with God began with repentance. These children were all recipients of egregious wrongdoing. They were abandoned and left to die! Yet, their walk with the LORD began as all good walks do, with repentance and humility before God, just as Jesus calls the churches to do in the beginning of Revelation. The children emptied themselves, repenting of the wrongs they had committed, making room for God and Holy Spirit to work in their lives. There was no desire of gain from these experiences, only pure hearts with a desire to serve the Lord. There was only a desire to bring others on earth to salvation.
26Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, 29so that no one may boast before him. 30It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. 31Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.” – 1 Corinthians 1:26-31 NIV
God chooses the least, as deemed by earthly terms, to bring messages to the greatest and the stories of the Adullam children are a beautiful reflection of that. The children told of seeing those they knew on earth in heaven or in hell. And not a word of these visions contradicted scripture, they simply reinforced the Word of God.
The same way scripture speaks to John being given visions to scribe the book of Revelation, the Adullam children received visions and Reverand Baker does a wonderful job tying those visions to God’s Word in scripture. Below is an excerpt of their visions regarding the saints during thereign of the final earthly king.
During the reign of this super-man in his God-defying power, the saints of God were standing true and bearing faithful testimony in spite of every hardship and every danger. They saw the two witnesses in Jerusalem (see Revelation 11:3-13), and they saw the saints, as well as these two, endued with mighty supernatural power to fight with and to resist the power of darkness in that awful time, the like of which has never been upon the earth – the time when the devil and all his angels and demons will be turned loose upon the earth, having great wrath, knowing their time is short.
During this time, when no one but a true Spirit-filled saint could stand for a day against such satanic power and supernatural manifestations, the children saw the saints filled with even greater supernatural power of their God, the Spirit of Him who is greater than “he that is in the world.” They had visions of preaching the gospel in the midst of great persecution; they were given such power that by a word from them, enemies were smitten by plagues or death. This power seemed to issue from within and came out of their mouths; with it they rebuked and slew their enemies. They were exercising the power the Lord had promised his disciples, power to do the works He did and greater works. (See John 14:12). – “From Beyond the Veil” by H. A. Baker (p. 133-134)
Like the two witnesses in Revelation, God’s saints, Christ’s Ekklesia, will continue to overcome with the power of the testimony of Christ.
12Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. – John 14:12 KJV
God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow and none on earth today are meant to know all. We need God’s discernment to identify prophesy that is from Him and that which is of this world. Learning of the Adullam prophesies, it is clear God was working through this group of the least in the same ways He worked through His prophets in the Bible, filling them with Holy Spirit outpouring.
17And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:
18And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy: – Acts 2:17-18 KJV
Notice God tells us His Spirit will be poured out on His handmaidens. If you are a woman who has given your life to the LORD, recognize this is for you!! God is calling ALL HIS PEOPLE to stand for His Son Jesus Christ!! We all have a role to play!!!
Dear Father God,
My continued prayer is for only Your words to remain. May Your servants be encouraged to grow in Your wisdom and manifestations of Holy Spirit! May we continue to read, study, pray and seek relationship with You, the One True Father God Almighty!! May we petition heaven for those suffering around us. May we be used as Your vessels, Your arms and feet for Your kingdom. May we seek to do Your will in everything!
We give all glory and honor to You LORD GOD!!
AMEN!!