"Cardboard God"

"Who are you fooling, My children? Look at the image you have made with your hands—your invented beliefs and created doctrines! I am not in it! I am not found by creating doctrines, but you have built a package of beliefs and said, 'Behold, the Lord!'

"Time and time again I have called out to you, and I have sent My prophets to call you to wake up and repent. But you have wrapped and re-wrapped your package of beliefs to nullify or include My cries to you as part of your package, instead of turning from your idol to Me instead.

"How can I leave you, My children? How can I give you up to the darkness you have chosen to sit in? For in trying to fit Me inside your box, it is you yourselves who have placed yourselves into a box! How can I let you stay in the shadows when I gave My Son on the Cross to give you everlasting light?

"I will allow the wind, the waves and the water to sweep away your box, and then you will see that the beliefs you created are but cheap cardboard. I will hold out My hand to you, calling to you once again, so that you will not be swept away. But will you admit that your doctrines have been mere cardboard, repent and let Me save you by My hand? Or will you be swept away trying to gather and put back together the pieces of your package?"

*****

See also: "The Interruption of God" (art link)

"Held By Dark Hands"

"Grief! Grief! My heart breaks for you, My children! I have valued your hearts and your faith above all other treasures in the earth, but you have given your hearts and your faith to beliefs that abuse you. I created you for joy and freedom, but and your hearts have been beaten and abused by legalism, and your faith has been uncertain because it was begun by your spiritual forefathers in error and confusion.

"How long will I allow you to be abused? How long will I let your hearts be mishandled by malevolent spirits? How long will I let them bring destruction and confusion into your lives?

"Hear Me, lying spirits and strongholds of darkness: I will rescue My sheep from you, and I will tear their hearts away from your hands. Their faith I will direct to the water of life instead of to your lies, and so My children shall have My rest instead of shadows and confusion."

"Grace From Outside"

After reading "Dying City", a sister in Australia was reminded of a vision that the Lord had given her in April 2003...

I saw a fortified stone castle-village, surrounded by a dry moat, standing in isolation in the middle of a bare brown plain. The drawbridge was down and a horse-drawn cart approached from the distance, crossed the drawbridge and entered the castle grounds. The cart was covered with straw, and there was a small keg of alcohol of some kind hidden underneath the straw. Some people from inside the castle took the keg away with them and presumably consumed it.

After some time had elapsed another cart approached carrying a very large keg of red wine. This keg wasn’t hidden from view, so it was no secret that it was entering the castle grounds. The people inside the castle were in the middle of a drought and water was a really scarce commodity. They gathered around the cart hoping that the keg contained water.

They were disappointed when they found out it contained red wine and not water, but their thirst was so great by this time that there was a discussion about whether or not they should drink the wine anyway—because of their great need for liquid of some kind.

Some argued that drinking wine was something they’d never been allowed to do, and they were very fearful of what might happen if they drank it. However, it was a really difficult decision, because they knew that if they didn’t have SOMETHING to drink, then they all would soon die.

Some of the more desperately thirsty people decided to try it out, and they found to their amazement that once they poured the wine out of the keg and into a cup, it was transformed into water. The suspicious crowd watched them carefully as they drank it and finally decided that it didn’t seem to have any adverse effects. They were less fearful of it now that it appeared to be water—something that they recognised and trusted. The people who were drinking it were instantly refreshed and turned beaming faces towards the crowd and urged them to try it for themselves. When the rest of the people realised that it appeared to be safe enough to drink, they all gathered around the cart to ask for some of the life-giving “wine/water” for themselves.

Because the drought was still in progress, the castle people eagerly looked forward to the arrival of another cart carrying this wine/water to them. Because the cart came from a distant place, they had to wait a long time before the next load arrived. Eventually deliveries seemed to become more frequent and then at regular intervals so that the people living in the castle began to knock down the castle walls in various places so that they could build extra drawbridges to accommodate the arrival of all these carts which eventually came from all directions. From an aerial view the castle now looked like the hub of a wagon wheel, so that the trails made by the constant approach of the carts formed the spokes of this wheel.

*****

House of Seventh-day Adventism,
if you have ears to hear,
hear the word of the Lord!
"O thirsty people! How long will you continue to remain in your fortress of drought? How long will you wait to drink the water of life that I have been trying to give you ever since you founded your city?

"At the time of your foundation, your spiritual forefathers secluded themselves and reaped disappointment from their mistakes. Then, when they were most vulnerable, a lying spirit entered through the open gates. What seemed to be strong doctrines for building the foundation of your church were brought in—but they were only straw and stubble, and hidden underneath was a toxic, spiritual poison, which your forefathers drank, and which would pass down to their spiritual children and granchildren.

"The poison they consumed has brought drought and spiritual famine, for the water of life in My words becomes scarce when you drink from the spirit at the bottom of doctrines made of straw. But after time, many among you have begun to realize that you have been dying of thirst for the life found in My grace, and so the words of My grace have come in from Christian churches outsided of Adventism.

"At first it was inconceivable that something coming in from outside your church might bring life, and so you were suspicious because you had been strictly taught to refuse such drink 'from outside'. But when My grace was poured into your cup—into the container of your church—I allowed it to appear as something you would accept, as something that did not threaten the way of life you had chosen (even though it had only brought you drought). It was diluted, but even in its diluted power My grace has been able to bring joy to many among you and cause others to desire the same refreshing joy.

"And so the deliveries of My grace have become life that sustains you in your drought, in your isolated fortress. You have begun to unconsciously look outward—to mainstream Christianity—for life-sustaining deliveries of My grace and My word of life. Some of you have even begun trying to knock down parts of the walls of division your forefathers put up to protect you from mainstream Christianity. And I have continued to send many 'deliveries' of the word of My grace to sustain you, because I love you so much.

"But as long as you remain in your castle and drink from the poison of the spirit in your straw doctrines, your drought cannot completely end. You can continue to receive life from outside your walls, and you can knock down parts of your walls as best as you know how to better allow My grace to come to you from outside your church, for I am faithful and loving to respond to your thirst by sending you words of My grace from outside your walls.

"Yet I long to give you so much more! I long for you to come forth! I long to draw you out of your drought forever. I long to bring you more than deliveries—I long to bring you to My house of wine, to set you at My banquet table where you may drink your fill and rest under the banner of My love, without fear of drought or lack of water ever again.

"Will you stay in the land of drought? Or will you come forth to a land where the mountains drip with new wine, where the hills flow with milk and the ravines run with water?"

"Even Though It Dies..."

"My precious child, My faithful servant,

"I know it is hard for you watching your church organization fall. I know you weren't involved in all the rotting parts that made it collapse. I know you tried to center and establish it on Me. I know it is hard for you to understand and accept that the foundation had rotted from the very beginning, and that nothing could be done to keep the structure standing.

"I know your heart, and I want you to know that your heart has not been spent in vain. You have served Me well and I am proud of you. Even though things rotted around you, I have worked through you and loved people through you. I know you are saddened and hurt by the falling of the mighty tree of Adventism, but I promise you that I am not through with you. I saw this day coming, and I am not limited in your life because of what has collapsed. It may be hard for you to see now, but My work never has depended on the institution. Let Me be your structure from now on.

"I will bring life out of what has died. Do not be afraid of letting the ministry you had in Adventism die. Do not hurt yourself by trying to lift it back up to stand in its former way, because it is finished. If you allow it to die and finish, I will bring life out of its death for you and for those you are called to love. But if you try to keep the fallen tree alive, you will only injure yourself in vain.

"None of the work you have given Me from your heart has been in vain. What has been done in Me will live, even though it dies. And what was not living will not need to be resurrected, but its death will allow life to come to places that have not known it before."

I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.

- John 12:24

*****

See also: "The Fallen Tree" (art link)

"Brought Out"

"To Adventists, pastors, teachers, parents and administrators:
—after the exposure of the Adventist foundation—

"I know you are upset and feel guilty because you believed and taught error instead of the truth. What seemed like a strong, holy temple is now exposed to you as darkness and confusion.

"I love you, and I have waited long for this day—when I have brought you out of a temple of darkness and confusion—so that I may have you all to Myself!

"Do not be afraid, for I am leading you to rest in My love for you. In the same way I will lead to Me those you had taught the errors which had been taught to you."

*****

See also: "My Bride"

"Carried Away"

A sister in Texas sent me this dream last week:

I was standing with some people on a building and we all had a sense that something drastic was about to happen. A man was given a white folded piece of paper on card stock (thick heavy paper) and was told he would need to give it to someone. In a few moments everything around us crumbled—all the buildings just began to disintegrate and simultaneously a flood came in and began washing it away. (The water was not causing the destruction—just washing it away.) The man then was floating on the water in a metal inverted cone (kind of like an upside down Asian straw hat). The water became fierce and boiling and rushing fast, but he stayed afloat and never lost the paper. The water was carrying him to wherever the paper was supposed to be delivered.

In the next scene I was on dry ground and everything had changed. There were a few people I knew standing there, and a few remnants of buildings, but there was a deep sense of loss. I realized my oldest son was gone and I began to weep so deeply. I felt this huge void of losing someone who was so precious, unique, and IRREPLACABLE... it seemed like a loss that could never be compensated for. I have never lost anyone in my immediate family (can't fathom losing a child)—but this maybe is what it feels like—I don't know. In my dream I had no sense of an afterlife, or of God. All I could sense was the loss ... so final.

*****

Interpretation

You boast,
"...When an overwhelming scourge sweeps by,
it cannot touch us,
for we have made a lie our refuge
and falsehood our hiding place."

Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says:

"See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone,
a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation;
the one who trusts will never be dismayed.
I will make justice the measuring line
and righteousness the plumb line;
hail will sweep away your refuge, the lie,
and water will overflow your hiding place
...it will carry you away."

- Isaiah 28:15-19

Something drastic is about to happen: the "city" of Adventism is about to disintegrate, collapse, and be swept away. As the waters rise (figuratively), just as people in northeastern Japan took refuge from the tsunami on the roofs of buildings, many Adventists will seek refuge in the "high places" of Adventism, believing that they will be a safe place. But the danger is not the water, but rather the buildings—the spiritual foundations and structures of Adventism. They were designed badly and have been rotting inside for a long time. Adventism was actually designed to collapse from the very beginning by its architect—a spirit that wants people crumble with it and to be swept away.

The man represents many Adventists who will try to hold onto belief in Adventism. Yes, they will see that it collapsed and its foundations did not hold, but they will feel that the previous generations & forefathers in Adventism had passed them something special, something of valuable worth. But they're not sure exactly what, only that it is important and they must pass it onto other people. (This is the card-like folded white paper.) Some of them will clutch this vague sense of purpose, mission and specialness even harder as they see the "city" of Adventism washed away. They will feel that the time has finally arrived and God must be sending them to go evangelize to people, to gather the remnant, to begin the true revival, etc. They will float further and further away from the only safe place, the only foundation—
Jesus Christ.

The inverted metal cone is stainless steel—polished to look spotless and strong. It is the "lifeboat" that Adventism has been preparing for the end times, which in theory is supposed to hold many people, and to which the faithful Adventists believe they will call the world to come into. But they will only become further and further isolated instead, not reaching out to other survivors of the collapsed city (although they will still be clutching their special purpose and 'mission').

The truth is that the cone is actually a funnel—it has a hole in the bottom! The lifeboat of Adventism meant for the end times has no foundation; it is a boat with a big hole in the bottom, not built on Christ. (Today, because there are so many people in Adventism, it is sometimes hard to see "the bottom" of things, that there is a hole instead of a foundation of solid rock.) But in fact, the only reason that the "city" and "building" of Adventism has not collapsed until now is because of God's mercy. The building would not have stood this long if God had not been sovereignly protecting His beloved children in Adventism from the deadly construction of Adventism itself.

Yet even after the collapse, He will sovereignly protect many of those who cling to the Adventist "lifeboat", because He is not willing that any of these children of His should be lost. He will do this to let us see them so that we may pray for them, intercede for them, and perhaps pull some of them to safety. Without prayer and intercession, they will cling to what they were handed and not know that they are being carried away.

"Is not Ephraim My dear son,
the child in whom I delight?
Though I often speak against him,
I still remember him.
Therefore My heart yearns for him;
I have great compassion for him." (Jeremiah 31:20)

God's heart for Ephraim (meaning the northern kingdom of Israel) has parallels because Ephraim's problems were similar to Adventism's. They also tore themselves away from the foundation and tried to set up their own system. Ephraim adopted some genuine Levitical rules but mixed them with general paganism to make a syncretized faith, which at its core was founded on rebelling against God. When the northern kingdom's first king became afraid that all of his people would return to the house of Judah, he created a new syncretized religion to keep from losing what he felt he had gained.

In the same way, the early Adventists feared losing the following they had gained in the Millerite movement, and so in rebellion formed their own faith with a mixture of genuine Christianity and their own ideas (a mixture which persists to this day). The institution was built in rebellion, and it remains in constant vigilance against its people returning to Christianity. Adventism was built with its founders' fear of losing all they felt they had gained.

The dream's second scene is God calling to all of us who can see what is happening: He wants us to share His heart! Most of the "buildings" of the "city" of Adventism will be swept away, but some parts will remain because there is real faith in many people, and some will flee to the true foundation (where the sister is also standing in the dream—on dry ground). Just as she grieved as if for the loss of her oldest son, that is exactly how God feels about His children in Adventism who will cling to it and so be carried away from Christ. Just as she felt she had lost someone so precious, so unique and so utterly irreplacable, in the same way God is wanting to give us His heart for Adventists, because He sees each one of them as so precious, unique, of infinite worth and completely irreplaceable! God loves them so much!

"Oh, that My head were a spring of water
and My eyes a fountain of tears!
I would weep day and night
for the slain of My people." (Jeremiah 9:1)

God is giving us a glimpse of the grief of His heart for the people of Adventism who will cling to it and may be utterly swept away because of it:

To Adventists, He says:

"My children, My precious children! How can I give you up? How can I let you go? How can I let you be swept away? But you would not have it any other way! Let go! Do not cling to what has been handed to you, but cling instead to Me! I have protected you from collapse and from being utterly swept away until now because I love you so much, but how long will I sovereignly plug up the hole beneath you? How far away from Me will you go? My arm is not too short to save, but what will happen in the end if you continue to cling to your pride and rebellion instead of clinging to Me?"

To former Adventists, He says:

"My children, My precious children! Can you feel My heart aching for My children in Adventism? Can you receive the grief I want to share with you from My heart? Will you weep with Me? Will you mourn with Me? Or will you stand back and shake your head at how foolish they were? Until now many of you have paid more attention to the 'building' of Adventism than to the people of Adventism. Many of you have paid more attention to the doctrines of Adventism than you have to the hearts of Adventists; you have attempted to dismantle doctrines of the mind instead of caring and ministering to hearts.

"But I have not sent you to dismantle doctrines; I have sent you to care for hearts. The doctrines will collapse on themselves and will be washed away even as they collapse, but I do not want hearts to be swept away! Begin now to ask Me to receive My heart—My breaking heart—for My precious, irreplacable children in Adventism, and I will use you to help rescue My precious children from being swept away. I would grieve if they are lost. Would you grieve with Me? Would you share My heart?"

"Dying City"

"Repent! Repent! Cry out to the house of Adventism—Repent! Everything that has been concealed shall be disclosed; everything that can be shaken shall be shaken.

"When you were young you rejected My words and left the assembly of My people. You wandered far and wide from My foundation until you wholly isolated yourselves from My people. There you built your own foundation and grew into a mighty city. You boasted of your size and success, saying, 'Surely this is the city God has blessed above all others.' You built your walls high to defend yourselves and to keep your children from leaving.

"But your house has not been a shelter from the heat of the world, though under its ever-changing sky you have whitewashed your walls to appear fresh and strong. Inside you have all been dying for lack of water, but still you defend your walls, maintain your rebellion and imprison your children.

"For their sake and for yours, I will flood your city and it shall be swept away. Water will overflow your hiding place and your refuge of lies will collapse—so that your people may once again see and flee to the safety of My foundation. I will rescue your children, but will you yourselves consent to be saved?"

"Made Perfect"

"My sons and My daughters—My children:

"I am bringing you home! All of your hopes which have seemed so distant and far away have not been in vain, but shall come to pass. I will restore what has been lost. I will reunite those who have been parted. I will bring you to paradise.

"Do not be afraid, for I have been pleased to give you the Kingdom, and you have the Kingdom, even today! Do not be afraid to be certain about 'getting to heaven', because I have already put the Kingdom in you, and in Me you are already seated with My Father in heaven. Do not be afraid of not becoming 'perfected' on earth, for the only ones I have called 'perfected' are those who have left life on earth behind and come to be with Me.

"Behold, your heaven is certain! I am your eternal life, and you who believe on Me have crossed from death into life. I am your heaven, and when you have left behind your tent you will see Me in perfection. When you see Me as I am, I will perfect the faith I began in you and I will burn up the chaff with the unquenchable fire of My love for you.

"I am the God of the living: all are alive to Me whether they are in the body or away from the body. Those whose bodies sleep await the resurrection, just as all of creation awaits its renewal. But none who sleep await the salvation of their souls, for they have already been saved by My grace through faith. I authored their faith and I am the one who perfected their faith in Me—the perfect sacrifice who clothes them, by whose blood they have been made holy.

"My perfect ones are not those who perfected themselves, but they are children who came to Me as children, hailing Me as their Savior. I am He who only asked for mustard seeds, and I am He who calls My precious jewels home to Myself when their time on earth has finished.

"I am the keeper of your soul, and I am the keeper of the souls of sinners who have been made perfect and see My face today in paradise. I am He who receives the spirits of those who fall asleep in Me, and has not lost any that My Father has given to Me. I am He who clothes them today with My own heavenly dwelling until the time comes for them to be clothed with their own heavenly body, like My own.

"I am He who keeps in the shelter of My tent those who have left their own tent behind on earth. I am He who spreads the corner of My robe over you and calls you to forget your own house, your own tent, and by faith dwell in Mine. I am He who keeps in safety those who have been made perfect and those who are being made perfect, for by My sacrifice on the Cross I have already made them perfect once for all."

*****

See also: "A Spirit of Life" and "Spirit" (study)

"Your Sins Have Been Condemned!"

"My child, I know how well you can see your sins. I know how guilty you feel for every temptation you have. I know how overwhelmed, helpless and powerless you feel in sight of them.

"Do not be afraid! I have purchased you on the Cross, and you are Mine! Though your sins seem about to overwhelm you, in fact it is I who have already overwhelmed your sins! They are no longer your 'bottom line'.

"Now, the truest 'you' is in Me, whole, clean and pure. You are a new spirit in Me, and your sins are no longer 'you'. So don't focus on them and don't let them get you down. They may seem overwhelming, but you will not overwhelmed because My blood shed on the Cross stands between you and your sins.

"Live in knowledge of this."

*****

See also: "Condemned!" (art link)

"Free!"

"My child, I haven't called you to represent My sinless perfection, but to be filled with My Spirit! You cannot represent My perfection, nor would it 'win' people to Me even if you could; it was not My perfection which drew people to Me, but My love and My grace. I am calling you to share in My freedom and share in My joy. Only as you truly rest in My freedom will people see Me in you. So come, rest in Me! Be free!"

"My Perfect Beloved"

"You are My perfect beloved! You are My perfect child. You are beautiful and I'm so proud of you!

"Do you know why you're perfect to Me? It's not because of how well you perform or act like Me. It's not what you do that makes Me happy:

"It's who you are! You're My child! I love you because you're Mine!

"You don't have to worry about making Me unhappy—I didn't adopt you because I expected you to perform well for Me!

"There are no special rituals or observances that will make Me happier witih you, and there are no special requirements you can fail to meet that will make Me unhappy with you. I met all the requirements for you so that I could have you!

"Come, live in My arms. Live in My love."