"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?"