Beth
Tefilah Messianic Congregation
I
must admit that I'm just a little bit bewildered.
I have been saved for 42 years now.
I have not been a person to experience a lot of dreams
or visions. In
the early 90's I had a dream that I would consider, a
spiritual dream. It
dealt with the treasures in the Word of God.
I have shared it often to encourage people to get into
the Word. I had
another dream in October 2005.
This was a dream that I felt had great prophetic
significance. I
have been fairly silent about this dream because I do not
consider myself to be a prophet.
I have also been fairly critical of those who do claim
to be prophets because most of them just don't seem to measure
up to what the Word of God says a prophet should be like.
I have just had another dream that tells me that I am
no longer to keep silent.
You will understand this more as we go through this.
So as I share this dream with you, I do so in the
spirit of Acts 2:17-21 which is a quote by Peter from Joel
2:28-32. One
phrase in this passage says, 28And your old men shall dream
dreams.”
A
Dream of Judgment
-
Late October 2005
I
was struggling with praying for the hurricane victims.
I certainly want to pray for those who are suffering
through this ordeal but at the same time I see all these
things as judgments from God.
My real prayer is that this country will wake up and
realize that this is a judgment from God and repent of their
evil ways. As I
watched the aftermath of Katrina, I saw the enormous
devastation and the very first business to open back up was a
tavern. There was a Gay Pride Parade scheduled for before the
Hurricane hit and I also understand that there was a Gay Pride
Parade scheduled for
New Orleans
for after the hurricane.
The promoters of this parade went ahead with it anyway.
They were in a sense making an obscene gesture at God,
just defying Him to try that again.
These are suppose to be poor abused victims?
What is it going to take before the people of this
country realize the seriousness of what they are doing?
How many more people have to die or loose everything?
As
I contemplated on these things, my mind shifted to here in
Oregon
. I had a dream recently:
I heard a knock on my door and when I went to answer
it, there were two men standing there.
They looked like ordinary men but I had never seen them
before. There was
something different about them, although I couldn’t put my
finger on it. There
was one interesting thing, however.
Whenever anyone comes up on our porch and knocks on the
door, our dog will start barking very loudly.
This time she didn’t.
They told me that I had to gather my emergency things
and get out of town as soon as possible.
I stood there stunned for a moment.
They said that God was going to bring judgment on this
area. Then my
mind shifted to the two angelic beings that warned
Lot
to get out of
Sodom
. I asked them if
we had time to warn our family and friends, and they said to
go ahead. I had
my wife start calling while I went out and started packing
emergency things into my pickup.
These two men came out and started helping me.
These men were very fast and efficient packers.
Some of the things I was packing in, they grabbed and
threw to one side. I
could tell by the urgency in their actions that this was no
time to argue with them.
As
we concluded the packing of the pickup, one of the men left
and came back in a couple of minutes leading my wife and dog
and they both literally pushed us into the pickup.
We had previously arranged with our family and members
of our congregation for a meeting place in case there was ever
an emergency and we had to evacuate.
These men told us to head out for our pre-arranged
meeting place and not to stop for anything.
I always keep my gas tanks as close to full as possible
so we didn’t have any excuse for stopping.
It
took us about and hour and fifteen minutes to get to the
meeting place. We
weren’t sure of what to do next so we started setting up a
camp. After about
twenty minutes someone from our congregation came in and
joined us. Over
the next two hours, more people in our congregation and family
members arrived. After
a little while, we felt a small trembling in the ground.
We all kind of just looked at each other.
We turned on a small radio to see if we could find out
anything. We
heard a report that a major earthquake had hit
Portland
and that major damage had occurred.
The report also said that Bonneville Dam had collapsed
because of the quake and that a wall of water was rushing down
the
Columbia
toward
Portland
.
My
thought now shifted to where I was above all of this watching
it all take place. There
was a big Gay Pride Parade going on in downtown
Portland
when the earthquake hit and buildings came tumbling down on
all of those there.
Portland
was in total devastation.
I’m not sure just how big the earthquake was but the
number of 9.2 seems significant.
There was also a major earthquake off the west coast
that started a tsunami. Not
too long after the quake in
Portland
, a wall of water from the collapse of the Bonneville Dam came
rushing through
Portland
. A little while
later another wall of water from the tsunami came up the
Columbia River
and it also came rushing through
Portland
.
Salem
was also totally leveled by the earthquake.
The loss of life in the whole
Willamette
Valley
was enormous. As
I looked around
Salem
, I saw a group of men. I
think that there was about twenty of them.
They all had large automatic weapons.
I had the feeling that they were terrorists but I’m
not sure. There
were a few survivors wandering around, dazed from their
injuries from the earthquake.
Whenever this group of men came upon anyone wandering
around, they would kill them.
They seemed to be looking for anyone they could kill.
There was no one to come against them.
Finally, after a long while, some National Guard troops
came on the scene but this gang had killed a lot of people by
this time and when they saw the troops, they just faded into
the rubble and escaped.
Later
as I thought through this, I tried to identify something that
would give us an idea of the date it was going to take place.
The only thing that I could identify was that there was
a large gay pride parade in downtown
Portland
when the earthquake hit.
So I set about to try and find out when the next big
gay pride parade was scheduled in
Portland
. The answer to
that came back as June 18th, which is Father’s
Day. We set about
to plan a congregation picnic that day at a campground about
60 miles East of Salem. Prior
to my dream, we had already had an emergency planning meeting
about the place out there. We
learned that the place we planned to meet was now blocked off
so we selected another site nearby.
We wanted to stay in that area because the two men that
came to my house in the dream said that we were to go to the
area we had already arranged for.
As
the days clicked off, we went about our normal activities and
doing some planning for the big June 18th day.
One day someone called who heard about my dream and
said that
Detroit
Lake
was not a good place. We
should select somewhere else.
As I carefully thought about this, I realized that God
had already given us His stamp of approval through the two men
who came to my door. They
told us to flee to our predetermined location.
There was nothing said about changing locations at that
time.
Just
a few days ago, someone came by and said that they had done
some checking on the gay pride activities at that time.
They said that there were major activities as well as
parades scheduled for both the 17th (Saturday) and
the 18th (Sunday).
They suggested that we increase our campground
reservations from one day to two.
This is not that easy to do.
I began asking my Heavenly Father what to do.
This now sets the stage for my latest dream.
A
Dream of Confirmation
-
May 11, 2006
One
thing I’ve learned about a dream from God, you are so
actively involved in the dream that there is no way to forget
it when it is over.
In
this dream, there was a very strange shape being assembled.
It was like a cylinder that had a very irregular shape.
There were a lot of pieces on the table next to it.
They reminded me of jigsaw puzzle pieces and yet they
were nothing like puzzle pieces.
There were no tabs or offsetting cutouts.
There were no patterns or changing colors so that you
could match them up with where they went.
There was no way to identify any markings so that you
could figure out where they went.
You just had to take each piece and try it and keep
trying it until you found a place it would fit.
I was getting very frustrated because of the difficulty
of this. Finally,
in complete desperation, I cried out, “Father, what am I
suppose to be doing?” No
answer. Then
again, “Father, what am I doing here?”
After several attempts with no answer, I heard a voice
say, “Shmoneh Esrei.”
“Shmoneh
Esrei!!!!” What
am I suppose to do with that?
I knew that the Shmoneh Esrei was a list of prayers
that have been a part of the Jewish Synagogue service for the
past 1800 years. But
what am I suppose to do with it.
How does it fit in with what I am involved in with
assembling this cylinder?
Have
you ever been involved in a research project of some kind
where the material was very difficult to understand.
At some point in your studies you all of a sudden
“get it.” You
start rejoicing and dancing around.
This is kind of what happened next for me.
I suddenly realized that “Shmoneh Esrei” is also
the Hebrew word for the number eighteen.
I had been asking the Father to show me the date for
this Father’s Day outing.
I needed to know whether it was just the 18th
or both the 17th and the 18th.
He just showed me that it was the 18th only.
I
entered into rejoicing and praising His Holy Name when all of
a sudden my bubble popped.
Why did He do that?
I was already on a course of obedience for the 18th.
If He had done nothing, I would have continued on my
course of preparing for the 18th.
He must have had some specific reason for showing me.
I prayed on this for some time and then it came to me.
When God repeats something it is because it is
determined by Him. He
wanted me to tell people about this.
WHAT???????
I
was trying to maintain a low key profile on this.
I said that I wasn’t a prophet and I didn’t want to
give the impression that I was trying to set myself up as one.
Now all of a sudden I realize that He wants me to warn
the people of the
Willamette
Valley
with what He has shown me.
My first response was, “You’ve got to be
kidding!” Then
all of a sudden Ezekiel 3:17-21 came to mind.
“Son of man, I have appointed you a watchman to the
house of Israel; whenever you hear a word from My mouth, warn
them from Me. 18 "When I say to the wicked, 'You will
surely die,' and you do not warn him or speak out to warn the
wicked from his wicked way that he may live, that wicked man
shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at
your hand. 19 "Yet if you have warned the wicked and he
does not turn from his wickedness or from his wicked way, he
shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered yourself. 20
"Again, when a righteous man turns away from his
righteousness and commits iniquity, and I place an obstacle
before him, he will die; since you have not warned him, he
shall die in his sin, and his righteous deeds which he has
done shall not be remembered; but his blood I will require at
your hand. 21 "However, if you have warned the righteous
man that the righteous should not sin and he does not sin, he
shall surely live because he took warning; and you have
delivered yourself." (See also Ezekiel 33:8 & 9).
Talk
about being in the hot seat.
I am literally trembling in my shoes.
If I speak up and nothing happens then I emerge as a
false prophet and if I don’t speak up and something does
happen then the curse that I just quoted in Ezekiel falls on
me. I guess
I’ll just trust in my Heavenly Father and freely share with
you what He has shown me.
Now,
lest I be accused of taking passages out of context, let’s
take a careful look at the passages in Ezekiel and ask the
question, “What are these people being warned of?”
Are they being warned to flee from the coming judgment?
No. They
are being warned to flee from their wicked ways or they will
not escape the coming judgment.
Therefore, we are to warn the people of the
Willamette
Valley
to flee from their wicked ways or they will be caught up in
the judgment of June 18th.
Why
has little tiny Beth Tefilah been called out to proclaim this
message? Because
Beth Tefilah is one of just a few congregations that openly
proclaims the total Word of God.
We openly proclaim that the Torah is very much relevant
for today in terms what is righteous living.
Many churches proclaim that the Law (Torah) has been
done away with. Beth
Tefilah (as well as other Messianic congregations) proclaims
that only the penalty of the Torah has been done away with
while the Torah itself as a true guide for daily righteous
living is still very much alive and well.
If you are not sure just where you stand let me
encourage you to contact one of the Messianic congregations in
this area and talk it out with them.
I will be happy to give out names and phone numbers to
anyone who asks.
Now
obviously, there is not enough room in this little handout to
cover every detail of what it will take to escape the coming
wrath of God so we will just cover some of the key issues.
The
first and top priority for every man, woman, and young person
on the face of this earth is to deal with their relationship
with Yeshua (the Hebrew name for Jesus.)
If you don’t have a personal relationship with Yeshua,
then nothing else you do matters.
Acts
4:12
says, “"And there is salvation in no one else; for
there is no other name under heaven that has been given among
men by which we must be saved.”
There is no salvation in any pious religious leader,
there is salvation in no good sounding code of ethics.
There is not even salvation in keeping the Torah.
If you do not have salvation in Yeshua, then you do not
have salvation. John
3:36
goes on to say, “He who believes in the Son has eternal
life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but
the wrath of God abides on him.”
This is not me saying this, it is the Word of God.
If you call me to talk about anything in this handout,
we will start with your relationship with Yeshua.
Without that we have nowhere else to go.
The
next logical step is to move into the Ten Commandments.
I have had many people proudly announce to me that they
live by the Ten Commandments.
When I quiz them a little further I find out that they
don’t even know where to find the Ten Commandments in the
Word of God. Just
to help you out if you happen to be in that category, I will
tell you where to find them.
They are listed in two places.
The first is in Exodus 20:1-17 and the other place is
in Deuteronomy 5:6-21. Others
who claim to live by the Ten Commandments don’t even know
what is contained in them.
Let’s list them and see just how much about them you
really know.
Ex
20:2-17
#1
I am YHVH (The LORD)
your God, who brought you out of the
land
of
Egypt
, out of the house of slavery.
"You shall have
no other gods before Me.
#2
" You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any
likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or
in the water under the earth. 5 " You shall not worship
them or serve them; for I, YHVH (The LORD) your God, am a
jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the
children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who
hate Me, 6 but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those
who love Me and keep My commandments.
#3
" You shall not take The Name of YHVH (The LORD)
your God in vain, for YHVH (The LORD) will not leave him
unpunished who takes His Name in vain.
#4
"Remember the Sabbath (Seventh) day, to keep it
holy. 9 " Six days you shall labor and do all your work,
10 but the seventh day is a sabbath of YHVH (The LORD) your
God; in it you
shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your
male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner
who stays with you. 11 " For in six days YHVH (The LORD)
made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in
them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore YHVH (The LORD)
blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.
#5
" Honor your father and your mother, that your
days may be prolonged in the land which YHVH (The LORD) your
God gives you.
#6
" You shall not murder.
#7
" You shall not commit adultery.
#8
" You shall not steal.
#9
" You shall not bear false witness against your
neighbor.
#10
" You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you
shall not covet your neighbor's wife or his male servant or
his female servant or his ox or his donkey or anything that
belongs to your neighbor."
We
could get into a real discussion about each one of these but
we don’t have the time or the space to do it here.
Let me just draw your attention to number 4.
This involved keeping the Sabbath holy.
We are not talking about what day you go to church on,
we are talking about what you do on the Sabbath (Saturday).
Do you treat it as a holy day or do you profane it by
treating it just like any other day of the week.
Do you set it apart as a separate day or do you mow
your lawn and any number of other odd jobs.
At
this point we could go in any number of directions, but let me
just refer you to Acts 15.
In the early days of the church, the church consisted
of only Jewish believers.
There were no gentiles.
In Acts 10, the Holy Spirit of God led Peter to the
house of Cornelius where the grace of God was freely extended
to the non-Jews. As
time passed many non-Jews came to faith in Messiah Yeshua.
Many started coming along with a perverted sense of
what these former pagans needed to do to truly be considered
believers in Yeshua. To
clarify all of the confusion that was developing, the leaders
called the first “Church” counsel.
The question they needed to deal with was “What do we
do with all of these former pagans that want to believe in the
Jewish Messiah?” The
leaders in
Jerusalem
realized that the most important thing these new believers
could do would be to go where they could study the Torah.
That, of course, was done every Shabbat in the
synagogue. The
problem was, that the Jews would have nothing to do with the
pagans because of their evil lifestyles.
So what instructions could these leaders give to these
new believers so that they would be acceptable to the Jews so
that they could get in and study the Torah?
In Acts 15:19-21, Ya'akov (James) addresses the
assembly and says, “Therefore it is my judgment that we do
not trouble those who are turning to God from among the
Gentiles, but that we write to them that they abstain from
things contaminated by idols and from fornication and from
what is strangled and from blood.
If these new believers would do these four minimum
things, they would be considered acceptable to the Jews.
Ya'akov continues in verse 21 with, "For Moses
from ancient generations has in every city those who preach
him, since he is read in the synagogues every Sabbath."
They could now be taught the Torah on a weekly basis.
My
concern now is that you get to where you can sit under the
teachings of the Torah on a weekly basis.
The only places that I am aware of that is committed to
this are the Messianic congregations.
This is of the utmost importance for you.
DO NOT accept any substitute.
So
how can you prepare for June 18th?
On Friday, the 16th, make sure that your
vehicle is fully gassed up.
Make sure that you have some cash on hand.
If this earthquake actually happens, your bank will
probably not be accessible for at least a week.
Do not rely on Credit Cards.
If the devastation was as complete as I saw in my
dream, there won’t be anyone around that will accept a
Credit Card.
Load
up at least a weeks worth of food and water and a shelter and
leave. If
Father’s Day ends without anything happening then praise God
and return home. If
something does happen then you can praise God again because
you are safe. You
can survey the situation and determine what your options are.
LD
Beth
Tefilah Messianic Congregation
P.O. Box 4189
–
Salem
,
OR
97302
Meeting
at: Shekina
Fellowship
2765 Broadway St. NE
Salem
,
OR
97303
(503) 393-0796
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