February 2018
While John was locked up in prison, spending some years in an isolation cell, he had a dream. In this dream he was standing by a river. There was every variety of boat in the river – some big, some small, some elaborate, some with patches, some racers, some for fishing. Every kind of boat one can imagine. Each of these boats were fishing – for Souls. John would call out to them, telling them to cast a net across the river and they could catch all the fish before they went over a falls in the distance. Voices from the boats would yell back to John, telling him to leave them alone. They had been doing this for thousands of years, and they knew what they were doing. They didn't need, or want, John's help, influence, or assistance.
In the water John saw every kind of fish. They looked demon possessed, with bulging eyes, distorted features, and long sharp teeth – only their teeth were made of rubber and they could not bite John as he put his hands into the water to pull the fish out and toss them onto the shore. Some fish would swallow his entire arm as he pulled them from the water, yet they could not harm him. The fish bit and gashed their teeth at John as he reached his hand into the river to toss them onto the shore. All the while he was yelling to the boats to throw a net in the water – across the river - if they wanted to get all the fish before they went over the falls. The voices from the boats began cursing at John, telling him to leave them alone. They knew what they were doing, for they had been doing this for thousands of years! John awoke from the dream, and Spirit let John to know the meaning of the dream. It was message John did not want, and still does not want to this day. It is reminiscent of Christ Jesus, in the garden, asking his Father that if it were possible the cup (of his Purpose) be taken from him. Yet, “Not my will, but Thine, be done". John does not want this. Like Jonah, he would like to run from this task, but he doesn't want to be swallowed by a whale (a little brevity).
On Valentine’s Day, 2018, as we were parked in our small, van style, 1986 Chevy Midas motorhome – homeless, at Sherwood Park in Salinas, California - John was called to the street by a group of Christians who had come to feed the homeless, give them gifts, show them a movie, and tell them of Jesus. As John was conversing with a Pastor and a church member his gaze was drawn to the grouping of church people who were there, along with the few homeless in attendance. In this group he saw a man who looked very much out of place. He was tall and slender, with pale white skin. His hair was dark and long and in beautiful curls the whole length. The man had a beard and was dressed effeminate, and as in drag, with an elaborately and richly ornamented long robe and shawl on his head. He was quite beautiful, and, again, effeminate as a woman. The man appeared to be smiling, mingling, and ‘conversing' with the group without actually saying anything. He turned and looked directly at John, into his eyes. The man's eyes were black, the smile left his face, and he put his finger to his lips as if to shush John. The Pastor's voice, along with that of the church member standing with John, had faded into obscurity. It was just John and this strangely dressed man. The man took his finger from his lips and motioned it away to point at John. John looked away and went back to the conversation he was having with the Pastor and the church member. It took a moment for John to regroup and hear what they were saying. He forgot about the strange man, who could no longer be seen standing among the group.
The following day John and I were having a conversation of a spiritual nature, as we often do. All of a sudden he nearly startled at the returning memory of the strangely dressed man he had seen walking among the church people the night before. John related the experience to me, and as he was talking the thought of ‘the Whore Of Babylon’ came into my head, persistently. Finally, as John neared the conclusion of the account, he said, “I think it was the Whore Of Babylon”. I told him that the same thought had come to me. I looked up Whore Of Babylon in the Bible. Here is what I found from Revelations 17 in the Bible:
“…Then the angel carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness. There I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns. The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and was glittering with gold, precious stones, and pearls. She held a golden cup in her hand, filled with abominable things and the filth of her adulterers. The name written on her forehead was a mystery: BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF PROSTITUTES, AND THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of God's holy people, the blood of those who bore testimony to Jesus. …the waters you saw, where the prostitute sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations, and languages. The beast and the ten horns you saw will hate the prostitute. They will bring her to ruin and leave her naked; they will eat her flesh and burn her with fire. …the woman you saw is the great city that rules over the kings of the earth.”
I went online, as a matter of curiosity, to see what commentary might be there on the Whore Of Babylon. The one which most resonated with me was this. (I didn't document the source, so I have since been unable to find it in order to give proper credit.): “As a prostitute, she reduces intimate relationships to a commercial transaction and relates to anyone who is willing to pay. Enamored with luxury, she wears opulent clothing and jewels, yet she is drunk with the blood of the saints.”
He/she (the Whore Of Babylon) is walking among the people of the churches right now, today. It is the Spirit of greed and commerce pervasive in the churches and its' peoples, and in the hearts and minds of those of the world system. It is the Spirit of rebellion toward God, and dependence and faith in the world system (666), rather than faith in the system of the Divine Kingdom – it’s philosophy, governance, and economy. It is a powerful delusion they have loved more than the truth. (2 Thessalonians 2:11)
The blood of the ‘holy people’, which the Whore of Babylon feeds on, is not only a slaughter of Christians, which the Bible assures will happen. The Whore Of Babylon is akin to a vampire sucking on the life blood of the children of the Heavenly Creator. The vampire – the dead, which imparts death upon its' victim when once bitten – carries with it an enticement, not the least of which is an ‘eternal life’ of wealth and power. It is all a lie from hell, mimicking the eternal life given only through Christ Jesus, and the true riches of Heaven.
Salt keeps the vampire at bay. “You are the salt of the earth. Yet, if the salt loses its' saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.” (Matthew 5:13) When a vampire comes knocking at your door you are safe as long as you do not issue an invitation for it to come in. And, the most well known demise of a vampire is exposure to the light of the sun (Son). These remedies are folklore, of course, yet there is some truth in the symbols. Today people are obsessed with vampires. They want the wealth, the power, the eternal life of the living dead which, in the end, is eternity in hell. The eternal life Christ Jesus offers is real, incorruptible, and Heavenly.
Nearly a week after John encountered the strange man among the Christian group in Salinas, he had a dream. In this dream John was looking out the front window of the motorhome, where he usually was sitting, when he saw a black horse and rider galloping across the sunshiny blue and cloudy sky. The black rider had brilliant white eyes and white teeth, as diamonds, that John could see. The teeth were bared. The rider was looking in the direction facing John, and holding what appeared to be scales in his left hand. The horse and rider appeared one dimensional and to be moving as marionettes in a play, although they were quite real in appearance. John could see what looked like all the muscles and tendons in the horse and rider, as like what would be in the Grey's Anatomy book. Their transparent skin was black and shiny like onyx, and at first John thought they were stone. The black horse and rider glistened where the sun shown upon them. They were fully black, except for the aforementioned eyes and teeth of the rider. John exclaimed his sighting to the individual with him in the motorhome (most likely me). Then he awoke from the dream.
In Revelations 6, of the Bible, one will read of the seven seals, and the four horsemen. The first seal is the White Horse. His rider has a bow, and is bent on conquest. The second Horse is a fiery red horse and its' rider is given power to take peace from the earth, and to make people kill one a other. To this rider was given a large sword. The sword can be indicative of not only hostility, but also of contentious and powerful words.
On the night following the election of Trump as President, John and I saw a picture of the United States on the NASA website on the phone where we had been watching the election results (how that showed up I couldn't tell you). As we watched, a blanket of red began from down in the southernmost tip of Florida and made it’s way up, covering the entire United States. We have not been able to find that video since then. Red is the color of hostility and war. Since Trump has been in office as President, hostilities have risen nationally, and across the globe, largely inspired by his rhetoric and lies.
I consider the noisy and boastful Little Horn mentioned in the book of Daniel, chapters 7 & 8. There are others who share the belief that Donald Trump is the Little Horn of the end times (https://atoday.org/a-new-interpretation-of-the-little-horn-of-daniel-7/). The devout following of so many Christians for Trump causes me to consider the scripture in Thessalonians 2:11 which tells of a great deception God sends, because it is what the people want. There will come a separation, and a falling away, of many in the 'Church' (2 Timothy 4:3,4). Do not be deceived. To be patriotic, and unswervingly loyal to Trump, can replace following Christ Jesus, and obedience to the Heavenly Father. Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and HIS righteousness. Be in the world, not of the world.
The third seal is the black horse and rider. The rider holds a scales in his hand. He is accompanied by a voice that cries out, “Two pounds of wheat for a day's wages, and six pounds of barley for a day's wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!” Economy and sustenance … and America's (and the world's) is based upon a delusion (numbers that are not real), and it is failing. John's dream of the Black Horse, and Rider, came just days before Trump's tariffs. The earth will soon fail in its' yield, having been pillaged of its' resource and sustenance. That which rises must fall. And to the equal height it rises, it shall fall, and even more.
With the fourth seal comes the pale horse and rider – whose name is Death – and these are soon upon us. Hades follows close behind him. They are given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine, plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth. You see, things are happening at break neck speed. The time of the seals is, and has been, upon us.
Shortly after we arrived in Salinas there was a seventy year old Hispanic man, living in his car, who took a liking to John. Initially John did not want the man around. Yet, the man would leave (he went by the name 'Pops'), and then return with a gift of a head of lettuce, cigarettes for John, cookies, etc. They developed a friendship. The old man was just lonely and afraid. He hovered, parked in his car, around our motorhome. He felt safe around us, and a sense of connection. One morning he told John that there was a group of about twenty people behind our motorhome the night before. He said they were waiting on a man who wanted them to join a club, or a cult. Then he told John that they asked him to join, and the old man told them, “No! I do not want to join.” As John and the old man were speaking, the old man pointed beyond John and past the motorhome and said, “There are two of them right there, now!” John turned around and looked and there was no one there. He told the old man, “There's no one there". The old man insisted the two people, who were among the crowd last night waiting on a man to join a club, were standing right behind our motorhome in plain sight. The old man then saw ‘gangsters’ for the remainder of the day. He hovered around for protection, and was quite disturbed.
I have no doubt what the man saw. Many who are labeled schizophrenic sometimes see things which the rest of us cannot see. This does not mean that what they see isn't ‘real’. Perhaps we cannot know for a certainty. Yet, I believe there are malevolent forces (demons) which are in place to come against John and I, and the message we are to bring as part of our purpose and testimony. It is important to don the whole Armor of God, everyday, in preparation for the spiritual battles we face.
John was warned by the adorned man to keep quiet (and I am not sure there is a force in existence that can silence John). I say that in humor. Yet, we have no fear or concern of the demonic forces of darkness when we walk in obedience to the Heavenly Father in Christ Jesus, and set to the task we are given. We all are given all authority over principalities and powers of the Spirit realm, by the authority of the Name of Christ Jesus, the Hope of Glory. No fear! Yet, still, there is that inside of us which balks and says, take this cup from me – yet, not my will, but Thine.
Jesus says, “Watch that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah’, and will deceive many… false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible is even the very elect…” We are tempted and led astray by our own desires. This is the place where great and powerful deceptions begin. Do not be afraid. Examine everything in the Light of Jesus Christ, and by His truth as found in the Holy Bible. His Holy Spirit will lead us into all truth. Fear Yahweh, die to self, and be reborn in Christ Jesus. Choose obedience to the Father. Prodigal Child, return Home to the Father. Become in accord with His mind, and His heart. Trust in Jesus Christ, for He is the Door, and no one will enter the Kingdom of God except through Him. Amen.
