Quick Overview- from first becoming a
Christian (1977) until 1995
My first
vision as a young Christian began with the Lord in His power
as an extremely large hurricane-like storm. This vision was
given while I slept and required no interpretation
from myself, since I understood the messages in the vision as
I experienced them.
The experience was a lot like
the end of the Raiders Of The Lost Ark movie (although that movie did
not come out until over 5 years later). As a result, I am amazed to
this day at 'Christians' who have no fear of the Lord!
I had no dreams or
visions which had storms in them again until nine years later--This
time at the end of the vision the Lord spoke to me from the gathering
storm above. Again, this vision required little
interpretation on most of the parts of it. I have decided not to
reproduce it here on this website because most of it is too personal
and it would serve no usefulness for the Christian public.
There were no storms
at all in any of my dreams until seven years later. I do not
typically dream of storms anyhow. Then, over the next 10 years, I
occasionally dreamed about storms or massive amounts of
water. I could tell these dreams were obviously from God.
However, I was often
puzzled as to some or all of their meaning. By happenstance,
I discovered other people at the time were also having dreams or
visions with similar symbols, and were sometimes similarly
puzzled.
(see VISIONS OR DREAMS
REGARDING STORMS/TORNADOES in our 'prophecies'
section, for a few of these examples)
DREAMS
DEPICTING STORMS/FLOODS/TORNADOS - from 1995 on
First
Dream- The Flood
into the Octagon shaped building- 1995
During a period of
lots of intercession over
my local church, I had an astonishing dream. The dream opened up with
an
inside view of a windowless building with bare walls. I saw
the people
playing around in a little bit of water in this building. They were
members
of my church (I.C. - institutional church). They splashed
around
in this water and made much of it, even though there was not a whole
lot
of water. The view then pulled back to a much larger view.
For a
moment, I saw this building's structure and the structure of other
buildings
connected to it. This building was connected to another building by a
hall,
which was then connected to another, and another, and another-- too
many
for me to count in the dream. Each building was octagon shaped and
exactly
like the others.
There was a whole
ocean full of water around
the building, and my impression was that no one knew about this water
outside
of the building(s). They only had their small amount of water to play
in
on the inside. Then everyone in the building (I did not see
the leaders,
though) moved into a small hall of the building. They all stood up,
lined
up against the wall, almost rigidly. They were waiting for another
wave--a
bigger one, that the leaders told them to anticipate. The hall was dark
with little light.
Suddenly I cried out
to them. I knew there
was very little time left and I shouted to them a warning. At
the
same time, I opened a previously unknown side door in the hall that
they
were standing in. I stood in the door after I had opened it, and
shouted
to them very loudly, "GET OUT, GET OUT! YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT IS COMING!"
The door I opened was the way out and there was light outside. The
light
on the outside shown on their faces in the darkened hall. They looked
puzzled
at me, and talked amongst themselves. They seemed to think I was a
little
crazy. I was frantically waving to them, knowing that they only had a
few
seconds before I had to close the door and exit completely. Then some
of
them shrugged their shoulders, "Well," they said, "We will let our
children
go to her...Surely she can't do them too much harm (as if I was a
baby-sitter
and they needed to do church anyhow? I don't know) Then they released
their
children, and the children ran to my open arms--Just in time. I closed
the door, but the adult church members were left in this tightly sealed
hall.
I could see through
the door and the wall
even though I had closed the door. As soon as I closed the
door--WHOOSH!
a powerful wave ran through the hall--as high and strong and fast as a
tidal wave. It went all the way to the roof as it completely submerged
the people in the hall. My feelings at the time were of great
alarm.
The wave was very quick and powerful and then it was gone. I totally
expected
that all the people inside were drowned in the wave--swept away. Yet to
my surprise the wave did not sweep them away. I opened the door as soon
as the wave passed through. They were still standing in their places,
yet
they were as overwhelmed as anyone would be who had just gone through a
tidal wave. They sputtering and coughing and gasped for air. Most of
all
they were very surprised--It was clear that they had all indeed almost
drowned. I went back inside to help them.
End of dream and I
woke up, very distressed
by the dream. I could not sleep for the rest of the night. I knew that
if I warned the people of the church. I also knew that they would not
listen.
Even so, it seemed I was to warn them.
Fulfillment and interpretation:
The building and the wave
First of all it seemed to me that the
water
represented the Holy Spirit. The people there were playing in a small
amount
of water yet thinking they had a lot, although they did not. At that
time
this local church boasted it was not a denomination. However,
even
at the time of the dream, I was quite certain that the 'cookie
cutter'
buildings, all exactly the same yet connected, indicated a very strict
organization. Public events of its organizational headquarters later
proved
that the buildings in the dream most definitely spoke of the strict
'shape' of a denomination. Only a denomination would fly
it's American founder and leader up to Canada
to 'excommunicate' an entire church -- a church who at the time was in
controversy and was therefore an embarrassment to them. The American
leader superceded the autonomy of the Canadian leaders in order to do
so, too, which was against their structural policy at the
time.
You may notice that
the leaders had everyone line up in a nice little row against the hall,
telling them to expect the next 'wave'. All of this could be
said
to have occurred after the dream. In fact, the "wave"
terminology
has been used since by many. This is all I can say without putright
revealing the name of the denomination.
Even though I did not
have full interpretation
of the dream at the time, I knew that neither the contents of the dream
nor the partial interpretation as I knew it then would be
accepted.
I had many good reasons for knowing this, not the least of which
was the the dream itself. For one thing, the Lord had already told me
about a year
earlier that this church was in spiritual pride over their denomination
and their original founder. When He told me this,
I wanted to leave the church immediately. However, the Lord said
"No."
Instead, He told me a few other things to do and to expect, over the
course
of the next year or so.
When I had this
dream, I called an
intercessor leader and shared it with him. His response was that he had
a quick vision from the Lord while in the church itself. This vision
was
of a tornado that struck the church. When the tornado was
done the
only thing left was a single red flower in a vase, on top of a small
table.
He shared it with the leaders privately and they chuckled at his dream
and told him he was definitely not a prophet. Quite a few
other people
had dreams of warning or prophecies that the church leaders would not
accept.
Eventually the intercessor leader stepped down as elder and then left
the
church.
Hostility and dismissal
Just as in the dream,
I ended up not being completely
quiet toward this church. I did share some things. However, at the
time, I did
not know those things would be so difficult for certain church leaders
to hear.
This was
because they were in line with what they said they stood for, and what
their
main headquarters already taught to be true. I did not imagine the hostility to
come from my sharing. It would take many pages to tell the extent of it
all, even though I departed from attending their church rather quickly
and in a peaceful manner. They had no cause to further concern
themselves with me, and yet slander and other acts continued for a full
seven months after
I had left! It was
so intense that we even considered moving out of town, but the Lord had
other plans.
The Lord guided me
through this process of
rejection and notified me of certain things ahead of time. I suppose
this was His Grace, to prepare me for it.
This dream was one of those notifications. Indeed, the dream
was
an indicator that it was time for me to leave, and not to be surprised
by how members of the church would perceive me as I left.
The children
There were
only a couple of people
who would continue to talk to me after the slander. One of them was a
younger person I ministered
to after I left the church. A full five years later or
so,
she came to our house and announced that it was my husband and I who
had
really been her 'pastor' all along. Afterwards she left that
church,
the town, and then the state. She and a few others might have
represented
by the "children" in the dream. I have no explanation for "going back
inside" except that I have talked to a number of people
afterwards about the other things the Lord showed me about the
denomination. A couple of those people have included prominent leaders
within the organization, either while they were still in or after they
had left.
Many years afterwards
As for me, I was happy
to have left the church
and have gone on to the much better adventure the Lord had for me
outside
of its walls. Certainly the "ocean" outside was much
larger and 'wetter'. So, I soon gave the Senior Pastor and
others involved little thought
during the years following. However, by a series of strange
coincidences,
about ten years later, I met with a woman revivalist I knew who was
coming
into town. Her meetings were originally scheduled to be held
in a
homechurch. However, members of my old local church wanted her to come
there instead. According to what was told me by the
homechurch people,
the members of my old local church complained that they
felt "dry" and
had been for years, and were desparate. I recognized
the names of people who had been at
that church so many years ago while I was there-- people who knew about
at least some of this Senior Pastor's activities, and people whose
faces
I had seen in the hall, in the dream.
After some
deliberation I decided to tell
this revivalist about the letter I had gotten from that church's Senior
Pastor, the one which disinviting me from ever walking into that church
again, or for that matter any other church in town who was involved in
any way with that church. This included their city-wide renewal
meetings
those years ago, although at the time I certainly was not against their
renewal.
After this revivalist
came to town, we ended
up meeting her on our own. It was at that time that my husband and I
found
out that this same Senior Pastor was in the hospital, dying of cancer.
Of course, I do not rejoice in this. I have tried not to think about it
since. However, naturally I'm sure such an event is a
traumatic one
for those church members I used to know. Soon after my meeting with
this revivalist, the pastor did die an early death. I believe the
interpretation of
the shock and pain of the people in the dream who had stayed behind, is
now an obvious one.
Finally
Just after I had this
dream about the octagon
building, I found out that other people were starting to have
dreams
about storms and they were sharing them on the internet. Most
of
these people were in the same denomination I spoke about above. I
noticed that if you paid attention to their
theme, these dreams often mirrored the principle of 1 Corinth 3:10-15
and
Matt. 7:24-27. I have frequently counseled people who were astonished
by the dreams and visions they have had from God, telling them to leave this denomination, or
their local church of this denomination. When they contacted me, they
generally had no idea that I once attended a church of this
denomination once ago, or had similar warnings and revealings about the
common problems of this denomination.
Brothers and sisters, we
should not be too
astonished at these types of dreams and subsequent developments. Others
have experienced and known this type of thing before.
The question is,
will the compromising Christians
of today begin to repudiate wicked leadership and seek God again? Will
they humble themselves in sorrow
and in tears? Or, are they too satisfied with religious distractions,
content
to instead frolic around in the superficial, and unwilling to recognize
their
sin and departure from the New Testament faith? When
the Lord has so
taken effort to warn, entreating them to once again make Him their
first
love as He did through myself and others (all at the same time)--- How
can we expect the Lord to not them to their idols, and to what they
prefer? Many folks do not believe that the Spirit
will forsake religious men and
their groups, but scriptures shows He sometimes does. As
Jesus says,
"...the house is left to you desolate." Matt. 23:38
Two Dreams given in
August, 1996:
Dream #1:
There were
'companions' with me. The sky was dark, and tornados
were popping up and traveling in many different directions all over the
landscape. In the dream, I was leading to the 'safest' place to get out of
the way from each tornado as they were coming. I had the ability to
'spot' the next tornado coming, and know which way it was going to
travel, and so did some of the others with me. It was very clear that I
was not the only one to lead in this way. In fact, we took turns, as various
people were also able to 'see' and know where to go next.
Whoever was the 'spotter' at the time would point to the next place to
go, and the rest of us would take the direction. I noticed many of
these 'spotters' were women, yet the men did not have a problem with
this. There was a great sense of unity, and all of us functioned
together to keep out of danger. This happened throughout the dream. The
last tornado was quite large. It
was my turn again at that time to be the 'spotter' and I knew that this
tornado was going to travel along the ditch we were in! I was a little
anxious, but then understood that God would keep us safe while we
stayed in the ditch. This did not make sense in the natural at all,
since the tornado was heading right toward us in all its fury.
Even so, I
informed the other 'companions' of what we need to do, and we all stood
waist deep in the
water of the ditch as the tornado traveled toward us. I knew we would
be safe, and the tornado did not touch us. End.
Initial
Interpretation (within and just after the dream):
This is about
prophetic gifting and direction. It is important to
remain humble and in unity. Even those who are 'spotters' will take a
rest and listen to others. We are not to be alone and it is wise to
work cooperatively, respecting what God has given each. We are to heed
whatever the Lord says. The water in the ditch represented the Holy
Spirit.
Later
understanding:
As a child and teenager, I lived in Florida
where tornados were not often known except as "spin-offs" of a
hurricane. My father has always had an understanding and appreciation
of the weather, and was quite good at 'predicting' the weather with his
knowledge of it. We lived in a trailer, and trailers are well-known to
be tornado fodder. I remember that once when I was a teenager, my
father made it a point to tell me that if a tornado comes, the safest
place would not be inside, but rather in any ditch by our trailer. He
said don't be embarrassed to get in a ditch, and get as low to the
ground as you can, for it can save your life. The ditch represented the 'lowest' point, or true, disciplined humility.
I believe that
as we listen to our heavenly Father, the weather
will be known to us --enough so that we will not be caught unawares
(Matt. 16:2-3). Since I was outside of what later became known as the
"I.C." at the time of the dream, we were 'outside' in the dream too.
The interactive and cooperative way we changed leadership according to
the gifts (instead of depending on one person all the time) also
represented the ideal of the way co-leadership (Eph. 4:11)
as we worked outside of the non-I.C. There was no gender biased because we were outside of the I.C.
Dream 2:
I was inside a
sturdy house. I was the only one downstairs while
everyone else (I didn't see them) was upstairs. It was obvious that
these people were not my family members as in my earthly family, but
they were my 'companions'. I did not go upstairs in the dream. I saw a
huge approaching tornado coming from the side. There was no way to
avoid it. There were evil spirits that looked like wisps of air, and
they came ahead of the tornado. However, I had no indications that
there was tornado itself was demonic. It actually seemed to be of God.
It was safest to stay away from the windows until they were shut
completely, yet I was there to do a job. I had a set amount of time,
and my job was to close the storm windows. If I did not close them
well, some of the 'wisps' would get in and cause destruction inside the
house. I had to work fast, yet I did not have to be perfect in my work.
The 'wisps' were actually quite easy to keep out. I only had to make
sure both the regular window and storm window was closed. I was able to
get my job done, just in time. After getting the windows shut, there
was like a brief 'skip' in time, and I was shown the next scene as
doing CPR on someone, and calling on another with more knowledge to
help. At that time, people were filtering downstairs too. It seemed
that once my 'job' at the windows was done, then the other people did
not have to stay upstairs any more. Also, since my job of closing the
windows was done, I would be able to walk freely in the house just as
the others were now able to. End.
Interpretation:
This refers to
the role of gift of discernment in the coming storm.
It was important to keep anything not of God out of the dwelling place.
I have already experienced some of this coming true, with another
vision/dream which notified me of an attack and the nature of a
demonic-like attack that 'got through' a window. This referred to an
actual event shortly thereafter, involving a brother who pretended to
be unified with us. However, once he could not get us to be loyal
followers of Gene Edwards, he responded by viciously slandering and
rejecting. Because of the warning in my dream just before he started
his slander, I understood his activities were demonicly inspired and
was therefore prepared for the confrontation.
The CPR refers
to counseling/first aid mercy for those who have
fainted. This is also related to the gift of discernment, since we are
alerted by God about who is 'in trouble'. I understood this because of
other spiritual indications of the past, related to my being a nurse (I
am a nurse and have been trained in actual CPR) I believe the upstairs
room refers to waiting upon the Holy Spirit, as in the Upper Room.
Fulfillment,
2001: This dream has come true, metaphorically
speaking. By listening to the gift of discernment and through emergency
intervention, actual lives were saved, including more than one suicide
prevention. These events were just as 'up close and personal' as CPR
would be. The prophetic gift/discernment was used (words of
knowledge/wisdom...to us personally). Our interventions were
accompanied by difficulties (trials and tribulations), some of which
were generated by church elders and a legalistic youth leader of an
I.C. church we did not attend, and some because a teenager lied because
he was afraid of his parents (he later confessed this to myself, in
private). Although the hostilities were also directed at one of our
children, our family came through okay with quite a lot of effort on
our part. Even though the unseen 'companions' were all adults in the
dream, it is possible that the dream loosely represented our house and
the protection of our family and friends. It is possible that this
dream, like others have been, had what I call a "double layer" meaning
-- In this one, one fulfillment for the present and another for the
future.
SIDENOTE: BASIC
EDUCATION REGARDING TORNADOS (not
a prophecy, dream, or vision):
Tornados
form in a 'storm cell'
made from two conflicting fronts (Usually from cold front and warm
front)--
Powerful 'storm cells' can generate many tornados. One storm in Texas
generated
25 tornadoes before they stopped counting. Hurricanes can also generate
tornados. Tornados have a rather predictable life cycle. They form,then
the 'mature stage', then the 'rope' (the tornadoe becomes tighter and
the
wind velocity faster at the same time) then the dissipation. There is
also
the phenomenom known as 'multiple vortexes'. People used to think this
was rare, but video proof shows that it is not that rare. These
vortexes
appear and disappear unpredicatably and rapidly--The vortexes
themselves
rotating in the standard direction (counterclockwise) as they form and
dissipate. It looks like a 'circle of destruction' and within that
circle
are many tornados rotating. It is very destructive. I also saw video of
a smaller tornado come horizontally out of the side of a larger one.
And
one spectacular vortex that went from the far up into the storm,
HORIZONTAL
over the heads of the viewers for a great length, and then eventually
touch
down on the ground. Of course, unlike the movie "TWISTER", even the
professional
storm chasers do not get too close to a powerful storm that is ripe for
spawning tornados. They just film from a distance. However,
recent
visions
and dreams about tornados or storms coming upon the Church in
the U.S.
show that The Church won't have the option of keeping at a 'safe'
distance.
Dream
of a Personal
'Flood'- May 21, 2004
Many months prior to
this dream I am about to relate, I had a sudden dream about an
unexpected
storm rolling in, with lightening and black clouds. I woke up
knowing
that I should start paying closer attention to these dreams about
storms.
How could I interpret them, I wondered, if I was never quite sure what
they might mean? It always seemed like I was on the verge of
understanding
something yet never quite there. I began my own long
Bible study and research, but
my study
and writing was interrupted because of certain events that happened for
the next two years. For one thing, ministry outside of the
internet
took up my time (sometimes people were guests in our home), Our family
also suffered quite a good many illness -related problems, one after
another.
Since I am a nurse, I was the primary care giver and this left
me with
little time for myself. Therefore I never got back to the 'final draft'
of the study for a long time. A few times, people spontaneously sent me very
encouraging
words from the Lord during this time. These were of
great
help.
Other dreams I have had contain too much personal instruction to me and not published here right now.
See also: Dream - Pure & Impure Water
by Deborah of Footstool Ministries, as a dream that demonstrated a
'flood' of contaminated water. My dreams have not been about contaminated
water, but this dream is interesting nevertheless.
-Teri Lee Earl
The following is a quote from
chapter four
of "IN THE DAY OF THY POWER, The Scriptural Principles of
Revival" by Arthur Wallis:
"In picture language this
is revival; in fact
it is the sort of picture language that Scripture uses to convey the
irresistible
power of God. Often in the period just preceding the movement, the
stream
of power and blessing has been unusually low. The people of God and the
work of God have been "in great affliction and reproach", despised or
ignored
by those around them. In response, however, to the prayers of a
burdened
remnant God has been quietly hearing the flood. The watchful eye has
seen
"a cloud as small as a man's hand". The listening ear has caught "the
sound
of abundance of rain". Then suddenly, when the majority had no
expectation
of it, God opened the windows of heaven and poured out the blessing so
that in the channels of organized Christianity there was not room
enough
to receive it.
Like the river that issued
from the sanctuary
in the vision of Ezekiel (chap. 47), the waters that were at first to
the
ankles are before long, in the full tide of revival, "waters to swim
in".
The flood of life and blessing has now become an object of awe and
wonder.
Works of darkness and strongholds of Satan that have long resisted the
normal influences of the Spirit are swept away. Stubborn wills that
have
long withstood the overtures of the gospel, the pleadings and the
prayers
of loved ones, now bend and break before the irresistible flow of the
Spirit,
to be engulfed themselves and borne along in the stream of blessing.
What God has said of a
coming time of judgment
and revival for Israel and the earth, is in measure true of all such
displays
of God's power: "So shall they fear the name of the Lord from the west,
and His glory from the rising of the sun: for He shall come as a
rushing
stream, which the breath of the Lord driveth" (Isa. 59:19). Thus does
God
see fit to use revival to create spiritual momentum, to accomplish in
days
what could never otherwise be achieved in years of normal Christian
activity. "
This section of "Diary
of Dreams" is part of our Prophet
'Un'School
"Do
not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.
Rather,
be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in
hell.
Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to
the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the
very
hairs of your head are all numbered. So don't be afraid; you are worth
more than many sparrows." (Matt. 10:29-31)
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