* PROPHETIC DISILLUSIONMENT

Jeremiah 12:27-28 Son of man, behold the house of Israel is saying, the vision that he sees is for many years from now, and he prophesies of times far off. Therefore say to them, Thus says the Lord God, None of my words will be delayed any longer. Whatever word I speak will be performed, declares the Lord God.

This verse describes an antagonistic frame of mind and a callousness of heart toward prophetic warnings. The main reason was not necessarily the content of the warning but the many decades long familiarity. They had just heard it so many times without any actualization.

Can you relate to that attitude? I can. I was saved in 1971 during the Jesus movement. About that time the book "The Late Great Planet Earth" was released. It may have been the most impacting book on that generation for the next ten years. It instilled and imprinted the whole movement with a last day’s doomsday mentality. I remember talking to Peggy before we were married about not having children because the world was going to get so evil very soon.

So for me dealing with the “end times” leaves me feeling somewhat schitzo, on one hand because I have an end time orientation and calling as well as the personality to go with it. With few exceptions and until more recently timing has always hurt the prophetically minded individual. On the other hand to speak into culture and live above it is part and parcel of my calling. I know I have been born for those days. At the same time I am pursuing deliverance from an inner orientation that has led me to over read data and situations and see more than God was actually saying.

So chances are if you’re reading this you’re either tired of the many years of warning or you’re also a proponent. In any case whether you’re one of the people struggling with the reactions of verse or one who absorbed in understanding these days, we all need to realize the enemy will do all he can to dilute, water down and actually make the entire issue of the warnings of God ineffective through one very basic tool: familiarity.

So I would encourage you to find a fresh vitalizing in all you do. In your passion for God, in your service to man, and may your eyes be clear to see the things He is showing you. And remember very very few know the days and the hours but we all are to understand the times and seasons in which we live.

* FOURTH QUARTER 2008 OR 2009?

As I alluded in my last entry I have spent most of my life with a direct focus on understanding the times. Maybe my favorite portion of scripture in this area is Daniel 5:12 “this was because an extra ordinary spirit, knowledge, and insight, interpretation of dreams, explanation of enigmas, and the solving of difficult problems were found in Daniel." It goes on to say in Daniel 11: 32, 33 the people who know their God will display strength and take action. And those who have insight among the people will give understanding to the many; I believe God intends His people living in the last days to be the most informed and insightful of all church history.

I walked in an end time mindset from 1971 until 1999. While that mindset kept one sharp, alert, and steering culture against complacency and materialism it never seemed to really deliver the goods. It seemed like the entire prophetic culture in those years was immature and inaccurate in its predictions and timing. Now that I’m older I see, of coarse that was the case. There has been basically a three to four decade maturation process.

Having lived out on the limb of “the next thing” I was disappointed in my own track record as well. By the time Y2K rolled around I was burned out on the “end time” theme. So my prayer was “Lord, if Y2K is not a watershed event then I’m going to shelve the end time mentality and seek personal deliverance from a predisposition of soul that seems to have a power and mind of its own”.

My preparation for Y2K was moderate but obviously unneeded. So nothing happened and I dropped it all and spent seven wonderful years focusing on my relationship with the Father. Those were seven great years, during which both ministry and business went well. Then in November of 2007 out of the blue I felt like the Lord spoke to me and said. “Dave, seven years ago when you turned aside from an end time orientation it was good and necessary for your development and I appreciate the years just given to knowing me as Father but you might consider putting the end time hat back on”.

I feel He then gave me a vision, a word and some understanding about the next few years in America. (2009-2011). While there was far more content than I will share here the most basic understanding was that America was going to lose her sovereignty and no longer be the number one nation. The things I saw and the experience was so traumatic it left me sick for weeks.

Aside from receiving the disturbing material it was the very receiving of the encounter that now caused me a great conundrum. Now I was not only challenged but didn’t know how to proceed. I still had very little faith in my ability to interpret accurately what I did get. My tendency is to see the extreme. So most of 2008 was given to study, prayer and refreshing what the prophetic community had been seeing for the past eight years, etc.

A small portion of the communication in November of 2007 ran something like this. America was about to undergo a few very major downward adjustments and at the end of a few years America would have lost her status. I felt He then went on to say that the then current sub prime crisis was the first step. He very clearly (to me) then said there would be an event in the fall of 2008 basically, October that would rock the American economic system to the core. Actually this was sensitive of Him because it gave me ten months to regroup.

Well in the fall of 2008 especially October, the entire world economy began its worst crash since the depression. Massive economic failure rocked the world. When that happened as I had assumed it might I knew I had to be much more faithful in response to what I had seen, specifically as it relates to the remainder of 2009.

So here is my current dilemma. While I felt the Lord clearly said that an economic event would happen in October of 2008, it was followed by an understanding (not a clear word) that there would be another event most likely in the fall, or the fourth quarter of 2009.

For the above reasons in this season of my life I’m not intending to cite prophetic warnings on specifics. There are several voices that are doing a good job of that. I need to regain my footing and learn where God is. For now my desire is to paint broader targets of warning and preparedness. I don’t want to put out words that leave you with more data to look at. I want to begin to lay out ways of thinking, biblical paradigms and texts, as well as discerning current social data that will give you pragmatic tools as you discern how to conduct your life in these crucial days. These are the days to be redeeming the time, not snared into a false sense of security through busyness. There is enough stuff in the works in America that for the first time we could see a change more radical than we have dreamed.

So am I convinced there will be an event in the fourth quarter of 2009? Not necessarily. Why? I still need time to discern if what I heard and saw was from the Lord or was it the projections of my personality. On the other hand the word of warning for 2008 was so pensively accurate I cannot help but live my life accordingly.

A few broader thoughts: If we do have an event in the next few months it may not be initiated through another financial meltdown. There could be something else that triggers it. The obvious players could be a natural disaster, a terrorist attack but my guess is it might revolve around the issue of health. Just as the financial crisis has opened the door for replacing national economies with a broader world economic system, even so the current year of the Swine Flue has made us aware of the radical and far reaching solutions that governments may need to impose should we have a pandemic.

Through this blog I will be finding my way and maybe warning you in such a way that you might better relate. If we have another nation-altering event this fall then I will proceed with much more confidence on the rest of the material.