Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Final Warning

Last night's dreams left fingerprints on my soul. Usually my dreams of things to come are what will be after Rapture, when things REALLY get bad just prior to the final battle of Armageddon. This was different. While I also have dreams where I see/experience another's life through their eyes, this time I looked through the eyes of an angel.

At first, the angel was in human shape (wings unseen), walking down the main street of a village that had mostly good people. Through the angel's experience, I could feel Love and compassion of those there as we feel warm Spring sunshine on our skin. It was some remote Asian village, very far from any major city. But not so far removed that modern technology was absent.

The angel enjoyed the hospitality of the village's residents during the day. Just after sunset, however, the angel appeared to grow larger before the eyes of the residents; wings extended from the back and individual feathers could be felt dancing in the evening winds. As expected, just about everyone stopped what they were doing to see this Wonder. When the angel stood approximately three-stories high, taller than the sparse two-story buildings there, it prepared to share the message.

But first, Love flowed through the angel to those in eyesight. Many eyes and many smart phones were turned to the face of the angel. Some parents or older siblings held up young children for a better view. The angel laughed joyfully and joked with the teenagers and young adults with the smart phones, saying: "The first one who gets this on YouTube wins!"

Then the angel sobered a bit and requested, "But please get this out to the whole world...

"This is the final warning to all mankind. The Savior of the World approaches; He is not happy, for the harvest is not as bountiful as He desires. Instead more souls are lost into the darkness each day. He can no longer stay away for the sake of faithful remnant.

"Those in this village are safe and will see glorious new Wonders. But those elsewhere will see terrors beyond their comprehension. There will be a great outcry, but it will be left unanswered until all things come to pass as they have been foretold."

I felt the tears streaming down the angel's face at these words. I could see the horrors reflected in the angel's mind. Then the angel vanished from the people's sight in a flash of Light.

In the same flash of Light the angel alighted in a new place. The angel remained large, and I looked upon the city from this vantage, though I could feel feet firmly planted on the road's pavement below. There were many buildings well overhead, even as the angel grew to stand roughly seven stories high.

Like in the village, people stopped, stared and pointed smart phones in the direction of the angel. In my mind, I said, "Good, the warning will be repeated so there will be many sharing this." 

But the angel, who seemed to be aware of me at this thought, replied inside my mind, "Not so. This is the most corrupt place in the world. THIS is where it will begin..."

I did not need to look closely at the faces; the place itself revealed at least the country: America, my homeland.

Many things seemed to happen almost all at once. Other angels flashed into being there. Whole blocks turned to rubble and dust at the wave of an arm. With a glance, many humans dropped dead; the spirit of life was ripped from the flesh between breaths. When armaments were pointed to attack, they exploded the moment the trigger was activated, some by a bolt of fire from Heavens, some with no warning at all. The angel's Love stopped flowing but recoiled at the hurtful will of the attackers.

I wept as I watched through the angel's wrathful eyes.
Yet... there was still signs of Mercy. There was a girl about 13 helping others get to safety, putting herself in harm's way. An angel wrapped itself around her and protected her from all fire, falling debris and other harms.

There was a three-year old who was completely innocent. Her parents were torn from her life, but she remained alive, walking aimlessly in a shocked daze through the rubble unharmed. The aforementioned tween scooped her up and brought her to safety.

Another boy about seven was visiting family. Raised differently than his older cousins, he too, remained alive while others ceased to live around him.

Last, there was a nine-year old girl who was a kidnap victim. The kidnappers tried to wrap themselves around her, clinging to her, seeing their last desperate hope in her for she GLOWED with an inner Light.

The angel whose eyes I looked through shrank down to human size to confront these kidnappers personally. Telling the girl, "Don't be afraid, just close your eyes a moment," the angel's mind reached inside the two kidnappers and... shredded their insides like a pile of papers going through a cross-cut shredder. There was no blood outside their bodies from this, but their skin changed to a color that made my stomach lurch. Then, as they dropped lifeless to the ground, the angel took the girl's hand, saying, "Open your eyes child, you are safe now," and led her to the tween who was collecting them.

The angel pointed to winter jackets for the children to wear; they would need them for warmth, as the nights were still cold.

But it commanded sternly, "Do not take anything from this place, not even your favorite toys or stuffed animals. Do not eat any of this food for it is now poison. You will find what you need to survive; your needs will be provided. Do not be afraid. Trust, and it will be done."

Then the angel turned to the tween, "You may bring your journal provided you continue to write an account of all that takes place in this world. There will be generations that will need to know this story so the mistakes of the past will not be repeated."

As the tween nodded, still in shock past the point of tears, my connection inside the angel grew distant. Vision turned into a grey blur. Then I felt gently laid in my bed and my eyes refocussed to see my bedroom.

I lay there praying a while, but the urge to share this dream never went away but only grew stronger. I hesitate to share this (and others), because I don't want to appear like those who run around shouting "The End is Near" like chicken-little. There will be no best-seller; there will be no large auditorium-sized church.

I do not know when or where, but... the simple Truth is: Yeshua/Jesus the Christ is coming ~ VERY SOON.
~ "What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs." (Matthew 10:27) ~

In hindsight, I recall that was part of my reading last night. Still hesitant, I open my trembling hand and release this post into the world. One more note to God's grand Song.

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Empty Vessel

A few years ago, I tried to blog each day of Lent. I got as far as day three. This time I just put the whole idea into the Holy Spirit's hands and see where that will go.

While at lunchtime Mass to receive ashes, my mind wondered, should I blog about something today. I could write about the "start of the journey" or "40 days in the desert."

Instead, the response was simply and clearly to use this blogpost. It is not mine, but it states quite wonderfully what this day commemorates.

I contemplated summing it up in a post of my own, but it seemed like God just smiled and brushed off that idea. "No; just share the link. Her words are just what some need to hear today."

That is a stumbling block I have at times. My ego shouts "*I* want to be the one to share these nuggets of wisdom."

But Lent is all about letting go all that holds us apart from God. What is more important, sharing the wisdom or the credit? So I opened my hands and tweeted her blog post instead.

Only when the vessel is empty
Can God fill us with what is good

~ ESA

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Footprints in Snow

This was originally posted to my other blog and I realized it is more appropriate on my personal one (here).
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Most people who live in wintry climes experienced climbing over a snow bank. Sometimes it is a small hill out of piled or wind-drifted snow, pristine and ready to explore with child-like delight.
 
Sometimes we face a muddy, gravel-pitted and icy hurdle to get where we want to go.
 
A recent snowfall left a shoulder-high wall between me and my morning run to the bakery. I wasn't going to be deterred. I plowed ahead with snow spilling over the tops of my knee-high boots.
 
We learn to place our steps in the footprints of those who climbed over the snowbank before us. The chance that we'd sink deeper than those footprints is miniscule; we know it is a safe path.
 
As I climbed back over the snowbank on the return trip, a thought danced through my mind and I wanted to share it with my readers.
 
We often see "footprints in the sand" signifying Christ walking with us, carrying us in times of trouble.
When things get REALLY tough and the world gives us the cold shoulder, Christ is still there, climbing over the snow banks with us.
 
Even when we insist that we can tackle the challenge on our own, Christ walks a step before us, encouraging us to walk in His footsteps, for we thus know the path is safe for us to walk too.
~ESA

Inspiration from a Coffee Pot

This morning, I was inspired by the office's communal coffee pot. It's not what you may think when you read that last sentence. This pot was empty and in desperate need of scrubbing.

Sometimes you can do a quick rinse before you start brewing the next pot of coffee. Over time, however, the transparent coffee stains get thicker and darker. If this is not addressed, it can be so bad that one can not see the coffee level inside the glass pot.

So this morning, I scrubbed it with good ol' fashioned elbow grease, rinsing it to see if I got all the stains. But then when I held it up to a white paper towel ... the stains were revealed in all their glory!

That's when inspiration struck. How often am I like that coffee pot?

There are stains on my soul that are not clearly visible day by day, but if left alone can become darker and more prominent. If I hold it up to other souls in this world, it doesn't seem so bad; for who can say if the stain are on my coffee pot or theirs? So I just rinse off and move on.

Yet...

If I held my soul up to Christ, there are my stains, dark against His glory -- a big ugly mess.
Often we hear, "Keep eyes upon God." Maybe one of the reasons to do so is that we begin to get a real good look of what is within us that needs a bit of scrubbing.

~ ESA