Spiritual Warfare/Spiritual Dreams

May 30, 2010

On Saturday evening, I got home early because business was slow at the Restaurant. I unwound, and then went to sleep around 11:00. Then, at 12:30, my phone rang. It was a friend of mine who was doubled over in pain from some unknown.  It sounded very bad, so I got up and went over there thinking I might have to take them to the Emergency Room (maybe appendicitis?). As soon as I got there, we started praying. I prayed & my friend agreed, all the while writhing in pain, and moving from one place to another. Some time passed and I continued to pray in the spirit. After about 1 ½ to 2 hrs., the pain subsided enough that they fell asleep. I stayed & continued to pray in the spirit until I decided to take a break & sleep a little myself. I slept lightly, but at one point, I must have gone deep enough to dream (it was actually more like a nightmare). 

The dream started out with us in the room; there was a long couch against the wall. My friend was sleeping on one end; I was in the middle resting, and another friend was on the end, sitting on the arm of the couch. Then, the front door opened and shut; we all heard it and got up to investigate. To our surprise, there was a little, “elf-like” man scurrying past us and down the hallway toward the bathroom. We were all baffled at his appearance there, and my friend managed to corral him back out the front door. This little guy seemed more ‘annoying’ than threatening. After he was outside, I locked the door, and put the deadbolt and chain on. We all went back to our positions on the couch, and almost immediately, the little guy was back in the house. This time it felt a little creepy since the door was locked. Once again, we got him back outside where he immediately transformed into something that was unrecognizable and inanimate (non-living).  I broke it into pieces with a shovel & went back into the house satisfied that it was destroyed.

Then, a third time, the door opened and this time a robot-like being came in. It seemed a little more threatening and I don’t remember much detail after that except that we managed to get it out of the house too, and I woke up after that.

Later that morning,  I told my friend about the nightmare and they thought it was weird (no kidding!). I told them that what stood out about the whole thing was how “annoying” the little man was.

I went home, and later that morning, when I was at church, my thoughts turned back to the dream and immediately, the word “menacing” came to mind.  I started to think the dream may have been spiritual or from the Lord to show us something about spiritual warfare, and that my friend’s pain and symptoms may have been related to a spiritual attack.

When evening rolled around, and we were at my house, I decided to look up the word “menacing” and here is what I found: Menace – 1. a possible danger; a threat. 2.  a troublesome or “annoying” person (quotation marks mine).  Menacing – Threatening or foreshadowing evil or tragic developments (i.e. ‘sinister storm clouds’; ‘his threatening behavior’; ‘the situation became ugly’). 

Long story short – we ended the evening by taking up the armor & praying against any future attacks.

Now, after re-writing this (June 7, 2010), I am thinking that this is what the dream might mean:

The little elf-man - I think he represents the effectiveness of my friend’s prayers before I got there. The friend got him out of the house the first time, but he came back again and was a little more threatening. The second time he got in, we got him out together through the power of agreement. My destroying him/it with the shovel may have been representative of my continued prayer in the spirit for him.  This leaves me a little unsure of what the third invasion/attack represents because the pain my friend was experiencing did not return and I don’t know if it should be a warning for future attacks or not.

I met with my Pastor about this, and he saw this as something that was a reminder not to be ignorant of the devil’s devices, and how he makes his way into our homes, lives and churches. He talked about the subtlety of the enemy, and how the first part of the dream, it didn’t look to be too bad, scary or threatening to have this guy in the house; but each time he returned it was worse. We also talked about the power of agreement and warfare prayer.

Eph. 6:12 “This is not a wrestling match against a human opponent. We are wrestling with rulers, authorities, the powers who govern this world of darkness, and spiritual forces that control evil in the heavenly world.” (God’s Word Version)

Your thoughts?

Yes, Drew..............death is a part of Life.

In these last days/weeks of my Sister-in-Law Mary's life, I started to ponder how I might answer some of the questions that may come from my oldest grandson Drew (He's 3 1/2). Questions that a lot of adults quit asking a long time ago because they didn't like the answers.

Drew is being raised in the church, and he would be prone to asking something like, "Why don't we just pray and ask God to heal Aunt Mary?" So, I in turn would have to say, "We are praying for her, and we truly believe that God IS a healer." But, if she doesn't get healed..............., well, I think Marv answered that one for me last week when we were discussing it. He said something like this, "If God healed everyone, than no one would ever die, and there wouldn't be anyone in heaven with Him!" So, I guess that would be my answer to Drew. God IS a healer and God does heal, but not EVERYONE gets healed here on earth.

This took me deeper in thought to the point of, well, the beginning. God intended for us to live forever and to live together with Him like it was in the Garden. But, when sin entered the world, God could no longer stay here. We will still live forever, but now we have a choice to make. "I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; that you may love the Lord your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days; and that you may dwell in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give to them." (Deut. 30:19-20)
For the believer, that 'land that He swore to give us' is our eternal home - heaven.

It also brought me to anticipate his next question, which might be something like, "Then if God wants us all to be with Him anyway, why do we have to live on earth in the first place?" And, my answer might be something like this, "Drew, God gives us the opportunity here on earth to practice loving others the way He loves us, and in most cases, that takes a LOT of practice! Aunt Mary showed a lot of love to a lot of people in the 50 or so short years she had here, and well, I guess her mission here on earth was complete, so God called her home.

It is with great sadness, but also joy that MaryAnn left us this morning to be with the Lord. We will miss you for now Mary, but we will see you soon! <3 Love you, Liz

All dogs go to Heaven? Hysterical !

Absolutely unreal that this actually happened!
These two churches face each other across a busy street.

...to be continued?

Job Opening

Alaskan Job Vacancy

Position: Surveyor

Salary: $200 per hour (tax-free)

Qualifications: Must be fast on your feet!

Isn't it comforting to know that when you are about to become a bear's breakfast your buddy is standing there taking photos?

Cry for me Argentina (Could history be repeating itself?) authored by "Vytautas" a 60-yr. old Father of 6

In the early 20th century, Argentina was one of the richest countries in the world. While Great Britain 's maritime power and its far-flung empire had propelled it to a dominant position among the world's industrialized nations, only the United States challenged Argentina for the position of the world's second-most powerful economy.


It was blessed with abundant agriculture, vast swaths of rich farmland laced with navigable rivers and an accessible port system. Its level of industrialization was higher than many European countries: railroads, automobiles and telephones were commonplace.

In 1916, a new president was elected. Hipólito Irigoyen, formed a party called The Radicals under the banner of "fundamental change" with an appeal to the middle class. "Fundamental change," (Hmmmm! NOW WHERE DID I HEAR THAT?)

Among Irigoyen's changes: mandatory pension insurance, mandatory health insurance, and support for low-income housing construction to stimulate the economy. Put simply, the state assumed economic control of a vast swath of the country's operations and began assessing new payroll taxes to fund its efforts. (SOUND FAMILIAR?)

With an increasing flow of funds into these entitlement programs, the government's payouts soon became overly generous. Before long its outlays surpassed the value of the taxpayers' contributions. Put simply, it quickly became under-funded, much like our Social Security and Medicare programs.

The death knell for the Argentine economy, however, came with the election of Juan Perón. Perón had a fascist and corporatist upbringing; he and his charismatic wife aimed their populist rhetoric at the nation's rich.

(AGAIN SOUND FAMILIAR?)

This targeted group "swiftly expanded to cover most of the propertied middle classes, who became an enemy to be defeated and humiliated."

Under Perón, the size of government bureaucracies exploded through massive programs of social spending and by encouraging the growth of labor unions.

(ARE WE BEGINNING TO SEE THE LIGHT )

High taxes and economic mismanagement took their inevitable toll even after Perón had been driven from office. But his populist rhetoric and "contempt for economic realities" lived on. Argentina's federal government continued to spend far beyond its means.

(WE KNOW THAT CAN'T HAPPEN IN OUR COUNTRY, RIGHT? )

Hyperinflation exploded in 1989, the final stage of a process characterized by "industrial protectionism, redistribution of income based on increased wages, and growing state intervention in the economy..."

The Argentinean government's practice of printing money to pay off its public debts, crushed the economy. Inflation hit 3000%, reminiscent of the Weimar Republic . Food riots were rampant; stores were looted; the country descended into chaos.

And by 1994, Argentina 's public pensions -- the equivalent of Social Security -- had imploded. The payroll tax had increased from 5% to 26%, but it wasn't enough. In addition, Argentina had implemented a value-added tax (VAT), new income taxes, a personal tax on wealth, and additional revenues based upon the sale of public enterprises. These crushed the private sector, further damaging the economy.

(ONLY HAPPENS IN OTHER COUNTRIES, NOT OURS!)

A government-controlled "privatization" effort to rescue seniors' pensions was attempted. INSTEAD, by 2001, those funds had also been raided by the government, the monies replaced by Argentina 's defaulted government bonds. ( Hmmmmm! )

By 2002, "...government fiscal irresponsibility... induced a national economic crisis as severe as America 's Great Depression." (Nah, that won't happen again. Our Politicians are too smart)

We've seen this movie before. The politician's populist plans NEVER work, because power corrupts and government bankrupts everything it touches. For those that will listen, history shouts over and over that we cannot sustain the wild spending and government takeover of business, banking, health care, and continue to inflate unfunded entitlement programs! Like history tells us, it will be an utter and complete disaster!!!

Today's politicians are guilty of more than arrogant stupidity; they are enslaving future generations to poverty and misery. And they will be long gone when it all implodes. They will be as cold and dead as Juan Perón when your children and grandchildren must ultimately pay for the blind arrogance of politicians!

The author, Vytautas ,is a 60 year old dad of six small children.

He is interested in theology, home based businesses, self-sufficiency, and personal freedom.

THINK AMERICA! WE ARE ALLOWING POLITICIANS TO REPEAT THE FAILURES OF HISTORY!

PS... while working America cuts back... Congress just increased government expenditures by 12% in the "Omnibus" spending bill of nearly half a TRILLION!

Last year there was ONE person in the Dept. of Transportation making over $170,000!

This year that Dept. has 1690 people making over $170,000!

Is your company, or ANY company, doing that well?

AND, this bill has 5224 earmarks totaling $4,000,000,000!

The U.S. unfunded mandates including Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and the National Debt Now exceed 59 TRILLION DOLLARS.

History lesson over!

America, don't forget to vote in Nov. 2010!"

A Marathon

On Day 3 of the fast, the lesson speaks of having our hearts prepared.  When you think about it in terms of preparing for a race, it is easy to understand that there is a process of getting in shape before taking on a 5k or 10k race (hope for you runners I said that right!).  Below is a portion of the scripture shared by Pastor Carl in the early morning prayer meeting today. The first part of it speaks of how God prepares us:

Hosea 6:1 "Come , and let us return unto the LORD: for he hath torn , and he will heal us; he hath smitten , and he will bind us up . 2 After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up , and we shall live in his sight. 3 Then shall we know , if we follow on to know the LORD: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth."

 ...But the verse that stood out to me most (v.3), was a reminder to me that it is usually pretty easy in the beginning when we set out to do something inspired, or noble, or to please the Lord or improve on our lives; but it's the ".....if we follow on" part that is most difficult.  It is also where the prize is, as in running a marathon.

Let us be the 'body prepared for the race' and press on to obtain the prize!

Back to Basics - January Fast - Day 2

I guess during the January fast is as good time as any to get back on track with my Blog.  Rough start, but destined to get better.

Our church has carved out a plan that is somewhat different than prior years, and I am very excited about it. Especially Pastor Bob's direction not to focus on an 'event' at the end of the fast i.e. Vision Sunday . This will be a tremendous help for many along the way to allow and anticipate God's direction daily.

I am not surprised to see that the first scriptures that are standing out to me are very 'Basic' for lack of a better word. Christianity 101 (more or less). Like I mentioned, I got off to a rather rough start, and when I came into work the scripture that was staring me in the face from my daily calendar was Nehemiah 8:10 "The joy of the Lord is your strength."  Then, as I was following the guide handed out by the church, I found that all the scripture references given were verses that I have known all my Christian walk - very basic.  I know that the topic for Day 2 if supposed to be about being 'single-minded' and focused, but it all boils down to trust.

Hopefully, this is not preparation for some coming disaster, but rather God's infinite grace and mercy at work once again to strengthen my faith & relationship with Him!