Seemingly In Control

Seemingly In Control

12/26/21

Have you ever found yourself in a situation that has approached rapidly and presented itself with numerous challenges; with no time to waste, you had to make quick decisions hoping that you got them all correct?  Many of us have been in those types of situations and when you look back on those times and decisions, you wonder how you made it through or even survived.  How many of these times were warnings about what is going on or what has occurred in someone's life, or maybe even in your life.  How did you really respond?  Did you believe that you were in complete control of the situation or did you fall apart, and how did the situation turn out?  God has always been the only true source of protection and control measure that humans need; however, we tend to forget this truth and forge things on our own.  It is clear that if we do not have God as the source of our identity, we will believe that we are in control of our lives, but in the end, the setting shall change for the worse and destruction imminent.

I remember one time in my life, that I believed that what actions I was doing, what path I was on, and the decisions that I was coming to were all in good parts for my life.  It was a time in my life that I believed that I was in control of every aspect of my life and that I really did not need anyone else's advice on what was projected.  Even though I was not in good shape I had no hard signs of trouble in my future, had no real major issues with my health, and had a beautiful wife and family in my corner.  It seemed like all things had fit into their appropriate places and that nothing could stop the progress that I "was making".  Little did I know that this path was taking me down a dark path and even though I continued motions of everyday life, these patterns of repeated hurt were about to show up in a major way.  That was when I had a heart attack at 35 yrs of age, then a decade later found myself on the operating table undergoing a triple bypass.  What seemed like a controlled pattern of life was anything but that, and that was when I realized that what I believed to be true about my life and the life around me was not true at all.

You remember a few years back when ISIL had control of a vast landmass in the Middle East, and how they bragged about how powerful they were and that no other government had the authority to change their way of life or take over the land they had overrun?  They believed that no one or nothing could stop their progression against others and to prove this they took several hostages from other nations and then began parading them around for the world to see.  After a while, the videos became more personal because individuals would be seen in prison jumpers with their captors over them.  Vile messages would then be given and knives or swords shown.  Oddly, the prisoners would be on their knees just sitting there having no emotions or struggles at all, it was a puzzling picture but the truth would soon be shown.  The captors would then begin to sever the heads of the prisoners and for just a brief second and only at this moment would the expressions change on the faces of the prisoners.  It was too late, for their head would be off and then places on their body with the person committing such crime slowly and calmly walking away.

Many of us watched in amazement as each week these types of videos were presented, sometimes groups of prisoners would be executed at one time while other videos showed single acts of execution.  It was not until the Allied forces began to close in around the ISIL camps and strongholds that we found out the reasons why the prisoners were so calm.  One of the prisoners escaped from his holding place while ISIL fighters were trying to fend off the "invaders" from the West.  It was his testimony that shed light on why the prisoners were so calm immediately before their lives were taken from them.  The video in which these innocent people were murdered was not the first video made with them in setting, there were many "dry" runs before that eventful day and the reason the captors got away with things is that they continued to tell the prisoners that they were just making ransom pleas to the world, which they did; however, those videos were never made and presented to the world but the illusion was there and it was drilled into certain people's heads that all was going to be okay.  Far from the truth because one day the real video was made and the execution was carried out.

God gave me a dream a while back and afterward He allowed it to sit in my heart for a while before allowing me to see exactly what He meant by it.  I usually do not think about all of those dreams He has given to me over time and on a routine basis, but every once in a while they pop back into my thinking and I cannot ignore what was shown to me.  As stated above it has been a while since God showed me the dream I am about to describe, but only parts of it in short detail.  The dream was with me doing my job and having a normal time performing it, even the way I was talking and acting with my patient seemed so normal and uneventful.  As the patient and I were looking out the hospital room window, I saw a plane flying by in the valley, the normal time scheduled but for some reason, it was off its normal path and it was flying lower than normal too.  All of a sudden I saw the plane slow down a bit make a hard left turn, turn upward and then take a nosedive straight down.

God then zoomed my vision close enough to the cockpit of the aircraft so I could see the pilot sitting in his seat leaning back onto the back of his seat.  His hands were on the steering mechanism of the aircraft but holding it normally and not tight at all, like in a calm state and not in a panic.  Then my vision returned to the room and I continued to watch the aircraft descend straight down until it hit the ground and caught into flames.  Some details have been left out of this dream but the important highlights are given.  What had me puzzled for so long and the scene God kept bringing me back to was the zoomed-in portion into the cockpit where the pilot was calm and not panicked at all.  I could not figure it out, it did not bug me but I knew something significant was coming concerning this dream but did not know when.  God has His own timeframe and I have learned over the years that what I think is the correct time is not what God considers to be the correct time, so I waited.

My wait was over a short time ago, when out of nowhere God gave the interpretation of this dream of mine and when the answer came it stopped me still for a moment, but it all made sense.  The reason the pilot was not panicking or acting afraid was that he had been through this process many times before and it was common ground that this event was occurring.  This also meant that the current situation that the plane, the people on board, and the pilot and the crew expected something like this to happen.  It is difficult to imagine such a sight or position to be in but this is exactly what God spoke to me as the answer to what I had wanted for some time.

Then the second part was shown to me, the plane and all of its modern technology and comfort represented the modern world, especially this nation, and that another problem was going to happen but we will not be too concerned since something similar has occurred many times before.  However, instead of the plane somehow turning back up to normal flight status and altitude, it shall hit the ground hard and fast and will have no survivors left after the great fireball ends.  This Word from God was a bit hard to swallow and for a mere second, I had wished that I had never asked for the interpretation but I knew I did not mean that thought and began taking in what I had been shown and told.  God shows us or gives us warnings well in advance of things He must do in order for our hearts to turn around; however, many times we miss these warnings or flat ignore them out of pure spite then act shocked when God says enough.  Even at this moment of shock, we fail to recognize or admit that we have been totally manipulated by the world into living the way we have.

It is not too difficult for us to know that God allows us to be in control of our wills and choices, but He cannot idly stand by and watch us destroy ourselves without any signs to make us think.  It is at this time that we should rely upon the things we have been taught and the things that we know to be true, which brings us to our passage for this article and it is an important one simply because it shows us that no matter who we are all of us can be tempted in such a manner for us to take our own course and not stay on the path God had ordained for us.  Our passage of Scripture is as follows:

Matthew 4:7

"Jesus said unto him. It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God"

This verse is one that is familiar to many of us but there may be some out there who have not seen this particular angle of what transpires here, myself included up until a few months ago.  It has always amazed me that Satan believes that he is in control of everything that involves our lives since we live in his world and more often than not listen to his voice.  This verse shines when it comes to the point that Jesus puts Satan in his place by telling him exactly who is in control and where he belongs.  God allows things of a certain nature to occur but if we do not understand what is really (spirit) going on then we have become subject to the worldly manipulation of the incident or event.  God expects us to remember His Word and His Warnings during these events, for if we do not we shall easily succumb to these temptations.

Satan believed that he could get Jesus to bow down and to serve him just for one moment, just one time and if Jesus would have done this Satan would have let Him recant his submission immediately.  Satan does not care about a second time because once he has the first you are then subject to sequential positions in the future.  It may not have been an immediate effect on the world, but if Jesus would have given in at any point during His ministry our lives and spiritual resources would have been destroyed and made void.  Jesus probably would have been allowed to continue with His ministry without any interference from Satan, and when it came time for the crucifixion of Christ Satan would have laughed hysterically because he would have known that Jesus' life would be null and void because of His fall earlier.  It would have seemed like normal life and a mocked persona because no eternal authority could have been displayed as it was designed; a going through the motions if you wish to call it that, a common everyday event, nothing special or holy about it.

The same is portrayed in the dream that God showed me that night and when He explained what that portion of the dream meant.  This nation was destined to be great on many levels with the purity of God over us, but we decided to go on our own journey, take another path, one that serves ourselves and not God.  God allowed this path to continue and up until this day still has, but there will come a day that the selfish pilot will encounter another fall and this time things shall be different.  It is easy for us to expect such destruction from the world but it comes as a huge surprise when we realize that things are not going to turn around as they have in the past.  I never saw the actions and emotions of the pilot as it became apparent that the plane was not going to recover and hit the ground.

Now, each time this dream runs through my mind I cannot help but remember that the pilot of that aircraft honestly believed that things were okay and that he was still in control of what was about to occur because he had been through this many times previous.  How many of us have those same thoughts and beliefs about our lives and what we are going through?  How many times has God allowed us to pull out of potentially devastating situations and finish the jobs, paths, or events that we were on, numerous times I am sure.  But we need to ask ourselves if we are prepared to hit the ground suddenly with nothing in our life surviving, this shall occur one day and it will take us to our eternal home, are you ready for the truth about who is in control of your existence?

God wants us to know that this dream not only predicts individual lives but the life of this nation and the Church.  All of us have gotten away with horrible things and issues against God, and since we did not learn from these mistakes and engrained them into our lives as forgetful actions God has not lost control of our plane, and one of these times our plane is going to hit the ground and burn away.  We have constantly listened to the god of this world and have enticed others through this method of deceit, and for many decades God has allowed us time to remember the Truth about who we are and what our purpose is yet we spit in His face with an evil laugh and say we are stronger than Him.  God is in total control of our plane, on the individual level, on the national level, and on the Church (spiritual) level, not us.

Church, are we strong enough to resist temptation from our enemy just as Jesus did?  Or are we flying our own plane on our own flight pattern through our own security and patterns?  It is not going to be very long before we see our world change in ways that our minds could have never imagined, including the Church and the government.  All aspects of our lives shall change and we shall see that we were not in control at all.  Prepare yourself Church, for these times include us, hold tight to your faith and trust the Word of God completely.

DLB