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THE VISION
by Fabian Epetuku At about 4:00am on 8th January 2008, I saw a vision of Christ's Second Advent. The dream was like real life experience. It was a scenario of the great tribulation. The whole world (every body) was within eyeshot. On one side were unbelievers who missed the rapture for not accepting Christ as Savior and Lord; on the other side were throng of believers who were caught napping at the blast of rapture trumpet. It was a sight of horror and dread. I saw people (clergy and laity) I knew among the believers who were caught unawares. As I watched, a ferocious monster inexplicably appeared. He had a mission: to devour and raise devourers from the devoured. His haste was palpable and unimaginable. The chief concern of the monster was not the unbelievers. It was the believers on the other side. Surprisingly, when the monster pounces on a believer, he leaves his image on him and goes for another. The victim who unknowingly bears the image of the monster descends on his fellow believer in a sly, tricky, and persistent manner. That believer (the second victim) in turn causes the fall of another believer. So the chain and effect continued. I was alert. It was not long the monster charged at me violently. Concurrently, a Man brandishing a blazing sword intercepted the monster and said authoritatively, "Touch him not for he is a chosen vessel". The monster receded angrily. I knew immediately that Man is Jesus, the Lord of Host. Then He turned to me and mandated me to go on a rescue mission to the multitude of "devoured" believers who still wear the garment of Christianity and leadership but are dead. He told me to use every available media to convey the message of His imminent return to the world. At this critical point, I knew it was not the great tribulation I saw. It was obvious I saw Christians and unbelievers the devil is preparing for the tribulation. Right away, I swung into action in the vision. I began to interview some Christians I knew to find out why they were not raptured. I noticed for some flimsy reasons Christians who once slew giants, cast out devils, won souls to Christ and worked wonders could not make it. The slippery ground of un-forgiveness, bitterness, anger and the snare of lust and lie brought them down, Matthew 7:22. There was one deacon who told me his bitterness against his pastor who offended him badly soiled his record. I lamented. I wept because this man had parted with millions of money doing God's work but would not part with bitterness against his pastor. There were myriads of similar cases I investigated. Thereafter I woke up with intense fear. Eleven days later, precisely 19th January 2008, about 11:15pm, I had a follow- up vision. I was on the floor in our living room and all of a sudden deep sleep overwhelmed me. I had conversation with a Man I could not describe enough. However He knew everything about Christ Second Coming, even the exact date. I knew He is God. He urged me to execute with haste the kingdom mandate: using every available media to tell the world about the imminence of Christ's return. The Lord stressed how imperative His coming is. The way and manner He emphasized His soon return and the need to sound the trumpet was alarming. I became visibly apprehensive when I saw the urgency in Him. Out of fear I asked, "Lord when exactly are you coming?" He replied, "the date is" at that point I felt a rap on my head and I woke up suddenly without getting the date. I turned to see if anybody hit my head, there was no body. And I said to my self, "you can't beat God". Matthew 24:36 says, "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only". Lessons from the VisionThe following lessons can be gleaned from the visions. Firstly, the coming of Christ is at hand. Hebrews 10:37 refers to it thus; "For in just a little while, He who is coming will come and will not delay". The phrase, "for in just a little while" is most uncertain. Similar expressions are used in other passages of the Bible to accentuate the nearness of Christ's return. "The end of all things is near" 1 peter 4:7; " the Lord's coming is near" James 5:8; " yes, I am coming soon," revelation 22:20. Nothing can be more emphatic and urgent; the coming of Christ is close. Secondly, the devil, knowing that his time is short, has unleashed more principalities and power against the church. Now they operate from within. They have caused the fall of many great men through unforgiveness, hatred, bitterness, lust, fornication, gossip, mudslinging, lie, pretence, conspiracy, Pentecostal sorcery, sacrilege (tempering with God's money), lukewarmness, and the likes. These men are causing the fall of others in the church through the same means. They carry the image of the beast ignorantly. They have fallen; yet appear standing. Thirdly, the devil is raising army within the church against the church. Evidently, the greatest threat to the corporate existence of the church as a chaste, modest, spiritual, and heaven-bound entity is no more the unbelievers outside but the believers inside the church. Chaste virgins inside the church are deflowered everyday not by unbelievers but fellow church members. People speak against church leaders today not because they had ugly encounter with them, rather another leader gossiped that leader and so on. Let us be careful, the days are evil. Finally, urgent and proactive steps are required to stall the advancement of hell against those who are waiting expectantly in purity and power for the Lord's glorious return. We should aggressively and prayerfully reach out to millions of believers who are held captive by the monster. They are alive in the sight of men but are dead before God, Rev.3:1. These are the people I saw in my vision. They are in bondage yet, are even attempting to free others through ministry activities. This is satanic illusion. There was a well placed preacher who I saw in my vision among those whom were devoured by the beast. I accosted him in real life and his response pricked my heart. He said he fell three years ago and two weeks before I spoke to him he preached about the rapture. Furthermore he has been praying for this opportunity to be restored. We prayed together for restoration. Three years ago, he crashed and still remained in the pulpit preaching "crashed sermons" to his congregation. How can a man who lost God give God to his God-seeking congregation? This is just a faint picture of the prevailing morbid condition in today's church. There are numerous ministers and members in such unhealthy spiritual condition presently. There are others who are on the verge of fall, still thinking whether to join the bandwagon of the fallen or to remain in Christ. There are others still, a handful of them though, who have chosen to take their stand irrespective of the slippery socio-spiritual setting of the modern day church. These are kingdom end time soldiers.Dearly beloved, let us fight on; there is hope for the church. Pastor Fabian A. Epetuku is a minister of the gospel with Assemblies of God Warri District, Nigeria. He also runs an end time outreach ministry called, Rapture Culture Ministry. He is a writer and preacher with special burden to prepare the church for the rapture. He is married. www.pastorfabian.org Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com |