Old Dog V
Back to: Too Little Too Late The Judgment Comes
The Siege Will Not Be Lifted
Bob Neumann, 9/1999
I was letting my mind wander through Psalm 32. HE surrounds me with songs of deliverance. HE IS MY HIDING PLACE and MY STRONGHOLD in times of trouble…… and I saw myself alone on the mountain top beside THE STANDARD. I was looking down at the hordes of hell marching in ranks. They were moving around THE MOUNTAIN and avoiding it. And I heard that SWEET GENTLE VOICE ask a question….. “ARE YOU AFRAID?”.
I felt no fear of what I saw. I knew where I was and I had peace. Somewhere along the line I had made the right choice in whom I would serve. Then THE MOST HOLY SPIRIT ASKED, “WHY ARE YOU CONCERNED?”.
I had no quick answer. I looked at the sheer numbers of the enemy on the march knowing they had an evil purpose. I also realized it was not my call when and where I would stand in the battles ahead. It had been a long time since I “saw” my CAPTAIN. It had been a long time since I heard HIS VOICE. I suddenly realized I had not gone “looking for HIM” as the BELOVED of THE SONG OF SOLOMON. I had not worried at HIS absence. Complained yes…. worried no. So I asked THE MOST HOLY SPIRIT what was wrong. I have felt tired, depressed, listless…. off and on for the last month or so.
And suddenly I was on a different mountain top where there was grass and trees and the light of day was bright and warm. But the BANNER was not there. It seemed pleasant and peaceful. I thought that I should look for the rocks that dripped “living water”, “new wine”, “honey” and all the things that will someday be according to THE WORD. But I did not see ABBA…. or THE KING….. so it was less than it would seem. And I heard the term “MOUNTAIN TOP EXPERIENCE” whispered gently on the breeze.
“How can there be an experience without you LORD?” I asked without expecting an answer. So much of what is sought after is the “experience of the event” and it falls so short of what is real. Even sitting at the beach was more real than this. And even then THE JUNGLE WAS REAL!!!
“I’VE WONDERED THAT MYSELF, DOG. WHICH IS WHY THINGS ARE SO TRAGIC FOR THOSE WHO USE MY NAME BUT HAVE NO COVENANT WITH ME.”
As I looked there stood THE LAMB in full GLORY. And we stood outside of time and space as HE began to walk. In a few steps I saw THE MOUNTAIN and THE BANNER and below it the armies of hell still on the march. As I looked down I had a sudden flashback to the cavalry charge not so long ago. And all the images that came and went.
I must have had the shakes because I suddenly felt HIS HAND holding me up. In my ear came that wondrous voice, HE said “IT’S GOING TO BE ALL RIGHT”.
“GO AHEAD AND ASK” HE STATED. And I felt ashamed of my doubt and lack of faith.
“YOU GOT TO ASK ME DOG”, HE BEGAN, “IT WILL DO YOU NO GOOD TO HIDE ANYMORE. DID I NOT SAY TO DUMP IT ON ME AND I WOULD SHOW YOU MY WAYS?”.
I don’t know what was more ridiculous….. HIS reminding me of HIS OMNISCIENCE or HIS continued preference for colloquial americanese.
For some reason I suddenly felt cold…. stone cold sober…. and remembered that I was speaking to THE ONE who told JOB to “stand up like a man”. Realizing that this was at least a 3-way conversation and THE MOST HOLY SPIRIT was still “speaking” if I was “hearing”. It suddenly felt real serious.
“LORD”, I asked, “how much of all this is real?”.
“WHAT DO YOU THINK IS REAL?”, HE WHISPERED with a calm tone in HIS VOICE.
It was strange. I must have half asked that question thousands of times and always ran away from what the answer might be. Other people’s opinions and the crude and rude comments by the darker images I have encountered over this walk with HIM not withstanding….. I was back at square one. What is TRUTH and what is LIE. It always has been the battle.
As I looked out at the armies of hell I noticed they had stopped moving. They were looking towards me. I looked at HIS FACE with that “ALL-KNOWING GRIN” HE has so often. I looked back down into the Valley and I saw so many familiar faces from past nightmares and visions. And I looked back at HIS GRINNING FACE and LAUGHING EYES. HE FOLDED HIS ARMS ACROSS HIS CHEST AND LEANED AGAINST THE POLE THAT HELD HIS BANNER. For some reason I came to an awareness that this was more real than all the religious hype and spiritual energy I had ever experienced…. ever.
So, I asked myself, what is real to me. Right now any different than anytime before?
Now was not the time to worry about incidentals…. it was time for THE TRUTH as I am living and, in all probability, going to die for. So what is real? Or better yet, what is reality.
I looked out at the demons, devils, and assorted “bubbas” glaring up at me. Now they are real. No doubt about that. Nor is their a doubt about what they have done for so long to so many………..
Like I said…. back to square one and the only reality I know…..
So I stood still and shouted at all those unfriendly faces……… “Behold THE LAMB of GOD who takes away the sins of the WORLD!!!!”. Response was immediate and unfriendly. Then the last point came to mind and I let loose with that too……… “SHMA Y’SRAEL ADONAI ELOHENU ADONAI ECHAD!!!!”
With that I turned to HIM and said…. “that is the only TRUTH their is. So YOU ARE the only thing real in all this.”
“WHAT ABOUT THEM?”, HE ASKED pointing down into the VALLEY. He had me there. Real yes, but not REAL. And suddenly the hordes of hell were gone and we stood ‘alone’.
Now it felt a little weird and I looked out into nothingness. And I heard HIS VOICE, “IN THE BEGINNING THERE WAS NOTHING OUTSIDE OF ME. ALL THAT THERE IS, IS BECAUSE I SPOKE AND IT BECAME.”
All around me was emptiness. Calling it the “void in the night” like some have called it in writings and songs is an understatement. There is no sensation…. no emotion…. nothing. Just “cold” “emptiness” and both terms fail to describe it. I had to ask “is this the “outer darkness”, LORD?”.
“NO”, HE REPLIED, “BUT I’LL GIVE YOU A LOOK AT IT”.
And suddenly THE PRESENCE was gone and I was in that place spoken of in many places. But just as suddenly HE was back and the lesson was driven home. As bad as the last weeks had been from my prospective in the proverbial “midnight of the soul” that Christian mystics have kicked around for centuries….. it was nothing like being a “moment” in “outer darkness”. Not a place I would want to be cast into beaten, bound, or whatever. Forever…..
Immediately in HIS PRESENCE again the emptiness suddenly filled with “LIGHT” and as my senses re-acclimated I was standing by THE RIVER under a TREE OF LIFE. Somehow we were in the NEW JERUSALEM and I just stood there watching THE LIVING WATERS flow. As before it was beautiful and almost too much to bear. I looked over to a TREE and THE LAMB simply sat smiling and watching me. It did not take long to realize this was a setup of some sort. So I sat down and put my feet in the WATER and wondered what all this was getting to. There is always a point or a lesson somewhere. HE has yet to not pull something out of nowhere beyond my reasoning, so it was all a matter of waiting.
It all started from an unexpected corner…..
“TELL ME DOG,” HE BEGAN, “IS THIS REAL?”.
I looked over and I knew HE would be grinning. So I closed my eyes and took a deep breath and smelled everything about me. The THIRD HEAVEN has always seemed more real than anything I have ever known. A whole lot better than anything else I had encountered. So I wondered how to answer. ‘Yes’ and ‘no’ was not the choices I needed.
“Well, if I was a Buddhist I could say that this was all in my mind and reality was all in my mind anyway”……..
“SO WHERE DOES THAT LEAVE YOU NOW?”, HE ROSE TO THE CHALLENGE. “THE ZEN MASTERS ALL CAME UP WITH REALITY SIMPLY NOT BEING ONCE YOU ROSE TO THE ULTIMATE LEVEL. SO YOU NEVER EXISTED TO BEGIN WITH.”
“So that makes my being a Buddhist a complete wash out. Not a whole heck of a lot better than my grasp on “Christianity”. I’m still having a lot of trouble with why YOU haven’t done something about the mess there is.”
“WHAT MESS?”, HE SMILED AND SAT LEANING TOWARDS ME. “TELL ME WHAT MESS I MADE THAT YOU EXPECT SOME REMEDIATION CONCERNING?”
Well I put my foot in deep there and it is so impossible to argue with HIM. Never seems to get where I want it to go.
“I know you did not screw anything up, BOSS, but it is a mess everywhere.”
“OH, DOG. HOW DID YOU GET SO CYNICAL?”, HE CHIDED. “ACTUALLY THINGS ARE IN VERY GOOD ORDER THROUGHOUT MOST OF THE EARTH. TAKE CHINA FOR INSTANCE.”
(Somehow I knew this was where HE had been leading…… HE gets that RABBI tone in HIS VOICE)
“THE GOSPEL GOES OUT TO THE FARTHEST REACHES OF CHINA UNDER THE HARDEST OF CONDITIONS. FEW OF MY SHEEP THERE ARE CONTENT AT BEING SHEEP. THEY ARE SO EAGER TO HEAR MY VOICE. SO EAGER TO EAT MY BREAD AND DRINK THE LIVING WATER. THEY KNOW THEIR NEEDS AND LOOK TO ME FOR EVERYTHING. FEW IN SMYRNA YEARN TO BE ENTERTAINED.”
“So what is wrong BOSS in my pastures?”.
“WHOSE PASTURES?”.
“Allow me to rephrase that LORD.”
“PLEASE DO”……….
“LORD, in the land where I dwell things are not too good, in my opinion. Could you please explain to me what is wrong and what is to be done?”
“THAT WAS ALMOST DIPLOMATICALLY PHRASED, DOG. SEEMS YOU ARE LEARNING SOME CIVILITY EVEN IN YOUR OLD AGE. IN TIME YOU MIGHT LEARN TO IMPRESS MANY OF THE RELIGIOUS LEADERSHIP WITHIN THE LAND, AS YOU STATED, THAT YOU DWELL. BUT IMPRESSING THEM WILL NEVER CHANGE THEIR HEARTS MY FRIEND. TODAY THE RELIGIOUSLY BOUND ARE FEELING MUCH THE SAME SPIRITUAL PRESSURES THAT YOU AND THE REMNANT ARE. THAT IS ONE REASON I WILL NOT LET YOU OR ANYONE ELSE LOOSE TO MAUL THEM.”
“YOUR LAND AND YOUR LEADERS ARE REPROBATE. THEY HAVE CHOSEN TO SERVE THE BEAST. THE ABOMINATIONS OF EGYPT, BABYLON, PERSIA, GREECE AND ROME ARE RUNNING RAMPANT IN YOUR CITIES. MAMMON STILL RULES YOUR GOVERNMENT. IN FACT WE ARE LOOKING AT THIRD AND FOURTH GENERATIONS PRESENTLY CONTROLLING YOUR POLITICAL PROCESS. FROM MY POINT OF VIEW POLITICS AND RELIGION ARE ONE IN THE SAME. SOON THAT WILL BE OBVIOUS TO EVERYONE, BUT THEN IT WILL BE TOO LATE.”
“THE ENEMY HAS A DIVIDED HOUSE AND CARES LITTLE IF IN THE END ALL ARE DEVOURED IN HIS BID FOR ABBA’S THRONE. THE BEAST HAS NO USE FOR THE FALSE CHURCH AND THE NICOLAITANS THAT FILL IT. THE SAME DARKNESS THAT ASSAILS YOU COVERS THEM TOO. THEIR SHEEP ARE TOSSED AND TORN BY THE SAME CRUEL WINDS OF HATRED, BIGOTRY, INJUSTICE, POVERTY, AND PERSECUTION THE REMNANT FACES. AT LEAST YOU CAN TURN TO ME. ALL THEY HAVE IS MAN AND MAN’S RELIGION TO GET THEM THROUGH THEIR “STORMS”. LIES AND DECEPTIONS ARE A VERY POOR REPLACEMENT FOR ME.”
“OLD DOG, IT GOES BACK TO THE ISSUE OF WHICH ARMY YOU SEE IN JOEL. THE CITY SEES ITSELF AS GUARDING ITSELF FROM EXTERNAL ATTACK. THE CHURCH SEES ITSELF UNDER SIEGE FROM THE DARKNESS NOT KNOWING I WANT TO SEE THEIR WALLS TORN DOWN AND THEIR “FLESH” TO DIE. I SEND “BABYLON” TO DESTROY THEIR WORKS AND THEIR RELIGION. NOW THERE ARE MANY WHO SAY THEY SERVE ME AND ARE TRYING TO PULL DOWN OTHER PEOPLE’S WALLS. THEY ARE OUT TO BUILD THEIR OWN WALLS ON THE RUINS OF OTHERS. WHICH SIMPLY MEANS THEY ARE BABYLON. CONFUSION AT BEST, DOUBLE MINDED AT WORST. SO BOTH SIDES IN THAT CONFRONTATION ARE NOT OF ME. THEY ARE HEARING THEIR OWN DEMONS AND CLAIMING MY NAME. SO THEY ARE BEING LAID SIEGE TO IN THE SPIRIT, BOTH ATTACKER AND DEFENDER.”
HE stopped there and let me absorb this. None of this was new. All that was missing was where the “real” army of GOD…. the REMNANT BRIDE fitted in……
“WATCH DOG FOR MANY TO TALK ABOUT MOUNTAINS AND HIGH PLACES. THAT TALK ABOUT COMING BATTLES AND THE LIKE. FOR A LONG TIME YOUR PEOPLE DISTINGUISHED BETWEEN TWO ASPECTS OF THE TRUMPET. AS A CALL TO BATTLE AND A CALL TO PRAISE. SO IS IT WITH MOUNTAINS AND “HIGH PLACES”. ONLY TOO OFTEN THEY DID NOT WORSHIP YHVH. THE ISSUE OF THE GROVES AND THE HIGH PLACES IS STILL IN NEED OF BEING ADDRESSED BY THOSE WITH IDOLS IN THEIR HEARTS. IT IS THOSE STRONGHOLDS AND HIGH PLACES WHICH THE MOST HOLY SPIRIT IS LAYING SIEGE TO. THE BATTLE IS NOT OVER AMERICAN POLITICS OR THE AMERICAN ECONOMY. IT IS TO DESTROY THE WALLS THAT PROTECT THE IDOLS IN THE HEARTS OF YOUR PEOPLE. NO AMOUNT OF PRAYER, WEEPING, FASTING, WILL LIFT MY ASSAULT IN THESE “CITIES” AND “MOUNTAINS”.
“THE SIEGE WILL NOT BE LIFTED TILL THE IDOLS ARE DESTROYED”.
In my spirit I heard the “word” …….. MASSADA……. and I felt cold….
“THERE ARE MANY WHO WILL NOT REPENT. THERE WILL BE MANY WHO WILL DEFEND THEIR IDOLS AND THEIR INIQUITY TO THEIR LAST BREATH. SOME WOULD RATHER FACE THE SECOND DEATH THAN TO HEAR MY VOICE AND OBEY”.
I looked at HIM and wondered how anyone would prefer religion and deception RATHER than HIM. And HE answered my thoughts…….
“THEY NEVER LEARNED WHAT WAS REAL, DOG. THEY NEVER FELT A NEED TO PUSH THEIR UNDERSTANDING AND THEIR IMAGE OF REALITY TO THE EXTREME. NOTHING PREVENTED THEM EXCEPT THEMSELVES.”
We talked some more and it dealt with me and my “idols”. Also talked about THE ROCK…. THE MOUNTAIN….. and other points.
So I am sharing this as directed. In case you were feeling “pressed in”………..
Selah
Old Dog