Here are some readers responses to Nita Johnson’s article, Visions of the Church, and my own comments.
From: Bob Neuman
To: Bill Somers
Dear Bill,
sometimes I got to wonder how much
it would take to get even the ' very elect' to wake up and smell the "roses".
it seems that the acceleration factor is not a figment of my imagination.
for a long time I would hesitate posting to you or anyone else for that
matter.
'lingering doubt' can be a weapon with two edges. "is it really you, GOD" is the first knock I give myself, and the last of course is '' if I’m the only one'' who is hearing this "stuff". doesn't sound religious at all but that's the point....GOD usually doesn't sound like how man says HE should sound. looking at how much I have sent your way in the last 3 months, if others are finding themselves on a new fast track you must be swamped.
a few days ago I 'had to' sit down and write "7 moves''. you were the only one I intended to post it to...till it was done. still have lots of thinking to do on it but....
Visions of the Church basically confirmed it all .... every jot and tittle.... thanks, Bill, for posting it....but there was one point I want to add...there was a paragraph that said....
in the 'real' world the lost are living and thinking in "the flesh"....LORD I hate talkin' christianees ... because that is exactly all they got. the thing we call "spiritual void" is real and we fill it with whatever is available. alcoholism, drug addiction, promiscuity, occultism is the last thing to live for because the next step is usually suicide.
when you have nothing to live for the last straw you clutch at may be just a slower way to die. most 'church' people can not comprehend it....even with a suicide rate in "the church" on an equal % rate as the world...
when you run out of straws....death is the only answer when you decide there is nothing worth living for....
as 'dead' men, you and I Bill know the exact opposite....that there is SOMETHING WORTH DYING FOR.... and the blood of the martyrs gives the lost just that....the awareness that there is something more to the emptiness and the useless of this life....THAT THERE IS SOMEONE WORTH DYING FOR.
remember in the GREAT COMMISSION we are told to be witnesses 'unto' the world'. that Greek word is 'martus', to bear witness,....which our word martyr originates,....heavy stuff....
well, I think our ride is nearing an end....one way or the other...
PRAISE BE TO GOD...WHO HAS WON THE
VICTORY
be blessed
bob in Miami
From Jim Rinker
Bill,
Good to hear from you. Those dreams about the Ezekiel Army I would like to confirm. My wife had this dream about a month ago I would like to share to confirm the Ezekiel Army in part.
In this dream a small company of people (seven of us including my wife and myself) went outside the city to a hill overlooking the city. It was a hilly grassy area and there were seven individual fires in front of us that we proceeded to step into. My wife said she stayed in a short time then came out and another woman who was with us ministered to her "burnt face". She said I stayed in a little longer.
Interpretation:
The hill overlooking the city is the "higher place" that God is taking us. It is outside the camp of current Christianity (outside the city) and is for the purpose of fire baptism, ministry, and purification. I was able to stay in longer because I have been dealing with issues of the flesh for a longer period of time that she has (by her admittance). The fire will be less painful and more bearable if we will deal with issues NOW. She had no further revelation in this dream but your Ezekiel Army vision post added more depth to her dream.
Jim Rinker
Comments by Bill Somers
The part of Nita's vision that got
me the most was about the martyrs and purpose of martyrdom.
Nita wrote: "However the martyr's blood provides a Peculiar intercession for a lost soul as nothing else does."
This confirmed to me what the Lord showed me some years back, beginning in '91.
In short, Martyrdom has an effect in the spiritual realm. Every time the devil kills one of the saints, it cost’s him something. In many cases that something is a soul that would otherwise be lost. I wrote about these issues in several articles on my WebSite, They are: The Precious, where I share what I learned about how martyrdom contributes to the harvest. The Precious part 2, where we go into the Lords purposes in large scale martyrdom. The Unthinkable, which discusses the ultimate purpose of martyrdom and The How and the Therefore, that also looks at the ultimate purpose of martyrdom from an other angle, and in greater depth. And relates it to the Return of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Martyr Spirit
From: "Russell White"
Four missionaries who endured a night of beating and humiliation in their village in India are determined to stay until they plant a church. A crowd of 15 people burst into the hut of the Gospel for Asia native missionaries, bound them hand and foot, and beat them with iron rods and bamboo sticks, according to GFA. The men were stripped of their clothes, paraded through the village, and ordered to reject Christ. ...
When the men refused to renounce their faith, mob ringleaders accused them of trying to kidnap a child and exhorted the crowd to beat them. After the beating, the missionaries were told to leave the village and never return. They went to their local GFA supervisor, who took them to the police, who ordered members of the mob to apologize for the beating and return stolen possessions. ...
Police advised the missionaries to move to another village where they would be safer. "Here we were beaten, bruised, and bled. Until we see a living congregation for Jesus we will not move from here," the leader said. Since then, 14 villagers have become Christians through the men's testimony.