Free to Be a Girls Scout
Greetings in the Lord!
This morning I had a prophetic dream. I was standing at the door of an official-looking brick building; it was symbolic of the United States from an official platform. The person with me wanted to leave, but I said, "No, I want to see who is coming and going."
Out from the building left young men, many of whom were minorities. They were wearing overly casual, plain pseudo-looking blue cotton/jean uniforms, kind of like prison uniforms, but still hip. They were very excited. I could not tell where they had come from, they seemed foreign to me.
After they had left the building, young US military guys dressed in the usual white Navy gear and grey/blue Air Force uniforms retreated into the building. They were riding bicycles and arrived very quickly. Then it began like a parade into the building: women dressed in red/white/blue drum majorette uniforms roller-skated into the doorway; then came rows and rows of Girl Scouts and many other traditional youth organizations. It was a huge crowd of retreating youth and social organizations, some even were wearing uniforms from many years ago.
~I discern the Lord was showing me the changing of the tide that is about to happen to our country. We probably have never given a second thought to all the youth and social organizations that have been created over the years--created because we had the freedom to assemble and celebrate our humanity and many different interests in a way that expressed our individuality, beliefs, and social concern for one another.
I recall living in countries, like Syria for example, where women were not allowed to gather in big numbers or they would be persecuted and chastised by the community. Even in restaurants, women/families had to sit in certain places and single men in another. In Russia, Albania, and other ex-communist countries, all organizations had to be "registered" and given permission to convene and were closely scrutinized (often persecuted) by the government. During the time I was in Russia the Russian government finally allowed a religious "convention" to take place in Moscow. It was the first time in over sixty years that such a gathering was allowed to convene--and the Russian Christians I knew were so happy...but also scared. They knew that they would be closely watched even after they attended and would probably suffer reprisals when they returned home. Nevertheless, they celebrated the fact that the meeting was going to take place!
No matter how many times or places I lived where simple freedoms were forbidden I never got used to it. It was simply wrong. And it was not a matter of "just being in a different culture" or obeying the rules of the prominent "religion," but it was a clear case of oppression and wickedness having its way in a nation. Our country has chosen this path out of rebelliousness, godlessness, deception and ignorance.
"Do not rejoice, O Israel; do not be jubilant like the other nations. For you have been unfaithful to your God; you love the wages of a prostitute at every threshing floor. Threshing floors and winepresses will not feed the people; the new wine will fail them. They will not remain in the Lord's land; Ephraim will return to Egypt and eat unclean food in Assyria....Even if they escape from destruction, Egypt will gather them and Memphis will bury them. Their treasures of silver will be taken over by briers, and thorns will overrun their tents. The days of punishment are coming, the days of reckoning are at hand. Let Israel know this. Because your sins are so many and your hostility so great, the prophet is considered a fool, the inspired man a maniac. The prophet, along with my God, is the watchmen over Ephraim, yet snares await him on all his paths, and hostility is in the house of his God." Hosea 9:1-8.
The rest of the passage in Hosea tells about infertility and fruitlessness. That is the result of spiritual "prostitution" or unfaithfulness to God's covenant. This nation will begin to learn to distinguish between what it was to live under the blessings (freedoms) of the Lord--which many did not acknowledge came from the Lord--and what it is to live under the curses of covenant disobedience (oppression), which are spelled out in Deuteronomy 27-28. The good thing is also spelled out in Deuteronomy 29, the renewal of the covenant through sincere repentance. It would be good to re-read those chapters and pray to the Lord for deep understanding and to have Him show you clearly the 'signs of the times.' As verses 7-8 of Hosea 9 points out, there is great hostility even in the church towards those who would hear the Lord's voice, recognize the 'signs' and speak it boldly.
~Be blessed and be a blessing.
This morning I had a prophetic dream. I was standing at the door of an official-looking brick building; it was symbolic of the United States from an official platform. The person with me wanted to leave, but I said, "No, I want to see who is coming and going."
Out from the building left young men, many of whom were minorities. They were wearing overly casual, plain pseudo-looking blue cotton/jean uniforms, kind of like prison uniforms, but still hip. They were very excited. I could not tell where they had come from, they seemed foreign to me.
After they had left the building, young US military guys dressed in the usual white Navy gear and grey/blue Air Force uniforms retreated into the building. They were riding bicycles and arrived very quickly. Then it began like a parade into the building: women dressed in red/white/blue drum majorette uniforms roller-skated into the doorway; then came rows and rows of Girl Scouts and many other traditional youth organizations. It was a huge crowd of retreating youth and social organizations, some even were wearing uniforms from many years ago.
~I discern the Lord was showing me the changing of the tide that is about to happen to our country. We probably have never given a second thought to all the youth and social organizations that have been created over the years--created because we had the freedom to assemble and celebrate our humanity and many different interests in a way that expressed our individuality, beliefs, and social concern for one another.
I recall living in countries, like Syria for example, where women were not allowed to gather in big numbers or they would be persecuted and chastised by the community. Even in restaurants, women/families had to sit in certain places and single men in another. In Russia, Albania, and other ex-communist countries, all organizations had to be "registered" and given permission to convene and were closely scrutinized (often persecuted) by the government. During the time I was in Russia the Russian government finally allowed a religious "convention" to take place in Moscow. It was the first time in over sixty years that such a gathering was allowed to convene--and the Russian Christians I knew were so happy...but also scared. They knew that they would be closely watched even after they attended and would probably suffer reprisals when they returned home. Nevertheless, they celebrated the fact that the meeting was going to take place!
No matter how many times or places I lived where simple freedoms were forbidden I never got used to it. It was simply wrong. And it was not a matter of "just being in a different culture" or obeying the rules of the prominent "religion," but it was a clear case of oppression and wickedness having its way in a nation. Our country has chosen this path out of rebelliousness, godlessness, deception and ignorance.
"Do not rejoice, O Israel; do not be jubilant like the other nations. For you have been unfaithful to your God; you love the wages of a prostitute at every threshing floor. Threshing floors and winepresses will not feed the people; the new wine will fail them. They will not remain in the Lord's land; Ephraim will return to Egypt and eat unclean food in Assyria....Even if they escape from destruction, Egypt will gather them and Memphis will bury them. Their treasures of silver will be taken over by briers, and thorns will overrun their tents. The days of punishment are coming, the days of reckoning are at hand. Let Israel know this. Because your sins are so many and your hostility so great, the prophet is considered a fool, the inspired man a maniac. The prophet, along with my God, is the watchmen over Ephraim, yet snares await him on all his paths, and hostility is in the house of his God." Hosea 9:1-8.
The rest of the passage in Hosea tells about infertility and fruitlessness. That is the result of spiritual "prostitution" or unfaithfulness to God's covenant. This nation will begin to learn to distinguish between what it was to live under the blessings (freedoms) of the Lord--which many did not acknowledge came from the Lord--and what it is to live under the curses of covenant disobedience (oppression), which are spelled out in Deuteronomy 27-28. The good thing is also spelled out in Deuteronomy 29, the renewal of the covenant through sincere repentance. It would be good to re-read those chapters and pray to the Lord for deep understanding and to have Him show you clearly the 'signs of the times.' As verses 7-8 of Hosea 9 points out, there is great hostility even in the church towards those who would hear the Lord's voice, recognize the 'signs' and speak it boldly.
~Be blessed and be a blessing.
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