Prophecy is a tricky thing. When God speaks today, He does so in the same ways He always has.
“When there is a prophet among you,
I, the Lord, reveal myself to them in visions,
I speak to them in dreams.
7 But this is not true of my servant Moses;
he is faithful in all my house.
8 With him I speak face to face,
clearly and not in riddles;
he sees the form of the Lord.Numbers 12:6-8
God named Moses as the one prophet who was “other than” all the rest in the Old Testament. God said He would speak to Moses face to face and very clearly, but to every other prophet He would speak in dreams and visions and in riddles. In fact, God made it clear that only one more person would come along who heard from God like Moses did, and that was to be Jesus. Everyone else was going to have to puzzle through what God said.
Fast forward to the New Testament. In the Old Testament, there were prophets and not prophets. If you weren’t a prophet and then started having visions that came true, you became a prophet. Paul turned things around a little bit in 1 Corinthians.
1 Follow the way of love and eagerly desire gifts of the Spirit, especially prophecy. 2 For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to people but to God. Indeed, no one understands them; they utter mysteries by the Spirit. 3 But the one who prophesies speaks to people for their strengthening, encouraging and comfort. 4 Anyone who speaks in a tongue edifies themselves, but the one who prophesies edifies the church. 5 I would like every one of you to speak in tongues, but I would rather have you prophesy. The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues, unless someone interprets, so that the church may be edified.
1 Corinthians 14:1-5
Prophecy for Today
So here we see that we are all supposed to seek to prophesy, because we all can prophesy. That creates a bit of a mess for us, because, remember, God speaks in dreams and visions in the form of riddles. That means we have to take special care in walking out the interpretation of dreams and visions.
I have seen over and over again in Christian communities who value prophecy the tendency to fit a prophetic word of the Lord to whatever situation they want. Instead of waiting patiently to see the true outcome of a word of God, people are easily tempted into justifying whatever they are doing with “words” God has given them.
That is something we must strive to avoid. Sometimes prophetic words very clear but the full interpretation and outcome may be mysterious. Sometimes they take a great deal of time to see them fulfilled. Jumping to conclusions can be disastrous. We have to wait patiently to see what God is really doing sometimes.
In the case of my dream about One World Trade Center (as told in chapter 2 of my book, available here for free) I didn’t fully understand the building I was looking at for over eight years. In 2003, Lord had shown me the building that would replace the fallen WTC towers and it was nothing like what I thought it would be. It was eight years later when I realized that what I saw in the dream was literal. By 2011, the brand new One World Trade Center looked exactly as I saw it in my dream.
Many things about my dream came true. Specifically, many things about how our nation would turn, how Christians would unwittingly support evil intentions, how homosexuality would be accepted very quickly and how the building itself would look have all happened as I was shown in my dream.
But one thing in my dream was conspicuously missing.
What I Didn’t See
In this dream in 2003, I left One World Trade Center feeling betrayed and confused because of how quickly things had turned evil. What so many Christians had participated in for good had been turned around and I saw that we bore responsibility for standing with evil because we didn’t inquire of the Lord. When I left the building in my dream, I walked down the street and found nothing but gay bars and other filthy establishments like porn shops. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I was so hurt that this could happen in a place Christians had claimed for themselves. (Again, I share the whole dream and you can download that for free here)
When I visited One World Trade Center last week for the first time, everything looked exactly as it did in my dream. The completed building at night was exactly as I saw it 10 years ago. I even found the very places I stood in my dream–they actually exist!
What was missing was the street near the building filled with the filth I saw in my dream. I walked all around the building at night trying to find them, but they weren’t there.
So what does that mean? Does it mean my dream wasn’t actually from the Lord? Certainly not! Almost the entirety of the dream has come true and in very literal ways. Only a few things remain unfulfilled and that street was one of them. What I don’t know is if the street in my dream was intended to be interpreted literally. If it was, then it will certainly come sometime in the near future. If it wasn’t, then the figurative explanation for what I saw has already begun. Our nation has already accepted every form of sinful lifestyle as normal, from porn addictions to homosexual and illicit heterosexual lifestyles.
I didn’t see that street last week that I saw in my dream. I will say that much of New York city is filled with those kinds of shops, seemingly around every corner, but it wasn’t where I saw it in my dream. To be honest, I feel like because so much of the rest of my dream was literal, I believe there will someday be an entire street near the World Trade Center dedicated to supporting and encouraging sinful lifestyles, but for now it is not there.
What Now?
So what do I do then? I was honestly expecting to find it there when I visited. Do I throw out the vision? Do I relegate it as being only figurative? Do I make my prophetic dream fit what I want to believe? Or do I wait, and see what happens?
Like I said, if that part of the dream was figurative, then it has already begun in earnest. But if the street I saw was literal, then there is a clear timing aspect the Lord gave me for when that street full of filth exists. I choose to refrain from any final judgments until I see it or it becomes clear it won’t exist. Because if it does one day exist, it will be an important piece of information for this nation. Therefore, we must be vigilant and watch.
When God speaks, we don’t have to do anything to manipulate outcomes. I waited over eight years to see the building and the situations I saw in my dream. It’s been ten years now and still some things have not taken place. I will wait more, praying all the while, to see what comes next.
And my prayer is actually that the street I saw would never exist. It was bad. It meant bad things for our nation. If His people cry out, maybe God will relent and the evils I saw will be turned back and He will spare our nation.
Pray with me that God will turn this nation back to Himself.
If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
2 Chronicles 7:14
The photo at the top of the article is of a street next to One World Trace Center. It’s very glitzy, but not filled with the filth I saw in my dream. It is two tall buildings very close together with an awning coming from one building covering the walkway for pedestrians.
I am a writer, author and purveyor of ink on paper. I also preach, teach and create Excel spreadsheets.
I read your book, Darren. I applaud you for so many things you said in there but especially for the part about humbling ourselves. I’ve been praying Psalm 33 for many years. I modify verse 22 to say “May your unfailing love be with the United States, O Lord, even as we [who are called by your name and humble ourselves and seek your face] put our hope in you [to hear from heaven, forgive our sin, and heal our land].”
Sadly, I believe you will see the literal street in time. Revelation must come to pass. I have worked in telecommunications for 30 years. The first time I read about no one buying or selling without the mark of the beast, I thought, “that’s impossible. How could anyone regulate commerce that close?” 20 years later we’re almost there. I believe we will see it within the next 20 years.
I had a vision about 6 years ago, just before the 2008 elections. There were hoards of unwashed, ragged men roaming the streets hungry and desperate. Vigilante justice ruled because world governments had collapsed. Millions of people were missing or murdered.
Then a man stepped up with a solution for our financial problems and to stop crime. He reset the financial status of the entire world and everyone had a subcutaneous GPS chip installed in their hand. That chip would not just track their whereabouts, but also be the only way they could buy or sell anything.
Then I woke up. It’s the only vision I’ve ever had, but it’s vividness has haunted me ever since. If you google subcutaneous GPS tracking you’ll find that there are companies working on it. Silicon causes cancer and the chips are too large so they’re currently only used in dog collars and wrist bands for children (I interviewed with a company that was developing them). There are several companies working on finding a substitute for silicon that can be used. I’ve got several more theories about Revelation, but I’ll stop here. God bless your efforts.
Sandy
Sandy,
As things progress towards darkness, I believe it is people like you that we need who will continue to pray for our nation to turn its collective heart to the Lord.
We have two narratives we are walking out right now: a Biblical one and a national one. Biblically speaking, things will get worse before the end. Things like the mark of the beast, etc. must come and there is nothing we can do to stop it. However, our nation is not in the Bible. The Lord has given us a tremendous opportunity to give our nation over to Him. Who knows, He may bless this nation beyond our wildest dreams! Maybe our nation will be a holdout on the world stage in the days of the mark.
I believe because we are absent in any way from the Biblical end-times prophecies, we may just have a privileged position to reject the evils that will come. Maybe God will make this nation a place of refuge in the coming days of trials.
But first, we must return to Him. We need people like you praying for our nation to follow God with all their hearts.
And by the way, I love studying the book of Revelation. I wrote a Bible study guide with commentary on it. You can find it on the sidebar of this website.
Thanks for calling my attention to the bible study…don’t know how I missed that. Hopefully I’ll get a chance to read that soon. I hope you’re right about our country!
Blessings,
Sandy