He Was Only Playing with the Canon
In September 2006, I was awakened by the sound of a canon blast in my ear.
When I jumped out of bed, I had a flash of a man before my eyes who wore the colors of both the Union and Confederate Army. He was behind a large canon, and smiling as if having fun with it.
The sound of the blast was a clue to me that he just fired that huge weapon, and was so very happy to have done it.
I didn’t immediately know what significance this had but a friend of mine happened to send an email and he used the phrase “loose cannon” in his description of someone he was portraying to me.
I asked the Lord if He was telling me about someone I should be warned of. As in a “loose cannon”.
The Lord said “No. This one belongs to Me. He is just playing with the weapon.”
Still in Training
There was a certain movement awhile back that focused on the symptoms of every spirit and gave everyone a name. There were spirits of not only what was named in the bible, but there were spirits of tobacco, spirits of cocaine, spirits of gambling, spirits of pornography, spirits of entertainment, spirits of tears, you name it.
If there was a symptom, there was a spirit behind it.
Well, this is true, but not Truth.
Behind everything that does not glorify the Lord, there is a spirit that is egging on the flesh. We as a church focused more on the demon behind every tree more than the Deliverer.
We were so busy playing with the “Deliverance Canon” that we wounded some of our own in the process.
I have played with this canon, and I have been injured by it. And I have wrongfully assumed that the ones who shot me were enemies.
They were not. They were playing with the canon. They too, belong to the Lord.
There is another powerful weapon being played with called “The Prophetic Canon.”
I have fired it, and have also been injured by it.
I admit, I’m still recovering I think, but recovering nicely. I apologize to those I may have hit while I was having fun.
But there is a greater message here.
He was wearing both colors – It meant he ascribed to fighting for the “whole” nation, or body of Christ. He was not going to fight for some and not others. He saw himself as part of the whole.
We belong to the Lord and we are learning to use a very powerful weapon that has been given us.
It is important to have fun while learning of the strength and power of the gifts, tools, and weapons that the Lord gives, but we also need to recognize that it is for the purpose of maturing in them, and learning how to use them responsibly, realizing that the gifts of the Lord are powerful weapons and can bring Life or Death, Blessings or Curses.
For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Hebrews 4:12
May our discernment grow keener, our hearing grow sharp, our vision become more focused, but mostly, our LOVE become stronger, as we are being trained for war.
There are two visions I want to share – one is about 15 years old but I feel impressed that it’s for today to help us prepare. The other I had about 10 years ago, however I’ve seen similar visions in the past, relating to the same word.
Although these are not new, I feel impressed about the timing.
The Hand is Lifting
I saw a large Hand firmly gripping the world. The Hand began to open, and then lift itself above the earth. Those who were firmly planted in the palm of the Hand, lifted with the Hand. Those who were not, did not.
Interpretation: The One Who Restrains
I’ve been seeing more often, many who are leaving behind old traditions, meaningless celebrations, and relationships that are counterproductive to a loving, healthy relationship with the ONE who loves us with an everlasting love.
This is glorious to see.
However what most of us who are in pursuit of the treasure of His heart are finding out, is that by leaving behind what was not beneficial to us, the enemy has stirred in the hearts and whispered in the ears, of those who did not want to follow alongside us to pursue Him. They want most things to remain the same while continuing to, at best, take the Lord for granted, and at worst, mock Him.
But our presence in their lives had been a “buffer zone” of the grace of God, which sanctified them. Having this slightly lift brought a few things to the surface in their hearts that have been difficult for them to see in the past.
I personally have witnessed this in the lives of some who went to church, even with me at one time in my life, but did not want to really get to know Jesus. When I began to press on, their lives started to reveal the hidden things of their hearts and it was more than they could handle. Things that were once so easy were now impossible.
And yet this is still God’s mercy.
This is for the purpose of repentance.
Is 51: 15, 16 For I am the Lord your God, Who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar and Who by rebuke restrains it–the Lord of hosts is His name. And I have put My words in your mouth and have covered you with the shadow of My hand, that I may fix the [new] heavens as a tabernacle and lay the foundations of a [new] earth and say to Zion, You are My people.
2 Thess 2: 6,7 And now you know what is restraining him [from being revealed at this time]; it is so that he may be manifested (revealed) in his own [appointed] time.
For the mystery of lawlessness (that hidden principle of rebellion against constituted authority) is already at work in the world, [but it is] restrained only until he who restrains is taken out of the way.
The Lord has covered us in the Shadow of His Hand. Is 49:16 says He has inscribed us in the palm of His Hand. His desire is to cover us, protect us, give us mercy and grace, and to save rebuke for anything that raises its head up against us, or threatens us in any way. He loves every one of us but there are those who don’t realize that it’s HIS GRACE that holds all things together. And this hand must lift slightly in order to reveal the lawless works of those He loves, but who have been unable (or unwilling) to see Him.
This is still mercy.
I saw this hand lifting from the earth. Those who were not firmly gripped in His hand were left on the earth so that they might realize their need FOR Him.
The Blue and the Grey – The Coming Civil War
I was walking the grounds of the church I used to attend back in 2005, interceding for the local body of believers there, when I looked up and saw a “snapshot” of slain bodies, cannons, and men dressed in blue and grey uniforms.
I was told there have been several prophetic words about a coming civil war, but now I saw it right there in front of me, with my natural eyes. That means that if I saw it, it was up to me to inquire of it.
Interpretation:
I knew this was a civil war because of the colors of the uniforms; blue and grey. As I was just coming into the realm of prophetic interpretation, I was becoming interested in researching the symbols of dreams and visions.
From reading other prophetic words, I was vaguely familiar with the word that there would be trouble between many bound by the religious spirit and those who were seeking more revelation of Jesus.
It wasn’t until I saw Matt Peterson in September 2006 that this vision began to make more sense to me, because what he was able to make clear, was something I hadn’t thought to inquire about because I thought I knew.
Blue represents revelation, and heavenly vision, the Holy Spirit and/or heavenly visitation
Grey represents the mind, and intellect, such as “grey matter”, which are actually structures formed in the brain and spinal cord which process information originating in the sensory organs. In other words, those who judge by natural means; what they think, see, feel, and hear – not according to what God says. These have placed their judgments as above God’s word yet, are in God’s house, as those who fought in the Civil War were all a part of the whole.
Grey also represents mixture, as in the mixture of black and white. It means lack of clarity – as in “grey area.” Those represented by the grey will be on both sides of the fence, or double-minded.
James tells us that those who are double-minded should not think they will receive anything from God for they are unstable in all their ways.
James 1:5-8
If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
Now that we see who the players are in this civil war, what is our response?
Well, for starters we need to know this is coming, but keep ourselves from the sin that entangled those with the grey uniforms.
It was jealousy that filled the hearts of those who became willing participators in the death of Christ, and while death on the Cross was ultimately God’s plan, there was sorrow and woe to those who became willing vessels in His crucifixion.
Those who leave behind family, old friends, meaningless traditions in order to seek Him in a greater way, will find that jealousy lurks in those who wear grey. Those who think they know Him intellectually but without revelation.
(At the time of this first writing I was experiencing this very thing. My first response was to plead for her mercy.) Mercy will always triumph over judgment and mercy is the Lords heart. To ask for anything other than mercy is to put one article of a grey garment on. Even if it’s only a sock.
Secondly, I need not defend myself or my actions because in doing so, I have to emphasize her sin. Defending ourselves during accusation is tempting, but it emphasizes our own unforgiveness. This is contrary to what Christ cried out on the Cross while HIS BONES WERE STILL SHOWING “Father forgive them for they know not what they do!”
As the Hand lifts, and the lawlessness of hearts are revealed in order to bring repentance, some will come to that repentance.
Some will not.
Seek wisdom.
Seek greater understanding.
Seek Him.
The Spirit of the LORD will rest on Him, The spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and strength, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD. And He will delight in the fear of the LORD, And He will not judge by what His eyes see, Nor make a decision by what His ears hear – Isaiah 11: 2, 3
Be Strong in the Lord and
The Power of His Might
Walk in His Glory
Shine in His Light
Put on the Whole Armor and
Stand in the Fight
For you’re a child of the Day
Not of the Night
Take up the whole armor
That you may withstand
Knowing you ‘re held
In the palm of My hand
I’ve equipped you to rise
And take back the land
So put on the whole armor
Having done this, now stand.
CONFEDERATE REBEL ARMY
One thing I learned as a young artist in kindergarten was that if you mix too many colors together, you just get brown.
While I never went on to pursue a future in art, this knowledge, I found, did come in handy when making up recipes.
The vision of The Blue and the Grey was one I’d had of a battle scene. The colors of the uniforms indicated to me this was a scene from the Civil War. Because it was the colors of the uniforms that stood out, the Lord gave me insight into some similar scenes ahead, and much stemmed from the colors that each side wore.
The garments of the Confederate Army were actually not grey alone, but trimmed in brown.
Grey is a mixture of black and white (my interp on that: “no absolutes”) and Brown is a mixture of all the colors combined (my interp on that “confusion”)…
The spring of 2007 marked 20 years of the diagnosis of an illness in my body characterized by muscle pain and weakness, and disabling fatigue. I went to The Healing Rooms here in Charleston for prayer.
One man led a group of three who would pray over me that day. He kept smelling gum, Clark’s Teaberry gum to be specific. He asked if that meant anything to me. It did not.
The smell grew stronger. He was impressed that the Lord was revealing something but not getting anything more than that, he simply said “The Lord said to “get the gum and chew on it.”
I recognized this as the voice of the Lord to me, because He often sends me on “treasure hunts.”
(Once for my daughter’s birthday I planned a scavenger hunt. I wrote a poem that contained a riddle which led her to Borders Bookstore, where her first gift and next clue would be. She was to walk up to the clerk, state her name, and the clerk would hand her the gift which I had placed under the counter the day before, along with the clue to her next stop, next gift, and so on. The Lord often does this for me on my journey with Him. Following the Lord in faith has been so much fun and I could see He was about to send me on another hunt).
I left the Healing Rooms that day and the first place I went to, I found Clark’s Teaberry Gum. I took out the first piece and started chewing. I could feel it sticking to my fillings. This was the reason I didn’t chew gum. A filling was pulled out of my mouth once.
While I was chewing, wondering what the Lord had for me in this, I had thoughts of a conversation that took place between my daughter and me two days prior. She was telling me about a prophetic conference she heard of, in which the Lord was filling teeth with gold.
I said to her that we need to ask Him why He does that. We cannot assume that all signs and wonders are the Lord at work, because Satan also performs miracles to get our eyes on the miracle and off the person of Jesus Christ.
So we prayed… “Lord, you fill teeth with gold a lot. Why do you do this?”
As we prayed, I had a word. “Because they were asking for healing”
I had no idea what healing had to do with teeth being filled with gold, but that’s the word I heard.
Back to the Teaberry Gum. Strange how fillings were the focus of my thoughts twice in two days. And at both times, these fillings were coming out!
I was almost arrested right in the front seat of my car! “My fillings! There was something about the silver fillings in my teeth!”
When I arrived back at the house, I ran to the computer to look up silver fillings online. My fillings were not silver but they were a mixture of mercury. 50% mercury and only a small amount of silver.
The more research I did, the more I found out that I had a poisonous mixture (called silver amalgam, or mixture) leaking from my teeth and causing the symptoms that had often disabled me for over two decades.
I came across a site during my search, that belonged to the TACF, and there was an interview with Carol Arnot. It happened that the Lord had been filling teeth with gold during a conference and the interviewer asked “Why gold? Why not just heal the tooth?” This was a good question, I thought.
Carol’s response was that she didn’t know but it was possible that the Lord wanted to fill them with a touch of His glory (gold represents His Glory in scripture), or it could be that He just wanted to remove the mercury from the mouths of His people.
“They were asking to be healed!” That was the word I heard from the Lord when I asked him why He fills teeth with gold. “They were asking to be healed!” and that was what was happening at this conference. They were asking to be healed!
I researched further and then found a dentist and a doctor who heard my concern and I was tested for heavy metal poisoning in my body. Lab work was done, and the lab results came back.
I was ‘in the red zone” for mercury poisoning. Interestingly, I was also “over the red zone” for tin. When I asked the doctor, “why tin?” he said “that proves the mercury poison comes from the dental, and not from fish.”
I began a plan to have 8 fillings removed over a period of several months and start a process towards healing.
Some had asked if this was really the Lord, why didn’t He just heal me all those years ago?
I responded, “I don’t know. Maybe He just wanted to deposit His glory in me first.”
Psalm 12:6 says “The words of the Lord are pure words, as silver tried in a furnace of clay, and purified seven times”
Silver. Pure words. Purity in our mouths.
When I started telling my story, many were surprised that mercury was still being used to fill teeth today. We believed they were silver fillings but the only thing truly silver about them was the color. There was very little silver in the mixture.
The reason for the mixture was primarily the cost, but also because the mixture became hardened faster, and was more durable, than silver.
The words of the Lord are pure. The word of the Lord in our mouths is as silver purified seven times.
Tried in a furnace of clay.
When we speak the word of God, it begins to try us. It tries our hearts and we are at once tested by that which we speak. “Did God really say?” “Do we really believe what we speak?” “Do we believe who He is?” Not everyone who quotes the word of God is speaking a pure word, because it has not yet been tried in their own furnace of clay (earthen vessel) seven times.
The word of God produces a fire, to refine us. The refiner’s fire of Malachi 3. This fire is to remove all the dross of impurity, the dross of mixture.
If we resist the fire, mixture remains in our hearts, and resides in our mouths. Amalgam.
Unbelief, deception.
And if we let it remain, a root of rebellion goes deep and becomes a stronghold. Our hearts, like the mixture of mercury, become hardened faster. Our words also become cheaper. And if we resist the fire, we allow unbelief to take root.
Back to the colors of the garments of the Civil War (remember? this is a story about Civil War uniforms..;-) )..
Confederate Rebel garments were grey and brown. The word “Confederate” means “united in a league, alliance or conspiracy”.
The Lord is showing what our hearts are like, if our garments are grey and brown.
We might want to hold them up to the LIGHT to check their colors.
Heb 4: 7 Therefore God again set a certain day, calling it Today, when a long time later he spoke through David, as was said before:
“Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts.
John 17:20 Neither for these alone do I pray [it is not for their sake only that I make this request], but also for all those who will ever come to believe in (trust in, cling to, rely on) Me through their word and teaching,
21 That they all may be one, [just] as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be one in Us, so that the world may believe and be convinced that You have sent Me.
22 I have given to them the glory and honor which You have given Me, that they may be one [even] as We are one:
Union: unity agree in referring to a oneness, either created by putting together, or by being undivided. A union is a state of being united, a combination, as the result of joining two or more things into one. (UNITY is not UNISON… felt to make that clear. A symphony is one, but consisting of many instruments playing together)
Gold: riches of the glory of God; enduring capacity of the believer as overcomer; unchanging holiness; wisdom; glory; righteousness; glorifying self when used as adornment or as idol worship. (Lam. 4: 2; Ps. 19: 10, 119: 72; Rev. 3: 18, 21: 18. 21; 1 Cor. 3: 12; Ex. 20: 23; Is. 40: 19; Job 22: 25)
Blue: The Holy Spirit; heaven; heavenly visitation. (Numbers 15: 38; Ex. 28; Num. 4)
The Battle of Shiloh
The battle of Shiloh was the bloodiest battle of the Civil War. (Shiloh, by the way is a name for Jesus and means “Peacemaker”) I’m not a Civil War historian and I apologize to those who are, if I am not presenting the facts as clearly as they ought to be presented, but recently I read up on this particular battle because while reading about the colors of the uniforms I discovered something interesting.
The Confederate Rebels uniforms were not always grey and brown. They were blue and gold, just like the Union army.
It was after the battle of Shiloh, that they changed their colors because they were getting confused and started shooting their own men!
The scene was set and appeared the Rebels could win this battle easily because the Union army was lax. The Union Army was “at ease in Shiloh” and had no indication of any approaching attack.
Shiloh was a surprise attack.
The Union Army made a decision to hide in a very low, sunken road, called “Hornet’s Nest”, and because of this low position they took, they were able to kill the general of the Rebel army, and this caught the Rebs off guard, causing them to start shooting at their own men in their confusion.
Those in a Union with Christ, will wear the garments of Revelation and Glory, and will take the Low, Bowing Down in Worship, Humble, and Philippians 2 Position. Those who wear the colors of Mixture, Unbelief, and Judgment (by the sight of their eyes and the hearing of their ears), will be filled with confusion, fear, and start attacking their own, as well as those perceived to be the enemy.
Matthew 7:21, 22 says “Many will say to me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, and in Your name driven out demons and performed many miracles?’ And then I will say to them openly (publicly) ‘I never knew you, depart from Me, you who act wickedly (disregarding My commands).”
“I never KNEW you”, in this sense means an intimate knowing, as in Husband and Wife. This is the kind of Union the Lord is seeking. We can do all kinds of miracles, healings, and speaking of prophetic words, but Jannes and Jambres imitated Moses before Pharoah as well.
This is not a lovenote to cause anyone to start looking over their shoulder, nor for anyone to remind the Lord of the one you share your dinner table with. Rather, it is for your preparation. Don’t be “at ease in Shiloh” (at ease in your peace and comfort) but rather take the lower position, knowing you have an enemy lurking about and victory is accomplished in the low position.
(Amos 6:1) WOE TO those who are at ease in Zion and to those on the mountain of Samaria who are careless and feel secure, the notable men of the chief [because chosen by God] of the nations, to whom the house of Israel comes!
Those who wear Blue rely upon the Spirit-quickened Word and obey what is heard and seen. Their minds are fixed on things above, not on things of the earth (Col 3:1-4) (Spirit of Revelation)
The Gold is the gold Jesus counseled the Laodiceans to buy from Him, refined in the Fire. Those who allowed the fires of their trials to refine their hearts and minds. (Rev 3:18) (Spirit of Wisdom)
(Eph 1:17, 18) I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints
Those who are in a Union with Him, are one in spirit and mind. Equal partnership. (John 17:21) They are the ones who know Him more intimately and have cultivated this relationship.
(Eph 1:17, 18) I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may KNOW HIM BETTER.I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints
Hide yourselves in the sunken roads so as not to be so easily detected by the enemy, and you will be the ones who take down the general.
But if you find yourselves with some mixture still in your teeth and not the purity of the word as silver refined, if you struggle with unbelief, having some fear and doubt, this doesn’t make you the enemy. Remember, we’re still in training. You have a little time to let His word try you as silver refined.
This makes you qualified to overcome.
Do understand that the Lord loves you and is quick to forgive all those who come to Him and acknowledge these things in the Light. He is quick to forgive those who come to Him with repentant hearts. (1John 1:9)
But we need to press in to obtain excellence (Phil 3:14) because we need to not only know His goodness, but be aware of His severity too. (Rom 11:22)
Though the battle at Shiloh (Peacemaker) was the bloodiest battle fought in the Civil War, the Union Army won, and so shall we who seek to be One in heart, mind, and purpose with Christ, and when this happens, it will translate into unity, the Psalm 133 kind of unity with our brothers and sisters in Christ.
We aren’t there yet, but we still have a little time to make ourselves ready.
Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Have we even gotten to the fear of the Lord in our walk yet? Or are we quick to claim we have wisdom apart from this?
My Dream