In Need of Nothing

Revelation 3:17 Because you say, “I am rich and have acquired great wealth and need nothing,”
but do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked,

I dreamed that I was standing in the front entrance of a church. It was in a small rural foyer, the area before you walk into a sanctuary. Some churches call that the vestibule. I was drawn to a painting on the wall. It was the famous Rockwell painting, “Freedom from Want”. Its setting was during thanksgiving and is a print that many of us are familiar with. The lady is placing the turkey down on the table. The grandfather was standing behind her and looking out at everybody sitting around the table. A beautiful family scene.

This picture was oversized and appeared almost life size. It was mounted in a hand painted gold frame. It was surrounded by artificial green Ivy. As I stared at the picture, I was drawn into the scene and found myself sitting at the table with the rest of the family as the grandmother brought in a very large golden brown holiday turkey.

The grandfather had not yet turned to face the table but was staring out the window that was at the head of the table. Suddenly he shut the curtains and spun around. He then made eye contact with his wife and gave her a very strange look.

At that exact moment, what sounded like gunfire and explosions were taking place outside the window. Several of the kids immediately jumped up from the table and were heading toward the window to look and see what was happening outside. The grandmother flat out screamed at them and stopped them in their tracks. It was a scream that was totally out of character for her and the moment but at the top of her lungs, she yelled, sit down, sit back down this instant. She then said, “There’s nothing going on outside” and then without pausing she repeated, “There’s nothing going on outside”.

Almost at once she became herself again as a peaceful, smile formed on her face. She then proceeded to serve the turkey, almost as if nothing had happened. Those at the table knew that something was going on and they started looking at their cell phones to try and pull up any news about it. When the grandfather saw this, he yelled at them to put their phones away and stay focused on the family gathering. Both the grandfather and the grandmother told the kids to stop looking and be quiet and just listen to them.

At that moment there was a lull in the noise that was going on outside. The grandfather kept looking over his shoulder, back at the window. Every time there was a significant noise from outside the grandmother would put on one of those fake smiles in an attempt to reassure everyone but you knew she was just pretending that everything was ok. She just kept smiling at the family and carving the turkey as if all was well.

As the plates were passed around the table, the grandmother would fill each plate up with all the holiday foods and then send it back around the table. There were ten to twelve people sitting at that table. The grandfather then told everybody to hold hands, and he said he would pray.

Three people at the table were watching the window and seemed to be very concerned. They were holding hands, but their heads were not bowed, and they were leaning out to see around the grandfather, as they were attempting to get a glimpse of what was going on outside the window. As the noise continued outside the grandfathers head was still bowed and his eyes closed as he said to them, ignore what you think is happening outside because nothing is happening outside. It was obvious to these three people that something major is going on. But he repeated, ignore what you think is happening outside because nothing is happening outside.

Hebrews 12:27 “And this phrase, “one more time,” makes clear that the things shaken are removed,
since they are manmade things, so that the things not shaken may remain”

Then he began to pray and bless the food. Strangely his lips were moving, but there was no sound coming out of his mouth. As his prayer continued, the house began to shake. The grandmother kept watching the three kids who seemed concerned, and she kept telling them, you are to keep your eyes shut and be quiet.

Matthew 15:8 “This people draws near to me with their mouth,
and honors me with their lips; but their heart is far from me”

The grandfather continues praying and still there is no sound or words coming out of his mouth. Several times he pauses and kind of turns as if to look at the window behind him all the while his eyes remain shut. He kept facing at an angle toward the window, obviously aware that things were getting worse outside. The noise outside seemed to be getting closer to the house and it shook a few more times. With each shaking the grandfather would flinch and recoil. He then seemed to end his prayer as an audible and very loud AMEN came out of his mouth. Then he smiled at all those at the table as if to comfort them with some artificial sense of relief as in “okay, guys, we’re all right, everything is fine”. Then he said, “let’s all eat and pretend it’s all good”.

Everyone began eating at the table but after only a few bites you could see the look on their faces changed dramatically. They each begin to raise their hands up to their mouths as if they are about to be sick. You could tell by their facial expression that they had bit into something that was very sour or bitter. The grandfather as is tradition paused after the first few bites of food and said very loudly, “the food is so good” and again to exaggerate his point and politeness said, “This food is so good”.

The three people who had shown concern throughout the meal were a mother, a father, and a teenage son. Those three people looked at each other in disgust, and the teenage boy boldly spoke up and said, no, this is really bad. It’s actually making me sick.

At this point the grandmother stood up and yelled at the teenage boy, “don’t you talk to your pastor that way”. She then threw her napkin on the table in disgust. At that point she stood up from the table and grabbed a large pitcher that had gravy in it. She walked around the table to all three of those concerned people’s plates and covered their food in gravy. She poured so much on each plate that it was spilling over on to the table. Everything on the plate was submerged in gravy. Then she said, this will make it easier to get it down, so stop complaining.

The others who had appeared to be oblivious to the taste at first and had kept chewing their food, also began looking around. You could tell they too did not like the taste of it.

It was then that I noticed that everyone’s appearance began to change including the three people who were concerned. They all looked pale, and each appeared to have lost a lot of weight to the point that they looked malnourished. Their clothes were ill fitting and appeared to be 3 sizes to large.

Just then I heard a whistling sound similar to what you would hear when there is an incoming missile. All at once the three concerned people got up and rushed toward the window to look outside. In a split second they turned away from the window and screamed “everybody get down now”. They then dove under the table for cover.

At that exact moment the house exploded. There was smoke and fire. Large parts of the house had been destroyed. Even though I was a part of the scene I couldn’t feel heat from the flames even though I was in the middle of absolute destruction.

The smoke appeared to clear a little and I could see the table was still intact but the damage to the people who had remained sitting around It was catastrophic. There was blood everywhere. They had all died from their injuries in the explosion. The plates of food were still on the table. The three people that had been concerned then crawled out from under the table and they sat down at the opposite end of the table from the grandfather who had passed away.

Daniel 3:23-27 “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego fell into the fire. They were tied up very tightly. Then King Nebuchadnezzar jumped to his feet. He was very surprised and he asked his advisors, “We tied only three men, and we threw only three men into the fire. Is that right?” His advisors said, “Yes, King.” The king said, “Look! I see four men walking around in the fire. They are not tied up and they are not burned. The fourth man looks like an angel. Then Nebuchadnezzar went to the opening of the hot furnace. He shouted, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, come out! Servants of the Most High God, come here!” So Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out of the fire. When they came out, the satraps, prefects, governors, and royal advisors crowded around them. They could see that the fire had not burned Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Their bodies were not burned at all. Their hair was not burned, and their robes were not burned. They didn’t even smell as if they had been near fire”

It was then that the man I see so often in my dreams appeared and he pointed to each of the three people that remained alive and he said,

“You were wise to listen to the words for that’s what spared you from the destruction that is here and now Warn the Church to listen and to inspect “Every Bite” of their food. Warn those in the pulpit to stop feeding their people a lie, for I’m watching, and I will destroy the poisoned well And I will remove my light from their pulpit and the life from their eyes”.

Then he told them

“Go and find fresh water and truth that will feed your souls”

The three people got up and brushed themselves off and they each approached the Man in white and started hugging Him. They were thanking him for sparing them and for saving them.

He simply said,