One Thing
There’s a great scene in the movie City Slickers in which Billy Crystal (playing a city- dweller in the throes of a midlife crisis who’s trying to find himself on a dude ranch) is talking to Jack Palance, an old-time cowboy, about the meaning of life. Palance holds up one cowhide-gloved finger (No, not that finger; his index finger) as he says, with a cigarette dangling precariously from the corner of his mouth, “Do you know what the secret to life is? This.” Crystal looks a Palance, puzzled, and asks, “Your finger?” As the scene at the dude ranch closes, Palance looks at Crystal and smiles wryly as he holds up his finger and goes on to explain the meaning of life. “One thing, just one thing. You stick to that and everything else don’t mean (use your imagination).” “That’s great, but what’s the one thing?” asks Crystal. “That’s what you gotta figure out,” says Palance.
In the light of all that is happening regarding the virus that “one thing” comes into sharper focus. Is it your health, where to find groceries, the brevity of life, will I have a job, is the economy going to collapse, getting a disease, the importance of family, or what you’ve lived life for? The other thing that comes into focus is what do you set your sights on? Where should your focus be?
Recently John David and I were having a conversation about what the prophets were saying. Which reminded me of a prophecy given several years ago back in October 2010. I was blown away by its relevance to our present crisis:
On October 22, 2010, I dreamed I was walking through a log cabin. Every room that I walked through was a different part of America. It was like this log cabin was the United States. Small fires started breaking out on the floor in every room. They were easy for me to stomp out. As I started to leave the log cabin, another fire ignited that I went over to put out. I saw that it had burned through the floor, so I looked through the hole to see if I could determine what was causing these fires. I discovered that the entire foundation of the building was covered in hot burning coals. I knew the cabin was about to go up in flames so I started to turn aside to grab my laptop computer. Immediately, I heard the voice of the Lord say, “You don’t have time for that. Get your wife, and the fire hose, and put the fire out.” The dream ended. When I woke up I was deeply shaken.
Interpretation: Our national problems are much worse than we realize. The foundation of our nation is being consumed by a fire that threatens everything. The reference to “my wife” represents the church, and she alone has what can put out this fire—the truth. In Ephesians 5:26 we are told that water represents the Word of God, and this alone can save us now. I believe that if the preachers and the prophetic voices in America don’t stand up and pour out the truth, our whole nation is about to be lost. And we’ve got to pour the truth on the foundations. A week after my dream, an Orthodox Jewish rabbi who believes in Jesus (who I cannot name) had a dream that I felt corroborated mine. The following is an abbreviated version of what he sent to me:
I had a dream on the evening of October 29 and again during the afternoon on October 30. I saw a giant grizzly bear running rampant through America and the rest of the world, though primarily in the United States. It was large enough that it could swallow a man whole in a single bite. People everywhere were cowering in fear. I watched in horror as it swallowed person after person with alarming speed and left a swath of destruction behind it. As it approached where I was standing, that fear and panic started to overwhelm me, and then suddenly I felt a peace. That was when I noticed the Lord was standing next to me. He said, “Come with Me, you have seen all that you need to here. There is something else you need to see.” He took me to what looked to be a classic church with a steeple. When I walked inside, while it still had the feel of a house of worship, it looked more like a hunting lodge filled with trophies. Suddenly I saw what looked at first to be the rampaging bear. Then I realized that, no, this bear was considerably smaller, and while still menacing, it was nowhere near as fearful as the rampaging bear that I had seen. After a moment I realized that it was another trophy. As I approached, I saw a plaque at the bear’s feet that said, “The Great Bear of 1929.” Even knowing that it was a long dead trophy, I still stood trembling before this bear. The same fear and confusion seemed to radiate from it as was radiating from the rampaging bear. Again, I felt calm come over me as the Lord stepped up to my side. When I turned to Him, He said, “You need to stand in my peace to see clearly what must be done.” As I looked back at the bear I noticed a rifle in a case next to it. It looked like an old M1 Garrand in 30-06 caliber. When I looked at the manufacturer’s information inscribed in the barrel it said, “Mission and Intercession Armory.” In place of the model number were two verses, “Matthew 6:33” and “Matthew 6:10.” As I was marveling at the rifle, an old hunter approached me. He was dressed in a field jacket of WWII vintage. He said, “That rifle is great for killing bears. We used it to take down the Great Bear here. It is available for any who are willing to take it up now. One well aimed shot at the heart is all it takes.” The dream ended.
In both of these dreams there is an answer to the current crisis. In dreams and visions, bears usually represent fear, or as in this case, a “bear market,” which is actually the result of fear. Though I was not told this in my dream, I felt that the fear that was devouring our foundation, and would soon consume the entire house, was an economic catastrophe. In my friend’s dream, it was a bigger bear than the bear of 1929. Often the time when we wake up from a prophetic dream can have significance, indicating a date, or a Scripture verse. That he had this dream on “the evening of October 29th” also speaks of 1929. This is what we are approaching. In my dream the answer was to get the church (my wife), who has the hose, and get her to pour water on the fire. The water that can put this fire out and save the house is the truth. Pastors, preachers, individual Christians, must stand for the truth without compromise, they must proclaim it boldly regardless of the threat, and they must do it now. That I did not have time to get my laptop spoke of how we cannot worry about our own stuff—we’ve got to proclaim the truth. In my friend’s dream, the weapon we can use to kill the bigger, more deadly bear we are facing now was the same weapon that killed the bear of 1929—faith in the Lord and His coming kingdom (Matt. 6:10), seeking “first the kingdom of God and His righteousness,” and not worrying about tomorrow (Matt. 6:33-34). The only way that we can do that, as this dream indicated, is to stay close to the Lord.
What’s the One Thing that every believer should be turning to in the present upheaval? Matthew 6:10 specifically – we should be in prayer. Secondly, Matthew 6:33. We should seek the Lord’s Kingdom and His righteousness. The question is, What will the Lord find us doing when He returns to the earth?
