A few years ago, I took a friend of mine on a tour through The State House of Pennsylvania. It’s halls and galleries are filled with paintings on the founding of William Penn’s Holy Experiment - Pennsylvania. It is incredible and one of our nation's best treasures. During this tour we took a break and went to eat lunch in the cafeteria on the lower level. While there, I noticed a group of intercessors praying in a corner. I went over and sat down next to them while they prayed and found them engaged in praying that God would restore the vision that William Penn had of our nation. I was quite intrigued. What on earth would have motivated this group to come to this great gallery of art to pray for a national restoration of William Penn’s vision?
As I got to know this group, they shared with me that they had heard a “Prophetic Dream or Vision” given by a man named Bob Jones. According to Rick Joyner of Morningstar Ministries, in Fort Mill, South Carolina, Bob Jones was a contemporary prophet whose prophetic ministry spanned over three decades. He was, like the Old Testament Daniel, one who functioned and moved with a clear revelatory gifting in dreams and visions; as well as interpreting what God was giving to him and other great leaders of his time. Often, his prophetic insights were confirmed with gifts of healing and miracles.
Over the years, as I have developed my relationship with this group of intercessors, they shared with me the details of the Bob Jones "vision or dream” - which has been commonly referred to as the “Gulliver Prophecy.” This Prophecy was given at a conference in Ohio in 2005. Together, the team hearing the word, sensed that God had called them to go and retrace the landmarks of Bob Jones’ vision and intercede for the word to be fulfilled. This is what eventually led them to praying into William Penn’s founding vision for our nation. I must admit, despite all my own experiences with dreams, visions, and prophetic ministry, I was a bit skeptical about what they were doing. But as they shared a CD with me of the word Bob Jones gave; the vision began to challenge me. What did this “vision” mean? Is God really speaking or is this some weird word from an old man who was moved by his own delusions? However, I am cognizant of the scripture that says; “In the last days, God says, I will pour my Spirit on everyone. Your sons and daughters will speak what God has revealed. Your young men will see visions. Your old men will dream dreams.” (Acts 2:17) I also felt a tug in my own heart to begin exploring what kind of word this was? Was it really from God? What did it mean? And if it is from God, what does He want us to do about it?
I think it’s always important to examine a “prophetic dream, vision, or word” in light of the Scripture. I Corinthians 14:29 states, “Let two or three people prophesy, and let the others carefully evaluate what is said.” The King James Bible translated this verse to say, “Let the prophets speak two or three, and let the other judge.” I think this is one of the most important things lacking in modern day “prophetic” circles - judging, or carefully examining a word in order to determine whether it is from the Lord or not. All prophecy is to be judged. Years ago I heard someone say, “Dreams? Are they from God, something within myself or something I ate last night? All I have to say is, “When someone gets up and proclaims that God is speaking to them about something - It’s a serious matter. To proclaim you’re speaking for God, is something we all should not enter into lightly. That’s why “prophecies, dreams, interpretations of dream, and visions need to be evaluated and judged by other mature prophetic leaders; so that the Body of Christ is not led off into some direction by a delusionary word. I became very concerned as I watched this intercessory prayer team focusing on a “dream” about a satirical story by Jonathan Swift entitled “Gulliver’s Travels.” Just what kind of word is this? Here’s the text of the “word” given by Bob Jones.
BOB JONES’ PROPHETIC GULLIVER VISION
“The heavens declare the handy works of God. Our Daddy spoke them into existence and they are in total obedience to his orbit and they are all speaking a real clear word right now. They haven’t been lit up like this for two thousand years. In the heavens is shaking, on the earth is shaking, and under the earth is going to shake. Now on the Earth was taken place, last June the 6th He’s always told me through the years to mark June 6th. If you go back you will find the heavens reveal certain things on June the 6th including the eye of God. This year gives us another message in an awesome way.
Thirty-eight years ago last June the 6th Jerusalem become a united city. Jerusalem is Papa’s time clock, not Israel. Thirty-eight years, the man laid at the pool of Bethesda for thirty-eight years waiting. I think the crippled church has waited long enough. Israel went around in circles, Kadesh Barnea for thirty-eight years. Kadesh Barnea means they wandered around that mountain. The word now to the church is to get off the mountain, make a beeline for the promises of God and cross that Jordan and come into the Promised Land, for it’s yours. How long will this journey be? Two Years. The next couple of years she’s going to be a real shaking in the world, and you got no business shaking, because you already have things established, that can’t shake. Because everything is shaken under the Earth, you are going to see some awesome shaking, volcanos, earthquakes, but you already have things settled. For Christ is settled, in your heart. Settle on things above, that can’t be moved or shook, and when this happens your finest hour comes.
Thirty-eight years, two years, we’re talking about the beginning of His Glory, the returning of our Daddy’s Glory, and Him taking back the Honor on His Name. I saw a great man had fallen to sleep in the past, and his body was laying on his back and he was halfway buried in dirt. We could call him Gulliver and little people, from little input, had tied him down, and the only reason he was tied down he’d been asleep for a long time, about thirty-eight years, and he was waking up, you could also call him the Body of Christ coming together. I saw his head was in Cleveland, Ohio and his head was Jacob. Jacob was the one that wrestled and met with God and this is the year that the blessings of Jacob on you; you don’t have to be perfect. You just have to be willing. You have to get yourself started, to be dedicated for His purpose. Jacob; head is in Cleveland, called Jacobs Field, full of youth, especially college and high school youth. You need to get a vision for it. The next thing I saw; I saw a large pole, a tent pole and it was sticking straight up and it come out of Columbus, Ohio. There is going to be a thing in Columbus, Ohio that is going to raise up anything you’ve seen before and it is going to be like a tent, a canopy, and that’s where his heart is at. Then I saw Cincinnati. That’s where his reproductive organs were. This is what you’re called for to reproduce. I saw the left hand, it went over the mountains, it went up to Pennsylvania; Philadelphia and it had love in it, and the left hand was a teaching hand of God, and you’re going to begin to see the true teaching hands of God, teaching God’s love again. I saw the right hand it went west, and it was tied down in Indianapolis, Indiana and I saw it begin to flex and begin to raise up and to pull those strings off. I saw one of the feet; the left one was in Charlotte, North Carolina. Which means you’re going to see great television, books, and radio, and things that people can be taught without going thousands of miles. I saw the right leg it was in Nashville, Tennessee. Get ready to see great faith raise up there. I saw this great man raise up and begin to take and break off all restraints and He put his foot down, both of them in Atlanta, Georgia. God means to take Atlanta, first he means to take Ohio, then Atlanta. He means to take Indiana, He’s going to go on over into Illinois, He’s going past Cleveland. If you take Atlanta, Georgia you take the South.
My Daddy got big ideas, but He’s big enough to do it. But He’s looking for the Body of Christ whose head will be in the heavens, whose body will be on the earth walking it out. You are part of that Body. This is why you really need to begin to go to Him in prayer, and find out where He wants to start. I know where He wants to start. Find out where He wants to start. I know where He wants to start; in your heart, then in your home, then in your family, then on your streets, your cities, your states, and He’s starting, this is called “passion”. Get ready for a passion for intimacy with God that can only be satisfied by being intimate with Him. Get ready to know Him in a passion you have never known anything before. He can bring you into such intimate relationship, that when you speak, the words He speaks to you, an intimacy is created. You are part of that Body, my Daddy’s got big ideas, He’s big enough to do it.”
Over the years, I’ve come to several conclusions about how to handle a “prophetic word, a dream or vision.” First, just as prophecies, dreams and visions were given in the Bible - each were written down. Secondly, people throughout the scripture were given the opportunity to evaluate the words. Many of the words, dreams and visions were judged or evaluated by prophets, interpreted by prophets, and people; and then determined as being from God or not. I think it’s important that the Body Of Christ needs to receive a lot of teaching on discerning what is from God, what is not from God, what is true prophecy and what is a false prophecy. So the purpose of this first installment on Bob Jones’ Gulliver Vision is to explore the nature, purpose and use of prophecy. My third thought has to do with “What are we supposed to do with a prophetic word, dream and vision once it is determined as being a ‘word from the Lord’? If we really believe that GOD Himself has given us a word - once accepted - then we need to OBEY what God is saying. This is what has perplexed me about Bob Jones’ vision and what this particular intercessory prayer team was engaged in. Were they just crazy “Charismatics” or were they really called by God to go to each of the cities listed and pray for the “Vision’s” outcome. Over the years I’ve been engaged with this team and I think their actions deserve a just evaluation and appraisal. That’s what this series of articles will be about and I hope you will read through each of the installments as I write them. I’ve been learning a lot about what I now call “Informed Intercession.” This team’s work has challenged me to rethink every teaching I’ve heard on prayer, intercession, personal prophecy, what true prophets are vs false prophets, the purpose and use of all prophecy both in the Word of God and what to do with spoken words in corporate assemblies.
What I do know is that this Bob Jones’ Vision stirred a group of intercessors who still regularly call in to a conference call twice each week to pray through the meaning and purpose they have found in this vision. They have looked into the satirical work of Jonathan Swift’s “Gulliver’s Travels” and even found a book entitled “Gulliver as a Slave Trader” to assist them in praying for the healing of our nation. For whatever reason, they got activated enough to go to each city in this vision and that’s where I happened to meet them while they engaged themselves in prayer in Pennsylvania. It’s from this “Holy Spirit-led”, “Divine Appointment” that has now linked them into my journey on the road to healing and reconciliation. Through this series of articles, I hope to share with you - the journey of what we’ve learned together since that moment when they were simply praying into William Penn’s vision for a nation. I hope you will read on and maybe join us in - learning how to do “Informed Intercession” with “prophetic vision or words" that God gives you.” I guess I cannot find a better way to finish this particular installment on the “Whys” of prophecy and what to do with them; other than what The Apostle Paul wrote to Timothy in I Timothy 1:18; “ This charge I commit unto you, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which were made concerning you, that you by them might war a good warfare.” This is a major insight into the purpose and use of prophecy within the Christian faith.
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