Dreams, Visions, and Informed Intercession (Part 5)

The American Church has been asleep.  Many Churches and their leaders have held a "Christ Against Culture" view.  They have also worked hard to alienate the very people that Jesus has called us to disciple. Many Church leaders have denounced the real histories of our nation and held onto the myth that America was a Christian nation because Rev. Robert Hunt planted a flag and prayer in Cape Henry, Virginia and the Mayflower Compact called for a colony that would be dedicated to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  These images and stories are frozen in the minds of many who think that America was born as some kind of Christian utopia.  However, any student of American history knows, that even though many European Christians sought religious refuge in coming to this land, our Christian history is also filled with colonialization, slavery, racism, Church-led residential schools and missionary activity which sought to deconstruct the "Tribal Identity" of the First Nations people and force Black people to be White. This is the truth!  Failure to acknowledge this history, to repent of it, and work on healing and reconciliation between those communities that have been most impacted by this tragedy, only perpetuates the deep divisions in our country.  As the Church goes, so goes this Nation!

Most Churches in America made African Americans sit in the back of the Church long before Rosa Parks was forced to sit on the back of a bus.  Whole denominations were formed because Whites refused to worship with those they dehumanized.  God has had enough of our national cover-up of our American Church histories.  Psalm 33:4 states very clearly that, "ALL His works are done in truth." God is NOT speaking through distorted views of our American Church history no matter how charismatic our presenters are.  He only works in truth.  This is why I find the prophetic word given by Bob Jones, entitled the "Gulliver Prophecy", so interesting. It literally calls the Church to “RISE UP” and work toward healing the national divide.  Within the transition brought about in our governmental leadership, we have witnessed the national rifts.  I believe that Bob Jones' 2005 prophetic word is a call for "Justice."  Micah 6:8 asks, "What does the Lord require of you? To do Justice, to love mercy, and walk humbly with our God."  What does justice look like to those who have been impacted by all the injustice that has been mustered up and often perpetrated by the Church first? According to the author Elaine Robinson, in her book "Gulliver As a Slave Trader", she advances that Jonathan Swift wrote "Gulliver's Travels" to speak out and call people to revile racism.

In this final segment, we want to unpack the images of each city that Bob Jones' discusses and how each city and the Church within each city is being called to heal our national divide. Each part of the Body of Christ is being called by God to address the "iniquity in the land" and lead the way before us on "healing the national divide."  It's a call from the Holy Spirit to “RISE UP” and become the people that Jesus called us to be in John 17:21. God wants us to be one Church, not a divided Church.  Not a Church asleep and embedded in the sin of the land, but a Church standing up on the side of justice. It's not a White vision - It's a multicultural vision. Founding Father and architect of our nation, William Penn, called this "The Holy Experiment." It's the lion laying down with the lamb! Spiritual mapping, which includes studying the history of a city’s original purposes for being founded, who the Founders were, and also current city conditions, help intercessors to be informed on how to pray for city transformation.  As each city, region, and communities are spiritually addressed by the Body of Christ through prayer - healing the divides in our nation can begin.  Let's examine the final images of this great prophetic word.

In my last installment on Dreams, Visions, and Informed Intercession, we discussed that in the Bob Jones prophecy, Gulliver was lying halfway in the dirt. Interesting images throughout the Bible speak to how the body was formed by God from the dust of the ground. The body was created for the dwelling place of our spirit (which is not defined by race or color). It is also the dwelling place (a tabernacle or temple) for God Himself. To dehumanize and demean a person because of the color of their skin or culture is to dishonor God Himself - Who proclaimed His creation good. (See. Gen.1:31; Jn. 2:21; Ro. 12:4-5; I Cor. 6:19-20).  Job 4:19 speaks of men, “as those who live in houses of clay, whose foundations are in the dust. Eccl. 3:20 states, "All go to the same place. All came from the dust and all return to the dust." The Church is either alive, asleep or dead. Bob Jones said; “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...and he was waking up, you could also call him the Body of Christ coming together."  This is an easy read, the Church is laying halfway in the dirt (which is the iniquity in the land), Tied down (entangled in the sin of the land - slavery of both Native American and African American people), and asleep ("Dreaming").  However, we are now being called to a time to wake up and make the dream a reality.  Dr. Martin Luther King (who was a minister of the Gospel) put the dream this way. "I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men are created equal."  Acts 17:26 says, "He made from ONE BLOOD all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth.”  There is no European blood, Asian blood, African blood or Hispanic blood. We are all made of the SAME BLOOD.  That's why racial division is a denial of our common humanity.  This is why the Church is being called to wake up, address its participation in the sin of the land, and lead the way for healing and reconciliation.  We are one body and members of one another.  If the Church doesn't demonstrate this, then how can we expect the nation to follow? When the Body of Christ wakes up to the reality that it has been tied down, and entangled in racism and repents for its involvement in it, then we might see the reality of Dr. King's prophetic word come true and William Penn's “Seed of a Nation” become a reality.

The Bus that Rosa Parks sat down on.

In the next part of Bob's vision, he saw Gulliver's head was in Cleveland, Ohio. Col. 1:18 says, "Jesus is also head of the body, the Church; and He is the beginning, the first-born from the dead; so that He Himself might come to have first place in everything. Eph. 5:23 also refers to Christ as the head of the Church in this manner, "For the husband is head of the wife, just as Christ is the head of the Church, His body, of which He is the Savior. Therefore, as the Church is subject unto Christ..."  The scripture also clearly states that those men who are true disciples of Christ "Love their wives as Christ loves the Church and gave himself for it”. The marriage union is a picture of God's image. So those who are called to lead, must lead with the same love and care that they would their own wives.  An interesting verse that demonstrates how God punishes Miriam and rebukes Aaron for coming against this union is found in Numbers 12:1; "And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married: for he had married an Ethiopian woman." (See Num. 12:9). The Cleveland Ave bus incident is one in which a male bus driver disrespects a Black woman named, Rosa Parks.  It was this one incident of disrespect that leads Dr. Martin Luther King to go to Selma.  Did you know that in Cleveland, Ohio that the U.S. Department of Justice found that the city's police force was found guilty of a systemic excessive use of force by mostly White police serving a majority African American city?  Why? Do you know that Cleveland consistently stands uncomfortably near the top in rankings of the nation’s most segregated metropolitan areas in America? What has been the Church's role in healing this ungodly manifestation of injustice in the 21st Century?  Bob also said, “Gulliver's head is in Cleveland, called Jacob's Field."  Jacob's field is the home of the Cleveland Indians baseball stadium.  Many Native American's are tired of their tribal identities being made into mascots. For those who are intercessors, seeking for God to bring an awakening or outpouring of his presence into their city, they need to pray for godly leadership to clear the way for healing these rifts of racial disharmony and divides. Bob goes on and shows the Church in Cleveland how this process begins... It begins with the youth.  Cleveland is "full of youth, especially college and high school youth. You need to get a vision for it."  

Next, we come to Columbus, Ohio that’s where his heart is at. Ezek. 36:26 says, "I will remove from your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh." God is looking for the Church to deal with its heart of stone, indifference, and apathy toward what our nation is facing. Isaiah 29:13 gets to the heart of the matter, "This person draw near with their words and honor Me with their lip service, But they remove their hearts far from Me.” God is wanting to deal with the heart of His people (See Ps. 33:15; Job 37:1; Ps. 38; 105:4; Is. 60:5; Jer. 4:19; Hab. 3:16) What is interesting is that Cleveland, Ohio's Sydell and Arnold Miller Family Heart & Vascular Institute at the Cleveland Clinic has been ranked the No.1 heart program in the country by U.S. News & World Report for the past 20 years.  In Biblical Hebrew (לב ) = heart:  can have these meanings and is commonly used to mean: The total personality of a person.  Most particularly for the inner self - what it means to be human in personality/inclination, intellect, rational thought (metaphorically "the brain" in English) memory, emotions, desire, will determination, courage, place of love, affection, intimacy (See Lk 16:22; John 1:18; 13:23).

For the intercessor in Columbus, God is calling them to prayer for the Body of Christ to get settled in their hearts. Proverbs 4:23 exhorts us, "Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it." Columbus, Ohio is ranked as one of the places for the greatest number of heart transplants in the nation; we need the Church's heart to be "surgically" changed.  Bob spoke to this in his prophetic word to Columbus, "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." (Other scriptures to review and pray through may include: Jer. 17:9-10; Ps. 51:10; Prov. 3:5-6; 21:2; Ezek.11:19; Rom. 10:10; Eph. 6:6; and Heb. 3:15). Another important aspect to explore for intercessors is to ask why the city’s Founders named the city “Columbus”. It was named in honor Christopher Columbus. Columbus’s interactions with the indigenous people he labeled “Indians”, include the use of violence and slavery, the forced conversion of Native peoples to Christianity, and the introduction of a host of new diseases that would have dramatic long-term effects on Native people in the Americas.  The treatment of the First Nations people in America is at the heart of the problem in “American Exceptionalism”.  It's important for intercessors to become familiar with the "The Doctrine of Discovery" since it is the basis upon which Christopher Columbus came.

Bob continues, "Then I saw Cincinnati; that’s where his reproductive organs were. This is what you’re called for to reproduce” Cincinnati's history began with a major Indian removal effort from what was then called, "The Great Northwest Territory." Anthony Wayne, a Pennsylvania native, led a war against the First Nations people in the “Battle of the Fallen Timbers” in 1794 and removed them from the area.  The city itself was founded by Arthur St. Clair, the Governor of the Northwest Territory, for the purpose of people making their fortunes by providing supplies for soldiers and people traveling down the Ohio River.  Important to note is the fact that Harriet Beecher Stowe, the author of “Uncle Tom's Cabin”, lived in Cincinnati toward the end of her life.  However, Cincinnati has a dark history with Margaret Sanger and Proctor and Gamble sterilization history. Cincinnati is where abortion began.  So, when Bob Jones focuses on Gulliver's reproductive organs resting in Cincinnati, we need to understand how the role of the Church is being addressed in the abortion issue in America.    Human procreation is regarded as a wonder and a mystery in the Old Testament (Prov. 30:19). The fact that a marriage union does produce a new life was already known in Old Testament times, is shown by the case of Onan in Gen. 38:8-10. The method of contraception which he used was coitus interruptus which prevented the union of sperm with ovum which was necessary for conception (See Ps.139:13-16; Job 10:8-10). The results of the function of the reproductive system in producing a pregnancy and the delivery of a new generation are well-recognized in the Old Testament, even though its precise anatomy and detailed physiology were unknown. The external genitalia is referred to by several euphemisms.  Ex. 28 for example, the Hebrew word for flesh is used for the male organ in Ex. 28:42; Lv. 15:2, 3 ~ 7; Ezk.16:16; 23:20; 44:7, and for the female vagina in Lev. 15:19. The male testicles are mentioned in Lev. 21.20. A city which was called to be a source of provision to sustain people's life became a center of "Black Genocide" sponsored by one of the nation's leading manufacturers - Procter and Gamble. This is major root for intercessors to begin to address in this city. Planned Parenthood targets minority neighborhoods. 79% of its surgical abortion facilities are located within walking distance of African American or Hispanic/Latino neighborhoods.

Bob continued his prophetic word with... "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."  The Bible portrays that the “right hand” is symbolic for imparting a blessing.  The left hand (which has always bothered me since I'm left-handed) symbolizes judgment.  In Matthew 25:31-43, the sheep are on the right hand and the goats are on the left.  Scripture also portrays the arm and hand as an expression of power and capability (e.g. Ps. 89:13). In Jonah 4:11, the importance of knowing the difference between the right and the left is made very clear when God says, “And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than one hundred twenty thousand (120,000) persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand…?”  Matthew 6:2-4 states ...But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth.” 

You may find it very interesting to know that our common use of the word left comes from the right and left usage in the important role of blessing as in Jacob's final blessing to his grandsons, Ephriam and Manasseh in Genesis 48:12-20.  When Joseph sees his father beginning to bless them, expecting his father to place his right hand on Manasseh (the first born) and his left on Ephraim, and then bless them.  But Jacob crosses his hands, placing his right hand on Ephraim (vs. 14)  and his left on Manasseh, despite Joseph's objections (vs. 18).  Jacob explains his actions by stating that Ephraim will be greater than Manasseh (V. 19).  The Latin word for Left means: "sinister."  ... the goats go to the left.

The name Manasseh means to forget. When we forget God, judgment comes upon us.

The name Ephraim means "for God had made him fruitful in the land of his affliction".

• Left-handedness was conceived of as a weakness, even a malady, is seen from the description of Ehud (Judg. 3:15).
• Wisdom is to the right, foolishness is to the left; "A wise man’s heart directs him toward the right, but the foolish man’s heart directs him toward the left" (Eccl. 10:2).
• “...But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth” (Matt. 6:2-4).

Philadelphia was founded by William Penn on October 27, 1682. Many people have never explored the purpose of the city. William Penn chose the name after the biblical city of Philadelphia in the book of Revelation. He believed that the ancient city of Philadelphia in the Bible had never completed its calling as a city. So William Penn named the city praying that this city would complete the ancient city's purpose. It was the only city in America's founding that recognize "That there was that of God in every person." William Penn treated the Native Americans with the same great care, respect, and honor as he would any European. He learned their languages, played their games and included them in his plan for governing. 

However, the great treaty he made with them was broken by the Immigrant Americans over time. Known as "The City of Brotherly Love," Philadelphia has always been known as a place of teaching. During the 1970's the great Charismatic Church leaders, John Poole and Bob Mumford, emerged with kingdom centered teaching on the purpose and nature of the New Testament Church. When the Church forgets her role in teaching, spiritual formation, and discipleship, she enables a nation to come under judgment. A few years back I was attending a prayer meeting in Washington, DC and a prophetic word was given. "Washington is the head. Philadelphia is the heart. The heart needs to be resuscitated." The restoration of the Church in Philadelphia, PA. is a major key to restoring our national purpose as a nation.

The next place mentioned in Bob's prophetic vision was Indianapolis, Indiana. “I saw the right hand it went west, and it was tied down. I saw it begin to flex and begin to raise up and to pull those strings off.” The history of Indianapolis spans three centuries.  Founded in 1820, the area where the city now stands was originally home to the Lenape (Delaware Nation). Since we understand that The Lenape were probably driven into this area after being displaced by the European settlers in Pennsylvania it may be that Bob's vision sees the right hand was a sign of blessing on them. The Leni-Lenape faithfully kept their covenant with William Penn to this day. But no one has repented, asked forgiveness or reconciled with them for what was done to them as a tribe.  It can be suggested that since the hand represents power and authority that Gulliver's hand may have gotten tied down during the Revolutionary War when 96 Lenape were massacred by a colonial American militia from Pennsylvania. Penn would have turned over in his grave if he knew that representatives from Pennsylvania had murdered members of this particular tribe. William Penn loved them and wanted his government to protect them. Matthew 25:31-34 states; ...He shall set the sheep on his right hand". The Native American experience is very like that of the African American slave trade experience. God's blessing, authority, and power will only return to the Church as we pray and explore the full implications to the right hand being loosed from what binds it today. 

It is clear from several biblical verses that "right [hand]" was often a symbol for strength. The "right hand of God" was that which overcame Israel's enemies (Ex. 15:6, 12; Isa. 62:8; Ps. 17:7; 44:4, etc.) and which was worthy of the Psalmists' praises (Ps. 98:1; 118:15, 16, etc.). The right hand was a symbol of strength.

• Exodus 15:6, "Your right hand, O LORD, is majestic in power. Your right hand, O LORD, shatters the enemy."
• Psalm 20:6, "Now I know that the LORD saves His anointed.  He will answer him from His holy heaven with the saving strength of His right hand."
• Psalm 78:54, "So He brought them to His holy land, to this hill country which His right hand had gained."
• Isaiah 62:8, "The LORD has sworn by His right hand and by His strong arm, “I will never again give your grain as food for your enemies. Nor will foreigners drink your new wine for which you have labored.”
• Lamentations 2:3, "In fierce anger, He has cut off all the strength of Israel. He has drawn back His right hand from before the enemy. And He has burned in Jacob like a flaming fire consuming round about."

 Next, this vision focuses in one the city of Charlotte, North Carolina. "I saw one of the feet; the left one which means you’re going to see great television, books, and radio, and things that people can be taught without going thousands of miles”.  The left foot in scripture represents a place of humility, lowliness, and walk (Lk.1:79; Ro. 10:15; Heb. 12:13; Rev. 1:17). Slavery has been part of North Carolina’s history since its settlement by Europeans in the late 1600s and early 1700s.  The North Carolina Manumission Society, which was formed in 1816, was made up of Quakers and other antislavery supporters. Called Manumissionist, members advocated the gradual emancipation of slaves. They appealed to Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, and Moravian organizations for support in petitioning state and national governments for action sent delegates to national antislavery conventions, and promoted Black education. By 1824, many of the North Carolina Manumission Society's members were involved in a number of colonization schemes aimed at relocating former slaves to Africa.  As a result of the large population of African slaves in the Carolina's, the electoral college was created to control the representative votes of the slave population.  To date, however, North Carolina has not addressed its racial history and the underlying problems that it faces today. Bob's prophecy points out that Charlotte's history for the Gospel will continue as it has with Rev. Billy Graham, INSP, Rick Joyner and many other ministries throughout its history.  

From this point, Bob states, "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” Interestingly, Tennessee was home to Alex Haley author of “Roots”. Haley's work as a writer brought national attention to the history of slavery. Someone once said you can't change what you don't acknowledge. As a result of "Roots", America has come face-to-face with her original sin. Interesting scriptures concerning legs include:

• Psalm 147:10 “He does not take pleasure in the legs of a man.”
• Proverbs 26:7 “Like the legs which are useless to the lame, So is a proverb in the mouth of fools.”
• Hebrews 12:12-13 “Therefore, strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble, and make straight paths for your feet, so that the limb which is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed.”

Finally, the prophecy ends with Gulliver putting his foot down, “both of them” in Atlanta, Georgia. The feet symbolize "formal possession" (Gen. 13:17; Jos. 1:3; Rev. 10:2). The final scene in "Gulliver's Travels" is Gulliver standing up before "Kings" and settling their divide.  This is an important reason I believe that Bob Jones' prophecy is important. He said, "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."  Atlanta was the home of Dr. Martin Luther King.  So If we really seek to understand this prophetic word, it's a call to the Church to RISE UP and stand with both feet firmly in Dr. Martin Luther King's "I Have A Dream" speech. It is a prophetic call to the nation. Gulliver the slave trader becomes the instrument who settled the dispute between two parties. He heals and reconciles the deep divisions between two disputing views. 

In my own prophetic understanding and perspective, I submit to you as one intercessor to another, that none of us will fully realize the dream God has planned for our nation until WE, The Body of Christ, plant our feet firmly in the prophetic word of Dr. Martin Luther King's “I Have a Dream” speech. Dr. King proclaimed, "Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God’s children."  Bob Jones prophecy makes it very clear that until we “LOOSE” ourselves from the entanglements of our national sin - we will not experience the national revival that we so desperately need.  It's been 38 years too long since we had our last outpouring of the Spirit that brought us men like Dr. Martin Luther King to call us to our senses.

Special thanks to CJ Thomas for editing the 5 installments on this subject, as well as the entire intercessory prayer team for their research, reading and writing the background material. I also want to publicly thank you for praying and supporting me through this period of my life. Without you guys, I have would have never made it through... your prayer has made significant dents in our work of healing and racial reconciliation. Thank you for being there and being my friends.