Watchmen (4)
We must keep God's perspective in mind when interpreting warning visions. Christians often get so focused on the evil that Satan has planned that they fail to notice God'’s response. This gives Satan a place he does not deserve. He is a loser and all his schemes and plans will fail. Getting us absorbed in the negative part of a vision is the enemy's favourite trick for causing us to miss what God is saying and doing.
This is the worst feature of many "prophecy sites" on the internet. The bloggers and discussion boards get so absorbed in the evil being warned against, that they miss what God is saying and promising. We should fear God, not the devil and his schemes. We should listen very carefully to what God is saying through a vision.
The watchman's task is not to make Christians afraid, but to show them how they can be victorious, if they get ready. Most visions are not about the people of God being defeated, but are a promise that God'’s people can be victorious, if the watchmen do their work. We need watchmen who can tell us how to get ready.
Here are a couple of examples.
In 1982, a visiting English preacher called David Pawson shared a vision of a Commando Army around New Zealand. The vision promised that if New Zealand Christians formed into commando units, they would experience victory when an economic crisis came. Christians immediately focussed on the crash and when it would come. The name of the vision was changed to the Coming Bombshell. The challenge to form commando units was ignored and the promise of victory was lost.
Another example is the response to the Day of the Watchmen by Hollie Moody. Her vision gives a powerful challenge to watchmen. I suspect that it may also be a warning of the dangers of cloning humans. God seems to be promising that if the watchman are alert and do their work, this evil will not succeed. Yet most of the focus has been on the evil, and the vision is now called the Nephilim Vision. As usual, many Christians have bought into the evil, but missed the challenge and ignored the hope.
I believe that the same problem applies to our interpretation of Daniel and Revelation. All the negative passages are applied to the current age. All the promises of victory are pushed to after the second coming. This gives a total distorted view of God's plan and produces Pessimistic Christianity.
When interpreting visions from God, we should take off our dark glasses and listen carefully to God's promises of victory and hope in the light of his word.
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