“If a man could conquer death, if he could live after he has
died, then maybe, he was a great man. Immortality is the only true success.” James Dean
Many
years ago I (Barry Amundsen) found this quote by the late actor, James Dean, in
a bookstore, in a large “coffee table” photo book of Hollywood stars from the
“golden age” and I was so impressed with it that I took the time to memorize
it.
Immortality,
what a thought! Some people figure that the closest that anyone can come to
immortality is to do something big enough and memorable enough during your
lifetime that your name and accomplishments will be remembered by later
generations and by their memories of you, you obtain a kind of “immortality” in
a sense, but that truly becoming immortal is just a dream.
For
me, immortality involves more than just living on and on but also includes having
capabilities far beyond those of regular “mortals” that you could use among
them if you wished. That would be the ultimate thing to have. I remember as a
youth playing little games in my mind where I’d pretend that I had a choice of
super powers, usually between invisibility and being able to fly and if I could
only have one I would try and decide which I would choose. I would consider
that being able to fly would certainly be cool but you would be seen and could
make an easy target so you’d probably want to wait until after dark to use your
ability. Plus you’d maybe get cold way up in the sky so flying has its
drawbacks. Being invisible on the other hand would make travel easy anyhow
since you could board unseen any vehicle to get around so that seems the better
choice. It wasn’t long before I’d just think how great it would be to be able
to do both at the same time. But then I’d also think why stop there and the
final thing I’d want is the ability to be impervious to any harm and death
itself, oh and also the ability to go through locked doors and solid objects
like walls and bars at will would be great too. All that together would be a
recipe for immortality. Think of the power that would give someone. Power like
that could be used for great good or could be abused and cause great evil if it
were in the hands of evil minded beings.
We
know from the descriptions in the Gospels that after Jesus rose from the dead,
He had all the capabilities that I have described and more. He could choose to
be seen and yet not recognized by those who knew Him and then reveal Himself to
them so that they did recognize Him. He could appear and disappear at will and
pass through locked doors or walls. He was not subject to any harm ever again
and yet was still capable of being handled by His friends like Thomas, and He
could eat regular food to prove that He was not a spirit. Truly Jesus conquered
death and lived after He had died and completely swallowed up death in victory
so that death has no more sting. The promise is then extended to us that
because He lives, we who obey Him shall live also. But more than merely living
on forever, John said we shall be like Him! That is so exciting to me!
Jesus
said in John 14 that in His Father’s house are many mansions and that He was
going to prepare a place for His followers there. It has been pointed out that
a closer word to describe what He said in the original text would be “dwelling
places” but recently I heard that a better understanding than even this would
be the word “residencies” or positions of prestigious professional occupation
like that held in a community by a doctor or lawyer. With this understanding we
begin to see that Jesus was not merely speaking of a place to dwell for
eternity but rather speaking of a high position of honor and power within the
Kingdom of His Father. The obvious question one might ask is WHY are these
positions available? How did these residencies come to be and who or what were
they originally filled with? I would submit that these are positions once held
by what we would call angels and that when these angels sinned and rebelled,
and were cast out of heaven then these “residencies” became vacant. I also
would submit that rather than just make new angels to take their place or even
fill those positions with other existing angels, God made man in His own image
for the purpose of filling those positions with beings that would ultimately be
more trustworthy than the third of the angels were with enormous
responsibilities. (I happen to think that if it were possible to fill these
positions again with new or different angels and carry on as if nothing had
ever gone wrong, then God would have. But I think that there is some mysterious
reason that this cannot be so, as though even in the hands of a perfect God,
when He grants free-will to His created beings, one third will abuse their
position even if He started all over a thousand times. I can’t prove this but
it is a theory that seems to be found in the scriptures and elsewhere. The
strange number 33.3 is, I believe for this reason highly significant among the
secret societies. Conversely 66.6 is what is left of a whole. I also think that
the numbers of people that are born on earth are directly related to a ratio of
one part to two parts and that until the number is reached of “saved” mankind
to take the place of the fallen angels, mankind goes on.) Man was created very
good but not perfect. We have the ability to learn and grow and through a
relationship with the second Adam, Jesus Christ we are made worthy to take up
residency in the immortal realms after completing a training process which Paul
said was like running in a race for a high calling and an eternal crown. While
we dwell in a mortal world system we are capable of acting on faith in God and
developing a kind of loving trusting relationship with Him in spirit and in
truth that is somehow different than what angels are capable of in their estate
and when we do this it is regarded by God as very valuable and useful for His
kingdom. Apparently it is not something that God can just “poof” into existence
at least from our perspective. Even Jesus when He had become a man had to
“learn obedience through the things that He suffered”.
Hebrews 5:
8. Though he were a
Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;
9. And being made perfect, he became the author
of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;
(Notice
the word obey above and not merely believe.) In other words in order for Jesus
Himself to become our redeemer He Himself had to first pass the test that the
first Adam failed as He was tempted in all points like as we are yet without
sin, and then He was able to also fix the wrong for us all and by dying for us
and raising, offer salvation to whosoever will obey Him. There is a very
interesting statement in B. W. Melvin’s book “A Land Unknown, Hell’s Dominion”
where God is answering Melvin’s objections and questions as to the way God has
chosen to handle things on a grand scale. On the question of why there is
suffering and why should it take so long for God to get what He wants and why
could God not have just “snapped His fingers” and made things right… God
basically answers by saying, “How do you know I didn’t, eons ago, and that what
you are living is not part of the proverbial snap?” (Page 188.) Maybe from God’s
perspective what we are going through is a very quick thing just as Paul the
apostle said that our suffering for a moment is not fit to be compared with the
glory that shall be revealed in us who obey. But somehow it is necessary to
pass through this way to get to that good land on the other side.
Without
getting too far into a theological treatise on the significance of the number
33 or more complete, the number 33.3 or thirty three and one third, let me just
say that one third of the total angels were lost from heaven with Lucifer who
became Satan and those may be the numbers that will be replaced, I believe by
men who are in training on this earth. Life on earth then can be looked at like
an ongoing job interview for those who cooperate with God, something like we
see on the TV show The Apprentice or also Celebrity Apprentice, with Donald Trump
as the CEO doing the “interviewing” of the applicants. The candidates are all
given “tasks” which they must perform according to instructions within a
specified time period which are designed to see how they all perform in various
situations. Their strengths and weaknesses become evident as they are faced
with the various challenges until it becomes clear who is able to “overcome”
and who is not. This does not sum up the entire “salvation” scenario itself so
don’t think that I am missing that point about how we are not judged according
to our “works” to be saved etc. I know that, but the scriptures do say that
after we are saved, our works will be judged to see what sort they were and
that this outcome will be instrumental in determining what kind of position or
“residency” we will receive in Jesus’ Father’s house. The parable of the
talents shows this with each of three servants being entrusted with different
amounts of the master’s money and being told to invest it while He is away.
Then when He returns they give an account of how they did and each is given
responsibilities according to how well they did. One who hid his master’s
single coin was punished for believing negative things about his master and
basically didn’t want to participate at all so his coin was taken from him and
given to the one who started with ten and gained ten more. Whoever has, more
will be given and whoever has not, even what he has will be taken from him. The
bottom line is God is looking for people that He can trust with enormous power
and responsibility so He gives us small things now to be responsible with and
see how we do with that. Those faithful in small things He will put in charge
of greater things. This goes far beyond merely believing that Jesus died for
your sins and rose again. Getting back to the idea of what immortality would
mean in a world of mortals, I was impressed by a number of testimonies from
Christians who have had strikingly similar dreams of the rapture of the Bride
of Christ and the immediate transforming from mortal into immortal that the
Bride Christians underwent and they began to minister help to those who thought
they were ready but for whatever reason remained mortal and began to weep and
wail. For they knew that now they must face persecution and death for their
faith because they were now in the Tribulation Period. This sudden change is
what we have come to call the rapture and it begins with a resurrection from
the grave of those who have died in Christ Jesus and then we which are alive
are also changed and caught up to meet the Lord in the air and so shall we ever
be with the Lord. I will include the testimony of those who have shared their
dreams of the rapture in a moment so you can see how similar they are with each
other and how they show what may be exactly how this takes place. Rather than
merely disappearing like many have come to expect due to popular books and
movies on the subject, the Bible says we will be changed. Most recently I heard
Christian authors and teachers Thomas Horn and Steve Quayle discussing the
prophecies for the immediate future on the online radio program of the father
and son team Hagmann and Hagmann and they also mentioned that it was revealed
to them through a prophet they know and trust that one of the ways that
Christians in the Tribulation period will be able to find divine guidance and
help from God would be through the ministering help provided by “glorified
saints” who will come to minister in various ways to the saints. This kind of
guidance is exactly what is described in the dreams of these different
Christians who saw the “transformed saints” being suddenly able to do these
immortal type things that I described above as they ministered to the people who
were not transformed but were “left behind” Christians. I find it very
interesting that in both the radio program of Hagmann and Hagmann and also in
the dreams, the very same words were used to describe the people who thought
that they were ready to meet Jesus but were instead left behind after the
rapture, as “Christians in name only” word for word in these vastly different
sources. Please pay close attention to the descriptions of those who do get
“transformed” into their new immortal bodies and the abilities that they
suddenly find themselves possessing. I get excited at the thought that this may
actually happen one day soon to those of us who have heeded Jesus call to die
to ourselves and live to Him being obedient to Jesus, led by His Holy Spirit
and are currently watching and ready to meet Jesus and accept whatever task He
assigns to us. Great joy awaits some and great sorrow awaits others. I believe
that the dividing line between those who make the change and those who do not
is in hearing and doing Jesus’ words that we must die to ourselves in order to
become His disciples and be known by Him, hear His voice and follow Him. Those
who have done this are learning and growing according to the admonitions and
promises found in 2 Peter 1. Those who have not yet died to themselves may
still do so even now and after the rapture but after the rapture they will be
helped to make the decision by being forced and also giving up their physical
lives as well. After the rapture they may still be saved but will be in a
different category as tribulation saints in the great multitude that no man
could number that comes out of great tribulation. Even though in a different
category from the Bride, I still think that they may make up a part of the one
third of the whole of mankind. I mentioned the “mystery” of the 33.3 which the
late David Flynn said could be more accurately understood as 33.3333333333 with
as many 3s at the end as one cares to visualize. I remember Chuck Missler many
years ago on the radio saying that this scripture I’m about to quote is
possibly suggesting that this number is referring to the number of people in
history that will ultimately be saved from among the human race. The scripture
he was quoting is found in
Zechariah 13:
8. And it shall come
to pass, that in all the land, saith the Lord, two parts therein shall be cut
off and die; but the third shall be left therein.
9. And I will bring the third part through the
fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is
tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my
people: and they shall say, The Lord is my God.
If
Chuck Missler is correct in what he was suggesting then this verse is telling
us that the same ratio of angels that were lost to those that were not lost is
the same ratio of mankind that will be “saved” to those that will not be saved.
In other words God will be saving one third part of the whole of mankind to
take up residence in the stead of the one third of the angels that were lost
out of heaven. But this one third part of the whole of mankind are not just
automatically made able to take up positions in heaven like the angels
apparently were upon their creation. These must be willing to work with God and
He will put them through a process of being refined as silver and tested as gold
and become by passing their tests God’s people and receive positions of
authority in God’s kingdom. What I love most about this suggestion is the
fuzziness of the statement “one third part” and the suggestion of David Flynn
that another 3 can always be added to the number at the end of the line without
changing it from still being one third of the whole. This suggests the mercies
of God that until the final moment when He finally closes the door there is
still room for one more person to be included if they will only come. One final
comment before I give the dreams, they agree in another area with the radio
broadcast of Steve Quail and Tom Horn, in that they say that there are going to
be people who will act like wild animals in their treatment of Christians who
are left behind. (The title of the CD audio set is “The coming Zombie Apocalypse”.
Zombies are popular these days.) One dream says there will basically be three
kinds of people in the earth: the transformed ones who are now immortal, the “Christians
in name only” who are not transformed but they were “freaking” and the “mad
dog” people who begin harming these mortal saints. Okay the following is a
compilation of a few of these dreams that different people have had in the past
and shared online:
"A Prophetic Dream of Rapture"
Armin
A. Wolff
(February 15,1993)
Last night I had an extremely exciting
and vivid dream-vision concerning the return of our LORD Jesus. I normally
never remember anything I dream, but this was so gripping and vivid, and I have
been thinking about it all day today. I would like to share it with you and
hereby also have a written record.
I found myself in a meeting with a
number of believers. The meeting hall looked like some kind of a warehouse and
there were fewer than 100 assembled. The talk seemed to center on the
increasing persecution they were experiencing. All of a sudden Jesus appeared
and most, but not all, were instantly transformed from mortal beings into
Immortal. Also, at the same instant, some other Holy Ones appeared who had
walked with God in ages past, both in New and Old Testament times. All of the
ones who had, in an instant of time, received their new bodies were able to
recognize and converse with the Holy Ones from times past. I heard someone
exclaim: "I thought You are coming in the clouds to take us away."
The reply was: "I am coming in the clouds and... My reward is with Me
Behold, here they are, My Holy Ones of all time, My faithful witnesses, those
who loved not their life, and thus received it. They are the clouds and my
reward, My reward for what I endured on the cross for all."
I heard another question asked of the
LORD, by one of the Transformed Persons, whether He would now take them with
Him out of the tribulation they were experiencing. He replied: "No, you must remain here for
another 40 days and nights, just as I was on Earth for another 40 days after My
resurrection and minister with Me to those who were not ready. After the 40
days and nights you will come with Me into the skies above Jerusalem and we will leave from there to
have a celebration, a banquet in My Father's house, a feast that has been
planned before the worlds were made."
The ones in the assembly, who had
remained in their mortal bodies, lamented and cried to the Transformed Ones to
help them, but were told: "It is now too late. The Bridegroom has come for
us and there is nothing we can do for you, in this regard. However, if you will
not love your own life, not bow to the will of the sin-man and take that seal
of his, you will join us after the celebration. You will be sealed by your
death and kept in the throne room for the LORD."
In what seemed a moment later, I was in
another similar assembly in (maybe) another country. There also, the instant
transformation had taken place of many. I was told that this same event had
happened all over the Earth and all born again, Spirit filled followers of
Jesus had been thus transformed, at whatever spot they happened to be in that
instant, and were joined by many of God's Holy Ones, from the dawn of creation
up to the present time.
Just then, some heavily armed police, or
soldiers, burst into the meeting and proceeded to beat, shoot, and arrest the
believers. A little blonde Transformed lady stood-up to one of the large men,
and refused to move when told she was under arrest. Five or six huge men tried
to drag her away, but could not move her any further than they could have moved
an ancient redwood or oak tree. This infuriated the police and they started to
beat her, and to start shooting their weapons. The bullets went right through the Transformed Believers
and made holes in the walls, or in some cases, struck and killed some of the
mortals standing behind them. The blows seemed to go through also and have no
effect whatsoever on the new resurrection bodies. The remaining mortals
were dragged off to prison, along with some of the Transformed Ones who chose
to go along. There was no sure way to tell at first glance, who was mortal and
who lived in a transcendent resurrection body.
I was then also in a prison, and saw how
the Immortals were comforting the anguished souls who were to be executed
unless they denounced the name of Jesus. The guards and all governmental
authorities were furious that they could do absolutely nothing to prevent the
Glorified Believers from coming and going and ministering anywhere on Earth,
wherever Jesus told them to go. No wall could hem them in, and no weapon, or human
force, could oppose or harm them. One of the Transformed Saints who had lived
ages ago on Earth spoke: "Within forty days, all who refuse to accept the
seal of the evil one will be killed and kept safe by the Father, personally, in
the throne room. Those who give in, will suffer in the Terrible Wrath beginning
after the last saint is murdered. This Wrath is the LORD's Last Effort to get
rebellious mankind to repent."
At this point, I awoke and as you can
imagine, was quite agitated. In fact, my heart rate was considerably above the
normal resting level. The clock said 5:05am. Needless to say, I could not go
back to sleep. Over time, I may forget the details of this dream, or vision,
but one thing I'll never forget is the anguish, wailing, and heart-rending
lamentations of those who had to remain here. I do not know how many of these
chose to be killed rather than take the seal of the antichrist.
Scripture does speak of a group coming
out of the Great Tribulation, but whether some are from those who were left
behind, or not, was not made clear to me in this vision.
[The conclusion of Armin A. Wolff's
dream and postscript remarks.]
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
Rapture Dream
Patricia
6 Sep 2002
I thought you
might be interested in/ edified by the following dream I
had:
There's been a
lot of speculation re: the possibility of the rapture taking
place this
month. I went to take a nap, and before napping prayed
about *really*
understanding the rapture and what was going to
happen. I had
a very long and vivid dream- I was at home with my
husband and
daughter, getting something from the kitchen. The was a
blinding flash
of light and a shaking/vibration. I started yelling excitedly
to my husband,
"what just happened, what was that!" We all looked at
each other and
knew we were changed- we were in physical form but
with an
incredible light in us that was visible. I jumped up in the air a
few feet and
stayed there. I told my daughter to try. We discovered we
weren't bound
by physical laws and then realized we could move by
thought. We
went to find other people this had happened to. We found
some people
like us celebrating and calling the changed people "the
enlightened
ones." I wanted to go see
the moon since we could move
by thought. I went to the moon and was scuffing around
in the dust/dirt
thinking how cool it was making tracks on the surface.
Then I
discovered there was a city on the moon. It freaked me
a little so I
returned to where the celebration was.
I discovered that the world was
in chaos.
Society had almost totally broken down. Someone told me
"terrorists"
had just massacred a group of people outside the building.
We discovered
there were basically 3 groups of people: the changed
ones, the
people who were Christians in name only (they were
freaking), and
the rest of the people who had become like mad dogs
wanting to try
to kill the changed people and the "Christians." Those of
us that were
changed were translated various places to witness to the
"Christians"
and explain salvation. We had the power to know any
illnesses a
person had and instantly heal them. The Christians left
behind were
*very* sad because they knew they would be martyred for
their faith if
they recieved Christ. They knew the anti-christ would come
to power and
the mark would be instituted. It was a hard decision for
them. The
"mad dog" people were very frustrated and insanely angry
because they
could not catch us or kill us. These people formed loose
gangs to hunt
us down, but we would be translated somewhere else,
and they
couldn't hurt our physical body. After a while society settled
down a little
and things became less chaotic, but the changed people
would continue
to appear to people to witness to them. I had the sense
that the
anti-christ had come into power to restore order. The dream
was so vivid
and incredible. I woke up feeling blown away by how
incredible
this dream was, and thinking "wow, that makes perfect
sense."
The dream had a lot more detail, but I've tried to just give a
synopsis.
Please feel free to forward this email.
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
Eva Faye Marsee
Oct.20,2003
Dream
1980's
I had this dream sometime probably in
the early 80's. It is still very vivid today. I dreamed my family was driving
around in a rural area just enjoying the day. We were driving by a small
cemetery in a neighborhood when all at once I saw an elderly man climb up out
of a grave. I shouted to Dana my husband and said," Look Dana the dead in
Christ are rising. Pull over to this house and I will call Mom and Dad and tell
them what is happening because It probably won't be on the news for a
while". I was in this house talking to the people and they said I could
use their phone. I picked up the receiver and started to dial when I heard Dad
on the phone saying hello. I said,"What are you doing on the phone I
haven't dialed yet"?
Then the Holy Spirit spoke to me and
said, " Now you will have whatever your heart desires, not what your
thoughts are but what is your deep heart desire".
Then I turned to the people there and
told them "This thing that is happening is really great, you guys need to
get saved". They said to me "It's to late." And I said "No
it's not, it's never to late". Then they said "Yes it is, it's to
late." So I said "We can ask God for anything and He will do it
now." So I set up a chalkboard and a piece of chalk and I said, "Holy
Spirit tell us. Is it to late?" And all at once it was written on the
chalkboard "Yes".
The next thing I knew Dana and I were
walking down a back ally and all this screaming was going on. Terrible screams.
We looked over and some people were using a guillotine to cut off Christian's
heads. We didn't feel sad because we knew that it was suppose to be and we
weren't afraid because we knew that they couldn't touch us because we had our
immortal bodies and no one could harm us. We also knew that those people that
weren't Christians hated us because they could not harm us.
We were starting to walk through this
ally onto the main street and in my spirit I could see someone waiting to
attack us around the corner of this building. They had an ax ready to swing
holding it back over his head. I wasn't afraid. I was just curious how the Holy
Spirit was going to take care of it. When we stepped in front of this man he
was frozen and couldn't move and I could see that it was making him very angry.
The next thing I knew I was walking by
myself down main street and I started missing Dana. So I said, "Holy
Spirit take me to be with Dana." The next thing I knew I was floating in a
standing position at a walking speed down the street. I said, "Holy Spirit
let's go as fast as lightning." Instantly I was zooming down the road to a
house where I could see Dana. Dana was in a glass house in a small
neighborhood. He was down on one knee reading the Bible. Then I was standing
next to him. Then I said, "Holy Spirit I would like for the kids to be here
with us". All at once I saw the children flying in the air next to each
other coming to us.
Then all my family, (at that time, my
children, my husband and I ) were walking down a street late in the day in a
neighborhood just enjoying the peace and I had this great desire to be with
Jesus. All at once I was being pulled by the Holy Spirit into the sky. My joy
was great. Then I realized that the Holy Spirit had said that we could have our
hearts deep desire. As I was floating to heaven I looked back to my family and
said that's it! That's it! The rapture will happen when you get the deep desire
to be with Jesus.
After I awoke, the Holy Spirit told me
we were going to be on Earth for 40 days after the dead in Christ arose, but we
would have our immortal bodies, like Jesus did when He rose from the dead and
walked the earth with His immortal body for 40 days.
In the late fall of 2002 I came across
the website http://www.pressie.org/dreams_visions.html
.
It has a collection of prophesies and dreams that different
people received through the years. When I read that there were other people who
had the same dream as I did, I just about fell over. Their names are Armin A.
Wolf and Patricia.
In September God anointed me with the
anointing of fire and restitution. He said He was getting His bride ready for
the great resurrection.
Amen come quickly Lord Jesus.
You
can find the Hagmann and Hagmann radio show on this subject here:
It
is quite long so if you want to get right to the part where they speak of “Christians
in name only” go to the 58 minute mark and 85 minute mark for two mentions of
that and there is a place where they speak of how to stay safe during the
tribulation and say there are three or four ways. One is by hearing God’s voice
for yourself and following His instructions. Another was by visions or words of
wisdom & knowledge giving instructions and then they said there would be
help given by glorified saints. I was actually listening to this broadcast on
an Audio CD set which I ordered online and is called “The Coming Zombie
Apocalypse” and I tried to find for you where in the online version they spoke
of the glorified saints but I couldn’t find it. Maybe it is edited compared to
the version I have. So sorry. I do know that these men, Tom Horn and Steve
Quayle seem to not believe in a pre-trib rapture but are advocates of
Christians buying preparation kits and expecting to still be here for it. I
believe that because so many of God’s people do also believe this way and I
fear for them that they may indeed find themselves still here for holding that
belief, and therefore, God has given them men like these to help them prepare.
I believe that God would rather that we “Come up hither” and escape all these
things and be kept from the hour of temptation but what the heck, if you won’t
believe in that, then the most loving thing that God can do is to try and get
you to be prepared because I believe that you will be staying since Paul said, that
it is to them who look for Him that He will appear the second time. I do share
in these guy’s belief that many who think they are ready and will be raptured
are in fact mistaken and will find that they are still here but this in no way
means that there will not be a pre-trib rapture for those who are watching and
have the oil in the lamps to keep them burning.