parishioners,” Christa comments. “Some of them are jealous of those who haven’t worked as hard as they but are loved more by God. So they make it hard on laymen like this to grow within their churches. They discourage them to a point that they may even die in the eyes of the Lord.”
The Seven Candles
:Florida, Orlando
:May 12
:7:38 p.m.
The four people of the Browning family walk into the hotel room and place a few Disney World souvenirs around various points within the room. They turn on the television as Christa suggests they play one of the board games they had brought with them. They all agree and are soon playing Clue upon one of the two queen size beds. Soon they all grow tired and so retire for the night.
Tim finds himself in darkness. He calls out for Gabriel, but there is no answer. Soon though he hears a type of chant that sounds familiar, but he cannot quite hear the words. He then sees a light in the distance, like a lone star on a cloudy night. He feels his feet leave the ground, and he feels the familiarity of flight once again. He directs himself toward the light as it steadily grows.
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty for He is the was, the is, and the is to come,” comes the chant to his ears as it repeats itself over and over from what sounds like hundreds upon hundreds of voices.
As the light grows, it soon divides into six individual lights in what appears to be a circle. Finally he reaches these lights and sees that this illumination comes from six candles. He sees, though, that there are seven of these large candles resting on large candle sticks upon a small white circular area within the blackness. Of the ones still lit he sees two burning brightly, even though he thinks one is somewhat brighter. The remaining four flickers as they fight to stay aflame, each one dimmer than the one preceding it.
“Timothy Micah Browning!” bombs forth a familiar, but voluminous voice. Tim turns to his right, and there before him is the Christ, but this time He is different from the previous times he has seen Him.
His entire form glows as His eyes flicker like two fires within His head. His hair and beard are a brilliant white, which is even brighter than His white robes. His feet are like polished bronze, which challenges the brilliance of His golden cloth about His waist. As Tim looks upon this, he falls to his knees in worship of the Lord.
“Timothy, My servant, listen to My words. Before you are seven candles, which show the spirits of the seven churches of God. Please understand these churches are spiritual, not physical; within one physical church you can find all seven of these.” Jesus gestures to the seven candles. Tim notices that Jesus’ tongue looks like a sword as He talks.
“But understand, also, that an entire nation can be like one of these churches. An example is your homeland. As a whole, the United States is lukewarm towards Me. I told John long ago that it is better to be hot or cold for Me, but not as they are. Tell them to change their ways or I will spew them from Me. If this happens, chaos shall reign, and your homeland shall cease to be.
“Each candle shows the love, faith, and righteousness of one of the churches. Two burn brightly and are strong, even though one is slightly weaker. The other four that burn are weak and frail in Me and risk death from the sight of God. The last is already dead. That one is like a person that goes to church on Sundays but commits the most heinous of sins against Me the rest of the time. These sinners are worst because they profess to be a child of God. In reality they are children of Satan.
“Tell those who will listen that the mysteries are being revealed. Warn them to read My prophecies, even though they may not listen. Tell them to read my prophets: Isaiah, Zechariah, Daniel. Tell them to look at the Revelation of John, for from these books come the words of the Father.
Tim awakens softly, quietly dresses, and then leaves the room without waking his wife or his children. He enters the lobby of the hotel. He asks the desk clerk for some paper, and she hands him a note pad. He sees a couch in the corner and sits there; within minutes he is writing.
Strategic Retreat
:Tennessee, Memphis
:June 16
:10:03 p.m.
When Timothy returns from Florida he calls Pastor Carlson and asks to talk with him. They talk about his last dream, and the pastor says he will call other church leaders in the city. For the month that follows, Tim talks to several of these men, with Alford at his side. The two men are only able to convince three of these churches to allow him to speak. When he does speak to them he is listened to and welcomed by only just two.
Tired and worn by these events of the past weeks, he lies in bed quietly as he listens to the breathing of his already sleeping spouse. A few minutes pass and he too is asleep.
He stands on a hill just behind and overlooking the Battlefields of Right and Wrong. He notices quickly that the battle before him is the most intense he as ever seen. He turns to his right to see the large form of Gabriel beside him.
“It’s nice to see you again Gabriel,” Timothy says.
“Who did you say?” comes a question from a familiar voice to his left. He turns his head to look at its source. Surprised slightly, he sees the stunned face of Jamal Washington.
“Hello, Jamal. I’m glad to see you here.”
“Did you say Gabriel, Tim?”
“Yes, this is the angel Gabriel,” he says as he gestures upward to the giant beside him.
“Hello, Matthew,” the angel says to Jamal. “Welcome to the Battlefields of Right and Wrong. This is where our prayers are put into action in the spiritual realm. In fact, this is where I first met your father. I remember we were talking about the sandals worn by our fellows,” Tim says as he looks down at the large man’s legs. “Mine looked about like yours when I first saw this place.” He turns back to look at his guide.
“What’s happening, Gabriel?” Tim asks. “The fighting is the worst I’ve ever seen it.”
“You are seeing into the future this night. These prayers are coming just before the return of the Christ.” As Gabriel says this the three of them hear a thunderous trumpet blast as it vibrates the very ground they stand upon. With this both sides of the line increase their onslaught, but Tim notices that no longer do the soldiers of God fall or are even wounded. On the other side though, he sees several hundred or possibly thousands of the creatures falling. He looks on as the blue armored forms quickly pull them to their side of the line.
Again the trumpet blares forth its mighty note. This time it is accompanied by the voice of Jesus.
“Come to Me, children of God!” His voice rings out and the line of blue and white forms suddenly vanishes. All that is left are the few that have just fallen and are just standing in the armor of God along with some of the ones who had been there all along. Stunned, the line of hideous creatures stands motionless as the remaining warriors of God begin to realize their situation. They soon begin to fall back to the top of the hills that the three observers now stand upon.
“Come, Timothy. There is something I want you to see,” the angelic form says, and Tim finds himself on the earth. He looks upon a highway where strange cars and trucks drive along with a few that look slightly familiar. Suddenly he hears the trumpet once again. All the vehicles slow down as the drivers look out of their windows to see the source of the strange sound. Several of the cars though pull over to the side of the road.
From a few of these vehicles a few men and women step out and kneel down in prayer. Then the second blast of the trumpet is heard, followed quickly by the words of Jesus as Tim heard before. As he looks at the highway below him, he sees the people that had stopped vanish. Drivers that are still going past witness this, causing most to apply their brakes in astonishment, almost producing several accidents.
Suddenly a massive earthquake begins as the still- moving cars and trucks are tossed about upon the quivering pavement. The sky begins to darken as Timothy notices a volcano in the distance explode with a massive force. He watches the billowing dust cloud
as it gushes high into the atmosphere, hurling tons of ash and rock into the sky. At first Tim thinks that the rocks that had started hitting the ground, road, and the occasional vehicle are from the raging mountain; but he soon notices that they are coming from another direction. He looks up and sees the firy trials of thousands of meteors as they fall through the ionosphere onto the unsuspecting people below.
Shocked by this image, Timothy awakens suddenly as he looks at the clock to see that it is four in the morning.
The Warning
:June 17
:5:40 p.m.
As Tim finishes filling the dishwasher with soap and prepares to turn it on, he suddenly hears the door bell ring. When he opens the door, he is not surprised to see the bulky form of Jamal.
“Hi, Jamal, please come in,” he says as the worried face of the younger man looks at him.
“Call me Matthew please. Oh, and this is Sherling,” he says as he walks in, introducing the small woman that was hidden behind his large form.
“Hello, I’m Tim Browning. Please come in and sit in the kitchen,” Timothy says as she enters the house. Her escort quickly moves toward the kitchen, several steps in front of both her and Timothy.
“It’s nice to meet you. I’ve heard a lot about you, today.”
“Why’s that?” Tim asks, already feeling he knows the reason.
“He’s been talking about this dream he had last night, and he said you were in it.”
“Oh really? Well, you go on in with Matthew while I get my wife,” Tim says as he turns in the opposite direction from the way Matthew is walking.
A few minutes later Tim returns to the kitchen with Christa, knowing that he may need her help. He introduces the two women to each other as they sit in the remaining chairs.
“So you had another dream?” Christa asks as she looks at Matthew.
“Yes, I did, and you wouldn’t believe what I saw!”
“You probably saw me and an angel overlooking a battle between people in blue armor, against some ugly creatures.”
“How’d you know that?” Sherling asks, surprised by Tim’s description of the dream.
“I had the same dream,” he says, which shocks the young woman even more.
“Then tell me why we were in those gray jump-suits and chained,” Matthew says, as both Christa and Tim look on puzzled.
“That wasn’t in my dream,” Tim says, and then tells them what happened in his.
“You saw the rapture?” Sherling says, revealing herself to be a Christian by the way she has stated it, which makes both Tim and Christa smile.
“Yes, I guess I saw two versions of it,” Timothy says as he reruns the full dream through his mind again.
“But that’s not what I saw after the battle,” Matthew interrupts. “When I couldn’t find you in all those people that had come up the hill, I got worried. After that those things grabbed me.
“The next thing I knew I was walking through a department store of some type. I was chained to these other people in a straight line; and as I said, we were wearing gray jump-suits. Suddenly I saw this real weird lookin’ guy. You know, he was hardly wearing any clothes. Most of his hair was shaved off his head, and he had a whip in his hand. He hit me with it and started laughing, as he stood on top of this thing that placed him over us.
“`Where’s your God now?’ he yelled out at us. `He doesn’t want you, or He would have taken you,’ he said and no one said a word as if they felt he was right. I heard that whip of his crack once again, and a woman moaned behind me.
“As I walked on a little farther I heard this strange man and others like him begin to laugh and scream in strange fits of joy. They were pointing behind me, and so I turned to see what was exciting them.
“What...what I saw so horrified me that I...I fell to my knees in pure fear, and...and...and ah. I began to scream and cry like some kind of trapped animal,” Matthew says as he puts his head down. His girlfriend places her small hand on top of his large one.
“What is it you saw?” Christa asks as she listens intently and with concern. Tim notices her eyes and sees the compassion written within, a compassion that he has come to love and cherish.
“Well... I... I saw this young boy dressed like the others. He couldn’t have been more than twelve or thirteen. His skin was painted kinda like an Indian. Come to think of it, they all were; but as he came into sight, I... I saw in the boy’s.... hand a... a... head, the head of a woman as he carried it by her blonde hair. What does it mean?” Matthew asks in a frustrated manner.
“Well, I think we need to look at it from two different angles,” Tim starts to elaborate. “For the first, we need to put both of our dreams together. We both saw the rapture upon the battlefield, but then I saw another version of it upon that highway, and what follows immediately after.
“You, on the other hand, saw what I feel is to befall those that were not ready to go in the eyes of the Lord. The others just became saved, probably due to the rapture itself.
“Now we know that those that are left will be persecuted. I believe that is what you witnessed. You see the head of the girl is what showed me that this is what your dream is about.”
“Why is that?” Matthew asks as he pushes his glasses back to the top of his nose and then clasps his hands together.
“Well, it is said in the Bible that the people will have to wear a mark upon their bodies so that they can buy anything. If people refuse to wear this mark, they are to be beheaded.”
“But what do the gray jump-suits symbolize?” Sherling asks as she places her hand again upon Matthew’s.
“Well, I think they symbolize a lukewarmness of those that call themselves Christians and find themselves left here upon the earth after the rapture,” Christa starts to explain. “You see in Revelation, Jesus tells one of the churches that they are `lukewarm.’ Not cold or hot for Him, but in between. I think the jump-suit is a variation of this. You see, we Christians consider ourselves to be in white or pure. While on the other hand, we think that those that are of Satan are in black. So people that believe in God but do not know Him are lukewarm or gray. They live in what I call a `Gray Zone’. God will leave those people behind.”
“But why?” both of the Matthew and Sherling ask.
“So he can weed out those that will fall and those that will still give honor to God by dying for Him,” Timothy states.
“I think I understand now,” Matthew says as a look of ease comes across his face.
“So, Jamal...”
“Please, Christa, call me Matthew,” he says.
“Why’s that?” she asks.
“Well, when I first showed up on the battlefield, Tim here introduced me to the angel Gabriel. Gabriel looked at me and said, `Hello, Matthew...,’ and from that moment on I knew I needed to change my name back to what I was born with.”
The Wrath of God
:July 21
:11:34 a.m.
For the past few weeks Tim and Christa have been working frantically around an ever increasingly hard schedule. Pastors from various churches have been calling and asking Tim to speak about his dreams. He does the best he can at these assorted congregations. At one or two of them though, his reception seems to be cold, but most of the others seem to go well.
Both Timothy and Christa decide, even though it is Sunday and several other pastors had asked him to speak, to take a day of rest. They go for a drive, and stop at a roadside picnic ground. Here they eat a meal they had bought from a fast food place, and enjoy each other’s company. Now they watch their sons explore the area, looking for chipmunk holes in the ground near the oak and pine trees. A tiredness comes over him, and so he lays his head in his wife’s lap as she strokes his slightly thinning hair; soon he drifts into sleep.
He finds himself in a bright place. As he looks about, he sees thousands upon thousands of people, all dressed in white with palm leaves in their hands. He looks in the direction that
the others are and he is awed. He sees there a large throne upon a dais. In this throne sits a figure that is shaped like a man but shimmers as though he is a jewel with light fracturing through him. Tim realizes though that the light comes from this being himself. For this being is GOD, and Timothy feels blessed by this sight of his Lord with a full circular rainbow about Him.
In front of God is a golden altar with four legs that look like the horns of a goat, but he realizes that it must be huge. For beneath it he sees the forms of thousands of people also dressed in white. Before this is stairs that come from the ground and lead up to the altar, and the throne of God. At the feet of these stairs are seven large candlesticks with seven candles within them, as all burn brightly.
In front of these candles stand four creatures unlike anything he has ever seen before. All stand facing a different direction as though they are standing at the center of a compass, each individually facing towards each point of the imaginary compass. All of them have four faces on each side of their heads. One has the face of a man looking forward, while the next has the face of a cow. The next is the face of a lion, while the last Tim assumes is an eagle since each of these creatures has this face along with the others. All of them have three pairs of wings upon their backs. These wings are open to reveal eyes all through the bottom of them, as they look about.
On the floor on each side of the dais is a total of twenty-four men on smaller thrones than the Lord’s. Tim realizes these individuals are the Elders mentioned in Revelation. As he looks at them he notices something strange about the floor upon which he stands. As he turns his attention to it, he is overwhelmed by the sights before him.
There he sees the blackness of space as thousands of stars twinkle from below. The most surprising thing to him though is that he sees the Earth as the moon orbits it. It is at this time he notices the silence that is all around him, and so he looks back to the dais.
Here he sees the presence of the glorified Jesus upon the steps of the dais. As He reaches the top of the steps, He hands a scroll with seven broken seals to the Lord God. When He does this, seven angels begin to appear one by one, in a straight line. The Almighty then opens the scroll and seven trumpets are revealed. God takes each of these and hands them to all the angels before Him.
As the last horn is handed to the last angel, another appears before the altar of God. In his hand is a golden censor. He kneels to the Lord Almighty and then turns to look upon Jesus and kneels again. Jesus approaches him and reveals a large quantity of incense within both of his hands. The angel places his censor down upon the dais and receives the gift from his master. Standing, he turns and throws the incense upon the burning coals of the altar. As the incense increases, it hides the throne of God from