Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Vision: The Lord’s Sheep Devoured by Dr. Owour

The May 14th, 2010 Vision of the Lord

The desire for an earnest reformation in the church, right now sits at the centre of the Lord’s Heart. The confession of sin appears to be distant, hence His appeal and repeated renunciation of the church’s apostate ways at this hour. There is no better place at which to perceive God’s yearning for the church to reform, than at this very stunning May 14th, 2010, night vision of the Lord. It was between 3-4am in the night, when the Lord God Almighty visited with me in a very very astonishing way, to talk to me about the state of the church today. In that vision, the Lord brought me to a place of worship and took me around in the Spirit, to show me the different aspects of His house that needed a thorough reformation. Within the house of the Lord were the sheep of Christ worshipping. However, Jehovah the God of Israel then showed me the shepherds in the house, in their most shameful form of complacency. The Lord in this vision, made me know that the shepherds were very much aware of the grim danger that lay outside the house of the Lord.

The Devour

Outside the house of the Lord, I was then able to see lots of wild beasts that looked like mean dogs with very long mouths that were beak-like. Those dogs were most aggressive and with very sharp teeth and were roaming outside the house of the Lord. The Lord made me appreciate the great danger that they posed onto the lives of the sheep that were inside the house of worship. Then, at that time, an immediate instruction was handed down from heaven to the shepherds, directing them to be extra cautious and vigilant with gate-keeping that the wild beasts may not make their way into the sanctuary. However, to my greatest shock and stun, I witnessed in this vision as the shepherds tried to shut the door to the sanctuary in vain. The door that the shepherds were trying to shut had been seriously compromised in its strength and ability to keep the beasts out of the house of the Lord. Though seriously compromised, that temple door that the Lord showed me, still maintained some significantly strong reinforcement of vertical iron bars that could practically keep the wild beasts out of the house of the Lord if well shut. Within this tremendous vision of the Lord, I was then very shocked to see that as the shepherds tried to close the door, the outside wild beasts aggressively advanced towards the very door, with the intent to attack the sheep that they could well see through the bars of the ravaged door. It was then that I saw the complacent pastors who had no vigilance, literally being overpowered by the beasts at the door. In a moment, the beasts overpowered the reluctant pastors and made their way into the sanctuary.

It was also most stunning to realize that the shepherds did not have even a stick in their hands, or a shepherd’s rod with which to ward off the attack that was now eminent in the house of the Lord. Then, at that moment came forth the horrendous yelling, wailing and mourning of the sheep as the beasts began to recklessly devour them. When this was bad enough a situation to handle, then came the most horrific episode within this attack. In a split-second, when I looked towards my right-hand side, then I saw that the sanctuary wall on that right-hand side had a collapsed portion that made it porous. I was then able to see a group of more grievous wild beasts outside the sanctuary of the Lord. The wild beasts I saw had some longer tails and sharper teeth contained in their long beak-like mouths. Those beasts that I saw marauding outside on the right-hand side of the Temple, appeared to be more dangerous and were in a large group. It was then that it took a very short time and I was so stunned and shocked to witness how those beasts made their way into the sanctuary of the Lord. Then, from that point on, nothing else mattered except a massive commotion of tempest that ensued in the house of the Lord.

The Lord then took me around the house after the beasts had destroyed the sheep and what I saw was absolutely unsightly. There was a terrible scatter as many sheep had been heavily beaten and devoured to the point that they lay all over the grass in the house. The grass in the vicinity was totally trampled upon and blood-stained in the struggle that ensued when the sheep were being bitterly and terribly devoured and mauled.. While some of them had been severely maimed, with some limb totally plucked off at the sharpness of the teeth of the wild beasts, others on the other hand, had their stomachs plucked off and eaten. The amount of blood that was smeared at the place as the struggle went on, was totally abhorrable and an unsightly scene to behold. The horrific destruction trail that the wild beasts left behind is what absolutely shocked me in that vision to the point that I broke down and wept.

On the other hand, as the Lord continued to take me around the house, I also found other sheep that were hiding within the grass, totally under trying to evade the attack, and they lay there with their little ones in a state of extreme fear and trauma. This ugly invasion into the house of the Lord took place in two quarters, from the ravaged door on the left hand-side and the collapsed wall that created the porous entry from the right-hand side. The Lord made me experience the agony that consumed Him as He watched the precious defenceless sheep of Christ mercilessly devoured. The wild beasts that invaded the house of the Lord to devour appeared to have come with the one and only objective, to destroy as much as could be achievable in the shortest time.

Even most astonishing to me was when the Lord made me understand in this vision, that after the heavy devour, the sheep lay there helplessly. But, to witness the cascade of events boiling down to the massive carnage, is what exactly made me weep in that tremendous vision of the Lord. My heart sank so deep in this vision when the Lord finally took me around to witness the excessive damage that had been done on his special sheep and their current helpless condition. The vision I saw greatly troubled me so much.

Pastors pickingup their bicycles

Then came the second part of this vision at which the Lord of Hosts showed me a white car and asked me to go speak to the pastors that were standing by. The Lord of Hosts gave me a strict directive to ask the pastors to come with me and enter the white car that I was going to drive towards the mission field. It is incredible and most baffling that the pastors refused to enter the white car, and instead chose to go pick up their own bicycles that were parked on the right-hand side of the white car. I was very astonished because I very well knew that along the journey there would be some eminent danger of wild beasts. And yet here they were, as supposedly prudent pastors, choosing to take the bicycles that could virtually expose them to the vicious attack of the wild beasts that the Lord made me aware to be roaming that dangerous road. However, when I looked at the bicycles that the pastors were picking up for this voyage towards the mission field of the Lord, I realized that they were very old bicycles whose mechanical advantage had been seriously degenerated. Even more puzzling was that I managed to quickly recognize that not only were those bicycles old, but also black in colour.

Then the Lord of Hosts opened my eyes further and I was again able to see the pastors at their homes and there was such a serious strife among their children and themselves. I saw the pastors homes with rebellion abound and disobedience alive. Moreover, then came the moment when I saw those pastors, this time around caught in a very bitterly heated arguments and disputation. The disagreements that I saw ensue between pastors, were so bad that they literally part ways, only for each one of them to remain solitary. It was then that this cruel episode caused me to jump up and wake up from that vision, only to break down in great shock. The Lord saw it all and grieved it all. How sad that such a vision can be presented by the Lord at this last hour in the history of the church!

The Revelation

In this vision, it is absolutely very clear that as the Lord’s glance sweeps over the throng of churches all across the globe, His eye definitely kindles while His face lights-up, causing Him to be stirred with deep pity and sadness. While in His first coming, Jesus may have mingled freely with the populace giving no outward evidence of His Majesty and taking no measure to bring Himself to popular notice, His return in the rapture though, will be well dramatized to the extent that literally every living being on the face of the earth, will get to know that He is the Messiah. The dominion of the kingdom of darkness must be overcome by the glory of the Lord that was well pledged in Joel 2:28-32. And because the Lord Jesus is the embodiment of all of God’s power promised to the church, then the unfolding presented in this vision, can only help to further the conviction that today’s church has not yet recognized her weakness and called-upon Christ for help.

God Almighty in heaven willingly sacrificed His most beloved Son Jesus Christ so that all who receive Him would have forgiveness and redemption from the cruel dominion of the devil’s reign. And to witness the church literally being attacked, mauled and torn-down, can only help to reiterate that there is a spiritual dysfunction in the house.

In that vision, what comes out elaborately clear, is that death has entered the church. It is ironical though, for death to befall the house of the Lord, especially that the One after whom they follow, is One who gives eternal life; the unblemished Lamb of God who was sacrificed for all man’s sin; and is the Bread who satisfies all spiritual hunger; also being the Living Water who quenches all spiritual thirst; and the Light who guides the redeemed away from darkness; while at the same time, He is the Shepherd who leads the church away from danger into greener pastures. It must also be remembered that He is the Vine who gives life to all His branches; and is the Counsellor who comforts and teaches the church all she needs for a new and abundant life.

How then, can death have befallen the church at this last hour prior to rapture, if she really were connected to the True Vine? The same God who created the universe is indeed able to create a new life within the church by illuminating His Light that exposes and drives away the darkness of the human race. That same Light that brightens the dark corners of the world, is the True Light of the world and the source of life and spiritual renewal for a dying church.

The broken door

The broken door that the Lord presented in this vision, essentially represents the appalling state of neglect that has today degraded the sacred sanctuary of Jehovah God. With most of the door ravaged and leaving only the skeletal metal grills, there is not much protection being accorded to the precious sheep of Christ in the house any more. While things in the house of the Lord may appear well and at times even feel normal in the physical realm, unfortunately though in the spiritual realm, things have gotten really out of control. The vulnerability to degradation and decay that the Lord presents in this vision, is a kind of prototype that mirrors today’s apostasy in church.

To best understand the specific elements that the Lord presented in this vision, it would be beneficial to characterize each of the individual players there. First and foremost, we see that when the Lord in that vision brings me into His sanctuary, He shows me the shepherds who were in the house and the sheep that were engaged in worship. And secondly, Jehovah God draws my attention to the wild beasts that were outside expressing an indescribable gusto of appetite for devouring the sheep inside the sanctuary. What emerges out of this most disturbing scenario is that dilapidation and desolation must have been the primary reasons as to why no maintenance and servicing could be accorded the sacred House of The Lord. Additionally, the shepherds in this vision did not appear to have been able to distinguish clearly what the Lord was instructing when He commanded that the sanctuary door be closed to ward-off the beastly attack.

And what today’s church understands not is that they should have turned their eyes in faith to Him that is invisible and yet beholds the revelation of God’s protective glory upon mankind. The necessity for the Holy Spirit comes in very central in today’s church presented in this vision, since ears that had never listened to the Lord’s Voice, cannot be able to listen to the words of His witness, except that they be spiritually enlightened ears. This must have been the root cause for the disconnect between the Lord’s directive to shut the temple door and the shepherds’ failure to obey.

In declaring the institution of the five-fold ministries, God Almighty affirmed the custodianship of the church onto the shepherds. That affirmation also included the custody and stewardship of the word being preached in the church. Thereafter, any misgivings and fall-out from God’s established order of grace would definitely have to be accountable to the shepherds and their spiritual wrongdoings.

The shepherds that the Lord presented inside the sanctuary, and instructing them to shut the door, are the genuine servants of the Lord who are called after Ephesians 4:11-16. The only tragedy with them being their disgraceful fall from God’s favour and hence their spiritual deafness. It is today’s corruption of the gospel that must have not only drifted the shepherds away from their most noble pastoral calling into an adulterated service unto to the Lord. That spiritual gliding away in essence represents a shamefully backslid priesthood whose only intent is to feed themselves at the expense of protecting the sheep in the house.

Being all-knowing of the present and the future, the Lord say it well in advance that an interlude would surface at which decay would make in-roads into his sacred priesthood. And such a dispensation has truly now caught up with the church of Christ, at which place her priesthood is today more concerned with funds-raising, TV telethons, selling bottled oil, selling water from River Jordan, giving inspirational speeches, soliciting for seed money, preparing cruise-ship tours, organising modern women’s conference that have nothing to do with salvation, etc.

The depiction that the Lord unveiled in this vision, is the true state of today’s pastors who are more pre-occupied with constitutional reforms and other money generating church activities than helping enhance spiritual growth and a holier salvation among the sheep. It is a state of neglect that has predisposed the sheep to an eminent invasion from the marauding wild beasts of this dark world. God Almighty well spoke about this in Ezekiel 34:1-17;

‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Woe to the shepherds of Israel who only take care of themselves! Should not shepherds take care of the flock? You eat the curds, clothe yourselves with the wool and slaughter the choice animals, but you do not take care of the flock. You have not strengthened the weak or healed the sick or bound up the injured. You have not brought back the strays or searched for the lost. You have ruled them harshly and brutally. So they were scattered because there was no shepherd, and when they were scattered they became food for all the wild animals. My sheep wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. They were scattered over the whole earth, and no one searched or looked for them. “‘Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, because my flock lacks a shepherd and so has been plundered and has become food for all the wild animals, and because my shepherds did not search for my flock but cared for themselves rather than for my flock, therefore, O shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am against the shepherds and will hold them accountable for my flock. I will remove them from tending the flock so that the shepherds can no longer feed themselves. I will rescue my flock from their mouths, and it will no longer be food for them. “ ‘For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I myself will search for my sheep and look after them. As a shepherd looks after his scattered flock when he is with them, so will I look after my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on a day of clouds and darkness. I will bring them out from the nations and gather them from the countries, and I will bring them into their own land. I will pasture them on the mountains of Israel, in the ravines and in all the settlements in the land. I will tend them in a good pasture, and the mountain heights of Israel will be their grazing land. There they will lie down in good grazing land, and there they will feed in a rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. I myself will tend my sheep and have them lie down, declares the Sovereign Lord. I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak, but the sleek and the strong I will destroy. I will shepherd the flock with justice. “ ‘As for you, my flock, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will judge between one sheep and another, and between rams and goats. Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture? Must you also trample the rest of your pasture with your feet? Is it not enough for you to drink clear water? Must you also muddy the rest with your feet? Must my flock feed on what you have trampled and drink what you have muddied with your feet? (Ezekiel 34:1-17)

The Wild Beasts

Almost impatiently, they waited outside with a great urge of raiding into the sanctuary of the Lord to do exploits for the kingdom of darkness. Sometimes the church goes through life excusing her shortcomings to various disadvantages that the world may have stacked against her. Likewise, there are believers that today grow up in churches where wisdom is modelled and taught according to the principles of this modern world. In this way, the majority of today’s christians are not privileged enough to receive wise counsel in the house of the Lord.

If the present-day church were indeed deprived of spiritual guidance from the word, she may have been justified to feel having been short-changed, and hence became angry, resentful and ashamed. But, the problem is that she has the full uncensored access to the wisdom of the Holy Spirit whom God the Father Himself freely and willingly honoured her with. Ideally, all believers, including the pastoral community ought to have received wise and godly counsel from the Holy Spirit in order to gain understanding on how to safely navigate themselves away from the dangers emplaced on her path by the adversary. The enemy has placed wild beasts along the way through which the church is to pass. Regardless of spiritual upbringing, every christian should have a non-tapered access to God’s wisdom from heaven.

If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him (James 1:5).

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