Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Preparing to Run with the Horses

Joseph Herrin (02-11-09)

Jeremiah 12:5
If you have run with footmen and they have tired you out, then how can you compete with horses? If you fall down in a land of peace, how will you do in the thicket of the Jordan?

This article is being written on 2-11-2009. I did not plan this. God did. It was after I wrote the title and listed the date that the Lord drew my attention to the significance of these numbers. 2-11 bears a double witness. E.W. Bullinger shares the following concerning the significance of the number 11.

Eleven

If ten is the number which marks the perfection of Divine order, then eleven is an addition to it, subversive of and undoing that order. If twelve is the number which marks the perfection of Divine government, then eleven falls short of it. So that whether we regard it as being 10 + 1, or 12 - 1, it is the number which marks disorder, disorganization, imperfection, and disintegration.
[Source: http://philologos.org/__eb-nis/eleven.htm ]

When we precede the number 11 with the number 2 what is symbolized is a double portion of that for which this number stands. The Spirit is testifying that America must soon experience a double portion of judgment which will result in disorder (division, civil unrest, chaos) and disintegration. What has been testified in many ways is that America will no longer be a nation as she has been, for she has been weighed in the balance and found lacking.

The year being 2009 also bears signification. E.W. Bullinger shares the following concerning the number 9.

Nine

It is the last of the digits, and thus marks the end; and is significant of the conclusion of a matter.

It is akin to the number six, six being the sum of its factors (3x3=9, and 3+3=6), and is thus significant of the end of man, and the summation of all man's works. Nine is, therefore,\

THE NUMBER OF FINALITY OR JUDGMENT,

for judgment is committed unto Jesus as "the Son of man" (John 5:27; Acts 17:31). It marks the completeness, the end and issue of all things as to man—the judgment of man and all his works.

It is a factor of 666, which is 9 times 74.

The gematria of the word "Dan," which means a judge, is 54 (9x6).

"th orgh mou" (tee orgee mou), my wrath, = 999 (Heb 3:11).[Source: http://philologos.org/__eb-nis/nine.htm ]

Once more we see this number preceded by the number 2, denoting a double portion of judgment. It has often been reported in this author’s writings that America is a manifestation of Babylon, the ancient kingdom ruled by Satan and given to idolatry and a focus upon commerce and trade. Of Satan we read:

Ezekiel 28:18
You defiled your sanctuaries by the multitude of your iniquities, by the iniquity of your trading; Therefore I brought fire from your midst; It devoured you, and I turned you to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all who saw you.
[NKJV]

Ezekiel 28:18
You defiled your sanctuaries with your many sins and your dishonest trade. So I brought fire from within you, and it consumed you.
[NLT]

Even as God has judged Satan for defiling his sanctuaries, so He has judged nations who have become reflections of Satan’s evil focus upon accumulating wealth and power to himself. The passage in Ezekiel cited here speaks of the king of Tyre. Tyre was a city state just north of Israel on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. It was a great city of trade and trafficking both by land and sea. God judged the city for its transgressions, for in her abundance she gave herself to a pursuit of much wickedness.

In this current hour there is no nation that manifests the same character of Satan more fully than America. She is a land of merchants, and she does business by land, sea and air. In her queen city stood the World Trade Towers, which remarkably were 110 stories tall and were destroyed on 9-11. If 9-11 was a single portion of judgment, then what the Spirit is testifying to come will be a double portion.

America has staggered ever since the events of that date, but what is coming will bring her fully to her knees. The proud nation who refuses to repent, and says she will never be a widow without lovers in the world, will be brought exceedingly low, for judgment has been pronounced against this modern manifestation of Babylon.

Revelation 18:5-8
Her sins have piled up as high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities. Pay her back even as she has paid, and give back to her double according to her deeds; in the cup which she has mixed, mix twice as much for her. To the degree that she glorified herself and lived sensuously, to the same degree give her torment and mourning; for she says in her heart, 'I sit as a queen and I am not a widow, and will never see mourning.' For this reason in one day her plagues will come, pestilence and mourning and famine, and she will be burned up with fire; for the Lord God who judges her is strong.

Even as Satan was judged by fire coming from the midst of him and consuming him to ashes, so too do we read of the same judgment on all those who manifest his corrupt and abominable traits. Today, I received an e-mail from a sister in Christ who said she had been seeing the number 22 and 222, but lately she has begun to see the number 2222, and she was asking about its significance. I shared with her the following.

Regarding the numbers 222 and 2222, I am persuaded that they bear much symbolism as well. My van is a model 222, and vehicles symbolize ministry. God sends people out in 2s, and I have understood this number to symbolize that God would send me forth with a brother in Christ to a ministry of flesh cutting to the nation.
Back in the fall I was directed to go to Fort Wayne, Indiana. The exit my friend and I got off on was exit 111A. There is also an exit 111B. We actually parted from one another for a season while in Fort Wayne, and the Lord used these numbers to signify that we would take different paths in leaving the city. 111+111 = 222. Therefore, we were separated for a season. My friend left after one week to return to Georgia, but I remained for 2 and 1/2 months.
While we were together in Fort Wayne, the Lord directed us down States Street where we saw an intersection for St. Joseph Blvd. The block number was 2200. In this you can see the number 22 raised to the level of the hundreds, which speaks of flesh cutting coming to the nation. God was signifying that He would send me forth to the nation with a ministry of flesh cutting.






































When I think of the number 2222 I see it is the number 22 raised to the level of the hundreds, but it additionally bears a witness of the number 22 twice. This would signify that a double portion of flesh cutting (judgment and correction) is coming to the nation...
An interesting parallel to this is that Barack Obama is the 44th President, which is 22 + 22. The judgment of America will fall during his presidency. America will herself fall, as was witnessed by Miss USA falling 2 years in a row at the Miss Universe pageant. This also bears witness of a double portion of judgment.




















[End Excerpt]

The Lord has recently spoken to me about the Horsemen of the Apocalypse coming at this time. See the following link to read the article:

http://parablesblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/horsemen-cometh.html

Since then the Spirit has been bringing to mind the Scripture that opens this post. The question is poised to the people of God, “If you have run with the footmen and they have tired you out, how will you compete with the horses?” The next sentence reveals the meaning of this. Running with the footmen is symbolic of walking with God during a time of peace. The horses speak of a time of calamity and judgment.

Many of the people of God have grown weary of the path they have been taking, but the days they have lived in have been days of relative peace for the nations. Now is coming a day like no other. If you have wearied yourself already, how will you contend with the horses that are coming?

In the past few days the Lord has been performing a sign in my life of that which is coming, and His preparing those He has appointed to minister in coming days. He has ordered my steps and made it known that it is His will that I get my van in RUNNING shape NOW. Let me share with you what He has been speaking and doing.

Early last year the Father led me to leave my employment at the Macon Rescue Mission and to launch out into the deep. I was to trust Him for all my provision once more as I devoted myself to whatever ministry to which He directed me. At the same time He directed me to perform some repairs on my van, which at the time was 22 years old, being a 1986 model.

I knew there were some things that needed to be done to it of I was to travel. The water pump was leaking. The electrical system had some problems, and there were other things to attend to. God sent a homeless man to me at that very time. He was trained as a mechanic and he asked me if I had any work I needed done on my van. The Spirit bore witness that He had sent this man, and I put him to work and he performed the repairs necessary.

At the same time the opportunity arose for me to travel from Georgia to Indiana to speak to a discipleship group there. I gave a week-long series of talks, speaking much of the disciples cross, of judgment to come, and the cost required to receive the anointing of God. The Spirit then directed me to make these talks into videos and post them on the Internet. They have since been viewed thousands of times as the Spirit is spreading a message of the things which are at hand.

Link to videos: http://www.heart4god.ws/id690.htm

My van did well on the trip, but its age has been showing on it. Several other issues have cropped up during the past months, but I have not had opportunity, means, or knowledge to repair them. Last Thursday as I was driving in downtown Macon I saw the man whom the Lord had sent to me to work on my van previously. I had not seen him in months, so I pulled over to speak to him.

He asked me once more if I had any work I needed done on the van. I told him that I did indeed have things to be done, and I believed the Lord had ordered my steps to meet him at that day. I told him that I did not have the money on hand to do much work on the van, but I had a strong sense that God would provide it, so I asked him to meet me the next morning and I would purchase some parts and let him get started on some work.

The next morning (Friday) before I headed into town, I prayed and asked the Lord that if He wanted me to get this work done now, at this time, that He would send forth His provision. I stopped by the bank ATM to check my balance and found that my tax refund of more than $500 had been deposited that very morning. I had a tremendous sense of the Father having ordered my steps. I had only filed my taxes a week earlier, and had never received a refund so quickly.

The Lord allowed me to spend a good deal of time speaking to this homeless man of his relationship to the Lord, and that day he tuned up the van. He put new plugs, wires, rotor and distributor cap on for me. He also diagnosed a couple of other things that needed attending to, including replacing a leaking master brake cylinder and a power steering pump that had a bad bearing. The next day I could not find this man again, so Randy Simmons and I replaced these two parts.

On Sunday I took the van to get the oil changed. The next day I returned to the same place to get the tires rotated and the radiator flushed and filled. While there I described to the mechanic a problem I had been experiencing for some months where the van would get suddenly very loud. I told him I could not pinpoint the source. I had originally thought it might be the transmission, but later ruled that out. I thought it might be an exhaust manifold leak, but I could find none. The problem was intermittent, and I had not noticed it during the cold winter weather, but the week-end I began repairs the temperature in Macon rose into the seventies and the van immediately got louder.

The mechanic thought about it, and then shared with me that it could possibly be the fan clutch that controls the cooling fan behind the radiator. He said it could be an intermittent problem and it would sound like an airplane taking off at times. When he told me this I knew that what he had described was the problem. I had not heard the noise during the winter because the fan would not activate in cold weather, but as soon as the weather warmed up the problem returned.

Yesterday I bought a fan clutch and replaced it myself. The results were both dramatic and extremely satisfying. A vibration in the engine that had been present was now gone, and the van drove quieter than it had since the day I purchased it some 4 years earlier. Later I fixed a problem with a headlight that was not aimed properly, and the mechanic also diagnosed one last problem with the rear brakes that I plan on taking care of as soon as possible.

Last night as I drove the van around I was amazed at how much better it rode. Before with the vibration and noise it had been it was a labor to drive. I would get out with my ears ringing from the noise, and the experience of driving was not pleasant as the van’s handling seemed difficult. Now, it was running so smooth and quiet that all was easy and I could only exclaim over and over to the Lord how amazed I was at the difference.

I had put the best spark plugs in the van, and cleaned the carburetor. The difference in power was also felt. As I rode around in it yesterday the verse came to mind again about running with the horses. God is testifying that He is readying His people to run with the horses, for the days of peace are at an end. We are entering a time when we must be swifter and manifesting a greater quiet and energy than ever before.

It may seem paradoxical that we could have both greater power and greater quiet, but both are being manifested in my van right now. God is testifying that His people must cease all striving. They must enter that place where they just flow in the power of the Spirit. As they do they will find that the road they are called to walk is made smooth, and the distances are traversed easily and with little effort.

Like the Aaronic priests who were forbidden to wear wool when ministering before the Lord, for wool makes men sweat, so too must the people of God clothe themselves in garments of linen symbolizing that all they do is initiated and empowered of the Spirit of Christ.

People of God, it was just a short time last year between the time Yahweh directed me to get my van road worthy, and the time He sent me out. I am sensing that changes are once more at hand. When I went out before the nation was at peace. Soon many will be sent out during the flooding of the Jordan. Will you be ready? Have the days you already have passed through wearied you? How will you then contend with the horses?

The Spirit is asking this question, for He desires that His people might be prepared.

May you be blessed with peace and understanding in these days.

Heart4God Website: http://www.heart4god.ws
Parables Blog: http://www.parablesblog.blogspot.com

Mailing Address:
Joseph Herrin
P.O. Box 804
Montezuma, GA 31063

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