Be Ready for the Wilderness

Joseph Herrin (05-20-09)

The Spirit has been speaking much about leading His people forth into a wilderness experience. If you have been reading this blog very long then you will have noted many teachings that speak of that which the Spirit is testifying in this hour concerning that which is to come. The Spirit is expressly testifying that God will lead a remnant through a wilderness experience in these days that they might be purged, purified and refined.

Yahweh has been revealing that the days ahead will follow the pattern of Moses as he led the people of God through a wilderness experience. God spoke to Moses to warn the people that they were about to depart Egypt. This departure from Egypt is a parable of coming out of the world and its ways. Moses was instructed by God to tell the people that this departure would come upon them suddenly, and they should be ready for it.

Exodus 12:11, 28-33
Now you shall eat [the Passover supper] in this manner: with your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in haste - it is the Lord's Passover. And the children of Israel went away, and did as Yahweh had commanded Moses and Aaron, so did they. And Pharaoh rose up in the night... and he called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, ‘Rise up, and get you forth from among my people, both you and the children of Israel; and go, serve Yahweh, as ye have said. Also take your flocks and your herds, as ye have said, and be gone; and bless me also.’ And the Egyptians were urgent upon the people, that they might send them out of the land in haste; for they said, ‘We be all dead men.’

Notice in this passage that what came upon the people occurred with suddenness. They had to leave in haste, even in the middle of the night. There was no time to pack when the word to leave came. They had to go forth immediately, so all their preparation had to be accomplished beforehand.

Even so, in this hour the Father has been testifying through many witnesses that great calamity will come suddenly upon the earth, and His people need to be ready to move out at a moment’s notice when His Spirit directs them to do so. The Spirit has been directing those with ears to hear to get ready. They are to be prepared to march forth at His command.

Yahweh has shown me that my life during the past ten years contains many similarities to the experiences that will face His people in coming days. Back in 1999 I was living the life of a typical American Christian. I had a house full of belongings and furniture. I had cars and many goods. However, the Father began leading me through a process of disengaging myself from the entanglements of this world. He had me begin selling off my possessions, and eventually brought my family and I to a place where we were living in a 28 foot motorhome that He had provided for us and outfitted in an extraordinary way.

I am seeing this process repeated in the lives of many of God’s people at this very hour. I will share some specific testimonies of what the Spirit is leading His sons and daughters to do to make themselves ready, but first I want to share with you concerning the reason that the Father is doing these things.

All throughout the Scriptures the people of God are portrayed as wanderers upon the earth. God appeared to Abram, a man who had a home and possessions among the people of the earth, and He directed this man to leave all behind and to become a sojourner. From that day forth Abram/Abraham dwelt in tents.

Later we read of Moses who was raised in Egypt and educated in all the wisdom of the earth. He was a man of possessions until at the age of forty he forsook all.

Hebrews 11:24-26
By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; choosing rather to endure ill-treatment with the people of God, than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin; considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt...

Like Abraham before him, Moses in departing from a land of affluence became a wanderer and a stranger upon the earth.

Exodus 2:22
And she bare [Moses] a son, and he called his name Gershom: for he said, “I have been a stranger in a strange land.”

Forty years after Moses departed Egypt to become a dweller in tents, he led forth the entire nation of God’s people to experience the same. The Israelites had houses and lands in Goshen, a fertile section of Egypt, yet they were instructed by God to leave it all behind and to become vagabonds and refugees upon the earth.

In the past ten years the Father has directed me to paths where I had no fixed home of my own. At times my family and I dwelt in rented quarters, yet God never allowed us to become fixed in one place very long. In a period of about four years we moved nearly fifteen times. Later, when I was walking by myself the Lord directed me to dwell in a tent for a period of time, and then provided a small motorhome. For the past year and a half I have been very much a vagabond and a wanderer upon the earth. For me, my small motorhome became to me like the tent of Abraham, or the dwelling of Moses in the wilderness.

Many Christians today would never consider that God would have His people to live in this way. Oftentimes when they read of Abraham and Moses, they assume that the day they lived in was much more primitive, and their manner of living was normal. Yet it was not. Both of these men were raised in civilized society. Both men grew up in homes, and knew permanent dwelling places. Then one day the Lord appeared to them and told them to leave these things behind. What they experienced afterwards was not typical. When Abraham was in Canaan, he sojourned in the midst of cities that were full of homes and buildings, yet he lived in tents.

Nor is living differently from the majority in the world a relic of the Old Testament. During Christ’s entire ministry He lived as a homeless man. He declared to those who would be His disciples that they must be willing to live as He did.

Luke 9:57-58
And as they were going along the road, someone said to Him, "I will follow You wherever You go." And Yahshua said to him, "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head."

Christ was telling this man, and all who would be His disciples, that He did not live as the world did. Christ had no permanent dwelling place. He lived to do the will of His Father, and was content with whatever His Father chose for Him. Beasts, and those marked by the beast nature, demand a permanent dwelling place. Foxes have holes and birds have nests. But those who would be conformed to the divine nature must not set their hearts of things of the earth, for their dwelling is in heaven. They must consider themselves to be aliens and strangers in this earth.

God is not opposed to His people having homes. I know that God has provided homes for many of His children. What God does require is that we be content with whatever He chooses for His sons and daughters. If they demand a home, then they cannot be disciples of Christ, for Christ did not demand anything of His Father. Christ lived to do the will of His Father, not to be served by Him. This mind must also be in all those who are disciples of Christ.

The Spirit is testifying that days of great trouble are coming swiftly upon the earth. The troubles will be greater than the earth has ever experienced. Along with natural disasters, famines and wars, there will also arise great persecution against the people of God. Any of these things by themselves can lead to great dislocations of populations, but all of them combined will create great numbers of refugees. Among these refugees will be God’s people, for not only will the Father direct them to places of safety and provision in an hour when the earth is experiencing His judgments, but they will have to flee from the persecution of the world.

Matthew 10:16-23
"Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; therefore be shrewd as serpents, and innocent as doves. But beware of men; for they will deliver you up to the courts, and scourge you in their synagogues; and you shall even be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles... And brother will deliver up brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents, and cause them to be put to death. And you will be hated by all on account of My name, but it is the one who has endured to the end who will be saved. But whenever they persecute you in this city, flee to the next...”

It is not wrong to flee from persecution. David fled from the hand of King Saul, and God was with him. It is not by coincidence that David’s persecution of the government of the day led to a wilderness experience in his life and the lives of those with him. “That which has been is that which will be. There is nothing new under the Sun.”

God has a great purpose in those experiences which lie ahead for His remnant people. Like my own experience of past years, the people of God will have to shed a great deal of that which they have accumulated in this world. They will be pared down to a place of very lean living. They will be directed to travel light through this world, and to not view this world as their dwelling place, and their habitation. They will come to see themselves as aliens and strangers in a land that they are passing through. God will strip His people of the world’s goods that they might set their sight on their inheritance in heaven.

It is possible for a man to have much of the world’s goods and still be an alien and a stranger in his heart, yet it is very rare. Indeed it is so rare that it almost appears impossible. Much can be gleaned from the following discourse between Christ and His disciples.

Matthew 19:23-27
And Yahshua said to His disciples, "Truly I say to you, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." And when the disciples heard this, they were very astonished and said, "Then who can be saved?" And looking upon them Yahshua said to them, "With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." Then Peter answered and said to Him, "Behold, we have left everything and followed You; what then will there be for us?"

Ancient cities had walls built around them for protection. In these walls were set great gates which were closed in the evenings, and on certain days. At times it was necessary for to permit entry into the city without opening the gates, so a small door was fixed in the wall. This small door was referred to as “the eye of the needle.” In order for a man, or a merchant to get his camel through this small gateway he would have to take all the baggage off of the camel, and cause the camel to get down on its knees to pass through the gate.

This is the imagery Christ used in speaking of the manner in which those who are wealthy in the goods of this world must enter the kingdom of heaven. They must freely unburden themselves of all of the goods they possess. They must humble themselves as a camel must do when getting down on its knees. By the grace of God, even a wealthy man might accomplish this act of obedience.

Matthew 19:21
Yahshua said to him, "If you wish to be complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me."

Luke 14:33
"So therefore, no one of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions.”

We must understand that when the Israelites left Egypt on the night of Passover that they left much behind. They could not take their homes with them. Neither could they take their many furnishings. They could take only what they could carry on their backs and upon the few wagons they may have had.

The Spirit is testifying that the people of God will VERY SOON be led forth into a wilderness experience. They will not be able to take the possessions of Egypt with them. The vast majority of their possessions must be left behind.

I know that this leaving behind goods is not merely a spiritual parable, for the Father has required it of me in a very practical sense. I have few of the goods of the world today, and I am content to have left the things of the world behind. Paul admonished Timothy with the following words.

I Timothy 6:7-9
For we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either. And if we have food and covering, with these we shall be content.

People of God, though such words of instruction may sound profane and offensive to a carnal church who have been steeped in the message of prosperity and ease, they should not appear as strange to those who are truly disciples of Christ. All those who would follow the Lord in coming days must be content with having food and covering. The Lord is actually being very gracious in this matter as He is preparing His sons and daughters for what lies directly ahead. Let me share with you now some testimonies of God’s leading and provision in the lives of His people.

I have already mentioned how God provided a camper/van for my own personal use. God has given me all the provision that was necessary to make repairs to it and get it roadworthy. I just finished a seven week trip in it where I drove 8,000 miles, and this 23 year old vehicle had no problems at all. God is indeed very gracious.

The day I left Georgia (March 20th) to go on this recent trip, Andrew, a brother in Christ from Indiana called me. He informed me that God had spoken to him and told him to put his house up for sale. Andrew and his family had moved out of the house about 8 months previously, but he had no release to put it up for sale until that time.

The housing market in Fort Wayne is not good. There were several homes on Andrew’s street where homes had been for sale for over a year, and the owners finally took them off the market, for there was no interest in them. Andrew did as the Lord instructed him to do, and in five days he had a contract on his home, and before a month had passed he closed on the house.

I suggested to Andrew that day when he called me that he should pray about getting some type of mobile residence for his family in preparation for coming days. Andrew did not understand why the Lord might direct him this way. He wondered if there would even be gas available to drive in days ahead, so his mind was not naturally inclined to make such a move.

A short time later Andrew’s family van began encountering mechanical problems, and he sensed the Lord would have him replace it. He was led to purchase a SUV that was large enough to pull a travel trailer. After his house sold, Andrew set out several fleeces in order to know whether the Father would have him to get a travel trailer, and God affirmed every fleece and opened every door before Andrew. Consequently he purchased a 30' travel trailer for his family. The name on the travel trailer is FLIGHT. This reminded both Andrew and myself of numerous Scriptures, including the following:

“Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; therefore be shrewd as serpents, and innocent as doves... But whenever they persecute you in this city, flee to the next...”

Christians are pictured here as doves. Doves flee when there is danger near. Their wings are given them as a provision to escape from the beasts who would prey upon them. In the same way, Christ admonished His disciples to “flee” or to “take flight” when danger is near. This is not the same as being driven by fear. We are to be led of the Spirit in all these things, and the Spirit will direct the people of God to places of safety. A day may come when God determines that we should lay our life down as Christ did, but until then, of our hour has not come, no one will be able to harm those who are yielded to the Spirit of Christ.

Also while I was on my trip across the country, I heard from a brother in Christ from Atlanta who makes copies of my videos for me. Joe did not know about Andrew’s experiences when he wrote the following to me.

An interesting development has taken place in my life indicating imminent changes and a strong call for preparation. The Lord directed me to make an important purchase yesterday. But first let me go back a little concerning purchases I made in recent years. I acquired years back a private pilots license and found great joy in flying airplanes, my spiritual maturity at that time was nonexistent to very low at best. Living in the flesh, enjoying Egypt so to speak. But GOD had always HIS hand in my life, whether I knew it or not.

I thought it would be great to own an airplane, but airplanes are expensive, so I thought a partial ownership should be the way to go. And off I went, bought into a partial ownership of a Cessna 182 airplane. Very shortly after placing the money into the ownership (money we really did not have), the airplane crashed to the ground during take-off. The two pilots flying it, sustained no life threatening injuries, but the plane was history. My life began a different direction and I quit flying altogether.

A few years back my family was complaining about recreational possibilities and wanted a swimming pool but I said no to that. Us living close to Lake Lanier, I went along with their idea of buying a boat. Well, I purchased a boat, we used it a few times (one summer) and enjoyed time together, but shortly after that, Lake Lanier drained and maintains a scary low water level for the last few years. There was no place the get the boat in the water unless one would drive a long distance and with the low water level boating and swimming in Lake Lanier became dangerous.

By then, the LORD had worked in me and I understood clearly that my life was purchased not for boating or flying around. I repented of making such purchases and prayed that he would find me a buyer for this boat since it was sitting in the driveway for more than one year. The economy went down and my hope for getting rid of the boat went down too. I ended up repenting for my unbelief when GOD brought the buyer of the boat to us (We had stopped advertising the sale of the boat weeks ago).

I’m sharing this with you for a better understanding on what I was led to purchase over the weekend and the significance of it. I’m seeking the LORD in everything I’m doing now and especially what I purchase... We are debt free except the single mortgage for our home. PTL. The LORD had put in my mind to look at alternative living arrangement and for a while I have been looking at campers, but our pick-up truck will not pull even a 24ft camper and I prayed about this and asked for guidance. To not do anything out of my fleshly desires but to do what the FATHER want me to do.Let me say this, camping has never been a great desire of mine to begin with. I quit looking and told the LORD if you want us to have a means of alternative living to lead me to it. Yesterday I looked at a 29ft motor home fully self-contained with only 43000 miles on the original engine. Its 20 years old but in great shape, it was kept in one family and well maintained. The LORD is speaking through my wife to me, because she wants it completely stocked with everything needed always ready to go at any time. The seller knocked $850 off the selling price and I purchased the whole thing for $6000.00.

I know the LORD wants me to have this and to get it ready quickly. My wife said, it will enable us to leave town quickly if we had to. I knew this to be a word from the LORD spoken through her. Great shakings are at the door and we are to prepare quickly.

I was very much impressed with this testimony from Joe. Like Andrew, Joe had no soulish leaning in this direction as there was nothing in him that excited him about camping. Yet Joe sensed the hand of the Lord directing him in this way, and like Andrew, Joe was able to sell a possession of some value that enabled him to make the purchase. His ability to sell his boat in a depressed market, weeks after he had quit advertising it, is a testimony of God’s intervention and gracious provision.

As I traveled across the country I encountered one person after another who had similar testimonies. Randy and Kathy Furman have a friend in Tucson with whom Randy used to know from days when they both participated in prison ministry. We had dinner with this gentleman, and I noticed a nice large motorhome parked next to his home. He said the motorhome had been given to him, and the person giving it to him said the Lord told him that he would need it in days ahead. He did not understand this, but I sensed strongly that this was the Lord’s provision for this man and his family, even though he did not yet discern the necessity of it.

The last meeting I spoke at on my trip was in Lafayette, Louisiana. I stayed in the home of a brother in Christ, and the morning I departed I stood in front of his house and spoke to him about what I was seeing God leading a number of His people to do in purchasing travel trailers and motorhomes. When I finished speaking this brother told me that the year before the Lord had directed them to purchase a motorhome and they kept it parked at a local campground.

A few weeks back my friend Randy Simmons received a financial gift and the day he received it he was sent to a location on his job that he does not often travel and he noticed a large motorhome parked on the side of the road for sale. The Lord directed his attention to it, and he stopped to look at it. He was particularly impressed with a sign on the owner’s property. The man has a pest control business, and following is a picture showing the message below his sign.





















The coming wilderness experience will be a “cross” walk. It is intended to reduce the flesh of the people of God that a spiritual creature might arise. The man was asking $4,000 for the motorhome, and four is a number denoting humility. God must humble our flesh, and the wilderness experiences ahead are designed specifically with that goal in mind.

Deuteronomy 8:2-3
And you shall remember all the way which Yahweh your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you... And He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of Yahweh.

Randy thought the motorhome looked very humble as well. It had a coat of primer on it, but no paint. Randy had been praying about whether God would have him to get it, and we discussed going together to look at it when yesterday I received the following e-mail from Joe in Atlanta.

Dear Joseph,

I’m sensing in the Spirit dramatic changes to occur “very, very soon.” Much has been talked about and many signs have been given. I have wrestled with myself for quite some time to be patient and to rest in GOD. An avalanche of information has surfaced concerning the end times and upcoming calamities and disasters. In your teaching you have made the very important point, that, yes these things will occur sooner rather than later, but most important is the spiritual preparation of the Saints. A maturity absolutely necessary to endure what is coming at us.

I have battled this more intensely the last couple of weeks and have learned to hear HIS voice in others and to see HIS signs in small things. Many times in the past I have overlooked signs and directions thinking that something could not possibly be a sign for me to discern. But it is necessary for us to be fine-tuned to listen to HIM. It is the very small signs HE wants us to see and to observe. The big things everybody can and will see. When planes crash and buildings collapse, when hurricanes destroy large area and devastate regions and claiming hundreds of lives, the majority of GOD’S people discern this right and interpret this correctly as a sign and judgment from GOD. It is the personal communication between the Saint and the FATHER that has to be trained. For the longest time I had trouble understanding this and hearing HIM. I thought “ well, GOD is not talking to me” in fact HE was talking to me all along I just did not fine-tune in to HIS voice correctly.

A couple of things have occurred to me to and have been shown to me as a confirmation of the changes to come very quickly and very sudden. After I bought the motorhome, I stared working on it to get it ready. I’m still working on it, but only minor cosmetic things. Yesterday morning during my time in prayer and study, I opened my bible and the Spirit directed me to Matthew 24:38 and while I was reading it, he stopped me at the point when is says…….until the day Noah entered into the Ark… and LORD spoke to me and said: look beside your house, your ARK is parked there. This verse 38 pretty much sums it up. If I look around me, that is what I see. My physical Ark happens to be a motorhome, this is what the FATHER has prepared for me in the days ahead.

On Sunday I spend some time cleaning out my car and while vacuuming the inside, I found an audio CD under the driver seat. It was a CD I had burned from one of D. Eells’ bible studies some time back. What caught may attention was the title on the label I made for it.

The title was “Second Crash, Leave the City.” I listened to it and David was discussing dreams and visions sent to his ministry on a pending stock market collapse in connection with a 911 style attack and natural disasters. The Spirit directed me to the title almost like a direct order.

Yesterday night during my evening study, I looked through some websites I frequently visit and while at the UBM site the Spirit directed me to a small link under “Special Announcements.” In this audio link David is explaining and discussing the very soon coming move of his ministry from Pensacola, Florida to somewhere in Tennessee. He explains that the LORD is indicating HIS ministry to move north very, very soon. He is ready and is just waiting on his marching order from the LORD... the Spirit is indicating to me the very closeness of judgments through the signs he has given me.

In Christ,

Joe

My heart has also been pondering recently how close the judgments of God are at hand. I knew the Lord sent me forth across the nation at this time to proclaim a message to His scattered remnant “that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.” I can only conclude that He sent me at this time because these things are very near at hand.

I was impressed to call Randy Simmons and share Joe’s e-mail with him. When Randy answered the phone he said that God was speaking to him that things were going to happen “very soon.” Randy then told me of two things he had observed just a short while earlier that he understood God to be speaking to him through. He said he was driving down the road and a car was stopped in front of him that had 777 on the license. He then said that as he was driving that a dove flew up in front of his truck and the dove had something in its mouth.

He was pondering what these things might mean, and he had just told the Lord that perhaps Joseph would know the meaning when the phone rang and it was me on the other end. Randy shared all these things with me BEFORE I mentioned Joe’s e-mail. I told Randy that I did indeed know what the signs meant that he saw, and I then read to him Joe’s e-mail.

The dove with a branch in its mouth is found in the story of Noah and the ark. Joe had just written to me about God telling him that the motorhome he had been directed to purchase was his ark, for he and his family. The number 777 signifies the end, and completion. I told Randy that it immediately brought to mind the words from Genesis:

Genesis 6:13-14
Then God said to Noah, "The end of all flesh has come before Me; for the earth is filled with violence because of them; and behold, I am about to destroy them with the earth. Make for yourself an ark...”

The dove that Noah sent out also is related to the number seven.

Genesis 8:8-12
Then he sent out a dove from him, to see if the water was abated from the face of the land; but the dove found no resting place for the sole of her foot, so she returned to him into the ark; for the water was on the surface of all the earth. Then he put out his hand and took her, and brought her into the ark to himself. So he waited yet another seven days; and again he sent out the dove from the ark. And the dove came to him toward evening; and behold, in her beak was a freshly picked olive leaf. So Noah knew that the water was abated from the earth. Then he waited yet another seven days, and sent out the dove; but she did not return to him again.

There are three sets of seven days in this passage that all relate to the dove and the ark of Noah. Randy strongly sensed that the Lord was directing him to go and look at the motorhome he had seen, and he felt that he was not to delay. I rode with Randy to look at the motorhome, and he ended up purchasing it. Randy offered the man a thousand dollars less than he had advertised, and the man said he would have to discuss the offer with his wife. Randy asked the man to call him when they made their decision.

Randy and I had not gone far down the road when the man called and said that he had spoken to his wife and they felt that the Lord would have them sell it to Randy at the price he offered. Randy then pulled over at a store to call the man back and in the parking lot there was a large bus with the following image on the side of it.























This was a further confirmation from the Father that He was ordering Randy’s steps, and it was His desire for Randy to purchase the motorhome. As Joe had just written earlier, it is necessary for the people of God in this hour to “fine-tune” their hearing that they might perceive the many ways in which the Father is speaking to them. Randy has had his senses attuned to look for the presence of the Father around him for some time, and God was filling his world with His message that day in ways that were clearly understood.

I have also sensed that the Lord would have me to purchase a pop-up trailer or a small travel trailer that I can pull behind my van. I believe in coming days that some of my family members will be traveling and living with me once again, and He would have me to make this preparation. I have an appointment tomorrow to have a wiring harness put on the back of the van so I can hook it up to trailer lights. I then anticipate looking for a suitable trailer.

People of God, Yahweh is declaring that the hour is late. Great shakings are soon to be upon the earth. Yahweh is gracious in speaking to His people, declaring to them to get all things in readiness now. An hour will come when they need to move at a moment’s notice. Those who do not heed His voice will find their way made much more difficult in that hour, for it will be too late to make provision when God says to leave.

Yahweh may not direct all of His people to make the same types of preparations. Not all may be called to purchase travel trailers or motorhomes or tents. But a common experience will be known by all of His people in coming days, and they will find that they must come out of Egypt, leaving many things behind.

It is very important in this hour to be discerning His voice and to be acting quickly upon those things He directs His people to do. I pray that those reading these words might truly be “fine-tuned” to the voice of the Spirit in this hour. This will be the only place of safety.

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