Building Arks

Joseph Herrin (10-12-2010)

I have taken some time off from work on the bus conversion due to having pulled a muscle on the right side of my ribs. I strained a muscle while mounting the holding tanks under the bus last week, and after a couple days the pain increased until taking a deep breath resulted in very sharp pains, and movement produced the same result. Things are improving now, however, and I anticipate getting back to work on the bus in the following days.

In the meantime, this break from the work on the bus has given me opportunity to get caught up on e-mail, and to do some reading, as well as watch a couple of movies from the 90s that arrested my attention. I want to share with you some connected thoughts from these things.

I have shared previously that the Father used symbolism related to Noah’s Ark when directing Randy Simmons to buy a motorhome last year, and He used the same symbolism when directing me to purchase the bus I am now working on. I want to share that information again, so you will understand that which is shared here.

Randy had been given a monetary gift last year, and was praying to discern what the Father would have him to do with it. Randy was still employed at the time, making deliveries for a wholesale florist. On one trip he passed a motorhome beside the road, and his attention was drawn to it. It kept coming back to mind, and he eventually was led to purchase it.

The day he bought it the Father was continuously bringing to him images of doves with branches in their beaks. This is a common symbol relating to Noah’s ark.

Genesis 8:11
And the dove came to him toward evening; and behold, in her beak was a freshly picked olive leaf.

From this verse evolved the image of an olive branch in a dove’s mouth as a symbol of peace.

Dove and Ark

The morning Randy was led to purchase the motorhome he saw an image of a dove and olive branch on a van parked next to him. The same morning, a dove flew up in the road right in front of him with a twig in its beak. I went with Randy later that day to see the motorhome. When he was asking the Father whether he was to purchase the motorhome, Yahweh confirmed it by having a tour bus pull up with the following emblem on its side.

We had just left the location of the RV and had stopped at a convenience store while Randy was looking to the Father to confirm His will. This was one of the means by which He did so.

One may wonder why Yahweh would use an image relating to Noah’s ark when speaking to His sons and daughters about the purchase of an RV, or similar vehicle. Noah lived during an hour of judgment. The sin of man had reached full maturity. The entire world had become filled with violence and the thoughts of man’s hearts were evil continually.

Yahweh sent judgment upon the earth, but preserved Noah and his family alive. This was an act of mercy in the midst of judgment, and the dove with an olive leaf in its beak is the perfect symbol of Yahweh’s mercy in the midst of judgment. It symbolized that the end of the judgment was in sight. Life had been preserved, and fruit would come forth once more.

The Spirit is testifying that judgment is also declared for the earth in days ahead. Speaking locally about the nation in which I reside, I can testify that sin has reached incredible heights. Could the violence of Noah’s day have been any worse than the murder of 60 million babies in the past 40 years in America? Then there are the daily murders that hardly even make a blip in the news anymore, for they have become so commonplace.

The cup of America’s abominations has become full, and are too numerous to declare. If there is a woman in America today who can pass through high school and college while remaining a virgin, she is a great rarity. Such a one is viewed as abnormal, for fornication has become the entertainment of the hour.

The church itself has many sins that require judgment. To those whom much is given, much is required. Judgment will begin at the house of God. The Spirit is testifying that judgment is coming, yet there is also mercy in the midst of judgment.

Habakkuk 3:2
In wrath remember mercy.

Some days after Randy purchased his motorhome, I was led to purchase the 1972 Carpenter Bus which I am now working to restore and convert. I prayed diligently for the Father to direct my steps, making His will known. I did not want to spend money apart from His direction. Even on the drive to view the bus I was asking the Father to confirm His will. Randy went with me, and we drove over 100 miles to look at the bus. Just before arriving we stopped at a convenience store (in a parallel to Randy’s own experience) and right in front of where I parked there was another image of a dove with an olive branch in its beak. I had never seen a convenience store with a florist attached to it, so this struck me as very unusual. Following is the picture I took of the sign in the window.

The witness of the Spirit continued as I drove over and viewed the bus. On the trip home the skies opened up and a great deluge fell. It was one of the hardest rains I had driven through.

At the time, I thought I was purchasing the bus for a sister in Christ in New York. I sent her the title which she held onto for a year, recently returning it to me after her son gave her a bus which is very obviously a gift from Yahweh and very well suited to her needs.

Patty’s New (1996) Bus

Patty cares for her mother who is in her 90s. This bus is equipped with a wheelchair lift that can be operated manually or electrically. Patty's son has a salvage business and has found a camper that someone intends to scrap, and he will be able to salvage parts to be used in converting the bus.

Patty wrote to me this morning and shared an amazing detail her son discovered on this bus. On the outside of the bus is an orange emblem from a ski shop called “The Dark Side.” The “D” is missing off of the name, so it reads “The Ark Side.” What an affirmation of the Father’s will, and an evidence of His mercy in the midst of judgment! Soon after Patty received this bus there were flash floods in her area caused by the remnants of the storm system that moved up the East Coast. Once more the Father is indicating that we are to prepare an ark in order to ride out the coming judgments to befall America.

On a related note, a brother in Christ wrote to me and shared that he had recently rented the movie Deep Impact. This movie was released in 1998. It relates a fictional story of a comet striking the earth. In the movie, major cities on America’s East Coast are wiped out by a flood. The flood is the result of a tsunami that was caused by the comet striking the ocean.

When this brother wrote to me, my attention was arrested, for twice in the preceding days I had come near to renting the same movie from a machine at a local grocery store. Something was drawing me to the video, but being busy I passed it by.

This brother related to me how part of the movie focuses upon a Presidential staff member who quits suddenly. A reporter thinks he has been having an affair for a secretary heard him speaking on the phone about someone named “Ellie.” It turns out that he was actually speaking about E.L.E., which is the acronym for Extinction Level Event. This Presidential staffer resigns, knowing what is coming. He is shown loading up a boat full of food and provisions so he can spend his remaining days sailing with his family. This is very much a metaphor for preparing an ark.

After watching this movie, the brother who related this to me shared about going on the Internet to visit the website of his bank. The website homepage had not been changed in years. When he went to the site he saw that it had recently been changed and he was met with the following graphic.

https://www.fsbanking.com/

If you have been following the news, you should be familiar with the reports of growing discontent among the Chinese for the devaluation of the dollar due to America’s staggering debt which is increasing astronomically. The Chinese, along with other nations, have been suggesting that the world go to another reserve currency, abandoning the dollar. If the Chinese were to dump all their U.S. Securities, Bonds, etc., this could well be the cause of an Extinction Level Event for the dollar and the American financial system.

Some of you are aware that I have written of the symbolism of the four named hurricanes to strike America in 2004. The first of these was Charlie, a name associated with the Chinese (Charlie Chan). Each of the storms that year represented nations that will strike America. Hurricane Ivan (Russia) was the third to make landfall that year, and struck America three times. It particularly did damage in the Gulf of Mexico to American and British oil infrastructure.

After conversing with this brother, I rented the movie and saw much that was symbolic in it. Yesterday while washing clothes at the campground I am staying at, I noted that someone had left the DVD of the movie Independence Day for other campers to view. It was the only DVD movie to be found there. Last night I watched it, and I was struck by the similarities to themes in the movie Deep Impact.

In both movies there are cities on America’s East Coast that are destroyed, notably, New York City and Washington D.C.. This symbolizes the fall of America’s economy and her political system. In both movies people flee the cities on very short notice resulting in traffic jams and civil chaos. There is looting and civil unrest in both movies.

One thing that particularly struck me, and this is emphasized more in the latter movie, is that a great number of people are shown to be fleeing in motorhomes of all description. In the following picture you can see an old RV, which is what Randy was led to purchase, right next to a bus, which both myself and Patty possess.

Scene from Independence Day

You cannot see the full scale of what was depicted in the movie, but there were hundreds of motorhomes, travel trailers, buses, vans, pick-up trucks, and other vehicles that people were using to flee the cities. Of note is that this movie is 153 minutes in length.

I am hearing from too many people who are being led independently of one another, to prepare some type of ark for coming days to believe that the Father is not in this. Indeed, I can see His hand in my own life and circumstances, which are well reported in this blog. There is much that I see only dimly, or not all concerning the days ahead. But I am assured of this. He has called many to prepare an ark.

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

Heart4God Website: http://www.heart4god.ws  

Parables Blog: www.parablesblog.blogspot.com  

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