The War and the Stampede

The Smoke

In this vision I was over a great city; high above it, many miles above. Wisdom called out to me and said, “Come with me and I will show you the contention over this city.”

“This city,” he said, “is being contended for, but the contention is not for the buildings nor is it for the plots of land or the precious things in the city. The contention is for the eternal souls of men. Other things are merely used as distractions and control tools to wage this war. The saints must contend for the souls of men and cry out on their behalf to the Lord, because the wicked (though many of them do not know this) are contending on behalf of Satan, the prince of darkness.”

As Wisdom spoke, my eyes were opened and I saw a pillar of smoke six thousand feet in diameter. I instantly knew the measurement of it. But I could not tell how far up this pillar was stretched. As far as I could perceive, it was endless in its length stretching into the heavens. It was bold. It was massive, thick, dark and billowing as if it was coming from the fires of a thousand mountains of rubber tires burning from earth. It was quite an overwhelming sight. As we came closer to this smoke, Wisdom stretched out His hand and touched my nose. “I will let you smell the smoke just a little so that your testimony will be complete. The full weight of the smell you cannot bear.” With this, He shielded me from the full weight of the smell of this smoke. Even so, the stench of the smoke was worse than anything I had ever smelled before. It was intense and sickening. This was many times worse than the stench I perceived in Hell. The stench was as overwhelming as the size of the pillar.

The smoke was not only dark and horrible in odor but it was also raging like a tornado. When I looked closely, the smoke was alive. It had a life of its own. It had a mouth, hands, legs, wings and hideous eyes. Yet when I came closer, I saw that within this entity were many other entities: devils and demons. This pillar of smoke was also a doorway into the heavens. There were ladders that went up and down; down all the way into the pit and up all the way into the heavens. Seeing and smelling this smoke, I wanted so badly to find out where it came from. Wisdom, knowing the thoughts of my heart, touched me again and showed me the city we were directly above. As I gazed towards the city my eyes opened and I saw tributaries of this smoke coming from thousands of locations coming together to form one pillar, one voice and to empower this one entity that empowers many other entities under him. There were small streams of smoke coming from homes, work places, schools, and individuals walking the streets. Every time any sin is committed, this smoke of rebellion and defiance is released against the Lord God Almighty. The many wicked and unrighteous activities done in this city were ascending to the God of heaven. Every stream of smoke was tagged with the practice that brought it up, and together, these streams were assembled to form a force that raged against the Lord God Almighty and against men and women created in His image. As the smoke rose up into the heavens the single chorus of these millions of tributaries of smoke that formed the pillar was, “Leave us alone, we want to do as we please. Your laws, Your commandments and government are too much for us. They would not let us freely and fully exercise the wishes of our hearts. We want our own way, our own laws, our own rulers, and we want them to be according to the disposition of our hearts. We are a free people. You are a slave master, a controlling Lord, a hard-to-please King, a demanding One, and You do not understand us. You cross our lives and You ask for too much from us. You demand that we eat Your flesh, drink Your blood, hate our mothers and our fathers, change our lifestyles, just to follow You, and You bind our lives to Your rigid laws just to please You. We do not want You. If indeed You made the earth, thank You, well done. But we will take it from here on. We can run it from here; we do not need You at the helm anymore. We will serve whoever will gives us peace, prosperity, long and good life but will let us live our lives to our full content as we please. Whoever that person is let his kingdom come and let his will be done on earth. WE WANT A GOOD LIFE WITH NO TYRANT BOSS, THAT’S ALL. We give permission as the citizens of earth and of this region to the candidate that promises to fulfil our requirements to rule over us.”

This is the anthem of a rebellious heart. With these and many other words the little streams of smoke each loudly declaring their loyalty to the prince of darkness ascended to join the pillar. These literally hand over the earth -- region by region -- to satan without even understanding what they are doing or knowing the deep consequences of their actions. Vote by vote, men and women vote satan and his loyal representatives into rulership and vote the Lord, the King of righteousness out, cursing his great name through each thought, word and action. They vote the Merciful King of Righteousness and those that represent him out of their lives, calling them hate-mongers. Yet the Lord God Almighty patiently waits at the door knocking (almost like a beggar, but He is a King who, for the sake of love, begs for He is lovesick after His own) and hoping that the door will be opened for Him to come in, heal, restore, save, sanctify and reconcile.