Prophetic Perception And Discernment

Bob Neumann

I have been sitting on this "WORD" for several days. First of all it was not "complete", that there were "aspects" or "pieces of the puzzle" I had yet to be given. Sometimes "visions", "dreams", and "rhema" come forth from THE MOST HOLY SPIRIT in sudden BURSTS of intensity. And then there are times you have to get segments over a protracted time. In JOB 33 we are told that GOD SPEAKS twice in said dreams, visions.

¹⁴ For God speaketh once, yea twice, yet man perceiveth it not.
¹⁵ In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, in slumberings upon the bed;
¹⁶ Then he openeth the ears of men, and sealeth their instruction,
¹⁷ That he may withdraw man from his purpose, and hide pride from man.
¹⁸ He keepeth back his soul from the pit, and his life from perishing by the sword.

This goes with what Solomon spoke of in Ecclesiastes 3...

¹⁴ I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear before him.
¹⁵ That which hath been is now; and that which is to be hath already been; and God requireth that which is past.

Over the years I have listened to liberal theologians and simple scoffers basically say the GOD had really nothing to do with SCRIPTURE. That THE WORD OF GOD is but the creation of men, so should be treated as nothing more than compilation of archaic stories and tall tales. What scares me is the vast number of "church going" people that accept and support the humanist gospel. Just because someone goes inside a building once a week does not assure you of the kind of "fruit" that you will find. But even the term I used here, "fruit", is a SCRIPTURAL "IMAGE". It is used repeatedly in both the OLD TESTAMENT and NEW TESTAMENT. In fact all that JOB refers to as "dreams" and "visions of the night" is the means that THE MOST HOLY SPIRIT places images before us. Joel says that DREAMS and VISIONS would be a sign of THE GREAT OUTPOURING of THE LATTER DAYS. When Peter quoted from Joel and announced that what was occurring in JERUSALEM was a fulfillment of THE PROPHET JOEL we see Ecclesiastes 3 make profound sense. The events of the early church had never been seen before. So the IMAGE had to become real for us to see what is yet to come.

Today we see "the prophetic" flowing all over the internet. Many who interact on "prophetic sites" share dreams and visions routinely. "Prophetic Declaration" became a popular topic years ago. But little "fruit" came from most of it. Over the years certain "images" have repeated themselves over time. Some so often that patterns become apparent.

Today in central Florida people are beginning to rebuild after the passing of a hurricane...a storm. Scripturally a term used in GREEK for STORM was SEIZMOS. In Matthew 24 SEIZMOS is translated "EARTHQUAKE". Storms and Earthquakes are popular dream and vision "images". Many will now claim that several weeks ago they were given a "dream" or a "vision" or a RHEMA WORD about CHARLEY. This is also a patterned event we have seen before. So the QUESTION I ask is simple....how does a person deal with dreams and visions? We are forwarded a "post" with a "dream" and told that it is "timely". Why? What is it about a "dream" that makes the PERCEPTION of it as "timely"? Then there are times someone shares something with you that they have discerned as being "anointed". Sometimes I have been told "REALLY ANOINTED". I suppose if THE MOST HOLY SPIRIT touches something it is both REAL and Anointed. But how does one discern a simple anointing versus the obviously superlative type like "REALLY ANOINTED". Or the label of "AWESOME ANOINTING"......

Which takes me to the reason for all this....as BONNIE and CHARLIE were yet to get names THE MOST HOLY SPIRIT was kind enough to give me several "images". In the time that has past I have slowly "connected the dots" and have reached this place where I can do two things. I can go to bed and forget it. And then live with my disobedience....or I can proceed. So I proceed.... The FIRST IMAGE was of watching a pair of hands moving three walnut shells on a table top. In worldly circles this is called THE SHELL GAME. The "hands" want you to bet money on whether your eyes are more efficient than the "HANDS". Supposedly there is a pea under one shell and the "patter" goes "IS THE HAND QUICKER THAN THE EYE". Most "stage magicians" have used this for centuries. The trick is called "misdirection". In reality the human eye is much faster than the human hand. IF it stays focused and is not purposely misdirected "somewhere else". Now that is THE FIRST IMAGE....THE SECOND IMAGE occurred two days last week.

Each morning for several days there was "really" dense fog. Pardon my use of "really" here....I couldn't help myself. But on two mornings it was so dense that while the sun was up....you could not tell which direction to look for it if you did not know where east was supposed to be. On both these days you could not see the sun in the east or the sky overhead. On each morning I found myself staring up-wards thinking I could not tell anything about what the weather had in store for the day. Each of these days it was well past 9am before I could see that the skies above me and in all directions was rolling black clouds.

THE THIRD IMAGE is a repeat I had several nights ago of a VISION I had years ago that was sent out on the internet called "SMOKE AND MIRRORS". Which is why Ecclesiastes 3 is so important. What happened back then was happening again. "Someone" had come into an INTERNET assembly and caused strife, division, and a lot of trouble. Some defended this person because they "felt" the anointing. Others defended those who defended this person because they "wanted unity" among the brethren. When I took the situation to THE THRONE I got a VISION and a WORD. The RHEMA was "SMOKE and MIRRORS" and the VISION was out of the movie THE WIZARD OF OZ. Remember when they "met" the WIZARD? The smoke and the false image with flames and noise that frightened and misdirected all who went to THE WIZARD?

SMOKE AND MIRRORS is a term that speaks of using "misdirection" to "cloud the issue". Professional magicians use "smoke" to decrease visibility and "mirrors" to hide what is actually occurring under the platform the "trick" is being staged. The most famous entertainers do this so well that they defy the audience to figure it out. That also is part of the "ACT". Politicians like to use the term "smoke and mirrors" to define things that are all "flash" and no "substance". So do "con men". THE SHELL GAME is a "con". The person who is expected to depart with their cash is called "THE MARK". Another interesting TERM. The first few times is for "fun"....and the mark picks out the pea over and over. Builds up confidence....."settin up" is the term used. Now this whole thing....THE SHELL GAME has been in numerous movies and TV shows. Stage magicians do it all the time. So it should not be "NEW" to anyone....the key is that when the money is bet....the pea is removed from the table. THE MARK cannot win.

THE FOG was so dense that one could not see much of anything. So if you wanted to see if a STORM was approaching you could not. The delay in "knowing" allowed THE STORM TO BE OVERHEAD....and you did not know. Again you have a "NO WIN" situation. THE SMOKE AND MIRRORS is taking THE SHELL GAME to another level. In Las Vegas there are "ILLUSIONISTS" who spend massive amounts of time and money to create new "tricks" yearly. They have to in order to compete with other "ENTERTAINERS" for the tourist dollars. In essence using the phrase "SMOKE AND MIRRORS" speaks of manufacturing a "deception" of some sort. Watching David Copperfield make the STATUE OF LIBERTY vanish was "fun". Watching politicians make tax dollars vanish may be interesting for some....but it is hardly "fun". In scripture there are those who THE MOST HOLY SPIRIT touched with images through dreams and visions. But there is several warnings about that which is not of THE MOST HOLY SPIRIT.

Deuteronomy 13
¹ If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder,
² And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them;
³ Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
⁴ Ye shall walk after the LORD your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him.
⁵ And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death; because he hath spoken to turn you away from the LORD your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, to thrust thee out of the way which the LORD thy God commanded thee to walk in. So shalt thou put the evil away from the midst of thee.

I start with Deuteronomy 13 because here we have "signs" and "wonders" that "COME TO PASS". Yet the warning is that these "signs" and "wonders" occurred so that "someone" could get the people to follow "other gods". In the NEW TESTAMENT we are also warned...but about "lying signs and wonders"...

 ⁸ And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
⁹ Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
¹⁰ And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
¹¹ And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
¹² That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

Now this is the great passage from 2 Thessalonians....but it is GOD who sends "them" strong delusion". Now there is OLD TESTAMENT precedence here. THE GOD OF ABRAHAM, ISAAC, and JACOB decided it was time for AHAB to.....

¹⁹ And he said, Hear thou therefore the word of the LORD: I saw the LORD sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his left.
²⁰ And the LORD said, Who shall persuade Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramothgilead? And one said on this manner, and another said on that manner.
²¹ And there came forth a spirit, and stood before the LORD, and said, I will persuade him.
²² And the LORD said unto him, Wherewith? And he said, I will go forth, and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And he said, Thou shalt persuade him, and prevail also: go forth, and do so.
²³ Now therefore, behold, the LORD hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these thy prophets, and the LORD hath spoken evil concerning thee.

So much for trusting in professional prophets. In Jeremiah 23 THE LORD lays into everyone who are trying to deceive ISRAEL and mess around with Jerusalem. HE starts with PASTORS and works on down....

¹³ And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria; they prophesied in Baal, and caused my people Israel to err.
¹⁴ I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem an horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies: they strengthen also the hands of evildoers, that none doth return from his wickedness; they are all of them unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah.
¹⁵ Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts concerning the prophets; Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink the water of gall: for from the prophets of Jerusalem is profaneness gone forth into all the land.
¹⁶ Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you: they make you vain: they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the LORD.
¹⁷ They say still unto them that despise me, The LORD hath said, Ye shall have peace; and they say unto every one that walketh after the imagination of his own heart, No evil shall come upon you.
¹⁸ For who hath stood in the counsel of the LORD, and hath perceived and heard his word? who hath marked his word, and heard it?
¹⁹ Behold, a whirlwind of the LORD is gone forth in fury, even a grievous whirlwind: it shall fall grievously upon the head of the wicked.
²⁰ The anger of the LORD shall not return, until he have executed, and till he have performed the thoughts of his heart: in the latter days ye shall consider it perfectly.
²¹ I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied.
²² But if they had stood in my counsel, and had caused my people to hear my words, then they should have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings.
²³ Am I a God at hand, saith the LORD, and not a God afar off?
²⁴ Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD.
²⁵ I have heard what the prophets said, that prophesy lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed.
²⁶ How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies? yea, they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart;
²⁷ Which think to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbour, as their fathers have forgotten my name for Baal.
²⁸ The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat? saith the LORD.
²⁹ Is not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?
³⁰ Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD, that steal my words every one from his neighbour.
³¹ Behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD, that use their tongues, and say, He saith.
³² Behold, I am against them that prophesy false dreams, saith the LORD, and do tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies, and by their lightness; yet I sent them not, nor commanded them: therefore they shall not profit this people at all, saith the LORD.
³³ And when this people, or the prophet, or a priest, shall ask thee, saying, What is the burden of the LORD? thou shalt then say unto them, What burden? I will even forsake you, saith the LORD.
³⁴ And as for the prophet, and the priest, and the people, that shall say, The burden of the LORD, I will even punish that man and his house.
³⁵ Thus shall ye say every one to his neighbour, and every one to his brother, What hath the LORD answered? and, What hath the LORD spoken?
³⁶ And the burden of the LORD shall ye mention no more: for every man's word shall be his burden; for ye have perverted the words of the living God, of the LORD of hosts our God.
³⁷ Thus shalt thou say to the prophet, What hath the LORD answered thee? and, What hath the LORD spoken?
³⁸ But since ye say, The burden of the LORD; therefore thus saith the LORD; Because ye say this word, The burden of the LORD, and I have sent unto you, saying, Ye shall not say, The burden of the LORD;
³⁹ Therefore, behold, I, even I, will utterly forget you, and I will forsake you, and the city that I gave you and your fathers, and cast you out of my presence:
⁴⁰ And I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you, and a perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten.

 Now verses 20 and 21 are most important. Twenty refers to THE LATER DAYS....like JOEL does. It is the time reference for NOW...Verse 21 is interesting...the false prophets "ran" and "prophesied". But GOD DID NOT SPEAK or SEND THEM. This is a direct reference to Habakkuk 2.......

¹ I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved.
² And the LORD answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it.
³ For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.

In verse 1 GOD IS EXPECTED TO SPEAK....in verse 2 the prophet /watchman /servant listens and writes what he is told so he can "run" with it. Jeremiah 23 says the boys who were "running" never heard from GOD...were never "sent". And verse 3 speaks of THE APPOINTED TIME. Now there can be a lot of APPOINTED TIMES....Jeremiah speaks of some throughout the BOOK....which one is ours?

⁸ For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Let not your prophets and your diviners, that be in the midst of you, deceive you, neither hearken to your dreams which ye cause to be dreamed.
⁹ For they prophesy falsely unto you in my name: I have not sent them, saith the LORD. Once again the image of "not being sent". So we come to the point of who has GOD SENT? Who had a "REALLY ANOINTED" dream, vision, word....and who did not? Joel 2 says a lot but gives no bench mark. In fact it is extremely inclusive...

²⁸ And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:
²⁹ And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit.

"All flesh" is definitively all encompassing....so is sons, daughters, handmaidens and servants. So we are about to enter a time of extreme deception. A major "con" is about to take place. That is THE SHELL GAME. The intention behind it is to confuse our focus, limit our discernment and perception so that THE FOG will keep us from "KNOWING" that THE STORM IS HERE. Now all that leaves is SMOKE AND MIRRORS....an elaborate "trick" that is set up. An ILLUSION to deceive those wanting entertainment. Or, is you want a political spin on it, to waste the time and energy of those seeking the TRUTH.

In the OLD TESTAMENT the images of PROPHETIC CONFRONTATION are very unsettling. GOD'S SERVANTS are out numbered, out gunned, and usually meet tragic ends. When Jerry had to face off with an ACCEPTED PROPHET he was branded a "false prophet" and got slugged. Now GOD knocked off the "bad guy" but did not prevent Jerry from getting hammered. Back in the AHAB story, the prophet Micaiah was in the dungeon and brought out to "perform" for Ahab and the PROFESSIONAL PROPHETS. Here he got "smote" like Jerry did and sent to the AMMONITES to be imprisoned. We never hear about him again. Last but not least there is the "young MAN OF GOD" in 1 Kings 13 that listens to an OLD PROPHET and dies for his disobedience. He "listened" to a man who said GOD SPOKE to him...when GOD DID NOT. Maybe it is time we chuck all the forwarded posts in the can. If we are "in tune" with THE MOST HOLY SPIRIT we do not need them. If we are HIS SHEEP...HE KNOWS US...and we follow HIM because we hear HIS VOICE. me....well I’m running....hard....

¹⁰ The name of the LORD is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe.

selah

Bob