(As published in The Voice Of Evangelism - March/April, 1999 )

Brooksville, Florida

The story begins several years ago on a Sunday afternoon. That morning, I had ministered at the Brooksville Assembly of God in Brooksville, Florida. Don Channell and I were staying in the home of a church couple. That afternoon, I felt exhausted and told Don, "I must rest before church". I went to a private bedroom, opened my Bible to read and became very drowsy. I closed the Bible and lay across the bed with my face down on my Bible.

Within a matter of minutes, by the Spirit of God, I was experiencing a full color vision. Oddly enough, I knew I was having a vision. I knew I was in Brooksville lying on a bed, yet I was seeing a perfectly clear picture unfold before my eyes. I was literally part of the scene.

In the vision, I saw a straight paved road that led to the top of a hill. On either side of the road were small brick homes. For some reason I felt they were homes of retired ministers. I began walking up the hill, stepping on a sidewalk on the left side of the road. It was then that I noticed I was barefoot.

As I continued up the hill, I noticed two strange sights. At the top was a large concrete barrier, like a wall. I knew something was behind this barrier. I also noticed the sky was perfectly blue, except for one dark pillar of black (a cloud) that resembled a black tower reaching from heaven to earth. It was hitting the earth somewhere behind the barrier. I thought, "How strange! Everything looks great, but this one dark cloud is coming from heaven to earth". I decided to go to the top of the hill and investigate the scene.

After reaching the top, I climbed up on the concrete wall. To my amazement, a beautiful corn field was behind the barrier. As far as I could see to the left and right, the field stretched, filled with the most beautiful ripe corn I had ever seen. The rows were close together and the corn was ready for harvest. I could see the golden tassels on top of the stalk.

The Five Tornados

In the distance, the scene was much different. At the far edge of the field I saw five large tornados. They each were the same size and seemed to be spaced equally. To me, it seemed they were coming out of this large dark pillar.

As I observed the five Tornados, I recall seeing old fashioned power lines directly behind the tornados. Suddenly, the tornado on the left began to spin. I could hear a whooshing sound as it slowly began to gain speed. Then I saw sparks, similar to bits of lightning, coming from the first tornado. That is when I knew what was going to happen.

I sensed that soon, the first tornado would rip through the corn field and take out a row of precious grain. By the time this tornado would reach the barrier, the second would rip a row of grain out, followed by a third, a forth, and finally the fifth tornado. I knew that when the fifth tornado hit, it would conclude this strange storm.

I recall jumping off the concrete barrier, running down the hill and shouting, "I must get into the cleft of the rock. The storms are coming, and I must get into the cleft of the rock!"

Suddenly, I came to myself. My heart was pounding and my spirit was weeping. I jumped off the bed and knocked on the door of Don Channell. I began telling him about the vision. Don and I were not certain of the meaning, but the vision has stayed with me for the last three years.

Six Months Later

About six months later I had a night dream that I believed to be related to the vision of the five tornados.

In the dream, I was standing in the inner city of some great metropolis and heard people saying, "The storm is coming. We must find shelter and protection". I led the people into the basement of a large, old church. The church building was built from the large granite blocks that many of the historic downtown churches are made of. I saw people from various ethnic groups - Black, Hispanic and Asian. People were huddled together with their particular ethnic group. They were all frightened and cold, holding on to each other. Great fear gripped each person. Suddenly, a huge tornado hit the building. The church began to shake, but did not collapse. I noticed there was no doors in the church (because Jesus is the door).

I could see these large tornados, five in all, as each one roared by and struck the church. I could hear the pounding of rain and hail as it beat against the outside of the building.

After the fifth tornado passed by, there was a calm. Everyone went outside to inspect the damage. As we left the church basement, I saw several piles of different items. Some piles contained canned food. Others contained clothing. There were even piles of small toys for children. Some of the people began to run for cans of food, while several others rummaged through the clothes and still others were seeking a toy for their small child. It is what I saw at that moment that confounded and amazed me.

As the scene changed, I could clearly see the skyline of a large city, complete with tall skyscrapers. I looked for structural damage and found that the damage was not to the exterior of the buildings, but to the inside of the buildings instead. Still, not every building was affected. Some looked perfectly normal. Others seemed to have taken a harder hit. In one glass building, I noticed that the file cabinets were opened and papers were all over the floor. It seemed confusion had hit this office. Yet, two other buildings across from this damaged building appeared to have come through the storm without any major damage.

The Pearls

Afterwards, I distinctly recall standing in front of a church. I looked on the ground and saw where a beautiful string of large gray-black pearls had been broken. Somehow, these storms had affected my pearls and I was now putting them back together again! Then I awoke. I wrote down the dream and compared the second part of the dream to the part about the five tornados. I believed both were one dream from two different points of view.

Lack Of Understanding

For quite some time I did not understand the possible meaning of the dream and vision. I knew storms represented sudden trouble, but why did they take out rows of corn? Was the corn literal food, or did it represent the end-time harvest or both?

I began to believe it represented five storms in the ministry. Could it be that five people close to me would pass away? If this was the meaning, why did I see the retired minister's homes and what did other ethnic groups from the inner city have to do with the death of family members?

I shared these dreams with a few people. No one, including me, had any clue as to the possible meaning of this vision and dream, although I knew they both spoke of the same event from a different perspective.

Early in 1998, while reading a book on Y2K, something struck me. I learned that some specialist believe that, beginning on January of 2000, it will take about five months to actually get all computer systems up and running and back to business as usual on a worldwide level. When I read "five months", my mind went back to the vision and dream. For the first time, the events made sense in the light of what I had learned.

Interpreting The Vision

Let's go back to the vision. In the vision, I was barefoot. Since your feet are to be "shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace", this could mean not being fully prepared for the storms. The one tall cloud in the field that looked like a tower could represent computer towers. Inside these towers is where the main problem - the language problem - is located. The five tornados might represent five areas that could be affected by a world-wide computer problem. However, they could also represent five weeks or five months of one problem after another.

Often, a field of corn in the Bible represents the harvest of souls or can allude to the world as a whole. The corn could literally symbolize food, as well. Could the meaning of the vision be that five storms, borne out of one large storm, will temporarily affect 5 different things on the world scene? The five tornados could represent five weeks or even five months, because the tornados were of the same height and spaced the same distance apart.

What About The Dream

The dream speaks for itself. Many of the poor people in the large cities were turning to the church for their protection, shelter and help. Again, there were five tornados that could allude to five weeks or five months of literal storms or difficulty, until the problems begin to settle. The fact that certain buildings were hit inside and others were not, may reveal that certain business will not be as adversely affected as others when these series of storms hit.

The pearls were mine personally and, I believe, may represent "the pearl of great price". In the parable, this pearl alludes to the preaching of the gospel. It appears the Lord has given us a warning that a series of storms may affect our ministry for a period of time.

Whatever the interpretation of this vision and dream are, we must be "hidden in Christ". Both Moses and Elijah hid themselves in the "cleft of the rock". Whenever spiritual or natural storms hit, we must know who we are in Christ and be determined to stay hidden in Him.

Could the vision and the dream allude to the disruptions and hindrances of the Y2K problems? If a person tries to keep up with the information concerning what is fixed and what is not, it gets totally confusing. America is supposed to have 90% of its major systems fixed, yet a recent report revealed that 50% of small businesses are doing nothing. Then there is the global link. If other nations are not fixed, how will this affect imports and exports? If the major oil exporting nations in the Middle East are six months to two years behind, where does that leave the oil and gas?

If these dreams do not allude to five weeks or five months of problems because of Y2K, then I am sure that, in time, God will reveal the true meaning of the storms. Let us be in prayer!