Joseph Herrin (01-03-2011)

The Ark Hooked Up at an RV Park – 1-1-2011

Saturday was a very significant day, filled with symbolic events in my life. It marked the first day of the year 2011. According to E.W. Bullinger, the number 11 in Scriptures denotes the following:

If ten is the number which marks the perfection of Divine order, then eleven is an addition to it, subversive of and undoing that order. If twelve is the number which marks the perfection of Divine government, then eleven falls short of it. So that whether we regard it as being 10 + 1, or 12 – 1, it is the number which marks, disorder, disorganization, imperfection, and disintegration.
[Source: http://philologos.org/__eb-nis/eleven.htm]

To support this meaning of the number 11, Bullinger cites numerous examples from Scripture, including the following.

THE ELEVEN SONS OF JACOB told of the disintegration and disorganization in Jacob’s family, which made it possible for it to be said “one is not.”


JEHOIAKIM REIGNED ELEVEN YEARS when Nebuchadnezzar came up and began his disintegrating work on Jerusalem (2 Kings 23:36, 34:1; 2 Chron 36:5,6).


ZEDEKIAH REIGNED ELEVEN YEARS when Nebuchadnezzar completed the work by putting an end to Israel’s rule in Jerusalem (2 Chron 36:11; Jer 52:1), for “in the eleventh year the city was broken up” (Jer 39:2).


THE ELEVEN APOSTLES witness of disintegration even amongst the Twelve (Acts 2:14, etc.).

Saturday morning I awoke early, anticipating driving the bus I had been converting to a motorhome to an RV park 40 miles away. The phrase was in my mind that this would be a “shake down cruise.” The bus certainly drives like a boat, and the Father has referred to it as an ark. More on this later.

The date was 1-1-11. I pulled the bus up near the front porch of Mr. Stanfield’s home, the elderly brother in Christ who has graciously invited me to stay with him whenever I am in the area. I loaded up some of my belongings and was ready to pull out when the thought occurred to me to check my bank account balance. I needed to put some gas in the bus as it was nearly empty, so I pulled out my laptop computer and accessed my account. It revealed that I had $111 in my checking account.

The significance of my bank balance immediately came to mind as the Father has used this number to denote “division” and the fracturing of a union previously. I wrote of this in relation to Randy Simmons and I being called to minister together.

https://heart4god.ws/wordpress/2008/08/incredible-journey.html

It has been increasingly evident that Randy and I would be parting soon, and this parting came on New Year’s day as I left his grandfather’s home to follow wherever the Spirit may lead. It was in my mind that the RV the Father directed Randy to purchase a year ago, within a week or two of my purchasing the bus, is a Monaco Model 111A. Randy and I looked up the name Monaco on the Internet and found that it originally meant, “those who dwell alone, or apart.”

I knew that the bus would not travel at high speeds, so I avoided the Interstate even though it would have been the most direct route to my destination. It turned out to be a very good idea that I went by another path than the one commonly taken. In a sense, I was forsaking the wide and well traveled road, for a narrow and less traveled one. If I had gone by way of the Interstate, there is a good chance I would have been stuck in traffic for hours as a serious accident had occurred around 6:30 A.M. on New Year’s morning. The Interstate going south remained closed for nine hours (nine denotes judgment.)

I found out about the accident as my daughter gave me a ride back to Macon to pick up my van. The northbound lanes of the Interstate slowed down significantly near the accident site. We saw the burnt out remains of a semi truck and trailer that had experienced a blown tire, struck the concreted median, and burned, along with its cargo which consisted of 40,000 pounds of plastic pellets.

Burning Truck on the Interstate

The nearest road to the accident is Sardis Church Road. This grabbed my attention. Sardis is one of the seven churches addressed by Yahshua in the opening chapters of Revelation. Regarding Sardis we read the following:

Revelation 3:1-6
“And to the angel of the church in Sardis write, ‘These things says He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars: “I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead. Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die, for I have not found your works perfect before God. Remember therefore how you have received and heard; hold fast and repent. Therefore if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you. You have a few names even in Sardis who have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with Me in white, for they are worthy. He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”‘

As I shared in numerous meetings across the nation this past year, and in writings online, many Christians who fail to walk as overcomers will have their names blotted out of the Lamb’s book of life. Those whose names are not in the book of life will be cast into the Lake of Fire.

Revelation 20:15
And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

Such deep deception has come upon the church in America. They have a name that they are alive. They have meetings with much noise and activity. They fill the airwaves with messages. But the church is dead. Honoring God with their lips, their hearts are very far away. The majority in the church are on that broad path that leads to destruction. The destruction is on the doorsteps of Sardis church.

I Peter 4:17-18
For it is time for judgment to begin with the household of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And if it is with difficulty that the righteous is saved, what will become of the godless man and the sinner?

Do the preachers of America tell their congregations that “is it with difficulty that the righteous is saved”? Do they tell members of the most materialistic, mammon loving society on earth that “it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of the needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven”? The Interstate was filled with people returning from their Christmas vacations, focused upon giving and receiving to one another the merchandise of the world, supposedly in honor of Christ. What a departure this is from the Messiah who owned only the clothes on his back, who had no home, and accomplished His entire ministry as an alien and stranger in this world, focused solely upon accomplishing the will of the Father.

Those Christians traveling the Interstate that day came to a dead halt at Sardis Church Road. They were stopped in their tracks by fire. I had chosen another way. The path I took was open, though it was narrow and little traveled.

The Ark’s Shake Down Cruise

Saturday, I drove the ark 40 miles to a campground. A shake down cruise is intended to reveal any deficiency in a ship before it is placed into service. My trip did this admirably. I was about 30 miles into my trip when a woman pulled up beside me and said something had fallen off the back of the bus. I pulled over to examine it and found that the straps I used to hold the sewer tanks in place were going to need some modification. Too much weight was sitting on these narrow straps. One of the two tanks had a fair amount of water in it when I left, making it considerably heavier. The tank had flexed across one of the straps, bending downward. The sewer cap and valve had evidently hit the pavement and come off. I drove back to locate it, but could not find it. It is about a $30-$40 item, which I hated to lose, but the repair will not be that difficult.

Upon arrival at the campground, I hooked up the water line and heard water dripping behind the shower wall. I was concerned that I had not gotten a good seal on the fitting that joins the water line to the shower faucet, and my concern was justified. I had to cut the water back off. I corrected this problem yesterday that I might have running water in the bus. It was not a difficult or expensive repair. It simply took some attention and a little effort to correct.

I also have one electric circuit that began giving me problems. This actually began before I left Macon in the bus. The breaker is tripping for some reason, so I will have to trace down the wires to determine at what point the fault lies. Altogether, these issues will probably take me no more than two partial days work to correct. More things might become evident. Now is the time to correct them.

Macon has had a very dry summer and fall season. There has been little rain of late. However, soon after I got my bus parked and hooked up the rain began. The rain continued all afternoon and through the night. It did not end until the next morning. This too struck me as symbolic. I had finally entered the ark and the rains then began to fall.


An Unexpected Response

In a recent blog I posted some pictures of the bus. One photo showed the bus after I had recently washed it. The others showed the various paint schemes I had considered changing it to. I invited readers to share their thoughts. The response I received was not what I anticipated. The first three people to write told me they liked the original paint of a white bus with blue stripes. That was not an option I had been considering. Some other responses came in, but when all were totaled, there were nearly twice as many people who suggested that I leave the bus the original paint colors. Mike Vye, a brother in Christ, wrote the following:

Concerning the exterior color of the bus, last night while looking at the samples on your blog, I had a strong discernment that the bus should be white with blue trim, much like it is now. The color blue is depicted in the instructions for the Tabernacle in Exodus, many times regarding clothing and curtains, etc.. White linen garments denote purity. I see the bus in relation to the Tabernacle and the clothing of the priests and the specifics of the colors to the Holy of Holies.

From the photos I have posted, it is not apparent how much the bus needs a new coat of paint. The numbers from its stint as a NASCAR event bus are showing through, as well as the name and town of the Methodist church which owned the bus before that. I will have to consider keeping it the same basic color scheme, as this was very unlooked for response that I received. I may even keep the image of the cross and flames, as there is a narrow and afflicted path that leads to life. The preaching of the disciple’s cross will continue to be a major theme in my writing and speaking. The fiery trials we must pass through will become more in evidence among a remnant who yield to be led of the Spirit of Christ.

I am going to end this post by including a portion of a dream that was posted to the Internet by a person using the name JONJMAC. It is an excellent word, and is in accord with the rest of this post.

Terrifying Dream:

I awoke in a very dark place, with only one light near me that I could not look at. It wasn’t because it would hurt my eyes, it was that it was impossible to look that direction. It didn’t matter though.


I knew who I was before.


The King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, the Living, Breathing God of all creation.


I knew I was not dead, but I also knew I was brought before him to make a choice, or lets say to clarify the choices I have.


I was completely naked. Not physically, but I knew that I could hide nothing. NOTHING! I was stripped of my family, I was stripped of my circumstances, I was stripped of everything in this world that I loved, and everything that had been a stumbling block in my past and present life. It was just me. Transparent to the deepest parts of the soul, the intents, the desires, what I truly loved.


I was utterly ashamed. By most people’s standards I am a good guy. I have grown up in the church, believe in Him, His blood that was shed for me, and His resurrection power. But standing in front of God is a whole other thing.


I said I was naked. Let me explain more about that. What I realized at that very minute was that the things that give me comfort in this world would be stripped away in eternity. Relationships with family, friends, doctrines and beliefs, all the things we choose to believe to make us feel secure, all the things I held onto to make me feel like I was OK. It was not enough. Church associations, bible verses memorized, Christian lifestyle, having a good reputation, etc.. It didn’t mean squat!


In that moment I realized that the only thing that mattered, and the only thing that I would bring with me when I leave this place and appear before the Great I AM was my love for Him and my love for His Son.


Nothing else mattered. My family could not stand there with me, my pastors would not be there to help, my own self-woven truth that I chose to believe would be shattered in light of His ultimate Truth. I was separated. It was just me and Him, and the things like going to church (as a religious function) didn’t matter, studying the Word didn’t matter. How much I knew about God, the Bible, and His promises didn’t matter. What did matter was my love for Him. Or, in my case my lack of love for Him.


(As a side note – I only recently realized that had I loved him more than anything else, I would have never wanted to leave. I would have been full of joy to be in the presence of Him – finally!)


I realized I was alone, naked, and stripped of excuses. I began to mourn, deep sorrow began to well up in me. The horrible part was, I was mourning and aching for the things of the flesh. I began to see that the things I enjoyed in life, like being able to just relax with the family and watch a movie. To go out on the lake in the boat for a day of fun with the wife and kids. To simply take care of my own, and try not to think about those in need. To keep God as an important “part” of “my” life, and not put him in total charge of everything, not totally surrender my life, my living flesh to him as a sacrifice.


After all, at this moment of truth, of transparency, of nakedness, I knew that this was completely “anti” Christ. This was me wasting my days, filling my life and my family’s life with meaningless “fun” activities. Activities that in eternity would be meaningless. I knew that if I wanted to gain Christ, I had to forsake the things of the flesh, I had to sell everything I had to buy the field that had the treasure buried in it.


But I mourned because I had the mirage of life suddenly disappear and I had nothing. My life was empty. I could see it all, and as I thought about the things I missed, the things I loved in life, they all seemed so dark, so sinful. I also knew that no-one else would ever understand what I was doing if I truly gave all my heart to God. I would be one odd duck compared to even the most “holy” of Christians.


I knew that I didn’t have the love I should for the Father. I realized that I was more in love with a happy life filled with things that brought “me” happiness, than joy from doing the Fathers will. I was more in love with the illusion that I could go about my daily life – live for myself, acknowledge God and enter into the Kingdom of Heaven one day with crowds of cheering saints.


I could no longer fool myself, and I knew I had a choice to make. I hardly know how or where to begin. I have never seen any living example of a true biblical saint, Christian, disciple, believer or whatever you want to call those who are called according to His purpose.


I have seen the church going crowd that much like myself is more interested in being like the world, desiring wealth, cars, power, popularity, acceptance and love of others. Where is there desire for God? They praise God with their lips, but their hearts are far from him, just like my own.


I have seen it on TV with the Benny Hinns and the Joyce Meyer types who are teaching another gospel a gospel of success, a gospel of happiness, a gospel of self-help, a gospel of “God wants to make you fishers of Wealth!” Instead of fishers of men. When the service is over, instead of going out and healing the sick, preaching the real gospel, and casting out devils – in other words doing the great commission, they jet-set around the world in private jets to their multi-million dollar estates scattered here and there – paid for with offerings from the poor and ignorant.


The only place I know of where I could find this kind of faith, this kind of commitment was in the bible. There you find Jesus, his disciples, and the early church believers who gave everything to God. They sold everything they had to buy the pearl of great price.


They forsook the flesh, and forsook the things of the world in order to gain an eternity of joy unspeakable and full of glory.


As I read the bible it is so clear and the words of Christ, and the words of the apostles are so direct and understandable.


– Those of us who try to save our lives will lose them, but those who lose their lives for Christ’s sake will gain them.
– If we love the world, the love of the father is not in us.
– If we love Jesus, we must keep his commandments…


Have we completely deceived ourselves?


It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God. That is what I know. I know that I will never be the same. I know that my life is nowhere near where it needs to be, but I am trying. My pride is gone. My illusion is gone. And my desire for God is beginning to really take hold of my life. For 6 months I hardly even spoke about this dream to anyone except my immediate family, and even then cautiously. But I felt an urging from God to write these things down and send it out – because they must know!


My dream ended.


I awoke. It was 3:00am. I was wide awake with an extremely heightened sense awareness, and insecurity. It was so much to take in and so much to lose that I had to try to sleep. What is it with us people who have grown up in the church? What did they do to us? We truly are the Pharisees of the 20th century. We have been given a gift and yet we want it for free with no strings attached and with no consequences of our choice. We want it all, to love God, get saved and love the world too.


We want to say that we are saved because we believe in God, but doesn’t scripture say that even the demons believe and tremble? It isn’t enough. We must crucify our flesh, we must love Him, and the proof of our love will be our lifestyles and our fruit – not our knowledge. What fruit have we produced? If you are anything like me, you are in desperate need of a savior!


I have since made my choice, but I still struggle. It is hard to forsake the things you can easily have, the things you desire, and follow Him.


I strongly recommend that you take a good look at your own life, and choose you this day whom you will serve. Don’t believe the lie that you can serve God and mammon. Don’t believe the lie that you can have it all.


Dream #2


(about 3 months ago.)


Again I instantly knew I was in the presence of God, and again I was ashamed of what I was. Again I was transparent, but this time the focus was not on me. I felt terror for those who were walking in unbelief. I knew that their days were numbered and that they MUST hear the Gospel.


When I say those walking in unbelief, I mean the sinners and the church goers alike.


There was such an urgency. Such a calamity coming to those who are unprepared. I began to feel the terror they would feel. I began to feel the sorrow of the Father. But mostly I just felt what they would feel if they did not hear the true gospel. To say they would be afraid, to say they would regret, to say they would be sorry does not even begin to explain the intense emotion they would face. Terror. Terror like nothing I have ever felt before. No more chances. No more excuses. NO MORE TIME.
Helpless. Condemned. Awaiting for the words of Judgement to come from His lips.


Terror…
[Source: http://www.watchmanscry.com/forum/showthread.php?t=14917]

The Spirit is testifying that it is time to get our houses in order. I recently met with Joe Boes, who shared with me that the Father had spoken to him these exact words. I believe many are hearing similar things in this hour.

My work on the bus, which I have called “The Dreamer,” is symbolic of the work Yahweh is performing in my life, and in the lives of a scattered remnant. He is doing an interior work. He is transforming that which was formerly given to the pursuit of pleasure, and a conveyance for religious thought, into a fit habitation. We are the ark of Yahweh’s presence. He has determined to dwell in man. We must become a fit habitation for His presence.

I Corinthians 3:16
Do you not know that you are a temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?

What will be Yahweh’s response if He comes to His house and finds it full of the noise of commerce, of money changers, of buying and selling? What will He do if He finds His house defiled by the beast nature? It will truly be a time of terror for the majority of those who name the name of Christ.

If Yahweh begins to shake your house, even as He has been shaking Christchurch, New Zealand; if hidden faults and deficiencies are being exposed, then do not delay in attending to them. Remedy that which is sick and close to death. Submit to the judgment of the Father now lest, like those Christians in the church of Sardis, you too have your name blotted out of the Lamb’s book of life. There will truly be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth.

The Spirit is saying that there can be no delay. If you have not counted and accepted the cost of full surrender to the rule of God in your life; if you have not submitted to go wherever the Spirit says go, and do whatever the Spirit says do, then face this decision now. It can no longer be put off. The storms are coming. Only those houses built solidly upon the Rock of Christ will stand.

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

Parables Blog: www.parablesblog.blogspot.com  

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