This is a vision the lord gave me as I was fasting for my grandparents’ salvation last week…
A soldier stands in the middle of a field. Spread out around the field, regular people stand almost frozen doing ordinary things. A woman holds a broom sweeping up the dust. A man sits in his rocking chair reading the newspaper. Children spin a jump rope for each other. A couple cook dinner together. They are completely oblivious to the fact that they are standing in a big open field and not in their houses. The soldier looks around enjoying watching as these people live their lives. They go about their normal tasks. The soldier looks out across the field just taking it all in. As the soldier’s eyes meet the horizon, an army begins to rise up. The army draws closer and the soldier begins to put on armor… a breastplate, a belt, boots, a helmet. The soldier picks up a shield and sword. The army continues to advance. When they get to the people standing in the field, they begin slaughtering them. The soldier watches in shock as the army destroys all these people who are completely unaware that they are dying. They don’t even know that there is a war going on. People are dying all around as the soldier stands and watches in horror feeling helpless and hopeless. One soldier cannot defeat an entire army. The soldier’s heart breaks for these people who don’t know that they are dying, but the soldier stands there and watches paralyzed by fear and shock, using the sword and shield only for self-defense the soldier is eventually the only one left standing, alone in the field, surrounded by those who died in the battle.
The same soldier stands in the same field. The same people stand around doing their normal ordinary things. The soldier looks around at the fresh new scene laid out. And just as before the army comes over the horizon and the soldier puts on all the armor. But this time as the army marches across the field, the soldier runs to the people and begins to shake them and try to wake them up. He pleads with them and yells at them “Can’t you see we are in a war?!?! What are you doing? You are going to die!!!! Please, Do you understand me? Look at that army coming… You have to wake up and defend yourselves. Can’t you see that I am trying to help you?” The people look at the soldier for a brief second. Some respond saying “you are crazy, leave me alone.” Some people got angry at the soldier for trying to force them to do something they didn’t want to do. The soldier begins to grow weary form trying to make the people see something they are unable to see. And in the end the soldier stands alone in the field. The people couldn’t see, wouldn’t see the battle that was raging. They couldn’t see that they were dying. All the things they were doing held their attention and the soldier simply telling them about the war was not enough to make them wake up and realize where they were.
Again, the soldier stands in a field. The scene is reset again and the people go about their lives, focused on their tasks. The soldier’s eyes immediately look to the horizon. Knowing the battle that is about to ensue, the soldier puts on the armor, picks up the sword and shield and takes a deep breath. The soldier knows that one person cannot defeat an entire army, but the outcome of the war is already decided. The army may win a battle and it may look like there is no hope, but in the end the army will lose the war. As the army comes up over the horizon the soldier prepares for battle. The soldier stands between the army and the people. The soldier holds the sword out and hears the first clang metal meeting metal. The soldier looks the enemy in the eyes and says “for too long you have won this battle! These people are not yours! And if I die defending them then I died fulfilling my purpose and this armor did not go to waste.” The battle rages on and the soldier fights valiantly taking the place of the people in front of the enemy’s sword. But the soldier is not defenseless or oblivious to the enemy. The soldier sees through the enemy’s tricks and actively engages in the battle at hand and slowly the enemy begins to back off, realizing that there is a greater force on the side of the soldier and that this battle will not be one that the army wins.
