A Warning for the People of the Willamette Valley

I must admit that I’m just a little bit bewildered. I have been saved for 42 years now. I have not been a person to experience a lot of dreams or visions. In the early 90’s I had a dream that I would consider, a spiritual dream. It dealt with the treasures in the Word of God. I have shared it often to encourage people to get into the Word. I had another dream in October 2005. This was a dream that I felt had great prophetic significance. I have been fairly silent about this dream because I did not consider myself to be a prophet. I have also been fairly critical of those who do claim to be prophets because most of them just don’t seem to measure up to what the Word of God says a prophet should be like. I have just had another dream that tells me that I am no longer to keep silent. You will understand this more as we go through this. So as I share this dream with you, I do so in the spirit of Acts 2:17-21 which is a quote by Peter from Joel 2:28-32. One phrase in this passage says, “And your old men shall dream dreams.”

A Dream of Judgment - Late October 2005

I was struggling with praying for the hurricane victims. I certainly want to pray for those who are suffering through this ordeal but at the same time I see all these things as judgments from God. My real prayer is that this country will wake up and realize that this is a judgment from God and repent of their evil ways. As I watched the aftermath of Katrina, I saw the enormous devastation and the very first business to open back up was a tavern. I also understand that there was a Gay Pride Parade scheduled for New Orleans for after the hurricane. The promoters of this parade went ahead with it anyway. They were in a sense making an obscene gesture at God, just defying Him to try that again. These are suppose to be poor abused victims? What is it going to take before the people of this country realize the seriousness of what they are doing? How many more people have to die or loose everything?

As I contemplated on these things, my mind shifted to here in Oregon. I heard a knock on my door and when I went to answer it, there were two men standing there. They looked like ordinary men but I had never seen them before. There was something different about them, although I couldn’t put my finger on it. There was one interesting thing, however. Whenever anyone comes up on our porch and knocks on the door, our dog will start barking very loudly. This time she didn’t. They told me that I had to gather my emergency things and get out of town as soon as possible. I stood there stunned for a moment. They said that God was going to bring judgment on this area. Then my mind shifted to the two angelic beings that warned Lot to get out of Sodom. I asked them if we had time to warn our family and friends, and they said to go ahead. I had my wife start calling while I went out and started packing emergency things into my pickup. These two men came out and started helping me. These men were very fast and efficient packers. Some of the things I was packing in, they grabbed and threw to one side. I could tell by the urgency in their actions that this was no time to argue with them.

As we concluded the packing of the pickup, one of the men left and came back in a couple of minutes leading my wife and dog and they both literally pushed us into the pickup. We had previously arranged with our family and members of our congregation for a meeting place incase there was ever an emergency and we had to evacuate. These men told us to head out for our pre-arranged meeting place and not to stop for anything. I always keep my gas tanks as close to full as possible so we didn’t have any excuse for stopping.

It took us about and hour and fifteen minutes to get to the meeting place. We weren’t sure of what to do next so we started setting up a camp. After about twenty minutes someone from our congregation came in and joined us. Over the next two hours, more people in our congregation and family members arrived. After a little while, we felt a small trembling in the ground. We all kind of just looked at each other. We turned on a small radio to see if we could find out anything. We heard a report that a major earthquake had hit Portland and that major damage had occurred. The report also said that Bonneville Dam had collapsed because of the quake and that a wall of water was rushing down the Columbia toward Portland.

My thought now shifted to where I was above all of this watching it all take place. There was a big Gay Pride Parade going on in downtown Portland when the earthquake hit and buildings came tumbling down on all of those there. Portland was in total devastation. I’m not sure just how big the earthquake was but the number of 9.2 seems significant. There was also a major earthquake off the west coast that started a tsunami. Not too long after the quake in Portland, a wall of water from the collapse of the Bonneville Dam came rushing through Portland. A little while latter another wall of water from the tsunami came up the Columbia River and it also came rushing through Portland.

Salem was also totally leveled by the earthquake. The loss of life in the whole Willamette Valley was enormous. As I looked around Salem, I saw a group of men. I think that there was about twenty of them. They all had large automatic weapons. I had the feeling that they were terrorists but I’m not sure. There were a few survivors wandering around, dazed from their injuries from the earthquake. Whenever this group of men came upon anyone wandering around, they would kill them. They seemed to be looking for anyone they could kill. There was no one to come against them. Finally, after a long while, some National Guard troops came on the scene but this gang had killed a lot of people by this time and when they saw the troops, they just faded into the rubble and escaped.

Later as I thought through this, I tried to identify something that would give us an idea of the date it was going to take place. The only thing that I could identify was that there was a large gay pride parade in downtown Portland when the earthquake hit. So I set about to try and find out when the next big gay pride parade was scheduled in Portland. The answer to that came back as June 18^th, which is Father’s Day. We set about to plan a congregation picnic that day at a campground about 60 miles East of Salem. Prior to my dream, we had already had an emergency planning meeting about the place out there. We learned that the place we planned to meet was now blocked off so we selected another site nearby. We wanted to stay in that area because the two men that came to my house in the dream said that we were to go to the area we had already arranged for.

As the days clicked off, we went about our normal activities and doing some planning for the big June 18^th day. One day someone called who heard about my dream and said that Detroit Lake was not a good place. We should select somewhere else. As I carefully thought about this, I realized that God had already given us His stamp of approval through the two men who came to my door. They told us to flee to our predetermined location. There was nothing said about changing locations at that time.

Just a few days ago, someone came by and said that they had done some checking on the gay pride activities at that time. They said that there were major activities as well as parades scheduled for both the 17^th (Saturday) and the 18^th (Sunday). They suggested that we increase our campground reservations from one day to two. This is not that easy to do. I began asking my Heavenly Father what to do. This now sets the stage for my latest dream.

A Dream of Confirmation - May 11, 2006

One thing I’ve learned about a dream from God, you are so actively involved in the dream that there is no way to forget it when it is over. In this dream, there was a very strange shape being assembled. It was like a cylinder that had a very irregular shape. There were a lot of pieces on the table next to it. They reminded me of jigsaw puzzle pieces and yet they were nothing like puzzle pieces. There were no tabs or offsetting cutouts. There were no patterns or changing colors so that you could match them up with where they went. There was no way to identify any markings so that you could figure out where they went. You just had to take each piece and try it and keep trying it until you found a place it would fit. I was getting very frustrated because of the difficulty of this. Finally, in complete desperation, I cried out, “Father, what am I suppose to be doing?” No answer. Then again, “Father, what am I doing here?” After several attempts with no answer, I heard a voice say, “Shmoneh Esrei.”

“Shmoneh Esrei!!!!” What am I suppose to do with that? I knew that the Shmoneh Esrei was a list of prayers that have been a part of the Jewish Synagogue service for the past 1800 years. But what am I suppose to do with it. How does it fit in with what I am involved in with assembling this cylinder?

Have you ever been involved in a research project of some kind where the material was very difficult to understand. At some point in your studies you all of a sudden “get it.” You start rejoicing and dancing around. This is kind of what happened next for me. I suddenly realized that “Shmoneh Esrei” is also the Hebrew word for the number eighteen. I had been asking the Father to show me the date for this Father’s Day outing. I needed to know whether it was just the 18^th or both the 17^th and the 18^th. He just showed me that it was the 18^th only.

I entered into rejoicing and praising His Holy Name when all of a sudden my bubble popped. Why did He do that? I was already on a course of obedience for the 18^th. If He had done nothing, I would have continued on my course of preparing for the 18^th. He must have had some specific reason for showing me. I prayed on this for some time and then it came to me. When God repeats something it is because it is determined by Him. He wanted me to tell people about this. WHAT!!!!!!!

I was trying to maintain a low key profile on this. I said that I wasn’t a prophet and I didn’t want to give the impression that I was trying to set myself up as one. Now all of a sudden I realize that He wants me to warn the people of the Willamette Valley with what He has shown me. My first response was, “You’ve got to be kidding!” Then all of a sudden Ezekiel 3:17-21 came to mind. “Son of man, I have appointed you a watchman to the house of Israel; whenever you hear a word from My mouth, warn them from Me. 18 "When I say to the wicked, 'You will surely die,' and you do not warn him or speak out to warn the wicked from his wicked way that he may live, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. 19 "Yet if you have warned the wicked and he does not turn from his wickedness or from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered yourself. 20 "Again, when a righteous man turns away from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and I place an obstacle before him, he will die; since you have not warned him, he shall die in his sin, and his righteous deeds which he has done shall not be remembered; but his blood I will require at your hand. 21 "However, if you have warned the righteous man that the righteous should not sin and he does not sin, he shall surely live because he took warning; and you have delivered yourself." (See also Ezekiel 33:8 & 9).

Talk about being in the hot seat. I am literally trembling in my shoes. If I speak up and nothing happens then I emerge as a false prophet and if I don’t speak up and something does happen then the curse that I just quoted in Ezekiel falls on me. I guess I’ll just trust in my Heavenly Father and freely share with you what He has shown me.

Now, lest I be accused of taking passages out of context, let’s take a careful look at the passages in Ezekiel and ask the question, “What are these people being warned of?” Are they being warned to flee from the coming judgment? No. They are being warned to flee from their wicked ways or they will not escape the coming judgment. Therefore, we are to warn the people of the Willamette Valley to flee from their wicked ways or they will be caught up in the judgment of June 18^th.

Why has little tiny Beth Tefilah been called out to proclaim this message? Because Beth Tefilah is one of just a few congregations that openly proclaims the total Word of God. We openly proclaim that the Torah is very much relevant for today in terms what is righteous living. Many churches proclaim that the Law (Torah) has been done away with. Beth Tefilah (as well as other Messianic congregations) proclaims that only the penalty of the Torah has been done away with while the Torah itself as a true guide for daily righteous living is still very much alive and well. If you are not sure just where you stand let me encourage you to contact one of the Messianic congregations in this area and talk it out with them. I will be happy to give out names and phone numbers to anyone who asks.

Now obviously, there is not enough room in this little handout to cover every detail of what it will take to escape the coming wrath of God so we will just cover some of the key issues.

The first and top priority for every man, woman, and young person on the face of this earth is to deal with their relationship with Yeshua (the Hebrew name for Jesus.) If you don’t have a personal relationship with Yeshua, then nothing else you do matters. Acts 4:12 says, “"And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.” There is no salvation in any pious religious leader, there is salvation in no good sounding code of ethics. There is not even salvation in keeping the Torah. If you do not have salvation in Yeshua, then you do not have salvation. John 3:36 goes on to say, “He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” This is not me saying this, it is the Word of God. If you call me to talk about anything in this handout, we will start with your relationship with Yeshua. Without that we have nowhere else to go.

The next logical step is to move into the Ten Commandments. I have had many people proudly announce to me that they live by the Ten Commandments. When I quiz them a little further I find out that they don’t even know where to find the Ten Commandments in the Word of God. Just to help you out if you happen to be in that category, I will tell you where to find them. They are listed in two places. The first is in Exodus 20:1-17 and the other place is in Deuteronomy 5:6-21. Others who claim to live by the Ten Commandments don’t even know what is contained in them. Let’s list them and see just how much about them you really know.

Ex 20:2-17

#1 I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

"You shall have no other gods before Me.

#2 " You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. 5 " You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, 6 but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.

#3 " You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.

#4 "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 " Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a sabbath of the LORD your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you. 11 " For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.

#5 " Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the LORD your God gives you.

#6 " You shall not murder.

#7 " You shall not commit adultery.

#8 " You shall not steal.

#9 " You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

#10 " You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife or his male servant or his female servant or his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor."

We could get into a real discussion about each one of these but we don’t have the time or the space to do it here. Let me just draw your attention to number 4. This involved keeping the Sabbath holy. We are not talking about what day you go to church on, we are talking about what you do on the Sabbath (Saturday). Do you treat it as a holy day or do you profane it by treating it just like any other day of the week. Do you set it apart as a separate day or do you mow your lawn and any number of other odd jobs.

At this point we could go in any number of directions, but let me just refer you to Acts 15. In the early days of the church, the church consisted of only Jewish believers. There were no gentiles. In Acts 10, the Holy Spirit of God led Peter to the house of Cornelius where the grace of God was freely extended to the non-Jews. As time passed many non-Jews came to faith in Yeshua. Many started coming along with a perverted sense of what these former pagans needed to do to truly be considered believers in Yeshua. To clarify all of the confusion that was developing, the leaders called the first “Church” counsel. The question they needed to deal with was “What do we do with all of these former pagans that want to believe in the Jewish Messiah?” The leaders in Jerusalem realized that the most important thing these new believers could do would be to go where they could study the Torah. That, of course, was done every Shabbat in the synagogue. The problem was, that the Jews would have nothing to do with the pagans because of their evil lifestyles. So what instructions could these leaders give to these new believers so that they would be acceptable to the Jews so that they could get in and study the Torah? In Acts 15:19-21, Ya'akov (James) addresses the assembly and says, “Therefore it is my judgment that we do not trouble those who are turning to God from among the Gentiles, but that we write to them that they abstain from things contaminated by idols and from fornication and from what is strangled and from blood. If these new believers would do these four minimum things, they would be considered acceptable to the Jews. Ya'akov continues in verse 21 with, "For Moses from ancient generations has in every city those who preach him, since he is read in the synagogues every Sabbath." They could now be taught the Torah on a weekly basis.

My concern now is that you get to where you can sit under the teachings of the Torah on a weekly basis. The only places that I am aware of that is committed to this are the Messianic congregations. This is of the utmost importance for you. DO NOT accept any substitute.

So how can you prepare for June 18^th? On Friday, the 16^th, make sure that your vehicle is fully gassed up. Make sure that you have some cash on hand. If this earthquake actually happens, your bank will probably not be accessible for at least a week. Do not rely on Credit Cards. If the devastation was as complete as I saw in my dream, there won’t be anyone around that will accept a Credit Card.

Load up at least a weeks worth of food and water and a shelter and leave. If Father’s Day ends without anything happening then praise God and return home. If something does happen then you can praise God again because you are safe. You can survey the situation and determine what your options are.

Beth Tefilah Messianic Congregation

P.O. Box 4189 – Salem, OR 97302

Meeting at: Shekina Fellowship

2765 Broadway St. NE

Salem, OR 97303

(503) 393-0796

www.bethtefilah.net

day_tefilah@yahoo.com