God gave me a dream...

Just woke up from about 4 hours of sleep...

But God showed me a very frightful dream.

I found myself surrounded by loud noise and frantic bustle, people running around to amuse themselves to death. People were walking around like zombies, faces painted and half dead. All of my 'christian' friends were running from amusement to amusement, paying with their lives. It was a carnival of death. A Ferris wheel that on which people were stuck, and it sapped away their lives.

A close friend of mine took his life and deposited it into a machine that took it and dispensed a little trinket.

My friends, America is in a carnival of death. Let us go forth anointed with the power of the Holy Spirit.

Yup, remove all the entertainment toys and folks would go crazy: they would not know what to do with their time. Then you will need a new gov program in teaching folks how to be creative with what they have. Now this would create more jobs....and they will cheerfully dock us taxpayers..

The devil has anesthetized folks into slumber and they ain't got a clue they are dead - yes, dead men walking. It sure is hard to resurrect dead folks. I'll bet it is much easier to resurrect physically dead folks then spiritually dead ones.

Think I will get to work...

ginnyrose

My pastor when I first was converted always said, "It's easier to find six people to carry you to your grave than it is to find six who will pray through for you."

Ok, that's two posts! What I read in Anguish's post and yours ginnyrose has the same theme, I read Christians in anguish's post and spiritual dead in yours ginny.

I felt this with his post and now here is yours, so I will post this. I humbly submit that America is NOT the carnival of death but the church (not the capital C Church - that's the remnant!) is the carnival of death and we must go forth to our bros and sisters to set them free by the power of the Spirit so they can go forth and set others free.

That's my one cent worth...
God bless,

"Still Bored in a Culture of Entertainment" is a pretty good book on this topic.

With care in Christ...

Aye, when I speak of America I mean the 60-70% of America that claims to be 'born again.'

I believe the Spirit of God is brooding over this nation. College campuses across America are beginning to awaken.

Let us pray through to God for a great awakening.

Let us pray from the heart of barren women. Give us souls or we'll die!

The world in this age seems more and more to me like a carnival at night. You see all the pretty lights as you walk by. You here all of the giddy sounds of glee. You smell the unhealthy foods that appeals so strongly to your sence of smell. Its almost as if you can hear the carnival singing, "...come and play with me Jimmy, come and play with me. And I will take you on a trip far across the see." Those who are familiar with HR Puff N Stuff will remember that phrase. You will also remember that the carnival boat which was so pretty and neat looking turned into a dark evil boat that was actually controlled by a witch. The character Jimmy almost died. Many who are addicted to entertainment who need to have their souls titillated will likewise be in danger of losing their lives. Amusement means the lack of thinking deeply upon a matter and if there was any hour of history that we as christians should be thinking deeply and clearly it is now. This has surely been the downfall of many unsuspecting christians. May it not be ours. May we along with our King bear the weight of the wretched condition of the world and some of the church and in so doing may we find lasting freedom from the seductive task masters of amusement and entertainment.

Entertainment in moderation has its place in life. But, the degree to which we glutton ourselves on entertainment is far from where God would have us to be. Though America is full of people who work hard every day, our lives are so empty that we feel the need to either fill it with more work or a lot of entertainment. We do have a "God-sized void" in our hearts designed to be satisfied by eternity alone, but where eternity does not fill, we attempt to fill it with something else.

Does the average person even just sit around for five minutes and do nothing? No TV. No radio. No internet. No nothing. Just five minutes of complete solitude? We feel the need to be bombarded with sensory over load. This is the "sensuality" that the apostles warned of. "Sensuality" need not be pornographic or erotic. At its essence, it's simply about the stimulating of the senses. It's about "the experience" we have when we do something.

Sorry KingJimmy, I really do think [b]it is way too late for entertainment in moderation[/b]. When I read that I heard a thousand drug addicts cry for heroine in moderation – just a little substitute for Joy and fellowship in the Holy Spirit. Even the wedding in Cana was not for entertainment. I am talking to believers.

I understand the thinking, the hope, that leads to the encouragement to moderation. I just recalled a true refrain in a very old secular song: "I stayed too long at the fair." Kinda fits the thoughts here on the circus of death. I know you know this because you go on to write about "sensuality" and that is the lust of the flesh. Lust: when it cannot be unbridled it begs for just a little, a taste, just in moderation.

I came across something about being awakened that I will try to post that may be related here.

This is a wonderful thread underscoring the need for revival. The picture of the Circus of Death is powerful.

For some time my prayer for revival has included that believers wake out of their sleep and their grogginess. Last week a weekly email from Daniel Lapin has made an adjustment in my prayer. Here is the related portion of that email which I would forward in whole to anyone who sends a pm with their email.

“.... wisdom is revealed through a Hebrew word that means “and he awoke.”

“To get a clear understanding of this, let’s look at the following two verses.…She (Delilah) said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson,” and he awoke from his sleep… (Judges 16: 14). She said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson,” and he awoke from his sleep…(Judges 16:20).

“The verses seem to say the same thing, don’t they? In the first verse [verse 16], the word for ‘and he awoke’ (VaYiKaTZ) is spelled with five Hebrew letters. In verse 20, only four of the letters are used. As you can see, in the second example one of the little letters, called a Yud, is missing. What is the difference? Ancient Jewish wisdom emphasizes that whenever an extra letter Yud appears it connotes a dose of God’s spiritual power.

“Looking at the verses in context we see that initially Samson possessed his unique, God-given strength. He could prevail over his enemies. By the second verse, Delilah has ordered his hair cut in contradiction to God’s command, and Samson has lost his power. In Samson’s case, the missing letter lets us know that this isn’t a simple awakening; his entire reality has shifted for the worse.

“By comparison, when Jacob awakens in Genesis 28:16, the word VaYiKaTZ is spelled with two yuds. When he lay down to sleep, he did so as a fugitive, fleeing his brother Esau’s wrath. However, while he slept God spoke to him. When Jacob awoke he was a man with a destiny. His reality had expanded.

“Sometimes we end our sleep reluctantly and rub our eyes wondering what to do. That is an awaken with only one yud. ...”

Today as my BSF bible study has me in John 1, I am thinking that there are many Nathanaels (John 1: 47 and further) in the Body of Christ, honest (without guile) in their confession of Jesus as the Son of God, but they have not seen revival “And what is the exceeding greatness of His power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of His mighty power.” (Paul's prayer in Eph 1: 19 and surrounding).

OK this is really too much:

[b]October 3rd - The Lord My Portion by Watchman Nee‏[/b]

And what the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to that working of the strength of his might which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead. Ephesians 1:19, 20.

Paul prayed in his day for the saints in Ephesus that they might see the exceeding greatness of the power which God had already given them. Now if we today do not see that the power in us and the power in Christ is one and the same power, we too must pray for seeing. If the power manifested in us is less than the power that was manifested in Christ, we should acknowledge that there are still many things which we have not seen. Let us humbly confess and pray to God to make us see. The power which God works in those who believe is according to the working of the strength of His might which He wrought in Christ. Hallelujah! This is the spiritual fact. Let us ask God to open our eyes that we may truly perceive and understand. We will not ask Him to pour upon us more power from outside; no, we will only ask Him to cause us to discover and to see more that is in us already.

by elanham on 2009/10/3 9:04:54:
The character Jimmy almost died. Many who are addicted to entertainment who need to have their souls titillated will likewise be in danger of losing their lives. Amusement means the lack of thinking deeply upon a matter and if there was any hour of history that we as christians should be thinking deeply and clearly it is now. This has surely been the downfall of many unsuspecting christians. May it not be ours. May we along with our King bear the weight of the wretched condition of the world and some of the church and in so doing may we find lasting freedom from the seductive task masters of amusement and entertainment.

The friends I do jail ministry with have given up TV, they have their VCR and only watch what they want. They don't have Hollywood pumped into their house 24/7. Oh my goodness, they read! LOL

I just wanted to say I for one, believe you hit one of the most important nails in the churches coffin.

God bless,