Letter to our Friends - September 10, 2019

Michael C. Garrett

Pastor and Overseer

Dear Friends:

Greetings from Owensboro, Kentucky.

Prophetic dreams for our day

I soon will be finished transcribing Minister Garrett’s God’s Promises To Abraham – a seven-part series, in which patriarch Jacob had a powerful dream where God had communicated to him. And, indeed, throughout the Bible, many times God communicates – not all the time – and relays information to a human being through a dream.

According to God’s living Word – the Bible – prophetic dreams from God were prophesied for the end-times. And we are in the end-times.

On the Day of Pentecost A.D. 31, the Apostle Peter proclaimed:

“ … ‘Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and heed my words. … 16) But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: 17) ‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh …’” - the firstfruits of God. Almighty God opened the Tree of Life (the Holy Spirit) up to those predestined to be in the Church of God.

And, the Apostle Peter continued:

“ … ‘Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, …’” – they shall teach - that’s all the word prophesy means. 1 Teaching under an inspired mantle – meaning from the Spirit of God. “ … ‘Your young men shall see visions, your old men shall dream dreams. 18) And on My menservants and on My maidservants, I will pour out My Spirit in those days; And they shall prophesy [teach].’” – Acts 2:14, 16-18; NIV, unless otherwise noted.

1 prophēteuō, v. GK: 4736 [→ 4394]. to prophesy, to speak an inspired message, … The Strongest Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible. Strong, James. Zondervan. 2001. #4395. pg. 1640.
While any Christian might occasionally receive a prophecy, some seem, to have a special gift of prophecy (1 Cor. 12:29; 13:2). … While teaching and prophecy are different, they also can be related (Acts 13:1-2; Rev. 2:20). Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary. Holman Reference, 2015 by B & H Publishing Group, pg. 1305. 

Friends, teaching the Word of God, the Truth of God, and the Plan of God, as well as prophetic dreams, were prophesied for our day!

Sadly, despite what the Bible actually says, most churches of this world (and even many churches of God descended from the WCG) do not seemingly accept that God the Father and or our Lord Jesus Christ actually – sometimes – speaks in dreams in the 21st century. There are even a great many who seemingly despise prophecies – cf. 1 Thessalonians 5:20 – and are seemingly indignant of the very idea that God would use dreams to communicate. (Be sure to read antichrists – in the last hour).

Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ gave many signs (John 2:11; 6:2, 26; 7:31; 9:16; 11:47; 12:37), the people wanted different ones:

“But although He [Jesus Christ] had done so many signs before them, they did not believe in Him, 38) that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke: ‘Lord, who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?’” – John 12:37-38.

Jesus denounced those who wanted different signs from Him (Matthew 12:38-39). Many in the churches of this world (and even many churches of God descended from the WCG) are unwilling to accept God’s signs. Our LORD God does not always show signs the way many seem to think that He has to.

The apostles, “went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the Word through the accompanying signs.” – Mark 16:20.

Again, it is strange, that so many people who claim to be followers of Christ are so dismissive of God’s use of dreams – sometimes – to communicate.

The Book of Numbers has this to say:

“Then the LORD came down in the pillar of cloud and stood in the door of the tabernacle, and called Aaron and Miriam [Aaron as high priest and his sister a prophetess]. And they both went forward. 6) Then He said, ‘Hear now My Words: If there is a prophet among you, I, the LORD, make Myself known to him in a vision; I speak to him in a dream.’” – Numbers 12:5-6.

So notice that God says that His way is that He makes Himself known to His teachers in visions and speaks to them in dreams. And, remember, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever” – Hebrews 13:8.

Friends, let us consider something Minister Garrett wrote concerning false prophets in accordance with Jeremiah 23 - under the inspiration of God’s Spirit:

“The house of God, the house of Israel, the spiritual house of Israel. I think He’s referring to the Body of Christ. Indeed, there are leaders – they say they’re leaders, they have titles – they promenade around like they’re leaders, they strut like a peacock like they’re leaders, and yet, He says, “I have found them to be wicked and they are profaned, the prophet, the religious leaders.” Verse 16 – “…’ Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They make you worthless; They speak a vision of their own heart, …’” – We, here-and-now, are to be practitioners, fully involved, in the religion of the New Covenant. The Priesthood of Jesus Christ. And yet, there are people out there on the religious highways and byways within the so-called Churches of God which for all intense and purposes are indeed Old Testament, Old Covenant churches. And when you bring this up to them, they rage, they roar like lions without their food. Because they “walk,” Verse 17 “according to the dictates [imagination] of [their] own heart, …” – their own ideas. … Verses 21-24; 25 – “’ I have heard what the [false] prophets have said who prophesy lies in My name, saying, ‘I have dreamed, I have dreamed!’” – that’s a very blunt statement! Understand, IF you turn to the Old Covenant mentality, you will NOT have the protection of Jesus Christ! Because the Old Covenant operated without Jesus Christ! Oh, there were types and shadows. But the New Covenant operates directly under the Priesthood of Jesus Christ.”

(Notes Regarding the Day of Atonement – Prophetically the Day of the Lord).

Prophet Jeremiah under inspiration also wrote:

“’ The prophet [the teacher under an inspired mantle – meaning from the Spirit of God] who has a dream, let him tell a dream; And he who has My Word, let him speak My Word faithfully.’” – Jeremiah 23:28.

I, myself, four years ago had a dream – which I would later understand to be a prophetic dream from God:

“I dreamt about a young Jewish family, where all the males wore yarmulkes. The family was outside on a most beautiful day taking pictures with a camera when immediately I was taken in my mind in orbit around the earth. I saw a huge armada of ships in space with a very tall “commander” dressed in shiny silver armor with six huge horns wrapping around from the back of his head. His face was nothing but bright white light. And, he placed what appeared to be binoculars to his eyes and a prism of different colored lights came forth from it. Then, the dream was gone.”

There may be some who do not want to hear about prophetic dreams, yet God says, ‘the teacher under the inspired mantle, let him speak My Word faithfully.’ There may be some criticism of me for revealing such a dream, but I do so only for the glory of God.

Apostle Peter and the other apostles stated:

“ … ‘We ought to obey God rather than men. 30) The God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom you murdered by hanging on a tree. 31) Him God has exalted to His right hand to be Prince and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. 32) And we are His witnesses to these things, and so also is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey Him.’” – Acts 5:29-32.

Friends, in these end-times, Christians still ‘ought to obey God rather than men.’ And, when it comes to witnessing - we should also be His witnesses faithfully.

World News Items

Hurricane Dorian caused grave damage in many parts of the Bahamas and has claimed possibly thousands of lives, including impacting parts of the east coast of the US (See: ‘Dorian Batters Bahamas; First Deaths Confirmed’). Let us continue to pray that God will be merciful to all affected and help them recover quickly.

Also, while Europe is facing financial problems (See: ‘“The Eurozone faces the worst combination of economic and systemic risk”’), we’re continuing to see steps that appear to be at least partially intended to displace the US dollar from dominance in the world, and there are some which are publicly admitting this (See: ‘BRICS was created as a tool of attack: Lula’).

The United States of America has been surviving from borrowed money for decades. And, it is so bad now that Bloomberg has reported that if the US stopped borrowing – she would slip into severe economic depression (See: ‘Study Discovers That If The Debt Machine Was Turned Off, The U.S. Would Immediately Plunge Into A Horrifying Depression’). Indeed, according to biblical prophecy, there is coming a time when the US debt will be invoked as a reason to conquer the US per Habakkuk 2:6-8.

The United Kingdom is continuing to have major problems with Brexit (See: ‘Brexit: What's happened and what's next?’). It is indeed – from the pages of your Bible – inevitable that the British people and the European people would go down separate paths, yet, ultimately, this will not end well for the UK – cf. Daniel 8:24-25; Isaiah 17:3-4.

In Germany on September 1st, there were elections that resulted in gains for the anti-immigrant Alternative für Deutshland party (See: ‘How the world press viewed the far-right surge in eastern German elections’). Soon, the government leaders of Europe will say, “We have a problem! We opened our arms to these immigrants, and now these immigrants, and some of the children of these immigrants, are trying to destroy us!” The government leaders aren’t yet willing to say it, because they’re very Left-wing Socialist types and we’re all are going to hold hands and sing Kumbaya – and we’re all going to be together types – in the privacy of their own homes or with friends are starting to say, “We have a problem! And the problem is the enemy which we have brought into our neighborhoods – we attempted to befriend them and now they are lashing out – some of them are trying to destroy us!” So it’s a growing problem! Uncontrolled immigrants entering Europe is indeed changing the very makeup of those countries! It happened in Rome, and it is happening in Europe! And Europe soon will violently respond – cf. Isaiah 10:5-11; Daniel 11:39.

Suggested Sabbath Service

Here is this week's suggested Sabbath service:

● 2-3 hymns. (a free printable “Old Time Gospel” hymn site is The Old Time Gospel).
● Opening prayer.
● Sermonette (if you choose). The one suggested is The Final Empire.
● Announcements (if any) and one hymn.
● Sermon. The one suggested is The Foundation of Truth. (Many more sermons are available at http://www.owensborochurchofjesuschrist.com/).
● Final hymn.
● Closing prayer.

IN CASE YOU HAVE NOT RECEIVED A ‘LETTER TO OUR FRIENDS’ FOR ANY WEEK, REMEMBER WE HAVE MANY SERMON MESSAGES ON THE Owensboro Church of Jesus Christ website. Also, there are audio sermons on our Soundcloud Radio channel. We also – as a reminder – have a BitChute channel.

Concluding Comments

Brother John was inspired by the Lord our God to write the following:

5) "This is the Message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that GOD is light and in Him is no darkness at all. 6) If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk-in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7) But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin" - 1 John 1:5-7.

Friends, let us always walk in the light of truth. Let us NEVER practice darkness. Believe that our Lord Jesus can cleanse us from all sin.

"Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. 30) And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31) Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. 32) And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as GOD in Christ forgave you" - Ephesians 4:29-32.

As far as fellowship with one another goes, let us meet with other friends of like mind when we can. And do NOT neglect to try to attend the Feast of Tabernacles.

With love and gratitude, in Jesus' Name,