—Passing through the System to the Promised Land!8 April 1979DFO 783

1. SOME OF THESE CRAZY DREAMS I HAVE! It's sometimes like I'm in a space movie or sci-fi thriller. Sometimes I think maybe the Lord gives me some dreams just to entertain me in my sleep. So I'll keep sleeping.

2. THIS ONE SORT OF REMINDED ME A LITTLE BIT OF "GALACTIC"! It was not exactly like those message dreams or warning dreams or revelatory dreams, because it was just a bunch of all kinds of strange scenes. I can't even remember it all.

3. WE WERE IN A CHURCH FULL OF HOSTILE SYSTEMITES, mostly middle-aged & older people, & we were trying to make peace with them, like we were Furloughers or Homegoers. So we slipped in & sat down in the back seat. The preacher fired away—I think he was preaching at us half the time, like they often do when they see strangers‚ or if they see somebody they know & don't like.

4. AFTERWARD, THEY WERE GOING OUT TO THE PICNIC GROUNDS‚ like a church picnic after church Sunday mornings, a Sunday afternoon picnic like churches often have. Well, we went along. I found a seat up on a sort of grandstand or bleachers, & there was sort of a platform in front of it. Then all of a sudden this tall skinny old farmerish kind of fellow rushed up & said:

5. "AHHHH! BEHOLD! SO THE OLD SINNER HAS COME TO REPENT!" So I raised m glass & kidded: "Yeah, yeah, yeah! That's right! Here I am!"—& laughed. I thought it was funny, & a lot of them sort of chuckled & were amused too. Some of them scowled, however—you know how Systemites are. They don't always react all the same. But they all acted like they were just sort of tolerating us, like we had finally surrendered, so after all‚ what could they do? They were supposed to be pretending to accept us.

6. SUDDENLY SOME KIND OF A CATACLYSM STARTED HAPPENING! I don't know what it was‚ but it was some kind of a big world catastrophe! It seemed pretty general in the area where we were, & everybody was running, & a lot of people were trying to get on this huge airship. It wasn't exactly a plane, but it was more like a spaceship‚ a huge thing‚ gigantic! Hundreds of people were trying to climb on it!

7. BUT YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO HAVE A TICKET, & somehow or another I had gotten ahold of a ticket. The tickets were like plastic poker chips, only they were sort of rectangular with rounded corners, a bit bigger than a credit card. This guy had traded it to me for my good camera, so I took the ticket & we ran & jumped on the airship. The ship was huge! It had salons & lounges & all kinds of sitting parlours like a hotel!

8. SO WE FOUND A PLACE TO SIT DOWN, when this guy came around examining our tickets, & for some reason or other I had to pay some more, or I had to show him I had paid. So I took out this huge long cheque that was as long as your arm, in fact several cheques of different sizes all stapled together, & I gave them to him. He took them away to get them okayed & then brought them back, & everything was okay.

9. MEANWHILE SOME NOSEY OLD GEESER was looking over my left shoulder at the cheques & said, "Well‚ how about that! Where did you get all that?"—& blah blah! He was asking nosey questions, like he was trying to find something wrong, like he was pretending to be just curious or interested, but was really trying to find fault with my payment.

10. THEN WE LANDED IN SOME STRANGE COUNTRY or on some other planet, like we were going to invade this land of hostile or alien people. We were really the aliens & it was their land, they lived there, but we were trying to get past them to some other part of this new world that wasn't inhabited that we knew about. We were going to try to settle it, so we were trying to get to it. Someone said:

11. "JUST MARCH IN & TRY TO SNEAK BY THEM. Don't show an signs of hostility or enmity, just be friendly & pass quietly by"—like the children of Israel did a few times when they were going through the wilderness past unfriendly tribes. So we were marching through this huge swamp we had to go through, when just then these primitive people like cave men came up‚ a big bunch of them, a whole army of them approached us, & then stood still & watched us, as though they were wondering what we were doing here & where we were going & if we were going to attack them or what.

12. OF COURSE WE WERE WONDERING IF THEY WERE GOING TO ATTACK US! But we just kept going, kept marching. & they just kept watching.—And we waded through this swamp & passed on by into the land we'd come to settle in, like pioneers. Then I must have waked up or something, because I don't remember the end of the story. But I guess we got to our new land where we settled.

13. NOW, HOW COULD I EVER DREAM UP SUCH A CRAZY DREAM LIKE THAT ANYWAY? I don't even know about it having any kind of meaning. It was sorta like we were resettling our whole Family. Of course, in a way, it's sort of similar to what we're doing now, going through a transition stage, a lot of people going home, a lot of people doing something else. Some people are going back to the System, right in with the Systemites, going back to church, going back to the System & all.

14. YET THEN WE SOMEHOW ESCAPED in this gigantic airship to some totally new territory, & we became like pioneers & settlers of a whole new area! But before we left, some of the Systemites were making fun of us, you know, like they would a backslider or a returnee, or folks who'd left the Family & come back to the System.

15. MAYBE MY MIND WAS JUST THINKING ABOUT WHAT OUR FAMILY IS GOING THROUGH RIGHT NOW, & it just sort of dramatised itself! I sure was sleeping soundly, though! I slept like a log! Sometimes I think maybe the Lord just gives me movies in my sleep to entertain me so I'll sleep better & not be distracted or awakened by outside noises or whatever!

16. OH, I THINK IT WAS TECHI! You were nursing Techi, & she's just like a sedative—puts me right to sleep like nothing else! Nothing puts me to sleep like your nursing Techi! I mean, it's a sedative! I'm all peaceful, calm & happy when I know you are nursing Techi! I go sound to sleep! All I have to do is make sure that you're okay & that you've got everything you need, & you're covered & have something on your shoulders when Dora brings her in, & then I go straight to sleep! Thank you, Lord! She's such a comfort!—My little comforter, like He said! (See "I Was Sick‚"ML #698.)

17. SO I DON'T KNOW JUST WHAT THIS DREAM MEANS about the Systemites & being back amongst the Systemites, living amongst the Systemites. I don't know what significance it has‚ or our escaping from them, from having to live with them. We escaped from having to live with them by flying away in that big airship! (Maria: But you were still in System territory?) No.

18. WHEN WE LANDED WE WERE IN A TOTALLY STRANGE NEW TERRITORY, the people in this new territory were almost like savage aliens or cavemen, & we didn't seem to know much about them at all, like someone on another planet or another continent. They just watched us as we landed & as we marched along trying to get to our new country where we were going to settle.—And we seemed to be making it—we were getting by them. (Maria: Thank the Lord!)

19. THERE WAS ONE TIME THERE I REMEMBER WHEN WE WERE HUNGRY & we were rationed just so much food, & the food had something very important about it. It was more than just ordinary food, for it had to do with our safety or something. We were to eat this food & we would be safe & protected from whatever the danger was. It seemed like the food put you to sleep or something, & you made it through this dangerous situation somehow if you ate the food‚ it sort of kept you safe somehow.

20. MAYBE THAT'S LIKE THE WORD, HUH? You eat the Word & it will keep you, comfort you. My brother used to say it always put him to sleep to read the Bible. Anyhow, it was interesting‚ a very interesting movie!—Ha! I don't know what the title was, I didn't notice, but it was sort of "Back to the System" & then "Escape from the System" into our new, totally new land‚ a new country, living like we were going to colonise it.

21. IT WAS SORTA LIKE THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL MOVING FROM ISRAEL TO EGYPT & BACK AGAIN! Well, you know, they did do that! They left Canaan & went down into Egypt under Joseph, lived with the Egyptians 400 years, & then they moved out & back to the Promised Land under Moses in the Exodus! (Maria: Yes, & that wasn't the easiest thing either, was it?—Going back to Egypt after they'd already pioneered Canaan!) No‚ they went through all kinds of adventures & dangers on the way & they had to conquer the country, but they finally settled there & everybody was happy!

22. SO LET'S HOPE IT HAD A HAPPY ENDING! I know I had a happy sleep anyway. I wasn't really worried a lot. I mean, it was kind of like we were concerned & there was a certain amount of tension during the dream & concern, but we kept winning all the time! We kept escaping, & everything kept going our way! Every time we would come to some crisis point, we would get through it somehow. So it was really a very interesting movie!

23. I'M SURE THE LORD MUST SHOW TECHI MOVIES when she is smiling in her sleep like that. When she goes really to sleep, her eyes move around like she is watching things, watching scenes, & you can see her pupils move under her eye lids. That's how they can tell if you're dreaming in your sleep‚ if your eyes move around. Because your eyes move around & follow the scenes & look at the different things even in a dream! So if they can see your pupils moving around under your eyelids, they know you are watching something in your sleep.

24. THEN SHE FLICKERS THAT LITTLE SMILE IN HER SLEEP & SOMETIMES SHE GRINS! Then if she is waked up, she opens her eyes wide & looks so startled like she is so startled to be awakened to reality again. Really, I feel sorry for her. (Maria: She is absolutely offended!) Especially when I'm trying to take a picture of her‚ a flash picture when she is smiling, and then BANG!—It goes off & wakes her up, & she doesn't like it! So I'm sure the Lord must show little babies spirit movies in their sleep to keep them entertained, or some kind of action, because she sure watches them & smiles happily—& hates to be waked up!

25. SO, THAT WAS MY MOVIE OF LIVING WITH & WITHOUT THE SYSTEMITES, & THEN ESCAPING TO PIONEER A NEW LAND! That's sort of what we are doing right now!: We're passing through a stage right now where we are having to go back & live with the Systemites in the System temporarily. But then there was a great encouragement about this dream, because we caught this big airship, which must symbolise supernatural help of some kind that the Lord is going to give us to escape again from the System & get to a new world, a new land!

26. IT WAS SORT OF SYMBOLIC OF OUR NEW METHODS & OUR NEW WAYS OF LIVING IN NEW PLACES. So maybe it did have some meaning! At least it reflected our general transition period right now, like we are passing through the System in order to escape from it, passing through the Wilderness to the Promised Land!

27. HEY! WE CAN CALL THIS DREAM THE "EXODUS"! I don't think we have anything called "Exodus," do we? "The Exodus!" Hallelujah! That's just what it was like!—We were back amongst the Systemites, the Egyptians, & then we exited to the Promised Land! We made our Exodus in this huge giant airship, spaceship, or whatever it was!—And that country where we landed was just like landing on another planet or Continent or somewhere, with these strange alien people! I could almost swear they were standing there with furs on & carrying clubs!

28. THEY LOOKED PRETTY WILD, LIKE CAVEMEN‚ you know?—With a typical cavemen-type look!—And they just stood there & stared at us in bewilderment & wonderment, like: "Who are these people? Are they friendly or going to attack us or what?" But we didn't attack them & they didn't attack us or anything. They just stood there & watched us as we passed by‚ like, "Well, you leave us alone, & we'll leave you alone."

29. SO WE JUST PASSED BY INTO OUR PROMISED LAND! But they looked pretty primitive. Maybe that is a sign of some sort of new territory or planet we're going to pioneer, not built up & civilised, for they looked pretty wild themselves, like a bunch of hippies dressed in furs carrying clubs! Ha!—Like some of those strange characters you see in comic strips or movies! They just stood there staring at us while we passed by‚ successfully making our passage into the New Land. It's a funny thing‚ though:

30. THAT'S WHERE THE DREAM ENDED! I didn't get any close glimpse that I know of into the new country or the New Land or what it was like. Maybe the Lord wants to hide that from me right now. Well‚ the dream does make a little more sense than I thought it did, now that I think about it & go over it all!

31. IT'S FUNNY HOW IMPORTANT IT WAS TO EAT THAT FOOD! It was not only just for our health & strength, but for our safety! How much like the Word that is‚ huh? (Maria: It really is!) PTL! TYJ! Well, I guess you can call the dream "The Exodus," that was sure what it was like! At first we were back in the System again, & then we escaped from it again in that big airship!

32. THAT'S SORT OF LIKE NOAH'S ARK, TOO!—YOU KNOW? We landed in a strange world, almost like we left our planet for another one, or certainly like we had left one continent to another, or one country to another! Then we all filed out of the spaceship past this strange tribe standing there watching us go through the big swamp toward the New Land!

33. THE NEW LAND LOOKED LIKE A JUNGLE, A VIRGIN RAINFOREST! It was big, wow! That I remember! I remember looking across the swamp we were going through into this huge jungle with lots of trees, a great big wide expanse like virgin jungle! Huge! So I guess the Lord means we are going to go to new lands, even though we have to pass through the System right now in order to escape from it! That's what we're doing! We're like having to pretend that we're rejoining the System again, when we're really only passing through it to our new Promised Land!—Right?

34. WE HAVE TO GO THROUGH THE SYSTEM IN ORDER TO ESCAPE FROM IT AGAIN! Right now that's exactly what we're doing! It was just like we had gone back to the System & gone back to church & gone back to their picnics & all their foolishness, pretending to rejoin them. But some of them were not so deceived!—Some were making fun of us: "Oh, ho, there's the great sinner! He's decided to repent!"—Blah blah!—You know?

35. BUT AT OUR FIRST OPPORTUNITY TO ESCAPE, WE SEIZED IT! We got on that big airship! I never saw anything like it! I've never even seen anything in a space movie like it! I don't think they even had big lounges & spacious lobbies & parlours like that in "Star Wars" or "Galactica" like they had on this airship we got on! They may have had a few, but mostly it seemed in "Galactica" they used that one big Council Room for most of their interior scenes. (Maria: There were some where they were having parties & sitting around conversing in some big rooms.) Yeah. But this ship's rooms were really immense!

36. IT REMINDED ME OF BEING ON THE INSIDE OF A GIANT DIRIGIBLE or in a huge, huge oceangoing ship, only bigger‚ much bigger! I had the impression it was round & cigar-shaped like a dirigible or big fat rocket—& long!—With all these really spacious luxurious lounges & places to sit! It was really quite amazing! I was just astonished! I just looked around in wonder!

37. —AND I WAS SO GLAD I GOT A TICKET! Look what the stupid Systemites valued—that guy valued that camera more than an escape ticket! He had a ticket on this escape ship & didn't even value it! He was willing to trade it for my camera!—A typical Systemite‚ he valued things more than his life! Of course, he didn't even realise he was probably risking his life, I suppose. But it seemed like something terrible was happening & we were escaping! Isn't that something? Well, that's typical too. You know?

38. WE WERE REALLY USING THE SYSTEM! We beat the System at its own game! We traded our goods for a ticket to escape! I don't know exactly what that means, but it sure was a "forsaking all" to have to throw my best camera to that guy & grab the ticket & run & jump on that ship just as it was about to take off!

39. YOU GOTTA FORSAKE ALL, SOMETIMES, TO ESCAPE! That's for sure! We've often found that an escape ticket can be more priceless than the junk you're carrying!—All your baggage & stuff! I remember how in the dream I was so glad I made it, TTL! So PTL! TYJ! Hallelujah!

40. SO THAT WAS OUR "EXODUS!" So maybe it was a good dream after all, to illustrate what we're doing right now, you know? It might!—Because it sure is symbolic of it! Isn't that funny, sometimes until I tell you about a dream, I don't get any meaning or any point to the whole thing at all! (Maria: I'm glad you did! TYJ!) But I can see it really relates now!—Can you?

41. —ARE YOU GOING BACK INTO THE SYSTEM ONLY TO USE IT TO ESCAPE TO THE REAL PROMISED LAND!—Don't miss it for mere things! Toss that junk to the wolves & come on with us to the Promised Land!—Maybe that's when Jesus comes!—Will you be ready to forsake all to hop aboard for Heaven? Keep serving Him, even in the System, till He calls you home to Space City! We may have a few swamps & jungles to cross before we find it, but it's there!—And we will!

42. IT SEEMED LIKE THE HARDEST PART WAS GOING BACK THROUGH THE SYSTEM! It didn't seem to make sense! It was like a real step backward—But then we took a tremendous leap forward onto that ship of God's help & sailed away with only a few more swamps to cross & jungles to go through till we reached the Promised Land! Will you make it?

43. DON'T LET THE SYSTEM GET YOU DOWN! (Jn.15:19). You're in the World, but not of the World!—Don't let it own & use you! Disown it & its junk & only use it to catch God's salvation on to glory!—Amen? PTL! GBY! WLY!—And we are praying you'll make it!—You can with His help!—And ours!

44. STAY CLOSE TO HIM & US, YOUR FAMILY IN THE LORD, & we'll all work hard together to pull you through! Stay in tune! Read the Letters from the Lord & be fed & strengthened & saved from the Enemy! Don't get out of touch! Keep in contact! Send in those Reports & help so we can send you the lit!

45. JUST LET THE SYSTEM THINK THEY'VE LICKED US & GOT YOU, but be ready for our next big leap onto God's big ship out of the System again to our next big field! Hallelujah! Man, it's outta this world!—Hallelujah! Are you ready?—Let's go! Now!—Here we go! PTL! GBAKY!

Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family