Freedom and Grace

July 1, 2004

Personal Narrations

Joel Akin

Calgary, Alberta

I'm in a large courtroom and there are wooden railings behind which men of power sit. In the dream I know the place has many names. It is the White House, the Senate, the courtroom. In front of one of the railings is a rectangular cage made of metal as used in chain link fences. It is surrounded on all sides and on the top. I appear to be on display and am held a prisoner inside this cage In this courtroom there are two men of power. The Senators and the cops dressed in blue uniforms. Suddenly the door to my prison opens and I step out. Immediately I am surrounded by nearly a dozen policemen and I know they are there to escort me from this place of power. There is a clear path before me to the large doors and the way is carpeted in royal rich red. Oddly the strangest thing happens. I fall through a hole that appears in the floor right next to the cage. In fact I fall directly unto the wiring which powers the entire senate and I am supported partly by my feet and my arms on the floor. I hear a senator remark, "If he falls into there he'll knock out all the power system..." The cage door is kept open by my body which is half in/half out of the hole. I am surrounded by cops but none touch me as they watch to see what I will do. If I remain where I am my feet alone will not knock out the wiring and I can easily escape. Yet there is another option if I will but let go of my hold and fall into the hole and into the darkness. I can't see the wiring as it is in darkness but I can feel it on the bottom of my feet. I know if I let go the power to the courtroom will be knocked out along with the power of the men along with it.

 A few days ago I wrote the struggle that I've been having with the law and the hard time I've had in understanding it. After all I did not know I was under the law nor held prisoner by the law until God revealed it to me. A friend wrote that she could tell I was still struggling with with my understanding of it. How could I be under the law if I didn't know what it was or how to explain it. Almost every other dreams since the 11th of June has dealt with the law struggle. Surely it must be more then just rules and regulations. Even Paul wrote and created standards to follow. If these were the main issue then even Paul was guilty of it. Yet as I prayed about the understanding of this mornings dream God began to make things clear.

 First we are in a spiritual battle which has been going on long before any of us were born. There are powers and principalities who's sole purpose is to hinder the church in any way possible. The true depth and freedom God desires us to have are at total odds with the bondage Satan desires to keep us under. He calls 'sin' freedom when in reality he knows it is the most horrible of prisons one can imagine. Included in that prison is something called power. The kind of power Satan creates is the kind that raises men to super star status. Just as in this dream there were men who have become 'senators' in the Christian church today. They are the leaders who set the standards, the purposes, the directions of the church. The White House has become their representative of the true church. The reason it had so many names in my dream is that these are the spiritual leaders who now guide the church, set the laws, and so on. The policemen in the dream are the pastors, the preachers of these denominations. Though they don't realize it many of them have placed themselves under the authority of men. By submitting themselves to the man-made hierarchy they are thereby guaranteed a position, a church and a salary.

Yet God revealed something darker and more foreboding about these man-made structures. That underneath, hidden from view there is a darker force at work. The wiring which empowers many of these men/women and their positions is artificial and artificially woven. Here is an interesting anecdote. The bottom of my feet is my sole which is a play on words for soul. That which is of the soul is natural or of men. When God is not the true center of a work then the work is soulish and has only temporal authority. But when the soulish or natural works are hidden and are in darkness then we can see there are spiritual principles at work. In this case Satan. He is notorious for taking what seems good and twisting it for his purposes. Behind this there are a number of evil spirits at work including controlling, hindering and conforming spirits. How can you tell these principles are at work? When the Senators or spiritual leaders begin to make compromises and these compromises are passed down. The second sign is when the men who are finding true freedom in Christ are punished and put under bondage. And they are warned if they do not comply they are to be kicked out. I have seen this happen because the true grace we find in Christ actually threatens men of natural power.

 So why is this wiring artificial? The answer is because God is a spirit and does not need artificial means to empower the church nor raise up men of power without any visible means of support. So in this case God used me to symbolically point out that I can cut that power source. How? By letting go and letting God. Perhaps one of the hardest things for any Christian is to let go. Why? Because it means we must learn to step out in faith. I do not speak of the stepping out that most people think of where the physical man goes out and does something. I speak more of the natural man letting go so that the Spiritman can take control. Being released from the laws of bondage and finding freedom in Christ sounds simple enough. Yet the longer I spend with God in prayer the more I realize its not. There are constant battles to be fought. In this case I have three choices before me. I can walk away from this room of artificial power and never have to deal with it again. I can return to bondage and allow myself to be locked up again. Or I can let go and see what will happen by cutting the power source. Frankly I believe I will chose the latter option. So what if it cuts men off from mans power. If man finds he is living in darkness then and only then will he search for a better power source. In this case God.

Some may question the arrogance of this dream. How can I claim to have enough authority to cut the power source? What God is showing me is He is not the power source hidden in darkness but He is revealing the false power which is hidden in darkness. Paul wrote

1 Corinthians 4: 4-5 For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord. 5 Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.

For whatever reason God is declaring that the false power source has blinded the minds of men and He is cutting off that false source which is straight from the pit of hell.

There is no compromise with the world. One cannot mix light and darkness. If we think we can find freedom and grace by giving in to darkness then we are as those who willingly hold out our hands to be bound. But this bondage is not that of the body so much as it is of the Spirit. And once we grant that permission to the enemy he begins to build walls on every side until our entire world is in darkness and we cry out, "God, what happened..."