Three Small Waves

I once heard Henry Gruver tell a story about the German Christians in Berlin during WWII. Apparently many Christians in that city had been trapped within German borders with no way out. As the war progressed and the momentum swung away from the Axis nations towards the Allies, the Lord, according to the story, began to speak via the prophets to the underground church in Berlin. The following is an intertwining of historical facts about WWII along with the story that was confirmed by two German Christian men who had fled Berlin during the allied firebombings of the city prior to the end of the war.

According to historical records, at the beginning of World War II (1939) the United Kingdom had an official policy of conducting aerial bombings strictly on military targets inside Germany. This policy was quickly abandoned by England on May 14, 1940. That was the day Germany bombed Rotterdam, Holland killing 900 civilians and leaving an estimated 80,000 homeless. England's policy of bombing only targets of direct military significance was gradually abandoned in favour of "area bombing" - large-scale bombing of German cities to destroy housing and civilian infrastructure. Although killing German civilians was never an explicit policy, it was obvious that area bombing would lead to large-scale civilian casualties.

From 1939-1941 British Bombers had a hard time being effective over Berlin because of the cities distance from London (590 miles). During 1942 new British bombers with longer ranges were coming into service. However, during that year the British Bomber Command's priority was attacking German U-boat ports as part of Britain's efforts to win the Battle of the Atlantic. During the whole of 1942 there were only nine air alerts in Berlin, none of them serious. It wasn't until late in 1943 that this changed.


Part of Berlin after Allied Firebombings during WWII.

On November 18, 1943 the infamous Battle of Berlin was launched at the German capital by the newly appointed head of RAF Bomber Command, Sir Arthur Harris. Over the next 4 weeks the RAF conducted bombing raids in Berlin that rendered at least 25% of Berlin uninhabitable. These raids continued through March of 1944 thereby killing or injuring thousands of German civilians, mostly women and children, and leaving an estimated 450,000 homeless. Yet somewhere interspersed among all of this the Lord was trying to deliver the German church out from the destructive effects of this chaos. 

As I heard Henry tell the story, sometime during all of this the Lord gave German Christians three chances to escape the ill effects of this devastation and loss. At one point the Lord spoke to the church via the prophets and told the Christians to sell everything they had and move out of the city. Apparently some listened to this instruction and some did not. Some time later, and I am not sure as to the exact time frame, the Lord spoke again via the prophets. Only this time, per Henry, the words were different. This time the words were sell everything you can and get out. Again, some headed the words while others did not.

While the British had been conducting their "Battle over Berlin" campaign starting in 1943, the U.S. Army had been preparing for the next phase of the war by cooperating with Berlin architect Erich Mendelsohn. Throughout 1943 Mendelsohn collaborated with the U.S. Army and the Standard Oil company in order to build "German Village", a set of replicas of typical German working class housing estates, which would be of key importance in acquiring the know-how and experience necessary to carry out the joint effort of firebombing Berlin.

Sometime during that final campaign of allied firebombings over Germany from March 1944 to April 1945, the Lord spoke to the church one last time in regards to leaving the city. This time, as Henry told the story, the Lord told all believers to exit the city of Berlin immediately with their hands emptied of all physical possessions. They were to carry nothing in their hands. The story, per Henry, was later confirmed by two Christian men years later. Both of them had heeded the word of the Lord and had exited the city, one from the east and one from the west. Apparently, as people were leaving, the allied firebombings that started immediately in the city areas behind them started generating what we know today as firestorms.


Air movement in a mesocyclone.

A firestorm, simply put, is a an environment where objects like buildings and trees are burning so far out of control that it creates and sustains its own wind system that blows air inward towards the fires. These powerful horizontal columns of air are known as mesocyclones. As mesocyclones develop moving in the direction of the firebombing they literally take with them every object that is not securely fastened down to the ground. This means all unsecured objects move in the direction of the mesocyclone and go right into the firestorm itself.

When considering this and the specific prophetic instructions that the German Christians received during their last warning, it is easy to see why the Lord sent them out empty-handed. Per the two German witnesses that Henry referred to in his testimony, both men had to hold onto secured physical objects on the ground as they were exiting the city to keep from being sucked back into the fires themselves. Had they disobeyed the Lord and sought to carry things in their hands they would have been killed.

In the story I see the Lord give believers three chances to come out, but each time they came out a little less blessed. The first time they came out having had the opportunity to sell all their possessions. The second time those that had not heeded before had another chance to come out with only the provision from what they "could sell." The third wave of people came out empty handed having just escaped death. We see this three-wave principle at work in the last chapter of Jeremiah.

"So Judah went into captivity, away from her land. This is the number of people Nebuchadnezzar carried into exile: in the seventh year, 3,023 Jews; in Nebuchadnezzar's eighteenth year, 832 people from Jerusalem; in his twenty-third year, 745 Jews taken into exile by Nebuzaradan the commander of the imperial guard. There were 4,600 people in all." Jeremiah 52: 28-30

The last recorded census of fighting men in Judah is found in 2 Chronicles 26:13. There were 307,500 fighting men counted in the census, ages 20 to 40. If you count their immediate and extended families, it is safe to assume there were at least 2 million to 3 million Jews dwelling in Judah, Benjamin and Jerusalem in the days of the last 5 kings of Judah. On the low end at 2 million, to have only 4,600 people go into exile means only .23% of your population made it out alive as God began to judge the southern tribes. That is less than one-quarter of one percent of your entire population that's listening to the Lord in the day of judgment.

"But small is the gate and narrow is the way that leads to eternal life, and only a few find it." Matthew 7:14

"...God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the Ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved..." 1 Peter 3:20

It seems that when God is trying to save people from judgment, not alot of people really want to respond for some reason. In Judah you have roughly one-quarter of 1% that was willing to respond to God. Not a very big crowd. And many came out only with the clothes on their backs. And they also came out in three waves, just like the Christians in Berlin.

Last Saturday I was talking with a good friend on the phone telling him that I believed I was supposed to write this post. As we discussed it I realized something for the first time: The first wave has already come out in America today. Let me explain.

Back in the middle 90's some of the prophetic ministries that I referred to in Spoudaza and Qara were very active. The Lord was opening alot of doors for the first three prophets I referred to in that post. From 1995-1997 I had the privilege of being apart of many meetings and local communities of believers within many cities throughout North Texas, West Texas, New Mexico and southern Colorado. As I traveled, fellowshipped and occasionally ministered in that time it was very evident to me and those around me that there was a great stirring among God's people with regards to the cumulative message we have been covering this month. Symbolically speaking, I believe this was when the first wave of people came out of Berlin, out of Judah and Jerusalem.

By "coming out" I mean there was a consistent wave of people that heeded the call of God on a very deep level and started preparing their hearts for what is coming on the earth. Fasting, praying, obeying, physically preparing if shown to....Those people started building an ark years ago. The majority of people that were going to heed the call of God in this hour to prepare spiritually and physically for the judgment that is going to be poured out on America and subsequently the world has already happened.

Four-thousand, six hundred Jews listened to God in the days of of Jeremiah and Ezekiel. And of those that did, 3,023 came out in the first wave. That is 65.71% or two-thirds. Today, I see very few people responding to God and his message of judgment. Very few. Most scoff. Most laugh. Most dismiss. A few are still wresting trying to decide if any of this makes sense. And it baffles me as to why. All I need is to read Leviticus 18 and 2 Kings 24, look at the stats on abortion, pornography and STD's, listen to the prophetic confirmation and I have all I need to believe.

So my conclusion is, if Christians are not getting the message then it has to be because of one of two things. Either their hearts are re-hardened because they have turned their backs on God like a dog going back to it's vomit or....they can't seem to get free of the worries of life and the deceitfulness of wealth and get on with obeying God by going from faith to faith (Romans 1:17). They refuse to go from hearing one thing from God to another and guarding his words as the apple of their eye (Proverbs 7:2).

"The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is the man who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. But since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away. The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful." Matthew 13:20-22

Either way they can't get unhooked from the false American dream of physical comfort and material prosperity and embrace the cross. They can't because they don't want it. It has to be one or the other. Either way it's a heart condition. It's a heart problem.

"They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts." Ephesians 4:18

People, even Christians, can harden their hearts and it leads to darkness in their understanding and they become separated from the life of God. That is another way of saying they are separated from God's will for their lives.

In November, 2006 the Lord gave me a dream that he would bring me and my family into a season of preparation to move to Mexico. A year and a half later the Lord moved us to San Antonio, TX. Then after 2 years there we felt the time had come for us to make the move here. We did not move here to escape from anything. We moved here because we felt this was what we were told to do. As the time drew closer for us to sell off everything in the Spring of 2010 we had to start making decisions on what we were going to keep, what we could take with us, what would be better to sell and repurchase based on cost and what was and was not practical.

During all of this Christine called me on the phone one day while I was at work. We were discussing whether we should make the drive down to Merida with our desktop computer in the truck along with some other possessions. It was May 27th, 2010. As I was standing in the receiving department having this phone conversation with her I found myself looking up at a shipping box in front of me with the word Berlin written on the front. I "noticed" it as we might say. In response I said to her, "I think we need to sell it if we can and get going." Later in the day I was driving through town and I looked up and noticed I was passing "Berlin Street" in south San Antonio. About an hour after that I found myself standing in a convenience store listening to a radio station playing over the loud speakers inside the store. The radio station kept blowing what sounded like "air raid" sirens, like the kind you would hear in the movies when cities were being bombed. "Berlin, Berlin, air raid sirens." That was what I was hearing and seeing that day.

I'm not making any of this up. It actually happened. Take it like you will. I think the Lord was speaking. For some it is time to move on. For us that was the case. I hope this post comes across the right way. I am not saying you have to leave America to be in God's will. We pray about everything. I am just saying we need to be asking the right questions right now. And we need to keep asking until we get a confirmed answer.

"I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better." Eph 1:17

Keep asking the Lord for wisdom and revelation in this time so that you may know him better, so that you may know his will for you and your family. This is the hour of judgment for America. Now is the time to know, to know his will.

Be Blessed,

JEB
www.miraclesinmerida.blogspot.com