The War and the Stampede: “And on This Rock I Will Build My Church, and the Gates of Hell Shall Not Prevail Against It”

Copyright © 2013 Michael ChristisKing.

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ISBN: 978-1-4908-1302-8 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4908-1303-5 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4908-1301-1 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2013918654

WestBow Press rev. date: 10/30/2013

Contents

Preface

The Field of Souls

The gates of hell

The Inscription and the Convention

66 Counsels of Satan

The big Boat

The Army of the Lord

The Smoke

The den of thieves

The River

70 Counsels of Wisdom

About the Author

Preface

I dedicate this book to Jesus Christ my Savior,

Lord and King.

I present to you the War and the Stampede. A compilation of illustrations and parables that I believe the Lord gave me to share, encourage, challenge, edify and warn His people. These images did not come to me in dreams or open eye visions. They came to me through impressions and thoughts that I had over a scripture, during personal or corporate prayer and fellowship gatherings. Some of them also came to me when I was not engaged in any spiritual activity. Some of the stories were fully laid out to me. Other times they came in just in bits and pieces but the more I wrote down what I had the more the other parts came until the whole picture was clear.

These things were not given to me because I was better than any of my brothers and sisters in living for Christ or laboring for Him. I believe that these kinds of revelation come often to many of God’s people. While praying for problem to be solved, a person to be saved, a local church to be revived or a community, a city, a region or a nation to be awakened; some people get an image of a wall falling down or masses of people kneeling at the altar and weeping. Different people get different images given of the Lord to encourage them to keep praying and never give up. Most people never attempt to write these things down. Well, after getting these images over and over again I started writing them down. At first I was sure it will not make sense to many people, but then I started reading them to my family and friends. They encouraged me to have it published.

I have not arranged the sequence of these stories in the order it came to me. I tried to arrange it in the way that I hope will make it easier for the reader to understand.

Thanks to my sisters Patricia in New York City and Saby in South Africa, my daughter Rejoice and my brother Bob in Ohio. These helped me to read and correct my poorly written material. Thanks to my beloved wife, Angela who encouraged me ceaselessly to publish this book.

Let the readers of this book know that the Bible alone is the word of God, sufficient for doctrine, filled with God’s promises and His righteous requirements in every area of life. The bible speaks for its self; every other true godly book or message only helps us to understand it better.

I hope this book blesses somebody out there.

The Field of Souls

³⁵ And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news (the Gospel) of the kingdom and curing all kinds of disease and every weakness and infirmity.

³⁶ When He saw the throngs, He was moved with pity and sympathy for them, because they were bewildered (harassed and distressed and dejected and helpless), like sheep without a shepherd.

³⁷ Then He said to His disciples, The harvest is indeed plentiful, but the laborers are few.

³⁸ So pray to the Lord of the harvest to [m]force out and thrust laborers into His harvest. Matt. 9:35-38 Amp

In this vision I saw masses of people moving towards the gates of hell and I saw the Lord standing there with His hands spread open. The Lord’s hands were stretched out to stop these people and He was begging these men and women, saying, Come to me. I love you. Why will you perish? The direction you are going is very bitter; it is very dark. The pain, the despair, the hopelessness is beyond what you can bear. Come to me; I love you. Come to me. I will forgive you. I will heal you and set you free. I will fill you with my life and with my Holy Spirit. You will never be the same. I LOVE YOU. Give me your sin and I will give you my Spirit; your trash for my eternal treasures.

The King of Kings and the Lord of glory was begging like a slave. He was pleading with these lost souls as they passed Him by, on His left and His right side. The surprising thing that I saw was that people even walked through the Lord Himself as though He was not there. They walked through Him as one would go through a beam of light. This was very painful to me. The wonderful Lord was flooding the whole field with the light of his glory but people did everything possible to avoid Him. Some who walked close to that light did not want anything to do with it. They cringed. They only endured it while they were close to it. Then they eventually walked away with a greater gloom and sadness on their faces than they had when they first approached His light. The majestic Lord was standing there in all His glory and beauty. Yet men would not turn to Him and go in the direction that He was pointing them. Feeling sorry for the Lord, I took my own stand and started begging them just as my Lord was begging. Some walked by my right and others by my left. Some came head on towards me. I was thinking they will walk through me as they did the Lord, but I was wrong; they ran me over and laid me flat on my back. I became a floor mat for those who ran me over. I hurried very quickly, got up, dusted myself and took my stand again. I was seeking to be a human roadblock to help stem the flood of human souls on their way to hell. I was seeking to stop men and women from going to hell, only to be run over again and again and again and again. Each time I would get up with my mind made up to try one more time. Then I was run over again. To make it worse, in their stampede towards the doomed land they trampled on me even harder. This time I was badly wounded. Even so, I managed to pull myself up one more time. I was pushed over again. Laying down there I was deeply bruised. I could hardly breathe without pain. I knew I could not get up again; not on my own. With the little breath I had I whispered a cry to the Lord. Lord, help me. Instantly the Lord reached out and lifted me up. He carried me just outside the field and put me under a rock. I was out of commission, recovering my strength. The three men I had seen before, in my former vision were there at the rock. Their presence and their words were kind and gracious beyond anything I had ever experienced on earth. I never knew that such a degree of kindness existed. Their very words were like medicine. I could literally touch and feel kindness as a person coming out of their mouth. They were genuinely concerned and committed to my recovery and welfare. I never thought I was this precious to anyone, how much more to these holy messengers. I have nothing to give back to them, why would they be so kind to me? They would not tell me their names. One spoke very much of the mercy of the Lord, the other spoke very much of the goodness and grace of the Living God and the third messenger spoke with wisdom and clarity of the Judgment of the Almighty God. So by what and how they spoke I named them Goodness, Mercy and Wisdom.

As I was recovering my strength I looked out and saw the field of souls from a wider angle. I could see millions of people; it was a numberless host. Incredible! This seemed very unreal to me; I thought… this many people are going in this direction and there is nothing I can do to stop them or make them turn around? I was very sure they were in for a great trouble. I could see millions and multiplied millions of people pass through the field towards that land of darkness only to be immediately replaced by another great assembly passing through the same place where their predecessors had passed going to the same destination of doom and darkness. I watched as masses after masses passed by that big field. I felt so helpless and frustrated. I watched and saw that the ageless, tireless and compassionate Lord was still there beckoning men and women to turn them back away from that direction. With Goodness and Mercy still around me, Judgment, whom I perceive is also called Wisdom, knelt down on the ground of this cave where I was. He formed his hands in the traditional prayer format and held it up over his face. He looked at me with pure, entreating eyes as if to say, Do as I am doing. Then he closed his eyes but his lips were not moving. It took me a little while to get the message, but I soon joined him on my knees in prayer. Since I could not go out of the cave at this time, I could pray day and night for those who were out there. As I prayed, my heart was heavy and broken. I could not rid my mind of the picture of the great throng of people going to their doom. I was praying, Oh God, make them turn around. You are God and there is nothing too hard for you to do. Show them where they are going. Open their eyes to see the Lord standing on their way to block them. As I paused my prayers to look around me, I could not see Mercy, Goodness, and Judgment. I felt all alone, but I continued praying with all my heart focused on the Lord who is out there all alone in the field of souls. I soon found out that as I was praying, God was working. He allowed me the honor to see that with every word that fell out of my mouth in prayer, God turned it into a tool with which He worked His wonders. I looked out from between the rock where I was hidden. I saw that the light of the presence of the Lord was growing wider and stronger as I prayed. I was so shocked that my prayers could have such profound effect on how God did His work on earth. I intentionally stopped praying to see if what I was seeing was true. Then as clear as day, the light of His presence that was shining as I prayed started diminishing both in intensity and in size. It was so obvious it amazed me. I knew that God answered prayers but not like this! How can the Sovereign Lord be so dependent on my prayers to affect and to change the fate of these eternal beings on their march into an everlasting but hopeless destiny? In all this, I still know for sure that I was not the only one doing the work of God, but that the Lord was showing me how critically important it is for me to do my part.

The Light of the world

As I prayed, the glory and the presence of our Gracious Lord grew greater and greater.

A huge section of the field where I felt that my prayers were focused was covered with light. This light became tangible and these lost travelers could physically bump into it. Some who bumped into that light turned as if they were changing direction only to go around that light and to continue on their way to the land of fools.

Then there were others who turned around and started walking in the opposite direction of the great throng. These that turned around were carrying the light with them. They had been lit by the light that lights every man that comes into the world. They were infected with His life and His love. They were shining with great brilliance. From a distance they looked like fire-flies in a huge field at night. As I came closer they looked like candles walking through the woods. And when I came even closer, their bodies appeared to be set aflame by a blazing fire, yet it did not consume them. This was how they were right after they were newly touched by the light of the Master. This light they carried made the people of the great throng very uncomfortable as they marched towards the pit. They shoved and pushed and kicked and cursed the people of the light who were seeking to make their way uphill against the descending host of lost travelers. There is no human language that I can use to describe the stampede towards that land of despair. I observed an amazing thing as men and women bumped into the Lord. Some fell on their faces and lay there for a while and got up completely changed and lit up with the brilliance of that light. While others who did not fall walked around that light and continued downhill looking more miserable than they were before they bumped into the light.

The people that changed their direction were shining as they went uphill. The farther they went uphill, the dimmer their lights were and the dimmer their lights were the weaker in their climbing they became. I saw some of them do exactly as they did when they first bumped into the light of His presence; they fell on their faces and laid there for a while. When they got up, their brilliance would return and their fire rekindled. As I looked farther up the hills I saw some of the holy travelers climbing on their knees and their flames never abated. Those that climbed on their knees were quicker and much more focused than those who were on their feet as punishing as the knee climb seemed. They hardly stopped to fall on their faces as their brilliance never dimmed. They were shining brighter and brighter towards the top of the mountain. When they did fall on their faces, the fire they carried became more powerful and greatly explosive.

The source of the light was the Lord Himself. The Lord is the light that lights every man that comes into the world. It is only in His light that we have the true light and those that follow Him can never walk in darkness at all.

Some of the lost travelers who marched towards that land of darkness were visibly filthy and foul smelling, while others were looking clean, decent and spotless. By every outward judgment there was no spot on them. They looked perfect and without fault yet they were dead and decaying inside.

I saw the evangelists, those children of light who continuously tried to convince the children of darkness to change their direction. Many of the children of darkness had many reasons why they would not follow the narrow way up the hill of the Lord. I heard clearly as some said to the evangelists, what does the life of Jesus Christ who lived and died so many years ago have to do with my life today? What makes Him different from any other man who lived and died as He did? Others said, I do not need anyone to die for me. I need someone alive to help me today. Someone from the crowd said, I am a good person, I do not kill anyone or rob anyone; I am ok. I do not have to go to the house of God or live by His word to go to heaven. Another said, If serving Jesus is as wonderful as you say it is, how come all the important and intelligent people of society are not talking about it. Yet another said, If I start serving God now He will not allow me to have the fun I really want to have. I want to live my life to the full. I hate a boring life. Another said, You have no idea. I will lose all my friends in one day. I cannot afford that. I am too young for this, said another lost traveler. I will believe when I get older. Another said, This is not for me, I am just not cut out for this. Sorry. One said angrily, I tried and it did not work for me. Keep it to yourself. I have no time for that nonsense! Another man said, I am spiritual but not religious. I have my own way of connecting with the great spirit. I call him by another name and we are very close friends. Another woman said, this is who I am and this is how I want to live my life; I cannot change it. Leave me alone I saw one of the travelers spit into the face of an evangelist telling him to back off and to never bother her again. You and your Jesus and all the so-called Holy Ones are fake and hypocrites, she said. I saw this evangelist follow this woman for some time and then approach her again. This time she turned and followed the evangelist towards the city of light. Yet many others hurled insults and excuses at the saints who were trying to persuade them to join the narrow way. Some shouted, there is no heaven and there is no hell; it is all a myth. And if there is a hell what kind of God would send someone to an eternal, place of suffering?

A vast majority of these people who were headed southwards were repeating to themselves and to the saints, "I will change someday, I promise. I will change