Ecclesiastes 1:9
That which has been is that which will be, and that which has been done is that which will be done.
Pharaoh’s Dream
Recently I found myself questioning whether I had gotten out of the will of the Father by focusing so much on current events, and warnings of calamitous, and troublous days that are soon to come. At times I wrestle against my soul’s sense of what is right and appropriate for a minister, or a Christian to be doing. I want to be teaching doctrine, or serving up expository teaching from the Scriptures. Occasionally I receive criticism from a reader suggesting that I am focusing too much on “gloom and doom” messages.
I tend to be quite introspective anyway. I am quick to consider my ways, and to ask Yahweh to reveal whether I have gotten off track in some area. I recognize that prophetic, current-event focused writings are more popular than doctrinal teaching. I don’t want to fall into error by catering to that which is desired by men. The ministry entrusted to me was granted by Yahshua, and He is the One I seek to please.
Recently I have had invitations to appear on a number of radio programs, and to have my writings posted as a regular feature on a very popular “Christian” end times website that receives 6 million visitors a month. The opportunity was not particularly “tempting” to me. I don’t desire a larger ministry for the sake of becoming more “successful.” I am not seeking to be increased in material possessions. Yahweh has been faithful to meet my material needs. Having food and covering, I am content.
I would like truth to be received by a larger number of people who are prepared to receive it. It is my perception, however, that the vast majority who visit these popular sites do not love truth. Yahweh told me some years back that He was giving me a message for a “remnant.” He also told me that my life would bear striking similarities to my namesake, Joseph the son of Jacob.
Genesis 45:7
And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant in the earth, and to keep you alive by a great deliverance.
Yahweh’s focus at this time is also on the preservation of a remnant. The pattern is “first the natural, then the spiritual.” The preservation of the people of God in this hour is primarily a spiritual deliverance. Many will lose their physical lives while preserving their spiritual lives.
Romans 8:35-37
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Just as it is written, "For Thy sake we are being put to death all day long; We were considered as sheep to be slaughtered." But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.
Revelation 12:11
“And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even to death.”
It is appointed to the people of God to suffer many things. There is a Joseph Company who have been called of Yahweh to experience suffering before their brothers. Joseph was sold as a slave into Egypt, and further suffered an unjust sentence that resulted in his imprisonment. Thirteen years elapsed from the time Joseph received dreams of promotion until he was brought out of Pharaoh’s prison and set over all the people of the land. His brothers were living as free men, pursuing whatever their soul’s desired, while Joseph endured hardship. For Joseph’s brothers, there was a time appointed for them to also suffer. Their descendants would know slavery in the land of Egypt as Joseph had known.
I have shared in other writings the many parallels between Joseph, the son of Jacob and Yahshua, the Son of God. Both were dwelling in glory and honor with their fathers when their father asked them to leave their glory and go check on their brethren. Both submitted to their father’s will freely. Both Joseph and Yahshua had their outer garments stripped from them. Both were numbered among the transgressors. Both men experienced a death and resurrection experience (Joseph was reported dead by his brothers, to be found alive many years later.) Joseph’s brother Judah proposed the idea of selling him for 20 pieces of silver. Judas (the Greek form of Judah) sold Yahshua for 30 pieces of silver. Both faced temptation and overcame it. Joseph was tempted by Potipher’s wife and refused her sexual advances. Yahshua was tempted by Satan in the wilderness and rejected his proposals. After enduring suffering, both were raised to a position of glory and honor.
Many more parallels could be cited. This is sufficient, however, to reveal that Yahweh repeats certain patterns among mankind. The words of Solomon are true words. “That which has been is that which will be, and that which has been done is that which will be done.”
Yahweh is repeating patterns again at the end of the age. There are sons who have been sent ahead of their brothers to endure suffering and reproaches, to dwell apart, and to be lightly esteemed. Their experiences have been ordained to prepare them for roles that have been determined for them from ancient times. Even as Joseph and Yahshua provided salvation for many, there is a Joseph company that has been prepared for this hour to instruct, guide, and provide for the saints of God. Joseph fed the nations with the grain he had stored up in the years of abundance. Yahshua fed the multitudes by multiplying the fish and loaves, and to His disciples He said, “My flesh is true meat, and My blood is true drink.” He was the true bread that came down out of heaven to feed the world.
In this last hour there are those who have been storing up spiritual grain received from Yahweh’s table. An hour of spiritual famine is coming when these ones will be sought out. What was lightly regarded in days of plenty will be greatly desired as if it were a matter of life and death.
Amos 8:11
“The days are coming,” declares Yahweh God, “when I will send a famine through the land - not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of Yahweh.”
As I contemplated whether I was straying from the message Yahweh would have me to proclaim, the Spirit reminded me that part of the pattern of Joseph’s life was to interpret signs, and to give warning of the calamity to come upon the world. It was granted to Joseph to understand types and shadows, and to counsel those with ears to hear, regarding the things to shortly come to pass upon the earth. The Father has opened my eyes, and the eyes of other men and women in this hour, to discern parables, and to unravel enigmas, to disclose to those with spiritual sight and hearing the things to come.
Shortly after receiving this affirmation from the Father I was at Walmart and spied a video in a large bin of $5 movies. It was the animated feature titled “Joseph - King of Dreams.” The Spirit bore witness once more that we are in a time when a divine pattern is being fulfilled. The majority of Jews in Christ’s day rejected the words of Yahshua, Yahweh’s messenger. This resulted in great calamity, and loss of life.
Luke 19:41-44
And when He approached, He saw the city and wept over it, saying, "If you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace! But now they have been hidden from your eyes. For the days shall come upon you when your enemies will throw up a bank before you, and surround you, and hem you in on every side, and will level you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation."
In the recent post titled Heavenly Harbinger I mentioned the comet that appeared over Jerusalem prior to the great slaughter in A.D. 70. The article mentioned that a celestial sword is predicted to be observed over the earth once more in this current year. Peace will be removed from the earth. Those who are promising peace and safety are speaking vanity and falsehood.
Last night a brother in Europe made known to me a profound parable that occurred. The Pope in Rome had convened a special service to commemorate the millions of Jews who lost their lives at the hands of the Nazis. He called for world resolve to keep any similar thing from ever occurring again. As a symbol of the peace, and the end of racial strife, the Pope released a dove from the balcony upon which he was standing. As he did so, a seagull swooped in to attack the dove, driving it into a wall.
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/01/28/pope-benedict-peace-dove-st-peters-square_n_2565109.html#slide=more277165
What a profound parable is observed in this event! There are false prophets who are promising peace, but there will be no peace. The dove is a symbol of peace, a symbol of the Holy Spirit, and therefore a symbol of those filled with the Spirit. Doves are NOT violent birds. They are innocent and harmless.
Matthew 10:16
“Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.”
There is a message for the saints in this event. The dove did not fight back. He sought an avenue of escape. He fled from his attacker rather than fighting back in a contest that he could not win. The dove escaped, and so too would Yahweh encourage His people to not take up arms in the coming troublous days when peace is removed from the earth. Let them flee to the wilderness where a place has been prepared for them.
Revelation 12:4, 6
And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her child... And the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God, so that there she might be nourished for one thousand two hundred and sixty days.
Even as Israel fled into the wilderness in the days of Moses where they received provision from the Lord, so too will a people be led into a wilderness experience in the coming days to experience the same. The Israelites had no natural, tangible, source of provision as they followed Yahweh. There were no grocery stores, no outdoor markets. They had to trust Yahweh for a supernatural provision. It will be so again in the days to come. Without the mark of the beast, the people of God will not be able to buy or sell. They will have to trust Yahweh for a miraculous provision.
The Israelites had all that they fed upon in Egypt taken from them. They were provided bread from heaven and water from the rock. The people of God will have the fleshly things they have been feeding their souls upon stripped away in coming days that they might begin to regard the spiritual food that comes from the Father. Many will murmur and complain bitterly, for their souls desire flesh to eat.
For those who will not rebel against the will of God, ministers after the pattern of Moses and Joseph will appear to feed them. Right now, however, in a time where unfaithful ministers are enticing the saints with delicate dainties, and fleshly foods, that which is spiritual, an lacking in appeal to the flesh, is disdained.
One of the reasons I was led to turn down the invitations to appear on radio, or to affiliate myself with other sites, is that I perceive a true spiritual hunger is not yet present among the people of God. Indeed, it will never be present in more than a remnant of God’s people in the coming days. We are cautioned to not give what is holy to the dogs, nor to cast pearls before swine, lest they turn and rend us.
We are seeing many divine patterns fulfilled in this hour. The Father has assured me that it is His Spirit that is directing me to sound forth a warning. Before the world was created, Yahweh appointed specific roles to each of His children. I magnify my calling only to encourage those who read these words to take heed. This is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in my sight.
Joseph Herrin
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