For several months God has been showing me
a vision of a skier. I have continued to wait until I understood what He was showing me and why.
A few weeks ago I saw a skiing event on TV while looking for the news. I watched for about 30
minutes trying to be spiritually alert as to what God was showing me through this TV program. As
I watched I became aware of three things: (1) the crowd and their audible reactions as the skiers
hurtled down the slopes. (2) the intense competition between the skiers and (3) the remarkable control
each skier displayed.
Revelation
The skier had goggles and a pole in each hand
and was bent forward, into the wind. Behind him I could see the mountain slope, covered with snow.
He was evidently very skillful and was moving very fast.
Then the vision changed and I saw the cable car
(I found out later it’s called a gondola) that takes skiers up to the top of the mountain to begin
their run. I saw very few people. I could see the car, going slowly up the mountain top.
Then the scene changed again and I was inside
the ski lodge. It was warm, comfortable and intimate with a fire going in the fireplace. There were
many people, talking animatedly and holding glasses of some type of drink and there was a lot of
food on several tables. And people were eating, drinking and talking and moving around from group
to group.
Background
Skis were used in prehistoric and later times to
travel over snow. Early skis had different material, shapes and sizes. Scandinavia, around the 17th
century, gained a needed military advantage in designing a faster ski. This is the ski we have today.
The Norwegians shifted the focus of skiing from
a means of transportation to a competitive sport, causing it to grow to global proportions. Skiing
became popular in the U.S. around the 1850's in Minnesota. It spread from there to the other areas
of the U.S.
Special troops utilized for skiing during WW I
brought an awareness of techniques. By 1924, the Olympic Games incorporated Nordic skiing. After
that, ski lifts came into use and accelerated popularity of the sport. After World War II ski resorts
began to populate the skiing world.
A coalescing of interests advanced the visibility
and desirability for improvements in all aspects of skiing. Competition developed rapidly among
participants, creating major improvements in products, techniques and comfort, reflected in more
versatility, applications and diversity.
The mobility of television created an army of
followers for skiing competition throughout the globe. The proliferation of resorts, runs, lifts and
tourist litter introduced environmental concerns of ecological responsibility for the sport.
Ski lodges offer every service and hospitality.
1, 2 or 3 bedroom apartments, breakfast, self-catering or meal packages, round trip shuttles to the
mountain, hot tub/whirlpools, fireplaces with free beverages, cocktail bars and full-course dinners
with wine at fine dining restaurants. And, of course there are cooking facilities, refrigerators,
tea/coffee bars, room service, TV’s, saunas, jacuzzi’s, solariums , guest laundry, hair
dryers, ironing facilities, complimentary toiletries, and etc.
Many of the bigger/better resorts have gondola
lifts. They are more comfortable, faster and can access higher ski runs, seating up to 12 passengers.
The ultimate thrill of this once humble transportation vehicle is speed. It is billed as the “fastest non-motorized human sport on earth,”
reaching speeds of 150 miles per hour in less than 10 seconds. World Record Holder Philipe Billy
reached the speed of 152 mph in Vars, France on March 27, 1997. If his record has not been exceeded
to date, we can be sure than it will be in the future.
Interpretation
With this understanding of the evolvement of
the sport of skiing I asked the Father what was the significance of the vision He had given me.
He told me that the skier is the church, i.e., the
gathered corporate assembly of each individual saint. We originally had simple skis that we utilized
as a “shoe” to traverse over terrain that had accumulated natural obstacles, i.e., snow.
These “shoes” were all of different material, shapes and sizes. These
“shoes” helped us in going to different areas in order to spread the word “And
your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace” (Ephesians 6:15). The word
“peace” is the Greek word eirene, which describes harmonious relationships,
with friendliness, freedom from molestation, order and a sense of rest and contentment. It corresponds
to the Hebrew word shalom and primarily signifies wholeness and completeness.
Around the 17th century we gained a military
advantage over the enemy with the translation of the Bible into English and the subsequent printing
of it. This is the Bible we still have today, in addition to others.
The 1800's saw tremendous moves of revivals
in different parts of the world, and here in the United States, where word of these revivals spread
rapidly.
The 1900's saw specialized moves of the Holy
Spirit. Many were specially anointed of God and there was an emphasis on the gifts of God to His
church. This fostered a rapid growth of Pentecostalism. Soon every area of the United States was
dotted with storefront Pentecostal and charismatic churches.
After WW II, the 1940's saw the increased visibility and desirability for improvements in our understanding of God’s power and the value of
each and every individual believer.
The media of television opened up new avenues
for the spreading of the “gospel of peace.”
Churches have gotten bigger and more expensive.
The richness of the ski lodge lifestyle and ease of the gondolas has infiltrated into the churches.
Application
The mountain in the vision represents a new move
of God in the world.
The gondola and the lodge are God’s provisions. Provisions which we have perverted for our own selfish purposes. Provisions with which we
enrich our lifestyles instead of spreading the gospel with the new “shoes” that advanced
20th century technology has equipped us with, thanks to our heavenly Father.
The ultimate thrill of this once humble lifestyle
is excess. In the minds of many we are now billed as “The Greatest Show on Earth.”
Many ministries compete with each other in attempts to outdistance the other. The desire to become
the World Record Holder of the most members, the biggest church, the most “decisions for
Christ” and etc. is the dominant motive of many “ministries.”
The audible response of the crowd to our individual efforts fuels our competitive spirits and we exercise remarkable control over our flesh, while
ignoring the Holy Spirit, in order to reach a satisfactory level of achievement.
God has truly supplied us from the vast treasuries
of the riches of His glory to enable us to reach a lost and dying world in order that as many as possible
may be saved. But methods of manipulation and intimidation for control of the saints, their money
and their very love for God are taught, practiced and utilized every day in the organizations that call
themselves “churches.” Instead of naming the name of Christ, they occasionally mention
His name. Instead of equipping, enabling and empowering the saints to do the work of the ministry
of reconciling lost sinners to the God Who created and loves them, they seek to enslave them. Instead
of pouring their lives and very souls into the maturing of the saints, they view them as some type
of spiritual “competition” that threatens their “professional minister” status.
The original purpose of our “walk”
with Jesus with the special “shoes” God has given us in order to tell the whole world
of the love of God, as expressed through the death of His Own Son on a criminal’s cross in
order to bring us to eternal life and glory with Him, has now become a sport.
Each Christian “skier” is attempting
to look better, go faster and enjoy a more comfortable lifestyle, at God’s expense.
Billions and billions of dollars and thousands
and thousands of hours consumed on ... what? Whatever word comes to your mind is God speaking
to you through your conscience.
We, as the church of Jesus Christ, must make
the “gospel of peace” our priority, instead of what God just prompted to your conscience.
There are many who have dealt with their conscience and have forsaken the luxuries of Egypt and are slowly making their way up the mountain,
i.e., getting involved with a new move of God. They have forsaken the ease of the gondolas and the
comfort of the ski lodges and have rebuked the competitive spirit that attempted to influence
them.
They are making withdrawals from the vast treasuries of the riches of God’s glory to reach a lost and dying world in order that as many as
possible may be saved. And they are spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ with the new
“shoes” that advanced 20th century technology has equipped them with.
With the preaching of the “gospel of
peace” we will have harmonious relationships, with friendliness, freedom from molestation,
order and a sense of rest and contentment and as saved human beings, men and women and boys and
girls will have a new God given wholeness and completeness.
Instead of what we have now.
Amen?
