THE CAGE – A PROPHETIC VISION
Article from February 2007--Updated, edited, and revised: May 18, 2012:
The Spirit of our Father, Yahuweh, showed me this vision on the morning of February 14, 2007, as I was studying the Word and praying in my apartment in Aqaba, Jordan. I looked up and watched this prophetic vision happening before my eyes.
The Vision: A beautiful exotic bird, the size of a Toucan or exotic Parrot, with golden and red and blue feathers, was in a golden cage that has thick golden bars. The cage was not quite large enough for the bird to spread its wings.
For the security and safety of the bird, the bird had ordered every gold bar to be put into place--to be thick and strong. But, when the cage was complete, and the bird felt secure inside, prancing and showing off its beauty, the reality was evident to all but the bird--the cage had no door.
The only way the bird could ever be free would be if someone strong enough would come from the outside, and tear or cut a hole through the bars, making a door.
I watched as Messiah Yahushua came. He put both hands on the bars, He appeared to be going to pull the bars apart. But, the bird screeched loudly: “NONONO—You’re tearing down my security!”
Yahushua said: “But you are trapped—there is no way out for you if I do not tear the bars to make an open door for you”.
“NONONO” screeched the bird—“I am safe in here—go away, go away!”
The interpretation is clear: In the western affluent world of the west, families of believers in Messiah, like families of unbelievers, have worked hard to create what their culture deems a secure world for themselves--job security, pension funds, social security, medical insurance security, life insurance, job and retirement benefits, savings accounts, houses with alarm systems, an attack dog, land and/or stock investments, friendships and social life—whether church or charity club, a college account for the kids, and whatever else it takes to have a present and future that is comfortable, secure, and safe for themselves and their families.
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Yet this is totally opposite of what the Scriptures teach regarding the culture principles of the Kingdom of Yahuweh--Elohim of Israel--and the Messiah’s call to those who will follow Him.
As in the vision, the horror of it all is that once the security is in place, the often hidden reality is that it is nothing but imprisonment.
Yahushua came to open doors for us--to loose us from the stronghold of Luciferi’s kingdom. Lucifer, the fallen `angel of light’, is the “god of this world” system--luring the fearful and weak into believing his lies of what constitutes the good life.
Yahushua, the Savior, beckons us out of our self-made prisons, to walk with Him in the unknown, into the uncertain, as pilgrims and strangers in the earth, as set-apart from the world system—to find our security and comfort and safety in Him alone. He opens doors for His faithful ones, who trust Him 100% with their future.
Here are parts from two verses and the chorus of The Great Adventure by Steven Curtis Chapman, my theme life’s song:
I opened up the Bible and I read about me
Said I'd been a prisoner and God's grace had set me free
And somewhere between the pages it hit me like a lightning bolt
I saw a big frontier in front of me and heard somebody say "let's go"!
CHORUS
Saddle up your horses we've got a trail to blaze
Through the wild blue yonder of God's amazing grace
Let's follow our leader into the glorious unknown
This is a life like no other - this is The Great Adventure
Come on get ready for the ride of your life
Gonna leave long-faced religion in a cloud of dust behind
And discover all the new horizons just waiting to be explored
This is what we were created for.
At the new true new transforming new birth, in the Spirit of Yahuweh does 40 things inside of our spirit to perfect it and impart to it His nature, and open a portal into the eternal realm so that we might touch the eternal from then on, and live by its directives.
This world is about to be burned and destroyed. Those locked in their cages of man-made security will die in those cages--betrayed by the very sources of man-made security in which they trusted.
Freedom comes at a high price--death to self will, and forsaking all to “follow the Lamb wherever He goes”. The word “disciple” means a
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“taught one”. You are a disciple of whoever teaches you.
It is in the opened re-born spirit (in the loins area of your body) that the Spirit of Yahuweh comes to be our Teacher, our counselor, one who convicts of sin, one who comforts, leads, guides, and dwells.
In the new birth, by faith we receive the victory won by Messiah over the prison house of Hades. He came to set us free, to remove the bars that sin and death has over us – to take us from the prison house into the glorious freedom of the sons of Elohim – free to a citizen of His Kingdom in right Covenant standing. “Whom the Son sets free is free indeed!”
But, the truths of the new birth have been distorted to the point where hardly anyone understands it anymore. [Refer to: “The True New Birth”] To the church, it is a matter of receiving something – a ticket out of hell and/or church membership. Whereas the true new birth is all about being transformed out of the kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of light, and total transformation of the very nature of a person. It is about commitment to a life of discipleship to following the Master in absolute obedience. To do that it means death to self-will, death to hidden agendas and ambitions – to take up His will, to submit to His teachings and disciplines in the fear of Yahuweh – faith meaning obedience to the one followed. We are “bought with a price” – we are bond slaves of a Master under training for reigning. We don’t automatically reign with Him in His Kingdom--He has to know us and trust us and interact with us in this life, so that He can position us for eternity.
The Kingdom of Messiah is near, and our eternal reward is in the land of Israel--not in America, or Canada, or Europe, or Australia or in any other country. Our eternal life will be spent in the Land of Israel.
The world as we know it, controlled by Lucifer and his children, is going to be taken over by Yahuweh/Yahushua--the Elohim of Israel. All the material blessings we have are given to us by the Father for one purpose--to use for His Kingdom and to share with the poor, the widow, the orphan, the stranger, and to preach the Good News of the Kingdom--“Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is near”.
We own nothing if we are His children. He controls all. We are to be contrite, humble, and obedient servants. There is great reward in the Kingdom waiting for those who now have given their lives to His service.
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The slaves were delivered from Egypt by the mighty hand of Yahuweh. But, they came out as caged birds – wanting the security of Egypt at
the first test (Exodus 14) before the sea could even open. They said it would be better for them to stay slaves in Egypt than to be killed in
the wilderness where Yahuweh had led them. They never did get Egypt out of them. They all died in the wilderness during 40 years of wandering, except for Joshua and Caleb, and their children went into the Land with Joshua and Caleb. They whined and complained and longed for the security of Egypt the whole 40 years. They longed for their cage and were bitter at Moses for taking them out of their cage.
In Exodus 13, we read that Yahuweh took the people the long route because if they had immediately crossed into the southern area of the Anakim and other tribes of giants, they were too weak in faith and in their soul (mind, reasoning, emotions, feelings and will) and they would have been slaughtered.
Today most are gawking at the door of freedom, weak in all ways, especially in real faith that has been tried, tested, and is strong in His Word. If they saw the Anakim outside their cage they would fall apart in terror, as they did in Numbers 13-14. [I wrote an article you might want to read: “Facing the Anakim”]
The bird had to totally depend on its “keeper” to bring it food and water. And yet its pride in its appearance and in the beauty of its cage was amazing. Most of His people in the affluent west depend so on people and what people have created for them that they are almost incapable of handling freedom. The door of the cage is open, but those who look out often shut the door and back up because what is outside is big – a big frontier in front of them and a voice saying “Let’s Go” and they are saying “Not me!”
The bear raised in the cage of a traveling circus from babyhood, knows no more than pacing back and forth inside the cage. It has been seen that to release such a bear into the wilderness is signing its death warrant. All he knows to do is pace the same distance as he could pace in the cage. This is the majority of the mind-controlled people of the west. If they were let loose to go and serve the Master and enter His Land, most would die still pacing the same dimensions as their mental cage.
But, I continue to give the pleading message of the Word to a remnant who do not fear freedom, to flee to where you can freely share the Good News and teach the Torah for a while longer.
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Desire for security is normal for humans, as is the desire for love, but when these two things control a person’s decisions, they become enemies. Insecurity is fear – fear of the unknown. And Messiah calls to a tiny remnant in these days to fear nothing or no one else but His Father. If we fear Yahuweh we will never fear man or demon.
Therefore the fear of losing security is a prison found in the earth-bound soul--the eternal spirit is free. The soul stays bound until through discipline in the Word, it is transformed to align to the freedom of the re-born spirit. Then the “spirit man” becomes united and a powerful force for the Master. But, what most do is to cap the portal into the eternal and live out of the earth-bound, flesh-bound, soul, and thus will die in their self-designed cages.
Another cage - prison of the mind and emotions – is to hold un-forgiveness, hurt, bitterness, anger, resentment, or regret, and other negative emotions against another person or against ones’ self.
Holding negativity towards anyone or anything, or against our self, is a form of deep pride. It manifests in self-pity, anger, bitterness, negative speech, self-pit whining, complaining, judgment, criticism, and an aura of misery – a gloomy countenance that draws self-pity from others. It is a cage without a door. Only by allowing Messiah to take all the inner pain and hurt away and throw it into the deep sea – “as far as the east is from the west” – we will never be free. And the Word says that if we do not release these negative things we hold against someone else, or our self-hatred due to our own wrong decisions, then He cannot forgive us.
Demons feed on negative emotions. They inhabit negative words. Self-centeredness is one of the worst prisons anyone can be in.
True freedom means that we gladly forsake all to follow the Master, and quickly obey, because He is all about setting others free. It is in reaching out to align with the passion of His heart that we are freed.
Yes, the life of a true bond slave of the Master is fraught with difficulties and sufferings. But, remember it is estimated that the Hebrews who came out of Egypt could have entered His Land in 11-14 days. They lost that by fear and rebellion – not doing what He said. He doesn’t make it easy on us, because He’s after our eternal good. “The glorious unknown” as the song says: Yes, in following the Lamb we go into the glorious unknown for sure, but to cling to what man calls “security” is to live no different than the sheep in the Serengeti plain of Tanzania who have to have someone put them into an enclosed pen each night to keep the hyenas from eating them. What kind of a life is that!
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I Corinthians 7:23: “You were bought with a price (the `precious blood of Messiah’), do not become the slaves of men”.
Yahushua Messiah is now calling His set-apart ones to allow Him to break the bars of their cage, so that they will be totally free to follow Him. He is calling a remnant to give, sell or walk away from what is holding them in their cage. He is calling a remnant to go through the
open doors to walk with Him, being led by Him and taught by Him—a remnant who will trust Him for everything, and be absolutely obedient to Him. Everything now must be worn loosely--work, family ties, friendships, assembly obligations, ties to anyone or anything that would be a cage bar in the days ahead. In the days to come, every security of man will be destroyed. Only those secure in knowing Him will be able to stand and overcome.
What His people do not realize is that these securities are really gods and idols—and they are illusions. In our day, there is NO SECURITY outside of Yahuweh and Yahushua Yahuweh! There never has been.
I Thessalonians 5:1-5: “Now, brothers, as to the times and the season you do not need to be written to. For you yourselves know very well that the day of Yahuweh comes as a thief in the night. For when they say `peace and safety’ then sudden destruction comes upon them…But you brothers, are not in darkness so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. For you are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night, nor of the darkness”.
Jeremiah 17:5-9: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his arm and whose heart turns away from Yahuweh. For he shall be like a shrub in the desert, and not see when good comes, and shall inhabit the parched places in the