The Candy Bar

Wednesday, September 10, 2008, 12:59 p.m. – Song in my head:

Praise You in This Storm / Mark Hall and Bernie Herms

And I'll praise you in this storm
and I will lift my hands
for You are who You are
no matter where I am
and every tear I've cried
You hold in your hand
You never left my side
and though my heart is torn
I will praise You in this storm

THE DREAM: I was leading a caravan of people on a highway. We were driving down the road, along a beach front, looking for some type of shops. I asked my son, David, if he recognized where we were, like we had been there before (like my summer camp at Beulah Beach, OH along Lake Erie), but he did not. Map: http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&tab=wl

Then, I ended up passing what we were looking for. I could tell, because we came up to a movie theatre – all this was on the right side of the street – and then I knew I needed to turn around. I was all the way in the right lane of a six-lane highway, so I got over to the left lane so that I could make a U-Turn.

There was a large semi-truck barreling down the road in the opposite direction. I pulled out in front of him (not directly) while I made my U-Turn to go the opposite direction. So, the driver was not happy with me.

Anyway, the place we were looking for was now on our left, and it was in a row of old motels, the rooms of which were converted into shops. All the doors were covered in some type of off-white sheets so that it was difficult to tell one store from another until you got up close enough to read the signs over the doors.

Now, this is where it gets fuzzy. The group of people all got out of their vehicles or my vehicle, and they spread out to individual shops where each of us encountered some type of negative situation. One woman was not able to purchase something because she did not have the right form of currency or credit card in order to make a purchase.

I walked around and looked at the various shops until I found one I liked (this is definitely not me in real life). Inside the store was some kind of warfare game where I could engage in some kind of battle with another person. Somehow I had managed to accidently push this other person under water with what looked like a candy bar. Then, he asked me if I was ready to play, and I said, “Yes!” Then he came up out of the water and shoved the candy bar down my throat. END I woke up!

Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. I read Jeremiah 10: God and Idols
1 Hear what the LORD says to you, O house of Israel. 2 This is what the LORD says:
"Do not learn the ways of the nations
or be terrified by signs in the sky,
though the nations are terrified by them.
3 For the customs of the peoples are worthless;
they cut a tree out of the forest,
and a craftsman shapes it with his chisel.
4 They adorn it with silver and gold;
they fasten it with hammer and nails
so it will not totter.
5 Like a scarecrow in a melon patch,
their idols cannot speak;
they must be carried
because they cannot walk.
Do not fear them;
they can do no harm
nor can they do any good."

6 No one is like you, O LORD;
you are great,
and your name is mighty in power.
7 Who should not revere you,
O King of the nations?
This is your due.
Among all the wise men of the nations
and in all their kingdoms,
there is no one like you.
8 They are all senseless and foolish;
they are taught by worthless wooden idols.
9 Hammered silver is brought from Tarshish
and gold from Uphaz.
What the craftsman and goldsmith have made
is then dressed in blue and purple—
all made by skilled workers.
10 But the LORD is the true God;
he is the living God, the eternal King.
When he is angry, the earth trembles;
the nations cannot endure his wrath.

11 "Tell them this: 'These gods, who did not make the heavens and the earth, will perish from the earth and from under the heavens.' "

12 But God made the earth by his power;
he founded the world by his wisdom
and stretched out the heavens by his understanding.
13 When he thunders, the waters in the heavens roar;
he makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth.
He sends lightning with the rain
and brings out the wind from his storehouses.
14 Everyone is senseless and without knowledge;
every goldsmith is shamed by his idols.
His images are a fraud;
they have no breath in them.
15 They are worthless, the objects of mockery;
when their judgment comes, they will perish.
16 He who is the Portion of Jacob is not like these,
for he is the Maker of all things,
including Israel, the tribe of his inheritance—
the LORD Almighty is his name…

My Understanding: Ok, so I read and watched the news and read the scriptures and it appears that this row of motels that are covered with sheets where my former camp is located in Ohio represents a political "camp". The Republicans were, in fact, in Ohio when I had this dream.

So, the camp is on the right side of the street (Republican camp) but when I see the theatre, I know I've gone too far. Perhaps this is a reference to all this bantering back and forth between the parties in that they have "gone too far" with all of their jabs back and forth. Or, perhaps that is where all this is headed – the theatre. So, I do a U-Turn and now I'm coming toward the camp from the opposing side, so now the camp is on my left (Democrat camp), but it is still the same camp.

The Republicans are complaining that the Democrats have invaded the Republican camp in Alaska with a slew of lawyers asking all kinds of questions. In fact, the Republicans put out an ad showing the Democrat’s lawyers as wolves. It never ends, does it? And, the Democrats are saying the Republicans do the same – it is all part of the “political game.”

The candy bar in the dream is enclosed in a candy wrapper. Obama made a statement about a pig with lipstick still being a pig and the Republicans took that as a jab against Sarah Palin, yet the phrase was a common phrase used for talking about dressing something up to look better than what it is but it not really changing what's underneath. So, the McCain camp shot back with a counterattack ad.

So, what does all this mean? Well, I’ve been praying this through and I believe the picture here is that whether you are coming from the right or the left there really is no difference. The “camp” is still the same camp, i.e. there is really no difference between the “right” and the “left”, so what we see on TV and in the news is just theatre; a game show. The use of the candy bar is to show that it is not serious.

What the Lord has to say about this is that we are not to learn the ways of the nations – don’t get caught up in “the game.” He says these customs (political warfare) are worthless. He says they are senseless and foolish – I think that is obvious by their attack comments and ads and all the bantering of children who don’t get their way. It is all a creation of man – made up, basically. It is fraud.

These “gods,” i.e. the political candidates, will all perish from the earth. They did not make the heavens and the earth. But God did!! He is the only true God; the living God; the eternal King. When he is angry, the earth trembles and the nations can not endure his wrath. The Lord is not like these “gods.” He is the Maker of all things.

Because the people of America are following gods that are not God, judgment is coming to America. The Lord wants us to get our eyes off of man and to turn back to the One and Only True God to be our Savior. No candidate can save America from the mess it is in. Only God can.

Jeremiah 10 ends with a prayer of Jeremiah for God to pour out his wrath on the nations that do not acknowledge God; on the peoples who do not call on His name. Sometimes a good whipping is the most merciful thing that can be done for us.