Last night I had a dream about a society, and a group of us were called to help some people who were victims in that society. It was a society where a select few had the say and everyone else was forced to read great books.
(By the way, to listen to an audio recording of this dream, check out www.livingwaterpress.com.)
In this society literature was the rule of the day, and everyone was enslaved. All they were supposed to do was just read great books. They had no freedom. They had no autonomy. And if anyone ever spoke up that was a problem.
But we were in this forum, and I found myself in an argument with one of the leaders, one of the architects of the society who was this supposed great name, and he was explaining why this was great for the people to just read great books and to be compliant.
And I said, “But you’re saying that as one who’s free. You’re outside of it. You’re making the rules. Isn’t it intrinsic to human nature, isn’t it a needful thing to be free. Isn’t freedom necessary—for life?! You know, because everyone was just so clearly dead. The whole thing was just falling apart.
And there was this scene where I was talking about my experience with Linguistics and somebody was criticizing me for getting a graduate degree. They said, “Why did you ever do that? That was so stupid.” Because they were against the society of great thinkers and great books.
And I was saying, “No, linguistics was something that I loved. I wanted to do it. Yeah, there were a lot of things I had to learn that I wasn’t interested in, but I think ultimately it was a free choice for me to get the degree, and the letters I got after my name. It was liberating for me because I loved what I was studying and what I was doing.
BUT for someone who didn’t love that subject it would have been horrible. Like the people being forced to read someone else’s idea of great books. It would have been wrong to make everyone do it, just because I happened to enjoy it, doesn’t mean everybody would. It doesn’t mean I should create a society in which everyone is forced to study and love what I loved!!
And as I was waking up from the dream I heard God say,
“Compliance with the beast is disobedience to Me.”
And one of the things I was asking last night, and I’ve been asking it for a little while, is, “How long, or I mean how much civil disobedience is acceptable to God under a truly beastly regime?”
And He was answering that compliance with anything the beast asks you to do is disobedience to Him. He said, “If they tell you to walk on the right side of the road, you walk on the left. If they tell you to throw in the towel, you throw in the shoe.” You know, you don’t comply with anything.
And I thought how quickly that would end in a person’s death. And He was like . . . exactly.
And so that would be why martyrdom would be the result of living in the society in a way that would please God. Martyrdom would be your only option.
So this idea I heard recently of Christians walking down the street six feet apart with masks on singing a song —that’s why that’s death. That’s not obeying God! You’ve got to disobey this garbage, not be compliant with it.
And . . . I just wonder if it’s starting now.
If it’s starting now then . . . . . . . we should be non compliant.