Oct 16, '10 11:13 AM

 

By Regner Capener

 

 

Howdy, Howdy, Howdy!

Wow! Another week has gone by! Already, even.

Mmmmmm...........Mmmmmm.........Mmmmmm! Smell that aroma of that wonderful French Roasted Columbian Supremo! Now THERE's a smell to start the day with! The French Press is full and almost running over. Pour yourself a cup. There might even be one of those maple-covered "vitamins" lying around somewhere.

I’ve been promising for several weeks to share some rather remarkable experiences that Della and I had while at the Heaven & Earth-themed camp-meeting/conference in Red Deer, Alberta in July and August. On Saturday nite, August 7^th, Della and I had parallel dreams. By that I mean that what I dreamed meshed with what Della dreamed and vice-versa. She actually dreamed the portion of a prophetic experience in which she fulfilled her commission from the Lord, just as I dreamed the portion of the same experience in which I fulfilled my commission.

DREAM NUMBER ONE, Part One

Over the past months, we have been receiving multiple invitations to come and visit and minister in numerous places around the world – Kenya, Pakistan, India, and Ghana – even such faraway places as Alaska. (Grin!) We’ve yet to take folks up on those invitations, but that day seems just around the corner.

This dream began with an invitation from a pastor in Russia for Della and me to come and minister to a group of Christians in Moscow. That seemed rather fortuitous since I’d had an indication from the Lord some years ago that He would be sending me to Russia from time to time.

The time came for Della and me to board our flight to Moscow when I suddenly felt a check in my spirit. I said to Della, “Honey, I’m feeling something really strange or out of kilter concerning this trip. Though we rarely travel apart, this is one time when I think you should remain behind until I arrive and get a feel for the lay of the land. I’ll call you when I get situated and you can board the next flight.”

There was agreement between us that this was the best course to follow in view of the warning from the Holy Spirit and I went ahead and boarded the flight alone.

When my flight landed in Moscow, a fairly well-dressed gentleman met me at the plane and said he was there to escort me to my destination. Because I’d never met the pastor in person who’d invited me, I made the assumption that this man was the same individual. He acted as though he was the pastor, but never came out and said so. I should have caught it, but because of the newness of my surroundings and my attention on the very different scenery and skyline of the city, I was distracted enough not to actually verify who the gentleman was.

We got into what seemed to be a rather official-looking vehicle and I was taken into downtown Moscow. I was a bit surprised when we pulled up in front of what seemed to be a large government building. A church building or even a home would have been more expected. The gentleman escorted me into the building and it was then that I realized we were at the headquarters of the Russian secret police or FSB (what the old KGB evolved into).

My surprise evoked the comment, “Wow! What are we doing here?” My escort then introduced himself as an officer (obviously high officer) of the Russian police. I said to him, “I thought we were going to a church or perhaps a home. Why are we here?” He responded that I was under arrest.

“Under arrest?” I exclaimed. “For what?”

“We received word that you were coming to Russia as an agent for the U.S. Government and that you are here as a spy.”

I couldn’t help but laugh uproariously. “You’ve got to be kidding? Me a spy? I’m a minister of the Gospel and a representative of the Kingdom of God. I’m not here to spy on anyone! I’m here to minister to the needs of people.”

The silliness of the accusation was hard to digest and I just shook my head in disbelief. The look on this officer’s face, however, was anything but genial and he obviously wasn’t buying my defense. He directed me to a rather bleak-looking room with nothing but a desk, a chair and a very plain and hard leather sofa. He left and I was alone in the room for some indeterminate length of time.

Sometime thereafter two other officers appeared indicating that I was to follow them. They led me to another location. It wasn’t a prison in the sense that I could see bars or barbed-wire fencing, but it was most certainly a secure location from which there was no easy escape. I might have likened it to “quarters for political prisoners.”

The surroundings were bleak at best. The room temperature was below normal. The walls of the rooms (there was a combination kitchen and living room, and a room with a very sparse bed) were a dull grey-green – uninviting to say the least. Once a day, I was brought an adequate, though not over-abundant meal. Since Della and I have been used to semi-fasting with one meal a day on many occasions, receiving only one meal a day was no big deal.

I was concerned, however, that I had not been able to contact Della. I’d been refused any telephone or mail privileges and I knew that she would wonder what in the world happened to me. At the same time, I knew that the check in my spirit that had prevented her from traveling with me would have had an impact on her; and I was sure she would have been making inquiries to track me down. At the very least, I was sure that she would be praying and interceding.

After days had turned into weeks, and weeks into months, time became almost meaningless. I really had no concept of how long I was being made a prisoner. No trial had taken place. No court proceedings had ensued. No official charges had been lodged against me to which I could answer.

It dawned on me one day that I was wasting perfectly good opportunities to be who I am in Christ Jesus, and to allow His grace, His love and His Glory to work through me to the few people I had daily contact with. Food was being brought to me daily by someone. There were other individuals who periodically checked in on me. I needed to begin ministering the love of the Lord Jesus Christ to them. And that’s exactly what I did.

My reaction from them at first was skeptical, then curious, then receptive. It seemed I was making some real headway.

One day the officer came to see me who had put me there in the first place. When I began to share the Lord with him, he became angry. The more I talked the angrier he became. Finally he could take no more. He grabbed me by the arm and said, “I’m going to show you what we do with Christians!”

I was forcibly hauled out of the room and taken to another facility. My first reaction when I saw the place from the outside was that it was some kind of warehouse. When we entered the building, it was clear that it was a whole lot more than a warehouse. A large steel cage with vertical and horizontal bars was in the middle of the place. My initial estimate was that it was roughly 40 feet long by perhaps 16 feet wide.

But that wasn’t the focus. In the cage were perhaps 30 or 40 (or more) people who were in grotesque condition.

The Russian officer unlocked the door of the cage, threw me in and promptly left. The condition of these people was far worse than words can adequately convey. Their faces were chewed and gouged. Many of them were missing fingers, toes, hands, feet, and in some cases arms and legs or parts thereof. Some faces were missing noses and others eyes. They were literally attacking one another with intent to kill or destroy. Talk about “biting and devouring one another!”

Some had fashioned metal pieces around their arms or wrists and formed claws with which they struck at one another taking bits of flesh each time. A few were grabbing the wrists or legs of others and taking hunks of flesh and eating them. The blood was flowing profusely from the faces and bodies of most of them. They were resorting to cannibalism. The shock of what I saw literally woke me from my dream.

I awakened in horror wondering why in the world I was having this dream. Shaking myself awake I got myself a drink of water, used the restroom and headed back to bed.

* * * * * * * *

DREAM NUMBER ONE, Part Two

The dream picked up right where it had left off. As it resumed, it dawned on me that the reason these people were behaving in such animalistic ways was because they were starving. I saw that a ration of food was being brought to them, but it wasn’t enough to go around. As the food was delivered – literally dumped in – people scrambled for any portion they could get their hands on. The fighting ensued because there wasn’t enough to go around. They were literally biting and devouring one another because of it. Even those who did get some of the food were not getting enough to meet their needs. They were not satisfied. A few of them were near death.

It was likewise apparent to me that this had been going on for a long time. The bones that littered the outside of the cage were mute testimony to those who had been killed off.

The horror of what I was seeing was more than I could stand. When these caged people saw me they came after me, claws swiping at me. I ducked and dodged and lifted up my right hand toward them.

“This stops right now,” I commanded with a loud voice. Everyone froze momentarily.

Someone in the back of the group shouted, “Oh yeah? Just who do you think you are?”

“I’m a representative of the Kingdom of God and a servant, a messenger, a friend of the Lord Jesus Christ.”

With scarcely a pause I lifted my hand again and spoke loudly. “I command and declare peace in your midst in the name of Jesus.’

There was no time to waste. The words kept on coming. “And in the name of Jesus I declare and decree healing to all of you. Health! Wholeness! Restoration! Creative miracles for each of you!”

Throughout my many years of ministry I’ve seen creative miracles – restorative miracles, flesh renewed, new limbs grown – but what I saw unfold before my eyes was stunning! The mutilated and gouged faces suddenly became new. New noses appeared. Eyes appeared in formerly gouged-out sockets. Arms and legs appeared where people had lost them. New fingers and toes grew out. Scarred and bloody flesh healed over and became as new.

In a matter of a few moments every single person standing there was whole and restored! Metal implements that had been fashioned as weapons fell to the floor. I saw a people – all of whom had been thrown into this prison cage because they professed to be born-again, committed Christians – looked around at each with a very different gaze.

Remembering that all this butchery had begun because these folks were being starved to death, I again lifted up my hand.

“In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ I command and decree a feast spread before you – an abundance from which to eat!”

Instantly a long table appeared in their midst spread with a feast fit for a king. I didn’t have to invite folks to eat. They began to eat ravenously. The feasting continued until every person was thorough satiated. The atmosphere in the cage changed rapidly. People began to turn to one another and repent. There was a display of love and forgiveness that went around that group the likes of which are hard to describe.

Suddenly I heard the door of the “warehouse” open and the Russian officer strode in. He was obviously expecting to either see my corpse or find me in the same condition as the rest of the people. He opened the door of the cage and looked in because he couldn’t believe what he was seeing through the bars.

Utter amazement flooded his face, then shock, and then tears. He fell to his knees in the gateway and began to cry out in repentance. In minutes he had accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior.

When he finally got to his feet, he turned to the people and began to openly apologize and repent for his behavior towards them. He said to me, “I’m so sorry! I had no idea of the reality of Jesus Christ. I thought this was some kind of religious myth.”

He continued, “You’re free to go.” He threw open the cage door and stood back. He turned again to face the others and said, “You, too, are free to go.”

In that moment it dawned on me that four years had passed since I had been seized and arrested. There had been no communication whatsoever between me and Della and no opportunity to let her know what had happened. I said to the officer, “Sir, I need to contact my wife. I need to get to a telephone and call her.”

He said, “Follow me,” took me back to the FSB headquarters and ushered me into a room where there was a telephone and opportunity for privacy. I called home and Della’s Mom answered the phone.

“We knew you would call. We’ve been praying and interceding for you.” She handed the telephone to Della who began to talk about the daily gatherings and nonstop intercession that had gone on for me.

“We knew the Lord was going to intervene for you and set you free.” Della went on to share how when no word had been forthcoming from me after departing for Moscow, she called the pastor who’d invited us in the first place. He had advised her that he’d been delayed in getting to the airport and later discovered that I’d been arrested.

There was an unshakeable confidence that despite the lack of word of any kind, God was at work in the situation. People in our fellowship, friends and fellow-believers spread abroad were contacted and the intercession began.

* * * * * * * *

Earlier I said that Della had a parallel dream which actually meshed into my dream. I’ll let her share her portion of this which began after I’d awakened from the first part of the dream, gotten my drink of water, used the restroom and gone back to bed.

* * * * * * * *

DREAM NUMBER TWO

In my dream I was gathered together with a large number of people in a home setting. Many of the faces were those of people I did not recognize, although there were many others that were.

We were obviously engaged in prayer and intercession. At first it was not clear to me why we were gathered in prayer or where the focus of our prayers was targeted. My looking around the room made it clear that Reg was not there and he was not a part of the gathering.

It took some time – and it was a bit later in the dream – that I realized that he was the focus of the prayer and intercession and that we were praying for his restoration. At that moment, however, it was not clear that the restoration was his being restored to us, or that he was actually missing and his whereabouts unknown. That was something the Holy Spirit showed me later – and particularly after awakening from my dream.

There were a number of declarations and decrees during the prayers being offered. Healing, restoration, cleansing, wholeness, health and resurrection life were all a part of the declaring taking place. The breaking of bondage and setting free were clearly a purposeful intent on the part of those praying.

One sister in the Lord who had been alienated from us for a number of years because she had earlier rejected a Word of correction and admonition was there. Restoration and healing in our relationship had obviously taken place. She was clinging to me like a magnet and often saying, “I want what you have in God – and more!”

At one point during the time of prayer, I had a glass in hand and I was handing it to someone. It slipped from my hand and shattered on the floor. The Holy Spirit spoke to me and said, “The bondage has been broken and the prison doors have opened.”

At that moment I awoke from my dream unaware of the significance of what the Holy Spirit had said, or that it paralleled the moment in time when the door of the steel cage swung open for Reg and he was told that he was free to go.

* * * * * * * *

The spiritual parallels and the prophetic Word that the Holy Spirit gave us in and through these dreams – both to the body of Christ, and to the leaders and shepherds in the body – was far-reaching. That’s where we’ll go with the next Coffee Break.

The Holy Spirit is moving and operating in this day and age in non-traditional ways; and any attempts we make to box Him in or try to second-guess Him are doomed to failure. Those who are willing to hear what He has to say and are ready to “operate outside the box” will see and experience the Glory of the Lord!

Blessings on you!