As God said through the prophet Joel, "And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions." So today, as we approach the end of the age and the time of the Lord's return, God is speaking through His people with dreams and visions. The following vision was received by Evangelist A.A. Allen on July 4, 1954.
As I stood atop the Empire State Building, I could see the Statue of Liberty, illuminating the gateway to the new world. Here, spread before me like an animated map, is an area sixty or eighty miles in diameter. I was amazed that the Spirit of the Lord should so move me, there atop the Empire State Building. Why should I feel such a surge of His Spirit and power there?
Suddenly I heard the voice of the Lord. It was as clear and as distinct as a voice could be. It seemed to come from the very midst of the giant telescope. But when I looked at the telescope, I knew it hadn't come from there, but directly from heaven. The voice said, "The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong in behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward Him. Herein you have done foolishly. Therefore, from henceforth, you shall have wars." (2Chronicles 16:9)
Immediately when I heard the voice of God, I knew this was a quotation of Scripture. But never before had a thing come to me so forcibly by the power of the Spirit. The ticking of the telescope stopped. The man before me had used up his dimes worth. As he stepped away I knew that I was next. As I stepped to the telescope and dropped in my dime, immediately the ticking started again. This ticking was an automatic clock which would allow me to use the telescope for a definitely limited time only.
As I swung the telescope to the North, suddenly the Spirit of God came upon me in a way that I had never thought of before. Seemingly in the spirit I was entirely caught away. I knew that the telescope itself had nothing to do with the distance which I was suddenly enabled to see, for I seemed to see things far beyond the range of the telescope, even on a bright clear day. It was simply that God had chosen this time to reveal these things to me, for as I looked through the telescope, it was not Manhattan Island that I saw, but a far larger view.
That morning, much of the view was impaired by fog. But suddenly as the Spirit of the Lord came upon me the fog seemed to clear, until it seemed that I could see for thousands of miles.
But that which I was looking upon was not Manhattan island, it was all of the North American Continent spread out before me as a map is spread upon a table, it was not the East River and the Hudson River that I saw on either side, but the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans. And instead of the Statue of Liberty standing there in the bay on her small island I saw her standing far out in the Gulf of Mexico. She was between me and the United States.
I suddenly realized that the telescope had nothing to do with what I was seeing, but that it was a vision coming directly from God. And to prove this to myself I took my eyes away from the telescope, so that I was no longer looking through the lens, but the same scene remained before me.
There, clear and distinct, lay all the North American Continent, with all it's great cities. To the North lay the Great Lakes. Far to the Northeast was New York City. I could see Seattle and Portland far to the Northwest. Down the West Coast, there were San Francisco and Los Angeles. Closer in the foreground, there lay New Orleans, at the center of the Gulf Coast area. I could see the great towering ranges of the Rocky Mountains, and trace with my eye the Continental Divide. All this and more, I could see spread out before me as a great map upon a table.
And as l looked, suddenly from the sky I saw a giant hand reach down. That gigantic hand was reaching out toward the Statue of Liberty. In a moment her gleaming torch was torn from her hand, and in it instead was placed a cup. And I saw protruding from that great cup, a giant sword, shining as if a great light had been turned upon its glistening edge. Never before had I seen such a sharp, glistening, dangerous sword. lt seemed to threaten all the world. As the great cup was placed in the hand of the Statue of Liberty, I heard these words, "Thus saith the Lord of hosts, 'Drink ye and be drunken, spue and fall, and rise no more, because of the sword which I will send'" As I heard these words, I recognized them as a quotation from Jeremiah 25:7.
I was amazed to hear the Statue of Liberty speak out in reply, "I WILL NOT DRINK!" Then as the voice of the thunder, I heard again the voice of the Lord, saying, "Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, 'YE SHALL CERTAINLY DRINK.'" (Jer.25:28) Then suddenly the giant hand forced the cup to the lips of the Statue of Liberty, and she became powerless to defend herself. The mighty hand of God forced her to drink every drop from the cup. As she drank the bitter dregs, these were the words that I heard, "'Should you be utterly unpunished? You shall not be unpunished: for I will call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth,' saith the Lord of Hosts." (Jer.25:29) When the cup was withdrawn from the lips of the Statue of Liberty, I noticed the sword was missing from the cup, which could mean but one thing. THE CONTENTS OF THE CUP HAD BEEN COMPLETELY CONSUMED! I knew that the sword merely typified war, death, and destruction, which is no doubt on the way.
Then as one drunken on too much wine, I saw the Statue of Liberty become unsteady on her feet and begin to stagger, and to lose her balance. I saw her splashing in the Gulf, trying to regain her balance. I saw her stagger again and again, and fall to her knees. As I saw her desperate attempts to regain her balance, and rise to her feet again, my heart was moved as never before with compassion for her struggles. But as she staggered there in the gulf, once again I heard these words, "Ye shall drink and be drunken, and spue, and fall, and rise no more because of the sword that I shall send among you."
As I watched, I wondered if the Statue of Liberty would ever be able to regain her feet - if she would ever stand again. And as I watched, it seemed that with all her power she struggled to rise, and finally staggered to her feet again, and stood there swaying drunkenly. I felt sure that at any moment she would fall again - possibly never to rise. I seemed overwhelmed with a desire to reach out my hand to keep her head above water, for I knew that if she ever fell again she would drown there in the Gulf.
"Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night, nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness, nor for the destruction that wastes at noonday." (Psalms 91:5,6)
Then as I watched, another amazing thing was taking place. Far to the Northwest, just out over Alaska, a huge, black cloud was arising. As it rose, it was as black as night. It seemed to be in the shape of a man's head. As it continued to arise, I observed two light spots in the black cloud. It rose further, and a gaping hole appeared. I could see that the black cloud was taking the shape of a skull, for now the huge, white, gaping mouth was plainly visible. Finally the head was complete. Then the shoulders began to appear and on either side long, black arms.
It seemed that what I saw was the entire North American Continent, spread out like a map upon a table with this terrible skeleton-formed cloud arising from behind the table. It rose steadily until the form was visible down to the waist. At the waist, the skeleton seemed to bend towards the United States, stretching forth a hand toward the East and one toward the West - one toward New York and one toward Seattle. As the awful form stretched forward, I could see that the entire attention seemed to be focused upon the U.S., overlooking Canada at least for the time being. As I saw the horrible black cloud in the form of a skeleton bending towards America, bending from the waist over, reaching down toward Chicago and out towards both coasts, I knew it's one interest was to destroy the multitudes.
As I watched in horror, the great black cloud stopped just above the great lakes region, and turned it's face towards New York City. Then out of the horrible, great gaping mouth began to appear wisps of white vapor which looked like smoke, as a cigarette smoker would blow puffs of smoke from his mouth. These whitish vapors were being blown toward New York City. The smoke began to spread, until it had covered all the eastern part of the United States.
Then the skeleton turned to the West, and out of the horrible mouth and nostrils came another great puff of white smoke. This time it was blown in the direction of the West Coast. In a few moments time, the entire West Coast and L.A. area was covered with it's vapors
Then towards the center came a third great puff. As I watched, St. Louis and Kansas City were enveloped in its white vapors. Then on it came towards New Orleans. Then on they swept until they reached the Statue of Liberty where she stood staggering drunkenly in The blue waters of The Gulf. As the white vapors began to spread around The head of the statue, she took in but one gasping breath, and then began to cough as though to rid her lungs of the horrible vapors she had inhaled. One could readily discern by the coughing that those white vapors had seared her lungs.
What were these white vapors? Could they signify bacteriological warfare or nerve gas that could destroy multitudes of people in a few moments time?
Then I heard the voice of God, as He spoke again: "Behold, the Lord maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof. And it shall be, as with the people. so with The priest; as with the servant, so with his master; as with the buyer, so with the seller, as with the taker of usury, so with the giver of usury to him. The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled : for The Lord has spoken this word. The earth mourneth and fadeth away, The world languisheth and fadeth away, the haughty people of the earth do languish . The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore has the curse devoured the earth and they that dwell therein are desolate; therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned and few men are left." (Isa.24:1-6)
As I watched, the coughing grew worse. It sounded like a person was about to cough out his lungs. The Statue was moaning and groaning. She was in mortal agony. The pain must have been terrific, as again and again, she tried to clear her lungs of those horrible white vapors. I watched her there in the Gulf, as she staggered, clutching her lungs and her breast with her hands. Then she fell to her knees. In a moment, she gave one final cough, and made a last desperate effort to rise from her knees, and then fell face forward into the waters of The Gulf and lay still as death. Tears ran down my face as I realized that she was dead! Only The lapping of The waves, splashing over her body, which was partly under the water, and partly out of water, broke the silence.
"A fire devoureth before them, and behind them a flame burneth; the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them, a desolate wilderness." (Joel 2:3)
Suddenly the silence was shattered by the screaming of sirens. The sirens seemed to scream, "RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!"
Never before had I heard such shrill, screaming sirens. They seemed to be everywhere - to the North, South, the East and the West. There seemed to be multitudes of sirens. And as I looked, I saw people everywhere running. But it seemed none of them ran more than a few paces, and then they fell. And even as I had seen the Statue struggling to regain her poise and balance, and finally falling to die on her face, I now saw millions of people falling in the streets, on the sidewalks, struggling. I heard their screams for mercy and help. I heard their horrible coughing as though their lungs had been seared with fire. I heard the moanings and groanings of the doomed and the dying. As I watched, a few finally reached shelters, and above the moaning and groanings, I heard these words:
"A noise shall come even to the ends of the earth for the Lord has a controversy with the nations. He will plead with all flesh; He will give them that are wicked to the sword, saith the Lord. Behold evil shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great whirlwind shall be raised up from the coasts of The earth. And The slain of the Lord shall be at that day from one end of the earth even onto the other end of the earth: they shall not be lamented neither gathered nor buried; they shall be dung upon the ground." (Jer. 25:31-33)
Then suddenly I saw from the Atlantic and from the Pacific, and out of the Gulf, rocket-like objects that seemed to come up like fish leaping out of the water . High into the air they leaped, each headed in a different direction, but every one towards The U.S. On The ground, the sirens screamed louder. And up from the ground I saw similar rockets begin to ascend. To me, these appeared to be interceptor rockets although they arose from different points all over the U.S. However, none of them seemed to be successful in intercepting the rockets that had risen from the ocean on every side. These rockets finally reached their maximum height, slowly turned over, and fell back toward the earth in defeat. Them suddenly, the rockets which had leaped out of the ocean like fish all exploded at once. The explosion was ear- splitting. The next thing which I saw was a huge ball of fire. The only thing I have ever seen which resembled the thing I saw in my vision was the picture of the explosion of the H-bomb in the South Pacific. In my vision, it was so real I seemed to fell a searing heat from it.
As the vision spread before my eyes, and I viewed the widespread desolation brought about by the terrific explosions, I could not help thinking, "While the defenders of our nation have quibbled over what means of defense to use, and neglected the only true means of defense, faith and dependence upon the true and living God, the thing which she greatly feared has come unto her! How true it has proven that 'Except the Lord keep The city, The watchman watches but in vain.'"
Then as the noise of the battle subsided, to my ears cam this quotation from Joel, the second chapter, "Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the LORD cometh, for it is nigh at hand;
A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains: a great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations.
A fire devoureth before them; and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses; and as horsemen, so shall they run.
Like the noise of chariots on the tops of mountains shall they leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that devoureth the stubble, as a strong people set in battle array.
Before their face the people shall be much pained: all faces shall gather blackness. They shall run like mighty men; they shall climb the wall like men of war; and they shall march every one on his ways, and they shall not break their ranks:
Neither shall one thrust another; they shall walk every one in his path: and when they fall upon the sword, they shall not be wounded.
They shall run to and fro in the city; they shall run upon the wall, they shall climb up upon the houses; they shall enter in at the windows like a thief.
The earth shall quake before them; the heavens shall tremble: the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining." (Joel 2:1-10)
Then the voice was still. The earth, too, was silent, with the silence of death. And then to my ears came another sound - a sound of distant singing. It was the sweetest music I had ever heard. There was joyful shouting, and sounds of happy laughter. Immediately I knew it was the rejoicing of The saints of God. I looked and there high in the heavens, above the smoke and poisonous gases, above The noise of the battle, I saw a huge mountain. It seemed to be of solid rock , and I knew at once that this was the Mountain of the Lord. The sounds of music and rejoicing were coming from a cleft, high up in the side of the rock mountain.
It was the saints of God who were doing the rejoicing. It was God's own people who were singing and dancing and shouting with joy, safe from all the harm which had come upon the earth, for they were hidden safely away in The cleft of the rock. There in the cleft, they were shut in, protected by a great, giant hand , which reached out of the heavens and which was none other than the hand of God, shutting them in, until the storm to be overpassed.