Recently I had a dream that I knew had a message in it from the Lord. I could not understand the meaning of the dream until several days later when God used a handicapped girl to help unlock the interpretation.

In my dream, a woman approached me and gave me a kiss on the cheek. She left a big smudge of drool on my face that began to drip down on my clothes. A sad look came over her, she quickly backed up several steps and said, "I'm sorry!" I replied, "Oh, don't worry about that. It doesn't bother me one bit!" I didn't even try to wipe off the drool. Then the dream ended.

A few days later, my wife and I had three handicapped girls from a rehabilitation center as guests in our home. It was their school vacation and they had nowhere to go. One of them was an eighteen-year-old named Cathy.

Most girls at that age are busy trying to make themselves look more beautiful, going out on dates, being active in sports, or talking on the telephone. Not so with Cathy. She has had cerebral palsy all her life and is severely limited in what she can do. She cannot talk very well; when she speaks you have to listen closely and ask her to repeat her words several times. She is not able to move around much; in fact, she cannot even turn over. If you place her on her stomach when she goes to bed at night, that is how she will be in the morning. She has a lot of difficulty sitting up straight in her wheelchair, so most of the time she is slumped forward. She has limited movement in her arms, and when they do move, they don't usually go in the direction she wants. And yes, she has other problems: like having to wear diapers and drooling.

It would seem that anyone who is so greatly handicapped would not be able to accomplish much in life, but that is not true. The power of God is often manifested through our disabilities.

One morning while the girls were here, I received a call from an old man who lives nearby, asking me if I would pick him up and give him a ride to town. Cathy overheard me talking on the phone, and after I hung up, she asked if she could come along so she could meet him. That was fine with me, so I pushed her in her wheelchair up my homemade ramp into the Bread of Life van and off we went to pick up the old man.

Now, I have been friendly with this man for several years and have given him plenty of rides, but I have never had the opportunity to meet the real person that he is. I have wanted to have some meaningful conversations with him, but have found that hard to do. If I try to talk about the Lord, he goes on and on about how religious he is. This man is obsessed with trying to impress people. Regardless of what I say, he always manages to bring the conversation around to himself. I would like to break through all that self-centeredness and be able to commun- icate some important things to him--but I can't. I have tried and tried without success.

The reason Cathy could not go home during her vacation was because her father, a professional singer, was away on a concert tour, and her mother could not lift her alone. I have some of her dad's music on cassettes and love to listen to him sing, so as soon as the old man got in the van, I introduced him to Cathy, stuck one of her dad's cassettes in the player, set it to one of my favorite songs and said to the old man, "That is Cathy's dad singing on the tape."

He replied, "Oh, really?" but did not seem to be that impressed. Then he began to launch into one of his self-propaganda campaigns when something very powerful happened, and I know it was from the Lord.

He was sitting in the front seat of the van, and there behind him was Cathy, leaning forward in her wheelchair, drooling on his shoulder--and suddenly she began to sing along with her father.

Now she cannot carry a tune very well, but to hear a melody coming from someone who is in such a disabled condition was one of the most beautiful sounds I have ever heard. No professional, including her father, could compete with that. She smashed through something that old man had spent a lifetime building: an image that was thicker than the walls of Jericho. I know she got through to him because he became quiet and actually stopped trying to impress us. I have never seen him act like this.

As he was leaving the van, I took a paper towel and began to wipe the drool off his coat, and he said, "That doesn't bother me . . . not one bit!" I remembered that was what I had said to the woman in my dream when she kissed me and left a smudge of drool on my cheek! Oh, how good the Lord is to me for giving me such a dream. Let me share the meaning of it with you now.

The woman in my dream represents the Bride of Christ (my brothers and sisters in the Lord). Her kissing me on the cheek and leaving a big smudge of drool shows a sincere greeting of love. She did not try to flatter me or place me on a pedestal. The cheek or face is what people look at to recognize us. How we appear to others has become an obsession with most of us. Anyone who allows drool to remain on his face is not trying to create an impressive image.

When the woman in my dream realized she had altered my appearance, she backed away from me and apologized for what she had done. This indicates that when we Christians come together, we find it difficult to communicate in an honest way. We don't relate to one another--to the real person--we relate to one another's image. This is not good. It is the way the world operates. How can we have true fellowship under such pretense?

We don't talk to one another as brothers or sisters in the Lord; it is one self image speaking to another self image. We have done this so much that we have forgotten how to be real; we are blinded to our true identity. Try relating to others in real honesty and they won't know how to deal with you.

This image game that we Christians play is destroying us as well as others. The Bible warns that "a flattering mouth worketh ruin" (Prov.26:28); yet we continue to speak to people in a way that will feed their ego and build up their image. We tell them what they want to hear regardless of how much it will hurt them in the long run.

The Lord does not operate this way. He only speaks what is true because He is The Truth (John 14:6). We find it difficult to deal with reality, so we often block our ears and close our minds to His Word; but He always remains truthful.

One day the disciples privately asked Jesus what would be the sign of His coming and of the end of the world (Mat.24:3). He told them about many signs that would come which we can see being rapidly fulfilled now. But the big final sign that will usher in the Great Tribulation that is to take place before the end of the world (as we know it) is THE ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, STANDING IN THE HOLY PLACE (Mat.24:15).

That prophecy was given through Daniel about 500 B.C. Around three hundred years later, it was partially fulfilled when Antiochus Epiphanes--a wicked ruler of Judea--set up a deplorable statue in the holiest part of the temple, then offered swine for sacrifice and destroyed all the sacred Writings. And in the year 70 A.D., the Romans, under the leadership of Titus, entered the holy temple in Jerusalem and leveled it to the ground. That was another partial fulfillment of the prophecy. But there is still more to come of this prediction about the abomination of desolation standing in the holy place!

Speaking about something that will take place before that Great Day of the return of our Lord, the Bible says, "Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God" (2 Thess.2:3-4).

A traditional teaching is that the final fulfillment of the prophecy of the abomination of desolation will occur sometime in the future when the temple of God will be rebuilt in Jerusalem and the antichrist will enter it and claim to be God. It is more comfortable for us to believe that this awful event will occur someday down the corridor of time after we have crossed over to be with the Lord. I am not saying that this is not going to happen, but let us at least be willing to look at it from another point of view; for, after all, right after the scripture verse that tells of the sign of the abomination of desolation, it says "(whoso readeth, let him understand)" (Mat.24:15).

Here is something to think and pray about: I believe this is happening now--but few may want to try to understand it.

The Bible says that the ". . . Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands" (Acts 17:24). It also says (speaking to Christians), "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?" (1Cor.3:16). And again it says, ". . . ye are God's building" (1Cor.3:9). Now, if we are the temple of God, how could the abomination of desolation stand in us? A man could not fit inside our skin, nor could we be cut open and have a statue put inside us. No--not a statue--but an image--a self image could very easily get right into your heart, the holy place reserved for Christ! Think about it: that old self image wants you to worship it as the god of your life!

When an image is knocked down from the throne of a man's life, the man will often fall down with it--unless he gives that place over to Christ. Many men and women go into deep depression, some will even end their own lives when they are forced to leave their jobs, because their work has become their identity. Their self image has become engraved on their soul.

We should take serious heed to a warning that the Bible gives to us when it says, "Keep (guard) thy heart (spirit) with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life" (Prov.4:23). You may be on guard against Satan trying to thrust some greed, lust or bitterness into your heart, but are you aware that he is able to slip into it a self image that could ruin your life? There is nothing more deadly for a child of God to do than for him to build and worship an image. Even when he does this unintentionally, it is just as destructive.

The thirteenth chapter of Revelation speaks of a beast rising up out of the sea that was given power by the dragon. This beast blasphemed against God and made war with the saints. It overcame many of the children of God and controlled all who dwelt upon the earth whose names were not written in the book of life. Then a second beast rose up--this one coming out of the earth--with the same power as the first one and did great lying wonders to deceive all who dwell on the earth so that they would make an image to the first beast. This man made image of the beast would speak and demand that any who did not worship it would be killed, that all should receive a mark in their right hand or in their forehead, and without that mark no man could buy or sell.

The Bible contains much symbolism, which is a secret code that God uses to hide truths from those who would misuse them, while He reveals them to others who will take them to heart. The interpretation of this symbolic code does not come through the intellect of man; it is given by the Holy Spirit. He gives us a little at a time, so we should not think that we have the full meaning of certain scripture verses; but rather we should keep our spiritual ears tuned to listen for the Lord to continue to teach us, because we all still have much to learn from Him.

Time is winding down and events are moving ahead at an accelerated pace. I believe we are much closer to the fulfillment of the prophecy in Revelation than we realize. I do not think that the image built at the command of the beast will be a statue that can talk, even though that would not be an impossibility in this electronic age. Rather than a speaking statue, it could be what men are feverishly at work building now more than ever: a self image.

The sea in the Bible is sometimes symbolic of humanity. The beast that rises up out of the sea could very well be the beast of GREED. The mark of the beast placed IN rather than on the forehead could indicate what a man is thinking inside his head, and the mark IN rather than on his right hand could represent the strength within his body. When a self image is built and worshipped to the extreme, there could come a point of no return. That is when a man goes out of reality and in his mind (forehead) he actually becomes the image he has built rather than the real person God created him to be; and what he does with his strength (right hand) is only what the image will allow him to do or cause him to do--and that could be extremely dangerous.

When a man is under total control of the image, is it possible that he has received the mark of the beast? Now that is really something to think about!

The Bible says, "For the LOVE of money is the root of all evil" (1Tim.6:10). ALL evil! Money in itself is not evil--it is the love of money. Not the love of a piece of green paper or a gold coin, but the love of having power and control over others, which is what money can do when used in the wrong way.

Love of money and image making go hand in hand, and America is the IMAGE MAKER OF THE WORLD. It is getting hard to sell any product in this country without attaching an image to it. Consider how many young people have already lost their lives while under the influence of alcohol, who began drinking to build a macho self image as a likeness to a famous sports figure who--for the love of money--allowed himself to be displayed on television to influence others to drink a certain kind of alcoholic beverage.

It is not only the worldly merchants who build images. We parents are also skillful at it. We very carefully teach our kids at an early age how to act to give Mom and Dad a good image. The Bible teaches us to "be not conformed to this world" (Rom.12:2); yet we Christians still go on building images.

Look what we have done to the evangelists. Instead of treating them as humble messengers of God, we have encouraged them to build their images as corporate directors, building super- visors, investment counselors, and super fund raisers. These images have been so engraved in some of them that they have forgotten who they are as precious children of God. They can only see the illusion we have thrust upon them. And many of them cannot handle it when God allows their feet of clay to be held to a refining fire to melt away their harmful image.

And let us be honest about all these elaborate church buildings and fancy cathedrals. Do we really need them for worship? Or do we build them to create an impressive image that will help increase membership and raise funds for a ministry?

God is an image breaker. The worldly religions may be able to keep their harmful images a while longer; they will be dealt with later. The Lord is first taking care of His precious Bride by smashing all her images so she will know who she really is--in Him. All this imagery has caused a blindness to reality in the Bride of Christ; but the Lord is good and He comes to us with healing in His wings (Mal.4:2).

Jesus cured a blind man in a most unusual way. You won't find this method in the medical books. The Bible says, "He spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay. And said unto him, Go wash in the pool of Siloam (which is by interpretation, Sent.) He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing" (John 9:6-7). This scripture verse has blessed me many times in the past and now the Lord is using it to help unfold the meaning of my dream.

I looked up the Greek word for spittle. It is "ptoos'mah" which in English is "saliva." Clay represents us. The Bible says that God is the Potter and we are the clay (Isa.64:8). When something from the mouth of God (His Word) is applied to us (the clay), a wonderful thing happens which is described in the Scriptures: "Even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish" (Eph.5:25-27).

Remember how I said that our face is what people look at to recognize us? And how we pridefully build a self image to influence the way we are viewed by others? Well, when the Word of God is applied to our face, that clay image is washed off and then we know who we really are in Christ, which is our true identity. By faith we view ourselves as cleansed by the blood of Christ, covered with His righteousness. By believing the Word of God, we claim our salvation by what Christ has done for us on the cross, not by any works we may or may not do. We also see other Christians as who they really are in Christ.

We make the Word of God ineffective when we minister to others if we are afraid we will damage their image. This was revealed in my dream when the woman placed the spittle (Word of God) on my face and then, when she realized what it would do to my image, said, "I'm sorry." Why should she apologize for doing what was good for me and right in the sight of God?

If the Lord uses someone to strike down your self image, don't get defensive, but rather turn the other cheek and say, "Thanks, I needed that; do it again!" Oh, some will view you as having "drool" on your face, but why should you care? That should not bother you . . . not one bit.

There is another horrible beast that tries to control us. It is something that is dead yet seems very much alive, and is able to speak; and it causes as much harm as any image. In a way, it is an image because it is no longer real or alive. It is what the Bible calls, "The old man, the flesh, the carnal man." It could also be called our old adamic nature. Whatever label you place upon it, it is dead because it has been crucified on the cross with Christ (Rom.6:6).

You may say, "It sure doesn't feel dead to me!" But reality is not what you feel in your flesh; it is what God has declared in His Word. The Bible says, "Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Rom.6:11). When Satan tempts us, it is an opportunity for us to put into action something wonderful and powerful that the Lord has given us--which is faith--and believe the Word of God rather than our feelings.

How would you like to go with me to a graveyard and dig up an old dead body, then carry it around with us and say to God, "Please speak to this guy!" or drag it to a group of believers who are walking with the Lord and say to them, "Here, have some fellowship with this creature!"? Does that sound weird? Well it is. But it is no worse than when we walk in the flesh of the old dead man that has been crucified with Christ or in the disguise of a man made self image!

We must make constant decisions as to whether we will walk (live) after the flesh or the Spirit. The Bible says, "Walk in the Spirit and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh" (Gal.5:16); and that, "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit" (Rom.8:1). The choice is ours. But remember, when we walk after the flesh, we deny what Christ has done on the cross for us. When we try to earn our own righteousness, we frustrate the grace of God by not believing in the finished work that Jesus did for us on the cross of Calvary.

The Word of God says, "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold all things are become new" (2Cor.5:17). Oh, what God went through to give us this new life. Why do we settle for anything less? Perhaps we think that it is simply too good to be true. But it is true, it is reality for all who have received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

It is vital to our lives that we live in our true identity, which is what God has declared us to be in Christ, not in a dead self image or in the old unredeemed, unforgiven person we were before we were saved. We need to see ourselves as precious children of God, cleansed from sin by the blood of Christ, covered with the garments of salvation and the robe of righteousness that were woven at Calvary. Let me remind you that your self image is worthless to the Lord, but the real you is of the utmost value to Him; for He purchased you at the highest price ever paid in the history of the universe!

Think how happy we could be if we would cast down all these self image idols. What wonderful fellowship we could have one with another as we walk in the light of Christ rather than flirting with images. Think how pleasing we will be to our Heavenly Father if we drop the image and believe His word for our true identity.