By Hazel Holland
“No Safe Place to Hide… Except in Him!” is a dream that I received on June 26 1995 during the time of the Prayer Summit held at the La Sierra University Church of Seventh-day Adventists (SDA) in Riverside, California. The fact that this dream also coincided with the sessions of the General Conference of SDA held at that time in Utrecht, Holland, was no accident.
In view of the fact that the message contained within this dream appeared to be given as a warning for the SDA church, I felt an urgent responsibility to give a copy of it to those whom I personally knew were going to the Prayer Summit. They also felt that God was calling us to intercede and pray for the leadership of the SDA denomination because God was going to bring judgment to Adventism’s “house”.
At the time I wrote the first interpretation to this dream back in 1995, I was beginning to understand the freedom of the gospel, but I was still very much a child of Adventism. Growing up as a third generation SDA I had been profoundly affected by the spiritual and emotional environment in which I was raised. As a result, I had no clear understanding of the redemptive nature of the judgment God was going to bring upon Adventism’s “house”. Neither did I understand why I experienced this dream from the perspective of a child who knew nothing of what was going on, or why God chose to remove memories of my past and present life, along with my knowledge of God and Satan, heaven and hell.
For days after receiving this dream, the cries of fear that I had heard in the dream left me with a deep sense of foreboding. To this day I can still hear the cries of the people as God enters into judgment on behalf of His beloved Adventist children, but I’m no longer plagued by the helpless feelings of a child in my futile attempts to find a safe place to hide from the coming judgment.
This is because over the past few years I have come to understand that a veil was covering my mind at the time I was given this dream—the veil of the old covenant. It prevented me from clearly seeing the glory of the new covenant that Jesus Christ established when He died on the cross for our sins. Since that old covenant veil has now been removed from my mind, I walk in the freedom of the gospel and live by the power of the Spirit. Therefore, I trust God to give me His wisdom and a clearer understanding of what His puroposes are in giving me this dream to share with you at this time.
Some things I share in the interpretation of this dream will seem familiar to those of you who have read my first book, “The Naked Truth: Exposing the Deception of Adventism”. Although the symbolism is different, the basic message is the same. God continues to confront us with our cover-ups and denials, along with our spiritual blindness and fear of admitting there are problems in Adventism’s “house”.
Just as Jesus warned each of the seven churches of Asia Minor through the apostle John, "I know your works...", and then gave each of them the appropriate commendation or rebuke, so Jesus is speaking to Adventism’s “house” today. Through the vivid imagery of this dream Jesus is saying, “I know your works..." This is the primary reason God enters into judgment on behalf of His innocent children who set out to walk on His path but ended up on the path that leads to desolation.
Again in the book of Hebrews the writer confirms that God disciplines those He loves. “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when He rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines the one that He loves, and He chastens everyone He accepts as His son...” (Hebrews 12:5-6). The next few verses of this same chapter go on to tell us that God disciplines us for our own good even though no discipline seems pleasant at the time, but it eventually produces a harvest of righteousness in our lives.
I share these Scriptures because I believe they give us biblical support for the warning message of this dream. While a different warning message was given to each of the seven churches in Asia Minor, each message was also directed to all of the churches in that region. I believe this implies that each message that was written to the churches is a message that applies to every congregation of God's people today.
In a similar way, although the warning message of this dream applies primarily to Adventism’s “house”, I believe it is certainly relevant to the entire body of Christ. Churches and congregations who continue to hold on to a piece of the old covenant as their strong tower and place of refuge will eventually receive the discipline of the Lord.
If we have any doubt about God's judgment and discipline of Christians, we need to more fully understand the warnings given to these churches in Revelation 2 and 3. They give us clear insight and warn us of how God will discipline churches today if they do not judge themselves first and repent.
As you read this dream and the following interpretation, I pray that you who are Adventsts will begin to see your own experience in law bound living from a new perspective.—God’s perspective! And for those of you who are not so overtly law bound as Adventists, but just as performance driven, particularly in Charismatic and Pentecostal circles, I pray that you too will have the courage to release your hold on old covenant teachings that have become your strong tower and place of refuge.
May the veil of the old covenant that has blinded so many of us from fully seeing the truth of the gospel be removed from our hearts and minds once and for all. It’s time to let the One who died for us remove the grave clothes that have bound us from head to toe. It’s time to stop trying to protect ourselves from deception by trusting in our “fig leaves”.
Instead, let us cry out in repentance saying, “All our works must wither like grass and fall to the ground like the flowers of the field."[1] Instead, let us choose to place our faith and confidence in the finished work of Jesus Christ, and let the glory of the risen Lord clothe us in His righteousness alone. For He is the One we must run to. He is the solid Rock beneath our feet. There’s no safe place to hide… except in Him!”
___________________________________________________________________________
Footnote: [1] Isaiah 40:8
Next: Foreword or THE DREAM
“No Safe Place to Hide… Except in Him!” is a dream that I received on June 26 1995 during the time of the Prayer Summit held at the La Sierra University Church of Seventh-day Adventists (SDA) in Riverside, California. The fact that this dream also coincided with the sessions of the General Conference of SDA held at that time in Utrecht, Holland, was no accident.
In view of the fact that the message contained within this dream appeared to be given as a warning for the SDA church, I felt an urgent responsibility to give a copy of it to those whom I personally knew were going to the Prayer Summit. They also felt that God was calling us to intercede and pray for the leadership of the SDA denomination because God was going to bring judgment to Adventism’s “house”.
At the time I wrote the first interpretation to this dream back in 1995, I was beginning to understand the freedom of the gospel, but I was still very much a child of Adventism. Growing up as a third generation SDA I had been profoundly affected by the spiritual and emotional environment in which I was raised. As a result, I had no clear understanding of the redemptive nature of the judgment God was going to bring upon Adventism’s “house”. Neither did I understand why I experienced this dream from the perspective of a child who knew nothing of what was going on, or why God chose to remove memories of my past and present life, along with my knowledge of God and Satan, heaven and hell.
For days after receiving this dream, the cries of fear that I had heard in the dream left me with a deep sense of foreboding. To this day I can still hear the cries of the people as God enters into judgment on behalf of His beloved Adventist children, but I’m no longer plagued by the helpless feelings of a child in my futile attempts to find a safe place to hide from the coming judgment.
This is because over the past few years I have come to understand that a veil was covering my mind at the time I was given this dream—the veil of the old covenant. It prevented me from clearly seeing the glory of the new covenant that Jesus Christ established when He died on the cross for our sins. Since that old covenant veil has now been removed from my mind, I walk in the freedom of the gospel and live by the power of the Spirit. Therefore, I trust God to give me His wisdom and a clearer understanding of what His puroposes are in giving me this dream to share with you at this time.
Some things I share in the interpretation of this dream will seem familiar to those of you who have read my first book, “The Naked Truth: Exposing the Deception of Adventism”. Although the symbolism is different, the basic message is the same. God continues to confront us with our cover-ups and denials, along with our spiritual blindness and fear of admitting there are problems in Adventism’s “house”.
Just as Jesus warned each of the seven churches of Asia Minor through the apostle John, "I know your works...", and then gave each of them the appropriate commendation or rebuke, so Jesus is speaking to Adventism’s “house” today. Through the vivid imagery of this dream Jesus is saying, “I know your works..." This is the primary reason God enters into judgment on behalf of His innocent children who set out to walk on His path but ended up on the path that leads to desolation.
Again in the book of Hebrews the writer confirms that God disciplines those He loves. “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when He rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines the one that He loves, and He chastens everyone He accepts as His son...” (Hebrews 12:5-6). The next few verses of this same chapter go on to tell us that God disciplines us for our own good even though no discipline seems pleasant at the time, but it eventually produces a harvest of righteousness in our lives.
I share these Scriptures because I believe they give us biblical support for the warning message of this dream. While a different warning message was given to each of the seven churches in Asia Minor, each message was also directed to all of the churches in that region. I believe this implies that each message that was written to the churches is a message that applies to every congregation of God's people today.
In a similar way, although the warning message of this dream applies primarily to Adventism’s “house”, I believe it is certainly relevant to the entire body of Christ. Churches and congregations who continue to hold on to a piece of the old covenant as their strong tower and place of refuge will eventually receive the discipline of the Lord.
If we have any doubt about God's judgment and discipline of Christians, we need to more fully understand the warnings given to these churches in Revelation 2 and 3. They give us clear insight and warn us of how God will discipline churches today if they do not judge themselves first and repent.
As you read this dream and the following interpretation, I pray that you who are Adventsts will begin to see your own experience in law bound living from a new perspective.—God’s perspective! And for those of you who are not so overtly law bound as Adventists, but just as performance driven, particularly in Charismatic and Pentecostal circles, I pray that you too will have the courage to release your hold on old covenant teachings that have become your strong tower and place of refuge.
May the veil of the old covenant that has blinded so many of us from fully seeing the truth of the gospel be removed from our hearts and minds once and for all. It’s time to let the One who died for us remove the grave clothes that have bound us from head to toe. It’s time to stop trying to protect ourselves from deception by trusting in our “fig leaves”.
Instead, let us cry out in repentance saying, “All our works must wither like grass and fall to the ground like the flowers of the field."[1] Instead, let us choose to place our faith and confidence in the finished work of Jesus Christ, and let the glory of the risen Lord clothe us in His righteousness alone. For He is the One we must run to. He is the solid Rock beneath our feet. There’s no safe place to hide… except in Him!”
___________________________________________________________________________
Footnote: [1] Isaiah 40:8
Next: Foreword or THE DREAM
