Last night I had a dream that I was at a retreat and as a guest, the pope came.

The pope was a new one, not our current one. People all over the world were ecstatic about him. He was kind, winsome, and he knew the scriptures. Unfortunately, the world began to hail and embrace him as the coming Messiah. And when he arrived at our retreat, the whole place was electric.

“Did you see him yet?” one asked. People crowded around him just to see what he was like, confirming people’s expectations and hopes. I was in the middle of all of this, feeling rather warm myself about this man. But my inner conviction wanted me to, instead of embracing the next warmest thing, be critical and think with my head as I should.

So this one opportunity came when I was in a private group with this so called messiah. I was an observer in the pack. I was sitting in a chair, with my chin resting on hand, eyes focused, trying to figure this guy out. Then I saw something that disturbed me; he began abusing and ridiculing this guy. Who he was is unknown to me. He had him chained down to a reclining chair, much like ones you see in dentist offices, and began physically ridiculing him. Everyone around him supported him and cheered along the way, well because he was the pope-messiah. My reservations flared up and I left that group immediately.

I remember finding the nearest people I could and started telling them about this guy. I told them,”This is not the Messiah who is to come,” then the scriptures came to mind and to heart like a fire and I started quoted Matthew 23,” for Jesus had told us that as lightning comes on the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. And this pope-messiah is just a man, we are waiting for the God-man, Jesus. ”

And then the dream ended.

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The Lord is speaking to me about the necessity of being ready for His return, because many false prophets will arise. Even Jesus told his disciples, not worldly people, to not be deceived. The battle is going to be in the church to make decisions that will yield us blameless and shameless at His coming. During the years nearing His coming, we will witness the greatest fallout within the Church, as those who only claimed to believe in Jesus will love their lives more than Jesus when the tribulation is happening.

The dream has less to do about the pope than it has to do with us Christians not being ready and being so easily deceived because of our lack of understanding of the end-times.