Realization of Prophetic Visions
By Philip Mark Ames
"I know a man in Christ
who, fourteen years ago (whether in body I do not know, or outside of the body
I do not know; God knows) was caught away to the third heaven. And I know this
man (whether in body or apart from the body I do not know; God knows) that was
snatched away into paradise, and he heard unspoken sayings which it is not
lawful for man to speak." This statement of fact was made by the Apostle
Paul in his second letter to the Christians in Corinth. (II Cor.
12:1- 4)
The third heaven is a
reality. It has been visited by several of God's prophets in ancient times. The
Apostle Paul is the only one of them who calls it the third heaven. The others
simply relate their experience, telling what they saw and heard and felt. Among
those who by God's Spirit entered the third heaven were Moses, Isaiah, Ezekiel,
Daniel, Zechariah, and the Apostles Peter, James and, John.
The purpose of this book is
to disclose the meaning or certain things written by two of those men. Some of
the things seen by both Daniel and John while in the third heaven are even now
taking place. In order to fully grasp the fulfillment of the visions, it is
necessary to appreciate the reality of the third heaven. What, then, is it?
To begin with, the term,
"heaven", denotes a relatively invisible expanse in which objects can
be seen. This, the first heaven for any planet is its surrounding atmosphere.
The second heaven is the entire realm of space in, which all the stars,
galaxies, comets, planets, etc., exist. Just as the second heaven encompasses
the first and everything within it, so also is everything in both first and
second included in the third. Hence, the third heaven is not located somewhere
in distant outer space. No, but it is actually everywhere. Stated in another
way, the third heaven is a fifth dimension.
The three dimensions of
geometry (earth-measuring) are mutually inclusive. This page can be measured
for width and length only because it also has a measurable thickness. But the
fourth dimension (time) is also involved; any object is measurable only during
the time in which it exists. Conversely, time is measurable by man only in
relation to moving objects.
Beyond these limiting
factors, there is at least one more dimension. This fifth dimension includes
everything within the first four, but is not limited to or by them. There are
many realities which are invisible to the human eye. These are clearly seen in
the fifth dimension; but only by spirits. (A spirit being is a body of energy,
roughly comparable to wind, fire, or electricity, yet possessing in some degree
the faculties of consciousness, sensitivity, and intelligence.) Because of its
relative invisibility, the realm of the fifth dimension is called heaven.
When Jesus Christ wanted the
Apostle John to see things taking place in that third heaven, he performed a
miracle by Holy Spirit. John describes it in this way; "Immediately I came
to be in spirit." (Rev. 4:2) While "in spirit", John was able to
see the realities of the third heaven, We could also see more completely the
things of the second and first heavens, as well as the earth and sea. He could
even see under or inside the earth and sea. Furthermore, Jesus showed him
scenes from the past, present, and future.
Another mysterious aspect of
the fifth dimension is the visibility of thoughts. Just as the electro-magnetic
waves emanating from a television station produce pictures on the screen of the
receiver, so also do the thought waves of man produce patterns in the realm of
the third heaven. These are visible to spirits. They may appear beautiful or
ugly, large or small.
When a like thought is
shared by many people, it may appear in the fifth dimension as a massive living
creature. And, for as long as the people continue to nurture that
thought-creature mentally, it continues to exist in the third heaven. Any
certain set of thoughts or "way of thinking" is called an ideology.
Other terms used for describing such thought patterns are "faith",
"belief", "religion", or "ism".
Down through the centuries
of man's history, there have been several very prominent ideologies which have
prevailed over portions of mankind for periods of time. People are ruled by
what they believe in; their way of thinking governs their actions, For that
reason, the belief of a people could rightly be called their king, When they espouse
a certain religion or faith, then that ideology becomes the kingdom of which
they are subjects.
As an example of this, note
the eighth chapter of the book of Daniel. There you may read of the
fifth-dimension view of two great ideologies. The first is Zoroastrianism, the
governing belief of the Medes and Persians. Yes, their religion was their king.
And it was promoted by the human kings in the royal dynasties of Media and Persia. Before
adopting the teachings of a man named Zoroaster (Zarathustra) both nations were
rather insignificant on the world scene. But, when first the kingdom of the
Medes, and then also Cyrus, the king of the Persians, began to zealously spread
their new religion, they rose to undisputed world power. The Zoroastrian
religion was seen by Daniel as a powerful ram. The ram's two horns were the
monarchies of Media and Persia.
While Daniel was watching
the ram, he saw a second living creature approaching. He describes it as a
he-goat having one great horn between its eyes. The he-goat attacked and
trampled the two-horned ram. This he-goat was the king of the Greeks. That king
or ruling ideology was called Hellenism. The great horn of the he-goat was Hellenism’s
first dynastic monarchy. It was begun by Philip of Macedon, and greatly
strengthened by his son Alexander. When Alexander conquered the Medo-Persian Empire, he spread Hellenism throughout its
entire realm, thus trampling Zoroastrianism.
Daniel's vision continues
and is explained to him by an angel. But, that prophecy is not the subject of
this book. I mention it only to show the way in which thought-patterns are seen
spiritually as living things; and that such fifth-dimension creations actually
rule as kings over their devoted adherents.
Appreciating these aspects
of the fifth dimension, or third heaven, leads toward a clearer view of
prophetic visions. The visions which this book discusses were seen by the
Prophet Daniel and the Apostle John. Daniel received miraculous visions both
while asleep and while awake. But all the visions of John were experienced by
him while he was fully awake. In fact, he wrote down what he saw and heard even
as it was being revealed to him.
Included in John's report,
are visions of four great enemies of God. The identification of these is the
subject of Part II of this book. Part I is the explanation of the seventh
chapter of Daniel, in which that prophet describes his dream-vision of four
huge living things. In both parts, I offer explanations which differ completely
from the traditional interpretations ventured by Catholics and Protestants. I
do not know of anyone who has presented similar explanations. Even the more
recent prophecy-oriented religious groups have accepted the standard views,
making only slight changes,
I have not taken from any
human source the interpretations I present here. Nor do I consider myself to be
sufficiently wise or discerning to have figured them out on my own. I believe
that God's Spirit has directed by thinking and opened my mind to the correct
understandings these very important prophetic visions, However, I do not claim
to be a prophet. Nor do I ask that my writing be viewed as inspired of God or
infallible. I simply offer this book as a statement of what I believe to be the
true interpretations of the things discussed herein. Yet, I do believe that
interpretation belongs only to God. Therefore should this book really prove to
be truth, I can accept no credit for myself; all glory and honor and praise
belong to God, the Revealer of secrets. (Daniel 2:27-30)
Philip Mark Ames
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Written by: Philip Mark Ames - - - ©
1975 Philip Mark Ames. All rights reserved.