Feed This To The Church-Cook Away Nationalism

I had a dream. I saw a cast-iron cooking pot, similar to the ones used over campfires. Although the lid was on the pot, I knew it was full of soup and meat and very hot. The pot was almost as large as an antique wash pot. I saw what was supposed to be the body of the church in America. The church had a belly that was as tight as a drum. It looked like a buckskin stretched out on a frame. The pot was over a campfire that had been burning for a while, with a large ring of ashes all around. The church stood across the campfire from me. A voice said, “Feed this to the church.” Yes, a voice told me to feed a boiling pot to the church in America!

Belly Of The Church

I looked around for pot holders, ladles, bowls, and spoons, and found none. All I saw was a long metal rod. The voice said, “Just push the pot and lid straight into the belly.” All I could think of was how horrible the injuries would be!

Burnt Buckskin And Busted Wineskin

I thought of the parable in Ezekiel 24, but it didn’t seem to fit. Because the details didn’t align with the context and feelings in the dream. Afterwards, I thought of Isaiah. Because his unclean lips were touched by a live coal to take his sins away in Isaiah 6. Concurrently, I thought of the anguish of being burned and cooked from the inside out by a hot kettle of soup. It would be a more violent transformation than a coal on the lips. The buckskin belly being burnt open reminded me of a bursting wineskin.

Finally, my mind thought of Matthew 9 16-17:

“No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. Neither do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.”

Certainly, the belly of the church would be damaged as much or more by a hot caldron thrust into it than by the bursting of an old wineskin. The food cooked in the pot was good, but not to preserve or nourish an entity not capable of containing fire in their belly.

Internal Organs Of Nationalism

Perhaps the point of the dream is the internal organs of nationalism, cooked away from the inside out by the word of God. For God is not an American God. He is God of All. I pray that any good thing doesn’t become a stumbling block. A great nation is not a perfect nation. Of course the word of God, deeply rooted in a people, brings forth the rivers of living water needed for all who believe in Jesus.

The Bread Of Life

In John 6:35, Jesus said, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” Only Jesus matters, not our nation’s appointed time in history. Unfortunately, my use of artificial intelligence to create artwork falls short of what I see in dreams. However, I hope my point is understood.