There are prophetic revelations that come poignantly in a dream, vision, or word. In my experience, these are usually about personal or localized issues that do not have widespread impact or long-term consequences. This is not to lessen their importance, and as with most of what we’re addressing, this is a principle and not a law. There are exceptions to principles, but the above has generally been my experience. Most of the time, major events that could impact nations come as unfolding revelations over time.

      Using as an example my West Coast prophecies of the coming devastating and widespread destruction, I was first shown these events in a two-and-a-half day prophetic experience I had in the fall of 1987. In 1988, I wrote them in my book titled, The Harvest, in which I linked a coming great earthquake in Japan to quakes on our West Coast and a worldwide economic collapse. For nearly 25 years, I have been pondering these events and listening to what others have been getting about this. Some did have pieces I did not have, and later, I was given prophetic dreams or experiences that added more to the whole picture. Even so, I still don’t claim to have the full revelation. As we are told in I Corinthians13, we see in part, know in part, and prophesy in part. Therefore, I do not think anyone has the whole picture.

     I have never put all that I have together in one message to share publicly simply because I don’t think it is time for that. To the degree that what I have shared so far has been disruptive to some on the West Coast, if I shared all that I have seen, I think it could cause a panic. Even so, by its nature, an alarm must be irritating to get your attention. Alarms for greater threats must be even more disconcerting. There is a time to scream and holler as loud as you can, but I don’t think we’re there yet in relation to this word. I still think there is time for the response to be orderly and will not share all that I have about this without very clear instructions from the Lord that it's time.

     We are told in I Corinthians14:32: “the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets.” I interpret this to mean that we need to use our judgment in when, where, and how to communicate what we are seeing prophetically, unless we get a specific directive from the Lord to do otherwise. Because of the serious consequences of these warnings, I am concerned about not putting them out rashly or in a way that could be counter-productive. However, I confess to being far more concerned with not being heard because I was not clear than I am for possible disruptions in people’s lives. Disruptions can be bad, but being disrupted in order to live is worth it. This is a life or death issue, potentially for millions.

      An important factor with our judgment about how, when, and where to communicate what we’ve been shown is found in I Corinthians 14:33: “for God is not a God of confusion but of peace.” Some will be confused about every word and some will immediately lose their peace if you just mention hardships, difficulties, and especially God’s judgments. The Apostle Peter wrote about how the “unstable and untaught distort” Paul’s teachings “to their own destruction” (see II Peter 3:16). There always will be some of that, and you cannot determine that the word is true or not true because of the way people take it. As I shared above, I am often surprised by who the stable and mature turn out to be, as well as who the unstable can be. We can be very mature and stable in some areas and very dull and behind in others.

     However, I never want to cause any more disruption than is absolutely necessary. There may be a time when, as in the case of Lot, to be so disrupted that you leave everything behind, even the things that the Lord has blessed you with. In such situations it can be deadly to keep looking back. Even so, as much as possible, we should seek to impart the peace that can only be found in the realization that the Lord is in control, and if we turn to Him we will come through this.

     Examples of how a word can be handled with perfect wisdom but still cause what appears to be bad consequences are abundant in the Scriptures. We have to believe that Jesus shared His prophecies with the highest wisdom and judgment, and yet some of them, like the impending destruction of the temple, caused a virtual national outrage. This prophecy was an obvious factor in why the multitudes, just five days earlier, were welcoming Him as their Messiah and now calling for His crucifixion.

      Whether it is fair or not, people are prone to shoot the messenger that comes with what they consider to be bad news. One of the things you learn in Crisis Intervention and Stress Management training for Disaster Response is that about one-third of the people who receive a death notice about a loved one react violently. There are many cases of such going to another room to get a gun to literally shoot the messenger. Police deal with this all the time. People seldom do well with bad news. When we’re giving a prophetic warning about an impending disaster, even though it is bad news about something that has not happened yet, we are still naïve if we think people are going to receive it well.

     Do you still want this job? You should. There may not be a lot of glamour or reward for it in this life, but nothing is as wonderful as serving the Lord. We must esteem doing His will above anything we can get in this life, and it is worth it.