HomeARC ML 1106
RUSSIAN FAIRGROUND DREAM!--By Father David DFO 1106 10/6/81
1. PTL! TYL! I HAVE TO GET BACK IN THE SPIRIT, HONEY! Amen, Lord, do help me remember if I can. I ought to have my own little tape recorder over here so I can use it when I need it. Why can't I have one? Hmm?...Sitting here with you, my dream of love! But I'd better put first things first. I still don't know what it means, but since I remember it I guess I'd better tell you. But I have to get back in the Spirit to try to see it again & remember it more clearly.
2. WELL, PTL! TYJ! HALLELUJAH! I DON'T UNDERSTAND THIS DREAM BUT I'LL JUST DESCRIBE IT AS IT HAPPENED & AS I SAW IT. Maybe we'll get some meaning out of it. But I feel like I must tell you because it was so clear & it was so impressive & it was really vivid & real at the time. And even when I woke up during the night remembering it, it seemed I'd go back to sleep & dream more of it. And finally in the early hours I woke up thinking about it & going over it again to make sure I wouldn't forget it, but early in the morning I didn't want to wake Maria since we'd gotten in bed rather late. So I prayed the Lord would help me remember it & I went over it in my mind thinking back again & again to the various things that happened, trying to figure out why & what it meant. But I still don't exactly know or understand.
3. I SUPPOSE YOU COULD CALL THIS "THE RUSSIAN DISNEYLAND DREAM" because it was about a thing that was sort of like an amusement park run by the Russians on the banks of this broad peaceful lake or river, I don't know which. It might have been a river because it seemed that further down the highway there was a big bridge across it. On the other side there were hills & mountains, but on our side along the banks of the water there was a big huge parking lot for cars parked there for going to the amusement park.
4. IT WASN'T EXACTLY AN AMUSEMENT PARK, IT WAS REALLY STRANGE, IT WAS MORE LIKE IT WAS SORT OF A BIG HUGE SHOPPING MALL, giant giant shopping mall with lots & lots of walking streets & stores & offices, almost like a whole city across the highway from the river & the parking lot. As I look at it now in memory--I can see it yet--the lake or river, whichever it was, on my right, & it's like I'm standing in the parking lot beside it & I can look across the highway to the left. It was not a superhighway, just an ordinary two-lane highway, nothing monstrous, sort of like out in the country. And on the other side is this huge--I don't know what to call it, that's why I just call it a Russian Disneyland!
5. THERE WERE A FEW SHOPS & CONCESSIONS ETC. OUTSIDE THE GATE, but then there was this main gate where you had to pay admission sort of like Disneyland with the teller or cashier inside sort of a cage or box just like when you go into a theater or cinema. And there were several Russian guards standing around like police officers, everybody very friendly & everybody seemed to be having a good time. It looked like people came there to have a good time or to shop or for amusement or whatever. It was something you were apparently supposed to enjoy.
6. AND IT HAD ONE OF THOSE ZIG-ZAG GATES WITH IRON RAILING that you sort of go back & forth through first to get to the box office to prevent vehicles & motorbikes etc. from coming in. It was strictly walking streets. And with these police & guards standing around--there were only about three or four of them--& they seemed to be relaxed & chatting with each other & answering questions of customers. It reminded me so much of--maybe I shouldn't say Disneyland--but like the World's Fair.
7. AND THEY HAD A SPECIAL UNIFORM ON WHICH WAS DIFFERENT FROM THE USUAL RUSSIAN MILITARY UNIFORM. They were like a special police, reminded me a little bit of the U.N. They were not wearing blue berets but they were wearing garrison caps with a bright blue band around it & some blue on their uniform, a very bright cheerful pretty sort of uniform. They wore garrison caps like police officers wear with a little brim out in front, a sort of a stiff hat that most Western military officers wear when in uniform, & with this blue band around outside the headband, bright blue, about United Nations blue colour like those U.N. peacekeeping troops we saw in Cyprus. Only instead of blue berets they were wearing these partly blue garrison caps.
8. THE WHOLE THING WAS HAPPY, CHEERFUL & EVERYBODY SEEMED TO BE COMING THERE FOR A GOOD TIME! It reminded me a lot of the New York World's Fair, like the officers were there to help you & direct you & give you information as well as guard & keep order etc. You went through the gate past the guards, no locked or closed gate or anything, you just went through this zig-zag sort of like that playground we saw last night. And on the other side was the box office & there you paid your money. You didn't exactly pay admission or buy tickets or anything--well, you did buy tickets--but I mean your tickets were for purchases.
9. YOU EXCHANGE YOUR MONEY, YOUR CASH, FOR THESE TICKETS, & then you use these tickets to go inside & buy things. It was like money exchange, really. You went in & exchanged your money for tickets & then you got your shopping cart--they had shopping carts & shopping bags--& you went on down the street of the fairground or whatever it was, window-shopping in the various shops, buying etc.
10. AND IT SEEMED THAT ONE REASON PEOPLE CAME THERE WAS THAT GROCERIES WERE UNUSUALLY CHEAP & PLENTIFUL, & everybody was just buying food & groceries like mad! Just inside this place you could buy almost anything & plenty of it, whereas outside things were kind of scarce for some reason. It reminds me of what I've heard about some of these special shops they have in Russia, the foreigner's shops or whatever they are. Special import shops where only foreigners are allowed to shop & they have to pay only foreign exchange, everything plentiful & a great variety, but very expensive.
11. BUT IN THIS PLACE EVERYTHING WAS PLENTIFUL, & IT SEEMED EVERYTHING WAS CHEAP! You could pay in the Russian currency, you just brought your rubles to the box office there, the cashier, & exchanged them for tickets to go & buy goods. So we were walking along blithely & happily, it seemed, & I was sort of awed by it all.
12. APPARENTLY MY BROTHER HAD BROUGHT US THERE IN HIS CAR, of all the funny things, & had parked it out in the parking lot by the water, & he was sort of like showing us this new great place. We also had a Russian guide who was in the lead, but my brother brought us here to show us this tremendous new shopping center, mall, fairground, whatever you want to call it. It was huge, more like a fairground & reminded me of the World's Fair. I think at the last World's Fair in New York the police wore blue uniforms. I'll have to ask Faithy or somebody about that. Ho would remember too. Anyway, they wore bright cheerful uniforms & they seemed to be bright cheerful men & very eager to please & answer questions & direct you & as much there for helping & information as for guarding.
13. SO WE WENT THROUGH THE GATE, EXCHANGED OUR MONEY FOR TICKETS, got a shopping cart & we were trotting on down the street, this big walking street, & the place was just thronged with people going both directions. The people coming back were just loaded with bags & bags of groceries & their shopping carts full, going back to the gate to leave. My brother & several other folks were in the lead, with the special official Russian guide. It was like we were some kind of guests of honour or special tourists or something that they were showing off this thing to. They were quite proud of it, & he was leading us & making sure we saw the right things, I presume.
14. BEHIND US THERE WALKED THE GUARD WHO SEEMED TO BE MORE LIKE A BODYGUARD OR A GUARD OF HONOUR than actually policing us or trying to restrict us or anything. Just one man, just one fellow walking along behind, & he didn't seem to be really very concerned, he was just sort of taking it easy, loafing along behind the group, & when we'd stop, he'd stop. But he was carrying a gun & in uniform, & I had the impression he was more there to protect us or to be sort of like an honour guard like we were some important guests or something, than to imprison us or anything--to protect us from the people rather than the people from us.
15. I WAS AMAZED AT THE QUANTITIES OF GROCERIES PEOPLE WERE BUYING & ALL THESE BIG BAGS! They were in great big brown & white, looked like paper shopping bags, the old-fashioned American stiff paper type of shopping bag. Of course, Russia has a lot of forests & wood & they can afford paper bags. Most of the shopping bags you find in Europe are plastic nowadays, the little tiny plastic ones with plastic handles. But these were like the old American shopping bags, huge, at least 2-1/2 feet deep & I'd say at least a couple feet wide. Big shopping bags just loaded with food & things!
16. AND AS WE WENT ALONG, OUR GROUP WAS BUYING STUFF & FILLING UP SHOPPING BAGS & FILLING THEIR SHOPPING CARTS. It seemed like there were at least a dozen of us & I was walking right in the rear. I presume you were there, you must have been there. I'm sure you were there, you're always there, but there was nothing particular that involved you that you called my attention to anyway.
17. BUT ANOTHER STRANGE PERSON TO BE THERE BESIDES MY BROTHER WAS MY MOTHER who was walking along in front of me talking to somebody as she was shopping. She looked a little bit like she did when she was younger, middle-aged, prime of life. But this surely couldn't have been Heaven with all these Russians around in uniform, although they may think it's Heaven! But there she was. Maybe she had come like an angel or something from the Spirit World, materialised like an angel & looked normal & natural & human, but very pretty & middle-aged like she was in her prime, her 40's, & chatting away to somebody beside her, just as usual, always talking as most of us Jews do.
18. EVERYBODY SEEMED QUITE HAPPY UNTIL SUDDENLY OUR GUIDE CAME BACK & SPOKE TO MY MOTHER & said, "Would you mind stepping into this office here just a moment please, someone wants to speak to you." He motioned her to an office on the right & then told me, "Would you mind stepping into this office here on the left? Someone wants to ask you a few questions." And it turned out to be the office of some kind of an official--I don't know how I knew but I presumed Mother was going through the same thing--who were quizzing us about our former activities as evangelists & distributors of Gospel literature etc. It seemed that they didn't particularly like this.
19. THEY WERE LIKE GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS WHO WERE SIMPLY POLITELY TRYING TO EXPRESS THEIR DISPLEASURE that we had been passing out literature, holding meetings, preaching the Gospel etc., that this was not approved of by the government. We hadn't been doing any preaching or witnessing there, but they had heard about it. It's almost like they had just heard about it, probably one of our enemies tipped them off or something, because otherwise we were being treated like royal guests & tourists who were being shown around by the authorities & to whom they were being very good. I wouldn't be surprised one of our dear Jewish brethren tipped them off!
20. SO THEY CAUTIONED US THAT THEY COULDN'T HAVE ANY MORE OF THAT AS LONG AS WE WERE IN THEIR COUNTRY & we mustn't do that sort of thing & they didn't approve of it. So I was a little worried about it then. I can't recall whether my mother then came out of the office too, I presume she did, & joined the group again. I can't really remember exactly about her, but it was as though we came out of the offices a little bit sobered by the fact that we were being warned by the police & the government officials--very politely--not to do anymore preaching & witnessing on street corners, litnessing, & the government didn't approve of it.
21. SO I BEGAN TO THINK, "WELL, NEXT TIME THEIR NEXT WARNING MAY NOT BE QUITE SO POLITE & I think I'd better get out of here! I don't think this is a very safe place for us. The rest of them can go ahead & try it if they want to & can go ahead, it's up to them what they do, that's up to their conscience & their faith. But I don't exactly have the faith for staying in this place, I want to get out of here!"
22. SO I KIND OF PLOTTED MY EXIT! I thought, "Now I'm not too far from that gate, & although there's guards there at the gate, there's just a low iron railing. I could easily just vault over that railing & be lost in the crowd & go back to the parking lot & wait there for the rest of'm till they come."--Because I felt very uneasy about walking through the streets then after that as though I was afraid maybe somebody else would recognise me & spill the beans of exactly who I was etc.
23. SO I DID, & I WENT BACK & I SORT OF HUNG AROUND THE LOW RAILING THERE FOR A LITTLE WHILE watching the guards, & when I noticed that their backs were turned talking to each other & they were answering questions from somebody or something, their attention was distracted, I just stepped over the railing & hurried off into the crowd on the other side, outside the park or whatever it was.
24. I WENT OVER TO WHERE WE PARKED THE CAR & TO MY HORROR IT WASN'T THERE! There were some people standing along the shore looking into the water, & somehow or another the brake had released & it had accidentally rolled off into the water & there was the car standing almost completely submerged in the lake or river or whatever it was!
25. WELL, I VERY ANXIOUSLY WAITED FOR THE REST OF THE FOLKS TO COME BACK & my brother came first--apparently he was going to come get the car & pick'm up or something--he came & he was horrified to see his car in the water! And I was a little bit suspicious that maybe somebody might've given it a little shove!
26. BUT RIGHT AWAY THE POLICE CAME WITH A WRECKER JUST AS THOUGH THEY WERE ACCUSTOMED TO PULLING CARS OUT OF THE WATER THERE! There was no railing or fence around the parking lot & they might have known some of them were going to get loose & roll off into the water, so they apparently were accustomed to it because they just seemed to think it was nothing new. They just came with their wrecker & they put out the derrick & cable chain & hook & hooked it onto the car & pulled it up out of the water into this special parking lot, sort of like a car impound where there were other cars that they'd pulled out of the water standing there dripping dry.
27. SO WE STOOD AROUND TALKING ABOUT IT WHILE THE CAR STOOD THERE DRAINING & DRIP-DRYING. We stood around for quite awhile, it was nice & sunny, lovely weather, hoping the car would dry out enough we could drive it--which was expecting the impossible or pretty unreasonable. But, you know our Family, we expect miracles!
28. SO FINALLY MY BROTHER GOT IN & TRIED TO START IT & SURE ENOUGH, IT STARTED!--And boy, was I relieved! I was really on edge hanging around that place with all those cops having already been warned about litnessing, witnessing or preaching, & we piled in & off we went down the road! We went down the road toward that big bridge, oddly enough, when it seemed like we'd come from the other direction.
29. OH, I ALMOST FORGOT ABOUT THE PASSPORT! As you came in to do your shopping & to exchange your money for the tickets, you also had to leave them your passport. So that when you came back to go out you had to pick up your passport again, I guess to sort of check you out. But I had leaped over the railing & run without my passport & I had figured this, I'd planned & plotted the whole thing in my mind before I did it:
30. "WELL, LET'M HAVE MY PASSPORT! I'm not going to take any chances stopping there! Maybe some more news had come in on us or something & they'll want to take me in when I come back for my passport, so I'm just going to leave my passport there & let'm have it & I'm gonna jump & run! Then when we get out of this place & somewhere else I'm gonna go to an American Embassy or Consulate or something & get a new passport, just tell'm I lost mine." That was all part of the plan!
31. SO SINCE I HAD ALREADY SKIPPED OUT UNOFFICIALLY & LEFT MY PASSPORT THERE, I WAS REALLY ANXIOUS TO GET OUT OF THERE & GET AWAY FROM THERE BEFORE I GOT CAUGHT. Because obviously I was leaving, you might say, more or less without permission, without properly checking out. I left everything behind with the rest of the group, I didn't bring any shopping carts or groceries or anything, I just took off by myself & hurried over to the parking lot & found the car in the drink!
32. BUT ANYHOW, THEY SEEMED TO BE VERY POLITE & USED TO PULLING CARS OUT OF THE WATER, & we waited till it got dried out & then we took off!--Which was certainly a miracle because normally cars don't dry out that fast. But it was nice & sunny, nice weather, which normally they don't have in Russia either. But anyway, that's the way it was, that's all there was to it.
33. SO I DON'T KNOW WHAT IN THE WORLD THAT DREAM WAS FOR, it certainly couldn't have been real, I mean, it couldn't have been literal with my brother there, of all people, who is a Systemite. He looked young again whereas he's older than I am! My mother looked young again like an angel, but dressed normally just like an ordinary person. She must have been an angel, & my brother, he's not even dead yet! So I don't know how he got there! And I don't know how I got there either for that matter or what the whole thing was about! I was young too, no long hair, grey hair or beard or anything! I was like a young man again, whatever that means, so the whole thing must be symbolic & not literal, see? The whole thing must be just as a symbolic warning.
34. AND I'LL TELL YOU, I SURE WAS KIND OF EDGY HAVING BEEN WARNED BY THE GOVERNMENT NOT TO DO ANYMORE GOSPEL-PREACHING or distribution of literature or having meetings or preaching on the corner, witnessing etc. Because up to now they'd been very polite & very courteous & were really treating us royally, but they just very gently & very politely, but very firmly, told us that they didn't want any more of this witnessing etc. So I just decided to get out of there because I figured any government that didn't want the Gospel was a little bit risky place to be!--And that particular place where they'd warned us not to, that they'd apparently heard about us & just gave us a warning, but I wanted to get out!
35. SO I DON'T KNOW, MAYBE IT'S A LESSON TO OUR FOLKS! They didn't seem to object to us, but they just didn't want our witnessing activities, Gospel-preaching & litnessing. They were being very kind & very polite to us personally, but they just didn't want our religion! If a country gives you warnings that they don't want you witnessing, preaching, litnessing & spreading the Gospel, winning souls, I don't feel easy in a country like that & I feel like maybe it's not too good a place to stay too long! That was my impression, I thought, "Well, I guess our days here are numbered in this country & I'd better go!"
36. BUT OTHERWISE EVERYTHING WAS FINE & EVERYBODY WAS HAPPY HAVING A GREAT TIME SHOPPING & the authorities were being very polite & courteous & helpful & treating us royally like royal guests, & it was a great place to shop & everything went fine. (Maria: Russia seems to be that kind of country that is really good to its people & provides them with all kinds of benefits, & the people that live there really have it good & appreciate it & want to stay. Except for the people that aren't willing to conform to the System's rules, like the religious & the political. If you want to be at all different & you want to stand up for something that's against their ideology, then you really have it bad.) Yes.
37. ALTHOUGH THERE'S SUPPOSED TO BE RELIGIOUS FREEDOM, ACTUALLY THEY MAKE IT TOUGH ON RELIGIOUS PEOPLE, because officially the government is anti-God & anti-religious. Otherwise the Russians have it pretty good & better all the time. But they simply definitely don't approve of religion & religious people, particularly trying to spread your religion is actually, I think, against the law. You're supposedly supposed to be able to practice your religion, & the Constitution supposedly guarantees freedom of religion, but that doesn't include freedom of everything else because they cut you down then on education & jobs & housing & everything else. If you are religious you're definitely prejudiced against & persecuted.
38. IT'S SORT OF LIKE IF YOU WANT TO ENJOY ALL THIS PEACE & PLENTY & PROSPERITY & all the abundant cheap groceries & all the privilege of this sort of playground, fairground, Disneyland, shopping mall, World's Fair, whatever you want to call it, you've got to conform to the rules & no preaching! And I just decided that was not exactly the kind of place I found comfortable & wanted to stay! I was very anxious to get out of there--& I did--even though I had to leave my passport behind, because I was so afraid if I stopped to pick up my passport maybe some other order was out for me or something.
39. WELL, YOU CAN TAKE IT FOR WHAT IT'S WORTH OR WHATEVER YOU THINK IT MEANS! I think it was a kind of a warning about pushing things too far or the authorities too far in countries where they don't like us or our witnessing or litnessing & preaching the Gospel. I feel very uneasy in such places & I think it's better to go where they receive you & not limit you & restrict you & persecute you.
40. I UNDERSTAND IN BRAZIL RIGHT NOW THEY'RE REALLY CLAMPING DOWN ON MISSIONARIES, not just us but all kinds of missionaries & Gospel & so on, really anti-Christ, anti-God. It's an anti-Christ anti-God country anyhow full of devils & demons & homosexuals & fiendish music & a really horrible place to be, in a way. And I think when a country starts getting down on us & giving us trouble or restricting or prohibiting or limiting us or warning us, it's a good time to get out & wait until the Lord changes things or the administration or judges them, & if they deserve it, puts better government in control so we can go back again.
41. THERE WAS LIKE A WALL AROUND THE WHOLE THING, OR A FENCE, LIKE A FAIRGROUND. It was definitely limited access like a lot of countries, particularly Russia. So it was definitely strictly controlled & walled in, even though everybody seemed to be quite happy & contented & having fun & shopping, like it was quite a privilege to be there! But you had to keep the rules, & I didn't like the rules! I didn't like being told we couldn't preach or witness or litness, so I wanted to get out of there & I was even afraid to go back by & pick up my passport!
42. SO WATCH YOUR STEP IN COUNTRIES THAT DON'T PARTICULARLY APPRECIATE YOUR RELIGION! They may tend to like you & welcome you as tourists to give the public a good impression or the outside World a good impression of their country to try to show they're broadminded or liberal or welcome all kinds of tourists, but when they warn you to stop witnessing, I think your job is done!
43. BECAUSE THE LORD SAYS, "WHEN THEY PERSECUTE YOU IN ONE CITY, FLEE TO ANOTHER!" (Mt.10:23) When they make it difficult, if not impossible, for you to witness, it's time to go someplace else where there's greater freedom & liberty. And I've always said that, that there are too many ripe, open, free harvest fields that will welcome you & your message with receptive open hearts, hospitality & no holds barred, no limitations, no restrictions, too many open countries to which we can go & freely witness rather than to have to suffer & endanger our life, limb, liberty & security in closed countries that don't want us or our message either one.
44. SO THAT'S, I THINK, THE MESSAGE OF THAT DREAM! Maybe whoever it's for will understand it. PTL! GBYA! Love you! Watch your step! Try to find the open countries, & it's better, I think, to stay out of some of those closed countries. But if you feel especially called to'm, well, OK. The Lord definitely sent us to a closed country, Tenerife, to start the FFing Revolution.
45. HE SENT US TO ABOUT THE LAST PLACE YOU COULD POSSIBLY THINK OF TO DO SUCH A THING, but it was the kind of a ministry that fitted that closed country. It's the one kind of witnessing that you can get away with & they like--especially the officers & the police & government officials love to go to bed with our girls--& they were willing to put up with the Gospel to do it! We got a lot of good fruit & won souls & they still tolerate us there. PTL! Hallelujah! Amen.
46. I STILL DON'T KNOW EXACTLY WHAT TO CALL IT, MAYBE "THE RUSSIAN FAIRYLAND"!--Because we were sure fairies! I mean, my mother was young, I was young, my brother was young, we must have been angels or it must have been after the Resurrection or something, I can't figure it out. So GBY all, but beware of the restrictive countries which don't allow you freedom to preach the Gospel. God bless & keep you & continue to make you a blessing somewhere where there's greater freedom. PTL!
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family
