Chapter 1: The Vision

In 1986 I was working for a company in Arkansas where I was the editor of the company magazine. On the morning of March 26, 1986, the editorial staff was to meet at a local restaurant for an early breakfast before work. As it turned out, I was the only one who showed up at the restaurant. So I went to the breakfast buffet and sat down to eat.

As I was eating, I became aware of an angel standing about ten feet away. It was an angel that I did not recognize, and so I asked who he was and why he was here. He told me his name, which I recognized as the angel of a woman from another state with whom I had occasionally corresponded.

I then asked the whereabouts of my own angel. “He is on assignment in Saudi Arabia,” came the answer.

Curious, I asked if I could join him and see what was going on. “That is why I have come,” he said. When I looked back at this later, it struck me that in the middle of such encounters, it never occurred to me that being transported to Saudi Arabia might be difficult, impossible or even an unusual request. To my spiritual mind, it seemed natural to ask. When the spiritual mind takes control, the objections of the natural mind become irrelevant. It records the event in its memory but does not make the decisions that it normally makes in the course of life.

Suddenly, I was taken in the spirit to Saudi Arabia, and the transporting angel disappeared from my consciousness. In fact, I never gave him another thought until I had returned to contemplate and ponder what had just happened.

Quoting from my notes on that day:

"I suddenly found myself in a somewhat dark, dungeon-like room. The first thing I see is a black, hairy, bear-like beast. However, the angel has it chained and is guarding the beast. Then my angel speaks:

"Ramadan. Watch the month of Ramadan."

"Why?" I asked.

"I must then release the beast you see before you," he replied matter-of-factly. I look at the beast, as it sullenly glares at me, its eyes glowing red.

"What is this beast? What is his job (purpose)?"

“This is the beast of war to be released when peace is taken from the earth. It hungers after the flesh of men and lusts after blood."

"Why is it in Saudi Arabia?"

"It was sent here by the Church in their hatred for the Arabs. They think they do God a service by thus supporting the Jews."

I was surprised by this answer and could not think of a reply at first. After a short pause, the angel continued, "There is a like beast in Jerusalem, sent by those who hate the Jews. Both have been commissioned by the Church TO DEVOUR MUCH FLESH."

"What can be done about them?" I asked.

"Nothing. Only guard them until the appointed time. Keep watch over them, that they be not released before their time."

With that, my spirit returned to the restaurant, where I finished breakfast and later went to “work as usual.”

My first reaction to this was that this beast referred to so-called "Russian Bear." After all, we were still in the "Cold War" back in 1986 with no end in sight. We had done some spiritual warfare designed to prevent an outbreak of a “hot” war, so that was part of my natural mindset. But after a few months, it struck me that the angel had quoted Daniel 7:5, which reads,

⁵ And behold another beast, a second, like to a BEAR. And it was raised up on one side, and three ribs were in its mouth between its teeth; and thus they said thus unto it, ‘ARISE, DEVOUR MUCH FLESH’."

It dawned on me then that this was the Bear of Medo-Persia, the same one that the prophet Daniel encountered in spiritual warfare while he was fasting for 21 days (Dan. 10:2). When the angel finally came to him with the answer to his prayer, Daniel discovered that the answer had been delayed by spiritual opposition in the heavens. This provides a rare peak into the heavens and the spiritual warfare taking place there, which I will discuss further in Chapter 2.

The most unique thing about this revelation was that the angel spoke of TWO bears, not just one. Also, the first Bear that I saw in chains had a gold tooth—which I thought was very strange. Bears are not known to have dental work done.

The angel had told me to “watch the month of Ramadan.” Why? "I must then release the beast you see before you," the angel had said. That was a bit disturbing, of course, but I had no way of knowing what circumstances or events would actually cause the release of this “bear.” And besides, the angel had told me that there was nothing that I could or should do about it, other than to pray that it would not be released early.

Ramadan in 1986 extended from May 9 to June 7. From May 25-28, 1986 some American government officials including Robert McFarlane and Oliver North flew to Iran to discuss a secret deal, which later became known as the "Iran-contra scandal." This was made public knowledge the following November. This event turned out to be the release of the chained bear that would ultimately lead to Gulf War I.

Though we could not stop this bear from fomenting war, God gave us a Word on Feb. 26, 1988 that we were engage in spiritual warfare against this Bear and to take him captive for a time. The reason was this: There had been a long on-going war between Iran and Iraq since September of 1980. We were to engage in spiritual warfare to stop this war, for it was revealed to us that if we did not do so, America would soon be drawn into it, and we would send a half-million troops to the region.

We were to call for prayer warriors and if at least 50 people responded, we were to go into battle. We were to call it “These Stones” prayer campaign (taken from Luke 3:8). We were also to have God’s volunteer army in place and in agreement by July 26, 1988. The battle itself was to be engaged on August 2-3, 1988.

We followed these instructions, and by July 26 a total of 153 prayer warriors responded to the call. Because this was the number of fish caught in the net in John 21:11, it caught my eye. The gematria of the Hebrew phrase, “the sons of God” is precisely 153. (The Hebrews used their letters as numbers, so each letter has a numeric value assigned to them. Adding the value of all the letters in the Hebrew phrase, Beni h’elohim, “sons of God,” totals 153.)

And so, we went into spiritual warfare on the appointed days of battle and took the prince of Persia captive.

Yet we knew also that this would be a "temporary" victory--in other words, it would only postpone the inevitable, because it was God’s intent to bring America into judgment for violating the covenant that our forefathers made with God.

On July 26, 1988—the day that the 153 prayer warriors were in agreement—Iraq began to pull back and withdraw its troops from the disputed territory in Iran, and within weeks the war had ended.

We held the prayer campaign on August 2-3 as instructed, and took the Bear captive. Apparently, the vision I had been given in 1986 of the bear in captivity had a dual fulfillment. It was in captivity at the time of my vision in March 1986 and was then released in May 1986. Two years later it was chained again on August 2 and 3, 1988.

One year later, on Aug. 2-3, 1989 we had to release the Bear from captivity. And, of course, one year after that, on the night of August. 2-3 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait. This drew the United States into the conflict, and we sent a half million troops to the region. It became apparent then that “These Stones” prayer campaign was designed to delay the war for precisely two years.

The war ended on February 28, 1991. Public Television later ran a special report about the headquarters of the United States Army in an underground bunker in Saudi Arabia. I watched it with fascination, as they took the camera team down into the war room—what they called "the dungeon."

There, they interviewed General Schwarzkopf, who, they said, was called "THE BEAR" by the troops. When he smiled at the camera, I saw his gold tooth, and I knew then beyond all doubt that he was “the bear” that I had seen five years earlier in the underground dungeon in Saudi Arabia.

Thus, in 1991 the Public Broadcasting System showed me the prophetic fulfillment of the 1986 vision.