Can I just ask . . . ?  It's okay.  It doesn't mean anything perhaps to everyone.  But can I just ask if anyone had an unusual night last night in the night?  Anybody notice anything different?  Wow.  Well, my wife said that she certainly did.  And she took a poll at our house and everybody at our house had a very unusual night.

Our children had a very unusual night last night.  Olivia was up in the middle of the night.  Joshua was up in the middle of the night.  Olivia came in our room at 4:30 this morning, and she'd been doing a lot better than that.

Well, my wife was beginning to hear all these stories.  So she comes into the bedroom and she said, "What happened last night?"  And so, I didn't say too much to her except to tell her, "It's no wonder that you couldn't sleep because the whole roof of the apartment was gone."

Now it'd be very hard to sleep if you're laying there where there's no roof.  But spiritually, in vision, the whole roof of the apartment was gone.  The ceiling . . .  I was laying there looking at the white ceiling and I saw it disappear.  And then I realized that I could see the whole roof was being moved out of the way.  And I could look right up and see the stars.

I'm not going to tell the vision this morning because I don't think I could.  In fact, telling it now I'm almost losing my breath to be able to share.  But the Lord was real and He was faithful.  And we'll just see how the Lord moves.  But I'm feeling very strongly that I won't share the details yet while in Jerusalem.  But most of you will have the opportunity to hear it on tape afterwards.  

Except I'll tell you that the Lord has done for me what He promised that He would in January of this year.  I was worshiping the Lord on the platform in our church in Alabama and I saw in vision . . .  Excuse me.  I'm trembling.

I saw in vision the Four Living Creatures as they were moving in an unusual shape.  They were not moving in a wheel as Ezekiel saw them.  And even one time, two times, I've seen them moving in wheels, like in circles.  But they were moving more like a square or a rectangular shape.

And they were moving very, very determined.  And it's a worshipful . . .  I don't know how to describe what they're doing because it's somewhere between a march and a dance.  

And I don't know how to describe it because it's holy, but it's odd.  It's a little bit odd.  They would move a few steps and then they would take a very deep bow, almost touching their head to the ground, and then come back up very swiftly and then take a few more steps and then bow over, almost touching the ground, and then up very quickly.

So it's beautiful, but it's very hard exactly to put words to it.  Well anyway, you've heard me tell that.  They were moving in this little pattern and all of a sudden that last of the four, the one whom the Bible describes as having the face of a flying eagle . . .

Now I find that very strange.  I love it.  I love the Bible and I love the language of the Bible.  But I find that so strange.  How does one have the face of a flying eagle?  What kind of a face does a flying eagle have that's any different from an eagle that's on a perch?  You understand what I'm saying?

The Bible said he had a face of a flying eagle.  And the only thing that I can think about is there must be a special look of exhilaration when an eagle is taking flight that he wouldn't have when he is a stationary position.

I remember Bro. Branham telling a story one time about he and his youngest son, Joseph, being in a large zoo.  And while they were in this zoo, there was a very large eagle that was in some sort of cage, you know, like maybe an aviary with a net or something.  And the eagle was just sitting there.

And Bro. Branham loved the eagle.  And it was very hard for him to see the eagle . . .  It was hard enough to see the other animals in a cage.  But it was very hard to see this eagle in a cage.  Because we all know that the eagle was not born to be earthbound, but it was born to soar through the skies.  That's the very purpose of the eagle.  It's his nature.  It's what he desires to do.

And Bro. Branham was so grieved.  He was having this conversation with Joseph.  And he said, "In this eagle's eye, there was a far-away look."  He was grieved, and yet you could see that his mind wasn't concentrating so much on the cage, but it was concentrating, kind of dreaming about what it would be like if he were to be set free.

I heard that story many years ago now, and it reminded me of something.  I've shared it here in Jerusalem before.  It reminded me of the look that the old saints used to get in our church, in our little Pentecostal church, when they were singing about heaven.

And if you took our old hymnal and you made a mark on every song that was about heaven, that was about eternity, that was about the promised land, the life to come, I think you would be marking, probably, ninety percent of the songs.

Because in those days, times were very, very hard when these hymns were being written.  It was war time.  It was depression time.  And people were trying to get their minds off of their circumstances and trying to get their minds on heaven and eternity.

And when they would sing those songs, there would be a stare, a look, that would come over their faces.  And I would know, even as a little boy, that they weren't really in the church anymore.  Physically they were there, but their spirits had already just kind of drifted away to that promised land, and they were kind of living under the influence and the excitement of heaven like that eagle.

And so in this vision in January, I saw this real look, I remember seeing this real look, of exhilaration on this eagle's face.  And he turned, he stopped, he turned his head . . .  Before, all I was able to see was their profile as they were moving around.

But he stopped and he turned and he looked me right in the eye and he said, "We have an appointment with you in Jerusalem."  And they were gone.  And we've been waiting on that.

And the first weekend I was here, I had a powerful dream that I'm still, just now still, writing down to try to get all of the details.  I have the outline, but there were some specific little details of conversation that took place with each of these seven church age messengers that I feel is significant.

So I was beginning to wonder, was the dream . . . ?  Although in the dream I didn't see the Four Living Creatures.  I saw those seven church age messengers which are represented as the seven stars in the hand of the Lord Jesus in Revelation, chapter 1.

And I thought, "Well, maybe somehow this is this visitation, even though the Four Living Creatures were not in it.  I know that they also represent the overcoming anointing in every age, so perhaps this is what it was about."

But last night I received the fulfillment.  And I would just give you this little piece by saying that I was awakened, completely totally awake.  It was not a dream.  And I don't know if you would classify it as a night vision.  I'm not sure exactly what to call it.  Maybe a vision in the night is a night vision.

But I was wide awake.  And there stood at the foot of my bed, all of a sudden, a very, very large angel.  And I looked over . . . because my wife had just stirred in the bed.  And really, my heart just leaped because I thought, "She's going to see it.  It's this powerful.  It's this kind of a manifestation that it's so physical that my wife is literally going to see this angel."  And she stirred, but she never looked up.

And I reached over to try to touch her and I was paralyzed.  I could not reach . . .  I could not touch her.  I think maybe my hand moved, but my arm . . .  I could not reach over.  And she was very close to me in the bed, but I could not touch her.

The thing that was unusual about this angel is that he was holding a sword in his right hand by the . . .  What do you call the . . .?  The handle.  Do they sometimes call it . . . ?  What's that?  The hilt or something.  He was holding it down here at the bottom like this.

And normally if you see an angel, you think about the sword being raised or something.  I don't know what different positions.  But this angel was very . . . unusually . . .  It seemed so strange, but yet very powerful.

He had his hand like this.  And he didn't have wings, by the way, if anybody was curious.  But he had hands.  And his hand was like this.  He held the sword here.  And it was propped on his shoulder - the blade.  The blade of the sword was just laying propped against his shoulder in a . . .  I don't know.

It was strange.  It was like he was relaxed, but ready ? relaxed, but ready.  It wasn't in a sheath.  It wasn't down by his side or in the air.  But the blade was just propped on his shoulder.  He asked me a question, I answered the question, and there was a little interchange between us.

And all of a sudden, that's when I looked straight up  because I saw a light getting brighter above my head.  And I looked up and the ceiling was gone and the roof was gone, and I was looking straight up into the sky.  

And I don't know if the night was clear last night.  It had been cloudy all day.  But I can tell you that in this vision I could see the stars.  It was very, very clear.  I could see the stars.  And I was moved out of the bed and up into the air in a very unusual way, like flying, like a flight, though I was wide awake.  

And I was able to recognize French Hill.  I was able to recognize the neighborhood very positively.  I saw our street.  I saw Bar Kochba above us.  I saw the supermarket.  I looked across the circle, the road out there, and I saw Dominoes.

This is the first time I've ever seen a pizza place in a vision.  But I saw the Dominoes sign.  And I was just being lifted higher and higher and higher.  And the angel was just a few feet above me and near me.  And I could've reached and touched him.  At any time he could've touched me.  We were that close.  And we were moving.  

And all of a sudden I saw that we were moving toward a ladder.  And it was the most beautiful ladder.  How a ladder can be beautiful, I don't know.  But it was the most beautiful ladder that I'd ever seen.  And it was very, very wide - a very wide ladder.

And there were angels moving up the ladder and down the ladder with great precision.  Angels were ascending and angels were descending.  And all I want to share now . . .  I'm getting that little feeling that this is enough, soon.  

But there was a line.  There was a line of angels, a queue of angels, waiting their turn to climb the ladder.  And as the angels were coming down, I could just see them moving out in different directions, and there was no line there.

As they stepped off the ladder, they were just moving out in different directions.  But there was a little cue, a little line, maybe five or six, ahead of us.  And we just stepped into line to go up the ladder.  

And I remember at that point glancing down and seeing that this ladder was suspended somewhere between the old city of Jerusalem and the new city.  I literally could see on my right the old city beneath me and on my left the new city of Jerusalem.  So I knew that this ladder was positioned right between the old city of Jerusalem and the new city.

And I just want to mention this.  The angels never spoke to one another at this point.  They were moving up the ladder and down the ladder.  But no one was speaking to one another.  They looked very determined.

But as I began to step . . .  My turn came.  The angel was just ahead of me.  And as my turn came to climb the ladder, I stepped up a few . . .  It was very easy to climb.  There was no effort.

Although it appeared that the rungs of the ladder were like steps and they were quite high apart, yet there was no effort in lifting the leg.  It seemed like . . .  I thought, "My, that's a long way to step."  But it was very easy to make that step.

And I felt very holy.  There was a very, very holy and fearful presence to be among that many angels of God, messengers of God, at one time.  And I thought, "I want to look at them."  All I could see was the back of the angel who was just ahead of me.

And I thought, "I want to look at them a little more.  I want to see a little bit more about them."  So I turned my head just a little bit to the left.  And as I did, they would not look at me.  They were marching down, climbing down the steps of the ladder, in great precision, very determined.

But immediately when I looked, they acknowledged my look.  I knew that they saw me and in some way sensed and knew that I was looking at them.  And they smiled with their lips only.  

It's a very strange thing.  In other words, it wasn't a big smile.  It wasn't a facial smile where your muscles move up in your face.  It was just a very small little acknowledgement in their lips as they were a little bit amused, I think, that I was glancing, that I was, you know, among them and I wasn't one of them.

There was just a little bit of interaction that took place without any words.  And then we climbed.  And it was very holy.  And, you know, I'll share more if I can at another time.  But I went on into the Presence of the Lord.  I saw the Four Living Creatures.  I saw something going on in heaven that really surprised me.

It was in a place where the Throne was not.  It was not in the Throne Room.  It seemed to be in a place in a realm of heaven where the righteous are, but not yet before the Throne.  And I know that's a little bit controversial for some people because they believe the minute you die, you know, you're immediately standing before the Throne of the Lord.  

And the Bible said to be absent from the body is to be what?  Present with the Lord.  But I personally believe, based on the Scripture, that the dead in Christ are not standing before the Throne of the Lord, looking at the Lord Jesus right now.

I believe that they are somewhere in the realms of eternity in the Presence of the Lord.  They know His Presence in a way that you and I have not yet known Him.  It's so real.  It's real enough.  It's real enough without actually seeing Him on the Throne.  It is that near Him and that close to Him that they know He is there, even though perhaps they're not physically before His Throne.

I was for a little while in that realm before I moved up into a higher realm.  I was for a little while in that realm.  And there were classes.  This is very strange.  And I have . . .  That's the reason I don't want to say so much.

But it was as though there were classes going on.  You know, I don't like school so much, and it's not a pleasant thought for me to think that heaven is school.  But anyway, in these conferences, or it was like a session, there was a myriad, there was a multitude, of angels who were standing in this great room, and they were being taught.

And this was what was so strange.  They were not being taught by other angels.  They were being taught by what looked like men of this realm, mortal men, that had gone into this Presence of the Lord.  Now, they had a beautiful look about them.  There was a heavenly glow about them, but they were certainly not angels.

They were certainly men, and there were a few women present, that surely have lived in this realm and have gone into the Presence of the Lord.  And these men were teaching these angels.  

Now this is what I really have to think about, because I need some time and here I am on the stream.  But I need some time.  Because I was in the shower this morning and I thought, "Lord, this seems so strange."

And all I can tell you is a Scripture came to my mind, and a question said, "Didn't the Word say, didn't the Bible say, that we would judge angels?"  And so . . .  The Bible does say that, by the way, for you that don't know it.  The Bible does say that we will judge angels.  It was kind of quiet.

And all I can tell you is I was able to hear and observe some of the lessons that were being taught.  And it pertained to this time that we're living in right now.  And I recognized that these were men who had lived in ages prior to where we are right now - some from Laodicea, some from earlier church ages that we read about in the Book of Revelation.

And they were teaching these angels again about the overcoming power and the overcoming anointing and the difficulty.  And then something kind of registered to me this morning and that is that angels are heavenly creatures created by God.  They are not humans.  And they don't understand, totally completely.  They may not . . .  Let's just say they may not completely understand real humanity.

This is what's so precious about our Messiah, our Savior.  He was all God.  He was all God and yet He became all man.  He was very much God and yet He was very much man.

He chose to come and live among us in a man's body, an earthly body, a physcial human body so that He would be able to understand our groaning, so that He would be able to understand our temptation.  You believe that, don't you?  . . . So that He would be able to understand.  We have a high priest who can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities because He has lived this life - without sin, the Bible said.

And yet the Scripture teaches He was in all manner tempted as we are.  So He understands our temptations and our suffering.  But I'm not so sure that all of these angels, although they're powerful and they bring great blessing and deliverances and they're warriors . . .  I'm not sure that they completely fathom . . .

Because these overcomers were talking to the angels, sharing and testifying before these angels, of the glory and the strength and what was given.  And I knew in my spirit, but I didn't trust my knowing.  And I asked this angel, "What is going on?"

And he said, "These angels are being prepared for what is ahead."

And I thought about that a moment.  And I realized that before these angels could descend this ladder, they were given instruction and they were given commissions and told where to go and what needed to be done.

And what I was observing was some of that training and some of that preparation that was being made for these angels to come and bring breakthroughs and miracles and deliverances, and so forth.

And anyway, this was powerful enough, but it was greater and it went beyond.  And the Lord took me even into a higher realm to see some other things that were going on before the Throne.

Can I just end this little introduction to it?  Because it may be all I share while I'm in Jerusalem.

Can I just say that heaven is so busy.  I've never seen in the Spirit a busier place.  I've had several visitations into that Presence of God in the heavenly realm, but I've never seen it so busy - bustling.  It was as though angels would be bumping into one another, but they weren't.  They did not.

But there was just activity - moving and whizzing.  And as I was standing there watching in the Spirit these things take place, constantly there was movement around me.  The angels were moving in front of me and beside me and around me and behind me.  And some were carrying things.  And they were moving in such swiftness.

It looked like chaos, but I sensed that it was not chaos, but the opposite of chaos.  It was divine order.  And they each knew where they were supposed to be.  And they each knew what they were supposed to do.  Heaven is busy, hallelujah.  

There's great acceleration of activity in the heavenlies.  And we know that whatever's happening in the Spirit, it types out in the earth.  And what God is determining . . .  The Bible said, "Whatsoever ye bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatsoever ye loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."

And so we understand there's a great communication between heaven and earth.  And I just feel like the busyness in the heavenlies is a type of great busyness that's about to take place spiritually in the earth - real commissions.

You know, I didn't see any angels floating on clouds, playing harps.  I didn't see any angels in diapers with bows and arrows like cupids.  But these were very, very busy and determined messengers of God.  Hallelujah.

And I believe that there is going to be a real spiritual awakening and awareness.  The fear, of course, is that we must not focus on angels.  Because when we do that we lose focus of the Lord Jesus.  

That's what's happened in the New Age world, in America especially, is people begin to focus on angels and they do all their communication with angels.  We don't want to do that.  They're here to assist us, to make war with us and to bring breakthroughs and deliverances.  But they're not here for us to focus our attention on angelic beings.

We must focus our attention on the Lord.  However, there is a new crop of angels that are being trained right now.  I'm sure they've existed for a long time in the heavenlies.  But they are chosen and commissioned for this hour that we're approaching right now.

And they're being strategically trained and positioned and made ready for very powerful warfare that's about to take place in the atmosphere just above us.  And yet I know in the Spirit that they're not going to be caught up eternally in the atmosphere above us, but they're going to break through into the realm that we're living in.

And we're going to see assistance and aid.  Somebody said, "What do you mean, assistance and aid?"  The Bible said that . . .  The psalmist David declared that He would give His angels charge over us lest we would dash our foot against a stone.

I believe that's rendering aid (don't you?) and protection.  And God's people are going to become more aware as this new graduating class of angels is released in the earth.  They're graduating.  They're coming to their . . .  Their training, I feel, is very near to being over.  

In fact, I can tell you that it's . . .  I don't know how much longer they have, but I can tell you that they have just heard from some of the overcomers of this age that we're living in right now who went by the way of the grave, but they went as overcomers.  They died as overcomers.

And they have just received this last session of teaching from those who overcame in this age.  So what's left?  What's left to tell them?  Who else can come and instruct them?  It's time for them to come on the scene and fulfill some of the works of the Lord.
  
When I woke up . . .  And that's enough.  When I woke up, the thought on my mind was not about anything that I had seen.  The thought on my mind was about the Fire of the Lord.

It wasn't that I saw fire in this vision.  But I woke up, and the first thought that came to my mind is, "We've got to have the Fire.  We've got to have the Fire of God in our lives."  Not just corporately as a body, but we've got to have a real baptism of Fire individually.  We've got to have the Fire of the Lord.

(Pastor Shelley then continued on to preach about "The Infusion of Fire.")