Wise and Foolish Virgins
Second Dream on December 31, 2011, about one hour after first dream about Young People and Tornado. Betsy Elam
Having two dreams an hour apart with end time themes on December 31, New Year’s Eve, really got my attention. I’m actually someone who does not have to insist that we are living in or nearing the ‘End Times’. The reason is simple. The people in the New Testament felt the last days were very close, too. They wanted to be ready because of it. We need to be getting ready to be the pure bride God is looking for, too. God’s sense of time in view of the eternity that He puts in our hearts prophetically and our view of time in the natural could seemingly be quite different. But, the last day Bible prophesies will come to pass and someone will be alive on the earth when they do. It could be us or our children. The point is that God is speaking. I’m not the only one having dreams or visions. Many in our church are having more dreams from the Lord than ever before. I am someone who prays to not remember my dreams if they are not from God. I don’t want to confuse people or myself. In other words, I do not seek to have dreams. Look for a retelling of the Wise and Foolish Virgins (an ‘End Times’ parable) from Matthew 25 in this dream- actually one wise and one foolish are in this dream. I will share my thoughts at the end of the dream.
Dream:
The dream starts out with me in a foreign country that I have never been in. It is in a very poor area. I am riding a bike on top of small flat-roofed houses that were connected or very close together. I was also riding on high road ramps which were higher than the flat-roofed houses. The road ramps were unfinished. They were still in a metal framework stage. My bike just barely finds a way through the ‘framework’ of construction without falling through the many gaps. I was unsure if it was all new road construction that was unfinished or construction that had been started, then abandoned and never finished.
I end up in a shanty-type house. It is not my house. I am in a place foreign to me. I am put in charge of cleaning up an older baby (well past the newborn stage) that has made a big mess on itself. I might have only a towel or robe on myself as I’m getting ready to bathe myself, too. This makes it extra difficult to try and clean the baby. I have to carry my own refuse to the toilet with rubber gloves on because the toilet is too dirty to sit on. But, surprisingly, I am able to do this very efficiently and neatly. I wash my rubber-gloved hands with soap, but get interrupted by someone. It seems I am being asked to give my full attention to the baby again before I can be positive my rubber-gloved hands are completely clean. I am aware that they are relatively clean and I’m glad for the chance to use soap and running water even though in my own house I’d take more time washing my hands to be positive that I had been thorough enough. (Dreams from the Lord have a way of making sure we don’t walk in pride- Ha!) I have been holding the baby all this time.
I am trying to dress the baby before I give it a bath because there’s nothing else to keep it warm on the way to the bathtub except some full body sleepers. There are no towels to use for the baby’s bath. When I put the baby down for just a moment and look over at it again, I see the baby is lying asleep on its bunk bed with oil spilled and smeared all over the top bunk bed where it’s laying. My job to get the baby clean is getting even harder.
When I finally get to the bathtub with the baby, there is a reason I can’t use it- it doesn’t seem clean enough to wash the baby. I do glimpse a man and woman who seem to live in the house while I’m on my way to the bathtub with the baby. They never address me. This is definitely not my own house. I’m more and more aware of this fact as the dream continues.
So I go to a different bathroom in the house which has a shower to see if I can use it to get the baby clean. I know some people that live there have been using the shower. There is only a small part of the shower curtain without mildew. There is nothing to dry off with. I am trying to figure out how to get the baby clean in that shower. I haven’t quite figured it out. Do I need a shower, too? It seems like I might. But I can’t seem to do anything for myself until the baby’s taken care of and cleaned up. And the shower appears too dirty to use.
In the last scene, I am looking for a BIG bucket so I can put my BIG candle in it for long lasting light. The baby and the shanty house are nowhere to be seen and I am no longer conscious of them in my mind. I have no recollection of succeeding in bathing and cleaning the baby. The dream ends with a keen awareness of only one thing; to find a big bucket in which to carry my very large candle (the biggest size I’ve ever seen). Even as I’m beginning to awake, I am aware that I’ve just dreamt a version of the Wise and Foolish Virgins, a parable told by Jesus.
End of Dream.
Thoughts:
Matthew 24 is all about the ‘End Times’ and the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ at the time of the end. Matthew 25 is a continuation of this teaching by Jesus in the form of more parables about it. The parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins starts out with the word, THEN. Jesus is tying it to all He had just said in Matthew 24. It is an ‘End Times’ parable about the coming of the Lord as the Bridegroom.
When I was opening my notebook to share this newly written dream with my husband, my notebook fell open at a page of notes from one of our pastor’s sermons and the first thing my eyes rested on was a prophetic statement our pastor had made recently, “In 2012 we must become a WISE VIRGIN.” This was more confirmation to me that it was indeed what my dream was about. Now, I will share what I feel the Lord is saying in the dream.
I have never dreamt of myself on a rooftop or high road ramps before. I was high up. If I still represented Wisdom (as I did in the dream an hour before this one), Wisdom does call from the heights of the city. See Prov 8:1-5 and Prov 9:3-6. I did not call out in this dream. Why not? I did shout in the last dream, just an hour previous to this one, for everyone to take shelter in my (Wisdom’s) house. Was that the call? In Matthew 24:15-22, Jesus said that when you see the abomination of desolation which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet standing in the holy place, then it is time to flee. Is that what the mushroom cloud–shaped tornado was in the first dream? The only reason I bring that up is that I was on rooftops in this second dream. As I stated, I’ve never dreamt of being on a rooftop before. After being on rooftops and high road ramps, I go down inside a very different house, which is definitely not Wisdom’s house, to try and help an occupant. Jesus states in Matthew 24 that if you are on a rooftop when you see the abomination of desolation that you are NOT to go down into the house to see about and gather things. There won’t be time. He also says, “Woe to those who are pregnant and nursing babies in those days!” The baby wasn’t my baby, but in a sense I was the caregiver for the baby. Unfortunately, the dream played out the same way the parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins played out with the wise being unable to help the foolish even though the foolish asked for help. The point in all of this is that the end time clock had gotten to an hour in which it was too late to help those who won’t seek the Lord for themselves and thus grow to maturity. I say this with sadness as I’m someone, as many people are, that wants to be able to help others. In the dream, which occurred an hour before, the end time clock may not have been quite as late. I get the feeling in the dream that God is taking me somewhere (to show me this truth about the late hour we’re starting to enter into on the prophetic time clock, as well as other things) as I do not fall through any of the many infrastructure gaps and holes in Folly’s territory as I quickly ride the bike. In this dream, I seem to represent “Wisdom” or “Coming into Wisdom”.
It is clear that I am in Folly’s territory, though, far from Wisdom’s house of safety which was in the dream an hour before this one. Folly calls from the heights of the city just as Wisdom does. I am in territory of unfinished road (ramps) which seems to speak of not finishing the path God would have us walk on; not completing all He has called us to. Also, they are high and lofty paths… the way of pride. Pride always gets torn down by God.
The shanty-type house is the house of Folly. It is not my (Wisdom’s) house. Those that listen to folly (foolishness) come to poverty that clings to them (spiritual, but can also be physical) and uncleanness (sin) which this shanty house typifies, even to the fact that some in that house have ‘bathed’ in filth. Do a study in Proverbs on the fool and the sluggard if you are not aware of this principle. I am in no way suggesting that being poor is always a result of foolishness. I don’t believe that at all. The Apostle Paul had seasons of having great physical need. It’s just that if we once had plenty, then come to poverty that does not leave, we should examine our lives to see if we have possibly entertained foolishness. I’ve certainly done much soul searching because of the many dreams the Lord has sent. I have been in no way exempt from the Lord’s dealings.
Wisdom is in a place foreign to her and in a house that is not her own. In the parable of The Wise and Foolish Virgins, the foolish ask the wise for help. They say, “Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.” The wise answer, “No, for there will not be enough for us and you too; go instead to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.” As the foolish go away to make the purchase, the Bridegroom comes and they arrive back too late to enter the wedding feast.
In this dream, I have been asked to clean up the baby. It is never clear who asks me to do this. In the parable, the foolish ask for this help. It is not the Lord asking me to make the foolish baby ready for the Bridegroom. This baby symbolizes a baby Christian that has not grown in the Lord. The baby is a baby spiritually, not age-wise. It is a foolish virgin as described in the Matthew 25 parable. Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child. Babies don’t get an inheritance. They can’t handle it. We must continue to grow and mature in our walk with the Lord to inherit eternal life. Past oil and past light won’t get us there according to the Matthew 25 parable. Notice how when the baby did get some oil which represents the Holy Spirit (just like the oil in the parable), the baby spills it and actually makes a mess of it. I believe part of the reason the oil was wasted was that the baby was asleep. We must wake up and not be like the foolish baby who won’t grow up and seek the Lord for herself to get clean and then falls asleep, thus spilling the oil. The Holy Spirit oil has been squandered and thought of as common.
In the parable of Matthew 25, only the wise have made themselves ready and when the shout comes, there is time only to go out and meet the Bridegroom. Jesus does talk about a dark hour, coming on the earth, when no man can work (for the Kingdom of God). He says to work while it is day because the night is coming when no man can work. Are we nearing that time? If so, each of us must complete the Kingdom work which the Lord has called us to. There may not be much more time to help the lost find the Lord. I was unable to help the baby get clean; to get ready to meet the Lord as the pure and spotless Bride of Christ (Eph. 5:25-32). I was only able to keep myself clean. That is akin to the parable with the wise not having enough oil (or light) to share. They only had enough oil (light) to make it to the Lord themselves. I could only keep myself clean in readiness by the power of the Holy Spirit. I couldn’t get the baby clean and ready, too. It was even getting to the point where I needed the situation to change or I would end up dirty, too.
The huge candle represents the same thing as the oil lamps in Matthew 25. They both represent the Holy Spirit who lights our path. I must have finally realized that I could not help the baby, just as the wise virgins couldn’t help the foolish in the parable. I am looking for a huge bucket to carry my huge candle in. The bucket could be considered optional, I suppose, since I definitely have the light source. But it would catch wax drippings and make it safer and easier to carry the candle. So my time spent trying to help the foolish may have hindered me some.
Has there been a shout? I did shout in the first dream an hour before this one for the youth to run into my (Wisdom’s) house. Is the Bridegroom coming soon? In that day the wise virgins, those consecrated to the Lord, will enter into His House for the wedding feast. Then the door will be shut. The foolish will be too late. Notice that in the Matthew 25 parable that all 10 virgins start out with oil which represents the Holy Spirit. But only the wise keep the oil constantly supplied. They always walk in the Light. To be saved, according to this parable, we must start with the Holy Spirit and also finish our walk on this earth still relying on the Holy Spirit’s Light. We must be on the alert and wake up!
At the end of the dream, I am only aware of getting my light source ready. Nothing else seems to matter at that point.
This dream, and the one the hour before it, have caused an urgency in my spirit and I hope they do so in your spirit as well who read this. It is an urgency to finish all that the Lord has personally asked of me and to reach out to the lost while there is still time and the grace of the Lord is here to help us reach the lost. In the first dream, there was still time for me to help the young people to a safe place… Wisdom’s house. The dream right afterwards showed that the hour had gotten too far gone to help those who have not made themselves ready. We must not presume that it will always be ‘Day’, allowing us to do Kingdom work. Let us be obedient to the instructions of our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ. By His grace let us work NOW while it is still ‘Day’ to make the Bride ready for the Lord’s Coming. He gave His precious lifeblood to purchase all men for Himself.
Having two dreams an hour apart with end time themes on December 31, New Year’s Eve, really got my attention. I’m actually someone who does not have to insist that we are living in or nearing the ‘End Times’. The reason is simple. The people in the New Testament felt the last days were very close, too. They wanted to be ready because of it. We need to be getting ready to be the pure bride God is looking for, too. God’s sense of time in view of the eternity that He puts in our hearts prophetically and our view of time in the natural could seemingly be quite different. But, the last day Bible prophesies will come to pass and someone will be alive on the earth when they do. It could be us or our children. The point is that God is speaking. I’m not the only one having dreams or visions. Many in our church are having more dreams from the Lord than ever before. I am someone who prays to not remember my dreams if they are not from God. I don’t want to confuse people or myself. In other words, I do not seek to have dreams. Look for a retelling of the Wise and Foolish Virgins (an ‘End Times’ parable) from Matthew 25 in this dream- actually one wise and one foolish are in this dream. I will share my thoughts at the end of the dream.
Dream:
The dream starts out with me in a foreign country that I have never been in. It is in a very poor area. I am riding a bike on top of small flat-roofed houses that were connected or very close together. I was also riding on high road ramps which were higher than the flat-roofed houses. The road ramps were unfinished. They were still in a metal framework stage. My bike just barely finds a way through the ‘framework’ of construction without falling through the many gaps. I was unsure if it was all new road construction that was unfinished or construction that had been started, then abandoned and never finished.
I end up in a shanty-type house. It is not my house. I am in a place foreign to me. I am put in charge of cleaning up an older baby (well past the newborn stage) that has made a big mess on itself. I might have only a towel or robe on myself as I’m getting ready to bathe myself, too. This makes it extra difficult to try and clean the baby. I have to carry my own refuse to the toilet with rubber gloves on because the toilet is too dirty to sit on. But, surprisingly, I am able to do this very efficiently and neatly. I wash my rubber-gloved hands with soap, but get interrupted by someone. It seems I am being asked to give my full attention to the baby again before I can be positive my rubber-gloved hands are completely clean. I am aware that they are relatively clean and I’m glad for the chance to use soap and running water even though in my own house I’d take more time washing my hands to be positive that I had been thorough enough. (Dreams from the Lord have a way of making sure we don’t walk in pride- Ha!) I have been holding the baby all this time.
I am trying to dress the baby before I give it a bath because there’s nothing else to keep it warm on the way to the bathtub except some full body sleepers. There are no towels to use for the baby’s bath. When I put the baby down for just a moment and look over at it again, I see the baby is lying asleep on its bunk bed with oil spilled and smeared all over the top bunk bed where it’s laying. My job to get the baby clean is getting even harder.
When I finally get to the bathtub with the baby, there is a reason I can’t use it- it doesn’t seem clean enough to wash the baby. I do glimpse a man and woman who seem to live in the house while I’m on my way to the bathtub with the baby. They never address me. This is definitely not my own house. I’m more and more aware of this fact as the dream continues.
So I go to a different bathroom in the house which has a shower to see if I can use it to get the baby clean. I know some people that live there have been using the shower. There is only a small part of the shower curtain without mildew. There is nothing to dry off with. I am trying to figure out how to get the baby clean in that shower. I haven’t quite figured it out. Do I need a shower, too? It seems like I might. But I can’t seem to do anything for myself until the baby’s taken care of and cleaned up. And the shower appears too dirty to use.
In the last scene, I am looking for a BIG bucket so I can put my BIG candle in it for long lasting light. The baby and the shanty house are nowhere to be seen and I am no longer conscious of them in my mind. I have no recollection of succeeding in bathing and cleaning the baby. The dream ends with a keen awareness of only one thing; to find a big bucket in which to carry my very large candle (the biggest size I’ve ever seen). Even as I’m beginning to awake, I am aware that I’ve just dreamt a version of the Wise and Foolish Virgins, a parable told by Jesus.
End of Dream.
Thoughts:
Matthew 24 is all about the ‘End Times’ and the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ at the time of the end. Matthew 25 is a continuation of this teaching by Jesus in the form of more parables about it. The parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins starts out with the word, THEN. Jesus is tying it to all He had just said in Matthew 24. It is an ‘End Times’ parable about the coming of the Lord as the Bridegroom.
When I was opening my notebook to share this newly written dream with my husband, my notebook fell open at a page of notes from one of our pastor’s sermons and the first thing my eyes rested on was a prophetic statement our pastor had made recently, “In 2012 we must become a WISE VIRGIN.” This was more confirmation to me that it was indeed what my dream was about. Now, I will share what I feel the Lord is saying in the dream.
I have never dreamt of myself on a rooftop or high road ramps before. I was high up. If I still represented Wisdom (as I did in the dream an hour before this one), Wisdom does call from the heights of the city. See Prov 8:1-5 and Prov 9:3-6. I did not call out in this dream. Why not? I did shout in the last dream, just an hour previous to this one, for everyone to take shelter in my (Wisdom’s) house. Was that the call? In Matthew 24:15-22, Jesus said that when you see the abomination of desolation which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet standing in the holy place, then it is time to flee. Is that what the mushroom cloud–shaped tornado was in the first dream? The only reason I bring that up is that I was on rooftops in this second dream. As I stated, I’ve never dreamt of being on a rooftop before. After being on rooftops and high road ramps, I go down inside a very different house, which is definitely not Wisdom’s house, to try and help an occupant. Jesus states in Matthew 24 that if you are on a rooftop when you see the abomination of desolation that you are NOT to go down into the house to see about and gather things. There won’t be time. He also says, “Woe to those who are pregnant and nursing babies in those days!” The baby wasn’t my baby, but in a sense I was the caregiver for the baby. Unfortunately, the dream played out the same way the parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins played out with the wise being unable to help the foolish even though the foolish asked for help. The point in all of this is that the end time clock had gotten to an hour in which it was too late to help those who won’t seek the Lord for themselves and thus grow to maturity. I say this with sadness as I’m someone, as many people are, that wants to be able to help others. In the dream, which occurred an hour before, the end time clock may not have been quite as late. I get the feeling in the dream that God is taking me somewhere (to show me this truth about the late hour we’re starting to enter into on the prophetic time clock, as well as other things) as I do not fall through any of the many infrastructure gaps and holes in Folly’s territory as I quickly ride the bike. In this dream, I seem to represent “Wisdom” or “Coming into Wisdom”.
It is clear that I am in Folly’s territory, though, far from Wisdom’s house of safety which was in the dream an hour before this one. Folly calls from the heights of the city just as Wisdom does. I am in territory of unfinished road (ramps) which seems to speak of not finishing the path God would have us walk on; not completing all He has called us to. Also, they are high and lofty paths… the way of pride. Pride always gets torn down by God.
The shanty-type house is the house of Folly. It is not my (Wisdom’s) house. Those that listen to folly (foolishness) come to poverty that clings to them (spiritual, but can also be physical) and uncleanness (sin) which this shanty house typifies, even to the fact that some in that house have ‘bathed’ in filth. Do a study in Proverbs on the fool and the sluggard if you are not aware of this principle. I am in no way suggesting that being poor is always a result of foolishness. I don’t believe that at all. The Apostle Paul had seasons of having great physical need. It’s just that if we once had plenty, then come to poverty that does not leave, we should examine our lives to see if we have possibly entertained foolishness. I’ve certainly done much soul searching because of the many dreams the Lord has sent. I have been in no way exempt from the Lord’s dealings.
Wisdom is in a place foreign to her and in a house that is not her own. In the parable of The Wise and Foolish Virgins, the foolish ask the wise for help. They say, “Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.” The wise answer, “No, for there will not be enough for us and you too; go instead to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.” As the foolish go away to make the purchase, the Bridegroom comes and they arrive back too late to enter the wedding feast.
In this dream, I have been asked to clean up the baby. It is never clear who asks me to do this. In the parable, the foolish ask for this help. It is not the Lord asking me to make the foolish baby ready for the Bridegroom. This baby symbolizes a baby Christian that has not grown in the Lord. The baby is a baby spiritually, not age-wise. It is a foolish virgin as described in the Matthew 25 parable. Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child. Babies don’t get an inheritance. They can’t handle it. We must continue to grow and mature in our walk with the Lord to inherit eternal life. Past oil and past light won’t get us there according to the Matthew 25 parable. Notice how when the baby did get some oil which represents the Holy Spirit (just like the oil in the parable), the baby spills it and actually makes a mess of it. I believe part of the reason the oil was wasted was that the baby was asleep. We must wake up and not be like the foolish baby who won’t grow up and seek the Lord for herself to get clean and then falls asleep, thus spilling the oil. The Holy Spirit oil has been squandered and thought of as common.
In the parable of Matthew 25, only the wise have made themselves ready and when the shout comes, there is time only to go out and meet the Bridegroom. Jesus does talk about a dark hour, coming on the earth, when no man can work (for the Kingdom of God). He says to work while it is day because the night is coming when no man can work. Are we nearing that time? If so, each of us must complete the Kingdom work which the Lord has called us to. There may not be much more time to help the lost find the Lord. I was unable to help the baby get clean; to get ready to meet the Lord as the pure and spotless Bride of Christ (Eph. 5:25-32). I was only able to keep myself clean. That is akin to the parable with the wise not having enough oil (or light) to share. They only had enough oil (light) to make it to the Lord themselves. I could only keep myself clean in readiness by the power of the Holy Spirit. I couldn’t get the baby clean and ready, too. It was even getting to the point where I needed the situation to change or I would end up dirty, too.
The huge candle represents the same thing as the oil lamps in Matthew 25. They both represent the Holy Spirit who lights our path. I must have finally realized that I could not help the baby, just as the wise virgins couldn’t help the foolish in the parable. I am looking for a huge bucket to carry my huge candle in. The bucket could be considered optional, I suppose, since I definitely have the light source. But it would catch wax drippings and make it safer and easier to carry the candle. So my time spent trying to help the foolish may have hindered me some.
Has there been a shout? I did shout in the first dream an hour before this one for the youth to run into my (Wisdom’s) house. Is the Bridegroom coming soon? In that day the wise virgins, those consecrated to the Lord, will enter into His House for the wedding feast. Then the door will be shut. The foolish will be too late. Notice that in the Matthew 25 parable that all 10 virgins start out with oil which represents the Holy Spirit. But only the wise keep the oil constantly supplied. They always walk in the Light. To be saved, according to this parable, we must start with the Holy Spirit and also finish our walk on this earth still relying on the Holy Spirit’s Light. We must be on the alert and wake up!
At the end of the dream, I am only aware of getting my light source ready. Nothing else seems to matter at that point.
This dream, and the one the hour before it, have caused an urgency in my spirit and I hope they do so in your spirit as well who read this. It is an urgency to finish all that the Lord has personally asked of me and to reach out to the lost while there is still time and the grace of the Lord is here to help us reach the lost. In the first dream, there was still time for me to help the young people to a safe place… Wisdom’s house. The dream right afterwards showed that the hour had gotten too far gone to help those who have not made themselves ready. We must not presume that it will always be ‘Day’, allowing us to do Kingdom work. Let us be obedient to the instructions of our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ. By His grace let us work NOW while it is still ‘Day’ to make the Bride ready for the Lord’s Coming. He gave His precious lifeblood to purchase all men for Himself.
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