Vision of The Fruit on The Cross

The Fruit

Most Christians have read the fruit and the vine passage by Jesus.  This vision was very brief and somewhat mysterious.  I think it relates to the fruit of the cross, for it is the cross that we most often use as a symbol of our faith.

I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.   John 15:5 (NIV) 

Wednesday July 8, 1998

I had a brief vision that night, the first in about 6 months.  I saw a well-formed cross with shadows on the edges as if highlighted from the front, and seen from about a 45 degree view.   There was a very healthy, very thick vine growing around it with what appeared to be very large fruit hanging on my side of the cross.

If there were leaves, they were behind the fruit or behind the cross, as I did not see any.  I did see the vine quite clearly, from the thick roots at the base to the even thicker trunk looped over the cross arm. 

The thick vine was looped around the back, over the left arm of the cross, then draped across the front toward the right and then toward me on the right, and finally ended in the fruit. 

The fruit appeared to be a huge bunch of grapes, all in one large bunch, shaped somewhat like a large hornet’s nest.   Grapes?  Perhaps by suggestion only, as the idea seemed to be the the fruit was bountiful, pure and perfect in form.  Fruit in any event.

If these were grapes, they were either enormous grapes or the cross was small.  I did not have a good reference for dimensions, but the fruit stretched from just below the cross arm to about 80 percent of the way to the ground.  

There was one point later in the vision where the cross seemed to be much taller and thinner and there was something going on behind it, and the vertical part of the cross was brighter, almost shining, but I couldn’t see it in any kind of detail as the fruit remained the same size in my view and obscured much of what was behind it.

The vision only lasted a few moments, and then was gone.  I wish that I could have seen what was happening on the other side of the cross.  Perhaps I was only viewing the backside of it and Jesus was on the other or perhaps it was simply someone attending to the fruit that I was not allowed to see.  It is one of the mysteries of these visions that sometimes I’m only allowed to see a portion of it and most often they are accompanied by silence.   I am grateful for those few things God has chosen to reveal to me.   I’m not complaining.

There are many references to the fruit of the Holy Spirit, and this vision seemed to relate the fruit to the Cross.  Perhaps the fruit of the Cross is the Holy Spirit who was God’s gift as promised by Jesus.

I started receiving these visions after a ”Clear Warning” that I was going to die.  It was an earnest prayer within God’s will that seemed to save my life.   I started relating these visions to you, gentle reader, some ten years later.  I did not start with the first visions that I had received in fear that you would think this is fantasy or fiction.  It is neither.  However, for the next few days I will go back to the first two visions I received.   There are a number of others that are end-time related and I’ve saved them for last.  

So next I will tell about the vision of The Monk and the Dark People.   It is a sort of an examination and is the very first vision that I received after the Clear Warning, and for that matter, the first ever for me.

Jesus – Moments in Time – Part 2

This is the continuation of the vision reported in the previous post.  It was all one vision in one night.  Once you have a vision, it is not like a dream.  It never fades.  It never goes away.  It has been 10 years now and it is still as vivid as ever.  The details come from my journal from the next morning. 

Jesus crucified

Jesus faded quickly from view and then suddenly there He was again in a completely new scene, hanging on a large wooden cross.  He was too far away to see his features, but I knew instantly in my mind that this was Jesus!   This time the scene was a full panoramic view including skyline and included everything in my peripheral view as well.  In other words, it was as if I were standing nearby, observing in real life.

The scene was not at all like those that you see depicted in a movie or in paintings.  The cross was not on a hill, but situated in a valley, very barren, hardly any trees or vegetation, perhaps only scrubs.  It was nearly dark, and the scene seemed to be highlighted around Jesus, but much darker elsewhere.

I was looking from the top of the adjacent hillside.  The cross was on relatively flat ground, but not far from the front of a large cave-like structure situated in the hillside behind the cross.  The cross was to the lower right of my view.

The cave, which had a dark opening, was situated behind, lower, and to the left of the cross.  The opening faced slightly to my right, not head on.

There was a crowd around him, in the fringes of the lighted area, sort of standing back and not moving around.   They were standing mostly in front of him as he hung there.

There was only one cross visible.  If there were more, they were not in my field of view or they were in the dark areas of the scene.  This image lasted only a few seconds.  There were no sounds in this vision.

Jesus is entombed

The scene lit up momentarily and then darkened again, much like from a flash of light from lightning, but I did not see a storm or the lightning itself.  It just suddenly got brighter and then went to its original light levels.

The people in the scene suddenly approached the cross, and it went from vertical to horizontal in a matter of seconds.  I can’t say that I saw them actually take Him down, it happened so quickly.  I do remember that the crowd seemed to move to the vertical cross together, almost all at once, then the cross was on the ground.

A procession went into the cave accompanied by figures shrouded in darkness.  The procession was lighted enough to see the people were carrying the body above their shoulders, but was dark around the edges of those carrying Him.

However, the place where the cross was first laid down glowed brightly with a darker outline of the cross in the middle, as if the cross itself was left behind.  The ground around it was like ice illuminated from below, softly glowing in the night! 

As I recreate the scene in my mind, it seems as if the lighted area around the cross was slightly pulsating.  I do know that the light appeared to come from below and not from above.

Once Jesus was taken inside, the entire cave entrance glowed brightly, but I could not see inside from where I was standing.  The light from inside the cave was projected onto the ground near the entrance and fell behind the cross, left to right.  My perspective never changed.

The light in the cave grew much brighter, then suddenly disappeared.  The light around the cross was still there for a few more moments, and then it too faded as that portion of the  vision ended.

Jesus changes

Jesus appeared again, this time about 10 feet away so that I could see his entire body.  He was dressed in a gray robe.   His face and head were uncovered, and his features were the same as the earlier appearance when he was closer to me. 

His face suddenly began to change.  It had started out as somewhat gray in skin tone, as if lighted from an outside source, perhaps moonlight, against a dark background. 

It suddenly changed to a very white tone, whiter than real life, somewhat like a picture that has been developed wrong.  When it was white, it was milk white, almost ceramic in smoothness.

The change  started at the chin and moved up to the top of his forehead (the skin only).  It was a wiping motion, as if a shutter was drawn up exposing the new face as it was lifted.  As I recall it now, there was no beard for this new face.

After a few moments with the new white china-like face, His face changed just as suddenly to all black, starting at the chin again and moving up. 

The face changed a number of times like this, taking on different appearances as I watched, each change discernible as a kind of wiping motion starting at the chin and rapidly moving to the top of his head, each face different, and with features of various races.  

I had the impression that Jesus took on the features of many different races, possibly all of them, during this part of the vision.  As I look back, I cannot follow the changes other than the first few.

At the time of the vision, I did not understand what I was seeing.  That is, I saw what was happening, but I did not understand what He was showing me.

Jesus Transfigured?

Then he suddenly appeared slightly to the right of me and farther away. At this point, the face changes had slowed down and almost stopped.  I am not certain this new figure was Jesus, but I believe it was.  The entire vision had been about Him up until now.

This scene was like I was looking in slow motion because I remember seeing His mouth slowly forming words that I could not hear.  Each new word took what seemed like four or five seconds to complete, and His mouth looked as if He might be shouting!   His face began changing again.  These first few new faces seemed to be angry.

One of the faces was a brilliant white (glowing) where the face and hair were more like what you expect to see when God is depicted.  He was filled with a glowing light from within, difficult to look at due to the brightness.

His hair was shaped almost like a star, with waves of hair and light coming out to points in all directions, and with light emanating from the points, almost like energy from a Tesla coil, which generates long electrical sparks and makes hair stand on end. 

He appeared much older and was obviously issuing a stern command to someone or something, probably to me but I could not hear it!  He was looking in my general direction and it was awe inspiring to see.  To me this person was now God.  His mouth was moving and continuing to form harsh words in slow motion, but I could not hear them.

He then became very animated, tuning His face from side to side and looking up and down.  His face was what I can only describe as wild-eyed!    And His face changed again.  Each time he looked in a different direction, the face changed again.

The changing faces began to change more rapidly, and each new face change seemed to come faster than the previous one. He was no longer moving His head up and down and He was no longer mouthing words. 

Soon He began to turn his head from side to side, and each time he moved His head, there was a new face.  Each new view, left, center, right, back to center, left again were all different.  As the face changes were speeding up, He soon became almost a blur.

A number of the faces were not pleasant, very distorted, and my reaction was that I didn’t want to see those faces, but the faces changed quickly and were replaced by new ones.  Those faces were not of this world.  They were not human in form.

The changes began to occur so quickly, it looked as though he might have more than one face simultaneously facing in three different directions, or possibly all four directions at once, although I never saw a back view. 

I am fairly certain that the appearance of the simultaneous faces was an effect of the rapid changes.  There are visions in the Bible that have similar situations where there appeared to be creatures facing multiple directions at once.

Also out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance; they had the likeness of a man. ⁶ And every one had four faces, and every one had four wings.  Ezek. 1:5-6 (KJV)

Finally Jesus appeared once again in the form most known to me in drawings and paintings, then disappeared as the vision ended.  In this final form, He was standing near to me again.    The vision was over.

I don’t know if the faces I saw were those He actually appeared in, in the past, as or if they were just how He allows others to perceive Him, or if there was some other meaning to the mystery.

I even have the lingering thought that some of the faces were those of other worlds that He might have appeared in as their Savior, because they were not faces seen in this world! 

I had the lasting impression that Jesus can look like anything we want him to look like, regardless of color or race. 

Our personal Savior

Jesus is the personal savior of each of us.  It now makes sense to me that he appears to each of us in a form that is both acceptable and pleasant.  In other worlds he would naturally have an appearance that would be acceptable to inhabitants of that particular world in which he visited as their Christ.  It is possible the wild-eyed face was of Jesus as he looks to those he is condemning at the end of time.  I hope I am not one of them.

According to the lesson that I took from this vision, Jesus is black to Blacks, white to Whites, and Asian to Asians.  That is acceptable to me!  It now makes sense that he was never described in the Bible, not even his hair. 

It is possible that when His disciples got together to write their gospels, they discovered that they couldn’t agree as to what he looked like, because he was different to each of them!  It certainly was not important what he looked like during his ministry.   What was eternally important was his message.  It has endured the test of time. 

Enduring message

A message from a man born into a carpenter’s family; a man that never traveled more than a hundred miles or so from his birthplace; a man hated by many of his fellow men; a man doubted by even his closest followers; a man crucified among thieves; a man whose very followers were tracked down, jailed and martyred; and yet a man whose message has swept through the world over the following two thousand years.  

There are universities and libraries and buildings all over the world dedicated to this man, a man of no formal training who wrote only a few words in the sand.  There are holidays for his birth and death in many nations and millions have read his message and have come to God in His name.

Do we need any more proof that Jesus was divine?  How else could his message be spread from such humble beginnings?

Coming up next:  Heaven Revealed?

Jesus – Moments in Time – Part 1

This is going to need to be in two parts because it is quite lengthy. As I look back on my journal, I can see that it is too long for one post.

Jesus – Moments in Time

Now to him who is able to establish you by my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past, but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all nations might believe and obey him– to the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ! Amen. Rom 16:25-27 (NIV)

This remarkable vision began on March 25, 1997, a Tuesday. After prayers, I began to feel that pleasant tingle in my hair that progressed to the skin of my forehead and down my entire scalp that told me the Holy Spirit was present.

I had prayed for several weeks now that Jesus would reveal himself to me in a vision, but no visions of Jesus came. This time I simply prayed “Jesus Come” over and over. The following was without any sound at any time. I heard no words other than those of my inner thoughts of wonderment.

Jesus stands before me

As I looked at the random patterns in front of my closed eyes, a standing figure of Jesus began to form in black and white. He was facing me and only moving slightly. He was close by, perhaps only five feet away. A tall man with face and features like so many paintings I have seen – a classical depiction of Jesus. There was a slight difference in the way His hair looked as compared to paintings, but otherwise He looked like any one of many paintings I have seen. His hair was parted in the middle of his head of course, but his hair seemed to fit more closely to His head, and was longer than in most paintings.

His skin was a light gray, not white or black, as if highlighted by moonlight in the darkness. I was in complete admiration of Jesus and just stared in wonderment. It was only later, as you will understand from the second part of this vision, that I realized that a description of Jesus is futile, but for now, the above is what I saw in this vision. Later you will understand.

He did not speak, or raise his hands or make any gestures of any kind, and I did not even think of saying anything.

Mary? and Joseph? appear

Jesus faded after what seemed only a few moments, and two figures appeared, seen only from the waist up. One was a beautiful young woman, dressed in a blue shawl wrapped around the upper body and head. It was daytime, and I could clearly see her face because she was facing me and her companion’s back was more toward me. Her face was smooth and of good complexion. I could not see her hair under the shawl.

The companion was wearing a green robe and hood. The young woman in the blue shawl was laughing and smiling animatedly to the second person who was not clearly seen, but I had the impression that this person was also young. I had the initial impression, because of the shawl and robes, that both were female, but I decided later that the second person was a man. I saw love in the face of the girl.

I wish I had a better view of the second person, or had moved to get a better view (if that was possible), but I didn’t know the significance of this part of my vision at the time. They were situated partially behind a rock that was half buried in a green field not far from where I was watching. The scene was highlighted as a cameo-like view surrounded by black, but it was definitely full daylight for them, and very colorful.

If you hold up your two hands and put the tips of your thumbs together and the tips of your first fingers together to form a circle, then look at a scene through that circle at arms length, you will get an idea of the size of the scene in my field of view.

In other words, I did not get the full panoramic view that you get when you look across a field. Mary and her companion were simply situated in a colorful window-like area slightly below and right of the center of my view. After watching them talking silently and joyfully for a few moments, they disappeared.

I decided later that I was probably seeing Mary and Joseph sometime prior to the birth of Jesus.

Jesus born

The scene changed to a scene that I recognized immediately. This scene was also in a cameo window like the previous one, and about the same size, but the figures were slightly further away. It was night. My viewing portal was now situated slightly to the left and lower than the first one. The scene I was viewing was a manger scene.

There was a cradle situated alongside what appeared to be a rough wooden railing. Everything around the scene was dark. The figures and the cradle were well lighted and in vibrant color.

I believe that the two people were the same as in the previous scene, because they wore the same garments, but I was too far away to see the faces clearly. They appeared to be very happy, alternately admiring each other and looking at the cradle.

I took this to be a manger scene, but it was not the classic scene we always see with cows, sheep, and shepherds. The only ones present were the two figures and the cradle. I cannot bring back any remembrance of what the cradle was sitting on or where the light was coming from.

The two figures were sitting on the ground with their legs tucked in beside them. The wooden railing behind them was the beginning of an animal stall, but I did not see any animals. Nor could I see the baby Jesus. Once again, this scene was like a window of color painted into a pitch-black background.

Unlike a real window, however, these openings were more of an uneven oval shape drawn around the scene, much like small paintings started on a larger black canvas. In addition, these paintings moved; this was like a live painting on a black velvet canvas.

Jesus’ Cross

Next I saw the full figure of Jesus again, this time standing in front of me, but very close, almost face to face, only inches away. His appearance was the same, except the crease in his brow and the wrinkle of his forehead made a definite, well-defined “cross.”

The cross was lighter than the skin, so when it was in focus, it was almost lighted. It was not a rectangular figure of a cross, but one more like you would see depicted as an image of a distant star, thin and tapered at the ends, but it had the proportions of a cross. The arms were offset from the center, situated higher up on the vertical part, about the same proportions of a Christian cross.

I kept glancing up at the cross that was so apparent on his forehead, then back to his eyes. Each time I focused on the cross, the cross would go out of focus and I would be drawn back to the eyes. Then the cross would come back into prominence and I would again shift my view to it and lose focus on the eyes. I could not see both at the same time.

Soon, He began to slowly back away, as if taking very small steps backward. It was more like a glide than discrete steps. After he backed away a few feet, I saw the cross again, this time made up of the bridge of his nose and his eyes. The cross in his brow was replaced by a cross in his eyes and nose.

Each time the features changed by slightly fading into a cross, then back to regular features. My thoughts were in wonderment of the cross image that appeared in His face. I was mesmerized by his very presence. There wasn’t any burning fire, or flashing lightning, no thundering words, no expression of love, no display of anger or compassion. Just Jesus standing there looking me in the face.

I wish I could say how his hands or arms were positioned or what he was wearing. I can’t say because I was just staring into His face with love and admiration. Once again, He did not say anything. The cross seen in his features were all I needed to see, or, more likely, the lack of focus on Him if I focused on the cross.

Staying Focused

It was as if Jesus was telling me to not focus on the cross if I wanted to see Him. I could see the cross or I could see Jesus, but not both. Perhaps he is saying that we are coming close to worship of a thing – the cross – an idol? and at the same time losing focus on what we should be worshiping. Our churches use the cross as a symbol of Jesus’ death to save us from sin, so it is in a prominent place, sometimes dominating the alter. Some churches encourage us to wear and to pray to the cross. Perhaps Jesus is telling me not to do that.

I’m not saying my interpretation is right – you decide what the message, if anything is.

The second part of this vision is coming up next. Jesus – Moments in Time – Part 2. I see Jesus crucified, entombed, changing, and transfigured in this second part of this vision, actually all in one timeless night. The second part is the most dynamic of the visions I’ve seen, and has a clearer message than in the first part, if the frist part has a message at all.

Coming Next:

Jesus – Moments in Time – Part 2