VISION GIVEN TO PASTOR JUAN FRANCISCO, JR
In 1998 our church had been experiencing the beginning of a strong revival. The sick were being healed, the demon-possessed were being liberated, the lost was being saved, and the believers were being sanctified.
During the month of May of 1998, I had gone to bed as usual. However, what was about to happen that night was not very usual. Early in the morning of the next day, a revelation from the Lord came to me. It was a very impacting experience.
In that vision, I found myself standing in an open area outside. There were no buildings, or any other structure for that matter in sight. In front, high up in the sky, there was a gigantic map of the United States. Only the outline of the map was visible for it looked as if the definition was drawn in mid air without any background but the sky itself. As I looked carefully at the phenomenon, I heard a voice that said: “A very powerful fire has started in the northern part of the United States. A fire so powerful that nothing can contain it and is expected to move rather quickly over the entire land”. As I was listening to the voice and looking at the map, I saw a tongue of fire erupt in the Northern-Center area of the United States. Immediately after that fire sprung up, a second tongue of fire erupted in the same manner to the right of the first but in the same immediate area of the map. Immediately after the second tongue of fire sprang up, the entire map of the United States from left to right, beginning in the north, began to be filled with a light and bright violet or light purple color. As this color was filling the map, many bright white points of light began to appear. As long as the color was filling the map the points of bright lights were also appearing until the whole map was filled with the bright violet color and the points of light.
Immediately after the map had been filled, I found myself in another location, but still in the outside. Again, there were no building structures of any kind. The sky was covered with smoke-like clouds. Suddenly, and without warning, an incredible bolt of lightning exploded from inside the clouds and hit the ground. The light produced by the explosion was blinding and astonishing. I had to close my eyes because of the blinding effect of the illumination. The experience was so impacting that I was awaken solid. I jumped from my bed and felt on my knees in front of my bed, fearful of the immediate experience and what it might represent. I asked God to help me understand what I had seen.
God’s answer was immediate, for when I went back into bed, the vision continued. This time, I found myself in the parking lot of the church I pastor. My purpose in going to the church was to communicate to the brethren what I had seen in the vision. I entered the sanctuary and noticed that there was a small group of people sitting at the alter and a brother, who is presently a deacon, was speaking to them. I approached them and waited politely, but very excited, for the brother to finish. When he did, I told them of a vision I had just had and how I felt that it was a way for the Holy Spirit of God to alert us to a very powerful revival in the United States.
After that, I found myself, yet, in a different sequence of the vision where I was traveling in a high way and came to the end of that high way. I stopped the car because there was no more road. The high way ended there with a section under an over pass that served as shelter for them. There were about six or seven of them and one was keeping vigil. The others were trying to sleep with sheets of cardboard over them. I approached the man who was guarding the entrance and told him what I was there for. I told them that I had come to warn them of a powerful fire that was moving in all directions from the north and was about to reach hear. They needed to be prepared; was the message. That man considered this to be important for he took me to his friends who at first reacted suspiciously about me but, nonetheless, decided to listen..
When I woke up that morning, I was very excited and agitated. I began to search frantically for a map of the United States because the whole thing was so clear and I knew exactly the area of the United States where the fire went up. Much to my dismay, I could not find a map. So I got out of the house and went to find a newspaper stand of the newspaper USA Today for I had remembered that the newspaper displayed a weather map of the United Sates in the back. I found one such stand with the last window copy of the paper from the previous day. Much to my surprise, the paper did have a map, but it only mentioned cities and not the name of the states.
I had to wait until I got to my office at the university where I also worked. There I had a computer where I had such information. I finally found a map in the computer with all the information I was looking for. I immediately looked at the area where the fire started and I found that two states in the north were in the general area and those sates were North and South Dakota and Minnesota. The first tongue of fire was to the left in the North Dakota area and the second fire was to the right in the Minnesota area. I was elated to have identified these states.
Next, I began to ask myself the question, why would the Lord allow me to see that vision? Was this information for private or public consumption? The answer would only be revealed through prayer and fasting. So I started fasting and praying. At work, instead of going for my lunch hour, I would close myself in my office and prayed for an answer from the Holy Spirit. I did that for about two weeks. After more than a week in fasting and prayer, the answer did come. I was to contact churches in the area in question and tell them about it. So I began the process, through the Internet, of identifying churches in the area. I looked for churches that were hungry for revival or that were already on revival.
I began with North Dakota. I located a church there and spoke with the pastor. The pastor in question had been hungry for revival but had become disillusioned because of lack of results. He told me that something had happened in his church but it had quickly dissipated. I told him that that was about to change for the Lord was going to move in a mighty way in that area. I told him to get prepared. He was kind of skeptical and took my name and telephone number down anyway. As far as I was concerned, however, it was not my job to convince anyone. My job was to relate a message. That was my responsibility; that was my mission. I told him that the word to him was not for private consumption and that he needed to contact other pastors and tell them about it as well as communicate to the body what was about to happen.
I then focused on Minnesota. In the Internet, I came across a church in Alexandria called House of Prayer. I contacted the pastor there and told her about the vision. As we spoke, we felt the anointing and power of the Holy Spirit in a mighty way. She told me that the church had been praying for a sign from God. She felt that this was it. She told me that she would bring the information to an intercessory group for direction from the Holy Spirit. The very next day in the morning, she called me and told me that after due prayer, the intercessory group got word that this was indeed of God! I told her that it appears that my responsibility had been discharged. I also told her that the information was not for any particular church but for all that would hear. She then put me in touch with a church in Hutchinson, by the name of Riverside Assemblies. I called the pastor who was also very open to the message but also put it into prayer with his team of intercessors. The very next day he also called me and said that his intercessory group prayed and received direction from the Holy Spirit that this was of God!
Next, I was invited to come to Minnesota to relate the vision personally. I felt honored to go to the land where I saw the fire. Just stepping on that ground to me was very special.
I prayed to the Lord about that trip and got word that somehow the Mississippi River played a symbolic role in the impending revival. So I wanted to go the headwaters of the Mississippi; a place of beginning. We did go to the headwaters and held a service there.
The Lord gave me a prophetic word of restoration and cleansing and unity of the body of Christ symbolized in the throwing a small tree into the waters of the lake Itasca, where the Mississippi begins, in a symbolic gesture of the sweetening and cleansing of the spiritual life of the church body in the United States. Next we held hand across the river since the Mississippi, which later turns into a raging river, has a very humble beginning. You can actually cross it on foot.
I visited Minnesota on June 19th, 1998 and related the vision to an overflowing attendance in the House of Prayer in Alexandria. The Holy Spirit moved powerfully. Next we went to Hutchinson where I preached the Sunday of that weekend. There were brothers and sisters there, pastors and other ministries represented. The attendance was overflowed. There were brethren from different states as well.
All this was very humbling to me and I praised the Lord for entrusting such a powerful message to a virtual unknown person like myself and one who is not worthy of such honor. To Him always be the glory and honor forever. Amen. Pastor Juan Francisco, Jr. The Door of Refuge Church, Assemblies of God 247 Valley Street, Providence, RI 02909