George Washington's Vision

by Frederick Hoehn, copyright 2014, all rights reserved.

Chapter 1

I read a book perhaps thirty three years ago.  One of the chapters was about a vision that President George Washington apparently had.  

There was also a chapter that said some things about President Abraham Lincoln.  

I remember a title, "Can We Have a Christian President?"  That might have been the title of the book, or just the title of a chapter in the book.   

But this vision of Washington's becomes more significant now in the light of current events.  

Lately in the news, there is war in Iraq.  Islamic militants have taken over much of Northern Iraq and are reported to be within a hundred miles of Baghdad, the capitol of Iraq.    

It has been said on the news that the U.S. has spent a Trillion dollars on the Iraq project.  And I'm wondering, what do we have to show for our Trillion dollars?  Not much, it seems.  

They say that since we left Iraq, we've spent $14 Billion to try to help Iraq with its defenses.  But it looks like that was not money well spent.  

They say that due to the current Iraq situation, the price of oil has risen by two percent, and that this is affecting the price of energy stocks on the stock exchanges.    

One justification for fighting the Iraq war and the war in Afghanistan was that by putting things right over there, we wouldn't have to fight terrorists here.  But it is not clear that that purpose has been accomplished.  

I don't think the Islamic militants have given up regarding the U.S.A.   It is their idea that the whole world ought to be Muslims (followers of Islam.)  With that in mind, we'd better be on our guard.    

It's in the Bible that a house divided against itself can't stand.  In fact, that was a reason that President Abraham Lincoln fought to hold the nation together, the principle that a house divided against itself can't stand.  

But is not Iraq a house divided against itself?  Sunni against Shia, and Shia against Sunni.  And it's been that way for a long time.  

When you watched the news on TV, they were always saying, "We're going to train these people to take care of their own defenses so that we can turn it over to them and go home."  

That was the story, for Iraq, and also for Afghanistan.

But it doesn't look like these Iraqis are doing very well at defending themselves in this latest war that's happening over there.  

Looks like our training wasn't very successful.  

When George W. Bush was President, it seemed to be his policy that all the nations needed to be democracies.  

But democracy is not necessarily the solution to all the world's problems.  

And for some of those nations in the Middle East, democracy was very much a foreign thing, and didn't come at all naturally to them.  

Speaker of the House, John Boehner, expressed concern today that the White House wasn't doing enough about the situation in Iraq.  

Also, Senator Lindsey Graham expressed concern that the next 9/11 could be brewing.  

Chapter 2

I bought that book about Washington's vision at the Hegewisch Baptist Church book store, in Highland, IN.  

I don't still have the book.  I'd like to find it again.  

But after three decades, and a new Pastor, I don't know whether they still have a book store, and I'm in a different state.  

Apparently, an angel appeared to President George Washington.  Angels sometimes appear as males.  But to Washington, the angel appeared as a woman.  

Actually, I don't think angels are either male or female, but they can appear to be either.  

The angel showed Washington things to come for the United States.  

The angel showed Washington about World War 3.  The previous World Wars have been fought on foreign lands.  

But in WW3, according to the vision, fighting will come to our nation.  Invaders will come in ships.  I hope our Navy is ready, and our Coast Guard.  

I hope our submarines can sink many of the invading ships before they reach our shores.  

But there might be a problem identifying the enemy ships.  Perhaps they will be disguised.  

Jesus said, "The time will come when he that kills you will think that he's doing God a service." (Jhn 16:2)  

That time is now.  

Muslims think that when they kill non-Muslims, they're doing God a service, by helping the world become more Muslim, as the Muslims think God wants the world to be.  

And if you happen to be one of the casualties, then the Muslims will see it as a step forward.  

WW1 and WW2 were very violent, and many men died.  But, according to the vision, WW3 will be worse than the previous World Wars.  

But the vision showed that though WW3 will be pretty bad, the U.S. will eventually win the victory over the enemy.  

But let's not rest on our laurels.  Let's have a strong military.  

Kenneth E. Hagin wrote a book, "I Believe in Visions."  He tells about visions that the Lord gave him, teaching him various things that Hagin shares with his readers.  

But not everyone who claims that he's had a vision necessarily did get a legitimate vision.  

Joseph Smith, who founded Mormonism, said that God the Father and Jesus came and appeared to him and spoke with him.  

But that didn't happen.  

Moses was talking with God, and hearing him, but not seeing him.  Moses asked God to let Moses see God.  

God said, "No man can see my face and live."  

So then, how did Joseph Smith see God's face and live to tell about it?  

Well, he didn't, of course, because it would have killed him to see God's face.   

But when I read about the vision that Washington was supposed to have had, it seemed legitimate to me.  

Muslims are taught that if they die as Muslim martyrs, they'll go to heaven.  Some of the males have even been taught that they'll get 72 virgins to be their wives when they get to heaven.  

But Jesus said that in heaven, there's no marrying, nor giving in marriage.  So, you're not going to have a wife in heaven.  

Furthermore, the Bible tells us that "No murderer has eternal life abiding in him." (1 Jhn 3:15)  

So then, going around murdering people doesn't get you to heaven.  

I have heard that in the Islam religion, the only way that you can be guaranteed to go to heaven is to become a Muslim martyr.  And that's why there have been so many Muslim suicide bombers.  

But the Bible teaches that you go to heaven by becoming a born-again Christian. (John chapter 3, and Romans 10:9,10)  

Part of being a Christian is that you don't go murdering people.  The Muslims have it backward.  They've been lied to.