My goal is to judge the word as Paul instructs the Corinthians in I Cor 14:29 – “And let two or three prophets speak, and let the others pass judgment.”  As I work through the visions, looking at them as a whole and separately, I will discuss them in light of the Bible as well as sharing what the Holy Spirit has revealed to me over the past 23 years.  I’m not interested in man’s opinions about Dana’s visions and I’ll bet you aren’t either.  We want to understand what the Spirit of the Lord is saying, if it is in fact Him saying it, and we are attempting to do this together with Him, not without Him.  Why is this important?  It is important because we know in part and prophesy in part (I Cor 13:9), so to secure a  better understanding, and for me to properly judge Dana’s visions, I must view them in the light of what the Lord has been saying to me over the years and what I’ve studied in the scriptures.

First, I should mention that I view Dana’s dreams through the lens of judgment having come to America, with more to come if we, as the Church, do not repent.  The Lord has been revealing to me that judgment would come to America since October 2013, and a great deal has been revealed since January of this year.  Many in the Church do not believe that judgment is part of the New Testament, but that it is relegated to how the Lord dealt with His people in the Old Testament and how He will deal with those who do not accept Jesus Christ as both Lord and Savior.  But judgment is what the Lord does, for if He does not judge wickedness in His righteousness, then He cannot be holy or righteous.

I have covered this topic in detail in a number of articles, blog posts and videos and choose not to spend any more time on the exegesis of what the Bible has to say about judgment here.  If anyone would like to see what I have written on the topic, please let me know and I will send the documentation and/or links to my videos.

What the Lord has revealed to me has to do with judgment coming to America, China and His Church, particularly pastors who refuse to follow the Holy Spirit or allow Him to move in power in His own house or in and through His people to a lost and dying world.  This is a grave sin of rebellion which the Lord will deal with most severely among His leaders if they do not repent.  He also revealed that judgment would come before the coming outpouring of His Holy Spirit that would result in revival.  A great house cleaning within His Church must take place before the revival comes, and we are experiencing that.  The Lord has said, “Woe to those who stand against Me in the day of My wrath.”

We dare not continue to grieve the Holy Spirit as we have done for decades.  We cannot habitually grieve the Holy Spirit and get away with it!

Judgment has fallen starting with Covid-19, which was only the beginning.  We are about to experience judgments which are outlined in the Bible that will be discussed as I cover each of Dana’s dreams.  The Bible provides an outline of the phases of judgment in both Leviticus 26 & Deuteronomy 28.

When the Lord spoke to me recently saying, “Judge the dreams,” it was a new concept, although you and I do it informally a good deal of the time.  If you are like me, you listen to a prophetic word and you make a decision based upon what you’ve heard.  I can’t remember one time where I studied a prophetic word and judged it in detail as I am doing here.  I enter into this seriously and take the Lord’s call to judge the word to be a critical exercise.  To pass judgment (discern, analyze, come to a conclusion or set of conclusions, evaluate in light of the Bible) regarding brother Dana’s dreams, as the apostle Paul sets forth, means the following in the context of Paul’s statement in I Corinthians 14:29 –

Strong’s Greek #1252. διακρίνω diakrinō; from 1223 and 2919; to distinguish, to judge:—decide(1), discern(1), disputed(1), doubt(2), doubting(2), doubts(2), judge(1), judged(1), made distinctions(1), made … distinction(1), misgivings(2), pass judgment(1), regards … as superior(1), took issue(1), waver(1).

In short, it means to decide about the truth of the matter, and in this case whether all or parts of the prophetic dreams are true or false.  I also want to judge whether Dana’s interpretation of his dreams is from the Lord or not.  Ultimately, we are looking for the Spirit of the Lord to help us discern who is behind the prophetic word or revelation.  I say parts because part of the prophecy could be true and other parts are not.  How does that happen?  I would submit that we are still vessels of clay and we are at best, poor filters of what the Lord reveals, through whatever gift or gifts He chooses to have operate within us.  It takes a great deal of maturity, time in the word and time with the Lord to move at a high degree of accuracy in delivering a prophetic word, vision or dream and/or interpretation of a tongue.  We are not called to be perfect in delivering the word, we are called to be faithful.  We are not called to stone the prophet, or the one who prophesies (any believer can move in prophecy), if errors occur.  We are called to simply test what is being set forth.

However, the Lord can give the perfect interpretation to a new believer.  Accurate interpretations were released to Daniel and Joseph, but it is important to note that both suffered trials and tribulation before being given a revelation of interpretation.  Daniel lived during the judgment of the Lord that came in the form of Nebuchadnezzar’s army and being taken into exile to Babylon.  Joseph was sold by his brothers into slavery and unjustly imprisoned for years before being called to Pharaoh’s court.  They didn’t interpret the dreams or vision in their own mind.  The Lord revealed the interpretation to them by His Spirit.  We could say the interpretation of the dreams were spiritually, not naturally, discerned.  The more we know who is the truth – Jesus, the better we can discern the truth about prophetic revelation. 

Theme #1 – Brace Yourself

“Brace yourself, brace yourself”, is one of the overriding themes that is repeated in this series of dreams and the meaning is revealed in a later dream (Dana’s Video #3 – 5th dream).  The Lord says in that dream, “Brace yourself, brace, brace on My word and My promises and do not rely on your own strength.”  But we must understand that we cannot brace ourselves in ourselves.  Jesus said in John 15:5b, “Apart from Me you can do nothing.”

In Dana Coverstone’s case, we have six dreams covered in four videos.  They are as follows –

Video #1:  Dream #1 – “Brace yourself, brace yourself”; Dream #3 – “Brace yourself, brace yourself, brace yourself.”

Video #2:  Dream #4 – “Brace yourself, endure to the end.”

Video #3: Dream #5 – “Brace yourself, brace, brace on My word and My promises and do not rely on your own strength.”

Video #4: Dream #6 – It is interesting to note that the Lord did not repeat Himself by saying, “Brace yourself, brace yourself” in the final vision.

As I mentioned before, the Lord clarified (video 3/dream 5) what He means by brace yourself saying, “…brace upon My word and My promises and do not rely upon your own strength.”

1. I believe this begins to unlock some things that the Lord reveals in all the dreams, especially Dana’s dream concerning persecution coming to the Church (video #2, 4th dream).

2. America is a country rooted in the concept of pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps, which we should note is physically impossible. Jesus said, “Apart from Me you can do nothing”, in John 15:5 in the context of He is the vine and we are the branches.  This is where Adam and Eve missed it at the very beginning, and where we continue to miss it today.  The Church is guilty of the sin of presumption, doing its own thing without standing in the counsel of the Lord.  This view comes by revelation of the Holy Spirit and the Bible.

3. We must fully understand what it means to be dependent upon the Holy Spirit for revelation from Him that will fall within the framework of scripture. Resting upon our own intellect or wisdom is futile, filled with pride and devilish; it is of this world and should be repudiated (I Cor 1:18-25, 2:4-16, 3:18-23).

4. The scriptures are filled with exceedingly precious promises and we need to put on – they need to be part of us, i.e. how we think and how we live. We need to wear the belt of truth and continue to wear it as we go forward.  The Lord has called us to not only to war, but victory!  In order to secure victory, the Lord is calling us to check our belts!  If the belt is properly secured in the day of battle then we can stand in His truth and wage war to take ground from the enemy.

5. Bracing oneself in the scriptures lends itself to being understood by what Paul spoke to the Church in Ephesus.

 Ephesians 6:10 (NASB95)

¹⁰Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.

Be strong in ourselves?  Brace ourselves?  No, there is nothing in our flesh that can stand against the days of darkness we are in and those that are coming.  We are called to be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might, not our own strength.  Depending upon our own strength, which Dana appears to suggest only because he appears overwhelmed, and rightly so, given all that has been revealed to him in such a short time.  The dreams he received have changed his life and ministry.  Having been through a similar experience in 1996-1997, I can relate to how dramatically an encounter with the Lord can be and how severe the change can be.

• We must stand in the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit, in the armor of God which is Jesus, and we must wield His sword that He has entrusted to us. We must not only be reading the word, we must be studying the word under the tutelage and guidance of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus, who was sent to do just that.
• We are called to stand at attention before the Lord in the place that He has given to us. The Lord is inspecting His troops and will confront, if not replace, those who have stains on their uniform.  The stains represent sin that has not been repented of.  In some cases, there are believers who have disqualified themselves from leading in the coming battles because of their refusal to take action before the Lord to put their flesh to death by the power of the Holy Spirit and standing upon His word.
• That Lord is calling us, His army to be properly assembled in His armor. He has been preparing leaders in the background.  Like Joseph, some have been in spiritual dungeons and/or far in the rear ranks of the Lord’s army awaiting their release to take their place at the front line.  The Lord Himself will usher them to the front line, to the position that He has called them to.  Why?  Because they have learned what it means to follow the Holy Spirit and to hear the voice of The Shepherd, and they follow Him, i.e. they have learned obedience!

Ephesians 6:11 ¹¹Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.

• The dreams and vivid imagery can bring fear and panic if the believer allows it, but they must be resisted. This is the first place to apply Paul’s instructions regarding standing firm.  We must also heed James 4:7 where it says, “Submit yourself to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you.”  The leadership that the Lord has yet to reveal have learned this well, and as a result are qualified in Him to lead His army into battle by following the Holy Spirit.
• The Lord has released and will release judgment. Part of the manifestation of that judgment is the wickedness flowing through wicked people.  Wickedness and compromise is rooted in the Church as well as in the country, but we are called to stand against the schemes of the devil.
• The Church and America have given room to the devil through our disobedience. Paul said in Ephesians 4:27 – NASB not to give the devil opportunity (lit. place or topos in the Greek).  We have done everything but that and we are now paying the price.  In October 2014 I released a vision regarding the hand of the Lord lifting off of America.  We are living in the days where the favor and protection of the Lord have lifted from us.  There is no protection without the Lord.

Ephesians 6:12-18

¹²For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. ¹³Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. ¹⁴Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,¹⁵and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; ¹⁶in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. ¹⁷And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. ¹⁸With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints,

Therefore, bracing oneself is to literally brace oneself in the Lord by standing firm in the truth of who He is and who we are in Him.  We are called to stand firm against the wickedness that is portrayed so vividly in each of Dana’s dreams.  We must stand firm in faith in Christ.  Paul said, “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17), therefore let us be students and doers of the word and not hearers only who ultimately fall to deception (II Tim 2:15; James 1:22; Luke 6:46).  To brace oneself in this evil day is to choose to sit at the feet of Jesus as Mary did, who chose the better part rather than being a furious prepper as Martha was.  I speak by the Spirit that the Lord has called us to prepare for what He has revealed is coming, but to prepare without His revelation is to prepare in vain (Ps 127:1; Pr 1:32-33).  There are no answers for us in the horizontal, i.e., our own understanding, wisdom and earthly knowledge.  Our answers can only be found by, in and through Jesus Christ.

We must listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit and cease from doing our own will, making our own plans, and doing our own thing – this is the sin of presumption.  This sin must stop here, and it must be repented of now.  Our corporate sin of presumption must cease.  For those who continue in it will suffer great destruction because they chose to move outside of the Glory of the Lord.  The only way forward is to stay in the glory, to brace ourselves and to stand in His truth, hear His voice and receive revelation by His Holy Spirit available to all believers who are willing to seek and wait upon the Lord (II Chron 7:14).  The prophet Isaiah wrote that, “In returning and rest we shall be saved, but you were not willing,” speaking to an audience that refused the Lord’s counsel that comes by revelation and the scriptures; rather, they chose to develop their own plan without His counsel and perished.

Grave judgment awaits those who live their lives making their own plans, developing their own strategies, seeking advice, and making alliances that are not made in the counsel of the Lord (Isaiah 30:1).  This is where the Lord says, “Woe to the rebellious children,” declares the Lord!  We are a rebellious Church and nation!  Because of this, the Lord has called us as His Church and a nation to repent before Him and realize that judgment has fallen upon us because we are guilty of grievous and habitual sins.

The Church wants to pray for revival, but it doesn’t want to repent of sin.  It wants a solution to Covid-19, a plague sent from the Lord, but it doesn’t want to admit that we are under judgment.  We want to quote II Chronicles 7:14 without admitting that II Chronicles 7:13 states that it is the Lord who brings judgment.  This irony isn’t missed on the Lord.  Either we will admit that He has sent judgment because of our guilt, or we will never be able to repent.  We must know what to repent of and that requires revelation at the personal level.

Theme #2:  The Image of the Hand of the Lord

I should also mention another consistent image having to do with what I will call the hand of the Lord appearing to underline various months and then tapping three times with His finger.  This is consistent with vision of king Belshazzar in Daniel 5.  During the feast with his nobles, the Bible says in Daniel 5:5 (NASB95), “Suddenly the fingers of a man’s hand emerged and began writing opposite the lampstand on the plaster of the wall of the king’s palace, and the king saw the back of the hand that did the writing.”  As we know, the writing spoke of judgment that would be levied against the king, but it is significant to note that a hand was clearly visible writing the words in the vision that had to be interpreted.  The interpretation for that vision was judgment, and so it is in Dana’s dreams for March, June and September.

The phrase, “the hand of the Lord” or “the Lord’s hand” occurs in 40 verses in the NASB95 version of the Bible.  Sixty percent of those occurrences have to do with judgment.  The other forty percent have to do with the blessing of the Lord coming from His hand.  The hand of the Lord can bring blessing or a curse; prosperity or calamity, disaster and death.  The Spirit of the Lord is signaling to us, His Church, that we have a decision to make.  His message is first and foremost to His Church and principally to His leaders who are responsible for shepherding the flock of Jesus Christ.  In I Peter 4:17, the apostle Peter declared, “For it is time for judgment to begin with the household of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?”  We are not waiting for judgment; judgment is already upon us signaling that the hand of the Lord is against us.  When will we wake up?

Again, Dana’s dream fits within the framework of the scriptures.

What may be more important is the Lord highlighting what He will do if there is no repentance in our hearts.  Many have been deceived in concluding that the devil brought the plague of Covid-19.  However, the Bible is clear that the Lord reserves widescale judgment for Himself to bring a nation or nations to Him.  When there is no other way, for He is the good and righteous judge, the Lord Himself will pour out judgment as we see recorded throughout the Old and New Testament.  The prophet Isaiah foresaw it –

Isaiah 34:2–3 (NASB95)

²For the Lord’s indignation is against all the nations, And His wrath against all their armies; He has utterly destroyed them, He has given them over to slaughter.  ³So their slain will be thrown out, And their corpses will give off their stench, And the mountains will be drenched with their blood.

Judgment comes by the hand of the Lord revealed in Dana’s dreams.  It was by His hand that He emphasized each month where disaster would come.  First Covid-19 in March, and now the horrific, record setting wildfires that continue to burn in California and Oregon.  The Lord spoke to me in June of this year concerning His judgment that would come by His hand to all of California, from the north to the south.  He first revealed severe judgment would come to San Francisco in January 2014 and then spoke of the same level of disaster coming to Los Angeles.  It will come by His hand.  His hand of protection has been withdrawn, but by His hand He has and will bring great calamity.  These are Biblical in scale and are designed to warn us to repent, but will we?

Many wonder when the plague will cease or when the fires in California will be contained.  The answer to that question resides in our own hearts.  When will we cease from our sin?  When will we return to the Lord with all our hearts?  When will we choose life and not death?  The timing for the favor of the Lord rests with us.  By His own hand He will heal us if we will return to Him.

If we will not repent, the Lord will not relent in the severity of judgment that He will unleash against us.  This is what is indicated by the fist of the Lord in November of this year.  If the intensity that we have experienced is symbolized by the underscoring and tapping of His finger, how much more intense and severe will His judgment be when November comes!  This is the message of Leviticus 26:14-46, where five phases of judgment, each more severe than the last are described in detail that would be levied against His people.  There is a progression in the intensity of judgment that Dana has seen, and it appears to crescendo in dream #6.  This progression of intensity is exactly what is outlined in Leviticus 26.

His righteousness demands that He take whatever action He decides upon to deal with wickedness or He would not be righteous.  It is the Lord who is speaking in II Chronicles 7:13-14.  He declares that we must turn from our wicked ways.  We are guilty!  He will not deny who He is or His word.  He is the Lord our righteousness and He is committed to our sanctification because He has called us His sons (Hebrews 12:10-11).  His judgment comes to set His holiness within our hearts.  He cannot entrust us with the revival that He has promised if we are not walking in His holiness, or else we would be destroyed like Nadab and Abihu who decided to do something they were never called to do (Leviticus 10:1-3).  As a result, fire came out from the Lord and they died instantly!  Moses reminded their father, Aaron, at that moment that the Lord Himself stated, “By those who come near Me I will be treated as holy, and before all people I will be honored.” (Leviticus 10:3).

The Lord isn’t playing games with us.  He spoke to me saying, “I do not play games like the Church.”  We must repent before He will pour out His Holy Spirit by His own hand.

Concluding Statements For Part I

I’ll wrap up Part I of discussing, reviewing and judging Dana Coverstone’s six dreams.  What can I conclude regarding the repetition of, “Brace yourself, brace yourself” and the appearance of the hand of the Lord in our brother’s dreams?  I judge it to be the word of the Lord and the repetition is there to provide emphasis as to how important it is that we brace ourselves and make certain that we are standing in the strength of the Lord rather than relying on our own strength.  This message is truly the mercy of the Lord to us giving us the key for living in the future that in many ways is already upon us.

Bracing ourselves in the strength of the Lord and in the power of His might is foundational to the teaching of the Bible.  To brace ourselves in the Lord is to stay in His Glory by finding out what He is doing and aligning with Him.  This standard of Christian living is far removed from the current day practices of the Church where the sin of presumption is rampant among ministers and congregations in America, if not worldwide.  Ministry without instructions from the Holy Spirit is not the Biblical standard of ministry.  It is humanism and it must be repented of.

The time has come to turn back to the waiting and relying upon the Holy Spirit for His strategy.  He has a path to lead us forward, but it must come from Him.  We must have eyes to see, ears to hear and a heart to perceive what it is the Lord is saying to us now!

A great darkness is coming upon the earth, so we must decide now to follow Jesus, who is the light, and stop relying upon our own strategies and wisdom to get us through the judgment that the Lord intends to pour upon the nations.

His light and His glory will be upon us if we stand in His glory.  Only in the Glory of the Lord, walking in obedience, properly aligned with Him, will we see the fulfillment of Isaiah 60 in us and through us.  The nations will come to our light.  The question remains, where will we be in respect to where the Lord is?

The bottom line is whether we will return to the Lord and be healed or will continue in our pride and be destroyed as a nation?  The Lord will not be put off any longer.  We must choose this day whom we will serve.  To delay will only incur His wrath.

Mark Biteler