False Prophecy & Second Heaven Revelation
By Teresa Seputis
Lesson 11
Second Heaven Revelation
Second heaven revelation does not come from the Lord but from the demonic realms, thus the name "second heaven." According to Christian tradition, the "first heaven" is the physical sky above us including the atmosphere and stratosphere and such. The "second heaven" is the realm where the devil resides and the "third heaven" is what we in western culture then to think of as the spiritual Heaven, the place where God resides.
The phrases "first heaven" and "third heaven" are in the bible, but the phrase "second heaven" is not. The Bible refers to the first (or created) heaven quite a bit, such as the creation account in Genesis 1:9,14-15,17,20 and Genesis 2:1. There are many other references to the physical created heavens as well. My favorite is Psalm 19:1, "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork."
The Bible refers to the "third heaven" both explicitly and implicitly. We have one explicit reference in 2 Corinthians 12:2, where Paul says, "I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago--whether in the body I do not know, or whether out of the body I do not know, God knows--such a one was caught up to the third heaven." Jesus constantly made reference to "your "Heavenly Father" or "your Father in Heaven," such as Matthew 5:16,45,48, Matthew 6:1,9,14,26,32, Matthew 7:11,21 Matthew 10:32-33, Matthew 11:35, Matthew 12:50, Matthew 15:13, Matthew 16:17, Matthew 18:14,19, Matthew 18:35, Matthew 23:9 Matthew 24:36...just to name a few. He is referring to His Father (God) who does not reside where man resides but Who lives in Heaven (a spiritual place).
If you get out your concordance and search for "second heaven," you won't find it. But the concept of a "realm of the devil" is present in Scripture. That is what we are referring to when we use the popular vernacular "second heaven."
Second heaven revelation is not intended to bring God's glory or to advance His kingdom, it is intended to advance the devil's purposes. The devil imitates many things God does, and 2 Corinthians 11:14 says that the devil can make himself appears as an "angel of light." The devil can also give visions as he counterfeits the true prophetic.
Visions Of Destruction
Most second heaven visions are of large scale death and destruction. They are depicting the plans that the devil has in mind for mankind. This is consistent with his nature and John 10:10 tells us that the devil's job description is to kill, steal and destroy. So he releases visions of his plans of destruction. Some of them will never happen because God does not allow them to, but some actually do take place. Most second heaven visions depict natural disasters in vivid detail, but they can also depict wars, nuclear holocaust, terrorist attacks, etc. They are intended to frighten and torment, and they contain horrible images of mass destruction and death. The messages that come out of this type of vision are usually vague and cryptic, and at the same time very terrifying.
Second heaven visions have certain characterizes, and we will look at three of them.
First, it is intended to induce fear, anxiety or hopelessness. Second heaven visions paint a dismal picture of the future with little hope or redemption in it. The enemy tries to deceive a godly or prophetic person by giving them revelation of his evil plans and desires. The revelation he gives may or may not be accurate/factual descriptions of future events. It doesn't really matter whether or not the information is accurate, because the Lord has not given the prophetic person authority to reveal and counter these demonic plans. The whole purpose of second heaven revelation is to breed fear and despair, to make people anxious, to terrify people.
Second, these type of false visions tend to make the devil's power to kill, steal and destroy very large, while at the same time making God's power and sovereignty seem quite small. The goal is to overwhelm God's people with anxiety and concern and fear and hopelessness about an upcoming event or situation. It wants to tear down faith instead of building it up. In fact, second heaven revelation is intentionally unclean and overwhelming. The devil often targets immature believers for second heaven revelation because they have less experience, and they are more likely to act on the revelation (proclaiming it to others) before they hear from God about what He wants them to do with that information. But these visions can be so grueling and overwhelming at times that they even throw mature seasoned prophets for a loop. In all cases, they make the devil seem very powerful and his plans seem unstoppable.
Third, the enemy tries to give a believer a glimpse of the devil's plans for destruction in an area where the Lord has not given that person authority to do anything about those plans. This leave the prophetic person feeling overwhelmed, worried, and sometimes trying to take on responsibilities that God has not given them, and they try to handled it in their own limited power and weakness. They feel the need to speak the message, to sound the alarm, but all they have to deliver are horrible warning "messages" that they are powerless to do anything about. Often they will try to bring the warning outside the realm of their authority, and people will not take them seriously.
If God wants to bring a national scope message, He will use one of His spokespeople who is already credible at that level. For instance, back in 2000, God wanted to warn the Church in the USA that His people needed to fast and pray regarding the US presidential election; that the future of their nation hung on the results of that election. So God raised up Chuck Pierce, who was respected and considered credible on a national level. Chuck was able to warn the church across the nation, and mobilize them to pray. He could do that because God had already placed him in that realm of authority, and that is why God choose him to carry the message. God did not choose some prophetic beginner from New Zealand who no one ever heard of. God doesn't do it that way--He gives the person with the message authority to speak that message. He won't give you warning messages that are outside of your scope of influence.
But the devil does not operate that way. He is constantly trying to get people to proclaim second heaven revelation outside of the scope of their authority. It is a win-win situation for the devil. From his perspective, the worst that can happens is that the prophet looses credibility and looks bad. Best case, he stirs a large group of believers into fear and anxiety, getting them to act out of their fear instead of being led by God's Spirit.
The devil actively watches for those who hear from God, then he tries to speak to them, imitating God's voice. He hopes to give them horrible warning "messages" that they are helpless to do anything about. Usually the vision is so vast that it is overwhelming, and it always contains massive death and destruction--leaving the prophetic person feeling desperate to do something to stop or lessen the death and destruction. But at the same time, they are powerless to do so.
God does not operate the same way when He releases warning messages; when God gives us a message, He also clearly shows us what to do with it. But second heaven revelation leaves the person with horrible information and helpless to do anything effective with it. second heaven revelation gives a message of impending disaster that is terrifying but somewhat vague, and nothing can be done to prevent that disaster. Most of the time those disasters do not happen within the natural lifetime of the person who received the second heaven revelation, but sometimes they do.
An Example Of A Second Heaven Vision
The enemy gave me one of these visions many years ago when I was just starting out in the prophetic. I had been attending a prophetic conference that was about an hour drive from my house. There was a two-hour break between sessions, and a friend of mine invited me to come rest at her house during the break. She retired to her bedroom and I was on the living room sofa. The Lord's presence had been very strong in the conference, and I was hungry for more of Him. So I decided to pray and seek God instead of resting. I was asking God to speak to me, to reveal more of Himself to me.
Suddenly I had a vision of San Francisco. One minute I saw a typical skyline that you always see on tourist postcards. Then next minute, I saw a huge explosion. I saw what looked like a bunch of fiery meteorites falling down on the city. I saw everything breaking into flames. There were people running down the streets on fire, screaming and sneaking for help. I saw what looked like molten lava begin to flow through the streets, and tall buildings were collapsing as they became encased in this lava. There was death and destruction everywhere. It was terrifying. It went on for a good five minutes. I tried to close my eyes to block it out, but I could see the graphic pictures of destruction even with my eyes closed.
My first response was to pray for protection for myself (I worked in San Francisco and attended church there), for my family and for my friends. I did not have a sense of God's presence around me anymore, I had a sense of terror and a sense of urgency. I wondered if what I saw was about to happen (e.g., the next few days) or if it was far away. Should I get out of town and take my family with me? I started mentally planning what my response might be. Then I began to think about mobilizing people to pray. I almost went into my friend's bedroom to wake her and ask her to pray with me about this.
Then I heard the Lord say, "Teresa, trust Me." I told God that I trusted Him and asked Him to ell me what to do. He told me to "Take a nap and rest." I thought He was crazy. How could anyone take a nap and rest after seeing such a vivid vision of death and destruction? I don't think I slept a wink. However, I did stay on the sofa and I did not go wake my friend. Wave after wave of urgency would flood through me, and it was hard not to jump up and try to do something about what I'd seen. But when each wave hit, I'd pray about it. Each time I prayed, all God would say was, "Trust Me." I would not classify this as a very good experience and I did not have a restful break.
When the break was over, I approached one of the conference speakers and shared my experience with them. They did not seem to take it seriously at all. All they said was, "I think it is just the devil trying to scare you." I stored that in my heart and did not say anything about it for a long time. part of me was concerned that if I spoke about it, I might cause it to happen. Each time I'd ask God about it, He would never tell me to act on it, He would just tell me to trust Him. God did not explain it to me until a few years later. Then He told me that vision was not from Him, it was from the devil who was just trying to scare me, then He began to teach me about second heaven revelation. I have passed some of what the taught me on to you in this teaching series.
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