Book Review: Visions of the Coming Days by R. Loren Sandford

Visions of the Coming Days: What to Look for and How to Prepare by R. Loren Sandford
ISBN: 9780800795306
Paperback, 219 pages
Publisher: Chosen (a division of Baker Publishing Group)
Retail: $13.99

From the back cover:
We are living in uncertain times. As we watch society spiral downward, we cannot help but wonder, deep down, what is going to happen to our world.
R. Loren Sandford, internationally respected fro his integrity, accuracy and insight, casts a poignant, detailed, biblically grounded prophetic vision for the future. Yet within his sober reflection, he reveals the heart of the Father and the hope of glory for the Body of Christ. With clarity and piercing biblical insight, he helps believers understand what is to come, giving you practical advice on how to prepare spiritually for the events that will unfold –and for your role in it all.

About the author:
R. Loren Sandford (M.Div., Fuller Theological Seminary) is a senior pastor of New Song Church and Ministries in Denver. He speaks internationally and is a past co-director of Elijah House, an international ministry of counseling founded by his parents, John and Paula Sandford. He has written several books, including Understanding Prophetic People. He and his wife, Beth, live in Colorado.

Here are the contents of this book:

Part 1: Setting the Tone

   1. Having God’s Heart
   2. God’s Heart Revealed
   3. Toward a Genuine Revival

Part 2: The Days to Come

   4. The Days of Amos Revisited
   5. Five Years to Prepare
   6. Preparing in Repentance
   7. The Revealing of the Sons of God
   8. The Final Invitation: Revelation
   9. Signs of the Baal Spirit
   10. Strategic Prayer Fire
   11. The Cloud of Glory Has Moved
   12. The Great Apostasy
   13. The Samson Generation
   14. Revelation Events Foreshadowed

Part 3: Short Themes

   15. Islam
   16. A New Jewish Exodus
   17. The Looming Threat of War
   18. More on America

To me it seemed…daunting. And not only that, the underlying beliefs are different than I have. Sandford believes in modern day prophets –I do not. That made it interesting for me to read. In the forward by John Paul Jackson he says:

It seems we have forgotten the need for integrity and character to be woven into the life of any person who has been given a spiritual gift. Thus, weak and incomplete prophetic words are treated as if they were mature while errant prophecies are left unaddressed…As a result, those with supposed spiritual gifts, rather than creating a new hunger for biblical truths and supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit within the Church, have begun to alienate other believers.

Although I don’t fit in the category of those seeking ‘supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit’ {I’m not looking to speak in tongues}, I do definitely fit in the skeptic category. Perhaps stating outright that I am not ‘in favor of’ charismatic evangelism is in order. And because of that, my view of this book may very well be different {very different} than someone else’s. I won’t attempt to go page by page, or even chapter by chapter, with this review; it’d be extremely too long. You most likely will hear my thoughts as I write my review but let me just put this here –Jeremiah 23:16 (KJV) says:

Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Hearken not unto the words of prophets that prophesy unto you: they make you vain: they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the Lord.

Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, let’s talk about the book.

Sandford, in his introduction, lets the reader know that even though ‘visions’ is in the title, there are no ‘visions’ of his being presented in this book. **this is incorrect, I apologize; he says that it won’t be filled with visions but will include a few** What does that mean? He says that he does not really receive revelations through dreams but instead with an intimacy with God {which is understandable to me}. The ‘visions’ are instead “very direct statements from the heart of the Father concerning the days to come.” So based on that, I take this book to be Sandford’s ideas, based on his understanding of Scriptures coupled with prayer and guidance from God, of how the end times will play out. However, later in one of his prophecy chapters, he relates to a dream that he had and the significance of the dream. This interpretation of his dream, or vision if you will, is used for the entire next chapter.

The next portion is a brief catch-up of who he is, where he’s come from and what he believes. It sounds like, in terms of the supernatural gifts he spoke of flowing from the Holy Spirit, he was passed up all throughout his life. He did not have the miraculous experiences that he associated with his beliefs. But he feels that God told him that he is following after His own heart; that Sandford knows God’s heart. Following that he discusses God’s heart- we should be trying to emulate what God is and what He is after. God is love –gentle, humble and just. Few of those in the ‘prophetic world’, according to Sandford, are not concerned with being Christ-like, our example. Sandford predicts vindication will be happening soon.

He moves onto Revival. But first he makes this statement:

“…[K]now that I am not saying that much of what is going on is false, because God is really and truly moving even in the presence of error. I am saying that something is wrong and much is missing.”

He gives the four biblical elements of true revival as:

1. God comes in power –observable manifestations of His presence but they may not always look the same
2. Repentance –deep and broken hearted repentance in response to God
3. Covenant bonds in love –the smaller groups and churches that abound in love
4. Signs and wonders –like in Acts 2, 3, and 5; effect is church growth

The issue with current revival is that the focus is skewed more toward experience than the Word of God {Amen!}. He gives examples of occurrences and people that I do not know of {Todd Bentley for instance} to show what he means. He ends that portion with the words that healing was a gift to be received and not claimed. Jesus gave healing freely, he didn’t make people ‘work’ for it.
On page 47, Sandford makes a very good point that I wonder if he’s missed himself:

It seems that if we hear teaching the fails to line up with the Word of God, but is nevertheless delivered in the context of a genuine visitation of the Holy Spirit, then we believe the false teaching must be true because we had an experience. In the real, complete, and balanced revival yet to come, however, we must text experience by the Word of God, define experience by Scripture and recognize the true and the right by that test.

Sandford refers to today like the days of Amos: they wanted to hear what they wanted to hear, not the truth. There are six ‘indictments’ during that time that can be seen in our own time:

1. Rejection of God’s Law
2. Belief in Lies
3. Economic self-focus
4. S**ual immorality
5. Arrogance
6. Polluted and compromised devotion to God

From this came 3 consequences to those in Amos’ day, and Sandford sees these happening in our day as well:

1. Military defeat
2. Economic collapse
3. Closure of places of worship

This is where he tells of the dream he had of 5 white/gray tornadoes that did not cause him fear. To Sandford this dream “symbolize[s] extreme, violent and cataclysmic change. The white coloring suggests…the hand of God. The number five indicates grace… (pg 72).” But to the laymen {that’d be me} I don’t know that these things represent what he says they do. He gives no reference to back this up. Also, dreams are often conjured based on what is happening in our own lives; our stresses, our accomplishments, any number of things. He says that he ‘forgot’ about this dream until two years later when someone else had a similar dream {this person ‘thought’ there were five tornadoes}. Sandford tells in one of the following paragraphs that “human emotion can even introduce elements completely foreign to pure revelation.” Yes, I feel that it can.

Clearly I’ve only gone through about 1/3 of this book in the fashion of reviewing the parts, but I cannot do that with the remainder. I have a very difficult time with a ‘prophet’ saying one thing and then not following through in the next paragraph {this book will not include dreams- it does –**I misread this, he says a few will be included**; he says we must always check ourselves with the Word of God but he does not}. And I do not recall ever reading a prophet in the Bible who says things such as “I believe I heard… (pg 73)”. Either God told you…or He didn’t. And one more thing, Sandford says that he is against “rubber prophecy" {stretching a prophecy to fit what has come to pass}, and I think that is good, but I feel that this book is a bit like a rubber band –it could stretch to fit just about any time that one wants it to {within reason}.

For the most part, the Scriptures he quotes are good and relevant to the subjects he is addressing in each chapter but his reasoning of the Scriptures seems to be off to me. But, he has theology under his belt as well as many years of being a pastor. I only have 7+ of reading God’s Word and attending Gospel preaching churches. What do I know.

Bottom line: I didn’t really appreciate this book. I had hoped I would find some good solid teaching but instead I find “I think,” “I believe,” and “It’s not going to be as bad as everyone says.” {That last one really got to me the worst.}

***Disclaimer: I received this book free in exchange for an honest review. No compensation was given. All opinions stated are my own. See Disclosure/Policies.***