I was given a dream vision of a surprise bombing of the city of Philadelphia.

The attack occurred shortly after nightfall on a weekend evening, a Friday or Saturday, when people were heading home or already at home. The feeling in the air was relaxed and even festive, and couples were dressed up, preparing for a night on the town at the theater or symphony. In the vision I stood across a river that borders Philadelphia, and I watched suburbanites step out of their homes, anticipating a delightful night out.

Then I saw a swarm of helicopters or small, low-flying planes approach the city. They came from the ocean/delta area and flew very low and close to the rooftops of key buildings and installations along the river’s waterfront. Looking from left to right, I saw buildings, one by one, light up in explosions, like a timed synchronization of fireworks. Then the columns of smoke began to form and rise. When it was over, there were at least ten columns of smoke visible.

I stood there aghast, watching the destruction of such a vital, beautiful city, wondering who was responsible and why they would do such a thing. Like many Americans, I was accustomed to thinking of New York or Washington as the East Coast cities most likely to be attacked by America’s enemies. As in the case of 9/11, this time a city and its government guardians, appeared to be taken completely by surprise. No U.S. military planes appeared in time to shoot down the helicopters. No anti-aircraft fire engaged the attackers.

Suddenly I saw one of the helicopters head across the river towards me. I wondered if it would bomb the other side of the river too. I didn’t know where I could shelter myself. The helicopter crossed the river and landed on the other side, very close to me. I looked at the helicopter, trying to see any insignia to identify it. Strangely, there were no markings on the helicopter; in fact, it had no color at all, but was entirely black, or a dark brown. Its dark paint had no gloss, but seemed to absorb light. Then the helicopter rose and flew away.

In the time since I had the vision, I have sought to understand its meaning. I have been rethinking the standard understandings of war.

War is a relative term, complex and hard to define. War usually involves a nation’s conflict with another nation, or in the case of civil war, a conflict of factions within a single nation. Sometimes war becomes a conflict between followers of different religions, as in the Crusades or the Protestant Reformation. War can be a conflict between races, such as in the Holocaust or in Darfur.

Yet war can become abstract, with a less visible enemy, such as the War on Drugs, and the War on Terror. Objectives become sketchy. The enemy can be continually redefined, or never completely defined, and victory cannot be easily measured with observable results. Here lies the danger of perpetual war.

It is important to step back and take a larger view when trying to understand a war. Imagine a nation’s leaders as only generals, who take their orders from someone higher. True worldly power resides not in a nation; true worldly power has no boundaries, but will take temporary form in the structure of a nation, to serve its own purposes, not necessarily those of the nation it possesses. The nation can be likened to the shell of a living cell taken over by a virus, a host cell allowed to survive as long as it can assist the virus to replicate. The worldly power that has chosen to reside and use our nation, is the very same power that can choose to destroy it, for its own purposes. This worldly power seeks only its own gain, and as any defense contractor will attest to, great gain can be made from destruction.

PREPARE YE THE WAY OF THE LORD! OUR REDEEMER COMETH SOON!