THE “SONS OF THUNDER”
James Ryle

The following word was shown to me beginning in August 1990 as a result of three dreams I had.

In August the Lord spoke to me through a dream. Prior to that dream He gave me a scripture, Isaiah 21:6, which says, "This is what the sovereign Lord says, 'Go appoint a lookout and have him report what he sees'." When the Lord gave me that verse He said, "I'm doing this in your life. I'm appointing you as lookout. You will see things, and when you see these things, you report them." I am now reporting to you what I have seen.

The first thing I saw in the dream was a flatbed trailer with a curtain behind it and two guitars on guitar stands sitting on the trailer. It looked like a stage but it wasn't a stage in a theatre; it was a mobile stage that could be moved into the streets or parks. This trailer was at a carnival or at a fairground. The two guitars were sitting on their guitar stands with the microphones in place and the curtain was there. The color of these guitars was the most vivid, electric blue that I could imagine. They were acoustic guitars and that caught my eye; you would never see an acoustic guitar that was electric blue.

I then saw that the curtain was the same color, and it captured my attention. As I stood and looked at it, two men came walking out from behind the curtain with sheet music in their hands. They were very excited as they looked at this, and they pointed out the different notes and the different measures, cadences and all the different features of this music. It was obvious that they could not wait to play this music. I looked over their shoulders and I could tell by looking at the music that it was a new song. It was not new like someone had just written it, but it was new in quality.

In the dreams my thoughts were, "This is new like the Beatles' music was new." When the Beatles appeared in the sixties it was a new sound and it took the world by storm. Whenever one of their songs came on, you would automatically turn it up; it had a special quality that caught your ear it turned your head. It was the most arresting sound that our generation had ever heard. I remember looking at that sheet music in this dream and thinking that this music was going to be just like that, with one very significant distinction this was of Christ. I stood on that platform thinking "Wait 'til these people hear this song!" I couldn't wait to see this happen, but the dream ended.

After I had written the dream down, the Lord spoke to me and said, "I'm about to release a new kind of song in the streets. It will bring a revelation of the truth and it will usher men into my presence." I filed that away until about a month later when I had another dream.

In the second dream, I was taken to a large church which had a stage. There were rooms on either side of the stage. The room on the right side was the equipment room it had pianos, microphones, speakers, cables, cymbals, and drums; it looked like a garage packed with stuff. I looked around and saw a power amplifier over in the corner. The amp was unplugged, the cord had been wrapped around it, it was dusty like it had been sitting in the corner for awhile. I dusted it off. What I then saw took my breath away. I gasped with a sense of discovery but also dread because of what I was holding in my hand. I held the power amp that the Beatles had used. I knew in that moment that this box was the source of their sound and their power.

I realized that people would do anything to have this amp. There are bands who for years have been looking for that sound and for that power. They had been doing everything within their scope of imagination to get that power. Here it was and I was holding it in my hand. I felt hunted; I felt vulnerable; I felt that I was threatened. I knew that I could be hurt by those who would do anything for the amp. As I stood there holding it, I asked aloud this question, "What is it doing here?"

Suddenly I was out of the equipment room and standing behind the pulpit at this church, still holding the amp. The church had grown to five times the size that it was at the beginning of the dream. There was a balcony and the place was packed with people. As I looked at all these people (they were oblivious to my presence), a woman stood up in the middle of the church, and a light shone on her. She began singing a song of the Lord. Her voice filled the auditorium, and all she sang was this: "In the name of Jesus Christ the Lord we say unto you, be saved." She sang it over and over. She would turn to her right and sing, then turn to her left and sing; then she would turn behind her and before her and sing the same thing. As I watched her sing, it was like a wind blowing on a wheat field. These people began to swoon in the presence of God and men and women were collapsing in their seats, converted to Christ, just by the power of that song. That was how the dream ended.

When I awoke, the Lord said that there was going to be a new and distinctive anointing and sound restored to music that will turn the heads and capture the hearts of men for Jesus Christ... Simply singing the truth in the name of Jesus Christ, "We say unto you be saved," will release the power of His Spirit in such an awesome display that men and women will collapse in their seats and be converted to Christ. But the Lord said that a key to this will be this new anointing He is about to give to His music.

The Lord said that in 1970 He lifted the anointing for that extraordinary music that could arrest the attention of men, and for twenty years He has held it in His hand. He is about to release it again. He said that it does not belong to the world, it belongs to the church. That's why it (the amp) was in the church's equipment room, because it is part of the church's equipment. Music does not belong to Satan, but he has stolen much of it and seeks to use it for his own evil purposes. Music was given to worship the Lord but Satan has turned it for self-worship, which is the reason we tend to worship musicians, and they tend to require that people worship them. That is all part of the perversion of the fall.

True worship and true music belong to Jesus Christ. They are given to His church to serve Him with. The anointing he Lord is about to release on music is going to sweep the world in a manner like the Beatles did when they first came out. It's going to be a music that is new in kind, new in sound, arresting in its content; it will stop traffic, and it will turn men's heads and capture their hearts, but this time it will do it for the Lord.

In this dream I saw the balcony scene when the Beatles first played on the Ed Sullivan Show. I saw the kids pulling their hair, crying... That is what I saw the same emotion, the same devotion, the tears in the eyes and that earnest look of love and adoration on the faces, but this time they were crying for Jesus! When this anointing comes on the music He is about to give His church, and His servants step forth in true service and worship to Him with these gifts, He will display the Holy Spirit in such a way that it will bring that kind of adoration to the Son of God, not to the musicians or our own self-centredness.

I know that there can be some misunderstanding with this Beatle connection, but that is how it was related to me in the dream and I later saw this principle related in the Scriptures. Psalm 68:18 reads: "You ascended on high, you led captivity captive and gave gifts to men even among the rebellious ..." "The earth is the Lord's and all it contains" (Psalm 24:1). It all belongs to Jesus Christ... The Lord makes His sun to shine on the just and the unjust. He makes His rain to come on the wicked and the righteous. Gifts and talents are given by the Lord, even though we may use them for evil.

We are now on the threshold of a prophesied new move of God which will be precipitated by a musical revival that encircles the world. God is going to bring praise into the streets. The choir that preceded the army of Jehosaphat will once again lift up the banners and strike the chords, only this time they will turn the hearts of men to Jesus Christ and not to themselves. They won't be saying, "John, Paul, George, and Ringo," or, "I'm of Paul, I'm of Apollos, I'm an Evangelical, I'm a Baptist, I'm a Catholic, or I'm a Lutheran." This time the adoration will be to one person alone Jesus.

I was then given a third dream. Again I was taken to this large church where I had seen the amplifier. This time the church was empty except for one man. He was up on the stage playing a keyboard and singing to the Lord. It was a beautiful song, and he was crying because of the tender exchange taking place between him and the Lord. He was writing the song right there, just making it up as he went. I was greatly moved by this song and the man's pure worship. I had a camera with me and I decided to take a picture of this to remember it. I took two polaroid pictures that came out immediately. When I looked at these pictures I was stunned because both of them were glowing with a golden light. I looked up and I then could see it on the man. The entire platform around him was also glowing like gold. I knew that it was the anointing of God.

I went up to this man and said, "Brother look at this," but it startled him. He quickly turned the instrument off and stepped back. I said, "Look at this, look at the anointing of God that's on you." He looked at the pictures only for a second, and putting his hands in his pockets, he shrugged his shoulders and started kicking on the ground shyly saying, "Oh, gosh I didn't know you were here, I'm so embarrassed." As he was going on like this I just looked at him and asked, "What are you doing? You don't have to apologize for this is the anointing of the Lord."

Immediately the dream changed. I had these two photographs in my left hand and a parchment scroll in my right hand. I looked at that scroll and it was a letter written by an unknown soldier of the Salvation Army forty years ago. It was signed Unknown Soldier. I read this letter and it was a prophecy. It said that the time would come when the Lord God will release into the streets an army of worshipping warriors known as the 'Sons of Thunder'. They will bring forth praise into the streets that will birth evangelism and praise and give many children to God.

I was duly impressed with this prophecy but I didn't know what to do with it or the photographs of the man worshipping. Suddenly the dream changed one more time. I was in the sky, about a hundred yards or so above the ground and I was over a highway. The highway was ten lanes wide and it only went in one direction. As far as I could see in both directions the highway was completely grid-locked, jam packed with Hell's Angels, shoulder to shoulder, wheel to wheel, just revving their motorcycles. I knew intuitively that this was the broad path that led to destruction; I knew that I was looking at lost humanity.

Then I saw on the side of the road, in single file, a group of motorcyclists who were the only ones moving. What caught my eye was that they were in single file and were moving in single file on the shoulder on this highway. They were headed towards a field that was about a mile and a half away. In the middle of this field there was a stone that was almost like theWashington Monument, but it wasn't that tall. It was a monolith-like stone, and I knew that these motor-cyclists were headed toward it. I also knew that they were headed there for the purpose of touching it, because when they touched it they would receive power to come back and lead all of these Hell's Angels to Christ.

I felt that I also had to get to that stone, and that I had to be there when they got there. In the dream I was able to fly like an eagle, so I swooped down to get a closer look at the motorcyclists who were in the single file. I could see on the back of their jackets the words 'Sons of Thunder'. I knew that this was the army of worshipping warriors about which the unknown soldier from the Salvation Army had prophesied.

I hastened over to this stone, but when I got there it was completely surrounded by officers of the law. They were locked elbow to elbow in riot gear with clubs and masks waiting for a big riot. My first thought was, "Oh NO! These guys are not going to let us get near the stone." I was so grieved. Then I had the thought that all that was necessary was for this parchment and these photographs to touch that stone; if they touched that stone the anointing that this prophecy spoke of and the anointing that I saw on that man of music would be released on these Sons of Thunder. They would then be empowered to go into the streets and turn the Hell's Angels to Christ.

So I started to walk past the line, but they wouldn't let me through either! Suddenly I got an idea I took the parchment and I folded it into a paper airplane, put the photographs down in the crease in order to sail it over the heads of the officers into the stone. I knew that I would only have one chance and that I could not miss. The stone was so large that the only way I could miss would be to fall short. This may be the most important issue for us. The only thing that can stop us is our stopping. Will we fall short or will we touch it?

I took the airplane with the photos and prophecy and let it fly. It flew as straight as an arrow. Just when it was about one foot from touching the stone the dream ended! I desperately wanted to go back to sleep and finish the dream but I could not. Then the Lord began to speak to me about it.

The Lord said that the stone which I saw was symbolic of Him ("The stone which the builders rejected..."), but that it was also symbolic of the monument that men have built to Him. These men now feel that they must protect that monument from the very people He is calling to Himself. The 'officers of the law' stand in riot gear ready to defend the Lord from those that they don't think are worthy enough to come near Him.

The Lord then said, "Say this to the man of music. Stop submitting to false humility. Stop apologizing for the anointing of God which is on you." There are many who in the privacy of their intimate times with the Lord sing the song of the Lord which is glorious. But when they come into the church or into the presence of people they let the fear of man choke the song. The Lord says "Stop it! You do not need to apologize for that anointing." It is the glory of God that rests on you and the Lord is saying that it is now time for you to bring forth that which He has put in your heart to do. Sing the song of the Lord for the salvation of the lost. And your ministry in this will begin at the burial site of the fear of men.

The Lord said, "Say this to the church: 'Stand in the light, lift up your voice and sing in the streets. Sing the simple message of the gospel in the name of Jesus Christ the Lord, be saved. Lift up your voice as a witness to Christ and the Spirit of God will cause people to be converted'."

The Lord said to the Sons of Thunder: "I'm not endorsing a motorcycle gang. That is not My point. These are symbols which speak of the issues involved. A motorcycle is a quick, agile means of transportation and represents those who rid themselves of their excess baggage. It can go where other vehicles cannot go." The Lord is calling men and women into a ministry of evangelism that will take them places where the churches cannot go. And like the stigma associated with motorcycle gangs, there will be rejection and misunderstanding associated with this ministry. Some will not understand why they go into bars and associate with people who look demonic (and sometimes are), just as the Lord Himself was misunderstood for His associations. Even so, the word of the Lord to the Sons of Thunder was be in the world but not of it!

Then the Lord said, "Say this to the officers of the law: 'Put down your clubs and stop defending Jesus from people who you don't think are worthy enough to touch Him. Open your doors and let those people come in. Stop being so enamored by the monument that you take your eyes off the living stones'."

Then the Lord said this, "The last call is a call to intercession." He said to me that the dream ended the way it did for an important reason. He wanted us to know that while it is going to happen, it is not happening yet. It's about to happen, and between now and when it does there is a call for intercession. When the prophecy of that unknown soldier of the Salvation Army of a generation ago and the vision of the anointed man of music are joined hand in hand by those who will intercede, and those two things touch the heart of Jesus through intercessory prayer, the anointing will be released on the Sons of Thunder. And the Sons of Thunder will be released into the streets. We will then see a worldwide move of the Spirit of God.

There are three groups that actually make up these Sons of Thunder. They are the musicians, the evangelists who are not musicians and the musicians who are evangelists. Some who are musicians are being called to be a Son of Thunder even though they are not evangelists. Some are evangelists who are being called though they are not musicians. Of course, there are some who are both evangelists and musicians. In some cases there will be musicians on a flatbed trailer, drawing the crowds for the evangelists. When the musicians who have dedicated themselves to the Lord Jesus Christ begin to play this new song, the Spirit of God is going to move in that crowd. The evangelists will touch these people and explain what is happening to them. The Sons of Thunder are both the musicians and the evangelists who work together.