There are many levels of prophetic revelation. The beginning levels include prophetic "impressions." These are genuine revelations. They can be extraordinarily specific and accurate when interpreted by those who are experienced and sensitive to them. However, on this level our "revelations" can be affected by our own feelings, prejudices and doctrines. I have therefore resolved not to use such expressions as "thus saith the Lord" with any revelations that come on this level.
Visions can also come on the impression level. They are gentle, and must be seen with "the eyes of our heart." These, too, can be very specific and accurate, especially when received and/or interpreted by those who are experienced.
The more the "eyes of our hearts" are opened, as Paul prayed in Ephesians 1:18, the more powerful and useful these can be.
The next level of revelation is a conscious sense of the presence of the Lord, or the anointing of the Holy Spirit, which gives special illumination to our minds. This often comes when I am writing or speaking, and it gives me much greater confidence in the importance or accuracy of what I am saying. However, while we may be emboldened by this sense of God's presence, we need to realize that this is still a level where we can be influenced by our preexisting viewpoints and attitudes. I believe this is why, in certain matters, Paul would say he was giving his opirion, but that he thought he had [the agreement of the Spirit of the Lord
(1 Corinthians 7:40
“But in my opinion a widow is happier if she stays as she is. And I think that I also have the Spirit of God [in this matter].)

In general, we need humility rather than dogmatism when we deal with the prophetic.
"Open visions" occur on a higher level than impressions, and they tend to give us even more clarity than we have when we feel the presence of the Lord or the anointing. Open visions are external, and are viewed with the clarity of a movie screen.
Since they cannot be controlled by us, there is far less possibility of mixture in revelations that come this way.
Another higher-level prophetic experience is a trance, which is like dreaming when you are awake. Instead of just seeing a "screen" like in an open vision, you feel as if you are in the movie—actually there in some strange way. Peter fell into a trance in Acts 10:10, when he was instructed to go to the house of Cornelius and preach the gospel to the Gentiles for the first time. Paul, likewise, refers in Acts 22:17 to a trance he experienced while praying in the temple.
Trances were common experiences of the biblical prophets. The depth of trances can range from being rather mild—so that you are still conscious of your physical surroundings and can even still interact with them-to feeling as if you are literally in the place of your vision. This seems to be what Ezekiel experienced rather frequently, and what
in the book of Revelation. John probably experienced when he had the visions recorded. The visions contained in this book all began with dreams. Some of them came under a very intense sense of the presence of the Lord, but the overwhelming majority were received in some level of a trance. Usually the visions came on a level where I was still conscious of my surroundings, and could even interact with them, such as answering the phone. When they were interrupted, or when things got so intense I would have to get up and walk around, the vision would immediately continue once I sat down again. One time the experience became so intense that I actually got up and left the mountain cabin where I go to seek the Lord, and drove home. Over a week later, I returned and almost immediately was right back where I left off.
I have never known how to "turn on" such experiences, but I have almost always had the liberty to turn them off at will. Twice, large portions of this vision came at what I considered to be very inconvenient times, when I had gone to my cabin to get some important work done while facing deadlines. Two of our issues of The Morning Star Journal were a little late going out because of this, and one of my books was delayed a few months from when I had hoped to finish it. However, the Lord does not seem to be very concerned about our deadlines.
In the dream and the trances, I had what I consider to be greatly magnified gifts of discernment and words of knowledge. Sometimes when I look at a person or pray for a church or ministry, I just start to know things about them of which I have no natural knowledge. During the prophetic experiences recorded in this book, these gifts were operating on a level that I have never personally experi enced in "real life." For example, in this vision I could look at a division of the evil horde and immediately know all of its strategies and capabilities.
I do not know how this enhanced knowledge came to me, but I just knew it, and in great detail. At times I would look at things or people and know their past, present a future all at once. To save time and space in this book, I have included this knowledge just as matter of fact, without go into an explanation of how I received it.