Dreams and Visions for New-Age Preachers

The world of dreams and visions is terribly complicated and confusing. And it has been so for more than two thousand years since multifaceted disciplines began focusing on trying to break into it so as to understand the fabrics from which dreams and visions are made. Disciplines ranging from philosophy to psychology and theology have over the centuries made very little progress in breaking into the world of dreams and visions. But even in our own time when gazillion of scientific disciplines from simple psychology to psychoanalysis, psychiatry, psychosomatics, psychopathology, psychotherapy, clinical psychology of all branches right down to the humanities such as history, arts, spirituality, spiritual psychology and spiritual anthropology have made it their passion to breakthrough and understand dreams, only a little sliver of progress has been recorded so far. The world of dreams and visions remains as opaque and frighteningly complicated as ever.

The people who seem to benefit the most from the complexity and enigma of dreams and visions are the new-age preachers, super-priests and pastors. They appear to have a ready-made and simplistic answer to all questions concerning dreams and visions, namely, that they are a communication from God. And having ascribed all dreams to God they appear to close the door for any meaningful inquiries on them thereby acquiring a monopoly over their interpretation. After all, they all claim to speak for God as His “prophets”! New-age preachers feed on the fears and anxieties of people over dreams and visions.

So, the basic questions remain: what is a dream? From where does a dream originate? Is a dream an absolute communication from God or any other being of a higher order? What does one make of scary dreams?

While sciences and humanities appear not to answer these questions convincingly, at least, to the satisfaction of many, new-age preachers simply claim that dreams are a communication from God. For them, God speaks to human beings through dreams and visions, simple and short! And they cite the Holy Bible as the basis and authority for their claim. But basing ourselves on a historical reading of the Bible this claim is unmistakably a very big lie. Most new-age preachers who claim to interpret dreams and visions on the basis of passages from the Holy Bible are big-time liars. They must not be trusted because whatever they tell their clients about dreams and visions is most likely to be another big lie. It is very unfortunate that modern-day preachers have chosen to lie to their congregations about dreams which are almost the most distressing and confounding experiences of a human being.

What should a simple Christian make of the dreams he or she has almost on a daily basis? How should we understand dreams as Christians so as to avoid being deceived by the false doctrines of new-age preachers? I believe that a Christian should begin to grow his or her knowledge of dreams and visions from his or her own experience. A dream is a paranormal experience a normal human being tends to have when asleep. The little activities that we unconsciously relate to while asleep are what we generally describe as dreams. In this sense, every normal human being dreams a dream at least once in a while. Sometimes our dreams are so scary that we would think the world is collapsing on us. And some other times we dream beautiful dreams of celebrations and accomplishments that we would rather stay put with them.

For the ordinary people, a dream is a moment of relaxation and a winding-down of the human body - our biological nature. That is to say, when asleep our natural bodies find rest. But the human person is made up of both body and spirit/soul. So while the body rests in sleep the spirit/soul/brain/mind never sleeps but keeps awake and wonders unhinged resulting in all sorts of strange images which we call our dreams.

Contemporary scientific explanations take off from this common sense viewpoint of dreams and dreams. Theories of Psychology Today claim that “dreaming is a means by which the brain processes emotions, stimuli, memories and information that have been absorbed throughout the waking day.” And the popular internet encyclopedia, Wikipedia defines “a dream as a succession of images, ideas, emotions and sensations that usually occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep.”

Closely allied with dreams are visions. A vision is a kind of a dream. It is defined as “an experience of seeing someone or something in a dream or trance or as a supernatural apparition.” Visions are usually called “waking dreams.” As the name “vision” entails, it marks a situation either in a dream or trance or ecstasy in which something is seen and a message is received.

The Bible, both Old and New, makes a very prolific use of dreams and visions. Sometimes God uses them to communicate important messages. Some of the biblical passages that set the stage for the positive use of biblical dreams and visions in both the biblical period and in our own time include Joel 3:1 [NAB] states: “I will pour out my spirit upon all mankind. Your sons and daughters shall prophesy; your old men shall dream dreams and your young men shall see visions…” Job 33: 14- 16[NAB], “For God does speak, perhaps one, or even twice, though one perceive it not. In dream, in a vision of the night when deep sleep falls upon men as they slumber in their beds, it is then he opens the ears of men and as a warning to them terrifies them…” Deut 12:6: God speaks through dreams and visions; Daniel 1:17, God gifted four specially chosen young men all kinds of knowledge and to Daniel the power to interpret dreams and visions.

However, in some other passages in the Bible dreams and visions are treated as mere phantoms [Ps 73:20] or lies; [Jer 23:32; Zech 10:2]. Ecclesiastes 5:7 [NIV] in fact labels much dreaming as meaningless. Deuteronomy cautions against relying on dreams and visions of anybody for judgments about following other gods against God. That is to say dreams are not absolute in themselves. They could become a source of misjudgment and mistakes in matters relating to God. And for Isaiah the prophet, [29: 7-8] dreams and visions are not real and anybody trusting them will come back empty handed.

The ambivalent use of dreams and visions in the Bible calls for a very careful reading of their passages. And this makes a historical reading of the Bible absolutely necessary. By historical reading of the Bible we mean understanding the words of the Bible within the time and the context in which they are used. It is an effort to understand issues of the Bible the way the people who first heard and used them understood them. This is against the backdrop of using the words of the Bible as magic words that can be extrapolated and applied to any situation for effect. This is pure magic which has no place in Christianity. God’s words are not magical words. They are meaningful words with specific messages from God attached to them. If you read them any other way you are a borderline heretic, a pagan or a magician.

Let us catalogue a few dream and vision passages of the Bible:

Old Testament Dreams and Visions

1. Genesis 20:3: God charges Abimelech: You are about to die because of the woman you have taken – for she has a husband

2. Genesis 28:12: God at the end of a ladder promises Jacob a successful return and that his descendant will inherit the land of Canaan.

3. Genesis 31:10-13: Jacob’s dream about journey home following ill-treatment and envy of his uncle/in-law and his cousins.

4. Genesis 31:24: God warns Laban against doing any harm to Jacob.

5. Genesis 37:1-10: The two dreams of Joseph in his father’s house

6. Genesis 40:9-15: Joseph in a prison interprets Pharaoh’s cupbearer’s dream

7. Genesis 40: 9:15: Joseph interprets Pharaoh’s baker’s tragic dream

8. Genesis 41: Pharaoh’s disturbing dreams interpreted by Joseph

9. Judges 7:13-14: Dream of a runaway loaf interpreted by somebody to mean Gideon will prevail against the Midianites.

10. 1Sam 3: Call of young Samuel in a dream at the Home of the priest of Shiloh, Eli

11. 1Sam 28:15: Samuel appearing at the home of the witch of Endor to warn Saul for disturbing his rest.

12. 1Kings 3:5-15: God comes to young Solomon in a dream and offers him a choose-what-you-like option.

13. Daniel 2: Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon had a terrifying dream of a statue interpreted by Daniel

14. Daniel 4: Nebuchadnezzar had another dream which Daniel interprets as a judgment against his kingdom.

15. Daniel 7: Daniel the interpreter of dreams had his own dreams, which symbolized the emergence of pagan and destructive earthly kingdoms.

New Testament Dreams and Visions

1. Matthew 1:18-2:23: Five dreams in Jesus’ birth narrative

• Angel’s message to Joseph

• Magi’s warning

• Joseph’s warning

• Return to Nazareth

• Joseph warned by God to steer clear of his home town

1. Matthew 27:19: Pontius Pilate’s wife has a dream of Jesus’ innocence and warns her husband.

2. Luke 1:5ff, 26-38]: Annunciations of John the Baptist and Jesus Christ

3. Acts 9:10: Ananias in Damascus receives a vision to visit Paul

4. Acts 10:1-6: Cornelius sees a vision in which he is commanded to invite Peter to his house

5. Acts 10:9-15: Peter on his own part sees a similar vision in which he is directed to go with the messengers from Cornelius

6. Paul had several visions of his own: sent to Macedonia through vision [Acts 16:9-10]; asked to keep preaching in Corinth [Acts 18:9-11]; had a vision of heaven [2Cor 12:1-6].

7. The Book of Revelation is all about vision of the John the Apostle.

This brief rundown of the instances of dreams and visions in the Bible helps a great deal in our efforts to try to understand the dreams that we dream and how to handle dreams in general. If we read the dream-and-vision passages in the Bible historically, we may note that there is a high level of concentration of them in the earlier books of the Old Testament. There are a lot of them in the Book of Genesis. Granted that the Book of Genesis largely came into being during the Babylonian exile around 600 years before Jesus was born, they dealt with issues that happened around 1500 years to 2000 years before the birth of Jesus.

That is to say, dreams and visions belong to the earliest times of the ancestors of the people of Israel. It was called the period of the patriarchs. At that time there were no pronounced leaders, no priests, no prophets and no great teachers either. Everything was just at its beginning. The sources of information from God were extremely limited. That was the period dreams and visions played a dominant role in the life of the forming people of God.

The period of the patriarchs in ancient pre-Sinai Israel could somehow be compared with the period in which Jesus Christ was born, the beginning of the new era of the Christian faith. The concentration of the dream and vision passages is in Matthew and somehow in Luke as well because of the annunciation passages of John the Baptist [Luke 1:5ff] and Jesus Christ [Luke 1:26-38]. At this point in time, the new Christian faith was only an embryo. Its total dependence was on the history and belief of the people of Israel, both pre- and post-exilic people. Moreover, Matthew the tax collector who is said to have invented Gospel writing wrote specifically with Jewish language at that time and had the Jews in view. That is why he could afford to use not only the Jewish language at that time [Aramaic] but also Jewish values. As his Jewish people valued dreams and visions Matthew gave them a full dose of them.

Another point of great importance in the historical study of these biblical dreams and visions is that in dreams and visions being made use of by God, He speaks directly to the individual concerned and gives a direct message to be carried out by the individual He is communicating with. In such a situation God hardly needed an intermediary, a translator or an interpreter. He spoke to the one directly in his own way via the medium of dreams and visions.

On the other hand, those who needed an interpreter of dreams or visions were foreigners or those who were not yet close to God. Even in the case of young Samuel [1Samuel 3], he could not at first understand that God was calling him. He needed the help of his master Eli because he had not become close to God. In the dream and vision passages, dreams and visions are interpreted to foreigners. God speaks to the one He is communicating with directly.

This has a very serious implication for us today. If God wishes to speak to us through dreams and visions, He will do so directly. He will give direct to us the message He intends for us. But if our so-called dreams and visions need the intervention of a third party by way of their interpretation, we run the risk of revealing that we are foreigners to God. Only foreigners and aliens to God need their communications from God through dreams and visions interpreted to them by a third party. Beware of people who want to mess up your spirituality and put confusion into your belief system by interpreting their criminal opinion into the way you worship your God.

Worse still, if you take your so-called dreams and visions to a new-age preacher for interpretation, you are making a wrong turn and going the wrong way. The truth is, your so-called new-age preacher is neither Joseph nor Daniel. He is just a con artiste who is desperate to swindle you and take your money. This is what religion has become in the hand of the new-age preachers of our time. One is no longer sure of who is who. You have been warned. Beware of the so-called interpreters of dreams and visions. They interpret nothing except how to transfer the little you have into their big bag that is already at its breaking-point with an overflowing largess.

How should one practise true Christianity in an age of confusion and criminal overflow into religious activities in Nigeria and Africa as a whole? The easiest and simplest way to practise one’s Christian faith is to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, the leader and perfecter of faith [Heb 12:2NAB]. Look at the way our Lord Jesus Christ lived his life until the end. While dreams and visions played a role at his birth, he never continued that tradition at all. He abandoned it completely. He preached about God His father, about faith, hope and love. He died sacrificing his life for others. And he commanded that we continue that in imitation and memory of Him. He rose from the dead to demonstrate to us that everything he told us is true. Our task is to believe him completely and replicate His life in our own lives. This is the way to salvation. If you go beyond that you are running the risk of losing your soul.

You have been warned! Beware of Dream and Vision interpreters. They will lead your soul astray.