The Myth a Dream is God Speaking to You Lives On



The Bible is full of dreams and visions. The difference between dreams and actual events was not clear then and is not clear to many believers today. The mythical "Paul" of the Bible have visions of talking with Jesus long after Jesus was dead. To this day it is assumed often in the faith that Paul actually spoke to Jesus. While one can understand the ancients had a view that dreams were some kind of communication with some other world, we would not think it lives on today. We would be wrong.

I remember a few year back watching a panel discussion on a religious site. Benny Hinn, the fake healing preacher, was on the panel. The discussion morphed into what each was hearing from God. Benny went on for several minutes about seeing Jesus while in bed. He thought he might have been asleep and it was a dream but felt it had some serious meaning. He asked Jesus questions but Jesus did not answer. Benny was perplexed because he was certain the visit meant something important but he did not know what it was. 

The link author tells us one can tell if visions are "real." If the vision or dream gives one a message the person should watch for a sign in the near future that reenforces the message. I guess that means if you heard from God you are to buy a dog, watch the next dog to see if it looks at you and wags its tail. The author gives us deep stuff.

Periodically, a mass shooter tells us God told him to shoot all those people. I don't know is these messages come from dreams or in some other form. It seems to me every preacher, every believer for that matter, who told that person to pray and ask God for guidance shares some blame. Better we all stop pretending we are seeing God/Jesus in visions, dreams and imagination or telling others to look for such nonsense. 

The biggest thing to worry about is national leaders anywhere in the world who might go off the rails thinking they received orders in a vision to unleash bombs and bullets on others. Watching our own Sec. of Defense, Hegseth, quote scripture is unnerving.  

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