Visions and Dreams: Are They Communication from God, or Just Us?

By Ken Powe

Do dreams predict the future? Are visions really either hallucinations or delusions? Jews and Christians have had definite and conflicting answers to these questions for centuries that are maintained to this day, but what is the truth according to the Bible and other sources that people trust as a society of believers or thinkers?

Even people today claim to have visions and dreams that come from God, but are they right? Although believers accept that divine dreams and visions in the Bible are real, they or the church may not necessarily accept or believe that yours are. Why is that? Psychologists dismiss hearing the voice of God and seeing angels or the deceased as hallucinations, but should they? Should we all take another look at hallucinating as being spiritual or divine occurrences?

Ken Powe, researcher and minister, explores these meaningful and contentious issues by looking at Scriptures, cultures and science from different parts of the world in an effort to give meaning to the mysteries of the universal experience of dreaming and having visions. Visions and Dreams: Are They Communication from God or Just Us? is a methodical step in the direction of reconciling divine phenomena with everyday experience. You may just find the truth if you know which direction to look!

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Jan 13, 2020
• ISBN: 9781543999624

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Preface

If you’re seeking validation for your currently held views of visions and dreams, scripturally sound and socially reinforced as they may be, you won’t find it in this book. Sure, you will probably find some beliefs and ideas that align with your own, but you will also find other ideas that are also valid and compelling if they are approached with an open mind—whether you prefer your religious practices hot or cold. Because I don’t claim to have the right answer to any complex question about spirituality, I chose, instead to ply my skills as a researcher and explore a range of beliefs of various cultures through the lenses of history, literature, science, biblical teaching and personal experience to present possibilities rather than a right answer. Faith alone still determines the correct answer for each individual.

Being a Christian interfaith minister affords me an overview to many of the practices and beliefs of congregating worshippers that are often taken for granted or accepted without question through the repetitiveness of ritual over time and the rehashing of very old concepts and opinions. Sometimes, something would catch me by surprise and my natural curiosity leads me to look into it further. Some of these practices emerge from a strictly literal interpretation of the Bible. Other practices are rooted only in culturally absorbed local, tribalist beliefs. Either way, the practices are important elements of how believers collectively experience God.

While the Word of God, the letter of the Scriptures, unites all denominations, for there can be no disagreement about what the Bible literally says, certain beliefs have throughout history served as a wedge between people of different faith systems and sects. One fascinating point of departure is the issue of God communicating with us through visions and dreams. So why is this even a thing? Well, I’m sure at some point in your life someone has said to you during an argument, It’s not what you said, it’s how you said it! This universally understood yet perplexing statement articulates the human belief that communication is more than just words. How you say something really matters. So if we apply this way of thinking to our relationship with God, it’s easy to see why beliefs about visions and dreams vary and fundamental arguments about what is accepted doctrine on visions and dreams arise. In other words, how God speaks to us is at least as important as what He’s saying. This is the point in which most denominations seem to part ways. There are some who believe that everything God wants to say to us is in the Bible and nothing more needs to be added. There are others who believe that God chooses special individuals to speak to directly who then is supposed to impart God’s specific, particular message or vision to others. Then, there are a vast range of views between these two extremes for believers.

Since we live in an age that values science and learning so highly as universal and objective truths, then what does scientific research have to say about things that are divine? Are there valid conclusions to support phenomena accepted for centuries on faith alone? Can science indeed prove that visions and dreams that come from God are real? Science and faith have such a long history of tension throughout the Western world that it’s easy to wonder why an adherent to one would even bother with the other. Surprisingly, it turns out that science has apparently advanced to the point where the two are beginning to overlap, though few people in the sciences or religions even talk about this wondrous convergence. In addition, what also gets ignored is many of history’s greatest scientists were also men and women of faith, so for them, at least, there has never been a moral or philosophical contradiction between the two.

Why is it even important or significant to have a curiosity about the nature of visions and dreams? What does that imply about faith itself? While one may practice faith and profess a belief in God, there are still many mysteries surrounding religious or spiritual practice. Knowledge of God isn’t static. It’s supposed to grow (2 Peter 3:18, NIV says, …GROW in the grace and KNOWLEDGE of our Lord…)! Any faithful practitioner of Judeo-Christianity would probably tell you that beliefs can shift or grow over time, as a person’s beliefs today would be different than years ago. When assumptions are challenged, even long-held ones, growth occurs. Yes, it would be easier to accept on faith alone that God speaks to us in visions and dreams, the same as what’s recorded in the Bible, but how does this blind application of one’s faith bring us closer to an understanding of the relationship of God to humanity? Moreover, this blind acceptance causes more problematic questions for the average individual: If God still speaks through visions and dreams, why doesn’t He speak to me that way? or Who does He choose to speak to if not everyone? or Maybe it’s all my fault. Are my sins keeping me from hearing God? or maybe even Is God dead? There is still a vital need and purpose for mystery in the practice of faith and mysteries are meant to be solved even if they aren’t or can never be. Coming up with the answer is one goal of a mystery, but it isn’t the only one nor is it the most important one. The process, or the journey as many would put it, is even more important. If we truly are to walk by faith as the Bible says, that means we aren’t supposed to reach our objective instantaneously if at all, but instead take many steps to get where we’re going. In the process of getting there, we become spiritually stronger. We become closer to others. We become more aware of our own frailties and we form a stronger connection to God. There’s simply no easy answer to the puzzle surrounding the nature and origin of visions and dreams that history, science, orthodox theology or mythology can give us. We as believers should all see that as a blessing and not a stumbling block to our faith.

CHAPTER 1

To these four young men [Daniel, or Belteshazzar; Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, all from Judah] God gave knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning.  And Daniel [alone] could understand visions and dreams of all kinds.

—Daniel 1:17, NIV

One evening at weekly Bible study, the church group and I were studying the book of Daniel and one clause in one sentence of one verse led to many difficult questions in my mind: Daniel could understand visions and dreams of all kinds. I never stopped to think of the meaning and implications of these words until that very moment. There are many human figures in the Bible—prophets, kings, priests and just regular folk—who relate meaningful visions or dreams that were messages from God, but as far as I can determine, only Daniel is recorded in the Bible as receiving and interpreting both visions and dreams that were attributable to God. What does this unique gift imply about Daniel? How was he so special that he was chosen to interpret visions AND dreams as no one else has done before or since in recorded history? What is the difference between having a vision and having a dream? Why does God give some people visions and others dreams? In what crucial way do these people differ? Why did He give Daniel both? These questions represent only the surface of my curiosity about this narrow and confusing subject. I don’t expect to arrive at a definitive answer to any of these questions no matter how many books I read or how many scholarly or clerical experts I talk to, but I thought I would just do a bit of exploring on my own to see if I would arrive at a satisfactory resolution, or perhaps I may just mystify the matter even further. I’m definitely OK with the latter. Irrespective of the outcome, I feel the pursuit is nonetheless worth the effort as I believe that in matters of faith, the journey itself, that pressing toward a seemingly unachievable high mark, is more spiritually beneficial than actually reaching the desired goal.

  So what are visions? What are dreams? Semantically, these were the simplest questions to answer, as both are part of everyone’s experience. People have visions when they are wide awake and therefore can contemplate or act on the vision they had. People have dreams when they are asleep and the subconscious mind accepts many bizarre and unusual things as reality in that moment of deep sleep. Maybe in a dream, you have superpowers or are living in a different era of the past or future, and none of these strange developments will concern you in the least or invite questions about what’s going on and why. Visions, on the other hand, can be planned out and imparted to others so that an expected end can be achieved. Visions have social power in that a single person’s vision can perhaps inspire an entire nation to work together towards something grand and important.

Then the Lord replied: Write down the revelation [vision] and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it. For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay.

—Habakkuk 2:2,3; NIV

Actual dreams are not often imparted to a crowd or shared with others who are not therapists. They are often difficult to explain or recall, much less interpret. Nonetheless, the Bible defines it as a viable and practical means of communication from God to people.

For God does speak—now one way, now another—though no one perceives it. In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls on people as they slumber in their beds, He may speak in their ears and terrify them with warnings, to turn them from wrongdoing and keep them from pride, to preserve them from the pit, their lives from perishing by the sword.

—Job 33:14-18 NIV

In normal conversation, the words vision and dream are commonly used interchangeably, which confuses this issue a bit. A person might say that becoming a doctor or playing Major League Baseball is a personal dream. However, the way dreams are explained in the Bible leads me to conclude that these are technically visions, not dreams. You can plan to be a doctor or an outfielder step-by-step and work towards that goal until it becomes a reality. You can consciously visualize yourself curing Alzheimer’s or hitting a home run while wearing a Red Sox uniform and can contemplate reaching that clearly defined goal. An actual dream, of the type in many Bible stories, doesn’t need any help from the dreamer to come to fruition. It’s just God letting us know what’s about to happen in the future, according to scripture (as in the Book of Job). Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr’s most famous speech is I Have a Dream, but it could just as easily have been I Have a Vision. True social and civil equality and an end to racism is a seemingly unachievable goal that requires changes not only in laws, but also in hearts and minds. That is something that will probably never happen on its own because of human nature and free will, but has to be a goal shared and implemented by everyone, everywhere if it is to become a reality. Somehow, though, it’s a lot more inspiring and speaks more to the heart and soul to have a dream rather than a vision, as though dreams live in a higher plane of existence than visions, which seem a bit more mundane or speak more to the intellect in comparison. Contrary to this perception, the Bible reveals that both can and do come from God and are therefore divine in origin. This strange, arbitrary, but intuitive common distinction is just another part of human nature and experience.

Visions and dreams are common human experiences that may come from uncommon sources. It’s a mystery what inspires most of them, as I’m sure believers (in God) are aware not all visions and dreams come from God. Many times, if not most times, they come from us, what happens to us or what we wish would happen. Not every dream has some deep, symbolic, divine meaning. Indeed, even Sigmund Freud is believed to have said of the interpretation of dreams, Sometimes an apple is really just an apple. Similarly, not every vision is one’s marching orders from God. How can we ever tell if it’s God speaking or if it’s just an extension of some desire within us?

Visions can vary widely in terms of how grounded in reality and pragmatism they are. I have a close friend who shared her vision with me recently. My friend wants to record a Christian music album and thereby garner worldwide acclaim and vast riches for herself as a popular Contemporary Christian recording artist. She is a singer in the choir at her church and she solicited my help with this vision, since I’m a career musician, a recording artist and her confidante.  The way she sees it, she has all the means to accomplish this vision of hers readily at her disposal. The church she attends is very large and affluent, with thousands of members who attend, tithe and donate regularly. The campus is endowed with expansive facilities with the latest sound and recording capabilities that are used extensively every week. The church features a large music staff with a full orchestra and well-trained technical personnel that would probably feel right at home at Carnegie Hall. And then there’s me, someone who, admittedly, would go to great lengths just to aid a friend. This vision had a plan to bring it about. The plan was to use the church’s facilities and personnel (and me) for hours at a time over a span of weeks to make this recording project just for her, without consulting with the church’s pastor or ministerial staff. Even though she wants to record original songs of her own composition, she unfortunately lacks the musical proficiency to arrange the non-melodic elements of a song (chord changes, rhythmical style, etc.) She would need all the instrumentalists to roll up their sleeves and help compose the music that exists only in her mind (as she cannot read or write sheet music), for however long that takes, and rehearse the songs regularly at the church up until it is time to record. She reasoned that since she is a member of this church in good standing, she will not need to compensate anyone for their time or talent and everyone would just do it willingly and gladly because they would be doing a good thing in the church, but only to further her personal vision this time. Also, she is keenly aware of the many public legal battles over royalties that take place in the music industry. So, as sharing song revenues with such a large group of people poses a serious detriment to the goal of getting rich from this recording, her simple solution is to have everyone involved in her project sign a contract that bars any claim to a share of royalties or sales and establishes her as the sole author of the music being recorded, although she needs the band’s help to compose the songs that are being recorded in the first place. I would like to relate to readers my response to all this, but I don’t recall there being one as I was rendered speechless by a state of shock when I heard this vision spoken aloud to me.

Without a doubt, my friend’s vision of becoming a rich, successful Christian recording artist had a comprehensive plan that required forethought and attention to details. Her resolve to follow the plan through was definitely strong, as evinced by my attempts to persuade her to implement a different approach, one that worked for me for years even on a paltry budget, but my alternative to her brilliant plan was quickly rebuked as being negative and impractical from her perspective. The first thing that stood out to me about the expected end to her vision was how detached it seemed to be from reality—specifically, the reality of how the music industry works. I can tell you unequivocally and without fear of contradiction that recording an album and putting it on the market is not a plausible path to personal wealth. Without going into unnecessary, laborious and confusing detail, I can sum it up simply by saying, It just ain’t gonna happen!  I can speak from personal experience as a member of The Recording Academy (the organization that awards the Grammys®) and a recording artist with songs and albums distributed and sold worldwide; and so, too, can volumes of current books, articles and sites about the industry written by experts. The sheer economics of the industry currently does not allow for a person to earn millions of dollars from unit sales and royalties of a new album, no matter how many success stories you may be able to point to in movies, television and pop culture magazines. Mostly because of the availability of digital music, the market today is vastly different than the one that gave the music world Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, The Beatles, Michael Jackson, Madonna and Prince. In an interview with Fortune magazine on July 1, 2015, world-renowned multi-genre music producer, Quincy Jones, is asked this question:

FORTUNE: Is the music industry better or worse than it was 50 years ago?

Jones: Honey, we have no music industry. There’s 90% piracy everywhere in the world. They take everything. At the recent South by Southwest [an annual music and arts convention in Austin, TX], they had over 1,900 musicians, but fans didn’t know where to go. You can’t get an album out because nobody buys an album anymore.

To her credit, though, reality never deters her from implementing her vision, as visions are known to be viewed by others as being unrealistic, particularly those that come directly from God, as the Bible shows.

My friend’s vision not only contradicts what I know about making a recording and selling it on the open market, but also I found it disturbing on a moral level as well. She felt entitled to have free and unrestricted use of her church’s vast resources for personal reasons, without the Pastor’s consent, simply by virtue of her being a member of that church. She believed with every fiber of her being that she could simply ask church musicians and staff (and me) to work on her project to its completion without any intention of compensating anyone, now or in the future, and everyone would be just fine with that. The success of her vision depends entirely on the wanton and crass exploitation of church family and friends, and she sees no problem at all with this. Can a vision that depends solely on the exploitation, mistreatment and disrespect of others possibly come from a loving, kind and benevolent God? Perhaps, asking this question can lead to a methodical, first-step personal approach when listening to a vision or sharing a vision with others in determining whether that vision is divine or selfish in origin.

One of the oldest works of English literature is an extended poem called Dream of the Rood. Rood is an Old English word for pole or cross, in the context of Christianity. It belongs to a genre of early poetry called dream poetry.  It possibly dates back to the 8th century A.D. and marks a period when people in Europe who spoke English and were largely illiterate, primarily in the emerging British empire, are converting from pagan Anglo-Saxon beliefs and practices to Christianity. The morphing of paganism and Christianity from this time period is not at all unfamiliar, if one considers the manner in which Christmas is observed in Europe and the Americas. Its author is unknown, but it is likely that it was composed for a didactic purpose, rather than relate an actual dream through elevated language in the contemporaneous conventions of verse. But, I think this poem illustrates perfectly my perception of the nature of a divine dream consistent with what is written in Scripture. The poem is centered around an anonymous narrator who has a divine dream about the Cross upon which Jesus was crucified and the poem is divided into three sections. In the first section, this narrator sees the Cross in a dream and observes that it is covered with gems. In this moment, he is overcome by how dirty, poor and feeble he is compared to the glory of this Cross that is made of a tree. Looking more closely, he sees that in the midst of all these beautiful, valuable stones, the Cross is stained with blood. In the second section, the Crucifixion story is told from the perspective of the Cross, as the Cross shares its account of Jesus’s death with the poem’s audience. In this section, the Cross itself, rather than a human being, becomes the narrator. This section begins with the enemy coming to cut the tree down and carry it away. The tree, while in transit, learns that it is not to be the bearer of a criminal, as every tree would expect when it is cut down