Dreams and Visions

[peteey]

I was not sure where to post this, but I think this area will do.
I know in Rev. it says the old shall have dreams and the young shall have visions...or something like that.....

I met a guy at church this weekend who said he had a vision. He had been praying big time with his prayer group, and just by himself on whether or not he should quit his current job in construction. And he went on to tell me that he was laying in bed one night, not even asleep and had a vision that he was working in a piece of machinery at his current job, and all of a sudden realized that the rapture was happening, because he was above his constuction equipment, and everyone working around him was wondering where he went so fastly, because the thing he was moving in his machinery was still swinging back and forth.... He took this as a sign from God to stay put because the Rapture would be a testimony to his unsaved coworkers.

First of all this kind of bothered me, because doesn't it say in the Bible that we are not supposed to pressume or try to determine when Christ will return?
Is it possible that God still uses dreams and visions in this day and age to speak through us? I thought that now that we have the Holy Spirit that was no longer needed....
I have had some pretty psycho dreams about the Rapture throughout my years, some where I am left behind, and some where I am raptured....the left behind ones freak me out because is makes me question my faith.

I took this guys dream to kind of mean that maybe God does want him to leave his current job...and find a new one....and that his coworkers would miss the fellowship and openess and love of God that he shares amongest them, but I did not say anything.
Does anyone here have any opinions to this? Am I in the right area of this forum?

 

[Ben_Hur]

I'm guessing the preterists will jump all over you. But from what you said, it doesn't sound like the guys dream told him a "day or hour" of Christ's return.

And I think if God wanted him to leave, either God would be more direct in the dream, or something would happen and he would lose it outside of his control. Certainly, God knows that a person would have a difficult time discerning "I want to you leave your job" from that dream. I don't think God works in trick-questions.

 

[peteey]

Do you think God still speaks through dreams and visions though?

 

[Patmosman_sga]

I must admit, this is the first time I have ever heard of someone citing the rapture as a reason for not quitting their job!

 

[armothe]

I just had a vision this thread will turn into a flame war.

-A

 

[Knee V]

Just as a matter of technicality, the dreams and visions business is in Joel 2 and Acts 2.

 

[NumberOneSon]

I agree with Ben-Hur; I think that dream is incredibly nonspecific and I feel bad that this guy might make such a huge decision based on a dream. I do believe that God can make use of dreams and visions today, but in the scriptures the difference between God's visions and mere human dreams is brutally clear; No guesswork needed in determining whether something was of divine origin or just the result of a late night buffula wing binge.

I tend to be very critical and discerning whenever someone claims "I got a message from God" because I have seen too many Christians say this and believe it with good intentions only to end up being mistaken. A friend of mine with a crippling spinal disability was told by a very sincere Christian that God had "revealed" to him that my friend would be healed and walk without crutches by sunrise. That was 7 years ago, and my friend is serving the Lord in South America as a missionary, but he's still on crutches. Four years ago I had a friend "prophecy" to be ready, that God would give my wife and I a baby girl soon, a child who would grow up to be a "warrior princess" for Christ. Four years and two baby boys later and we're still waiting for that princess (or maybe"soon" doesn't mean soon in this instance either, and can mean 8 years from now ). I have friends who received a "prophecy" that their unborn twins would be girls. Ultrasounds have shown that they are boys. I even prayed for a couple in my bible study group and really "felt" that the Lord was going to help them through the rough times and lead them into an incredible marriage. I told this to them and they were very incouraged. Two years later, the wife left her husband for another man. They now have a child and she has since divorced her first husband. Shows how much I know.

My point is that we in the Christian community - myself included - need to be extremely careful about proclaiming divine revelation, because at least from my experience those who seem to claim such revelation publically end up being wrong. Your friend's dream doesn't seem to be any more than a dream, and if he has to think and guess that it may be divine revelation then it probably isn't.

In Christ,

Acts6:5

 

[vinsight4u]

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[vinsight4u]

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[peteey]

The thing is the guy said it was a vision not a dream, that he was not asleep yet....

 

[vinsight4u]

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