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| Philippe de Champaigne's The Dream of Saint Joseph painted around 1636 (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Last week I had a dream of a spiritual nature that I discussed from a Biblical perspective on my Sunday blog
A Few Words. I shared the dream on that blog because of the spirituality of the dream and the implications that I sensed from that dream. You can follow the link to read that particular analysis if you are curious, but I will speak more generally about this dream in this current blog post.
The reason why I want to relate this dream on this blog--aside from the fact that it was a dream--is that a few nights later I had a related dream with a very similar outcome. Why I would have had these particular dreams at this particular time I do not know. That is part of the reason why I'm discussing these dreams in this post. Perhaps one of you will have some idea of what these dreams might represent.
The first dream occurred sometime after the 2 AM hour on a day last week. I no longer remember much about the dream other than the setting was a very large odd house that in the dream I recognized as my own, but it was not a house that I know in waking life. There were a number of people coming and going throughout the dream. At the point where memory kicks in...
I am talking to my mother (who recently passed away). She is relating how my father (who passed away in 1990) is in the hospital recovering from a serious condition. I am puzzled as I know that my father died years ago, but my mother assures me that now he is back. Soon after our conversation my father supposedly has arrived at the house and I see the door open. A man who resembles my father enters. He seems weak and sickly and is of a much smaller stature than he had been when I last saw him in life. He does not acknowledge anyone, seeming to be in a daze or even lifeless. He is not wearing a shirt and is clad only in a pair of white shorts.
The small father-looking being is led back into a bedroom and the door is closed. I become concerned about the man's presence and go into the room. I find him sitting on the edge of the bed slumped over looking dejected and hopeless. Suddenly I sense that this is not my father or if it is he is demon-possessed. I become very afraid. Knowing him to have been very religious I approach him and try to talk to him about Jesus. Filled with terror I have trouble speaking, but finally I weakly force out of my mouth the name of Jesus. I begin repeating "Jesus" and each time I say the name my voice gets stronger and my fear begins to subside...
Then I awaken. My wife asks if I am okay. She tells me that I was repeating the name Jesus.
Three nights after that, about an hour after I had gone to sleep, I had another dream...
I am in an unfamiliar location, perhaps a place that is like a warehouse where I work (in this dream world), I am in conversation with a group of three other men when a man resembling my father comes into the room. At first I think this man to be my father and I am happy to see him. Then I realize this man is taller and more imposing looking than my late father had been. The man's face looks cruel, verging on anger, filled with an ominous dark expression. I become afraid as I begin to surmise that this is not my father but a demonic figure assuming my father's image.
This man/demon first approaches me in a threatening manner. I stand more erect to confront him. Then the figure turns to one of the men with whom I had been conversing and moves toward this man as though he is going to attack him. I begin invoking the name of Jesus to take away the demonic power. I repeat the name of Jesus gaining more confidence each time I say it...
I wake up in a fetal position saying "Jesus". My wife asks if I am okay because I am repeating the name of Jesus just as I had done a few nights earlier. I look at the clock and it says 11:55.
On the first instance that I had the dream, I remained awake for what was probably an hour pondering what I had experienced in the dream. The second time I fell asleep almost immediately. Both dreams impacted me such that I have thought about them often since they happened.
There is no explanation that I can think of as to what may have influenced my mind that I had these dreams. My wife believes that Satan had tried to trick me by taking on the appearance of my father. Why I can't say. As I considered the occurrence, I wondered if a demonic force was trying somehow to take my life--to kill me during sleep--and my resistance prevented this from happening.
Do you think there was some sort of spiritual force at work in my dreams? Do you believe a demonic force would have the power to enter a dream to take control of the dreamer or even kill him? Have you had any dreams where you felt that spiritual forces were communicating with you in some way?
