May it be that when I say to a young woman, ‘Please let down your jar that I may have a drink,’ and she says, ‘Drink, and I’ll water your camels too’—let her be the one you have chosen for your servant Isaac. By this I will know that you have shown kindness to my master.”Before he had finished praying, Rebekah came out with her jar on her shoulder. She was the daughter of Bethuel son of Milkah, who was the wife of Abraham’s brother Nahor. –Genesis 24:14-15 (NIV)
Let no one be found among you who…practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft. –Deuteronomy 18:10 (NIV)
To one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit;to another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit;to another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues. –1 Corinthians 12:8-10 (KJV)
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ASSEMBLIES OF GOD
Donald Gee, Concerning Spiritual Gifts.
Smith Wigglesworth, Ever Increasing Faith.
Harold Horton, The Gifts of the Spirit.
Howard Carter, Spiritual Gifts and Their Operation.
Gordon Lindsay, Commissioned with Power.
CATHOLIC
Herbert Thurston, ed. Butler’s Lives of the Saints.
—. The Physical Phenomena of Mysticism.
Jacobus de Voragine, The Golden Legend.
Muirchu, “The Life of Patrick,” Celtic Spirituality.
Bonaventure, The Life of St. Francis.
Athanasius, The Life of Antony.
Gottfried, The Life of the Holy Hildegard.
Gregory, The Life and Miracles of St. Benedict.
Adomnan, The Life of St. Columba.
Augustin Poulain, The Graces of Interior Prayer.
Arthur Devine, A Manual of Mystical Theology.
Joan Carroll Cruz, Mysteries Marvels Miracles: In the Lives of the Saints.
CHURCH OF ENGLAND
Thomas Boys, The Suppressed Evidence. (miracles among Protestants)
Daniel Jennings, ed. The Supernatural Occurrences of John Wesley.
Thomas Church, A Vindication of the Miraculous Powers.
Immediately when Jesus perceived in his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, he said unto them, Why reason ye these things in your hearts? –Mark 2:8 (KJV)
In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. –Acts 2:17
Ira Milligan, Understanding the Dreams You Dream.
John Paul Jackson, The Biblical Model of Dream Interpretation.
Archibald Alexander, Thoughts on Religious Experience, ch. 7: “Considerations on Dreams, Visions, etc.”
Daniel Jennings, The Supernatural Occurrences of John Wesley, ch. 9.
Augustin Poulain, Revelations and Visions.
After looking at the dreams and visions recorded by Catholics and Methodists, I’ve come to have a stricter approach towards the selection of dreams to be considered for interpretation. In the traditional Christian approach to dreams, no dream was to be taken seriously or even attempted to be interpreted unless it was laced with strong Biblical, Gospel, and holiness themes. Unfortunately, Jackson and Milligan never pushed in this direction. Like secular dream interpreters, they often considered just about any dream that a person experiences, as one that ought to be interpreted as a secret message from God. Its actually sort of sad seeing him try to interpret dreams like this, which have absolutely no Christ-centered or Gospel related themes in them whatsoever. To call that “Biblical” is quite a stretch. Its not good enough to have a “Biblical system of interpretation,” or a Biblical bias, if the dream itself is not evidently from the God of the Bible. Dreams without Jesus, the cross, angels, the Holy Spirit, the Father, Heaven, Hell, the day of judgment, demons, souls, and just Christian theology, should be highly suspect to be even considered seriously for dream interpretation. –J.B.
I truly wonder how many people have listened to this sermon and haven’t taken it seriously. I wonder how many people have heard this and have not paid very close attention to his words, but have only been distracted and enamored by his British accent. Why would they? Christians are not in the habit of closely analyzing the words of their pastors anymore in this age of low quality preaching and seeker-sensitive spew. –J.B.
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