Supernatural Saturday - Where Do Dreams Come From?

A discussion on the origin of dreams.

   

 For more information, check out my book Dream Interpretation Made Simple.

The Origin and Nature of Dreams

There is much debate today about the origin and meaning of dreams. Have you ever noticed that in dreams, you know certain facts without ever being told them? You know your brother will get a new job. You know the car in front of you will go through a red light. You know your boss is embezzling money. No one had to tell you these things. You know them, just as surely as you know your name. We know things in dreams without being told them because dreams are spiritual in nature, and spiritual information is not communicated through speech, but through thoughts—directly to our spirit. 

The human brain has difficulty making sense of spiritual information because it is of a different nature than intellectual information. Spiritual knowledge is information of a different order. Allow me to illustrate this difference: 

The brain can make sense of the emotion our soul produces called grief when it is connected to the intellectual context of a situation called death. In this case, the brain’s cognitive center receives a message of death and the soul attaches the emotion of grief to it. The emotion and the intellect agree. The brain can likewise understand the emotion called joy when the cognitive setting is a wedding. Again, there is emotional and intellectual agreement. This is how the soul and brain—emotion and intellect—normally operate. But in dreams, we’re just as likely to feel joy when someone dies or grief at a friend’s wedding. Dreams create emotional and intellectual disagreement. 

 The fact that an emotion is felt in a dream does not necessarily mean it is created in the soul. If the soul were to create an emotion, it would likely correspond to an appropriate event. The fact that in a dream, the emotion is connected to an inappropriate event suggests that emotion and event are joined by some other mechanism. That other mechanism is our spirit. Like the soul, the spirit receives and transmits emotions but it does so for a completely different purpose. 

Our spirit sends and receives messages that have symbolic rather than literal (logical) meaning. Spiritual messages are not about what they seem to be. Our brain doesn’t understand them because they’re symbolic rather than literal, and they must be decoded. Our soul doesn’t understand them because it did not create them. Dreams are an enigma to the soul and body because they are manifestations of our spirit. 

Some dreams do originate in the soul. These dreams, like a poorly written tale, have no point. Because they’re not spiritual in nature, they’re not symbolic, and the dreamer typically doesn’t feel a strong emotion. Soul dreams are devoid of the encouragement, instruction, warning, or other features found in spiritual dreams. Although most dreams are spiritual in nature, they are not created by our spirit. They’re created and sent by other spirit beings. Some spirits act as messengers. Under the right circumstances, our spirit receives them. 

This is an excerpt from my new book, Dream Interpretation Made Simple, which is available through the links below: 

Amazon

Barnes & Noble 

Apple Books 

Kobo Scribd

A Kingdom View of Economic Collapse

This is an excerpt from my latest book: A Kingdom View of Economic Collapse.

On June 30^th, 2015, after suffering years of financial trouble, Greece failed to make a required payment to the International Monetary Fund and entered into a default on its sovereign debt. In light of Greece's default and due to the proliferation of books predicting catastrophic judgments upon America (and the rest of the world) it seemed good to share what I’ve learned about economic collapse and how the kingdom of God responds to crisis.

You don’t need to look very far to find dire warnings of disaster being spoken by secular experts and religious leaders alike. Many financial experts have written books citing the reasons why they believe an economic collapse is quickly approaching. At the same time, many religious leaders have shared prophetic warnings that we’re entering a time a great difficulty; some even arguing that the end of the world is at hand.

While I believe (some) financial experts have given us an accurate assessment of the problems we face, what they lack is a divine perspective on the problem. What religious leaders usually lack is an understanding of how financial systems work. What is most concerning is that neither camp has put forth a clear plan to help us survive such a crisis, much less rebuild in its aftermath.

The approach financial advisers generally take is to sign you up for their investing programs. They warn you that your retirement savings are about to be wiped out and that if you pay them a fee, they’ll tell you where to invest your money. The main reason why many church leaders don’t offer a plan to survive or rebuild after a global crisis is that they don’t expect to be here. The popularity of the belief that the church will be taken into heaven in the rapture before a global crisis hits has prompted many theologians to abandon all thought of what the church’s responsibility might be in a post-crisis world. Their advice is to pray for sinners to repent and pray even harder for the return of Jesus. 

During the last century, hundreds of millions of believers have been certain they would see the return of Jesus during their lifetime. None of them have lived to see that day. At this moment, millions more are convinced that we’re living in the days just before His return, and indeed, we might be. But statistically speaking, the odds of that happening in anyone’s lifetime are extremely small.

After becoming a believer, I sat in a church pew and read my Bible. I learned all the reasons why the great tribulation was approaching, why the Antichrist was ready to be revealed, why the world was teetering on the brink of catastrophe, and most importantly, why we believers wouldn’t be around for all of that. Although I was told that God’s wrath was about to be poured out upon the earth, I was also assured that my King was going to appear and rescue me from it. During this time, I never witnessed a creative miracle, never saw anyone healed or set free of a demon, and although I learned a lot about the church, I learned virtually nothing about the kingdom of God.

Then one night I had a dream. In the dream, I met God, and He had a few things He wanted to share with me. He said He wanted me to heal the sick, cast out demons, raise the dead and proclaim His kingdom.

The nerve of Him.

If He weren’t the Almighty, I might have given Him a piece of my mind. He spoke not a word about waiting for the rapture, witnessing to sinners or handing out tracts, which were things my pastor told me were top priorities. Since that day, I’ve had hundreds (perhaps thousands) more dreams and the subject of our conversations hasn’t changed. Few, if any of them have portrayed the end of the world, the rise of a one-world government or world-ending disasters. Nearly all of them have to do with battling the kingdom of darkness, setting captives free, and using my time and energy to advance His kingdom.

I think we need to ask a few questions of those who predict catastrophic events:

If the coming events are believed to be because we’ve rebelled against God, what happens if we don’t repent?

And what if the coming events are not actually the result of God’s wrath, but instead, the natural outworking of our own poor choices?

What if a global crisis strikes and the church is not removed from the earth beforehand?

Is your pastor teaching you what to do if the church survives a global catastrophe, or are all your hopes pinned on Jesus rescuing you from it?

It’s certainly more pleasant to think that we won’t be here when things get ugly, but we have no guarantee of that. 

I don’t see any reason to fear the future. Whatever is coming, God can make us aware of it, and if He can make us aware of it, He can prepare us for it. I would encourage you to rest in the knowledge that God has a plan that He is working out in these events. If you're positioned in Him, and prepared mentally for the challenges that lie ahead, you may find all of this to be a liberating experience, and not a terrifying one.

My intent with this book is to examine the topic of economic collapse from various perspectives. The book can be divided roughly into four sections: The first is a primer on economics and finance. My goal with this section is to describe (in terms the average person can understand) how the financial systems of the world operate. In the second section, we’ll look at historic cases of economic collapse and the things that caused it. We’ll also identify which nations are at risk of experiencing economic collapse today. In the third section, I’ll share the dreams I’ve had that provide a prophetic overview of the days ahead and I’ll discuss what I believe to be God’s purpose for these events. In the last section, we'll look at how the  kingdom of God ought to respond to crisis.

This book is available only as an e-book. It can be found by clicking on this link or the image below.

God's Perspective on Excellence

 My wife and I were entertaining friends when we got on the subject of writing books. I told our guest I was not the best healer in the world. "If you want to see a really gifted healer," I said, "Go hang out with David Hogan."

I'm not the most knowledgeable or the most proficient healer, but with the little knowledge I do have, I was able to write a decent book on the subject, because in all honesty—I'm probably a better writer than I am a healer. There's still so much about healing I don't understand. Sometimes I feel unworthy of the questions people ask me. That night I had a dream:

 

In the dream, I was taking care of patients with a strange medical condition I didn't know anything about. They had this fluid in some kind of container that was somehow attached to their body. I was supposed to monitor this fluid. I didn't know what the fluid was and I didn't know how to monitor it. I felt very uncertain about how I was supposed to take care of these patients. So I did the best I could and tried to make sure nothing bad happened to them while they were in my care. At the end of the dream, I was given an award for providing excellent care for my patients. That was the end of the dream.

 

When I awoke, I was a little shocked. How could anyone give me an award for providing good patient care when I had no clue what was wrong with my patients, what that fluid was, or how I was supposed to monitor it?

 

It didn't make sense.

 

Later that day, as I thought about the dream, I also thought about the book I wrote and how I still don't have all the answers to the questions people have about healing. And then it dawned on me what the Lord was saying in the dream. (This is a word of instruction for all of us):

 

It doesn't matter to God if you have things all figured out. It doesn't matter if you can answer people's questions correctly. It doesn't matter if you feel pretty clueless about healing or deliverance, or anything else He's asked you to do. It doesn't matter if you feel incompetent or incapable. What matters to God is that you do the best you can with the little information and talent you have.

 

Be a good steward of what resources and knowledge He's given you and He'll fill in the gaps of your knowledge and skill. Excellence doesn't require complete understanding. All it requires is diligence and a sincere desire to serve in whatever way you can.

American Sniper: Lessons in Spiritual Warfare

This is an except from my latest book American Sniper: Lessons in Spiritual Warfare.

The main character of American Sniper is a Texas-born redneck named Chris Kyle. The film opens with a scene of Kyle perched on a rooftop in the city of Fallujah, Iraq. U.S. troops have been told that the city was ordered to be evacuated and any military-aged men they find are assumed to be enemy combatants, until proven otherwise. Kyle is checking out the path of a U.S. military convoy through the scope of his sniper rifle. He sees a man on a rooftop in the distance talking on a cell phone. The man appears to be watching the convoy, which Kyle reports to his command through his headset. The man then disappears from the rooftop and a few moments later, a woman and a young boy exit the doorway of the same building and begin walking toward the convoy. Kyle reports the woman and boy to command, and notes that the woman is not swinging her arms as she walks and that she appears to be carrying something. Kyle watches through the scope as the woman removes something from her cloak and hands it to the boy and he realizes it’s a grenade. He reports what he sees and again gets the green light to shoot, but his marine guard warns him that he’ll be sent to prison for shooting a child if he's wrong. The film then cuts away and the next 20 minutes are vignettes of Kyle growing up as the son of a religious father who stressed the ever-present threat of evil, the virtues of aggression, and the supremacy of the hunt.

As a child, Chris learned to watch over his younger brother, Jeff. When someone picked on him, Chris came to his defense and in one scene, he gave the bully a beating he wouldn’t forget. As an adult, he spent most of his time riding bulls, drinking beer, chasing pretty girls and getting into fights.  In the same way that Chris drifted from one misadventure to another, many Christians find themselves drifting, spiritually. We go to church on Sunday, read our Bibles, and try to avoid getting into trouble, but inevitably, trouble seems to find us. We wrestle with various problems and seem to make little progress, no matter what measures we try.

The first seven years of my life as a Christian I traveled down a dozen different paths leading nowhere. Though I felt at the time I was a passionate believer, I had very few victories over the enemy. I lost more spiritual battles than I won. And perhaps more importantly, I never felt a great sense of significance; I felt like I was just another believer. In many ways I was drifting spiritually, with no real course or destination in mind, other than getting into heaven when I died.

No child dreams of growing up to be insignificant. We all want to do something great. God doesn’t create us to be ordinary. He’s placed a desire for significance in our hearts—a desire to do something to change the world for the better. It’s apparent early in the film that Chris Kyle knew he was destined to do something extraordinary.

The film cuts away to a scene of Chris and his brother watching TV. They saw the news of the terrorist attacks on the U.S. embassies in Tanzania and Kenya. Chris was infuriated that U.S. citizens were being attacked and felt compelled to do something about it. His anger over the attacks compelled him to visit a Navy recruiter’s office. The recruiter suggested he might be interested in the SEAL program and handed him a pamphlet, but Kyle remarked that he wasn’t much of a swimmer. The recruiter took the pamphlet out of his hand and said it wasn’t for most men. Kyle grabbed the pamphlet back and proudly replied “I’m not most men.” He didn’t envision himself in a routine job as a sailor. That would be too safe. He set his aim high and endured the brutality of Navy SEAL training.

A new Christian has very little that they bring to the spiritual battlefield from the world. We learn all kinds of ways to defend ourselves and attack our enemies as we go through life, but the Apostle Paul taught that the weapons of the believer’s warfare are not like the weapons and tactics of the physical world. Spiritual weapons are spiritual in nature and it’s only these weapons that can be used effectively against spiritual strongholds. Because spiritual weapons are so different from the weapons we’re familiar with, they require special training and practice before they can be used effectively. My introduction to spiritual weapons was illustrated by the following dream:

Dream
In the dream, I drove my car to a pawn shop with my children. I took some old things that I owned into the pawn shop and traded them in for a strange type of handgun. My kids waited a long time for me to come out. I left the shop with my new gun, but didn’t want my kids to see it, so I walked around behind my car, then took it out and examined it. The gun had a laser sight built into it. It was wide, with a round bulge that seemed to be for the ammunition, though it wasn’t a revolver and it didn’t have a magazine. I didn’t know how the ammunition was loaded. I began trying to figure out how it worked and decided to aim it across the street at a vacant lot. The gun fired two rounds, which I wouldn’t have known, except that I saw puffs of dust rise from the ground where I pointed the gun. It made no sound and didn’t seem to have a trigger, but seemed to fire by my thoughts. I put it in the trunk of my car and that was the end of the dream.

InterpretationIn the dream, I traded in a bunch of things I had obtained from the world for a new, spiritual weapon. I believe this speaks of acquiring a new way of thinking and living. I had to leave behind the way of thinking I had acquired from the world and learn the way of thinking used in the kingdom of God. I also had to learn how to defend myself and wage an offensive attack differently. I had no idea how my new gun fired. I didn’t yet understand how spiritual weapons operate, though I had obtained one that could be used effectively, once I was trained to use it.

You can read more by clicking the link to American Sniper: Lessons in Spiritual Warfare, or click on the image below.

Jesus Teaches Me to Relax While Healing the Sick - Ken Nichols

My guest blogger today is Ken Nichols. If you read my book Divine Healing Made Simple, you may remember Ken's dream where Jesus instructed him about His will for healing. This is Ken's story about another encounter with Jesus.

In a dream, the morning of 1/29/15, what I recall was that Jesus and an Angel were teaching and encouraging me in healing the sick. All three of us were standing in an area with lots of green trees and bushes around us. It seemed we had been walking along a path, but at this moment, we all paused so that they could share a point with me before walking on again. They seemed very much in a fun, light-hearted, smiling, manner (almost chuckling as they looked at each other and then back at me) telling me to just have fun while I am here. Their primary point to get across to me was the emphasis on persistence.

"Do you believe it is really My will to heal, ALWAYS?"

"Yes," I said.

"Then just keep going until you get results with each one".

"I know it's Your will always, but what I don't know is if I am in a place to get those results each time, like something is wrong with me, because at times it seems nothing is happening at all. "

Jesus replied, "Well, you are a new creation in Me, all things have passed away and all things have become new and all things are of God, and We don't make defective and broken children. There is nothing wrong with you. A carpenter doesn't hit a nail one time and if it doesn't go all the way in, he throws away his hammer thinking it defective or doesn't think his nails are good enough. He hits it again, and again UNTIL it is all the way in. They know if they hit it over and over, eventually it will go in. Builders use many types of fasteners: screws, nails, rivets, bolts. If they want to remove a rivet, they can't use a wrench or claw hammer. They need to use the right tools to remove whichever item they are working with. Depending on what the person has going on with them, an injury involving simply damaged or dead tissue, a sickness or disease caused by an infection, or body chemistry out of balance, a missing body part, a spirit of some category; you have been given tools which are appropriate for and able to remove any of these condition and bring the healing. Remember how you have been told that it is the glory of God to conceal a matter, and the glory of kings to discover and search out a matter? You have heard it said that these things are hidden for you, not from you. So use your toolbox, of power, authority, gifts of the Spirit such as the word of knowledge, to know what is going on and what to do, and other gifts. Declarations of faith, and all of these working by love, and find which tool is the best fit to remove the problem you are facing. The more serious you get and harder you concentrate, the more it becomes your works, instead of just having fun, relaxing and placing your faith and confidence in My works. If one thing doesn't work, try something else, but always be listening as we may give you clues or guidance that will help you discover the answer. But it's no fun at all if you give up or quit after only trying a short time. Sometimes you may come across a suborn nail or a screw with a stripped out head and you'll have to be ready to do something outside the box. I sent people to wash mud from their eyes. Sometimes I had to deal with a spirit of infirmity first, sometimes I just told them to do something, so don't make it a formula, just do what you know and then if it becomes a challenge, have fun and explore and listen for clues and directions, kind of like the 'Hotter or colder' game you used to play when finding a hidden item." He took hold of my shoulder and rocked me back and forth saying, "You're so tense. Relax and have fun. So many have forgotten how to have fun. It really is easier than most make it. If it seems hard, then you're doing something wrong. Does this help?"

"Yes, it does," I said.

An Open Letter To My Readers

I wanted to share some of the odd things that have gone through my mind lately, some things I've learned and some of the personal experiences I've had in the last few weeks....

A donut shop is a donut shop, regardless of what your partner tells you about how great the doughnut place is that he found. Donuts are sweet and some are a little better than others, but there’s only so much you can do with a doughnut. We’re not talking about gourmet cuisine. We’re talking about doughnuts.

I worked with a woman who hands the size of a six year old girl. She wears extra-small gloves when she can find them. I prayed with her for carpal tunnel syndrome, she felt some tingling when I did, but when I ran into her a few days later, she was still experiencing some symptoms. My plan? Wait for the next opportunity to pray with her and teach her how to keep it.

You can pray with faith for a condition that you’ve seen healed a hundred times and still not see any changes in them. But It doesn’t mean you don’t have faith and it doesn’t mean they weren’t healed. It just means they didn’t feel anything happening at the time.

God likes the fact that I'm content to work as a paramedic. He doesn't expect more of me at this time in my life. I find that comforting.

Staying out of deception comes by trusting others more than you trust yourself. This is easier said than done. First you have to care about whether or not you’re being deceived and that means entertaining the possibility that you might be wrong. Then you must believe it’s possible for someone to have more accurate discernment than you do. Such a person must have the guts to confront you and you must have the humility to allow God to reveal your own blindness. Since these things are not likely to occur with regularity – I believe most of us (myself included) are deceived rather often.

When my daughter is gone, I miss her a lot more than I realized.

I received a compliment from a man this week, who doesn't agree with everything I write, but he respects me because he says I'm "balanced". That was a helpful observation. I don't actually try to be balanced, I just write about what I see, experience and what I get from the Holy Spirit and the bible. It's a mix of different sources and it seems to be appreciated by some people.

I’ve always wanted to have a partner who was fluent in Spanish. Now I have one. He took a week off and things weren't the same. I missed him. And now it looks like he might be moving to a different unit. The only constant is change. The only exception is God.

I went to Walmart to get oil and and oil filter for my car. As I entered the store I was met by at least 4 people with obvious injuries and disabilities. I hesitated, but kept going to the automotive section and got the things I needed. I left without praying for anyone. Ins my heart, I wanted to lay hands on all of them. Heck, I could have been there all afternoon - there were so many people in the store that day who could have been healed. But it was one of those days when I just wanted to get back home and take care of things I wanted to get done.

The fact that a patient is small (say, 6 months old) is no reason to be afraid when you’re in the ambulance with them.

More people should take advantage of golfing early in the morning instead of waiting till later in the day when the course is crowded.

I prayed with a young man in sickle cell crisis. His main complaint was back pain. The more I prayed, the more his pain decreased. It was the first time I remember praying for sickle cell anemia.

Arizona has a lot of cool birds. They make enough noise that you can hear them inside the hospital. If you spend a few minutes outside listening to them instead of your fears and worries, you might not be so stressed out.

I prayed with a 68 year old man who was one of the healthiest men of his age that I've ever seen. No heart problems, no diabetes, no high blood pressure or cancer, no chronic health problems to speak of and he took no medications. The only problem was, he had two bad shoulders and bad knee. I told his about the dreams I've had about healing and asked if I could pray with him. He said "yes". As I prayed over his left shoulder it began to feel warm. So warm that I could feel the heat with my hand. I prayed over the other one and his knee. I'm pretty sure he was glad that I asked.

Using a propane torch is a quick way to rid your yard of weeds.

I've been feeling a bit 'left out' lately. While a lot of my pals are going around the country teaching people about healing. I'm sitting in my ambulance cat-napping between calls and being a dad and husband. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a tad jealous. I received some wonderful comfort from Corma Holmes, who heard God tell her about how I was feeling. She sent me a message and encouraged me and somehow she knew exactly what I was going through. My wife has also been a great encourager, reminding me that God has a special way of using me to reach people. I'm OK with that.

It's important to find the right person to come alongside of if you plan to impact their life for the kingdom of God. While there are hundreds (perhaps thousands) of people you might potentially influence, there are very few you will actually reach in a significant way. I've had a number of partners recently - even a few believers, but not one of them has expressed any interest in learning more about healing or the kingdom of God from me. I'm still looking for "the person of peace." I'll write a separate message on "the person of peace" in a few days.

I like where I'm at. It's been over 20 years since I had a doctor ride in the ambulance with me. I've had two doctors ride with me this week. In both cases we transported a critically ill patient from a clinic to a hospital. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't excited.

I've been having dreams about doing things with people in Scottsdale, Arizona; a place I visit often on duty and it happens to be the city where those doctors have been riding with me to the hospital. God is up to something...not exactly sure what it is yet.

I've been losing my business cards at different places in the Phoenix area. Mostly at hospitals. If you happen to have found one, let me know. You can keep the card, but I'd love to talk with you. My e-mail address is at the top of the page. You can also find me on Facebook or Twitter.

I prayed with a sweet boy of four years old who has asthma and RSV. I talked with his mother about healing. Sowing seeds....

I love the warm, sunny winter weather in Phoenix. I've decided that the 4 months of hellishly hot temps in the summer are worth it, to have 60's and 70's from November through March.

I have no plans to stop blogging. I only wish I had more time to write, because I'd write a lot more if I could. If you're worried about me pulling the plug....don't worry. I'm planning to be around for a long time.

I've been thinking about writing an article for JEMS magazine about healing and EMS. They're always looking for new, fresh ideas. They like to inform their readers about current trends in medicine. I doubt that anyone else is going to write about healing in the ambulance. So I guess it's up to me.

I had a dream about people being removed from the earth, one at a time by God. It was like what he did with Enoch. He found people who loved Him so much and He just took them up into heaven, but not in large numbers. It happened one at a time. I'll write a note about it and post it on Facebook for discussion.

I've also had dreams where God has been talking about eating healthier and exercising. It's personal. But if might be a good word for you, too. I like the junk food at the hospitals, but I need to lose some weight and get in shape.

The last thing I need is to end up in the hospital or worse, in the back of someone's ambulance.

- 'till next time

p.s. - I've decided to purchase uniform shorts for the summer. But don't get your hopes up. I don't plan on taking pictures ;)

A New Model of Heath Care

I've been thinking about the future of medicine and I've been having a lot of dreams. Many of those dreams are about healing. The one I'm about to share seems to be a big picture view of coming changes in our health care system.

About a month ago I had a dream in which I watched a new hospital being built. I walked to the construction site every day to check on the progress of the new building. Each day, I took a different route to the building site, trying to find the shortest route.

One day I arrived at the site, as the building was nearly completed. I walked to the street corner and began walking up a steep sidewalk next to the building. There was a handrail, so I used it to assist me in climbing the long, steep slope. I met a man coming down the sidewalk. He was tall and austere in appearance. He was one of the hospital staff. He said nothing as we passed. As we met, he glared at me and kept walking.

There was one more element in the dream; in the beginning of the dream, I watched as group of hospital employees sat around a bed, speaking curses that were damaging patients. They seemed to be unaware of what they were doing. At the end of the dream, when the hospital was completed, the same group of people sat in the same room and prayed for people, who were healed by their prayers.

Lets do some interpretation:

I believe the new hospital represents a new model of health care that God is "building". My trips to the construction site reveal my involvement (and probably the involvement of people like me) in "seeing" the new model of health care come to pass. The fact that I took a different way each day, trying to find the shortest route would suggest there are longer and shorter paths to seeing the project completed. Our influence is intended to get it done in the most expedient and efficient way possible. The steep sidewalk is a reminder that we have an "uphill battle" in helping the medical community see the value of divine healing. The austere man is a representative of the existing medical paradigm. Although they may be left "speechless" by what they witness happening, many will not react favorably to the changes. Finally, the group of people who curse patients in the beginning and pray for their healing in the end, represent the actual change of heart and practice that we'll see in the future.

You can help us build the new model by praying for hearts to be changed and eyes opened to the benefits of divine healing. Another way to help is to get trained and begin healing the sick. You will not only bless your friends, family and patients, you'll be a role model for others to follow. We're all in this together.

Last Days Dreams

On January 2nd 2010, I met with a friend to discuss some things God had put on our hearts. This man is a prophetic leader in our community and a trusted friend. We prayed for a clearer understanding of the times and seasons. That night I had 2 dreams from God. I thought I might share them with you. They seem to be a warning of things to watch out for in the near future.

The first dream was about garbage men. There were two men that I remembered, the first was a tall white man, who seemed to be a very nice guy. He was able to take large garbage cans that were full and throw them high in the air and make them land about 100 feet away. I was impressed with this feat. The other man was African-American. He looked dressed with style and appeared confident. His garbage truck was a stretched SUV with long doors. It was red, and he had about 4 or 5 guys in the SUV with him. Somehow he also put garbage in there, too.

The second dream was a series of scenes with different people I don’t know in the natural. One was driving a car, one was in a store; one was at their home. I was observing the behavior of these people, but I was also interacting with them. The subject of our discussion was “The Final Countdown.” I think I saw this headline either on TV, a newspaper, or a computer. Several people used this phrase in the conversations we had.

‘The Final Countdown’ was the name given to a phenomenon that scientists had discovered. There was an approaching alignment of planets, stars etc. that was going to bring about a tragic end to planet earth. No specific details were given about this event in the dream. Everyone in the dream seemed to have a calm acceptance of it. No one was hysterical. There was no heightened drama and I didn't notice an increase of spiritual activity. There wasn't anything unusual about how people were reacting to the event. We all knew there was nothing that could be done to change it, so we accepted it and went about our lives as usual. The time frame of the countdown was not given in the dream. I had a sense that it involved a short period of time – a few weeks or months to a couple of years.

I believe the two dreams are related. God does something interesting with my dreams. He often gives a symbolic dream that represents a concept He wants me to focus on. Then He gives me a second dream, that holds the key to the interpretation. In most cases the interpretation comes first.

The first dream seems to be saying that in the coming days, people will try to impress us with signs, miracles and wonders and things that look pretty cool. The first guy in the dream was the kind of person I'd have as a friend. But the reality God would like us to understand is that these people, no matter how sincere or legitimate their story seems to be, are peddling garbage, which is worthless to us.

In Matthew 24:24 Jesus warned about false prophets who would perform false signs and wonders in the last days trying to deceive many. I think this dream is a warning about deception. Prophets declare things to come. False prophets tell lies about the future; lies represented by garbage.

The second dream reminds me a lot of the '2012' phenomenon that people are talking about. This event is tied to many astronomical and metaphysical events coming into alignment simultaneously at the end of 2012. The major one is the end of the Mayan "Long Count' calendar. This is an event that different people have predicted, which involves a dramatic and sudden end to the planet or change of life on the planet, depending on which prophet you listen to.

What does it all mean?

My friend and I prayed for discernment of the 'times and seasons'. God gave me a dream that night about the times we live in and another dream with the interpretation. In light of the two dreams and how they seem to warn about deception and a phenomenon foretelling the end of the world, I believe God is saying that we shouldn't buy this garbage, no matter how convincing it sounds or how cool it looks. I believe that time will reveal all of them to be lying prophets.

Distractions, Dreams and a Surprise Healing

When the weather turns cool, cloudy and wet in the northwest - our call volume usually drops off. I'm still waiting for the change. It was a busy weekend on my unit. I've been drinking a lot of coffee to help keep me going. Somehow it's losing it's effect. I find myself very tired in the middle of the day, dozing off while sipping a cup of Starbucks - I hate that.

Friday was busy. We ran steady most of the day. I had a lot of distractions - people calling me asking me to fix their problems. Being a people- pleaser by nature, it's difficult to say no. Even when I'm swamped with other things. I came home with a headache at the end of shift. My usually social attitude turned inward. Soon after getting home I crashed on the bed. Saturday was a repeat. When we weren't running calls, we were driving all over town covering for other units. I had a lot of phone calls again, with people wanting help for various problems. I came home with another headache.

I don't often have headaches. I knew something had changed for the worse. It was time to identify and remove the problem. Saturday evening at bedtime, I heard God telling me all the phone calls and hassles of the last two days were distractions coming from the enemy. Hmmm...really?

He reminded me of the story of Elijah and Elisha. The student and mentor were going to be parting ways. Elisha's request was a double dose of miracles. Elijah said, "If your eyes are on me when I leave - it's yours". The day Elijah left was a day of constant distractions. A gang of prophets began bugging Elisha -telling him his master was about to check out. He told them to shut up. Elijah repeatedly tried to ditch Elisha. "Hey, you stay here, while I go to such and such a place" Elisha never left his master. Then God sent a chariot of fire out of heaven. It must have been awesome to watch - but Elisha's eyes were on Elijah. Then suddenly, Elijah was taken up in a whirlwind. Because his eyes were fixed on his master, Elisha received the mantle and his request for a double portion of miracles. (See 2 Kings 2)

God told me to keep my eyes fixed on Him because He is moving. Jesus was always on the move, going from town to town. That's how God is, always moving. He's about to make a major move in the northwest. A tremendous wave of His presence will soon hit us. Miracles of healing and signs and wonders will increase and many will come to know God in the coming season. But I have to put aside the distractions of the enemy and keep my eyes focused on the Lord.

I prayed for a few of my patients this weekend. I didn't see any of them miraculously healed. I met an amazing older woman who has a lot in common with me. She receives revelation from God about people's medical problems and believes many of the conditions we suffer from are spiritual and emotional in origin. We transported her husband home. He's suffering from a potentially life-ending condition. She told me he's ready to go home to be with God. She asked me to pray at his bedside and tell her if I saw anything indicating healing, or a home-going. As I prayed I saw the heavens open, with a large black cross silhouetted by brilliant white light behind it. I believe it indicates he'll be going home to heaven soon.

Sunday night I had a dream. I didn't remember this one until I was driving to work Monday morning. It was about a co-worker (Teresa) who sent me an e-mail. I remember opening the e-mail in the dream, but I don't remember what the message was. When I got to work, I told my partner about the dream. He looked at me with a smile and said "Well, Teresa did send out an e-mail last night". I said, "Are you kidding me?" He said, "Nope, she was asking crews to stop stealing food from other people's quarters." I checked my e-mail after he told me this, and sure enough, there was one unopened e-mail in my inbox, from Teresa. I believe God gave me this dream to show my partner something about dreams and God's ability to give us information in advance.

Finally - I witnessed an amazing healing yesterday. While lifting a patient onto the gurney, I pulled a muscle in my back, between my shoulder blades. I felt a sharp pain, then the muscle tightened and began to spasm after the lift. My partner knew something was wrong by the look on my face. After getting the patient situated, we had to raise the gurney from the lowered position to the highest. He suggested we switch ends to make the lift easier for me. During the lift, I felt some dull pain. I began to envision a couple of days of Advil and lying on cold packs waiting to feel better. Then a few more days of lying on a heating pad. Dang! I hate that.

But as we left the patient's room I noticed the pain was suddenly gone. I flexed in every direction and felt no pain at all. I was pain-free the rest of the shift and this morning there's still no sign that I was ever injured. I've suffered so many injuries like this over the years, I can't count them all. But yesterday, God healed me instantly - and I never even asked for it!

That's a wrap for my weekend. I met some wonderful people, did a fair amount of vision-casting between calls and built a few bridges. God is awesome - always moving and wanting to heal, sometimes in unexpected ways. He's always speaking, even if we aren't listening. He's always in love with the people we transport. We need to let them know that.

'till next time -

God's Plan for Healthcare Reform

I heard Randy Clark say recently, that he feels there's a "Mt Carmel showdown" coming between healthcare and God's power to heal. I believe he's right. The reference was to the battle for supremacy between The prophets of Baal and Elijah- the prophet of Jehovah. The story is told in 1 Kings 18. There had been a division in the land; confusion reigned over which deity was the most powerful God. Though greatly outnumbered, as the prophet usually is- Elijah persevered in the showdown and proved to everyone that his God, Jehovah was in fact the only God.

Healthcare is on the minds of nearly everyone in this season. There's constant discussion on capitol hill about reforming the nation's health care system. Many Americans have no insurance. Those who do aren't too pleased with how it works. I have a long list of aggravating problems that stem from the medical insurance my employer provides. Drug company profits are running high. Many would accuse them of duping doctors into following their greed- driven plan to steer healthcare further into a pharmaceutical fix for everyone. State of the art trauma care is simply not possible in many areas. Its far too expensive. And while breakthroughs have been made in cures for some diseases, drug-resistant diseases like MRSA and pandemics like H1N1 threaten to cripple our ivory towers of healing.

What will the future of medicine look like? I believe I've seen it, and it's a marvel to behold. God often reveals the future to us in dreams and visions. He showed me something in a dream last year that I believe was a small taste of what we're about to see in the near future. I posted the dream once before, but I'll post it again, because I now understand it's context better. This is the dream, taken from my dream journal:

I was walking through a St Joseph's Hospital in Tacoma. There were an incredible number of patients there – many of them were not being seen for a medical problem. They were just there to get a health check up. The patients were sitting in hallways and lobbies socializing and they were all excited about the same thing. They knew that miraculous healings were about to take place, and they wanted to have their healings documented by their doctors. I was seeing patients I had not seen in years. There was a joy I have never seen in a hospital. The air was buzzing with conversation – everyone wanted to have their present medical state verified by their doctor so when they were healed there would be proof of it.

I was very excited when I awoke from the dream, because I thought I'd be involved in a mass healing event. As I've reflected more on this dream and listened to what other prophetic voices are saying, I believe it involves much more than this.

First, I believe God actually took me in the spirit to this particular day in the future to show me what was about to happen. (Something like what the apostle John experienced when he wrote the book of Revelation, see John 16:13)
. I believe I was witnessing history in advance. Second, what had taken place was a paradigm shift. People were no longer coming to hospitals for healing - they were coming mainly to have their conditions documented by empirical testing. I didn't actually see anyone in the hospital who was there for treatment. The healing was firmly in the hands of God, and everyone knew it. What could have changed a long standing tradition like this? Why would people come to a major hospital and completely reject the idea that they could be made better; expecting only to have their conditions verified? Could it be there was an outpouring of miraculous healing on an unbelievable scale? Something like this must have happened to transform the expectations of so many people.

I think God is about to show the medical community its weakness like never before. Well, perhaps since the days Jesus walked the streets of Jerusalem. Many prophetic voices have seen a world-wide revival coming. They know the power of the Holy Spirit is at issue in the coming season. It's about God's power to heal in unprecedented ways and in unbelievable numbers. And when God brings His healing to our streets, people will apparently have little need for hospitals, insurance premiums or pharmacies.

There are so many positive things that can come from such a move of God. His healing doesn't cost a penny. He doesn't bill insurance companies or require a co-pay and no one who operates in the gift of healing better be charging for it. Many incurable diseases will be dealt a death blow. There is no risk of infection to either the healer or those healed. There was a recent study published in JAMA pointing out that complications from medical procedures is the 3rd leading cause of death in the US. When God heals, He is able to heal body, spirit and soul - that means mental illness and emotional trauma as well as physical illness and injuries can all be healed. Finally, when God heals we all know it - and He's the only one we can give the praise to, and that's how it ought to be.

Am I just dreaming? There's only one way to find out. My money is on the Lord in the coming battle for supremacy in healthcare. Every one who is called by His name is able to heal. If every believer healed two or three people a day, we'd soon have no need for hospitals at all. That's a sobering thought. It may be a reality one day.