T. J. de
Ruiter, Pentecostal Pastor in The Netherlands
Introduction
That the
Spirit of God can inspire people with special dreams and visions
we read in the Old Testament of the Bible. He inspired patriarchs,
kings and prophets
of
Israel often with such experiences. The prophet Ezekiel
seemed to
have had a special gift to be an instrument of God for he received many
messages and
revelations in visionary experiences. When the Holy Spirit of the Lord
fell at
Pentecost in Jerusalem on the apostles, Peter referred to the prophecy
of Joel
where he had prophesied that in later times God would pour out His
Spirit and
inspire believers in dreams and with prophetic inspirations (Acts
2:16,17).
God
gives dreams and visions, but they must not become
the foundation of our faith
The history of
Christianity tells of many believers that had mystical, visionary
and prophetic experiences. Many of them heard the Lord speak and saw
Him. Their
faith and dedication to their calling received often a new depth and
intensity
and it inspired them to dedicate them to noble service in practical,
helpful
Christian living and preaching. I think of saints as the early Church
fathers
Ignatius and Augustine, later figures as Hildegard van Bingen in the 12th
century, John of the Cross and Theresa of Avila, in the 16th
century. However, there were also people who after such mystical
experiences
became more or less useless.
When the Holy
Spirit of God gives dreams or visions they always contain a
message. This message may be understood immediately, but sometimes to
be interpretated and correctly understood they
need
much thought, prayer and study. Dreams or visions received from God
must surely
not be thought of as the product of a tired or confused mind and must
not be qualified as hallucinations - as some people do. Dreams or
visions of God
may also be received while being in normal, clear consciousness. These
visions may
be
experienced in a trance or in a sensation of being transported to
another realm
or place, as the prophet Ezekiel in chapter 8:3. When people come into
a trance
they usually loose contact with the normal world around them because
their
consciousness is taken up in that experience. The impressions they
receive
while being in such a mystical state of mind can usually be remembered
when
they return in the normal state of consciousness. That is why visions
or
messages can be written down afterwards as we see in the Bible and know
from
many interesting books.
In teaching
about dreams and visions in the Church need to be made
absolutely clear that they be should evaluated and checked by leaders
of the
Church, if they are indeed from the Holy Spirit and in harmony with
Biblical
teachings and revelations (1 Corinthians 14:29; 1 Thessalonians 5:19).
This is
very important as the inspirations may be influenced by the human mind
or a
strange spirit. It also needs to be accepted and understood that dreams
and
visions are never meant to become the foundation of our faith. The
foundation
of our faith is the Bible, the Word of God. Even when people are sure
that God
spoke to them in the vision or in the prophecy needs the teaching or
message be
examined and tried by the written Word of God in the Bible. Don’t
misunderstand
me please, I do not mean to belittle the worth of such messages and
visions as
they can be a means of communication from God and contain an important
message. However they can never be in
contradiction with what He has previously taught and revealed as God
never
contradicts Himself or turns around (Hebrews 6:18; James 1:17).
Wesley was once
warned to pay no attention to dreams and visions and to give no
importance to people that seek to receive forgiveness of sins through
tears and weeping . He reacted as follows: "The question between
us is this in short: You deny that God can give such experiences and
saying that God does not give them, but I believe, He does.
I confirm that He
does use
them and have seen that He gives such experiences. I have seen - in as
much as we can evaluate them - that people were changed in a moment.
Their fear, dispair and disgust were changed in a spirit of joy, love
and peace. Their sinful desires that reigned over them till that moment
were changed into a pure desire to do the will of God. These are the
facts of which I have been an eyewitness till this day.
I know some
people that experienced such a dramatic change in their life during or
after seeing a vision, in a dream, or as a very powerful impression in
their mind of the crucified or glorifyed Christ. These are facts, let
everybody examine them as he is pleased to do. The change in
their life was not the result of tears, or of fallling to the ground or
through loud calling to God, but of the Spirit of God and
their dedication of their heart to Christ. You must not think that I
regard these unusual experiences as the fruit of their faith. The fruit
of their faith is that they have become holy, righteous and good living
people, while they were until that moment in many ways bad lving people.
I can show you
that some people were before such an experience as lions but now have
become
as lambs,some were drunkards but now live as good examples of
soberness and great selfcontrol. I can introduce you to people who were
before going to the harlots, but now detest even the defiled
garments. Such people are my living arguments. As in former days
God gives forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit to
people and their children. Yes, He gives these gifts often suddenly
and often - as I have observed - through dreams and visions. If
this is not true then I am a false witnness of God. But I do testify
that
God gives such experiences and through His grace I will keep testifying
of them."
Do
not deliberatedly stir up these experiences.
From time to
time there are believers and movements that tried to
generate or stimulate such mystical and ecstatic experiences. I want to
emphasize
that the Bible does not support in any way that we should deliberately
try to
generate or stimulate such experiences in our own strength. This is the
reason
why I do reject such ministries and methods that try to help or bring
us
into a
mystical state of mind, like a spiritual trance. Self induced trance
can open
the door of our spirit for misleading spirits and is therefore
dangerous. Many
have already experienced this to their sorrow and horror. Having said
this I want to point out that we want to give the Holy Spirit
all the freedom to bless us with His sovereign dealings and blessings.
Let us
be convinced that He knows – as in the days of old – to whom He can
minister in
these special mystical, spiritual experiences.
In Closing
In closing I
want to point out two things.
a. Such special experiences and their results as described above are given to be a blessing for the whole Church and for the furtherance of the Kingdom of God. Sharing such experiences and messages with others is often not easy because there are many people that do not appreciate and understand them. However we have usually the task to share messages from God with others, (Romans 1:11; Ephesians 4:16).
<>b. In closing I give the warning that when deceased familymembers appear in a vision or a dream, it should be seriously investigated if there is perhaps a history of spiritism in the famly, for such experiences could be misleading. People who are contaminated with misleading spirits have often a hindrance to believe in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour. In case of doubt or spritual contamination, I invite you to write me with giving me as much as possible particulars. May the Lord Jesus bless you and sanctify you.T. J. de
Ruiter, Dutch Pentecostal pastor and teacher, 21 January 2011.
P.S.