From Newsgroup: alt.dreams

Regarding the Nature of Dreams: Joel 2:28 and Acts 2:17-

A quick observation: As "iron sharpens iron," so too Peter "irons out" Joel, chronologically sequencing the meaning of what the Scripture in Joel 2:28 is conveying:

Joel 2:28 ...I will pour out My Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions.
(Note how Joel sequences from the older to the younger.)

Acts 2:17 ...'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.' (Note how Peter sequences from younger to older- while technically a "misquote," still fundamentally correct, possibly even "preferred.")

Fundamental #1: Per The Great Commandment ([Love God] [and] [Love thy neighbor
as thyself]) as "God is Love" (1 John 4:8) He is *both* individual *and* communal. Yes, God has a personal relationship with every sparrow (and blade of
grass) of His creation (see also Genesis 1:11-12) yet also with all His Creation
(but I digress....)

Definition #1): A vision is a dream foretelling what is to come, whereas

Definition #2): a simple dream is a synopsis (sometimes in nearly cartoonish format or even black and white contrast) of past elements that have directly comprised the present, often in a "cook's perspective" of taking a dash of A, a
pinch of J, and a sprinkling of S, so as to present a condensed perspective of F, O, X, or even X, Y, Z.
-Just like the saving of a large bitmap image file to that of a smaller jpg file, the level of "compression" within a dream may appear along a "continuum"-
from the easily understood, up to more complex levels of encryption.
-Using another analogy, a dream may represent a narrative in the form of a children's story, to that of a high school or college level essay, to that of a
Ph.D. dissertation, or at whatever level the mind may be currently functioning.

Whereas dreams of a "past life" may have an historical flavor to them, most dreams are relevant to one's *present* lifetime and, more often, applicable to a
person's "chapter" in life, although a "chapter" may span various periods, possibly overlapping, such as from birth to graduation, or from puberty to marriage, or from high school to parenting. Certain things are as they are "now" because of specific key (or "pivot") points that occurred "along the way."


For instance, if Jesus had decided to decline His baptism, chances are no one would have ever heard of "Jesus of Nazareth" outside of His immediate family and
neighborhood. Thus, His Baptism is a "key" point within His lifetime. Another
*significant* "key" point occurs as recorded in Matthew 26:39- Going a little farther, He fell facedown and prayed, "My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me. Yet not as I will, but as You will." (- Thus keeping in perfect resonance with "Resist NOT-" from Matthew 5:39.)

Definition #3): As the Hebrew "day" starts at sundown, and as people (up until
recent years, along with the invention of the light bulb) have largely slept at
night, the *typically* simple vision-type, individual dream covers what will be
encountered within the waking day-period immediately following the sleep period
of the dream. (See also: Genesis 1:5- ...And there was evening, and there was morning- the first day.)

Occasionally, a broader-scope vision will occur (aka a "time bridge") regarding
what will happen within the following 36-hour period, and *occasionally* (more often in one's youth) there may be a longer time bridge covering topics of anywhere from 2 years ahead to 20 or more. These often bring a sense of perplexity ("What was *that* dream about?") yet also bring a small amount of peace, as they require the individual to be alive in the "future-present" (so that one may dream *back* to the "past-present" in order to share the information.)


However, such dreams may *also* encounter a certain level of "compression encryption" as to how *clear* (or perplexing) they may appear in the mind of the
younger-present-self. (They'll make perfect sense in the mind of the older, future-present-self, as one stretches back, making astral/dream contact with one's younger self.)

Fundamental #2: A sufficiently large enough body of people has a collective dream-state perceived as the "waking conscious" we refer to as "Reality": Take
for instance the "New Day" {dream|vision} of North Boulevard Church of Christ raising $12+ million dollars for establishing ministries here, near, and far.

On a larger scope, the American people were experiencing a "nightmare" under the
installation of Joe Biden, and have awakened to the "new vision" of Donald Trump's MAGA movement, just as the nation begins to "awaken" as if from a *bad dream* of the last 3+-7 years: Seven years ago, the nation started to *fall asleep* into a really bad dream with the weaponization of fear, the Wu-Flu/dempanic, BLM burning down cities, financial jihad bleeding the US taxpayers for hundreds of millions of dollars, the crime wave of defunding the police and decriminalizing shoplifting, the free flow of fentanyl and other drugs into the country, the explosion of human/child trafficking, Congress under
the Biden installation looting the U.S. economy of *trillions* of dollars, along
with the invasions of Ukraine and Israel, etc.

Now that Trump's "had a nap" to rest and refresh, he's ready to "start the new day" in America, and we're already seeing the benefits of that new-day energy in
the United States as well as the Middle East and Israel, and in the world as a whole.

If you'd like to see a Bible/Trump analogy that will *blow your mind,* check out
the Erick Stakelbeck Video on Facebook.

Fundamental #3: As the Bible is the *Living* Word of God, every word within it
is *alive and relevant* for the *living* (although it was *also* alive and relevant for those who were living in the past!) (See also: Matthew 22:32.)

Fundamental #4: Resonance, aka "the ripple effect": Consider how a pebble dropped in a calm body of water causes ripples to radiate outward in ever-expanding circles. Consider also how an instrument (such as a trumpet) can
end a note in an auditorium, and that last note rings (resonates) until it fades
away, or another noise disturbs it (such as the roar of a crowd.)

Note how [2+3=1] in the sense that as life is always present (at some level) throughout the universe, as God is Love, and He is God "of the living" (Matthew
22:32) His (Living) Word is always resonating throughout time, just as multiple
ripples on the surface of a pond radiate outward in both time and space from the
impact of the one pebble.

Now to apply resonance to dreams:

Definition #4): Prophecy is the seeing of what *is* in the future ("false prophecy" being what *might* be in the future, but eventually proves otherwise.)

The Messianic prophecies were/are of a *specific* event, regarding the life (and
resurrection) of Jesus Christ, as was His specific prophecy regarding the destruction of the Temple in Israel (which was fulfilled in A.D. 70) yet much prophecy occurs in a "resonant fashion," such as recorded in Ecclesiastes 1:9- What has been will be again, and what has been done will be done again; there is
nothing new under the sun.

Now let's bring in the *essential* component of the Word, as Jesus Himself observes, as recorded in Matthew 4:4, regarding how man lives by "every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God"- and that God is *both* individual *and*
communal (per Matthew 22:37-39) thus the nation of the people of Israel continuously re-invite disaster every time they say "Never again"-

A) After the extinction of the refugees who were besieged in Massada, the people
of Israel declared, "Never again." This speaks of nothing ("Never") recurring ("again") thus a "larger ripple" in the pond occurred during
B) the Holocaust of the 1940s, after which the nation of the people of Israel again declared, "Never again"- and once more (recently)
C) history records the visitation of death {nothingness, "never"} upon the Children of Israel, who have again spoken to God of "Never again"- thus inviting
at least one more abomination of desolation to visit them(!)

It would *greatly behoove* the Children of Israel to have a moment of ???????? (metanoia, change of mind, repentance, in Hebrew: [?????] nacham) and embrace the counsel of Jesus of Nazareth, as recorded in Matthew 5:39- "Resist NOT evil"
and in verse 44, to "Love thine enemies" [so 45] "that ye may be the children of
your Father which is in heaven: for He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on
the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust."

(Such a simple change of mind would lead to the Salvation/Unity of the Jews today, but I digress....)

The Bible mentions "the Ancient of Days" in Daniel 7 and makes similar references to such in Ezekiel, Revelation, et al.

In personal dream-revelation, when a person reaches middle age, one may encounter a dream-vision of one's future at an advanced old age, with the presumption that one lives to be in one's 90s or older.

On a personal note, a few decades ago, I had a "perplexing vision" of my own "ancient of days" when a ragged version of my older self (with perhaps only a half-dozen or possibly fewer teeth remaining) said (to my then-present-self) "...And I still got all my teeth!" (Well, he had all that he had....)

This morning, I had a *clearer* visit from my own "ancient of days" who was still slightly off-target, but that is likely due to dreams (even visions, to some extent) being shaped by what the individual has already experienced in life.

For instance: In this recent dream, my "future-self" / "ancient of days" represented an amalgamation of two different individuals from my past, one being
(the late) Master Sergeant Sam Moore, and the other being (the late) Judge James
("Jim") Keeble Clayton Jr., and this slightly-off (potential) future-self asked
me if I was "Jim," to which my dreamer-self politely replied, "Yes, I'm a friend
of Jim's"- thinking it was referring to "Jim S"- someone who is also advancing to that life stage of "the Ancient of Days." I also have an old friend (dating
back to my *very* early youth)- Jim K, which may have contributed to the misidentification, along with there being another friend, Jeff (Jim S's son) although the dreamer was not quite aware enough to make that distinction at the
time, thinking "Jeff" S's name was "Jim" S.

(My dreamer-mind is occasionally slightly off-focus, but mental dream-accuracy is a daily work in progress. Only last Tuesday morning, I had an amazingly accurate, precise dream where the dreamer was explaining the numerological values of my name (aka "Gematria") to someone else in the dream scenario. Discussing *both* names *and* numbers *precisely* within a dream is basically unheard of, with the exception of Revelation 13:18, and even that specific reference leaves significant room for discussion.)

I suspect that the dreamer may have been exhibiting a kind of "respect for the elderly" so as not to confuse the mind of a possible dementia patient, which seems slightly inaccurate (to my present mindset.) Accuracy counts!

Regardless, this morning's dream experience helped me understand that the "Revelation of Saint John" tells of how John's life was *ultimately* influenced
by his first-hand, significant exposure to / close relationship with Jesus Christ.

I feel a *touch* of caution whenever dealing with John's perspective regarding the Revelation of Jesus Christ, as it contains a significant amount of material
regarding the topic of "judgment," whereas Jesus Himself repeatedly counsels to
"Judge NOT"- as recorded in Matthew 7:1, John 7:24, Luke 6:37 (et al.)

Remember: All reflectors are to Light as all Apostles are to Jesus: Jesus is,
speaks, and counsels using the speech pattern of Unity (also in the pattern of [duality NOT] which logically is Unity) whereas Apostles preach in speech patterns that reflect duality, in the sense that [A preaches B].

Remember also how the Apostle Peter declares, as recorded in Acts 4:11-12, ..."This
Jesus is 'the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone'." 12 "Salvation exists in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved."

(Personally, I prefer contemplating the perfectly TRUE counsel of Jesus, contrasted with the perspectives of the Apostles.) (See also: Tinyurl.com/ITTA-TCoU)

Pax, ?

Richard.

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