Can Christians Pay Attention to Dreams? Analyzing a Dream of Bishop Strickland

One cold winter day while St Martin of tour was stationed in Aman’s France he encountered a beggar at the city Gates the beggar was half naked and shivering in the cold moved with compassion Martin took his sword and cut his own military cloak in half giving

One part to the beggar to cover himself that night Martin had a dream in which he saw Jesus wearing the half of the cloak that he had given to the beggar in the dream Jesus said to the angels Martin as yet only a cumin clothe me with this

Robe this dream had a profound impact on Martin he was struck by the realization that in serving the beggar he had unknowingly served Christ himself as a result he was determined to fully Embrace Christianity and be baptized Martin eventually left the military and became a monk dedicated his life to prayer and

Service today we are going to talk about significant dreams from St Joseph down through the lives of many of the Saints through history and make the case that we should be paying attention to the dreams that we have but also reserving caution that we are not misled by our

Own Vice distorting the content of our dreams then I’m going to suggest a way that we should approach our dreams that will help us not to dismiss them or on the Other Extreme to simply be led by delusion as a result of our prideful interpretation let’s begin with prayer

In the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit amen Come Holy Spirit fill the hearts of thy faithful and enkindle in them the fire of thy love send forth thy spirit and they shall be created and thou shalt renew

The face of the Earth let us pray oh God who By the Light of the Holy Spirit didst instruct the hearts of thy faithful grant that by that same spirit we may be truly wise and ever rejoice in his consolation through Christ Our Lord amen in the name of the father and of

The son and of the holy spirit amen first century St Joseph the husband of Mary and the Foster father of Jesus had several dreams in which an angel of the Lord appeared to him these dreams guided Joseph to take Mary as his wife to flee to Egypt to protect Jesus from

King Herod and to return to Israel after Herod death second century St Perpetual a Christian martyr had a dream in which she climbed a dangerous ladder and was Guided by a Shepherd who later transformed into Jesus this dream gave her strength and courage during her imprisonment and in her eventual

Martyrdom fourth Century St Martin of Tours a bishop and a soldier had a dream in which he saw Jesus wearing the half of a cloak that he had given to a beggar this dream LED Mar Martin to embrace a life of humility and charity fifth century St Patrick the

Patron saint of Ireland had a dream in which he received a letter from the Irish people asking him to return to Ireland and share the gospel this dream played a significant role in his decision to return to Ireland as a missionary 13th century St Dominic the founder of the Dominican order had a

Dream in which he saw the Virgin Mary holding book and a staff in this dream Mary told Dominic to preach the gospel and to use the book and the staff as a symbol of his mission 15th century St Jon of Arc a French military leader and a Catholic

Saint had a series of visions and dreams in which she saw the Archangel Michael St Margaret and St Katherine of Alexandria these visions and dreams led her to support the French King and to fight for her country St John bosow as a Catholic PRI priest who lived in the 19th century he

Ran a school for boys throughout his life St John BOS had many dreams and visions that he believed were divine messages guiding him in his work in spiritual life scores of these dreams have been recorded and they’re popular on YouTube you can find um the the dream of the two

Columns just like this our dreams give us templates that can be applied to our life I believe when you are given a dream you can usually map contents to what’s happening in your life you may well be given one of those Broad and Universal Parables that can be applied

To parts of your life but what’s important is that you have to realize that you can misinterpret your dreams to your own harm and to that of others for that reason let your pride go and don’t interpret instead heed listen to your dream if you are going down a path that

Your dream indicates to you will lead to a bad outcome take steps to control it also try to apply what you experience in your dreams to your own life before considering it to the application of the world a parable and in the same way the parable

Like contents of a dream can often be applied to both your own life and to the greater world the nation history your family country Etc but first we should be applying our dreams to ourselves and make sure that the fruits of following our dreams is greater self-control and following the T

Commandments following the teachings of the church and the Saints be careful not to hide your dreams from others or to believe they give you special status that sets you apart from others if you receive a meaningful dream share it and heed it in self-control let it guide you

To a better and more aere implementation of your faith I’ll give you an example with the dream that I received two nights ago yeah I truly believe that that we are called to follow Jesus Christ to be his disciples that is a message for the world sometimes I think we forget that as

Catholics Bishop Strickland he’s a prominent Bishop in the news right now is with a priest I considered that the priest was a local priest and Bishop strick Strickland was visiting and they are walking into a building that res leses a nightclub with music playing the lights low and people

Dancing it almost resembled a concert maybe a frat party concert hybrid I get the idea that as Bishop Strickland and the priest walk through the party that they have a positive attitude towards it I get the sense that they are blessing the joy of the crowd celebrating in the fact that the

Celebrators are celebrating then I get the sense that they have work to do here which is to deal with the wounded the damaged who are present at the party like like medically deal with them The Scene goes up the stairs of the home that I lived

In a decade ago or so and there are sick people we enter into the master bedroom and there are sick and dead all around the room there is what appears to be a body covered in a giant pillowcase in the closet on the bed is an older man

Maybe in his 60s it is very ill and breathing heavily like nearing death perhaps due to substance abuse on the other end of the bed is a younger woman maybe in her 20s who is dead and there is blue coloring around her lips and cheeks the

Scene exits this room and goes back down the stairs on the way down the stairs there are many sick and dead they weren’t there on the way up but they’re there on the way down most are dead and most of the Dead are the are women in their

20s they all have the same same profile of the woman in the main room with the blue around their lips the dream ends now I could speak about this application to my own personal life or the life of my family or of families generally but based on the context I’ll

Talk about the church in the world instead imagine that at some point the conservative and faithful Bishop started to lead the local pastors to celebrate with those who celebrate and revel with those who Revel in the church but as the quote unquote party ensues they realized that there was Fallout from this party

Casualties and loss of life taking place the party was hurting people they went off to a place away from the main popular parts of the party in other words they are dealing with the everyday lives of the faithful that are not represented by the popular message on popular channels and not represented in

The news and they see three distinct features there are those on a path to predition and already dead being hidden in the closet and covered in other words the past of the damage of the party and the Bishops and Priests encouragement of that party is hidden from the current

Generation second the less common old male is dying but not dead if we consider fundamental male traits as being more independent listening less to those in charge and supporting systems less we see that there are some that live those who are more experienced older and know more and are tied to Stronger

Traditions but they are not doing well in other words tradition and traditional and independent congregants are dying but not dead however young women which is the most numerous casualty represent the great majority of the visible and exposed dead these young women represent those who are not following strong and

Ancient tradition and they also are feminine in the party in other words not as independent from the social media and culture of their society as the males are but following Trends conforming to cultural norms and are more likely to take society’s morality for their own these young women are dead and

Decaying the Decay is coming from their mouths I don’t know what to say about that but I can think of some things such as their beliefs or espoused opinions so how do I heat a dream like this when I don’t take any immediate activity but instead apply it to my life

In a lawful AER and moral manner I can increase my role in my family and Community to help stav off the damage being done to all of us by the larger culture and social media and Trends in other words I can work myself and encourage those around me to to

Avoid entering the party I can avoid taking part in social media or music or popularity recognizing that while it looks like it’s the right thing to do and morally right and fun in the long run it is not moral it is not fun and it is deadly I can work to recognize that

To conform yourself closely to the world around you is deadly but on the other hand to go in a different way from the culture brings with it a certain amount of survivability being in the church as opposed to following new movements and ideas is probably a much safer thing for

Me and my family though if I dance in the party even though I am in an ancient tradition and I oppose the broader culture it is still a terminal sickness you need to not dance in that party you need to do what the scripture says to do for example in Deuteronomy

4:25 after you have had children and grandchildren and have lived in the land a long time if you then become corrupt and make any kind of idol doing evil in the eyes of the Lord your God and arousing his anger I call the heavens and the Earth

As Witnesses against you this day that you will quickly perish from the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess you will not live there long but will certainly be destroyed the Lord will scatter you among the peoples and only a few of You Will Survive among the

Nations to which the Lord will drive you there you will worship man-made gods of wood and stone which cannot see nor hear or eat or smell but if from there you seek the Lord you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your

Soul when you are in distress and all these things have happened to you then in later days you will return to the Lord your God and Obey him for the Lord Lord your God is a merciful god he will not abandon or destroy you or forget the Covenant with your ancestors which he

Confirmed to them by oath let’s close with prayer in the name of the father son and the holy spirit amen am amen

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