Dream Teams at the Winter Olympics

A report and comment on religious trends and events being covered by the media.  This week’s item is from Charisma magazine, April 2002 with a headline: “Christians reach Olympic crowds with spiritual readings.”A team of believers interpreted dreams to reveals God’s love to sport’s fans.A different kind of dream team was assembled for the winter Olympics stage in Utah in February.The members were recruited, not for their sporting skills, but for abilities like those of the Old Testament figure, Joseph.Among the several hundred Christians who traveled to Salt Lake City to share their faith with visitors during the game was a group offering to explain people’s dreams as a way of telling them about God’s love.While other evangelists were handing out tracts and preaching, the dream team volunteers were hosting what they described in non-churchy terms, as spiritual readings around the city including at two secular bookstores.The events were organized by Cindy Magill, who with her husband Tim, pastor Salt Lake City’s FoursquareChurch and were part of a move of similar outreaches that have been developing across the country.Magill said that the ministry was a way of reaching spiritual seekers who may be wary of the traditional church.“God is pouring out dreams just like he said he would in the Book of Joel and people are getting information and they don’t know what to make of it,” Magill said.“People she had previously ministered to through interpreting their dreams had been floored,” she said.“They begin to weep, they just breakdown and cry.They have never heard from God.They didn’t know God was talking to them.”Those taking part in the Olympics outreach were graduates of training courses by prophetic ministry leader John Paul Jackson who teaches about dream interpretation through his Streams Ministry, International.About 2000 people have completed the program in the United States and overseas.Jackson said that the growing interest in alternative religions and spirituality meant that biblically based dream interpretation was a hook to put in the jaw of any unbeliever, reaching out to them in language they understand and are comfortable with.“Not all dreams are from God.They also can come from a person’s own soul or the devil,” Jackson said. “But a third of the Bible was dream-related,” Jackson said, “with many key figures including Jacob, Mary, and the Josephs of both the Old and the New Testament being spoken to by God through their dreams.Dream interpreters were taught not to be directive,” he said. “We are very low key.We say, ‘this is what we believe the dream means and we believe this is what God wants to communicate to you.’Many dreams spoke of God’s love and concern for the individual,” he said.Members of Vineyard Christian Fellowship of Phoenix have been holding regular free dream interpretation sessions for more than a year at two local bookstores which have even paid to advertise the events.“We do about 20 people in the three hour session and we usually have people waiting in line,” said Kathy Beale, prophetic ministry team leader.“We have had people who are heavily involved in high places in witchcraft and the occult who have openly begun to weep and say, ‘this is what I’ve been looking for.’If they give us permission to be open about the Lord, we are.”Vineyard pastor, Dennis Borntz said he did not know of anyone who had been ministered to who had not appreciated it.“They all seemed to find it helpful and credible.”

Tom:

Well, what do you think Dave?Carl Jung, if you are a Jungian therapist, you get into dream analysis and so on, but that’s certainly—it’s spiritual, but it’s not biblical.Are these people being biblical?

Dave:

They say there were a number of people who had dreams in the Bible and indeed, there were.But when you consider all the people that were spoken of in the Bible this would be a very small percentage.

Tom:

Not one third of the Bible as indicated in the article?

Dave:

Hardly.Furthermore, how many of those in the Bible—they weren’t getting dreams every day and it would be very rare for an unsaved person to get a dream that God is speaking to them.Furthermore, you didn’t have this ministry in the Bible.I don’t know where you would find it anywhere in the Bible that they set up shop to interpret people’s dreams.

Tom:

Yes, take a number, get in line.

Dave:

Sure.

Tom:

Dave, I’ve seen ministries, so-called spiritual ministries along this line in which they’ve had a word from the Lord for everybody.You come in and he’s got a word from the Lord for you, and for your friend and all the way down the line.Is that the way the Lord works?

Dave:

I’ll tell you the word from the Lord is in the Bible.And people who are not willing to diligently study the Bible and pay heed to what God has said in black and white, I don’t think he is going to speak to them in some kind of a dream.Certainly not every day and you can set up shop and everybody comes along and tells you their dreams and now you’re going to interpret them.Tom, it just is not biblical and it leads people to trust in their dreams; leads people to expect God to speak to them through their dreams instead of studying his Word.

Tom:

Dave also, I’ve never seen in situations like this and we’ve been sort of scrutinizing what goes on in the church for twenty, thirty years almost.I’ve rarely ever seen some one say no, I don’t have a word from the Lord for you.Oh no, I can’t understand you and your dream, next?

Dave:

Yes, Tom, I remember a gentleman; I think his name was Dick Mills—

Tom:

Right.

Dave:

He was quite popular.

Tom:

Yes, he was one of the guys I was thinking about.

Dave:

Famous for that.He had a word for everybody from the Lord.It was almost like a psychic reading.I don’t believe God works that way.Why don’t I believe God works that way?Because I don’t find it in God’s Word. Furthermore, it causes people to look to someone other than God.Look, if God is going to speak to me, why doesn’t he speak to ME in a dream as he spoke to Joseph in a dream; he spoke to various ones in the scriptures through a dream.I don’t read that they were going around telling their dreams to someone who was going to interpret it for them.Now it is true, in prison, Joseph did interpret the dream of the butcher and the baker and thesewere not Christians.But God spoke to them in a dream, but it was setting the stage for Joseph to be brought to Pharaoh.And God gave Pharaoh—he did give Pharaoh, an ungodly king, a dream.He didn’t give Pharaoh a dream every day.This was something very special. He gave Pharaoh a dream telling him—well when Joseph interpreted it, so they would know there would be seven years of extra abundant harvest, but there would be seven years of famine.And they needed to lay it up and store it up.And God sent Joseph there to store it up for his own people, for his family, and for others as well.So this was a very, very special case and you can’t from that then say we’re going to set up shop and begin to interpret people’s dreams.

Tom:

Yes.So we have a problem with this type of ministry.These people may be very sincere, but on the basis of what we’ve read, they are not being biblical.