Wow, it is really early in the morning and God just woke me up from a dream. I very rarely dream, and just the same, it is rare to wake up remembering the dream in great detail and feeling impressed to blog about it. I hope that someone is blessed by the truth that I realize that that the Lord is trying to reiterate in my life.
Lo Min Wei's portrait "Meditation"
It went something like this:
I seemed to be part of a church inside of a mall, because it looked different than the standard churches that I usually go to. There are many people that I don’t know surrounding me. One day a young lady (who resembles someone I know) shows up interested in knowing more about the scriptures. We take her to different activities put on by the church. After participating in everything that the church has to offer she realizes that she would join the congregation.
A day seems to have passed by and we are all in the church again, but this time socializing. My mother is talking to a group about a woman at her job who is chronically depressed and doesn’t talk much, when all of a sudden the woman walks into the church and looks at the crowd rather timidly. After a second, the woman lifts her head with calm determination. She introduces herself and then claims that she has been looking for the young lady that had recently joined our church. Everyone is confused and starts asking if she has the right person. She emphasizes that she does and pulls out a notepad that shows a whole bunch of names, some crossed out and some not. Skipping over the people that have the same name as the young lady, she finds the girls name along with her last name on the notebook.
The next scene I find myself in an auditorium connected to a large fellowship hall where the majority of the church has congregated to hear what this lady has to say. The room is designed like a mini amphitheater where the seating rises from the bottom going up. Everyone is able to see the woman while she talks. As she is talking, she shows us an elaborate slide show presentation on a projector screen to the far right wall. Using the screen, she walks back and forth talking about God in an eloquent and convincing way, while focusing on the young lady who is listens intently. However, I quickly realize that what she is saying isn’t of the Word of God. But she is somehow such a good speaker that the church members and the young lady alike are all nodding their heads in agreement. All of a sudden, a guy gets up and walks to the fellowship meal line in the other room to prepare a plate.
The coworker is still talking. As she walks back and forth, a friend and I look at each other and bow our heads to pray. We realize that we can’t let our new friend be swept away. So as we pray, I notice that people all around me are starting to realize that the message isn’t true and start to become obviously uncomfortable. But no one stands up to the woman. My friend and I continue to pray until a church member up in the front stands up and confronts the woman using only Bible quotes from memory. The woman tries to refute everything said but can’t. As the church member speaks truth after truth, the woman has less and less to say until finally she gets agitated and storms out. With the obvious sign of victory, the young lady gives a sigh of relief and the church members give a loud victorious cheer! The guy that went to get food, comes back in without his glasses and looks around in confusion about what happens. He asks a dumb question that everyone laughs to then I woke up.
I am under the impression that everything that was witnessed was critical for the saving of the young lady. And that the only way to counteract error is through prayer and dependence on what the great reformer Martin Luther said, “Sola scriptura (by scripture alone).”
I believe that is it important to note that our churches don’t always standup—as a body—for the truth, sometimes it is one person. Also, there are people–like the hungry man–who aren’t interested in the saving of souls or the search of Truth. They would rather indulge in trivial things. Also, like I mentioned in the beginning, maybe someone reading this is going through a similar scenario, or maybe some of you are be challenged in the faith that you have claimed to be true. Back it up with the Bible and prayer and God has promised in His word to lead you home.
Good day.
