Beware of 'Dream Specialists' – Pentecost prophet warns

Ghanaians have been cautioned to be wary of supposed ‘men of God’ who described themselves as dream specialists and profess to have interpretations to all dreams.

This is because interpretations of dreams belongs to God and, therefore, no man can claim to be an authority over dream interpretations.

The warning was issued by Prophet Ebenezer Kofi Appiah, the Assin Fosu Area Head of The Church of Pentecost (COP), on Wednesday, November 18, 2015 during a presentation at the on-going Heads’ Meeting of the leadership of the COP at the Pentecost Convention Centre (PCC), Gomoa Fetteh in the Central Region.

The five-day meeting which started on Tuesday, November 17 and expected to end on Sunday, November 22, is specifically organised for the leadership of The Church of Pentecost to strategise for the coming year through fasting, prayer and sharing of the word of God.

The participants, numbering about 300, were drawn from the 91 countries across the globe where the COP has established branches. The participants include Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, National Heads, Area Heads, Rector/Principals and Deans from the Pentecost University and the Pentecost Theological Seminary respectively, and Ministry Directors.

Speaking on the topic, “Hearing From God In Dreams, Visions, Trances, Word Of Knowledge And Word Of Wisdom” in connection with the 2016 theme of the Church, “Hearing and Obeying the Lord’s Voice in my Generation” 1Samuel 3:9-10, Prophet E.K. Appiah explained that dreams, visions and trances are part of the ways God speak to his children.

According to him, the voice of God is what gives life to what Christians do, saying, “Without it, and the power that follows, we have nothing but flesh to depend upon.”

The Prophet, who interspersed his presentation with personal experiences, disclosed that God speaks to believers in dreams when He cannot get their attention. Dreams, he stated, also come as a result of the presence of the Holy Spirit (Job 33:14-15; Acts 2:17).

He however, asked pastors and Christian leaders to be careful to interpret these divine revelations.

“It is very easy to receive a revelation and then without actually realizing it, cross over the line to interpret it. We are therefore entreated to constantly remind ourselves to distinguish between the raw data (divine revelation) and the interpretation of its content. What normally happens is that the interpretation we give to a revelation is often contrary to the obvious,” he cautioned.

The tendency to mix up revelation and interpretation, he mentioned, shows up in every generation, saying, “There are many people today who are into end-time prophecy who have become so wrapped up in their charts and predictions that they can no longer distinguish between the raw data of biblical revelation and their systematic interpretations.”

Explaining the reality about dreams, the Prophet indicated that during the night, many external stimuli may bombard the senses, but the brain often interprets the stimulus and makes it a part of a dream to ensure continuous sleep. By this, he disclosed, an actual occurrence, such as environmental sound is incorporated into the dream.

“For instance, hearing a phone ringing in a dream while it is ringing in reality or dreaming of urination while wetting the bed. The mind can, however, awaken an individual if they are in danger or if trained to respond to certain sounds such as a baby crying. There is the tendency of a preceding daytime event becoming an element of a dream,” he revealed.

Prophet E.K. Appiah stated the need for Christians to test the validity of all dreams, visions and trances to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world (1 John 4:1).

“The Bible directly instructs believers not to despise prophetic utterances. Rather, we are to test it (1Thessalonians 5:19)… it is not every voice that speaks to us or everything that we see either in a dream, vision or a trance is from God,” he indicated.