Dr Paul Allen

Among missiologists,  it’s not uncommon to hear  how an individual from an unengaged, unreached people group becomes a follower of Jesus through a vision or dream. Assuming the truth of such stories, what are we to make of them? How should they affect the way we think about the necessity and urgency of missions? If God can use supernatural encounters to bring the lost to saving faith, can missionaries and evangelists simply sit back and let angels do all the work, or at least pray for them to do more? While God can communicate the gospel message through whatever means he chooses, the Scriptures consistently teach that God loves to advance the gospel through his people. Therefore, Christians and local churches are responsible for bearing the name of Jesus to the ends of the earth. The Bible gives no evidence that God uses angels, visions, or dreams as the principal means of a person’s salvation. Instead, if angels or visions have a role in the task of missions, it’s ancillary t...

Paul stresses in Galatians that his transforming encounter with the risen Christ was not dependent on any human being but came by direct revelation. In fact, his entire argument for his apostleship in the first two chapters of Galatians hangs on that very fact. Paul’s Unique Conversion Here’s what he says in Galatians 1:11–12: I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man’s gospel. For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. And then, to underline the point of being dependent on no one except the risen Christ, he says in Galatians 1:15–17, When he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me. Still, I went away to Arabia and returned again to Damascus. So the poi...

Where evangelists can’t go, God’s Spirit can, but God is also reaching Muslims by dreams. Read about some of these accounts. Joel’s Prophecy One of the most well-known prophecies in the Bible is found in Joel 2, where Joel the Prophet wrote that “it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions” (Joel 2:28).  Of course, God has not yet poured out His “Spirit on all flesh” yet, but He is apparently drawing some to the Lord Jesus Christ by means of dreams. Many who are Muslims, Buddhists, atheists, agnostics, and even Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses report that they’ve had dreams where they’ve encountered Jesus Christ.  There’s a place on one of our websites where people can click on “Contact Us,” and in the last couple of years, dozens and dozens of men and women have reached out to us to ask what their dreams might mean. Recently, many...

Dreams dominate the story of Joseph, but their importance in the narrative derives from the significance of dreams in the culture and theology of the ancient Near East. While many of us dismiss dreams as a mental reworking of the day’s events or as the result of indigestion, ancients considered dreams to have potential revelatory significance. Dreams were one way the gods communicated from the divine realm to the human realm—a belief that is clearly evident in the Joseph narrative. Six dreams, conveyed in three pairs, propel the story of Joseph [and his] rise from being the favoured—and thus despised—son of Jacob to being the “discerning and wise” man appointed to manage Egypt during its 14 years of feast and famine (Gen 41:33). Joseph has two dreams (Gen 37), two of his fellow prisoners in Egypt each have a dream (Gen 40), and Pharaoh has a pair of dreams (Gen 41). The first pair sets the narrative in motion and points ahead to its destination, while the second and third pairs ar...

In the Bible,  dreams  are sources of divine revelation that indicate what someone should do, reveal what is going to happen, or explain current events.  The Bible uses different Hebrew and Greek words when it talks about dreams and visions.  Hebrew words related to dreams rāʾâ,  meaning “to see” or “to appear” — God or his angels appear ( rāʾâ ) to certain characters throughout the Old Testament. marʾâ,  “vision” — Almost always refers to the experience of a prophet seeing a vision or hearing instruction. ḥāzâ,  “to see” — Usually occurs in prophetic or poetic passages. ḥizzāywōn,  “vision” — Refers to prophecy, whether true or false (2 Sam 7:17; Isa 22:2, 5; Zech 13:4). This word is used in reference to the gifts that God’s Spirit will pour onto his people when he restores them (Joel 2:28).  Greek words related to dreams onar,  “dream” (noun) — Occurs in the New Testament only in the book of Matthew. Ther...

Dreams and visions are perhaps some of the most common ways God has communicated with humankind. The Bible contains more than 50 references to dreams and visions in which God delivered messages. Abraham learned of his promised lineage through dreams and visions. Jacob's life was drastically changed through a series of dreams in which he received God's promises regarding his heritage. God revealed Joseph's destiny through his dreams. Daniel, Obadiah, Nahum and Zechariah were among the prophets often visited with revelations from God through visions and dreams. Great protection was given to the Christ child as God's messengers spoke to Joseph and the Magi in dreams. The apostles Peter, Paul and John were later visited by the Spirit of God in visions. Webster's dictionary defines a dream as "a succession of images or ideas present in the mind during sleep." Dreams are formed in the subconscious mind based on images and symbols that are unique to the indi...