Help! Tormented dreams

[votivesoul]

Originally Posted by Aquila

One might also note that demonic oppression, and even possession, can have similar symptoms as various forms of mental illness.

How do you know? You've only met one person who you are certain is demonically possessed. So how do you know for yourself, empirically speaking, that what you say is true?

Or are you taking someone else's word for it?

How many people have you met that were demonically oppressed, that you could prove objectively, and not simply through some cop-out you call "discernment"?

See, you keep passing on this information like it's coming from an expert, but you've already admitted you have little experience in any of this, despite the almost two years you spent hanging around with a dubious to say the least, deliverance minister named Matt Burris.

[Aquila]

Originally Posted by votivesoul

How do you know? You've only met one person who you are certain is demonically possessed. So how do you know for yourself, empirically speaking, that what you say is true?

C'mon... are you saying they don't? Sometimes prolonged oppression can lead to possession.

Or are you taking someone else's word for it?

There's plenty of testimonies and material out there. I've faced demonic oppression, many believers have. And yes, there are those who are possessed who come to the Lord and are set free. And many of their symptoms were indeed the same.

How many people have you met that were demonically oppressed, that you could prove objectively, and not simply through some cop-out you call "discernment"?

Well, discernment is a big part of it. However, I'd say that we can be relatively certain that it was spiritual oppression if we rebuke any spirit that might possibly be behind someone's depression (for example) and the symptoms cease. Most of the time a believer with the Holy Spirit can sense a spiritual attack. If the one seeking prayer tells me, "I believe I'm being attacked by a spirit in my mind and dreams.", I'd start there. It's not rocket science.

See, you keep passing on this information like it's coming from an expert, but you've already admitted you have little experience in any of this, despite the almost two years you spent hanging around with a dubious to say the least, deliverance minister named Matt Burris.

Bro., I told you that I had under two years of being involved with them. Did I go to every deliverance meeting? Nope. Did I follow him like a groupie? Nope. I believe we had maybe four to five deliverance services total. I joined him when invited to come along as support in prayer for a woman who thought she had a spirit in her home on one occasion. I wasn't following the guy around like he was Jim Jones, finding a devil under every rock.

What I find interesting is that people talk about those involved in deliverance ministry as though we find devils under every rock and behind every blade of grass. That wasn't my experience. It's possible to go weeks before encountering some form of demonic opposition. What surprises me is that you sound like you have encountered far more of these spirits than I have. And that's probably because you were possessed and an occultist at one time. I wasn't. To me, it's real. It happens. But it isn't something I encounter every day.

[Brother Small]

Originally Posted by ModestMama

I need some spiritual advice. I have a problem (unwanted dreams) I have been suffering from for about 15 years. They don't happen all the time but enough to cause me distress and affects my relationships with certain ppl and the way I view myself at times. I cannot and will not tell the details of these dreams but just know they are utterly awful!! I feel so guilty upon waking up and hate myself from dreaming such awful things. And I feel so helpless becuase i can't control my dreams. I want these dreams to stop! But don't know what to do. I.. am also doing things in my sleep that I am not aware of (husband has seen me do and has told me upon waking) even after he tells me I still have no memory of doing.

Also want to note that in my daily life I do not engage in sinful viewing of any sort.
I was told that there isn't a problem in which the Bible doesn't have an answer... But I have searched and cannot find any issues with being tormented with awful dreams. Can someone guide me?

It truly sounds like a devil is tormenting you in your sleep. The devil will use this tactic frequently because a person's mind can be unguarded in his or her sleep more so than not.
Alot of the cause can be people that you communicate with or even are close to who may carry that spirit. The scripture teaches us that a dream comes from a multitude of business or what and whom we're involved with or even around.
It would be a really good idea to pray against it every night and God will certainly help you resolve this issue.

[Evang.Benincasa]

[Aquila]

Some things are discerned through the Spirit.

Look, one can find videos and countless articles denouncing tongues, visions, prophecies, healings, money grubbing evangelists, etc. as being fraud or of the devil.

There is faith and experience, and there is doubt and denial. There are those who believe those who are oppressed and help them find deliverance, and those who will mock them and tell them it's all in there head.

We're Apostolic. I believe if you took a phone book and randomly called 5 Apostolic pastors and asked them if demons can attack through influencing dreams, nearly all would affirm that it does indeed happen.

[Evang.Benincasa]

Originally Posted by Aquila

Some things are discerned through the Spirit.

Look, one can find videos and countless articles denouncing tongues, visions, prophecies, healings, money grubbing evangelists, etc. as being fraud or of the devil.

There is faith and experience, and there is doubt and denial. There are those who believe those who are oppressed and help them find deliverance, and those who will mock them and tell them it's all in there head.

We're Apostolic. I believe if you took a phone book and randomly called 5 Apostolic pastors and asked them if demons can attack through influencing dreams, nearly all would affirm that it does indeed happen.

You can also randomly call 5 Pentecostal pastors and have them tell you a woman's hair commands angels.

Good God from Zion.

[Evang.Benincasa]

Genesis 40:5-8

And one night they both dreamed—the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were confined in the prison—each his own dream, and each dream with its own interpretation. When Joseph came to them in the morning, he saw that they were TROUBLED. So he asked Pharaoh's officers who were with him in custody in his master's house, “Why are your faces downcast today?” They said to him, “We have had dreams, and there is no one to interpret them.” And Joseph said to them, “Do not interpretations belong to God? Please tell them to me.”

Both cup bearer, and baker had tormenting dreams.

Yet, when they were asked about their discomfort concerning the dreams they were told that God was the one who would give the answer.

I have shown in this thread that we don't have dreams which come from demonic attacks. They are meant to be warnings, the verses given show that those who had these dreams where troubled, because the dreams, but all received their answers from God. Not from any Shaman in a Hawaiian shirt.

God isn't the author of confusion or illusion.

Also when people start telling you that not everything was mentioned in the Bible? Stand back, turn and run. Because they are about to whip out the top hat, drop in the peep stone, then start interpreting visions from an disguised angel of light.

John M. Allegro believed that Jesus and the apostles used psychedelic mushrooms. Allegro was an eccentric scholar who while studying the Dead Sea Scrolls tied Jesus to the Essenses to the Amanita Muscaria mushroom. Where does he find this proof? By creating his argument based on conjecture. later he would concluded that Jesus didn't even exist.

Also, a plea that we should ignore book, chapter, and verse and replace it with personal experiences? We should then also throw in Big Foot, UFOs, and Sea Monsters sunbathing in Scotland.

[houston]

I can't even

[Aquila]

Can demons influence thought?

[jediwill83]

if Christ is in you and you are in Christ then the enemy doesnt see you...he sees Christ...UNLESS he can get you to step out and respond or react in a way that is not like Christ. Hes just lobbing bombs and noisemakers trying to get a unChristlike response from you.

See, if the old Jediwill83 is truly dead, I wont respond as the old me would. The enemy doesnt have any power over the new me, but if I bring back the old me...Im fair game.

If I let doubt, fear, my flesh rise up and dont keep it under subjection, that is where the enemy has some indirect power by manipulating me to behave not like Christ would.