On January 19^th, 2016, I awoke late in the morning from a dream.  When the dream started out it seemed more like a standard anxiety dream, but coalesced into a spiritual lesson.

In the dream, I was in a room with several people watching a western movie with a train scene.  I didn’t figure out until later that it was break time and I was at a Christian seminar.  I remembered the train scene western movie dream from another dream I once had.  The dream was like one of those books where you make decisions, at various points in the story, which in turn causes variations, and results in different storylines for different readers.  I had seen the video before, so I told them, if they wanted to make it all the way to the end of the movie, without coming to a dead end, they had to choose the “B” option at a certain point.  They didn’t choose that option and the movie dead ended.  I mentioned that most people I had participated with in this “choose your own adventure movie” were stymied at the same point.  A few people promised that we would watch it again during break the next time, and try the “B” option, so that we could save the train from the robbers and “win” the game.

The seminar was mostly men but there were ladies present.  Some helped with cleaning or cooking, but a few shared in the teachings, just as a few of the guys also helped with various tasks, even if they did not share teachings.

We listened to a lady for about thirty minutes who looked like the well known Christian talk show host Sheila Zalinsky. I cannot remember what she taught about except that she referenced the “choose your own adventure movie”.

A tall, thin guy next to me complained that too many people hadn’t showered.  I said, “I just took a shower and used soap and shampoo. If I am one of them, I do apologize, but I don’t know why that would be the case.” He made a joke out of it. I think what he meant was that he felt soiled to be around other Christians who did not walk with his level of purity and holiness.

After lunch, I went to my room.  The area seemed to be set up like a Christian Retreat Center.  I took a nap.  During the nap, I dreamed about a bitter mixed marital arts fighter.  He never cussed and seemed to have a personal code of honor, but never-the-less, carried a heavy load of sin-baggage.  It seemed as if the Lord was calling him to repent, but the MMA guy was saying that he didn’t have any respect for Christians.

Several of us were going around town knocking on doors, in the dream, asking people if we could present a short gospel message or pray for them. The last house we came to in the dream within a dream was owned by a mixed martian arts champion. As we met the MMA guy, I heard the Lord say to me, “Remember, occasionally donkeys talk and axe heads float.  From time to time, I will ask people to do very unconventional things.  While as a general rule, we follow a pattern that is very obvious in scripture, there are times where one needs to be ready to take a divergent path. If I am calling you to do something that is out of the ordinary, be sure that I am asking you to do it.  Don’t expect that I am calling everyone to do what you are doing.  If I am not calling you to that action, that is not your path.  And just because I call you to do something differently, that does not mean I will ask you to do it that way a second time.”

I woke up from my dream within a dream.

The dream reminded me of an article I had quickly glanced through in a newsletter that had been handed out by one of the seminar speakers.  The article reminded me of what the Lord had said during my dream, but had been spoken with different words.  It had said that as Christians there is a patterned example that we see in the scriptures.  Generally, we are to follow that example, but from time to time the Lord will ask us to exit our comfort zones and “do a new thing.” It went on to say that if we are certain the Lord is asking us to do something in a particular way, we need to do whatever He asks.  However, if we aren’t called to do something, we should not feel ashamed or let others manipulate us into doing things the Lord has not asked us to do.  We need to find out what the Lord is calling us to do and then do it.  This may mean we do something completely different than our Christian friends are doing or we may just keep them in prayer while they are doing something we are not being called to do in His service.

I was going to share my dream with the group and read the article that went with the dream.  When I went to the social lounge where the seminar was taking place I found that there had been a scheduling change.  The open speaking session had been altered into an evangelistic activity.  A brother and his wife who were often active in evangelism had volunteered to take us door to door in a nearby community.  I felt the urge to join the group.  About two dozen of us went on the activity but we split into small groups of two to three people.  We agreed to meet back in the same spot in about an hour.

Just like in my dream within a dream, we went around and knocked on doors and asked if we could share a short gospel presentation or pray for people.  There were several of us that had just regathered and were waiting for the others by our vans.  Except for the evangelist’s wife, the group were all guys.  Suddenly the evangelist said that he was going to go knock on the door to a house that wasn’t too far from the vans.  The evangelist and another brother walked up and knocked on the door.  The evangelist’s wife and another brother stood not too far away and began praying.  Several of us stayed near the vans and watched what was happening, just across the street, while we were waiting for the others to return to the van.

Following the knock on the door a very fit looking Caucasian man of about thirty stepped out on his porch and yelled at us. He warned us that if we didn’t leave immediately, that some of us would have to be carried back to wherever we came from. He was the mixed martial arts fighter from my dream!

The evangelist attempted to reason with the man, but he just grew angrier.  The group became anxious and confused.  I got the attention of the rest of the group and said, “I just had a dream about this guy.”  I held up the Seminar Newsletter and continued, “If you feel called to stay and minister to this man, then you need to do so.  However, if you aren’t called to stay, then you better go back to the lodge.  I will come in a few minutes. Get in one of the vans and I will drive it back shortly. If you feel led, pray.”

Four guys left the group and followed me over to where the confrontation was taking place.  I talked to the praying brother and the evangelist’s wife and briefly told them about the dream I had just had and that they needed to decide quickly if the Lord was calling them to be part of this mission or whether they were to leave.  The four guys who came with me stayed and the man who was praying beside the evangelist’s wife said they were going to stay.

I prayed in the Spirit as the MMA guy reached behind him and pulled a staff from his porch.  It had an open clasp like crab pincers that could be used to catch or hit an opponent.

“All right, you were warned!” snapped the MMA guy.  He looked at the girl and said, “I will do my best not to hurt you, but if you get in my way, what happens happens!”

“That lady is my wife,” said the evangelist.

“Talk some sense into your husband lady!” snapped MMA guy. He added, “Or you’ll be carrying him home in a body bag!”

She looked very determined as she stopped praying and said, “We don’t want to fight you but I know that we have to stay.”

MMA guy, shook his head, mumbled, and then said, “Your funeral crazy lady.”

The four guys who came with me were not professional fighters, but in being around them for a few days, during the seminar, I knew that one had been a state wrestling champion in high school, one was a police officer and two had served briefly in the military.  They all advanced around MMA guy, but just asked him to calm down. No matter how hard he tried, the MMA guy could not seem to hit anyone with his staff or grab them with the pincers.

MMA guy, his face a mixture of shock and frustration, threw down the staff.  After that he kicked, punched, and threw the guys around like rag-dolls.  None of the guys were bruised or bloodied.  I stopped praying and said to the other two who were still praying, “It is time for me to go now. I will see you back at the lodge.”

As I turned around, the Christian men jumped at MMA guy all at once, and suddenly they were holding him on the ground.

MMA guy yelled, “Impossible!  I can’t move! What’s happening?”  The evangelist said, “We are not going to hurt you.  You were thinking that you were going to beat us until we bled.  We are not bleeding.  If we let you go, will you let us talk to you about Jesus?”

The MMA guy said, “O.K. I will talk with you about Jesus.”

Scene change.

• I was back in the lodge and sharing with the one van of people that had come back with me and others who had not participated in the activity.
• I shared about my dream and the article from the newsletter. I told them that some people would disagree with what I was about to impart, but that to the best of my knowledge, this had been given to me by the Lord to share with them.
• I told them that while the MMA guy we had just met considered himself the “Yokozuna of mixed martial arts” that the angel of the Lord had wrestled with him like he had with Jacob in the book of Genesis, but not as directly as had happened at Penuel. (See Genesis 32)
• We need to be sensitive about boundaries. If people said they didn’t want to hear the gospel message or did not want prayer, we politely left them alone.  For whatever reason, that is not how it played out with the MMA guy.
• Usually there are “decent and in order” patterns that we follow in scripture. From time to time the unexpected will happen – donkeys talk (See Numbers 22:28) and axe heads float (See 2 Kings 6:6).  Those occasions are very rare, but we must be ready when they do happen.
• If you were afraid today, at any time, this will need to be surrendered to Jesus. However, if you were not called to stay and minister in the MMA guy situation, you have no need to be ashamed.
• As you can see, I am old, my spine is twisted, and I am not a fighting man. I did have my part to play in ministering to the MMA guy. I prayed and I shared the dream Jesus gave me, earlier at the scene, and now am presenting the teaching with greater detail.
• Knowing what the Lord wants us to do in any given situation is not always easy. In general, we need to carefully observe the patterns in scripture. Most of the time Jesus does not give us clear and explicit directions. We are mostly expected to occupy until He comes by following the words and patterns of scripture, rather than following a clear spiritually birthed rhema of the Lord. We are not always going to hear clearly, but if we do hear clearly, we are even more responsible to obey that directive, no matter what the cost may be.  The result may be a miracle as rare as a talking donkey or a floating axe head or we may be martyred.  We must also keep in mind that we are not all called to do the same things for Jesus.  We may also be called to do something unique and to do so once and only once.  While we should encourage brothers and sisters to boldly follow Jesus, we must be careful not to manipulate them into doing what we feel the Lord is calling us to do.
• We need to be mindful when reading scripture to follow its direct teaching. That said, many people do not look at what the scripture doesn’t say on an issue. Jesus had ample opportunity, in Luke 3:14, to tell soldiers that they could not use weapons if they were in His service and He did not. Some are called specifically to Christian Pacifism; others are generally called to walk in peace. Jesus has called a few like Sargent York and Desmond Doss to remain in the armed services but not use arms to kill. Later York uses his rifle to kill, but so that casualties will be minimalized and miraculously captures a large force of Germans. Desmond refused to use arms, was hazed severely for it, and almost ends up being imprisoned for life, but becomes the heroic medic of Hacksaw Ridge.

Luke 3:14 And the soldiers likewise demanded of him, saying, And what shall we do? And he said unto them, Do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely; and be content with your wages.

As I finished giving the presentation, the rest of the group that had been left with the MMA guy entered the lodge.  The MMA guy was with them.

End of Dream. I woke up.

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