Vision or Nightmare?
May 6, 2008 by Anj
I was reading Ogy’s post on Old Dragon.
The story has two Christian protagonists, Ogy and Jo, and two other Christian sisters, Ci Ruth and Ci Arista. Essentially, a newly single Ogy went into the refuge of Ci Ruth’s house, became good friends with Ruth’s best friend, Arista, as well as Ruth’s housemate, Jo. Friendship with Jo deepened and they engaged each other intimately on a Malaysian trip. This was followed by guilt and shame, as they wondered how to face their Christian sisters and God. However, Ruth had prior knowledge for she had a vision of a dragon [common picture of the devil] chasing after Ogy and Jo. In trying to intervene, the dragon turned with a vicious smile and she awoke in a sweat. Arista had the same revelation via prayers and this sister was known to be very sharp with God’s voice. Ogy and Jo cried in the confrontation by Ruth.
When i first read this story, my first thoughts went to the bible with this question:
Under what circumstances can the devil devour the Christian today?
- When the Christian is full of cares and worries
- If the Christian falls out of grace by coming under the workings of the law
For 1, the verses come from 1 Peter 5:6-11.
“Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time,
“casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.
“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil goes about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.
“resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.
“But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you…”
For 2, verses are replete in the new testament… how the law is a ministry of condemnation and death.
It then occurred to me that Ogy and Jo came under condemnation and therefore became “devour-able”. ["Devour-able", in my understanding, means susceptible to curses of all sorts, including sickness and death.]
However, the next thing then sprang to my mind:
Why is a Christian powerless against the devil?
[Remember that it turned to Ci Ruth with a vicious smile and she awoke in sweat.] Given our divine position of authority and power in Christ today- as He is so are we in this world- how is it possible that an already defeated devil would stymie a Christian in a confrontation? Now we know that Apostle Paul did talk about messengers from the devil spreading bad rumors about and invoking ill will towards him [the thorn in the flesh], but it didn’t manage to devour him. They annoyed him but they could not destroy him. Similarly, none of the other apostles were powerless against the devil after Christ rose again. They went about casting out demons!
Following this, a question came in:
Is the vision from God?
Wait… is it even a vision… or a nightmare?
In the new covenant, everything is revealed. In the old testament, everything is encrypted [Christ hidden in the scriptures- remember how he expounded to two disciples all things concerning Him from the books of Moses after He rose again?]. Therefore, for a Christian, why is the “vision” unclear? From experiences of those around me, visions and voices from God were either (a) an unmistakable enlightening revelation of something, (b) a gentle rebuke that does not invoke fear or anxiety, (c) soothing and comforting to alleviate worries, or (d) a vivid positive end-tone portrayal of what is to come, usually when the person is awake and conscious. Calmness marks every single experience i have known. For someone to awake with a sweat from a vision of God today is… odd, to say the least.
Given that the 4 girls were so close, is it possible that the chemistry was palpable and worrisome to the Christian sisters for some time? Homosexuality has always been a great obsession with religious Christians. It wouldn’t be surprising if they are extra sensitive about it, especially when Ogy is known to be gay.
How strong these two girls are to withstand such self and other condemnation for 4 years! How great their love must have been for each other!
I will never be able to survive that long if i think my Father God is against me in some way.
I actually think the devil is powerless against a christian. I wrote my comment on her blog but it was still pending for moderation. I wonder if ogy will ever let my comment be published. I wrote abt what i think the dream actually means.
From the post, I guess the common perspective is that the dragon smiled at Ci Ruth because Ogy and Jo were doing something wrong i.e. they had allowed the dragon to go after them and she (Ci Ruth) will have no control over it.
From another perspective, the dragon could be smiling at Ci Ruth because she was the one who has allowed the dragon to go after Ogy and Jo.
With the second perspective, I can say that Christians who denounce homosexuality are actually falling to the devil’s plan of pushing (gay) people away from God.
I stand by my belief that God loves anyone and everyone no matter what they have done, are doing, or will do in future. We just need to actively seek God’s guidance in what we do and repent whatever mistakes we have made.