The Dreams
Lloyd Gardner
May, 2021
Craig woke with one of those sudden lurches of the muscles that come at the end of a sudden fright. Emily too was awakened by her husband’s quick jerking motion. Both of the elderly sleepers quickly grabbed the other’s hand as if to protect the other from some unseen menace.
After a long sigh Craig spoke first. “I just had the most vivid dream I’ve ever experienced. It was so real and frightening to say the least.”
“I had a dream too and I was right in the middle of it when you startled me awake.”
“You were dreaming at the same time I was? Wow that’s kind of creepy!” Craig responded. “What was your dream about?”
“I think…” Emily began but paused. “I think it was about the end of the world.”
As Emily spoke Craig raised up in the bed quickly and said, “Emily, my dream was just like that. I dreamed about the last events that will take place on earth. It was as if someone was actually showing me a movie about what is about to take place.”
“Now you’re really scaring me, Craig. I had exactly the same dream and it too was as real as a movie playing before my eyes.”
“We need to get out of bed and try to make some sense of all of this,” Craig replied as he moved the covers aside.
Craig and Emily were retired and they had no jobs to get ready for so they just brewed some coffee and sat in the den pondering what had happened. Finally, Craig broke the silence with a stern, squinty-eyed gaze over at his wife of fifty-six years. “Let’s go see John,” he said, breaking the silence.
John was a dear friend who shared their love of God and concern for the direction society had been going. He had been a help to them in understanding what was happening in America.
The country was falling apart piece by piece like a barn taken up by a tornado. Violent, destructive riots had been destroying the cities of the country for several years. Businesses had been shut down by the Covid epidemic of 2020 coupled with the destruction of their property by the riots which have continued unabated. Steep inflation fueled by almost every known cause was destroying the economy. It was a perfect economic storm: excess government spending and over taxation leading to deficit financing, excess demand coupled with supply-side collapse and much more. The big spending, materialistic appetite of America was undergoing a forced diet brought on by the lack of things to buy or the money to buy them with. The result was a ravishing civil war ripping the heart out of the country.
The only thing left in one piece was the scattered remnants of Christians meeting in homes and other informal places for spiritual refreshing, encouragement and loving fellowship. Many unbelievers or wanderers who had abandoned God joined these sporadic gatherings of broken, desperate people.
Homelessness was not just for the indigent but for the many who had become unemployed and could no longer depend on government help. Tent cities dominated every major city and most smaller ones as homes became a luxury. Many of these who embraced God were taken in by the informal gatherings of believers who shared what they had and helped those seeking a spiritual shelter from the social storm ravaging the nation.
The steep inflation had wracked the country for several years and the once prosperous nation was experiencing unemployment and food lines reminiscent of the Great Depression. Most state governments were struggling to merely meet the basic needs of the people and the federal government was a mere ghost of its former glory. The supply side of the economy had collapsed making many commodities unavailable. The military was forced out of its foreign positions and relegated to homeland protection and social service aid to the citizens. That added to the foreign turmoil fueled by political extravagance.
As Craig and Emily drove to John’s house they talked about how they would share their dream experience with him. John had been a pastor before the civil war began but the church he was pastoring fell apart when the government began making demands on them. The government wanted them to accept the new guidelines about same sex marriage, gender identification and the presupposed systemic racism. John and most of the church could not submit to laws that violated their faith and relationship with Jesus Christ. They abandoned their building and programs and latched on to one another as they met secretly in homes with others throughout the city, exploring together how to cope with the new changes. John had abandoned his position as pastor but he was still a shepherd to a scattered fellowship.
Droughts and violent weather had destroyed most of the food producing areas of the country and bad government decisions had destroyed the industries connected to fossil fuels. To top it all off, the rest of the world was suffering much the same due to massive earthquakes, major asteroid strikes, pandemics and local wars breaking out on a regular basis.
“John has been saying that he felt the end was very near so he probably won’t be surprised about our dreams,” Emily said breaking the silence. “Still, it would have been good to call him to give him a heads up. Too bad the phones have been shut down.”
“That’s true but I doubt that he has experienced what we saw in our dreams,” Craig answered.
“It will be good to bounce it all off of him,” she said.
“Yes, he always has a way of putting things into perspective” Craig responded.
“Perspective is what we need. What does it mean that two people have the same dream on the same night at the same time?”
A time of silence preceded their turn into John’s driveway. They walked slowly to the house hoping he was there.
John answered the door immediately when they knocked. “Good to see you two. I hope all is well.”
“We’ve been doing fine, John, even in our old age” Craig replied with a half smile. “But we do have something very mysterious to tell you about.”
“That’s interesting, because I have been trying all day to find a way to your house. I too want to share something with you. But you two go first.”
“Let me get right to the point, John” Craig began. “Emily and I had the very same dream last night.”
“We had the same dream at the same time and were awakened at the same time,” Emily added.
“That is very unusual. What on earth was the dream about?”
“The end of everything,” Craig quickly responded.
Emily added, “John, we both dreamed the same dream of the countries of the world plotting against God Himself.”
“And the devastating results of that plotting” Craig added as Emily nodded in agreement.
John’s face took on a grim expression, his eyes closed and he shook his head from side to side as if refusing to accept what they were saying. He put his hands to his face as if trying to erase what he had just heard.
They all sat in silence for a moment as John gathered his thoughts and readied a response. Then he added fuel to the fire of concern: “Craig… Emily, he said as he looked from one to the other, “I’ve had the exact same dream!”
John looked over at Craig and Emily, put his hand to his cheek and they all just looked at one another until he continued. “Something quite extraordinary is happening. I believe we are experiencing a divine communication.” He briefly paused, “And I don’t think we three are the only ones receiving the message.”
“But who else could have had this dream?” Emily wondered.
“Everyone,” John quickly replied. “Or at least everyone who is ready for the final harvest of planet earth.”
“What on earth do you mean?” Craig asked with a little concern.
“Well the Lord continually hinted that the hidden things would be made manifest and the secret things made known. And remember that He said, ‘My sheep hear my voice.’”
“What are you saying?” Craig asked with a puzzled gaze.
“I’m saying that either we have witnessed an impossible coincidence or we are blessed to be sheep hearing the voice of the Shepherd.”
“You mean the Lord is letting His people know that what we dreamed about is about to take place?” Emily broke in.
“What else could it be? Three people having the same dream on the same night and probably at the same time” John blurted out. “That is too incredible to be a coincidence. And my guess is that many thousands of others received the same message.”
After a brief pause John continued. “Dreams have always been a way that God has communicated with His people. Remember Joseph and the dreams that God used to exalt him in Egypt? Remember Daniel’s amazing prophetic dreams about the end times? And the New Testament is full of examples of God using dreams through His people. Remember in Acts where Peter quoted Joel saying, ‘your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams’?”
“Well,” Craig chimed in, “I’m an old man and I definitely had a dream from God. You seem very serious about all this and I can’t find anything wrong with what you’re saying.”
“So what do we do now?” Emily asked.
“In your dreams did you get a sense of anything we are supposed to do?”
“I felt that it was just a final word and that we are to simply receive it and wait” she said.
“I agree,” Craig added, “we are to receive the message as if from the Lord and just prepare our hearts for what comes next.”
“I fully agree. The world has been in turmoil for years now. Persecution has increased worldwide against Christians and Jews and we have been wracked with calamity after calamity including financial collapse, disease, earthquakes and so much more. It’s as if the earth is coming to some kind of grand climax very soon. Did either of you get any sense about when this was to take place?”
“Soon,” Emily and Craig spoke at the same time. Craig clarified: “I have an amazing sense of the imminence of something profound beyond our understanding.”
“I have the same sense, guys. Since we can’t get out and see anyone or communicate, I guess we are just to wait and pray.”
Craig and Emily shook their heads in agreement.
A somber quietness came over the three as they realized the ominous nature of what was happening. It was too amazing to fully grasp but in their hearts they could not deny what they were seeing. They decided to just pray and trust the Lord as the day slowly turned to night. Without electricity, they sat in the room and prayed by candle light until sleep closed their eyes.
They finally woke up from their sleep expecting to see light coming through the window in the living room. But there was no light. John stumbled in the darkness like a blind man over to the window and looked out at what he was expecting to be a new day. He was immediately startled by what he saw and slowly felt his way to the front door and stepped out on the porch.
“Oh, my God!” John could be heard loudly exclaiming. “Oh, my God, what’s happening?”
Craig and Emily came running to the porch where a strange reality slapped them in the face. What they saw beyond the porch was nothing — no lights from the city, no lights in the sky from the stars, no shining moon, and no morning sun. It was like being in a photography dark room the size of the world. Emily held her hands up to her face and moved them about. She could not see her hands. Her eyes searched for some vestige of light but they found none. They were all in total darkness.
The only thing that reminded them that there was still a physical world was the sounds of the city: voices crying out in anguish, the sound of cars braking and crashing and an occasional sound of a bird screeching and hitting an object in the darkness.
“I’m over here, Craig called out, “use your touch to come to my voice so we can be close. I’m over here,” he kept calling and finally they met by what felt like the front door. “Let’s make our way in so we can find a seat and talk.”
After much maneuvering they were able to feel their way to the couch where they grasped one another in the dark.
“This is the scariest thing I have ever experienced” John said and after a sigh and a pause continued. “But as weird as all of this is, it makes perfect sense.”
“Perfect sense!” Craig said with a bewildered voice. “How on earth can you make sense of this?”
“My question precisely” Emily joined in. “There’s nothing perfect about this and it makes no sense whatsoever.”
“Well, think about this. Remember in Matthew where Jesus said that right after the tribulation that earth would face, the sun would be darkened, the moon would lose its light and the stars would fall from heaven? He said something to the effect that the powers of heaven would be shaken.”
“I don’t know about the heavens,” Craig replied, “but I’m shaken.”
“No, no Craig, if I’m right this could be the greatest blessing for all of us. Matthew wrote that Jesus said these signs we have just witnessed will be the final alert for planet earth just before He comes in His glory,” John paused to gather his thoughts. “The earth will enter a stage of mourning and then Christ will be seen over a period of time coming to the earth and performing certain end of times clean up procedures.” John paused with a gleeful expression on his face and then finished, “After this world-ending climax the word says His angels will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. Just imagine that!”
“He’s coming for us” Emily blurted out, “He’s coming for us” as she grew in excitement. Then they all began to rejoice as they realized what the dream had been about. It was indeed God preparing His people for the end time signs that would precede the coming of the Lord.
The dark room was filled with excited praises and worship of the Lord. The did not get tired of praising and and glorifying Christ as their hearts became ever more sure of what was happening. It was as if their spirit was trying to escape from their body. They hugged one another and rejoiced with a joy that overwhelmed them.
In the midst of their worship there came an earthshaking sound like an enormous shofar starting from a ways off and getting stronger and stronger until the sound was right over their heads. In that moment the darkness was instantly dispelled by a light brighter than a thousand suns. It was as if all the light of the universe was shining on them and yet their eyes looked directly into it.
What they saw was their hearts’ desire coming to pass before their eyes. In the twinkling of an eye they were gone.
