The Power of Magnets

Ray Comfort 1:04

You are what you eat and same spiritually what you take in . You become I'm a cat . Yeah , you think about cats , yeah yeah , so what I was talking about was great . Thanks , ZZ .

Emeal Zwayne 1:17

Did you ?

Ray Comfort 1:17

really totally . Yeah , I lost it . I just lost that train of thought .

Emeal Zwayne 1:20

Thanks , Mark .

Ray Comfort 1:21

Yeah , thank you very much . I was thinking of cats . You are what you eat . Yeah , you are what you eat , yeah , and you are what you are . Oh , people that watch horror movies yeah , just absolutely ghastly murderous slashes and blood everywhere . How do they not dream about things like that ? Because what you take in , even years later , you're going to work out within your own psyche , because we're so complex .

Emeal Zwayne 1:47

Do you guys remember the movie from back in the day ? Throw Mama from the Train . What ?

Mark Spence 1:52

Yes , I didn't see it , though . Was it Danny DeVito ?

Ray Comfort 1:55

Yes , mark , that was a kid's movie .

Emeal Zwayne 1:57

No , a kid's movie . That sounds like it . It was Danny DeVito and he was going to try to throw his mom from a train . I think I'm going to produce a new movie called uh , throw your Arab son-in-law uh into a ditch and let him die . Cause Ray , recently you almost killed me I did yeah Again when yeah .

Emeal Zwayne 2:16

Yeah , Um , in our lounge he wasn't even there , but I know you set a trap for me . You guys remember the little thingies that we used for the ping pong tables that held the little balls on the sides .

Ray Comfort 2:28

Oh , the magnet , yeah , the very powerful magnet . Yeah , yeah , they're called idiot magnets , People that don't know how to handle them .

Emeal Zwayne 2:34

Yeah , you set those idiot magnets up on the shelf in the lounge and I'm like , oh , it's just almost killed me .

Ray Comfort 2:44

Wait , I'm missing something .

Mark Spence 2:45

How did the magnet almost kill you ? Because they were separated .

Emeal Zwayne 2:48

Wait , I'm missing something . How did the magnet almost kill you ? Because they were separated . They were like in two spots and I move one or something , and they came together .

Ray Comfort 2:53

These aren't ordinary magnets .

Emeal Zwayne 2:55

They're dangerous magnets , but you used to do stuff with the Were . You doing stuff with magnets .

Ray Comfort 2:59

We made a thousand little magnet boxes and we learned to handle them with great care , otherwise you're in great pain . Did you ever hurt yourself ? Yes , many times .

Emeal Zwayne 3:07

Is that what happened to ?

Ray Comfort 3:08

your face . Yeah , I just came two magnets , one each side .

Emeal Zwayne 3:11

They are seriously dangerous . Yeah , you know these things like they come together and they clash like Like teenagers at a youth camp . They're loud , they're crazy . Yeah , ray , why ? Why do you play with magnets and stuff ? I'm always attracted to them . Remember those ones that were the little square ones , yes , or no . The round ones . Yes , you could mold and shape . Oh , really , you've been having dreams or something .

Ray Comfort 3:43

Yeah , You've been dreaming Easy yeah . My magnetism there was a big magnet in the store that's about 100 times stronger than the ones you've got In the store . Yeah , the one that you've got to point the wand at it and it repulses , oh yeah .

Emeal Zwayne 3:58

That's very , very powerful . Ray , you like making people feel stupid when they come out with that .

Ray Comfort 4:01

Well , I don't have to try with you , it's natural .

Emeal Zwayne 4:10

Yeah , so you love doing that with the kids that come in . Try to put what . Is it A good ?

Ray Comfort 4:15

test Hit the spot . Yeah , you've got a wand and you have to touch the red dot if you think you're a good person , and the powerful magnet repulses the wand . Yeah , and it really is fun . Do you guys know how magnets work ? Yes , they attract or they repulse . I don't understand it , but atheists don't believe in it because you can't see it .

Emeal Zwayne 4:33

Yeah , there's no such thing as magnetic force .

Ray Comfort 4:35

Yes .

Emeal Zwayne 4:36

One of my favorite things we ever produced was the box the . Are you a Good Person ?

Ray Comfort 4:43

That's the one that I made . Over a thousand of those . I made them at home because we're not allowed to manufacture on the premises , so we did them at home .

Emeal Zwayne 4:50

Oh , those were the best . Yes , I used to carry one with me when I did evangelism .

Ray Comfort 4:54

Oh really , yeah , yeah , we loved doing it until one day we just thought we don't like doing this anymore .

Emeal Zwayne 4:59

Like the penny machine .

Oscar Navarro 5:01

Oh , that was disgusting , did you hear about the magnetic train they're building to take you from LA to Las Vegas . No , it's a train in a vacuum-sealed tube that's propelled by magnets . Seriously , it's supposed to be one of the fastest trains in the world , and how much does it cost ? Him Like $15 .

Ray Comfort 5:17

It's insanely like billions and they can't raise money for it and they've wasted money .

Oscar Navarro 5:22

Yeah , the thing was like . Actually I don't even want to guess .

Emeal Zwayne 5:29

It was billions of dollars . That's amazing when you think about the things that man discovers that God had created . When was the first time that man experienced magnetic force like that ?

Ray Comfort 5:38

Yeah , someone found those two things that I left in there .

Emeal Zwayne 5:43

And they got killed . Sparks , that's how fire was discovered .

Emeal Zwayne 5:48

All right friends . Time for a cool , classy comment . This is from podcastatlivingwaterscom . My name is Alex , I'm 17 years old and I'm from Ireland . Thank you all for what you are doing .

Emeal Zwayne 6:02

I praise the Lord for your faithfulness and for using what means the Lord has given us to exhort brothers and sisters and proclaim his wonderful gospel . I just got done listening to the podcast episode on lessons from the life of King Josiah . I praise the Lord because it was both convicting and encouraging . By God's grace , he used it to convict me of not pursuing him faithfully , of apathy and walking in personal holiness , as I ought to . He has rekindled me to sincerely pursue him , to walk in personal holiness and walk faithfully to his glory , as Psalm 119 says . How can a man keep his way pure ? By keeping it according to your word . Thank you , oscar , for the encouraging word on how God redeems legacies seen greatly in the life of Josiah . I too , like Josiah , am the first believer in my generation and praise the Lord for it . Thank you all once more . May God bless and keep you all and strengthen you in all your efforts .

Emeal Zwayne 6:57

And easy keep it wheezy From the Emerald Isle in Christ , Alex O'Neill .

Dreams and Recurring Nightmares

Ray Comfort 7:03

I don't care about apathy .

Oscar Navarro 7:04

He's from Ireland . Can you give us your best Irish ? Yeah , I'm from Ireland .

Ray Comfort 7:07

Can you give us your best Irish accent ? Yeah , I'm from Ireland .

Mark Spence 7:10

Aren't we all first-generational Christians , I mean within our families ? None of our parents were Christians . Oh , I hear what you're saying , that's true .

Emeal Zwayne 7:20

But how cool at 17, . You know , it's amazing .

Ray Comfort 7:25

When you said my name is Alex , I thought of my name as my name Alan .

Emeal Zwayne 7:30

This theme is something I really like , Alex . What an encouragement . Thank you so much for writing in . You've got great rugby players . Yeah , ray , who's the best rugby team in the world All ?

Ray Comfort 7:39

Blacks . I've just started a war between Ireland and New Zealand with that statement Springboks .

Emeal Zwayne 7:44

What about the Springboks ?

Ray Comfort 7:45

What about the Springboks ? That's from South ?

Emeal Zwayne 7:47

Africa . There was a good movie made on rugby Cool runnings , matt Damon . Didn't you watch it ? Was that about South Africa and the All Blacks ? Be careful what you say .

Ray Comfort 7:57

Why the whole controversy was that South Africans gave poisonous food to the All Blacks and they got sick before the World Game and they lost because they were all weak . Did South Africa admit it ? That was the whole premise of the movie , if I remember correctly . What's the name of the movie ?

Emeal Zwayne 8:17

Ray , why didn't you play rugby ? You did Use the ball I'm around .

Ray Comfort 8:24

They used to pass me around .

Emeal Zwayne 8:25

I'm around Well , alex . Thank you , brother . You have blessed our souls and we are encouraged that you've been encouraged . Thank you for writing in . And now a radically revolutionary resource . This podcast is brought to you by Scientific Facts in the Bible Ray . Did you think this book would go as big as this book went .

Ray Comfort 8:44

No , no , it's just been wonderful . Lynn Copeland gets the credit . She just lays things out wonderfully and edits them wonderful . She did a great job with that . That's a great book .

Emeal Zwayne 8:52

It's easy reading . Every once in a while , someone will send me a picture from the airport .

Oscar Navarro 8:57

I've seen them on airport racks .

Emeal Zwayne 9:01

It's not a big , thick book , but it's packed with good stuff . What's cool , Ray , is how you're not going to write any more books yeah , you said that ray yeah , right .

Ray Comfort 9:10

And then he , I was I was wrong , let your I apologize and ask your forgiveness , so you've got to forget it are you writing any books right now ?

Emeal Zwayne 9:18

I found out from the text you just sent me before the podcast I'm writing a book . What are you writing ?

Ray Comfort 9:25

right , it's called jesus amplified and it's from the Amplified Bible . All the words Jesus said in the Amplified Bible and if you look at what he said in the normal versions that we read , it says things like blessed are the meek , which means highly favored or happy are the meek . But the Amplified Bible expands to the original Greek and it's so fascinating . I was reading Jesus Wept this morning in the Amplified Bible . It Greek and it's so fascinating .

Emeal Zwayne 9:49

I was reading Jesus Wept this morning in the Amplified Bible it was 15 chapters . That wouldn't surprise me at all . Yeah , so yeah , ray , keep writing books .

Mark Spence 10:04

You know , I just read , macarthur has written 400 .

Emeal Zwayne 10:05

What 400 . But he also said he's never written a book . That's true .

Ray Comfort 10:07

They're all taken from his sermons .

Emeal Zwayne 10:08

Oh , yeah , yeah , that's kind of . I mean , how resourceful , though you know because you read the books and you can't really tell because they , you know they modify them . But how cool that he studies for his sermons , preaches them . They're so good that they can take them and turn them into books . It's pretty cool . All right , friends . Oh yeah , don't forget the Living Waters mug , the Evidence Study Bible , all at livingwaterscom .

Ray Comfort 10:32

Yip right , it was completely off . Yip right , yeah , we didn't match today , Oscar .

Emeal Zwayne 10:36

Yip right mug Mugs . Yip right mugs , oh yeah .

Oscar Navarro 10:40

Oh , the yip right mugs Yip right .

Emeal Zwayne 10:42

Yeah , they might be out by now , friends , so get the mug , so get them out . They have to say yeah , brian , what's that one ? Mark , yeah , oh yeah , the ultimate cure for insomnia with the Z's . All right , friends , Today we are talking about what does the Bible say about dreams ? Here's my song . I dreamed a dream . I dreamed a dream . I dreamed a dream . The dream I dreamed was a dream .

Oscar Navarro 11:07

I am so impressed with our listeners that will listen after that Well .

Ray Comfort 11:13

I'm so impressed with Easy's humility . If I sung like that , I'd just be so proud . I'd never want to face anyone again , but it doesn't worry .

Emeal Zwayne 11:20

Easy , because it's good . Many keep pleading that I keep singing , I must , I must .

Ray Comfort 11:25

In the deaf society .

Mark Spence 11:26

My kids say that they love it when you sing . They , I must , and the deaf society ? My kids say that they love it when you sing .

Emeal Zwayne 11:31

They're wise . No , no , they make fun of it . They laugh all the time they're insightful .

Oscar Navarro 11:36

Yes , have you guys ever dreamt that you were an inanimate object ? Tell us . I had a dream that I was a muffler .

Ray Comfort 11:47

Oh , I had that when you felt exhausted .

Emeal Zwayne 11:48

when you woke up , you knew that one right .

Ray Comfort 11:50

Yes , yes .

Emeal Zwayne 11:52

Oh , that's a good one . Yeah , dreams man . It really is strange , you know you go into this world of insanity . We've talked about it before .

Ray Comfort 12:04

And these things happen . No , you go into the world of insanity . We have dreams . I'm always in the world of insanity .

Mark Spence 12:08

You really do more than anybody I've ever seen . That's why we never share a hotel room anymore . You ever wake up and Easy's over you with his eyes as big as saucers just staring at you .

Ray Comfort 12:18

Yeah , it's frightening . You can make a movie of it .

Emeal Zwayne 12:21

Yeah , yeah . But yeah , I mean , you go into the state of like , where you can't control what's happening , and you go into these realms of just crazy .

Ray Comfort 12:32

And you don't know who's doing the programming .

Emeal Zwayne 12:34

That's just you by the way that's just me so seriously . You guys ever have like reoccurring dreams that just like keep going ?

Oscar Navarro 12:42

I do have reoccurring dreams about once a year . I've had a few over the course of my life and there's one that I've had since I can remember I have it once a year . It's really weird . Like once a year , like once-ish a year , maybe twice a year Is it on your birthday .

Oscar Navarro 12:56

No , I have this dream . This is so ridiculous , guys , I can't believe I'm sharing this . I have this dream that I am not a person . I'm like this giant bubble , but like I'm a conscience bubble and I'm at the bottom of a screen . Conscience or conscience like I . I have , like I can , I know , I have self-awareness . Conscious , you're a conscious , that's what I said , but I have a mexican accent you could use that with anything couldn't you ?

Oscar Navarro 13:23

and my goal is to get like up . But there's all these other gigantic bubbles around and I have to maneuver through them and if I bump into them they'll absorb me and I'll lose my like , I'll lose self .

Ray Comfort 13:36

That's just the podcast . That's all that happens on the podcast .

Oscar Navarro 13:39

I do . I have this dream like once a year and I you know what it was too . Is that I ? The scariest movie ever watched when I was a kid was Dumbo . Do you remember the bubbles in that movie ?

Emeal Zwayne 13:52

No , we don't watch dumb movies .

Oscar Navarro 13:55

My parents wouldn't allow me to watch that . I don't know what , I can't even remember because I haven't seen this movie in forever , but the Disney movie Dumbo . There's this scene where there's these bubbles floating around and he's floating through them and it scared me when I was a kid and ever since then I have this reoccurring dream of bubbles . I was a kid and ever since then I have this reoccurring dream of bubbles .

Emeal Zwayne 14:11

Oscar , I don't mean to pop your bubble , but it's weird , that's impossible .

Ray Comfort 14:16

Yeah , you have one , I have one .

Emeal Zwayne 14:18

What is it ?

Ray Comfort 14:18

Ray , I think you dream your fears and for years , probably for 30 years , I've had this dream that reoccurs not every year , but every now and then that I'm in a pulpit , thousands of people and I cannot find my place in my Bible in my big fat Bible . I'm going like this and it's just horrifying me and it's like just goes on and on and on until it ends . I don't know how it ends , but you dream your fears .

Emeal Zwayne 14:42

No , you do .

Exploring Dreams in God's Plan

Emeal Zwayne 14:43

I had one recently where I was supposed to be in a play Is this going to be a long story , very and I had a part in a play , in a play and it was like you know , they were going through the play . I'm like , oh , I have time . And then I was late for it and I showed up . Oh , that's the nightmare . The worst , the worst was I did it a second time in my dream and I'm like , no , no , no , that's not my MO , I don't normally do that . They're like this was a second time .

Oscar Navarro 15:09

You were late .

Emeal Zwayne 15:10

Yeah , I was late Hi .

Ray Comfort 15:12

Mark Good , what ? What's your horrifying dream ?

Mark Spence 15:16

Well , I don't have horrifying dreams . I do have a superpower in my dreams where I can just jump really high and far .

Ray Comfort 15:21

Oh yeah , All the time , oh yeah , where you fly and you wake up and you're it for the podcast . Have you forgotten Potato bugs ?

Mark Spence 15:30

Yeah , tell us about potato bugs . What am I going to say about potato bugs ?

Ray Comfort 15:33

You had something interesting to say about potato bugs .

Emeal Zwayne 15:35

I don't remember why I was going to say it . They were really ugly Talk about nightmare .

Ray Comfort 15:38

We were talking about bugs , Hoo-hoo grubs from New Zealand that the natives ate , and you said they're like potato bugs and you had come across any potato bugs , this specific potato bug .

Mark Spence 15:58

send me pictures of that potato bug , because we don't have them here and I'm so fascinated by them . I'd go in my backyard and just dig up something , find a potato bug , take a picture , send it up to him and he'd get so excited . I'm like , wow , I go in and he goes how do they taste ?

Ray Comfort 16:13

No , he didn't say that , was he hungry or something ?

Emeal Zwayne 16:18

I have to say potato bugs are the grossest bug .

Ray Comfort 16:21

Are they localized ? Are they just America ?

Emeal Zwayne 16:23

They're big but they look like they have real human faces .

Mark Spence 16:27

They're pretty good once you bake them Not with the carnivore diet I do .

Oscar Navarro 16:33

My other reoccurring dream , by the way , is I'm swimming in a pool , but the water is like orange soda . It's my fantasy .

Emeal Zwayne 16:46

Did you just look that up , oscar , I may have had it .

Oscar Navarro 16:49

Yeah , I'm reserved .

Emeal Zwayne 16:50

Oscar came ready with dream jokes , oh yeah . But you know , I think , in light of the topic we're talking about today , that a lot of people are radically impacted by their dreams . I mean , I'll wake up sometimes having had a dream and it can really affect me for a good part of my day . And I think that's the question before us today . Right , as believers , we'll look at some of the different dreams in scripture and kind of the tone and tenor of dreams . But where are we today in God's economy in terms of dreams ? Right , we know , in the Old Testament , even in the New Testament , dreams were used by God for different reasons . But how does that apply today ? Can God direct us through a dream ? Should we be looking for direction through dreams ?

Ray Comfort 17:41

I often seek God for a dream , do you Old men ? No , they're called snooze .

Oscar Navarro 17:46

Old men will dream dreams .

Ray Comfort 17:48

No , no , no , no , no . In the last days I'll pour out my spirit in all flesh and young men will see visions . Old men dream dreams . I have visions in my sleep . Oh they're not dreams .

Emeal Zwayne 17:57

So you're a young man , mm-hmm , that's what it is . Mm-hmm . Yeah , yeah , so yeah , let's open that up and start talking about it guys Dreams , it guys dreams . So Old Testament , mark , I think you were talking about some different Old Testament .

Mark Spence 18:13

I think everybody's kind of got those , the maybe the top ones , right . We have Jacob's ladder , joseph's dreams and Pharaoh's dreams . Those are the kind of top three where we'd see that God would actually communicate divinely through dreams and he would accomplish what he would want to do . We would see guidance through dreams with Joseph and Mary , pilate's wife . You don't have nothing to do with this unjust man . So we do see many different biblical examples . We can expand on those if you'd like , ez , but many different examples how God would lead us , direct us , prophecy would take place . We see that with Daniel and King Nebuchadnezzar's dreams There'd be the symbolism of different future kingdoms that would take place . And then general wisdom we would see .

Mark Spence 18:59

In Ecclesiastes it says for in the multitude of dreams , many words , there are also device vanities . I like a simple text there in Ecclesiastes , chapter 5 , verse 3 , where it says a dream comes through much activity . And as I was kind of researching that a little bit , I didn't do a deep dive by any means , but I would see an overarching interpretation to that , being that we kind of dream about whatever activity is overloading inside of our hearts and our minds , inside of our daily life , things of that nature , sigmund Freud . He proposed that dreams are a manifestation of our deepest desires and anxieties , often related to repressed childhood memories or unconscious thoughts . You know , I believe you quoted Freud , a maniac in the central realm as he's really been known for . Thanks , mark , and I did a little bit of a deep dive study on the science behind it , and there's several different ideas as to why we dream , and then there's the most common one . We can discuss that later if you'd like .

Emeal Zwayne 20:08

Yeah yeah , no , that's good , yeah . And again we see in the Old Testament a lot of different instances where dreams were used , and sometimes in kind of emergency-type situations . You have Abimelech , who had taken Sarah up because Abraham had said she was his sister and put her into his harem . And then God sends him a dream don't touch Sarah , because she's Abraham's wife .

Ray Comfort 20:35

That was a nightmare . He freaked out .

Emeal Zwayne 20:37

He's like what have ? You done to me . You have , of course , joseph and his famous dreams , but talk about tact . I think about Joseph sharing that dream with his brothers . Some dreams ought not to be shared .

Ray Comfort 20:53

Well , if you figured it out , you've got to share it with your wife and realize in the first sentence how dumb it was .

Oscar Navarro 20:58

It seems good in your brain .

Ray Comfort 21:00

I'm going to tell her there's this elephant that was pink and I was holding onto its trunk , floating across the sky , and then , hang on , forget it . I was eating sushi made out of cat .

Mark Spence 21:09

She just falls off .

Emeal Zwayne 21:11

And I've heard of people getting upset with other people for their dreams . Oh yeah , how dare you .

Oscar Navarro 21:16

What do you mean ? Have you guys ever done that ?

Ray Comfort 21:18

Yeah , your wife gets upset . You had a dream about you .

Oscar Navarro 21:21

You were horrible . I've had to apologize for Dream Oscar . He sounds like a real something . Dream Oscar , yeah , she'll wake up . She's like you were meeting me in my dream last night . I'm like I am so sorry .

Mark Spence 21:35

I elbowed my wife in my sleep one time . It had nothing to do with the dream , but she was upset at me . I told her I was awake .

Emeal Zwayne 21:43

It was better for me . I do it on purpose .

Ray Comfort 21:46

Anyway , you should never give up on your dreams . Stay in bed .

Emeal Zwayne 21:51

No , but seriously , there have been times when I've gotten up real early and I was dreaming something . I'll intentionally go back to sleep to continue .

Oscar Navarro 21:58

Yeah , I want to see what happens . It's a good dream . Yeah , like if you're dreaming that you're a superhero or you have a superpower , you don't want to wake up from that dream .

Ray Comfort 22:06

Yeah , you dreamed that you're flying . I have , yeah , I have . It was just a wonderful experience . It was the best . Disappointed when I woke up .

Emeal Zwayne 22:13

No , but what Mark mentioned earlier with the jumping and flying , like I run and I jump and as I kick my legs I go higher and higher .

Mark Spence 22:23

Yeah , as I go , like this Flat my wings . No , no , no , no , no , no

The Danger of Reliance on Dreams

Mark Spence 22:26

no .

Emeal Zwayne 22:27

What's crazy , though , is how you have the different people have similar types of dreams , yeah , you know . Or the , the falling one , oh , the worst one you're and then you wake yourself . Oh , that happens to me all the time . Oh , or you jump because something's coming at you or something .

Mark Spence 22:40

Yeah I have dreams that I beat up easy all the time , every night , I'm just pummeling them . Keep dreaming .

Oscar Navarro 22:45

When I have dreams , that's all it is when I have dreams that I'm fighting , though I'm always it's like fighting underwater , like my punches are super slow and they don't make real strong contact .

Emeal Zwayne 22:55

Or I'm trying to scream but my voice won't come out .

Ray Comfort 22:57

I heard that the other night .

Oscar Navarro 23:04

You know , I think there's at least three different kinds of dreams that we can experience , and I think it's important to just differentiate between those things , because I think we can assume that one kind of dream is these types of dreams that you're rightfully bringing up in the old Testament . But first you alluded to the idea , the first kind of dream , mark Spence . You alluded to this first kind , which is the subconscious processing of dreams , and that's the science behind dreaming , is that when we are asleep , our memories , our past events , repressed desires , unfulfilled hopes , all these things are starting to be processed , like our brains are kind of like computers in which they take the experience , memories , repressed hopes from the day and they start storing them in certain areas of our minds .

Ray Comfort 23:48

And most of the- .

Oscar Navarro 23:55

Can you give an example of repressed hope ? Certain areas of our minds and most of the example of repressed hope ? Um , you know , um , the desire for a relationship If you're a single person . A repressed hope ? Uh , most of the mind we know is subconscious , which means it's not stuff that we regularly actively utilize . Um , and when we dream , we know it comes from the back of our , our brains , our prefrontal cortex , which is the part of our mind that is the fact checker that's asleep , and instead the amygdala , which is the area of our brain that has fear , emotion , imagination , which also passes through memory , that's firing on all cylinders , which , side note , is the reason why creatives often have like a spark of excited ideas in the middle of the night , and authors will have a pen and paper by their bedside , musicians will do the same thing . That's the time where our mind is storing things and it activates the imagination . Now and I know , ray , you just pointed out , ray , mark , I think you've woke up in the middle of the night and wrote entire books right Almost Now .

Oscar Navarro 25:01

The challenge with this is that we tend to take these dreams that come from our subconscious and we try to interpret them through biblical language , or we try to imagine that there's some divine dream given to us by God , but these dreams are separate . Those do happen , and I think we can talk about those later . I think the thing that's interesting about our subconscious dreams you just mentioned this is that they're actually influenced by culture you mentioned . Isn't it weird that we often have similar dreams , dreams of teeth falling out of punches ? That's because we have inherited narratives from our culture and we share that narrative , and that affects our subconscious when we are dreaming , and so we can have these shared themes because we share cultural identity . Now here's the thing that's important those dreams are not given to us by God in the same way that he gave dreams to the gentlemen and ladies that you just mentioned in the Old Testament .

Oscar Navarro 26:05

However , it's also important to recognize that God , in his sovereignty , does bring about mundane events in our lives and he attends for us to use those events . I'll give you an example . I knew a guy at a church who , years after this event happened , but he was explaining this to us in a men's Bible study one time . He said that he , in the early part of his marriage , started to enter into a flirtatious relationship with somebody not his wife , and that he had a dream at night that scared him , like , like it , just it scared him . It scared him awake and he realized that he was headed towards a pattern that would ultimately lead to adultery . Now he recognizes God didn't send him that dream , the same way that the Old Testament examples that you just gave easy Rather . God used his subconscious , used his subconscious , his experience , his repressed desires , and he used the dream that he had to remind him of his law and compel him towards repentance .

Oscar Navarro 27:22

So those subconscious dreams can still be used by God , but they are categorically different than the dreams that you just mentioned in the Old Testament , that's good , yeah , you know , and I think the key is striking balance .

Emeal Zwayne 27:36

Right , you know there is a danger , mark , wouldn't you say , in searching things out through things like dreams or signs , or because God's given us his written revelation .

Mark Spence 27:52

Yeah , you don't . You don't need a dream when you have God's word . Yeah , right , it's . It's a perfect word , it's an inerrant , inspired , infallible word . So when we go outside of God's word for anything dealing with truths concerning God and and direction for our lives that have already been laid out inside of God's word , you're you're in danger . I mean , it's as if God didn't think about something you know . He has your days laid out , he knows what's up . Remember the Bible doesn't tell us everything we want to know , but it tells us everything we need to know . There was a guy who wrote a book Several Minutes in Hell .

Oscar Navarro 28:27

I forget what it was called but it was all based on a dream 23 minutes in hell .

Mark Spence 28:29

23 minutes in hell , all based upon a dream that he had . Well , how do you fact check them right ? You had a dream , okay . Well , I had a dream . It's like somebody come up and said hey , I had a dream that you're supposed to . In fact , I met with a couple recently and I asked them for their story on how they met , how , and this woman said no joke , I had a dream that he was going to be my husband . They are having all kinds of marital problems right now and I go . I just want to understand this correctly . So you guys are together because you had a dream and inside the dream , you were told that he is supposed to be your husband . Yeah , what did he say ? He just smiled . I mean , he was happy with it . He was happy , but he goes . Look she . And in fact , during the midst of that time , she said you know , he's nothing like anybody that I would ordinarily go for .

Mark Spence 29:22

Right there in the midst I was like , wow , yeah , yeah . So relying upon a dream is very dangerous . That's case in point .

Ray Comfort 29:28

Martin Luther King had a similar problem .

Mark Spence 29:31

I have a dream . He said it seven times .

Emeal Zwayne 29:40

Yeah , no , that's so true . And , friends , that's why we're discussing this today , you know , because there are excesses in everything right , and I think Oscar and Mark struck the balance in this that the danger is in when we begin to lead our lives on the basis of things that are extra biblical , and we're looking for those things and we're making them our focus . Now , as Oscar mentioned , can God direct us in a way where we have a dream , just like if we have a thought that pops into our mind , right , and that leads us to do something right and righteous and holy , absolutely , you know ? I mean , if you have a dream and it inspires you towards something good or righteous , that's great . The danger is when you start making that like an authoritative thing in your life . And God told me this , and this is , you know , this is gospel truth . Ray , you're going to say , oh , I was going to say .

Ray Comfort 30:29

I know a dear Christian brother , who I see now and then , who keeps telling me he has dreams of me riding a white horse . And I've told him I don't have a white horse , leave me alone , I said , take no notice of it . Dreams in the Old Testament stayed in the realm of craziness . I mean , you think fat cows eating thin cows and thin cows eating more was the thin cows ate the fat cows ? Yeah , you know . No wonder they needed to do that . You wouldn't even tell your wife about that . One , honey , I dream a cat ate the dog . What do you think of that ? Is that the Lord ? Also , dreams could be caused by too much Mexican food spicy .

Ray Comfort 31:04

And also too many blankets on you can cause you to have dreams If you get too hot in bed . Holes in beds , hot . Holes in beds , hot , oh , holes in beds . If it gets too hot , I go down to the hole .

Mark Spence 31:14

We used to have somebody that used to send in a handwritten letter as if he was in second grade , and he said here's the dream that I had , and God told me that you were going to interpret it and these letters would come in all the time .

Oscar Navarro 31:26

Here at the ministry , at the ministry , at the ministry . I was just trying to get your attention .

Mark Spence 31:30

We knew it was you . We know who it was .

Oscar Navarro 31:34

Yeah we do . One of the other things we haven't talked about is another kind of dream is spiritual attacks . Yeah Right , some dreams are given to us by the enemy Jeremiah 23 , 32, . Their imaginary dreams are flagrant lies that lead my people into sin , and so that's an important reality , too is that our sin nature and spiritual warfare can often give us a dream that will direct us in a direction that's harmful to ourselves and even sinful against the Lord .

Emeal Zwayne 32:07

Oh , man , that's so important to remember that , you know , our fallen , sinful nature is capable of connecting with all sorts of ridiculous , wicked , sinful things . And yeah , there is that , that , that dynamic element , the spiritual dynamic element where , yeah , there could be things like that . I mean , there are times when I've woken up and I'm like , ok , that that felt like a demonic type of dream you guys have had .

Mark Spence 32:31

Oh , I've had tons of these night terrors . Right , Really , when you're being attacked , you know it's spiritual and you're just trying to say Jesus .

Ray Comfort 32:39

Boy , you just stole my thunder . I had the exact words . Go ahead and say it yeah , well , I was just going to say do you guys ever had that experience where you know it's demonic and there's no noise coming from your mouth and you're trying to say the name Jesus ?

Mark Spence 32:51

That's horrific , it's horrible . And then , finally , when you yell Jesus , when it finally comes out , it's like you wake up .

Ray Comfort 32:58

Seriously , it's like the craziest thing , and then it takes about 10 minutes to recover from that feeling .

Emeal Zwayne 33:03

Yeah for sure . And so I think it's important to keep all these things in their context . And , look , there are times when I think you can have a kind of dream that can really um set you on a course that can kind of manifest itself at different points in your life in a positive way . You know , I remember one time having a dream that , uh , all of our kids had died and but it was , you know , one of those where , like , you're like this is real and you're , you're , and even in your dream you're thinking I wish I was dreaming , because you're really thinking you're , you're in reality . You know , you're like I wish this was a dream , you know .

Emeal Zwayne 33:41

But , yeah , one time all my kids had died and I had never experienced such deep grief . In fact , it woke Rachel up because I started to cry in real life , you know , because it was that deep and I just it was like , but that affected me in a way where I it makes me just value every moment with my children . You know the realization , like , yeah , life is fleeting . I need to make the most of every opportunity , the moments when you know I mean you hear those stories you get in an argument with one of your family members , your kids , your wife . They leave , they get in an accident , they die . You're left with that for the rest of your life .

Mark Spence 34:16

You know , there's certain medications that affect the central nervous system where they will give you crazy , vivid dreams . I remember in the late 90s I went to Uganda and I think you were part of that trip as well .

Emeal Zwayne 34:27

I was about to share the same thing , oh yeah .

Mark Spence 34:37

I was telling both of you guys's thunders and I know it's uh , it was to prevent , uh , malaria , yeah , this medicine that we were told to take . And I remember telling robbie , uh douglas , say man , I just had the most vivid dreams . He's all . It's because you're taking this western medicine that you shouldn't take . We don't take any of that medication over here . Uh , and we're fine , says the guy who had like malaria six .

Emeal Zwayne 34:48

Robbie robbie , robbie . Robbie has malaria . Give me the dream .

Mark Spence 34:52

But as soon as we stopped the , as soon as I stopped taking that medication . You know those very , very vivid dreams .

Ray Comfort 34:58

Well , they go to a bad dreams .

Mark Spence 35:00

Oh , they were just vivid and just crazy . Yeah , I had this crazy dream that .

Oscar Navarro 35:05

I was like I was at this campsite and somebody had like , had like like at this campsite and somebody had like , had like like tied me up and was like shoving this giant bag of marshmallows down my throat and when I woke up my pillow was gone .

Mark Spence 35:22

You can't stop the smiling as you're telling the story .

Ray Comfort 35:25

Raise nostrils flare when he's yeah it's not more than about two feet .

Emeal Zwayne 35:31

Yeah . So let's talk a little bit about guilt from dreams , because you know there are times when you have unclean dreams . I'm not going to get into detail in that regard , but I think a lot of people struggle in that regard . It's like am I responsible for that ? Am I not responsible for that ? Do I repent over that ? Am I not responsible for that ? Do I repent over that , do I not ? And I know there are some people that beat themselves up over it and it's like , man , I can't stop these dreams , and so I'd love to hear your guys' thoughts on that .

Ray Comfort 36:03

Well , your guys' thoughts .

Emeal Zwayne 36:05

Yeah , you've never heard of that . Goises , goises , y'all , y'all , y'all's thoughts , your Y'all's thoughts , your guys's . It does sound weird , guys's , guys's , guys's , guys's , sorry

Overcoming Impure Dreams Through Positivity

Emeal Zwayne 36:18

.

Mark Spence 36:18

Mac , you were saying no , I mean , I've had different guys come and talk to me , you know about this sort of thing , and I would say , listen , don't overthink it . You know , confess it if you feel you need to confess something , but just move on , just move on from it . And uh , dwelling long on something like that is is never a good idea . Yeah , dwelling long on , fill in the blank , if it's not scriptural and biblical and beautiful and righteous and wholesome and pure and things from above , well then it's just not a good idea . Yeah , right , so if somebody comes to me and they have an impaired dream , I say , yeah , well , acknowledge it before the Lord and just move on . What point do you have here ? It's going to make you ineffective for the day .

Mark Spence 36:57

I talked to guys way back when I had , like this guy's house and I'd say , hey , how are you doing ? How are you doing spiritually ? And they would tell me how they're doing physically or not doing physically . You know what I mean , right ? And I said , no , listen , that's not what I'm asking . I'm asking how are you doing spiritually ? How are you really doing ? How is the true you doing ?

Mark Spence 37:18

And the enemy would love to make us ineffective by having us dwell upon things that may or may not drive us closer to the Lord , and then the idea is just simply move on , just move on . I think there's an obscure scripture in Job that says that God loves us too much to burden us down with the everyday monotonies of sin . Right , we forget the fact that we're just sinners , right ? No , we're saints who occasionally sin . I understand theologically , but we can be overburdened on each individual sin . That we forget that , man , we're just a bunch of blow-its . Move forward . Maybe God is convicting you over certain things . We'll acknowledge those things , but move on and be quick to move on . Be quick to forget those things which lie behind and press onward and push upward towards the upward call of God in Christ Jesus . Yeah , that's good .

Oscar Navarro 38:07

I would say something very similar , mark . I would say something in the effect of like look at that , you know dream that you wish you didn't have is . Is the Lord revealing some dark area of your heart , some deep desire of you that you that you feel like now would be a good time to just God , take this out of me , get this away from me , or is he showing you something that you realize I don't want , that , I don't want that thing ? And then to your point like , take a moment to reflect on the the , the way you can , um , consider the dark areas of your heart . And then to your point , mark , move on . It's okay to to just trust in the grace of God and to move forward from that point forward .

Emeal Zwayne 38:48

Yeah , and we've talked before about the two sides of that coin . God knows your heart , right . For the unbeliever it's a terrifying thing . For the believer it's a refreshing thing because he knows , first of all , my desire and my spiritual man . Right , it's a Galatians 5 dynamic of the flesh lusts against the spirit , the spirit against the flesh . These are contrary to one another , so that you may not do that which you please .

Emeal Zwayne 39:11

Who's the you there ? The you is the regenerated spiritual man . So God knows that . He knows you don't desire that , and so there's that consolation in that , even in a dream that you had that wasn't pleasing to the Lord , the Lord knows you didn't want that . But you have , of course , the fallen nature and you have spiritual attacks , and then you have just the nature of things , right . In a fallen world , these things can pop into your mind . So , yeah , my encouragement is first of all , don't be condemned , because there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ . And if you feel compelled to say , lord , forgive me for whatever part I had in that , in my sinful nature , that's fine , um , but but don't , yeah , don't dwell on it , don't get worked up in it . I would say this , and Ray , I'd love you to touch on this a bit . Um go ahead .

Ray Comfort 40:02

Yeah , you know , when you , um , you have a dream well , I do my conscience is always there . Yeah , in the dream , right , there's something's something there saying hold it , this isn't right . Yeah , and so that when we have those sort of dreams , yeah , so .

Emeal Zwayne 40:17

So here's the thing I'd like you to comment on . Not that , but um sudden noise . Um , people would be wise to examine what they're dwelling on , though in their waking hours . That's good , because , because if someone is having unclean dreams , impure dreams , and they're looking at impure things and thinking on impure things , they're very culpable in that . Yeah , and not just unclean , impure things , but watching movies that have things in them that are dishonoring to the Lord , whether it's extreme violence or it's vulgarities or whatever .

Ray Comfort 40:54

Yeah , you are what you eat and same spiritually what you take in . You become , and I often think I'm a cat yeah , you think about cats , yeah , you freak out . Yeah , so what I was talking about was great . Thanks , zz , you forgot . Yeah , so what I was talking about was great .

Emeal Zwayne 41:13

Thanks ZZ , Did you really totally lose ?

Ray Comfort 41:15

it . Yeah , I lost it . I just lost that train of thought , thanks , Mark . Yeah , thank you very much . I was thinking of cats . What am I ?

Emeal Zwayne 41:20

going to say about cats , you are what you eat .

Ray Comfort 41:21

Yeah , you are what you eat . Yeah , and you are what you are . Oh , people that watch horror movies yeah , murderous slashes and blood everywhere . How do they not dream about things like that ? Because what you take in , even years later , you're going to work out within your own psyche , because we're so complex .

Emeal Zwayne 41:39

Yeah , I mean right , cause and effect . Don't be the kind of person who's complaining that you're having horror dreams . When you're constantly watching horror movies , you're filling your heart and mind with that . You're giving your brain material to take and to do weird things with Right . Because I mean , in terms of weirdness we know , so often the dreams make no sense at all . It's like you're in a certain place that you know , but it's a totally different place . But in your mind you're thinking this is my house , but you're like in another building in another country . You know , and so your brain does weird things . You don't want to give it fodder .

Ray Comfort 42:15

Where does deja vu come into it ? Wait , didn't you just say that I did just before ? But deja vu is kind of weird , where we think we've been somewhere before we imagine it . Sometimes you can go into a dream realm in a split second . I do that sometimes when I go to have a snooze . Dream realm in a split second . I do that sometimes when I go to have a snooze . I'm just watching TV and then suddenly I'm into a dream within like a second . That's how I get through these podcast recordings when I used to travel with Ray .

Ray Comfort 42:42

No wonder I've watched you .

Mark Spence 42:43

When Ray would have trouble falling asleep , Ray would go Mark , I'm having trouble falling asleep , Tell me your testimony .

Ray Comfort 42:50

Start when you were two . Just talk to me Mark . It all began when I was two years old .

Emeal Zwayne 42:57

Yeah . And so , guys , I'd love to wrap up with maybe just some encouragement oh , do you ? You're going to rap , I'm going to rap , I'm going to do it all the time . Yeah , but I'd like to wrap up with just thoughts on what we can do before we go to sleep to try to fill our minds , because I think that's key . Right , putting things into our minds that may help us in our dreams . Right , drink milk .

Mark Spence 43:26

Dream about cows .

Ray Comfort 43:27

Do you drink milk ?

Mark Spence 43:27

with your carnivore diet .

Emeal Zwayne 43:28

Yeah yeah , I do , I had some last night before bed .

Mark Spence 43:30

I love cold milk . Did you sleep well ? I don't remember . Laura put me on the couch . No , she did not Is it . I absolutely love cold , cold milk . Easy doesn't understand people who just grab a cup of milk .

Ray Comfort 43:43

It's a land flowing with milk . Wait , is it probably like ?

Emeal Zwayne 43:46

milk . I detest milk . Oh , I love milk .

Oscar Navarro 43:49

By itself .

Mark Spence 43:50

That's probably why your bones are so frail by itself I sneak away into the garage where we have a refrigerator with milk . It's ice cold . I love ice cold milk .

Emeal Zwayne 43:59

I don't understand it . Milk with Easy if you hit Priya for this . Milk with chocolate syrup , Milk like chocolate milk . Milk with cookies ? Give me a break . Milk in your tea , Cookies . Milk in your tea . You treat milk like you drink coffee . Milk by itself Delicious .

Oscar Navarro 44:15

It's like coffee by itself . Yeah , it doesn't say they come back with chocolate , milk and honey .

Emeal Zwayne 44:24

Land flying with chocolate , milk and honey . No , actually in the original .

Ray Comfort 44:26

Seriously , it's an old wife's tale , but it may be true that milk helps you sleep .

Emeal Zwayne 44:31

Well , is it true , the whole warm milk thing ? Drink warm milk .

Ray Comfort 44:34

Lukewarm . No , no , not lukewarm , but hot milk's nice Right , cold milk's pretty warm .

Emeal Zwayne 44:39

So , Mark , any ideas ? What can our minds dwell on before we go to sleep ? Easy .

Mark Spence 44:43

Oh , steve Lawson dwells on one thing before he goes to bed , which is really a great idea he reads missionaries and the lives of missionaries , biographies , autobiographies . Does that put him to sleep ? And he has written tons of books , biographies , on Puritans and people that have come before . But he said it does wonders to his sleep and it lights a fire underneath them . Wow , that's good .

Emeal Zwayne 45:07

Yeah , yeah , you know , rachel and I typically end our evening with prayer and the word , and it's a delight to do that , you know , to end with God's Word in your heart , having talked to the Lord and then , especially as a couple , being able to come before the Lord together . But , yeah , I mean , there was someone recently that I heard who says , oh , I think it was John Piper . Yeah , he recites a verse to himself , that's right , I think before he goes to bed and and it it . I can't remember exactly what it was , but it's something powerful that impacts him in terms of , like , remembering who he is in the Lord and who God is . And and so we're all different . You know there are different things that we can come up with , but think about that , right , what are you , in general , filling your heart and mind and soul with ? And that may be the thing that might show up in your dreams , so don't be surprised .

Ray Comfort 46:01

Read books about dreams .

Emeal Zwayne 46:03

Oh yeah , dreams .

Oscar Navarro 46:04

I do want to praise the Lord for something , because he does , throughout the Old Testament and New use , dreams to advance his kingdom and he appears to still be doing that today . But pause for a second . In the book Gospel Trilogy , greamey Goldsworthy I'm probably mispronouncing , pronouncing missaying his first- name .

Ray Comfort 46:23

You're not getting the word pronounced correct .

Emeal Zwayne 46:25

I'm mispronouncing the word mispronouncing Oscar .

Oscar Navarro 46:27

The irony you need an award for that . That's meta . He says this every case of special guidance given to individuals in the Bible has to do with that person's place in the outworking of God , gives special and specific guidance to the ordinary believing Israelite or Christian and their details of their personal experience . In other words , what he's saying is that God works through the New and Old Testament , through dreams , to advance his kingdom . Not to tell you who you're going to marry , not to tell you what to do next in a relationship , certainly never anything that contradicts scriptures . And so here's where I want to praise the Lord .

Oscar Navarro 47:15

There are so many testimonies that I've heard of coming out of places like the Middle East , the 1040 window , where preaching the gospel can get you killed , where people will have never heard the gospel before . They will have a dream and , as they would describe , it's a dream about Jesus . The gospel is preached , they repent and come to a saving faith . And so my point is praise the Lord that he seems to still be working through dreams today , but recognize that it's always in the advancement of his kingdom , amen , amen .

Emeal Zwayne 47:53

Yeah , I mean a dream that leads to salvation . That's amazing . That's a dream that I could put my seal of approval on and say , Lord , yeah , you , by your grace , just like you would through the word preached , you know , pierce someone's heart .

Mark Spence 48:05

I found the scripture that John Piper oh , he did , yeah , I don't know if you want me to quote it or say the reference .

Mark Spence 48:09

It's Habakkuk 3 , verses 17 to 18 . He said , though the fig tree should not blossom , nor fruit be on the vines , the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food , the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls yet , yet , yet I will rejoice in the Lord and I will take joy in the God of my salvation . And it's just a reflection for him on the deep trust of God and in God's salvation .

Emeal Zwayne 48:36

One of my favorite verses , actually so beautiful . You know that heart that says I trust you unconditionally , lord , and so well , friends , there you have it .

Dreams and Christian Resources

Emeal Zwayne 48:47

We hope you don't dream about us tonight or have nightmares rather about Mark , oscar and Ray . Thanks for joining us , friends . Oh , don't forget the scientific facts in the Bible book , living Waters , mug , the evidence study Bible , all at livingwaterscom . Please send us your comments . They've been blessing us . They really have Podcast at livingwaterscom and also on whatever platform you listen on for the podcast . You can send comments there , share , subscribe and keep on listening , friends . Thank you for joining us . Friends , we'll see you here next time on the Living Waters podcast , where still , yes , still , still , still we have no idea what we're doing .