Dreams are noting more than the imaginations of the mind. They are not
communications from any spirits.
"NABEEL QURA****" <semaun@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
news:KpUNg.699$UG4.392@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> LED BY THE HAND OF GOD
>
>
> Years later, I needed that kind, hearing, powerful God to help me with
my
> battle. Was it futile to attempt to gain knowledge of religious truth?
> Would God help me see the truth for what it is? By 2004, I knew that I
> could not defend Islam in the face of Christian arguments, but I did not
> know if that was due to my intellectual inability or to the power of the
> truth. In all candor, I was hoping that God would come to my aid and
fight
> for me, showing Islam to be the correct path. But I truly had no idea
what
> was true and knew there was only One who could show me.
>
>
> A Vision
>
>
> Near the end of 2004, my father and I were in Florida. For months, I had
> been praying to God for an answer to my question; however, never had I
> prayed like I did this particular evening. It was the night of December
> 19th, and my father had fallen asleep in a hotel bed next to mine. But I
> was still awake. It was dark in the room, though not completely dark;
> there was still some light. The precariousness of my fate manifested
> itself in my mind. I admitted that despite all I thought I knew, I
> actually knew nothing. I needed God to show me the truth. I couldn't do
it
> without His help. At that instant, the most humble moment of my life,
with
> tears in my eyes, I beseeched God for an answer. I asked for anything-a
> vision, a dream, a sign of some sort that would show me whether
> Christianity or Islam were true.
>
>
> No sooner had I prayed these words than the room became pitch dark
before
> my eyes. I had been looking at the wall, but it was not there anymore;
> instead, it was replaced by hundreds of crosses. I was paralyzed.
>
>
> The vision was as simple as that. Just as quickly as it had come, it was
> gone. My reaction was that of most anyone. I said, "God, that doesn't
> count. I don't know if that was really You or if my eyes were playing
> tricks on me." As you can see, I did not want to believe in
Christianity.
> I instead took refuge in my uncertainty and prayed again, saying, "God,
I
> don't know if that was really what I thought it was - I could
> subconsciously want to become a Christian and my mind could be deceiving
> me. So visions won't be any good; please give me a dream, and if the
dream
> corroborates the vision, I will become Christian." Thus I began trying
to
> stall my decision, but God wouldn't allow it.
>
>
> The First Dream - Iguanas and Crickets and S****s. Oh My!
>
>
> That night I had a dream. Upon waking, I was fully aware that it was an
> answer from God, but I wasn't sure what it meant. I wrote everything
down
> as soon as I awoke. Permit me to post my entry:
>
>
> Date: December 19th/20th
>
>
> In the beginning of the dream, there was a poisonous s**** with red and
> black bands going around it, separated by thin white stripes. All it did
> was hiss at people when they stepped into the garden. The people in the
> garden couldn't see it - it was far away and watching from a stone
perch.
> This perch was across a chasm. That perch then became my vantage point
for
> the first half of my dream.
>
>
> In a garden-like area with hills and lush green grass and trees, there
was
> a huge iguana, like a dragon. It would lie still and hide by becoming
like
> a hill - no one who walked on it knew it was an iguana. If they had
known,
> they would be scared, but the iguana liked the fact that no one knew.
Then
> a giant boy comes, and this giant boy knows that the iguana was an
iguana,
> and he stepped on it, accusing it of being an iguana. The iguana got
> angry, so he reared back to bite the giant boy, who had stepped on its
> tail.
>
>
> As he was about to bite the boy, the boy had a huge cricket that
> challenged the iguana to a fight. My vantage point changes now, and I am
> directly beneath the iguana, looking up at its head. The iguana accepted
> the challenge, and as the cricket flew away to go to a fighting place,
the
> iguana turned to me and tried to lunge at me and kill me. The cricket
saw
> that the iguana was lunging at me, so he came back and bit its head off,
> decapitating it.
>
>
> Now, I analyzed this dream from many angles. I tried substituting the
> ideas, concepts, and symbols in the dream with various aspects of my
life.
> The most obvious implication that I could find was this: the s**** at
the
> beginning of the dream had to be evil in some way, simply because it was
a
> s****. Since I took its place for most of the dream, I gathered that
there
> might be some hidden evil within me. In addition, when the s**** hissed,
> it was reminiscent of the iguana when it reared back to bite the boy;
> there was a striking similarity.
>
>
> Across the chasm, the giant iguana was blending in with the garden. I
took
> the garden to mean the world (I just had that sense when I was
dreaming).
> Since the iguana was there in the beginning of my dream I took the
iguana
> to be Islam (Islam was there in the beginning of my world). I took the
> giant boy in my dream to be David, who called out the iguana for what it
> was. Finally, I took the cricket to be Christianity. The iguana was
happy
> to be deceiving people, but it got angry when discovered. Though it
almost
> killed me, it was ultimately decapitated by the cricket. Interpreting
the
> symbols as such, I thought that God was telling me about the state of my
> world and the true nature of Islam and Christianity, something I had
asked
> Him specifically.
>
>
> Indeed, there was more that caused me to interpret the symbols in this
> manner. Upon telling my parents of this dream, they gave me a partial
> interpretation: the iguana is a hidden enemy, as is the s****; the boy
is
> a great helper; the cricket is a fighter; and the garden is the world.
> This interpretation came not from them, but from an Islamic book on
dream
> interpretations.
>
>
> After interpreting the dream to mean that Islam is deceptive and that
> Christianity is the truth which would ultimately save me, my reaction
was,
> again, that of most anyone. I prayed to God and said, "God, this dream
was
> far too symbolic for me to be able to interpret it accurately. Rather
than
> one dream, three seems like a better number. If they all point towards
> Christianity, I will definitely become a Christian."
>
>
> At this point, I was not trying to escape God; rather, I wanted to be
> certain before making a move that would determine the rest of my life. I
> also prayed to God that He would make the next dream much clearer-so
clear
> that I would not even have to interpret it. The fact that He answered
each
> detail of my prayer is overwhelming.
>
>
> The Second Dream - The Narrow Door
>
>
> Date: March 10th/11th
>
>
> I am standing at the entrance of a narrow doorway which is built into a
> wall of brick. I am not in the doorway, but just in front of it. The
> doorway is an arch. I would say the doorway is about 7.5 feet tall, with
> about 6.5 feet of its sides being straight up from the ground, and a 1
> foot arched part on the top capping it off. The doorway is slightly less
> than 3 feet wide and about 3 or 4 feet deep, all brick. It leads into a
> room, where many people are sitting at tables which have fancy and good
> food on them. I think I remember salads, but I'm not sure. They were not
> eating, but they were all ready to eat, and they were all looking to the
> left, as if waiting for a speaker before the banquet. One of the people,
> at the other side of the door just inside the room, is David Wood. He is
> sitting at a table and is looking to my left. I asked him, "I thought we
> were going to eat together?" And he said, without removing his eyes from
> the front of the room (i.e. left side), "You never responded."
>
>
> That was the whole dream: a detailed narrow door leading to a feast, but
I
> was not eating because I had not responded. As soon as I awoke, I had an
> interpretation. Even within the dream I felt that the room with the
feast
> was Heaven itself. I was not able to enter because I had not responded
to
> the invitation David provided. I had no idea what the narrow door meant,
> however.
>
>
> The following day I contacted David and asked him what he thought of the
> dream. He said that it was as clear as day; and I agreed. It was at that
> moment that I recalled that I had prayed for a very clear dream from
God.
> David said, however, that he did not even need to interpret it. He
> referred me to Luke 13:22-29, which reads thus:
>
>
> The Narrow Door
>
>
> Then Jesus went through the towns and villages, teaching as he made his
> way to Jerusalem. Someone asked him, "Lord, are only a few people going
to
> be saved?"
>
>
> He said to them, "Make every effort to enter through the narrow door,
> because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to.
Once
> the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand
outside
> knocking and pleading, 'Sir, open the door for us.'
>
>
> "But he will answer, 'I don't know you or where you come from.'
>
>
> "Then you will say, 'We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our
> streets.'
>
>
> "But he will reply, 'I don't know you or where you come from. Away from
> me, all you evildoers!'
>
>
> "There will be weeping there, and gna****ng of teeth, when you see
Abraham,
> Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you
> yourselves thrown out. People will come from east and west and north and
> south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God."
>
>
> I had asked for a dream that I wouldn't need to interpret, and God
> provided me a dream that was virtually a scene straight out of the
Gospel
> of Luke-something I had never even read.
>
>
> This dream was clearly telling me that I would not be at the feast of
God
> unless I responded to the invitation, though I was standing at the
narrow
> door and it had not yet closed. My reaction, once again, was that of
most
> anyone. I prayed to God, saying, "Thank you God. I think I know what
> you're telling me now, but please give me one more dream to be sure.
This
> time, please not so scary." Indeed, the second dream was terrifying
> because it was quite clear that my life would have to change very
shortly.
>
>
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