Visions and Out Of Body Experiences

We are discussing the question of visions and dreams. Can we expect them? Does God still speak to His people through them?

The Apostle Paul writes about his visions and out-of-body experience (OBE) with these words:

I must go on boasting. Though there is nothing to be gained by it, I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord. I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven--whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows. And I know that this man was caught up into paradise--whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows-- and he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter. - 2Co 12:1-4 ESV

I've written about this experience in several earlier blogs. You can use the search button on the right to find others. Examples:

• Christ's Power in my Weakness
• After Death, Paradise
• Some Heavenly Questions
• What And Where Is Heaven?

You may also wish to search for my earlier discussions of visions and dreams. 

In this blog I want to discuss the question of visions and revelations of the LORD a bit further. Paul's word for visions is optasia in common NT Greek. The same word is used to describe the experience of Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist.  Luke says that the angel Gabriel came to him with the message that Elizabeth, his wife, was to bear a child and the child's name was to be John. He would go to the people in the spirit and power of Elijah to make them ready for the coming Messiah. The people saw that Zechariah couldn't speak when he emerged from the Holy Place. They assumed that he had received a vision (Luke 1:22).

Paul used the same word, optasia, when describing his experience to King Agrippa, grandson of Herod the Great. Paul called it the ouranios optasia, heavenly vision. Heavenly is the adjective frequently used to describe God the Father, e.g. "You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect." - Mat 5:48 ESV. In those instances heavenly does not describe a place, but rather a condition or way of life. The heavenly Father is complete, in need of nothing. And He loves everyone. We, in turn, are like Him when we love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us.

The heavenly Father dwells above and beyond our mortal existence. This is why the Bible speaks Him being in the third heaven, that inaccessible dimension beyond us. To enter it is to come directly into the presence of God Himself. As I wrote earlier:

The third heaven is that place to which Paul was caught up, the place beyond, the dwelling-place of God, the heaven of heavens (Deut 10:14; Psalms 115:16; 148:4) 

Paul says he was caught up to that heaven. He also calls it paradise, being in the intimate and personal presence of the heavenly Father.

Paul does not know whether or not he left his body when he was caught up. Only God knows that. So we are left to assume that Paul believed in the possibility of an out-of-the-body experience. He couldn't say whether such a thing like that really happened to him, but it was possible. Only God knows.

Modern day Jews have the same beliefs. Rabbi Elyahu Kin lectures on You Tube about NDE (near death experience) or OBE (out of body experience). He emphasizes that men have souls, that part of our being known in Hebrew as the shem, the soul. The soul, he says,  continues after the body dies. Like Paul he also accepts the fact that the shem, the soul, can leave the body.

Paul couldn't speak about his optasia. He was forbidden, but his experience was real. It was what confirmed for him his call to be the apostle to the Gentiles.

And so what about us? Shall we expect visions and OBE's ? Not necessarily. Paul, for one, did not seek out such. They were given at God's choosing, never at Paul's demanding. This, then, must be our position.

1. Yes, we have a soul that will survive after our body dies. 
2. It is possible for the soul to leave the body and be caught up in a heavenly experience and then return to the body—what is called in our day an OBE.  
3. And yes, if God chooses, we may receive a vision. 
4. But such a vision will be completely in harmony with all that God has previously revealed through His prophets and apostles. 

Does The LORD Still Grant Visions And Dreams?

It has been a couple months since I posted anything to this blog. During that time my wife and I made a major move. We moved to a retirement village in south Texas. So now that we are settled in and comfortable I am able to move on with my next project.  I will now explore what the Bible has to say about visions and dreams. The question is whether the LORD still today speaks to His people through visions and dreams. Does He grant such visions only to a select few or can we anticipate that the LORD will and does speak to any one of us directly in our own visions and dreams?

In the past several months everything we studied in the book of the Revelation has been based upon John's vision. Listen again to what he says as his mysterious book begins:

I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet saying, "Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea." Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, - Rev 1:10-12 ESV

Notice the phrase "in the Spirit" and that he is told by "a loud voice like a trumpet" to write "what you see." When he turns "to see the voice that was speaking" he "saw" seven golden lamp stands. . .

Let's start with "in the Spirit." Exactly what John means by that phrase is not immediately clear. He uses the phrase several times:

I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet - Rev 1:10 ESV
At once I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne. - Rev 4:2 ESV
And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was full of blasphemous names, and it had seven heads and ten horns. - Rev 17:3 ESV
And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, - Rev 21:10 ESV

John is probably saying that he was meditating upon God's Word on the day the church remembers  and celebrates the resurrection of Jesus, the Lord's day, namely Sunday.  To speak of being "in" normally refers to a place with limits of space, such as being in Bethlehem (Matt. 2:1). It can also refer to the contents of a book or prophecy. So Paul writes about that portion of Scripture in  which Elijah is recorded as claiming that Israel has forsaken her God (Rom. 11:2). In turn, Paul writes about a believer being in the Spirit if in fact "the Spirit of God dwells in you" (Rom. 8:9). Consequently it is safe to say that the Spirit dwelling in John led him to hear and to see what the Spirit was uncovering about events that are to take place in the future.

This then is the primary meaning of the visions given to Bible prophets. Led by the Holy Spirit they proclaim and write about what they have seen and heard about the future. So Isaiah starts his prophecy with these words:

The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. - Isa 1:1 ESV

The word for vision in the Hebrew language is chazown.  The word occurs 35 times in 34 verses of the Hebrew Bible. So way back in the days before King David, we read about the boy Samuel hearing the LORD speak to him. The writer says that "the word of the LORD was rare in those days; there was no frequent vision. Samuel did not know what to make of the voice he heard until Eli the priest instructed him to listen and obey. When he did that the LORD spoke to Samuel and said,

"Behold, I am about to do a thing in Israel at which the ears of everyone who hears it will tingle." 1 Sam 3:11 ESV

(Formerly in Israel, when a man went to inquire of God, he said, "Come, let us go to the seer," for today's "prophet" was formerly called a seer.) - 1Sa 9:9 ESV 

So Samuel is called a seer of visions. John's vision falls in line with the ancient prophets. He saw, he heard and then proclaimed in writing what the LORD had revealed.

In the next posts I want to explore with you what this means for the present and modern church. What does the New Testament say about prophets and prophesying and in what way does the office of the prophet continue?

Newt Gingrich's Misuse Of The Bible

In several speeches I heard Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich misquote Proverbs 29:18, "Where there is no vision, the people perish."

“I’ll fine-tune my message to say: Without vision, the people perish,” he said, paraphrasing Proverbs 29:18 and casting its admonition as his central campaign theme. “You need a visionary leader with very big, very bold ideas. This is a very big, very bold country.” 

Gingrich does not ever directly say he is that visionary candidate, perhaps mindful of the biblical warning that comes just a few verses later: “A man’s pride shall bring him low.” But his point is clear as he outlines what he casts as “big ideas” and “big solutions.”

What exactly does the Bible mean by the word Gingrich used? What is this vision to which he mistakenly refers? Let's start with the full quote from the King James version:

Where [there is] no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy [is] he. - Prov. 29:18 KJV

The word, chazown in Hebrew, is variously translated in other versions:

• revelation, NKJV
• divine guidance, NLT
• prophetic vision, ESV
• prophecy, RSV

We encounter the word in 1 Samuel 13 when the future prophet Samuel hears the LORD speak to him during the night. The writer of Samuel comments that "the word of the LORD was rare in those days; there was no frequent vision (chazown)" I Sam.3:1—ESV. By this the writer implies that there had been a time when God spoke His word (dabar in Hebrew), but such times were infrequent in Samuel's day.

Earlier we read that the word (dabar) of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, promising that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars (Gen. 15:1-5). The word for Abram's vision (machazeh in Hebrew) is the same word for the oracle that the strange alien prophet Balaam received. In his vision Balaam could only praise and bless the Israelites coming out from the desert. As a result, Moab's ruler, Balak, screamed that he had commanded Balaam to curse, not bless Israel. Balaam replied,

'If Balak should give me his house full of silver and gold, I would not be able to go beyond the word of the LORD, to do either good or bad of my own will. What the LORD speaks, that will I speak'? - Num 24:13 ESV

Both chazown and machazeh are nouns that come from the verb chazah, to look, see, behold or prophesy. Some applications:

• Moses is commanded to "look (chazah) for able men from all the people, men who fear God, who are trustworthy and hate a bribe, and place such men over the people as chiefs of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens." - Exd 18:21 ESV

• David rejoices, "So I have looked (chazah) upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory. - Psa 63:2 ESV

• The 70 elders who went with Moses, Aaron and his sons up on Mt. Sinai "beheld (chazah) God, and ate and drank. - Exd 24:11 ESV

• The king declared to Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, "Are you able to make known to me the dream that I have seen (chazah) and its interpretation?" 

Daniel answered the king and said, "No wise men, enchanters, magicians, or astrologers can show to the king the mystery that the king has asked, but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and he has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days. Your dream and the visions of your head as you lay in bed are these . . ." - Dan 2:26-28 ESV

• And after the resurrection all saints will join Job to say, "After my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see (chazah) for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. My heart faints within me! - Job 19:26-27 ESV

The point to be emphasized in all of this is that no one ought properly to speak about a vision unless he can also say that the LORD God has revealed His mysteries to him. Only then can he claim to be a spokesman, a prophet who speaks the word (dabar) of the LORD.

Further, if any prophet claims to speak a word that conflicts in any way with what the LORD has previously revealed to His true prophets and seers (1 Chron. 29:29), that false prophet must be rejected and denounced (Deut. 13:1-3).

And finally, in the coming resurrection of all God's saints, the LORD will grant them to see Him in all His majesty and glory.

Sorry Newt, but I don't think you qualify as a prophet, regardless of what vision and big, bold ideas YOU may have for America. Next time, please don't misuse Holy Scripture to support your political agenda.  

Who Dares To Be A Prophet?

As promised, we're taking a look at prophecy in the Bible. It's a huge topic, one that remains quite controversial and one that is often muddled and confused by assumptions and presumptions. Let's start with a few definitions.

What is a prophet? And who dares to lay claim to the title?

The most common Hebrew term for prophet in the Bible is Nabi'. A prophet was moved by God's Spirit both to proclaim God's Word and to predict future events. Speaking about the task, the LORD said, "If there is a prophet among you, I the LORD make myself known to him in a vision (Mar'ah); I speak with him in a dream (Chalowm) (Numbers 12:6).

There were, as now, false prophets. Moses warned about them, saying, "If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or wonder that he tells you comes to pass, and if he says, 'Let us go after other gods,' which you have not known, 'and let us serve them,' you shall not listen to that prophet or that dreamer of dreams. For the LORD your God is testing you to, to know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul (Deut. 13:1-5 and Deut. 18:20-22).

Some critics dispute the term Nabi'. They say it refers to babbling and nonsense, crazy, ecstatic ravings. The prophet Jeremiah, for instance, was accused of being a "madman who prophecies" and who ought to be put in the stocks and neck irons (Jeremiah 29:26). False prophets did indeed rave and the verb that describes such ravings is indeed Naba. However, that verb is also used to describe true prophesying. It all depends on the context.

There is an interesting story in 1 Samuel about Israel's first king, Saul. At one point a harmful spirit from God rushed upon Saul and he raved around in his house while David was playing the lyre for him. This raving is described by the verb Naba. In his raving he tried to pin David to the wall with a spear (1 Samuel 18:10-11; 19:9-10). Then in the very same chapter we read that the Spirit of God came upon Saul. He stripped off his clothes and in some kind of apparent ecstasy prophesied (Naba again). Because of this the question was raised, "Is Saul also among the prophets?"

Over 100 times in the OT, mostly in the books of the Prophets, prophetic revelations are described as a Word that God gave them to be delivered to the people. So Ezekiel wrote about his visions as "the word of the LORD" (Ezekiel 1:3). Note especially in Ezekiel that this "word of the LORD" came through some very strange visions (Mar'ah), a noun that may also refer to a bronze mirrors (Exodus 38:8). In the Bible we read about Jacob-Israel's visions at both Bethel (Genesis 28:11-17) and Beersheba (Genesis 46:1-4).

We also read of the LORD revealing Himself through dreams (Chalowm). Notable are the dreams that Joseph had about himself and his brothers (Genesis 37:5-11) and later the dreams of Pharaoh that he was empowered by the Spirit of God to interpret (Genesis 41:1-38). Interesting enough, the verb for dreaming in Hebrew is Chalam, a word that refers to being fat, strong and robust (Job 39:4) and seems to imply that a robust person is better able to dream.

The prophet Samuel is called a Seer, an older term for prophet (1 Samuel 9:9-19). Isaiah, one of the Latter Prophets, mocks drunken prophets who have visions (Ro'eh) brought on by strong drink (Isaiah 28:7).

There are 17 books in the Old Testament that fit into the category of prophecy. That's a major part of the Bible. The Lord Jesus, like the Jews of His day, acknowledged them, dividing the OT as we have come to know it, into the Law (Torah) and the Prophets (Matthew 5:12). The Prophets' writings were divided into the Former and the Latter Prophets. The Former prophetic books (Joshua, Judges, 1 and 2 Samuel and 1 and 2 Kings) were written as chronological history. The Latter Prophets (Isaiah through Malachi) feel more like sermons than history. Many times the messages have hidden meanings, written as they are, in poetry. Early Christians viewed all of these writings as God's Word, most especially since they foretold the coming of Christ, His life, ministry, manner of death and resurrection.

All through the Bible, from beginning to end, our knowledge of God—His creative acts and deeds in the history and life of His chosen people and promises of what yet is to come—comes by revelation. Without God revealing Himself to His prophets, we would have no knowledge of God, no theology. Everything depends upon God's revealed Word.

Today we are generally well advised to be very cautious about men or women who claim they have had visions and dreams in which the LORD spoke to them. We cannot deny that God has—and can—reveal Himself directly to His people. The New Testament speaks about men and women, prophets, receiving prophecies (Acts 11:27-30; 13:1; 15:32; 21:4-9).  The Church has a long history of men and women who received visions and dreams from God. The warning of Moses above (Deuteronomy 13:1-5) must, however, be taken to heart. We are best advised to wait for God to reveal Himself and His will through His written and recorded Word.

We'll take that matter up another time.

The Gift of Foresight

In English the Nordic gift of fore-seeing has been variously called seid, seidh, seidr, seidhr, seith, or seithr. However you spell it, the Norsemen believed that certain women had it. And note, they believed it to be a feminine gift. Any man claiming it was suspect. 


In her trance the Volva or Wicca or Witch would be told by her guardian spirit or goddess of things that were to come. She would find answers to the future and to the needs of those begging her guidance. 

Some cultures call such a person a shaman. Among the Hebrews it was usually  a man, but sometimes a woman had the gift. The Bible refers to these Seers or Prophets in numerous passages: 


Then Miriam the prophetess, Aaron's sister, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women followed her, with tambourines and dancing - Exodus 15:20.


(Beforetime in Israel, when a man went to enquire of God, thus he spake, Come, and let us go to the seer: for [he that is] now [called] a Prophet was beforetime called a Seer) I Samuel 9. 


"And when David arose in the morning, the word of the LORD came to the prophet Gad, David’s seer . . ." 2 Samuel 24:11.


The gift of foreseeing the future is suspect among many Christians and most particularly Lutherans. We much prefer to say that the days of seeing into the future are past. Our task now is to prophesy, that is to proclaim, what has been earlier revealed. 


The world of entertainment, however, does not avoid such questions. We humans are inevitably driven by a desire to know what the future holds for us. The TV series Flash Forward takes hold of this deep curiosity with the premise that some perverse group has somehow given the entire population of the world a two and one-half minute glimpse into the future by putting them all into a trance at the same time. 


The Nazis also embraced this desire to know their destiny. And they believed that the ancient Nordic gods had it planned for them. This fact led to the creation of Hulda Schwarz, the Volva/Wicca of my upcoming novel Freya's Child.