I Dream of Demons

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen 

It was one of those nights where I lost some sleep, and frustrating because I had to go to work the next day. Tough it out and pray for strength. Have you experienced dreams that stay with you throughout the day? This was not one of those. Instead, I was laying there at four in the A. of M. trying to remember it so I could write this here article.

The first dream that I will mention, however, did stay with me. I remember most of it rather well years later.

Old house, Pixabay / Peter H

In the older dream, I was walking alone on a very straight country lane on a very fine day. It was unpaved and there were no fences. Coming toward me was a figure in a hooded black robe, and a dog (like a Labrador Retriever, but with a bit more hair). The dog ignored me and kept on going, but I knew the other character was a demon.

I was annoyed, and my immediate response was to rebuke it. "Satan, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and the blood shed on the cross —"

"No!" she exclaimed. (Okay, so the demon took the form of a young woman.) At the moment she shouted, my words became slurred and it was a struggle to speak. I woke up and realized that I was talking in my sleep. 

The new dream was less linear and more bizarre. I'll try to rebuild the storyline, but the house involved is not one I can remember having visited before.

Although I knew my wife was in the house where we were staying, she was not with me at the time of the incident. While sitting down, it seemed like something...swirled...and I was pushed by an invisible force and knew it was demonic. I rebuked it. I wanted to get to my wife and awaken her, but I also wanted to play some Christian music. My idea was to play "Emmanuel", the very first song on the first album by DeGarmo and Key, way back in 1978. (Not a bad song, but lyrically a bit weak.) A better choice might be their song "Rock Solid", but dreams don't make a heap of sense.

It was like a chapter of a book was missing, because I was suddenly talking with the owner. Apparently, it was a house associated with Buddhism. The owner named the demon and said it was the spirit of...some weird word that I never heard before. He also told me that you know he's following you if the back of your neck is wet.

Moments later, I turned a saw a "man". It looked fairly normal, nothing like a spooky movie demon. The thing was slightly taller than me and creepy looking, and standing inches away from me. I stared right back and was in no mood to play. Then I woke up. Again, this dream did not stay with me throughout the day (I typed some notes when it was time to get up so I didn't forget).

Why did I have such a dream? I can only guess at the possibilities:

• God was giving me a message to share
• A warning, again from God
• My subconscious trying to work something out

The last one is what I think was going on. No divine message, nothing supernatural. However, I did want to use these dreams for another purpose.

Yes, Christians can be oppressed by Satan. Although it is far beyond the scope of this article, I will say that in my studies, I've learned that professing Christians can bring it on themselves. This happens through occult activity (including horoscopes and other divination). Note that I said oppressed. That is distinctly different than possessed. A truly born-from-above child of the living God cannot be possessed.

I also want to emphasize that I do not subscribe to the idea of Christians seeing and binding spirits at every turn. That's hooey. Some respected pastors say that Christians should never rebuke the devil, others (aside from "Charismatic" or Pentecostal beliefs) say that we can. I have done it, but very rarely. People who don't know what they're doing and are not spiritually informed on such things can get into a great deal of trouble (Acts 19:13-16 comes to mind). 

Also, the name of Jesus gets Satan and his minions on the prod — but only from a true Christian. Mentioning the blood of Jesus and bringing up Satan's defeat with the Resurrection also get them upset. 

Let me take you on a side trail for a moment. When I was very young, my parents mentioned people who had a house with spirit activity. They put a stack of Christian record albums on the changer and went away. Problem solved. You can't get much more anecdotal than that, but I remembered it for many years because there's an element of truth to it.

Okay, we're back. When watching "true" spirit encounter videos, I've seen people who do not exhibit any Christian lifestyles start throwing the name of Jesus around, and the spirit does not cease its activity. For that matter, Mohammedans pray to their god, but the spirit activity doesn't stop, and often increases. No, it's the name of Jesus spoken by born-again believers that has the power — it can't be treated like a good-luck charm.

Since I have not felt the need to rebuke Satan for years, the dreams are even more puzzling. I don't think I'll be doing it again, and the folks at Got Questions make a brief but compelling case that Christians have no need to rebuke the devil.