How may we identify “The Dreamer”? Isn’t he the one whose goals are never reached? Isn’t he the one who is always drawing up plans that never materialize? Isn’t he the one who frequently verbalizes “tall tales” about his future but nothing constructive ever derives from them? Isn’t he the one whose voice can be heard above all others? Isn’t he the one who speaks of “strategy” and devises agendas without weighing the cost? Isn’t he the one who is most always broke between paydays and must often solicit funds from family members and friends “until I get paid again”? Isn’t he the one who, on each payday, “tosses his money to the wind”?
Identification Made
Yes, this is “The Dreamer.” He can be found in every walk of life. His specialty is “chewing the cud” and drawing everyone toward his visions. He is soothed and elated when ears are turned in his direction. He dreams by day but sleeps soundly at night. He is more of a day-dreamer than a night-dreamer. His expectations and goals are many. Rarely do any of his plans reach a state of fruition. His fantasies are high, but his ability to translate them into tangible substance is low.
My “Dreamer” Friend
I have a friend who’s a dreamer. Every month, without exception, he dreams up a scheme that swallows up his monthly income—a different scheme each month. By the end of the second week after receiving his monthly income, he scratches for enough money to make it until payday. He shops foolishly and extravagantly. He chooses expensive items—items that could be purchased at a much lesser price.
My “Dreamer” friend’s income is sufficient to allow him to set aside part of it “for a rainy day” or invest in a Certificate of Deposit (CD). But no! Consequently, he finds himself without anything to fall back on when his pockets have been foolishly emptied. Talking to him is futile. He’s been a dreamer all of his life. He will always be a dreamer. He doesn’t have to be. It’s the lifestyle he has chosen.
“Go to the ant, you sluggard;
consider its ways and be wise!
It has no commander,
no overseer or ruler,
yet it stores its provisions in summer
and gathers its food at harvest.
“How long will you lie there, you sluggard?
When will you get up from your sleep?
A little sleep, a little slumber,
a little folding of the hands to rest—
and poverty will come upon you like a vagrant
and scarcity like a beggar” (Proverbs 6:6-11).
The Real Bad “Dreamers”!
Jude, the Lord’s servant, speaks of another kind of dreamer. He’s the real bad kind—the kind you might find promoting evolution in
National Geographic magazine or speaking disrespectfully of celestial beings. He’s an atheist—all the way to the bone and back. Here is how Jude describes him:
“In the same way, these dreamers pollute their own bodies, reject authority and slander celestial beings...like unreasoning animals, these are the very things that destroy them” (Jude 8).
Not All “Dreamers” Are Bad
Some people are responsible and constructive dreamers. They make things happen. Dreams, coupled with wisdom and foresight, can achieve goals. Jacob, God’s servant, rested his head on a stone after a hard day of traveling and dreamt of a ladder “with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it” (Genesis 28:10-22). Jacob was a creative dreamer, and God used him in a big way.
Joseph, the son of Jacob, was a dreamer. His envious brothers said of him, “Here comes that dreamer” (Genesis 37:19). They plotted to kill him but instead sold him to a caravan for twenty shekels. They carried him into Egypt where he became Pharaoh’s top aide. Joseph not only dreamed productively, but he also became an interpreter of dreams.
Other realistic dreamers could be cited. Jesus was a prophetic dreamer—the greatest that ever walked the earth. His dreams (prophecies) always found fulfillment.
False “Dreamers” And Counterfeit Omens
There are many prophetic dreamers who falsely foretell future events and who issue spurious dispatches. They seem to have access to a lot of “inside heavenly data” not available to the average person. The Lord doesn’t like these kind of dreamers. He warned His listeners, “You are not to listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer” (Deut. 13:3-5). Under Moses, death was the punishment for such dreamers.
Within the Christian community today can be found “dreamer prophets” who exploit heaven’s ways to their own financial advantage. They “sucker in” gullible believers for every possible dollar. They can be found splattered all over TV and the Internet. Hal Lindsey and Grant Jeffrey are two examples. When the Y2K was approaching, they prophesied a catastrophe. Listen to their words:
“We are rushing toward the dawning of a new millennium on January 1, 2000. Remarkably, the entire world will face the greatest technological crisis in human history in less than eleven months when hundreds of millions of computer systems throughout the world will simultaneously fail. This crisis will massively impact virtually every area of our lives as the computers that control our financial, governmental, and business systems fail to read the year 2000 correctly.”
These “dreamer prophets,” and others like them, got rich by hustling gullible believers. I suggest these Y2K sensationalists who have written books and made tapes depicting a national catastrophe reimburse those consumers who purchased their books and tapes and fell victims to their false omens. After all, let’s be fair about this thing.
Reckless “Dreamers”
They are “men of the cloth”—the professional clergy. They’re always dreaming of “widening the borders of the Kingdom”—which, in principle, means increasing the size of their religious parties. They pursue their dreams by persuading their flocks to underwrite more and more church structures or by “building onto our current ‘house of the Lord.’ ” These dreamers are promoters of idolatry, for church edifices are idols. It was the great apostle Paul who announced:
“The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples [church edifices] built by [man’s] hands” (Acts 17:24).
Paul spoke these words after becoming distressed when he saw that Athens was swimming in idolatry—“full of idols” (verse 16). I have no doubt but that if he were to pass our way today, he would become distressed all over again because of our church idols. Satan is at his zenith when 85 percent of our “church contributions” is squandered on church structures and other materialistic projects and programs and only 15 percent is spent on evangelism and to alleviate the needs of the destitute. Shame on us! My dreaming days are over insofar as contributing one dime to another church idol.
“I Have A Dream”
In 1973, I was inspired to write some poetry. I’m not sure whether the “inspiration” came from an “inner urge” or from heaven above. Nonetheless, I wrote a number of poems that year. I’ll close off this feature by injecting the following poem.
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