From the journal, 5/24/1990:
Jesus is setting up a ministry. When he sees me (greets me,) someone says, "Take another one," but Jesus replies "No. He will be fine." I remember walking down the street feeling very much at one with God and yet at times it feels like I am talking with Jesus as a separate person.
Jesus wants to show me something, at least part of which are some books. He comes across as quiet, though he speaks often enough. He is very pleased with something and wants to show it to me. This is why he called me to him, so that I can see whatever it is that he wants to show me.
I have the feeling that Jesus is finally here in modern times and that he will make himself known shortly. He already has some people with him who know who he is, but they are like "old friends" (Jesus corrected me when I called them "disciples"). Beyond the handful of old friends, there are just a few more.
All of the people here are engaged in an activity that brings them great happiness. Jesus speaks with me as if we are old friends also. He takes me around a corner to show me something, but then the dream changes to something else...
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This is the type of dream I ignored for about the first 15 years of the journal. At the time I wrote this entry, I still considered myself an atheist. A few years earlier, this dream would have embarrassed me. More importantly, I didn’t see how it could be verified short of the great Second Coming.
The idea that Jesus was “here in modern times” would be electrifying to some people. To me, it was impossible and even a bit silly. Never mind the many dreams I would have later containing the same message.
Looked at more seriously, this dream is consistent with other dreams I will share later. I am unaware of any dreams in my journal that conflict with this one. Therefore, at least the dream side of this can be reconciled. On the waking side of the message, it should be easy enough to check out. As far as I know, there have been no legitimate Jesus sightings for a couple thousand years, including the last 32 years since I had this dream.
Now the subject gets more difficult. One way to argue that the dream is correct is to introduce reincarnation. This is tricky because according to the doctrine of most Christian, Jewish, and Muslim doctrines, reincarnation doesn’t happen. Among Christians, the problem is amplified because they worship Jesus, the subject of this dream, and reject reincarnation.
In one example of Christian rejection of reincarnation, the “Got Questions?” website deals with Matthew 11:13-14. In it, Jesus says, “For all the prophets and the Law prophesied unto John. And if you are willing to accept it, he is the Elijah who was to come.” The statement attributed to Jesus sounds like he is saying that John the Baptist is Elijah reborn, as in reincarnation.
The website states that the quote cannot be accepted at face value. It uses a number of other Biblical passages to“prove” that John is not Elijah reborn. Instead, his spiritual message is a descendant or is related to, that of Elijah’s. I am not persuaded by these arguments, particularly because most of them rest on what today would be described as opinion.
On the other side of the discussion, there are many more mentions of reincarnation than the words attributed to Jesus in Mathhew 11:13-14. Beyond that, we have considerable evidence that reincarnation does occur from the late Dr. Ian Stevenson and his colleagues at the University of Virginia.
It is one thing for theologians to say that reincarnation doesn’t happen because it doesn’t make sense or it disagrees with their understanding of a book. It is another to present evidence, as Dr. Stevenson has done. In this disagreement, I haven’t seen any arguments that credibly explain Dr. Stevenson’s data as anything other than reincarnation.
I am not trying to persuade anyone that reincarnation occurs but want to mention it in the context of this dream as one possible explanation for its content. That is, if the dream is correct, it could refer to a present-day incarnation of Jesus, not to a body that would be recognized as the 2,000 year old Jesus familiar from the Bible.
If that is the case, it may conflict with expectations that Jesus will return from the sky in what amounts to a powerful supernatural event unlikely to escape notice for any length of time. Keep in mind that in the dream I have feeling that Jessus will “make himself known shortly”. All that means is, “not yet”. Still, it has been over 30 years since the dream. That doesn’t seem “shortly” to me, even if looked at relative to the 2,000 years since his death/resurrection.
To summarize, this dream is interesting to me because:
It mentions Jesus
It mentions what sounds like the second coming of Jesus
It is consistent with many other dreams on what appears to be the same subject
I had no interest in religion at the time of the dream
I will publish more of the related dreams in the coming weeks. This is the first one to catch my attention, though there is another from about the same time period that I may get to today.
If I recall correctly, Dr. Stevenson also reports cases of children with verifiable memories from the life of another person, but who were born before that other person’s death.
Not sure how those cases are to be understood, but they suggest that the phenomenon of reincarnation may be different or broader than commonly conceived.