From Barbara Preston
"Christmas idol" dream received 12/26/12
I dreamed I was going somewhere and got lost. I found myself in a poor
part of town which seemed dangerous. At some point, a woman was
supposed to be leading me in her car to where I was supposed to be. But
when we got there, it didn't seem to be the right place.
She led
me there because she wanted me to take a kitten. She had a litter box
of them and was trying to find homes for them. I picked one up. It was
cute but I put it back and told I couldn't take it because I had 2 dogs
at home.
When I backed out of the parking space in order to
leave, my back fender hit the concrete floor of the building which was
behind me. The building looked kind of like a warehouse. Their sliding
panel doors were wide open and in the door way was a large stone statue
standing there. But when I backed into their building the statue
toppled over and was broken.
Someone came out of the building to talk
to me. I offered to pay him $50 or $100 dollars for whatever damage I
might have done. I think he thought this wasn't enough. Later the owner
came out and said to give him $1,000 for the damages.
I knew this was
unreasonable and would not pay this. He said he would sue me. I
told him to go ahead and do that and I would get an attorney and we
would fight this out in court.
I was scared, as I spoke this to him, but didn't want him to know this.
I got in my car and left but then had to go back again because I had to use a phone book for some reason.
In
the building there were 2 or 3 people sitting around a large table. I
told them about the lawsuit. There was one large man sitting at the
head of the table who had previously said nothing. He got up said he
would take care of this for me. And he walked out.
When came
back, He said the problem was resolved. I was not going to be sued. I
don't what he did. But was so grateful and relived to have the problem
solved.
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How "Christmas idol" dream has affected my life...
My husband and I used to go, at times, to my daughter's house for Christmas.
For me, it became especially "important" to go after my granddaughter
was born in 2006. My granddaughter and son-in-law would be there, as
would my son and also my ex-husband.
We went 2006-09. Then, for reasons entirely secular, we ended up not going in 2010 and
2011. But over time, I found myself dreading going. So in 2012, months before Christmas, I started praying, asking God what I should do about Christmas that year.
Then something came up which prevented us from going that year also
(may have had to do with the health of one of our dogs, not sure), but
we ended up not going
2012 either. I had not heard anything from God, at this point in time.
Then the day after Christmas 2012, I had a dream which I call my "Christmas
idol" dream, which is printed above. I shared this dream with Joan and she saw immediately
that this statue/idol I knocked over with my car fender was the Christmas
"idol." All the decorating, gift buying, feasting, carols, Santa Claus
stuff. I knew as soon as Joan said this that it was true, especially as
I had been praying for months about this subject and don't remember mentioning to anyone that I had been praying about it. And I was so happy and relieved to have this information.
The next year 2013, I didn't go to daughter's for Christmas. I told my daughter and my son beforehand, that I wouldn't be there for Christmas.
I told them that God just wasn't letting me be involved with this man
made holiday anymore. (No where in Bible does it tell us to have this Christmas celebration and give gifts to one another.) I told her
and my son also that I had really come to dislike the idea of Santa
Claus, who according to a popular Christmas song, is supposed to know
what kids are doing all year, whether they are
awake or asleep or whether they have been bad or good. I told them that
only God knew these things, not some fictional character who doesn't
even
exist.
I
grew up with all of this and I taught it to my children all of their
growing up years. But now I had to come out of this. There is the
religious side of Christmas also where the world celebrates the birth of
Christ, which we are not told to do in the Bible, so I dislike that
too. But with my daughter and her household, it was always the Santa
Claus part that was celebrated.
(According to Wikipedia, Christmas was set up by Catholic church and is based on many pagan events...thus it is named Christ/mas / Christ's mass)
At some point, after telling this
to my children, I was talking on the phone one day with my son. In talking about this with him he
became angry and told me that he didn't believe God would separate me
from my family like this. My daughter never expressed anger toward me,
but I could tell she was very disappointed that I wasn't going to be
with them for Christmas anymore.
I also told my husband, of
course, that I wouldn't be going. He is not born again, so this made no
sense to him and he went by himself to daughter's for Christmas in
2013-14. But I don't remember him expressing anger when I told him
this.
But he did become angry when I later told him that there
was another reason I didn't
want to go and it was because of my ex-husband being there. The times
we went
to daughter's house for holidays or granddaughter's birthday, my
ex-husband was there also. But, as time went by, I started becoming
uncomfortable being around ex-husband and husband, together. I
told him it was not good for the 3 of us to be together. I didn't know
how he felt about this, but when I told him the 3 of us should not be
together, suggesting that he not go for Christmas
either, he became angry, saying he was not going to let Tom (their real
father) replace him in the hearts of son and daughter whom he had raised
(they were 4 and 5 years old when I remarried and they never saw their
natural father, as they were growing up). So it became obvious that he
was in some kind of rivalry with my ex-husband and he continued going.
I
also told my daughter about not wanting to be there for this reason and
she seemed to understand this, as she also has an ex-husband, and would
have found it difficult to have been in that situation.
Then last year (2014), we were invited to go to my daughter's house for the weekend after Thanksgiving.
I thought it would be safe since we wouldn't be there for the holiday, itself, and I had prayed
about it... but I also knew that my flesh really wanted to do this.
After I prayed, I was reminded of the following scripture... 1
Cor 10 13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to
man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above
that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.
Then Joan called
me expressing concern over this visit. Then she told me that Pam was
also concerned and had been praying that God would show me what to do. I had no idea that my "way to escape" would be not to go!
After
considering these things, I knew it would be unwise to walk into this
with these warnings from God. So I called my daughter and cancelled.
She expressed disappointment. And even though it was not said, I feel
sure my granddaughter who was 8 years old was also disappointed.
When
I told my husband I wasn't going for the post-Thanksgiving weekend, he
became angry and said he was going to go anyway, which he did.
I think the dream also had a part in stopping me from going to Thanksgiving dinners at my daughter's .
The last time we went to one, my daughter had my granddaughter,
who was about 5 or 6 years old, recite a "prayer" she had memorized,
probably for this occasion. I
didn't bow my head but just watched others around the table. I felt
very uncomfortable with this being done. Seems like a mockery of a real
prayer. Joan pointed out how much she especially dislikes to see a
child
pray in a situation like this, as my granddaughter did. It does add
another "cutesy" factor to
something that is already abominable. They are not religious people...so
it was just for Thanksgiving "show." And maybe, as they were growing
up, I even taught them this custom. Strange to say, but I just can't
remember, but it would not surprise me, if they learned this
from me. But I just don't want to put myself into this situation
unnecessarily.
The
first year my granddaughter started school, there was a Grandparent's
Day at the school. There is one every year the day before Thanksgiving.
My husband and I went that first year. But there were a couple of
problems and we only ended up attending that one time. For one thing,
it is held the day before Thanksgiving. We live about a 3 hour drive from where she lives. If we went for Grandparent's Day, there would be pressure to stay for Thanksgiving which I wanted to avoid. And secondly, my ex-husband also attends this event.
As a result of this dream, I have also refrained
from Easter dinners and have even stopped going to granddaughter's
birthday parties. My husband and I give her some kind of present for her
birthday...usually sending money, as she has gotten older. But I found
that I didn't want to attend any more birthday parties. For many
children today,
these parties can be such extravagant events and there is so much celebration of "self" that I found I
didn't want to attend any more of these, either.
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Wikipedia: Christmas /HISTORY ... "Christmas" is a compound word originating in the term "Christ's Mass". (Catholic)
Many popular customs associated with Christmas developed independently
of the commemoration of Jesus' birth, with certain elements having
origins in pre-Christian festivals that were celebrated around the
winter solstice by pagan populations who were later converted to Christianity. These elements, including the Yule log from Yule and gift giving from Saturnalia,[54] became syncretized
into Christmas over the centuries. The prevailing atmosphere of
Christmas has also continually evolved since the holiday's inception,
ranging from a sometimes raucous, drunken, carnival-like state in the Middle Ages,[55] to a tamer family-oriented and children-centered theme introduced in a 19th-century transformation.[56][57] Additionally, the celebration of Christmas was banned on more than one occasion within certain Protestant groups, such as the Puritans, due to concerns that it was too pagan or unbiblical.
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Please share with us the examples you have where you stood on a scripture
to fight fear or persecution so we can print your example on the blog to
encourage others.
Email: joanboney@sbcglobal.net