By Xin Yu, China

When I was eight, I heard my mother say that if you have a nightmare, something bad will happen. One day, my mother said that lately, she kept having dreams about her teeth falling out, that this dream was bad, and there was no telling what might happen. Not long after that, my grandfather passed away from illness. This cast a shadow over my heart. After I got married, one night I dreamed that I climbed an enormous tree of great height, and suddenly a wind began to blow. I was in danger of falling at any moment. Frightened, I hurried to grip the branches tightly, but the wind kept getting stronger, and the entire tree was blown sideways. I was about to fall from the tree, and I suddenly woke up in shock. For two nights in a row, I had the same dream, and each time I woke up terrified, the images from the dream were vivid in my mind and I’d be left shaken. I remembered what my mother had said before—that having nightmares meant something bad was about to happen. I dreamed that I was going to fall from a tree, so was this hinting that some disaster was going to befall me? I was pretty worried, and I kept thinking over this dream every day. I was cautious even while working, afraid that some calamity might suddenly befall me. About a week later, my father went to the hospital because he wasn’t feeling well, and unexpectedly, it turned out to be late-stage liver cancer. He passed away less than a month later. I suddenly remembered the nightmare I’d had. Ever since I was little, I’d always depended on my father—he’d been like that big tree. The big tree falling was my father dying. I became even more certain that nightmares really did foretell bad things happening. I felt I had no choice but to believe in this idea!

In October 1998, I was fortunate enough to accept Almighty God’s salvation in the last days. Through eating and drinking God’s words, I came to understand that human life comes from God, and that people’s life, death, fortune, and misfortune are all under God’s sovereignty and control. As for whether something bad will happen because of a nightmare, that too is in God’s hands. After that, I wasn’t so constrained by this matter anymore. Time flew by, and in January 2023, I was out of town preaching the gospel. Again, I had nightmares for two nights in a row. I dreamed that all my teeth fell out and that my mouth was full of blood. I woke up in shock. I recalled the saying, “Dreaming of teeth falling out means the death of a close relative.” When I was a child, my mother dreamed of her teeth falling out, and then my grandfather died, so could it be that my dream of me losing my teeth meant that some of my relatives could be in trouble? The pandemic was raging at the time, my mother was in her seventies, and my father- and mother-in-law were in their eighties and nineties. I didn’t know if they would be able to get through this wave of the pandemic safely, and I thought maybe I should find time to go home and check on them. But since I’d been sold out by a Judas, going home would likely mean getting arrested, so there was no way for me to go back. The more I thought about it, the more despondent I became, and I kept pondering these two dreams. Especially when one tooth really did fall out while I was eating lunch, I became even more worried. Could dreaming of teeth falling out really mean my family was in trouble? Could it be my mother’s hypertension had acted up and caused her to be partially paralyzed? Or had she passed away? Then I thought of how elderly my father- and mother-in-law were, and about how severe the pandemic was at this time, and I really hoped nothing bad would actually happen to them! My heart was greatly disturbed, and I couldn’t put my heart into my duty. The next day, I pondered, “All things and events are under God’s sovereignty and control, and no matter what happens, it’s right to submit to God’s orchestrations and arrangements. What’s most important now is cooperating with the gospel work as soon as possible.” Thinking of this, my heart finally calmed down, and I threw myself into my duty. But in my spare moments, I still felt some worry when I thought of the dreams.

Six months later, I saw my wife, and I learned that my mother had passed away after contracting COVID-19. This news shook me to my core, and I thought, “No wonder I kept dreaming about my teeth falling out—it really was my mother’s passing. It really is true that dreaming of teeth falling out means a close relative dies. If only I’d gone home back then, I might have seen my mother one last time.” The more I thought about it, the more pained and fraught with distress I felt, so I often listened to hymns of God’s words to adjust my incorrect state. I thought that people’s life and death are all predestined by God, and that my mother and I being unable to see each other before her passing was also under God’s sovereignty and arrangements. I should submit to this. Understanding these things gradually improved my state, but I came to believe even more in the idea that nightmares predicted disasters, and I kept worrying that someday I’d have another nightmare and that some disaster would come. Unexpectedly, six months later, I had another nightmare. I dreamed that someone fell into a dry well. I hurriedly climbed in to pull him out, but halfway down, I saw that the well was gradually sinking, and that it was impossible to save the person. When I tried to come back up, I felt weak all over, as if I were stuck there, and I suddenly woke up from the dream in shock. After waking up, I felt deeply afraid, thinking, “I don’t know what disaster might happen this time. The CCP’s arrests are getting more and more severe—Could it be that I’ll be arrested? Or is it that my family will encounter some disaster?” The more I thought about it, the more worried and afraid I became, terrified that some calamity might befall me, and I no longer felt a sense of burden in my duty. I just skimmed the sermons sent by brothers and sisters and then put them aside. I was constantly pondering my nightmares, and my mind felt muddled and dazed. Afterward, I prayed to God, “God, I’ve had another nightmare, and I don’t know what might happen this time. My stature is small, and I can’t help but keep falling into fear and dread. I wish to learn lessons from this and understand Your intention. Please lead and guide me.”

The next day, I read a passage of God’s words: “How should people handle the matter of dreams they have in their daily lives? For instance, if you dream one night that your teeth fall out and you bleed, your parents might tell you that it could mean that a relative will get ill or die. In any case, dreaming about losing teeth is generally considered a bad thing. Because it is bad, and it relates to matters of life and death, this makes people very concerned. Whenever people dream about losing teeth, they feel unsettled. They have an underlying sense that misfortune or something bad is about to happen, which makes them uneasy, fearful, and terrified. They want to rid themselves of the feeling but can’t, they want to find people to resolve this matter or smooth it over, but there is no way of doing it. They are, in short, constrained by this matter. Especially when the dream involves their teeth bleeding, their worry intensifies. After having such a dream, people are often in a bad mood for many days, they feel uneasy, and don’t know how to cope. Those who don’t know about the sayings connected with this matter might remain unaffected, but those who have been deeply influenced by what they have inherited from their ancestors and who completely accept such sayings in their hearts are very concerned. They fear having such dreams, and whenever they do, they quickly resort to prayers like, ‘Oh God, please protect me and prevent such things from befalling me. If this is meant for my parents, please protect them and keep them free from any accidents.’ Clearly, these attitudes are influenced by their thoughts and viewpoints or by traditional sayings” (The Word, Vol. 6. On the Pursuit of the Truth. How to Pursue the Truth (15)). After reading God’s words, I came to understand that the reason I felt fearful and uneasy after having nightmares was that ever since I was little, my mother had told me that nightmares meant disasters would happen. Especially when my mother dreamed of losing her teeth and then my grandfather died, and also because of that time when I dreamed I almost fell from a tree, and then afterward, my father passed away, I became even more convinced that nightmares definitely meant something bad would happen. After finding God, I came to know that God is sovereign over everything, and that no matter what happens, it contains God’s good intentions, but once I had a nightmare, my heart was still affected. I’d worry that some disaster would happen, and I had no heart to do my duty at all. I even wanted to go home to see my mother in spite of the security risks I faced. Especially when, half a year later, I learned my mother had passed away, and that her passing happened just over ten days after I’d had my nightmare, I became even more certain that nightmares foretold calamity. Now, I’d dreamed again of being stuck in a dry well, so I felt unsettled. I was constantly worried that some disaster was going to happen, and I no longer felt any sense of burden in my duty. Nonbelievers always fear that bad things will happen when they have nightmares, and though I’d believed in God for many years and understood that God is sovereign over and controls everything, I was still constrained by nightmares. Wasn’t this view of mine the same as that held by people who don’t believe in God? I should submit and seek the truth to correctly handle the matter of having nightmares. Thinking of this, I began seeking how I should treat dreams.

In my seeking, I read these words of God: “Dreaming has nothing to do with the truth. There’s no need to research it. Does dreaming about losing your teeth and bleeding have any connection to the death of a close relative? (No, it doesn’t.) Why are you being ignorant again? You truly lack insight. The human body is full of mysteries, and there are many things that people can’t explain clearly. Is this something that people can pass judgment on casually? In the past, prophets and people chosen by God had prophetic dreams. These dreams had a meaning; God used them to reveal things to people. How do you explain all this? Then how did God enter people’s dreams? These are all mysteries. God also used dreams to tell people certain things and enlighten them about certain matters, or allow them to foresee certain events before they happened. How do you explain this? Are you not being ignorant of these things? If you cannot see through these matters, you should seek the truth. God’s house does not want you to blindly deny the various mysterious phenomena that occur in life and say that these phenomena do not exist, but wants you to understand and approach them correctly. What does it mean to approach them correctly? It means not to approach these matters with superstitious or extreme thoughts and viewpoints like people of the world do, nor to approach them like those who are atheists or lack any faith. It’s not to have you go to these two extremes, but to have you take the correct position and use the correct viewpoint to consider these things that happen in real life, not the viewpoint of people of the world, nor that of disbelievers—but the viewpoint that a believer in God should have. So, what viewpoint should you have regarding these matters? (No matter what happens, submit to God’s sovereignty and arrangement—don’t scrutinize it.) You shouldn’t scrutinize it, but mustn’t you have some insight in this regard? Suppose someone says, ‘So-and-so dreamed that their teeth fell out and there was blood, and within a few days, it’s said that their father passed away.’ If you immediately deny it and say, ‘Impossible! That’s just superstition, a coincidence. If you hold this superstition then you believe that it’s real; but if you don’t, it isn’t,’ isn’t this a foolish thing to say? (Yes.) How should you view this matter then? … You should say, ‘This matter is beyond our comprehension. We cannot determine whether dreaming of losing teeth and bleeding forebodes something bad will happen, but bad things like this really do happen in real life. Matters in the spiritual realm are beyond our comprehension, and we dare not make random claims. If I have such a dream, what should my attitude be? Regardless of the dream, I won’t be constrained by it. If this dream genuinely comes true as people say it will, then I thank God for giving me mental preparedness, for letting me know that such a thing may happen. I’ve never thought about whether I would be affected if a family member died, if my parents passed away: whether I would be hit hard by it, whether my performance of duty might be affected, whether I would feel weak or complain against God—I’ve never thought about it. But today, this occurrence woke me up to it, making me see my actual stature. When I think about how my parents will die, I feel a deep pain inside; I would be constrained by it and feel despondent. Suddenly, I realize my stature is still very small. I have too little of a heart of submission to God, and too little faith in God. From today onward, I should equip myself with as much truth as possible, submit to God, and not be constrained by this matter. If a very dear family member really passes away, I won’t be constrained by it. I’m prepared and I ask God for guidance and to give me strength. No matter what lies ahead, I won’t regret choosing to do my duty, nor will I give up on my choice: expending myself with my whole body and mind for God. I will persist, and I will continue just as before to willingly submit to God’s orchestrations and arrangements.’ Next, you should pray often in your heart, seeking God’s guidance and asking for Him to increase your strength so that you are no longer constrained by this matter. Whether a close relative will die or not, you should equip your stature for it, ensuring that when such an event occurs, you won’t become weak, won’t complain against God, and won’t change your resolve and desire to expend yourself for God with your body and mind. Isn’t this the attitude you should have? (Yes.) … Except for the ordinary dreams that don’t involve significant issues, there are certain interpretations for those special dreams, and these interpretations forecast certain events, providing people with certain foresight, warnings, or predictions, letting them know what’s going to happen in the future or giving them a certain awareness, which tells people what is going to happen so that they can prepare themselves mentally. Regardless of what might happen, for you, you shouldn’t adopt attitudes of avoidance, rejection, defense, or resistance, or even an attitude of using human methods to resolve these situations. When you face such situations you should come before God even more readily and ask Him to lead you, so that in the face of impending events you may be able to stand firm in your testimony and align your practice with God’s intentions, rather than rejecting and resisting it” (The Word, Vol. 6. On the Pursuit of the Truth. How to Pursue the Truth (15)). God makes it very clear that how many hardships a person will experience in their lifetime and how long their lifespan will be are things God has long since predestined. Sometimes God might use dreams to tell people about things that will happen in the future as a warning, and this is a mystery of the human body. But no matter what disaster a dream might foretell, or whether it comes true, as people who follow God, we should seek the truth in this matter, know God’s sovereignty, and equip ourselves with relevant truths in advance. We shouldn’t hide or be afraid, much less should we try to use human methods or any kind of means to resolve things. If disaster truly comes, we should face it properly, practice according to God’s intentions, and hold to our duty. Previously, when I had the nightmare about losing my teeth, I just kept worrying the nightmare would come true for my mother, and I was afraid she would pass away. In fact, the reason I had that dream might have been God warning me that one day my mother would pass away, allowing me to equip myself with relevant truths in advance, to believe that people’s birth, aging, sickness, and death are all in God’s hands, to submit to God’s sovereignty and not live in the fleshly feelings of grief and pain, and to treat my mother’s passing in the right way. This was God’s intention, and this was how I should practice after having a nightmare. But after having a nightmare, I just kept living in fear. I was afraid that if the nightmare came true, I’d never see my mother again. I didn’t seek God’s intention, much less equip myself with relevant truths. As a result, when I heard of my mother’s passing, I lived in pain, and it affected my performance of my duty. Now, I’d had another dream about falling into a dry well. I shouldn’t keep trying to interpret what the nightmare might be foretelling—whether it meant I’d be arrested, or that my family would encounter some disaster. I shouldn’t live in worry and fear over this. God’s intention was to use dreams to warn me to quickly equip myself with relevant truths so that I could stand firm in situations to come. Regardless of whether or how a nightmare comes true, when disaster comes, I should hold to my duty. Like Job, he believed that no matter what disaster befell him, everything was in God’s hands. Though in pain and weakness, he was still able to praise God’s name, utterly shaming and defeating Satan. This is the attitude and practice I ought to have. Thinking of this, I prayed to God, “God, I’ve had a dream about being stuck in a dry well, but no matter whether the nightmare comes true and no matter what happens, I ask You to grant me faith and strength so that I can hold to my duty and submit to Your orchestrations and arrangements.” After praying, I felt somewhat liberated in my heart.

Later, I read another passage of God’s words: “If one day you have a bad dream, you lose your teeth, your hair falls out, you break a bowl, you see yourself dead, and every other bad thing happens simultaneously in one dream, none of these scenes being good omens for you—how will you react? Will you feel despondent and upset? Will you be affected? If you had had this kind of bad dream in the past, you might have felt upset for a time, and when in the end nothing happened, you could finally breathe a sigh of relief. But now, you will only be slightly disturbed, and as soon as you recall that everything is in God’s hands, your heart will quickly calm down, you will be able to come before God to pray, and you will have a submissive attitude. This is correct. Even if these bad omens really could come true, and some bad things really could happen, there is a way to resolve it. How can you resolve it? Aren’t bad things also in God’s hands? Without God’s permission, Satan and devils cannot harm even one hair on your body. Especially in matters involving life and death, it is not up to it to decide. Without God’s permission, these big and small matters will not take place. So, no matter what bad scenes you witness in a dream one day, or anything unusual you may feel in your body, don’t worry, don’t feel uneasy, and certainly don’t consider avoiding, rejecting, resisting, or trying to use human methods like voodoo dolls, holding séances, drawing lots, fortune telling, or seeking information or ways to avoid these risks. This is not necessary. It is possible that your dream really indicates that something bad will happen, such as going bankrupt, your property being taken over by others, or being arrested by the police during a gathering, being reported while preaching the gospel, and so on. So what if these things do happen? You should pray to God and be clear that everything is in God’s hands. In this way, your heart will be much more at ease, and you will no longer be afraid of or miserable on account of the things you were worried about. If these things happen, don’t resist or try to escape. You should do what a created being should do and do it well, fulfill your responsibilities and obligations as a created being, and take the position and perspective that a created being should have—this is the attitude that everyone should have when facing things; that is, accepting and submitting, letting Him orchestrate as He wishes and having no complaints. In this way, any religious, traditional, or superstitious sayings or consequences will not be a problem for you, and will not cause any disturbance; you will truly come out from under Satan’s power and from the influence of darkness, not being controlled by the influence of darkness or by any thoughts of Satan. Your thoughts, your soul, your whole being will be conquered and gained by God’s words. Isn’t this freedom? (Yes.) This is complete freedom, living in liberation and freedom, and having the likeness of a human. How great is that!” (The Word, Vol. 6. On the Pursuit of the Truth. How to Pursue the Truth (15)). After reading God’s words, I understood that no matter what kind of nightmare one has, and regardless of whether what the nightmare foretells comes to pass, I should not be fearful, much less should I try looking into how to resolve it based on the sayings of nonbelievers. Instead, I should believe that everything is in God’s hands and submit to God’s sovereignty. I’d dreamed of falling into a dry well, and I didn’t know what might happen, but my destiny is in God’s hands. If God allows me to experience some suffering, then I will submit to God’s orchestrations and arrangements, and hold to the duty of a created being. This is the reason I should possess. I was responsible for sermon work in the church, and brothers and sisters were still having many difficulties in writing sermons. Yet instead of urgently seeking ways to resolve these actual problems, I spent my days worrying about the disasters that might befall myself and my family, and I kept analyzing what my nightmares might be foretelling. I’d truly been neglecting my proper work! I had to put my heart into my duty, and no matter what might happen, I should face it with an attitude of submission, and I should equip myself with truth ahead of time and accept God’s orchestrations and arrangements.

Not long afterward, my wife told me that my aunt had lung cancer. It was already at an advanced stage, and she might not have long to live. When I heard this news, I realized that my dream of being stuck in the well might have been foretelling this. Previously, when I’d been arrested by the CCP, it was my aunt who found someone to vouch for me and secure my release. Now my aunt was critically ill, and I very much wanted to visit her, but because the police had a record of me, I couldn’t go back. I felt quite distressed. I thought about how everyone’s lifespan has already been ordained by God, how, despite having cancer, my aunt’s lifespan was also under God’s sovereignty, and that I had to submit to God’s orchestrations and arrangements. A while later, my wife told me that through chemotherapy, my aunt’s condition had improved. I saw that people’s life and death are all under God’s sovereignty and predestination. Submitting to God’s sovereignty, and acting and conducting myself according to God’s words brought peace and liberation to my heart.

Reflecting on the several nightmares I’ve had from childhood until adulthood, from being toyed with by Satan to now being able to be free of the constraint of nightmares, it was clear to me that this transformation was entirely brought about by God’s words. When nonbelievers have nightmares, they resort to various superstitious practices to try to counteract the things they foretell, doing things like consulting feng shui masters or going to temples to burn incense and worship Buddha. They become more and more fearful of evil spirits, and they mistakenly worship false gods as though they were the true God. This is blasphemy against God. In fact, sometimes when people have special dreams, this is God using these dreams to reveal matters that will happen in the future, not so that people will live in fear and anxiety. Rather, it is so that people can equip themselves with the truth in advance, and so that when these things really do come to pass, they can stand firm in their testimonies, and shame Satan. Having come to understand this aspect of the truth, when nightmares come, I can seek and equip myself with the truth, and this enables me to break free from the constraints of nightmares. Thank God!