Joseph, The Interpreter of Dreams

In the bible there are examples of dreams and visions.  All without exception are symbolic and can be interpreted through spiritual intuition.  God’s people had dreams and often had the ability to interpret them.  In Genesis, Joseph not only dreamed but he, along with his father Jacob and his brothers, could interpret the symbolism of the dreams.

An example is in Genesis Chapter 37 verses 5-11.  Then Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more.  He said to them, “Please listen to this dream which I have had; for behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and lo, my sheaf rose up and also stood erect; and behold, your sheaves gathered around and bowed down to my sheaf.” 8 Then his brothers said to him, “Are you actually going to reign over us? Or are you really going to rule over us?” So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words.

 Now he had still another dream, and related it to his brothers, and said, “Lo, I have had still another dream; and behold, the sun and the moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.”  He related it to his father and to his brothers; and his father rebuked him and said to him, “What is this dream that you have had?  Shall I and your mother and your brothers actually come to bow ourselves down before you to the ground?” His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the saying in mind. (NASB)

Neither dream was literal.  They were both symbolic.  A key point is that not only did Joseph understand what they meant, but his family understood the message in them as well.  They all knew that dreams were symbolic and that the symbols could be interpreted through intuition.

After Joseph was sold into slavery in Egypt he encountered more dreams and his ability to interpret them resulted in his rise to power in Egypt.  The Pharaoh recognized that Joseph had spiritual intuition and a connection to God to be able to interpret dreams when nobody else could.  In Egypt it was not Joseph having the dreams but Egyptians.  First Joseph interpreted the dreams of his fellow prisoners, the Pharaoh’s cupbearer and baker.  This opened the door to Joseph being called to interpret Pharaoh’s dream.

Pharaoh had two dreams and they are recorded in Genesis 41:2-7.  And lo, from the Nile there came up seven cows, sleek and fat; and they grazed in the marsh grass.  Then behold, seven other cows came up after them from the Nile, ugly and gaunt, and they stood by the other cows on the bank of the Nile.  The ugly and gaunt cows ate up the seven sleek and fat cows. Then Pharaoh awoke.  He fell asleep and dreamed a second time; and behold, seven ears of grain came up on a single stalk, plump and good.  Then behold, seven ears, thin and scorched by the east wind, sprouted up after them.  The thin ears swallowed up the seven plump and full ears. Then Pharaoh awoke, and behold, it was a dream.  Now in the morning his spirit was troubled, so he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt, and all its wise men. And Pharaoh told them his dreams, but there was no one who could interpret them to Pharaoh.  (NASB)

Then the Chief Cupbearer remembered Joseph’s ability to interpret dreams and recommended him to Pharaoh.  Joseph came before pharaoh and said the two dreams were one in the same.  The 7 fat cows and 7 plump ears of grain represented 7 good years of harvest while the 7 gaunt cows and 7 thin ears of grain represented 7 years of famine.  The dreams were never about literal cows and ears of grain.

So how does this relate to us today?  The answer is that it is critical for God’s people to understand dreams, dream symbolism, and develop spiritual intuition to interpret dreams.  In Joel Chapter 2 verses 28-29 which relate to the End of Days it states:  “It will come about after this that I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind; and your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions.  Even on the male and female servants I will pour out My Spirit in those days.  (NASB)

God would not be pouring out His spirit on all mankind to dream and have visions if He didn't intend for us to understand those dreams and visions.  God’s people have spiritual intuition to interpret dreams like Joseph did while the world will be given dreams as well but will not understand them just as Pharaoh did not understand his dreams. 

Dreams come from multiple sources.  First, they can come from eating the wrong food in the evening.  Another source that dreams can come from is our subconscious minds.  Our brain is split between conscious and subconscious.  The conscious deals with the physical world we live in while our subconscious deals in more of the spiritual realm.  Many times our dreams are our subconscious mind trying to communicate unresolved issues that we need to deal with in our conscious minds.  A third source of dreams involves messages from the Spirit of God.  These are the kind of dreams that when you wake from them you know that it is a significant dream due to the detail and impact that it leaves on you.

As God’s people, we need to start chronicling our dreams and then develop the spiritual intuition to interpret them.  If we don’t, our eyes will stay blinded to the messages that God promised to give us in these last days.  Pay attention to the symbols in the dreams and then look them up on dream interpretation websites.  The websites will give you multiple potential meanings for the dream symbol you are looking up.  When reading the various meanings, the one that rings true to you is likely the true meaning.  In the end you will discover both messages from your subconscious for dealing with your personal issues and powerful dreams that are messages from God.

In Joel 2:28-29 God says He will pour out his spirit on all mankind and speak to us in dreams in the end of days.  I am convinced we are now at the end of the age of the kingdom of man and God is speaking to us as He promised.  It matters not who you are.  It doesn’t matter if you believe in God or not.  He is speaking to all mankind as He promised.  It is up to us to wake from our slumber and listen closely to His message while there is still time to act.  The days of mercy are nearly over and the days of judgment are about to start!

The Messiah Comes

We are in the end of days when the messiah appears to restore the Kingdom of God here on earth.  He will come at the appointed time that only the Creator has knowledge of.  He will likely not be here as soon as God’s people would like.  Many of us are weary of battling evil.  We see common sense and decency disappearing all around us as they are replaced with self-centered ideologies.  Truth is ignored and condemned by people desiring to live according to their own rules instead of God’s.  It seems that the battle is being lost on multiple fronts.  We earnestly and expectantly desire God’s anointed messiah here to lead us in the final battle to overcome all the evil that is gripping the planet.

We must stand strong for what we believe.  We must do what is right and decent.  We must spiritually prepare and equip ourselves for the coming battle by reading the bible and praying.  The Messiah will come with the armies of Heaven at his side to wage the final battle.  We need to be prepared to continue the fight and join in the final battle.  It will not be a time of mercy but a time of judgment on the ever growing evil.  Judgment will come on the final empire of man and the last king of the kingdom of man.  The world has forgotten that God is both merciful and just.  They have experienced His mercy in our lifetimes and seen little of His justice and judgment.

Time is very short!  The final battle is likely going to occur within the next few years.  I sense the Messiah’s presence growing stronger each day.  The Creator is working behind the scenes putting all the pieces of the puzzle into place.  He is setting the stage for the final battle that is soon to come.  Those that have eyes to see are aware of what is going on.  Are you ready?  Soon we will hear the Messiah say, “Ready or not, here I come!”  Only it will not be a kid’s game, it will be all out war!

Joel 2:1 states:  “Blow a trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm on My holy mountain!  Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming; surely it is near.”

The Great Satan

The Arabs refer to the US as the Great Satan and most of the world hates the US as well.  Americans often wonder why the world hates us so much.  They can reason that the Little Satan, Israel, is hated because they are Jews surrounded by sea of Arab enemies.  However, they are puzzled by the almost universal hatred for Americans.  America is surrounded by water, not hostile neighbors.  Americans lead the world in generosity and giving to disasters of all kinds.  American liberal minded citizens blame our foreign policy and support for Israel as the reason for the world’s hatred.  This may be part of the blame, but I believe the answer is deeper than that.

America was founded on Inalienable rights given to man by God.  The whole concept of our government was freedom.  Freedom to worship God as each man saw fit.  The country was founded by God fearing people that left tyrannical countries to find freedom to live righteously.  Because of the sacrifice our ancestors made and the government they established, the US is filled with God fearing people.

The world hates the US for its heritage of faith and freedom.  It hates the US because it is filled with God’s people, both Christians and Jews.  As long as we as a nation stand for God and what is right, the world will continue its hatred towards us.  And if we continue on our current path to be like the rest of the world, our own government will hate the righteous remnant.  The evil taking over the world is seeking to establish a New World Order where Bible believing people are not welcome and will not be tolerated.  In the end God defeats and destroys the evil and the system it is trying to establish.  In the meantime, it is up to us to remain faithful to God and the freedoms He gave us!

The Coming War

There is a war that is raging is behind the scenes.  It is between good and evil.  It is between godly love and satanic hatred.  There are many voices around the planet talking  about the war.  Folks like Bill 0’reilly and Glenn Beck who describe the culture war between traditional values and progressives.  Good people feel the evil that is coming upon us.  They see evil all around as decency and common sense are becoming rare commodities. 

Part of evil’s plan is to get good people attacking each other instead of seeing the real enemy.  When I frequent internet sites, I am shocked by the labeling and hatred that I sometimes come across.  It is mostly one religious group saying derogatory statements about another group or member of another group.  A recent example I can point out is the well-known radio, television, and internet personality Glenn Beck.  I have heard Christians call him the Anti-Christ and point to his Mormon theology.  I have heard Jews critical of him for the same reason.  Both groups caution their followers to be wary of Glenn, a potential wolf in sheep’s clothes.  They say he says good things but has evil intentions based on their view of his Mormon theology.

I have lived in Utah for 25 years as a non-Mormon. I have close friends that are Mormon and they are good people that love God.  I may not agree with their theology, but I know that they are good people with good values.  So to me it is clear who Glenn Beck is.  He is a man that is standing up for truth.  He loves God, his country, and fellow man.  He is doing everything he can to wake people up to what is going on all around.   

He is trying to wake us up and show us where the evil is and who the real enemies of God are.  They are the intolerant ones that are filled with hate and want to kill everyone not like themselves.  They hate anything godly and focus their hatred on Bible-believing people (both Christians and Jews).  They have a global agenda and want a global government.  They want to control us and eradicate our freedoms, especially our freedom to worship God as we see fit.  They are an unholy alliance of haters, both non-religious and religious in contrast to God’s people that are identified by God’s love!

We need more Glenn Becks!  We need more people that will shine forth God’s love and truth against the evil that is growing.  We need to quit arguing about theological differences and stand with God and all God’s people for truth, freedom, and what is right. 

The emphasis in God’s word is on action.  The Hebrew word for love is Ahava and it is a verb, not a noun.  We demonstrate our love and faith by what we do.  Most God fearing people believe in God and his word.  We just differ on the interpretation of God’s word which leads to theological differences.  These theological differences don’t really matter when it comes to the Greater War between good and evil.  A war that is about to break out full force soon.  A war that will mean life and death!  We should choose wisely who we demonize for if God’s people demonize each other we will surely lose the battle and die!  Seek God’s guidance to recognize truth where ever it comes from!  It is easily identified by love and not hatred!  When the war explodes in full force, you will need to be on the side of truth and God even if it means that you will be fighting for truth alongside of people with different theological views than your own.

Did the Christian Messiah Teach Reincarnation?

In studying the teachings of Orthodox Jews, one teaching I came across was the concept of reincarnation.  At first I dismissed the concept, but as I studied more about it, I started to realize that that the Jewish view of reincarnation was vastly different from what I had initially thought.  I always thought that people who believed in reincarnation believed that the entire person was sent back and reincarnated into another body.  I learned that the Jewish concept is more that a spark of one person’s soul can merge with our own and continue a process of rectification.  The Jews teach that the original spark of a soul that was given by God can be divided and reunited unlimited times.

According to Wikipedia, “Reincarnation is not an essential tenet of traditional Judaism.  It is not mentioned in the Tanach ("Hebrew Bible"), the classical rabbinical works (Mishnah and Talmud), or Maimonides’ 13 Principles of Faith. Medieval Jewish Rationalist philosophers discussed the issue, often in rejection. However, Jewish mystical texts (the Kabbalah), from their classic medieval canon onwards, teach a belief in Gilgul Neshamot (Hebrew for metempsychosis of souls: literally "soul cycle", plural "gilgulim"). It is a common belief in contemporary Hasidic Judaism, which regards the Kabbalah as sacred and authoritative, though unstressed in favor of a more innate psychological mysticism. Kabbalah also teaches that "The soul of Moses is reincarnated in every generation".   Other, Non-Hasidic, Orthodox Jewish groups while not placing a heavy emphasis on reincarnation do acknowledge it as a valid teaching.” (Wikipedia)

As I pondered the concept reincarnation, I thought of the fact that life comes from God through our DNA which is inherited from our parents.  This DNA is the blueprint that directs the formation of individual cells into our bodies.  We inherit physical and psychological traits from each of our parents.  Basically the spark of life from each parent is subdivided and then recombined to produce an entirely new individual with inherited characteristics from both parents.

Last month I came across an article describing how scientists had stored information or data on DNA http://www.foxnews.com/science/2013/01/23/potential-dna-for-storing-digital/ .  Now if data can be stored on DNA and we inherit DNA from our parents, could it be possible that memories from some of our ancestors could be stored on that DNA and some people have the ability to access those memories?  If so, that would explain why some people can remember things from other lives and believe they are a reincarnation from that individual.  They have inherited a “spark” or memory from that person.

According to the New Testament, the Christian Messiah was asked about Elijah coming to prepare the way for the messiah.  His answer was that he had come and was John the Baptist.  The Disciples had assumed that the literal Elijah was supposed to come back.  Was the Christian Messiah teaching reincarnation?  Possibly, he was a Jew and that is what some Jews believed and taught and still do teach.  If so, then he was teaching that Elijah’s spirit or a spark of his soul was in John the Baptist.  An alternate explanation that most Christians believe is that John the Baptist was fulfilling the role of Elijah that was foretold prior to the coming of the messiah.

So do I believe in reincarnation?  I do not believe in the popularized notion of reincarnation that is portrayed in books and movies.  However, I think we have a stronger connection to our ancestors than modern thought accepts.  We inherited DNA from our parents and maybe even a spark of their souls that joined together to form our own.  Ultimately, God hard wired us for his purposes and who is to say if He injected some other sparks of souls to the mix.  After all, he is the potter and we are the clay of His workmanship.

Soul Mazal – Your name is your destiny

Your parents did not name you.  God did and he has encoded your potential destiny in your name.  My name is Daniel bar Zohar in Hebrew.   Daniel bar Zohar = Daniel son of Zohar.  My father’s name is Hobart which in Hebrew translates to Zohar.   I discovered that by having a name analysis done by Rabbi David Katz in Israel.  His website at http://soulmazal.blogspot.com/ offers the information on name analyses as well as other resources that are available. 

Rabbi Katz initially did a name reading for me where he was able to reveal the essence of who I am even without knowing me or ever meeting me.  I followed the name reading up by requesting an in depth analysis based on finding my name encoded in the Torah reading at the time of my birth.  Rabbi Katz discovered my name encoded in the Numbers 8:1-2 where I was again astounded by the mission and focus that was revealed for my life in that portion of scripture. All of the information echoed truth to who I am, the major challenges I face, and what I need to work on to accomplish God’s will for my life!  It confirmed that my spiritual journey is on track in the search for absolute truth in connecting with my Creator.  It also emphasized that being honest and true to myself was critical in elevating my soul to reflect God’s divine light to those around me. In short, the analysis revealed my spiritual path and inspired me to stay the course with additional effort!  I am so thankful for the information and blessing that Rabbi Katz’s in depth analysis provided me based on discovering my name in the Torah! 

What is the destiny that your name reveals?  It is who you are and who you could become.  It is the potential God has written on you with the name that He gave you.

What does God require of man?

Growing up in a Christian church I was taught to love God, to love His word the Bible, to love my fellow man, and to spread the truth of God’s word.  I attempted to implement those items in my life.  However, some of the things the church wanted me to do, like door to door missionizing, just did not feel right.  It seemed to me to be forcing my beliefs on another person instead of letting them seek truth and God’s calling in their life.  I believe that those that truly are seeking truth will hear God calling and find the answers that they need.  So I struggled with the whole proselytizing aspect of Christianity.

One day while studying my Bible I came across a verse that really spoke to me.  It became my life verse because it was God answering my struggle with what He required of me.  The verse was Micah 6:8 which states:  “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”

Now I had an answer for how I should live my life.  A life exemplified by justice, kindness, and humility as I walked along my spiritual path learning from God.  Instead of letting people direct my path by telling me what to believe and what to do, I study His word and humbly seek God’s direction.  I try to implement justice by always doing what is right tempered with loving kindness.  It is what God asks of me and I do my best to answer this request by the way I live.  It requires a spiritual journey from selfishness to selflessness.  A goal that is worth striving to implement because doing so allows God’s divine light to shine through our love and actions.  The Hebrew word for love is Ahava.  It is a verb and not a noun.  May you learn how to transform your love from a noun to a verb!  Doing so will please God.