KEYWORDS: church, sort, furnace, something, dave

Church Fire Dream

David Berg

DO 1841 South Africa, 30/10/81

1. AMEN. PTL! HALLELUJAH! TYL! I'M STILL HALF ASLEEP‚ IT'S 3 O'CLOCK IN THE MORNING, THE MORNING OF OCTOBER THE 30TH, 1981, CAPETOWN, & I was having this dream that woke me up about 2:30 or so. I've been awake a little while. You've been so good to me Honey, scratchin' my back. I'm all sleepy again & that's the best time to recall a dream, isn't that funny? When I'm between Heaven & Earth, kind of dreamy & sleepy & trance-like—that seems to be when I can see best in that other World & remember best. Isn't that funny? But when I'm sound asleep I don't know anything. Then, when I'm wide awake there are too many other influences & interferences. But just when I'm sort of drifting off, that's when I can see best. You know what I mean? I think they all say that, don't they?—The Psychics. PYL! Hallelujah! TYJ!

2. I HAVEN'T THE FAINTEST IDEA WHAT THIS DREAM MEANS, IF IT MEANS ANYTHING. But anyhow, we were all livin' up in a beautiful mountain woods like some of those old resorts. Remember when they used to have the ol' time camp meetings etc.?—Like Mount Hermon & where they used to have the camp meetings‚ up in the mountains & the woods. (Maria: Yes, I remember, beautiful!) It was always so beautiful & pretty & we really loved to go there, & this was like that & we had a little woodsy mountain cabin up there, a nice cottage, & my Mother & Father were in it & they were busy with their work, shuffling around through their papers & doing things like they usually were, sort of like we do. And a little bit further down this sort of little ravine or hollow was the little church building or chapel, you know.—Like they always had for meetings.

3. AND THERE WAS THIS SORT OF A HANDYMAN, he kind of for some reason or other reminded me of or I associated him with Dave the Handyman. He had on this sort of a floppy hat, & like overalls, & he was again like Dave‚ a handyman, & he'd been workin' in the church building on something. I think he was refueling the furnace or something. He'd just finished putting on the furnace & he'd done something stupid‚ I don't know what, & it sort of choked it, & he lit the furnace. You know‚ it's always kind of chilly up in those hills, remember? (Maria: Yes.) And he was warming it up for an evening meeting or something, but he lit the furnace & at first it seemed to be going all right. I was just sort of standing up in front of the cottage & my Mother & Father were working on their papers &...Isn't that funny, I can't understand why every once in awhile my Mother & Father show up in one of my dreams just like they were as alive as ever, & I guess they are. But there they were. So all I can do is just describe what I saw.

4. SO I WAS STANDING THERE & DAVE JUST LEFT THE FRONT DOOR OF THE LITTLE CHAPEL‚ which seemed to be slightly facing us. I could see the front of the chapel & I could see this side of the chapel & it seemed to have quite a basement. It was sort of built on the side of the hill, & had quite a basement.—You know, you can remember some of those places in Pennsylvania & Ohio & little churches like that. And he'd just left the front door, & I was watching the smoke come out of the chimney & it was sort of black, the way a furnace usually does give off black smoke, you know, a fuel oil furnace. But then it started turning sort of greyish & then white & I thought, "Uh-oh!" I remember what that usually meant, that the furnace hadn't gotten started good like it should've, it was sort of chokin' out. If you know anything about those oil heaters & oil furnaces, it was sort of choking out & it was sort of like the raw fumes, the raw gas. It's not ignited, it's not burning properly.

5. AND I YELLED AT DAVE & I SAID, "DAVE, I THINK YOUR FURNACE WENT OUT!" I said, "That's kind of dangerous, you know." Because when that happens‚ if there's a little spark or something & all that raw fuel is in the furnace, sometimes it can blow up with a big bang! It happens sometimes even with your fuel oil heaters when the fumes accumulate in the heater.

6. SO I YELLED AT DAVE, "DAVE, YOUR FURNACE ISN'T BURNIN' RIGHT!" I said, "You're gettin' a lot of raw fumes I can see comin' out the chimney. You better go back & check." Because when there's raw fumes comin' out like that it's like the fire's sort of smothered, it's not burning right & suddenly sometimes it'll really flare up with a big—boom!

7. WELL, I'D JUST TOLD HIM TO GO BACK & HE WAS HEADED BACK TOWARDS THE CHURCH WHEN—BOOM!—Came a big boom & the whole place just burst into flames, the whole church building just burst into flames! So Dave starts runnin' toward the front door, he was a little bit dumb sometimes. But he was going to try to save stuff out of the church, you know, like there was something he could do, but of course by this time there was nothing he could do‚ it was too late. And it was like my Mother & Father had a bunch of stuff in the church & he was worried about trying to save it & he was going to try to, he rushed for the front door & the heat from the flames was so intense he just couldn't go any further, & I screamed at him, "Dave! Get away from that place!" I said, "It's dangerous! Don't try to even go near it! It's impossible, just let it go!"

8. AND I TURNED TO MY MOTHER & DAD IN THE COTTAGE & I SAID, "WELL, THERE GOES ALL YOUR STUFF‚ IT'S GOIN' UP IN FLAMES!" And the funniest part about it was they didn't seem to be the least bit concerned really, they just sort of looked up, "Well", kind of shook their heads a little, "Too bad!"—And went back to their work like it really wasn't important that the church was burnin' up‚ & like whatever they had in it wasn't very valuable & they certainly weren't very greatly concerned about it.

9. BUT DEAR SUE, SHE'S SO SUPER CONSCIENTIOUS & OVER CONSCIENTIOUS & CAREFUL & always afraid she's makin' a mistake or something & always trying to be so attentive & so careful & tryin' to do her job overly well, always wondering or worrying if she's not doing it right or something. She's got such an inferiority complex about that & she's extremely conscientious & she does so well & she's so faithful & so diligent & so careful with every detail & takes such good care of us & the work & everything. (Maria: It's good she is!) Of course it is. But I mean sometimes she almost overdoes it.

10. SO HERE SUE SAW THE CHURCH IN FLAMES & she was running back to the side door like she thought maybe she could get in the side door & try to rescue something, & she was gettin' toward those hot flames! The place was just an inferno & I tried to scream to Sue, "Sue, Sue!" I was sayin' it & I was yelling it the best I could, "Sue! Don't go near there! It's useless, it's hopeless‚ it's impossible! Don't even get close!" She was gettin' close to the back door & the place was burnin' like fury & the heat was so intense that she was kind of temporarily stopped & just driven back by the flames, & I screamed, "Sue! Sue! Don't go near it! Sue, come back!" And I yelled so loud in my dream I woke myself up! Ha! (Maria: Wow!)

11. ISN'T THAT A FUNNY DREAM? (Maria: Yes. Sounds like it must have some significance.) Well, it must have some significance, but I don't know what. But I would start off by saying it's obvious there's nothing we can do to save the church. It's going to be destroyed, the church is the formal church buildings & church system, & their furnace never did function properly. I mean‚ they're almost as dangerous as they are a help. (Maria: That's right.)

12. AND I GUESS DAVE HAS ALWAYS SORT OF RESEMBLED THE PASTOR OR CARETAKER OF THE CHURCH, you know? And in his sort of dumbness or ignorance he was trying to be a help & he was trying to get the furnace going & get the fire going‚ but in so doing he did it in some clumsy way that actually destroyed it, & dear Sue & he were trying to rush back in & save it.—I mean not save it, it wasn't that they had any hope of saving the building, but they were trying to save something out of it, salvage something out of the building, & that means out of the church system or something.

13. WELL, SUE'S A REAL REBEL, SHE'S NOT A BIT CHURCHY, SO I DON'T KNOW WHY THAT WOULD BE...I had a feeling that they both had some feeling of responsibility or obligation, that they were responsible for it & they should try to save something out of it. Well, I looked around at my parents & they didn't seem to be the least bit concerned. They just looked up & said‚ "Hm!" like, "Well, so? Too bad!", & went back to their papers. But I was having a hard time keeping Dave & Sue from rushing back into the flames to try to rescue something.

14. WELL, WE KNOW THAT THE CHURCH SYSTEM IS DOOMED & GOING TO BE DESTROYED & there's not much you can do about it to try to rescue it or save it. I guess it was its own furnace & flame that almost destroyed itself by its foolishness & the foolishness of its caretakers & pastors not knowing how to tend the flame or the fire properly, & that there's no point in trying to risk lives by going back in & saving anything out of it or whatever might have been good or valuable. You know what I mean? (Maria: Yes.)

15. AND MY MOTHER & FATHER, MAYBE IT'S SORT OF LIKE THAT REPRESENTED THAT THEY'RE ALREADY IN ANOTHER WORLD, they were in the cottage & they weren't paying any attention to the church at all, & of course they're both in Heaven. It was just like they had a super superior understanding of the situation & they weren't even concerned about it. "Oh, the church is burning down? Oh well‚ so? Everything's burning up inside the church? Well, too bad. That's to be expected."—Just like of course, naturally it would destroy itself.—Just like they understood better than we did, they weren't as concerned about it as we were. But the caretaker was upset because he felt responsible, & Sue was upset because she was a secretary & seemed to be very concerned. It was like there were books & papers & junk like that inside the church that they wanted to save but it was too late‚ & I shouted at them both to get away, get away! "Save yourselves, don't worry about that church or anything in it, but save yourselves! Don't go near it or you'll get burned up too!"

16. SO I GUESS IN A WAY WE'RE A LOT BETTER OFF TO BE EXCOMMUNICATED FROM THE CHURCH SYSTEM more or less‚ and separate & apart from it, so that when it's destroyed we won't be destroyed with it, & my Mother & Father seemed to be almost totally unconcerned. They just looked up from their papers & looked at the church & said, "Oh, too bad. But you know, it had to be." It had the seeds of its own destruction & it went & with its haywire furnace turned the whole church into a furnace & destroyed it, 'cause it sort of got out of control. But there's no use us riskin' our lives to try to save it or anything out of it or even salvage anything, because it's doomed to destruction & it's better for us not to get too close or we'll burn & go down with it.

17. SO I WAS WARNING DAVE & SUE TO STAY AWAY, to get away & try not to go in & save anything. I guess you'd say that Dave & Sue sort of represented our Family‚ our kids or people. In other words, don't get too involved in church work & churches & too associated with the church to where you're known to be part of the church or something.—Or you're apt to go down with it when it's destroyed. And somehow I couldn't figure what in the World that meant at all, but as I tell it to you, why, it seems like it's pretty obvious.—Just like my Mother & Father are in the next World, they're in this beautiful little cottage working on their books & papers & things‚ & they just looked up & said, "Well, too bad. But you know it could be expected. Of course the church was gonna destroy itself." But somehow or another poor Dave & Sue felt like they ought to try to save something, but I screamed at them to stay away, that it was too late‚ it was hopeless & if they got any closer to the fire they were gonna be destroyed.

18. SO I GUESS IT MEANS WE BETTER NOT GET TOO CLOSELY ASSOCIATED WITH THE CHURCHES or too involved with them or identified with'm. Maybe that's a warning to the backsliders back home where they are tempted to get back into the churches again. (Maria: Yes.) They're apt to get identified with them, & thereby when the new World order takes over they're gonna be under suspicion if they've been identified with the church or the churches. Well‚ that's what it seems to mean to me.

19. BUT IT'S AMAZING HOW MY MOTHER & FATHER JUST SAT THERE busy with their papers & things, like they had more important things to do than worry about the church building burning down, in spite of the fact that there were things in there that were being destroyed. It was like, "Well, it's a hopeless case‚ you know." Some good things, of course, are going to go with it. You know there're some good things in the church, but sad to say, because of all of its mistakes & hypocrisy & the false system of buildingism, the whole system has to be destroyed along with some of the good things it did contain, but there's no use trying to save it or you could yourselves be destroyed.

20. SO THAT'S THE CHURCH FIRE DREAM or whatever, I don't know what to call it. Anyhow‚ it's probably a warning about getting too involved with churches. "Come out of her ye My people, that ye be not partakers of her sins!" (Rev.18:4)—Amen? GBAKY from the churchianity trap!—In Jesus' name, amen.