The Orphan Spirit—A Dream

One afternoon my wife and I watched a Bethel video featuring Bill Johnson, who spoke on the subject of the orphan spirit. It was a good message, but apparently, the Holy Spirit wasn’t done speaking when I turned the video off. The message continued into my dreams. That night I had a dream in which Bill Johnson and his wife Beni were present, along with one of their sons. (I don’t know which one.) Their presence in the dream was mysterious. I didn’t see their physical bodies.  They seemed to be there in the spirit. They had discerned that the orphan spirit was the greatest problem for the body of Christ at the present time. In the dream, I knew their son was in an area that was “locked down.” When I heard this term in the dream, I wasn’t sure what it meant, exactly.

My EMT partner was with me in the dream. We went to the area that was “locked down.” We were met by a young man who looked like a friend from work named Chris Maehren. He had a young woman with him. They were both very pleasant and dressed very nicely—but they were both wearing black clothing, which struck me as strange.

They accompanied me and my EMT partner as we went through a very large cavern. It seemed to be about 1/2 mile in length and it was very well-lit, for a cave. At the far end of the cave, we climbed up a sloping rock wall that led to a door. We went through the door and into a hallway that led to what looked like a mental hospital. Once we were inside, I saw patients walking the hallways.

The man who led us there was going to let us into a room to see a patient. There was no conversation between us during the dream. He simply led us to a room and opened the door.

At this point, I became aware that there were other people with me, besides my EMT partner. Again, it was an awareness I had that other people were with us, more than actually seeing or talking to them. I had a sense that I was leading a group on a mission.

As I thought about going through the open door, I became aware that what we were doing was against the rules of the facility. I felt we were going to get in trouble when we got caught, which seemed certain because the process took longer than it should have taken. It seemed as though we should have been able to get the person (or people) out of their room and leave quickly, but everything took longer than it should have. I decided not to go into the room. I felt like I didn’t need to. So when the door was opened, I just sat on a table in the hallway and waited.

Everyone in the room came out into the hallway. One person, in particular, seemed very happy that we came there. We talked for a few minutes until an employee showed up and began scolding us for being there. It came as no surprise to me that the employee seemed mentally ill himself, just like the patients. And his sour demeanor let me know that the party was now over.

I don’t recall how I got to the cave, but I had to drive my car home. As I drove, I became concerned that my wife would be mad because I was going to be home late. I looked at a map and determined it would take two to three hours to drive home. As I drove, I suddenly took a mysterious shortcut, which I saw as my car driving quickly across a map. I arrived at home sooner than I expected and found my wife curled up on the couch, watching TV with a group of children that were not my biological children. That was the end of the dream.

There is too much revelation in this dream to adequately cover in a blog post, but I’d like to share a couple of observations:

One of the main messages of the dream is that many of us have taken on a wrong sense of identity. The orphan spirit speaks of a mindset that does not truly believe God is our Father—at least not in the way He wants us to understand this reality. I know many people who say that God is their father, but they live as if He is not. I lived this way for many years, but I’m finally beginning to accept the full implications of what it means to be His son.

A second message is that we’re on a rescue mission to find those who have been held captive by this lie and set them free. When we arrived at the holding room, it wasn’t necessary for me to go into the room they were in. It wasn’t necessary for me to join them in their reality. They had to exercise their free will and leave their place of captivity—they had to believe in a different reality. For those who are being held captive by the orphan spirit, their freedom will come as they begin to understand who they truly are and what it means to be a son of God. They will join us and we will lead them out of darkness.

In the last scene, I was concerned that my wife would be left waiting for me, but God altered time so that I arrived home sooner than I should have. I spend an enormous amount of time writing about healing, the identity of the believer, and getting free from religion. I also spend a lot of time praying with and encouraging people through social networks. I sometimes worry that I’m short-changing my wife by spending so much time doing these things. It seems God may be working behind the scenes to provide enough time for us to stay connected as husband and wife. And the fruit of our ministry is a small tribe of people who are learning with us as we take them along on our adventures.

If you have any observations on this dream, you’re welcome to share them in a comment below.