Danger of Building Faith on Revelations, Visions, and Dreams

“I dreamt… I saw… Jesus told me…” Danger of building faith on revelations, visions, and dreams.

It is important to build your faith on the imperishable Word of God and not on people’s hell, heaven, end times, and rapture dreams and visions. Our faith is built on the foundation of the prophets’ and apostles’ teachings in SCRIPTURE, with Jesus himself being our cornerstone.

“Having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone.” Ephesians 2:20 (This speaks of the apostles and prophets who wrote the scriptures and not modern-day ones.)

The scriptures of the prophets, which reveal Jesus and the teachings of Jesus himself and his apostles in the Bible, are the foundation and rock upon which we build our faith. Not subjective visions, dreams, and revelations that cannot be proven. Don’t be so easily impressed by these things; they only puff up the flesh and glorify men.

“Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, and not holding fast to the Head, from whom all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grows with the increase that is from God.” Colossians 2:18-19

Dreams and visions are not a stable foundation of faith.

It’s irresponsible to post every dream or vision we see as equal to scripture to gain followers. That’s not what mature believers do.

Apostle Paul never went into detail about the revelation he saw in 2 Corinthians 12 precisely for that reason; he understood the tendency of human nature to delight in sensational things like visions and follow these instead of scripture. Paul did not want people exalting him, following him, or basing their faith on his encounter in the third heaven. He could have, and he likely would have, had a large following, but he didn’t because he was a mature father. He wanted them to be founded in teaching and sound doctrine from the word of God and Jesus Christ, as that’s what builds lasting, secure faith.

I’m not saying God can’t speak through visions and dreams, but we must test these against God’s word (the devil also gives or manipulates dreams and visions, and our minds also can give us dreams) and share them responsibly, backed by God’s word. Paul goes into detail in 1 Corinthians 14 about how to handle prophetic words (I shared in detail about this in this article).

We do not see any record in the New Testament of Jesus, the apostles, or early believers running around sharing dreams and visions and holding these at par with scripture and doctrine.

Following dreams and visions always leads to deception.

If you build your faith on people’s dreams and visions, you’ll eventually be misled, manipulated, and deceived. This is because you’ll always feel compelled to trust every dream and vision that the ‘prophet’ you’re following gives you. That’s how cults and deceptions start and spread. You will shipwreck your faith and become a slave to a man or woman.

The focus on and elevation of dreams and visions above the Word of God always leads to the formation of CULTS. Demons easily capture minds through these supernatural experiences. It then becomes a form of witchcraft and divination that carries away the ignorant, unstable souls.

Be very careful about joining any church or ministry that is based only on the founder’s dreams, visions, and spiritual encounters. That’s not how Christianity works. Our foundation and anchor is the word of God only, because it is infallible and dependable, not “I dreamt, I saw…”

Build your life on the solid rock of God’s Word.

Be stable and firm, built on God’s word, and you’ll never be shaken. Maturity comes from studying and meditating on the word of God, hiding it in your heart, and cultivating a relationship with Jesus based on the scripture, prayer, fellowship, and obedience. That’s the only way you’ll become a mature believer that’s stable and that God can trust to teach others, not chasing people’s personal visions and dreams.

Beloved, deception will get worse in the coming years as we near the end of the age, just as Jesus warned in Matthew 24. Now is the time to build a mature and stable faith. Trust what cannot change, and what God Himself has said will endure forever: HIS WORD.

“Therefore, whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.” Matthew 7:24-27

“…that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ…” Ephesians 4:14-16

God’s warning to and about false prophets

“Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, ‘Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel who are now prophesying. Tell those who prophesy out of their own imagination: Hear the word of the LORD! This is what the Lord GOD says: Woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit yet have seen nothing. Your prophets, O Israel, are like foxes among the ruins. You did not go up to the gaps or restore the wall around the house of Israel so that it would stand in the battle on the Day of the LORD. They see false visions and speak lying divinations. They claim, ‘Thus declares the LORD,’ when the LORD did not send them; yet they wait for the fulfillment of their message. Haven’t you seen a false vision and spoken a lying divination when you proclaim, ‘Thus declares the LORD,’ even though I have not spoken? Therefore, this is what the Lord GOD says: Because you have uttered vain words and seen false visions, I am against you, declares the Lord GOD. My hand will be against the prophets who see false visions and speak lying divinations. They will not belong to the council of My people or be recorded in the register of the house of Israel, nor will they enter the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Lord GOD.” Ezekiel 13:1-9

“This is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They are filling you with FALSE HOPES. They speak visions from their own minds, not from the mouth of the LORD.” Jeremiah 23:16

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