Streams Ministries’ John E. Thomas says prophetic dreams where you witness you or a friend dying are probably not to be interpreted literally—but sometimes they can be.
“Have you ever had a dream where you died in your dream?” Thomas says. “Not many people actually have dreams where they actually die in their dream, but it does happen periodically. But it’s such a weird feeling. Even if it’s not you that died, maybe you’re seeing somebody else die.”
First, Thomas says that if the dream triggered feelings of fear, it’s probably a dream caused by anxiety and not a true prophetic dream from the Lord.
“If you in the dream have a significant amount of fear, and when you wake up, you’re still feeling that fear, that was most likely a fear dream from the enemy and not something that’s actually going to happen,” Thomas says. “So when that happens, pray against it, because you’re realizing either the enemy is trying to give you fear, or God’s allowed you to see the plans of the enemy. Either way it’s not so that you can accept it. It’s so you can stand against it so that it doesn’t happen.”
But if it’s a real prophetic dream from God, how should believers interpret it? Thomas believes it usually indicates an end to something—whether a season, a pattern of sin, or even a job—but does not usually correlate to the end of life.
“What does it mean when you see somebody die in a dream?” Thomas says. “Well, most of the time it’s not a literal death. … It’s saying that something is going to come to an end. It could be a dying to self, so there could be something that is in them that needs to die. Maybe a part of their sin nature, something that’s unhealthy, something that’s not good that’s going to come to an end. It could be talking about a change of season. Maybe there’s a season of their life that’s going to die.”
However, Thomas says there are times when a prophetic vision of death may need to be interpreted literally.
“There are times when dying in a dream is actually that person is going to die, and those are not fun dreams to have,” Thomas says. “But they can be very, very helpful, because sometimes people need help to transition well. They need to deal with some things so that they have peace as they transition into the next season. Or maybe they really need to know Jesus before they transition. So God will sometimes share what’s going to happen beforehand.”
Thomas says there are three primary ways to discern whether a prophetic death dream is to be interpreted literally or metaphorically—though he cautions that these are guidelines and not universal rules.
“How do you know if it’s real?” Thomas says. “You can’t just say the emotional impact, because you have the emotional impact when it’s more metaphoric. Usually—not a hundred percent of the time—but usually if you see blood, it’s usually an actual dying. … If there’s a funeral … that’s one of the clues that sometimes lets you know that this is about a literal dying. And then the main one is when you wake up, ask the Lord, ‘Lord, is this literal or is not?'”
Watch the full video here.
