About a year ago, as I began seriously studying religion and deciding which church to attend, within one week I had three distinct dreams that I believe had spiritual significance. I rarely remember my dreams, and when I do, they usually seem random and meaningless. But not these dreams.
The First Dream and a Passage in Genesis
In the first dream, I was sleeping on a bed in a room that appeared to be a studio apartment. The front door was to the right side of the bed, and there was a sliding glass door on the adjacent wall to the left side of the bed. Within the dream, I woke up several times, and each time I found that the doors were somehow open. I checked outside but could not tell how the doors had opened. I did not feel safe and sensed that there was an evil supernatural presence. In my dream, I decided to leave and go to my girlfriend’s apartment. It was at this point that I woke up from the dream.
At the time, this dream did not seem that significant to me. However, it took on a new meaning when I was reading the book We Who Wrestle with God by Jordan B. Peterson the next day. I was reading Peterson’s interpretation of the story of Cain and Abel in Genesis, including God’s response to Cain’s inadequate sacrifice. If Cain did not repent, God warned him that “sin lieth at the door” (Genesis 4:7, KJV). Peterson used a metaphor to compare the sin to a predatory animal that is waiting to attack on the other side of the door.[1] This hit me hard and resonated with me, reminding me of my dream the night before. It made me wonder—what things am I doing in my life that are exposing me to evil influences?
An Unexpected Answer about God
A few days later, I had another dream. During a dark night I walked into a shop where two women were waiting inside. The best way I can describe the shop is that it looked similar to the dark magic shop Borgin and Burkes from the Harry Potter movies. This shop had dark furnishings and was dimly lit by candles. In the dream I had the sense that these two women were witches. One of the women asked me, “Do you believe in God?” and I responded without hesitation, “Yes. Is that a problem?” The woman replied, “Yes,” after which both women started to walk toward me like they were upset with my response and were possibly going to attack me. I then left the shop and woke up from my dream.
Up until this point, I had still not been certain whether I believed in God. But my confident response in the dream made me realize that, deep in my soul, I knew God existed.
The Third Dream and a Decision to Act
One or two days after that second dream, I had a third dream. In the dream, my girlfriend and I were walking down a street. There was a strange man whose face had distinctive lines that made it look as though it were made of patches of skin, almost like a mask. He had a life-size cross along his back. The cross consisted of a vertical beam along his back and a perpendicular horizontal beam that extended along his outstretched arms. The man’s hands were attached to the ends of the beam that extended along his arms. The man appeared to be making a mockery of Jesus Christ’s death on the cross. He was shuffling towards us due to the awkwardness of the cross on his back and was lunging at us to try and scare us. Despite the cross on the man’s back, he was able to move pretty fast, making it difficult to keep him away from my girlfriend and me. It was during the struggle to get away from this man that I woke up. At some point after this dream, I watched the Netflix version of Frankenstein. The depiction of “the creature,” better known as Frankenstein’s monster, was nearly identical to how this man with the patchwork skin appeared in my dream.
After this third dream, it seemed obvious to me that all three of these dreams had spiritual significance. I believe that through these dreams, I was experiencing spiritual warfare and that Satan was trying to scare me away from continuing my inquiry into the Catholic Church.
These dreams were a wake-up call to me. As I was reflecting on the dreams, I felt that God was telling me through the Holy Spirit to attend the Catholic Church. I then decided to attend a Catholic Mass.
Finding Peace at My First Catholic Mass
Several months before these dreams, I was riding my motorcycle along country roads on the outskirts of town one night when I passed a beautiful church. At the time I didn’t know which denomination the church belonged to, but it was one of the most beautiful churches I had ever seen, with stone features, a belltower, and well-kept landscaping. Seeing this church made an impression on me, and I later found out that it was a Catholic church.
Remembering my experience riding past that church on my motorcycle, I decided to visit it for my first Mass. During the first Mass I attended, I felt a strong sense of peace and the presence of the Holy Spirit. So I continued going to Mass. After each Mass, I felt less anxious, uplifted, and spiritually recharged. It was almost like I felt enlightened. These experiences made me feel like I was on the right path, and I was excited to learn more about the Catholic Church’s teachings. All the things I was learning were very focused on God’s love and Jesus Christ. During Mass I was inspired by the reverence and sense of humility that everyone had.
I also clearly remember that after a few times of attending Mass, there was one Sunday that for some reason I didn’t go. I don’t remember why I didn’t go, but what I do remember is that I missed the calmness and sense of peace that I felt the other Sundays I had attended Mass. After going to Mass for a few weeks, I was already starting to feel closer to God and Jesus Christ. I also felt a stronger sense of peace than I had ever experienced in the LDS Church. After about a year of attending Mass, I am now enrolled in the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults (OCIA) and am seriously considering getting baptized in the Catholic Church.
Sources and notes
- Jordan B. Peterson, We Who Wrestle with God (Portfolio, 2024), chap. 3. ↩
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