In short, the reason I think my dreams might not be random is because: 1) many of my dreams have complex symbolism that takes a while to figure out that I doubt my subconscious could have generated; 2) I don’t have half way revelatory dreams – part of the dream is symbolic and the rest is random – my dreams that are inspired tend to be complex and have several parts that all have their own message; 3) I have received consistent messages across dreams that also correspond with the scriptures; 4) I’ve also had visions; 5) I remember these dreams better than I remember waking life.

However, I understand that many will take issue with the idea that one such as I could have inspired dreams. Likewise, others will note that many across the world claim to also be having revelations from God, and all of these revelations contradict each other. So since not all revelations can simultaneously be true, how can we know which revelation is correct?

Therefore, in this article, I aim to comprehensively cover all scriptures that I believe could help provide insight into determining which dreams are true and which are not.

Am I allowed to receive revelations

Joel 2 I believe is the preeminent scripture on last days revelation: In the last days, God will be giving revelations to everyone – even the servants and handmaid. Given this, I don’t believe there are any limitations whatsoever on who can or cannot receive revelation. And I certainly don’t think I am the only one receiving revelations right now – as far as I know, multitudes of people are currently receiving similar revelations to me.

Joel 2:28-29

28 ¶ And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:

29 And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit.

Gift of Prophecy

According to the scriptures, the Gift of prophecy is accessible to members of the body of Christ, as long as we sincerely seek it with a broken heart and love of God. In fact, according to Paul, the gift of prophecy is essential to the body of Christ, and any church that operates without members possessing this gift will suffer. Therefore, according to the scriptures, it is not actually that unusual to have the gift of prophecy.

Moroni 10:8-19 – Deny not the gift of prophecy, for it will never be done away with.

1 Corinthians 12:10-26 – to each is given different spiritual Gifts. Every spiritual gift is needed by the body of Christ. Including the gift of prophecy. Thus, any Church that does not have members with the spiritual gift of prophecy will suffer.

1 Corinthians 14:1, 39 – We should desire to receive the gift of prophecy.

Ephesians 4:11–12 – In the early church, some were given to be prophets.

Isaiah 59:21 – The lord will never stop putting words into our mouth / giving us revelation.

Acts 11:27-28 – Prophets existed and acted after Christ’s ascension.

The Scriptures are Not Complete

One common objection people might have to modern revelation is the belief that the scriptures are all we need. However, according to the book of Mormon (which I talk about in greater detail in Why I believe the book of Mormon is true), essential truths have been left out of the scriptures to try men’s faith, but if men accept the scriptures these things will be revealed to them. Therefore, upon reading the scriptures, our reaction shouldn’t be: I am done, I have no need for additional revelation; rather, our reaction should be: Lord I have studied out your past revelations and now my heart is ready to receive even greater things.

2 Nephi 29:9-11 – The lord is always the same. Even after the bible he will command men to write down revelations. His word will never be finished, and just because he has spoken one word doesn’t mean he cannot speak another.

Mormon 8:12 – If receive the book of Mormon, even greater things will be revealed to us.

3 Nephi 26:8-11 – Some teachings of the book of Mormon were withheld to try our faith; if we receive these less teachings, greater teachings will be revealed to us.

Why am I personally receiving revelations?

Hopefully this section is not too narcissistic. To tell the truth, I have sinned a lot over my life and definitely don’t consider myself “worthy” to receive revelations. That said, I felt this section necessary to answer people’s questions.

Firstly, I don’t believe I am the only one receiving revelations. Particularly, I believe these channels are likely true:

And most of the people on this list have experienced much grander revelations than I. As to why I personally have revelations:

The Lord knew that I value revelations because, before receiving any dreams myself, I had carefully made a study of reviewing other people’s modern revelations.
I have been sincerely seeking revelations through prayer and scripture study.

I believe anyone who follows these steps can have their own revelations. However, if you never have sincerely sought to learn about modern revelations, I doubt you will receive your own (there are exceptions).

On a personal note, I think my position as being a person who believes in the book of Mormon but also believes ordinary people can receive revelations / prophecies is pretty unique, seeing how Mormons usually believe only their leadership can receive big revelations. So that also might be a reason I have received revelations. Similarly, I have noticed that almost all credible people claiming to receive revelations are right wing conspiracy theorists, which aligns with my views.

The nature of revelations

According to the scriptures, God will mostly communicate to us through dreams (though of course the scriptures also recount many open visions). In such revelations, he reveals deep secrets, the future, and what he is doing. Once such secrets are revealed, we should declare them openly, which is what I am trying to do here. Moreover, in Amos 3:7 we learn that God will not do anything unless he first reveals it to the prophets. Since our God is unchanging (Hebrews 13:8), this still applies today.

Daniel 2:21-22 – God reveals deep and secret things.

Isaiah 46:9-10 – God knows and reveals the future.

Numbers 12:6-8 – God Mostly Communicates through Dreams.

John 16:13 – The spirit of truth will show you things to come.

Luke 8:17 – All secret things will be revealed.

Similar: Matthew 10:26-27 – Preach unto the people the secret things God has revealed to you.

Jacob 4:13-14 – The spirit of prophecy naturally is easy to understand and truthful. However, since the jews despised the prophets, the prophecies they received were difficult to understand.

Amos 3:7 – “Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.”

Hebrews 13:8 – “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.”

Notable examples of open visions: Ezekiel 1:1, Acts 10:10–16, Acts 22:17–21, 1 Nephi 11

Be careful for many revelations are false

Until now, I have been trying to establish that God still has revelations today. However, unfortunately, the same is true of Satan: He also can give us supernatural experiences, he can appear as an angel of light, and his prophets can even do miracles and accurately predict the future! This is particularly true for new age religions, as I explain in Problems with The Law of One. Therefore, the work of discerning true revelation from false is a difficult one. I will provide some tips on how to do so later, but a quick test is to see if a revelator’s views align with the scriptures and then pray, observing whether you feel peace and a burning in the bosom following the prayer, as opposed to a stupor of mind.

1 John 4:1-2 – Do not trust all spirits, but first test them on the testimony of Christ.

2 Corinthians 11:14-15 – Do not even trust angels of light.

Deuteronomy 13:1-3 – False prophets can accurately predict the future too.

Matthew 24:24 – False prophets can do miracles.

Matthew 7:15-16 – False prophets will come so judge them of their fruits.

Jeremiah 29:8-9 – People will pretend to receive words from God, even though they haven’t.

Lamentations 2:8-14 – Because of iniquity, rather than leading the people to repentance (which would have saved them), the prophets reveal vain and foolish things.

Be careful not to reject true revelations

Just as we should be careful to not accidentally accept a revelation from Satan, we should be equally careful to not accidentally reject a true revelation from God. As we learn in the scriptures, if we reject the messengers of God, it is possible that God will reject our prayers during our times of trouble. The truth is, if you reject modern day revelation, it is likely you would have also rejected the ancient prophets if you lived in their day, which of course is not something we want to be true of ourselves.

1 Thessalonians 5:19-21 – Do not despise prophesyings.

2 Chronicles 36:15-16 – Mocking messengers and despising their words leads to the wrath

of the lord.

Matthew 23:29-31 – Pharisees said they would have accepted the ancient prophets, however when confronted with modern revelation they denied it.

Jeremiah 25:4-11 – Because the people did not hearken unto the prophets, they will be destroyed.

Zechariah 7:11-13 – Because they did not listen to the prophets, the Lord did not listen to their prayers.

Proverbs 29:18 – The people perish without revelation.

Jacob 4:8 – Despise not the revelations of God.

Line upon Line / Taken away even that what they have

Rejecting modern day revelation takes us on a dark path. According to the scriptures, God rewards those who accept the truth with even greater truths, while unto those who reject the truth, he takes away even that which they have. Therefore, if we continually reject modern revelations, eventually God will take away the truths that we used to hold, until we are left in a state where we possess no spiritual knowledge whatsoever.

2 Nephi 28:29-30 – We receive revelation gradually (line upon line); if we accept initial revelations, more will be given to us.

Isaiah 28:10 – Again we receive revelations line upon line, precept upon precept.

Alma 12:9–11 – If you harden your heart against new revelation, eventually you will lose all spiritual truth including the truths you initially had.

Matthew 13:11-13, Mark 4:24–25, Luke 8:18 – Again rejecting revelation leads to losing the initial revelation you had.

Helaman 13:8 – If our hearts are hard, God will take away even the truths that we have.

Natural Man Does Not Receive Revelations

This final warning is most sobering: If we are not of God’s flock, then revelations will seem like foolishness unto us, and we will reject them. Therefore, let us not blindly reject all modern revelation.

1 Corinthians 2:14 – “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”

John 10:26-27 – “But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep … My sheep hear my voice”

How to discern if a revelation is true or not

Prayer with a question works

So, the first and foremost thing to do evaluating the truth of a revelation is to pray about it with real intent and faith. Prior to prayer, we should first study out the topic in our minds.

James 1:5–6 – God will answer our questions through prayer.

Matthew 7:7–8 – Again, God will answer our questions.

Jeremiah 33:3 – If we call on God he will show us great things.

D&C 9:8–9 – To know the truth of something: first study it out in your mind. Then pray. If it is true, you will feel a burning in your bosom, otherwise, you will have a stupor of thought.

What does the spirit feel like

If the thing is true, then after our prayer, God will send us a burning in the bosom and a sense of peace and comfort. Conversely, if it is false, he will send us a stupor of thought (D&C 9:8–9). Moreover, we also are taught that God’s voice is mild, still, and small, yet pierces to the core; therefore, I expect the promptings of the holy Ghost to be felt in like manner. Finally, we are taught that God’s truths will be felt in both our mind and heart (D&C 8:1-2).

1 Kings 19:12 – The Lord’s voice is still and small.

3 Nephi 11:3 – The lord’s voice is small but pierces to their soul and causes the heart to burn.

D&C 8:1-2 – We can know the truth of things through faithful and sincere prayer. This will be felt in our mind and heart.

D&C 6:22–23 – God sends a feeling of peace to confirm revelation.

Alma 32:28 – The word is like a seed. If it is true, we will feel it swell in our breasts. We will feel our soul expanded and feel more enlightened, and the seed will be delicious to us.

Helaman 5:30–47 – Revelation comes as a mild still voice, like a whisper that pierces to the soul.

Galatians 5:22–23 – “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance”

Metrics by which we can judge

Beyond prayer, the scriptures give us a few additional metrics by which we can judge true revelation. Firstly, true messages should testify of Christ and correspond with the scriptures. Moreover, they should encourage us to do good and be humble and just. They should also edify us, bring light, and be good. Finally, prophets can be judged of their works.

1 John 4:1-2 – Try every spirit by seeing if it testifies of Christ.

Matthew 7:15-16 – Ye shall know if a prophet is true by seeing his fruits.

Galatians 1:8–9 – Compare revelations to the established truth in the scriptures.

Moroni 10:4-6 – We can pray to know the truth of all things. Things that are true will be good, just, and acknowledge Jesus Christ.

D&C 11:12–14 – That which is true will lead you to do good and be humble and just. It will enlighten your mind and bring joy.

D&C 50:23–24 – That which edifies and brings light is true.

Moroni 7:14–17 – That which is true should persuade men to do good and believe in Christ.

The Spirit of Truth

If we truly seek God, pray, and follow his commandments, we are promised that we will receive the spirit of truth. This spirit will guide us to the truth and testify whether messengers are true. Therefore, let us be wary to carefully obey the precepts of the gospel lest we lose this spirit.

John 14:15-24 – If we love Christ and keep his commandments, we will receive the spirit of truth.

John 16:13 – The spirit of truth will guide us to the truth.

Romans 8:16 – The spirit will bear witness of God’s messengers.

Luke 11:13 – We must pray to receive the spirit of truth.

How you can receive your own revelations

I believe that if we truly seek the Lord, not only can we receive confirmation of other’s revelations, but we also can receive our own revelations. To receive revelations, we are taught to come to God in faith filled prayer with a broken heart and contrite spirit. Moreover, scripture study, fasting, and good works will help to consecrate these prayers. Finally, I believe diligence is a key to receiving revelations – don’t give up at initial failure.

Some people report receiving prophetic dreams and visions since childhood. But for me, it was not like that – rather, as a young adult, only after I had spent a great many hours searching out modern revelations published online did I very slowly start to receive my own prophetic dreams. As I increased my devotion, the rate of these dreams increased. However, I definitely did not earn my revelations and have sinned. All I can think is: the time must truly be late for the Lord to be revealing them to someone as unworthy as me.

Ether 4:13–15 – If we come unto god with a broken heart and a contrite spirit, he will show us great and hidden things.

Enos 1:3–5 – Great prayer leads to revelation.

Alma 5:46-47 – Prayer and fasting leads to prophecy and revelation.

Alma 17:2–3 – Scripture study, prayer, and fasting leads to the gift of prophecy.

Alma 26:21-22 – Faith, good works, and prayer lead to the gift of prophecy.

1 Nephi 10:18–19 – If we diligently seek, the mysteries of God will be revealed to us.

1 Nephi 11 – Nephi prays and receives the same vision as his father.

a personal story

To help the reader understand my view, I will tell a personal story. I was hiking in the Austrian Alps at night and (extremely foolishly) decided to take a shortcut through the forest to get down a mountain faster by bypassing switchbacks. On this shortcut, my phone fell out of my pocket off a cliff!

So I climbed down the cliff to start searching for my phone. But there was a large area where the phone could be seeing that the slope just kept going all the way to the base of the mountain, and it was very dark. The good thing was I was listening to the scriptures through wireless headphones, and so when I was too far away from my phone the signal would falter; therefore I had a very rough idea of the location.

I tried pausing and playing but that didn’t light up my phone screen, so I proceeded to pray asking God for help. Immediately after the prayer, I saw my phone screen light up for 2 seconds in a place I was looking. The phone had fallen into a deep crack that was partially covered in rocks and leaves, and there is no way I could have found it by myself even in the daylight. So, I am very grateful the Lord helped me find my phone!

I believe this scenario matches our own searches for truth: First of all, to get to my phone, I had to have the baseline fitness to climb down the cliff in the dark, which I believe represents making basic efforts to follow all the commandments. If we aren’t even trying to follow basic commandments, God usually won’t guide us to greater truth (not saying I’m perfect here though). Next, I was able to use the signal of the scripture audio to judge whether any given point was close or far from the phone. Likewise, the Scriptures will always allow us to judge whether a message is in alignment with God or not. Finally, to pin point the exact location of my phone, I needed to pray – we too will never be able to find the exact Truth unless we are praying.

It’s also worth noting the symbolism of my phone being lost: Normally, my phone is the thing I would use to find things. It was my only light, and I used it to locate myself on maps. So what are you supposed to do when the thing you use to find things is itself lost? The only thing left to rely on is the scriptures and prayer. Likewise, in our own personal search for truth, since we start off from a position of ignorance regarding the validity of anything, our only source of truth will be the scriptures and prayer. Nothing else will be able to help us, so we need to put our whole trust in God.

Therefore, when we are faced with a question of truth, I offer three steps: 1) humbly strive to live a Christian life, so that they will be able to resonate with the Truth; 2) read the scriptures so that one can judge if a message matches them or not; 3) pray to know truth. I’m definitely not perfect in these, so this instruction is just as much for myself.

Synchronicity
While writing this article, I was feeling a lot of doubt as to whether my dreams are true or not. I happened to click on this video and found this phrase which seems relevant:

“don’t doubt in the dark what you know to be true in the light.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiYFdEwQU8k

finding truth in dreams