"The Anti-Church" Dream
Linda Dion
March 17, 2024
Since my conversion, I have always believed that the Great Battle being waged on earth was composed of two sides: the "World" and the "Church", and that the "Anti-Church" that would someday arise was referring to those within the World who would war against Christians because they didn't believe in the Church or hated it. But last year, I came across an article on Pope Benedict stating that as a seminarian, he had delved into the writings of a 4th century monk called Tyconius. Over the years, Pope Benedict has made a few references to this monk's view of things in some of his public statements. Tyconius posited that a day would come when there would be three sides battling it out: the World, the Church and the Anti-Church. The Anti-Church would be composed of people who would establish a false church within the Catholic Church. This false church would declare itself to be the "true church" and would go on to align itself with the World, forming an unholy alliance to war against the True Church and promote their own humanistic agendas. [For those interested in this article on Pope Benedict and Tyconius, please click here]
This view of the final battle and the "mystery of iniquity" has somewhat influenced my way of seeing global events, in both the World and in the Church, because it makes sense to me. It has also helped me understand with much greater clarity what I read in the news, which can often be bewildering; such as the gay funeral service that was allowed at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City just recently. [click here for article]
Marcel and I believe that the following dream, which I received on November 22, 2018, was a warning from the Lord to let us know how bad things were getting within the Church in order to stir our hearts to action and to intercession. But, since I've read that article, I now believe the Lord was also intimating something about the Anti-Church; that it has arisen, that it is alive and well in our day and is recruiting many souls within the True Church.
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As you may know, St Pope John Paul II, while on visit to the United States in 1976, prophesied:
“We are now standing in the face of the greatest historical confrontation humanity has gone through. I do not think that wide circles of the American society or wide circles of the Christian community realize this fully. We are now facing the final confrontation between the Church and the anti-Church, of the Gospel versus the anti-Gospel. This confrontation lies within the plans of divine Providence; it is a trial which the whole Church, and the Polish Church in particular, must take up. It is a trial of not only our nation and the Church, but, in a sense, a test of 2,000 years of culture and Christian civilization with all of its consequences for human dignity, individual rights, human rights and the rights of nations.”
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Because of the following dream and because of what we see in the news, we understand his words a lot better now and cannot help wondering if we are not living in those times, just as Tyconius described.
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So on to the dream:
Marcel and I parked our car on a residential-type street in order to get to a church. We'd never been there before, but for some reason, we were interested in checking it out. It wasn't a large building and it had a 1970's kind of look to it. It was mostly brown.
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Once inside, Marcel had us sit in the first row on the left-hand side. There weren't any pews but there were chairs. Looking around, we saw some older folks. On the outside, the building looked like a church but once inside, it looked like a regular-sized classroom. There weren't any windows and there was one door at the back.
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The priest was tall and overweight and had a very dull look about him. For his homily, he sat down on a chair with the altar in front of him. The altar was longer than usual. The whole thing was just very, very odd. It was at this point that Marcel got up and walked out.
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I stayed a little longer because I was curious to see what would happen once the eucharistic prayers began. I wanted to make sure that what I was beginning to discern was actually accurate. The priest began to pray and I was watching his lips very closely. Sure enough, what he was saying was total gibberish and was certainly not tongues. Nothing he said made any sense at all!
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I got up and began walking towards the exit at the back of this peculiar room. As I was making my way to the door, I saw a bed or settee on my left with a young man lounging on it. He was lying at ease, on his side, propped up on his elbow. He was barefoot. There was a kind of mocking spirit about him. Others were doing the same.
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I marvelled at these people! They actually wanted this and enjoyed it all, even the older folks whom I would have thought, being from another generation, would not have appreciated this kind of "modern" mass.
Before breaking down the dream for interpretation, I would like to say that this dream and my comments aren't meant to be a negative commentary on brown, 1970's church buildings or an indictment of all clergy, religious and laity. I believe it was the Lord who gave me this dream and that He had his reasons for doing so. He wanted me to see and to understand something more clearly.
Brown 70's building = A "modern" church. I believe it was a more modern-looking building to indicate that the ideology was more recent and that it had perhaps gained momentum since the 1970's.
= The brown colour, in its negative meaning, refers to a humanistic way of thinking. So it would represent man's way of thinking and seeing rather than God's way of thinking.
= The fact that it was in a residential area was to show that this humanistic approach has been embraced by the laity and is influencing people "where they live".
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Classroom-look inside the church = A classroom is where we learn, so the Lord was saying that the people inside this church were being taught a new "modern", humanistic, ideology. There was nothing sacred on the walls, no crucifix, no founts for Holy Water, no tabernacle, no pews, no singing, and a very odd-looking altar. The Lord Jesus was simply not there. It looked like a Catholic church on the "outside" but it was no longer a Catholic Church on the "inside". This brought to mind the scripture: "They will keep up the outward appearance of religion but will have rejected the inner power of it." (2 Timothy 3:5)
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Windows = The purpose of windows is to enable us to see out, to see in, and to let the light shine in. When this symbol appears in a dream, it usually means that there is an ability "to see", there is "clarity of vision" which in turn enables us to receive "light". Since there were no windows in this church, it indicated that this church had no heavenly vision or enlightenment and that it had no ability to see clearly the things of God.
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The priest = There was such a dullness about this man, which indicated a slumbering spirit, perhaps even a dying spirit. He was going through the motions in a kind of daze.
= The fact that his speech was gibberish is symbolic of his priesthood that was no longer rooted in the real, living Word of God. What came out of his mouth were "nothings"; words that had no power to impart life and vitality to his flock because he had no life within himself. The spiritual food that he was giving out had nothing sustaining in it.
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The people = I was amazed that so many people - of all generations - clearly loved to be there. And what amazed me the most were the older people from a previous generation who wanted to be there! They too were buying into this new "thing", they too were being taken in. And no one seemed to care that the priest was talking gibberish! But perhaps they understood him!
= The lack of reverence, of holiness, of ritual, of love of God was palpable. There was no presence of the Holy Spirit in the room. This building was just a kind of nice place where like-minded people could "fellowship" and "hang out" without having to deal with the "really Real".
I must admit that I didn't enjoy that dream very much, but I'm still grateful the Lord gave it to me. He entrusted it to Marcel and I, and we have been waiting all these years to make it more public. But now seems like a good time to share it because we know that many of you see what is going on in the Church and find yourselves perhaps bewildered, confused, uncomprehending and even a bit apprehensive. All of us are certainly grieved! Through this dream, the Lord wants us to know that what we see really is going on! And once again, He is showing us these things so that we will be moved to intercede for all who belong to the Church, so that we might be faithful to its deposit of faith, to its teachings and especially to its founder, the Lord Jesus Christ, "the author and finisher of our faith" (Hebrews 12:2) and the true "shepherd and guardian of our souls". (1 Peter 2:25) God really wants us to be able to accurately read "the signs of the times"!
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2 Timothy 4:1-5
The time is sure to come when people will not accept sound teaching, but their ears will be itching for anything new and they will collect themselves a whole series of teachers according to their own tastes; and then they will shut their ears to the truth and will turn to myths. But you must keep steady all the time; put up with suffering; do the work of preaching the gospel; fulfill the service asked of you.
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Please, if you have any comments or any more insights, we invite you to share them down below.