Fatih Ozcan, a waiter at a Turkish restaurant in York, had a dream. In his dream, he was showing a bunch of cash to his manager, Hayati Kucukkoylu. Fatih believed in his dream “interpretation” so much that the next day, he bought a lottery ticket. He then went to work and pestered his boss for three hours until he agreed to buy some tickets too. And guess what? Amazingly, the manager won $1.7 million!
That is when the trouble began. Kucukkoylu didn’t want to share his winnings with Ozcan. So Ozcan sued. And, believe it or not, a Judge in London actually agreed with Ozcan that he was entitled to half. The manager was ordered to split the winnings with his “psychic waiter.”
In his ruling the Judge said that Ozcan was entitled to half the winnings, because the Plaintiff was a “strong believer in the power of dreams.” Wow. The waiter gets half because he really, really believes his dreams? What if he had interpreted the dream to mean he had to rob the restaurant?
Obviously, this coincidence, while fascinating, doesn’t prove any psychic ability in the waiter. But did you know that it wasn’t that long ago, that God gave real dreams, visions, and interpretations to people in the Bible? Here is the difference – the real prophets always confirmed the glory of God and revealed truth about God, giving proof of His Word through signs and wonders.
Perhaps the best known of the dreamers was a man named Joseph. Joseph was able to interpret Pharaoh’s dreams, and he saved Egypt from a great famine. His reward was great – he was made 2nd in command in Egypt, behind Pharaoh himself. But Joseph knew that the power wasn’t his. He offered glory to God, and he said, “Interpretations belong to God” (Genesis 40:8).
These words would be echoed by another dream interpreter several hundred years later. The prophet, Daniel, was asked to interpret a dream, and he said, “neither wise men, conjurers, magicians, nor diviners are able…However, there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries” (Daniel 2:27-28).
Daniel interpreted that king’s dream, and told him about a Kingdom that would “never be destroyed,” but would “endure forever.” That Kingdom was the Church that Christ built. So don’t put your faith in “psychics” and dreams…no matter how much your waiter believes them. Put your faith in the revealed Word of God and the fulfillment of all the prophecies, His Son, Jesus the Christ.
