What Should We Think of Dana Coverstone and His Dreams
What Should We Think of Dana Coverstone and His Dreams
posted July 16, 2020
Dana Coverstone is a name that has garnered considerable attention in recent weeks. He serves as a bi-vocational pastor of Living Word Ministries, an Assemblies of God church in Burkesville, KY.
The church’s website introduces the pastor in this way: "Pastor Dana Coverstone has a bachelors in Bible Theology from Central Bible College and a Masters of Divinity in Expository Preaching from Trinity Seminary. He began his ministry in 1991 as Youth Pastor at the Assemblies of God church in his hometown of Jasonville, Indiana. After serving there for 10 years he took the lead pastorate at an Assemblies of God church near Terre Haute, IN. In 2010 Pastor Dana and his family moved to Burkesville, KY to take the pastorate at Living Word."
In June, Pastor Coverstone shared a video that has now been viewed over one million times in which he claims to have had dreams about the future. He believes his three dreams were given by God and should serve as a warning for our country.
His first dream was in December 2019. It revealed that something would happen in March and again in June 2020. He saw sickness, cities on fire and protesters. He heard the words, “Brace yourself. Brace yourself. Brace yourself.” Clearly a warning of bad things to come. Of course, looking back, it is easy to understand his dream in light of the events around COVID-19 and recent racial unrest. Coverstone says in the video, “The things I saw in the dream, are the same as I saw in the news in March through June.”
His second dream was like the first in that he again saw a calendar. A “white figure” appeared, said “Part Two” and again emphasized two months of the year – this time, September and November. Coverstone saw a fist hit the month of November and it exploded. He saw fighting in the streets, businesses and schools closed, money being sucked out of banks, politicians making deals while Washington D.C. burned. People were hiding in their homes and churches were burning. He saw no sign of President Trump or of leadership in our nation’s capital. It was utter chaos. And again, he heard the words, “Brace yourself. Brace yourself. Brace yourself.”
While in his explanation of his dream, he doesn’t say anything about the significance of September, of course, November will be significant due to the national election that will take place. Clearly, distressing and troubling times for our country are ahead.
In a third dream, he went to a bank for change and was told there was no change available as the U.S. mint was no longer making coins. The teller told him, “Prepare for hyperinflation.” Then came those words once again, “Brace yourself. Brace yourself. Brace yourself.”
Coverstone said since his first dream came true, he needed to share the other dreams as well. He believes COVID-19 will come back strong this fall and that chaos will revolve around the election. “We are going to see what could only lead to civil war in this country.” Later in the video he says, “I believe we are going to see between September and November incredible, terrible, awful, nasty, bad things happen in this nation.”
He urged believers to stockpile food, to find alternative forms of currency, to have an ample supply of guns and ammunition and to establish a communication plan with family members. And then to pray like you’ve never prayed before.
So, what do we do with these “prophesies” of Dana Coverstone?
I would urge you to completely ignore them. Why?
First, Coverstone is a conflicted “prophet.”
More than once in the video he boldly claims he isn’t a prophet, that is, he isn’t speaking for God. But at the same time, he claims to know what the voice of God sounds like, and thus he claims to believe his dreams are from God and accurately reveal the future.
“I’m not claiming to be a prophet. Let’s just see what happens in November and see if I’m right about this. But I know when I hear God’s voice. I know what God’s voice sounds like to me. I know when He speaks. I know when I have a dream that I know is Him.”
“By the time we get to November and nothing’s happened, on December 1 you call me on this and say, ‘Dana Coverstone, you’re an absolute idiot and fool for saying those things.’ Go right ahead because I realize I’m responsible for what I’ve spoken. But I also know what I’ve sensed, and I know the Holy Spirit’s voice enough to know that what I’ve heard, I believe is going to happen … I’m not a prophet but dreams have a prophetic edge to them sometimes.”
But you can’t have it both ways. Either God speaks through you or He doesn’t. The prophets of the Bible spoke for God and did so with authority. Can you imagine Moses saying to the children of Israel, “Let’s wait and see if the things I claim are going to happen come true?”
Second, God doesn’t speak to us in this manner today.
Hebrews 1.1-2 says, “Long ago God spoke many times and in many ways to our ancestors through the prophets. And now in these final days, He has spoken to us through His Son.”
Coverstone clearly states that he believes “dreams and visions are an extension of the spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 12.” But the miraculous gifts associated with the Apostles have ceased. God still speaks to us today, but He does so through the Scriptures which are sufficient. The gift of prophesy is no longer needed, and ceased with the passing away of the Apostles.
His understanding of the sign gifts is consistent with the Pentecostal understanding of the New Testament which explains why his current preaching series is on “dreams and visions.”
He posted: “Several years ago, a colleague prophesied over me and said that one day I would prophesy to thousands. I struggled to understand how that would ever happen as I am just a pastor/teacher from a rural community pastoring in a rural community. I am just me with very little flair and no hair. I am nobody. So I am very overwhelmed at the moment as I didn’t sign up for this but want to be obedient to what God is showing me. I work part-time at the local hospital to make ends meet and while washing pots and pans yesterday had an actual vision that I will post by tomorrow morning as I want to digest it more before I share it. However, I will not be posting anything unless I know it’s from God, even though I am bring [sic] asked to share dreams weekly. I want to use common sense in what I see and what I share publicly because I am responsible for what I say. The pressure on me at the moment, as I said, is overwhelming, so I am praying for wisdom and discernment and applying all that I have taught about dreams and visions to myself at this time as I want to be theologically and spiritually accurate in all I say. I also don’t want to be weird, and as a Pentecost [sic] pastor, I have seen it and don’t want to replicate it.”
This is a telling paragraph from Pastor Coverstone and helps us understand how he interprets Scripture and the role of extra-biblical revelation (dreams) in his life.
Third, the New Testament has strong words of condemnation for those who claim to speak for God but do not (2 Peter 2; Jude). And of course, the Bible instructs believers to “test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world” (1 John 4.1).
No matter what the future holds, keep your eyes on Jesus and your mind firmly planted in the Word of God. You will need nothing else.
The church’s website introduces the pastor in this way: "Pastor Dana Coverstone has a bachelors in Bible Theology from Central Bible College and a Masters of Divinity in Expository Preaching from Trinity Seminary. He began his ministry in 1991 as Youth Pastor at the Assemblies of God church in his hometown of Jasonville, Indiana. After serving there for 10 years he took the lead pastorate at an Assemblies of God church near Terre Haute, IN. In 2010 Pastor Dana and his family moved to Burkesville, KY to take the pastorate at Living Word."
In June, Pastor Coverstone shared a video that has now been viewed over one million times in which he claims to have had dreams about the future. He believes his three dreams were given by God and should serve as a warning for our country.
His first dream was in December 2019. It revealed that something would happen in March and again in June 2020. He saw sickness, cities on fire and protesters. He heard the words, “Brace yourself. Brace yourself. Brace yourself.” Clearly a warning of bad things to come. Of course, looking back, it is easy to understand his dream in light of the events around COVID-19 and recent racial unrest. Coverstone says in the video, “The things I saw in the dream, are the same as I saw in the news in March through June.”
His second dream was like the first in that he again saw a calendar. A “white figure” appeared, said “Part Two” and again emphasized two months of the year – this time, September and November. Coverstone saw a fist hit the month of November and it exploded. He saw fighting in the streets, businesses and schools closed, money being sucked out of banks, politicians making deals while Washington D.C. burned. People were hiding in their homes and churches were burning. He saw no sign of President Trump or of leadership in our nation’s capital. It was utter chaos. And again, he heard the words, “Brace yourself. Brace yourself. Brace yourself.”
While in his explanation of his dream, he doesn’t say anything about the significance of September, of course, November will be significant due to the national election that will take place. Clearly, distressing and troubling times for our country are ahead.
In a third dream, he went to a bank for change and was told there was no change available as the U.S. mint was no longer making coins. The teller told him, “Prepare for hyperinflation.” Then came those words once again, “Brace yourself. Brace yourself. Brace yourself.”
Coverstone said since his first dream came true, he needed to share the other dreams as well. He believes COVID-19 will come back strong this fall and that chaos will revolve around the election. “We are going to see what could only lead to civil war in this country.” Later in the video he says, “I believe we are going to see between September and November incredible, terrible, awful, nasty, bad things happen in this nation.”
He urged believers to stockpile food, to find alternative forms of currency, to have an ample supply of guns and ammunition and to establish a communication plan with family members. And then to pray like you’ve never prayed before.
So, what do we do with these “prophesies” of Dana Coverstone?
I would urge you to completely ignore them. Why?
First, Coverstone is a conflicted “prophet.”
More than once in the video he boldly claims he isn’t a prophet, that is, he isn’t speaking for God. But at the same time, he claims to know what the voice of God sounds like, and thus he claims to believe his dreams are from God and accurately reveal the future.
“I’m not claiming to be a prophet. Let’s just see what happens in November and see if I’m right about this. But I know when I hear God’s voice. I know what God’s voice sounds like to me. I know when He speaks. I know when I have a dream that I know is Him.”
“By the time we get to November and nothing’s happened, on December 1 you call me on this and say, ‘Dana Coverstone, you’re an absolute idiot and fool for saying those things.’ Go right ahead because I realize I’m responsible for what I’ve spoken. But I also know what I’ve sensed, and I know the Holy Spirit’s voice enough to know that what I’ve heard, I believe is going to happen … I’m not a prophet but dreams have a prophetic edge to them sometimes.”
But you can’t have it both ways. Either God speaks through you or He doesn’t. The prophets of the Bible spoke for God and did so with authority. Can you imagine Moses saying to the children of Israel, “Let’s wait and see if the things I claim are going to happen come true?”
Second, God doesn’t speak to us in this manner today.
Hebrews 1.1-2 says, “Long ago God spoke many times and in many ways to our ancestors through the prophets. And now in these final days, He has spoken to us through His Son.”
Coverstone clearly states that he believes “dreams and visions are an extension of the spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 12.” But the miraculous gifts associated with the Apostles have ceased. God still speaks to us today, but He does so through the Scriptures which are sufficient. The gift of prophesy is no longer needed, and ceased with the passing away of the Apostles.
His understanding of the sign gifts is consistent with the Pentecostal understanding of the New Testament which explains why his current preaching series is on “dreams and visions.”
He posted: “Several years ago, a colleague prophesied over me and said that one day I would prophesy to thousands. I struggled to understand how that would ever happen as I am just a pastor/teacher from a rural community pastoring in a rural community. I am just me with very little flair and no hair. I am nobody. So I am very overwhelmed at the moment as I didn’t sign up for this but want to be obedient to what God is showing me. I work part-time at the local hospital to make ends meet and while washing pots and pans yesterday had an actual vision that I will post by tomorrow morning as I want to digest it more before I share it. However, I will not be posting anything unless I know it’s from God, even though I am bring [sic] asked to share dreams weekly. I want to use common sense in what I see and what I share publicly because I am responsible for what I say. The pressure on me at the moment, as I said, is overwhelming, so I am praying for wisdom and discernment and applying all that I have taught about dreams and visions to myself at this time as I want to be theologically and spiritually accurate in all I say. I also don’t want to be weird, and as a Pentecost [sic] pastor, I have seen it and don’t want to replicate it.”
This is a telling paragraph from Pastor Coverstone and helps us understand how he interprets Scripture and the role of extra-biblical revelation (dreams) in his life.
Third, the New Testament has strong words of condemnation for those who claim to speak for God but do not (2 Peter 2; Jude). And of course, the Bible instructs believers to “test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world” (1 John 4.1).
No matter what the future holds, keep your eyes on Jesus and your mind firmly planted in the Word of God. You will need nothing else.
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