There are many accounts of dreams in the religious texts that Latter-day Saints hold to be sacred.1 These scriptural stories, whether mythological or historical, involve a revelation received through a dream albeit the meaning and intent varied. Joseph the carpenter related how an angel appeared to him in a dream and informed him that the child Mary carried was of Heavenly parentage and that he should enter into marriage with Mary. According to tradition Daniel had the gift of receiving and interpreting dreams and helped King Nebuchadnezzar to understand what he had seen in his. Other such accounts of dreams exist across religions. The Old Testament prophet Job wrote the following:
“For God speaketh once, yea twice, yet man perceiveth it not. In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, in slumberings upon the bed; then he openeth the ears of men, and sealeth their instruction.” (Job 33:14–16).
In a 2012 General Conference talk Elder Richard G. Scott (1928-2015) spoke about receiving revelation through dreams:
"Inspired communication in the night is generally accompanied by a sacred feeling for the entire experience. The Lord uses individuals for whom we have great respect to teach us truths in a dream because we trust them and will listen to their counsel. It is the Lord doing the teaching through the Holy Ghost. However, He may in a dream make it both easier to understand and more likely to touch our hearts by teaching us through someone we love and respect."2
Dreams can have layers of meaning and can be influenced by many different things. But how do you know if it is a revelation or just a regular dream? That is a question that a person has to grapple with. Questions about dreams and their meanings have been asked many times throughout history and will likely continue to be.
George Westwood
George Westwood was twenty-one when he joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1875. A native of Ebbw Vale, Monmouthshire, Wales, he emigrated to Utah several months after his baptism. Several of his relatives also joined the church. In 1881 he married Sarah Rowbury and they had twelve children together. Their ninth child, Eunice, was born less than two months before he began a mission in the United Kingdom in August 1900.3 He spent his whole mission in Wales, where he had specifically requested to labour.
On the night of 16 December 1900, while serving in Cardiff and several months after beginning his missionary service, George awoke at 4 a.m. The following is his account of a dream that he had.
The room was as dark as could be, and behold I saw a large, magnificent ship, it seemed as large as a great city, the beauty and brightness of it was as the noonday sun, and I saw a large sea, as it were, and in this were millions of people perishing. It was a dark sea, and the brightness of the light that shone from that great, magnificent ship made light enough so as to extend all over the dark waters. I beheld and saw aboard the ship a large number of women and children, and I heard them say it was a fearful sight to see all those people perishing in the great waters. The women and children said that they were willing to sacrifice all they had to help to save these people that were perishing, even to the loss of their lives, and the lives of their husbands and fathers. Then I saw a large body of men, who went out in lifeboats to save those that were perishing, and I noticed that a large number of them were let down from out of this huge ship, and that there were two men in each, who paddled in the lifeboats until they went all over this large, dark body of water. Then there arose a great storm while these men were out who went to rescue those that were perishing; they were tossed about on the mighty waves, yet they could see all over the large, rolling body of water. I noticed also that these lifeboats were like little specks of light out on the mighty deep, and while there was only a few who would be saved after these men had risked their lives to save them, I saw a few get into these lifeboats, while all the rest would not be saved. As I listened I heard these millions say, 'this is good enough for me,' then they would roll over and perish, while these few that would be saved were lifted into the lifeboats, and they were taken to this immense ship, where this big light was, thus they were saved from perishing; but I also saw a few of these rescued ones go down in the storm.
George was perplexed by the dream and spent the next day thinking about it. At a Priesthood meeting, he met with James L. McMurrin, a counsellor in the European Mission presidency, who offered an interpretation of the dream for him.
President McMurrin’s provided an interpretation and it appears to have made sense to George, but it also left him with questions. We don’t know what
The large ship I saw was the Church of Jesus Christ, and the great light was the Priesthood of God, and this great body of water or sea was the world in its darkness, as they are in or led into it by the priestcraft of men. The little lights I saw on the water were the Elders of Israel preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ, while these men I saw perishing were the people of all the different kinds of religion, and they would not be saved in the kingdom of God, but they would rather remain in the world, and in this terrible storm of error and judgment, which was very severe, as was the persecution that the Elders of the Church of Jesus Christ endured in preaching the Gospel. I saw that all those who would not be saved perished in their darkness, and in the midst of their terrible calamities, upon the mighty sea. In regard to the Elders whom I saw, that did not return with their lifeboats, I was puzzled to know what became of them, but I judge they were lost in the storm of persecution. What I saw and felt I have written, for it troubled me for many days.4
Great was George’s concern for the people he was preaching to, but perhaps the Lord wanted him to take greater concern with those with whom he was ministering. Or perhaps it was a subconscious concern. Either way, his recent voyage across the Atlantic Ocean may have been used by the Lord to remain strong in the face of persecution or to minister to his fellow labourers. That aspect of the dream was a personal one for George. In other family accounts, we see vivid dreams that included important messages for them. George’s sister, Mary Ann, related several impactful dreams that she had that helped shape her behaviours and helped her through life, as it might have done for George on his mission.5
Ryan Jenkins, ‘Quiet Slumber: Revelation through Dreams,’ Religious Educator, Vol. 12, No. 1 (2011), pp. 73-89.
Richard G. Scott, ‘How to Obtain Revelation and Inspiration for Your Personal Life,’ April 2012 General Conference, available at: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/2012/05/saturday-afternoon-session/how-to-obtain-revelation-and-inspiration-for-your-personal-life?lang=eng
Letter from George Westwood to Lorenzo Snow, 23 July 1900, CR 1 168, bx. 21, fd. 21, CHL.
‘The Interpretation,’ The Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star, Vol. 63, No. 9 (1901), pp. 138-139.
Mary Ann R. Brown, ‘Book of Remembrance,’ unpublished. Available at: https://www.familysearch.org/photos/artifacts/36875227?cid=mem_copy