New Age Beliefs, Astral Projection, and Sleep Paralysis

Summary

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Haunted Cosmos Podcast

Episode: New Age Beliefs, Astral Projection, and Sleep Paralysis

Hosts: Ben Garrett & Brian Sauvé
Guest: Jessica Storr
Date: July 29, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this installment of the “Graveyard Shift” series, Ben and Brian host listener and guest Jessica Storr, who shares her harrowing experiences with sleep paralysis, prophetic dreams, New Age beliefs, and spiritual encounters. The core theme is the intersection of the spiritual and physical realms, the reality of unseen forces, and how the Christian faith provides hope and protection against spiritual darkness. The hosts then reflect on these phenomena through scriptural and theological lenses, addressing both personal story and broader spiritual application.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Jessica’s Story: Sleep Paralysis, Night Terrors, and Prophetic Dreams

[06:31-24:52]

• Early Spiritual Experiences:

  • First sleep paralysis at age 3: Jessica witnesses a globe moving into the room towards her sister, feeling impending danger ([06:31]).
  • Recurring terrifying dreams as a child, including night terrors about Freddy Krueger, despite never seeing the film, and vivid imagery of violence against her family ([06:31–08:30]).
  • Shifting rooms in her childhood home correlated with relief or recurrence of night terrors. She later interprets periods of peace as spiritual protection:
    “I asked God, I was like, where were you when I was having all these night terrors and things happening to me? And he showed me how he had that door blocked, that he was with me in that space.” ([07:16])
  • Lucid dreaming as a defense: At one point, she turns to face pursuing wolves in a dream and commands them to stop, breaking the nightmare’s power ([08:59]).

• Prophetic Dreams and Adulthood Encounters:

  • At 12, receives a prophetic dream foretelling her future experience as a single mom ([09:53]).
  • As a young adult and mother, Jessica’s experiences intensify:
    • Hallucinations and paralysis upon waking (a man with a knife, inexplicable fear, inability to move) ([11:00–12:00]).
    • Episodes increase, including sensory experiences (pressure, growling, “globe” of light, electric sensations) ([12:00–13:30]).
    • Family members report eerie experiences in the same house (e.g., sister sees a ghostly girl in the attic) ([13:30]).

• New Age Influence & Spiritual Attacks:

  • During a period away from church, Jessica experimented with New Age practices (“manifesting,” seeking spiritual control outside Christianity) ([14:10–14:39]): “I was definitely dabbling in, like, New Age stuff and opening doors. I 100% believe I was.”
  • Attacks become more intense and frequent:
    • Paralyzing fear, tactile sensations, auditory hallucinations, and one episode resembling astral projection, where Jessica feels pulled out into space, perceives knowledge, then is slammed back into her body ([15:13–16:00]).
    • Visions escalate to full apparitions (e.g., a woman in white at the foot of the bed).

• Spiritual Deliverance and Transformation:

  • After moving to a new house and recommitting to her Christian faith (including baptism), experiences increase in intensity but ultimately reach resolution ([17:48–24:52]).
  • A pivotal dream involves sensory blending (tinkling sounds, broken glass, water dripping) with real-world echoes later that day, convincing Jessica of spiritual reality’s overlap with the material ([17:48–20:00]): “To me, it was proof how the spiritual realm and, like, our realm is very intertwined.” ([20:00])
  • Calling on the name of Jesus brings peace and ends episodes: “Only the last few years...I learned to call the name of Jesus and they instantly disappear every time I would call the name of Jesus.” ([23:38])

• Ongoing Dreams & Warnings:

  • After spiritual victory, attacks occur primarily in dreams, often involving deliverance of others.
  • Before appearing on the show, Jessica experiences attacks in her dreams, suggesting a resistance to her testimony, but asserts:
    “I just want people to know one, you're not alone. You're not crazy. God does protect you. By saying his name, he does protect you.” ([24:52])

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Hosts’ Reflections on the Spiritual & Physical

[24:52–30:56]

• Prevalence of Spiritual Experience:

  • Brian: Many people, including those who downplay the supernatural, report similar sleep paralysis before conversion to Christianity, which then ceases or radically changes ([24:52–26:31]).
  • The main takeaway: Whether experiences are “physical or spiritual or both” is less important than calling on God.
    “What we do with it is actually most important. Call on the name of the Lord, pray, ask for God to deliver you...” ([25:11])

• Spiritual Shame, Repentance, and Redemption:

  • Ben draws connections between shame, guilt, repentance, and the need to bring such struggles to God rather than allowing isolation and spiritual attack to persist ([26:31–28:02]).

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Addressing the Church’s Reluctance Toward the Supernatural

[31:36–38:03]

• Many believers, especially in the Reformed tradition, avoid supernatural talk due to fear of materialism or being associated with New Age beliefs ([32:47–36:52]).
• The right response to supernatural experiences is not avoidance, but biblical discernment and engagement: “The thing that the new age spiritualists are right about is that the spiritual world exists and we interact with it…It’s just that they’re the wrong answers.” (36:52)
• Emphasize the need to reclaim historic Christian understanding of spiritual gifts, prophecy, and spiritual warfare; cite historical theologians like Martin Luther as examples ([35:54–36:50]).

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Spiritual Warfare: Scripture and Discernment

[38:03–40:29]

• Echo Paul's warning in 1 Corinthians 12 to “test the spirits”: Any supernatural encounter must be evaluated by the lordship of Jesus and the clarity of Scripture.
• The spiritual realm is active and hostile:
  “You're wading through a constant spiritual battle, not just a physical battle with flesh and blood, but with powers and principalities in the heavenly places that hate God, hate you, and want to bring destruction.” ([39:11])

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Dreams: Meaning or Material?

[40:29–41:14]

• Hosts reflect on Carl Jung’s concepts of dreams as a “collective unconscious” and question a purely materialist reading of dream experiences.
• Suggest that some dreams may be authentic spiritual experiences, not just neurological noise.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Jessica (On spiritual protection):
  “He showed me how he had that door blocked, that he was with me in that space.” ([07:16])

• Jessica (On calling for help):
  “It wasn't really until more recently where I've actually started calling the name of Jesus … and they instantly disappear every time I would call the name of Jesus.” ([23:38])

• Host Ben (On intersecting realms):
  “It was proof how the spiritual realm and, like, our realm is very intertwined.” ([20:00])

• Brian (On the church’s fear):
  “Even within the Christian tradition [there are] ways of being fearful of talking about the supernatural because of the influence of materialism more than anything…” ([32:47])

• Ben (On New Age and the Christian response):
  “It’s a huge mistake for Christ’s Church to ignore it and not even seek to better understand and to recapture these convictions of our fathers…” ([36:50])

• Brian (On spiritual warfare): “Be aware that in the midst of that, you're wading through a constant spiritual battle, not just a physical battle with flesh and blood, but with powers and principalities in the heavenly places that hate God, hate you, and want to bring destruction.” ([39:11])

• Jessica (Message to listeners):
  “You’re not alone. You’re not crazy. God does protect you. By saying his name, he does protect you.” ([24:52])

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Important Timestamps

• [05:24] – Jessica begins her full story.
• [06:31 – 13:30] – Childhood sleep paralysis, prophetic dreams, shifts in night terrors.
• [13:30 – 16:00] – Adult episodes, New Age involvement, incidents of astral projection.
• [17:48 – 24:52] – Spiritual breakthrough, deliverance prayers, vivid dream/physical world overlap.
• [24:52 – 26:31] – Host reflection on ubiquity of experiences and spiritual warfare.
• [31:36 – 36:52] – New Age temptation/critique, critique of church's avoidance of the supernatural.
• [38:03 – 40:29] – Scripture, discernment, and dreams—the theological synthesis.

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Summary Takeaways

• Spiritual and physical reality are deeply intertwined; exclusion of spiritual explanations leads to error.
• Supernatural attacks (sleep paralysis, night terrors) respond to the name of Jesus, confirming the power and presence of Christ in spiritual warfare.
• New Age interpretation of spiritual gifts is a counterfeit to what God gives; biblically grounded discernment is crucial.
• The church must reclaim a robust, non-materialist understanding of dreams, spiritual gifts, and encounters with the unseen.
• Personal testimony is powerful—listeners facing similar experiences are encouraged to turn to Jesus for deliverance and comfort.

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Tone and Style Notes

• Tone is conversational, occasionally irreverent but anchored in Christian conviction.
• Jessica speaks from authentic personal experience; the hosts provide scriptural reflection and historical perspective.
• The episode blends storytelling with theological exploration, addressing skepticism and spiritual need alike.

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For Listeners

Even if you haven’t faced night terrors or New Age temptations, this episode gives a compelling snapshot of the spiritual dimensions of life that modernity often ignores. Jessica’s raw honesty, paired with Ben and Brian’s biblical analysis, offers comfort and guidance for those wrestling with fear, anxiety, or spiritual confusion.

Key Message:
“You’re not alone. Call on the name of Jesus. The Lord delivers and protects—even from the darkness you can’t always see.”

Transcript

[A]

This episode is brought to you by Indigo Sundry Soap Company. Clean soap, cleaner body.

[B]

I watched this, like, globe come into the room and around the wall and go towards my sister. And I started to panic because I knew that it was going to hurt her. I wake up and I see blood across the walls. I walk out into the hallway. My family's killed.

[A]

Oh, my goodness.

[B]

And there is now a man standing over me with a knife.

[A]

Hey, everybody. Welcome to this episode of the Graveyard Shift. Name is Ben Garrett. I am joined, as always, by my incredibly handsome, talented, skilled friend, Evan Brandt. No, my co host, Brian.

[C]

So, dude, I needed that. And then when you rightfully said that it was Evan, because all those things apply to him, there was a moment where I was disappointed, but then I was like, no, no, he deserves it.

[A]

I want you to know I really meant you. Thank you.

[C]

Not Evan. Thank you. It is so good to be here.

[A]

Yes. We're excited. We're going to have a great time today. We're also joined by a special guest listener of the show, Cosmonaut Jessica Storr. Jessica, say hello to the people.

[B]

Hello. Hi, everyone. Thank you for having me.

[A]

You are welcome. No, we're grateful to you, Jessica, if you don't mind saying, you also don't have to say, I didn't ask about. Where are you from?

[B]

From Pennsylvania. I'm in the suburbs of Philly, so.

[C]

Okay, awesome. Wow.

[A]

Is that, like a good. Is that a pretty part of the country, would you say, or not? I don't know.

[B]

I am. It's very, very pretty. I'm closer to reading, actually, so it's just really mountainous and pretty and. Yeah, I love it here.

[A]

I know. Like, in my head, I think of Pennsylvania and then I think Pittsburgh. And to me, Pittsburgh is like a hellscape. But I know that parts of Pennsylvania, because people have told me, are, like, insanely beautiful.

[C]

Pennsylvania is beautiful.

[A]

Really glad that you're here, Jessica. I do have. Everyone knows. Everyone knows the rules by now. I do have an icebreaker question that we like to ask the guest so that we can all become better friends. We can all get to know each other a little bit. So your question, Jessica, is what is the best Christmas gift you ever received as a child?

[B]

As a child?

[A]

Yeah. Like, ages 5 to 16.

[C]

Wow, you're getting specific now.

[B]

Okay, so this thing I was so ecstatic about, but it was the dumbest gift ever. And it was those Moon Bounce shoes. Do you remember that?

[A]

Yes. Heck, yes.

[C]

Absolutely.

[B]

It was such a dumb gift, but it was so much fun. I Don't know. I was like, really excited thinking I was walking on the moon.

[C]

Oh, yeah.

[A]

It's like if you believe in that kind of thing.

[C]

Well, in the moon. You remember those soaps at the time, the grinding shoes?

[A]

The. They were called soaps.

[C]

Oh, and you like grind, dude, I had those.

[A]

I had Heelys and I would beg my mom to go to Sam's club and I could healy around.

[C]

The floor is so smooth.

[A]

Or anytime you're on tile. Now the. I can relate to that. The moon shoes. Because one time I was like 10 years old. Do you remember the commercials for Powerizer stilts?

[C]

Oh, yeah.

[A]

Do you remember those, Jessica?

[C]

I had those too.

[A]

No, you had power risers.

[C]

Well, like whatever the equivalent. Maybe the generic, like the kid ones. Yeah, like I had the.

[A]

To be power.

[C]

You strap them on, they're like bouncy stilts.

[A]

Yeah. Okay. Yeah. So I was 10 years old, I saw a Powerizer video somewhere and I was like, I have to dedicate my life to being a professional power riser. And I like, did a bunch of chores that summer and worked for neighbors and stuff. And I saved up all this money and it was like $300. Oh, yeah. And you know, that's a fortune to a 10 year old. And so I had, I had the money and I was going to press order and then, and then my, my dad was like, dude, Nintendo just came out with this Game Boy and I immediately changed course right there. All in the course of like 10 minutes the whole summer I had built up to this moment. And I immediately did you made the right decision. I. I don't know, dude, because I. I may not have been. I was a really fat kid after that. And I'm worried it's because of.

[C]

It was because of the Game Boy.

[A]

Yeah, the.

[C]

The thing is, like, all of us grew up X watching X Games.

[A]

No. 100%.

[C]

So anything that was like, this is extreme.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

You strap some bouncy stilts to my feet and I'm going to be doing backflips before long.

[A]

Jessica, did you watch the X Games? Were you like Metal Militia, Brian Deegan, Travis Pastrana fan, Shaun White?

[B]

When I was like high school years? Yeah, but I wasn't really that into it. I was a poser. Skater girl.

[A]

Oh, heck yeah.

[C]

Did you ever was a skater girl? See you later, girl.

[A]

Sorry, Were you an Avril Lavigne fan?

[B]

I was.

[A]

Okay.

[C]

So much.

[A]

No, that's a. This is a good icebreaker.

[C]

The ice is pulverized.

[A]

The ice is. It's not ice. Anymore. It's water.

[C]

I have a message for ice everywhere.

[A]

Hi.

[C]

Hide.

[A]

Okay, so again, everyone knows the rules. Ideally, Brian has never heard the story before and he hasn't.

[C]

I haven't.

[A]

Now, also ideally, I have forgotten the story, which is true in this case. I have forgotten the story. I remember it being really good and that's all I remember. So we're going to get out of your way, Jessica. We're going to let you do what you came here for. Tell us your story and we will try to avoid interrupting you and just take it away.

[C]

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[A]

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[B]

So my story is a little complicated because it's not just the sleep paralysis, it's also the dreams that I have. So I have prophetic dreams, but I didn't fully understand what I was being trained in as a young child. So I first experienced sleep paralysis when I was three years old. My parents had just moved into a house. It was like 1900s home, so it was older. And I was sharing the middle room with my sister. And in this middle room I had like a full size bed and she had a crib. And I had watched, I thought I was awake. I watched this globe come into the room and around the wall and go towards my sister. And I started to panic because I knew that it was going to hurt her. So I wake up screaming. Nobody came to check on me, so I didn't know what to make of it. So then the next sleep paralysis episode I had. I was probably a little bit older. I was probably closer to four at this point. And this one was. I thought I was awake again, and I was laying in bed, and I saw all these spiders crawling across the ceiling. And then they started dropping down and landing on me. And as I tried to get them off of me, and, like, I was, like, freaking out, I realized I couldn't move. So I was just, like, screaming. And that time, my mom came running into my room. She turned the light on, and there was nothing anywhere in my room. So after that, I experienced night terrors. I suffered a lot of this on my own without telling my parents. So the night terror that continually plagued me for years was Freddy Krueger. You know, Nightmare on Elm Street. I never even saw the movie. I might have seen a commercial of, like. I don't even remember. I was probably, like, kindergarten at the time because I just brought him a pumpkin from school and put it on top of the tv. And I remember seeing, like, this commercial, like, slashing through the screen. And after that, every single night, I had dreams. Every single night, I was in my dreams. I wake up and I see blood across the walls. I walk out into the hallway. My family's killed, like, everybody's. It was so terrifying. And so this happened for years. So finally, I guess at this point, I was, like, 7 years old. My mom started having my brothers. So she had my two brothers around then. And we were moved out of the middle room to the back room. And so actually, when I was in this back room, nothing happened. And it's actually funny because later on, I asked God, I was like, where were you when I was having all these night terrors and things happening to me? And he showed me how he had that door blocked, that he was with me in that space. So it was actually really cool. So during that time when I was in that front room, I didn't have night terrors. I didn't have anything happen. But I would hear things in the hallway, walking, like, coming down the hallway. I would see shadows, but nothing ever came into my room. I truly believed he was with me. And I had visions at that time of Jesus sitting at the end of my bed, keeping me comfort or giving me comfort. And I also saw, like, angels in the clouds. I was little, so some of it I just chalked up to be in my imagination. But I don't really believe that anymore. So fast forward. Me and my sister constantly fight. So I was separated from her, and I was moved back into the creepy middle bedroom. And during this time the night terror started again. And it was this time it was like a pack of wolves constantly chasing me. And this is when I learned how to lucid dream. I don't even know how I learned how to do it. I just knew I had enough. And I heard tell it to stop. And so I turned around in my dream and I told it to stop. And they turned into like puppies and it was fine. So fast forward. We move out of the house, we move a few times. Nothing really happens. When I was 12, I gave my life to Jesus. I always believed in God. I always believed in Jesus. I would like, read my Bible when I was little and make up songs to Jesus. Like, I always believed in Jesus, but I didn't give my life to him until I was 12. So when I was 12, I had my first prophetic dream. And it was about myself. And it was me being a single mom holding a little girl with blonde hair, her hand. And so I wasn't a single mom, but I had our daughter before we were married. So it felt like I was a single mom. And sure enough, she had the little blonde hair. So that was my first prophetic dream.

[A]

12.

[B]

So when I was 12, I had that dream. I had my daughter when I was 18. So after I had her, when she was about a year old, I started babysitting for my. My aunt Susan and her kids. And her youngest is two months older than my daughter. And so one day I was at her house. I was babysitting. The kids were just playing on the floor, playing Legos. I was laying on the couch watching them. I did not realize I fell asleep. I was woken up to hearing the back door in their kitchen slam. So it was like the kitchen, dining room, living room. So it was. I heard something coming through. And I look up and there is now a man standing over me with a knife. And I start freaking out because I'm just like, this person's gonna kill me. I have kids. I don't know how freak out. I realize I cannot move. I'm completely frozen. And then I snap out of it. And the kids were still sitting exactly where they were. When I was having this sleep paralysis, everything looked exactly the same. It was a bright, sunny fall day. Like, nothing was different. So, like, completely freaked out. And then it started happening more frequently. Sometimes it was just feeling like a pressure on my back. Sometimes it was hearing a growl in my ear. Sometimes it was just the feeling of being stuck and not being able to move. So we were, me and my husband bought our house. And we were about to. We were expecting our third child. And so we had, like, this Cape Cod. And we were upstairs and the kids were downstairs. And I went down for a nap because I was exhausted. And so I was. I was sleeping, and I had sleep rest again. And I saw this globe again. The globe come up the stairs, come around. And I knew I was scared of it because of what it did to my sister at that time. And it landed on my hand and it started electrocuting me. And so I woke up from that, of course, never feels like I can fully wake up from it. And panicked over that. And I was like, why is this happening again? So it's actually really funny. We just moved into this house about four years ago, and I had an email notification about my old house and, like, its value. And it showed the old pictures of that house. And in the attic, in that picture, there is, like, a glue in the picture. I was like, this is really weird. So my sister, actually, she lived with us for a short time, and she was up in the attic, and she had seen, like, a girl hanging over her, like, just a creepy girl. And so it was weird. But I will say, during those years, I was definitely dabbling in, like, New Agey stuff. I was one of those deceived Christians that thought that, you know, I could manifest what I want. And, you know, just totally deceived because I was out of church for so long. And, you know, there was a lot of shame with having a child out of wedlock. So I definitely kept out of the church and got easily let off track and swayed. So I was definitely dabbling in, like, New Age stuff and opening doors. I 100% believe I was. So during this time, I had the most frequent attacks. This is when I had lots and lots of things, like grabbing at me or laying on me or growling. I also had this one time, it was really bizarre. I was laying down, I was about to fall asleep. So my sleep paralysis sometimes happens as I'm waking up. Other times it's happening as I fall asleep. So I'll start feeling like my body, like, vibrate, and I'll be fighting it. So this time I was fighting it, fell asleep, and then I had lifted out into space, which was really bizarre. So I'm in space, looking at the Earth, and all this knowledge is coming to me. I'm seeing, like, numbers and equations, and I just know stuff. I'm like, this is amazing. As soon as I thought, I need to tell my family about this, I slammed into my body that was Not a normal sleep paralysis. I have no clue what that was. I tend to think because, like I said, I was dabbling with new age. And a lot of things that I've heard from people was, if you can get past the fear of sleep paralysis, you'll astral project. So I don't know if something happened there, it really scared me. Then I had another situation where this one was not sleep paralysis. This scared the crap out of me. After this experience, I'm like, it's time to leave. My son would sleep up in our room and he had longer hair at the time, and because he didn't like sleeping downstairs, it made him nervous. And so I thought it was my son coming to wake me up. So I look at the end of my bed, I just see a figure with long hair. And then I look closer and it's literally a woman in a white gown hunched over with black hair. And I was like, oh no, I lost it. My husband was just like laughing at me. He's like, jess, it's nothing. You're fine. It terrified me and I could not sleep. So then I dealt with a lot of insomnia after that because I just, I could not relax enough to sleep. So like I said, we finally moved and I was like, all right, it's a new house. The previous owners were Christians. Like, this place is anointed. That's what I told myself. I was so convinced we'd be fine here within the first week. Our bedroom has an open bathroom, which I absolutely hate because, you know, I get to hear my husband pee in the morning. There's no door.

[C]

Strange design decision.

[B]

Horrible, horrible design. It's just.

[A]

You know what, you know what would go great in this master bedroom? A toilet right next to the bed

[C]

that I can see from anywhere.

[A]

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[B]

Thankfully, I couldn't see the toilet, but it's like it's just an open wall into. Yeah, it's not a doorway. I don't know So, I mean, it's a doorway, but it's not a door. There's no door. It should have had a door. Obviously, I'm very upset about that. Um, so within, like, the first weeks, I hear feet sticking to the floor, walking into my room, and there's this big, black, tall creature just standing there. And I was so discouraged. I was just like, I can't believe this has followed me to this house. I thought it was the house. I thought things were just attached to the other places. Now, mind you, I am a Christian, and I never once thought this was a spiritual thing. I just thought this is just something. Like, I've been to neurologists. They're like, this is just something that happens. You get stuck in the state. So this thing haunted me then for the next few weeks. And it got worse as I was leading up to my baptism. So me and my son had agreed to get baptized together. And I rededicated my life. And it actually got worse before that. So a lot more sleep paralysis episodes after my baptism. It was actually pretty cool. This was like the most disjoining, bizarre sleep paralysis episode I ever had. But it. And it went on for a long time. So I didn't know where I was. I didn't know where my mind was. So I feel like there was a spiritual battle that took place. So I had this dream where it's so hard to start. So I was sleeping in bed and I was hearing noises as I was asleep. And I was hearing like a tinkling sound and I didn't know what it was. And I was like, kind of fighting the sleep paralysis feel of like, that vibration feel in between all this. Then I thought the dog jumped in my bed and I felt something. And then I kind of went back to sleep. And then I was hearing like a static TV sound. And then that went away. And then I was hearing water drip. So then finally I wake up and I check the clock and it's 3:43. I look over and I notice my phone is broken. Like, the screen's cracked. I'm like, oh, that's the tinkling sound. I heard the screen completely broke and shattered. That's what I was hearing while I was sleeping. I put my feet on the ground and I. I feel glass cut into my foot. And I was just like, what the heck? And I see my door, and the door to my bedroom is like, off its hinges. And I was like, what is going on? So I get up, I walk to the door, and I look in the hallway and, like, the Closets are open. Things are thrown out of the closets. I yell for my daughter. I was like, danielle, I need to borrow your phone. I need to call dad right now. And so I get the phone, I start to call my husband. And then I was like, I don't know what's going on with me. I don't know if I'm having seizures. I don't know what's going on. And so I walk into the bathroom and I sit down on the tub, and I look in the tub, and the water's dripping. So that was a dripping sound. And there's, like, vomit in the tub. And so I'm sitting there, and I'm, like, trying to pull this, like, shred of glass out of my foot. I'm asking my husband to come home. Something's wrong. And then I feel like I'm going to pass out. Then I wake up. So I. It was so wild. So this, to me, was like. This was like a confirmation that God was battling for me in the spiritual realm and purging stuff. Like, that's really how I took it. So here's the weird part, too. The next day, we have to go to a funeral. Rob's aunt had passed away. We go to the funeral, and somebody's phone goes off. It's that same tinker. I was like, that's weird. After that, we head home, and I sit on the couch and I look. The screensaver's on, and the time says 3:43. I hear water dripping. And I look behind me and the sink is dripping. I was like, what the heck? I was like, to me, it was proof how the spiritual realm and, like, our realm is very intertwined. And it felt like confirmations, you know, it was just. It was really bizarre. So anyway, after that, I had. I had very, very angry sleep paralysis. Only. Only like, one other time I did. And then the sleep paralysis stopped. So I had this, like, angry thing come at me. It was like a dark shadow, and I was like, in Jesus name. And it disappeared. And then all of a sudden, it came back and it, like, flew at me, but, like, bounced off this protective barrier around me, me. So since then, I have not had any more sleep paralysis. However, now I. It's in my dreams again. So my dreams are. Now I'm seeing demonic creatures in my dreams. I'm doing deliverance in my dreams. The one I had that was really bizarre was. It started as a weird dream, and then it was like. I was like, at Pearl Harbor. I don't know why. And I have My older husband walking with me and he goes to kiss me and then his like, face changes. And now he has like really like, piercing eyes and bird like features and long teeth. And I was like, in Jesus name, get out of my dream. I was lucid dreaming at that point and it. He literally left the body and the body fell on me in my dream. So, like, I really do believe that we can battle spiritual stuff in our dreams. I don't know why I experience all this. It doesn't end. Like, last night I had a dream of delivering my husband and he woke up and he told me, well, it's kind of weird I was being told to divorce you. All night, my dream, and I was like, so crazy. Yeah. So I have a lot of interesting sleep paralysis issues and experiences. And it wasn't really until more recently where I've actually started calling the name of Jesus. And I mean, only the last few years that I learned to call the name of Jesus and they instantly disappear every time I would call the name of Jesus. But yeah, that like, battle was kind of like the end of it. Like, it purged it out. Now, before we started, I told you I've been like spiritually attacked leading up to this. And after I got the confirmation email about like, our time, and I like, accepted okay and added it to my calendar that night I had dreams that were mimicking sleep paralysis. So in my dreams, I saw like spider creatures come around the wall. I saw the dog creature on the floor. I saw the tall. The tall dark man walking around, and it was just like you. I don't even know how to take it because it was just like. It was just like throwing in my face all my past experiences to try to scare me from saying something. And so if anything comes from this, I just want people to know one, you're not alone. You're not crazy. God does protect you. By saying his name, he does protect you.

[C]

And I mean, we've had even people in. I talked to a guy in our church who had. Right after the sleep paralysis episode we did came out, you know, years ago at this point, which is kind of weird to say. And he described some similar experiences to what you just described. And it is just wild how many people since we came out with that episode we have heard from that have said, I've had this experience. Yep. And people that I wouldn't have expected, people that are like, not. They don't ever talk about the supernatural or they don't ever talk about, you know, anything like that, they go, yeah, there was A period of my life where this happened and that happened. It was before I was a Christian. It stopped when I converted. Stories like that. And one of the takeaways that I've wrestled with back and forth is my mind goes this. To this place. I'm always, what is it? Is it physical? Is it spiritual? Is it both? Because we're body, we're soul? Like, is it all. What. What actually is going on? And one of the conclusions that I've come to is it's almost irrelevant to an extent for us to know exactly where the one starts and where the other begins, because what we do with it is actually most important. Call on the name of the Lord, pray, ask for God to deliver you from this, this trial, to protect you spiritually, bodily. Like all of this, the, the what to do is actually the most important. Like you said at the end, it's call on the name of the Lord. You know, he'll protect you. He'll protect you. Psalm 91.

[A]

It's interesting too. Like, even the, you know, you brought up the kind of. The sense of shame that you had for some of those years and how you can look at the difference in Second Corinthians 7. Yeah, 7, where Paul is talking about worldly sorrow and godly sorrow. And it's interesting, he says that the godly sorrow, it's a real sorrow, but it leads to repentance. And then he says without regret. So it's like the, you know, you have this guilt, and guilt is good. When you've sinned, it's your conscience accusing you, and it. But it's what you do with that that's so important. And it says that when you do the right thing, when you actually lean on the Lord to take it away, he does it, and it's like there's no regret. It's. It's interesting to me how we can almost, you know, again, to your point, whether where the physical and the. In the spiritual have a boundary layer doesn't really matter, but how even in our dreams, even in our mind, it can reveal this. Like these things that are still coming for us almost, these, these motifs of, of sin that are coming to us. And, and it's interesting how you connected that to a kind of shame and then how that's shifted, you know, and how the. It's now you know it for what it is, right? Like, this is not actually. This is something that I need to, to ask the Lord to take from me. This is something that I need to ask the Lord to protect me from and he's faithful to do that.

[C]

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[B]

What?

[A]

What is that a thing?

[C]

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[A]

Brian, what are you talking about?

[C]

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[A]

What's up guys?

[C]

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[A]

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[C]

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[A]

Oh, oh, this is. This is an ad that we're doing right now. Wait, how did he teleport into this room?

[C]

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[A]

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[C]

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[A]

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[C]

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[A]

One of the questions that I had, this is a really boring question, but what's a prosthetic dream? Is that what you said at the beginning?

[C]

Prophetic?

[B]

Oh, prophetic.

[C]

Yeah, yeah.

[A]

No, I.

[C]

My dream have limbs are bionic.

[A]

I thought at the very beginning you said prosthetic dreams and then you said prophetic dreams and I was like, what's a prosthetic?

[C]

What is a prosthetic? It is a fake dream where you've had your normal dreams amputated.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

And then you get a. You get like a custom fit.

[A]

Well, it did make me think the whole like the, the glass breaking thing, the. The dripping thing. And you know, you go out, all your, your closets are ransacked and stuff and how you, you had like woken up from a dream to that and then you woke up again. But it was like the most vivid, like waking. Waking nightmare. And, and that's actually something that we get into in this upcoming season about like premonitory stuff that, you know, it seems like some people have in their dreams at times where it's like this premonitory thing where they're. They're touching on shapes or sounds or smells or whatever it may be. And eventually, sometime it comes up again in real life, and they're like, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a minute, what's going on? And it can be mild or it can be extreme. And it's really fascinating how that happens. And I just don't, like. I personally, I don't have a really good mechanism to work through that and figure out all the details. And I'm kind of like, maybe we're not supposed to. Like, maybe we just. Maybe we just don't know. And it's just more of a reason to say, okay, Lord, like, have mercy on me. Deliver me.

[B]

I mean, in this case, I do feel like. I feel like the spiritual world does know who's gifted with what spiritually. And I feel like there was something that caused fear at a young age to keep me from wanting to dream and have these prophetic dreams. And I do feel like that's why I've been attacked in this way, because the dreams that I had have helped people, and I've had things to tell them and I've had things to give them. It was mostly about giving comfort when I've had certain dreams. So. Well, when God has given me those dreams. And so I do feel like it's an attack to keep me quiet.

[C]

When you talked about the New Age connection and you had gone for a period of your life kind of down that. That road, why do you think, like, what was it for you that was tempting about it because it's exploding or so many people are into it. What's the temptation?

[B]

Yeah, so what was tempting for me was trying to understand these dreams that kept coming true, understand why I was dealing with the sleep paralysis. I wanted to have control in my own way. And at that time, I was not turning to God to get rid of those things or to clarify them or explain why I'm dealing with them. So New Age is enticing in that way because it tries to give you the answers to. Because the church at that time, for me, I grew up in a church that I don't remember them really talking about the Holy Spirit. I don't remember them talking about giftings. I don't remember anybody practicing giftings. It was just very nothing. So I think. I think part of that was like, well, then I must have a special gift, and I don't know what this is, so I'm going to search it my own way. And the world is so willing to accept you. Into that and just say, oh yeah, this is what this means and this is what you do with it. And here's how you control it, here's how you manipulate it, here's how you use it for yourself.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

So I think that's why, I mean what you just described is like one of the big motivations behind this whole project in the first place is to say the spiritual is when we downplay it in a materialist way. And I actually even, I think there are even within the Christian tradition ways of being fearful of talking about the supernatural because of the influence of materialism more than anything to where we don't want to sound weird or strange or we, we want the Neil Degrasse Tysons of the world to respect us and find us respectable. And when you say things like, no, that's not just people sinning. There are demons involved there, there are unclean spirits involved. This is Satan raging. Satan is prowling. He wants to steal souls. He's at work at all this alleged supernatural phenomena. You know, we, out of a craven and sinful desire for respectability, I think sometime avoid the topic. So even with, you know, a lot of our listeners are probably just because Ben and I are, we're, we're very like from the reformed tradition which tends towards cessationism and you know, that kind of side. And, and I'm not, we're not going to get into that here. But one of the, the things I would want my own camp to consider is our own motivations and just to be careful that we're not embracing essentially a model of the world that's functionally deist, where God set things in motion supernaturally. But then like day to day, he's not really supernaturally involved. It's all just natural. It's all just atoms. And even on a properly understood some kind of. Maybe you have an understanding of spiritual gifts where certain gifts were either have ceased or they were. They are more rare today than they were in the apostolic age. Something like that. If you go read the Reformers, the Protestant reformers and you listen to them talk about something like preaching and prophecy, or you listen to them talk about the leading of the Holy Spirit subjectively and the unction of the Holy Spirit in the believer's life, you will very quickly make a lot of hardcore cessationists even quite uncomfortable.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

Even with their. Our own theological forefathers, which tells me that we've likely in the same way, I think we've been infected by the sexual revolution with, you know, some Kind of embarrassment at the sexual mores and, you know, of the scriptures. I think we can do the same thing with spiritual things where materialism has been ascendant. And so we've you know, sort of got become embarrassed a little bit about saying that. No, the whole, like you would hear Protestant reformed Christians who were far from Pentecostal saying, the Holy Spirit led me to this. The Holy Spirit spoke through me in this way in this sermon or in

[A]

this instance in my life, if I'm remembering right. And I don't have a citation for this, but I believe that Martin Luther said multiple times in sermons and in like commentaries that he wrote that he was very much like, no, the Holy Spirit led me, told me to write these things, to do this, to write the 95. Like the Holy Spirit was leading me to do that. The Holy Spirit used me for that. And it's really fascinating. I think that. So there's kind of like a hyper cessationist camp in the modern reformed world that, that I would certainly disagree with. And I think that you're right. I think a lot of it is like, you want to hold on to your, your pearls of, of materialism. But I also think that some of it may be a reaction in the other direction to say like, well, now we have this new age spiritualism, right? We can't, we can't sound like them.

[C]

Yeah, let's get far away from the spiritual.

[A]

We can't participate in that. And I think the is problem. Problem with that is that this, the thing that the new age spiritualists are right about is that the spiritual world exists and we interact with it. And we interact with it. And so it's foolish for us to just say, okay, well you have that we'll stay over here content with our basically materialism. But it's so that we. I don't want to sound like you. I don't want to sound ridiculous like you. And the problem is like they know that the unseen world is there and that we interact with it and they will give you answers. It's just that they're the wrong answers, right? It's not that they're experiencing something that's totally false or anything like that. It's not that they're noticing something that's not actually there. It's that they're coming to the wrong conclusions. And so it's a huge mistake for Christ Church to ignore it and not even seek to better understand and to recapture these kind of, these convictions of our fathers, our spiritual fathers that, that had studied the Scriptures and had seen the spirit work and genuinely were like, no, I think that just like everything else, I think that the Lord guides us in this and gives us the right answers and tells us what to

[C]

do and had seen Satan at work. I mean, Luther was quite famous for being aware of the operation of Satan in the world. It reminds me of when Paul's first getting into spiritual gifts in First Corinthians in chapter 12. You know, he speaks about it in chapter 12, 13 and 14. Primarily, he begins with this exhortation to the. To the Corinthians. Make sure that you are not led away by the wrong spirit. Nobody who is speaking by the spirit will say that Jesus is accursed. And nobody can say that Jesus is Lord, but by the spirit. And his point is that if people are made to be led by spirit, which they are God, namely God, that means that such a thing is possible, that we can be led by spirits, by spirit. And so take care that you're led by the right spirit. And so I agree that exhortation really, you know, across traditions, all, you know, looking at the church, Catholic, the universal church of what we can agree on is call upon the name of the Lord, test the spirits, test all things by the Scriptures, obey the Lord and seek to. To obey him in all of your earthly and spiritual duties, and there's safety there. And be aware that in the midst of that, you're wading through a constant spiritual battle, not just a physical battle with flesh and blood, but with powers and principalities in the heavenly places that hate God, hate you, and want to bring destruction.

[A]

And it is interesting how I really do think that dreams can be like, some way for us to experience that unseen a little bit more closely in, in our mind. And I think. I think this is one of the things that Carl Jung was on to. I think that he was wrong. But, you know, he talked about when you go into the dream, you're entering the collective unconscious and you're. And you're going into your subconscious world and it's giving you all these, like, ancient memories, basically from the in. And yeah, like, his conclusions are crazy. But one of the things that's fascinating is that I think that he was noticing the ubiquity of people coming to him and him also seeking out other people and basically being faced with this catalog of dreams that, you know, we're not supposed to really remember dreams. Our minds aren't supposed to work that way. But when you get people that they're like, no, I remember so many of

[C]

these this was different.

[A]

Yeah, this was different. And he was noticing that and saying, well, maybe there is something there. Maybe there is some kind of pharaoh.

[C]

Like Nebuchadnezzar.

[A]

Yeah, exactly. Like the. The dreamscape is this. It's a different world in many ways. And to think that it's all just meaningless thoughts that are splattered on a wall, I think that that's incorrect to say that it always must be, that

[C]

it's an overly materialist accounting of things.

[A]

I think it's a gross oversimplification of dreams and even the depths that the mind might be able to go to being the tapestry of spirit and body that. That we are. Yeah, that's. I mean, a fascinating account that spans years, decades for you. And we're.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Really grateful that you're. That you're willing to come on here and share it with us. Jessica, thank you so much.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Thank you for.

[C]

Yeah, we appreciate it.

[A]

Yeah. All right. You want to lead us out?

[C]

Yeah, I'll take us out here. Thanks for listening, guys. We hope that this installment of the Graveyard Shift was helpful to you. Again, we'd remind you, the point of this is. Yeah, we. It's. It's fun to hear stories that are interesting, and people are made to engage with stories because we live in the midst of a story that God is writing in history. So that's fine.

[A]

We.

[C]

We're all about that here at Haunted Cosmos, putting sound effects and doing stories. But really, behind all of it, our. Our aim is that you would know the Lord, believe the Lord, be conformed to the image of the Lord more and more by grace and through faith. And so keep. Keep your eye on the ball. Like Paul says in Colossians 3, lift your eyes to the things of heaven, to where your life is hidden with God in Christ. And then put off the earthly. Put off sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil, desire, covetousness. The point of even this show isn't just entertainment. It's that we would all consider. Lift our eyes and consider the Lord afresh in our day. And so thanks for listening. Thanks for giving us your. A couple minutes of your time today. If you like what we do here. Always, always. There's some links you can support the show and help us continue to make it possible. But, yeah, share it with your friends. Share it with your dog, Share it with your cat. Share it with passersby on the street.

[A]

Preach the gospel to the animals.

[C]

Just start going to public places and airdropping it to any phone that's close. And I think that's the only reasonable thing you can do.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

Han Cosmo signing off.

[A]

Want more Haunted Cosmos? Head over to the Haunted Cosmos Patreon page over there. You get the pride and joy of supporting two very handsome men, Brian and myself. You also get access to our Patreon exclusive show, the Dusty Tome monthly live streams, early and ad free episodes, as well as our brand new show that's coming soon to patrons only. Campfire Tales names subject to change. We appreciate all the support of the show and hope you enjoy the extra content. And if you've never been a patron, get your first month free by heading to thehauntedcosmos.com free.