The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for false evidence against Jesus so that they could put him to death. But they did not find any, though many false witnesses came forward.

• Matthew 26:59-60a

So they stirred up the people and the elders and the teachers of the law. They seized Stephen and brought him before the Sanhedrin. They produced false witnesses, who testified, “This fellow never stops speaking against this holy place and against the law. For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs Moses handed down to us.”

• Acts 6:12-14

The Lord spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron who died when they approached the Lord. The Lord said to Moses: “Tell your brother Aaron that he is not to come whenever he chooses into the Most Holy Place behind the curtain in front of the atonement cover on the ark, or else he will die. For I will appear in the cloud over the atonement cover.
“This is how Aaron is to enter the Most Holy Place: He must first bring a young bull for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering. He is to put on the sacred linen tunic, with linen undergarments next to his body; he is to tie the linen sash around him and put on the linen turban. These are sacred garments; so he must bathe himself with water before he puts them on. From the Israelite community he is to take two male goats for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering.
“Aaron is to offer the bull for his own sin offering to make atonement for himself and his household. Then he is to take the two goats and present them before the Lord at the entrance to the tent of meeting. He is to cast lots for the two goats—one lot for the Lord and the other for the scapegoat. Aaron shall bring the goat whose lot falls to the Lord and sacrifice it for a sin offering. But the goat chosen by lot as the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the Lord to be used for making atonement by sending it into the wilderness as a scapegoat.

• Leviticus 16:1-10

I wrote about the scapegoat management style several years ago.  This is a new revelation, if a dream from a dubious source can be considered a “revelation.”

I have actually had two disturbing dreams in the past week, as of writing this.  The first is textbook dream analysis stuff, but the fact that I have had two dreams when over the past week my sleep schedule has been wrecked – that is amazing.  For to remember the dream, I have to be in deep sleep long enough to produce a memorable dream and I rarely got a lot of that kind of sleep period and then five- or ten-minutes in duration, and then an hour of trying to go back to sleep.  After this second dream, I have not been back to sleep today.

The First Dream

My wife and I were on a train, but the car we were on had only 2-3 benches.  Everyone else sat on the floor.  They were all military.  My wife said that something was wrong and she did not want to be left alone.  I had a problem in that I needed something from the next cabin.  While there, I found out the military people were prisoners and they were planning an escape.  When I returned, just seconds after leaving, the car was empty, including my wife.  Then I woke up.

Okay, classic dream analysis: Train going somewhere might mean a new job, new house, new direction in my life.  That is all past tense, but very true regarding retirement and my wife’s passing away.  Losing a loved one on a train: Usually that means that the loved one will die, but my wife has already passed away.

Other than much of it being past tense, this dream could be analyzed as my wife passing away and embarking on the rest of my life.  But otherwise, no other interpretations have arisen.

The Second Dream

I was at my cubicle at work.  I had not gotten a pay increase in years, and the boss comes into my cubicle to tell me that I will be sharing my tiny space with a new employee and he was rather small.  So small, he only came up to the boss’ beltline.  Elementary school aged, unless a very small preteen.

I could clearly see this was the person who was going to replace me, so I started climbing up the outside of the building, not allowed to take the elevator to get to the top floor where the big boss office was.  Along the way, I meet an old man who was trying to do the same thing.  I put my arm around him as wall panels would slip one way or the other and I got us both to the top floor.  I barged into the outer office and the old man was accepted with cheers.  I was told that they had no idea who I was and I needed to go to employment and finance down the hall.

In the huge financial room, everyone had offices like bank tellers.  All the workers/managers wore monk habits with something metallic instead of a face.  Everyone was faceless.  Everything they said made no sense.  But the mood was that of terror.  I should not be there, but I was there.  Something had to be done and done quickly.  I was ushered into the hallway between finance and the big boss office.

I looked down.  My pants were a wreck after doing all that climbing.  My shirt was in shreds, and I had no socks or shoes.  I had no tie, but I was properly dressed when I left my cubicle, that was now the cubicle of a child who would not be shaving for several years.

But then, just before awaking, I realized that I had demanded to see the head man in a company that I had not worked for in nearly thirty-five years.  That company had tried to fire me as did the company before them (the company I mentioned having taken over the government site from the other one).

Why did I ask about that company?  Then I woke up.

The Immediate aftermath from the second dream.  It was five in the morning, so I stayed up.  I immediately got an earworm, Celery Stalks at Midnight, a hit song by Les Brown and his Band of Renown with Doris Day singing the weird lyrics.

I would have simply brushed it off as being near Halloween, but then I remembered the ten years of working at a plant where my second employer was the one that I mentioned in the dream.  Some good friends in management told me that I was not getting pay increases due to having powerful enemies.  I would ask why and they said, “Don’t ask.  They are the ‘faceless ones.’”  An unseen enemy that has great power and no one knows who that person is/was.  Or maybe more than one.

Being a Scapegoat

Back at the beginning of that ten years of nightmarish employment, I had been given the job to supervise a procedure being run, a major milestone on a big multi-million dollar project.  The procedure did not work and there was a spill that cost the company a few hundred dollars to clean up.  We were to have a meeting, a postmortem, the following day at ten in the morning.  I got to work early.  I took all the signed documents and double-checked everything.  One engineer, the boss’ favorite, had falsified his report that his equipment was installed properly.  A valve that had to be shut was not installed.  The operator signed, stating that he had shut the valve, and his supervisor signed off.  Then the same operator signed off that he opened another valve, but when I checked, the valve had been shut for over a month and a safety tag showed it could not be opened without management approval.

These two mistakes were both offenses worthy of termination.  I went to the meeting fifteen minutes early, but my boss pulled me aside.  They had a “pre-meeting” which meant the meeting did not have to happen.  I was being the scapegoat for the error.  My boss even reminded me that I was still in the reserves and “What does an officer do when a subordinate screws up?”  I replied that I take the blame, but this was not the army.  The boss laughed and said it would all blow over in a month or two.  No one would remember and everyone in the room knows you had nothing to do with it and those that screwed up will be admonished not to screw up the next time.  The next day, the procedure worked with no problems.  Milestone still completed on time.

There was nothing I could do.  Faceless people, for I never saw anyone exit the room where the “pre-meeting” had been (and only one way in and out) were using me as a scapegoat.

What Happens When the Scapegoat Never Leaves?

But then on two occasions, just like Jesus and Stephen, false witnesses made up things about me, just like this failed procedure, and I was able to remain employed.

But the scapegoat is supposed to leave the community for the cleansing of the sins of those within the community.  But I was still there.  My work record was impeccable.  As one manager said, “You do high quality work and ten times as much work as the rest of the department combined.”  There were four of us in that small team.  Yet, I had to fight the next set of false charges, and the lazy or slow teammates got off without a scratch.

What happened when I did not leave the “community” is that it scared those faceless ones.  What they had done was unjust, and me staying around meant that the person being unjustly treated could get a lawyer and get the evidence to make them less “faceless.”

I know, Orwell’s 1984 and Huxley’s Brave New World are both a lot more believable, but this story is factual.

Analyzing the Second Dream?

I think Satan can send a dream our way.  They do not always come from God.  I was reminded of something that happened roughly 45 years ago, and continued to haunt me until I got a much better job at a NASA project where they were impressed by my skills and knowledge.  I hope so as I directed all training and education for certification of each employee on site.  But then, funding was lost to that project three years later.

But the dream has caused me to have pity for my faceless enemies, and a little love, at least concern for their salvation.  A scapegoat is supposed to disappear, and I did not.  That scared them.  The longer I stayed, the more frightened they became.  And I never even tried to learn who they were.  I had been told by my friends that they were “faceless” and no one knew.

So, all I can do is pray that I do not have another nightmare for a while.  And I have to praise God because the nightmare that I lived all those years ago is far behind me, but it shaped how I see this world and I hope some people out there can relate to being unjustly treated.

For you who have been unjustly treated, all I can say is that God treats us with pure justice, and He loves us.  He is willing to show us Mercy and Grace.  You can trust Him.  And I have the best job right now that I have ever had.  God helps guide me, and He is a great boss.

And for you in the USA…

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.