The Head-First Preacher

MORNING OF JUNE 27, 2011

There was some kind of public rally that was more or less like a church service. It was held indoors, and the crowds were seated in rows of chairs as well as on bleachers along the side walls. A fat preacher I thought I recognized as a televangelist was screaming from a pulpit and the crowd was listening intently and responding enthusiastically.

The preacher was warning everyone to get right with God, because Jesus would be coming back at any time.

I was just sort of roaming the auditorium as a dispassionate observer of the whole affair. At one point, the fat preacher set his open Bible on the end of a table, then climbed up to the top of one of the sets of bleachers. He shouted out something to the effect of "God expects us to get into the Bible head first!!!"--and then he dove off the bleachers, deliberately aiming his head for the Bible on the table. His aim was true and his head loudly cracked on the table and snapped back as he hit the ground, limp and unconscious.

In addition to his weight, the preacher was not especially young, so there was a good chance this fall had killed him--it was severe enough to have done most anyone in. People were screaming, medics were rushing to his aid. I just stood in a state of shock. It had been a very disturbing thing to witness--especially knowing he'd just done it intentionally!

There was a separate, but also religiously-themed dream later. I was watching a show on TV where a supposedly Christian host was interviewing Will Ferrell. They were explaining how they'd become real-life friends, and Will Ferrell had accepted the Christian's challenge to follow some kind of religious program for a month to see if he could be converted. Ferrell seemed to be treating his host respectably while still being jokey.