Anna Trapnel was a young Christian woman living in London in the 1650s. She was a member of one of the Fifth Monarchist congregations in London and made headlines in the press for her visions. She drew large crowds and filled column inches in the papers. In the early republic she had visions of Oliver Cromwell. He appeared to her in the guise of an Old Testament prophet, the military leader Gideon. She saw him storming into the House of Commons to clear it out.
Later during the Protectorate she had other visions of Cromwell. She saw a herd of oxen, all of whose faces were like Cromwell’s, and they all bowed down to Cromwell; Cromwell’s ox charged at her to spear her with its horns, but just as she was about to be killed with a horn piercing her heart, she heard God speaking to her saying, ‘I will be thy safety.’
She is just one of many Christians down the ages who have reported visions. You have probably heard similar stories from Christians, or perhaps even experienced such visions or dreams yourself? How do we understand these experiences, and how do they relate to visions in the Bible?
How do we understand such phenomena?
We don’t want to tell Christian friends that they are mistaken when they report such visions, do we? Even less do we want to suggest they are faking these experiences. But on the other hand, we intuitively recognise that these visions are different from those in the Bible.
