Premonition research needs to be discussed against the background of the concept of "One Mind," the title of Larry Dossey's latest book.  See this interview in which Dossey explains the basis of this revolutionary idea:

http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=larry+dossey+one+mind+youtube&&view=detail&mid=4B8F7175DB830FB367134B8F7175DB830FB36713&FORM=VRDGAR

With that interview as background, let's turn to the subject of this thread which is discussed in Dossey's prior book:

"THE SCIENCE OF PREMONITIONS:" A Book by Dr. Larry Dossey:

By "science," Dossey has in mind replicable lab experiments that confirm compelling anecdotal cases and suggest that we all potentially have this ability, an ability which can be transformed into a gift of the Holy Spirit, when it is used to edify Christians for God's glory. In the 2nd post of my thread on Speaking in Tongues and Spirit Baptism, I describe the electrifying experience that seems to have activated by potential to have regular premonitions. See the intriguing Dossey interview below:

http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q...3D3569D21757F924BBFD3D3569D21757F92&FORM=VIRE

For me, the real "scientific" question here is this: When do mere "coincidences" become so improbable that it becomes reasonable to invoke paranormal causal agency apart from the space/ time continuum. For this thread I will initially focus on my own frequent experiences of premonitions. I invite readers to discuss these testimonies and post their own experiences with this phenomena. In my view, the premonitions I'll share establish the existence of a spiritual dimension. Here is my first premonitory experience:
(1) At age 19, I was a Winnipeg college student. About 5 years my senior, my friend Dallas was the leader of our church youth group of about 150. I had just been Best Man at his wedding and was now invited to the newlyweds post-Christmas dinner. After eating, we played table tennis in their basement. Dallas mentioned that he was going deer hunting in northern Manitoba the next day and I instantly felt a sense of dread. It seemed as if I saw his skeleton and was certain that he would be killed in an accident if he went on this trip. Horrified, I felt compelled to share my premonition with him. He was offended and blamed my so-called premonition on my anti-hunting views. I had no such views, though I've never gone hunting myself. What could I do? I had no evidence beyond my certainty. I guess I hoped God would confirm my premonition to Dallas.

A few days later, we had a New Year's Eve service at our church. What happened when I arrived at the church was straight out of a horror movie. 3 young girls in our youth group approached me, giggling, and said. You do know that Dallas was killed yesterday in a hunting accident. He was riding a snowmobile with his gun placed near him and hit a bump. The resulting jolt caused his rifle to discharge into his shoulder. He bled to death before his hunting buddies got him to a doctor. The girls giggled and one said to the other, "Wow, I guess we sure ruined his day!" It was as if Hell was taunting me for my friendship with Dallas! What was so funny about their youth leader's death? I charitably assumed that their was just a nervous laughter. I later obsessed over what this tragedy meant. Why was I given this premonition if it would be useless to prevent his death? And was his death predestined fate?




Don- I haven't yet seen the vids, but an incident relayed by my mother's nephew years ago adds to the discussion. He was a solid no nonsense guy, a border patrol agent in update NY near Canadian border.

One day, as he was relaxing on his front porch watching the passing scene, things suddenly changed. People were dressed in early 20th century clothes, horses and buggies replaced the cars, and he could hear the noise from wagon wheels traversing the cobblestone road. Pungent odors from the horse waste assaulted his nose. It was as real as can be.

Then, just as suddenly, things returned to normal.

So...maybe time is not only not sequential but simultaneous. Somehow the veil was temporarily lifted. So the hunting accident possibly already happened when you had the vision.

We know so little. Virtually anything is possible. Recall your Leonard story!

R

Don-

Another thought about premonitions. There are countless stories about people who change travel plans  (as just one example) based on a premonition and subsequently learn that the plane they intended to take crashed with no survivors. Or stories from 9/11 where someone had a bad feeling about going to work that day and called in sick.

Almost invariably they consider it to be a warning from God or a guardian angel or the like. And they conclude, to use a well worn expression, that "God must have plans for me".

On the other hand more than 3000 people were killed on 9/11.
Does that mean that the balance of their lives were somehow all that unimportant or less important? Does God play favorites? If God is given thanks for these premonitions, does that mean He should be blamed for ignoring the victims? Or maybe He did and they didn't pick up on it?

I'm not sure about the spirituality of these phenomena. Maybe so, but maybe there's something else at work. Some sort of protocol we just can't grasp.

My own life was saved when I was a young boy but I am quite sure it wasn't because I was singled out over all the kids who were killed in car accidents or by other causes. For me it remains a mystery.

R

Hello theDonald,

It seems like your late friend Dallas had his own intent to go hunting and used his own will power to ignore your warning.
If so, his future was not predetermined. He could have heeded the warning.

(I used to get angry when I'd realize I'd missed a brief, last-minute clue like that. 'Why couldn't It give me a bigger/earlier clue?!" I'd fume. But such a hint or warning is the best way to measure whether one is able to accept the truth behind it, that Truth comes from a caring source.)

I agree that giggling is more a nervous response, usually to new issues, like death, that we've not had to face previously. It's unfortunate. Maybe it's a reminder that we have to civilize our physical nature? 

Bets

Don, I think we all have a propensity to give meaning to our experiences and the denotations we give come from our beliefs.  For example, most people feel a premonition is received as a message from God or other being as an indication that some kind of action is required, but that's not necessarily true.  Sometimes, perhaps most of the time, what we call a premonition is nothing more than knowing something before it happens.  It doesn't always mean it can be prevented from happening, nor does it mean we need to try to prevent something from happening.

When attending a birthday party I had a premonition (knew) that a woman I'd just met would within a month be diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and that she would die within a few months.  If I'd walked up to her and said something to her she would have thought I was not only nuts, but intrusive.  And at that stage it wouldn't have changed a thing anyway.  There was no reason for me to know this, yet I did.  Sometimes we just know things and it really is just as simple as that.

Hi Don,
I hope 2017 is proving to be a year of happiness and
growth for you. 

I was interested in your idea about premonitions and
spirituality.  I have not had any remarkable premonitions, but my late husband did.  He was a truly
spiritual person who saved many person's lives starting when he was a little boy of about 4.  He told
me, before we were married, that his primary goal in
life was to be a saint.

Frankly, it frequently seemed that evil was after him,
perhaps because he was such a truly kind person who
was always motivated by goodness.

  I also don't understand what was up with those girls. It almost sounds like they were temporarily possessed, or they felt like they had a hand in his death (maybe they were experimenting with hexes or the like?).  Either way, a very, very odd reaction. 

   The future is not fixed, and most of us have at least a couple various probable exit points at different times and of different causes. 

   Over the years my spouse has had a number of dreams which indicated that I would die fairly young (one dream mentioned in my mid 40's). Both of us have had a lot of precognitive dreams, and can usually tell the more symbolic ones apart from the more literal, precognitive ones.  These dreams of her seem to be a way for her Expanded self to prepare her emotionally for my probable early death. 

  Yet, the last dream that she had related to this theme seemed to indicate that things were not necessarily set in stone.  In the dream, we were on a spaceship with another person, an accident happened and to survive, we had to put on helmets/suits to survive.  The group was one helmet short, and I voluntarily gave it up though we knew it meant I would die. She was very upset, and became angry, and kicked the ship. When she did that, an unnoticed compartment opened up with an extra helmet, which meant that I would live after all. 

   There could be other meanings to the dream, but it seemed to be speaking to the whole, probable early death thing, as it comes up once in awhile between us. If so, it could be saying that it doesn't necessarily have to take place. Personally speaking, except for leaving my spouse and our future children behind, I have no problem at all with dying young. 

 

Quote:

Frankly, it frequently seemed that evil was after him, perhaps because he was such a truly kind person who was always motivated by goodness.

Many folks here don't like to talk or hear about such things as the above, it seems, but yes, the above is true.  If a person starts to radiate a certain amount and degree of Light and are of holistic help to others, hindering beings will start to focus on them.

  And I don't mean your average meanie nonphysical, like a former human psychopath--the kind that commonly bother alcoholics, drug addicts, or folks like Howard Storm in OBE state, etc.  I mean ancient psychopaths that are much more collective and thus much stronger in effect, because they are part of a group. 

For such individuals, it helps to consciously ask the Creator and the Co-Creators for help, protection, and guidance.  The being called Arch Angel Michael is particularly focused on providing this kind of protective help and shielding. 

    Anyways, suffice it to say, I'm speaking from both experience and intuition. At one point, I came very close to leaving this earth seemingly at my own hand, because the above were constantly pushing that into my psyche.  It's a minor miracle that I'm still here. 

Yes Justin. Don't know if you have read The Screwtape Letters but E. S. Lewis understood this, including the mechanics.

R

No, I haven't read that book by C.S. Lewis, but thank you for the heads up Rondele--may check it out at some point. 

  Sometimes I wonder why there is so much resistance to the notion/idea that there are hindering forces involved with this world? 

  Or why some folks are open minded to that, but not to the idea of a negative Reptilian ET group, when both the OT and NT of the Bible make a number of references to negative and deceptive serpents and dragons?  The Dead Sea Scrolls have extra references to these and some in a more clear, straightforward manner, such as the Testament of Amram:

"Manuscript B
Fragment 1
(9) [... 1 saw Watchers]
(10) in my vision, the dream-vision. Two .... were fighting over me, saying ...
(11) and holding a great contest over me. I asked them, ‘Who are you, that you are thus empo[wered over me?’ They answered me, ‘We]
(12) [have been em]powered and rule over all mankind.’ They said to me, ‘Which of us do yo[u choose to rule (you)?’ I raised my eyes and looked.]
(13) [One] of them was terr[i]fying in his appearance, [like a serpent, [his] cl[oa]k many-colored yet very dark...
(14) [And I looked again], and ... in his appearance, his visage like a viper, and [wearing ...]
15) [exceedingly, and all his eyes ...]

Fragment 2
(1) [... em]powered over you ...
(2) [I replied to him,] ‘This [Watcher,] who is he?’ He answered me, ‘This Wa[tcher ...]
(3) [and his three names are Belial and Prince of Darkness] and King of Evil.’ I said, ‘My lord, what dom[inion ...?’]
(4) [’and his every way is darkened, his every work da[rk]ened. In Darkness he ...
(5) [Yo]u saw, and he is empowered over all Darkness, while I [am empowered over all light.]
(6) [... from] the highest regions to the lowest I rule over all Light, and over al[1 that is of God. I rule over (every) man]

Fragment 3
(1) [of His grace and peace. Over all the sons of Lig]ht have] I been empowered.’ I asked him, [What are your names ... ?’]
(2) He [s]aid to me, ‘[My] three names are [Michael and Prince of Light and King of Righteousness.’]"

  The very interesting thing about the above..  Is before the Dead Sea Scrolls were even discovered, Cayce's guidance made a reference to hindering forces trying to influence Moses, and that Michael fought same.  They said, "(A) For there has been the continued battle with those forces as Michael fought WITH over the body of Moses. He that leads, or WOULD direct, is continually beset by the forces that WOULD undermine. He that endureth to the end shall wear the Crown." Excerpted from Reading 2897-4

  Why is this interesting in light of that Dead Sea Scroll manuscript?  Because Amram was the name of Mose's father.  Hence, both Cayce's guidance and the Dead Sea Scrolls most likely are referring to the same incident.  A psychic battle between the positive, from the Light Watcher Michael and the negative Watcher with the face like that of a viper. 

  Yet, for some reason, some have belittled and even made light of such information as Reptilians, even those who seem to look to the Bible. 

  In any case, both my spouse and I have had some interesting experiences and messages having to do with Michael. She had a very vivid dream where she saw her guides as cows and Michael as a bull, and then a negative, but powerful entity as a young bull tried to get to her.  This being was powerful enough that at one point in this battle, both her guides and Michael had to work together to subdue and turn this negative, attacking entity away. 

   As usual, she was not conscious of the above information that I just shared, as she is less focused on this stuff than I am.  Yet, she receives messages fairly often. 

   My experience was that at one point when I felt like I was being psychically attacked (around the time I was involved with ACIM or had just dropped it), I specifically asked Michael for help.  Years later, during a reading with Linn, she picked up that I had asked a powerful Michael for help and that he has helped me.  The extra verification was, I had been thinking about Michael just a day before the reading, when I hadn't thought about him in awhile. 

  Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction, especially when ET's get involved. 

 

  I decided to erase my last two posts--too off topic to the thread. 

An edit to correct some info in the above post (I wasn't able to edit the above post directly anymore).  The NT does also mention the above incident as well, in Jude 1:9. Hence, it's not necessarily a confirmation or verification between the Dead Sea Scrolls and Cayce's info. 

Don:

Regarding speaking in tongue, it seems to me that the Book of Acts states that people were given the ability to speak in tongue so they could share Jesus' teachings with people who spoke differing languages, not so they could do as some modern day speaking in tongue people do.

I've watched videos of people speaking in tongue, and what they experience doesn't seem to have anything to do with what I experience when I experience divine love (very alive, yet very peaceful). What they experience seems to be frenzied, lacking in control and not peaceful, like the peace that surpasses all understanding.

Several years ago you said that some of the people who engage in speaking in tongue too much get possessed. In my experience, divine love has no connection to getting possessed.

Berserk is back--but as The Donald!   In my most recent attempts to return and post, I received a form spoofing warning and a virus.  Bruce reregistered me under this name, but I got another form spoofing warning.   And the whole site looked different.  Recently I was delighted to get an E-mail from Rondele, Kathy, and Matthew that has prompted me to give it another try.  So far so good.

I will continue posting on this thread and will also start new ones that reflect my current thinking and recent paranormal experiences.  I'm particularly interested on how oldtime posters have changed their minds over the years. 

I moved to northeast Washington from Buffalo in 2007 to pastor a United Methodist church and be closer to my elderly parents in Kelowna, BC.  But in the past 3 years, both parents passed, and that removed my main reason for living here (Colville).  I retired in July, 2015, but after much thought, I've decided to stay here in Colville.  I would have responded to those e-mails sooner, but I've been asked by troubled strangers to performs memorial services for loved ones, and I find that and accompanying sessions exhausting but very rewarding, including the inevitable spectacular paranormal experiences that attend the deaths.

One of my major beefs against Trump (The Donald) is that he trivializes all us minor Donalds as just "a Donald."  So I decided to rebel and post on various game sites as "The Donald."  To my great surprise and delight, some came to believe that I was actually Trump!  Being a practical joker, I began to channel Trump, using repetitious phrases and overusing trademark words like "great" "beautiful," and "tremendous."  Other posts caught the joke and joined in the ruse, thus persuading more gullible posters.  Of course, this meant I also got hate posts for Trump's many missteps, but I valiantly defended the indefensible to get more "fans."  For example, I remarked how delighted Melania was with the expansive White House bathrooms, and other women began discussing their efforts to get their husbands to remodel their own bathrooms.  Anyway, on this site, I will trot out the more serious me and hopefully renew acquaintances with old friends. 

I'm delighted that Dude has posted a thread on my flawed hero, Swedenborg, and I will diligently try to track down my old thread.  The only thing I have against Dude is that he once started the only thread that is longer than my ES thread.   :'(

Hah, hah, on that "The Donald" business. ;D

Well, we finally coerced Don to return! Welcome back. I was thinking of you when I read this post from seagull. I would add a long time question of my own- yes, Jesus died for us. But since Jesus knew that he would return to heaven, doesn't that diminish the sacrifice?

Anyway here is seagull's post:
     
Re: Emanuel Swedenborg

"I have to say, I looked at some of the links, Dude. I got to the animal sacrifice links while clicking on your suggestions randomly. I was so repulsed by the content that I thought, oh, that's why I don't read the Bible. Then, I saw all the content regarding Jesus being the sacrifice for our sins and I realized that it was equally repulsive to me for the simple reason that any God that required or approved of such a thing follows no logic I can comprehend. But, that's just me".      

Your response appreciated. And I'm sure it will be the most beautiful, elegant and magnificent response ever posted on the ak forum since, after all, you are The Donald, and our expectations are high!

R

Rondelle:

Do you believe that Jesus died for our sins? I believe that existence is set up in a much more sophisticated and elegant way than that. I wonder how Jesus feels about some of the things that are attributed to him.

Hi Don,

   I've had a number of issues with this site in recent times as well.  I've had to change my password some 6 to 8 times now within a period of a month or so, because I kept getting username/password do not match messages (while entering in both correctly).  At first I thought it was Bruce doing it, because he had banned me awhile back, but currently I don't think he had anything to do with it, since another member told me similar happened to them, and they are in good graces with Bruce. 

But yes, something whacky sure is going on at this site.  It seems that the security certificates haven't been updated since my web browser says the site and the connection to same is not secure. 

  I don't really know enough about computers, the internet, etc to know what's really going on, and if this site is being attacked or targeted by immature hacker types or not. 

   I tend to think of you more as "The Don", more like in the Godfather mafia based movies, than the President, but that's just me (I'm joking).

   Just the Justin whose been on this site for some 11/12 years. 

TheDonald wrote on Apr 26^th, 2017 at 8:17pm:

I'm delighted that Dude has posted a thread on my flawed hero, Swedenborg, and I will diligently try to track down my old thread.  The only thing I have against Dude is that he once started the only thread that is longer than my ES thread.   :'(

Glad to see you back Don! Here's a link to your old Swedenborg thread: http://afterlife-knowledge.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?num=1124309116/0

No need to hold a grudge against me over that thread, I actually had it taken down after writing a book containing a lot of the content that was in it. Your ES thread is back to number one!

Now that I'm what you might call a "born again Christian," I look forward to picking your brain a bit regarding the faith. I still have much to learn and I feel I could learn a lot from your knowledge and wisdom that I ignorantly missed out on in the past. By the way, you're a real trooper for putting up with me back in my "ghetto" days!

Peace  :)

Recoverer 2 wrote on Apr 26^th, 2017 at 10:28pm:

Rondelle: Do you believe that Jesus died for our sins? I believe that existence is set up in a much more sophisticated and elegant way than that. I wonder how Jesus feels about some of the things that are attributed to him.

  I get the sense of A LOT of Oy Veys, some definite head shaking, occasional laughing, sometimes weeping, and once in awhile, a combo of two or more of the above at the same time.  :-X   :D
   

  Lol, I have a feeling that Vince and Don's burgeoning bromance will come to rival Albert's and mine...  :o   :D  ;D

  As they say--Like attracts, begets, resonates with, and likes Like on the deeper levels.  Or in more colloquial and modern parlance, "birds of a feather flock together."

Perhaps also, some gnashing of teeth.  ;D

I doubt that Jesus views this site as a ghetto. I believe he is way beyond trying to feel good about himself by looking down at others as ghetto dwellers.


wrote on Apr 26^th, 2017 at 10:58pm:

Recoverer 2 wrote on Apr 26th, 2017 at 10:28pm: Rondelle: Do you believe that Jesus died for our sins? I believe that existence is set up in a much more sophisticated and elegant way than that. I wonder how Jesus feels about some of the things that are attributed to him.   I get the sense of A LOT of Oy Veys, some definite head shaking, occasional laughing, sometimes weeping, and once in awhile, a combo of two or more of the above at the same time.  :-X   :D

Recoverer 2 wrote on Apr 27^th, 2017 at 12:31am:

Perhaps also, some gnashing of teeth.  ;D I doubt that Jesus views this site as a ghetto. I believe he is way beyond trying to feel good about himself by looking down at others as ghetto dwellers.

I doubt Don's reason for coining the new age ghetto expression was to get high on a superiority trip. Probably more of a case of "call it like you see it." 

According to Don:


Quote:

"Ghetto mentality:" "The habit of seeking out and reading only metaphysical perspectives that agree with one's preconceptions" The New Age Ghetto mentality contents itself with uncritically accepted subjective experiences and trivializes the problem of contradictory subjectivity arising from very different experiernces.  The New Age Ghetto mentality does not regularly ask the question: "If my metaphysical perspective is fundamentally flawed, how would I ever discover my error?"  Th New Age Ghetto mentality sees no need to test their beliefs and experiences by exploring challenges from other intellectual disciplines: e. g. traditional religion, philosophy, psychology, neurology, parapsychology, and neurology.

I believe it was disrespectful for Don to use the term "New Age Ghetto" at this forum.

  While I essentially agree with Albert on his last reply, I do think it's important to point out that ultimately, Don's inner intentions and deeper motivations behind what he said, are more relevant as to whether it was considered creative-constructive, or negative-destructive, for him to say and partake in that. (Considered by what? The Creative Forces and/or his own Expanded, Spirit self).

   I keep in mind that Yeshua had some pretty scathing rebukes and criticisms to say about and towards the Pharisees et al., but for him, it was more about trying to get the Hebrew people who followed these somewhat blindly, to see what they were all about, rather than just being negative and judgmental for the sake of same.  He was trying to free the people from their largely corrupt and hindering influence.

  PUL type Love, is not always gentle, soft, and accepting. Sometimes it can take the form of Fire, applying consequence or discipline, and/or being strong in words or actions--it all depends on the circumstance and what's most helpful in the moment.  Yeshua's life and example shows this rather clearly.

     With all that said, I don't know what Don's inner intentions and deeper motivations were for saying what he said. Could very well have been more typical human judgement which is more negative, and limiting to self and others, or could have been more in the spirit of Yeshua.  Most often with most humans, judgement and criticism comes from the former, rather than the latter. This is because there are very few humans that are even near as consciously attuned to PUL as was Yeshua even on any of his off days or moments.  Nor does one get closer towards the latter by partaking a lot in criticism and judgement of others.

2 PREMONITIONS AT PRINCETON [but not my last one there, which will be treated separately in my next planned post, because it was one of the most beautiful experiences of my life.]

(2) My next premonition after Dallas's accidental shooting happened just before Christmas at Princeton Seminary. I regularly dined with a great and very witty guy named Ted in our refectory. Ted already had 2 masters degrees and had just been accepted into the NT doctoral program at Cambridge U in England. I went to his dorm room to borrow his Cambridge catalogue, so I could apply to Cambridge as one of my potential grad schools. When Ted gave me the catalogue, I again seemed to see his skeleton in a premonition that his death was imminent. This time, though, I said nothing because I had no idea where the danger lay and, in any case, I had been unsuccessful in deterring Dallas from his hunting trip. When I returned to seminary after Christmas vacation, I learned that Ted and his friend Ken were driving home for Christmas together, but their car spun out on ice and crashed into a pole. Ken broke his arm, but Ted was killed. When I reflected on why I was given this premonition, the only interpretation that made sense was that I was meant to pray that Ted would be spared. Unfortunately, I could not bring myself to accept that the premonition was accurate and instead just tried to put it out of my mind. But I would soon learn that my premonitions were always accurate.

(3) My next premonition at Princeton Seminary came in the form of a nightmare in which my life was threatened and I pleaded with God for mercy. The next day, I drove to the Newark College of Engineering, where I was doing field work as a chaplain assistant. As I was driving home in the dark on a freeway, my motor suddenly died and my car slowed to a stop. I was fortunate to walk off the freeway through the heavy traffic and my car was totaled by another car shortly thereafter. I called 2 friends, Mike and Peter, from my dorm and they came and picked me up. Both of them said they too had experienced a nightmare the night before. At least in this case, the premonition seems intended to alert me to my personal danger and to induce me to pray for God's protection.


L

Don, will you post your Princeton premonition on this thread or a separate one? Will be anxiously waiting!

R

(4) My next premonition is not the most evidential, but I experienced it as part of the 2nd most spiritually profound day of my life. [ I'll share the most spiritually profound day in the section "Religions and Their Beliefs" under a more appropriate heading.]

I was in the final 2 months of my senior year at Princeton Seminary. I had applied to various doctoral programs in New Testament and Judaism, but since I was 16, I had always dreamed of getting my doctorate at Harvard. As a 16 year old soccer player in Canada, I received a serious eye injury that threatened me with blindness and my Winnipeg doctor urged me to have the surgery in Boston. So my Dad accompanied me on the long train rides to Montreal and then to Boston, and a kind Christian Armenian couple took me in as a total stranger, while I convalesced from the surgery. Mr. Chorlian drove me around Boston and eventually around Harvard, bragging about how great a university it was. In my time of crisis, I needed a dream and the thought of getting a Harvard doctorate became that dream. But now in my last 2 months at Princeton, my friends were warning me that I had no chance of admission because I lacked a sufficient academic background for the program.

At Princeton, I had taken a preaching class with George, but he wasn't really a friend. Still, somehow he heard about my dream from a friend and decided to pay me a visit in my dorm room. When I opened the door, George just radiated warmth and love. He said, "Don, I've been praying for you, and the Lord has given me assurance that you will be accepted at Harvard soon." At once, my anxiety vanished and George's premonition about me became mine as well.

The next evening started horrendously. Anne, an attractive fellow student, came to my dorm room in a rage, accusing me of calling her on the phone and telling her she was too emotionally unstable to be a seminarian. I liked Anne because she had been a great comfort to me when my close friend had been killed in a car wreck. How could she think I'd do such a thing? Well, I was a friend of her boyfriend John who had just broken up with her, and I guess she wrongly thought he had confided in me about the break-up; and the guy who called her must have sounded like me.

In the midst of Anne's harangue, there was another knock at my door. I was told there was a phone call for me on the pay phone in the middle of the dorm. I excused myself and raced to the phone. It was John Strugnell, the Harvard professor who controlled the Dead sea Scrolls at the time, calling to inform me of my acceptance with a scholarship. Imagine my emotional roller coaster ride from false accusation to the news that fulfilled a long-time dream! When I returned to my room, Anne demanded to know who that was, and her jaw dropped when I told her. Evidently, she feared that John was calling me to warn me about her imminent tirade!

Suddenly, her mood changed and, alarmed, she asked me, "Are you OK?" I mumbled, "Fine, under the circumstances. Why?" She replied, "Because your right hand is gushing blood from the palm and is streaming onto your pants!" At that time, I had always dismissed stigmata as a Catholic superstition and I have never experienced this before or since. But my "stigmata" evidently convinced Anne of my innocence and she hastily left my room. I just sat there with a beautiful blend of elation and sorrow, as I thanked God for George's kind intercessory prayer in my behalf. The providential timing of these events served as a powerfully loving reminder that God has my back and wanted to make me aware of His protective hand in an unforgettably dramatic way.  Even now, I often savor the sweetness of His presence in those 2 days. 

I can't recall any subsequent conversation with George.  I wish I could track him down to make him aware of how momentous his thoughtful prayer and follow-up visit had on my life.







May 31, 2016
Report

(5) When I was a United Church of Christ interim minister in Buffalo, NY, Eleanor regularly attended our prayer group (4-6 people). As in my present location in Washington state, we were amazed by our answers (e. g. Doctors decreed that a baby would not leave the hospital alive, and the baby was healed!). But that's not why I'm talking about Eleanor. I'll never forget the note attached to my windshield wipers after I finished a long walk. It said that Eleanor had just been killed in a fiery car crash. In her totaled car were several get well cards that she had planned to send to sick people or people in surgery.

After the funeral, I met her sister Joan in a restaurant. Joan's grief was sweetened by a dream premonition Eleanor had related to her on the day of the fatal crash. Eleanor was in her house, when her late husband Nick came downstairs and said, "Come on up, honey. I want to dance with you again." Eleanor saw some deceased relatives upstairs and sensed that "upstairs" was a symbol for the afterlife and that "dance" was a symbol of death. She loved to dance with Nick, but this time declined, saying, "O no, I'm not ready for that yet." By late afternoon she was dead.

Joan shared this verification. At roughly the time Eleanor died, the cuckoo clock in the living room stopped. The same clock had stopped many years previously when her husband Nick suffered a fatal heart attack, shoveling snow and when her son, Nick, Jr,, recently committed suicide, distraught over his failed marriage. These odd coincidences, and especially the dream premonition, convinced her sister Joan that a divine providence was mysteriously at work in the timing of Eleanor's death.

Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772) was the greatest Swedish scientist ever, and beginning in his 50s, became perhaps the psychic with the most impressive verifications of his visits to Heaven and Hell and his conversations with deceased spirits. He was a man of impeccable Christian character, but I consider aspects of his theology heretical and don't encourage the average Christian to read his many books. But the phenomenon of a cuckoo clock stopping at the moment of death for Eleanor, her son, and her husband finds spectacular precedent in Swedenborg's demonstration of his psychic gifts.

Prof. Scherrer counted himself among the skeptics of Swedenborg's claims to regular visit the spirit world and converse with spirits. But he was a dumbfounded eyewitness to this incident that occurred while Swedenborg was socializing with a group of skeptics in Stockholm:

"They put him to the proof as to the credibility of his extraordinary spiritual communications. The test was this: He should state, which of the company would die first. Swedenborg did not refuse to answer this question, but after some time, in which he seemed to be in profound and silent meditation, he quite openly replied: "Olaf Olafsohn will die tomorrow morning at 4:45 AM..." The company was placed in anxious expectation, and a gentleman who was a friend of Olaf Olafsohn, resolved to go on the following morning, at the time mentioned by Swedenborg to the house of Olafsohn, to see whether Swedenborg's prediction was fulfilled. On the way thither he met the well-known servant of Olafsohn, who told him that his master had just then died, a fit of apoplexy had seized him, and had suddenly put an end to his life. The clock in Olafsohn's dwelling stopped at the very minute in which he had expired (4:45 AM!)." (Source quoted in Wilson Van Dusen's "The Presence of Other Worlds," pp. 163-64).

During England's great Methodist revival, John Wesley secretly wanted to meet Swedenborg. Swedenborg discovered this during a visit to the spirit world and wrote Wesley to arrange a meeting. Wesley was shocked by the letter because he had told no one of his secret desire to meet Swedenborg. Wesley had to decline Swedenborg's proposed time because he was about to visit America for revival meetings, but he suggested a meeting months later when he returned to England. Swedenborg sadly declined, saying that he had learned in the spirit world that the exact day on which he'd die and the date was during Wesley's mission trip to America. Swedenborg died quietly on the predicted day. Similarly, my Dad's Canadian friend, Helmut, always said he'd die on his 90th birthday, and that was precisely the day on which he died!

TWO PREMONITIONS DURING MY HARVARD DAYS:

(6) A young woman I had dated briefly in Boston asked me to take her to the New England Flower Show. Reluctantly, I agreed to do so. After I got all flowered out, I noticed a card reader at a table who charged $5 for a reading. Bored and curious, I walked up to her, paid the $5, and sat for her reading. Let me first confess that I have never done anything like this before or since, and would not recommend dabbling in any form of divination. I report this experience only to illustrate how the mind can have paranormal premonitions that it receives from its ability to operate outside the spatial-temporal realm.

The lady asked me to draw 3 cards. As she looked at them, she made these 3 points:
(a) She observed, "Stop seeing that woman (my date); she's not your type." I'm glad my date was not within earshot. The card reader was right, but how did she know that woman was not my wife?
(b) She then told me that very soon I'd be actively involved in working with children, and that I was ideally suited to do so. I skeptically thought, "I'm a single doctoral student with little time on my hands, and I don't want to have anything to do with children right now."
(c) Thirdly, she told me that I would soon be offered a job in a very exotic place, but that I should turn the offer down. I told her, "I haven't even applied for any jobs. I'm half way through my Harvard doctoral thesis and a job would take me away from my research." She smiled and reassured me that the job offer was imminent. I was stunned to discover that predictions (b) and (c) were fulfilled within a couple of days.

(b) The next day my dissertation advisor called me to ask why I was overdue on my latest dissertation chapter. I made excuses, but soon learned that this was not the real purpose of his call. He said that was the President of the Arlington Youth Soccer Association and that he needed a coach for an under-12 boys team. He had overheard me say at a social function that I used to play soccer in Canada. I reluctantly agreed to coach the team. It proved to be one of my most satisfying recreational experiences ever. Those boys became like the sons I'd never have as a single man. In my 2nd year of coaching the team, we made it all the way to the county championship game of our section of Greater Boston (losing 2-1). I coached youth soccer for the next 5 years and loved it.

(c) Within 2 days of my encounter with the card reader, I received a stunning phone call. It was from the chair of the department of religious studies at Memorial University in St. John's, Newfoundland. He was offering me a summer teaching position, which I declined. He got my name from someone at the University of Toronto. The card reader had told me that I'd receive a job offer from an "exotic" place; and to me, Newfoundland is about as exotic as it gets! She had rightly advised me to turn down the job offer.

(7) I was developing a friendship with Linda, an attractive young Harvard grad student who was separated from her unfaithful husband. She was wrestling with the question of whether it was right to divorce him. She had recently prayed about this and then felt prompted to quickly open her Bible to the first verse her eyes glanced--Jesus' prohibition against divorce in Mark 10:11-12. She asked me whether I thought his was a valid way to find divine guidance.

I responded that her method was called bibliomancy, which was a form of divination and, as such, might fit within the category of the Bible's prohibition against divination. On the other hand, St. Francis of Assisi had used this method in deciding whether a certain candidate was a good choice to be one of his followers; and I myself once used bibliomancy to receive a sign of God's guidance for a difficult decision and had immediately received a very specific answer that turned out to be valid.

While pondering what else to say, I suddenly blurted out, "Linda, give me yourBible!" In the split second, I held it, I instantly jammed my finger inside and found it pointing to Deuteronomy 24:1, which endorses divorce for anything the man finds objectionable in a wife. Now Linda's Bible was the thickest Bible I had ever seen because of all the detailed notes at the bottom of each page and I'd never seen it before. There is no way I could have found that verse in the split second I took to point my finger inside this Bible.

A stunned Linda wryly exclaimed, "So are you claiming that your guidance trumps my guidance?" I replied, "No, Linda, I once used this method and received effective guidance. But then I got obsessed and thought, "Wow, I'm going to use that method for all my major decisions!" To my dismay, I found that I could routinely instantly find a perfect verse to address the issue I had in mind. But this method lacked any predictive efficacy and proved to be useless as a tool for future guidance. So what I'm saying, Linda, is that there can be a thin line between genuine divine guidance and the meaningless paranormal ability to instantly find texts that suit your goal. So I'd advise you to study everything the Bible says on this subject and then listen for God's guiding impulse, but don't trust bibliomancy. It can be unreliable." Linda got the divorce. What amazes me in retrospect is my premonition that pulling this stunt on Linda would actually work very well.

I later shared this story with a professor friend and his wife and they challenged me to see if I could perform this feat with their Bible! They handed me their Bible and said, "Why don't you see if you can zap your finger onto a verse about some kind of grain or chemical? I did and twice in a row, my finger instantly pointed to a verse that mentioned "wheat!"

(7) While I was a theology professor in western NY, I met a woman who read auras. I didn't believe in aura reading; so I dismissed her claim that I would soon overreact to a disastrous experience. At the time I was renting a nice garage apartment. I had just bought a Toyota in Colorado Springs (while visiting my brother) and had driven it back to western New York. I suddenly had a premonition of a threat to my new car. I asked my landlord if I could park it in his driveway, but he refused. The next day, I was watching late night TV, when I heard a loud crash. A drunken 19-year-old girl had crashed into my car parked on the street and totaled it. The aura reader was right: I did overreact, partly because of my anticipation that something like this was about to happen. I later asked myself if my premonition was intended to prepare me to embrace this mishap in the right spirit.

(8) My next premonition was clearly one of the most edifying and I do consider it a manifestation of "the word of knowledge (1Corinthians 12:8)." I had just finished my year of teaching and was looking forward to a much needed vacation. It was Friday and I was contemplating travel plans, when I was overwhelmed by a premonition of an imminent death that would affect my life. But who and how? The more I tried to put my sense of dread out of my mind the stronger the impression grew. By Sunday, I feared it might be a premonition of the death of a close family member. That Monday morning, I was about to bolt out of my door to have breakfast at a favorite restaurant, when an inner voice seemed to shout, "Sit down! You are about to hear about the death!" Stunned, I sat down by the phone and instantly it rang. It was the professor in charge of our summer graduate theology program. She told me that Cassian, a visiting Catholic professor, had not shown up for his first class (Pauline Theology); so some students went to the on campus apartment where he was staying and got no answer to their knocking. University officials opened the apartment and found Cassian dead in bed. My colleague said she didn't want to cancel the class and that I was the only professor still around qualified to teach that course. I agreed and had an unusually fulfilling teaching experience with a group of very intellectually curious grad students. In this case, I feel that God was preparing me to sacrifice my vacation plans, despite my fatigue, to fulfill a teaching role I might otherwise have rejected.

I enjoy reading these accounts.