There is an old technique I have heard of to imagine you are talking with someone who is an authority on a subject (better done alone or at least with a cell phone to your ear). I heard of this years ago. It can yield useful information if practiced well. I suppose it is a way of tapping into the collective wisdom. Or maybe you really do talk with that person's spirit. What do I know. I just don't care. If Marilyn wants to talk with Peter and Michael, that's fine with me. She's never done anything to personally hurt anyone as far as I can tell.

I can understand Marilyn's sense of being drained because a couple of times I have seen Don not just challenge Marilyn but in my opinion attack her. I felt the intent was to hurt, and I wasn't even the recipient. There was a post here yesterday(?) that has been removed that exemplified that. Was it removed because it was offensive or because removing it would make any response to it look foolish? Why should Marilyn stay if she's just going to be attacked again?

In addition, it seems to me that we aren't allowed to request the same level of proof in the other direction. In my world, a mother who can see only the whites of her child's eyes is delusional; I can't distinguish her from Andrea Yates. And where is the publication in a medical journal about restoring a sliced off finger without a scar by using prayer? The arguments seem one-way. and I bet I wouldn't be the first to suggest that Malachi Martin was delusional.
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Let us not forget the URBAN LEGEND Don posted to me (the "Acme construction company moving mountains" story, sure enough I found it, word for word, on Snopes.com..!) when I requested an account of act of Christian faith which, as the Bible says, can move mountains...
Yes indeed, it does go both ways... the mainstream religionists need to put their cards on the table if they expect you people to do so (whether it's Mairlyn or anyone else!)

B-man

Brendan (alias "B-man"/ alias "Chumley")

Don't believe everything you hear!   Besides ridicule, your "urban legend" website offers no evidence that Nancy Dorner's account entitled "Mountain-Moving Faith" is an urban legend.   Another alleged urban legend on that site has an even more spectacular real-life parallel: "Man contemplating suicide asks God for a sign and receives a phone call from Almighty God."  My Dad has talked to a woman who verifies a similar but more impressive parallel experience by her pastor-father when she was a girl!  She was actually present at the scene.  I think I'll post what happened on my thread "A Recent Healing of a Cripple."  

Another alleged urban legend is entitled "Lightning Strikes a Church during a Sermon after preacher identifies thunder as the voice of God."   I once pastored a rural Methodist church next to two large trees.  Both trees were struck by lightning within a short period of time---a good thing because otherwise the church might have been burnt down!   I had a lot of fun with that in my next sermons!  Wow!  I feel like I'm on a roll.  Here are some more bizarre incidents.  

One Sunday in that same church,  the voice of the lady next door came through my microphone while I was preaching.   Somehow our sound system was wired into her phone line!  She was quite a crude lady and had no idea that her call was being monitored by a good crowd.   By coincidence, her comments functioned well as a direct critical reaction to my sermon!   So I argued with what she said and the congregation howled!   When she later found out about our eavesdropping, she was absolutely mortified!  

In my first church, the lady in charge of Communion waited too long to buy the grape juice and the store was out of it.  So she bought prune juice instead and put it in our communion glasses.   She never bothered to tell anyone!  So when the faithful came forward to receive Communion, there were some stunned expressions on their faces.   I mean, it's one thing to use a substitute.  But when you're expecting the taste of grape and you get prune--bad scene--funny but bad!

When I was a kid, the woman sitting in front of me in church had an unusually large hair-do.  Noticing this, a large spider thought this was a great place to spin a large web.   It actually looked like a nice wedding veil on her head.   Only after the spider was finished did the lady find out about her new attire.  Her reaction was priceless.

One hot August, a cat wandered through the open front door into the sanctuary in the middle of the service.  The cat got its tail caught in the fan on the floor and her yelping leap towards the front scared the ladies sitting there to death!

Don
   

*sigh* Man, I hate it when stuff like this happens.

Nobody should be scared off because of somebody else. This forum's not great for relationships, even though that seems to be the point of it.

There's a number of times I should have been
dead.
For instance, in 1996 I was driving back home to Montana
(through North Dakota) and I was admiring the scenery. So much so, I ran off the road.
I sailed into a field, full of 2-foot boulders. Didn't touch one... didn't even get a paint scratch.
(*And I'm a no-good agnostic, mind you.*)
Then there was the time in Wyoming, when I spun at least 3 times on a narrow, icy bridge at about 70 miles per hour. Came to a beautiful, 180-degree, law-abiding stop in the OPPOSITE lane... when by rights I should have ended up at the bottom of a 40-foot ravine.
Or the time when I was 22, out drinking beer on a frozen river. (Don't ask why.) The ice gave way under me, and the current caught me... I should have gone under the ice and drowned.
BUT, there was a perfectly shaped, oh-so-convenient projection of ice I got ahold of, and hauled myself up onto the ice with (BTW, about the ONLY solid area of ice I could see when I got ashore and looked back at where I'd been...)
SO... am I a cat with nine lives? Or does "God" (if he exists) not care about religion and just happen to like me? (That'd be a hoot.)
OR... how about, just like your church not being hit by lightning... (actually not surprising as you had two natural "lightning rods" (trees) next to your church...)
I just lucked out?
"Heaven" Forbid..!

B-man

[Marilyn:] "Peter and I had a discussion about this and he states that there is no reason for me to have to prove anything.  He said that you are baiting me just so you can knock me down."
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Here you provide valuable information.    If you had been able to answer either of my simple questions about Peter's life, I would have been most impressed and would have been eager for more information about your revelations.   So "Peter's" false claim that I was just baiting you decisively addresses the credibility question.  Nothing personal, but I would have reacted the same way if a poster had cleimed to be Napoleon or Alexander the Great.   Verification of your claim to be St. Peter would have provided me with one of my life's most treasured insights. 

Just for the record, let me give you one of the answers.   Some archaeologists look for lost treasure in Egyptian burial chambers.  Others look for the remains of ancient Jewish excrement in first-century Palestinian outhouses.  Ugh!  I guess it's academically legitimate to verify our beliefs about the first-century Jewish diet.  At least these archaeologists have confirmed the common name for these outhouses ("the hand").  Marilyn, I would have been impressed if you (= Peter) had been able to come up with that.   Peter used these "hands" on a daily basis; so he would certainly know the answer.

As I have predicted, you have broken your promise of an extended absence.   In a way, I'm glad because this site well suited to your beliefs and experiences.  But your return a day or so later only confirms what I told you---that you created this thread to villefy me and curry sympathy from "the ghetto" (Boris's term, not mine).   On the other hand, I will keep my promise.  This will be my last post for at least a couple of months.    If and when I return, I will ignore your posts about the Afterlife to avoid causing you stress.  Please resume your former active participation here.  The site should be more tranquil in my absence.

Best wishes,
Don