(1) Shane is a science teacher--a recent skeptic turned Christian. A while ago, he was driving up from Spokane to Colville, WA.  He had the strange distinct sensation that God was speaking to him.  He had never experienced so direct a form of communication before.  Spiritual insights streamed into his mind.  

When he arrived home, his wife Leah greeted him with a look of profound relief on her face.  While Shane was experiencing divine guidance, she too sensed that God was speaking to him.  But she inferred from this that Shane might have died and was now encountering God in a postmortem state!!!  When they informed me about this synchronicity, I suggested that this verification might have been God's way of saying, "Testing---1-2-3" to develop their confidence in the possibility of intimate communion with God.

(2) Leah received a similar confirmation.  She went out by herself on a late night walk in the dark.  Suddenly she felt an impulse to walk down a pitch black back lane.  She initially resisted this impulse on the grounds that it seemed absurd and might even put her in danger.  Then she realized that faith development requires risk-taking to hone one's intuition.  As she walked down the lane, a car turned into the lane from the opposite direction with its brights on!  The car drove right up to Leah and then stopped.  Leah initially felt frightened.  Was this a mugger?  Out stepped an elderly lady who frantically explained she was from out of town, was supposed to meet someone at a laundramat, but was lost and had no idea how to get there.  Leah gave her directions and felt the lady's gratitude.  Our streets are usually deserted at that hour; so it is questionable whether this lady could easily have gotten directions from someone else.  And why would she turn down a back lane in the hope of receiving directions?

(3) Seb was a severely handicapped child who was supposed to be dead by age 4 because it was so hard for his system to absorb oxygen.  His courageous battle for life made him a great inspiration to all who met him.  He lost his ability to walk at age 5 and lived to a surprising age 17.  He remained the size of a 4-year-old.  Seb invented his own shorthand language to help him communicate.  For example, "Thinking chair!"  meant "Sit down and let's talk!" or "Let's play a computer game or dominoes."  "Little boy, lttle boy!"  meant, "I need a hug!" or some other form of TLC.  "Beeg boy!" meant, "Hey, I'm just one uf the guys, even though I'm pint-sized.  Treat me as such!"  

When Seb died, his parents' grief was unusually intense.  As they wept in the funeral parlor by Seb's coffin, their friends urged me to intervene, but I decided that they needed prolonged privacy and, in any case, I needed divine guidance about what to say.  After an hour, I approached them and told them that I expected Seb to confirm his survival beyond the grave.  I qualified this by saying that a relative would receive this confirmation and bring it to their attention.  They were too distraught to be effective "receivers."  Then I left on my vacation and promised to return to perform Seb's funeral when I returned.  

During calling hours, a relative stepped outside the funeral home and felt prompted to look skyward.  The clouds had formed an unmistakable printing of "Seb" in his own unique printing style.  A color slide of this miracle was created for Seb's memorial service booklet.  When Seb's parents were brought outside to witness Seb's signature, their grief ws dramatically lessened.  In fact, I've never seen such a dramatic transformation from grief to joy!

Don
 

Yes these stories are evidence that those folks who we think have gone away are still among us.

An example of this happened just today, when I checked the AK board and lo and behold, Don returned!

Welcome Don, please stay with us longer this time, you were greatly missed.

R

Thanks for posting these experiences, Don. I love hearing about how God works in our lives.

Good to see you posting again, too. 

Love,
Kathy

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The vagaries of communication of this sort are truly one of the great imponderables of the spiritual path Don. Not to mention it seems likely the greatest blessing imaginable, in terms of its potential to free one from fear.

The explanation that rings most true to me Doc is that it's mostly a matter of what deep down we're prepared to allow, and that the rule that free will is never over ridden by spirit takes care of the rest.

Our collective state of separation from God and the deeply buried presumption that he will seek to punish us for it seems to result in fear, and in the imaginings that create this reality - which actually seems to act to keep the collective mind of humanity from acknowledging this fear.

Even when consciously we seem to accept the loving nature of God it seems that deeper down in the collective subconscious we cling to the old fears.

Even the superficial conviction is questionable. We often talk of God and love, but how many of us when faced with life threatening circumstances will unhesitatingly act in accordance with what we profess? How many of us are absolutely certain of survival beyond death? We certainly hope that this is the case, but it's rare to find somebody who faces death with equanimity.

Opening to the possibility of return/communication from spirit (which anyway seems to be rare too - unlike communication at the Christ/being level) seems to require accessing this level of mind through prayer, meditation and intention and through grace/other assistance dropping the limiting beliefs in question.

It seems to me Alan that the power of leaders is perhaps pretty illusory except in very limited ways or in particular circumstances - especially to deliver good. (leaders can of course cause enormous suffering by acting unwisely, especially at critical junctures)

One view is that we get the leaders we deserve/demand - that the wisdom/compassion of leaders tends to pretty accurately reflect the centre of gravity of that of the societies they preside over.

It seems anyway that a highly realised person is unlikely to make a very popular leader - people simply won't understand and won't accept what they are about despite the fact that it's for the highest good.

Jesus for example threatened the power structures of his day and was crucified, and the main church established in his name was hi-jacked as a vehicle to deliver temporal power...

When you relay the story about Dr Jones experience are Delhi, it make me wonder if the message came from God or a helper or one as it has been called here, from the disk group. If the messages you receive are about love and understanding. If they serve you and those around you, just where do they come from? I would think that you must be pretty special to have God come and speak directly to you. Now a helper might be a little different. Many of us receive help from somewhere. But a message from God. That would make you a special as....Moses.to name one. The way your story has been written, it looks like the Media has conjured up the name of God and Dr Jones used that connection after that point. He received a message, they asked about his God.
When I was a casino last week and I got the message to play a certain slot machine, and then won...Was that a message from God? Or did that come from something attempting to help me?
I have talked to my God a number of times. He has never spoken back to me. (I don't think it was him??)Not that I haven't received his message. I have a number times. He has helped to make me who I am. He has come to me in my most desperate of times.    
By the way Don, good to see you back. Keep up your good works at the place you worship.  

Hawkeye,

The issue you raise of the source of divne guidance is profoundly mysterious.  Biblical traditon implies an important role for guardian angels, but leaves obscure the extent to which the Holy Spirit operates directly or through such intermediaries.  Then there is the elusive issue of when guidance comes through discarnate loving hujmans or non-human angelic beings and how one can detect the difference.  Astral adept Robert Bruce has a profound respect this distinction.  The Hebrew and Greek terms translated "angel" don't help because they simply mean "messenger."  

In my view, it is best to be practical about this mystery. The quest for guidance from discarnate humans can open the door to mischievous or evil human spirits (e. g. frequent Ouija board communicators).  The quest for guidance from a loving God (perhaps through angels) seems much safer and far more powerful in terms of verifiable results.  At least, that's been my experience.

Don

Don, That is the question...is it "divine" or is it just a message from self? If the belief you hold has been ingrained by religious dogma then the message would come from God or Holy Spirit, Angles as directed by God. If you were raised by someone who had no such fixed beliefs and received the same message, from where would it have come? An Atheist would not believe he/she receives messages from God, yet can still get a message.
Joe