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crkdopenskull
Registered Member

Date Joined Sep 2001
Total Posts : 8

Posted 9/8/2001 3:35 AM (GMT -6)

I have been having some odd experiences in church and prayer groups and wonder how many people can relate? Somehow, I know what is going to be preached, or prayed about before it happens. Often, I will pray a prayer just before a prayer meeting and that prayer will be exactly what the meeting is about. Also, my prayer will be repeated by someone else outloud, sometimes word for word.

Same thing with the subject that is preached on Sunday, usually hitting what I'd been dealing with all week prior to the time it is preached. A really weird one is knowing on any given Sunday if many people are going to receive Christ, or just a few, or none.

Now, I am no magical thinker(I swear!) and I realize that this happens to many many people. It has happened to me before early in my Christian walk. I am also aware of selective hearing and have ruled that out. This has become such a consistent thing for me that I am wondering about the validity of ESP?
Another thing, what, if anything does one do with this information? BESIDES put money down at the track....lol

whasssuuuppp
Registered Member

Date Joined Aug 2001
Total Posts : 210

Posted 9/8/2001 6:30 AM (GMT -6)

I noticed on your profile it says you are an intercessor. Most of the people I've met who also call themselves intercessors seem to have the same "ability" that you do, a greater "connection" with other people, if you want to call it that.

With the ESP thing, I say why not think some people might have "access" to more information than others? What if our pre-fall state was such that we had deep levels of communication with each other and didn't always need to talk? What if we were supposed to originally communicate "mind to mind" in addition to with our mouths? If this was the case, then maybe some people have retained a little of this ability. And maybe someday we'll all have it back...ok, so it's a tad bit speculative, but maybe???

When you say you've ruled out selective hearing, what do you mean by that? I think it might have something to do with how people will say "Oh, I dreamed about this last night" or "I was just thinking about that yesterday" when in fact they probably dreamed a LOT of things last night, and thought about thousands of things yesterday, and just that one particular things happened to happen, so it really doesn't mean much. Is that what you're talking about? Because most of that kind of thing is, I think, what you called "magical" thinking, and not the real stuff.

***********************

Lespwa fe viv.
Hope makes us live.
A Haitian proverb

crkdopenskull
Registered Member

Date Joined Sep 2001
Total Posts : 8

Posted 9/8/2001 12:41 PM (GMT -6)

Whasssuuuppp:
Thanks for your reply. I think you understand my meaning of "selective hearing". Tell me more about the people you know that have this "connection". Are you saying that it is really 'word of knowledge'? It comes and goes. I believe in that, however, I seem to have this all the time...whasssuuuppp wit dat? Is this an intercessory tool that we are given in order to lead us in prayer? If so, it does!

MrIndifference
Registered Member

Date Joined Jun 2001
Total Posts : 144

Posted 9/8/2001 1:26 PM (GMT -6)

I believe that prophecy, words of knowledge, esp, telekenesis, speaking in tongues, empathy, all have their validity in the sense that they all are based on spiritual principles. What do I mean by that? In one form or another we all have access to spiritual abilities. How we recieve those abilities is the big question. Some people recieve them directly from God and some steal them. In your case, I have no question about it.

I believe that by learning to listen to God when he is trying to speak, we would learn that he is trying to tell you all kinds of things. It is the still small voice. Sometimes He tells us to pray, sometimes he directs us to certain passages in the bible, sometimes He to or not to do things for protection or to point out people that need decipleship or are crying out for help. Sometimes He is simply trying to tell us that He loves us.

Is it just something for intercessors? Not necessarily. But I believe that learning to listen to Him can drastically strengthen our relationship with Him.

Mr I.

Triskal
Registered Member

Date Joined Jul 2001
Total Posts : 198

Posted 9/8/2001 5:31 PM (GMT -6)

I've experienced quite a bit of what you speak of. What I find God does often with me is start to pick something out in my life that needs work, and use many sources around me to relay more and more of how to work to be working in that area. If I have been struggling with prayer, he uses the things around me to relate to me the right way to pray. This has happened with people I speak to, music, sermons, books, etc. My theory is that things are always around our life that culd teach us important lessons, God just directs more of our attention to them when he is currently teaching us something in relation to them. Well, hope that helps a bit.

In His Grip,
Matt

"In Him we live and move and have our being" - Acts 17:28

whasssuuuppp
Registered Member

Date Joined Aug 2001
Total Posts : 210

Posted 9/8/2001 7:28 PM (GMT -6)

crkdopenskull says,

quote:
Tell me more about the people you know that have this "connection". Are you saying that it is really 'word of knowledge'? It comes and goes. I believe in that, however, I seem to have this all the time...whasssuuuppp wit dat? Is this an intercessory tool that we are given in order to lead us in prayer? If so, it does!

It could be a word of knowledge, being "led by the spirit," or it could be, like I said, a remnant of our pre-fall state. Maybe a combo of all THREE (

). I personally don't experience this kind of thing very often, but people who do kind of freak me out, because I always wonder if they can like read my mind or something like that.

I do think it's a neat gift, or ability, or whatever you want to call it, but I think it also comes with a lot of responsibility, and I bet you'd agree. It can definitely be a way to be lead to pray for people, which is so cool.

************************

Lespwa fe viv.
Hope makes us live.
A Haitian proverb

GregBoyd
Registered Member

Date Joined Jul 2001
Total Posts : 1818

Posted 9/9/2001 11:29 AM (GMT -6)

Welcome to the site crkdopenskull. Interesting stuff you're raising.

When God gives a "word of knowledge" its always for "the building up of the church." This is the function of all the gifts, according to Paul, except the gifts of tongues when used in private (I Cor. 12, 14). So, crydopenskull, I would ask God what he wants you to DO with this information you get.

If there IS NO apparent or revealed use for the information, it may be that Whassssuuuppp is right in concluding that you have a residue of a pre-fallen (supralapsarian) ability.

Another possibility, however, is this: Many neurologists now suggest that what we call "dreams" are really haphazard neurological firings -- images, memories, sounds, etc... that we organize RETROACTIVELY as we are waking up. In other words, we IMPOSE an order and meaning on the random neuro-firings of our dream state (which is why sometimes the dreams make NO SENSE). (I'm NOT saying I totally agree with this, and certainly not saying that God can't speak to us through dreams. I'm just reporting a theory that MAY apply to MOST dreams). Now, what has this got to do with premonitions?

Let me illustrate: Last night I was watching the Twins game. The bases were loaded and whats-his-name (Kekoski? Kelowski? Brutus??? got up to bat (I'm not a baseball fan, so I don't know the players well). He hit a grand slam.

I immediately exclaimed to the people watching the game with me, "I knew he was going to do that!" It truly FELT like I did. On closer inspection, however, I came to realize that I really didn't KNOW it, but I did "picture" it in my brain. It was a random image -- like, "wouldn't it be cool if." When it actually occured, it confirmed my picture, and it FELT like a premonition.

I don't know about crydopenskull, but I believe that many "premonitions" are of this vareity. I have asked people who claim to have premonitions to try to WRITE DOWN their premontions before they happen -- and they rarely can. This suggests (only "suggests" -- not "proves") that at least some -- perhaps the majority -- of premonitions become such AFTER THE FACT.

So, cyrkdopenskull, I would encourage you to a) seek out God's will for the "word of knowledge" if indeed it is this (which it may very well be) and b) investigate my theory. Try writing down your "hunches" ahead of time and see how many actually come to pass. If you can do this consistently, at a rate that can't be accounted for my chance, you likely have a 'word of knowledge" if the information is useful, or residue supralapsarian capacities, if its useless. If you can't do this, it suggests your random hunches become premonitions after the fact.

For what its worth

Doc

"Three is the magic number, oh yes it is, it's the Magic Number" - De La Soul

crkdopenskull
Registered Member

Date Joined Sep 2001
Total Posts : 8

Posted 9/9/2001 1:26 PM (GMT -6)

I deleted this message because I am much calmer now

Edited by - crkdopenskull on 09/10/2001 8:27:42 PM

might-be-don
Registered Member

Date Joined Jun 2001
Total Posts : 830

Posted 9/10/2001 4:18 AM (GMT -6)

quote:

With the ESP thing, I say why not think some people might have "access" to more information than others? What if our pre-fall state was such that we had deep levels of communication with each other and didn't always need to talk? What if we were supposed to originally communicate "mind to mind" in addition to with our mouths? If this was the case, then maybe some people have retained a little of this ability. And maybe someday we'll all have it back...ok, so it's a tad bit speculative, but maybe???

Hmmmm... sortof like the devil is supposed to have some kind of direct access to our brains. Maybe this is an ability we do have buried in us.

don

A quote from Rev. Gregory A. Boyd, PhD ... " Has anyone seen my keys? "

GregBoyd
Registered Member

Date Joined Jul 2001
Total Posts : 1818

Posted 9/10/2001 5:32 AM (GMT -6)

crkdopenskull: I have written it down, so now what? Imagine yourself as someone with this 'gift'...it is WEIRD to say the least. If I am consistantly correct then I should ?????????

Doc: Either get your own cable show -- or at least 1-900 number, and get rich (:)]; start playing the stock market and get even richer

; OR

simply relax in it, keep writing things down and testing it, all the while asking God "what would you have me to do?" I wouldn't so much fixate on each particular piece of information as the whole "gift" itself . How could God use a person who tends to anticipate things before they happen? It sounds like you perhaps have a latent aptitude for a prophetic gift and word of knowledge.

Given my view of the future, I think most premonitions -- even in Scripture -- are not about things that must take place, but about things that will take place if circumstances don't change. So I'd especially examine the possibility that God would use you to change what will otherwise come to pass.

Doc

Edited by - crkdopenskull on 09/09/2001 7:53:01 PM

"Three is the magic number, oh yes it is, it's the Magic Number" - De La Soul

trosie
Registered Member

Date Joined Jul 2001
Total Posts : 550

Posted 9/10/2001 11:31 AM (GMT -6)

May I ask a question? Ever since I became a christian I have heard negative things about ESP (extrasensory perception). I have been told that it is basically demonic... However, this is not the message that I am reading from y'all.

What's up with that?
trosie

crkdopenskull
Registered Member

Date Joined Sep 2001
Total Posts : 8

Posted 9/10/2001 4:09 PM (GMT -6)

crkdopenskull's "Prophetic Spaz Hour" will air on monday nights at 7 on WKRP! Also, Be sure to call me at 1-900-4-knowledge ....and when (not IF, but WHEN) I get rich, I will donate parking lots to all churches in need throughout the land. amen

whasssuuuppp
Registered Member

Date Joined Aug 2001
Total Posts : 210

Posted 9/10/2001 5:06 PM (GMT -6)

lol!!!

Will you donate to youth centers, too? How about a medical center for a certain church in St. Paul?

WU
************************

Lespwa fe viv.
Hope makes us live.
A Haitian proverb

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