____________________________________________________ THE GOSPEL OBSERVER "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations...teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:19,20). ____________________________________________________ January 13, 1991 ____________________________________________________ Picked Up Any Bad Vibes Lately? by Tom Edwards Have you ever felt as if you had been actually possessed by the negative thoughts or feelings of another? Many people have, and probably not a few attribute these experiences to some type of parapsychological occurrence. Andrew Weil, in his book The Natural Mind, writes: ``Not only do I think each of us can share consciousness, I think all of us are already doing it all the time. We do not have to learn to be telepathic; we just have to notice that we already are by letting telepathic events into our waking awareness...Extrasensory perceptions are not unusual talents possessed by specially gifted individuals. They are normal unconscious events, and scientists who attempt to document them by laboratory experiments will never get to experience them directly...Because awareness of shared consciousness requires relaxation, concentration, and detachment from the ordinary activities of the ego, it comes naturally with any practice in these directions.'' Various books and movies have also alluded to or explicitly made reference to some form of paranormal behavior, such as in premonitions and clairvoyance. It would seem, however, that those who believe in such would be more prone to have difficulty in overcoming vexations, since they would view some of these disturbances as being a supernatural impartment from another source (and from which they would have no control over) rather than from themselves. Does the Bible have anything to say about this? Are we to believe in ESP? Can one person actually experience the feelings or hear the thoughts of another through some paranormal occurrence? Understandably, we do things at times -- not always intentionally -- that we later realize might have bothered another person; our conscience then begins troubling us, and sometimes it might seem as if we are picking up that person's feelings -- frustrations or perhaps even anger. Not often, but maybe once in a great while, it does seem as if the individual whom we have upset has somehow broken through the barriers of natural phenomena in order to supernaturally inject a feeling of vexation into our inner being. Though I don't believe in mental telepathy nor that others could possibly bombard me in some supernatural way with annoying feelings, there were occassional times when I have felt as if this were exactly what was happening. Perhaps, you have, too. For instance, suppose you were about ready to doze off for a ten-minute nap before dinner; and suddenly, from out of nowhere, you hear in your mind a terribly negative criticism against one of your own ideas that seemed as if it had not even come from you. As a matter of fact, you then think you know exactly who the person is who has somehow imparted this negativism into your mind. ``Yes, that's just what brother so and so wants me to think,'' you conclude. ``He is always so disagreeable, and I know he is trying to get me to see things his way. I guess he's thinking about me right now.'' Sometimes it might do a person well who is beginning to think this way to simply reaffirm to himself of the impossibility of such actual occurrences. We might not believe in paranormal happenings, but do we ever toy with the possibility when our feelings seem to be pointing in that direction? That old cliche ``feelings can be deceiving,'' certainly has many applications, especially with the theme of today's lesson. The paranoiac who is continually imagining that everyone is out to do him harm and views his own life as being threatened, reacts as if he can almost ``hear'' the negative things he assumes other people are saying about him. Needless to say, a little imagination can go a long way, but not always in the right direction. I once met a girl who stated that one reason why she didn't have many friends is because of the hurtful accusations she would imagine her new friends to be thinking about her. It seemed so real that she reacted as if these impressions were actually coming from them through some parapsychological avenue and, consequently, she ceased her relationships from these individuals. I imagine we all get into positions where it becomes virtually impossible to please everyone. As a gospel preacher, I try to listen to the brethren's advice and conform my messages more to their liking, providing I don't compromise the truth. Many people are so different, though, in what they prefer: some like many verses in a sermon, others want only a few. In one of the former places that I have preached, I was once told the following as advice to improve my deliveries: the fellow told me to ``Preach as fast as you can.'' In another part of the country, after hearing me speak for the first time, one gentleman replied by saying something to the following effect: ``I liked your sermon, but you ought to slow down.'' Yes, trying to please everyone can sometimes become rather difficult; and perhaps an overdose of conflicting input can occasionally cause us to hear those ``little voices.'' The best help for overcoming this is from the word of the Lord. When Jesus said, ``and you shall know the truth, and the truth will make you free''(John 8:32), it is easy to think of this as applying to many things. In the case of the Corinthians, it resulted in a liberation from many sinful practices that they had formerly engaged in: they had been fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, effeminate, homosexuals, thieves, covetous, drunkards, revilers, and swindlers (1 Cor. 6:9,10), but now God had CHANGED their lives -- they had been set free from these former sins. Not only, however, does God's word have the power to set us free from wrong practices, but it can also set us free from wrong beliefs. The Lord shows us of the impossibility of vibes, mental telepathy, and other paranormal concepts in 1 Corinthians 2:11. Let us carefully examine the passage: ``For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man, which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God.'' Other than what we can learn of God through His creation, it requires the Spirit of God to convey to the world the mind of the Lord; and this He did when men were miraculously endowed with the Holy Spirit and recorded the truth delivered unto them for all the world to hear. Yes, the spirit of man can only perceive his own thoughts and feelings. In order to fully gain this type of insight into others, there is a need for communication, just as there was a need for God to communicate to the world by His word. If man cannot know the mind of God without God revealing His mind to us, how can man even begin to "read" the mind of his neighbor? All the thoughts in the mind of man can be compared to a small grain of sand when contrasting it to the superior mind of God and all His wisdom. Surely, in representing the Lord's mind we would have to use the infinite universe, for anything smaller would not do it justice. Since man, therefore, can not perceive the eternal mind of God, how can he even begin to paranormally "tap in" to the small, temporary mind of man? If you ever feel as if someone has been supernaturally planting thoughts or feelings in your mind, remember what God's word has to say about this: ``For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man, which is in him?'' Other than God (who knows the hearts of all men), only you can know what goes on in your own mind, unless you communicate that with others. Knowing how that having our minds continually dwelling on negativism and hostile criticism can affect our disposition should cause us to realize even more the importance of filling our hearts and minds with the blessedness of the gospel of Jesus Christ. ``Let your mind dwell on these things,'' Paul wrote to the Philippian brethren. ``What things Paul?'' ''...whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things'' (Phil. 4:8). And as Paul wrote to the Roman brethren, ``For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace'' (Rom. 8:6). If you want to really know what's going on in someone's mind, try sitting down and having a good talk with that individual; for unless you do so, what seems so, might not be so. ___________________________________________ "It is one of the humiliating features of human nature that we resent a few little things which happen to irritate us more than we appreciate a great deal for which we ought to be grateful" (The Art of Thinking by Ernest Dimnet). ___________________________________________ "Set your mind on things above, not on the things that are on earth" (Colossians 3:2). "We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ" (2 Corinthians 10:5). ________________________________________ Tri-State CHURCH OF CHRIST 713 13th Street, Ashland, Kentucky 41101 Sunday: 10:00 A.M. Bible class 10:50 A.M. Worship 6:30 P.M. Worship Wednesday: 7:30 P.M. Bible study evangelist/editor: Tom Edwards (606) 325-9742 e-mail: tedwards@zoomnet.net Gospel Observer web site: http://www.zoomnet.net/~tedwards/go ________________________________________