Q & A - Listening to God

We do need to "Hear Him" and obey. But, how? How can we discern between

the voice of the Lord
our own thoughts
ideas or thoughts that may be coming from satan or his followers

especially when attempting to make choices between 2 righteous options? Does God speak to us by putting ideas in our head? Or by feeling? Or? And again, how do we discern?

Does God want a people without goals, planning, logic or thought that waits for His every direction rather than thinking in any way?

P.S. I would be curious as to your impressions of The Book of Mormon, if you happen to have read it.

Regarding your question on discerning the voice of God, it is difficult to give a narrow answer because the subject itself is so broad, but here is an attempt to provide a semblance of an answer:

Confident faith

I would dare say that the first element to being able to hear and discern the Lord's voice is to be convinced that He will speak to you if you are willing to listen. This certainty of faith derives from the awareness that we are His sons and daughters and that He does not reserve His voice for an "elite few", for we are not to be in the Old Covenant but in the New Covenant. It is as if one must say to oneself,

"If God could speak to Moses, why can't He speak to me? If God could converse with Abraham, why can't He converse with me? If God could whisper to David in the dark of night, why can't He whisper to me?".

Instead of seeing such an attitude as "arrogance", God takes pleasure in it, and He will without a doubt honour that faith.

"But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him" (Hebrews 11:6)

When you exercise a "certainty of faith" when endeavouring to hear God's voice, you are operating in God's Spirit of Pergamos, i.e. the Spirit of evangelistic confidence and conquest.

An inclination to the narrow gate

I would dare say that the second element is to have a narrow-gate mindset. As we have shared in greater detail before, this in essence refers to a desire to submit everything to God's perfect will, meaning that we will not desire or ask for anything that does not fit through the narrow gate of His will. This will prevent us desiring or asking for things that fit our will only, which God can indeed grant, but with terrible eternal consequences.

Narrow-gate believers have a much smaller chance of being deceived by a false voice because they are constantly filtering everything through God's perfect will and are less easily swayed by voices that appeal to what their soul likes as opposed to God's. As a side note, this does not mean that everything that our soul likes is inherently "from the devil". In fact, if our soul is submitted to the Spirit of God, we will hear many things that are not only in alignment with God's perfect will but are also appealing to our soul. Even so, our souls will still be prepared to distrust voices that appeal to our souls but are not from God.

Having a narrow-gate heart also predisposes us to hearing what God wants to say to us, even if it is about a topic that we have not been asking Him about. In other words, we will be open to hear what He wants to say, as opposed to just hearing what we may be interested to hear at that particular point in time.

When you endeavour to listen to God with a narrow-gate mindset, you are operating in God's Spirit of Ephesus, i.e. the Spirit of Wisdom and Judgements that apostolically judges all things in Him.

2 or 3 witnesses

A third element that is helpful when endeavouring to hear God's voice is the "2 or 3 witnesses" principle:

"This is the third time I am coming to you. In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established" (2 Corinthians 13:1)

I have found in my personal life that the Lord God has a tendency to confirm what He has said to us through different means. Sometimes He will say something, and, then, we run into someone or go to a place and something peculiar happens or is said that amazingly reaffirms what He had spoken to us earlier.

The "2 or 3 witnesses" principle, however, also has a deeper spiritual significance. As we have shared before, there are 2 "female" ministries that minister to the soul and 3 "male" ministries that minister to the spirit. Therefore, the "2 witnesses" refers to when He speaks through something that our soul picks up on very strongly (e.g. when He suddenly speaks to us through, say, a song that we like very much) , and the "3 witnesses" speaks of when He speaks to us in a very direct, spiritual way (e.g. through an unusual or supernatural event or a strong spiritual manifestation such as His voice through a prophet, a message in tongues that comes to us that we then translate in the natural, or His voice speaking directly into our heart, mind, or emotions).

When you recognise the "2 or 3 witnesses" principle as you endeavour to hear God's voice, you are operating in God's Spirit of Thyatira, i.e. the Spirit of Service that pastorally nurtures the soul. When you operate in God's pastoral Spirit, you search through words and events like a shepherd who scopes over the flock to search for particular sheep, counting the sheep as he does. That is when you realise,

"Oh, there is the same message; that is the 3rd time that God has shown me or said the same thing! Glory be to Him!"

A soul that goes quiet

A fourth element is to learn to be quiet. As you know, it is very difficult to get a message across on the phone to someone if the person on the other end of the line just talks and talks and talks and never shuts up. Sometimes we do that to God, going to prayer to tell Him all of our problems and our requests but never going silent for a second to hear what He has to say on the matter.

"Keep silence before me, O islands; and let the people renew their strength: let them come near; then let them speak: let us come near together to judgment." (Isaiah 41:1)

"To the choirmaster: according to Jeduthun. A Psalm of David. For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation." (Psalm 62:1 ESV)

"5 For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him. 6 He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken." (Psalm 62:5-6 ESV)

The last 2 verses above are quoted from the ESV (English Standard Version) because the KJV (King James Version) subtly adds the verb "wait" next to "silence", despite the fact that the word used in the original Hebrew text literally refers to someone who "goes mute", without an explicit reference to "waiting". Thus, the Spirit of God is referring to a soul that makes a proactive effort to go silent (as opposed to a passive state of waiting). Said another way, you must work to "shut your soul up". This is why Scripture so often speaks about the importance of the woman being silent, since the soul in us is "female" when compared to the spirit. Our soul tends to be very "loquacious" at times, and we are often stirred by so many thoughts and emotions and things we desire that we leave no room for God to speak.

{As a parenthesis, it is worth emphasising that, when Scripture exhorts the woman to be silent, it is not a sweeping, unconditional command to all individuals of the "female" gender to stay silent before any and all "males". As we have explained before, Scripture is referring in those passages to wives being silent with respect to their husbands. As opposed to English, the Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic languages used in the original text of Scripture do not use a separate word for "wife" as opposed to a "woman" in general. In other words, when Scripture intends to say that person B is person A's wife, it declares that B is A's "woman" (or that A is B's "man", as opposed to "husband"). Hence, we must be careful to interpret those passages in the context of the marriage of a man and a woman, which therefore points to the relationship that must exist between a "spirit" and its corresponding "soul" in order for that relationship to be "healthy" and pleasing to God. The "be silent, woman" exhortation must not be interpreted as a carte blanche for a husband to oppress or mistreat his wife, for, if the husband begins to act in the soul and oppresses a woman who is acting in the Spirit, then he is the one who must shut up and listen to what his wife's spirit has to say. Thus, the exhortation for the woman to be quiet is a general principle or pattern of behaviour that God wants to see in marriages and in the interaction between our spirits and our souls. Hence, it is a soulish sin before God to interpret that exhortation in a legalistic, earthly way.}

When I was a young lad, I heard a sermon on the radio about how to listen to God, and the preacher suggested that we try to go to a quiet place, kneel down before the Lord, and just be silent, believing that He would speak to us. The preacher mentioned that it would be likely that, on our first attempts, our souls would start wandering as we waited in silence, suddenly thinking about a bill that we have to pay, or a meeting we have to be in the next day, or a problem we have been dealing with. He mentioned that we may become discouraged by those distractions and feel satan's accusation telling us that we are just "not spiritual enough" to listen to God. We must not let those distractions discourage us but just remain there listening, letting those thoughts go on through. Eventually, our souls will be silent, and then, suddenly, the Lord will speak to us.

I remember that, the first time I followed that preacher's advice and went to a quiet place to kneel before Him and wait for Him to speak to me, I could hear the distractions, but I simply let them go through. My soul then went into silence, and, as I knelt there trusting that the Lord God would speak to me, I felt a strong impression about the parable of the man who sits at the lowest place at a banquet and then gets exalted by the lord of the house to a high place. I stayed there, waiting to hear more, and, then, suddenly, "Luke 14:7" was impressed upon my mind. It is as if it was printed on a white canvas in my mind. I don't remember if I literally "heard" anything, but the impression was so strong that it was almost as if I had "heard" it. I trusted by faith that God was trying to say something to me through that verse, and I quickly jumped up to get my Bible, anxious to see what the verse said. I was stunned to see that the verse was the beginning of the very parable He had impressed upon my heart a few moments earlier. I then realised that the Lord had just spoken to me in a supernatural way, and I knelt down in awe of Him.

As you may see, the listening event described above illustrates all 4 elements mentioned so far:

When you endeavour to be quiet to listen to God's voice, you are operating in God's Spirit of Sardis, i.e. the Spirit of Perfection who acts like a teacher silencing the students so that they can listen to the lesson and learn it to perfection.

Willing to hear a strange language

Regarding how God speaks to us, it varies greatly from individual to individual and from circumstance to circumstance. Sometimes it is through a feeling or a sudden sensation. Sometimes it is through something spoken by someone. Sometimes it is through an event. Sometimes it is words from God that we hear in our minds, words that come into us like a lightning strike. Sometimes it is through a sign we ask of Him. Sometimes it is through a series of "peculiar coincidences" that make it clear that God is trying to say something. The important thing is to have our antennae constantly up, ready to pick up on His signal. If our souls are too busy pursuing our own ends and plans, we will never pick up on His signal, even if His signal is coming through loud and clear. If we have the disposition to hear constantly, He will speak to us constantly. It then becomes a constant stream, a constant conversation that goes on throughout the entire day and night. The more we hear Him, the better we recognise His voice, and we will be faster in recognising any fake voice pretending to be His.

As a young lad, I was always on the lookout for "His sudden direction" when walking down the street (and I still try to be). Sometimes, I would be walking down the street, and He would suddenly say, "Turn left here" (through a strong impression within my being that was almost as clear as an audible voice). I would then say, "But, Lord, I am supposed to go that way. Why should I turn left here?". He would then repeat His command, and I would reluctantly turn left, and I would end up running into someone or encountering a situation where I would go, "Oh, now I can clearly see why the Lord wanted me to turn left!!!". If our soul is bent on just following its own plan, we will not be open to the unexpected plans of the Lord.

There have been times when I hear something that I am not sure about, and, when I present it before the Lord (asking, "Lord, did I hear correctly? Is this yours?"), it turns out that either I was understanding it in the wrong way or it was not from Him. This, I guess, points to a 5th element: He sometimes speaks to us in a language that our soul has a hard time understanding at first.

"3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. 4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born? 5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. 8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. 9 Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be? 10 Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things? 11 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness." (John 3:3-11)

There have been times when I have asked the Lord about something, and I hear a "Yes", but, when I get up convinced that the answer is "Yes", I suddenly hear "No". I have come to understand that, when I am in situations like that, where I hear both a "Yes" and a "No", it is because He might want me to do something, but it is not quite in the way that I think it should be done. It is as if the Lord is saying, "Yes, I want you to do that, but, no, I don't want you to do that if you are going to do it the way you think it must be done". In those cases, it might be a timing issue that I must take into account or something extra that I must do when doing what I am supposed to do. In other words, we must be willing to accept that God's ways are more complex than ours and that He sees more than we do from the natural level. Sometimes we pigeon-hole God into a set of limited options when God's answer is a "combined" option that we would have never envisioned in the natural, or even a completely different option that we had not thought of.

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD." (Isaiah 55:8)

As the Bananarama song "Cruel summer" says, "Strange voices are saying? What did they say? Things I can't understand." In the same way, God can speak things that sound odd and, He can even speak through sources we do not expect to hear Him from. But, if we are willing to embrace the things that are "strange to the soul", God will decipher those things, and we shall understand them. Sometimes our soul may find a word from Him completely "odd", but our spirit will somehow know that that is of the Lord God of Israel, and what seemed odd to us at the beginning eventually becomes "obvious" and clear as day.

When you are willing to embrace a "strange" language as you endeavour to hear the voice of God, you are operating in God's Spirit of Smyrna, i.e. the prophetic Spirit of Sacrifice who prompts you to die to your natural understanding so that you can flow in your emotions and transcend the limitations of the natural mind in order to understand God's eternal language.

Going from small to big

A sixth element that is helpful when endeavouring to hear God's voice is strongly related to the first element we described earlier, and it involves the confidence that we can start "small" and grow to "great" things. In other words, we must recognise that our not hearing God's voice like a "rolling thunder" in certain things does not mean that we are condemned to permanently remain in that state. Because of the specific gifts imparted to each one of us, we are naturally equipped to hear God's voice in certain areas in a very clear way, but there may be other areas where we are clearly at a "small" stage. Even so, we must think of how a miniscule seed can grow into a tall and majestic tree. Thus, we must not be discouraged by our "small" state and say, "Oh, shucks! I guess that I am not as privileged as other brothers or sisters are". Instead, we must visualise ourselves growing into "great" things when it comes to hearing His voice.

"31 Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field: 32 Which indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof." (Matthew 13:31-32)

When you do not become discouraged by your "small" hearing state and are willing to visualise hearing God's voice in "great" ways, you are operating in God's Spirit of Philadelphia, i.e. the Spirit of Dreams and Visions who prompts you to dream of great things even when in a small state, the Spirit who reminds you that God grows tall and majestic trees from small seeds all the time.

Expecting prosperous listening

A seventh element that is helpful when endeavouring to hear God's voice is also strongly related to the first element we described earlier, and it involves believing that we can not only be able to clearly hear God's voice sporadically but that we can eventually enter into a state of "prosperous listening" where we are hearing His voice abundantly and in powerful ways. In other words, God does not want us to think that He stingily hands out a few messages here and there and only at "crucial" points in our lives when we "really" need to listen to Him. To see God as a stingy relayer of messages is like visualising Him as some sort of government agency that provides you a "benefit" such as an "unemployment benefit" only when you become unemployed and in small portions that are just enough to keep you afloat until things stabilise. That has been the image that the matriarchal Church has implicitly and explicitly portrayed of God constantly. Why? Because the Church's pastor-controlled ministers want you to think of them as their permanent providers on which you constantly depend because you are too incapable to provide for yourself.

Instead of seeing yourself as an "unemployment beneficiary", God wants you to see yourself as His son or daughter and, thus, as His beloved heir. A son born into a wealthy family does not have to worry about where the family's next meal will come from. He lives surrounded by wealth and abundance and eventually comes to see it as his permanent state. In the same way, we are to trust and expect that, if we remain faithful and persistent in hearing God's voice, we can enter into a state of spiritual abundance where we are constantly hearing His voice, and, not only hearing it, but hearing it in increasingly extraordinary ways.

"14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. 15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. 16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: 17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together." (Romans 8:14-17)

"19 But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. 20 Now unto God and our Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen." (Philippians 4:19-20)

"4 I thank my God always on your behalf, for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ; 5 That in every thing ye are enriched by him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge; 6 Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you: 7 So that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ: 8 Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord." (1 Corinthians 1:4-9)

When you are willing to expect a state of abundant and extraordinary communication with God, you are operating in God's Spirit of Laodicea, i.e. the Spirit of Peace and Prosperity who enables you to prosper greatly in all that you do and to abide in a state of shalom peace.

Should we die as individuals?

We were also asked whether God wants a people without goals, planning, logic, or thought who wait for His every direction rather than thinking in any way. In a sense, the answer is both yes and no. On the one hand, we must remember that God gave us a mind that is to grow in apostolic wisdom, emotions that are to grow prophetically, and a heart that is to grow in evangelistic conquest and dominion. He also gave us particular pneumatikos gifts and ministerial endowments. Why would He give us these things if we are not to exercise them? His gifts were handed over to us (by God) in such a profound way that we actually have the "authority" to use them for our own selfish ends and even against the Kingdom of God. That does not mean that we are not accountable if we do so, but it only proves that we have a "requirement" to exercise them and that, if we do not exercise those gifts and endowments, they will not develop and blossom. In other words, we can bury those gifts and endowments if we choose to do so, but God does not see that as a "positive" thing.

"24 Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed: 25 And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine. 26 His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed: 27 Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury. 28 Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents. 29 For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath." (Matthew 25:24-29)

This, however, does not mean that we are to just take what He has given to us and run on our own, which is what most of humanity (including the Church) does. That is when we get into planning and doing things without thinking about Him or His will.

"13 Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: 14 Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. 15 For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that." (James 4:13-15)

"If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen." (1 Peter 4:11)

Once your will is connected to His, you begin to flow in Him. You will plan in Him, you will set goals in Him, you will think and use logic in Him. You will exercise your gifts and endowments in Him. Whilst doing all of that, you will be on the constant lookout for God's "sudden change of plans", as when He says, "Turn left here" when you were not expecting it. In no way do you become a mindless robot, an "empty suit" with no individuality of your own. It is amazing and paradoxical that, the more you surrender to Him, the more your individuality (and what God made so special about you) begins to flourish and manifest itself. As you operate in Him, your inherent planning skills become inherently better, your inherent thinking and logic becomes more complex, your inherent emotions become deeper and more diverse, your inherent will becomes stronger and more overpowering, and your inherent ability to serve others becomes more and more outstanding.

The above may seem like a politician-style "non-answer", but it is the only way this writer can explain it. You do not lose yourself as you become immersed in Him. You do not lose your individuality and your talents as you surrender to Him. On the contrary, as you become immersed in Him, your individuality becomes highlighted and your talents flourish all the more.

"For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it." (Matthew 16:25)

As you are completely surrendered under Him, you paradoxically start to exercise sovereign kingship that is very individual, very "yours", just as Yeshua never loses His individuality and His sovereign Kingship as He surrenders to the Father's will.

"27 For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him. 28 And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all." (1 Corinthians 15:27-28)

The false voice of external pressure

All of the above brings us to the following question: How can we distinguish God's voice from other voices and how can avoid being wrong or deceived? This again is a broad subject that has both a brief answer and a long answer. The brief answer is that, as the Lord declares in John 10:27, His sheep can recognise His voice and follow Him, meaning that we do have the ability embedded within us through the Holy Spirit to distinguish His voice, difficult as the process can sometimes be ... we just do.

A long answer to the same question involves meditating on the different types of voices that the enemy or our own souls may use to deceive us and detour us from God's voice. We shall attempt to briefly describe 7 possible types of voices here.

As you begin to walk in the Lord, one of the qualities that becomes evident about His voice is that it has an "internal" quality to it. It always seems to flow from within you. Therefore, a sign of a false voice is when that voice has a subtle "external" quality to it, as if it is coming from the outside even if you are perceiving it inside of you. This external-feeling voice can sometimes feel like a crowd of people pounding on your door trying to get in.

"4 But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter: 5 And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them." (Genesis 19:4-5)

"And they said, Stand back. And they said again, This one fellow came in to sojourn, and he will needs be a judge: now will we deal worse with thee, than with them. And they pressed sore upon the man, even Lot, and came near to break the door." (Genesis 19:9)

"15 And she said unto him, How canst thou say, I love thee, when thine heart is not with me? thou hast mocked me these three times, and hast not told me wherein thy great strength lieth. 16 And it came to pass, when she pressed him daily with her words, and urged him, so that his soul was vexed unto death; 17 That he told her all his heart, and said unto her, There hath not come a razor upon mine head; for I have been a Nazarite unto God from my mother's womb: if I be shaven, then my strength will go from me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man. 18 And when Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying, Come up this once, for he hath shewed me all his heart. Then the lords of the Philistines came up unto her, and brought money in their hand." (Judges 16:15-18)

Even though the Lord can sometimes apply pressure on us to do what He is calling us to do, that pressure is always from within, like a strong inner prompting. When the enemy applies pressure, it sounds like a multitude of external voices, voices foreign to us, voices telling us to submit to them, not to God. This type of pressure comes from the Jebusite spirit that forces people to abide by laws that are not from God. Because the Jebusites' laws are not from God, they always threaten to punish us with a loss that is not truly real. Even if these spirits can indeed punish us with tangible losses, the losses are always temporal and not as dramatic or relevant as the Jebusite spirit makes them out to be.

As we have shared in the "Canaanite hunt" videos, the Canaanite spirit often uses this type of Jebusite pressure to compel us to do unrighteous things just to please the people around us. The Amorite spirit also uses this type of Jebusite pressure as a sales tactic, as a way to conquer us by having us buy into something that is not of God. This is why, as we have studied before, the "first beast", the "matriarchal beast" that the first seal of the Apocalypse is opened against, is Amorite-Canaanite gone Jebusite.

A different type of pressure

Having shared the above, it is worth sharing a little on the type of pressure that comes from God and not the Jebusite spirit. Many years ago, I knew in my spirit that the time had come for me to leave the job that God had provided for me and that He wanted me to go elsewhere. Around that time, two job opportunities suddenly popped up. One was with a large company and the other was with a small company. Without going into too many details, I perceived within me that there was "financial trouble" ahead for the small company and that the job in the large company was probably the "safer and wiser" choice because the company would not be "going broke" any time soon. I also perceived that I would experience a great deal of conflict at the small company and that the person heading the company was not taking it in the right direction. As a result, I called the person who was recruiting me at the large company and told him that I would take the job. He was glad to hear it, and I was to start working shortly after that. That night, however, I felt no peace. I tossed and turned most of the night, unable to sleep, with a big burden inside my heart as if I had made one of the greatest mistakes of my life. The next morning, I said to the Lord, "Are you pressuring me to take the other job? I don't think the other job is a good idea, but, if it is Your will, I will take it. What do you want me to do?". I then suddenly felt the Lord say to me, "Before 13:00 today, you will know the answer". I rested in that word and went to work (at the job I was still at), but I knew that the burden remained inside of me.

As the morning ended, I suddenly felt that I had to call the person recruiting me at the small company to ask him, "Do you think it would be wrong or unethical for me to tell the large company that I will not be working for them even though I already accepted the job?". I knew that I could ask him that because, despite his flaws, I knew him to be a person who valued ethics and doing the right thing (up to a certain point), and I knew that he also was friends with the person at the large company who was recruiting me, meaning that I could potentially create friction between them if I backed away from the large company to work for the small company. When I made the call, I was surprised to hear him say that it would be OK, that I was still within my right to withdraw my acceptance. I then said, "OK, I will work for you, then; I will call the other company and let them know that I will not be working for them". He was very happy to hear that, and the conversation ended. When I put the phone receiver down on the phone, I felt a sudden peace come over me, and the burden that had been tormenting me, weighing heavily inside of me was suddenly lifted, and I knew that I had done the right thing, despite everything that I was perceiving about the small company. I then looked at the clock, and, to my amazement, it was 13:00, meaning that God had fulfilled His word to me (mind you, I had lost track of time during the day, so the timing of the call was not deliberate).

I share the above to show how God can sometimes put strong pressure on you to do something that your soul may not be too happy to do. Even so, the pressure was always from within. It never felt external. It never felt like voices from the outside pressuring me to do something I did not want to do. It was a pressure from deep within, and it eventually became clear to my reluctant soul that God was trying to tell me something. As it turns out, the Lord gave me much success at that small company, and the path of my entire life changed because of me working there. Without going into the excruciatingly long details, it is likely that this website would have never existed and that my relationship with the Lord would have gone into a permanent state of death and stagnation had I not taken that job, for it led me down a long sequence of events that changed the course of my life completely. In fact, I sincerely believe that I might actually be physically dead by now had I not taken that job. Having said all of this, I must also say that all the fears and concerns that I had about that job eventually came true. It took a period of some 7 years, but the financial collapse that I was perceiving eventually came about, despite the financial wealth that God so lovingly injected into that company through my work. The issues I had perceived in the soul of the person who recruited me there also surfaced, and he made one decision after another that eventually drained the company of the wealth it had accumulated. The conflict that I perceived with him also manifested itself at the end, to the point that the last conversation I ever had with him was over the phone as I asked him why he had lied to me about something, with his wife screaming in the background, telling him to hang up on me, which he did. In other words, everything that I feared about that small company did come true, but not before God had achieved what He needed to achieve. Because of the events that happened in my life, many of which are directly related to me having worked at that small company, I fully understand why that was the job I was supposed to have, and I am grateful to the God of Israel for putting that terrible pressure and burden inside of me, saving me from a terrible, terrible mistake that might have ended my spiritual and literal life.

The false voice of power without righteousness

Another type of false voice are the voices that prompt you to act in ways that emphasise power and ignore righteousness. This is the type of false voice that promises (and often delivers) a form of (temporary) power at the expense of your own righteousness or with no regard to what/who is in the right or not. This is the false voice that woos people into witchcraft, for example, and is the type of voice that is prevalent amongst most Pentecostal churches, especially black Pentecostal churches in America. Whereas Pentecostalism is not wrong per se, it becomes corrupted when it simply focuses on spiritual power and does not care about the forging of God's righteousness in people. This is why black churches have been so unable to (and disinterested in) changing the criminality and moral decadence that is so prevalent within the black American culture. It is ironic that churches that seem to exhibit so much spiritual power and emotion are so powerless in transforming the condition of black America, never producing a foundational change, opting instead to live for the quick thrill and then blame white people for whatever unpleasant is still present after the thrill is gone.

The spirit that moves behind this type of false voice is the Hittite spirit, and it is the deception that operates through prophets gone bad.

"1 Now Jehoshaphat had riches and honour in abundance, and joined affinity with Ahab. 2 And after certain years he went down to Ahab to Samaria. And Ahab killed sheep and oxen for him in abundance, and for the people that he had with him, and persuaded him to go up with him to Ramothgilead. 3 And Ahab king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat king of Judah, Wilt thou go with me to Ramothgilead? And he answered him, I am as thou art, and my people as thy people; and we will be with thee in the war. 4 And Jehoshaphat said unto the king of Israel, Enquire, I pray thee, at the word of the LORD to day. 5 Therefore the king of Israel gathered together of prophets four hundred men, and said unto them, Shall we go to Ramothgilead to battle, or shall I forbear? And they said, Go up; for God will deliver it into the king's hand." (2 Chronicles 18:1-5)

"10 And Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah had made him horns of iron, and said, Thus saith the LORD, With these thou shalt push Syria until they be consumed. 11 And all the prophets prophesied so, saying, Go up to Ramothgilead, and prosper: for the LORD shall deliver it into the hand of the king." (2 Chronicles 18:10-11)

"18 Again he said, Therefore hear the word of the LORD; I saw the LORD sitting upon his throne, and all the host of heaven standing on his right hand and on his left. 19 And the LORD said, Who shall entice Ahab king of Israel, that he may go up and fall at Ramothgilead? And one spake saying after this manner, and another saying after that manner. 20 Then there came out a spirit, and stood before the LORD, and said, I will entice him. And the LORD said unto him, Wherewith? 21 And he said, I will go out, and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And the LORD said, Thou shalt entice him, and thou shalt also prevail: go out, and do even so. 22 Now therefore, behold, the LORD hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of these thy prophets, and the LORD hath spoken evil against thee. 23 Then Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah came near, and smote Micaiah upon the cheek, and said, Which way went the Spirit of the LORD from me to speak unto thee? 24 And Micaiah said, Behold, thou shalt see on that day when thou shalt go into an inner chamber to hide thyself." (2 Chronicles 18:18-24)

"33 And a certain man drew a bow at a venture, and smote the king of Israel between the joints of the harness: therefore he said to his chariot man, Turn thine hand, that thou mayest carry me out of the host; for I am wounded. 34 And the battle increased that day: howbeit the king of Israel stayed himself up in his chariot against the Syrians until the even: and about the time of the sun going down he died." (2 Chronicles 18:33-34)

The power deception relies on the premise that its power legitimises it. For example, many Pentecostals believe that they are right with God by virtue of all the "spiritual power" that they exhibit. Their argument is that, if God was not pleased with them, they would not be doing "all these spiritual things". They do not realise, however, that, when God empowers us with pneumatikos gifts, He also empowers us to use them as we wish, even if it is not to further His Kingdom. Thus, the fact that we can manifest spiritual power only guarantees that we have the gift, but it does not guarantee that God is pleased with us.

Some now may be wondering the following: Well, if what you are saying is right, why did Yeshua often seem to legitimise His ministry through the powerful miracles that He performed? Such a question, however, ignores two subtle factors: the magnitude of Yeshua's power and the effect that that power had on people's lives. As we saw before when studying Acts 19:8-12, when we are willing to go through God's sometimes long but always righteous process, the level of dunamis power that is released reaches extraordinary levels that are otherwise unachievable. When God's process is ignored or only partially followed, power may be obtained and released "more quickly", but it will always be "spiritually ordinary" and have little (if any) long-lasting effect. This is why, as we said above, black churches in America have so little effect on the neighbourhoods they are in. Can you imagine the effect of years and years of releasing spiritual power into a neighbourhood if that power was extraordinary? It would be virtually impossible for people to commit crimes in that neighbourhood. It would be impossible for men to impregnate women in that neighbourhood and then abandon them and their children to a life of subsistence. It would be impossible for people to engage in a life of drug consumption with no sense of purpose or vision in life. The presence of God would be too strong for any of that to happen on a consistent basis, which proves that, whatever power these churches are releasing into their neighbourhoods, it is nothing but ordinary power that goes up in thin air and disappears like the morning mist when the sun of reality begins to shine on it. Said another way, that power is nothing but fluff generated by preachers who have chosen to live their lives playing the role of "power puff girls" to please their public and benefit from them, keeping them under the delusion that God must be pleased with them because of how much "spiritual power" and emotion they experienced during the last service.

As is evident from Scripture, Yeshua's miracles were not ordinary miracles. On the contrary, they manifested a consistent level of power never before seen. And, as we have studied before, they were always manifested after the Lord had dealt with spiritual roots first, either through His preaching or His actions. Even Yeshua's visible, 3-year ministry itself came after 30 years of "silence", 30 years during which He went through the Father's process until the time came for Him to be visibly manifested. This writer is certain that, through His yielded life, Yeshua released incredible power and greatly affected people's lives even before He became publicly known, but it was mostly "silent" power with a "silent" but real effect. Even so, the extraordinarily powerful and highly visible acts that He performed, which are recorded in the Gospels, did not come until His 30-year process was complete.

Besides the magnitude of their power, Yeshua's miracles clearly transformed people's lives in an extraordinary way, not only by healing them externally but by healing them internally, turning them from sin-filled or ordinary lives to lives with a zeal for God's righteousness and a desire to fulfil God's extraordinary purposes in their lives. This is why He would sometimes point His doubters to His powerful acts, not to legitimise His ministry through power per se but to legitimise it through the righteous process and effects they exhibited.

The false voice of superficial results

Another type of false voice are the voices that do the virtual opposite of the above false voice, focusing too much on "concrete results". As we said above, the "power" deception tends not to care about the real-life and long-term consequences of that power, living more in the moment as it enjoys the fleeting rush that the Hittite power provides. The opposite type of false voice ignores power altogether and focuses solely on "concrete results", but only the results that the natural mind can perceive, using them to validate one thing over the other.

A simple example of this false voice is a voice that declares that one preacher is more "approved" by God than another because his "congregation" is much larger. The "logic" here is that, if God approved of the other preacher more, He would supernaturally persuade people to come to him and listen to what he has to say. The "logic" also assumes that the preacher with the larger "congregation" must be doing more "spiritually impacting" things, which is why more people pay attention to him than they do the other preacher. By this argument, however, we would have to conclude that the "Christian" denomination with the largest number of "members" (apparently, the catholic sect) is the "true Church" that all Christians should belong to. Hence, we can see how listening to the voices that come from superficial facts or results can cause us to misunderstand what God is really trying to say to us.

As some of you may have already discerned, the above type of false voice is spawned by the Girgashite spirit of earthliness that focuses on the visible and dismisses the invisible. As we have said before, this is the spirit that always thinks from a temporal, short-term perspective and has no interest in digging deeper or sowing for the long term. This does not mean that we are to do the complete opposite and summarily dismiss any and all "surface" facts. Many times, the "surface" does reflect what is beneath it, and sometimes it does not. If you observe things whilst keeping your spiritual ear focused on what the Holy Spirit may say, you will be warned of things that may be lurking beneath the surface even if your natural mind cannot perceive them. You will then be able to grab a shovel, dig beneath the surface and see with your natural eyes and mind was originally unable to see.

The false voice too proud to admit it

Another type of false voice comes when your heart gets in the way of your eyes and prevents you seeing what is in front of you. As we have shared before, in Scripture, the word "heart" does not refer to one's feelings or emotions but instead to our will, i.e. our "decision-making factory" where we sometimes make decisions that go against everything we are feeling, as when a person with a fear of heights decides to climb a tall ladder, even when his emotions are being stirred to panic and are exhorting him not to do it. Hence, the heart is the part of the soul from which we exercise our "kingship", our God-given sovereignty to make decisions that no one else can make for us. Because of its "kingly" functionality, the heart is also the place where pride can walk in and take residence.

When our sense of identity is not derived from God and is not submitted to Him, we begin to link our identity to ephemeral accomplishments or to some "status" or "label" that has been "gifted" or assigned to us and that we are not responsible for. That is when we begin to take any assault on those accomplishments or labels as an assault on our kingship, meaning that any voice that challenges them is automatically deemed as false and not from God, even if it is. By the same token, any voice that reaffirms those accomplishments or labels is automatically considered to come from God, even if it is not. This creates a barrier that prevents God ever challenging a person's limited growth, for example, for any word from God declaring that your previous accomplishments are not enough and that you need to move to a new dimension will be seen as an attack on your kingship. The same will happen when a word from God comes to confront issues in your ethnicity's culture, even if those issues are not present in you directly, because you will see that word as an attack on your kingship, for your heart derives its sense of self-worth and kingship from that race or ethnicity.

Another example where this type of false voice would arise (applicable back in the days when the Church was not so corrupted that attending a congregation was still a viable option) would be when God would tell a believer to move to a different congregation because the one he was in had become spiritually stagnant and would lead to his spiritual death if he stayed there much longer. If your sense of spiritual kingship was dependent on the human reputation of the congregation, or if it was dependent on the "ministerial privileges" you had there, God's call to move would be treated as a deception from the enemy to derail you from the plan that God had already "laid out for you", a "plan" confirmed by how "well" you are doing in that congregation. Also, the call to move to a new congregation may be seen as an insinuation that you are not as "perfect" and "spiritually developed" as you thought you were, meaning that your heart will perceive God's word as an "insult", prompting your heart to dismiss God's voice as a "lie from satan". Mind you, this does not mean that every single voice that ever told anyone to move to a new congregation was from God. However, many a legitimate command from God to do so was thwarted by this "pride voice", which constantly aborted God's seed before it had a chance to be examined and confirmed by Him through multiple witnesses.

As some of you may have already discerned, this false voice is instigated by the spirit of Amorite pride and self-exaltation. This spirit promotes a kingship in man that is independent from God. Therefore, as long as your kingship is grounded in Him and submitted to Him, your kingship will not be tainted by the Amorite spirit, and you will be less prone to falling for this type of false voice.

Our kingly value is not dependent on any external factors or even any "accomplishments", and, when we are aware of this, we will not allow pride in our hearts to dismiss words from the voice of God that come to confront those factors or accomplishments.

"Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time" (1 Peter 5:6)

The weak voice too humble to stand its ground

In some cases, the Amorite spirit can take the "too proud" false voice and turn it in the opposite direction, trapping people in a different way. When the enemy sees that you are not susceptible to Amorite pride, it will try to deny you any sense of kingship through the crippling Perizzite spirit of low self-esteem, convincing you that any form of "kingship" is tantamount to "pride" and sin. You will then become susceptible to any Amorite that tries to dominate you through his "kingly" commands. When a voice accuses you of something, you will be quick to acquiesce and admit fault, and when a voice claims that what you are thinking is not of God, you will automatically abort those thoughts, even if they did come from God, preventing you growing into new arenas of spiritual understanding. As a result, you will only allow yourself to "grow" as much as the people whom you allow to control you, and you will inherit their corruptions and never be able to escape them.

It is worth noting that this type of false voice usually works in tandem with the false voices of "external pressure" and "superficial results" described earlier. When you are susceptible to low self-esteem, you will be more likely to back down from your stance if a multitude of voices start to question you and pressure you to stand down. You will also be more likely to back down if those voices point to multiple superficial parameters to justify why they are right and you are wrong (superficial parameters such as your "low ranking" in life or the superficial "grandiosity" and "success" of the voices speaking to you).

To avoid falling into the extreme of excessive humility, we must remember that we cannot be complete in the presence of God without a strong manifestation of spiritual kingship, for we are called to be "kings and priests":

"8 And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints. 9 And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; 10 And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth." (Revelation 5:8-10)

When we truly submit to God, we do not lose our kingship. Instead, we begin to share in His Kingship and in His God sovereignty, difficult as that may be to accept to the natural soul. In other words, when we submit to God, our kingship blossoms, and, as our kingship blossoms, we become more submitted and immersed in Him, and we are able to then submit all other things under us so that they may be under God.

The false voice of pain exaggeration

Another type of false voice tends to muffle God's voice by distorting the process that His voice is calling us to go through. Often, this exaggeration involves lies about our ability to endure the pain of the process, either by underestimating our endurance or exaggerating the actual pain that we would go through if we heed God's voice.

This false voice is triggered by the Canaanite spirit, which, as we have shared before, abhors God's judgements and despises God's processes. This bitter spirit constantly accuses God of being "unfair" and "too cruel", denying that God has a (non-sadistic) reason for everything that He asks of us.

"10 I said in the cutting off of my days, I shall go to the gates of the grave: I am deprived of the residue of my years. 11 I said, I shall not see the LORD, even the LORD, in the land of the living: I shall behold man no more with the inhabitants of the world. 12 Mine age is departed, and is removed from me as a shepherd's tent: I have cut off like a weaver my life: he will cut me off with pining sickness: from day even to night wilt thou make an end of me. 13 I reckoned till morning, that, as a lion, so will he break all my bones: from day even to night wilt thou make an end of me. 14 Like a crane or a swallow, so did I chatter: I did mourn as a dove: mine eyes fail with looking upward: O LORD, I am oppressed; undertake for me. 15 What shall I say? he hath both spoken unto me, and himself hath done it: I shall go softly all my years in the bitterness of my soul." (Isaiah 38:10-15)

[As we have studied before, this is part of Hezekiah's prayer when he prayed towards the "wide gate", resenting the fact that God was cutting his life short (for good reasons that he refused to understand). Notice how he refers to God as a lion coming to heartlessly tear him and break all his bones. Hezekiah cried like a spoiled little brat, throwing a wobbly like a modern-day pathetic white American liberal when he does not get his way. Sadly, he eventually got his way, and, as we have described before, he lost his eternal legacy and did a great deal of damage to the people of Judah and Israel.]

The Canaanite false voice denies that God is aware of our limits and will never ask us to do more than we can tolerate. However, the pain of the process is never as terrible as the Canaanite voices always make them out to be, and, even when the pain is great, the reward of the process is so much greater that the pain becomes very forgettable.

"There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it." (1 Corinthians 10:13)

"17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. 18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." (Romans 8:17-18)

"A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world." (John 16:21)

To overcome the Canaanite voices that will prompt us to avoid the pain of the necessary process, we must have an apostolic attitude that makes decisions based not on how much pain the decision will entail but on one "simple" thing: whether it is the right thing to do at that given time. Said another way, we cannot simply say that a certain voice must be "from the devil" because it is suggesting something that causes too much pain. We cannot matriarchally say, "God is good and does not want his children to suffer, so that cannot possibly be from God".

Having said the above, we must be careful not go to the extreme of thinking that something must be from God because it causes pain. God is not a Jebusite sadist who likes to dish out punishment just for the sake of it. We must also avoid the Hittite extreme of thinking that what is theoretically the "right thing to do" must be done every time without considering context or timing. In other words, we must avoid acting on a blind bluntness that does the supposed "right thing" regardless of the pain it will cause to ourselves and/or others. If you lose all awareness of context and God's timing, you can become an out-of-control, over-the-top "hero" who goes about razing everything that is "not right". When you do the "right thing" at the wrong time, it stops being the "right thing" and becomes the "wrong thing". On occasions, the "right thing" to do is to do nothing on the outside, even if we are seething on the inside and releasing (real) judgement as we do so. On other occasions, the Spirit of God will say, "ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!!", and you will rise up in almost literal violence to whip the moneychangers out of the temple, with no regard for any painful consequences that doing so may bring to you. As long as you are sensitive to the Spirit of God and you are not Canaanitely averse to pain, you will know when some painful things must be done and when they must not.

The false voice of a manipulated paradise

Another type of false voice that prevents us hearing God's voice is strongly related to both the "power without righteousness" and "pain exaggeration" voices. This false voice comes in the form of voices that offer you a "solution" that will bring "nirvana" to your life, that will bring you to a state of completeness and prosperity where the problems haunting you are finally gone. This "solution", however, requires that you carry out some form of manipulation or hidden wheeling and dealing that often involves shady characters or elements.

The false voices that fall under this category will often portray themselves as an opportune option coming at the opportune time to solve your problem, and they will play on this to disguise themselves as God's voice by saying, "Well, you were asking God for help, weren't you? Who else could set this opportunity up for you at such an exact time?". However, if your heart is focused on His righteousness, you will perceive that there is something not quite right with the solution that is being offered, for it will involve doing or accepting things that you know are not quite right or true, and it will often involve empowering people or things that should not be empowered. This awareness will reduce the charm of the temporary power that the voices' solution is offering.

Also, if your heart does not shy away from the pain of God's processes, you will recognise that the solution being offered by these voices is endeavouring to bypass that pain through a shortcut with terrible long-term consequences. You will then recognise that the voice is probably not from God, for God does not provide solutions that bypass the process and that offer an easy alternative to the sometimes-difficult pain we must endure (a pain usually made more difficult by the unwillingness of others).

Having said the above, we must be sure not to go to the masochistic extreme of assuming that something is not from God simply because it appears "easy" or "relatively painless". Many times, a solution from God may appear "easy" or "painless" because the painful process and righteousness required to reach it have already been met. What is wrong with these false voices is that they offer a "twist" that is not quite from God, a twist that has a taste of dishonesty or detachment from reality to it. And, as we said above, the twist often involves empowering unrighteous people that should not be empowered.

The Esau impersonation plan

An example in Scripture of this type of false voice is in Genesis 27, where Jacob listened to the voice of his mother Rebecca and tricked Isaac into giving him the blessing that he intended for Esau. Jacob's mother offered him a quick solution that took advantage of a "great opportunity" that suddenly appeared before them. Jacob was hesitant about the idea, but, to his shame, he was more concerned about the possibility of getting caught by Isaac than about the wrongness of the solution. His mother was able to "eliminate" that concern from his mind by saying that she would bear the spiritual responsibility if Isaac realised that he was being deceived. Had Jacob been concerned about God's righteousness and His processes, he would have realised that such a deal would never hold up in "God's court of law", for you cannot stand before Him and say, "You can't punish me for what I did. I was just obeying orders from my superior (i.e. my mother)". Sadly for all, neither Rebecca nor Jacob realised that the blessing that Isaac was about to give was a relatively meaningless blessing, for it was a blessing from Isaac's soul, not his spirit, and, hence, not from God:

"1 And it came to pass, that when Isaac was old, and his eyes were dim, so that he could not see, he called Esau his eldest son, and said unto him, My son: and he said unto him, Behold, here am I. 2 And he said, Behold now, I am old, I know not the day of my death: 3 Now therefore take, I pray thee, thy weapons, thy quiver and thy bow, and go out to the field, and take me some venison; 4 And make me savoury meat, such as I love, and bring it to me, that I may eat; that my soul may bless thee before I die." (Genesis 27:1-4)

"And Jacob said unto his father, I am Esau thy firstborn; I have done according as thou badest me: arise, I pray thee, sit and eat of my venison, that thy soul may bless me." (Genesis 27:19)

"24 And he said, Art thou my very son Esau? And he said, I am. 25 And he said, Bring it near to me, and I will eat of my son's venison, that my soul may bless thee. And he brought it near to him, and he did eat: and he brought him wine, and he drank." (Genesis 27:24-25)

"30 And it came to pass, as soon as Isaac had made an end of blessing Jacob, and Jacob was yet scarce gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, that Esau his brother came in from his hunting. 31 And he also had made savoury meat, and brought it unto his father, and said unto his father, Let my father arise, and eat of his son's venison, that thy soul may bless me." (Genesis 27:30-31)

The words "bless" and "soul" that appear together in the Genesis 27 verses above were translated from the Hebrew words barak and nephesh respectively. It is interesting to note that, outside of Genesis 27, these words only appear in the same verse in 7 verses in Psalms and 1 verse in the last chapter of Isaiah. Out of those 8 verses, 5 are in Psalms 103 and 104 and speak of our souls blessing the Lord. The other 3 verses use the words in very negative contexts:

"16 Be not thou afraid when one is made rich, when the glory of his house is increased; 17 For when he dieth he shall carry nothing away: his glory shall not descend after him. 18 Though while he lived he blessed his soul: and men will praise thee, when thou doest well to thyself. 19 He shall go to the generation of his fathers; they shall never see light. 20 Man that is in honour, and understandeth not, is like the beasts that perish." (Psalm 49:16-20)

"2 The wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor: let them be taken in the devices that they have imagined. 3 For the wicked boasteth of his heart's desire, and blesseth the covetous, whom the LORD abhorreth. 4 The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts. 5 His ways are always grievous; thy judgments are far above out of his sight: as for all his enemies, he puffeth at them. 6 He hath said in his heart, I shall not be moved: for I shall never be in adversity. 7 His mouth is full of cursing and deceit and fraud: under his tongue is mischief and vanity. 8 He sitteth in the lurking places of the villages: in the secret places doth he murder the innocent: his eyes are privily set against the poor. 9 He lieth in wait secretly as a lion in his den: he lieth in wait to catch the poor: he doth catch the poor, when he draweth him into his net." (Psalm 10:2-9)

[The word "heart" in verse 3 was mistranslated from the word nephesh meaning "soul". Notice, therefore, how verse 3 implicitly declares that the blessing of the covetous by the wicked comes from his soul. Notice also how the Spirit of God speaks in this passage of someone who is always manipulating or scheming to feed his greed.]

"3 He that killeth an ox is as if he slew a man; he that sacrificeth a lamb, as if he cut off a dog's neck; he that offereth an oblation, as if he offered swine's blood; he that burneth incense, as if he blessed an idol. Yea, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delighteth in their abominations. 4 I also will choose their delusions, and will bring their fears upon them; because when I called, none did answer; when I spake, they did not hear: but they did evil before mine eyes, and chose that in which I delighted not." (Isaiah 66:3-4)

[Notice how verse 3 implicitly declares that the evil man's blessing of an idol came from his soul. This points to Isaac's intended blessing of Esau, for Isaac idolised Esau, admiring him for his prowess as a hunter and a "man of the world", so to speak (Genesis 27:27), without realising how much Esau despised the spiritual things of God, having sold his birthright for a bowl of lentil soup some time earlier (Genesis 25:29-34).]

Hence, we can conclude from the above that Isaac's soul, which was clearly not intent on blessing the Lord as per Psalms 103-104 (for he desired to bless a man who despised God), had a blessing for Esau of no spiritual consequence. Thus, all the scheming and manipulation orchestrated by Jacob's mother and carried out by Jacob was all for naught. We do not know exactly what would have happened if Rebecca and Jacob had simply prayed or just let Isaac proceed with his soul blessing of Esau. If that blessing was indeed of any consequence, God may have stopped it supernaturally by either killing Isaac, killing Esau, or causing some sort of incident that would have given Isaac room for pause to rethink his understanding of both Esau and Jacob. Regardless, the process, which would have benefited both Jacob, Isaac, and possibly even Esau, was aborted by the scheming of Jacob's mother, well-intentioned as it was.

And, unlike Rebecca's assurance that she would incur all the potential punishment of their deed, both Rebecca and Jacob, and even Isaac and Esau, suffered great punishment for their manipulative act. For example, just as Jacob pulled the "old switcheroo" on his father Isaac, Rebecca's brother Laban pulled the "old switcheroo" on Jacob by giving him Leah instead of Rachel on his wedding night (Genesis 29:21-23), forcing him to endure 7 more years of slavery under Laban, along with much heartache from the exaggerated conflict between Rachel and Leah. In the meantime, Rebecca (whose name literally means "ensnarer") had her nurse Deborah die (Genesis 35:1-8) as Jacob returned after having fled from Esau's wrath (Genesis 32-33), a wrath provoked by Rebecca's and Jacob's switcheroo stunt. Interestingly, Deborah's death happened immediately after Jacob had built an altar in Elbethel that God had called him to build (Genesis 35:7), and he buried her under an oak that was named Allonbachuth, which literally means "oak of weeping", meaning that God was now carrying out a judgement on the matriarchal nurse mentality that had driven Rebecca to cook up her clever scheme. Thus, Rebecca was left without the help and support of a nurse that she must have been emotionally attached to for a long time, turning Jacob's return into a moment of great sorrow. Isaac also suffered in the midst of this, not only by the years-long conflict that ensued between his two sons after the switcheroo stunt but by the torment brought on by the Hittite wives that his beloved Esau took up shortly before (Genesis 26:34-35). Had Jacob and Rebecca allowed God's process to go through, something may have happened during Isaac's attempt to bless him that would have either led to Esau's conversion as a person or to his premature death, which would have then ended the harassment that they endured from his wives.

A Hivite voice with Hittite deception

It is also interesting to note that, in the chapter following the description of Deborah's (i.e. Rebecca's nurse's) death, the Spirit of God goes on in the next chapter to describe Esau's 3 wives:

Notice that the Spirit of God goes out of His way to point out that the first wife was a Hittite, the second one a Hivite, and the third one the daughter of a man who resulted from another matriarchal scheme (by Sarah) to "help" God with His promise to Abraham. This is to emphasise how Rebecca's plan was, at the end of the day, driven not by God's inspiration but by a spirit of Hittite deceit and a Hivite spirit of scheming and of wheeling and dealing to gain the blessing of an inheritance. And, just like Sarah's matriarchal scheming that led to the birth of Ishmael, Rebecca's matriarchal scheming opened the door for much unnecessary torment and sorrow and only delayed/disrupted God's plans for everyone involved.

As we have shared in detail before, Jacob finally "got back on track" with God's plans when he realised that the blessing was not to come from Isaac's soul but from the Spirit of God. When he finally understood the need for "the process", painful and difficult as it was, he finally submitted himself to the Penuel experience where he was forced to face the death that comes from beholding God face to face, as well as the wrath that he drew unto himself (from God through Esau) for having pulled the infamous switcheroo on Isaac and Esau.

As you may have already inferred, the voice that prompts for a "manipulated paradise" is eminently driven by the scheming Hivite spirit, with the "collaboration" of the deceptive Hittite spirit and the pain- and process-avoiding Canaanite spirits. As we have shared before, these 3 spirits (the Hivite, Hittite, and Canaanite spirits) are the 3 left-handed spirits in the triangle of evil, meaning that the voice that calls for a "manipulated paradise" is a very "leftist" voice, which correlates with how literal leftists are always promoting contrived schemes to magically achieve a "marxist paradise" without recognising unavoidable economic, social, and spiritual realities.

A non-example

Having said all of the above, there are occasional scenarios where a voice may appear to be a false "manipulated paradise" voice when it is, in fact, the voice of God. Consider, for example, the case of Tamar, the wife of Er, Judah's firstborn. As described in Genesis 38, Er was evil in the eyes of the Lord, for which reason God struck him down and killed him before he could have descendants. Judah then told Onan, his second son, to lie with Tamar to give his brother Er descendants, but, Onan, being evil as well, only used this as an opportunity to sleep with Tamar and made sure not to impregnate Tamar because he resented giving his brother descendants. Because of this, God killed him as well. Seeing this, Judah then withheld his remaining son Shelah from Tamar for fear that he would also die, but he did so whilst telling Tamar that Shelah would eventually be asked to lie with her to give her ex-husband descendants. When Tamar realised that Judah never intended to provide Shelah, she came with a plan (or what some might consider a "scheme") to get a seed to have descendants. Knowing that Judah was on his way to Timnah to shear his sheep (after Shuah, the mother of the 3 "precious" souls Er, Onan, and Shelah, had died), she went ahead of Judah towards Timnah, put a veil over her face, and sat in an open place on the road to Timnah, waiting for Judah to go by. When Judah saw her, he thought that she was a prostitute (because she had covered her face) and slept with her, all without realising who she was, and this is how Tamar finally became pregnant with twins and had descendants. Odd and "unGodly" as this story may seem, the fact that Yeshua physically descended from Pharez, the first of the twins that Tamar became pregnant with, is confirmation that the whole "scheme" was birthed by the voice of God and not a Hivite, "manipulated paradise" voice. The fact that Tamar never slept with Judah again also shows that Tamar was not being motivated by lowly Canaanite passions or a voice that exaggerated the pain of God's process, for she waited and waited for Shelah to be provided, but even Shelah's mother died and Shelah was still not provided. Hence, we can say that God will sometimes speak "peculiar schemes" into our hearts that may appear like "shortcuts", but this will happen after all the other options have been exhausted and after a long process (unnecessarily prolonged by man) has been completed.

A voice that Trump constantly heeds

It is also worth noting that the "manipulated paradise" voice played a great role in undercutting Trump during his time in the White House. Trump entered the White House fully convinced that much of his financial success was due to his "mastery" of the "art of the deal", an "ability" that he wrote the book on (literally). As a result, despite his relative (not complete) unwillingness to compromise in his rhetoric, he saw the need to compromise through "ingenious" and "beneficial" deals as a strategy to achieve his uncompromising ends. This writer is convinced that, prior to taking office in 2017, Trump applied the "art of the deal" to strike a private agreement with hillary clinton, an agreement in which she would agree not to aggressively contest the election in return for him not aggressively pursuing her incarceration for her illegal activities whilst pretending to be "Secretary of State" under obastard. This is why, after months and months of saying on the campaign trail that he would "lock her up", he suddenly shushed his loud and adoring audience in a post-election celebration rally when they began to chant "Lock her up!". In fact, he chided them for using language "unbecoming" of the moment, and, as his 4 years in the White House bore out, he never made any real effort to prosecute hillary, meaning that his reaction to that crowd that day went beyond an effort to be "gracious in victory".

This propensity for the "art of the deal" is also behind his constant decisions to work with the GOP (i.e. God-Offending Party) establishment to "get things done", and it is also why, with the manipulative-paradise voices of jared and ivanka in his ear, he would constantly surround himself with half-hearted traitors who would stab him in the back time and time again. Thinking that he was outmanoeuvring the establishment by working through (and negotiating with) people within it, he ended up being outmanoeuvred and neutralised time and time again by that very establishment. He never realised that he needed to stand on principle and work through principled people and uncompromising means, even if that made the process more painful and difficult. It is sad to see that, to this day (4 July 2022), Trump refuses to recognise the stupidity of constantly listening to the "manipulated-paradise" voices, and this writer knows that he will go to his literal grave (within the next 2.5 years) without ever repenting of his stupidity. Trump is already spiritually dead, having died in his spiritual stubbornness on 6 January 2021, even when he and his ardent supporters believe that he is alive and ready to rise again.

A big example of false voices

Simplistic and magical narrations

Regarding the site visitor's question on the book of mor(m)on, I did read the beginning of it many, many years ago. For reasons that are too long to explain here (and through the guidance of God that led me to do and say certain things), I found myself engaging for a very short time with some mor(m)ons, and they gave me their book to read. I was amazed at how fake the book was from the very beginning. The part about how the "Israelites" journeyed from the Middle East all the way to the Americas (in the 10th century, if I remember correctly) was too "fantastical" to be from God. The "Israelites" get into a ship, and, not too many verses, they arrive in the Americas. This contrasts with the vivid reality and detail that is often found in the historical narratives in Scripture. Consider, for example, all the details that God described when narrating Noah's experience. He did not simply say, "and Noah entered the ark, waited a while, and then came back out when the waters had gone", even when the flood "only" lasted 40 days and 40 nights (as opposed to many months). Consider also all the level of detail when the Spirit of God narrates Paul's trips in Scripture, including the details of the shipwreck that landed Paul in Malta. Contrast that with how long a trip from the Middle East to the Americas would have lasted back in the 10th century. One can only imagine all the hardships, conflicts, and tests of faith that they would have gone through (as did, say, Columbus, 5 centuries later on a much shorter trip). Yet, none of that is described in the book of mor(m)on. Though many things described in Scripture are "extraordinary" and "supernatural", they never sound "magical" because there is always a layer of "blunt reality" in them. You can always see the "process", the obstacles, the limitations, etc. By contrast, the book of mor(m)on, as shown by the instant trip from the Middle East to the Americas, sounds too magical, too convenient, too detached from reality (either at the natural level or the spiritual level).

Contrived translations

I also found it interesting how so many passages from Scripture (especially the Gospel of John, if I remember correctly) are quoted almost verbatim in the book of mor(m)on. What is peculiar about these quotes is that they are included there almost exactly as they appear in the King James translation. That raises several "red flags". First, it contrasts with how Scripture quotes itself. As some of you may have noticed, when Paul or one of the Gospel writers would quote from what people call the "Old Testament", the (Greek) quote would often have word variations from what one reads in the original (Hebrew/Aramaic) passage, even if one can clearly see that the message is exactly the same at the end. Second, it is interesting that the Scripture quotes in the book of mor(m)on, which were supposedly translated from some tablets written in a mysterious "modified Egyptian" language, would come out to exactly how the KJV had worded them as joey smith "translated" the tablets into English. In an independent translation from "modified Egyptian" to English, you would expect some noticeable variations, especially since many of the KJV passage translations are fundamentally flawed and not inspired by God (as we have shown once and again through the years). Hence, all the Scripture quotes in the book of mor(m)on are clearly the product of joey smith looking them up in a KJV Bible he had at hand and plopping them down on his little manuscript.

Also, why would God write holy scriptures in "modified Egyptian"? Isn't Egypt usually a symbol of the world in Scripture? Also, why "modified" Egyptian as opposed to good old Egyptian? It seems as if it was conveniently "modified" to prevent it being a known language that joey smith could be questioned on later. From what I recall, the "golden tablets" written in this magical "modified Egyptian" were also conveniently "melted down" so that there would be no way to compare them against joey smith's translation. This contrasts with how God left a multitude of manuscripts of Scripture written in the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek so that we could go to them and verify things as needed (in fact, there is no ancient document in the world that comes even close to having as many original or ancient copies of its contents as the Bible does).

The book of mor(m)on also has many things that contradict Scripture directly. The one that I remember at present is about its claim that the Levitical priesthood is still valid, which clearly contradicts Scripture (as detailed in the book of Hebrews). How can God so emphatically say that the Levitical priesthood has (permanently) passed in the book of Hebrews and then turn around and write in some magical gold tablet centuries later that it is still valid?

The daemon moroni

Even the name of the stupid "angel" that helped joey with the "tablet translations", "moroni", is a dead giveaway. Why would God give an angel such a "moronic" name? This may sound like a "petty point", but it is more like the "cherry on top" of everything said above. As some of you may recall, we share something on "spiritual moronism" in a posting from 2006. Even though we do not talk about mor(m)onism per se there, the spirit described there is at the heart of mor(m)onism. When one confronts mor(m)ons with all the contradictions in and issues with the book of mor(m)on, they just smile and attribute it all to a "mystery" that they cannot explain and that is not worth worrying about because we all "need to live by faith" and "feeling the peace of faith is more important than disturbing one's soul with minutiae". Talking to a mor(m)on is just as frustrating as talking to an America liberal. You can present all the spiritual logic and evidence that you want, but you will only get an emotion-based response from them that dismisses everything you just said and simply returns to the same ideological belief they started with.

A modern-day moroni

I personally believe that the name "moroni" was inspired by satan into joey smith's heart as a way to impart the spirit of moronism into everyone who heard his message. When one embraces that name, it is as if one is willing to become a moron, which opens one up for the nonsensical message that follows after that name. Interestingly, the same has happened around the time of this writing with a person that millions of morons have perceived as an "angel of light", i.e. the worthless hellbound son of a whore anthony fauci. Unbeknownst to many, the surname "fauci" is a name derived from a Sicilian word meaning "sickle" (as indicated on wikipedia.org). As you may know, a scythe, which is a type of sickle (as explained on wikipedia.org), is strongly associated to the "Grim Reaper" that comes to "harvest" the living to take them to death. Hence, it is interesting that a man that was portrayed and perceived as a life-saving angel has a surname that points to a figure associated with the termination of life. Hence, it is no coincidence that the son of a female dog anthony fauci has been responsible for the deaths and the severe medical and financial injury of millions upon millions upon millions of Americans through his masquing, "social distancing", and lockdown policies, his promotion of ventilators, his exaggeration of the WuHan virus' lethality, his promotion of mortally dangerous mRNA injections, etc. When the American people so moronically embraced "anthony sickle" as an angel of life, they were welcoming the death-bringing "Grim Reaper", a daemon of death, into their homes.

As you may have als figured, the fact that fauci's surname means "sickle" also points to the "hammer and sickle", the Soviet symbol that represented leftist oppression, a symbol that domineered over many countries for many tortuous decades. Hence, a welcoming of fauci's name also represented an unwitting acceptance of tyrannical leftist oppression.

The fact that the "fauci" surname is derived from a Sicilian word also has significance. As most of you may agree, the first thing that one generally thinks of when one hears the word "Sicily" is the mafia, the Sicilian mafia or "Cosa Nostra" to be more precise. This correlates with how fauci, originally a bureaucratic side show that was actually telling people how medically useless masques were (because he was going by the actual science at the time), suddenly turned pro-masquing when the mafia in the demonrat party asked him to cooperate in their plans to sabotage Trump and steal the 2020 election. He was also approached by the drug-industry mafia, which also asked him to cooperate in and benefit from their experimental injection scheme.

Because I completely ignored Trump's naive and stupid conferences at the start of the pandamic (as well as the American media's fear-mongering "coverage"), it was a long, long time before I actually heard anyone pronounce the bastard's name. My intuition made me pronounce it the way an Italian would pronounce it (instead of pronouncing it in an Anglicised way), and I believe that this stemmed from the Spirit of God's awareness within me that it was connected with the mafia spirit. Thus, I was eventually surprised when I found out that everyone pronounced it that way, which is very unusual for the American culture. Unlike Europeans, who are more "cosmopolitan" and aware that English is not the only language spoken on Earth, Americans very rarely bother to pronounce non-British surnames in the way that they are pronounced in their original languages, especially if they are surnames of people born and raised in America. Hence, Americans' willingness to pronounce fauci's surname the Italian way was a subtle sign of them (unwittingly) embracing fauci's "mafiosity" and surrendering to his mafia-led manipulations.

{As a parenthesis, it is only until now that the Lord has me writing all of this that I have a greater understanding as to the spiritual reason behind Italy being hit so hard by the WuHan flu virus right from the very start. It was always puzzling to me why Italy seemed to be the first country after China that was infected so quickly by the WuHan virus, with many elderly people dying there. There is definitely more to this, but it is evident now that Italy suffered disproportionately as a result of having one of its descendants doing so much harm to America and the world. This son of Italy obediently followed mafia-style tactics, tactics that the Sicilian culture has yet to fully repent from. Instead of feeling shame over their mafia history, Sicily has chosen to bask in the "glory" of the "international recognition" that that history has brought to it. As a result, Italy as a whole was made to pay in judgement. Interestingly, the Italian president since 2015 has been the leftist Sergio Mattarella, who was "coincidentally" born in Palermo, the capital of the region of Sicily, to a prominent Sicilian family, according to wikipedia.org.}

Some may say that the evil nature of anthony fauci's surname is not as obvious the name of the daemon "moroni" because the meaning of "fauci" is not obvious in English. However, I would say that the evil nature of anthony fauci's surname is indeed obvious to an English-speaking person. As mentioned above, it was many months before I actually heard anyone pronounce fauci's name, so, for a long time, I was only exposed to it in written form. Every time I would see it, the "fau" at the start of the name would immediately make me think of the only (non-name) word that I know of that starts with "fau", the word "faux". Even though "faux" is of French origin and literally means "false" in French, it is a word that has made it into the English lexicon. As indicated on collinsdictionary.com, the word "faux", as an English word, means "false or artificial, counterfeit or imitation". Hence, by simply changing the letter "c" to "x", "fauci" becomes "fauxi", which shows how the embracing of the name "fauci" was an almost blatant invitation by the enemy to embrace falsehood, artificially contrived information that was counterfeit and nothing but a pathetic imitation of the truth.

Interestingly, the pronunciation of a "fauxi" surname would not vary much from the pronunciation of "fauci" since the letter "x" tends to be pronounced like a "sh" when found in a foreign word or name. Such is the case of the son of a whore who cowardly tyrannises over a billion people from the Northern Capital as he hides behind the power of his party and army, a coward who is so insecure that he shivers and sends his goons after anyone who harmlessly compares him to Winnie the pooh. It is interesting that, as you replace "c" with "x" in fauci's name, the name of that coward appears, which reinforces how fauci (or "fauxi") worked so hard to further that bastard's agenda after said bastard unleashed the WuHan virus (and the exaggerated fear of it) amongst the American population in order to destroy the American economy and ruin Trump, whom he deeply despised for showing him up time and again. In short, just like the name "moroni", the name "fauci" was designed by the enemy as a subtle concession that Americans were asked to make "at the entrance" before listening to "fauci". By warmly embracing the name "fauci", and even its pronunciation, they were saying,

"I open myself up to embracing falsehood, artificially contrived pseudo-science, a message that promotes the interests of the demonrat and big pharma mafias, and a message that is in the interests of the Trump-hating yellow-paunch tyrant on the other side of the world".

Curiously enough, fauci's first name also has a subtle evil spiritual message behind it. As we have shared before, the name "anthony" means "he shall be praised", which speaks of a man who seeks the adulation of crowds and will manipulate people to earn that adulation. I must share that, with the exception of a brother whose second or middle name (not his first name) is "anthony", I have never met or interacted with an anthony who did not try to attack me, betray me, and/or destroy me in some way, even after I have approached them in friendship and with respect. Hence, it is no coincidence that, in the catholic sect, "St. Anthony" is a daemon that is always portrayed in paintings where he is supposedly carrying the "child Jesus" (across a very shallow creek, apparently). This speaks of someone who manipulates Yeshua (or someone/something valued by many), using Him (or him/it) as a prop to get people's attention and approval and obtain some benefit from them. Thus, it is no coincidence that one of the many evil "anthony"s that this writer has encountered has tried to use the name of this website and has pretended to have my endorsement or support to take advantage of people who were friendly to this website's message and content. This pseudo-preacher, operating from an island in the Pacific that was once dominated by the Spaniards, has enlisted the support of former site visitors who have established a presence on the Internet (including mark suckerturd's facebook) that has taken up the name "Shamah-Elim apostolic ministries", which I did not mind at the beginning but later rejected as I began to discern what this "anthony" was doing spiritually. Last I checked, they still had that web presence on fakebook and continue to imply a relationship with this writer and this website, even when I have explicitly asked them to pick any other name for their "ministry" and to make it clear to those who relate to that "ministry" that this writer does not want anything to do with them. If you run into them online, beware, for God has rejected them and does not want anything to do with them.

The mor(m)on mermaid song

I do remember that there was something very enticing, very alluring about the mor(m)onic message. It gave me a certain sense of "peace" and "tranquillity", as if I was in a pleasant garden of delights, but my inner being quickly realised it was all a temporary mirage of (Hivite) indulgence and (Hittite) self-delusion. The mor(m)on religion is completely imbued in the Hivite spirit of false prosperity. It is a very evil and destructive religion of Hittite deceit. Cursed by the God of Israel are those who promote it, and cursed by the Lord God are those who live in it.

The 7 false voices in mor(m)onism

Having shared the above on mor(m)onism, it is worthwhile to do a quick description of how the 7 signs of a false voice described in the previous sections are manifested in mor(m)onism.

External pressure to convert

I must say that the first sign discussed above, the sign of "external pressure", was very evident in my spiritually unpleasant encounter with mor(m)onism. When I invited one of them to my house (more to speak to him than to hear from him), he brought 4 people with him, and the assault from all of them was strong and relentless as they tried to woo me into their congregation.

Interested in emotions, not the truth

The second sign discussed above, the sign of "power without righteousness", was also evident because, as they spoke, I could feel strong and pleasant emotions pulling me in, and, as I tried to ask them about the inconsistencies I was seeing in their teachings, they would give me long roundabout answers typical of a politician who gives you a long-winded rant that takes you everywhere but to the answer you are asking for, all in an effort to make you forget the question you had asked them. This showed me that they were not interested in getting to the truth of things, meaning that they were not truly interested in God's righteousness but were interested instead in the emotional power hat their religion gave them.

The sect's external success

The third sign discussed above, the sign of "superficial results", also tried to work subtly to woo me into their web. I would think of how well-built and "wealthy looking" their temples were, which seemed like a "sign" that God was supernaturally prospering them, which would have then indicated that they were the "true faith". The reality, however, is that the burning-in-hell joey smith was somehow able to tap into a very strong Hivite spirit, and, as we have shared before, the Hivite spirit is a distortion of God's Spirit of Peace and Prosperity. Hence, we can say that mor(m)ons are prospered financially in a "supernatural" way, but it is through evil spirits that specialise in a false and deceitful material prosperity that masks the evil that lurks beneath all the glittering mor(m)onic "gold".

"I ain't no fool"

The fourth sign discussed above, the sign of being "too proud to admit it", also tried to work its misdirection as I engaged with the 5 young eager mor(m)ons for several Saturdays. As I would try to expose the inconsistencies of their words by showing them passages of the real Scripture, and as I would point to their (un)holy book (which they gifted to me so that I could read it) and ask them about the strange and suspicious things in it, they would attempt to give me a roundabout pseudo-justification, but I would see how the heart of their leader (the young man that I had originally invited) would harden even as he realised that a clear falsehood in his faith was being exposed. You could almost see him lose his balance, like a statue that was about to topple over, but he would quickly regain his balance, and he would start to say things such as, "but that is our faith and that is what makes us feel good on the inside". And, as he said these things, you could feel his heart rising in pride, saying to himself, "This religion is what I spend most of my free time on. This is what gives me a sense of identity, a sense of value, a sense of purpose. If I admit that this faith is false, I will be admitting that I have been a fool, that I have been wasting my time, and that I am worthless because all my worth and value is tied up in this religion. These other kids look up to me and admire me as a leader, and I would definitely lose that feeling of adulation if I ever chose to walk away from all of this, and I would go back to being a nobody followed by no one. I cannot lose the kingship that this religion has provided for me. No, I can't go for that, no can do." He would then close up like a clam and leave with his group. This went on for several Saturdays until I began to feel so uncomfortable about the filth of their spiritual presence in my home that I asked them not to return any more. I think that, to some extent, they were relieved about not having to deal with me again. To be frank, I have no idea whatever became of any of them, and I can only wonder if any of them were ever disturbed in their sleep by my words or if they simply brushed them off and proceeded on their merry journey to Sheol.

"You are small compared to them"

The fifth sign of a false voice discussed above, the sign of "being too humble to stand by it", also tried to work in me to convince me that these people were the actual messengers of truth and I was the one "missing out". Had I been uncertain about my spiritual understanding, and had I assumed that I was not worthy enough to understand truth and speak it with authority, I may have been overwhelmed by the seductive confidence of the young man who led that small regiment of mor(m)ons that charged against me. Had I assumed that I was too spiritually lowly to comprehend the wisdom of "renowned" men such as joey smith and the "magnificent elders" who preside over the mor(m)on church in Salt Lake City, Utah, I may have succumbed to the assault. However, I knew that, when you stand in the truth, the authority that emanates from you is greater than the authority of any "great man" or "revered institution", and you can take on millions of souls who may stand against you, even if you are the only one fighting on your side. Obviously, if you are wrong, it does not matter if one man or a million come against you. You must throw up the white flag of surrender and succumb to the truth. If you are in the truth, and your foundation is sound and not full of "fluff", then you can stand as a king against a million souls, for the truth endures forever.

"139 My zeal hath consumed me, because mine enemies have forgotten thy words. 140 Thy word is very pure: therefore thy servant loveth it. 140 Thy word is very pure: therefore thy servant loveth it. 141 I am small and despised: yet do not I forget thy precepts. 142 Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and thy law is the truth. 143 Trouble and anguish have taken hold on me: yet thy commandments are my delights. 144 The righteousness of thy testimonies is everlasting: give me understanding, and I shall live." (Psalm 119:139-144)

Avoiding the pain of complexity and reality

The sixth sign of a false voice discussed above, the sign of "Pain exaggeration" was also evident as I engaged with the 5 young mor(m)ons. As we indicated above, this false voice attempts to underestimate or oversimplify the pain required to achieve certain results, thereby making God's description of the process sound "false" or "impossible to have come from a good and powerful God". This is why it makes sense to the mor(m)ons that the Israelites were in the Middle East in one verse and suddenly in the Americas a few painless verses later after a magical voyage on a non-descript, magical ship.

The lure of a pleasant garden

The seventh sign of a false voice discussed above, the sign of "Manipulated paradise" was also very subtly present as I engaged with the 5 young mor(m)ons. As mentioned above, I kept perceiving that I was being led to a peaceful and pleasant "garden of delights" as I listened to them speak, and that (almost tangible) sensation would linger as I would meditate on them and mor(m)onism. It almost felt as if my life would enter a place of "stability" and "prosperity" if I ever decided to join their cult. Doing so, however, would have meant dismissing the falsehoods that were clearly evident in their teachings, and it would have meant accepting the idea that God's true shalom peace could be achieved by simply joining their group, without having to go through the painful and complex process that I have gone and am still going through.

Conclusion

We can summarise the 7 elements that can be of help to listen to God's voice in the following table:

Brief description	Longer description	Ministerial endowment	Spirit of God
Confident faith	Be sure that God can and will speak to you	Evangelist	Pergamos
An inclination to the narrow gate	Judge all voices through the narrow gate of God's perfect will	Apostle	Ephesus
2 or 3 witnesses	God confirms in multiple ways, both natural and spiritual	Pastor	Thyatira
A soul that goes quiet	Be quiet, ignore distractions, and wait to hear His voice	Teacher	Sardis
Willing to hear a strange voice	Expect sudden words, sometimes said in a "strange" way	Prophet	Smyrna
Going from small to big	Trust that you can hear God's voice in extraordinary ways even if you start small	---	Philadelphia
Expecting prosperous listening	Trust that you can enter into abundant and extraordinary listening of God's voice	---	Laodicea

We also shared that we do not die as individuals when we constantly hear God's voice and submit to it. On the contrary, when we persistently yield to Him and His voice, the gifts He placed in us begin to blossom, and we begin to exercise them with the sovereignty of a king who decides what "goes" and what does not, even when we are completely submitted to Him. As we exercise this kingship, we begin to submit all things unto us, which causes them to become submitted unto God because we are submitted to Him, causing God to be "all in all".

We also shared on 7 different signs of a false voice that cause us to "mishear" God's voice, which can be summarised in the following table:

Brief description	Evil spirit behind it	Longer description
External pressure	Jebusite	External voices pressing on your soul from the outside
Power without righteousness	Hittite	Voices that focus on power and feelings instead of righteousness and real results
Superficial results	Girgashite	Voices that emphasise superficial results and ignore invisible factors
Too proud to admit it	Amorite	When your voice rejects what threatens your soulish kingship
Too humble to stand by it	Perizzite	When your voice rejects your own spiritual kingship and constantly submits to others' kingship
Pain exaggeration	Canaanite	Voices that tell you to reject God's words because they sound too painful to be "good"
Manipulated paradise	Hivite	Voices that offer opportunistic schemes to bypass God's righteousness and the pain of His processes

We also shared some thoughts on the falsehood of mormonism. We did not engage in a detailed study of all the doctrinal errors in the mormon religion, for books that provide such a study have already been written in the past and are readily available online. Instead, we focused on mor(m)onism from the perspective of this writer's brief personal encounter with it many years ago and from the perspective of recognising the 7 types of false voices when they speak.