How does God speak to me (or anybody for that matter)?

I really like this site but you are way ahead of me and I suspect that is true of many of us.

God appears in my dreams. He talks with me briefly. The conversations are all in English (my spanish is dreadful and I am just trying to lean the Hebrew alphabet). Goddess also appears in my dreams but she seems irritated with me and has even less to say. I keep trying to find flowers but they are all dried.

Sometimes, I can get really quiet. Conscious breathing helps (thanks to the East). I call out to them “I love you”, over and over again. Then I go silent and I can feel things moving inside me. But they are not in English or even spoken.

I study the bible. I am especially fond of the Old Testament. Such richness, such passion. I have long gotten over the matter of “Truth”, I read the stories just for what they are. Sometimes I stumble on a few verses which drive me for days, weeks, months and some for the rest of my life. Micah 6:8 smacked me along side the head. At last, I had some glimpse of the relationship between love and justice. Now Leviticus 19:18 makes more sense (Jesus liked that verse too). If one truly “loves”, they will “do” justice.

The last week or so has been occupied with Jonah. An irritating little fellow (perhaps just like the Goddess’ attitude towards me) but slowly I feel his mindset invading my brain. Wow, God and State are inextricably bound up together. God’s call seems to be both a divine command and a call to patriotic duty. As I sit with Jonah outside Nineveh, I feel the rumble of tanks, armored personnel carriers and the screech of aircraft overhead, I sense that God is on our side just like our President said. We all seem to be impatient with God. What is the difference between Herem and Jihad? If this is true, God still speaks through us through our guts. I don’t think it is our hearts and it certainly makes little sense (just like my dreams).

I caught the last two broadcasts of a local preacher, Jim Nicholson (he died last Tuesday). Remarkable fellow. Left a mark on everyone with ears. In my case, it was a mark more like a red hot poker thrust in your ear. I wonder if that is on the CIA list of “advanced interrogation practices”. In the show before last, he egged his listeners to blame everything on foreigners (mostly Mexican and Arab). One gentle voice called and said that was exactly what Osama wanted - all this talk of Herem and nothing of the “love commandment”. But Jim was firm, dispatched him a wink and a nod and went back to his crusade in defence of our borders. Jim was a prescient man and his prophecy came true. He recorded his own funeral oration which became the centerpiece of his last show.

Then I heard Peter Laufer on BookTV and in addition to supporting unpatriotic war resisters, he called for open borders (like the EU?, now there’s a crazy idea). Peter was not as mellifluous as Jim and he badgered his audience with less grace. But I sensed that God had been talking to Peter. Where else could he get the foolheaded idea of welcoming Mexicans?

Surely God is guiding our agricultural policy. How else but the Green Revolution could we feed the burgeoning population. It is high time those slacking peasants get a job. So what if there are billions of starving people, we grow the food. There are WalMarts everywhere (Sam also heard from God).

So it seems that God is talking to a lot of people and we are getting a lot of mixed messages. Jeff Black says if we only understood the doctrine of election, this would all be clear. Jeff makes John Knox sound like a boy scout leader.

How about it folks? How does God speak to people? How does he speak to you?