Hearing Voices
The voice of the LORD is powerful, the voice of the LORD is majestic.
Psalm 29:4
The concept of hearing "voices" is openly espoused in the secular media. The main character in the popular movie Field of Dreams hears an inner voice while standing in his cornfield at night. It's loud, direct and very spooky! At first he's a little freaked out by the voice, but he is intrigued enough to test the voice's advice. It leads to a grand adventure that culminates in meeting the ghost of his deceased father, reconciling with him, and saving the family farm from foreclosure. Was the movie just an entertaining fantasy or is Satan subtly promoting "nice" little spirit guides that will resolve all our problems?
According to New Age brain/mind researcher Willis Harmon, many people hear voices, but few are willing to admit it to anyone but their closest friends. "It's just one of those things we don't talk about," said the president of the Institute of Noetic Sciences in Sausalito, California. "I've talked to businessmen, scientists, educators, well-educated professional people, and not only is it reasonably common, it's cherished. It's invited" (Los Angeles Times, June 1989, part V, p.1).
New Age proponents like Harmon are trying to give credibility to a phenomenon that was once understood as mental illness. Psychiatrists prescribe anti-psychotic drugs for schizophrenics and others who admit that they hear voices. A common bit of advice among recovering alcoholics is: "Don't pay attention to the committee in your head." People seldom share the mental struggle going on inside them for fear that people will think they are going crazy. But I have counselled hundreds of troubled people who were hearing voices and every one of the voices was demonic. The only exceptions are legitimate cases of multiple personality disorder. You need to know that inner voices that don't line up with God's Word are the suggestions of a real devil that must be countered and dispelled by the truth (1 Timothy 4:1).
Lord, I reject all voices in my mind, real or imagined, and accept only the authority of Your Word and Your Spirit.
Neil T. Anderson is the founder of Freedom in Christ Ministries. He began the ministry in 1989 and continues to spread the message of freedom to this day.