The issues surrounding mental health in Australia have for the past year created a great deal of exposure in the media. Andrew Denton's programme Enough Rope recently devoted an entire programme to the problems of Hearing Voices. This book contains a wealth of information of great practical value to people who hear voices as well as to those who simply wish to learn more about this fascinating aspect of human psychology. It also addresses many complex questions regarding personal identity, the nature of consciousness, the relationship between mind and brain and the place of spirituality in human life - issues which will be of interest to all thoughtful readers. John Watkins is an internationally-known and respected counsellor and educator whose main professional interest is in exploring and promoting holistic approaches to the development and maintenance of mental Health. In this latest book, he provides: a detailed description of a wide variety of voice hearing experiences, an overview of the theories accounting for how and why this happens, a range of practical techniques for coping with or stopping voices, guidelines for applying spiritual discernment to hearing voices, and strategies for optimising the personal value of voice hearing experiences.

This book is written in the conviction that the church is called into being and nourished by the Word of God that comes through Scripture. But how can Scripture offer any specific guidance for hearers lives today? What are modern readers to make of the dragons and slaughtered lambs in the book of Revelation? What are we to make of a man who turns water into wine while comparing himself to bread? Can people today know what the Bible says and means? The world of the Bible is strange and distant, not only in time and space but also in language, culture, and in its basic assumptions about reality. The first task in both pulpit and pew is not to be in too great a hurry to overcome this distance, but to acknowledge it and respect it. Communication across the gap is the task of the church's preachers and teachers. Drawing on his years of teaching and study, Gene Boring offers a way of opening the ears of those who take the message of the Bible seriously, a message from a world different from our own. Beginning with Revelation, Gene provides a historically informed and pastorally sensitive reading of the various Johannine voices in the New Testament for contemporary preachers and teachers.

This original short work by scholar and cultural commentator John Dickson presents a new and persuasive biblical argument for allowing women to preach freely in churches.

Have your eyes ever played tricks on you? Have you ever seen a mirage? Have you or anyone you know ever been asked to serve as a witness in a criminal trial? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then you know what it is like to doubt what you've seen. Have you ever felt like you "heard" things others did not? Have you "known" things without knowing? Have you puzzled at the ability to discern what is going on in the hearts and minds of others? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then you know what it is like to doubt what you're "hearing." It has often been said that blind people have nearly supernatural hearing. The more common understanding is the blind person has developed a keener sense of where sounds are coming from to make up for their lack of sight. What if we literally "walked by faith, not by sight" as suggested in 2 Corinthians 5:7? What would that look like and how would we function spiritually? This book explores the weaknesses of depending on what we see as opposed to what God and His Word has to say to us. Three stages of spiritual hearing and insight are explored and compared to the Outer Ear, Middle Ear and Inner Ear functions. Deep INNER HEARING is not reserved for the spiritually elite; it is for you!

How Do You Hear the Voice of God? The answer is quite simple, yet incredibly profound. The best way to hear God's voice is through reading, studying, and meditating on His Word. As you read the Bible, you allow the Holy Spirit to speak through those words and straight into your heart. The Gospel of John is an ideal place to start. It clearly establishes who Jesus is, His relationship with the Father, and the incredible depths of His love for you. The life-changing wisdom drawn from John will bring you into greater fellowship with God. Each entry in this unique book begins with an assigned reading from John, followed by a key passage for the day, and concludes with an encouraging and insightful devotion from author David Chadwick. As you ponder and apply what you learn, you'll begin to hear God speaking powerfully and personally through His Word and become more attuned to His voice in all of Scripture. Start now on an amazing journey through the Gospel of John and experience the transforming power of hearing God's voice.

The Open Access version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9781472453983, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivative 4.0 license. Experiences of hearing the voice of God (or angels, demons, or other spiritual beings) have generally been understood either as religious experiences or else as a feature of mental illness. Some critics of traditional religious faith have dismissed the visions and voices attributed to biblical characters and saints as evidence of mental disorder. However, it is now known that many ordinary people, with no other evidence of mental disorder, also hear voices and that these voices not infrequently include spiritual or religious content. Psychological and interdisciplinary research has shed a revealing light on these experiences in recent years, so that we now know much more about the phenomenon of "hearing voices" than ever before. The present work considers biblical, historical, and scientific accounts of spiritual and mystical experiences of voice hearing in the Christian tradition in order to explore how some voices may be understood theologically as revelatory. It is proposed that in the incarnation, Christian faith finds both an understanding of what it is to be fully human (a theological anthropology), and God’s perfect self-disclosure (revelation). Within such an understanding, revelatory voices represent a key point of interpersonal encounter between human beings and God.

Throughout the Bible, God interrupts the lives of ordinary men and women, calling and empowering them to lives of service they never could have imagined on their own! Discover how to hear and respond to the unique call God is placing on your life through the stories of ordinary people found in the Bible. Called will examine the lives of the Abraham, Samuel, Esther and Mary Magdalene, Jonah, and the beloved disciple. The same God that called these unlikely characters calls you, too, to bring hope and transformation to the world. Additional components are available for purchase separately to create a six-week group study include a DVD featuring Susan Robb and a comprehensive Leader Guide.