The Voice of God

‘God told me to kill the kids’
2006-05-24 08:10

San Francisco – A woman accused of murdering her three young sons by tossing them into frigid San Francisco Bay said God summoned her to sacrifice her children, her lawyer said on Tuesday.

Lashuan Harris, 23, who faces three counts of murder in last October’s drownings, was diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic with delusional thought disorder, defence lawyer Teresa Caffese said at the mother’s preliminary hearing in San Francisco Superior Court.

“The voice of God called upon her to sacrifice her three children,” Caffese told a judge and courtroom filled with about a dozen of Harris’ friends and family who cried and gasped during testimony.

“Why is the DA prosecuting a pathetically schizophrenic, poor, black woman?” she asked during a break in the hearing where a judge will decide whether there is enough evidence for a trial. “She loved her kids.”

She seemed confused

Harris was arrested on October 19, shortly after she dropped her children, one by one, over a rail and into the bay from the end of Pier 7. Taronta Greeley jun, two, was discovered and buried. The bodies of Treyshun Harris, six, and Joshoa Greeley, 16 months, were never recovered. Harris has pleaded not guilty.

Harris crossed the bay from Oakland on the day of the killings because she was driven by voices in her head, Caffese said.
The preliminary hearing, which typically starts with prosecutors presenting evidence, was held in reverse order so out-of-town witnesses could testify for the defence.

When prosecutors presented their case, they showed part of the video footage of the police interview with Harris immediately after the incident. She sounded groggy, almost drugged, and the officers questioned her as if she was a child. Her answers were mumbled, quiet and she seemed confused about where she was and what day it was.

She told the investigators God “said I need to kill my kids,” and she took them to the pier for that purpose.

Police officer Thomas Johnson testified that he found Harris at the scene pushing an empty stroller.

“Where did you put the babies?” he asked. Harris replied, “They’re OK. They’re with their father,” Johnson said.

“Did you put the babies into the bay?” Johnson said. “To that question, Miss Harris shook her head up and down and said, ‘Yes.”

Testimony was expected to conclude on Wednesday.

(https://www.news24.com/World/News/God-told-me-to-kill-the-kids-20060524)

Don: The notion that we can, should, and indeed must communicate with God is held by most believers. That we would petition God for certain things, and that He would respond in some authentic way, is a deeply valued product of faith.

Jesus said that he knows each sheep in his flock by name:

“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep. To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. … “I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep. I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me, even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd. (John 10:1-16)

The implication of this passage is that communication with the shepherd—with God—is clear, unambiguous, verbal, auditory, and personal.

Most believers want to follow, and are committed to following, the Shepherd’s voice. Deep down each of us believes that God has a plan for our individual self, and that if we can figure out what it is we will not only have the satisfaction of knowing we are within His plan but also that it will make our life better—smoother, less painful, easier— somehow. Intuitively we feel that knowing His plan for us will reduce the uncertainty and confusion in our life. It will help us rise and walk above the troubled waters below.

But is that true? And is it even possible to know God’s plan? And whether or not it is possible, do we really need to know it? Will my decisions about who I should marry, what I should become, where I should work, how many children I should have, should I come or go, should I advance or retreat, should I resist or should I surrender… can such questions be discerned and made easier if I know God’s plan for me? If I feel or sense a revelation about God’s will for me, how can I tell if it is authentic?

There are at least three potential ways to determine the authenticity of the “voice” of God: It is inherent to (1) the message itself, or (2) to the method by which the message is delivered, or (3) to the moment in which the message is delivered.

With regard to Message: It is argued that God would not communicate a message that was contrary to His law. Obversely, a message consonant with Holy Scripture is therefore authentic. At least three stories in Scripture bring these assumptions into question. In the first, God instructs Samuel to tell a lie in order to anoint David king of Israel instead of Saul, lest Saul should kill Samuel first:

Now the Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you grieve over Saul, since I have rejected him from being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and go; I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have selected a king for Myself among his sons.” But Samuel said, “How can I go? When Saul hears of it, he will kill me.” And the Lord said, “Take a heifer with you and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’ You shall invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do; and you shall anoint for Me the one whom I designate to you.” (1 Samuel 16:1-3)

In the second, God instructs his prophet to marry a whore:

When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, “Go, take to yourself a wife of harlotry and have children of harlotry; for the land commits flagrant harlotry, forsaking the Lord.” (Hosea 1:2)

And in the third, Abraham was told to murder his own son:

Now it came about after these things, that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you.” (Genesis 22:1-2)

Is the authenticity of God’s voice inherent in these examples of His messages that evidently contravene God’s own law? What if the message is supported by Scripture? The Devil himself tried to trick Jesus by quoting Scripture, using God’s own words to mislead:

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He then became hungry. And the tempter came and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.’”

Then the devil *took Him into the holy city and had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, and *said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down; for it is written,

‘He will command His angels concerning You’;

and

‘On their hands they will bear You up,
So that You will not strike Your foot against a stone.’”

Jesus said to him, “On the other hand, it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

Again, the devil *took Him to a very high mountain and *showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory; and he said to Him, “All these things I will give You, if You fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus *said to him, “Go, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.’” Then the devil *left Him; and behold, angels came and began to minister to Him. (Matthew 4:1-11)

Are we not at risk if we take any message from Scripture as the authentic voice of God?

With regard to Method of delivery: God delivered a message to a very frightened Elijah, fleeing for his life from a vengeful Jezebel, by means of a still, small voice, rather than in the powerful and majestic roar of a fire or earthquake that Elijah would rather have heard from his protector:

Then he came there to a cave and lodged there; and behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and He said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” He said, “I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the sons of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars and killed Your prophets with the sword. And I alone am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.”

So He said, “Go forth and stand on the mountain before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord was passing by! And a great and strong wind was rending the mountains and breaking in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of a gentle blowing. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave. And behold, a voice came to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” (1 Kings 19:9-13)

From the sublimity of the still, small voice of God, Scripture takes us to the apparent ridiculousness of God’s braying through an obstinate donkey to lay out His plan for the prophet Balaam:

God came to Balaam at night and said to him, “If the men have come to call you, rise up and go with them; but only the word which I speak to you shall you do.”

So Balaam arose in the morning, and saddled his donkey and went with the leaders of Moab.

But God was angry because he was going, and the angel of the Lord took his stand in the way as an adversary against him. Now he was riding on his donkey and his two servants were with him. When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way with his drawn sword in his hand, the donkey turned off from the way and went into the field; but Balaam struck the donkey to turn her back into the way. Then the angel of the Lord stood in a narrow path of the vineyards, with a wall on this side and a wall on that side. When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, she pressed herself to the wall and pressed Balaam’s foot against the wall, so he struck her again. The angel of the Lord went further, and stood in a narrow place where there was no way to turn to the right hand or the left. When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, she lay down under Balaam; so Balaam was angry and struck the donkey with his stick. And the Lord opened the mouth of the donkey, and she said to Balaam, “What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?” Then Balaam said to the donkey, “Because you have made a mockery of me! If there had been a sword in my hand, I would have killed you by now.” The donkey said to Balaam, “Am I not your donkey on which you have ridden all your life to this day? Have I ever been accustomed to do so to you?” And he said, “No.”

Then the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way with his drawn sword in his hand; and he bowed all the way to the ground. (Numbers 22:20-31)

We should not forget also that God may speak to us through human voice, as he did to Samuel, who was sure it was the voice of his mentor Eli, who was sleeping nearby, calling him in the night:

Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the Lord before Eli. And word from the Lord was rare in those days, visions were infrequent.

It happened at that time as Eli was lying down in his place (now his eyesight had begun to grow dim and he could not see well), and the lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the Lord where the ark of God was, that the Lord called Samuel; and he said, “Here I am.” Then he ran to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he said, “I did not call, lie down again.” So he went and lay down. The Lord called yet again, “Samuel!” So Samuel arose and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he answered, “I did not call, my son, lie down again.” Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, nor had the word of the Lord yet been revealed to him. So the Lord called Samuel again for the third time. And he arose and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” Then Eli discerned that the Lord was calling the boy. And Eli said to Samuel, “Go lie down, and it shall be if He calls you, that you shall say, ‘Speak, Lord, for Your servant is listening.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.

Then the Lord came and stood and called as at other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel said, “Speak, for Your servant is listening.” (1 Samuel 3:1-10)

With regard to the Moment of delivery: God’s very presence makes sacred a moment in time and the very ground in which it occurs, as it did for Moses at the Burning Bush:

Now Moses was pasturing the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian; and he led the flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. The angel of the Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire from the midst of a bush; and he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, yet the bush was not consumed. So Moses said, “I must turn aside now and see this marvelous sight, why the bush is not burned up.” When the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” Then He said, “Do not come near here; remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” He said also, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Then Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God. (Exodus 3:1-6)

Moments of community can also bring about a revelation of God’s presence:

“For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst.” (Matthew 18:20)

A similar moment occurred when the disciples gathered at Pentecost:

When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance. (Acts 2:1-4)

So which, if any, of these three elements is important in determining the authenticity of a communication from God? Or is it all of them?

David: (As an aside, perhaps for discussion another time, I must say I am exercised by the contradiction inherent to the idea of God’s having a plan for a free-willed creature.)

With regard to the matter of method, the medium is often the method, or at least a key component of it. In the Scriptural examples Don has cited, one medium was supernatural (a talking donkey) and I confess I just don’t know what to make of that.

In general, it seems to me, there are just two credible media through which God’s voice could be relayed: (1) The head/mind/intellect, and (2) the heart/soul/inner light. The voice in the head, as experienced by the tragic young mother who killed her children, seems to have been the medium in some of the Scriptural stories cited today. I do not believe the voice in the head can ever safely be deemed authentic. To me, the only possible authentic medium is God Himself. So where is God? He is inside every one of us—He is our inner light, in our soul, in our “heart.” If our “heart” tugs us in a direction, it seems to me more likely to be the voice of God within us. I cannot conceive of any mother’s heart, no matter how mentally troubled she might be, ever telling her to kill her children.

Michael: But how does one hear the heart? Isn’t it still expressed in the intellect?

David: One feels the message in the “heart,” the soul. If a message comes through the head as an intellectual construct, I don’t think it’s authentic as a message from God (unless by pure coincidence). If, as Isaiah asserted, God’s thoughts are not our thoughts, then, logically, our thoughts cannot be God’s thoughts.

Donald: Has anyone here ever heard the voice of God?

David: Every time my “heart” tells me something I’m doing is wrong, which it does regrettably often, I believe it to be the voice of God.

Donald: We often deflect the issue by asserting that God speaks to us indirectly, that He gives us a “sense” of his message rather than speaking to us as directly as He is alleged to have done to the poor mother in San Francisco—as well as to Abraham in the case of the sacrifice of Isaac! How different that story might have ended had there been a policeman to catch Abraham in the act of preparing the sacrificial bonfire!

We have been taught since we were children that the Scriptural stories cited today are within the framework of our faith. Any message outside that framework, though—a message to eat dog meat, for example—is unacceptable by virtue of being outside it. Our particular moment is the seventh day, our method is what is taught to us, and the message is our understanding of the message. But all of these—our method, our moment, our message—are disputed sometimes internally as well as externally. Our class may be closer than the wider congregation is to sharing a method, moment, and message. Hopefully, this might lead us closer to God.

Michael: If we were to hear the voice of God continually, I think we might find it extremely annoying! If God’s voice were devoted to making life better for us (better, that is, from our perspective, which is what most of us want) then of course we’d love to hear from Him. But what He wants tends not to be not at all what we want! He wants our life to be harder! If someone begs something of us, God wants us to give it and double it!

David: The clearest example of that is the Rich Young Ruler… except, he was sad rather than annoyed.

Mikiko: Jehovah God does not speak to us directly to us today. We can speak to God by means of prayer, and we can hear his voice through Scripture:

All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness. (2 Timothy 3:16)

People who claim to hear God’s voice in their head are either mentally ill or under the influence of Satan.

David: It seems to me the Rich Young Ruler was sad because Jesus merely confirmed what he already knew. He knew what God wanted, but as Michael said, he didn’t want to hear the truth—he wanted the easy life en route to heaven. He was just trying his luck with Jesus. How did he already know the true answer to his question? Because his inner light, God within, had told him.

Robin: My stepfather molested my sisters and I when we were children. As an adult, I had no choice but to see him at family gatherings. I convinced myself intellectually to forgive him, and I did. But I was not prepared to give in to the nagging feeling that I ought to go over and give him a hug. This happened on many occasions until, one day, I again felt the impression that I should go give him a hug. I remember having a bit of an “argument” with God. “I have forgiven him. I want to see him in Heaven. I do not need vengeance. You do not require more than that. But if it is what You want—and then You can be quiet about this thing You want me to do—then I will do it.”  The result of the hug was an overwhelming sense of release, the realization that I would not have to deal with the anguish ever again. I was not aware of how heavy was the burden I had been carrying, until it was not there any more. I can only hope that he had a similar moment of release, but I don’t know.

David: I would take that to be the authentic nag of God. I would note, too, that it combined message (forgiveness), method (via the heart), and moment (a sacred opportunity).

Michael: While the continual nagging God might be annoying, there is no doubt that it can at times also be most comforting, even if not in the way we expect.

Chris: With Scripture, we have the benefit of knowing the ending of the stories. We know that Abraham didn’t murder Isaac after all; that God provided a ram as substitute sacrifice. We know that Balaam’s donkey acted the way it did because there was an angel making it do so. We know that the result of Moses’ seeing the supernaturally Burning Bush was freedom for the people of Israel. We know the endings, we have hindsight about God’s plan in those cases. But in our own lives, we don’t know how things will turn out—we don’t know how well our will aligns with the will of God. Robin found out; but in general, for most of us, the moment we are in tends to be very cloudy.

Donald: I tell my students they have multiple pathways to success. They just need to make the right turns. But they want to know all the turns, right now.

Michael: God’s voice is always there, asking us to forgive, even though we think it unfair to do so.

David: The problem with hindsight is that it tends to cause us to justify the means on the basis of the ends. Abraham became the father of faith and nations, a worthy end astonishingly justified by his unworthy readiness to murder his son. Humanity as a whole, as I read its history, does not buy the “ends justify means” argument. I believe the reason is that humanity as a whole hears the voice of God in the human soul. Many humans might not know it and most might never admit it, but I believe it to be true.

Don: Most of the time we are like a ship without a rudder. But sometimes God gives us a steer. He does not care which path we are on since He is always there to guide us in the right direction. There are many more Scriptural stories we might have cited to show how the voice of God steered people away from the wrong path: the dramatic conversion of Saul to Paul, for example, with God knocking him off his horse and blinding him with lightning to stop him from pursuing the course he was on. I believe that if we are conscious that God is there to guide us and ask for his guidance, He will do so, but in ways that might not be so dramatic—in fact, might be so mundane that we don’t even notice them. I don’t think we realize, for instance, how often God communicates to us through the voice of other people.

* * *

Note: This topic was previously discussed on August 8, 2015 and revisited on October 24, 2015