Strange Voices

Last night my wife and I watched the latest rendition of the Superman movies on TV.  Over the weekend our Directv satellite service had a special offering where they had a couple of the premium movie channels for free.  This happens about every three months and I will usually peruse through the channels to see if there is anything worth recording.  Normally I can justify why we don’t subscribe to any of them because I only record one or two movies, if any!  This time was different though, and I actually recorded a half dozen movies.  One of them was the 2013 release of “The Man of Steel”.  I was never a fan of most of the superman flicks of the past, but this one caught my attention, and I think my wife enjoyed it as well!

In one eerie scene as an alien space ship is spotted first by the military and then by the news networks, everyone’s electricity goes out and TV’s across the globe begin to broadcast a strange message.  After some scary sounds and music with lots of accompanying static, a strange voice begins to speak and tell the startled viewers that “They are not alone…” and then lays out his terms for what he falsely implies is a peaceful resolution to their need.

The whole scene, especially as they focused in on the darkness that suddenly engulfs the Kent farm, reminded me of an old black and white sci-fi movie I once saw as a kid that scarred the pants off me!  But while last night’s experience didn’t have the same effect on me, it did cause me to get to thinking about how unusual noises and strange voices can alter one’s peace of mind and confuse their decision making processes.

I followed that line of thought this morning as I continued to study Jesus’ discussion as recorded in John chapter ten.  In verses four and five Jesus declares that “After he (the good shepherd) has brought out all his sheep, he walks ahead of them.  The sheep follow him because they recognize his voice.  They will never follow a stranger.  Instead, they will run away from him, for they do not recognize strange voices.” (God’s Word © & Phillips Modern New Testament)

Jesus was saying that the religious strange voices that we occasionally may hear should have the same effect as the voice of the alien did to the people of the world in the movie we watched last night!  Have you ever heard a “strange voice” telling you something that just didn’t sit right with you?  My personal experiences over the last few years showed me that the strange voices of a few that had been close to us, did nothing to help our situation but worked to instill confusion, frustration and a lack of peace in me. 

There finally came a time where I had to physically separate my wife and myself from their direct influence.  As I meditated on John 10:5, I began to see my actions as resembling Jesus’ comments of running away from the “line of fire” that was shooting the love, faith and peace destroying council.  So even though it was a hard thing to do at the time, I can now see His divine purpose for what I believe he instructed me to do.  It also brought to mind my oldest son’s words to me at the time… He had said as I confided in him that “Your greatest responsibility is to protect Mom!”  I was so confused and frustrated at the time, that even though I agreed with him, I really didn’t understand what I was protecting her (and me) from.  Now I do!

Strange voices that contrast to the truth of God by which He is leading you, through the Word and confirmed by the Spirit, come with uncertainty (as did the serpent’s to Eve in the Garden of Eden), confusion, frustration and will cause you to begin to question yourself.  They definitely do not bring peace and agreement because they are loaded with fear and not the love of God which causes our faith to operate in the tough situations we face throughout our lives.  Thayer’s defines these strange voices as “alien,” or “not of one’s own family.”  Robertson’s Word Pictures say they are “a call to false philosophy, false psychology, false ethics, false religion, false life.”

You’ll find out, if you don’t already know, that these strange voices do not agree with Jesus’ self-declared job description a few verses later.  In John 10:10 He boldly stated that “The thief comes with the sole intention of stealing, killing, and destroying, but I came to bring them (you and me!) life, and far more life than before,” (Phillips)  I came to realize that the strange voices spoken to (and about) my wife and I acted as a blockade to the “far more life than before” and attempted to stop the abundance that God’s Word speaks over us.  You know… that’s kind of a good litmus test to the words or “voices” that we hear.  Ask yourself if the voice limits the activities or potential of God in your life or act to release His abundance of love, peace, faith and joy?

Hummm… check it out!  Have a great day.  Stay in tune to His Word, and keep asking yourself… “What or Whom am I expecting today?”