BOOK 3: DISCLOSURE / CH. 5:BOB'S TWELFTH REPORT

WEDNESDAY, 4TH OCTOBER, AFTERNOON

I've never spoken openly about my faith in my reports. It's not really something that we reporters do, if we're working in the mainstream press. And I've asked people that know me not to put anything about me on the net either. But today I'm going to break all convention. There is a reason for this. First I will tell of my faith, and then I tell you why I feel it is necessary to break the convention. I am a Christian, and an occasional preacher in my church. I came to faith in Jesus as a teenager and was baptised before going to university. Even on assignment, no, let me correct that, especially on assignment and even when nothing exciting is happening at home, I spend time reading Scripture and praying daily. I face physical, emotional and moral dangers quite often and I am able to do this because of Christ who gives me strength. He is the foundation of my faith and the guarantee of my hope of eternity. So why do I say these things? To say things that many might not want to know? I say this mainly in order to correct an error. A very serious error that is being made by preachers who share my faith in Christ. Therefore, while today's report contains things which I have learned during my visit here, things which might astonish even more people than any earlier reports, it is mainly directed to my Christian viewers. I apologise to those to whom Christian terminology is another language, and I will seek to explain at least some of my terms and use less jargon than I would in church.

There have been some rumours that the way the thought-hearers were able to hear was through occult means, accusations that they are witches or devil worshippers. Yesterday these rumours were repeated in the Christian press without any checking and many preachers have believed these accusations as though they were fact. They have been encouraging their congregations to pray against any thought-hearers who might be in their communities as though they were acting as agents of the evil one.

The fact of the paper published in Nature, the descriptions given of the mechanisms by which this works and steps that can be taken to protect your thoughts should have shown that what has been published and discussed in these reports is nothing more than a combination of physics and our marvellously created bodies. Yet the accusations and fear-mongering persist.

I see this as nothing less than a Spiritual attack against the committed Christians here at the Institute who have worked so tirelessly to proclaim from the rooftops what was before whispered in darkness. Not all the workers here at the Institute are Christians, but a far higher proportion are than in most workplaces. Not all of the Christians are thought-hearers, but all of the thought-hearers that God has gathered here are Christians, with a faith in God as real and more proven than mine. Their consistent witness has been the cause of four conversions here in the last few months.

Thus with these accusations against the thought-hearers as workers of evil, you accuse those who are inspired to their work by their faith in the living God. The related accusations against my credibility as an honest witness are personally wounding. It is offensive to me that the name of Christ be denigrated so, and so as a servant of God and minister of His Word I call on those who have passed on rumours as fact to repent of the sin of gossip, and I call on my fellow ministers to withdraw your accusations, for they have no grounding in fact. Further, I warn you of harm done to your ministries, and to members of your congregations by such rash words, for proportionally it seems that there are more thought-hearers who are in churches than not.

But there is another point that means that by these hateful accusations the glory of God is undermined, the unity of the Church is harmed, and should they continue then I would go so far as saying that the Spirit blasphemed against.

I don't know if you've realised this, but every single human ability, every single human power is shown through Scripture to be trivial compared to God's power. Human abilities are more common, of course, but are but faint echos of what God has done through His servants.

A hovering helicopter can make the sea below it flat for a while, an impressive feat, but Moses touched the sea with his rod and the Israelites crossed on dry ground. We have lifeboats to rescue sailors at risk of drowning. A good achievement but, compare it with Jesus speaking and the storm being stilled or Jonah being rescued by the great fish as he sank to the bottom. The strongest man can lift several times his own weight. Trivial! Samson took the city gates for a walk. Medical wonders abound but several times Scripture records restoration of life to the dead. I don't really have time to list more, but they are there. My questions to you, which I will soon answer, are: If we assign this power to the enemies of God, where is the power of the church over it? If we say it is a human ability, where is the answer from God?

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

When I accepted this assignment, I signed a contract that I would not disclose the content of any article before it was published. There was another paper due to be published but for technical reasons the journal has not yet appeared. I have been given permission to report about the contents of that paper. It was not a scientific paper, but a theological one.

The first point in it is that this human ability can be, and indeed has been, used for evil, but that there is no force of evil that can stand against the power of God. There have been at least two occasions within the last decade when this was demonstrated. Twice, a criminal thought-hearer, who used their ability to extort, corrupt and kidnap, was stripped of their ability. How? By three believers surrounding them and praying with total assurance that God could do this, and that it was His will in that situation. Once this happened in the middle of the crowd at a takeaway food store, once on the runway of a military airbase, as a prisoner was being taken to the UN court. There may have been other occurrences. Perhaps it has happened with other than three praying, I don't know. Be warned, you who have this ability and are tempted to use it for crime. Just because you have this from childhood does not mean you will keep it all your lives.

The second, longer point in the article is to explore what seems to be God's response to this, until now, secret human ability. We know that God has given gifts to His church. We know many of them: pastor, teacher, administrator, theologian and evangelist. In each case, the gift is given and the use is entrusted to the one gifted. In each case the use brings temptations. The pastor is tempted to abuse his power, the teacher is tempted to teach his opinions and not Scripture. Even evangelistic or healing gifts can become a route to wealth and fame rather than God's glory. Some gifts are rarer: we know the apostles healed, and only a few claim this gift today, and these are not universally accepted by the church.

So, what is today's surprise news? I am informed that in accordance with His divine will, God has given certain of His people scattered across this world a spiritual gift which makes this human ability of thought-hearing look trivial. They do not need to touch to hear thoughts, and can listen to an individual's top level thoughts on the other side of the world; close to they can reach deeper.

I am sure that this will be a controversial topic in interfaith discussion, but my information is that only those who have committed their lives to Christ and trust him for their salvation have this gift, and this has always been the case as far back as anyone has heard about. I have also been told that the number of people with this gift has always been about fifty, but for this broadcast I asked them to tell me the exact number, and I find it significant.

Today, the number among us with this powerful gift is fifty-six people. Seven sevens plus seven. Fifty-six people scattered across every continent of the world (though I'm not sure Antarctica is represented), who could probably know every state secret if they wanted to. But of course, they don't. They're servants of the living God and they have more important things to do, more God-honouring things to do: finding the lost, helping the helpless and yes, occasionally helping the police free the captives. I will not, of course, reveal who they are, I will not say if any of them work at the Institute or if they merely came as visitors or as clients, but I've met a few of them, and talked to officials who confirm their gift.

It is real and awe inspiring. Should there be an earthquake or other disaster, listen to them. They can tell you exactly where the live victims lie trapped, down to their position relative to the furniture in the room. I will not reveal more of what this gift enables them to do, nor will I reveal what help they've given to the police worldwide today, but I can tell you that the world will be a better place tomorrow because of it. Not for everyone, of course, but for some. And of course, it will be worse for some of the worst criminals. But they will not act as thought police, finding every criminal, although they probably could. But they would see that as a violation of free will, an abuse of their gift.

They will not solve every crime, or even every crime of a particular type. We know human nature, the thief who cannot steal without being caught will probably turn to some other crime instead. But these fifty-six will sometimes give information which will help the authorities and the information will be found to be entirely precise. Some people know what it is like to be found when all hope is lost, to just happen to be met by a policeman when you need one urgently. There will be more such events, as the authorities accept the reliability of these tip-offs, and are able to act speedily. Their ethical position is that their gift should never be used more lightly than bugging someone, but if someone is in danger they will not demand a court order. Nor will they necessarily act on every court order. They are responsible to God, the ruler of heaven and earth for the use of their gift, and while they seek guidance from our human courts, they will not bow to them if that would seem to be against the will of God.

So I ask that you pray for these people, not against them. They need wisdom in how they make use of this spiritual gift which God has given them, without denying us the freedom of thought that we take for granted.

This is Bob McDaniel, reporting to you from inside the Institute.