Can We Access the Mind of God?

By Reverend Mark Hunnemann

"Fundamentalists in any religion are literalists. ...they're cocky enough to think they believe they have access to the mind of God. " (pg 11,) These words come from a novel I just got from the dollar store (!), "Adam and Eve" by Sena Naslund--hailed as one of the most imaginative and inspired writers of our time, with keen insights into the human condition. Only a few chapters in, and I can tell she is exceptionally gifted, but it is the quote that I want to direct our attention to. As we are in a series on developing a biblical worldview, she raises THE key issue of anyone's worldview--what is our ultimate authority?

Her novels, as a bestselling author, are both reflecting and shaping our culture, as are innumerable other influences. Certainly the line I quoted reflects the ethos of America in 2013 (as opposed to 1913 when God speaking to us was not an issue) Whether we have access to the mind of God or not effects everything--and I mean everything!

At first glace, especially in a society that has swallowed relativism hook, line, and sinker, the claim to have access to the mind of God does sound cocky or arrogant...even dangerous. The fictitious book speaks of two recent finds which will hopefully nullify the madness of religious literalists, who are seen as plunging mankind into a third world war if not stopped--extraterrestrial life and a document which proves that Moses was not the author of Genesis. The hero/heroine believe these two finds will gut the worlds three major religions. I have to fight the urge to follow this bunny trail (very significant bunny trail!), but gotta stay on task. Back to the "madness of accessing God's mind"...

Puny, finite humans know the mind of the Infinite?! That is lunacy....or is it? You see, it is instructive that this same character, a few pages later,  asserts with certainty that "God is ineffable"..which means it is impossible to express what God is like. At least she is consistent with the "no access" assumption--if we have no access to what God is thinking, then we are left with the ash heap of agnosticism. An ineffable God is of no use to anybody...up there swimming in blissful unknowingness and unknowability. Very different from the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!

Let me shift gears and share a text of scripture (which claims to reveal the mind of God!) Speaking to Pilate Jesus said,"For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world--to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to My voice." Pilate said to Him, "What is truth?" (John 18:37-38) As the truth, Jesus fulfills the teaching of the OT (Jn1:17) and reveals the true God (1:14,17;5:33). Jesus states that the reason He was born, was not just to die for our sins (praise God He did!), but also to reveal truth regarding God. That is why we have access to the mind of God--Jesus is God incarnate who revealed God. Truth is not just data... Truth is a Person! The bible, and supremely in Jesus, the mind of God is revealed. For modern men and women, this is an especially astonishing and beautiful fact. An ineffable God--by definition-- cannot be known or enjoyed.

In our discussions (this is key) with folks regarding the truth of Christianity, we need to address precisely this question--do they think it is possible to access the mind of God? Why/why not? You may have to raise to their conscience awareness that which has been unconsciously assumed for years. For us, God and the bible is our source of ultimate truth...what is theirs? (autonomous experience, intuition, observation, and so on). Everybody has an ultimate source, authority, or guide. If they mock the notion of accessing the mind of God, are they aware of the horror of great intellectual darkness that that leads to? And, what is their alternative? This is epistemology--the nature of knowledge-and far too often we argue over the evidence before discussing presuppositions which color how we see the data/evidence--and we end up talking past each other.

One quick proviso: we cannot know the mind of God exhaustively or comprehensively, but we can know His mind accurately or truly. God is infinite and we are finite, but He has made us personal beings like Himself. He could not give us access to His mind by speaking His Trinitarian language (we could not understand it), but there is no reason why He could not speak to us via the medium of our, human language--Hebrew and Greek--translated to English. In other words, God's infinity is not an insuperable barrier (as many folks assert) to meaningful and accurate self-disclosure to His image-bearers. Jesus tells us in the above text that we do have access to the mind of God, and the cockiness lies in the autonomous thinking of those who deny this wondrous fact. In light of God' gracious self-revelation, humility is NOT synonymous with uncertainty regarding the truth in the bible. Psalm 119 (the longest chapter in the bible) is one, long celebration of the fact that we can access the mind of God in the written Word.

However, note Pilate's reply--ironically, he was charged with determining the truth in this matter, but he glibly dismisses the relevance of truth in the very presence of the One who IS TRUTH INCARNATE. (Jn 14:6) Evidently, Pilate assumes that Jesus is merely a babbler of philosophical abstractions. He asks, "What is truth?" but he does not wait for an answer from the only One who could answer that question. It seems that Pilate neither expected nor wanted a reply to his rhetorical question..he spun around and walked away. Pilate gives us a clear picture of how NOT to pursue spiritual truth. That is, he shows that he is not an honest seeker of truth.And if one unthinkingly presupposes that we cannot have access to the mind of God, then that is being intellectually dishonest.

A glib response to attempts of explanation of the truth is very common, and is a guage of how honest one is in their seeking of paranormal/spiritual truth. Being a writer and author I am painfully aware of this dismissive tendency....but what joy when the truth connects, and some say that the truth actually saved their lives!

Prov. 1:7 says that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge...and also wisdom. This is wonderful! "Knowledge" in Hebrew is the idea of an accurate understanding of the nature of the world--seen and unseen. A deep reverence for God, and reliance upon His revealed Word, enables us to see the paranormal through His eyes...thinking His thoughts after Him.. "Wisdom" is knowing how to apply that knowledge in life in a way that is pleasing to God. But both knowledge and wisdom are only possible due to having access to the mind of God. And again, this is the centerpiece of our worldview.


My plea with you is to realize that there are millions of folks who are wandering blind in a paranormal wasteland--they were promised the wonderment of benevolent spirit guides and direct spiritual experience, but instead are under a crushing load of darkness and demonic oppression (or worse).Like heroin, the paranormal is a lie... They NEED for us to really take seriously that we do have access to the mind of God. . Will you follow Jesus or Pilate?

11 Reasons Soul Sleep Is Not Biblical

By Reverend Mark Hunnemann

1. A book frequently appealed to is Ecclesiastes, where it seems to teach soul sleep…..One should NEVER appeal primarily to this book for doctrinal support because the stated perspective is “under the sun”(life without God), which leads to meaningless existence.

An increasing number of Christians are appealing to the notion of soul sleep as their primary argument against the notion of ghosts.  This is an in-family discussion, and while I deeply rejoice in their courage to confront a very serious issue, I am also concerned that the biblical view of the afterlife is being distorted. What is soul sleep? It has to do with what is known as the intermediate state—the time between a person’s death and the Second Coming of Christ. It is the belief that when we die, our souls remain asleep until Jesus returns. Of course if this were true, it would be a profound argument against ghosts, but it is not, and using it is counter-productive. Besides, as I point out in Seeing Ghosts through God’s Eyes, there are many other cogent arguments which stand on solid biblical ground.

I have to ask this question: why do people believe in this notion? They sincerely believe the bible teaches it. I respect that. But, historically there is another reason this notion has arisen. The reasoning goes like this: if the body cannot exist without the soul, then the soul cannot exist without the body. That is fallacious reasoning because it leads to a non-sequitor or false conclusion. When the soul leaves the body, then that person is dead, and their body will decay. However, there is no scriptural or anecdotal evidence to support the notion that the soul cannot exist apart from the body. The soul is the consciousness/essence of a person…it is spiritual in nature. If in principle we think that a spiritual soul cannot exist without a body, then how do we explain God, angels, and demons….all of whom have spirits without bodies—except for Jesus’ body in heaven? They are disembodied consciousness and personality, so why not the same for humans when they become disembodied?

2. Also, it is asserted that since Jesus referred to dead people as sleeping, then that clearly indicated the souls of dead people are sleeping;  Is that not what Jesus said? No. He said they were asleep…He did not say their soul was asleep. What is asleep, the soul or the body? Clearly the bible and experience teach that our bodies rest or sleep until they are resurrected. More to the point, we need to be familiar with the culture of the time—calling death, sleep was simply a common euphemism of the day for death—it was not a technical term used to indicate the soul’s awareness level. Meaning is determined by context, and in this case it is the whole bible.

3. A survey of church history shows that all three branches (Roman Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant) have staunchly supported conscious existence after death. From the early church fathers to today, conscious existence after death has been a crucial aspect of classical Christianity. All the Reformers, historical confessions (e.g., Westminster Confession) as well as the great Revivalists (Edwards, Whitfield, Wesley, Spurgeon, and Moody) all robustly affirmed the importance of “when they are dead, they will have never been more alive!” Moody. John Calvin’s first book was a refutation of the notion of soul sleep.    

4. Today, the two main groups that affirm soul sleep are Seventh Day Adventists and Jehovah’s Witnesses; regarding the latter, the late great Walter Martin saw soul sleep as one of the hallmarks of a cult.

5. Enoch and Elijah were beamed up into heaven very much conscious….would God take them only to put them to sleep?

6. Moses and Elijah appeared with Jesus on the Mt. of Transfiguration and were talking to Him. The simplest explanation is continuity of conscious existence.

7. In Acts 7 Jesus stands to celebrate Stephen’s homecoming while he is being stoned to death.

8. Rev. 6:9-11 The current activity and communication of the souls of believers is seen and heard by John. The topic of their discussion could only occur during the intermediate state. Crucial text.

9. “…away from the body and at home with the Lord.” (2 Cor.5:8) one reason I don’t reference Hebrew and Greek more often is that it can inadvertently cause folks to lose confidence in their English bibles…which are exceedingly accurate. Clearly Paul anticipates that death will propel his soul into heaven.

10. Phil.1:21 “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” Paul succinctly summarizes his dilemma and then elaborates. Life or death, Jesus is everything to Paul. If he stays then he will have a fruitful ministry with them by being a minister of their joy in Christ. But if he dies…Paul’s longing to be with Jesus will be fulfilled. Paul yearns for the latter, but his Jesus-like servant heart will choose to continue to help them. But the point is clear—death is seen as an immediate entry into Christ’s presence. How could it be considered gain if he said, “I’m excited about being asleep for 2,000 years…”? Remember Paul had already had a direct vision of heaven which was unspeakably wonderful. THAT is what he desired above all else.

11. “But you have come to Mt Zion and to the city of the living God….and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect.” Heb.12:22-24 Note that it says… you have come…a present reality (same in Greek as in English). This is a reference to the church militant (us) worshipping with the church triumphant…NOW!. The righteous made perfect are the glorified souls of believers in heaven who are worshipping God now. Dr. Edmund Clowney, commenting on these amazing verses, states that when believers join for corporate worship, then we are mystically united with the departed saints in worship of the living God--with Jesus as the choirmaster (2:12)! “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.” (emp. added) Lk23:43 If one has a solid grasp of the central doctrine of union with Christ, there is no way to believe in soul sleep. By virtue of being in Christ we are already in heaven! (Col.3:1f)

Musings on Energy & Epistemology (How We Gain Knowledge) Part 2

By Mark Hunnemann

Continued from Part 1 

True knowledge of God and of the spirit realm cannot be acquired via ourselves; it must come from the infinite-personal God who is really there, revealing Himself to us. The bible speaks of the radical corruption of human beings (total depravity), and there is no part of us that is not tainted by sin—including our minds or consciousness. Looking ever deeper or higher within ourselves for certain knowledge of ultimate realty, is to overlook the severely corrupted nature of the human heart/mind (Jer. 17:9). Besides, as we have noted several times before, Rom.1:18ff states that we have exchanged the glory of the Creator God for a lie, and have begun to worship the creation instead of the Creator. Embracing an energy-centric worldview—energy is seen as ultimate reality—obliterates the Creator/creature distinction. What hubris to think that finite and sinful creatures can auto-generate pure and certain knowledge of God by a flight into higher consciousness. That is a Satanic reversal…we make God in OUR image.

Let me say it again—the vertical memory is alleged to be able to give us sure and accurate knowledge/answers to all of the profound questions raised earlier. An autonomous epistemology, like vertical memory, cannot accurately identify spirit beings either. Starting from ourselves, what is the basis for certainty regarding anything in the spirit realm? Earlier today I saw a thread on Facebook that was discussing Josh Gates and crew (Destination Truth), regarding an episode in which they re-visited a haunted forest—their camera guy had been thrown. Several people were intensely discussing what kind of entity/s were present there…the option most folks were espousing was that they were elementals—spirits which protected the forest. What struck me was how speculative the whole discussion was…one or two readily admitted they were left to mere guesswork…the truth would out when they died, was their contention. I could not refrain, and so I jumped in and, as gently as I could, pointed out that, with their epistemology, guessing was all they could do. There is a better way…

In contrast, in the book of Numbers, God in His infinite kindness and love has REVEALED Himself to us….when God “revelates” there is no need to speculate! In the ancient world, tassles were worn by nobles and other high class people. In Israel they are to be worn by everyone as a sign of being God’s chosen people. In observance of this requirement, Jesus would have worn these tassels. In Matt.9:20; 14:36 it clear that the “fringes” touched for healing by the sick would have been these tassels (same Greek word in Septuagint for “tassle” is used in Matt. for fringe…kraspedon)

Blue was used in the tabernacle, and so the blue threads reminded the Israelites that they were “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation (Ex. 19:6).They served a two-fold purpose (v.39): to bring to memory all the commandments of the Lord and do them; and the blue-laced tassles were a memory aid to not follow after their own hearts. There is a play on words with the expression “to follow” because this verb (tur in Heb.) means both “to spy” (an allusion to the disastrous results of the spies giving a bad report in ch.13) and “to follow”. Hence, this is a warning of the danger found in following their own whims rather than being absolutely loyal to the divine commandments or revelation.

But how many times have we said, “I will follow my heart to find God’s will? How many of us have walked through a forbidden relational door because that is what our hearts directed? When we come to our senses, it feels like death to put an end to what should have never happened. Verse 39 tells NOT to follow after our hearts because we are listening to our speculation and not God’s revelation…and He calls that whoring. My marriage and the unity of my family was destroyed due to a spouse who did not heed these words.

In Numbers 1:1 we read, “The Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the tent of meeting, on the first day of the second month, in the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying…” This seemingly insignificant verse (the Lord spoke to Moses) is pregnant with epistemological meaning! Five words which should send us to our knees in worship and wonder. How often do we thank God for having revealed Himself to us in the bible? In a culture drowning in subjectivism and evil, we have a sure word from the Creator Himself!

A fairy tale begins, “A long time ago, in a faraway place…” or, ancient myths are a-historical regarding the bizarre stories of sexually heated gods and The Fates (one never knows which is ultimate). However, the book of Numbers is replete with verses like the one above. The revelation of God to us was done in space and time! Space: in a specialized tent which was located in a real geographical location…the wilderness of Sinai. Time: the precise date is given when Yahweh spoke to Moses, presumably in Hebrew, as He did to Saul on the road to Damascus. The simple but profound point is that God’s revelation to us took place within the space-time continuum. Thus, our epistemology is certain fact, and not some airy fairy flight of fancy, nor imagination dreamed up by a drunken monk, nor some subjective state called vertical memory or higher states of consciousness. No, God has revealed Himself to us in space and time.

God wants us to be holy as he is holy (v.40), and the key is to remember and do all his revelation tells us to do. Christianity is a system of truth; it is more than a system of content and truth, but it is not less. Meditating on the content of truth is biblical meditation, as opposed to content-less eastern meditation, which may open the door to the demonic—as can “ascensions” into higher states of consciousness. In v.40 He is revealed as the God who saved them by grace out of Egypt, which is a type/symbol of the coming greater Exodus through the Person and work of Jesus. The commandments are set firmly in the foundation of God’s gracious dealings with us!

V.37..”The Lord said to Moses…” About 2,000 times in the Old Testament we have that cosmos-shattering epistemological utterance (thus saith the Lord). The first sin of Satan in the Garden was to question the veracity of God’s word…”did god really say…?” But these words regarding the use and meaning of tassels was a direct revelation from the Living God—now THAT is certain knowledge! Whether it is the nature of God, the true identity of spirit beings, our eternal existence in heaven or hell, and grace (as opposed to karma and reincarnation) we have true objective truth. His revelation is certain, true truth OUTSIDE of us…concerning things impossible for a creature to know without divine revelation. The reason we can have confidence in what we believe regarding these vital matters, is that the Creator God has lovingly and truly revealed Himself to us: regarding what He is like, who dwells in the spirit realm, true wisdom, and that history is truly His-story…culminating in His imminent Second Coming.

“Thus saith the Lord” versus “thus feeleth the heart/higher consciousness”—that is the issue facing us and our culture. When the heart takes primacy it is an invitation for disaster due to its deceitfulness. Let us not forget that the Lord views following our whims as whoring. If the Father ever has to choose between our whims and the singular honor and dignity of His beloved Son, He will always choose the honor and dignity of His Son…He has made that abundantly clear.

God Really, Really Hates Ghosts

By Reverend Mark Hunnemann

¹The Lordspoke to Moses, saying,²"Say to the people of Israel, Any one of the people of Israel or of the strangers who sojourn in Israel who gives any of his children to Molech shall surely be put to death. The people of the land shall stone him with stones.³I myself will set my face against that man and will cut him off from among his people, because he has given one of his children to Molech, to make my sanctuary unclean and to profane my holy name.

⁴And if the people of the land do at all close their eyes to that man when he gives one of his children to Molech, and do not put him to death,⁵then I will set my face against that man and against his clan and will cut them off from among their people, him and all who follow him in whoring after Molech.⁶If a person turns to mediums and necromancers, whoring after them, I will set my face against that person and will cut him off from among his people.


The same God, who created the universe, uttered the words above. As Creator, He has the authority to hate and be angry with whatever/whoever He wants…always in keeping with His just character. In verses 1-5 the Lord tells His covenant community that He detests the practice of child sacrifice to Molech. He hates it so much that He declares that it is a capital crime. I read this text in my personal devotion today, and it is what comes next that particularly struck me. In v.4 the Lord says that if the people fail to put the perpetrator to death, then He will cut his life short. How terrifying it would be to have the Lord set His face against a person and pledge to cut him off—which is simply another way of saying to “kill” someone. When the Jews were circumcised, the foreskin was cut off as a sign of blessing and curse—as members of God’s holy covenant community, they would be blessed if they believed and obeyed, and they would be cursed if they were disobedient. On the cross, Jesus became The Circumcised One—cut off from the Father. From the context, it is clear that the Lord would Himself kill the practitioner of child sacrifice to Molech. Does that not indicate how much He hates that practice?

However, the Lord’s pledge to avenge unpunished wrongdoing does not end there (and this is key)—in v. 6 God Almighty states that He will personally kill people for two other sins if the covenant community does not follow through with the death penalty. Along with killing one’s own child by sacrificing them to Molech, Yahweh says that seeking after mediums and necromancers will result in He Himself killing that person (if they are not properly dealt with judicially). THAT is what leapt off the page this morning when I read it…God promised that He would kill anyone who committed those three sins—that is how much He hates them. As I showed in an earlier post, there are gradations to sins seriousness…and God has revealed three that top the list.

Notice that it is not the mediums and necromancers who are singled out for His special wrath (though surely that is implied), but the people who seek them out. What does that mean for today? Since there is not a theocracy anymore, then the death penalty has been discontinued in the New Testament for being involved with mediums and attempting to traffic with the dead. (there is a distinction between sin and crime). What does carry over from the Old Testament to today is this principle: the Holy God has particular revulsion for mediumistic activity as well as any practice that involves seeking the dead. Here is what truly frightens me—all the folks actively investigating the spirit realm, are the objects of His special displeasure and wrath. Rom.1:18 explicitly says that God’s wrath iscurrently being poured out from heaven upon those who suppress the truth, and then fall into dark practices. God is immutable (unchanging), so if He actively punished those who sought mediums as well as interaction with the dead, then there is every reason to believe that is still the case.

Every square inch of the Old Testament is applicable to today, and has up to the second relevance…THE CHALLENGE IS KNOWING HOW IT IS APPLICABLE. Just because the sacrificial system has been abrogated by the once-for-all sacrifice of the Messiah, that does not mean that all the various sacrifices have no purpose for today. Each one highlights an essential aspect of Christ’s atonement, and helps us to understand the many splendored wonder of the cross. There is both continuity and dis-continuity. Similarly, the death penalty has been discontinued, but certainly God’s resolute anger towards, and special punishment of, mediums and spiritism flows with continuity into our era…especially in light of the reality of Rom.1:18ff. Why does God accent the particular repugnance of these three sins? As Creator He can pull rank and not answer that—I really think it is important that we understand God can do what He wants with or without our approval. Nevertheless, the fact that all three sins lead one into direct contact with the demonic is certainly something that sheds light on the situation. Intentional contact with the spirit realm is exceedingly dangerous, and angers God mightily.

Since God created the world, then He has the authority to hate and punish how He wishes (God does love everyone, and forgiveness is available to all who embrace the gospel).According to God, all those who mess with alleged ghosts are spiritually whoring (v. 6). Can God still hurt people? He most certainly can and does…and He has said He will severely punish all who mess with mediums and ghosts. Yes, God expresses more grace in the New Covenant, but that does not abrogate or do away with the continuity of basic principles from Old to New Testament. God really, really hates the notion of ghosts…do you?