I ask this question seriously, since it seems/feels like I have recieved such a mandate. It feels like there’s something I need to do.
Anyone else had this experience?
Yeah. When I forgot my wedding anniversary. The first one.
Peace,
mangeorge
Before we get too deep into this, just what is this higher power telling you to do? Are we talking “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”, or is it more along the lines of “THEY are all out to get you!”?
He and his brother have 11 days to get $5000 to cover the back taxes on their old orphanage, or the city will close it down. They’re planning on getting the old band together and staging one last gig.
The band, and starting up a bikini car wash. Check out the documentary on Cinemax!
No, really tho, it has to do with consilience (do a Google search for Edward O. Wilson), dark matter and other things. Of course, it could all be spawned from me being bored, as well…
I have had this experience. Or at least I’m under the distinct impression that I have had this experience but, insofar as I am a fallible human being, I could be laboring under a misconception / could be nuts / might have gotten some part of the mandate’s instructional content wrong.
I would recommend that you make a similar qualifying statement to yourself and any others to whom you proclaim that you are operating under divine instruction.
I would also recommend that, in the event it should come to pass that you receive an invitation to check yourself in to a psychiatric facility or some variation thereof, you DO NOT accept the invitation out of a sense that submitting your message (and your faith in it) to the test of intense and dubious scrutiny would be a really good thing. It would be if they did, but they don’t and won’t.
Because the little voices in your head are finally shouting instead of merely talking.
On the serious side, if by “higher power” you mean some divine revelation, you might be guided by the words of the Bible, and ask whether your revelation is consistent with Biblical teaching. If you get a revelation that is not consistent with major Biblical precepts, then you should reject it as false.
It is also said: someone who speaks to God is a saint. Someone to whom God speaks is a lunatic.
Goodness, CK, Biblio-centric much? 
There is the possibility that God is not the God of the Bible, and therefore you may be rejecting a valid Divine inspiration if you judge it by that. If God is Zeus, perhaps He would ask you to sow dragon’s teeth, and if you reject such it as false because the God of the Bible never required such things, you may be asking for a thunderbolt to strike you down. <g> So let’s not forget the possibility that the Bible may not accurately describe the nature of God. However, if the OP believes only in the God of the Bible, then you may reasonably expect him to use it to judge, but we have no evidence that this is so.
I don’t think that is a defensible position, Dex! Why would one necessarily be inclined to believe that the authors of the Bible were divinely inspired merely because one believes one’s self to be divinely inspired? Furthermore, even if both were so, why reconcile any conflict in favor of the older text?
Um… was that it? Or was it more like:
but seriously – if there is something you feel you must do – that isn’t going to permanently damamge the earthly form of any of your fellow humans – then do it.
Well, in this forum, they generally put [moderator hat: ON] and [moderator hat: OFF] in their posts.
Hope this helps.
jmullaney eloquently advises;
Well, there you have it!
Peace,
mangeorge
Well, I don’t know about that. Killing my cat won’t permanently harm my earthly form, but I don’t think I’d consider it acceptable for you to do so simply because some voices in your head told you to. Poking your eyes out with a fork won’t damage the earthly form of any of your fellow humans, either, but again I would not personally recommend you obeying apparent divine commands here.
One of my favorite all time authors deals with this question.
Read Tom Wolfe’s A Man in Full.
Basically if a God wants you to do something, they don’t bother telling you. They just fix circumstances so you have to.
In other words, you don’t have a choice.
Hey, RawkStah didn’t say nuthin’ bout killin’ no cats.
Dang!
Ok, no cats man.
Peace,
mangeorge
How do you REALLY know?
Your dog’s lips actually move when he gives you the “mandate.”
Sorry, that was in poor taste. I couldn’t help myself.
Thanks. Now I’ve got “Highway 61 revisited” in my head. 