"Although the most sinister part is that nobody communicates directly with God. Either it's your human pastor doing the saying (and do you really trust him as you would trust God?), or else it's your own brain, and we have no reason to believe that the human brain can't trick us into perceiving that we've communicated with God, when we really haven't. In fact, there's more evidence for that than the alternative. And if you disagree, then how do you account for different people receiving conflicting messages from God? How can you trust your own perception any more than another's?"

Perhaps the communication is not in the form of a message and if you think you received a message it is for you alone.

[BTW, I am happy to see your nick on the board again. I enjoy your posts.]