A preacher from West Tennessee was driving on I-40 one afternoon to East Tennessee in order to participate in a television program the next day. As he came over a hill, he saw a very disturbing sight. There had been a massive accident involving several mangled vehicles, including an eighteen-wheeler and a loaded school bus. Fire-Rescue personnel were extricating people from the twisted wreckage; EMS personnel busily helped bloodied victims in a triage area. There were even a few body bags. This sight really hit the preacher hard. He felt a pit in his stomach and even shed tears as he contemplated the ramifications of what he had just seen. Imagine the lives that were lost, perhaps even eternally, and the families that would forever be changed!

That evening, in his hotel room, the preacher watched the news. The lead report was the success of a multi-county emergency disaster drill. What the preacher had seen was not real! There really were no bloodied victims; there really were none trapped in mangled vehicles; there really were no filled body bags. It was all just a drill! Yet, there was no denying the feelings that the preacher felt. His insides really did quiver at what he thought was mass carnage. The tears he shed were real and truly came from a heart broken at the thought of all those families whose lives would be forever changed.

This incident shows that feelings do not always correspond to reality. Jacob really felt his beloved son, Joseph, was killed by a beast (Gen. 37:31-35), but he really was not. There are many people in the religious world who "feel" that what they believe and practice is right. They may even say something like, "Yes, I know the Bible says..., but I just feel in my heart that...." Our feelings, no matter how strong they are, do not erase what God teaches in His word. If God's word says, "There is one body [church]...one faith, one baptism" (Eph. 4:4-5), our feelings will not in a million years change God's mind into approving the "church of your choice" or accepting any belief as long as the one holding it is a nice sincere person. Feelings are based on thoughts. Let us lay aside our thoughts about God's dealings with humanity and accept His thoughts, which are only revealed in the Bible (Isa. 55:8-9)!