[Grut]

So how is this different from Abraham and Isaac? Except that in that case, God said "Hold it! Just funnin'."

[cookiedough]

Genesis 15:2-4

God told Abraham that he would have a son and his descendants would be as numerous as the stars.

IMHO, if Abraham believed God, then when God told him to sacrifice Isaac, he must have realized the dichotomy and that something was going to happen to reverse that. Indeed, in Genesis 17, after Abraham proves that he trusts God, God again tells Abraham that his descendants will be "as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore."

God had told Abraham that he would have a son, something Abraham didn't believe could happen. He laughed when he heard it, because his wife was so old. But he did have a son, and it was proved thereby that Abraham was indeed listening to God.

So when God spoke to him again, Abraham continued to listen and to trust God.

Deanna Laney listened to what she thought was God. Her delusion persisted and became more intricate because she did not tell anyone about it. Everything was confined to her mind, kept a secret, and was fed by her religious beliefs, IMO. At no time did God ever prove to her that it was indeed He who was speaking to her, by rendering a miracle, as He did with Abraham.

That is the difference, as I see it.