Thus says the Lord: "Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls.
But they said, 'We will not walk in it.'" --Jeremiah 6:16

 

23 September, 2005   comments: (0) Back To The Bible   "The Lord Spoke To Me, Saying . . ." I can really identify with Steve Camp, in his account of what happened in front of 2,500 people, during one of his concerts: "A young man stood up in the middle of the auditorium and shouted to me, "Brother Steve, I have a word from the Lord for you." Taken a bit back by his rudeness, but impressed with his courage, I asked him politely, "OK, what Bible verse did you want to share with me?" He said, "Oh no, this is a word directly from God for you personally." Steve Camp said back to him: "I know every verse is penned by the Lord--it is all directly from Him to us. So what Bible verse did you want to share with me?" Becoming more and more frustrated at his inability to 'woo' me to his words of "divine revelation," I finally agreed to let him speak with one condition (and believe me, I was being generous in letting it go this far); I told him, "Everything you say must agree perfectly with God's final revelation in His Word. If anything you say, no matter how trivial, disagrees with Scripture, then I will have to rebuke you in front of all these people and then we will all have to take you outside and stone you to death!" With those ground rules stated, he thought for a moment and then said these profound words, "Maybe it was a feeling I had?" I said, "Good answer man--now sit down." It's common now days to hear such prophetic claims. We've certainly come to expect it out of people like Benny Hinn, who once said that God told him "homosexuals in America will be destroyed by fire by 1995". Or by Joel Osteen who says things like this: "I was praying one morning asking God about all of this. And the Lord spoke to me so clearly, not out loud but right down in my heart. God said . . ." But it's not just the "TBN stars" that make such claims. We hear it in more subtle ways from well-respected leaders of modern Christianity. Consider this remark made on Larry King's show by Billy Graham: "when I started doing my ministry in the South it was still segregated in a few cities and when we went to Chattanooga for a crusade, the Lord spoke to me and I went down and I took the barriers down and insisted that they be non-segregated". Is it just me? Or is the "God told me" tag - being used and abused, more and more now days. Im not claiming to know whether God spoke those words to Billy Graham. How could I possibly know that? But I must admit, part of me gets a little fearful every time I hear someone claim to have heard directly from God on something. No matter how good their intentions may be, it's still saying "I have an open channel with God, which He uses to tell me words that are not explicitly written in the bible". In the first two decades after I became a Christian, I was in a mainline Pentecostal/Charismatic denomination where this kind of thing was common place. There was a perception of holiness (or closeness to God) if someone used the words "God told me", even in casual conversation. I remember sitting in prayer meetings, where people would have a "prophetic word from the Lord". As a new Christian, I used to think "WOW!!! - God said that!!". Now, I look back on those times and say to myself: "you had a whole bible full of 'God said that' sitting right there in front of you". I first met my wife, when she was a DJ at a small Christian (Charismatic) radio station; I did a semester of electronics co-op there in the late 1980's. The well-intentioned manager of the radio station wrote a series of short radio spots (here's one that was written recently) in which the writer essentially puts words in God's mouth, telling listeners what God is saying to them today. And of course, these "messages from God" are always subject to their writer's own theological opinions. . James White's new book has an excellent chapter entitled The Lord Spoke to Me, Saying. Having read this chapter, I think it's worth the price of the book itself. It stages a conversation between two Christians; the dialog between them starts like this: "It was just fantastic, Josh. I really hadn't known what to do, so I opened my Bible to Psalms and started reading. And right then, God spoke to me. He told me to buy the Deep Spirit Study Bible in teal and genuine leather! It cost an arm and a leg, but I'm sure the Lord will provide." In his review of the chapter, Bryce Hales says: Through the course of this conversation White communicates several crucial ideas. God speaks through Scripture, not apart from it. The teaching of those who claim "the Lord spoke to me" must be tested against Scripture, and quite often these claims simply don't stand up. The Spirit of God does indeed speak to Christians today, but he does so in concert with the Word. Claiming that "the Lord spoke to me" effectively puts us on par with Scripture, for this is the formula the Old Testament prophets used to introduce their message from God. Such claims call into question the sufficiency of God's Word, even when they are spoken by people who (at least in theory) affirm that Scripture is totally sufficient. The beginning of the end of my acceptance towards these things, came several years ago, through the death of a friend. My friend was a well respected Elder and teacher at the Charismatic church that I was a member of. Our church was shocked when we learned of his cancer. Our attitudes were greatly uplifted however, after he informed us from the pulpit that he had heard from the Lord. God had spoken to him, saying "this will not end in death". Some time afterwards, I can remember one lady in our church giving him a transcript of "a dream that the Lord had given her" one night. It was specifically for our dying friend. The dream was nothing but positive. Well, to make a long story short, our friend did in fact die a few months later, believing (almost right up to the end) that he was going to be healed on earth. In the wake of his passing, I wondered "what about that 'word' from the Lord?" In keeping with the theme of this website, let's take a look at this issue from the perspective of church history. Im not going to pretend that these types of things didnt exist in previous centuries, but it's clear that there was less tolerance towards them in times when more emphasis was placed on doctrine. One example of the rejection of "personal revelation" is the story of Anne Hutchinson, who was banished from the 17th century Massachusetts colonies. There were a number of doctrinal reasons for her falling out of favor in the colonies, but one of them relates to our topic at hand. Hutchinson was a respected woman in the community, largely because of her extensive bible knowledge. She began having after-church meetings in her living room, and would further explain the Pastor's sermons to others. Eventually, she began adding-in her own beliefs, and soon - she went so far as to say that God gave her direct personal messages. In that same era of the church, the Puritan writers of the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith wrote the following words. They emphasize that the way we hear from God is through scripture alone (this is one of the principles of the Reformation, called Sola Scriptura), and the time of revelation of new scripture is now closed: The Holy Scripture is the only sufficient, certain, and infallible rule of all saving knowledge, faith, and obedience, although the light of nature, and the works of creation and providence do so far manifest the goodness, wisdom, and power of God, as to leave men inexcusable; yet are they not sufficient to give that knowledge of God and his will which is necessary unto salvation. Therefore it pleased the Lord at sundry times and in divers manners to reveal himself, and to declare that his will unto his church; and afterward for the better preserving and propagating of the truth, and for the more sure establishment and comfort of the church against the corruption of the flesh, and the malice of Satan, and of the world, to commit the same wholly unto writing; which maketh the Holy Scriptures to be most necessary, those former ways of God's revealing his will unto his people being now ceased. [Read more] Going back to the century before that, just after the Reformation, the 1561 Belgic Confession of Faith says something similar: We believe that this Holy Scripture contains the will of God completely and that everything one must believe to be saved is sufficiently taught in it. For since the entire manner of service which God requires of us is described in it at great length, no one-- even an apostle or an angel from heaven, as Paul says-- ought to teach other than what the Holy Scriptures have already taught us. For since it is forbidden to add to or subtract from the Word of God, this plainly demonstrates that the teaching is perfect and complete in all respects. Therefore we must not consider human writings-- no matter how holy their authors may have been-- equal to the divine writings; nor may we put custom, nor the majority, nor age, nor the passage of time or persons, nor councils, decrees, or official decisions above the truth of God, for truth is above everything else. For all human beings are liars by nature and more vain than vanity itself. [Read more] The Westminster Confession of Faith, which was the standard statement of belief, for much of Christianity in several past centuries, has wording that is very much similar to what's above. So if the standard definitions of Christian belief, those historical summaries of the bible, made little room for the kind of prophetic abuses that we see in today's church, what should that tell us? We live in a time when most evangelicals choose to ignore church history. This is unfortunate, for there is much to learn from the opinions of our Christian forerunners. When modern churches gladly embrace something that would have been flatly rejected in previous centuries, it ought to cause us to pause. It should be a "red flag" worthy of modern re-examination. Before anyone says "the Lord spoke to me", they should give sober consideration to the warnings of the bible. In Revelation 2:20, God faults the church in Thyatira for tolerating a false-prophetess. In the Old Testament, Deuteronomy 13 has these chilling words that reveal God's attitude toward false prophets: "If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, 2 and the sign or wonder that he tells you comes to pass, and if he says, 'Let us go after other gods,' which you have not known, 'and let us serve them,' 3 you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams. For the Lord your God is testing you, to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. 4 You shall walk after the Lord your God and fear him and keep his commandments and obey his voice, and you shall serve him and hold fast to him. 5 But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has taught rebellion against the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you out of the house of slavery, to make you leave the way in which the Lord your God commanded you to walk. So you shall purge the evil from your midst. 6 "If your brother, the son of your mother, or your son or your daughter or the wife you embrace or your friend who is as your own soul entices you secretly, saying, 'Let us go and serve other gods,' which neither you nor your fathers have known, 7 some of the gods of the peoples who are around you, whether near you or far off from you, from the one end of the earth to the other, 8 you shall not yield to him or listen to him, nor shall your eye pity him, nor shall you spare him, nor shall you conceal him. 9 But you shall kill him. Your hand shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. 10 You shall stone him to death with stones, because he sought to draw you away from the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 11 And all Israel shall hear and fear and never again do any such wickedness as this among you. 12 "If you hear in one of your cities, which the Lord your God is giving you to dwell there, 13 that certain worthless fellows have gone out among you and have drawn away the inhabitants of their city, saying, 'Let us go and serve other gods,' which you have not known, 14 then you shall inquire and make search and ask diligently. And behold, if it be true and certain that such an abomination has been done among you, 15 you shall surely put the inhabitants of that city to the sword, devoting it to destruction, all who are in it and its cattle, with the edge of the sword. 16 You shall gather all its spoil into the midst of its open square and burn the city and all its spoil with fire, as a whole burnt offering to the Lord your God. It shall be a heap forever. It shall not be built again. 17 None of the devoted things shall stick to your hand, that the Lord may turn from the fierceness of his anger and show you mercy and have compassion on you and multiply you, as he swore to your fathers, 18 if you obey the voice of the Lord your God, keeping all his commandments that I am commanding you today, and doing what is right in the sight of the Lord your God. For more on this topic, listen to this excellent sermon by Alan Cairns. In addressing the importance of holding to Scripture Alone, he examines not only Roman Catholicism, but also the modern day Charismatic movement. You would only need to listen to the first preview clip on this page to recognize Pastor Cairns' zeal on this topic, but I recommend listening to the whole sermon. Very compelling. http://sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?sermonID=102801134754 Posted by: Jim B.   Link: http://www.oldtruth.com/blog.cfm/id.2.pid.55   Be the first to post a comment about this article        Home  |   About  |  Videos   |  Calvinism