Posted on 10/12/2016 7:42:30 AM PDT by metmom
"Contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints" (Jude 3, emphasis added).
Scripture contains everything you need to know for godly living.
For many years I've watched with deep concern as a significant number of Christians have drifted from a thoughtful, biblical, God- centered theology to one that is increasingly mystical, non- biblical, and man-centered. One of the most disturbing indicators of this trend is the proliferation of extrabiblical revelations that certain people are claiming to receive directly from God.
Such claims are alarming because they dilute the uniqueness and centrality of the Bible and cause people to lean on man's word rather than God's. They imply that Scripture is insufficient for Christian living and that we need additional revelation to fill the gap.
But God's Word contains everything you need to know for spiritual life and godly living. It is inspired and profitable for teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness so that you may be fully equipped for every good work (2 Tim. 3:16). What more is necessary?
When the apostle John died, apostolic revelation came to an end. But that written legacy remains as the standard by which we are to test every teacher and teaching that claims to be from God (1 Thess. 5:21; 1 John 4:1). If a teaching doesn't conform to Scripture, it must be rejected. If it does conform, it isn't a new revelation. In either case, additional revelation is unnecessary.
God went to great lengths to record and preserve His revelation, and He jealously guards it from corruption of any kind. From Moses, the first known recipient of divine revelation, to the apostle John, the final recipient, His charge remained the same: "You shall not add to the word which I am commanding you, nor take away from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you" (Deut. 4:2; cf., Rev. 22:18-19).
Don't be swayed by supposed new revelations. Devote yourself to what has already been revealed.
Suggestions for Prayer
Ask God to guard your heart from confusion and help you to keep your attention firmly fixed on His Word.
For Further Study
According to 2 Timothy 4:1-4, why must we preach and uphold God's Word?
Studying God’s Word ping
I do believe there will be prophets in the last days, but they will not be needed to add anything new to God’s Word, just to point people to it and call them to repentance.
There are numerous passages and scenes which can be related to modern discoveries in Physics. How do you feel about using principles in Physics to expound upon a passage such as Daniel 5?
Jer 23:22 But if they had stood in my council, then they would have proclaimed my words to my people, and they would have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their deeds.
In reading one of Macarthur’s books, I once encountered a passage that said (paraphrasing, out of necessity), “People who say they ‘hear from God’ are propagating heresy. The Bible says it all, and no extra revelation is necessary” (which is the position of this post, more or less).
I do not concur. Christians are guided by the Holy Spirit (Who, of course, never contradicts the Word, but Who is fully capable of guiding and directing us in our individual lives).
Daily I ask God to guide my steps, right down to setting my schedule, much of which (especially the sequence) results in what I call “divine appointments”, as I run into people I feel I need to contact in the course of the day. And that goes for the timing of my buying and selling of investments, what to say to a person I am working with, what to teach in a given lesson, etc.
If that is not modern-day revelation, individual and specific (Mr. Macarthur would say “subjective”), then I don’t know what to call it.
OTOH, I would say that a minister who says he does NOT hear from God is not worth hearing.
I’m not sure how modern physics would relate to Daniel 5. Daniel 5 isn’t much of a mystery, I don’t think, since it contains one of those prophecies that the Bible interprets for us pretty clearly.
Mormons await them!
If Monson were to say that "GOD spoke to me last night..." they'd have to change their underwear!
Amen!
I've read that... somewhere...
2 Peter 1:3 NIV
His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.
Jesus said to watch out for the FALSE ones!!
Matthew 24: (KJV)
For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
Jesus said to watch out for the FALSE ones!!
Matthew 24: (KJV)
For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
I was referring to the hand writing on the wall ...
I am not a cessationist.
When the Holy Spirit comes He will teach all things. Surely the Lord will not do anything without revealing it to His servants the prophets, and some were evangelists, some pastors, and some prophets.
And what has been revealed is that some information was closed up and sealed until the time of the end. It is sealed but not hidden, sitting there in plain sight until the time when the meaning becomes apparent, no special skills or expertise required. Nobody is going see any of it though, if students only devote themselves to what has already been revealed.
False prophets "reveal" many things, but they are lies. The tell is typically how much faith in their credentials, reputation, and/or so-called knowledge of Scripture, history, Greek, Hebrew is required in order to believe their teachings. Meanwhile God reveals things on such a simple level that His revelation sails right by.
People tend to feel good and smart and knowledgeable when they read and parrot the insider jargon of and the "proof texts" provided by the Biblical intelligentsia. A flood of dumb puns on place names, business signs and logos, people's names, locations, actions, occupations? Come on now, that's just dumb. God wouldn't stoop so low.
Ah, well that’s a miracle. I’m not one of those people that tries to explain miracles with science. Miracles are by definition outside of the realm of science to explain.
It is possible to be honest about what one says and still have prophets.
As we see in Jeremiah, there were many who claimed to be prophets and really were not. If you stack the 2,000+ years of Old Testament writings against the number of legitimate prophets, there really weren't that many. God tells us to use the scriptures. At the time of Jeremiah, it may be recalled, there were plenty of scriptures about what was going to happen but the people chose to ignore them.
Heb 1:1-2 Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.
People spend little time studying the Bible. They're looking for a "quick" relationship with God rather than letting it grow over time.
It appears that Saul prophesied.
It appears that there were groups of prophets associated with Samuel, Isaiah, Elijah. Their words don’t appear
But that doesn’t mean they did not exist. Perhaps we should seecthem as lower ranks???
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