Posted on 12/22/2020 6:40:09 AM PST by SeekAndFind
It’s kind of weird. I’ve had what I call The Voice that has guided me through difficult situations. I’m pretty sure it comes from The Big Guy as I call him, and my justification is that 1) it never appeals to my vanity, in fact, it usually calls me out when I’ve done something or am doing something that contradicts His teaching and guidance, and 2) it tells me things that I have n way of knowing (for instance, the specific kind of cancer my dog would be diagnosed with, that family members had just passed away, etc.)
I don’t take it for granted, and always give all the glory to God the Father for everything.
If it comes from a ‘dark’ source, as one holy roller I knew suggested, it certainly didn’t achieve its ‘dark’ goal.
Oh, and it doesn’t come like a Magic 8 ball, either.
And when my husband was in the hospital after getting hit by a car, He was virtually on speed dial, and I could feel Angels around me. That was a very strange, grace-filled time.
But, sometimes, He makes me wander the wilderness, and it isn’t fun.
I disagree with most of this. Although I don’t expect that God speaks to us in an audible voice, he did bestow upon us (believers), the Holy Spirit that guides our lives in a very personal, individual way.
Although he does clearly speak to us as believers, but I can’t imagine that he speaks to others through us.
25 “All this I have spoken while still with you. 26 But the Advocate,(S) the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
28 “You heard me say, ‘I am going away and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. 29 I have told you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe. 30 I will not say much more to you, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold over me, 31 but he comes so that the world may learn that I love the Father and do exactly what my Father has commanded me.
- Gospel of St John
Before Jesus left He promised his followers the Holy Spirit.
A friend of mine in his 80’s and still working (by then, an office building janitor), would occasionally sing while mopping the floor.
His singing was a wee bit louder than a calm speaking voice, yet his voice had depth and breadth that I have never heard.
He would sing songs that spanned his life, and were rooted in old, post-Civil War West Virginia coal mining villages.
Most of his songs were based on some story from the Bible.
I do not know, if you have ever been to a top fuel drag strip day, where the cars line up to roar down the straight-away.
But what the film and videos do not relate, is the sound. The exhaust and shaking of the engine, can cause your diaphragm and lungs and other parts, to vibrate and literally shake you away from the cars, to some safe distance.
My friend’s singing voice can move you like that, but somehow the notions of Bible, Jesus, and God - that I hear in my mind, when he sings, do not move me away.
Instead, I would look around him, to see what might be glowing, because his singing lights up the place.
Not loud, not a show; he is bent over, moving the mop around the floor.
I cannot deny that he is singing for Jesus, for truth, for love.
As I know him, and he is always trying to bring all three of those, more to the front, in the lives of young people who are occasionally near him -— somebody who might have moments before, he had a conversation with, or somebody whom he knows a little from previous conversation or greeting.
My friend just kind of knows, that that somebody needs a bit of guidance, a lift.
My friend is a shepherd, perhaps, always at work, trying to lead people just a bit more, toward Jesus. It’s his way.
He is kind of like a tuning fork; he sings and the sound is around you and in you.
It makes a person turn toward him, and think. Especially a person wondering about which way to go.
The Bible says very clearly that some are given a “Word of Wisdom” or “knowledge”, AND that God speaks to us in a still, small voice.
A very long time ago one of our daughters was accepted at a nursing school we simply could not afford. One morning as I was going about my routine and wondering how we would pay for this school, that still small voice said “ ——, (a member of our church) will pay for it.” Two weeks later our pastor called to tell us an anonymous donor was going to pay for her first semester. I already knew who that donor was, of course. By the end of the school year, events proved to me the accuracy of God’s Word that morning.
God absolutely does still speak directly to his people, through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. That’s what the Spirit is for.
RE: The Bible says very clearly that some are given a “Word of Wisdom” or “knowledge”, AND that God speaks to us in a still, small voice.
OK, What guidelines do we have to differentiate between someone to whom God is speaking through His still small voice and someone who is merely imagining things?
You’re a long way from determining guidelines. You posted an article that lied and said God doesn’t speak to us today. It lied and said the Bible indicates he doesn’t. Many people pointed out the lies. First you need to address these lies.
A church was started and continues to thrive to this day. The other man was not involved, and ultimately moved out of the area but not before revealing to the local Christian Community through some other incidents that the Spirit of God was not in him. Based on this incident, any time a person starts by saying "God told me...", the alarm bells go off.
RE: I’ve also known ordinary people who claim God speaks to them audibly. You can’t argue with these people.
Here are the possibilities as I see it ( feel free to correct me ):
1) What he calls “God speaking to him” is simply his intuition based on informed knowledge. There’s nothing wrong with that. We all make decisions based on information that we have.
2) What he calls “God speaking to him” is simply him making an excuse and using God’s voice as a crutch.
3) God DID really speak to Him ( How, I am not clear. The Bible did say that God spoke to prophets like Moses, Samuel and Nathan, did He speak to him via the same way? )
[ Add your other possibilities here ].
#1 is easier to discern because they give REASONS for their decisions.
The question I have is this - without trying to sound dismissive and ridiculing, what guidelines do we have to differentiate between #2 and #3.
RE: You posted an article that lied and said God doesn’t speak to us today. It lied and said the Bible indicates he doesn’t
OK. I am all ears. When someone in church tells us that God spoke to him, how are we to determine if God really did?
Here are the possibilities as I see it ( feel free to correct me ):
1) What he calls “God speaking to him” is simply his intuition based on informed knowledge. There’s nothing wrong with that. We all make decisions based on information that we have.
2) What he calls “God speaking to him” is simply him making an excuse and using God’s voice as a crutch.
3) God DID really speak to Him ( How, I am not clear. The Bible did say that God spoke to prophets like Moses, Samuel and Nathan, did He speak to him via the same way? )
[ Add your other possibilities here ].
#1 is easier to discern because they give REASONS for their decisions.
The question I have is this - without trying to sound dismissive and ridiculing, what guidelines do we have to differentiate between #2 and #3.
If God leaves us morally free in so many areas to make decisions, then is he really guiding us? Isn’t this some kind of deistic God we have here?
Here’s my personal view, and I am open to correction:
* In moral conduct, God directly guides believers by revealed commands and principles according to His moral will (the Bible.). Hence, someone who says God told him to have sex with a woman who is not his wife is clearly WRONG.
* In nonmoral decisions, God mediately guides believers by the normal process of acquired wisdom, reasoning, information gathering, looking at evidence as far as we can know it, according to spiritual expediency. Hence, your decision to start the church falls in this category.
* In all things God secretly guides believers by sovereign control over all events according to His sovereign will.
* In unique cases God has supernaturally guided believers by divine voice, angel, dream, or miracle according to special revelation. But these are UNIQUE. These are SPECIAL REVELATION. They have to be validated by unique MIRACLES ( e.g. the ones performed by Moses and the Apostles ).
I’m not sure I would limit the term “special revelation” to angels and dreams and miracles; the Bible in #1 is certainly special revelation. But enough pickiness.
God will never contradict Himself.
For example, God did not decide in the late 19th century to return to allowing poligamy.
Christianity requires one be very knowledgeable about the Scriptures.
Why not, when there are so many examples of that in the Bible, Old and New?
Good reply. Where does a servant tell their master how and when the master may speak to them? Where does a child tell their parent when and how the parent may speak to them, but we constantly get all of these servants and children doing that to their “Lord and Master” or “Heavenly Father”.
I find it interesting that those who preach the loudest about the sufficiency of scripture, turn immediately to extra-Biblical sources, in this case the London Baptist Confession, to justify their position. Apparently, scripture isn’t really all that sufficient for some arguments.
Here’s one for you...
Back in 1993 I was in a real struggle with my life. I was invited to a Pentecostal church. I went there for a while but one visit will not be forgotten.
All a sudden a woman stands up and speaks in tongue.
I grew up in a Christian school, jr high thru high school. I’d heard of speaking in tongue but always wondered if it was fake...I’m a natural born skeptic.
But when that lady spoke, the hair on my neck stood up. It was a language either of ancient times or from another place. It was NOT faked... I am bilingual and can spot fakery with an accent or language from a mile away.
The Pastor interpreted what the lady had said. “You think you walk alone, I am with you”.
That message, I’m 100% convinced was for me. It was a very small tight knit congregation of about 30 people...but THAT message was meant to encourage me to hang in there during my “blue years”.
You know...he walks with us through Christ..bless you in your walk
Thank you, and you as well.
Actually, I’m suspicious of Christians who never use language like this and disapprove of it because God does tell us things, as part of having a personal relationship with Him, and His Son living within us, and very often talking about it is part of our everyday fellowship with other Christians and our witness to others. And when we pray to Him, His answers are speech.
The anti-Christ world even disparages and mocks Christians because we testify that God speaks to us. Think of what was said about Mike Pence hearing from God. “It’s one thing to talk to Jesus. It’s another thing when Jesus talks to you.” - Joy Behar.
That said, it’s time to seek an extra measure of discernment when someone says, “God told me...” and we should examine ourselves when we are going to say it, too, to make sure it’s not merely speaking from oneself. We should especially be wary of it, too, in this time and place where so much iniquity and rebellion and apostasy are abounding. What people say God told them can be revealing, perhaps demonstrating their sincere love for the Lord, or their apparent lack of it, or that they may need godly correction.
And it is also a test for the hearer, too. Let us NEVER forget that. When we hear a Christian say, “God told me,” we can simply assume there is no beam in our own eyes and interpret what follows according to our own fallen hearts and understanding rather than seeking God’s guidance on how to interpret what is said.
Finally, we should also keep in mind that there is no reason to single out people saying “God told me” for skeptical scrutiny and testing. Whenever anyone adamantly claims to be speaking the truth, they are actually implicitly claiming to be speaking prophecy and speaking for God — even if they are determined atheists. They claim that TRUTH is their god, and so everyone should believe what they say, and have zeal that others should accept what they say. And many unbelievers will even say something like, “Well, I’m sure God doesn’t exist, but if He somehow does, I know He will actually agree with me. I’m much more Christian than those who claim to follow Him are.”
So at last it comes down to seeking discernment from the Lord whenever anyone, including ourselves, says, “God told me.” We can’t rely on anyone else.
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