About Me

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I am a born-again Christian, who is Reformed, but also charismatic, spiritually speaking. (I do not speak in tongues, but I believe glossalalia is a bona fide gift not given to all, and not as great as prophecy, for example.) I have several years of college education but only completed a two-year degree. I was raised Lutheran and confirmed, but I didn't "find Christ" until I was in the Army and responded to a Billy Graham crusade in 1973. I was mentored or discipled by the Navigators in the army and upon discharge joined several evangelical, Bible-teaching churches. I was baptized as an infant, but believe in believer baptism, of which I was a partaker after my conversion experience. I believe in the "5 Onlys" of the reformation: sola fide (faith alone); sola Scriptura (Scripture alone); soli Christo (Christ alone), sola gratia (grace alone), and soli Deo gloria (to God alone be the glory). I affirm TULIP as defended in the Reformation.. I affirm most of The Westminster Confession of Faith, especially pertaining to Providence.

Friday, July 12, 2013

Examples Of Flaky Brethren


Let us refer to communication from God rather than hearing from God because God treats us all as individuals and in a unique way, but the primary means is the Word of God. ("He revealed Himself to Samuel through the Word..," says 1 Sam. 3:21).

It is my observation that the believer who depends on external means, circumstances, or signs to get a word from God has not yet learned to attend to the Word of God, which is paramount. Who would call Augustine weird because he said that he heard God through the voice of a child--we know what he means. However, there are ways God speaks to everyone including the conscience and getting convictions; but the conscience is not always right--we should, nevertheless, heed its voice [Remember Jiminy Cricket telling us to always let our conscience be our guide. This is good advice if we are like Martin Luther saying, "My conscience is captive to the Word of God, to go against conscience is neither right nor safe.]

When God is speaking: We can quote Him verbatim--it is only in using a broad definition of the phrase (i.e., loosely speaking) that God speaks to us circumstantially and by means other than the Scriptures as a rule of thumb. The key is confirmation or verification. "For whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, to him it is sin" (cf. James 4:17). ("He carries out the words of his servants and fulfills the predictions of his messengers," says Isa. 44:26--Cf. Jer. 1:12 and Isa. 55:11).

I know of a sincere believer who tells me he is a prophet, yet I've never heard him prophesy so I can judge his spirit, to see if it is of God--we must test the spirits. I heard the story of a believer that was thinking of doing missions in Mexico and he claimed God was calling him there. God always verifies and confirms His Word. For instance, what if his friend had approached him and asserted: "Friend, I think God wants you to do missions in Mexico!" There are no coincidences with God and one would have to strongly believe God is calling him. Some believers go by hunches or premonitions (even nonbelievers get these) and they can become so mystical that they get many private messages from God that no one else seems to get. Remember that God does speak through His Word and expects us to make that our number one source of information and direction or leading. I do not believe that just because we have the written Word that God has retired dreams, visions or audible transmissions, but this is the exception to the rule and we are to be skeptical. I am purely going by personal experience in this manner from my encounters with Pentecostal brethren. Remember, there is a difference between what God can do and what He does do.

God plays no favorites and someone is not God's buddy that God should treat him special. "God is no respecter of persons." In my experience, due to a number of memorized verses, God speaks to me by the recollection of passage and this is legitimate. Sometimes it seems that God speaks through me when I preach or teach or write, but I would not be dogmatic on this, but God can do this. Believers today have become spiritually hard-of-hearing and need to open up to what God is saying: "Let him that has an ear, hear what the Spirit says to the churches...." I have heard of people claiming an existential experience form secular writing ("Oh, I got goosebumps or the chills!") and claim it is God--what it does prove is that you are human.

Indeed, the Mormons claim they get a burning in the bosom from their Scriptures and this is proof it is from God. They are elevating experience above teaching. God couldn't be speaking to them something contrary to the Word, which they claim their books supersede. Some Christians have indeed gone off the deep end and believe in things contravened by sound doctrine unbeknownst to them, just because of their experience. Satan is able to counterfeit almost any spiritual experience and can lead one astray if he is not anchored in the Word and in fellowship with other believers.

Because God has promised to speak through His Word primarily, doesn't preclude the fact that He still does speak audibly on occasion--we are just not to expect is as normative.  
   Soli Deo Gloria!