canon

By Elizabeth Prata

I’ve been thinking a lot about the rampant issue in evangelicalism concerning “God told me.” So many men and women are running around with alleged prophecies and all sorts of messages the ‘voice’ supposedly told them.

Even more sad is the number of people that believe that God is speaking to these so-called prophets. If God is speaking now outside of the Bible, it makes the Bible INsufficient for all teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness, and makes 2 Timothy 3:16-17 which says it is sufficient, into a lie.

What is the Doctrine of Sufficiency of Scripture?

That scriptural fact notwithstanding, there is another issue with the people who claim God is telling them things, whispering things, and/or promising them things outside of the Bible. The news He is allegedly bringing is never the kind that is spoken of in the Bible. Like, what kind, you ask? Well,

When Jesus was commissioning Ananais to go to Saul/Paul, Ananias balked a little, saying that Saul has been persecuting everyone all over the place. Jesus replied and told Ananias how much Paul must suffer for the sake of His name. Here is what was said,

But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of Mine, to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel; 16 for I will show him how much he must suffer in behalf of My name.” (Acts 9:15-16).

I remember people oohing and ahhing over the testimony of HGTV’s Fixer Upper co-host Joanna Gaines. Did God tell Joanna that she will suffer much for His name? No. Was her prophecy something like this-

But the Lord said to her husband Chip, “Go, for she is a chosen instrument of Mine, to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel; for I will show Joanna how much she must suffer in behalf of My name.“

Somehow, suffering for the Lord is never part of the ‘prophecies’ or conversations these ladies purport to have in these conversations with God. What DID ‘Jesus’ allegedly promise Joanna Gaines?

“I hear God say very clearly, he said, ‘Joanna if you trust me with your dreams I’m going to take Magnolia further than you could have ever dreamed so just trust me.’“

Sure. Sure. It always seems like ‘God’ says he will give the lady a comfy life and make all her dreams come true.

Isaiah was a true prophet of God. God raised Isaiah either bodily or in a vision to the throne room.

Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal in his hand, which he had taken from the altar with tongs. He touched my mouth with it and said, “Behold, this has touched your lips; and your guilt is taken away and atonement is made for your sin.” (Isaiah 6:7)

How lovely is this. It brought tears to my eyes. Isaiah was gifted with a vision of the throne room. Aghast that a worm such as he would be near the holy God, the angel flew to him and touched his lips with a burning coal and says his sins were atoned for. Isaiah lived 700 years BEFORE the cross. In heaven there is no time. Isaiah’s sins were atoned for even though on earth Jesus had not incarnated and died yet. But God’s word is SO SURE that Isaiah’s sins were atoned for even though the event had not occurred yet in our time.

But isn’t it curious how these women who claim ‘God’ comes to them never seem to have the same reaction other people in the Bible have when confronted with the presence of the actual Jehovah? Which is to cower in fear and despair that His holiness shows up the depth of our sin?

But God was not giving Isaiah this vision just to offer a tour of heaven. God had a message for Isaiah. He was calling Isaiah to be God’s prophet! What exciting personal news did Isaiah receive? It was that Isaiah was going to speak God’s word, but no one would pay attention.

Isaiah wondered how long this dire circumstance would be his calling.

Then I said, “Lord, how long?” And He answered, “Until cities are devastated and without inhabitant, Houses are without people And the land is utterly desolate, 12The LORD has completely removed people, And there are many forsaken places in the midst of the land. (Isaiah 6:11-12).

Gulp. Not so cheery is it? It is one of the most supremely majestic scenes in the Bible. And yet the news was not so personally beneficial to Isaiah, as these conversations nowadays always seem to be with the claims of conversations with God.

In this scene, all is spoken in august language, reverentially, mindful of the Holy One of Israel, the Ancient of Days whose robe filled the temple.

Now we turn to a prophecy and vision Beth Moore supposedly had. She was lifted up too! She even went farther than Isaiah in that Jesus showed her things as HE sees them, not as Isaiah sees them, which is that we are undone before a holy God. No, Beth Moore was given a peek at how Jesus sees the church, and in another dimension no less!

Beth said, “You know what He said just a few days ago? “Honey, I just want you to know we’re just beginning.”

Honey?

And it was as if I was raised up looking down on a community, as I saw the church in that particular dimension- certainly not all dimensions, not even in many, but in what we will discuss tonight, the church, as Jesus sees it, in a particular dimension. Oh, glory! That meant I had begun. Hallelujah! But He was telling me, “When this ends, we ain’t done with this. Honey, this is what we do for the rest of your life.” And He said those words to me over and over again: “Believe Me. Believe Me.”

God said ‘We ain’t done with this honey’? Really?

Sure, sure.

God told Peter when he was old, that he’d stretch out his hands and go where he did not want, a prophecy most interpret as Peter’s crucifixion-martyrdom.

Contrast this to today’s prosperity prophecies. When God speaks it’s to tell women they are enough, they are a princess, so beautiful, will have a platform, will do wonderful things. God has a wonderful plan for your life, God is going to do amazing things. It’s always centered around something pleasant for the woman, not so much about advancing God’s holy plan.

Will He do as amazing as a thing as render all Israel a desolate land? An agonizing death? A suffering life? An ignored Prophet? These were actual prophecies in the Bible.

The canon is closed. God’s new revelation ended with Revelation 22. I’m not saying God CAN’T speak now, of course He can. It’s just that He closed the Bible with a warning not to add to the book nor take away from it. He said that at the present time, He would not be speaking. It’s not a question of His ability, it’s a question of His consistency.

Think carefully about the prophecies (conversations, whispers, voices) are saying to these women (and men). The content of these conversations is inconsistent with God’s previously delivered word. The language use is inconsistent with God’s previously given word. Compare to the Bible. They all come up short, because the canon is closed and the word as given is sufficient.

Study your Bible to “hear” God’s voice. His word is God-breathed.

By Elizabeth Prata

Elaine Pagels book “Revelations: Visions, Prophecy & Politics in the Book of Revelation” was published in 2012. Pagels is a lifelong apologist for the secular worldview. Her 1979 book “The Gnostic Gospels” won the National Book and the National Book Critics Circle Awards, hit the mainstream, and won her a MacArthur Felowship (AKA Genius Grant).

I’ve seen first-hand the damage that her books, and other books like hers, do. They up-end the unstable, cause the believer to doubt, impugn the spotless Lamb, and draw away the unbeliever. I know a woman who was fascinated with the 1979 book, read it and re-read it. Pagels (and Bart Ehrman who wrote “Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why” are false teachers of the

“the kind who worm their way into households and captivate vulnerable women who are weighed down with sins and led astray by various passions, always learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth.” 2 Timothy 3:6-7).

The woman I’m thinking of was exactly that type, always learning but never able to come to truth. This is because her fleshly mind aligned with the writers’ fleshly mind and these women want to learn, just not the truth. Anything but that. Books like Ehrman’s and Pagels have enormous appeal.

Pagels’ Revelation book is built around a simple question: What does Revelation mean? Of course, being non-Christian and lacking the Holy Spirit, she misinterprets the book and dismisses its majestic truths. She impugns its reputation by saying things like ‘people have clashed over the meaning of Revelation ever since it was virtually forced into the New Testament canon over the protests of some early church leaders.’

How does one ‘force’ a book into the canon? Was there a monk held at knifepoint somewhere, told to sew the codex into the canon or else? Were there archers pointing arrows at the participants at the Council of Hippo, intimidate their vote to get it in?

When you take Pagels’ phrasing to its logical conclusion, it’s pretty silly.

Pagels sees the book of Revelation: “As a tale of conflict where one side is wholly righteous and the other wholly evil,”

The fleshly mind cannot concieve of one side being completely evil and the other as completely holy. Writers are told by mentors and professors that their villain should not be written as totally bad, there must be included a redeeming quality about him. The same with the hero, he is not totally good, there has to be written some kind of flaw in him somewhere, “for the story to be believable.” But of course Jesus is perfectly holy, and never wrong. Satan is totally corrupt and is evil personified. The unsanctified mind cannot grasp this.

One main way people challenge the canon, besides questioning the authenticity by direct or subtle means as noted above, is to challenge its authorship and/or its age.

“It’s just an old book written by a bunch of ignorant shepherds,” they say. Well, Moses was a shepherd, but he was also educated in Pharaoh’s courts, the highest education available at the time. Additionally, it was written by fishermen, tax collectors, physicians, and farmers etc.

“It’s old, shouldn’t be taken seriously,” they say. Matt Slick’s opening paragraph well-rebuts this issue-

The New Testament is constantly under attack, and its reliability and accuracy are often contested by critics. If the critics want to disregard the New Testament, then they must also disregard other ancient writings by Plato, Aristotle, and Homer. This is because the New Testament documents are better-preserved and more numerous than any other ancient writings. Because they are so numerous, they can be cross checked for accuracy . . . and they are very consistent.

Some of the ancient writers’ works, such as Plato, Euripides, Caesar, were copied hundreds of years after the facts, and there might only be ten copies. Yet their works are used in schools and colleges to teach history and literature. The Bible’s first copies arose less than 100 years after the events, within the participants’ lifetimes, and there are 5800 copies available, with 99.5% accuracy among and between the copies.

books

These are but a bare scratch of the surface of this wonderful subject. I recommend Matt Slick’s article above, as well as these below, if you are interested in learning more about how the canon of the Bible was formed and why it is complete, with nothing missing, and lol, nothing “forced” in.

Further Resources

Canon of Scripture (explained and defended)

The Canon of the Bible Ligonier

Answers in Genesis: Why 66 Books?