Tag: god told me

By Elizabeth Prata

Many professing Christian ladies these days claim that God talks to them, some even say they write down what ‘he’ says and turn them into books or ‘Bible’ lessons or devotionals. The Spirit is not giving additional scripture. Therefore these women are either lying or spiritually deceived. Since either one is certainly the case, actual Christian ladies should avoid this kind of material.

It is getting kind of hard to avoid it. William Young’s The Shack was delivered to the author by a spirit, so was Beth Moore’s When Godly People do Ungodly Things, Sarah Young’s Jesus Calling, Neale Donald Walsch’s Conversations with God, Helen Schucman and her book A Course in Miracles, and many others masquerading as Christian(ish) material.

“God told me” and ‘automatic writing’ are ancient issues, they’re not new, but they both were revived and revamped in modern times. In the 1930s Lutheran preacher Dr. Frank Buchman (1878–1961) formed the Oxford Group and one of his teachings involved a “spiritual solution” of automatic writing. He called it “guidance” and taught how to wait with pen in hand for the spirit(s) to endow the devotee’s mind with words they then automatically (like an automaton) wrote down.

Here is a warning from author J. C. Brown from his book The Oxford Group Movement: is it of God or of Satan?, rebutting the Oxford Group’s notion that we can receive dictation from spirits.

“He teaches his votaries to wait upon God with paper and pencil in hand each morning in this relaxed and inert condition, and to write down whatever guidance they get. This, however, is just the very condition required by Spiritist mediums to enable them to receive impressions from evil spin and it is a path which, by abandoning the Scripture-instructed judgment (which God always demands) for the purely occult and the psychic, has again and again led over the precipice. The soul that reduces itself to an automaton may at any moment be set spinning by a Demon.”

Indeed! Any person who opens herself up to this kind of activity is by definition opening herself up to malevolent spirits to rush in.

This ‘God told me’ practice was again remarked upon rebutted by J.C. Brown in his book The Oxford Group Movement: is it of God or of Satan?

“One more word about Dr. Buchman. It is said by those who know him (and I, too, have had the same experience when corresponding with him), that most of those who come into contact with him feel a definite magnetic influence. This is often indicative of demon-possession, though the demon may be transformed like his master Satan into an angel of light.”

Th above is how cult leaders become popular. You’ve often heard people remark that he or she ‘is so charismatic!’ Or he or she ‘is so magnetic! I couldn’t stop listening! I couldn’t take my eyes off him!’ Brown continues with comparing a a demon-possessed man with a true man of God-

“A true man of God, who is filled with the Spirit, exhibits a power over the world, the flesh, and the Devil, but not over the person with whom he comes into contact. One feels in his presence the very atmosphere of Heaven, and the heart is drawn out in love and desire not so much to the man as to the Lord Jesus Christ, his Heavenly Saviour and Lord, Whose he is and Whom he serves.” ~JC Brown

A demon-possessed or oppressed spiritist will draw you to himself. A true man of God will draw you to God. In this way, we know that NO person who ever said in modern times “God told me!” is actually drawing you to God. Too many women reject such warnings by saying that they were drawn to God. But if they examined themselves clear-eyed, they would find that were really drawn to the person ‘teaching’ these practices, not to the Redeemer. To the deceived person, it’s hard to untangle, but the best clue is when a teacher starts saying “GOD TOLD ME!” No, He didn’t. Avoid such people.

You may be wondering then, is God involved in our lives? To what extent? And how will we know, or have assurance, that He is? Phil Johnson explains in his great sermon, Providence IS Remarkable:

When the Lord wants to reassure the Apostles that Almighty God is directly and personally and lovingly involved in their experience, and not only in their triumphs and successes, but also in their trials and sufferings.  Jesus doesn’t point them to the miracles.  He doesn’t talk about dreams and visions, or other mystical phenomena.  He doesn’t tell them to listen for a still small voice inside their own heads, and He certainly doesn’t tell them that their words have creative power, so, you know, when you encounter opposition, just go ahead and make a positive confession.

Instead, Jesus teaches them a truth we know as the doctrine of providence.  He stresses the fact that God is intimately involved in all the details of our lives, even when we can’t consciously sense His presence, even when we don’t understand what He’s doing or why He’s doing it. ~Phil Johnson

Here is another resource for you. I have not read this book but it’s on my way to my mailbox now. It’s called:

Counterfeit Kingdom: The Dangers of New Revelation, New Prophets, and New Age Practices in the Church by Holly Pivec  (Author), R. Douglas Geivett  (Author).

The blurb describes it:

Is there a new reformation happening in the church? It depends on who you ask. The New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) is a popular and fast-growing new movement of Christians who emphasize signs and wonders, and teach that God is giving new revelation through new apostles and prophets. But is this biblical Christianity?

In Counterfeit Kingdom, apologists and NAR experts Holly Pivec and Douglas Geivett show how the NAR’s key tenets distort the gospel, twist the Scriptures, are influenced by New Age practices, and lead faithful Christians to shipwreck their faith. They also offer practical suggestions for readers who are already influenced by the NAR, curious about it, or concerned about loved ones who have been swept up in the movement. What used to be on the fringes of the church is now mainstream, and many are being influenced by it unaware. This book is a wake-up call.

If you are a true believer, sister, be assured, God is involved in your life. The Spirit indwells you. Jesus intercedes for you. No matter the circumstances, He is. It’s where faith comes in. You just have to trust that He is.

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Further Resources

Doren Virtue & Jenn Nizza discuss automatic writing/channeling. https://youtu.be/6ReM8OxwXJ0

By Elizabeth Prata

For the last week I’ve been presenting different essays examining from a biblical perspective whether direct revelation is happening today. There were 4 previous parts to the series. Today is the conclusion. It was sparked from a conversation I’d had with Jennifer Ross of Confidently Called Homemakers on her podcast. Please go take a listen to the wonderful material Jennifer has for you over at her site.

Part 1 here
Part 2 here
Part 3 here
Part 4 here

Over the course of the series, I looked at what is the ‘God told me’ religion? We also examined whether God speaks audibly today. In part 2 we learned how we can we confirm a voice we hear. And if it’s not God, then who is speaking? In part 3 I asked what is the difference between hearing audible voices and claims that God “spoke to my heart?” In part 4 I asked if we should we avoid ministries where the person says they receive direct revelation.

Here is my final question: Why is all of this important knowledge for the average Christian mom and wife?

Continue reading “God told me: part 5, Conclusion” →

By Elizabeth Prata

Part 1 here
Part 2 here
Part 3 here
Part 5 conclusion

Question: I’ve heard Christian women claim “voices from God” promised them a large following, or popular ministry, or a specific calling. How does this go against what’s written in God’s word? And should we avoid their “ministries?”

Answer: Because that is what satan promises. The first time we hear satan speak in the Bible he is making false promises that raise up sin in Eve; sins of the pride of life, sin of the flesh, covetousness of the world. That is what satan promises. When God speaks in His word, is it about Himself (see Job) it is about His redemptive Plan or about sin & holiness (see the Prophets) it is of His law (see Moses), it is about His Son (see John the Baptist). And so on. He doesn’t speak to us about our daily needs and wants. He just says trust me to give you clothes and food, and as for the rest, He says in Proverbs 3:6 in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.

Peter did have a large following but what Jesus told Peter was that he would be crucified. Paul became renowned not only in his time but ever after, but what God told Paul was that he must suffer for the sake of His name in every city, first, without telling him of the fame and adulation to come in succeeding epochs. Job was restored double what he lost but God didn’t tell him that ahead of time, instead the communication Job received was a majestic rebuke starting in chapter 38. John & James asked for fame/exaltation, but what they received was a warning that the first shall be last and the last shall be first.

When God spoke to His people or Jesus to His disciples, it was not to tell Mary Magdalene that she’d marry Aaron down the street or revealed to Peter his career prospects or the woman at the well to go on a play date with him at the zoo (as Beth Moore Claims Jesus said to her). Even saying this sounds silly when we substitute the names of the biblical characters but many women go around saying these stupid things and more. Avoid all ministers that are founded on, teach, or accept direct revelation.

In fact, Charles Spurgeon, the noted preacher from the 1800s, called people who claim direct revelation variously, hypocrites or maniacs, Semi-lunatics, madcaps, idiots, and their messages stupid.

I don’t advise being as harsh or direct as Spurgeon, but we can refer ladies to two verses in the Bible that show that the Lord takes seriously adding to His words. One is from the Old Testament in Deuteronomy 4:2, “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.” And we read in the New Testament in Revelation 22:18-19 where the Bible is closed out with this warning,

“I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues which are written in this book; 19 and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book.”

God often commanded Jeremiah to warn against false and lying prophets. He says here in Jeremiah 29:23,

because they acted foolishly in Israel, and committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives, and falsely spoke words in My name which I did not command them. I am He who knows, and a witness,” declares the LORD.’”

God is holy and guards His holiness. When people attribute words to Him He did not say, these are lies, and the false revelator is including the Trinitarian God in his lie. Spurgeon said,

"If you feel your tongue itch to talk nonsense, trace it to the devil, not to the Spirit of God. Whatever is to be revealed by the Spirit to any of us is in the word of God already— he adds nothing to the Bible, and never will. Let persons who have revelations of this, that, and the other, go to bed and wake up in their senses. I only wish they would follow the advice, and no longer insult the Holy Ghost by laying their nonsense at his door.”

Yes, avoid any ministry from any man or woman who claims to have heard directly from God. He or she is leading you away from the word of God as written in the Bible, and bringing you down a primrose path of lies, and eventually judgment. The Jeremiah verse above promises death to false prophets and their example of judgment a curse on those tho tread in their direction. Commentator Matthew Henry says of the Jeremiah verse,

"Jeremiah foretells judgments upon the false prophets, who deceived the Jews in Babylon. Lying was bad; lying to the people of the Lord, to delude them into a false hope, was worse; but pretending to rest their own lies upon the God of truth, was worst of all." 

God took the time to reveal to us what He wants us to know, and took the care to preserve that word for all time. He sent His Son Jesus to speak that word as THE WORD to His sinful people. 1 John 5 says

I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.

You can trust the written word of God as all sufficient. It should be enough.

By Elizabeth Prata

I’m presenting a series of essays and podcasts that scripturally rebut the notion that God is still speaking to people individually today. Despite the glut of people, many of them women Bible teachers, who claim He speaks to them, dispenses life advice, or just whispers sweet assurances all day long, He is not speaking now.

Part 1 here
Part 2 here
Part 4 here
Part 5 conclusion

Now, for the past two parts in this series, I have been firm on the notion that God is not speaking to individuals today. I looked at where the Bible says He is not, at why He is not, and if this voice is not from God, then who is speaking? Today I want to look at the difference between God speaking audibly to people versus the Spirit’s inner work of sanctification, versus intuition and promptings.

4. What is the difference between hearing audible voices and claims that God “spoke to your heart?”

God speaking to my heart, or as often heard, “God laid it on my heart” is another shorthand like “God told me.” But it’s often an unwitting shorthand for a true doctrine- the doctrine of Providence. Just because God is not speaking directly to us today, does not mean He isn’t working in our lives. He is. How? Providentially. God is at work personally and intimately in each and every thing that happens on earth and in each person’s life, even if He isn’t telling us His business directly and even when He isn’t personally answering life questions like where to get a job or who to marry. God speaking today is not a question of His voice and how to hear it, but a question of HOW He works in our lives. We can read the definition of providence from Phil Johnson,

Providence is God’s continuous involvement with his creation whereby he preserves and governs all his creatures (from the greatest to the least)—so that in accord with his perfect will and design, he sovereignly orders everything he has made to accomplish everything he intends for his own glory. (Source)

Phil Johnson then goes on to speak about our intuition. It’s a tricky business to attribute our hunches and intuitions to God speaking to us directly, He doesn’t, but it IS true that He is working in our lives. We just cannot say that since an intuition turned out to be correct that it was direct revelation that prompted us. Phil Johnson goes on to explain.

[W]hat about those rare occasions when our intuition proves correct? Something we dreamed about seems to correspond to something in real life? A sense of foreboding motivates us to change plans, and it turns out to be a good thing?

Most of us have had experiences like that. Everyone has unexplained thoughts that seem to leap from nowhere into the mind. Most people likewise have hunches and instincts. Sometimes you just feel like you know a thing is true, but you can’t give an account for how you arrived at that knowledge rationally.

But how do we understand that inner sense, especially when God seems to use it to prompt us to pray, or witness, or duck and run at precisely the right moment? Because let’s be honest: that kind of thing does happen to most of us from time to time.

Here’s the point: I do believe that God might providentially use a spontaneous thought in my head to accomplish something wonderful. But that’s what it is, and no more. It’s a remarkable providence, not a prophecy. As I have been saying, God ultimately controls and uses everything providentially.

Here’s the problem: that’s as true of my sins as it is of the thoughts in my head. God can and does use them all for His own purposes. The fact that He uses an idea in my mind to achieve some good purpose doesn’t make the idea itself inspired. It also doesn’t make a bad idea good, just because God uses it for good.

Now, think this through with me: Since intuition is fallible—and almost everyone agrees that it is actually far more often wrong than right—we shouldn’t make much of it. Furthermore, since intuition is fallible, it cannot be considered “revelation,” even when it happens to be uncannily right in an instance or two. And if one or two of your guesses happen to prove accurate alongside a gaggle of dozens of failed prognostications, you should still be wary of granting your premonitions the status of a supernatural “spiritual gift.”

People who think moments of intuition are God speaking with a private message invariably become extremely superstitious. They foolishly order their lives by their feelings. They commit the sin of trusting too much in their own hearts.

Now, the ‘God spoke to my heart’ phrase could just be a casual shorthand for someone saying, “I have read the pertinent Bible passages and I now have a settled conviction that my decision to do X is consistent with God’s will.” But usually that is NOT what people mean when they say it.

Usually people mean it as a shorthand way of saying “God spoke to me and this is what He said I must do.” The latter is a way to escape accountability for their decisions.

Assigning to God the catalyst for your personal life decisions is a dangerous thing because it puts words in His mouth He didn’t say and pridefully indicates you know God’s mind at any given moment.

Phil Johnson, Shepherds Conference 2002, “Super Seminar: Private Revelations” said-

Now, does the Spirit of God ever move our hearts and impress us with specific duties or callings? Certainly. But, even in doing that, He works through the Word of God. Experiences like this, impressions and all, are not in any sense prophetic or authoritative except as they echo what the Word already says. They are not revelation. Those sensations, those impressions, those feelings you get are not revelation, but they are the effect of illumination. When the Holy Spirit applies the Word to our hearts, and opens our spiritual eyes to His truth. And, we need to guard carefully against allowing our experiences and our own subjective thoughts and imaginations to eclipse the authority and the certainty of the more sure Word of God. This is a very practical application of the principle of Sola Scriptura. Think about this…to what ever degree you seek private messages from God outside His Word, you have abandoned the principle of Sola Scriptura.

Part of decision making is trust- trusting God, trusting that He is in control of our lives, and trusting providential out-workings from our decisions. You will not ruin His plan if you make a life-decision. So go ahead and turn left instead of right, marry that person, go to the college you want to go to, take the job in another city. As long as you are adhering to the general, biblical principles outlined in the Bible, you can safely fill in the blanks with your own decisions. God knows how to merge our decisions with His fore-ordained plan.

In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight. (Proverbs 3:6)

Judas decided freely in his own will to steal from the purse, to betray Jesus, to reject His miracles. Yet all was consistent with foreordained scriptures and was fulfilled exactly. God maintains that balance and we don’t have to know how.

In 2006 I decided to move to Georgia. I could have decided on Columbus Ohio, Honolulu Hawaii, or Anchorage Alaska, and it would have been the same. He established me in a church, found me a job, knit some friends into my life, gave me a dwelling place, and continued to sanctify me.

The LORD has established His throne in the heavens, And His sovereignty rules over all. (Psalm 103:19)

God does speak to our heart, because the Spirit dwells in us and transforms the evil desires of our heart to holy desires of God. But we can’t and don’t know at any given moment that this particular idea or thought is God’s. What we do know is that Romans 8:28 is true:

And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. (Romans 8:28).

By Elizabeth Prata

Part 2 here
Part 3 here
Part 4 here
Part 5 conclusion

This month, the gentle and humble Jennifer Ross of Confidently Called Homemakers contacted me to interview about the rampant theological crisis in women’s ministry- expecting audible revelation from Jesus. We had a great discussion about it, weaving our way through the thorny issues of direct revelation. We talked about why so many women think God or Jesus is talking to them, and what to do about it. She posted the interview here on her site. She gave me permission to post my notes after her podcast had been published and propagated. So in this series of discernment lessons, over the next few days I am going to address this issue here on my blog and my own podcast.

It is a true problem. “Bible” teachers such as Beth Moore, Priscilla Shirer, Jennie Allen of IF:Gathering, and others claim that God talks to them, whispers to them, delivers prophecy to them, and directs them to launch ministries, even down to giving them the tagline. Many other women who claim Christianity but aren’t teachers per se, but have a large platform and influence, claim the same- God speaks to them, giving advice on career and daily matters. One example is Joanna Gaines of HGTV’s Fixer Upper and Magnolia Enterprises.

Continue reading “‘God Told Me’ , part 1: What is it? And does God speak audibly today?” →