Francis Drake

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John 17:1-3. He said: Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, so the Son may glorify You. Even as You gave Him authority over all flesh, so may He give eternal life to all those You have given Him. And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Yeshua the Messiah, the One You sent.

How do we come to know God and obtain this eternal life? The ones we know; we recognize their voice.
John 10:4. The shepherd calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them; and the sheep follow him because they know His voice.

Whether we are listening to the spoken Word or studying devotionals, praising God or meditating in His presence, the one goal remains constant: to know His voice. One of the earliest ways that the priesthood referred to the Lord was “The Voice.”

Numbers 7:89, JPS Tanakh. And when Moses went into the tent of meeting that He might speak with him, then he heard the Voice speaking unto him from above the ark-cover that was upon the ark of the testimony, from between the two cherubim; and He spoke unto him.

The point of this is that we can listen to the Word of God being read aloud or preached, and hear the voice of the Spirit as a life giving word from what is being spoken if we abide in the Spirit. Haven’t you had the Lord drop something into your spirit while listening to preaching?
Titus 1:3. He has made manifest His Word through preaching.
1 Corinthians 1:21. For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.
Romans 10:14&15. How then shall they call on the One in whom they have not trusted? And how shall they trust in the One they have not heard of? And how shall they hear without someone proclaiming? And how shall they proclaim unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who proclaim good news of good things!”

This is why the message must not deviate from what was presented by the first apostles.
John 6:63. It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is of no benefit. The words I have spoken to you are Spirit and are life.
John 16:7&8. But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away. For if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. When He comes, He will convict the world about sin, righteousness, and judgment.

It is always the work of the Holy Spirit to convict someone to repentance.
This is why Paul said:
1 Corinthians 2:1-5. When I came to you, brothers and sisters, I did not come with excellence of speech or wisdom, proclaiming to you the mystery of God. For I decided not to know about anything among you except Yeshua the Messiah and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. My speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

The Message of the Messiah must register to the listener through the Voice of the Spirit, not our own. In this knowledge of God is the continual blessing.
Revelation 1:3. Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near.
John 3:29 He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice.
Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled.
Are you trying to say that the voice of the spirit is the bible?
 
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John 17:1-3. He said: Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, so the Son may glorify You. Even as You gave Him authority over all flesh, so may He give eternal life to all those You have given Him. And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Yeshua the Messiah, the One You sent.

How do we come to know God and obtain this eternal life? The ones we know; we recognize their voice.
John 10:4. The shepherd calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them; and the sheep follow him because they know His voice.

Whether we are listening to the spoken Word or studying devotionals, praising God or meditating in His presence, the one goal remains constant: to know His voice. One of the earliest ways that the priesthood referred to the Lord was “The Voice.”

Numbers 7:89, JPS Tanakh. And when Moses went into the tent of meeting that He might speak with him, then he heard the Voice speaking unto him from above the ark-cover that was upon the ark of the testimony, from between the two cherubim; and He spoke unto him.

The point of this is that we can listen to the Word of God being read aloud or preached, and hear the voice of the Spirit as a life giving word from what is being spoken if we abide in the Spirit. Haven’t you had the Lord drop something into your spirit while listening to preaching?
Titus 1:3. He has made manifest His Word through preaching.
1 Corinthians 1:21. For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.
Romans 10:14&15. How then shall they call on the One in whom they have not trusted? And how shall they trust in the One they have not heard of? And how shall they hear without someone proclaiming? And how shall they proclaim unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who proclaim good news of good things!”

This is why the message must not deviate from what was presented by the first apostles.
John 6:63. It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is of no benefit. The words I have spoken to you are Spirit and are life.
John 16:7&8. But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away. For if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. When He comes, He will convict the world about sin, righteousness, and judgment.

It is always the work of the Holy Spirit to convict someone to repentance.
This is why Paul said:
1 Corinthians 2:1-5. When I came to you, brothers and sisters, I did not come with excellence of speech or wisdom, proclaiming to you the mystery of God. For I decided not to know about anything among you except Yeshua the Messiah and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. My speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

The Message of the Messiah must register to the listener through the Voice of the Spirit, not our own. In this knowledge of God is the continual blessing.
Revelation 1:3. Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near.
John 3:29 He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice.
Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled.
No, I am saying that you can disciple your inner self, the mind of your spirit to hear the voice of the Lord. This ability is developed in every area of our spiritual walk. From the essay:
"Whether we are listening to the spoken Word or studying devotionals, praising God or meditating in His
presence, the one goal remains constant: to know His voice. One of the earliest ways that the priesthood referred to the Lord was “The Voice.”
Ultimately, in every situation. As the Lord has always stated: "Obey My Voice,"
 
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What we have to remember is that the Bible is God's communication to mankind. He has said everything He has intended to say in the 66 books that were written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, because it is the same Holy Spirit who inspired the written Bible, who also speaks to our hearts, He will not say directly anything that He has not already said in the Bible. This means that there is no extra-Bible revelation - any revelation has to be found already written somewhere within the pages of Scripture.

We have modern day "prophets" who are coming up with "new" revelation that is neither in the written Scriptures, nor is it consistent with what is actually there. We have "prophets to the nation" trying to fulfill a function that passed into history at the death of John the Baptizer. There are no more God-appointed prophets to the nation. As Paul said in 1 Corinthians 14, prophecy is to be spoken as part of the worship of the church for edification, comfort and exhortation for the saints. Therefore, prophecies "for the nation" are not from the Holy Spirit, but are from the flesh -ie: from the imagination of the prophet. And the Holy Spirit in Ezekiel says a lot about prophecies given through a prophet dreaming them up and the Lord hasn't spoken at all.

We have to be very careful about listening to voices. One writer said that nine out of every ten impressions comes from the world, flesh, or the devil, and this is why we must be very careful about testing every spirit, and the way we do that is like the Bereans who searched the Scriptures daily to see whether these things are so. The written Scriptures are the moderation to determine whether a voice is of God or not.

The Bible is not the voice of God. But God has given us His written record as the foundation for knowing whether something is of Him or not. If we ignore the Bible and treat it as the "dead letter", which is a misquote of what Paul actually meant (ie: the Mosaic Law), then we have only ourselves to blame if we get off the track and go down a rabbit hole of deception.
 
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Mr. M

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The Bible is not the voice of God. But God has given us His written record as the foundation for knowing whether something is of Him or not
Thank You brother for sharing your insights. Especially commendable is that you point out the true function of a prophet for the body of Christ. This is presented most clearly with the apostles renaming the prophet Joses 'Barnabas', which the scripture says is to be interpreted 'son of consolation'. The name literally means son of prophet or prophecy. An interesting change indeed.
Acts 2:46. And Joses, who by the apostles was surnamed Barnabas, (which is, being interpreted, The son of consolation,) a Levite, and of the country of Cyprus.
Side by side with knowing this transition in the role of a prophet is the role of the Holy Spirit. The biggest change from the Old Testament to the New is that the apostles speak of the role of the conscience over 30 times. Not really brought out in the Old. The knowledge of scripture, as you point out, is critical for the mature Christian. An intimate relationship with the Spirit of the Lord is the other. That is what the voice of the Spirit is about, knowing the voice of the Good Shepherd.
 
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Francis Drake

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If you check your revelations with written Scripture, you will find that God has already said it somewhere in one of the 66 books of the Bible.
[STAFF EDITED]

The majority of revelations I've had, had nothing to do with scripture or doctrine, any more that Samuel's revelation about Saul's lost donkeys were meant to be doctrinal.
God has spoken to me far and wide about the affairs of national and international politics, business and finance, and my own life and marriage. This is just as he promised he would to everyone who bothers to listen.
ie.
Revelatory vision of how to redesign the failed internal mechanism of industrial machinery.
Revelatory whisper that there is about to be a car crash around the next bend.
Revelatory dream about a brilliant financial process in house selling that even my solicitor had never encountered!
Revelatory word of knowledge that God was bringing Donald Trump to the presidency!
Revelatory word about this Corona crisis.
Thousands of times in the last 50 years God has given me details that would never be found in scripture!
John says to test every spirit to see whether it comes from God or not, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. And the only reliable test we have are the written Scriptures. (2 Timothy 3:16-17).
Again you are doing your best to gag the ministry of the Holy Spirit and drive people away from hearing their Heavenly Father's voice. Your fearmongering elevates demons more powerful than God!

And like all who wants to scare people away from the Spirit of Prophecy, you quote that one verse warning about false prophets, but ignore the host of verses warning against false teachers!

In the many centuries that the gifts of the Spirit were crushed by the church, it was teachers of theology alone who led the church. And look at the division and chaos they created among the saints, all without interference of the Holy Spirit!

But your claim that the bible contains God's final word on what he wanted to say to his children is denied by the final statement in John's gospel.
Jn21v25Now there are also many other things that Jesus did, which if every one should be written, I suppose not even the world itself to have space for the books to be written.
You are effectively stating that there should be no record of these other things Jesus did.
 
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Mr. M

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Again complete nonsense. It seems that in your mind, all that God can do is repeat himself over and over again saying exactly the same things. As I said before, you gag God with your false theology. You use fear to drive people away from seeking their Father's voice.

The majority of revelations I've had, had nothing to do with scripture or doctrine, any more that Samuel's revelation about Saul's lost donkeys were meant to be doctrinal.
God has spoken to me far and wide about the affairs of national and international politics, business and finance, and my own life and marriage. This is just as he promised he would to everyone who bothers to listen.
ie.
Revelatory vision of how to redesign the failed internal mechanism of industrial machinery.
Revelatory whisper that there is about to be a car crash around the next bend.
Revelatory dream about a brilliant financial process in house selling that even my solicitor had never encountered!
Revelatory word of knowledge that God was bringing Donald Trump to the presidency!
Revelatory word about this Corona crisis.
Thousands of times in the last 50 years God has given me details that would never be found in scripture!

Again you are doing your best to gag the ministry of the Holy Spirit and drive people away from hearing their Heavenly Father's voice. Your fearmongering elevates demons more powerful than God!

And like all who wants to scare people away from the Spirit of Prophecy, you quote that one verse warning about false prophets, but ignore the host of verses warning against false teachers!

In the many centuries that the gifts of the Spirit were crushed by the church, it was teachers of theology alone who led the church. And look at the division and chaos they created among the saints, all without interference of the Holy Spirit!

But your claim that the bible contains God's final word on what he wanted to say to his children is denied by the final statement in John's gospel.
Jn21v25Now there are also many other things that Jesus did, which if every one should be written, I suppose not even the world itself to have space for the books to be written.
You are effectively stating that there should be no record of these other things Jesus did.
If I could mediate a little here brethren.
What you are saying here is obviously true. God is intimately involved and concerned with our lives. If you have prayed for inspiration, direction, decisions;He answers. Your testimony is excellent!
What I am getting from Oscarr and his logos, is that the Bible is a complete revelation of divine Truth.
The difference is in perspective. As I suggested in a response last week, there is an earthly point of view, and a heavenly point of view. I believe the things you have testified to in your post. If, on the other hand, you said that you prayed and God told you it was okay to open a strip bar, as long as you used the profits to support overseas missions, Oscarr would object because the Bible doesn't quite support that idea, and I think you would agree. We can come to an agreement that anything we believe coming to us from God in our present lives, cannot brazenly contradict His written word. Can we work with that?
 
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Francis Drake

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If I could mediate a little here brethren.
What you are saying here is obviously true. God is intimately involved and concerned with our lives. If you have prayed for inspiration, direction, decisions;He answers. Your testimony is excellent!
What I am getting from Oscarr and his logos, is that the Bible is a complete revelation of divine Truth.
The difference is in perspective. As I suggested in a response last week, there is an earthly point of view, and a heavenly point of view. I believe the things you have testified to in your post. If, on the other hand, you said that you prayed and God told you it was okay to open a strip bar, as long as you used the profits to support overseas missions, Oscarr would object because the Bible doesn't quite support that idea, and I think you would agree. We can come to an agreement that anything we believe coming to us from God in our present lives, cannot brazenly contradict His written word. Can we work with that?
Anyone who needs scripture to tell him opening a strip bar is wrong, is not honestly serving God!

What happened in the thousands of years before the scriptures were written? Was there no right or wrong back then?
Obviously not, as we all have God given consciences, and it is through the conscience that the Holy Spirit has spoken to all men since Adam.

Claiming that the bible should be the final arbiter of good and evil is fraught with problems, because despite what you or @Oscarr claim, its not the bible that gets called on, but your opinion of the bible, versus my opinion of the bible, all skewed by carnality.

Take drinking alcohol as an example, my conscience is clear in drinking and even brewing alcohol. But if we resort to scripture to find whether I'm right or wrong, the biblical arguments never cease. There have been dozens of threads on this forum fighting opposite corners of the alcohol debate, all claiming to be biblically based. So how did your bible resolve that debate?
The simple answer is conscience again.

At the end of the day, these things have to be spiritually discerned, not academically discerned.
It is equally risky to base decisions on what the scripture says as on what the Holy Spirit says.
The constant rants about how risky it is to seek the voice of God is nothing more than a display of academic pride.
As Moses said, "If only all God's people were prophets!" And in contrast today, it seems the cry is "If only all God's people were theologians!"

And just to make things clear, I love the scriptures and my calling is to teach. But scripture was never meant to be an academic subject, that's why the fishermen of Galilee were able to shake the world, when the academic Pharisees had placed it in chains.
 
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Mr. M

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Anyone who needs scripture to tell him opening a strip bar is wrong, is not honestly serving God!

What happened in the thousands of years before the scriptures were written? Was there no right or wrong back then?
Obviously not, as we all have God given consciences, and it is through the conscience that the Holy Spirit has spoken to all men since Adam.

Claiming that the bible should be the final arbiter of good and evil is fraught with problems, because despite what you or @Oscarr claim, its not the bible that gets called on, but your opinion of the bible, versus my opinion of the bible, all skewed by carnality.

Take drinking alcohol as an example, my conscience is clear in drinking and even brewing alcohol. But if we resort to scripture to find whether I'm right or wrong, the biblical arguments never cease. There have been dozens of threads on this forum fighting opposite corners of the alcohol debate, all claiming to be biblically based. So how did your bible resolve that debate?
The simple answer is conscience again.

At the end of the day, these things have to be spiritually discerned, not academically discerned.
It is equally risky to base decisions on what the scripture says as on what the Holy Spirit says.
The constant rants about how risky it is to seek the voice of God is nothing more than a display of academic pride.
As Moses said, "If only all God's people were prophets!" And in contrast today, it seems the cry is "If only all God's people were theologians!"

And just to make things clear, I love the scriptures and my calling is to teach. But scripture was never meant to be an academic subject, that's why the fishermen of Galilee were able to shake the world, when the academic Pharisees had placed it in chains.
From the original post, which you obviously did not read.
John 6:63. It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is of no benefit. The words I have spoken to you are Spirit and are life.
John 16:7&8. But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away. For if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. When He comes, He will convict the world about sin, righteousness, and judgment.

It is always the work of the Holy Spirit to convict someone to repentance.
This is why Paul said:
1 Corinthians 2:1-5. When I came to you, brothers and sisters, I did not come with excellence of speech or wisdom, proclaiming to you the mystery of God. For I decided not to know about anything among you except Yeshua the Messiah and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. My speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

The Message of the Messiah must register to the listener through the Voice of the Spirit, not our own. In this knowledge of God is the continual blessing.
Revelation 1:3. Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near.
John 3:29 He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice.
Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled.

Nothing you have written here has been the least bit edifying.And for the record this isn't a testimony of the power of the Holy Spirit. This is just bragging.
The majority of revelations I've had, had nothing to do with scripture or doctrine, any more that Samuel's revelation about Saul's lost donkeys were meant to be doctrinal.
God has spoken to me far and wide about the affairs of national and international politics, business and finance, and my own life and marriage. This is just as he promised he would to everyone who bothers to listen.
ie.
Revelatory vision of how to redesign the failed internal mechanism of industrial machinery.
Revelatory whisper that there is about to be a car crash around the next bend.
Revelatory dream about a brilliant financial process in house selling that even my solicitor had never encountered!
Revelatory word of knowledge that God was bringing Donald Trump to the presidency!
Revelatory word about this Corona crisis.
Thousands of times in the last 50 years God has given me details that would never be found in scripture!

John 3:31. He who comes from above is above all; he who is of the earth is earthly and speaks of the earthly matters. He who comes from heaven is above all.
John 8:23. And He said to them, “You are from beneath; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world.
Col. 3:1. If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.
Please go to someone else's OP to promote yourself. You work is done here.
 
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If it was bragging, I would have given more outlandish examples. I am simply challenging the false narrative that scaremongers use to crush the spirit of prophecy.

If you want to censor alternative opinion to yours, then I suggest you close the thread because I shall continue to express my perception of the subject.
To hear the voice of the Spirit in one's spirit requires extended preparation in the study and meditation in the written Scriptures, as well as extended times of fellowship prayer with the Lord, discussing passages of Scripture at length, and getting used to the voice of the Holy Spirit confirming or correcting ones's thinking about it.

I asked the Lord once how I can hear His voice and know that I am hearing the right voice. He told me (in my spirit) that if He hears my voice a lot, then I will hear His and have no doubts that it is really Him who is speaking to me.

I have discovered that God's voice has a unique quality to it, even though He speaks through my own thoughts - or they seem to be my thoughts, but they are thoughts that come into my mind. For example, just last night I spoke to the Lord about a certain issue, and immediately a verse of Scripture came to mind that totally confirmed my thinking, and it was a verse that I had never memorized, and had not thought about it for many years. I just knew that it was the Holy Spirit who put that verse into my mind.

When I have discussions with the Lord about issues, and Scripture passages, and asks direct questions, I find that the very answer to the question comes to mind as a totally fresh insight that I have never thought of before, and it gives me total understanding of the Scripture or issue that I had never had before. That amazes me, because I would be talking all the time in prayer and fellowship with the Lord, and I just start speaking my own answer as if I thought it myself, but I didn't because it was the Holy Spirit who put the thought into my mind as I was talking. I think that is just amazing, and it makes prayer fun and exciting.

I am just amazed that the almighty God, creator of the heaven and earth would so condescend to have a conversation with me as if I am the only person He cared about - although He is doing the same thing for millions of others. That is how great He is. I am no one special, nor am I born again better than anyone else. It is just that the Lord, through the Holy Spirit just loves to fellowship with those who love Him.

I asked Him once how He speaks to me. He explained that He speaks Spirit to spirit - The Holy Spirit to my spirit, and then my mind interprets what has been shared to my spirit. That is why it comes as an impression which feels like one of my thoughts, but it comes with that distinctive character that I have come to recognise as the voice of God to me.

I asked Him, "What about those who have dreams and visions?" He said, "You don't need them, because you are having direct fellowship with Me in the Spirit" Then He gave me the verse: "Truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ."
 
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Firstly, I need to say that I wouldn't trust anyone if they told me that they had heard the voice of God saying such and such, if I knew they weren't totally familiar with the written Word of God, and directly with the Lord through prayer fellowship.

Before anyone can speak a word from God for you, or anyone else, they must be a true intercessor.
Here is the first use of the word Nabi=prophet in the Bible:
Genesis 20:7. Now therefore restore the man his wife; for he is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live: and if thou restore her not, know thou that thou shalt surely die, thou, and all that are thine.
This declaration of God, testifying on behalf of a man comes immediately after Abraham had made intercession on behalf of Sodom in the previous chapter. The ones who would speak for God must first be intercessors, this much is clear.
 
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Firstly, I need to say that I wouldn't trust anyone if they told me that they had heard the voice of God saying such and such, if I knew they weren't totally familiar with the written Word of God, and directly with the Lord through prayer fellowship.

I was converted in an AOG church, and saw novices, still wet behind the ears running around saying God said this and God said that, and coming up with all sorts of crazy notions in the belief that they had heard from the Holy Spirit. Being only just come down from the last shower myself, I didn't have the knowledge and experience to know what was true or false. I didn't know the Jeremiah reference about false prophets saying the Lord had spoken to them when in fact they were dreaming it up out of their own heads.

A number of years later, I was part of a Charismatic church (7 years as a member), where all sorts of stuff was being taught, depending on which international guest speaker turned up, and in the 1970s, was infected by that iniquitous shepherding doctrine that came out of Fort Laudedale, that caused widespread harm and drove many away from Christ. People were going around having "words of knowledge" for others, saying, "God told me this about you". But along with the notion that "we are at the cutting edge of what God is doing in our city", confidential information about members was being gossiped around the church, elders who disagreed with the main "party" line were pushed out, one guy set himself up as the head rooster (lead elder), another elder was caught soliciting men in a local public toilet, and many of the youth had one foot in the church and the other in the world. Consequently I became disillusioned with it and left, joining an Anglican church, meeting up with Anglican Charismatics who were a totally different type of people - down to earth, honest and sincere about their faith, and totally refreshing. I was told that after three weeks of fellowshipping with them I would be as mad as the rest of them, and they were right!

Since then, I have fellowshiped with Baptist churches (around 8 years in two cities) as I moved because of my school teaching job. Then in 1996, I got to Auckland, joined a Presbyterian church, became an elder and stayed with it for 23 years. I guess that because I am steeped in Reformed Puritan theology as well as my continuist Pentecostal theology, I am well entrenched in Sola Scriptura - so I am well indoctrinated, not only in this, but the strict training that my old Pentecostal pastor, over three years of his discipleship of me, instilled in me.

For the, the Bible is the final authority, and I resist any attacks on its authority for determining what is true or false in anything to do with the prophetic. If we don't have the Bible as our moderating authority, then it is a situation of "anything goes", and anyone can say, "God has told me", and there is no basis for testing whether what he is getting is true or false.

I just watched a good video by Justin Peters where he showed clips of Kenneth Copeland loudly predicting that he has heard from God who told him that Covid 19 would be dead by March 29. Well, it is now 23 April, and the virus is still rampant in most countries around the world. Really? Is he hearing the voice of God. How about Andrew Wommack who has heard from God, telling him that sick and disabled Christians have deficient faith because they are not being healed? Really? Where did he get that from? Who's to say that they are not dreaming this stuff out of their own heads?

What about Benny Hinn hearing from God, telling him that there are nine persons in the trinity? How can he hear that from God, when the Bible itself doesn't clearly state that there is a trinity? (Of I believe there is a trinity because there is enough in the Bible to imply it, and that is good enough for me).

And Creflo Dollar teaching Hindu mind control through positive confession "name it and claim it" teaching, and then saying, "I ain't no false prophet!"

Come on. If we don't have a good grounding in the Bible, we cannot know whether these guys are true or false, and the sad thing is that tens of thousands of deluded people are following these guys and drinking in very false word they are saying, because the people are not familiar enough with what the Bible teaches, and not close enough in fellowship with the Lord, to be able to distinguish truth from falsehood.

I am not saying that you don't hear from the Lord for yourself, and I believe that you can distinguish the voice of the Lord from other voices. But I put it to you that it is because you know the Bible and you spend time fellowshiping with the Lord in prayer. But with the serious invasion of the occult, pagan mind control, and kundalini manifestation into the mainline Charismatic movement during the last 40 years, I am very, very skeptical of this "voice of the Lord" stuff, and I poke at it with a very long barge pole, ready to run away when it turns to start baring its teeth at me.
You have shown a noteworthy amount of patience to take the time to write out this post. I might even suggest you re-post it under a title of your choosing to start a new OP. This one is frayed at the edges. I regret starting it, but I am still learning the ways of this forum. But I am a fast learner.
 
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You show an a noteworthy amount of patience to take the time to write out this post. I might even suggest you repost it under a title of your choosing to start a new OP. This one is frayed at the edges. I regret starting it, but I am still learning the ways of this forum. But I am a fast learner.
My encouragement to you is not to be intimidated by those who try and discredit what you are saying. Here is a good rule to follow - stick with your foundation in the written Word of God. If you get off that foundation in trying to debate issues, you have basically lost the debate and will get sucked into the "black hole" of "you said, he said, you said, he said" etc, until you get worn out and give up in disappointment and discouragement.

It is not important to win a debate, but it is important to state clearly what you know is the truth from God's Word and allow the silent majority of readers to come to their own conclusions. If you stay on the foundation of the truth of God's written Word then you cannot lose - in terms of your own confidence in the truth, come what may.

If you read the other thread where my friend Paul James is discussing the importance of Sola Scriptura, and where he is standing firmly on the truth of God's written Word as the sole authority for receiving revelation from Him. He is not going to back down from it, and neither will I.

You have started a good thread, and given opportunity for people to share their opinions about what is or not the voice of God that is coming to them. There are many attacks on the authority of God's written word these days, and most of it is coming from professing Christians. So the more of us who stick to the authority of God's Word and make it the moderator of what is true or false in the voices that speak to our minds.
 
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pescador

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Before anyone can speak a word from God for you, or anyone else, they must be a true intercessor.
Here is the first use of the word Nabi=prophet in the Bible:
Genesis 20:7. Now therefore restore the man his wife; for he is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live: and if thou restore her not, know thou that thou shalt surely die, thou, and all that are thine.
This declaration of God, testifying on behalf of a man comes immediately after Abraham had made intercession on behalf of Sodom in the previous chapter. The ones who would speak for God must first be intercessors, this much is clear.

Was the donkey who spoke in Numbers 22 a true intercessor? God can use anybody or any thing to speak for Him. He is not limited to intercessors by any means; He is not limited, period.
 
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Was the donkey who spoke in Numbers 22 a true intercessor? God can use anybody or any thing to speak for Him. He is not limited to intercessors by any means; He is not limited, period.
Clever. If a donkey shows up at your church and starts talking, I agree, you should listen.
 
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Thank You brother for sharing your insights. Especially commendable is that you point out the true function of a prophet for the body of Christ. This is presented most clearly with the apostles renaming the prophet Joses 'Barnabas', which the scripture says is to be interpreted 'son of consolation'. The name literally means son of prophet or prophecy. An interesting change indeed.
Acts 2:46. And Joses, who by the apostles was surnamed Barnabas, (which is, being interpreted, The son of consolation,) a Levite, and of the country of Cyprus.
Side by side with knowing this transition in the role of a prophet is the role of the Holy Spirit. The biggest change from the Old Testament to the New is that the apostles speak of the role of the conscience over 30 times. Not really brought out in the Old. The knowledge of scripture, as you point out, is critical for the mature Christian. An intimate relationship with the Spirit of the Lord is the other. That is what the voice of the Spirit is about, knowing the voice of the Good Shepherd.
Yes. It all depends on where the voice is coming from. There are many voices in the world, and many that come to our minds. The devil is well able to replicate a voice that sounds very much like the voice of the Holy Spirit. That is what a counterfeit is - something so close to the authentic that it is extremely difficult to tell it apart from the true one. If we don't have a reliable test to distinguish between the different voices, then we cannot know that we are hearing the right one just because it feels right to us.
 
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Was the donkey who spoke in Numbers 22 a true intercessor? God can use anybody or any thing to speak for Him. He is not limited to intercessors by any means; He is not limited, period.
This was a one-off event to give the message to Balaam who wouldn't listen any other way, and to warn him that there was an angel in the way ready to kill him to stop him prophesying falsely and put a curse on Israel, when God's purpose is to bless the nation. So, I wouldn't view this as a normal way for God to speak to people.
 
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