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November 2005Impressions, Leadings, and Hearing Voices(Part 4)As a relatively new believer during my first year at Bible College, I had a strong desire to see my friends and relatives come to know the Lord. I prayed for their salvation and took every opportunity to share the Lord. After a few months, I began to get discouraged in my evangelism efforts. Then I was given an audio tape by a friend that described how to pray for unsaved friends and relatives so that they will be saved. This being almost 15 years ago, I don’t remember the title of the message or even the speaker’s name. According to the teaching, the reason more people are not being saved is that Christians don’t know how to effectively pray for unbelievers. This tape offered the answer and I was hungry for that answer! The teaching on the tape included practices like binding Satan, rebuking Satan, “praying the blood of Christ” over relatives and friends, praying the “hedge of thorns” around people, and renouncing generational curses. None of these things are the least bit biblical! These practices have more in common with a mystical, superstitious, occult worldview than any type of scriptural, biblical worldview. Maybe that can be the subject of another newsletter. The tape revolutionized my prayer life! Now I understood that I could pray people into the kingdom if only I could get the wording down. I had to pray certain phrases, and call down certain spiritual incantations that would release my fallen relatives from the grip of the evil one and they could then be reached with the gospel. I was duped. I, along with numerous other students, accepted such practices and teachings uncritically. The one question that should have been asked never was. The one question that should have been paramount in everyone’s mind, never even entered our minds. That question is a simple one that I find Christians seldom ask: “Does the Bible teach this practice?” It is the same with this practice of “hearing the voice of God.”1 This idea that each Christian receives special and direct instructions from God has become so much a part of the culture of the church, that to question it almost qualifies one as a heretic. Yet I find few who are willing to ask, “Are these practices really biblical?” A Quick ReviewI have spent the last couple of issues in this column explaining some foundational principles that should serve to inform our understanding on this subject. Here are those principles succinctly stated. First, Scripture alone should inform our belief and practice. Scripture alone is the revelation of God and His will to men. To deny that God speaks through the Bible alone is to deny the historic orthodox Christian teaching regarding the Bible and to embrace the foundational belief of Roman Catholicism, the cults, and every non-Christian religion in the world regarding God’s Word. Second, my evaluation of this practice has nothing to do with what God can or cannot do. I am not putting God in a box and saying He cannot do a particular thing. God can do whatever He wants to do but I can’t teach or practice whatever I want to teach. I can only teach Scripture. The question is not what can God do, but what does Scripture say that He does? Third, the Bible simply does not teach that Christians receive direct and personal direction from God in the form of nudgings, promptings, open doors, still small voices or impressions. You can read the Bible from cover to cover and you never see an example of such leading. There are no commands from Jesus or the Apostles, nor is there a passage or series of passages that give instruction on hearing God’s voice and receiving direct heavenly telegrams. Now, it is difficult to assert and prove a negative so the only thing I can do is to take each of these practices and evaluate the texts of Scripture that are used to prop them up. The question we will always be forced to answer is: “Does this passage teach this practice?” So let’s do some careful study and thinking. But What About. . . ?21) What about impressions, promptings, nudgings and feelings? According to conventional wisdom, God speaks to me through my thoughts, feelings, or inner mental impressions that I receive. You will hear people take these nudgings and impressions and translate them into the voice of God all the time. Someone will say, “The Lord told me I was supposed to go talk to Jack and encourage him,” or, “The Lord was clearly leading me to take this job,” or, “God spoke to my heart and told me I needed to pray for my sick grandmother.” There is nothing wrong with encouraging someone, taking a job or praying for a sick relative. The question is, “What makes you think that these were divine directives?” Do you assume that every stray thought you have is a divine directive, or just the ones that seem to be good things? Where in Scripture do you see anyone being led by a thought or impression? When the Spirit spoke to Paul and Barnabas to go on a missionary journey it was through the prophets that were in the church (Acts 13:1-4). Nothing is said about an impression or feeling. Paul didn’t receive a nudge or a feeling. Here is a hypothetical situation: You are sitting in your reading chair reading a book about a missionary and find out that his wife was from Canada. Suddenly you think about some people you know from Canada and your friend Chris pops into your mind. You think, “I haven’t talked to Chris in a long time. I wonder how things are going with him.” Is God telling you to call Chris? Why should I believe that this is the voice of God? What passage of Scripture tells me that when God wants me to contact someone He will make their name pop into my mind? How can I be sure that it was God that brought that name to my mind? How do I know it wasn’t Satan, or my flesh? Maybe I thought of Chris because I was reading a book that mentioned Canada! What if you decide to not call Chris? After all, you are reading a book you are enjoying and really don’t have the time to call Chris now. Are you being disobedient to the voice of God? Some would say yes. But once again, why should I for one minute believe that your stray thoughts and feelings are the voice of God? There is nothing in Scripture that says that God leads this way! How can God hold you responsible to obey an unclear directive? What God wants obeyed He has written down! It is amazing to me how much confidence Christians place in these impressions and feelings. Scripture says that my heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked (Jeremiah 17:9-10). In my flesh dwells nothing good (Romans 7:18). Yet it is to the heart and mind that Christians turn to hear God speak even though God says that the heart and mind are unreliable, subjective, and easily deceived. There is not a single example or teaching in all of Scripture which says that God leads us through impressions, nudgings, or subjective inner promptings. Just because you think it, does not mean God said it. 2) What about being “led by the Spirit.” Scripture says that we are to be “led by the Spirit.” Therefore, some would argue, we should be constantly led by God’s Spirit through these “feelings” and be open to the “leading of the Spirit.” Have you ever heard that term? Have you ever heard people say, “I’m just open to the leading of the Spirit,” or, “I’m waiting on the leading of the Spirit.” What they mean is they are waiting to receive some mental impression or nudging or some feeling from which they can take direction. Back to our question, “Does the Bible teach this?” You can find out by turning in your Bible to the passages that speak of being “led by the Spirit” and reading those passages in their context. You will find that being “led by the Spirit” is only mentioned a few times. The question we have to consider is: “What does it mean to be led by the Spirit?” We find the phrase in Romans 8:12-14 and Galatians 5:16-20. Read Romans 8:12-14 - So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh— for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. What is Paul talking about in this passage? Paul is contrasting life lived in the flesh and under the dominion of the flesh and life lived in the Spirit and under the control of the Spirit. You can see that contrast as you read through the first 11 verses of chapter 8. In verses 1-11 Paul argues that those who are “in the flesh” (unregenerate) cannot please God. He tells us that those that do not have the Spirit of God do not belong to God, and that those who have the Spirit are led by the Spirit, for they are the sons of God. Those in the flesh are not sons of God for they have never been regenerated. Paul is building a case for living a holy, righteous life that is the product of the Spirit of God that dwells in us. Verse 12 reaches the argument’s climax, “So then we are not under obligation to the flesh, but the Spirit.” We have an obligation to “put to death the deeds of the body.” Those who “put to death the deeds of the body” (v. 13) are identified as those who “are being led by the Spirit of God” and thus are “sons of God.” In Romans 8, being led by the Spirit of God has nothing whatsoever to do with hearing a voice in your ear, receiving direct divine guidance or decision making. Being led by the Spirit has everything to do with putting to death the deeds of the flesh and living a holy, righteous life. The teaching of Romans 8 is rather straightforward. Those who are “led by the Spirit” are those that resist sinful impulses and walk in holiness. The idea of hearing God’s voice or waiting for some mystical prompting is completely foreign to Romans 8. Well, how about Galatians 5? We see the same phrase in that passage. Take a look: Galatians 5:16-21 - But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law. Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. Paul’s point in Galatians 5 is the same as in Romans 8. Those who “walk in the Spirit” (v. 16) are those who are “led by the Spirit” (v. 18). The text says that those who are led by the Spirit are not under the law. They are not under the law because they already fulfill the law by their holy conduct. In contrasting the Spirit and the flesh, Paul lists a host of sins which are the products of the flesh. Clearly in this passage being led by the Spirit has nothing whatsoever to do with hearing the voice of God, or sensing the Spirit’s leading in decision making. Being led by the Spirit is to live a holy life by the power of the Spirit of God. Look at the following contrast between the definitions of “led by the Spirit” as per Paul and as per modern Christian thinking: Paul’s meaning: living a holy life by power of the Spirit Modern meaning: hearing God direct me by impressions Do you see what has happened? Christians have taken a biblical phrase (being led by the Spirit), stripped it of its biblical meaning, assigned it a meaning that Paul never intended and Scripture does not support and built an entire theology of divine guidance on it. You will hear Christians talk about being “led by the Spirit” all the time, yet they will not use it the way Paul did. The last place where being “led by the Spirit” is mentioned is in the gospels (Matthew 4:1; Mark 1:12; Luke 4:1). All three passages have to do with the same event in the life of our Lord. They describe Jesus being led by the Spirit out into the wilderness where He was tempted by Satan. The text does not say how this was accomplished whether it was directly or indirectly. A good case can be made that since Jesus was the Son of God, and a prophet of God, that his experiences as the incarnate Son of God were unique to Him. We are simply not given enough information about this leading in the gospels to understand what this “leading” looked like. There certainly is no indication that we are intended to follow this pattern. So what about “being led by the Spirit?” I would say that is a good thing if you mean what the Bible means and that is living a holy life of righteous conduct and putting to death the deeds of the flesh. The Bible simply does not teach that being “led by the Spirit” means that we obey inner promptings, impressions, or stray thoughts. 3) What about the “still small voice?” If you want to read about the “still small voice” you have to turn to 1 Kings 19 and read about the prophet Elijah. After his confrontation with the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel, Elijah fled from Queen Jezebel and hid in the wilderness. After arriving at Horeb, the mountain of God, Elijah has a conversation with God Himself. The text says that Elijah saw the earthquake, the great wind, and the fire, but the Lord was not in any of these. Then there was a quiet blowing and then a voice said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” (1 Kings 19:1-14) Christians talk about the “still small voice” and use the term as a metaphor to describe hearing God speaking in our hearts in some subjective fashion. Let me point something out in this passage just in case it is not already obvious: Elijah heard a voice. It was a voice. It was not an impression, nudging, feeling, or stray thought. God did not speak it “to his heart” but for his ears. He heard it. It was spoken. He had a conversation with God that we can put quotation marks around. It was an audible revelatory voice. It was not an inner sensing or feeling. It is not unusual for Elijah to have a conversation with God since he was a prophet. That was how Old Testament prophets functioned in their God-given office. This is another example of how Christians take a biblical passage and use it in an unbiblical way, even changing the meaning of words and phrases in the text. The passage in 1 Kings offers no support to those who think God whispers in their hearts. The conversation Elijah had with God was not a series of nudgings or thoughts, but an audible voice that he heard. Fair and BalancedWhat I have just offered concerning these Scripture texts is a fair and accurate assessment of these verses in their contexts. The simple fact of the matter is that these verses do not teach the practices that they are typically pressed into service to support. We have no authority to divorce verses from their context, reassign meaning to words and phrases, and press them into service to support our own beliefs. If an honest look at the passage shows that it does not support this practice then the practice needs to be seen as unbiblical. The Bible does not teach that God leads us through our thoughts, impressions, nudgings, or promptings. The Bible does not assign divine authority to our hunches or impulses. It is simply not there! Once again, the one question we should most often ask is the one that most Christians seldom do, “Does Scripture teach this?” If you are not concerned about having that question answered then why do you have a Bible to begin with? Toss the thing out! After all, you certainly don’t need a Bible if God is speaking to you through some mystical inner impressions. There are more things to evaluate. What about having “a peace about it?” What about “fleeces?” What about “open doors” and “confirmations” and “signs?” We’ll take up those subjects and the texts that are used to support them next month. Without Wax - Jim Osman Footnotes: 1. You can read previous articles in this series on this subject posted on our archives page. 2. I am greatly indebted to Decision Making and the Will of God by Greg Koukl from Stand to Reason for his thoughtful and thorough evaluation of these practices. I highly recommend his tape series Decision Making and the Will of God available from Stand to Reason. I would also recommend a book by the same title, Decision Making and the Will of God by Gary Friesen published by Multnomah (also available through Stand to Reason Ministries).
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