Comments on: Hearing God’s Voice Today

By: Bess

Bess — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 23:31:37 +0000

WEll,none of you sound like you believe God can sound as if he is rieght there in the same room talking to you. We are moving across the USA because I did hear a voice clear as a bell to move to ______where we could get beter hel for M—. He has Alzheimer’s and I have prayed much aboout what to do to help him….I was told to move. I doubted until I went online and behold there is help form every walk of life: doctors, clinics , social groups, and of course the church. We are moving because I would rather say thank you than end up in Hell for disobeying. One day in eternity I will learn wheither I am right or wrong. For now, I choose to believe I am right in saying I have been told to move to obtain better help withM—.

By: Jesse Phillips

Jesse Phillips — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 16:22:17 +0000

Thanks for your response, Mark. I did reply, and wanted to clarify that my remarks were really limited exclusively to those subjective impressions inside of us, not the providential circumstances outside of us. I’d appreciate any thoughts you have.

By: Jesse Phillips

Jesse Phillips — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 04:17:14 +0000

I have responded to your post on my blog, noting that we are all subjective to some degree and the charismatic tendency is to attribute these things to God, whereas others attribute the same thoughts to themselves. Please read my response and let me know what you think.

http://earnestlydesire.blogspot.com
“Is it Okay to say, “God told me”?”

By: dave

dave — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 23:06:06 +0000

I suppose it’s like what Tim Keller said at EMA - the non-charismatic should probably talk more about hearing God, and the charismatic should talk a bit more about having a hunch, or something like that… we all have things to learn about how to talk about guidance methinks.

I’m more disturbed by the Mark Virkler school of thought that makes it normal to hear God away from the Bible.

By: ADrian

ADrian — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 20:23:42 +0000

Well bear in mind that initially the Chapel were not keen on Haslam at all, and that these prophecies are being described after the event. 50 prophecies later, AND the circumstance of being offered the job and accepting it means that surely it is ok for him to look back and say “God told me I was going to preach at the chapel”

As an interesting aside I was one of those. I was sitting at the chapel at a meeting being addressed by R.T.Kendall. He announced his forthcoming retirement and his desire to find a suitable replacement before he goes. I happened to be sitting next to Greg or his wife (I cant remember which) and immediately turned and said “I really feel that might be for you” a really odd thing to say and something I wouldnt have said without a ‘prophetic impulse’, anyway oddly the person sitting next to the other Haslem at the same moment turned to them and said the same thing! I was also aware of someone who went to the trouble of printing out a photograph of the inside of an American chapel and giving it to Greg. He said, I don’t know why but I feel this picture has something to do with your future. Totally unbeknown to this guy, the photo was so close to what Westminster Chapel looked like inside, it could easily have been the chapel itself! Those were just two of the examples I am aware of…

By: Mark Heath

Mark Heath — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 12:47:00 +0000

I’ll bite… It is true that many charismatics do not properly appreciate the difference between “God said” and “I think God said”, and are prone to interpret their own feelings as the Spirit’s prompting without proper critical reflection. I would say though that there is a similar dynamic even amongst non-charismatics when it comes to biblical interpretation. “The Bible says…” and “I interpret this passage to mean…” are not always differentiated.

In short, we need to continue to teach people the importance of discerning and distinguishing between the human and the divine.