“The Voice.”

Does God speak audibly or by an inner voice to individuals today? If He does, how do we prove what is from God and what is not?

During the recent election campaigns a man at a “Charlie Crist For Governor” fundraiser said the Lord had told him Charlie Crist would be the next governor of Florida. The man was proven right about Crist for governor, but he, nor we, can really prove he heard from God.

When I hear someone say, “God said to me….” I want to reply, “God told me to tell you He did not say that.” The problem here is neither one of us can prove God spoke. I cannot prove God did not speak to him and he cannot prove God did not speak to me. If it is taught God speaks today (audibly or through an inner voice) people are led into an arbitrary type of belief system. Those who teach people to believe God speaks today have no way of teaching how to prove beyond any doubt the voice or the prompting is God’s. It comes down to relying on pure feelings, or what you think is right or what you think you heard.

There are people today trying to find God’s perfect will for their lives by listening for “The Voice.” They spend more time and energy trying to hear God when God’s voice has already spoken loud and clear through His Word. They drown out God’s revealed revelation, the Bible, because hearing audibly is “more spiritual” than spending hours in study and understanding the historical content of already revealed revelation. The Bible claims to be, and is, the very breath of God’s final revelation of His purpose for man. The basic instructions contained in it are perfectly capable of guiding mankind through this life until He returns. We do not need to strive to hear God’s voice because He has already spoken in a rational discourse, the Bible.

Jim Jones said God told him to go to Guyana. Although there is nothing wrong with going to Guyana in itself, in hindsight, no one would dare say Jim Jones heard from God. The question is, do you believe and teach God speaks today other than through the Bible? If you do, you propagate the same beliefs or ideas that allow Jim Jones and others to claim an authority that misleads many, some even into death.

When we, as Christians, are asked how God speaks today, we must answer “He has already spoken through His Word, the Bible.”

Does God speak today.

Charles Stanley, (November 5, 2006, TV broadcast channel 45, Tallahassee Florida) was propagating how God (audibly or through an inner voice) talks to people today. Mr. Stanley believes and has said many times how God has spoken to him. Pointing his finger at the TV audience, he warns his critics who do not believe God speaks today, to “not put God in a box.” Between Mr. Stanley’s statements of hearing God’s voice and pointing his finger, the impression is made to disagree with him jeopardizes one’s own personal experience of hearing God’s voice.

Erroneous beliefs such as God speaks to individuals today, have become cemented from a lack of dividing the Word correctly. We think in metaphors and clichés instead of realistic and convincing arguments. I call it the “church sign syndrome.” The billboards of most churches represent the depth of thinking you find in the presentation of God and His Gospel. Preachers say they like to keep things simple because too much thinking on doctrine causes divisions. Children of the church are consumed by culture’s principles because in the church, harmony over doctrine is more desirable than our children’s minds.

My problem with Mr. Stanley or anyone’s assertiveness in warning me to “not put God in a box” is the cliché is wrapped in absurdity. If putting God in a box constitutes limiting His ability, then God has already put Himself in a box. In Titus 1:2 it says God cannot lie. We do not read He will not lie but, He cannot lie. Also in James 1:13 it says God cannot tempt man. Again, it does not say God will not, but God cannot tempt man. Scripture has already revealed God as good. (Luke 18:19). His nature puts Him in a box just as our nature puts us in a box. We cannot change our nature of sin and God cannot change His nature of goodness. In possessing a purely good nature, He cannot lie to or tempt man. God does not have the power to do anything against His nature of goodness and our beliefs do not have the power to change an immutable God.

Mr. Stanley and others use clichés as imitations of scripture to justify subjective beliefs. The only way Mr. Stanley can propagate God speaking today is through clichés and taking scripture out of context. Mr. Stanley used Hebrews 13:8 to assert God speaks to individuals today. Unlike his cliché to “not put God in a box” we can examine the scripture Mr. Stanley referenced to see if it provides a reasonable premise for his position. Paul warned Timothy (2 Timothy 2:13) to explain the word of truth correctly, and to not be ashamed about standing up for a correct interpretation of scripture. Does this scripture (Heb. 13:8) tell us we can expect to hear (audibly or through an inner voice) the voice of God today?

Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. (Hebrews 13:7, 8 NIV)

Hebrews 13:8 is used to argue since Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever we can assume God still speaks today. Chapter thirteen is a closing chapter of exhortations to the Hebrews for practical daily living. Verses 7 through 17 are encouraging the Hebrew Christians to remember their leaders and to “imitate their faith.” “Consider the outcome of their way,” means to notice how they died, or more accurately, the character they portrayed to the end. “All these people were still living by faith [trust] when they died.” (11:13)

The Hebrew Christians were being told Jesus’ sacrifice was not sufficient enough and they needed the legalistic ways of the Mosaic laws to obtain righteousness. Verse 8 is reminding the Hebrew Christians of their leaders who trusted Jesus and His efficiency over the Mosaic Law. Christ is completely trustworthy because His sinless nature was and is sufficient to provide a final sacrifice for covering of their sins. Hebrews 13:8 is pointing to the goodness of God and the immutable nature of Christ.

God’s nature of goodness cannot change, but God has changed how He deals with man. The sacrificial system of worship has been done away with and there will never be another flood “to destroy the earth” (Gen 9:11). Hebrews 13:8 does not reasonably prove the notion of God speaking to individuals today. However it could be used to explain all sorts of notions when lifted out of its context and separated from its true meaning. When done so, it becomes nothing more than a worn out cliché.