This weekend I had the privilege and challenge of discussion
the modern concept of Direct Revelation with a friend. For most modern Christians this seems to be a
“no brainer”…of COURSE God still speaks to people today. Well, yes He does through His Written and
Preached Word. But, He spoke with
finality in His Son Jesus Christ (Hebrews 1:1-4) and which the Apostles and
Luke wrote down for us in the Written Word of God.
Once again, I remind my readers that I grew up in a Holiness
Pentecostal home and either at the Friday night or Sunday night meetings we
would have some tongues and then interpretation given almost all the time. In fact, I remember waiting with expectancy
that God would tell us something in a very personal manner. Mostly it was some new revelation about
surrendering oneself more and more and that we would not receive all He had for
us until we absolutely surrendered.
Today, I have to say the direct revelations from God are a
bit different (as I listen to other charismatic/Pentecostal and modern
evangelical sermons). They tend to try
to fit the Old Testament pattern of Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah or Jeremiah (not too
much of him because he usually prophecied judgment and no one wants that anymore). These modern day prophets, seers or what have
you, will talk about America as if she’s the new Israel (a concept steeped in
the early 1800’s) and tends to get political.
I’m going to stay off that part of the topic but suffice it to say, most
revelations today are warnings about dangers in the weather or society that
will influence politics.
My focus in the field of Apologetics has been mostly to
counter these things because 1) they come from false and bad teachings, 2) they
come out of false and bad teachers and 3) they’re never correct or accurate
like the OT prophets, the Apostles and Jesus were. My research for the International Academy of
Apologetics, Evangelism and Human Rights, for my Thesis to be defended in 2020
(Lord willing) is on all of this and how it negatively effects proclaiming the
Gospel. You see, if you have bad
theology then you end up having bad practice as a Christian. If you follow bad leaders you’ll copy their
mistakes. If you have false prophecies
or warnings, then Deut. 18 kicks in and we don’t ever have to listen to you
again or get nervous when doom and gloom is preached OR you get a Direct
Revelatory Pep Talk from God and it ends up not coming to pass. So, I figured I would write about the history
of these things and the effects as well, albeit briefly in these blog posts
(which you can also read at my blog site:
www.lutherangirl.org/blog
)
A New Word from God: Objective Truth to Subjective Revelation
For centuries the Bible has been held as the inerrant, inspired,
infallible and sufficient objective truth of God. In the early 1800’s a view re-entered the realm of Christianity (neo-Montanism): new, personal and direct revelation from
God. This Neo-Montanism was a rehash of ancient Montanism
with their apostles and prophets along with continued revelations. Then the Reformers in the 16th
and 17th Centuries dealt with the Radical Reformers, often referred
to in their writings as the Enthusiasts, who also looked for continuing
revelation. In these views God worked inside a person first (Intra Nos) rather than from the outside (Extra
Nos) first. God talked
directly to His People through
visions, dreams, ecstatic speech (tongues and interpretation) as well as other charismatic gifts. Sound familiar?
The Enthusiasts
were not new either for Montanus, from the middle of the 2nd Century
(circa 157 A.D.), promoted continued revelation, women in the
office of elder, pastor or bishop and an unwillingness to submit to recognized
Church authority[1][2].
Mystics of every age have believed and taught in direct revelation from
God in various forms. This became
another Word of God for many and created a subjective word, one which only they
heard.
Arrival
In the 1830’s the arrival of the forerunners of the modern Pentecostals
with their visions and dreams stating that God still spoke outside of His
written Word came onto the scene in Europe first and then made its way to the Americas. Teaching
about the accounts of the early church in the Book of
Acts as normative they insisted that Jesus could not return until the
charismatic gifts and
offices (Prophets and Apostles) were
restored. Sound familiar?
Over and against the objective written Word of God,
they sought to find hidden meanings and verified these teachings through their emotions, thoughts and experiences. Over the following decades this direct revelation became the norm and according to the early
Pentecostals, was to be expected. People
throughout Europe and North America began to seek out God’s Voice to them
personally and
distinct from the Written
Scriptures. They were only doing what
they were taught and because this movement had rejected Creeds and Christian
history, it was easy to hear a subjective voice that may or may not agree with
Holy Writ. Thus began the downward
spiral to two types of God’s Word, the written Word and
the one spoken to you directly or to your group and church.
The modern Pentecostal has been taught to base what they believe upon
their feelings and emotions. Does it
bring them joy? Do they feel a flutter
in their breast or goose bumps on their arms?
What does their experience tell them about God? Where they moved by the music or the speaker? Were they excited to a decision or a
declaration?
Early Pentecostals instilled an “Experience is my Creed[3]”
subjective view rather than a “This is what the Bible objectively tells us is
true” objective view. The
test for truth for the modern Pentecostal is within them rather than the
evidence given in the Scripture itself.
Truth becomes subjective because in the mind and heart of a modern
Pentecostal God is still speaking outside of the written Word. With a gospel predicated upon personal messages from God, visions,
dreams and other subjective experiences, it is easy, then, for an insincere
person to share great experiences of God and promote those even if they are
counter to what God’s written Word says, and people believe them.
This makes the gospel proclamation very different for the modern
Pentecostal. While they will argue that
they respect and honor the written Word, in practice they promote feelings over
facts and experience over evidence. They
testify to others of the veracity of the Christian Gospel, not upon the
evidences of the faith contained in Scripture, but upon their own feelings,
interpretations and internal evidence of whether or not it is true. Instead of relying on the canon of Scripture which is the historic rule and measure of God’s Word, Pentecostals
rely upon these capricious emotions to judge truth. The measuring stick of their religious life
is an inward, “God told me…” The rule of faith is replaced with
the rule of my heart. This results in a Gospel proclamation that is
indefensible when encountering those in other religions or atheists because it
is not founded upon objective truth but instead on person feelings, tastes and opinions.
When attempting to proclaim the Gospel this subjective position creates
several issues which cannot be taken lightly.
If the Bible is interpreted based on what someone feels it means, then
who is to say the “burning in the bosom” of the Mormon faith is
truth when they read The Book of Mormon? How does the
Pentecostal missionary disprove the excitements of Hinduism in their worship of
Shiva or the mysticism
of the Islamic Sufi sect who dance themselves into a
spiritual frenzy relying upon
feelings and
experience to verify truth? The simple answer is that they cannot because
they have placed their subjective views over the objective truths of the
Scripture. Also, how does one deal with the mentally ill who believe that God is
giving them a personal, private and revelatory message? If feelings dictate truth then the strength of the Gospel
proclamation
is lost.
So, if you are in a church or group, or even if you
personally think you are hearing God’s Voice (in your heart or head), you need
to keep in mind that this was based upon teachings from the 1800’s, from those
who longed to hear a “new word” and placed God’s Written Word aside. Of course they, and you, probably don’t do it
intentionally but still you are guilty of placing the Bible secondary to your
Direct Revelation from God. I’ve known
many who have said, “God told me…” only to have their course reversed and say, “Well,
God told me now to…” Duet. 18 is very
strict for those who think God is speaking to them and they are telling others
these things. It is a warning against
this practice. In Revelation we have a
similar warning that if anyone adds to these words the plagues will be upon
them. That’s scary folks and needs to be
heeded.
I will continue this blog with more history and the serious
doctrinal errors that this type of Christianity brings about. It will effect your assurance placing you on
the quicksand of changing revelations instead of on the Rock that is
immoveable: Christ and His Written Word.
[1]. C. Gordon Strachan, The
Pentecostal Theology of Edward Irving (London: Darton, Longman and Todd,
1973), 173.
[2]. Eusebius, The History of
the Church from Christ to Constantine (Baltimore: Penguin Books, 1965),
219.
[3]. Douglas Jacobsen, “Introduction,” in Thinking in the Spirit: Theologies of the Early Pentecostal Movement
(Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2003), 5.
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