Beth Moore is an alleged 'Bible teacher'. She has 753,000 followers on Twitter alone. The following comment is something she taught a few hours ago on Twitter. Nothing in the Bible says what she taught and teaches. What solid and credible Bible teachers do is teach their pupils to go externally and seek the source of all truth, the Word of God. Moore teachers women to go internally and rely on mystical warnings, feelings, and prompts. What Moore is actually teaching is the insufficiency of scripture and the sufficiency of ourselves in obeying personal feelings.
If Moore was a true Bible teacher she should have written that we seek wisdom from the Bible and follow its commands. We do not rely on the timing of mystical feelings in order to make decisions. We don't even have to wonder if it is our imagination if we read it in the Word of God. Here is what she should have written-
"Take caution not to override a command of the Lord in His word. Pray persistently in seeking the strength from the Lord you need to obey what is written. Mind the Lord and His statutes."
I thought that it would be obvious that Moore is teaching something extra-biblical. Obvious.
I was wrong.
I received several comments, one of which asserted that I'd misunderstood the tweet. While it's always possible I misinterpret an author's intent within the confines of a 140 character tweet, in this case I've studied Moore's work widely enough to know that I had not done that in this case. I also thought the tweet was plain enough in its assertion.
Another commenter tried to to convince me that there was room for direct revelation. She knows there's room, she said, because though 99% of the time scripture is enough, sometimes God speaks "very clearly" to her and she knows it's Him because what He says comes true according to her wishes and wants at the time.
If scripture isn't sufficient 100% of the time, it is not sufficient at all. God is not speaking clearly or audibly to anyone in any form, not in...
whisperspromptsleadingswarningsimpressions on our heart'told me'spoke audibly
...because the Bible says that God has spoken though His Son, who IS the Word. (Hebrews 1:2)
Peter said personal experience is never a proper validation of God's authority, because the word is more sure. (2 Peter 1:19). I notice in these kind of discussions that people assert that it must be God is telling them stuff because what they wanted is coming true. However I notice it never seems to be the case that 'the Lord told us very clearly one of us will die from cancer', or 'the Lord told us very clearly that we will never have children,' or 'the Lord told us very clearly that I should stop sinning via pornography.' No, the direct leading of the Spirit people claim they receive are never that kind, the type that brings bad news against their wish list or commands the person to slay their besetting sin.
Worse, women who claim "He told me very clearly that..." means the woman is claiming prophet status - which elevates her to a position she does not have. Moreover, it discourages other women who have not had the privilege of "hearing directly from God". They begin to doubt their situations when they aren't given such personal, clear commands.
One commenter did ask a good question, which formed the basis for this post. She asked, "Where does the Holy Spirit come into it?" Her question is a good one, but a sad one. An entire generation of women have been taught by the Beth Moores etc. that we should expect to be directly (or audibly) led by God, that they do not know what to be led by the Spirit actually means. So here is a post on what it means to be led by the Spirit.
We know the Spirit does lead us. One verse in particular comes to mind, Romans 8:14, where it says so.
For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.
Now, the Holy Spirit does guide us and convict us and teach us and help us but not in a way we know at the time. You might look afterwards and say, gee, that sure was from the Lord. But at the time, we cannot, must not, rely on feelings, prompts, whispers, inclinations, or imaginations, and attribute them to God. That is dangerous because the flesh is at war with the Spirit. One can never really know if it's the flesh or not. We are commanded not to obey the flesh, but to slay it. (Mt 16:24). Just because Beth Moore teaches that if the feeling hangs around long enough it must be God is ridiculous on the face of it. The flesh is persistent. Very persistent.
It's also mysticism and divination to follow promptings and claim they were from God. How can we interpret? We can't, we're sinful. So while the Spirit leads, His main ministry is to point to Jesus, who is the Word. John 16:14. That's why a good teacher also points to the Word, which is more sure.
Here is John MacArthur on the Romans verse 8:14, with a very simple explanation of the Spirit's leading:
How does He lead us? Two ways. Externally, by the Scripture – externally, by the Scripture, Psalm 119:18: "Open my eyes that I may behold wonderful things from Your law." Show me the truth of Scripture. Externally by Scripture, internally by sanctification. Those two ways. Externally, Scripture; internally, sanctification.
Therefore, there's no need for a teacher such as Moore to teach an extra-biblical process for figuring out if the prompting is imagination or not.
Sinclair Ferguson at Ligonier Ministries has a good take on leading by the Spirit, which concurs with MacArthur's in terms of the main leading of the Spirit being illumination of the scriptures. Remember, the point of the Spirit's ministry is to point to Christ - who is the Word. (John 16:14, 1 John 4:2).
Spirit of Light, by Sinclair Ferguson
Why, then, are Christians today—in contrast to their fathers—so thirsty to experience immediate revelation from God, when His desire for us is the ongoing work of the Spirit opening up our understanding through the mediated revelation of the New Testament? There seem to be three reasons:
1. It is more exciting to have direct revelation rather than Bible revelation. It seems more “spiritual,” more “divine.”
2. For many people, it feels much more authoritative to be able to say, “God has revealed this to me” than to say, “The Bible tells me so.”
3. Direct revelation relieves us of the need for painstaking Bible study and careful consideration of Christian doctrine in order to know the will of God. In comparison to immediate revelation, Bible study seems—to be frank—boring.
Lest we be brow-beaten and develop a kind of siege mentality as Reformed Christians, here are some things we should bear in mind about the work of illumination:
This is the divine method that produces authentic Christian growth, because it involves the renewal (not the abeyance) of the mind (Rom. 12:2) and it is progressive (it takes time and demands the obedience of our wills). Sometimes God does things quickly. But His ordinary way is to work slowly and surely to make us progressively more like our Lord Jesus.
The result of the Spirit working with the Word of God to illumine and transform our thinking is the development of a godly instinct that operates in sometimes surprising ways. The revelation of Scripture becomes, in a well-taught, Spirit-illumined believer, so much a part of his or her mindset that the will of God frequently seems to become instinctively and even immediately clear—just as whether a piece of music is well or badly played is immediately obvious to a well-disciplined musician. It is this kind of spiritual exercise that creates discernment (see Heb. 5:11–14).
In other words, the Spirit leads us by slowly conforming us to Christ-likeness through the application and illumination of the word in us. Our affections change. As MacArthur above said, by the word externally and by inner sanctification as the word works through us.
Now, is there such thing as impressions or promptings? Ferguson below then Phil Johnson below that, explain...yes...and no.
Ferguson from the Ligonier article above:
Well-meaning Christians sometimes mistake the Spirit’s work of illumination for revelation, which, unhappily, can lead to serious theological confusion and potentially unhappy practical consequences. But the doctrine of illumination also helps us explain some of the more mysterious elements in our experience without having to resort to the claim that we have the gift of revelation and prophecy.
Here the late John Murray spoke with great wisdom: “As we are the subjects of this illumination and are responsive to it, and as the Holy Spirit is operative in us to the doing of God’s will, we shall have feelings, impressions, convictions, urges, inhibitions, impulses, burdens, resolutions. Illumination and direction by the Spirit through the Word of God will focus themselves in our consciousness in these ways. (Collected Writings, I, p. 188).
Again, it's through the Word.
Phil Johnson, Shepherds Conference 2002, “Super Seminar: Private Revelations”
Now, does the Spirit of God ever move our hearts and impress us with specific duties or callings? Certainly. But, even in doing that, He works through the Word of God. Experiences like this, impressions and all, are not in any sense prophetic or authoritative except as they echo what the Word already says. They are not revelation. Those sensations, those impressions, those feelings you get are not revelation, but they are the effect of illumination. When the Holy Spirit applies the Word to our hearts, and opens our spiritual eyes to His truth. And, we need to guard carefully against allowing our experiences and our own subjective thoughts and imaginations to eclipse the authority and the certainty of the more sure Word of God. This is a very practical application of the principle of Sola Scriptura.
Think about this…to what ever degree you seek private messages from God outside His Word, you have abandoned the principle of Sola Scriptura.
It is simpler and more direct to say something like "My husband and I decided to adopt 3 children." rather than "The Spirit led us to the adoption agency." It's more honest to say, "We decided to purchase the organ for the church because we adhere to the biblical principle of cheerfully giving" than to say "We felt led by the Spirit to drive down Main Street where we saw the organ store and God clearly told us to buy it."
The Spirit leads us into sanctification, where we gradually and inexorably conform to Jesus' likeness, not by having Him specifically give us explicit directions for certain actions at any given time. But what a joy to know He does lead us!
