IS IT POSSIBLE TO RECEIVE DIVINE REVELATION TODAY

Neal Pollard

A letter dated January 17, 2013, and addressed to me at the church's address arrived a few days ago.  It was from a woman pastor who works with a "charismatic" church just east of Denver. It purported to be a message dictated to her from Jesus.  The message was for His "servants throughout this city" and it said, "All you who cry out for revival, All you who are waiting for the move of God; I have prepared my servant, I have prepared my holy warriors, I have released them to bring revival to this city, open the doors of your church to my chosen ones, so that I may bless you through them, and grant you the revival you have been crying for." She assured me (and the other recipients?) that at this revival there would be "Open heavens, deliverance, healings, opening of spiritual eyes, baptism of Holy Spirit and fire, outpouring of spiritual gifts and much more."  As I do not receive many letters like this, I found this correspondence quite noteworthy.

The question is, "Could this be true?"  Could this very ardent and sincere woman have received such a revelation?  If so, I am troubled by the implications.  Going to their website, I saw teaching about salvation ("sinner's prayer"), the end of time (premillennialism), worship ("holy dance"), women's role (multiple women prechers) and demon possession that contradict revealed Scripture.  If Jesus was behind what she and her church claims He is, then the situation exists that He would be contradicting through people like these what He taught through the apostles and prophets who wrote the New Testament.  Ironically, the web site prominently features a passage from near the end of the Bible which says, "Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints" (Jude 3).  Jude declared "the faith" (objective, not subjective) handed down "once for all." What does that mean? The faith was handed down once, not continuously or progressively.  The faith was handed down for all, not just the saints of the first-century.  

When people claim receiving direct messages and revelation from Christ, they face two insurmountable problems.  The first is confirming the message with miracles, wonders, and signs, since the miraculous age ceased.  The second is pitting God against Himself, by having Him tell us in the Bible that it (the Bible) is His complete guide for man (cf. 2 Peter 1:3; Gal. 1:6-9) and then sending messages in addition to it.  Not doubting the lady's sincerity, I still dispute her claim.  May we be content to faithfully receive God's Word and actively live it.  Alleged additional revelations today are impossible in light of the fact that God chose to limit Himself to that message "once for all handed down to the saints."

"THE SPIRIT IS LEADING US TO __________"

Neal Pollard

When I was preaching in Virginia, I received a call from a concerned brother in another state.  He related to me that the congregation where he was attending was trying to push for women to serve in the church's leadership roles.  He explained that the preacher's and leadership's defense and rationale was that the Holy Spirit was moving among them and leading them to this conclusion.  

Have you ever heard a person or congregation seek to promote or defend a practice by claiming this kind of Spirit-guidance?  On the surface, it may seem powerful or compelling.  After all, if God is leading one to do something who is to oppose it?

The interesting (and important) thing is that the Spirit has already led us to truth on the matters pertaining to life and godliness (cf. 2 Pet. 1:3).  The Spirit inspired His Bible writers to reveal all truth (cf. John 14:26; 16:13).  Other passages, like 1 Corinthians 2:13 and 2 Peter 1:21, show God's deliberate process of revealing His truth through inspired men in the time of the Bible.  You will also notice that God confirmed the word of His spokesmen through miracles, wonders, and signs (Acts 2:22,43; 4:30; 5:12; 6:8; Rom. 15:19; Heb. 2:4).  

When someone contends today that the Spirit is moving them or the congregation to do "X," a couple of puzzling conundrums must be solved.  First, if "X" conflicts with God's revealed truth in Scripture, why is the Spirit calling for it and why should this calling trump God's original will on the matter?  Second, what miracle, wonder or sign will be done to confirm the validity of it?  Third, what if someone else says, "But the Spirit is leading me to tell you that's not correct?"  

The Spirit is leading us and speaking to us today.  He does so powerfully, through the Word He moved men to write (cf. Heb. 4:12).  This sword of the Spirit (Eph. 6:17) is ample to guide us to do all the will of God!