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."

Lord, Please Give Me A Mouth Guard!

Neal Pollard

Greek Triple jumper, Voula Papachristou tweeted herself right out of a spot in the 2012 Olympics in London.  What she said was only 15 words long, followed by three exclamation points.  But the racial overtones of her statement were enough to get her ousted from the games.  At first she sloughed it off, but then she issued a series of apologies.  None were enough to save her from being banned.

In the long ago, King David prayed, “Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth; Keep watch over the door of my lips” (Ps. 141:3).  This should be the daily prayer we all pray.  With twitter, Facebook, and other social media proliferating our words, this prayer extends to the words we type as well as speak.  We have become too comfortable with unguarded mouths and unwatched lips.  The damage of that is immeasurable.

Please give me a mouth guard when teaching or preaching.  May I give careful thought to say what is accurate and biblically true (cf. Js. 3:1).  May I humbly correct (2 Tim. 2:25), preach with great patience (2 Tim. 4:2), and speak the truth in love (Eph. 4:15).  May I neither add to nor take away from that Holy Word (cf. Rev. 22:18-19).

Please give me a mouth guard when speaking to the lost.  May my speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt (Col. 4:6).  May it be sound speech beyond reproach (Ti. 2:8), exemplary speech (1 Ti. 4:12), bold to share Jesus but gentle, patient, and kind (2 Ti. 2:24-26).

Please give me a mouth guard when speaking to other Christians.  May my words sustain weary brethren (Isa. 50:4).  May my words, filtered through thorough self-examination, gently restore the erring (Gal. 6:1). May it be what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers (Eph. 4:29).  May I reprove and rebuke (2 Ti. 4:2), moved by transparent, known love and care (cf. 1 Pe. 2:17).

Please give me a mouth guard when speaking to my family.  May I not treat them more harshly than I treat strangers, speaking cruel, bitter, or hateful words to them (cf. Eph. 6:4; Col. 3:19).  May I not neglect to speak wholesome, encouraging words to them. May I shudder to neglect speaking constantly to them of spiritual things (Dt. 6:1-6).

Voula is paying for her reckless speech.  My fervent prayer is that I may avoid that fate eternally.  Jesus says our every word will be judged (Mt. 12:36-37).  Lord, please give me a mouth guard!

Colorado Forest Fire

The picture above is what most people in the Denver Metro Area witnessed. Seeing the plume of smoke was quite surreal. It was hard to imagine that a forest fire was responsible for this and not some volcano hiding behind the mountains. As of this afternoon, the fire was 0% contained. High winds also made the situation worse since air support was unable to lend a hand until today. In fact, about 3,000 acres went ablaze in a matter of hours during yesterday's high winds. So far, at least 2 people have died, 16 structures torched, 4,500 acres of forest have burned, 900 homes have been evacuated, and another 6,500 have been warned.

It's quite hard to grasp the power of nature until it is growling on your doorstep. The power of a forest fire is simply astonishing. When we keep this situation in mind, it makes the words of James 3:5b-6 resound like never before:

"...See how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity; the tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body, and sets on fire the course of our life, and is set on fire by hell."

James is specifically speaking to teachers here, but there is application for all of us. Far too often we start small fires when we let our words hurt others. If we are not careful, the fires we start can quickly become uncontrollable when the winds of gossip, lies, anger, and hate come blowing through. The next thing we know, our words have "defiled our bodies," and "set our lives on fire." There is no way to completely heal the damage we cause when we allow our tongues to go free.

Forest fires are bad enough. We don't need any "family fires," "congregational fires," "gossip fires," or fires of any kind for that matter. Too many people have been driven away from the Lord because of nasty, harsh, and hurtful words. We must be more careful with the words we speak. Not only can it jeopardize others' salvation, but our own as well.