Is God giving direct revelation? - By Elizabeth Prata

Found here. Our comments in bold.

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Ms. Prata is a familiar character on our blog. She represents herself as a teacher of women and a guardian of correct doctrine. However, too often her presentations are flawed, scriptureless, and superficial. Indeed, today's article contains only a single Bible quote. We are mystified at how these so-called Bible teachers can teach the Bible while barely quoting the Bible.

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We've seen this John Owen quote several times before, and are amazed that anyone thinks it's clever:

There are no such things as "private revelations." One will not find this concept in the Bible. And it's a false choice, and a choice not found in the Bible. What we're really talking about is prophecy. And prophecy is detailed by Paul in 1Co.14 for all to read. If Paul's instruction regarding prophecy is no longer relevant, Ms. Prata would need to explain why.

She won't do that, unfortunately. 

But more to the point, we are thankful indeed that no prophet who wrote down revelation held himself to the John Owen criteria. Isaiah had the Scriptures, and still wrote his prophecies. Same with Joel and Jeremiah and all the OT prophets. 

And Paul in the NT. He had the Scriptures as well, but still wrote what became a large portion of the NT. And James. John. Peter. They all wrote revelation, despite the fact that they had the Scriptures.

And everything these men wrote agreed with previous revelation. So were these writings needless, or were they false? Ms. Prata will need to tell us.

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I’ll do a short series to finish out this week on the dangers of direct revelation. I’ve written about this subject a few times. Why do I return to this subject? First, because it is a pervasive issue in the faith; second because it is a dangerous practice; third, because it betrays either a massive ignorance on the part of the person who claims God talked to them or a massive self-deception; and fourth, because I still get push-back every time I write on it, showing the continuing need for teaching on this subject. (Perhaps because Ms. Prata's teaching is mistaken and inadequate there is this "continuing need?")

Look up the subject of ‘god spoke to me’ or ‘god whispers’ or ‘god told me’ anywhere online and you will receive millions of results purporting to teach you how to hear God’s voice, or from people who claim to have already heard it. I googled ‘God whispers’ and received 15 million results, starting with books on Amazon that teach it.

No. God is not speaking now, except by His Spirit who illuminates the truths in His written word, the Bible. (Ms. Prata will never tell us where in the Bible we find this idea.)

(And not the Catholic Bible and not the Mormon Bible).

1. What is the “God told me” religion?

It is a conviction that God is still personally speaking to people today, that He delivers new revelation, He guides in personal, individual matters such as where to go or what job to take, or who to marry, and the general notion that He speaks to His people directly, outside of scripture. But He doesn’t. The 1689 Baptist Confession Chapter 1 number 1 says,

The Holy Scripture is the only sufficient, certain, and infallible rule of all saving knowledge, faith, and obedience, although the light of nature, and the works of creation and providence do so far manifest the goodness, wisdom, and power of God, as to leave men inexcusable; yet are they not sufficient to give that knowledge of God and his will which is necessary unto salvation. Therefore it pleased the Lord at sundry times and in divers manners to reveal himself, and to declare that his will unto his church; and afterward for the better preserving and propagating of the truth, and for the more sure establishment and comfort of the church against the corruption of the flesh, and the malice of Satan, and of the world, to commit the same wholly unto writing; which maketh the Holy Scriptures to be most necessary, those former ways of God’s revealing his will unto his people being now ceased.

Ms. Prata quotes a confession, not the Bible!)

( 2 Timothy 3:15-17; Isaiah 8:20; Luke 16:29, 31; Ephesians 2:20; Romans 1:19-21; Romans 2:14,15; Psalms 19:1-3; Hebrews 1:1; Proverbs 22:19-21; Romans 15:4; 2 Peter 1:19,20 ). (Sigh. Let's actually quote these Scriptures:

2Ti. 3:15-17 and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Is. 8:20 To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, they have no light of dawn.

Lk. 16:29 Abraham replied, "They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them."

Ep. 2:20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.

Ro. 1:19-20 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities — his eternal power and divine nature — have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.

Ro. 2:14-15 (Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law, 15 since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them.)

Ps. 19:1 The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. 2 Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. 3 There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. 

He. 1:1 In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways...

Pr. 22:19-21 So that your trust may be in the LORD, I teach you today, even you. 20 Have I not written thirty sayings for you, sayings of counsel and knowledge, 21 teaching you true and reliable words, so that you can give sound answers to him who sent you?

Ro. 15:4 For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.

2Pe. 1:19-20 And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. 20 Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation.

Oh, my. Not a single one of these verses says anything about prophecy ceasing, or that the Bible is the only way God speaks to us today. Nothing. Nada. Zilch.)

This is known as ‘Cessationism’, from ‘ceased’, meaning stopped. The podcast from G3 Ministries discussing that the miraculous gifts of the spirit have ceased can be listened to here.

(Again, Ms. Prata seems to think this is clever. But there is no statement in the Bible that articulates what Justin Peters wrote here. It is a completely vapid statement, supplying no argument, Bible verse, or Bible concept. It is an empty statement designed to shut down debate and impugn those who believe differently. This sort of thing is the way the political Left argues. It is beneath a Christian to utilize these kinds of tactics.)

2. Does God talk to us audibly?

No. Hebrews 1 refutes the idea that God is still speaking in various ways as He did in the Old Testament and the beginning of the New Testament. (Ms. Prata begins a discussion of Hebrews 1:1-2, but will not quote it until she's almost at the end. We, however, shall quote it now:

He. 1:1-2 In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe.

We first must consider the context of the passage, including how a reader in the early church would understand what was written. This letter was written to Jewish Christians (i.e., Hebrews). Would such a reader conclude that this the verse was referring to the Bible or the end of prophecy? Of course not. 

These first century believers would understand these plain, direct statements as presented: In the past age, God spoke to their ancestors ["forefathers," that is, the Patriarchs and prophets] via the OT prophecy. No, they would never come to the kinds of conclusions Ms. Prata does.

The actual topic is the superiority of the Son over the prophets and the angels. In fact, the entire opening chapter of Hebrews is written to establish the high position of the Son. His speaking is higher than others who previously spoke. It is so high that this Speaker now sits at the right hand of the Majesty.

Certain men "spoke to our forefathers." Formerly. The writer of Hebrews was making a clear point. Jesus now speaks directly. God has changed His avenue of speaking. This passage is not about the culmination of the communication of God, but rather, the apex of God's revelation to man.

...but in these last days... "But..." The writer of Hebrews is creating a contrast. Contrary to what He did in the past, in these last days God speaks [the Greek is present tense] directly in His Son, without the intermediation of a prophet. 

When did Jesus get proclaimed as the ultimate of God's revelation? Read the verse:  ...in these last days... Jesus dispensed with intermediation of the OT prophets at the commencement of the last days. 

To whom does His Son speak? He has spoken to us via His Son. First, the pre-incarnate Son spoke to the prophets our forefathers. Then He spoke in person to the disciples while He was on earth. After He died and rose from the dead, He spoke to the NT prophets, the apostles and probably a lot of others [1Co. 15:6]. 

But He didn't stop there. He poured out the Holy Spirit on all people:

Ac. 2:17 In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams...

Now the Holy Spirit is poured out on all flesh. Notice that Peter quoted the prophet Joel, who said, in the last days... The same phrase used by the writer of Hebrews. We are currently in the Last Days, (present tense) so Jesus still speaks (present tense). "These last days." So in these last days He speaks to us. In these last days He pours out His Spirit. In these last days we prophesy, dream dreams, and see visions. 

What was formerly spoken to a rare group of people is now directly spoken to all flesh via the Son.

The writer of Hebrews confirms this. He wrote in the very next verse, He. 1:3:

The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.

Now we see reference to "the Son" and "His powerful word." He is speaking right now to sustain creation. The word "sustains" is pheró, to bear up, i. e. uphold (keep from falling). He continues to speak, or the universe would fall apart. 

"Word" is rhéma, a spoken word, made "by the living voice." So Jesus upholds all things by His spoken living voice, which resounds through the universe. "All things" includes His Church. We are also sustained by His speaking.

Also, if the writer of Hebrews was claiming that revelation ceased with Jesus, then the book of Hebrews should have ended right there. There should be no inspired writing after this point in history. The book of Revelation should not exist. A couple of the Gospels shouldn't have been written. Paul's letters must be considered extra-biblical revelation, if the cessationist's belief about what Hebrews chapter one means is true.

None of this is to suggest that we don't study and meditate on Scripture. But we simply need to understand that this passage is not talking about the Bible, the closed canon, or the cessation of revelation. It is certainly misusing this Scripture to teach something it is not saying.)

Then, He spoke through a burning bush, a donkey, angels, Prophets, visions, voices, and circumstances such as earthquakes or brimstone, etc. It should be noted that God did not speak directly to His people often. He only spoke during times of great change, as with Moses, the period of Elijah and the Prophets, and when Jesus came in his incarnation. There were hundreds and hundreds of years where God didn’t speak in any way directly or indirectly. (This is an Argument From Silence. Ms. Prata cannot know that God did not speak for hundreds of years simply because nothing was written down. In fact, God is always speaking, even if it didn't get written down. 

Further, everything in the Bible is something revealed by God, but the Bible does not contain everything God has revealed. Otherwise we would have the prophecies of Philip's four daughters [Ac. 21:9]. We would have King Saul's prophecies [1Sa. 10:11]. We would have a record of what Judas and Silas prophesied [Ac. 15:32].

And as we just saw, Jesus is never silent [He. 1:3].

Ms. Prata is in error.)

It was not a common thing then and it is not a common thing now. (It was very common in ancient Israel to consult the prophets [1Sa. 28:16, 2Kg. 8:8, Nu. 22:37, 2Ch. 18:12, Ju. 18:5, Ju. 20:27, 1Sa. 22:10, 1Sa. 23:2, 2Sa. 16:23, etc, etc. And there were numerous prophets in the NT  church [Ac. 11:27, Ac. 13:1, Ac. 15:32, Ac. 19:6, Ac. 21:9, Ac. 21:10, 1Co. 14:1, 1Co. 14:26, 1Co. 14:31].)

His word is final. Jesus is the ultimate message. If we insist that we hear from heaven now, it renders Jesus less than the pinnacle of God’s written revelation. (What? Why does "hear from heaven" do this, and why didn't it do this when James or Luke were writing Scripture?

Also, notice the subtle insertion of a word not contained in the verse: "Written." It is simply dishonest to change a verse to support one's doctrine.)

If He speaks now, it renders the scriptures as we know them open and insufficient. (Why? How? And why wasn't this true also in the first century?)

It renders Jesus’ message incomplete and needing additional stopgaps, patches, and additions. (Yet another undocumented assertion. Will Ms. Prata ever explain anything?)

Further, IF he is speaking now, then which people do we believe? How are they authenticated? (Sigh again. Is Ms. Prata really that ignorant that she doesn't know the biblical tests?

1) The Bible

2Ti. 3:16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness...

2) The Holy Spirit

Ro. 8:5-9 Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. 6 The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; 7 the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. 8 Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God. 9 You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you.

3) The Ministry of the Saints

2Co. 13:1 Every matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesse.:

1Co. 14:29 Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said. 

 4) The Fruit that is born

Ja. 3:17 But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. 

This is elementary Bible knowledge.)

God’s Final Word in His Son: (God's son is the Word.)

God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom He also made the world. (Hebrews 1:1-2)

G3 Ministries is coming out with a film on this issue in September. It is called, aptly, Cessationist. Here is the trailer:


Further resources include:

God’s Final Word

Does God still give revelation?

Part 2 tomorrow.