Tara Leigh Cobble, The Bible Recap, & D-Group - by Michelle Lesley

Excerpted from here. Our comments in bold.
---------------------------

Ms. Lesley has appeared in our blog dozens of times, mostly for micro-dissecting 1 Timothy 2:11. When she is not examining every little detail about what women can and cannot do regarding church, she is one of the Doctrinal Police, continually scouting the spiritual horizon for heretics.

We at first thought she was a harmless, though mistaken, Bible teacher. However, we have come to the conclusion that she is not harmless. She is either unable or unwilling to honestly teach the Bible, preferring to interpret it via her doctrine, rather than obtain her doctrine from it.

Today she is evaluating the podcasts of someone named Tara Leigh Cobble, looking for instances of her not toeing the proper doctrinal line. She apparently found a problem, in Ms. Cobble's 8th episode.

-------------------------

Day 008 episode: “Are there times when God speaks to us? I believe God’s Spirit does give impressions to His children. After all, one of His names is ‘Guide’…Saying, ‘God told me X,’ carries a lot of certainty with it. I’d be more likely to say it this way, ‘I feel like God was saying X,’ or, ‘I feel like God was impressing this on my heart.’.”

Tara-Leigh is teaching extra-biblical revelation here because she’s a continuationist (more below). Extra-biblical revelation undermines the doctrine of the sufficiency of Scripture. (We critique this sorry excuse for a teaching here.)

Of course, God guides us. And the way He guides us is through His all-sufficient written Word, as He tells us Himself. (This link is to these Bible verses:

Hebrews 1:1-2 

1 Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.

2 Timothy 3:16-17

16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

2 Peter 1:16-21

16 For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17 For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,” 18 we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain. 19 And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, 20 knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. 21 For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

The Hebrews quote doesn't mention Scripture at all, it's describing the highest revelation, Jesus.

The Timothy passage tells us of the profitability of Scripture, but does not tell us that Scripture is all there is.

And lastly, the Peter passage explains how Peter witnessed the transfigured Christ, and that experience confirmed for him the prophetic messages written in Scripture.

We are at loss to explain how these verses have anything to do with forbidding contemporary revelation.)

Reading, believing, following, and obeying the written Word God the Holy Spirit breathed out is being led, or “guided,” by God.

Furthermore, all throughout Scripture, when God spoke, there was absolute, stake your life on it certainty. (This of course is quite false. There are instances when revelation wasn't quite that certain:

1Sa. 3:9 So Eli told Samuel, “Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, `Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.’“ So Samuel went and lay down in his place. 

 

1Ch. 13:1-2 David conferred with each of his officers, the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds. 2 He then said to the whole assembly of Israel, “If it seems good to you and if it is the will of the LORD our God, let us send word far and wide to the rest of our brothers...

Lk. 1:3 Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you...  

 

Jn. 12:29 The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him.

Ac. 15:28 It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements...

It is clear that God doesn't always reveal Himself in a way that is clear to His hearers. So if the Holy Spirit is revealing something that "seems" to be something, well, that's certainly doesn't qualify as "absolute, stake your life on it certainty.")

 

If you weren’t certain it was God speaking to you, you’d better keep your mouth shut or risk execution. (A couple more unquoted Bible passages:

Deuteronomy 13:1-5

13 If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, 2 and the sign or wonder that he tells you comes to pass, and if he says, ‘Let us go after other gods,’ which you have not known, ‘and let us serve them,’ 3 you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams. For the Lord your God is testing you, to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. 4 You shall walk after the Lord your God and fear him and keep his commandments and obey his voice, and you shall serve him and hold fast to him. 5 But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has taught rebellion against the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you out of the house of slavery, to make you leave the way in which the Lord your God commanded you to walk. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.  

So Ms. Lesley's standard is the prophet must be absolutely certain or he will be put to death, but the passage tells us that prophets who advocate for false Gods must be put to death. 

Deuteronomy 18:20-22

20 But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.’ 21 And if you say in your heart, ‘How may we know the word that the Lord has not spoken?’— 22 when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him.

 

This passage is similar to the previous one in that the prophet who advocates for false gods shall die. But it adds that a prophet who speaks in the name of the Lord ,but the word does not come to pass, that Israel should not be afraid of him.

Hmm.

Ms. Lesley seems to think these passages tell us a false prophet ought to be put to death for any false prophecy, but neither passage says this. And by the way, why doesn't she put false prophets to death herself if hat's the biblical standard? Or doesn't that apply today? And if it doesn't apply today, why do the other parts still apply?)

If you were certain it was God speaking to you, you’d better open your mouth and boldly proclaim exactly what He said, or risk execution. (She repeats her assertion, with a Bible link to Ezekiel 3:16-21. However, this passage is not about prophets at all.

We are beginning to wonder if Ms. Lesley is a false teacher.)

If the holy God of the universe is speaking to you, you dare not mealy mouth or equivocate. And if He’s not, you dare not say He is. There’s no fence-sitting on this one.

Finally, this “I feel” language again undermines the sufficiency of Scripture, (Why?)

and reinforces an all too common false doctrine in the church: believing, trusting, and obeying our subjective feelings and personal experiences over God’s written Word. (Who does this?)

And because that is a place and position only Scripture should occupy, that false doctrine, believed and practiced by so many, is idolatry. (Hear me clearly: I’m not saying that Tara-Leigh believes in, practices, or holds to this form of idolatry herself, only that this type of “I feel” language reinforces this sort of idolatry that others cling to.) ("I feel" is a common way people express a thought or opinion. It is analogous to say, "it seems to me," or "this is what I'm discerning." It is not an appeal to feelings over "God's written Word." 

That said, we are often irritated by people use this phrase. It is an wishy-washy way of softening a statement or opinion.)