Testing the “God Told Me” Claim; Part 2 - By Elizabeth Prata

Found here. Our comments in bold. Our examination of part one is here.

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We ask the reader to forgive us. As we proceeded through our analysis we grew increasingly frustrated at all the undocumented claims, faulty logic, bad exegesis, and irrelevant factoids. We don't wish to insult Ms. Prata, but this is a terrible presentation. She attempts to refute what she thinks is false teaching and botches it terribly. 

Ms. Prata is just not a very good teacher. We must deem this Bad Bible Teaching.

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Yesterday in part 1 I’d (sic) examined the fact that women for generations now have been taught from so-called Bible teachers, book authors, and podcasters that we hear directly from God. Whether these revelations or direct contacts are in the form of whispers, prompts, visions, impressions on our heart, ‘told me,’ or audibly, we’ve been taught that it’s supposed to be normal to have a relationship with full of lively, direct two-way communication.

I’d said no, that is not the normal method of communication from God, He speaks from the Bible and the Bible alone. (Much like part one, Ms. Prata simply denies and moves on. No explanations.)

Now that begs the question, how does the Spirit lead us? He dwells within us. He’s in our bodies. He transforms our mind. He convicts of sin. He illuminates the scriptures to our mind, and He leads us on our sanctifying walk. There is some form of direct communication from God to us. (This is an astonishing admission! Ms. Prata just asserted, "He speaks from the Bible and the Bible alone." But now we discover that the Holy Spirit communicates to us in some fashion. She's ceded her whole case.)

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.

Listening to hear God via whispers, prompts etc is NOT the same as being led by the Spirit. (Ms. Prata again simply denies and moves on. This in fact is the central concept she wishes to refute, but she doesn't do anything except make a summary assertion.)

We ARE led by the Spirit. We do NOT hear God personally, directly, or any other way, except through His word. (Ms. Prata repeats herself, adding no new information.)

Again, 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. (Another assertion. Where do we find this in the Bible, Ms. Prata?)

You might look afterwards and say, gee, that sure was from the Lord. (So is the Holy Spirit's communication with us simply a matter of when we realize it?)

But at the time, we cannot, must not, rely on feelings, prompts, whispers, inclinations, or imaginations, and attribute them to God. (Who "relies" on feelings or prompts? Where does Ms. Prata draw this line, and on what basis? If we acknowledge these feelings but don't rely on them, is that ok?

We get the feeling that she's just making things up. She hasn't documented a single assertion with any Scripture.)

Doing so is dangerous because the flesh and the Spirit dwell together. (They do? What? Where in the Bible is this found?)

It’s at war with the Spirit. (This sounds like it might be biblical, but where do find it in the Bible? Maybe Romans 7:18 or 1 Peter 2:11?)

One can never really know if it’s the flesh or not. (This is obviously and patently false. 

1Co. 2:16 “For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. 

1Co. 2:12 We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us.

1Co. 12:9-10 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, 10 to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits...

He. 5:14 But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.

Ph. 1:10 so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ...

Aside from discernment, we know that we are to put to death the desires of the flesh [Colossians 3:5]. If we can't tell the difference between the flesh and the Spirit, how is it possible to put to death the flesh?)

Jeremiah 14:14 tells us how God feels about being attributed to words He did not say:

“The prophets are prophesying lies in My name,” replied the LORD. “I did not send them or appoint them or speak to them. They are prophesying to you a false vision, a worthless divination, the futility and delusion of their own minds.”

The ‘God told me’ crowd was rampant in Jeremiah’s day. We see again in Jeremiah 23:11,

“I did not send these prophets, But they ran. I did not speak to them, But they prophesied.

And again God’s feelings about people who claim to speak for him or hear from Him but are not are stated in Jeremiah 27:15 and in Ezekiel 13:6 God expresses his awareness of the people who have claimed a word from Him and again He says it incites His anger. (Every Christian would assent to the idea that lying words that are claimed to be from the Lord are an affront to Him. This is off-topic, however. Ms. Prata is obligated to tell us, from the Bible, that there is no contemporary revelation.)

There are no steps to distinguish between a word from your own imagination or whether it was the Spirit telling you. (Again, this is false. Horribly false. The Scriptures give us at least 4 ways to test revelation:

1) The Bible

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

Scripture provides a secure way to discern the truth of an impression or prophetic utterance, so as to minimize or even eliminate uncertainty. If the it contradicts the Bible, it must be false/mistaken. 

Ac. 17:11 Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.

Ro. 4:3 What does the Scripture say?

The primary test of any teaching or prophecy is the Bible. If any teacher, prophet, or pastor speaks anything in violation of Scripture, we can safely ignore them (1Co. 14:38).

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.

Ga. 5:16 So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.

Paul tells us that if we are controlled by, led by, and live by the Holy Spirit, He is at work in us and empowers us to set our minds on what the Spirit desires. These are not random "imaginations," but the Spirit at work in us. 

1Co. 2:101-12 10 but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 11 For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man’s spirit within him? In the same way no-one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us.

Ga. 5:16, 25 So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.

Ep. 1:17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. 

So the second test, the Holy Spirit, safeguards us as we discern the truth of prophetic impressions as well as prophetic words.

3) The Ministry of the Saints

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

In fact, in church gatherings the whole congregation should discern the truth of a prophetic message:

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

The spirit behind a supposed prophetic word is to be tested:

1Jn. 4:1 Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 

One of the gifts of the Spirit is discernment:

1Co. 12:10 ...to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits...

1Co. 2:14 The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. 

1Co. 12:7, 10 Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good... to another distinguishing between spirits...

Ph. 1:9-10 And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, 10 so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ...

Our brothers and sisters in Christ are a critical part of our spiritual walk. The community of faith is variously gifted, and no member is indispensable.

4) The Fruit

Good fruit:

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. 

Ga. 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control.

Bad fruit:

Ro. 7:5 For when we were controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, so that we bore fruit for death.

Jude 12 These men are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm — shepherds who feed only themselves. They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted — twice dead.

Ms. Prata represents herself as a Bible teacher, yet somehow she doesn't know these things.)

To try to do so, and get it wrong, and it WILL be wrong, angers God. So don’t do it. (God is angered by our mistakes? Really?

Ms. Prata makes a strange assertion in this midst of this, that these sorts of revelations will be 100% wrong. generally, cessationists claim that prophecy must be 100% correct to be valid. Those who are 80% correct are still false prophets. But Ms. Prata tells us that it's really 0%. Contemporary prophets are NEVER right. How she knows this is a mystery.)

We are commanded not to obey the flesh, but to slay it. (Mt 16:24). (But, but... Ms. Prata just told us that there is no way to tell between the flesh and the Spirit. So we can slay it? If we can't tell the difference, how would we know what to slay?)

Just because these celebrity women teach that if the feeling is persistent long enough or strong enough it must be God, is ridiculous on the face of it. (We don't know if Ms. Prata is accurately conveying what "these celebrity women teach." She has not done so well to this point.)

The flesh is persistent. Very persistent.

Priscilla Shirer teaches in a book called “Discerning the Voice of God: How to Recognize When God is Speaking“. How to!” She says that our primary problem is that we’re not listening.

She wrote: “One of the most common reasons why we don’t hear from God is perhaps the most obvious: We’re not listening.”

Oh, so it’s our fault when we can’t hear God. This is no different than saying a person isn’t healed because they have a fault in their faith. (Well, no. It's quite different. 

FYI, that was our rebuttal, which is all that is required when our interlocutor makes a bare assertion.)

I don’t think Paul was listening when God made Himself heard, Paul was busy killing Christians. (Hmm. This assessment is predicated on the false idea that our attention is always required for God to be heard in every situation.)

When God wants to say something He made Himself heard. He has that ability. (No one doubts God's ability, we only doubt Ms. Prata's uninformed and undocumented pronouncements.

Let's look and see if there are any instances of God communicating quietly: 

Ac. 13:2 "While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, 'Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.'” 

Was there an audible voice booming from heaven? Most likely this direction from the Holy Spirit was discerned and not audible, but we don't know. In any case, we must not argue from the silence of Scripture.

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

Was the voice of the Holy Spirit speaking audibly here, in a manner that He "seemed" to say this? Again this appears to be a matter of discerning  a direction. And again, we are faced with a situation outside the author's parameters.

Ac. 20:23 "I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me." 

Again we ask, is this audible speech by the Holy Spirit?

Ac. 21:10-11 "After we had been there a number of days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. Coming over to us, he took Paul’s belt, tied his own hands and feet with it and said, “The Holy Spirit says, `In this way the Jews of Jerusalem will bind the owner of this belt and will hand him over to the Gentiles.’" 

Did Agabus hear an audible voice?

Ro. 9:1 "I speak the truth in Christ — I am not lying, my conscience confirms it in the Holy Spirit..." 

Hmm. This is clearly not an audible voice.)

Shirer says we have to restrain ourselves “so we can hear the Spirit’s whisper”. With these women, God never speaks, (Luke 9:35), thunders (2 Samuel 22:14), resounds (Psalm 18:13), or roars (Revelation 1:15), many waters crashing (Revelation 14:2). With these supposed revelations you would think God has only one speaking mode and one volume, the much-mentioned whisper. (Whaaaat? Ms. Prata just told us: "When God wants to say something He made Himself heard." This means she applies the same standard for herself, that God only speaks one volume herself.)

Beth Moore even said once that she heard a tone in his silent smile. What?

It’s also mysticism and divination to follow promptings and attribute them to God. How can we interpret? How can we measure this prompting against the Bible? We can’t. (This is the third time Ms. Prata has made this claim. We have supplied this ignorant woman the information above.)

So while the Spirit leads, His main ministry is to point to Jesus, who is the Word. (Jesus is not the Bible.)

John 16:14. That’s why a good teacher also points to the Word, which is more sure. (2 Peter 1:19). (Ms. Prata claimed this verse in part one, which we examined here. Suffice to say, Ms. Prata gets this verse totally and obviously wrong.)

Notice this: John and James saw the transfigured Jesus in Matthew 17. They heard the voice of God above. They were stunned at this experience. Then immediately after in Matthew 18 they wanted to know who was greatest. By Matthew 20 they’d gotten their mother involved to settle the argument and to request to sit at His right and left hand. They actually had heard directly from God, and yet their flesh reared up immediately and polluted the experience with pride. We cannot trust our flesh. We can perfectly trust the word of God as written in the Bible. (Ohhhh. So John and James' problem was not trusting the Bible? What? 

And by the way, Ms. Prata, the heavenly voice was really God. It wasn't their imaginations, resulting in leading them away from the truth. They actually heard God, and yet they engaged in fleshly activity.

It is clear that Ms. Prata is an incompetent Bible teacher.)

That is why Peter who was also there at the transfiguration, said the word is more sure. (2 Peter 1:19). (Sigh... Let's quote it: 

2 Peter 1:19 And we have the word of the prophets made more certain...

WHAT made the word of the prophets more certain, Ms. Prata? Well, Peter told us:

2Pe. 1:18 We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven...

The voice, the experience, made the prophets more certain.

Sigh...)

Here is John MacArthur on the Romans verse 8:14, with a very simple explanation of the Spirit’s leading: (Here's that verse, just as a reminder: For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.)

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.

(Dr. MacArthur provides an explanation that isn't an explanation of this verse. What exactly he is explaining is a mystery.)

Internally by sanctification means that after a while you notice you have quit gossiping. You find porn disgusting. You repent of complaining. The sins you practiced before no longer lead you, the Holy spirit led you. But did you notice it at the time? No. But you were led. God spoke to your heart in that the Spirit changed your affections. He spoke to your mind in that the Spirit makes your conscience aware of sin. ("He spoke." Again Ms. Prata concedes her case.)

Therefore, there’s no need for a teacher such as Moore or Shirer or Bill Hybels to teach an extra-biblical process for figuring out if the prompting is imagination or not. (Her conclusion does not follow from this.)

Sinclair Ferguson at Ligonier Ministries has a good take on leading by the Spirit, (We critiqued that article here and were quite disappointed by Ferguson's teaching.)

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.

In other words, the Spirit leads us by slowly conforming us to Christ-likeness through the application and illumination of the word in us. (We sure do wish that Ferguson, or Ms. Prata for that matter, would provide the Scriptures for this idea. Further, sanctification is only one aspect of the Holy Spirit's ministry, but both of them are doing their best to limit discussion to their preferred conclusions.)

Now, is there such thing as impressions or promptings? Ferguson below then Phil Johnson below that, explain…yes…and no. (Oh. What might those exceptions be?)

Ferguson from the Ligonier article above:

Well-meaning Christians sometimes mistake the Spirit’s work of illumination for revelation, (?? Where do we find this distinction in Scripture? Oh. No Scripture provided. Well we will provide one: 

Ep. 1:17-18 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. 18 I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened...

Here we find Paul praying that the Ephesians receive both illumination and revelation. Any comment, Ms. Prata? Hmm?) 

which, unhappily, can lead to serious theological confusion and potentially unhappy practical consequences. (Irony Alert.) 

But the doctrine of illumination (Oh, so it's a doctrine, is it? Well, it sure would be nice to have a couple of Scriptures that demonstrate this doctrine.) 

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. (She actually sounds scared, and is making every effort to avoid the implications of a contrary doctrine.)

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). (Bible reference, please?)

Again, it’s through the Word. (Ms. Prata keeps mentioning the Word but has yet to crack it open to show us where her doctrines are.)

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. (Phil Johnson immediately concedes.) 

But, even in doing that, He works through the Word of God. (This claim keeps coming to the fore, but never with Scriptural documentation. It's extremely frustrating.) 

Experiences like this, impressions and all, are not in any sense prophetic or authoritative except as they echo what the Word already says. (Definitionally, prophecy does this as well.) 

They are not revelation. (Just making the claim is sufficient, it appears.) 

Those sensations, those impressions, those feelings you get are not revelation, but they are the effect of illumination. (Chapter? Verse?) 

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. (??? We are getting tired of reading these orphaned claims. How does revelation violate Sola Scriptura? We wish someone would actually explain something.)

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.” (Oh, so it's a matter of semantics now?)

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.”

Johnson has said it’s better just to say “I decided to minister to my friend because she came to my mind and I decided to go to her…” rather than attribute any specific prompting to the Spirit…because we can’t know for sure. (Why can't we know for sure? Please explain something! Anything.)

Ministry is deciding things anyway. In scripture you see the Apostles just deciding to go here or there or do such & such. (And we also see the Holy Spirit leading them [Acts 20:22-23] and preventing them from going certain places [Acts 16:6]. 

This is just so juvenile. This woman reasons like a junior high student.)

Providence (Undefined term.)

is God’s taking our decisions and making them conform to our mind and His plan. (Wow, does this need some explaining. Oh. She won't.)

Luke 1:3 decided to write the Gospel,

Acts 11:29 decided to help the brethren in Judea,

Acts 19:21 decided to go to Jerusalem

Acts 15:22 decided to send men to Antioch,

2 Corinthians 9:7 deciding what or how much to give

(Try these impressions on for size, Ms. Prata:

Ac. 15:28 It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us... 

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...

Ro. 9:1 "I speak the truth in Christ — I am not lying, my conscience confirms it in the Holy Spirit..." 

2Co. 8:16 "I thank God, who put into the heart of Titus the same concern I have for you."

Ep. 1:18 "I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you..."

Ep. 3:17-19 "And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge — that you may be filled to the measure of all the fulness of God."

2Th. 3:5 "May the Lord direct your hearts into God’s love and Christ’s perseverance."

He. 3:7-8 "So, as the Holy Spirit says: 'Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion...'"

1Jn. 3:19-22 "This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him."

Impressions, hints, and whispers are found all over the Bible, and all of them are God's messages to humans.)

They knew the Spirit was leading them, but they made decisions that seemed good to them. (Ms. Prata is arguing against herself. "Seemed" is an impression yielding information. This is revelatory.)

It’s a mystery how we decide to go here or there or reach out to that one or this one, and also God foreordains it, it’s providence’s outworking. (More unexplained terminology, along with mysterious assertions about an unexplained topic.)

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, and providentially conforms our actions and decisions to His plan!


Further Resources

Spurgeon on impressions: Here is Nathan Busenitz at The Cripplegate unraveling that one: “Spurgeon, Impressions, and Prophecy“

Phil Johnson, sermon Providence IS Remarkable (We critiqued this article here.)

But how do we understand that inner sense, especially when God seems to use it to prompt us to pray, or to witness, or to duck and run at exactly the right moment? Because, let’s be honest, that kind of thing does happen to most of us from time to time. Here’s the point. I do believe that God might providentially use a spontaneous thought in my head to accomplish something wonderful. But that’s what it is, and nothing more. It is a remarkable providence, not a prophecy. As I’ve been saying, God ultimately controls and uses everything providentially. And here’s the problem. That is as true of my sins as it is of the thoughts in my head. God can and does use them all for His good purposes. The fact that He uses an idea in my mind to achieve some good purpose doesn’t make the idea itself inspired. It also doesn’t make a bad idea good just because God uses it for good.

Sermon, Justin Peters Hearing from Heaven: How to Know the Voice of God (We critiqued this sermon here.)

Youtube, Justin Peters Hearing the Voice of God

At Costi Hinn’s site For the Church we read, The Seven Works of the Holy Spirit