"The Lord showed Himself to me in a dream..." There are plenty of professing Christian individuals who have accumulated audiences of several thousand members due to claims of having received dreams, visions, and miraculous healing powers from God.
The four gospels record the Lord Jesus Christ healing the sick and casting out demons. The apostles did the same. The prophets wrote down what God had told them. Yet, these people did not gain large audiences but were usually met with brutal hostility.
Something is wrong with this picture. One has to wonder why an increasing number of Christians are searching for more miracles and revelation from God. This scenario so clearly parallels the unbelieving Jews that Christ so criticized (Matthew 12:38-42).
These people who claim to experience God given dreams and revelations cannot logically answer the question of how they know whether their experiences are of divine origin. Moreover, there is nothing so special about these so-called prophets that would cause God to exclusively give them revelation. That is how we know these types are full of themselves.
The four gospels record the Lord Jesus Christ healing the sick and casting out demons. The apostles did the same. The prophets wrote down what God had told them. Yet, these people did not gain large audiences but were usually met with brutal hostility.
Something is wrong with this picture. One has to wonder why an increasing number of Christians are searching for more miracles and revelation from God. This scenario so clearly parallels the unbelieving Jews that Christ so criticized (Matthew 12:38-42).
These people who claim to experience God given dreams and revelations cannot logically answer the question of how they know whether their experiences are of divine origin. Moreover, there is nothing so special about these so-called prophets that would cause God to exclusively give them revelation. That is how we know these types are full of themselves.
The Apostle Paul would have shunned this mystic spirituality as being carnal (Colossians 2:18). Some may argue that those who are skeptical of Pentecostal claims simply lack faith in God. However, biblical faith requires a degree of skepticism. For example, we reject the existence of Zeus. Paul said to test all things and hold fast to that which is good (1 Thessalonians 5:21).
If Christians want to spend time with God, then they need to start opening their Bibles and reading them. If Christians want to hear the audible voice of God, then they need to read the Bible aloud. He still speaks today. He does so through Scripture (2 Timothy 3:16).
If Christians want to spend time with God, then they need to start opening their Bibles and reading them. If Christians want to hear the audible voice of God, then they need to read the Bible aloud. He still speaks today. He does so through Scripture (2 Timothy 3:16).
