When we were kids, our parents taught us to never take candy from strangers or believe them when they say, "Your mom told me to come pick you up from school. It's okay, I'm a friend of your mom's."
I remember my mom being very serious about this as she sat me down to drill this into my head. This is when I first learned about kidnapping. She warned me that no matter what someone might say to me or how convincing they might be, she promised me that she would never send a stranger to pick me up from school. She even ran through a few scenarios with me to make sure I understood. She warned me that they might try to use urgency to make me believe them or lie about why this time is different.
God has taught His own children these same lessons and He's given us the same warnings and yet, it's amazing how many of us have forgotten. We let total strangers tell us, "God told me to tell you X, Y & Z. It's okay, I'm a friend of the Lord. I got this straight from Jesus!"
Just as my mom promised me, God has promised all of us that He would never send a stranger to tell us anything that He wouldn't personally tell us Himself. We're to abide in our relationship with HIM and HIS WORD, not others who claim to have a special connection with Him.
God may use an individual or something else to make the light bulb turn on in your head, to illuminate something that God has already shown you to make it click. But that's the illumination of the Holy Spirit at work, not the illumination of some divine messenger of God.
Jesus WAS and IS the final authority. We're to listen to Him and no one else. He will NEVER send anyone into our lives with a special divine revelation that He wouldn't provide for us personally Himself through our time alone with Him in prayer or in His Word.
I remember my mom being very serious about this as she sat me down to drill this into my head. This is when I first learned about kidnapping. She warned me that no matter what someone might say to me or how convincing they might be, she promised me that she would never send a stranger to pick me up from school. She even ran through a few scenarios with me to make sure I understood. She warned me that they might try to use urgency to make me believe them or lie about why this time is different.
God has taught His own children these same lessons and He's given us the same warnings and yet, it's amazing how many of us have forgotten. We let total strangers tell us, "God told me to tell you X, Y & Z. It's okay, I'm a friend of the Lord. I got this straight from Jesus!"
Just as my mom promised me, God has promised all of us that He would never send a stranger to tell us anything that He wouldn't personally tell us Himself. We're to abide in our relationship with HIM and HIS WORD, not others who claim to have a special connection with Him.
1st Timothy 2:5This doesn't mean that God won't use other members of the faith as tools to help us along the way or as teachers to help us get there faster. But God likes to reveal things to His children personally. He wants us leaning upon Him and not other people.
For their is one God and only one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus.
John 8:31-32
Jesus said, "If you abide in MY Word, then you are truly my disciples and you will know the truth and the truth will make you free."
1st John 2:27
The anointing which you have received from HIM abides permanently in you so then you have no need that anyone should instruct you. But just as His anointing teaches you of all things that are true and without deception, you must abide in Him.
James 1:5God would never keep a secret from you or from millions of other Christians and then suddenly, one day, provide the answer to one special Christian and then send him out into the world to reveal it to the Body of Christ. That's NOT the way God works.
If any of you lack wisdom, ask God who gives to all liberally and without reproach and it will be given.
God may use an individual or something else to make the light bulb turn on in your head, to illuminate something that God has already shown you to make it click. But that's the illumination of the Holy Spirit at work, not the illumination of some divine messenger of God.
Jesus WAS and IS the final authority. We're to listen to Him and no one else. He will NEVER send anyone into our lives with a special divine revelation that He wouldn't provide for us personally Himself through our time alone with Him in prayer or in His Word.