One of the most difficult areas within the Christian life is the area of guidance. Does God speak to His people today and still provide guidance for them?
On one side, we have those like Oral Roberts, who would have us believe that God has spoken to them and, in Roberts' case, that He told him to raise $8 million for OR University or else he would be killed by God. And now we have Roberts' son, Richard Roberts, who, with his wife Lindsay, apparently has been caught in a scandal that alleges all sorts of misconduct and hypocritical behavior. The junior Roberts is now claiming something similar, namely, that God has spoken to him directly, telling him (and the rest of us through Roberts) that this lawsuit is bunk. "We live in a litigious society," God says, according to Roberts. "Anyone can get mad and file a lawsuit against another person whether they have a legitimate case or not. This lawsuit...is about intimidation, blackmail and extortion."
Well, how nice and convenient. In both Roberts' cases, they have claimed that God has told them something that just happens to suit their own particular fancies. I am tempted to say quite a bit in regard to the particular situations of Oral and Richard Roberts, especially in light of the evidence that is coming out against the latter and his wife. But, I will refrain, largely because it is possible that the Roberts are not guilty of these charges. I simply want to ask one question:
How do we know these things were from the Lord?
How do we know that it was the Lord who told Oral to "threaten" Christians in order to raise $8 million? And how do we know it was the Lord who told Richard that this lawsuit, which appears to cite several instances of significant ethical misconduct, is only about "intimidation, blackmail and extortion"? How do we know it was the Lord and not the pizza they had the night before that was speaking to them?
While there are at least 5 or 6 things that immediately spring to mind to say in response to these things, I want only to raise 1 point today. And that is this:
God does NOT speak today.
Now, before anyone runs to fetch the tar and feathers, please hear me out. I do believe that God guides His people today. So if we define "speak" to mean "guide" (as I'm about to define it) then I wouldn't really have a problem with it. What I mean is that God does not speak audibly to His people today, as He did in the OT. And God no longer speaks new things to His people today, as He did in the OT. To suggest that He does, is to misunderstand what the canon of Scripture is all about and to misunderstand that it is now closed. With the coming of Christ (Heb. 1:1ff), God no longer speaks to His people; He no longer gives new revelation to His people. That is what the warning at the end of the book of Revelation is all about. God's Book is closed. To say that He still speaks is to say that He still HAS to speak; it is to suggest that the Bible is insufficient, that it doesn't give us all that we need to live as Christians. While the Bible clearly is not an encyclopedia of information on every conceivable subject, it is wholly sufficient for matters of faith and practice. God does not speak new things today, because He does not need to. He has already given us everything we need to live as Christians.
But, even though God does not speak, He does, as we have said, guide His people. This guidance, however, is always according to the revealed and sufficient Word of God. If you believe that God is telling you something or leading you in a direction that contradicts something in His revealed Word, then you can count on the fact that it is NOT from God.
To make application, this means, for Richard Roberts (assuming the charges being made against him and his wife are true--and, having seen the charges that are being made, it would appear that they are true at least to some degree) that God most emphatically DID NOT tell him anything like what he is saying God said--not the God of the Bible, anyway. The God of the Bible leads His people into paths of righteousness (Psalm 23:3)--not paths of UNrighteousness--and He does so for His name sake--not for OUR name sake. There is no sin in God; there is not even any shadow of turning. He does not advocate sin, neither does He condone it in any way. God is holy, holy, holy, and, because He is so, He always advocates holiness for His people.
But we need to say more. We need to say that God can and does guide or lead His people into certain courses of actions. He often does so simply by burdening our hearts with a particular situation or issue. This burdening, however, must always be subject to God's Word. And it must be attended by much prayer and the counsel of other mature Christians. And, even then, the MOST that we can say is that we THINK God is leading us in such and such a direction or to do such and such a thing. Even then, we CANNOT say definitively that God has TOLD us to do this.
We are sinful creatures. And our sin affects the decisions that we make. But, if we have been earnest and diligent in seeking the Lord's guidance, in praying through the situation, and in seeking the counsel of godly men and women, we have every reason to expect that it is God who is leading us in that direction.
But, even then, I still wouldn't say that God TOLD us to do it. Why?
Well, each one of us can still be wrong, and the counselors that we seek for advice can also be wrong (we are all sinners and all too prone to error). In this case, then, we would be ascribing to God's will something that actually was a product of our own sinfulness.
What is more, when we say that God told us to do something, it makes it impossible for anyone to disagree with us. How could anyone say that we are wrong? They would then be saying that God actually did NOT tell you that.
I think that is the real reason that folks like Oral and Richard Roberts say that God has told them to do such and such a thing. It removes the issue from further discussion. People who disagree and argue against them are now disagreeing and arguing against God.
No comments:
Post a Comment