I get this question frequently. Someone wrote recently and in my response I forgot about this series:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Post authored by:
R. Scott Clark
R.Scott Clark is the President of the Heidelberg Reformation Association, the author and editor of, and contributor to several books and the author of many articles. He has taught church history and historical theology since 1997 at Westminster Seminary California. He has also taught at Wheaton College, Reformed Theological Seminary, and Concordia University. He has hosted the Heidelblog since 2007.
More by R. Scott Clark ›
Thank you, Dr. Clark. I guess I can say that you’ve freed from the “still-silent voice” syndrome. In the normal course of life, I think it is foolish to try and manufacture this “still-silent voice” – that comes once in Scripture and has its meaning taken out of context. Thank you!
However, a question still remains (I guess this relates more to the other post on Spiritual Gifts, but I’ll ask anyway). You say that if people receive a direct word from God, then it ought to be added to the canon; by extension, the end of the canonical era would justify the cessation of gifts like prophecy. But, even during the apostolic era, non-Apostle Christians did prophecy (as implied by Paul’s commands in 1 Cor 12 – if nobody other than the Apostles had the gift of Prophesy, Paul would not mention it). Yet, these Christians did not have their prophesies recorded in Scripture. A clearer example of this that comes to mind is 1 Samuel 10:10 – Saul prophesies, yet his prophesy is not recorded. He receives a word from God, yet this is not recorded in the canon of Scripture. So can’t we accept that there is non-canonical prophesy that people can receive (again relates more to the other post).
Nonetheless, thanks a lot for this post! Really, well explained. Posted it on my blog (http://phil2v13.wordpress.com/2009/08/10/weekly-fire-81009/ )
Thanks again, and God bless.
-phil2v13
Actually, I have a copy of it in single-document form. I took Dr. Clark’s previous posts and concatenated them into a single Word doc. I suspect we’d need his permission to distribute it, though … or could send it to him and save him the work (unless he’s using an Apple).
As a side note, I gave this to a Baptist friend to read. When she was done she looked at me and said, “Now I understand why you say the things you do about prayer.” I asked her what she meant by that and she replied that she does, indeed, listen for God to speak to her. This made me pay extra attention to some her and her friends’ discussions. It turns out that they constantly made remarks about praying to “see what God directs them to to” in certain situations – not that there’s anything wrong with that per se, but they expected direct signs, answers, or responses outside of either what Scripture says or where practically applied logic would lead them.
Good read. I’d missed or been too busy to read it the first time around.
Do you have this as a single document anywhere?
No, not yet.
This might be a useful thing to have on hand.
I personally don’t see a whole lot of “roll dem bones” type divination, but “I think God is telling me” stuff is real common.