God Told Me
Years ago, my dad (Forrest Moyer) was on live radio teaching Scripture. A man called in and said, "God spoke to me and told me to play my guitar in church." Dad responded, "Really? Well God told me not to." The man quickly responded, "Oh no He didn't." Hmm.
I was having a Bible study with a couple one time. Both of them claimed to be led and inspired by the Holy Spirit. They even argued that the Spirit gave them perfect memory of passages. A few minutes later into the study, the man started to quote a passage … and completely jumbled it. I reminded him, "I thought you said the Spirit gave you perfect memory." His wife, angry at me, sternly warned me, "Don't you blaspheme the Holy Spirit." I wasn't the one so blaspheming.
My wife and I were studying with some Mormon sisters. They insisted that we "read, ponder, and pray" so that the Holy Spirit would confirm that they were right (and yes, we have read, pondered, and prayed … often). I asked, "Have you read, pondered, and prayed" over the work of Ellen G. White, Herbert W. Armstrong, or Charles Taze Russell? "No," they answered. "Then how do you know that you are right and they were wrong?" I asked. "Because we know this (pointing to the Book of Mormon) is right," they said. I made the same point about the Scriptures.
It's funny how we get a feeling and think, "It must the Holy Spirit." This leads us to the inevitable conclusion, "My feelings must be right." Of course, once you start down that path, everyone is going to be right.
The Spirit certainly has spoken. Our task is to study hard to see what He said. God has spoken to us "in His Son" (Hebrews 1:2), and He won't reveal anything new, especially if it is contrary to what He has already revealed. Measure all doctrines by the standard of God's revelation. Anything else should be "accursed" (Galatians 1:6-8).
