by Terry Wane Benton<\/p>\n
A few years ago, I read directly from one lady who claimed two false things while claiming, “God told me.” She claimed that 1) God told her to tell others that God forbids His people from getting the COVID-19 vaccine, and 2) taking it is “the mark of the beast.” Now, I’m not ridiculing her misguided faith. She probably believes this sincerely, but the point is that believing “God told me” such and such is usually self-deception.<\/p>\n
God has spoken to us through His Son (Hebrews 1:1-2), and the Spirit guided Jesus’ apostles into “all truth<\/em>” (John 16:13). The faith has been “once for all delivered to the saints<\/em>” (Jude 3). God speaks to us through the completed Bible (II Timothy 3:16-17). It completely<\/em> furnishes the man of God. Therefore, I am listening to the Holy Spirit when I listen to His revealed and confirmed word (Hebrews 3:7f). I know that is the voice of the Holy Spirit. But when someone goes outside the Bible and starts talking about what God told them, I don’t believe it. This imaginary voice is why we have conflicting messages.<\/p>\n If God forbids the vaccine, then it is a\u00a0sin\u00a0<\/strong>to get it. If it is not a sin to get it, then God\u00a0did not<\/strong>\u00a0speak to that woman, no matter how sincere she is. She is wrong. See my earlier article on whether the vaccine is “the mark of the beast.<\/em>” That is a misuse of the message of Revelation 13.<\/p>\n We need to realize that when someone says, “God told me,” this is the same self-deception that went on among the false prophets (Jeremiah 9:14; 7:24; 14:14). It is a false vision of their wild imagination. They claim to be speaking for God but are actually self-deceived. If you cannot find it in the Bible that “thoroughly furnishes the man of God,” then you are not required to take seriously those who depart from that complete message.<\/p>\n You can get a thousand conflicting voices claiming “God told me,” but there is only one complete message that will guide you completely and safely to God. Listen to what the Spirit says in the scriptures that He revealed and confirmed for all people for all time. Gullibility will go along with people who claim “God told me.” That is how many false religions got started.<\/p>\n Many false religions got started and continue to deceive all because people were gullible. When someone says, “God told me,” and they are not pointing to the Scriptures, run away as fast as you can. Deception is in the air!<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Terry Wane Benton A few years ago, I read directly from one lady who claimed two false things while claiming, “God told me.” She claimed that 1) God told her to tell others that God forbids His people from getting the COVID-19 vaccine, and 2) taking it is “the mark of the beast.” Now,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[1560,428,169],"class_list":["post-82705","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-false-prophets","tag-gifts-of-the-holy-spirit","tag-prophecy"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":41843,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/subjective-spirit-leading\/","url_meta":{"origin":82705,"position":0},"title":"Subjective Spirit Leading","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 12, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton Subjective \"Spirit Leading\" is when one is moved by imagined nudging and impulses, then attributes that imagination to the \"leading of the Spirit.\" It often never is in complete harmony with the Spirit's \"revelation\" in the Bible. It is sometimes outright contrary to Spirit guidance through\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":40784,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/god-told-me\/","url_meta":{"origin":82705,"position":1},"title":"God Told Me","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 1, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"by Doy Moyer 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\u00a0not\u00a0to.\" The man quickly responded, \"Oh no He didn't.\" Hmm.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":24354,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/my-girlfriend-thinks-she-blasphemed-the-holy-spirit-and-cant-be-forgiven\/","url_meta":{"origin":82705,"position":2},"title":"My girlfriend thinks she blasphemed the Holy Spirit and can’t be forgiven","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 22, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: My girlfriend some time ago after reading a Benny Hinn book about the Holy Spirit, whom she heavily disagree with, found herself unable to resist thinking against the Holy Spirit. I'm not sure what she thought, but she assures me that it was terrible. Since then she has had\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":70603,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/substituting-the-spirits-words\/","url_meta":{"origin":82705,"position":3},"title":"Substituting the Spirit’s Words","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 27, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Abraham Smith There are many false ideas about the work and influence of the Holy Spirit. In my estimation, the vast majority of these false ideas are rooted in the fact that people do not understand the connection between the Holy Spirit and the word of God. Ephesians 6:17\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":54601,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-spirit-speaks\/","url_meta":{"origin":82705,"position":4},"title":"The Spirit Speaks","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 15, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry W. Benton The Spirit speaks completely through the scriptures. The Spirit gave the Scriptures so that we would know what the apostles knew (Ephesians 3:3-5). We can know all that the Spirit revealed to Paul, read it, and then know all he knew. That is no small matter\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":32268,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-i-answer-the-claim-that-the-scriptures-have-some-truth-but-cant-be-infallible-because-men-were-involved-in-its-writing\/","url_meta":{"origin":82705,"position":5},"title":"How do I answer the claim that the Scriptures have some truth but can’t be infallible because men were involved in its writing?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 24, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I was talking about the inspiration of Scripture with a friend. He claimed that the Scriptures had some truth and were inspired by God, but were not infallible because men had to have messed it up in our fallibility. 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