Now, I am not talking about any specific person here, but what I would like to know is: What would your doctor say if you mentioned at a consultation that you regularly had conversations with God, and God tells you to do things? You hear God's voice as if He was there in the room with you and he chats away about a variety of things. What do you think your doctor would say?
That's a great question Brian. As a Christian, I would have to ask the same kinds of questions about anyone that proclaims that they speak with God. Even as a Christian, I would be leery if someone claimed to talk with God. The reason being that so many of the claimants do suffer from mental disease and exhibit delusions of grandeur.
If anyone claimed to have conversations with God, I'd first ask if their conversation was audible. I would then ask what the conversation entailed. If the "calling" entailed anything contrary to Scripture, then the claimant is either, A. making it up to get attention, B. Mentally disturbed and are hearing auditory voices from either a demonic source or that it stems from some sort of malady, or C. this person has been bestowed a gift that effects only a privaleged few in human history.
But even C has problems because the Word says that all "new" revelation comes through dreams in the last days or it comes through a soft, still voice in the mind.
I think in order to discern whether someone actually speaks with God, you have to take quite a few variables into consideration. My own conversations with God comes through a soft, still voice. It is by no means a booming voice of the arch angel, nor can it be verified by empiricism. Anyone claiming that I was simply hearing my own voice or that I heard what I wanted to hear, they'd have a good argument against me. But the very nature of God requires so very much on the personal line that it might be hard to distinguish those who merely wish for it to be real from those who have experienced an actual conversation.
Jesus said that we would know people by their fruits. This has served me in so many ways. Its such a true statement. And even if someone didn't have any sort of relgious affinities can take that onboard. I can always tell who is close to God and who has never met Him in a relatively short amount of time just by their actions and personalities. Anyone imbued by the Spirit has a certain quality that doesn't have a price tag attached to it and it isn't revealed with a giant, flashing neon sign. Its a simple, quiet understanding.
That's what I can bring to the table with my two cents. I think it was a great question and I hope that my two cents have some appreciable value to them.
“Always be ready to give a defense to
everyone who asks you a reason for the
hope that is in you.” -1st Peter 3:15
™ Version 4.2
