"Hearing God" by Dallas Willard- Reviewed by Gary Gilley

"The danger of Willard’s imaginative teachings on hearing from God through an inner voice can hardly be exaggerated.  Rather than turning people to the inspired authoritative Scriptures for God’s word today, Willard turns us toward the subjective, unreliable self.  The result is a people who believe they have heard from God even as they turn from the Word of God itself." Gary Gilley

The following by Dr. Gary Gilley, pastor of Southern View Chapel, is republished at Apprising Ministries with permission:

Hearing God was previous published by Regal (1984), then by Harper (1993), and finally InterVarsity (1999) under the tital of In Search of Guidance.  This updated and expanded edition is published under the Formatio wing of InterVarsity Press which offers numerous books promoting spiritual formation and “Christian” mysticism.  At the heart of both spiritual formation and mysticism is God speaking beyond the pages of Scripture.

For this reason Hearing God is an important book, written by one of the premiere leaders within the movement.   That Willard is merely updating the same message he delivered nearly 30 years ago shows that the spiritual formation movement has not changed its basic teachings.  And what are they?  In essence, that we can live “the kind of life where hearing God is not an uncommon occurrence” (p. 12), for “hearing God is but one dimension of a richly interactive relationship and obtaining guidance is but one facet of hearing God” (p. 13).  In other words, the maturing Christian should expect to hear the voice of God, independent from Scripture, on a regular basis and that voice will reveal God’s individual, specific will for his life.  Such individual communication from the Lord, we are told, is absolutely essential because without it there can be no personal walk with God (pp. 26, 31, 67).  And it is those who are hearing from God today who will redefine “Christian spirituality for our time” (p. 15).

This premise leads to a very practical problem, however, one Willard will address throughout the book in many ways.  The problem is, how does one know that he has really heard from God?  Could he not be confusing his own thoughts, or even implanted thoughts from Satan (pp. 235-237), with the voice of God?  This is even more problematic because Willard believes that while God can speak audibly or use dreams and visions, normally His voice will come as a “still small voice” heard only within our own hearts and minds.  In fact, so vital is this “still small voice” that the author devotes his largest chapter to exploring what it means (chapter 5, pp. 114-153).  Yet in all of his discussion on the topic, it never seems to dawn on Willard that the original “still small voice” to Elijah (1 Kings 19:12-18) was in fact an audible voice, not an inward impression or thought.

Since Willard believes that God normally speaks to us through an inner, inaudible, subjective voice (p. 130) and that it is possible that God is speaking and we do not even know it (pp. 118-120), how can we be certain when God is speaking to us?  In answer Willard boldly informs us that we can only learn the voice of God through experience (pp. 9, 19, 21, 63, 143).  He clearly states, “The only answer to the question, how do we know whether this is from God? is By experience” (p. 218) (emphasis his).

The author will use the word “experience” over 130 times, and equivalents hundreds of times more.  The mechanics of learning the voice of God is detailed on pages 217-251 but ultimately it all boils down to experience.  And until we have the experience it will apparently be necessary for those who have themselves supposedly heard from God to guide us.  Without such help we may not be able to detect the voice of God (p. 221).  Never mind that the Scriptures never tells us how, nor supplies techniques, to know when God is speaking, nor does the Bible ever tell us that we need to learn the voice of God.  This is all pure fabrication on Willard’s part.

As a matter of fact every time God speaks in Scripture it is through an audible voice, never through an inner voice, impressions or feelings, and that includes Elijah’s still small voice.  Willard is advocating a form of communication from God never found in the pages of Scripture; he then elevates this inner voice to the very essence of our relationship with God.  He attempts to prove this not only through his own experience but also by the examples of others such as Ken Taylor, George Fox, Teresa of Avila, St. Francis, Henri Nouwen and many others (see pp. 23-27).  Willard attempts to intimidate his readers as well by telling them that God’s communication in this way to early Christians was a normal experience (pp. 70, 119) (which it wasn’t), that if we are not hearing from God it may be that we are out of tune with Him (p. 90), and that the Bible and the church are inadequate for developing a personal relationship with God (pp. 140, 186).

Willard teaches many theological errors as well.  For example, as might be expected the author has a low view of Scripture.  He believes the Bible is God’s inspired written word given to “provide us with a general understanding of God to inspire and cultivate a corresponding faith” (p. 87).  But if we want to find out what God is saying to us personally we must go beyond the Bible (p. 218).  Further Willard warns us of what he calls “Bible deism,” which is the view that God communicates to us today through Scripture alone (p. 142).  As a matter of fact the Bible may prove a deadly snare:  “We can even destroy ourselves by Bible study; specifically, by the study of Paul’s epistles” (p. 187).

And even if the Bible is inerrant in the original texts it “does not guarantee sane and sound, much less error-free, interpretations” (p. 185).  Willard clearly has a postmodern understanding of Scripture (i.e. it can never be rightly understood apart from God’s present-day communications) (p. 185).  In conjunction with this view of Scripture is the idea (wrongly drawn from Luke 17:7-10) that an obsession to obey God “may be the very thing that rules out being the kind of person that He calls us to be” (p. 14).

Willard teaches a number of other deviate ideas including:

• God plans His life around us (p. 47).

• We become the royal priesthood of God when we have learned to hear from God (pp. 69-71).

• Similarly we become the temple of God through the same means (p. 76).

• As well, we do not start the Christian life as the slave of God, we become His slave in time through a maturing process (p. 77).

• Based on Colossians 1:19-29 he believes the resolution of the world’s problems, although finalized at Christ’s return, begins now (p. 75).

• The gospel is not reconciliation to God by faith but, “The good news that the kingdom rule of God is available to humankind here and now” (p. 202, cf. pp. 203-204).

In order to learn to hear the subjective voice of God, Willard recommends the use of lectio divina, which is custom made for this imaginative endeavor.  As a result a co-writer provides six lectio exercises to pave the way (pp. 48-51, 104-105, 132-133, 165-166, 208-209, 247-250).  The ultimate goal in all of this is to have the mind of Christ (pp. 71-72) which means to Willard that “we understand what God is doing so well that we often know exactly what God is thinking and intending to do” (p. 71).

The danger of Willard’s imaginative teachings on hearing from God through an inner voice can hardly be exaggerated.  Rather than turning people to the inspired authoritative Scriptures for God’s word today, Willard turns us toward the subjective, unreliable self.  The result is a people who believe they have heard from God even as they turn from the Word of God itself.

The original appears here.

Review of Experiencing God- Part 3

Here are a couple important quotes regarding some of the problems with some of Henry Blackaby's views.

"Nowhere in Scripture are we taught to rip a verse out of context, apply it to our personal life, then declare that God has spoken to us. If nothing else, this is poor hermeneutics."

With the closure of Scripture, direct, infallible, authoritative revelation from God has ceased for this age.  (Rev 22:18-19; Ephesians 2:20, 3:5; Jude 3:4; II Peter 3:2) It is instructive to note that at the time Paul wrote his pastor friend Timothy about how to lead the church of God, he did not encourage Timothy to focus on new revelations, impressions, feelings or hunches. Rather he continually turned him to the Word of God and the doctrines contained within (II Timothy 2:2-14, 15; 3:15-17; 4:2-4) May we do the same.

Experiencing God - Part 3

(August 1998 - Volume 4, Issue 7) 

In a previous Think on These Things (Vol. 3, Issue 8, 9), we warned of certain errant views and teachings of Henry Blackaby and his book Experiencing God. We were recently surprised when David Hunt dismissed these concerns and threw his weight behind Blackaby. This greatly concerns us since on most issues we stand hand-in-hand with Hunt. More importantly, to many people Hunt’s word is law. Therefore, it is highly conceivable that many of Hunt’s 30,000 readers will uncritically read Experiencing God material and/or attend a seminar on the subject, whereby finding themselves taken in with Blackaby’s brand of mysticism and subjectivity. With all of this in mind, we have decided to write a response to Hunt. The following quote is the complete statement as found inThe Berean Call, May 1998. Immediately following will be our response to what Hunt has written.

The Berean Call, May 1998

Question [composite of many letters]: We are very concerned about a course being taught in our church called Experiencing God: Knowing and Doing the Will of God. The manual is by Henry Blackaby and Claude King and it seems to be promoting what TBC has referred to as "experience-driven spirituality" (5/95). Some might even call it occultism. What is your opinion of the manual?

Answer [as given by David Hunt]: We have recently reviewed Experiencing God. With more than 2 million copies sold, it has become very popular among Christians. After an initial cursory look, there did seem to be a number of potential problems with some of the statements made by the authors. For example, they write, "I come to know God by experience as I obey Him and He accomplishes His work through me" (p.19); "If you have trouble hearing God speak, you are in trouble at the very heart of your Christian experience" (p.36); "Prayer is two-way fellowship and communication with God. You speak to God and He speaks to you" (p. 87); "With God working through that servant, he or she can do anything God can do. Wow! Unlimited potential!" (p. 17).

Given what is clearly a ravenous appetite for mysticism today, in the world as well as within professing Christianity, those deeply concerned with the biblical health of fellow believers see such statements as highly toxic. Indeed, they are alarming at first glance. However, following a careful reading of the manual, these statements are not as some perceive them to be.

The heart of the manual seems to be a reminder to believers that at the time they received the gospel of salvation, they began "a personal encounter with the living Christ" (p. 212). That reality involves a developing personal relationship with God which will continue for all eternity. Since this is the thrust of the writing, the authors address the elements incorporated in a personal relationship: fellowship, intimacy, communication, love, obedience, service, knowledge, experience, etc. Experiencing God seeks to encourage these elements in every believer’s walk with the Lord, and for that we find the book valuable.

The major problem with the manual, it seems, is not its premise, but the confusion created by its more prominent terms and statements. Not enough care is taken in the wording, especially in view of today’s deceptive spiritual climate. When the authors use the term "experience," such as in "knowing God by experience," they mean, first and foremost, through God’s Word: "Interpret experience by Scripture. Look to see what God says and how He works in the Scriptures. Make your decisions and evaluate your experiences based upon biblical principles. Our experiences cannot be our guide.

Every experience must be controlled and understood by the Scriptures" (p. 13). . . . "The Bible is my guide for faith and practice" (p. 14). In other places in the manual, the term "experience" refers to what we have learned about God’s character throughout our walk with Him, i.e., God working personally and practically in our lives and proving Himself as revealed in His Word.

"Hearing from God," as the authors address that subject, is far removed from the approach taken by today’s contemplative mystics and Christianized mediums. Blackaby and King state emphatically, "God speaks by the Holy Spirit through the Bible, prayer, circumstances, and the church to reveal Himself, His purposes, and His ways" (p. 37). Formulas, seeking signs and wonders, random Bible-verse picking, (fleece) methods, and claiming to have a word from God are all presented with caveats. In the manual, "two-way communication with God," perhaps one of the most occult sounding phrases, is not the continual dialogue with God as promoted and taught by the various "Schools of the Prophets" cropping up all over the country. Again, the authors, seemingly oblivious to today’s subjective experiential bent in society and the church, have grounded this experience upon God speaking objectively through the Scriptures, the Holy Spirit’s ministry, one’s response in obedience, and God working in and through one’s life (p. 84). There are other seemingly problematic statements in the manual but all are clarified (to some degree) by biblical support. Thus, the authors cannot legitimately be accused of promoting mysticism.

In their encouragements related to one’s communion with God, Blackaby and King underscore the necessity of a growing, intimate love relationship with Jesus Christ as critical in recognizing His voice (according to John 10:4). While such an exhortation is beneficial to every believer, at times the authors give the impression that hearing from God, as Moses (and other prophets) did, could be the rule rather that the exception. Not only does that go beyond the promise of the Word; even the most compelling examples form the authors’ own lives fall far short of the experiences of Moses, "whom the Lord knew face to face" (Dt. 34:10).

Finally, it’s been reported that some Catholic meditative organizations are using the manual for contemplative, experiencing-God weekends. One reason for this is the almost incidental gospel introduced at the beginning of the manual (p. 8). The authors, writing primarily for believers, added an apparently hasty and even vague presentation of the gospel of salvation. This plays into the hands of mystically oriented groups who deny that salvation comes only by grace through faith alone in who Christ is and His finished sacrifice on the cross.

While we regard it crucial that more cautions should have been given, we commend the authors for challenging us to love God with our hearts and expecting God's hand to be evident in blessing our lives and service.

A Response to David Hunt’s Support of Experiencing God

I would like to begin this essay by acknowledging that the Christian world owes many thanks to David Hunt. He is a man who has fearlessly, articulately and convincingly contended for the fundamentals of the faith. Certainly he has strengthened the heart of many a weary believer who has grown tired of the battle for truth. What an encouragement to find men like Hunt who will not back down, even when their views are scorned and mocked, and who spur us on to do the same.

Of course Hunt is not perfect, as he would be the first to admit. He calls himself a Berean, one who searches the Scriptures, not men’s opinions, for truth. He invites other Bereans to challenge him on his views. This, we believe, we must do in light of Hunt’s recent support (The Berean Call, May 1998) of Henry Blackaby and his book, manual and seminars on "Experiencing God."

Hunt, in essence, has made the claim that the critics of Blackaby have simply misunderstood him. That while Blackaby may have been careless and sloppy in many of his statements, he nevertheless is biblical in his teachings. We beg to differ! Even as we are willing to give Blackaby the benefit of the doubt in some statements, we nevertheless believe that he is in error on several weighty issues. We will deal with two such issues below (for a more complete study see Think on These Things, Vol. 3, Issues 8 & 9).

The Issue of Experience and Scripture

We agree with Hunt and Blackaby that at the moment of conversion we begin "a personal encounter with the living Christ." That Blackaby encourages an intimate relationship with Christ is not the problem; the problem is the methodology that he promotes. Hunt recognizes that Blackaby is on thin ice here but says, "The major problem with the manual, it seems, is not its premise, but the confusion created by its more prominent termsand statements. Not enough care is taken in the wording, especially in view of today’s deceptive spiritual climate" (emphasis mine). According to Hunt, Blackaby has a semantics problem, not a doctrinal one. And so, when Blackaby uses the word "experience" (in the context of "knowing God by experience") he does not mean mystical, unbiblical or extrabiblical experiences, he means, we are assured by Hunt, experiences that are "first and foremost, through God’s Word." Hunt then supplies supporting quotes from the Experiencing God manual.

But is this the case? Is Blackaby routing us back to the Word, grounding our experiences in Scriptures? Sometimes! But far too often he is taking his reader in another direction — that of the sovereignty of subjective experiences (what at least some of us would term mysticism). We rest our case on two pieces of evidence:

Specific Statements

In the book, which I assume contains a more in-depth understanding of Blackaby’s views than the manual, from which Hunt takes his quotes, Blackaby says (all emphases mine): "Knowing God only comes throughexperience as he reveals Himself to me through my experiences with Him" (p. 5). "If you have trouble hearing God speak, you are in trouble at the very heart of your Christian experience" (p. 87). Apparently Hunt assumes that this means hearing God through Scripture, a faulty assumption, as the next quote proves: "When God gets ready to do something, He reveals to a person or His people what He is going to do" (p. 31). Just how could God reveal to a person (in Scripture) a specific task that He is going to perform today? Blackaby’s book and manual are absolutely riddled with such quotes — and this holds the key to its popularity. If Experiencing Godwas a book about how to know God through the study, meditation, and memorization of the Bible it would probably not be a best seller, there are plenty of such books. This is a book on how to "feel God" and how to feel His leading. You can feel God, according to Blackaby, when "He speaks to you in the Bible, prayer, circumstances, and the church" (fourth of Seven Realities upon which the book is based). We might be wise to ask at this point, "What does God feel like?" How do we know that a subjective experience is the presence of God, or some other of many possibilities? We don’t know, and with good reason; the Bible never tells us what an experience with God feels like.

Specific Examples

I have found in my twenty-five years of preaching and teaching that many will loudly agree with general statements, but quickly backpedal when specifics or names are attached. Along with Hunt, I can say amen to many of Blackaby’s statements referring to God speaking to us through His Word. But is that what Blackaby is really teaching, as Hunt thinks? General statements can be taken either way, but Blackaby’s examples reveal his true meaning. Here are two of many:

• A story is told of a lady who awakened one night with Luke 4:24 running through her mind (pp. 105-106). She got up to read the passage, and "that morning the Lord spoke to Gail through the Bible. She realized that even Jesus had to leave His hometown in order to ‘preach the good news of the Kingdom of God to the other towns’" (v.24). She believed that the Holy Spirit was telling her to go with her husband to a different part of the country and begin a new ministry. On the basis of this mystical experience by the Word of God, she "obeys." If this is "interpreting experience by the Word of God" as Hunt believes, he takes a different approach to the Word than I can live with. This is pure subjectivity that needs to be identified as such. Nowhere in Scripture are we taught to rip a verse out of context, apply it to our personal life, then declare that God has spoken to us. If nothing else this is poor hermeneutics.

• In many ways the most concerning, and potentially damaging thing that Blackaby does is misuse the Bible. Far too often he fails to examine carefully the grammatical, contextual meaning of the Scriptures he employs. The result is ignoring the meaning of a passage and twisting the Word to mean what he wants it to say. A case in point is Romans 8:26, 27 which is interpreted in a novel way to teach us that the Holy Spirit, "helps us know the will of God as we pray. . . The Holy Spirit’s task is to get you to ask for it" (pp. 110-111). Of course this passage teaches no such thing; rather it speaks of the Holy Spirit praying for us according to the will of God. That this is not just a sloppy use of Scripture is evident when a story is given in the manual (p.89) detailing how Blackaby hid a bike in the garage for his son’s birthday present, and then convinced his boy that what he wanted was a bike. In Blackaby’s application, God has in "His garage" things He wants to give us. When the holy Spirit convinces us that we want these things, and ask for them, God gives them. The Holy Spirit is said to do all of this through subjective impressions and feelings, not through proper study and application of Scripture. This is a serious error that will teach the followers of Experiencing God to spiritualize and misapply the very Word of God.

Story after story is used in Blackaby’s works, showing what he truly means by "experiencing God." It is not a matter of unfortunate "terms and statements" (as Hunt seems to believe), it is a matter of the integrity of the Word of God.

The Issue of God Speaking Today

Hunt proclaims, "Hearing from God," as the authors (Blackaby and Claude King) address that subject, is far removed from the approach taken by today’s contemplative mystics and Christianized mediums." Yes, it is. We are not accusing Blackaby of being in a class with David Seamands, Karen Mains, or Richard Foster, but that does not mean that he is correct in his teaching concerning God speaking today. At issue is not whether the Bible is the Word of God — Blackaby, Hunt, Seamands, Mains, Foster, myself, and most of my readers would wholeheartedly agree with that. At issue is the subject of revelation. More to the point, is God speaking today, directly, infallibly, and independently of the Scriptures? Does He reveal Himself, His will, His truth, apart from the Bible? Without question Blackaby believes He does. Without question Hunt believes He does. Without question, under the sway of Charismatic influence, most Christians today believe He does. Without question I do not believe that Scripture supports such a thesis.

Concerning Blackaby, note the following quotes revealing his view of revelation, i.e. that God directly tells us (or at least confirms) what to do apart from Scripture: "When I present what I see as a biblical principle, you can depend on the Holy Spirit to confirm whether that teaching comes form God or not (p. 3). "Two years before, God had spoken to me through His Word that a time would come when I would need to leave my job" (Claude King, p. XII). King speaks, not of a carefully analyzed passage of Scripture from which he derived principles, but from a subjective experience he had while misusing Scripture. "When God reveals His work to you, that is His timing for you to begin to respond to Him" (p. 35). "When God reveals to you what He is doing, that is when you need to respond. He speaks when He is about to accomplish His purposes" (p. 81). "God reveals His purposes so you will know what He plans to do. If you are to join Him, you need to know what God is about to do. . . God speaks with a purpose in mind" (p. 99). "When God starts to do something in the world, He takes the initiative to come and talk to somebody" (p. 66). "When God speaks to you, you will be able to know He is the one speaking, and you will know clearly what He is saying to you" (p. 87). On and on we could go. It is obvious that Blackaby is not referring to Scripture alone when he writes of God speaking to us. God speaks to us in many ways and forms, apart from Scripture, we are told, but we are not told how we know it is God speaking and not Satan or our own emotions. Blackaby does not answer this, for indeed he cannot. Scripture gives no criteria by which to resolve that issue.

As for Hunt, it seems to be a little known fact that he is not a cessationist — at least in practice, (one who believes not only that the canon of Scripture is closed, and that tongues are not for this dispensation, but also that new revelation from God is no longer being given). His roots are in Pentecostalism, from which he has never totally broken. His closest ties are with Chuck Smith and the Calvary Chapels, a moderately charismatic denomination. He still believes in tongues, and apparently retains the Pentecostal/charismatic view of revelation (although he would deny the latter charge vehemently). So my initial shock at Hunt’s position on Experiencing God was an overreaction. Hunt is supportive of Blackaby because their view of revelation is the same. Hunt is a moderate charismatic, Blackaby a mystical Baptist (some call it Bapticostal).

The point is that both men hold an open view of revelation — God is still speaking today — not contrary to, but definitely apart from, the Scriptures. Such a position will lead to errors of doctrine and practice, but most importantly, it is unbiblical.

The Scriptures claim to be the Word of God (II Timothy 3:16,17; II Peter 1:20,21). They are inspired, once for all, by the Holy Spirit enabling prophets and apostles, while using their own personalities, to write God’s words as He intended (Hebrews 1:1,2; 2:3,4; Acts 5:12; II Corinthians 12:12). With the closure of Scripture, direct, infallible, authoritative revelation from God has ceased for this age (Revelation 22:18,19; Ephesians 2:20;3:5; Jude 3,4; II Peter 3:2). It is instructive to note that at the time Paul wrote his pastor friend Timothy about how to lead the church of God, he did not encourage Timothy to focus on new revelations, impressions, feelings or hunches. Rather, he continually turned him to the Word of God and the doctrines contained within (II Timothy 2:2 - 14,15; 3:15-17; 4:2-4). May we do the same.

Experiencing God Part 2- By Gary Gilley

Here is part 2 of Gary Gilley's look at Henry Blackaby's Experiencing God. It may be older, but this topic of hearing from God pops up all the time. I think Gilley does a fair job of outlining some of the problems with the book and its teachings.

Experiencing God - Part 2
Written by Gary Gilley  
(November 1997 - Volume 3, Issue 9)

In our last paper we began dealing with the widely popular teachings of Henry Blackaby in his best selling book, Experiencing God. While we are in agreement with many things Blackaby teaches we have grave concerns about his approach and use of Scripture. We challenged him with distortion of Scripture along three fronts. Last time we highlighted his general misuse of the Word of God. In this paper we will examine Blackaby’s neo-orthodoxy and highly mystical view of Scripture.

Neo-Orthodoxy

The second front along which we want to challenge Blackaby is that of his neo-orthodox leanings. We need to carefully explain what we mean here. We are not saying that Blackaby is neo-orthodox, he would surely deny this handle and he may know very little about the system. However, this does not mean that he has not been influenced by neo-orthodox teachings. I recently challenged a "biblical" marriage seminar leader by telling him that his teachings were closer in line with those of Dobson and Crabbe than with the Bible. He told me that could not be, because he had never read the works of Dobson or Crabbe. That is a little naive! Many humanists have never read the Humanist Manifesto, but they are humanists. Most people have never read Carl Rogers or Sigmund Freud, yet their ideas permeate our society. Also, a large number of Christians are not familiar with the origins of a great variety of concepts that they accept, often believing them to be biblical.

Neo-orthodoxy is a "Christian" theology which finds its roots in the existential teachings of Soren Kierkegaard and Karl Barth. Barth was a German theologian attempting to move away from liberalism by starting to march toward conservative orthodoxy — he never made it. Along the way he formed his own views which eventually took the name neo-orthodoxy or Barthianism.

There are many teachings stemming from the neo-orthodoxy camp that we do not accuse Mr. Blackaby of holding. Blackaby is not a true Barthian, but his view of Scripture has been influenced by this movement. In fairness, Blackaby is not alone in this — many evangelical leaders have a semi-neo-orthodox view of the Bible.

Barth reacted to the subjectivity of liberalism. Liberals had no authority — no word from God. Barth believed that man needed an authoritative word from God, but he did not turn to the Bible for that word. Instead, Barth taught that Jesus Christ was the Word of God and the Bible is only a witness to that Word. It was Barth's teaching that the Bible is not the Word of God, but it can become the Word of God if and when God speaks to us through it. A very important aspect of this viewpoint is that other things, such as sermons, newspapers, or novels, etc. can also become the Word of God when God speaks to us through it.

In his little book, Neo-orthodoxy, Charles Ryrie writes:

The chief characteristic of the theology of the Reformation was its return to the Bible as the final authority in all matters. The chief characteristic of neo-orthodoxy is its call to the Word of God as the authority, but the Word of God is not synonymous with the Bible, and this is the point of deception" (p56).

John MacArthur explains it this way:

(In neo-orthodoxy) the Bible itself is not objectively the Word of God, but it becomes the Word of God when it speaks to me individually. . . . What the Bible means becomes unimportant. What it means to me is the relevant issue (Reckless Faith, p26).

In other words, one of Neo-orthodoxy's "contributions" to evangelical Christianity is the view that revelation to man from God takes many forms. The Bible is no longer the sole authoritative voice of God in this age, it is just one of them. God not only can, but we should expect Him to, speak to us in visions, dreams, circumstances, hunches, feelings, poems, novels, music, etc.
The neo-orthodox view is widely accepted today among Christians, thanks to the influence of the Charismatic movement. Therefore most readers of Experiencing God are not shocked when they read, "God speaks by the Holy Spirit through the Bible, prayer, circumstances, and the church to reveal Himself, His purposes and His ways. When God speaks to you, you will be able to know He is the One speaking, and you will know clearly what He is saying to you" (p87).

Additionally, not only does revelation come from sources outside the Bible, but even the Bible itself is not the Word of God unless God chooses for it to be. Blackaby puts it this way, in response to the question, "Can’t I get a word from God from the Bible?" (Notice that even Blackaby recognizes that his system confuses people about what is the Word of God.) His reply, "Yes, you can! But only the Holy Spirit of God can reveal to you which truth of Scripture is a word from God in a particular circumstance" (p88). Do you see what has happened? Blackaby is not saying that only the Holy Spirit can open our eyes to biblical truth (the doctrine of illumination), he is saying something entirely different. To Blackaby the Bible is no longer the "Word of God," it becomes the word of God when God uses it to speak to us through our experiences or circumstances. God can also speak to us in a poem, the Wall Street Journal, through our mother-in-law, or through impulses, as well as dreams or visions. Blackaby has thus made the Word of God totally relative and subjective, rather than biblical.

This is pure neo-orthodoxy and is almost identical to the doctrinal teachings of the Charismatic and Vineyard movements. For example, compare what Jack Deere, a leading Vineyard theologian writes:

God can and does give personal words of direction to believers today that cannot be found in the Bible. I do not believe that he gives direction that contradicts the Bible, but direction that cannot be found in the Bible (Vineyard Position Paper #2, p15).

I defy anyone to show me the difference between Deere’s view of revelation (an openly Vineyard teacher) and that of Blackaby’s. There is none - and that is our concern.

In Blackaby’s program this view of revelation becomes intensely practical. He writes, "Your task is to wait until the Master gives you instructions. If you start ‘doing’ before you have a direction from God, more than likely you will be wrong" (p89). This sounds very spiritual, but how does it work? Do we wait for God to speak to us personally and directly before we make a decision? If we don’t hear from God, are we to do nothing? Still, the question always arises, "Once we have accepted the neo-orthodox view of revelation, how do we know if it is God, or the devil, or our own emotions speaking to us???"

Since Blackaby never attempts to deal with this problem, we must turn to someone who shares his same basic view of Scripture. The most honest effort that we could find is that of Wayne Grudem, another Vineyard theologian who is a wholesale believer in extrabiblical revelations of all kinds. He attempts to answer the previous question when he states:

Did the revelation seem like something from the Holy Spirit; did it seem to be similar to other experiences of the Holy Spirit which he had known previously in worship. Beyond this it is difficult to specify much further, except to say that over time a congregation would probably become more adept at making evaluations. . . and become more adept at recognizing a genuine revelation from the Holy Spirit and distinguishing it from their own thoughts (emphasis ours) (The Gift of Prophecy in the New Testament and Today, pp120-121).

Grudem is arguably the most careful and well-respected Charismatic theologian in the country. He teaches Biblical and Systematic Theology at Trinity International University in Deerfield, Illinois (which is affiliated with the Evangelical Free Churches of America). Yet, the best that he can devise in answer to our concern is, "Did it seem like the Holy Spirit" — and, "A congregation would probably" be able to get better at discernment over time. While we are fumbling around trying to decide if something felt like the Holy Spirit (nothing in the Bible helps us here) and hoping that we will get better at all of this discernment stuff, Blackaby tells us that we dare not even make a move until we are certain that we have heard from God. Pity the poor Christian that believes this trash — they are hopelessly tossed about on a sea of subjectivity and mysticism.

At this point, Blackaby, Deere and Grudem would cry foul. They would claim that while they believe that God speaks to His people apart from the Bible today, that these revelations are not on par with Scripture. That is, God speaks today but not with the same authority as He did in His Word. So do not accuse us of adding to Scripture, they would say. Interestingly enough, this brings up another issue. We find in the Bible that God did speak, either orally (including through His prophets) or through the written Word, but in both ways — always, His Word is authoritative. It was nothing less than a word from God — one that must be obeyed and heeded!
Now, Blackaby (and others) are telling us that God is speaking in a third way today, a way never found, described or hinted at in the Bible: God is speaking today, but His Word is not authoritative, and it can be weighed and examined. We are not even certain when He is speaking, and when some think that they are certain that He is speaking they still believe that the revelation may be partly in error.

This is how Wayne Grudem explains it:

There is almost uniform testimony from all sections of the Charismatic movement that prophecy is imperfect and impure, and will contain some elements which are not to be obeyed or trusted. The Anglican Charismatic leaders Dennis and Rita Bennett write, ‘We are not expected to accept every word spoken through the gifts of utterance. . . but we are only to accept what is quickened to us by the Holy Spirit and is in agreement with the Bible. . . one manifestation may be 75% God, but 25% the person’s own thought. We must discern between the two’ (Ibid p110).

How?? Scripture does not tell us!

It remains a mystery to me why people are attracted to this view of the Word of God. Surely it is not an improvement over, "Thus says the Lord." Surely the uncertainty of this system pales in comparison to the certainty of the Scriptures (II Peter 1:19-21).

Mysticism

Mysticism is the idea that spiritual reality is found by looking inward. Mysticism is perfectly suited for religious existentialism; indeed, it is its inevitable consequence. The mystic disdains rational understanding and seeks truth instead through the feelings, the imagination, personal visions, inner voices, private illumination, or other purely subjective means. Objective truth becomes practically superfluous. Mystical experiences are therefore self-authenticating; that is, they are not subject to any form of objective verification (John MacArthur, Reckless Faith, p27).

Banking off this definition of mysticism, we find evangelicalism, in general, and Experiencing God, in particular, to be completely infiltrated with mysticism. Following are some examples of what we mean:

Blackaby’s co-author, Claude King, writing in the preface, sets the tempo for the book with a personal experience:

Two years before, God had spoken to me through His Word that a time would come when I needed to leave my job and when I would need to be free of those job responsibilities to be more fully available to Him. I began to pray and ask Him if this was the time I needed to leave my job and walk by faith. . . . By Labor Day weekend, God had convinced me that I must resign my job and walk with Him by faith as I completed this new project (ppXII-XIII).

((Comment: Claude King makes a job change based upon God speaking to him, and God convincing him. How did God do this? Mainly through inner impressions and feelings, even though he claimed that God spoke to him through the Word and through the counsel of people. This is mysticism, not biblical principles of decision making.))

Still in the introduction, Blackaby assures us that the Holy Spirit will mystically convince us that the teachings of Experiencing God are from God. "When I present what I see as a biblical principle, you can depend on the Holy Spirit to confirm whether that teaching comes from God or not" (p3).

((Comment: I hate to disillusion Mr. Blackaby, but the Holy Spirit confirmed to me that what Blackaby writes is mostly nonsense. How did the Holy Spirit tell me this? Not through some warm fuzzy and a sense of peace, but through the careful examination of the infallible Word once for all inspired by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit confirms truth in the Scriptures not through feelings.))

Blackaby often makes the following type of statements, "When God reveals His work to you, that is His timing for you to begin to respond to Him" (p35, cp p81,99). "Truth is not discovered; it is revealed. Only God can tell you what He is doing or is wanting to do through your life" (p46). "When God starts to do something in the world, He takes the initiative to come and talk to somebody" (p66, cp. p73). "When He comes to a person, He always reveals Himself and His activity" (p69). "What God speaks, He guarantees will come to pass" (p82). "When God reveals truth to you, by whatever means, that is an encounter with God" (p85, cp. p86 — this type of mysticism is also neo-orthodoxy). "When God speaks to you, you will be able to know He is the one speaking, and you will know clearly what He is saying to you" (p87, cp. p100). "What you do in response to God's revelation (invitation) reveals what you believe about God" (p135 — note the constant use of the word "revelation"). "We forget that when God speaks He always reveals what He is going to do — not what He wants us to do for Him" (p137).
((Comment: Please note that Blackaby is not talking about God speaking to us through the Bible. He is clearly teaching that God speaks, reveals, talks or invites the believer through extra-biblical, mystical means.))

How then are we supposed to hear the voice of God? Blackaby tells us to pray the following prayer: "God, I pray that I will come to such a relationship with You that when you speak, I will hear and respond" (p90). What if you question this mystical approach to God? Then you clearly have a spiritual problem: "Oh, don't let anyone intimidate you about hearing from God. One critical point to understanding and experiencing God is knowing clearly when God is speaking. If the Christian does not know when God is speaking, he is in trouble at the heart of his Christian life" (pp83,94).

Not only do you have a spiritual problem, according to Blackaby, but you also are in direct disobedience to the Word of God, "When He gives you a directive, you are not just to observe it, discuss it, or debate it. You are to obey it" (p158). Mr. Blackaby has now clearly placed these subjective, mystical feelings on par with Scripture. This whole paradigm also comes with its own special blessing, "If you walk in a consistent relationship with God's provision for you — the Holy Spirit and His own presence in your life — then, you should never come to a time that you do not know the will of God" (p170). This unsupportable concept is perhaps the attraction to Blackaby's whole system.

The teachings found within Experiencing God are a dangerous mixture of biblical truth with mysticism, neo-orthodoxy and good old fashioned misuse of Scripture. Blackaby follows and perpetuates a trend that has found great acceptance in many evangelical camps today. It is the trend toward a personal relationship with Christ even at the expense of truth. Whether a teaching agrees with Scripture does not seem to matter, all that many people think is significant is that they feel better and seem closer to God. In the process the sheep are led further away from the true God and the Word of Truth is displaced and belittled!

Experiencing God Part 1

This has been a topic of interest for me for a few years now. I also think it is a big part of the Christian culture and it is important to consider thoughtfully things that are happening in the culture. Especially those things that are so ingrained, we would not usually even question them because to do so would be considered unloving and almost heretical (I say that with my tongue in cheek, but I am serious about the response at times). Gary Gilly takes a look at the Biblical foundations for "hearing God's voice" and points out a few of Henry Blackaby's misuse of Scripture. My prayer is that you would look carefully at the reasons for concern and act accordingly. Be sure to share your thoughts at the end.

Experiencing God - Part 1

Written by Gary Gilley

(October 1997 - Volume 3, Issue 8)  A pastor who had read some of my writings encouraged me to read Henry Blackaby’s best selling book, Experiencing God. This pastor apparently either thought that Blackaby’s work would compliment my own, or correct my thinking. Either way, I am afraid that I have proven to be a disappointment to my friend. If he felt that I would appreciate and enjoy Experiencing God I have sadly mis-communicated to my readers. The thrust of this book is so foreign to my views of Scripture that I find it incredible that I could be so misunderstood. If so, I repent and vow to try harder to communicate plainly. On the other hand, if my pastor friend thinks that I would be persuaded by Blackaby’s brand of "story-theology" he is sadly mistaken. Blackaby’s book and seminars are representative of much that I detest in so-called evangelicalism today. They take a purely mystical approach to Christian living and by necessity undermine and distort the precious Word of God. I write about Blackaby’s work, not only to expose it, but also because it is a clear representation of the state of evangelicalism in America. Where It All Began In 1990 a workbook, based upon the teachings of Henry Blackaby, a Southern Baptist pastor and conference speaker, was published. The workbook, Experiencing God, has since sold over two million copies, has been translated into forty languages and it has been reported that sixteen percent of all Southern Baptists have taken a course based on this workbook. By some estimates this translates to about half of all active members of the denomination. Churches from many other denominations, including Roman Catholic churches, have gone through the "Experiencing God" course, according to a spokesman for the S.B.C. Sunday School Board. Furthermore, there are now youth and pre-teen editions of the workbook, as well as videos and a leader’s study guide. The hard back version of Experiencing God (subtitled Knowing and Doing the Will of God, Life Way Press, Nashville, Tennessee) is an expanded and modified form of the workbook (all of our comments will be based on the hard back edition). It was published in 1994 and already has sold two hundred fifty thousand copies. In addition, thousands have attended Experiencing God Weekends and Experiencing God Weekends for Couples. These weekends are open to usually sponsored by the Southern Baptist Convention, but are open to all denominations. Even the Jesuits at Boston College had scheduled a Spring "Experiencing God Conversation Series." The appeal of Blackaby's ideas is that we can experience a deeper reality of the presence and voice of God. Unfortunately, Blackaby does not derive most of his thoughts from Scripture. The general teaching of Experiencing God is wrapped around what Blackaby calls the "Seven Realities of Experiencing God." The discerning reading will quickly recognize that the last four of the "Seven Realities" either contradict or at best cannot be supported or proven by Scripture. The Seven Realities are: God is always at work around you. God pursues a continuing love relationship with you that is real and personal. God invites you to become involved with Him in His work. God speaks by the Holy Spirit through the Bible, prayer, circumstances and the church to reveal Himself, His purposes and His ways. God's invitation for you to work with Him always leads you to a crisis of belief that requires faith and action. You must make major adjustments in your life to join God in what He is doing. You come to know God by experience as you obey Him and He accomplishes His work through you. General Thoughts Experiencing God is a book that is full of errors, biblically unsupportable assertions, incredible statements and story-theology (views based upon anecdotal accounts rather than upon Scripture). Some examples: "If you have trouble hearing God speak, you are in trouble at the very heart of your Christian experience" (p87). What does this mean? Does God speak to all Christians individually? If so, how? What Scripture is used to support this? (By the way, Blackaby uses none.) After praying to God Blackaby advises, "Reflect on your feelings. . . . How did you feel as you walked and talked with God" (p62). What passage from the Bible tells us to reflect on our feelings in order to evaluate our prayer life? "Knowing God only comes through experience as He reveals Himself to me through my experiences with Him" (p5). Doesn't the Bible reveal God to us? Are our experiences necessary and more importantly, are they reliable when it comes to experiencing God? "With God working through His servant, he or she can do anything God can do. Wow! Unlimited potential" (p26). Wow, is right! Kenneth Copeland, Paul Crouch, Benny Hinn and the whole Word of Faith gang of heretics would shout, "Wow!" too. Can believers create? Can they convict of sin? Can they draw men to God? This statement is a gross perversion of Phil. 4:13. "When God gets ready to do something, He reveals to a person or His people what He is going to do" (p31). This concept is a major emphasis of the book, and a large part of its popularity — but what Scripture supports this? Does God really report to us? Does He reveal to His church what He IS GOING TO DO? If so, tell me, what is He going to do next week? What is the next major movement of God in this world? Or, when will the rapture take place? We can often tell in hindsight what God has done and who He has used, but going forward is a different story. "You must make major adjustments in your life to join God in what He is doing" (p38). What kind of "adjustments" are we talking about here? Blackaby often uses this word "adjust," but I do not find it in my concordance. I wonder why he is so reluctant to use some good old fashioned biblical words like, "repent," "confess" or "obey." "Adjust" sounds so nice and clean. "Repent" sounds messy and ugly — maybe that is why!? Modern wisdom tells us that we must avoid offending anyone — even if it is with the truth. What Is The Word of God? As concerning as some of the statements that we have mentioned are, the real distress lies in Blackaby's distortion of the Word of God. Many readers of Experiencing God will, at first, believe the above statement to be in error. After all, the volume is peppered with numerous references to the Bible and much of what the author says is supported with scriptural accounts. Blackaby often speaks highly of the Word, proclaiming its importance; so, how can we challenge him with distortion of the Scriptures? We do so along three fronts: Misuse of the Scriptures II Timothy 2:15 is clear that if we are to be a people approved of God we must accurately handle the word of truth. Teachers of the Word of God have an awesome responsibility to understand and deliver God’s truth, not their own opinions. On this score Henry Blackaby fails miserably. To misuse the Bible as Blackaby does, is not uncommon. His errors are not unique, but that fact does not excuse one who claims to speak for God. Keep in mind that Blackaby is attempting to use the following passages as support of his views: John 14:26 — "The Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things." — "The Holy Spirit of God will be your personal teacher. . . . He will be at work revealing God, His purposes and His ways to you" (p3). Simply completing the verse clarifies its meaning: "And bring to your remembrance all that I said to you." Jesus was not talking to us but to His apostles. The Holy Spirit would teach them and bring to their remembrance those things that they would share with the church largely through the writing of the New Testament. This verse is not a promise to the average believer directly. John 14:6 — "I am the way, the truth, and the life." — Blackaby uses this verse to teach that we will know specifically what God wants us to do with our lives. "Who is it that really knows the way for you to fulfill God’s purpose for your life? God is. . . . If you were to do everything that Jesus tells you one day at a time, you always would be right in the center of where God wants you to be. Can you trust God to guide you that way" (p21)? This passage is not in the context of God’s individual will for our lives, but the context of salvation and eternal life. Hebrews 1:1 — "God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways." Blackaby utilizes this verse with a few others, to prove that God will speak to His people today, outside of the Scriptures. "If anything is clear from a reading of the Bible, this fact is clear: God speaks to His people. . . . God does speak to His people, and you can anticipate that He will be speaking to you also" (p83). Note carefully that Blackaby is not referring to the written Word of God. In using Heb. 1:1 as a proof text, our author does the same as he did with the last verse - he rips it out of context! Reading the very next line, "In these last days has spoken to us in His Son" (Heb. 1:2), shows that Blackaby has totally misused Scripture. Rather than a proof text for God speaking to us apart from Scripture, Hebrews 1:1 and 2 coupled with Hebrews 2:1-4, is a proof text of God’s revelation which was "In His Son" and has now been recorded by the apostles in the Word of God. This passage proves that there is no additional revelation apart from the Bible, not that God is speaking to us today apart from the Bible. Blackaby could not be more wrong. Luke 4 is used as an example of how to use the Scriptures to find direction from the Lord. Rather than teach his readers to carefully study the Word in its context, using proper hermeneutical principles, Blackaby teaches a mystical approach. A story is told of a lady who awakened one night with Luke 4:24running through her mind (pp105-106). She got up to read the passage and, "That morning the Lord spoke to Gail through the Bible. She realized that even Jesus had to leave His hometown in order to"‘preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns’ (v24). She sensed the Holy Spirit saying that she would have to leave the comforts and security of home to go with her husband as they served the Lord together. Later that morning, in an Experiencing God Seminar, she gave her testimony of what God had said." On the basis of God "speaking" to Gail in this way, she and her husband would sell their house and move to another state. This is indeed pure mysticism — it is among the most perverted forms of scriptural distortion! John 11:4 — "This sickness is not unto death" is used in the same manner (pp119-120). Taken as if it were a personal promise to the Blackaby family, they believed that God had promised them that their daughter would not die of cancer — and she did not. Proof positive that God had spoken, right? What about the thousands over the years who have claimed this same verse only to watch a loved one die? Perhaps it is because of such misuses of Scripture that many professing believers think that God has disappointed — even deceived them. Yet, John 11:4 has nothing to do with Blackaby’s daughter, or anyone else’s. It has to do with Lazarus. Romans 8:26,27 — Blackaby uses these verses to teach that the Holy Spirit, "Helps us know the will of God as we pray. . . . The Holy Spirit’s task is to get you to ask for it (God’s will)" (pp110-111). Of course the passage teaches no such thing. Rather, it tells us that, "The Spirit Himself intercedes for us." The Holy Spirit is not some mystical Ouija board from God prompting us to ask for just the right things before we can get them (as Blackaby claims). Instead, recognizing our weaknesses, the Holy Spirit prays for us, according to the will of God. In our next paper we will discuss Blackaby’s neo-orthodox leanings and general mysticism.