Subjective Revelation and the Prophetic, Should We Be Scared?

No one has ever done anything great without first challenging status quo. We know that Christianity, as a whole, is currently in great danger. It finds itself irrelevant in modern society and unable to keep up with or compete with the rampant atheism and postmodern thought being forced upon our kids in our school system today. So long as things remain the way they are we can rest assured that we’ll wind up a nearly completely atheist country within the next generation or two much the way that Europe is today.

The problem with Christianity is not that Christians are not good people; Christians are great people. The problem Christianity is that that’s all we are and there’s nothing to separate us from the rest of the world.

Let’s look back to what the Scriptures say about the time of the prophet Samuel:

1 Samuel 3:1
”And word from the LORD was rare in those days, visions were infrequent.

You see it, wasn’t unlike is today. People had the Scriptures and I’m sure there were many good people in the land of Israel at that time but that was not what was needed; people didn’t need more Bible reading or more fruit of the Spirit. It’s not that these things are bad but in and of themselves they are insufficient.

This is why the author of Hebrews not only reminds us but commands us to go before God our father:

Hebrews 4:16
”Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

What the nation of Israel needed was someone who was not scared to get in the presence of God.

What we need today are people who are not scared to get in the presence of God.

They didn’t need another Bible teacher (priest); they needed a prophet, they needed a seer. They needed someone who was not scared to delve into the great mysteries of God.

This can be a very scary thing for people because it can be so subjective. Unfortunately it is also what is needed.

As I said before in a previous post, the root word translated as “mysteries” is the Greek word “mysterion.”

We have been warned against false prophets but that does not mean we should be scared of those who go by the term prophet or mystic.

What it means is that we cannot get hung up on the name people choose to call themselves.

It becomes our responsibility to look at the teachings and their lifestyle and see if it lines up with the word of God.

Remember that we know a false prophet based on whether or not they teach Torah:

Deuteronomy 13:1-3
“If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder comes true, concerning which he spoke to you, saying, ‘Let us go after other gods (whom you have not known) and let us serve them,’ you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams; for the Lord your God is testing you to find out if you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

The same is true of anyone who has subjective, mystical experiences.
If these people teach contrary to God’s Torah than we know that they are not to be trusted. You see it is our job to be “fruit inspectors” and be sure that the teachings of those who we listen to line up with the word of God.

We have been commanded to go before the throne of God for a reason. It is something we need.

We can only be mislead by a subjective revelation when we separate it from the foundation of truth God has already established for us. There truly is nothing to fear when we live a life in submission to God’s revealed commands.

We cannot allow our fears of the unknown dictate our spirituality.

This fear has caused a crippling of God’s people for far too long. We should be more afraid of what happens if we cannot hear from God.

Question: Have you ever been warned against seeking “subjective” revelation? What were the primary reasons they gave?