My Friend “Heard from God.” Should I Believe Them?

How should I respond when someone tells me they've received a word from the Lord? That's just one of the questions we'll be answering on today's edition of CORE Christianity. Hi there, this is Bill Meyer, along with Pastor Adriel Sanchez, and this is the radio program where we answer your questions about the Bible and the Christian life every day. You can call us with your question at 833-THE-CORE.

That's 1-833-843-2673. You can also post your question on our Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter accounts. And of course, you can always email us with your question at questionsatcorechristianity.com. First up today, let's go to Lauren in, I guess it's Pekin, Illinois. Lauren, welcome to the program.

What's your question? I'm wondering, you know, the Bible says that no man has seen the face of God. When Adam and Eve were in the garden, they were holy until they sinned. Did they see God's face before they sinned?

Lauren, thank you for that question. You know, sometimes people will say, is there a contradiction in scripture? Because it does seem as if there are times in the Old Testament where individuals will say that they did see God's face, where they had this experience, this mighty experience of God's presence.

And yet there are other places that make it very clear that we cannot see God and live. Now, I think the best way to understand this is really in terms of referring to God as He is in His essence. We cannot see God as He is in His essence because we're creatures.

We are finite. God is infinite in glory. And so what God has to do is reveal Himself to us.

He condescends to us. And I think even there in the garden, Adam and Eve, they couldn't see God in His essence as creatures, but they did have this revelation of God's glory, this clear quote unquote image of God, if you will, whereby He revealed Himself to them without still them being able to see His inexhaustible glory because none of us can. There's this interesting scene in the book of Exodus, in Exodus chapter 33, where Moses has quite an experience where he's experiencing the glory of God. And he says to the Lord in Exodus 33 verse 18, please show me your glory. And God said, I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name, the Lord.

And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious and I will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. But He said, you cannot see my face and live. Now, what's so interesting about that is earlier in this same chapter, we read in verse 11, thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face as a man speaks to his friend. And so this idea of speaking to God face to face, it was this analogy, if you will, this picture of intimate communion with God.

And that's what Adam and Eve had with the Lord prior to the fall. It's not that they could see God's face, God's essence. And the other thing is God is a spirit. And so sometimes I think we try to picture God a certain way, but God is a pure spirit.

And so there in the garden, what Adam and Eve had was a revelation of God and communion with God, but they couldn't see God in His essence. And so appreciate your question, brother. Thank you for giving us a call.

This is Core Christianity. One of the ways you can ask Adriel a question is by leaving us a voicemail. Our voicemail operates 24 hours a day, and you can call and leave your question at 833-THE-CORE.

That's 1-833-843-2673. Here's a question we received from Sherry in Wichita, Kansas. I had a question about some people, they talk about the word of knowledge, and they pray for people, and then they pray for certain things that they say come to them about people's needs, if they're sick, and some of these people are healed. I wonder if that is biblical.

Thank you. Well, the language of a word of knowledge is biblical, and it comes from the book of 1 Corinthians, 1 Corinthians chapter 12, part of Paul's broader discussion on spiritual gifts in the church at Corinth. And he says in verse 27, Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it, and God is appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating in various kinds of tongues. Are all apostles, are all prophets, are all teachers, do all work miracles, do all possess gifts of healing, do all speak with tongues, do all interpret, but earnestly desire the higher gifts, and I will show you still a more excellent way. And so sometimes people will point to passages like that and see this idea of these words of knowledge that we receive from the Lord, these prophetic words. And certainly for the apostolic church, this was happening. Now, providentially, can God lay something on someone's heart and maybe something to pray about for another person, that kind of thing?

Well, I think absolutely. My concern is when people authoritatively stand up in the church and they say, I have a word from the Lord, as though they were prophets in line with Jeremiah and Ezekiel, Hosea. Well, we don't have prophets like that today. And it's actually a very dangerous thing, I think, because oftentimes people can be abusive, they can be manipulative, they can claim to speak on behalf of God, when in reality, they're just sort of sharing their own opinions.

And we know how the Bible warns against that. In fact, in the book of Jeremiah, one of the things that God said through the true prophet Jeremiah is that the false prophets all around him in Israel at that time made up their own words, essentially. They came, but they weren't sent by the Lord.

They were never given a word from him. And so I think it's unhelpful to use that kind of language today to say, oh, I have a word from God for you. I think it's much better to say, yeah, I mean, and I don't think there's anything wrong with this, to pray for people.

If God does lay something on your heart or someone on your heart, to pray for them. And God can and does work in that way providentially. But it's really important in terms of thinking about language and how we use language that we don't confuse people, or we don't come off as suggesting that we are authoritative prophets. The ultimate authority is God's word.

That's what we have to point to. We have to take people to the scriptures. And when people are not emphasizing the word of God, but their own sort of personal experience and their own prophetic utterances, boy, that's a recipe for disaster. We got to get back to the scriptures and we need to encourage each other with the word of God.

Thank you for that question. You know, Adriel, I'm curious, if someone comes to us and says that, I have a word from the Lord that you need to blank or that this is going to happen to you, what would you suggest, how would you suggest we respond to that person? Yeah, well, you know, okay, so I think that this can happen in a couple of different ways. Maybe the individual is totally sincere and they really feel like God is laying something on their heart. And maybe it's just a, you know, a helpful encouragement, that kind of a thing.

I think we can receive it with humility and then maybe say, hey, you know, it's probably not helpful to say God spoke to me and gave me this because the reality is so often it's not that this individual actually heard the audible voice of God, it's that they just have this sort of feeling or intuition. And the fact of the matter is a lot of times I think we can confuse that with God's guidance and leading. And so we want to be careful. There are other situations where I think people are actually trying to be manipulative, where you have false teachers, false prophets at work in the church today.

And of course, the apostles warned about this over and over again. And so in those situations, if somebody comes and says, you know, thus saith the Lord, you need to do this, that, and the other, you need to marry this person or do this. A lot of times I see this in sort of manipulative, coercive ways. Well, that kind of thing I think really deserves a much stronger rebuke. And I would say don't put yourself under the ministry of anyone who operates in that way. That's a way of twisting the word of God in order to try to control people.

And God is going to judge that severely. And so I think with some people, we can be sensitive, we want to be charitable, maybe explaining why that language isn't so helpful. We don't need to hit them over the head, that kind of a thing.

We want to be charitable. But for others, I think there needs to be a stern rebuke and you'll avoid them. So thanks for bringing that up, Bill.

Well, good counsel. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. We have a group of people that we want to say thank you to.

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Yeah. I think I speak for Bill when I say we absolutely love doing this. We love answering your questions about the faith every day. But more than that, we want to see people grow in their relationship with the Lord. We want to see people have a deeper understanding of the scriptures. We want to see you embrace Core Christianity. And what do I mean by that?

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Let's go to Charlotte in Peoria, Illinois. Charlotte, what's your question for Pastor Adriel? I'm just this church pastor.

He's leading the clock astray. He's talking about Trump and still in the election, instead of mostly talking about Jesus, but he's talking about the stolen election from Biden by Trump. And I'm praying for the pastor. I had to leave the church. I couldn't stand the false teaching anymore. And I'm praying for his salvation because he doesn't believe in the baptism of the Holy Spirit. And I spoke in tongues, but now he's preaching to the people, so much to the politics. Charlotte, can I ask you a question? Have you got plugged into another church since you left? Pardon? Have you been able to find another church since you left that church?

No. I accepted Jesus, and I don't have any friends, and my family has. I'm just rejected, and I'm not rejected by Jesus. He's my best friend.

He's my everything. But no, I don't have another church. Hey, Charlotte, you're right. Jesus does not reject you, and I am so sorry to hear about this situation in that church. I would have left that church too because it's not the job of a minister of the gospel to preach politics. That's not what Christ calls us to do.

We are ambassadors, not of the United States of America, not of any earthly country. We are ambassadors of Christ Jesus and his kingdom. And the job of a pastor every week is to get up behind that pulpit and to preach the word and to preach Jesus. And so when people aren't in churches where that's happening, when people are in churches where something else has displaced Jesus, there's a huge problem. And I would have no problem saying, look, if something else in your church is displacing Jesus, whether it's politics or anything else, you shouldn't be in that church, because more than anything, what we need is Jesus. Now, I hope, Charlotte, that you are able to find a good local church around you where Christ is preached.

And in fact, I want to pray for that, but I just want to say it is so important. Christ calls us to himself and he unites us to his body, the church. And the church ought to be a place, a family for those who feel like they have no family. And it sounds to me like you're very alone right now. You feel very alone, even like the church has let you down.

And based on what you said, it sounds like they have. But I do hope that by the grace of God, you would be able to get plugged in somewhere else where you can be surrounded by other like-minded believers who are focused on the main thing, Jesus and his gospel. And so, again, the charge given to pastors—Paul talks about this when he wrote to Timothy in 2 Timothy 4, verse 1—is preach the word. Let's pray for Charlotte. Father, we lift up our sister to you right now. Thank you that you do not reject her. Thank you that she can say Jesus is her best friend. And I pray for her, Lord, that you would pour your spirit out upon her, that you would give her a sense of your comfort, a sense of your presence, a sense of your love. And I ask God that you would lead her to a church where she is going to be able to fellowship, and God where she can be there growing together with other believers, where she can be encouraged in her faith, and where the focus, Lord God, is on your son Jesus, as I know Charlotte wants it to be. So would you please be with her? Would you guide her?

Would you bless her? And we pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Charlotte, thank you for giving us a call.

Amen. And Charlotte, if you'll hang on the line for one second, we want to tell you about a wonderful core question we have that we think will help you as you look for a new church. It's called How Do I Choose a Church? And you can find that by going to corechristianity.com forward slash questions. Just look for How Do I Choose a Church?

Let's go to Sandy calling in from Erie, Pennsylvania. Sandy, what's your question for Pastor Adriel? Hi, I have a question in Romans 8, 1. It says, Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. And then later on in 834, it says, It is God who justifies, who is he that condemns?

Christ Jesus, who died more than that, who was raised to life. Yeah, I think, you know, so it sounds to me like you're wondering, is this a contradiction? I mean, it would be a terrible thing, right? Like at the very beginning of the chapter, Paul says there's no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. And then, you know, it sounds like he's saying that Jesus is the one who condemns us in verse 34, but that's not at all what he's saying. Sometimes it's just a sort of word order that can kind of be confusing. So he's already established that in Christ there is no condemnation.

Why? Because Jesus Christ is bore our condemnation. He, in his body, on the tree, took our sins upon himself so that we might be forgiven. And actually what you're getting later on in the chapter in verses 31 and following is more encouragement. Who shall bring any charge against God's elect?

Can anybody bring a charge against us? It is God who justifies. Who's going to condemn us? And then he says Christ Jesus is the one who died. In other words, Jesus was the one who was condemned. It's not that Paul is saying that Jesus is the one who condemns us. He's saying Christ has taken the condemnation. Christ Jesus is the one who died.

More than that, he didn't just die. Here's the the rest of the good news. He was also raised who is at the right hand of God and he is interceding for us, Sandy. And the beautiful thing about this is he's not just interceding, he's also our advocate.

John makes this clear in the book of 1 John. He's our advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And so far from condemning us, Jesus at the right hand of the Father is advocating for you. He is praying for you.

And isn't that, man, let me talk about something that we can just rejoice over. Did you know, Christian, that right now Jesus your great high priest is in heaven and he prays for you? Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written, for your sake we are being killed all the day long. We are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered. No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life nor angels nor rulers nor things present nor things to come nor powers nor height nor depth nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. So there's no contradiction there, Sandy.

In fact, just the opposite. Paul is again highlighting that Christ took our condemnation and that because of what Jesus has done, there's nothing that can separate you from God's love. God bless. You know, Adriel, that particular verse, Romans 8-1, has brought me so much comfort over the years when there are times when I've really messed up and I just go back to it again and again. We have to go back to the Word of God, especially when we've messed up, Bill, because, you know, sometimes one of the habits I think that many Christians have is, you know, you struggle with something, you mess up, and then you just have this sort of this wave of condemnation, this sense of guilt and shame and, you know, conviction over sin is good. You know, our sin should grieve us, but wallowing in it and questioning God's love for us, that kind of a thing, God doesn't want us to do that. God does not want you to question his love for you. So what we have to do, you know, when we repent, when we realize we've sinned, we've fallen into some sin, we've done something we know is contrary to God's law, is we look up. We look up to the one who bore our sins and we hold fast to the promise of his word, that in him there is no condemnation, that his love for us isn't, you know, shaken even by our sins.

And so I've taken that verse as a comfort for myself many times as well, brother. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. Just a reminder, just a reminder, you can leave us a voicemail with your question 24 hours a day by calling us at 833-THE-CORE. We would love to hear from you. You can also email us your question at this email address, questionsatcorechristianity.com.

Well, here's a voicemail we received from one of our callers named Mitchell. I'm actually calling in to get the pastor's opinion on the lost books that have recently surfaced and have become a hot button topic, you know, the gospel according to Judas Iscariot, etc. I look forward to hearing what you have to say. Yeah, there are a number of books that have sort of resurfaced in popular media, Gospel of Judas, Gospel of Thomas. I think some of them were just popularized by that book that came out some years ago called The Da Vinci Code. And for some, you know, that book and exposure to these quote-unquote gospels shook their faith because it made them think, well, is there another story? You know, is there a parallel story to the one we've been hearing that maybe contradicts it or sheds new light on it? But the reality is these quote-unquote gospels are not gospels.

They don't have any good news in them. They were really written quite a bit after, you know, after the fact that the original gospels were written. They don't have that sort of early association with the apostles.

And so I've read them. They're sort of interesting to read at points, even funny, because you're just sort of reading those side by side with the true gospels, with God's word. I mean, it becomes very obvious very early on that this is not inspired scripture. And really the theology in some of these quote-unquote gospels is haywire.

It's all over the place. They were influenced by what we sometimes refer to or call Gnosticism, a very negative view of the body and creation, this sort of hyper spiritualized mysterious interpretation of the faith, if you will. And this was rejected by certainly early on. I mean, you look at a book like 1 John, it seems like there was a kind of early Gnosticism that was being rejected there. But much later also, you know, the early defenders of the Christian faith, the apostolic fathers who came after the original apostles, they wrote against these kinds of doctrines, these Gnostic doctrines. And so I think if you want to spend some time looking at it and reading it, they're not very long. They could be sort of interesting, but certainly nothing that needs to call your faith into question. They're not accurate accounts of what took place during the time of Jesus or during the life of Jesus. And so insofar as that's the case, I don't typically recommend them. But I think you can be certain that there's nothing in there that calls the Christian faith into question.

So thanks for giving us a call. Well, doesn't one of those gospels talk about Jesus taking little clay birds and bringing them to life? Yeah, I mean, that's the kind of thing that you find like that. Yeah, you have this sort of infancy narrative of Jesus. And a lot of what's described there is this little boy who was supposed to be Jesus who actually has somewhat of a temper and just is like causing his friends to disappear, you know, with the snap of his finger, that kind of a thing.

It's just the kind of stuff that's sort of silly. And so it's important for us to be rooted in the Scriptures, to go to the Word of God. That's what we want to do every single day here on this broadcast, take you back to the Scriptures, because we know that it's through the Word that your faith is built up and strengthened. And so may the Lord bless you. as we explore the truth of God's Word together.