God is not Silent

God speaks to us through the bible. It is the Word of God. Many Christians are devoted to the bible and that is good.

But does God only speak to us in the words of scripture?
The bible is our anchor and foundation. We need to find the answer to this question in the bible itself.

What does the bible tell us?

God occasionally speaks in an audible voice. Samuel was a child when he heard the voice of God. He thought it was the voice of his guardian Eli, the High Priest.

Saul was a zealous orthodox Jew who persecuted Christians until he heard the audible voice of Jesus.
 
In the stories of Samuel and Saul (who became the Apostle Paul) the voice of God was certainly audible. In other stories, it is not always quite as clear whether God’s voice was heard by the natural ear.

When God told Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, it is not clear whether God’s voice was audible. However, when the Angel of the Lord called out from Heaven to spare Isaac’s life, the voice of God seems to have been audible.

Then he reached out his hand. He took the knife to kill his son.
But the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven. He said, "Abraham! Abraham!" "Here I am," Abraham replied.

"Do not lay a hand on the boy," he said. "Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you have respect for God. You have not held back from me your son, your only son."  Gen 22:10-12 NIRV
When God appeared to Moses in the form of fire in a bush, God called out to Moses from the bush, obviously in an audible voice.

So when the LORD saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, "Moses, Moses!" And he said, "Here I am." Exo 3:4 NKJ

When Jesus was baptised, God spoke from heaven, not only to Jesus, but to everyone present.
 
And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." Mt 3:17 NKJ
Many times in the Old Testament, prophets received verbal messages from God, which the prophets passed on in spoken or written form. We are not told if God spoke in an audible voice, but in many cases probably not.

It appears in the bible that God often communicates in words, both through the words of scripture and through words spoken in the form of thoughts from God’s mind to human minds. The audible voice is much less common.

I have never heard God’s voice with my ears, but some people have.
 
Some people believe that after the text of the New Testament was complete, God ceased to speak in words other than quoting from the Bible.

For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; Rev 22:18
Clearly, anyone claiming to have received additional holy scripture is in big trouble. The Book of Mormon readily springs to mind.

On the other hand, Jesus said we as believers should hear His voice, in order to understand his directions and follow his leading.

"My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. Jn 10:27 NKJ

Some of the most fruitful followers of Jesus have received specific directions from God to go to this or that country or city. Hudson Taylor did wonderful things in China. 

Jackie Pullinger transformed terrible slums in Hong Kong with the power of God.

You cannot find directions in the bible to go to South Africa, China or Brazil.

Modern evangelists have received directions from God to use radio or television, which were not even dreamed of by the human writers of the bible.

The idea that God is not allowed to communicate to us outside of bible texts is absurd and simply not practical.

God's Promise in Troubled Times

We live in troubled times. Do we have a future? Is our planet perishing? Even if we go to heaven when we die, what will happen to this earth?

Even the seasons are changing. We hear fierce arguments everywhere about climate change. But if it isn’t  climate change, what is it?

Recently, many Europeans have had to endure heat waves, with sometimes 40 degrees and very warm nights, like in California or Australia, but without air conditioning.

In Australia a terrible drought has led to the worst bush fires ever. An area larger than Belgium has gone up in flames. 

In some areas, people have fought for months against fires that could not be put out even with masses of water poured from big aircraft.

Many environmental scientists warn that our planet is in grave danger. Committed young people are shouting at us. 

Do we have to radically change our entire economic system to save the planet? Is that politically possible?

What does the Bible say?
Will the earth perish? Yes and no.

Jesus promised to save the souls of believers, even in dramatically hard times.
I will show wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke.
 
The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.
 
And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.' Acts 2:19-21 (NIV)
We can expect a wonderful future in God's heaven. Christians have always had this hope.
But what is to come of this earth?

Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and famines. These are the beginning of birth pains. Mark 13:8 (NIV)
We see natural disasters and political unrest now, but there is more to come, and much worse.
In those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will desire to die, and death will flee from them. Revelation 9:6 (NKJV)
But in the end we can expect a new creation because God assures us that he has everything under control.

Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. Revelation 21:1 (NKJV)


"Behold, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind. Isaiah 65:17 (NIV)

But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness. 2 Peter 3:13 (NIV)
When God declares the same promise three times in His Word, we can be completely reassured. It will come to pass.

But God has more to say to encourage us.

For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.
 
After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. 
And so we will be with the Lord forever.
Therefore encourage each other with these words. 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 (NIV)
Will this dramatic event literally come to pass? Some would like to doubt that. But God does not want to keep us in the dark about it.

When God wants to emphasise something, he repeats his promise in another Bible passage.

Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed--
 
in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 1 Corinthians 15:51-52 (NKJV)
 

JUST DO IT

What do these people have in common? 

• Joseph, Ruth, Amos, Elijah, Esther, Joseph, Mary, Luke and Mary Magdalene.

God used their faith to change history. 

What else do they have in common?

• Not one was a priest or pastor. 

In the Bible, we see two kinds of faith heroes. 

• On one hand there were leaders, priests and kings, elders, apostles and pastors. 

Aaron was the first High Priest; Ezekiel was a prophet but also an officially ordained priest. Paul was a trained Pharisee before God made him an apostle.

• On the other hand there were people who changed history through prayer and bold faith but they were never in charge of anything. 
• Noah built an ark with the help of his three sons. He did not have a network of followers to gather the animals. The Holy Spirit brought the animals into the ark. 
• Amos was a farmer and land owner before God sent him to prophesy to Israel. 
• Ruth was a pagan widow before she married a Jew and became the grandmother of King David and an ancestor of Jesus the Messiah.
• Mary Magdalene was a woman possessed by seven demons until Jesus delivered her from the power of darkness. After Jesus rose from the dead, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene. 

When she and some other women were the first to announce the resurrection to the apostles, they did not believe but then Jesus Himself appeared to them and rebuked them for not believing the women. 

Does that mean Mary Magdalene was prophet or a pastor? No it does not. 

• It means that so-called ordinary believers outside the five fold ministry are called to play strategic roles in God’s plan to shape history.

That was in the Bible. What about later times? 

• Copernicus and Galileo both believed in Jesus and the Bible, but they made scientific discoveries that changed our understanding of God’s creation. They showed that the earth was not the centre of creation but rather that the earth orbited around the sun. 

These great scientists were persecuted by the Roman Catholic Church. 

• Martin Luther also rejected these scientific discoveries because they seemed to contradict the Bible.

These scientists used their faith and their God given intelligence to challenge the church, and not only the Roman Catholic hierarchy.

In every generation many ordained leaders of God’s people are right about some things but ignorant or mistaken about other things. 

• Again and again God raises up believers who are not official leaders and uses them to change the thinking of generations to come. 
• Sometimes the new ideas are quickly accepted by church leaders but not always. 

If God has given you an unusual gift or unique vision, it may not be appreciated by your local church or your pastor but if you believe your calling and gifting is from God, don’t be put off or intimidated. 

DO SOMETHING!

Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. James 1:16-17 (ESV)

If your gift is from God, God will bless HIS gift in your life if YOU step out in faith. All pioneers have been misunderstood by other believers. Every man or woman of God has been criticised by leaders who followed conventional thinking.

FAITH WITHOUT WORKS IS DEAD.

For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead. James 2:26 (ESV) 

Parts of the Body of Christ are barely alive because the leaders follow conventional wisdom and the people follow the leaders rather than listening to the Holy Spirit. 

If God shows you a way to go which your church will not accept, don’t talk about it, just do it. 

Don’t start a fight in your church. Just go and do what God shows you to do. 

The Source of True Life and Love

You are the light of the world. … let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. Matthew 5:14-16 (ESV)
 
Moses was the light of his generation. After forty days alone with God, Moses came down from Mount Sinai a changed man. His face shone.
 
The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light ... Matthew 6:22 (ESV)  
When a woman is in love, her eyes shine. Her whole face lights up. If we love Jesus, and we are living in His presence, we are like young people in love and the world can see it. 

This love is not based on achievement or good work. It is comes from the revelation that God loves you with all His heart.
 
We love because he first loved us. 1 John 4:19 (ESV)
 
CHILDLIKE TRUST
 
How does a child grow up? By experiencing his parents´ love and trusting in their guidance.
 
Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it. Mark 10:15
 
In a healthy family, the parents exercise sacrificial love and the children enjoy that love. It is in enjoying the love of God, that we shine like lights in a dark world. 

Nothing makes a person’s face like up like the enjoyment of loving because you know you are loved. God IS Love.
 
If we focus on our own striving to keep God’s commandments, we lose the childlike enjoyment of God, which is our source of love, joy and power.
 
But isn’t obedience also important?
 
If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love. John 15:10 (NKJV)
 
Disobedience is not childlike trust in a good Father. Jesus spoke about good works that draw unbelievers to His light.
 
Then the righteous will answer him, saying, Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? Matthew 25:37 (ESV)
 
And the King will answer them, Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me. Matthew 25:40 (ESV)
 
When we heal the sick or buy food for a homeless person, kindness motivated by the love of Jesus shows the goodness of God to the world.
 
The obedience that Jesus loves is not based on an obligation to a ministry. Jesus is not impressed when we strive to win approval, escape criticism or please leaders.
 
And he said to them, The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those in authority over them are called benefactors. But not so with you. Luke 22:25
 
But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers. And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. Matthew 23:8-9
 
Preachers who intimidate and control are trying to make people good, but they destroy the childlike love, joy and faith which is the real source of Christian goodness.
 
Fear is the opposite of faith. The fear of man (including church leaders) actually undermines trust in God.
 
There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. 1 John 4:18 (ESV)  
Should preachers always be soft and comforting? Jesus was not. Godly ministers lead, teach and challenge, but they do not control people with guilt, duty and intimidation.

Come to me, all who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 

Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 
For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. Matthew 11:28-30

I pray you will find the right Christian friends and mentors. They will see you as Jesus sees you, a unique son or daughter of God.

God's Healing for Damaged People

In Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, ATHELAS is a powerful healing herb. The true King is also a true healer, and he applies the herb ATHELAS to terrible wounds.
 
This is a Christian parable.

ATHELAS is the New Testament Greek word meaning TRUTH.
In the New Testament the true King is Jesus but his true identity is veiled, as Jesus lives an ordinary life amongst ordinary people, just like Aragorn in The Lord of the Rings.

In The Lord of the Rings, two heroic characters are stabbed with blades empowered by demonic witchcraft, that is Frodo and Eowyn. Aragorn, the King in exile, puts ATHELAS herb in hot steaming water and applies the medicine to the deadly wounds.

When people are traumatised by dark and terrible experiences, only truth can heal them.
 
Many Christians have some understanding of this but lack the deep wisdom and love to apply truth in a healing way.

In the Lord of the Rings, it is the King himself who applies the healing herb with gentleness and healing skill.

It is not enough to present traumatised people with the truth about the King. We must bring them gently into the presence of the King Himself.

Some badly damaged people can only tolerate medicine in very small doses. Sometimes we must administer very small doses of truth with a lot of love and patience.

In the New Testament, Jesus did not declare the full truth of who he is to the crowds when they came for healing. He healed the sick and he spoke in parables.

Timing is also vitally important. Even with his chosen twelve apostles, Jesus did not begin by telling them he was the eternal God come down from heaven. He waited for the Father to reveal it to them.

When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, "Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?"

So they said, "Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets."

He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?"

Simon Peter answered and said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."

Jesus answered and said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.  Mt 16:13-17 NKJ

A young woman goes to church looking for God. She was abused as a child and became a prostitute. She is traumatised and sees herself as a victim.

The pastor confronts the issue of her sin but shows little empathy for her as a suffering victim.

Timing!

We must know when and how to minister truth to damaged people.

To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven: Eccl 3:1 NKJ

Brothers and sisters, if a person is caught doing something wrong, you who are spiritual should restore someone like this with a spirit of gentleness. Watch out for yourselves so you won't be tempted too. Gal 6:1 CEB

Remember, truth must always come with love and mercy. Truth without love often makes wounds worse, not better.
 
Ultimately God will judge the world with truth and condemn everyone who rejected Jesus, but remember, you and I are not judges. Only God is the judge.

But what about strong preaching? Don’t we also need that?
Strong preaching is like surgery. Some people need life saving operations.

But even with surgery, we try to minimise the pain with anaesthetics, gentle after care and pain relief.
There are some preachers and some Christians who approach every situation like a surgeon.

Supposing a family doctor routinely and repeatedly sends all his patients to hospital for major operations. He will kill people and lose his license to practise medicine.

If you are an evangelist, you are gifted and called to confront sin, but don’t do this to the same people over and over again. Jesus was called the friend of sinners.

Truth without grace often does more harm than good.

God has a Special Place just for You.

Captain Dale Black was a pilot who died in a plane crash.

The plane broke apart ... Only Dale survived, somehow...

“Suddenly I was thrown into the air and hovered over my shattered body...

Two angel escorts accompanied me, dressed in seamless white robes woven from silver threads.''
After God sent him back to his body and his earthly life, he told what had happened to him. He tried to describe what he had experienced and seen in heaven.

Each house was custom-made and unique and yet all together looked very harmonious. Some had three or four floors, others were even higher. "No two houses were alike.

Burke, John. This is what heaven is like: near-death experiences, God's promises, and the extraordinary future that awaits you (English Edition) . Kindle Edition.

Just before his death on the cross, Jesus wanted to encourage his disciples.
 
 In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. John 14:2

The House of the Heavenly Father is the City of God in heaven. If you trust Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you have a new and eternal citizenship. Your home is God's heaven. God has prepared a house for you, your own house.

Have you ever been to a church service and it started to get boring.
Then you start to wonder whether heaven will be just one endless church service. A depressing thought.

But if heaven is just one long church service, why will we need houses?

In God's heaven everything is indescribably beautiful, the trees, the flowers, the music and also the houses.

In Heaven we will worship God with lovely songs.

The apostle Paul was stoned to death. Then he stood up and walked away, not only alive but miraculously healed.

I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago--whether in the body I do not know, or whether out of the body I do not know, God knows--such a one was caught up to the third heaven. 2 Cor 12:2 (NKJV)
 

From the context of the passage we understand that Paul was most likely telling about his own experience.


… he was caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter. 2 Cor 12:4
 
A well-known preacher in our time also had the privilege of looking into God's heaven.

Was it in a vision, a dream or did he leave his body like the pilot after the plane crash? I don't know. God has different ways to bless his children.

Many people who have somehow visited heaven tell about the overwhelmingly beautiful music.

This preacher told how a large crowd sang worship songs in heaven. The songs were in perfect harmony, but as he listened  he found that everyone was singing their favourite music.
You could distinguish all kinds of musical styles and traditions, but the harmony was perfect.

Once I was in a wonderfully blessed meeting in Germany. The presence of God was amazing. Some people saw a heavenly white cloud in the room. I could feel it but not see it. Later, this heavenly cloud was clearly visible in digital photos.

Two men started to play the guitar in the style of 1960's rock music and we sang together and felt God's blessing. 

I started singing, but my song was in classical style, someone said like a Jewish cantor, but my song fitted perfectly with the harmony and rhythm of the rock song.

When you experience oppressive conformism in church, it's not from God.

Paul explained how God distributes different gifts to his children.

If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body," is it therefore not of the body?
And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body," is it therefore not of the body? 1 Cor 12:15-16 (NKJV)

God created you unique. You are you.

God and Climate Change

“Being compassionate means providing a fence at the top of the cliff, not just an ambulance at the bottom.” Fred Nile, Australian Christian politician.
 
I think Fred Nile is speaking about upholding God's ordained social order and moral law to protect us. If you believe in the Bible, it is hard to disagree. 

However, in the current crisis, we should apply this principle also to management of land and water resources. Massive amounts of water have been sacrificed to maximise export dollars, for example in coal mining. We need that water to produce food and fight fires.

Government priorities have been wrong in moral policy but also in land management policy. I avoid the word 'environment' because I am not a Green. We on the conservative Christian side need to do some serious rethinking.

The black and white climate debate obscures inescapable problems. 

Environmentalists focus on overuse of fossil fuels causing global warming. Conservatives say this is a pseudo-scientific hoax designed to undermine capitalism and bring in socialist world government.

But doesn’t the Bible predict environmental disasters in the last days?

And there will be great earthquakes in various places, and famines and pestilences; and there will be fearful sights and great signs from heaven. Luke 21:11 (NKJV)

If greenhouse gas levels are a problem, why is the focus almost exclusively on use of fossil fuels?

• What about the intensive use of agricultural chemicals?

• What about the progressive degradation of agricultural soils and the dramatic decline in the nutritional content of food produced by modern methods?

Why is there so little discussion of the worldwide decimation of bees and other insects? We need bees to pollinate the plants we must have to survive.

The use of glyphosate-based herbicides worldwide dominates farming in many countries but this chemical is toxic to bees.

• In California, intensive production of almonds is sustained by using these herbicides and also by orchardists hiring bee swarms from beekeepers. Untold millions of these bees are dying but the practice continues.

What about the systematic poisoning of marine life with plastic waste and other chemical pollutants? 

Our current industrial and agricultural systems are not sustainable.

Look at the Middle East, mostly desert. Why? God’s judgement on the enemies of God’s people?
 
Maybe so. But God has also blessed the Persians and Arabs with untold wealth from oil. I am not God. We need to understand that we don't understand so many things.

But what about unsustainable agricultural practices over many centuries? Hard to deny.

However, the Jews in Israel have reversed this process. This is undoubtedly due in part to the blessing of God sending more rain. 

However, the Jews have also pioneered drip feed irrigation and strategic tree planting and no doubt other wise land and water management practices. Why are we just admiring them and not learning from them? Is that biblical?

Perhaps the environmentalists are right. We may be on a one way road to destruction.

Why should Christian conservatives resist this narrative? Why should we be committed to the status quo?

Does Bible prophecy encourage this mind set? Does Bible prophecy encourage us to expect never ending economic growth through deregulated capitalism?
I don’t think so.

Bible prophecy tells us that Jesus will return and set up the Kingdom of God in a time of horror.
On the other hand, there are Christian spiritual leaders with apparently genuine prophetic credentials who say God has raised up President Trump.

Maybe this is true. But that does not make all his policies right.

This world is on the road to destruction, how quickly or how soon, we cannot tell. Bible prophecy clearly teaches this.

If we are on the road to destruction, environmentalism, however sensible, will not save us.

Does this mean we should do nothing to improve environmental management?

The positive example of Israel is a good answer to this question.

The Green lobby focuses on a global approach to climate change. However, innovative land management practices in Israel and parts of Africa have shown that rainfall and climate can be positively influenced at a local or regional level.

This approach does not seem to be central to the agenda of either the Right or the Left in Australia and many other countries.

What we often see instead is a polarised debate which is leading us nowhere.

Your Assignment from God

Your life is a gift and also an assignment.

Imagine that God gives you a loving husband or wife. You must then learn to love. That's much more than being in love.

You're a woman, and you're praying for a baby. Your longing is fulfilled. Then you must learn to be a mother. It's not just biological reproduction. Fatherhood also needs to be learned.

Adam and Eve were given a great gift, life, with the nature of God himself.

So God created man in His own image; He created him in the image of God; He created them male and female.  Gen 1:27

With this amazing gift came a great assignment.

God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and every creature that crawls on the earth.” Gen 1:28

The gift was a blessing and the assignment was also a blessing.

You can read this because have received the great gift of life. You are alive.

God appointed the man and the woman to rule the world together. They should do this as a partnership. 

Some people do not want to understand this because their thinking is dominated by hierarchy, men ruling over women, leaders ruling over church members.

But there is an even sadder error in thinking that has ruined humanity. Men want to rule the world without recognising God, without understanding this responsibility as a gift of God.

In the beginning God did not say that men should dominate women. He also did not say that men should rule over other people.

On the contrary. Men and women together were appointed to govern the earth. 

In the New Testament Jesus trained his apostles as a team. He sent out his disciples two by two. 

Jesus also recognised women his disciples.

But He replied to the one who told Him, “Who is My mother and who are My brothers?”
And stretching out His hand toward His disciples, He said, “Here are My mother and My brothers! Mt 12:48-49 (HCSB)

Men and women were called to rule the world, but they needed a small beginning.

And the LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to cultivate and preserve it. Gen 2:15

When God gave you your life, you were very small. You were supposed to receive love and care, to learn and grow. It is a tragedy that many small children do not receive healthy love.

Adam and Eve had the great blessing of being loved and taught by God Himself. Tragically, they rejected this blessing, because they wanted to go their own way, instead of developing their life and mission with God's fatherly love.

God gave Adam and Eve the gift of life, but not a life as orphans, but a life as his beloved children, a life with his care and friendship.

Life with God included the assignment to rule the world with God, as God's children and co-workers, all within the framework of love and partnership.

After Adam’s fall, people were like orphans in the world. Most no longer knew God's friendship and fatherly love.

Do you know God's friendship and fatherly love?

“For God loved the world in this way: He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16 (HCSB)

 

Adam and Eve had life from God and with God. God is eternal. Life with God is eternal.

God wants to give you the same gift that Adam and Eve had in the beginning, not only never ending life, but life with God, eternal love and fulfilment.

What should this life look like? Just a respectable moral life in a church?  This is the holy highway of the Gospel, but rather a parking lot.

Jesus calls us to an adventure to live as He lived on earth.

Jesus had a mission to save the world.
Jesus calls you and me to participate in His mission.

Are women to be only personal assistants? The first witness to declare the resurrection was Mary Magdalene.

What is your personal assignment from God?