Divine Personal Encounters With God?

 

Jesse Duplants: "Jesus is between 5-11 and about 6-foot-one. He's taller than I thought he was! ...And he put his hand on this shoulder. And he looked at me. He said, 'Go tell my people I'm comin'.'"

Mike Bickle: "I stood there, and uh, I was at the Lord's left hand, and this was not a dream, it was as real as life here... And he said, 'Young man!'"

Kim Walker-Smith: "I can feel him, like, it's like he's walking up to me across the room and just tapping me on the shoulder, 'Kim.' ...And I'm standing with Jesus. And I see God the Father in front of me."


There are teachers who will claim to have had a face-to-face conversation with God himself. But it's a lie. How can we know that? For lots of reasons. But in short, because Jesus warned that false teachers would claim such things.

"If anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Christ!' or 'There he is!' do not believe it. For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you beforehand. So, if they say to you, 'Look, he is in the wilderness,' do not go out. If they say, 'Look, he is in the inner rooms,' do not believe it.

"For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of man" (Matthew 24:23-27). The next appearance of Christ will be seen by the whole world -- not a select few in secret.

Joseph Smith claimed God the Father and Jesus Christ appeared to him and told him the church had become an abomination. So Smith started his own church full of destructive heresies. He was a charlatan, and so is every other modern day false prophet claiming to have had a personal audience with God. We will hear in their teaching many other lies when we understand the text.

This Is My Bible, I Am What it Says I Am?

"This is my Bible. I am what it says I am. I have what it says I have. I can do what it says I can do. Today, I will be taught the word of God. I boldly confess my mind is alert, my heart is receptive, I will never be the same, in Jesus name."

That's how Joel Osteen of Lakewood Church begins every sermon. So let's go back through this and break it down. "This is my Bible." Yeah, which he never opens and reads from, but I digress. We'll come back to that. "I am what it says I am." It says you're a sinner, an enemy of God, spiritually dead. The only person that can give you life and repair the relationship between you and God is Jesus Christ. So as long as you understand that, we're on the right track.

"I have what it says I have." If you have Christ, you have forgiveness of sins, eternal life, peace with God! If not, you're still under his wrath. "I can do what it says I can do." Correct. And the only thing you can do is sin. Unless the Holy Spirit is in you, and then you can please God.

"Today, I will be taught the word of God." Meditate on it day and night, Psalm 1. But unless the Spirit has changed you to receive it, you can't understand it, for the natural person can't discern spiritual things.

"I boldly confess my mind is alert." Now we're gettin' wonky. I boldly confess I have a million bucks. That doesn't make it true. "My heart is receptive." Again, only the Spirit can do that, not your declaration. "I will never be the same." And again, only if Christ has changed you.

"In Jesus name." Selfishly using  God's name is taking it in vain, also known as blasphemy. So about that first declaration: "This is my Bible." And you should read it. You don't declare anything over the Bible. The Bible declares authority over you, when we understand the text.