The Voice of God

"This is the mark, the peculiar mark of those who are Christ’s peculiar people—they hear His voice. Sometimes it truly sounds in the ministry; sometimes it thrills forth from that Book of books, which is often grossly neglected; sometimes it comes in the night watches; His voice may speak to us in the street. Silent as to vocal utterance, but like familiar tones that sometimes greet us in our dreams, the voice of Christ is distinctly audible to the soul. It will come to you in sweet or in bitter Providences. Yes, there is such a thing as hearing Christ’s voice in the rustling of every leaf upon the tree; in the moaning of every wind; in the rippling of every wave, and there are those who have learned to lean on Christ’s bosom till they have looked for all the world as though they were a shell that lay in the ocean of Christ’s love, listening forever to the sonorous cadence of that deep, unfathomed, all-mysterious main. The billows of His love never cease to swell; the billowy anthem still peals on with solemn grandeur in the ear of the Christian. O may we hear Christ’s voice, each one of us for ourselves! I find that language fails me, and metaphors too weak to describe its potent spell. One point is worth noticing, however. I think our Lord meant here that His sheep, when they hear His voice, know it so well that they can tell it at once from the voice of strangers. The true child of God knows the gospel from the law; it is not by learning catechisms, reading theological books, or listening to endless controversies that he finds this out; there is an instinct of his regenerate nature far more trustworthy than any lessons he has been taught: the voice of Jesus!" —Charles Spurgeon, "The Sheep and Their Shepherd"

 

One may be a child of God, like Eli, and yet so live that God will not speak with Him. And, on the other hand, one may be a child like Samuel—obedient, beautiful in character and watchful to know God’s will, praying, “Speak, Lord; for Your servant hears”—and then God will speak to you. It is not to all that He speaks, but He would speak to all if they were ready to learn what He had to say." —Charles Spurgeon, "Speak, Lord!"

 

Oh, God can accomplish His will with a loud and miraculous voice.

God spoke to me as an unbeliever and convicted me, a conviction that would save me. Of course, our faith in Jesus Christ is not based on sight, and such experiences merely help to get us to saving faith. Faith is still just that: Certainty in the unseen despite a lack of clear evidence proving our faith and hope. I can tell you great miracles are evidence, but faith in Jesus Christ is ultimately a faith that makes one able to give up everything, even life itself in this world, despite a lack of 100% proof.

The following is an adapted excerpt from my testimony. Until then I was a moderate evangelical, which is a liberal Christian not believing the bible is the inerrant Word of God. I went to a liberal seminary to be a moderate teaching pastor. I was in the Charismatic movement and growing in the "gifts of prophecy and tongues." In fact I was a false teacher and a false prophet, and I was Lost and going to hell when I died.

To further condemn me, I had already gotten a massive set of miracles, when I prayed for them in 2004. I would still not put faith in Jesus Christ since I thought evidence, reason, and science were the key to life and everything. I hated Hebrews 11:1, as I had been an atheist and was proudly rationalist. As a result, I went on the evidence of miracles I was given to follow God. A very weak and tepid faith that was lukewarm and mutated into being a moderate, Charismatic evangelical.

God Speaks into My Life

However, in the summer of 2013, God literally speaks into my situation to warn me. First, I must state that I suffer from hallucinations from one of my medical disorders, some of which sound like the voices of people or intrusive thoughts. I also suffer a condition similar to Echolalia, in which I will say out loud what my hallucinations tell me.

While working at my computer, and praying for prophecy to write down, I started to have a voice talk to me, and I was speaking out loud what the voice told me.

I was told that I would read about his Rose. He told me I would be wrestling with “how did she do it,” in the future. He said that should he not avenge himself for one like Rose?

The voice then went on to argue that I lacked salvation. I was against suffering in faith, proving I had none. My gut reaction was to argue that since I had faith in Jesus Christ, I deserved heaven. I told the voice it was the devil himself.

I asked for proof that this voice was God and he gave me predictions of the future that all came true. Four were that I would have almost exactly three years of terrible illness. This came true. A second was that in June 2013 I was told about the rise of a caliphate in the Middle East in Syria and Iraq by a terrorist organization called ISIS. This came true a few months later. A third prediction, that I did not remember until it happened a few months after my salvation, was that Donald Trump would be elected president in 2016. A fourth, that I just didn’t remember, was that a disease called Coronavirus would happen, that would wreak havoc on the economy. I remembered this one the second I heard the news about the Coronavirus in China.

I distrusted the predictions. I even laughed at them. I was not convinced, since it all sounded far fetched.

Surely enough, God confirmed by the world swirling all around me that it was He that talked to me. A false prophet finally met God to find out the grim truth: I was going to hell if I did not trust in Jesus Christ as my savior and repent. Shortly thereafter, as a result of a change to my treatment, I became very sick and would stay that way until June 2016. For much of this time I was in a reduced cognitive state.

During a period of recovery three years later, I bought a used copy of the book Jesus Freaks, and I was convicted by the stories of martyrs for Jesus, including a young woman named Rose Allen Munt. I was shocked to read about her. I especially struggled with how she was willing to be tortured and brutally murdered with such meekness.

When I read about Rose three years later and realized it was her, I was prompted to terror. I must suffer and even die for my faith if others already have. God is impartial and will be my Judge. If Rose will be avenged, I must never do anything that incurs God’s wrath in relation to a woman like Rose, such as be cowardly and lukewarm. When Rose was brave and willing to die for her faith.

I knew the ISIS prediction came true, as well. I also knew it had been three years, as predicted. I remembered my conversation with the Holy Spirit in 2013 and decided to act.

Galatians 6:14 NASB
But may it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

Saved From Sin and Death at Last

At first, I felt convicted to read the bible slowly and carefully to study and apply it. I found it a Herculean task to take the precepts of God’s Word to heart with my actions.

I was soon struck by the reality of the resurrection of the dead and the Day of Judgment while reading 1 Corinthians chapter 15 and Revelation 20:10 through 21:8. I knew that I would face Jesus one day and be Judged by Him. I began to feel a tremendous conviction concerning my sins.

I became terrified of death, because I intellectually figured I was going to the Lake of Burning Sulfur when I died. I believed this, because I knew that I had lived a sin riddled life for twelve years. Often, I simply lacked any faith in Jesus Christ in my hellish pain from my medical illnesses. God felt impossibly far off and nonexistent in that pain.

After thinking about it, I realized I was feeling terrified of God. If I persisted in doing wrong, I knew my fate at His command. I went on to become terrified of dying. However, I was not willing to admit with 100% certainty that I was going to hell. I could not imagine God doing so to me, because after such a hard life, I thought I deserved heaven. However, despite my profession of faith in Jesus Christ, I did not know with 100% certainty where I would go when I died.

In the days in which I wrestled with whether I was saved or not, I was on the way home from a family dinner. On this trip home, I finally let down my guard and accepted my doubts about my faith.

My doubts flooded in, and in the presence of my doubts I felt no confidence at all that Jesus rose from the dead. I even seriously questioned God’s existence after being given miracles in response to prayer in 2004. I had to admit the truth in me for years, I never had real faith. I had coasted on the evidence given to me.

I immediately thought of Romans 10:9 which states “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.“ I already considered Jesus my Lord and God, and I had confessed it openly for years. However, I had done so in a half-hearted and incorrect way. This was something I was already repenting of at this point, but I knew it alone would not save me. I knew my real problem from my days as an atheist.

So, in fear of God and His Day of Judgment, I decided to believe with all my heart, on certainty without sight, that Jesus rose from the dead and that the bible was true. Upon doing so I felt great light inside me. My feelings changed instantly from what felt like great darkness to great light. This happened on June 14th, 2016.

Shockingly, the following days showed my internal world to be changed: Many sins I wrestled with hardly bothered me at all anymore, my mind became far more sober, I no longer felt great darkness in me all the time, I wanted to earnestly live a holy life and separate myself from unholy things, I became much better at fighting my temptations, I lost most of the embarrassment I felt when sharing Jesus to others, I found it possible to follow the commands of the Bible that I had found impossible to live up to, and my mental health also improved. I finally accepted the Gospel message on faith, and I would live it out for real this time.

 

Of course, as a believer my interaction with the Holy Spirit is far different and more subtle. It seems more guidance on what I am to do when confused. There are no more Christian prophets that speak for God, as far as I have ever seen or heard. The best way we can find anything out from God or hear His voice is by reading His Word. If you want to hear God's voice, read the bible out loud.