If God Still Speaks Today, Does that Mean the Canon Is Not Closed?

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Dr. Brown speaks with Dr. Sam Storms about prophecy for today, tackling the most common objections to the concept that God could still speak today without that threatening the unique revelation of the Scriptures alone as God’s Word. They will focus in on the material from Dr. Storms’ blog that has been used as an appendix in Dr. Brown’s new book Authentic Fire. Listen live here 2-4 pm EST, and call into the show at (866) 348 7884 with your questions and comments.

 

Hour 1:

Dr. Brown’s Bottom Line: Please give me one scripture, just one, that says God is no longer speaking with His people today!

Hour 2:

Dr. Brown’s Bottom Line: If the Holy Spirit has been poured out on all flesh and if prophecy is for today, then shouldn’t we say,” Lord I want what you have for me.”?

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Other Resources:

How to Test the Spirits

Don’t Be Afraid of the Holy Spirit!

Dividing Over Truth, or Just Plain Divisive? Dr. Brown Interviews Christian Leaders Regarding the Strange Fire Conference

15 Comments
  1. If we want the gifts and or manifestations of the Spirit, we have to be willing and trusting. God doesn’t use us as men tend to use one another for one another’s glory or purposes which often cause harm to an individual. Men like to be in control and tend to want to control others.

    God will use us for his glory and by doing so, we are blessed and filled with the life of Christ.

    Though we often cause hurt to ourselves by mistakes we make, or by our willful disobedience at times, God will forgive us and heal us when we come to repentance.

    It seems that all the healing we need begins at the cross.

    It’s a joy and a blessing to speak in tongues, or to walk in the other manifestations of the Spirit.

    We should seek those things and a life of obedience. It’s the obedient that God is going to use, and in being used by God, men find their real purpose in Christ Jesus. That’s when they are the most blessed and they know it. It’s a wonderful thing. It’s what those that are spiritual hunger and thirst for, for all the things that God does, are right.

  2. Yes God still speaks, presently. (Heb 12:25 KJV)
    I notice that this is speaking of the realm of heaven, where the saints are seated. (Eph 1:3, 2:6) It is a spiritual place or realm. God speaks to us by his Spirit.

  3. Why would the holy Spirit be repeatedly warning Paul of all the trouble that he would have to endure by going to Jerusalem?

    Was it to convince him that his suffering would be much more than he was presently anticipating and that he was not yet as prepared for it as he should have been?

    I always thought of Paul as a man who already had endured so much for the sake of the gospel, but this that he was about to endure may have been so much more than anything he had suffered thus far.

    He had already mentioned that he would not be seeing the brethren again, and yet even more warnings about what would happen to him came through others by prophecy.

    He seemed so ready to endure all of this, and yet warnings kept coming from the holy Spirit about the things he would suffer for going to Jerusalem.

  4. Ray,

    >>God will use us for his glory and by doing so, we are blessed and filled with the life of Christ.

    What if it serves God’s glory to treat you like Job?

    Sometimes isn’t the blessing in heaven and not on earth?

  5. Dr. Brown and his guest make a huge distinction between what is written in our bible and modern prophesy — especially in its authority.

    I agree with this.

    But where is this taught in the bible?

    As we all know — the canon of scripture was established by a very human, very disputed process.

    How are we so sure that the biblical inspiration is uniquely authoritative? Or that every book is equally authoritative?

  6. Greg,

    Would God let His overall plan of redemption be squelched by some mere humans? Either it’s all authoritative as directed by the Holy Spirit or there’s no thread of truth running through the entirety of Scripture, which there is. God directs the affairs of religious men when His Word is on the line.

  7. Greg,

    You wrote:
    “As we all know — the canon of scripture was established by a very human, very disputed process. ”

    You are not considering the facts that prove the canon of scripture. Here are some:

    Messiah is YHWH in the flesh and our Messiah and lord.

    He is never wrong. He is the truth and cannot lie.

    He called the “Old Testament” the word of YHWH and the scripture. He considered it inspired by the Holy Spirit and faithfully preserved. He declared that man is required to live by every word of YHWH. It contains the same material now as it did in His day.

    Messiah has all authority and power to delegate.

    He delegated the apostles to go into all the world and teach the correct faith and practice.

    He miraculously gifted them with the Holy Spirit to speak authoritatively in His name concerning the faith.

    The “New Testament” is the apostles words concerning the faith to the whole world…inspired by the Holy Spirit and faithfully preserved…and thus YHWH’s word and the scripture also.

    Messiah said that anyone that did not receive the apostles words concerning the faith would be judged more strictly than Sodom and Gomorrah.

    The above is a short outline of why we can trust that the Bible we have is authoritative. Other writings from the past have been excluded from scripture for good solid reasons. It was not a matter of men canonizing scripture, but of men recognizing what was already considered scripture by the saints before them and collecting it and preserving it for us.

  8. Greg,

    When God requires us to suffer for the sake of righteousness, and we do with little or no complaint, trusting him, we give him glory.

    If we worship him through it all, he sees it.

    There’s no better time for doing that. It’s an honorable thing.

  9. When Paul talked about being bound in the spirit, I don’t think he was full of the peace of God, experiencing it’s rule in the heart at the time.

    I believe one of the keys to walking by the spirit is to examine ourselves to see if we indeed have the peace of God as we are contemplating doing something. Prayer is important also, likey the first thing we should be doing if we find ourselves at a crossroad….(to go or not to go…etc).

    There’s a song we used to sing about Peace that went “Peace, Peace, wonderful peace, coming down from the Father above. Sweep over my spirit, forever I pray, in fathomless billows of love.”

    I don’t believe Paul’s spirit was that of a peaceful spirit as he says he was “bound” in the spirit. (Acts 20:22)

  10. It seems to me that I might purpose things in Christ and at times those things might not be the will of God for me to do as he might have me do other things instead. Likewise, going places.

  11. Let’s compare some verses.

    Acts 19:21
    After these things were ended, Paul purposed in the spirit, when he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia, to go to Jerusalem, saying, After I have been there, I must also see Rome.

    II Cor 3:17
    Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

    Prov 16:9
    A man’s heart deviseth his way: but the Lord directeth his steps.

    If I was to write a short quiz on this matter, it might look something like this:

    Quiz. Choose the best answer.

    1. Was it the Lord’s will for Paul to go to Jerusalem?
    a. No. Not really.
    b. No, No, and 1000 X No.
    c. Not at all, or at least, not very much.
    d. Between all of the above, I just don’t know.

  12. One more verse.

    Mat 5:37.

    I do not believe it was the Lord’s will that Paul go to Jerusalem. There were so many prophesies about bonds and aflictions waiting for him there, and I believe it was the holy Spirit discouraging him from going.

  13. Great to hear Sam Storms! I tend to be in the Reformed camp, but I’m not dogmatic about it. I’m also charismatic. I’m grateful for this “Strange Fire” debate! It has actually help me to focus more on my charismatic beliefs. With all due respect to MacArthur, I think his conference will backfire on him. Dr. Brown I became a faithful listener to you show as a result of all this! God bless you!

  14. “Please give me one scripture, just one, that says God is no longer speaking with His people today!”

    How about Rev. 22:18-19, Heb. 1:1-2, 2 Pet. 1:19, just for starters?

    Or, I could point you to the ENTIRETY of the Strange Fire conference, and when you decide to stop cherry-picking sound bites and actually take an honest look at what was said, they build an open-and-shut case.

    That was easy!

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