Just about every day, on social media, we get assaulted by some post from someone claiming to have heard the voice of God. There are numerous books about it, classes online, activation events, conferences, even whole bible schools dedicated to this topic of hearing the voice of God. One person says that God told them one thing, and another person will say God told them the opposite. The recent April 8th eclipse is a great example considering so many claimed that God told them the rapture was going to take place during the eclipse and yet no one was raptured. In fact, I’ve had many people claim “God told me” concerning my life and I was supposed to follow what they said. I’ve also heard many people make the same statement about their own lives or even events on a national level. I personally witnessed one man claim “God told me” as he yelled in a sinful fit of rage. So how do we, as believers, discern whether or not someone’s claim of “God told me” is really true?

First off, when someone says the words “God told me” they are claiming to hear the authoritative Word of God apart from scripture for themselves. Just let that sink in for a second. They aren’t usually saying God directed them through His scripture, they are claiming they heard the audible voice of God. Are they really that special that God selected them over you or me? I was really pondering this and have been for months. As I really began searching the scriptures over this the only conclusion that I could come to, is that only prophets or apostles heard the voice of God. If you search it out, the only people who ever heard God (apart from Adam’s family) were the prophets or apostles. Which honestly makes sense since Ephesians 2:20 states that the foundation of the church was the apostles and the prophets with Christ Jesus as the cornerstone. And who wrote scripture? The Apostles and the prophets! One thing I notice about those Apostles and the Prophets is how absolutely 100 percent sure they are about what they heard. There is no, “well I feel like”, or “I think God said”. There is ZERO wishy washiness about any of the Apostles and the Prophets and what God said. None of what they said was vague or generic, like a newspaper horoscope or a Hallmark greeting card. Every prophetic word was extremely specific! There was also ZERO error and none of it contradicted other scripture from other Prophets or Apostles, despite being written by many authors and over centuries and even millennium. It’s interesting that today’s “prophets” often contradict one another. How can that be if they are truly hearing the voice of God?

So how do we weed out those who aren’t really hearing God, but instead their own vain imaginations?

One scripture that is often quoted in regard to discernment is 1 John 4: 1-3. As I was reading that passage, I noticed that people often don’t go far enough into the context and generally they stop at verse three, as if verse three is the only test of a false prophet. (Side note: I am saying that anyone who claims to hear the voice of God and shares what “God” told them is operating in a position or office of prophet, since the function of a prophet is to declare what God has said.) Let’s look at the passage and I’ll explain a few things that I noticed.

1 John 4:1-6
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; 3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming, and now it is already in the world. 4 You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. 5 They are from the world, therefore they speak as from the world, and the world listens to them. 6 We are from God. The one who knows God listens to us; the one who is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
When people stop at the end of verse three, I think that they do a disservice to themselves. They just automatically assume that anyone who doesn’t claim Jesus as God, who came in the flesh, is a false prophet, which is good. But that only eliminates the most obvious of false prophets. So, Muslims, Jehovah’s witnesses, and Mormons are automatically in that group of false prophets because their Christology (doctrine of Christ) is so obviously wrong, despite them claiming to follow a Christ figure. But what about those who claim a seemingly correct doctrine of Christ? That’s why we need the context of the other verses because there are plenty of false prophets out there who seem to profess the right Jesus. Christology is extremely important! I’m not discounting that. It is just one major test. The other test is found in verse five of the passage. Verse five says, “They (the false prophets/anti-christs) are from the world, therefore they speak as from the world, and the world listens to them.”. This verse weeds out all the other false prophets because the evidence of their lives and their doctrine is the proof that we need to discern if we only take thirty seconds to think things through. Voddie Baucham calls this thirty second theology and I think it’s a great practice!

In Chapter two of 1 John, starting in verse fifteen it says: Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. 17 The world is passing away and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God continues to live forever.
We clearly see how the Apostle John is spelling out how worldly behavior and teachings mark those who are not of God. Things of the world are focused on the lust of the flesh, the eyes, and the boastful pride of life. That sounds a lot like health, wealth and prosperity to me! In the subsequent verses the Apostle John is warning again about those who are not of Christ and are actually against Christ, the anti-christs. The Apostle John loves to reiterate himself over and over, adding nuances and clarification. The point is that false prophets and unbelievers are worldly individuals, concerned with worldly things, and their teachings are worldly, as well as their messages that they claim to hear from God. They sound like the World and the World loves them and listens to them! So, we should probably examine what does it mean to be worldly?

When I think of worldly teachings, I think of sensuality, do what feels good, do what feels right to you, follow your heart, God wants you to be happy, live your truth, anything associated with the new age, works based salvation models, affirming sin, mysticism, speaking things into existence, aligning with the world’s culture etc. This list can be a very long one. Basically, if it centers on our feelings, our flesh, and our pride, position, or power, that is going to be in the World category like 1 John 2: 16 talks about. The part that I get particularly concerned with is the amount of New Age mysticism that has crept into the church with hidden gnostic knowledge. I also notice that a lot of these false prophets are into decreeing and declaring, calling it prayer. No. That’s not prayer. That’s just saying an incantation, calling it prayer, and tacking the name of Jesus on the end. Biblical prayer is not usurping the will of another, in this case the will of God! The literal definition of prayer is a reverent petition made to God. Also, when these False prophets are saying “God told me”, is what they heard from “God” aligning more with the world or with God’s Word?
I heard one man say “God told me” then proceed to affirm his own sinful desires and actions. Clearly, the voice he claimed to hear wasn’t of God since it contradicted God’s word and didn’t convict the man in his ongoing sin. It’s not hard to look at the fruit of someone who says, “God told me” and evaluate their lives and the messages they convey. I admit that sometimes it won’t be that easy to evaluate right away whether someone is of the world or of God, if you believe that prophets still operate today. I, personally, do not believe that there are modern day prophets. Every single “prophet” I have met cannot stand up to the biblical scrutiny of Deuteronomy 13 and 18. So because of that test, anyone who claims, “God told me”, I automatically go into discernment mode. Way too many people say “God told me” because it’s a common phrase in the larger church today, when really, they mean God used His Word to direct their path. When you question them further, they may clarify their statements and say that the Holy Spirit brought to their remembrance scripture that guided them, but many have become so accustomed to the common indoctrination of “hearing the voice of God”, that they don’t even realize what they are claiming, which is hearing the Authoritative Word of God with 100 percent assurity. So, I’m not throwing out the baby with the bath water just because someone says, “God told me”. What I am doing is being discerning and using the Word of God as the measurement for what they are saying subsequent to the phrase “God told me”.

Dear Readers, just be discerning and evaluate what someone says with God’s Word in context. If you hear someone claim that they hear the voice of God, ask the biblical questions: is what they are saying aligning with the Word of God or contradicting it? Is it worldly in nature? Does it affirm the lust of the flesh, eyes or boastful pride of life? Does it sound like the World’s messages like live your truth? Is the message vague, sounding more like a fortune cookie or weekly newspaper Horoscope? If you were to take the Christian terms out of what they are saying, would the World love it? Bottom line, if it sounds like the World, and the World would love it, it’s because it is of the World and that message of “God told me” is NOT one that God said!