Do you believe that you have had a spiritual experience? A
dream that was more than a dream? A vision, a prophecy, a revelation?
I think you may be right. I want to offer a Christian
perspective on some of these things. Even if your spiritual experience was not
a “Christian” one, I hope you can appreciate what I have to say.
First, the Bible is full of amazing spiritual experiences.
Not only that, but promises that WE can and will have spiritual experiences as
well.
“And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I
will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters
shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall
dream dreams: And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those
days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy… And it shall come to pass, that
whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” (Acts 2:17-21)
What is the purpose of these spiritual experiences? Here’s
my perspective. See that last part of the passage? “And it shall come to pass,
that whoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved”?
Do not miss that. All of these dreams and visions and
prophecies are not just to be a song and dance number, or to make you feel
special, or to give you an interesting story to tell people around the
campfire. They are meant to point you in a particular direction – to Jesus
Christ.
Give me a sign! …Now
follow the sign…
Imagine that you are lost in a desert. Every direction you
look all you can see is sand, and it all looks the same. You desperately need a
sign or you will soon die of dehydration. You wander around in a single
direction, and then you see a sign that says “TURN AROUND, NEAREST WATER 2
KILOMETRES THE OTHER WAY.” Finally, the sign you’ve been looking for!
Three different responses:
1) Stay with the
sign. You get so excited that you finally got a sign. You dance, you sing,
you shout. You kiss the sign! What a wonderful sign! You are so happy that you
finally got a sign that you sit there and just hug the sign. And you die of
thirst.
2) Ignore or misread
the meaning of the sign. You are so glad to see the sign, thinking it
probably means that there are people nearby. And you keep walking past the sign
in the same direction you were going. And you go deeper into the desert. And
you die of thirst.
3) Obey the sign.
You are delighted about the sign, and you resolve not to keep going the wrong direction. You turn around and
go where the sign told you to go. You get water. You get help. You live.
This is a silly analogy but I hope it illustrates what I am
trying to say. Some people could experience amazing visions or dreams from God,
and not do anything with it. They just have a nice story to tell or it helps
them feel good. They just stay with the sign in the desert and never actually
go to the water. They will die of thirst in the desert, despite the amazing
sign right in front of them.
Others ignore the spiritual experience or misread it. They
keep going in the direction they are going. They too will die of thirst because
they will not heed the sign’s instructions.
Jesus taught a similar concept: “they are they which
testify of me. And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.” (John
5:39-40) Jesus was referring specifically to people reading scriptures
which testify of him, but I think it’s appropriate to consider what other
things point to Jesus and apply the same principle. If you read the Bible
(which points to Jesus) and you don’t come to Jesus, you are lost. If you have
a spiritual experience (which points to Jesus) and you don’t come to Jesus, you
are lost!
Jesus used the metaphor of water in reference to himself. “But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall
never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of
water springing up into everlasting life.” (John 4:14)
Are
all spiritual experiences from God?
No. The Bible is very clear that some
spiritual experiences are deceptive. The Bible speaks of “lying wonders” (2
Thess. 2:9-10; see also Matthew 24:24) and warns that even Satan can appear in
the form of an angel and evil people can appear as ministers of righteousness
(2 Corinthians 11:13-15).
How can we know if a spiritual experience
is good or bad?
“And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that
have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not
a people seek unto their God? for the living to the dead? To the law and to the
testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no
light in them.” (Isaiah 8:19-20)
“But though we, or an angel from heaven,
preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let
him be accursed.” (Galatians 1:8)
Think about the message of your spiritual
experience. Does it contradict the Bible? Does it contradict “this word” that
Isaiah spoke about? Does it contradict the gospel “which we have preached unto
you” that Paul spoke about? Then do not listen to it!
For example, if you had a dream that said
Jesus was just a man, notice that the Bible says he is God (John 8:58) and
disregard the dream. If you had a vision which said that Jesus is just one way
of many ways to God, notice that the Bible says Jesus is the only way (John
14:6) and disregard the vision. If you had a good feeling that someone alive
today is a prophet, but they teach something contrary to the Bible, disregard
that good feeling. (My Mormon friends and family, for more on this topic with
specific reference to Mormonism, please see a past blog post: http://eph1-17.blogspot.ca/2013/06/the-bible-and-mormons.html)
Let the Bible be your standard for
assessing the validity of your spiritual experiences. As you know, I believe I’ve
had (and continue to have) spiritual experiences. If any of them ever
contradicted the Bible, I would have no choice but to rebuke them in the name
of Jesus and cling to God’s truth. In fact, the main reason I was convinced my
dreams were more than dreams is because they pointed to and were verified by
the Bible.
Why
won’t God give me a sign?
Maybe you haven’t had a spiritual
experience. Jesus has something to say to you as well. He told a parable about
a man who passed away and wanted his brothers to know the truth about God
before they died. He met Abraham in the afterlife and begged him to send a spirit
to warn them. Here was how Jesus concluded that cautionary story…
“Then he [the man who passed away] said, I pray thee
therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father's house:
For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them,
lest they also come into this place of torment.
Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets;
let them hear them.
And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto
them from the dead, they will repent.
And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the
prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.” (Luke
16:27-31)
You have Moses and the prophets. You have the first century
apostles. You have the words of Jesus Christ himself. If you haven’t bothered
to listen to God with all of that sitting in front of you, why would a
spiritual experience change your mind?
I believe that God will give you the proof you require. Sometimes
that means a spiritual experience. Sometimes it means just opening your eyes
and looking at what’s right in front of your face.
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