Have you had Spiritual Experiences?

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.

Come to Jesus, my friends. Feel free to ask if you have any questions. God bless you!

A Journey to Jesus (Part Two)

Read part one here: http://eph1-17.blogspot.ca/2013/05/a-journey-to-jesus-part-one.html

I became an atheist in 2008, and I was content with my godless life. 

In 2012 that changed unexpectedly. In April, when we were packing to move to a new house I found an old Bible that my now-wife had given me as a gift the year we started dating. I opened it and flipped through the pages a bit. As a history and religious studies major in university I still found religion interesting even if I didn’t believe any of it. So it was maybe a bit of scholarly curiosity, maybe a bit of nostalgia that kept me reading the book. At a few points while packing I decided to take a break to read a chapter or two, and it eventually turned into a habit. As the summer progressed I continued to devour the words of Jesus in the New Testament. At some points the words pierced me deeply – early on I encountered John 8:58, in which Jesus said “Before Abraham was, I AM!” I knew it to be a thinly veiled claim to divinity – he was claiming to be the God of the Old Testament (see Exodus 3:14; John 8:58). I considered for the first time in years the possibility that Jesus was telling the truth. I had a conversation with my wife about these things, and we decided to go to church once or twice to explore that option again.

That decision resulted in a series of events that led to my conversion. I believe that God responds when we open our hearts to him in sincere prayer. I slowly allowed myself to set aside old prejudices toward born again Christians, toward the Bible, and toward God… Rather than rallying my faculties to attack Christianity upon reading a questionable passage of scripture, I yielded to the possibility that my conclusions were premature. More often than not, I realized that such criticisms of the Bible were based on a very shallow reading of the text which often ignored the intended purpose and meaning (I hope to address this in a future blog post entitled “Atheists can trust the Bible”). It required some newfound humility on my part, but God led the way in breaking down every wall that kept him out.

There were a few instances where a particular “wall” (problem I had with Christianity) that I had prayed about was addressed in the very next church service I attended or the very next chapter of the Bible I read. My years as an atheist trained my mind to recognize such instances as coincidences – and I certainly still believe that skepticism can be very healthy! But it can also lead to blindness, or a willing disregard for truth. Just as Jesus healed literal blind men in the first century, he dealt with my spiritual “blindness” with patience and continued to provide me with the evidence I required to believe. He is faithful, even when I was not.

Finally, toward the end of June I had a series of three dreams which I believe to be revelations from God. First I dreamed that there was something spiritually unclean in my life that I should have put away a long time ago (the concept was presented to me in visual metaphors, but the meaning was clear). Second, I dreamed that I was preaching Christianity. The third dream was more complicated, but I was quoting biblical passages, rebuking false doctrine, and telling a man of the need to be born again; in the morning I looked up the biblical passages that my character in the dream had quoted and it clarified the meaning of a particular part of the dream. I was convinced more than ever before that God had answered my prayers for guidance! The thought still stirs up such gratitude that I can hardly express it in words! All I can say is Praise God! Glory to God! The very next chapter I read in the Bible was the first chapter of Ephesians, which contained the following passage…

“That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints.” (Ephesians 1:17-18)

A revelation of the knowledge of God… The hope of his calling… That is exactly what I believe God had just given me.

The next day was July 1, 2012. I was in Calgary for a conference and was to head home by bus that morning. As I was waiting to board the C-Train I found myself overwhelmed by the idea that despite my faithlessness (and every other flaw), God was still interested in walking patiently with me, answering my prayers for guidance, and pointing me in the right direction. He even had a calling for me – to share his gospel. Amazing grace! The idea brought tears to my eyes as I stood waiting for that train; so you can imagine that I was tipped over the edge when I finally boarded the C-Train and found a piece of paper beside the very seat that I sat upon: a tract from a group called Every Home for Christ, a group that preaches Christianity. I knew for certain at that point that God was trying to get a message across to me, underlining it again and again! Dreams, biblical passages, tracts – rapid-fire sequence. The message was clear as day, and I could not ignore it.

The next feeling I had was that of conviction. God had a calling for me, but it was not because of my own worthiness or piety. I had a wicked heart; among other flaws, over the past several years I had expressed utter resentment and hatred toward God, toward Christianity, and toward born again Christians and others in my life. I needed forgiveness. At that very moment I asked God to forgive me, to give me new life, and to make me a new creature. My feeling of conviction was followed by enormous relief and joy. I had given my life to Jesus, and I was born again.

Since that day I have sought to follow the path that God set out for me in his word and in his revelations to me. I experienced for the first time what “Amazing Grace” means, and it drives me to share what I believe is the true gospel (the “good news”) with others. Jesus is the son of God, and he came to build a bridge between us and God, restoring that relationship that was lost through human rebellion.

May God give you a revelation of the knowledge of him, and the hope of his calling for YOU! Thanks for reading! The next blog post will address one of the most frequent comments that I get… “All paths lead to God; Jesus is not the only way, is he?”