If I understand you correctly, you are saying that humility in the person teaching the scriptures needs to be evident in order for us to be able to trust that the message is being conveyed by the Holy Spirit. If this is the case then how do we accurately determine if this person is humble or not?There is a regular debate over whether the bible is, or is not, the final arbiter/authority over hearing the whisper of the Holy Spirit.
This debate has been thoroughly hammered back and forth not just in this forum, but in many others I have visited. I try not to get too involved because people from both camps (including me) get a little hot under the collar. However I just wanted to air some fresh thoughts that to date, I haven't seen aired.
The bible vs the Holy Spirit, where does the buck stop?
The answer is neither, because the buck actually stops with me and my ego. I am the one who makes that choice, not God, and I am sure that I have now just offended half the readers, but lets look at some facts.
Whether prophesying or bible teaching, everyone in the body of Christ is subject to pride and or humility in varying levels. It is these two factors that influence the truth more than everything else put together.
Theologians quite rightly fear that false prophets will lead the church astray.
As someone who has a teaching ministry, as well as a prophetic ministry, I understand this, but with my prophet's hat on, I would guess that there are equal or perhaps more congregations being led astray by false teaching than by false prophets. I say this because there are very few churches that claim to be prophet based, rather than bible based.
However in both the prophetic and the teaching ministries it is not the medium being used, but pride that is doing the damage!
1Tim4v1The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. 2Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. 3They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth. 4For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, 5because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer.
I bring this scripture because it is a warning about the teaching of doctrines of demons. ie. it is not directly about prophetics, but about false teachers.
But has anyone noticed something quite significant here. If this is about doctrines of demons, then these teachers must wittingly or unwittingly be hearing demonic whispers among their thoughts, even though they don't even count themselves as prophets.
Anyone wishing to study the bible must do it prayerfully, seeking God for understanding. Unless we do it this way, we will interpret scripture by intellect alone, ie. a Tree of Knowledge interpretation, and we know who inhabits the tree of Knowledge! Vast amounts of theology is academia at work. They can prove anything they want from their bible studies and many do so as Timothy makes clear. Pride means that their ears are closed to truth, even though they might have a doctorate in theology. Unfortunately a doctorate is demanded by many churches before anyone would be considered for a leadership post. There are few examinations to discern what spirit that theologian has been following.
Thus to make scripture alone the arbiter of what the Holy Spirit might whisper is a flawed measure. Unless humility before God is evident, nothing is certain. Everybody, christian and non christian are subject to the realm of the spirit. Those who resist the ministry of the Holy Spirit whispering to people today would be completely deaf and blind to the idea that demons have given them that notion! Thus they certainly do hear in the spirit, just the wrong spirit, otherwise doctrines of demons would be impossible. The prime reason for this, is pride!
One final afterthought. Here we see Peter's reaction to a vision sent by the Holy Spirit.
Acts10v9About noon the following day as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. 10He became hungry and wanted something to eat, and while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance. 11He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. 12It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles and birds. 13Then a voice told him, “Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.”
14“Surely not, Lord!” Peter replied. “I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.”
15The voice spoke to him a second time, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”
16This happened three times, and immediately the sheet was taken back to heaven.
Here we see Peter receiving a vision. Falling back on scriptural authority to interpret the vision, then rejecting the vision three times. God had to overrule Peter's comprehension of scripture.
So we see that the Holy Spirit trumps scripture at times, or at least what we personally believe of scripture, and that's the problem.
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