“God told me” is the most powerful sentence in the church. It ends arguments. It closes questions. Once someone has said it, disagreeing with them feels like disagreeing with God, and most of us would rather not.
Which is exactly why it has to be tested. Scripture is not cynical about God speaking. It is cynical about people claiming He did.
Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others judge.
1 Corinthians 14:29, NKJV
The genuine article
Start by admitting what the Bible admits. God speaks. He spoke to Abraham, Moses, Samuel, the prophets, Mary, Peter on a rooftop, Paul on a road. The Spirit leads believers (Romans 8:14). Jesus said His sheep hear His voice (John 10:27). Paul told the Corinthians not to despise prophecy and told the Thessalonians the same thing. Anyone who tells you God went silent after the last apostle died has to skip a lot of the New Testament to get there.
But look at how the Bible handles that speaking. Deuteronomy 18 gave Israel a test for prophets. If the word does not come to pass, the prophet spoke presumptuously. Deuteronomy 13 gave a second one. Even if the sign does come to pass, if the prophet leads you toward other gods, he is a false prophet and the sign was a test of your loyalty. So a true word had to pass two tests. Accuracy and allegiance.
| Term | Original | Strong’s | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| diakrino | διακρίνω | G1252 | to judge, to discriminate, to weigh and separate |
| zadon | זָדוֹן | H2087 | presumption, arrogance, insolence, speaking beyond one’s authority |
| graphe | γραφή | G1124 | a writing, the Scripture, the written and settled word |
Then Paul. Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others judge. Diakrino. Weigh it. Separate the true from the rest. In the most prophetic church in the New Testament, Paul assumed that prophetic words would be tested by the congregation, out loud, as a normal part of worship. Nobody’s word was above judging. Not because God’s voice is unreliable but because human hearing is.
And the standard for the judging was the written word. Graphe. Peter, who had heard the Father’s voice on the mountain of transfiguration, said we have the prophetic word made more sure, and pointed the church to Scripture (2 Peter 1:19). If the man who heard the audible voice of God put the written text above his own experience, so can you.
The counterfeit
The counterfeit is not that people claim to hear from God. The counterfeit is the untestable word. It comes in several forms and you have heard all of them.
The word that cannot be checked. It is vague enough that nothing could prove it wrong. God is about to do a new thing. There is a shift coming. Someone here is going through something.
The word that cannot be questioned. To ask whether it was really God is treated as unbelief, or rebellion, or touching the anointed. The one who spoke it has put himself where Paul said no prophet stands, above the judgment of the others.
The word that overrides the Word. God told me to leave my wife. God told me the tithe would come back tenfold. God told me I do not need the church. Every one of these fails Deuteronomy 13 before it gets to Deuteronomy 18. It does not matter how strong the impression was. Jehovah does not contradict what He has already written.
Jeremiah 23 is the sharpest chapter in the Bible on this. The prophets speak a vision of their own heart, not from the mouth of Jehovah. They say, I have dreamed, I have dreamed. And He says, I did not send them, yet they ran. The counterfeit word is usually sincere. The prophet believes it. That is what makes it dangerous, and that is why the test cannot be sincerity.
Peter heard the voice from heaven and still said the written word was more sure. Your impression is not more sure than Peter’s.
How to tell them apart in the hand
When someone says God told them, or when you think He told you, run the word through four questions.
Does it agree with Scripture? Not with a verse. With the whole counsel. If the word requires you to set aside a plain command, it is not from the One who gave the command.
Can it be tested? A genuine word is specific enough to be wrong. If nothing could ever prove it false, it is not prophecy, it is a horoscope with a Bible cover.
Does it submit to judging? Watch what happens when someone questions it. The genuine article says, weigh it. The counterfeit says, who are you to question.
Where does it lead? Deuteronomy 13 again. A true word leads you toward Jehovah, toward His Word, toward His people, toward obedience. A false one leads you away from any of those, even if the sign came true.
The heart of it
None of this is meant to make you deaf. The Father speaks to His children, and a child who has decided never to listen is not being careful, he is being cold. Listen. Expect Him. Write down what you think you hear.
And then do what the Bereans did with Paul and what the Corinthians did with their prophets. Take it to the Word. Take it to people who love you and know the Word. Let it be weighed. If it is from Him, it will survive the weighing and be stronger for it. If it is from you, better to find out now than after you have built a house on it. He gave you the test because He wants you to hear Him and not be fooled. Both.
Going deeper
Read Deuteronomy 13:1-5 and 18:20-22 together and write out the two tests in your own words. Then read Jeremiah 23:16-32, slowly. Finally read 2 Peter 1:16-21 and notice what Peter sets above his own experience on the mountain.
An exercise. Think of one thing you believe God told you in the last year. Run it through the four questions in writing. Then show the page to someone who knows the Word and ask them to weigh it.
Discussion questions
- Why does Deuteronomy give two tests for a prophet instead of one?
- What happens in a church when “God told me” cannot be questioned?
- How do you stay open to the Spirit’s voice and still test everything?
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