Chapter 14.1

Understanding Mega Mysticism

Extra-biblical Revelation for Extra-biblical Decision Making

 

Table of Topics

A) A Balance Between the “Bible Only” and Mega Mystical Camps

B) Mega Mystic John Eldredge: “God whispered, ‘Go fishing’”

C) Mysticism: Direct communication from God

D) Mega mysticism: Extra-biblical divine communication for extra-biblical decision making

E) Mental telepathy: The primary means of mega mysticism

Extras & Endnotes

Primary Points

• A burning question on the hearts of Christians today is whether or not God speaks to us apart from Scripture.
• Eldredge: “God whispered, ‘Go fishing.’” We are way beyond the ability to check such a thing with Scripture.
• God never communicates mere suggestions, but commands to be obeyed.
• It is presumption by mega mystics to claim God as the source of their impulses, and often they are simply lying.
• Are mega mystics trying to claim a divine weight to their decisions that simply isn’t there? Are they tempted to use such language because it sounds more spiritual than to just say they used the brain God gave them and made a decision?
• Why aren’t mega mystics as eager to talk about the many, many, many times that their impulses and mental impressions have been plain wrong?
• Mysticism is the belief that direct knowledge of God comes through immediate intuition and in a way different from ordinary sense perception or the use of logical reasoning.
• Mega mysticism is: The belief that God is regularly revealing an extra-biblical will for our lives through mental telepathy, or our correct interpretation of circumstances. Fundamentally, mega mysticism claims that God has an extra-biblical will for our life that requires Him to give us extra-biblical revelation.
• By extra-biblical we do not mean unbiblical, but simply things that Scripture does not specifically tell us to do, like “Go fishing today.”
• Mega mysticism is the claim that God is regularly and directly planting revelation in our mind that we could not otherwise find in Scripture.
• “It can’t be wrong when it feels so right,” is the essence of mega mysticism.
• Mega mystics claim that God has an extra-biblical will for our life that He wants to communicate to us through mental telepathy or circumstances.
• Mental telepathy is the direct communication of information from one mind to another apart from any intermediate means.

A) A Balance Between the “Bible Only” and Mega Mystical Camps

A burning question on the hearts and minds of Christians today is whether or not God speaks to us apart from Scripture. It could be suggested that there are two extreme perspectives on the issue. On one side is what could be called the “Bible only” camp which would restrict personal divine revelation ^[1] to Scripture alone.

While we would appreciate the support this view provides for the superior authority of Scripture, we have also suggested elsewhere that God grants revelation of His ways and will through other means as well, including our New Nature, faithful and miraculous deeds in our life, desires given by spiritual gifts, and God-ordained authorities in our life. ^[2] In addition, we would not deny God’s freedom to speak in other more miraculous ways recorded in Scripture, particularly even dreams or visions. ^[3] But unlike super-supernaturalists ^[4] we believe these are a relatively rare occurrence, not to be depended on, and always clearly authenticated as a message from God if God desires for us to know He is “speaking” to us.

At the other extreme from the “Bible only” camp is what we call mega mysticism. We refer to this belief and practice as mega mysticism because, as noted, we believe there is a place for the miraculous and even the mysterious in our relationship with God. Therefore, the addition of mega reflects our concern over unbiblical extremes in claims to God “speaking” to us apart from Scripture. Some mysticism in the Christian life is to be expected. However, we believe mega mysticism is unbiblical, and potentially damaging. Mega mystical teaching and practice exaggerates the need, expectation, occurrence, spirituality, and value of extra-biblical, direct divine revelation, and in our opinion comes perilously close to violating the biblical warnings about divination.

Responding to the claims of mega mysticism is both vital and complex for the same reason: the debate is at the heart of how God communicates with us today. Accordingly, it is incredibly important, because if indeed God is regularly granting personal revelation apart from Scripture then there would hardly be anything more valuable in the world and we would desperately want to know how to access it. On the other hand, if mega mysticism is wrong, then people are making themselves vulnerable to deception, misleading themselves and others, liable to making decisions based on feelings rather than reason, and in danger of violating the biblical warnings against divination.

Nevertheless, perhaps our greatest concern in this book is that we would unnecessarily offend those who would read it. We have many good, godly friends who share a different view on divine guidance and they deserve the utmost respect. But because we believe so many Scriptures are being misinterpreted and applied in the area of divine guidance, and that mega mysticism can lead to all sorts of vulnerabilities in the Christian life, we offer the following for consideration.

B) Mega Mystic John Eldredge: “God whispered, ‘Go fishing’”

Perhaps an example will help. John Eldredge has particularly done a great deal to encourage Christian men, but he is also one of the most popular writers today intentionally promoting mega mysticism. ^[5] Here is one small example from his otherwise good book, Waking the Dead:

Let me ask again: What does your heart need? A simple starting place would be to ask God: What do you have for my heart? You’ll be stunned by what he guides you into.

My parents recently came for a visit. It was a good time, but it fell during a lot of other demands on me, and by the time the week was over, I was wiped out physically, emotionally, spiritually. I hadn’t had a moment to myself. As I was driving them to the airport, my dad mentioned that he’d read in the local sports section that the fishing had been good up at one of my old favorite spots. I passed it over with a “huh.”

On the way home, God whispered, “Go fishing.” What? I haven’t time to do that. It was the last thing on my mind. “Take your canoe, call Morgan, and go to the lake.” . . .

I’ve learned to trust God on these urgings, and so I called my buddy, dug out the canoe, found my gear, and went. It was a gorgeous scene. The waters were completely calm, like glass, and there wasn’t another soul around. We pushed out, and within a few minutes we were catching these enormous rainbows, one after another, laughing and whooping and having a ball. I’m a little embarrassed to admit it, but I was stunned. Simply stunned. Really.

You might not think God wants this for you . . . but have you asked him? I think I’ve missed thousands of little promptings over the years, simply because I wasn’t open to the fact that they occur. ^[6]

Notice all that Mr. Eldredge is implying. First, God gave Him a command to go fishing. If God said it, then it was a command, because as far as Scripture is concerned, there are no cases in which God personally communicated to a person mere suggestions. On the contrary, whenever God communicated with someone in Scripture it would have been sinful disobedience to disregard what was said. Accordingly, if Mr. Eldredge wants us to take him seriously, then he needs to admit it would have been sin to not go fishing. In fact, if he would have missed this extra-biblical divine direction for his life that day, mistaking the impulse to “Go fishing” as merely coming from himself instead of God, he would have sinned against God twice—first for not recognizing “the whisper” as coming from God, and second for not obeying it.

Secondly, we are way beyond the ability to check such a thing with Scripture, and the constantly repeated comfort that we can trust such things if they do not violate Scripture is simply meaningless here. How would you check a command to “Go fishing today” with Scripture? And this very thing is true of much of the extra-biblical revelation that is claimed by mega mysticism.

Thirdly, we see a presumption on the part of mega mystics to automatically claim God as the source of their impulses. Why would it be so difficult for Mr. Eldredge to simply say that as he considered how tired he was, and after just hearing from his father there was good fishing to be had in one of his favorite spots, he simply thought with the brain God gave him that going fishing with a friend might be a neat thing to do? Simple reason and wisdom would have been enough to make a God-pleasing decision in this case.

In addition, a knowledge of Scripture could have led to a similar decision. God clearly instructs us that He has compassion on our human frailness (cf. Ps 103:13-14), He commands us to rest when we need it (cf. Exod 20:8-11; Mark 6:31), and tells us that Creation is for our enjoyment (cf. 1 Tim 6:17). It would be a very mature Christian thing to simply say that my knowledge of God and His ways from Scripture, coupled with my knowledge of my needs, makes it a wise decision to go fishing today.

Instead, Mr. Eldridge has to get all mega mystical about it and claim a divine revelation in which “God whispered, ‘Go fishing . . . Take your canoe, call Morgan, and go to the lake.” Are mega mystics trying to claim a spiritual, divine weight to their decisions that simply isn’t there? Are they tempted to use such language because it sounds more spiritual than to just say they used the brain God gave them and made a decision?

Finally, there is the claim here that we can be certain that such an impulse like “Go fishing today” is from God. Really, how could Mr. Eldredge be so certain? If he had gone fishing and his friend had fallen out of the boat and drowned, would he have still been so certain that God had spoken to him? Why aren’t mega mystics as eager to talk about the many, many, many times that their impulses and mental impressions have been plain wrong? And have they noticed that those wrong impulses did not feel any different than those that turned out to be “right”?

And let us not miss the fact that if there is some other explanation for why Mr. Eldredge thought about going fishing than the one he claims, he is lying to his fellow Christians, which is a serious sin indeed. Of course anyone can claim God gave them an extra-biblical divine revelation regarding something, but do they take it seriously enough that if they are wrong about that they are lying?

C) Mysticism: Direct Communication from God

Understanding mega mysticism and distinguishing it from legitimate perspectives on divine revelation is not easy. Perhaps this is why there is so little attempt in modern theology to do so. Unfortunately, however, we believe the devil has used the confusion over this topic to deceive people into thinking there is a legitimate extra-biblical source of divine revelation apart from Scripture.

Unfortunately, as Ruth Tucker writes in her good book, God Talk: “An overview of the literature of listening [to God] reveals many common features, particularly the tendency to speak in vague abstractions.” ^[7] Mr. Eldredge’s “God whispered” is a good example. What does that mean, especially when mega mystics consistently claim that they are not physically hearing God with their ears?

In order to understand mega mysticism, we can first consider the meaning of mysticism in general. Many years ago, the preeminent theologian Charles Hodge (1797-1878) devoted several pages to the topic and wrote:

There has been a religious theory, which has more or less extensively prevailed in the Church, which is distinguished from the Scriptural doctrine . . . and which is known in Church history as mysticism. . . . It is the theory, variously modified, that the knowledge, purity, and blessedness to be derived from communion with God are not to be attained from the Scriptures and the use of the ordinary means of grace, but by a supernatural and immediate divine influence . . .

A still wider use of the word mysticism has to some extent been adopted. Any system, whether in philosophy or religion, which assigns more importance to the feelings than to the intellect is called mystical . . . The mystic assumes that the senses and reason are alike untrustworthy and inadequate as sources of knowledge, that nothing can be received with confidence as truth, at least in the higher departments of knowledge, in all that relates to our own nature, to God, and our relation to Him, except what is revealed either naturally or supernaturally in the feelings. . . . ^[8]

More succinctly, Norman Anderson, a Christian scholar on world religions writes:

In general terms [mysticism] represents the belief that direct knowledge of God, of spiritual truth or ultimate reality, is attainable through immediate intuition or insight and in a way different from ordinary sense perception or the use of logical reasoning. ^[9]

Mysticism is a central aspect of Eastern religions such as Buddhism. Accordingly, the Zen Buddhist master Suzuki defines something called satori:

Satori may be defined as an intuitive looking into the nature of things in contradistinction to the analytical or logical understanding of it. . . . The satori, after all, is not a thing to be gained through the understanding. . . . In Zen there is an intellectual quest for ultimate truth which the intellect fails to satisfy; the subject is urged to dive deeper under the waves of the empirical consciousness. ^[10]

Finally, the respected Bible teacher John MacArthur gives a good description of mysticism in general and its prevalence when he writes:

Mysticism is a system of belief that attempts to perceive spiritual reality apart from objective, verifiable facts. It seeks truth through feelings, intuition, and other internal senses. Objective data is usually discounted, so mysticism derives its authority from within. Spontaneous feeling becomes more significant than objective fact. Intuition outweighs reason. An internal awareness supercedes external reality. . . . Mysticism is at the heart of modern existentialism, ^[11] humanism, and even many forms of paganism—most notably Hinduism and its close ally, New Age philosophy. Irrational mysticism is also at the heart of the Charismatic [movement’s] experience. ^[12]

D) Mega Mysticism: Extra-biblical divine communication for extra-biblical decision making

D.1) Mega mysticism claims direct revelation

The key concept in mega mysticism is that its source and purpose is extra-biblical. ^[13] By extra-biblical we do not mean unbiblical, but simply things that Scripture does not specifically tell us to do, like “Go fishing today.” Fundamentally, mega mysticism claims that God has an extra-biblical will for our life that requires Him to give us extra-biblical revelation. In other words, the core claim of mega mysticism is that there is both a divine will and divine revelation that is not communicated in Scripture.

Accordingly, we define mega mysticism as: The belief that God is regularly revealing His extra-biblical will for our lives through mental telepathy, or our correct interpretation of circumstances. Along these lines, Gary Friesen writes in his very good book: Decision Making and the Will of God, a good description of what we would call mega mysticism: “God has an ideal, detailed life-plan uniquely designed for each person, which he reveals to the heart of the believer through inward impressions and outward signs.” ^[14]

Likewise, M. Blaine Smith in his popular book, Knowing God’s Will: Finding Guidance for Personal Decisions, agrees with several tenets of mega mysticism which he describes as follows:

Inward guidance—guidance through mystical impressions . . . is an extremely popular approach to [knowing] God’s will. . . . It’s popularly assumed that intuition is in some sense the direct voice of the Holy Spirit. A strong inspiration to do something is as clear a leading of the Holy Spirit as the audible voice of God itself. When someone says “God spoke to me,” most often he or she does not mean hearing God’s audible voice but simply feeling a sense of inspiration to move in a certain direction. Many refer to this as “the still small voice,” or “inward guidance.^[15]

Likewise, Millard Erickson refers to the same perspective when he writes:

There are [those] who understand the authority of God to be exercised in some direct fashion. Among them are various types of “spiritists,” both ancient and modern. These are people who expect some direct word or guidance from God. In their view God speaks to individuals. This may be apart from or very much supplementary to the Bible. Some extreme charismatics believe in a direct special revelation from God. It is not simply charismatics, however, who are found here. ^[16]

Notice first that mega mystical revelation does not involve new doctrinal revelation, but specifically applies to knowing God’s will in personal decision making. Secondly, mega mystical revelation is direct, even more direct than the modern phenomenon of prophetism in which so-called divine “prophets” are supposedly providing people with extra-biblical revelation. ^[17]

Again, the key concept in mega mysticism is extra-biblical—an extra-biblical will of God requiring extra-biblical revelation from God. Concerning the former, a central belief in mega mysticism is that God has a personal will for our life that is beyond the moral commands in Scripture. For example, mega mystics commonly claim that God has only one particular college for you to attend, one best career for you to choose, one ideal mate to marry, and if you choose another college, career, or mate, you have missed God’s perfect will for your life. In other words, mega mysticism vastly expands the contents of God’s will for our life beyond what He has revealed in Scripture. Accordingly, if this is true, then we need a lot of divine revelation apart from Scripture. ^[18]

Perhaps the most difficult aspect of defining mega mysticism is distinguishing it from the biblical view of the Spirit leading us. Again, extra-biblical is a key concept. We believe to be “led by the Spirit” (Gal 5:18) is synonymous with exercising “the fruit of the Spirit [which] is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” (Gal 5:22-23). Everything the Spirit would prompt us to do is moral in nature and can be found as a clear command in Scripture. Accordingly, if someone claims that the Holy Spirit prompted them to be kind to someone, this is not mega mysticism, because God commands us in Scripture to be kind to everyone and the Spirit in us is constantly producing the desire to be kind.

It is when someone claims that the Spirit prompted them to perform an act of kindness to a specific person at a specific time that we believe they have crossed a line. This implies some sort of direct, specific, revelation apart from Scripture. On the contrary, Scripture tells us, and the Spirit prompts us, to be kind always and to everyone.

Accordingly, if Scripture contains the same information as a thought, impression, or desire, or it is a fruit of the Spirit, then it would seem both unnecessary and presumptuous to claim an additional extra-biblical mega mystical revelation as a source of the thought or direction. The more biblical explanation for such direction is our knowledge of Scripture and the fruit of the Spirit, not another revelation. And the repeated claim in mega mysticism that our God-given Spirit-liberated reason is not sufficient to understand, recall, and specifically apply our biblical knowledge to our life is another unbiblical thing about mega mysticism.

Nonetheless, mega mysticism claims the need and experience of amoral and extra-biblical revelations that could not be found in Scripture, like “Go fishing.” Mega mysticism is the claim that God somehow told them, or otherwise led them, in an extra-biblical decision to move to Africa, be a doctor, or marry Jane.

Mega mysticism makes the Holy Spirit into a modern day Ephod. We have demonstrated elsewhere that the following references to King David “inquiring” of God occurred through the use of the Ephod which was worn by a Priest to receive revelation from God. ^[19] Notice how this device worked to provide specific, direct, extra-biblical, amoral direction for David:

When David was told, “Look, the Philistines are fighting against Keilah and are looting the threshing floors,” ² he inquired of the LORD [with the ephod, cf. vs. 6, 9)] saying, “Shall I go and attack these Philistines?” The LORD answered him [through the ephod], “Go, attack the Philistines and save Keilah.”

But David’s men said to him, “Here in Judah we are afraid. How much more, then, if we go to Keilah against the Philistine forces!” Once again David inquired of the LORD [through the ephod], and the LORD answered him, “Go down to Keilah, for I am going to give the Philistines into your hand.”

⁵ So David and his men went to Keilah, fought the Philistines and carried off their livestock. He inflicted heavy losses on the Philistines and saved the people of Keilah. ⁶ (Now Abiathar son of Ahimelech had brought the ephod down with him when he fled to David at Keilah.) . . . .

When David learned that Saul was plotting against him, he said to Abiathar the Priest, “Bring the Ephod.” ¹⁰ David said, “O LORD, God of Israel, Your servant has heard definitely that Saul plans to come to Keilah and destroy the town on account of me. ¹¹ Will the citizens of Keilah surrender me to him? Will Saul come down, as Your servant has heard? O LORD, God of Israel, tell Your servant.” And the LORD said, “He will.” Again David asked, “Will the citizens of Keilah surrender me and my men to Saul?” And the LORD said, “They will.” (1 Sam 23:9-12)

What a wonderful device! Apparently any question or decision David had could be directly asked of God! How valuable! How advantageous to a rather risk-free life! And it is just these kinds of questions and decisions (although significantly less significant than whether to take men into battle) that mega mystics claim the Holy Spirit wants to answer rather regularly today. How then does this work?

For example, after determining that a movie was morally acceptable according to Scripture, how then would we determine which movie to go to? Would we expect extra-biblical divine revelation of some sort to tell us God’s will in the matter beyond what He has said in Scripture? Some mega mystics do. Consider an admittedly severe case of mega mysticism from Dr. Tucker:

The following is a testimonial I found while surfing the Internet. It comes from a man who speaks of God’s guidance coming through physical sensations:

My wife and I hadn’t been out together in awhile, so one day we wanted to take our three-year-old to the babysitter and then go see a movie. The Lord doesn’t let us see “R” rated movies or even most “PG-13” movies, so I had narrowed down the list of movies to two or three that seemed like possible candidates.

I asked the Lord if it was all right for us to see the first movie, and immediately a faint “sick to my stomach” sensation began to rise up within me. I have learned that this is how I experience a “check” in my spirit, so I thanked the Lord for His guidance and said that we would not go to see that movie. Immediately that sensation dissipated.

I asked the Lord about another movie, and immediately a “good” sensation, sort of a happy, loving, even “tickly” sensation rose up in the area of my belly, which I have learned is the way that I usually experience the “inner witness.” I thanked the Lord, and the sensation immediately dissipated. As you can see from this example, the “check” is like a “no” answer from the Lord, and the “inner witness” is like a “yes” answer from the Lord. ^[20]

How wonderful! Apparently, there is no need to even research a movie to know its contents because God knows and He wants to tell you. And He wants to tell you through a flutter in your gut. Before you dismiss this example as silly, understand that there are a multitude of mega mystical teachers giving the same advice.

Listen to a foremost mega mystical writer, Henry Blackaby, who describes how to tell if an invitation to participate in something is God’s will. He seems to be describing nothing other than a “flutter in your gut:”

First, listen to the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will confirm in your spirit whether an invitation is from God. When someone invites you to participate in a home Bible study on Tuesday evenings, the Spirit within you will confirm the invitation as God’s will or whether it is actually a distraction from what God wants you to do. ^[21]

Evidently, there is no need or value in thinking through your schedule and current commitments to make a sensible decision. The Holy Spirit can and needs to tell you if you should make such a commitment. “It can’t be wrong when it feels so right,” are not only lyrics from a hit song by Debbie Boone in the 1980’s, but would seem to be the essence of mega mysticism.

E) Mental telepathy: The primary means of mega mysticism

As stated, our definition of mega mysticism is: The belief that God is continually revealing His extra-biblical will for our lives through mental telepathy or the correct interpretation of our circumstances. The second half of our definition reflects the primary means through which mega mystics seek the extra-biblical “word” of God: “mental telepathy or the correct interpretation of our circumstances.”

By mental telepathy we mean the direct transference of thoughts from one mind to the other, apart from physically “hearing” or “seeing.” This is very much like what is known as Extra Sensory Perception (ESP) which the Encyclopedia Britannica defines as: “perception that occurs independently of the known sensory processes.” ^[22] Accordingly, paranormal psychologists for years have been trying to discover in human communication, what mega mystics claim in their relationship with God: direct communication of thoughts apart from the physical means of hearing. Putting all of this together, mega mysticism is the claim that God is regularly and directly planting revelation in our mind that we could not otherwise find in Scripture.

Mr. Eldredge’s claim that, “On the way home, God whispered, “Go fishing. . . . Take your canoe, call Morgan, and go to the lake,” is a good example. Mr. Eldredge is not claiming that he actually physically “heard” God with his ears, but that a strong, extra-biblical thought came into his mind from God. There is no other way to describe this other than mental telepathy between God and a human.

M. Blaine Smith essentially says the same when he describes his mega mystical view of divine guidance:

As I seek God’s [extra-biblical] will through prayer, and as I come to the point where I am willing to accept his [extra-biblical] will, I can rest assured that he will preveniently (ahead of time) guide my thinking so that the choice I make is the one he wants me to make. ^[23]

Accordingly, mega mysticism is a belief that God is regularly and directly implanting extra-biblical thoughts into our mind. Hence, our description of it as divine/human mental telepathy.

The other source of extra-biblical divine revelation for mega mystics is our circumstances. Apparently, each and every event in our life can be interpreted as a message from God regarding His attitude toward us or direction for us.

Of course, not all of those who would adhere to mega mysticism would agree with all of the aspects of our definition. However, we believe any one of the above described elements of mega mysticism is unbiblical and deserves the label.

As stated, we recognize that mega mysticism is a rather slippery concept. However the basic idea is a claim of an extra-biblical will for our lives that requires extra-biblical revelation through extra-biblical means. In other words, mega mysticism is a direct and very popular attack on the sufficiency of Scripture for knowing and doing God’s will.

Perhaps the examples of mega mysticism in the next chapter will further help you understand both its meaning and dangers.

Extras & Endnotes

Devotion to Dad

Our Father in Heaven, there are so many contradictory teachings and views in Your Church today. This especially includes the question of whether You guide us with revelation apart from Scripture. Help us in this study to gain biblical convictions on this issue so that we may know that we are in Your will.

Gauging Your Grasp

1. Is this topic of whether or not God has extra-biblical revelation for extra-biblical decisions important to you? Why or why not?
2. Why do we suggest that John Eldredge’s statement “God whispered, ‘Go fishing.’” constitutes extra-biblical divine revelation? We claim it is even a lie? Do you agree or disagree?
3. We state that God never communicates mere suggestions, but commands to be obeyed. Do you agree or disagree and why?
4. It is presumption by mega mystics to automatically claim God as the source of their impulses when it is simply their own thoughts.
5. How do we define mega mysticism?
6. What do we mean by extra-biblical?
7. Why should we distinguish a thought to be loving toward someone from what mega mysticism is claiming?
8. What is mental telepathy?
9. We claim that mega mysticism depends on divine/human mental telepathy. Do you agree or disagree?

Recommended Reading

• John MacArthur, Found: God’s Will (David C. Cook, 1977). An old but short and very helpful booklet reflecting what we hope to biblically demonstrate in Book 14.
• Gary Friesen and J. Maxon, Decision Making and the Will of God (Multnomah, 2^nd ed. 2004). Simply the best book written on this difficult topic to date. Especially helpful in cutting through the mega mystical muddle prevalent in the Church today. Also, Dr. Friesen’s website can be accessed at http://www.gfriesen.net.
• How Then Should We Choose?: Three Views of God’s Will and Decision Making, Douglas Huffman ed. (Kregel, 2009). Puts Henry Blackably, Gordon Smith, and Gary Friesen in one book interacting with one another.

Publications & Particulars

1. We define divine revelation elsewhere as: God’s self-initiated and divinely authenticated disclosure of His ways, works, or will to His Creation for His glory. (see section 7.1.A). Within divine revelation we distinguish between personal and universal. The latter is divine revelation to all humans, coming from such sources as Creation. Personal divine revelation is revelations of God that are not made available to every person, but relatively few. This would mostly include Scripture, but also visions, etc. (see section 7.2.A) ↑

2. Regarding the personal divine revelation that is provided through other means than Scripture see chapters 7.11-14. ↑

3. Regarding personal divine revelation through modern visions and dreams see chapter 10.11. ↑

4. Super-supernaturalism is our word for those whose practice and theology reflects an unbiblical expectation and emphasis on miracles. For an introductory critique see chapters 10.13-16. ↑

5. Regarding Mr. Eldredge’s intentional promotion of mega mysticism see his more recent book, Walking with God: Talk to Him. Hear from Him. Really (Thomas Nelson 2010)

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6. John Eldredge, Waking the Dead (Nelson, 2003), 216-17. ↑

7. Ruth Tucker, God Talk: Cautions For Those Who Hear God’s Voice (InterVarsity, 2005), 101. ↑

8. Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, Edward N. Gross ed., abridged version, (Presbyterians & Reformed Publishing, 1992), 64. ↑

9. Norman Anderson, Christianity and the World Religions (Intervarsity, 1984), 37. ↑

10. D. T. Suzuki, Essays in Zen Buddhism: First Series (Grove Press, 1961), 230, 243; Essays in Zen Buddhism: Second Series (Weiser, 1970), 60. ↑

11. Existentialism is essentially anti-rational (many would say plain irrational), downplaying to a great degree the value of God-given reason. Individualism and autonomy are characteristic as well. In addition, Millard Erickson says, “The final tenet of existentialism is subjectivity . . . Where the object evokes great inward passion or subjectivity, there is truth. This is the really important type of truth” (Christian Theology, 2nd ed. [Baker, 1998], 47) ↑

12. John MacArthur, Charismatic Chaos (Zondervan, 1992), 36. ↑

13. By labeling legitimate sources of divine revelation as “extra-biblical” we are referring either to the fact that they operate apart from the method of Scripture or that they provide direction in addition to that found in Scripture, but never non-biblical revelation. ↑

14. Gary Friesen and John Maxon, Decision Making and the Will of God (Multnomah, 2004), 112. ↑

15. M. Blaine Smith, Knowing God’s Will: Finding Guidance for Personal Decisions (Intervarsity, 1991), 132, 165-6. ↑

16. Erickson, 270. ↑

17. Regarding prophetism see Book 9. ↑

18. We have dealt with the unbiblical notion of an expanded, extrabiblical, private will of God for our lives in section 14.5.B.4 ↑

19. Regarding the biblical teaching on the revelatory nature of the ephod see section 10.8.C.2. For its use particularly in King David’s life see section 14.11.H ↑

20. Tucker, 89. ↑

21. Henry and Richard Blackaby, Hearing God’s Voice (Broadman & Holman, 2003), 210 ↑

22. Online at http://www.britannica.com. ↑

23. M. B. Smith, Knowing God’s Will (Intervarsity, 1979, 1991), 239. ↑