Ted Kitchens recently delivered a sermon at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (SWBTS), in which he explained to students how they could hear the voice of God. Kitchens is the senior pastor at Christ Chapel Bible Church. He called the idea that we hear the voice of God only in Scripture, “practical deism.” Kitchens taught/said the following…
- He heard God’s voice, saying “They were not audible whispers. They were spiritual whispers.”
- A pastor has two jobs. One is to lead people. The other is the listen to the voice of God.
- God is constantly speaking, all the time.
- You have to hear God’s voice daily.
- Recalls story of a couple visiting the church, saying the husband had “heard God speak this morning” to give a bunch of money to the church, and the wife heard it as well, even down to the dollar amount.
- Quoted Francis Schaeffer as to hearing God from the book, “He is There and He is Not Silent,” asserting that God is constantly speaking to us.
Four ways we hear the voice of God, according to Ted Kitchens…
- God speaks when we read the Holy Scriptures….which he says is “like a seashell.” If you put your ear to it, you can hear the Word of God. You don’t really have to read the Scriptures more, Kitchens said, but as you’re going about your day are you “listening to God’s voice”? It is the Scripture that somehow primes ones’ ear to receive God’s voice, not that God’s voice is in the Scripture.
- God speaks by listening carefully to spiritual teaching and preaching. God speaks through preachers and God is speaking through him right now and he humbly accepts that responsibility. The speakers and teachers in your life are the the mouthpieces of God. The Holy Spirit gives personal messages through his mouth pieces.
- God speaks to us seriously through “spiritual impressions.” Your heart and mind act as “receivers” for God’s direction. God gave him the idea of a ski business, but it was actually a “spiritually impression.” He calls trusting in the Bible alone for God’s voice “rationalism” or “practical deism.” He says there’s also mysticism which is “high weeds,” but doesn’t explain what is different between his perspective and mysticism.
- God speaks to us through pain. This is a “God is speaking through experiences” type thing, essentially.
You can listen the audio or watch the video here.
Southern Baptists really are becoming (and have been for a long time in certain circles) tongueless charismatics. There is absolutely nothing different between what was taught in the SWBTS chapel and the continuationist doctrine of the Assembly of God except for the use of glossolalia.
[Contributed by JD Hall]
