I agree it's a serious thing to say, "God told me". If people would think, before they say it, that if they are wrong, they could be doing something so bad it warranted a death penalty in the Old Testament. Most of those death penalty crimes are still sins: murder, adultery, homosexual behavior and beastiality, striking one's parents, testifying against someone else falsely for a crime worthy of death to get them killed, etc. Those are pretty bad things. Prophesying falsely in the name of the LORD was a death penalty crime, too.
But I don't agree with the idea that all God has to say is in the Bible. That's an unbiblical idea. Christ is the Word of God in the fullest and most ultimate sense. Everything He did revealed the Father. Yet, the book of John tells us that the author supposed if all of Christ's works were written down, the world could not contain the books. There are plenty of references to prophecies which are not recorded. I mean, for example, Samuel told Saul that certain prophets would meet him. We read that these prophets were prophesying, but their words were not recorded in the Bible. Saul prophesied, but his words are not recorded. Saul's servant had advised him to go to Samuel to enquire of missing donkeys. We don't know about all the other missing donkeys and lost coins Samuel and the other prophets prophesied to other people about. We don't know much of what the sons of the prophets in Elijah and Elisha's time prophesied about.
Micaiah prophesied Ahab's death. That's the first prophecy we read about. But before he was brought out to prophesy, the king, who apparently knew the court prophets were fakes, said of Micaiah, "he never says anything good about me." He knew Micaiah was a prophet of the LORD, unlike the large crowed promising him victory. Yet we don't know what those prophecies Micaiah had prophesied about Ahab before he appears in scripture were.
The seven thunders in revelation actually said something. But John was not allowed to include them in the book of Revelation, the last book in scripture.
Anyway, my point is that the Bible does not teach that all revelation is included in scripture. I'm glad. I wouldn't want to have to bring my Bible in a Mac truck, a book filled with every prophecy about a lost donkey for all the Israelites for all of history, and the name of every preacher God has and will ever call. The scriptures we have are written for our learning upon whom the end of the age has come. There is a universal applicability for our learning. I don't need every individual personal prophecy or bit of direction the Lord gives individuals. Some things aren't for the whole church.
But I don't agree with the idea that all God has to say is in the Bible. That's an unbiblical idea. Christ is the Word of God in the fullest and most ultimate sense. Everything He did revealed the Father. Yet, the book of John tells us that the author supposed if all of Christ's works were written down, the world could not contain the books. There are plenty of references to prophecies which are not recorded. I mean, for example, Samuel told Saul that certain prophets would meet him. We read that these prophets were prophesying, but their words were not recorded in the Bible. Saul prophesied, but his words are not recorded. Saul's servant had advised him to go to Samuel to enquire of missing donkeys. We don't know about all the other missing donkeys and lost coins Samuel and the other prophets prophesied to other people about. We don't know much of what the sons of the prophets in Elijah and Elisha's time prophesied about.
Micaiah prophesied Ahab's death. That's the first prophecy we read about. But before he was brought out to prophesy, the king, who apparently knew the court prophets were fakes, said of Micaiah, "he never says anything good about me." He knew Micaiah was a prophet of the LORD, unlike the large crowed promising him victory. Yet we don't know what those prophecies Micaiah had prophesied about Ahab before he appears in scripture were.
The seven thunders in revelation actually said something. But John was not allowed to include them in the book of Revelation, the last book in scripture.
Anyway, my point is that the Bible does not teach that all revelation is included in scripture. I'm glad. I wouldn't want to have to bring my Bible in a Mac truck, a book filled with every prophecy about a lost donkey for all the Israelites for all of history, and the name of every preacher God has and will ever call. The scriptures we have are written for our learning upon whom the end of the age has come. There is a universal applicability for our learning. I don't need every individual personal prophecy or bit of direction the Lord gives individuals. Some things aren't for the whole church.
