"Is this the voice of God?"

Well, it seems that, using the biblical patterns as a standard, it could be. But is it? I don't know. That would be for the recipient and others close to determine. However, I think this raises another issue: The great fuss this event has raised.

I wonder if the reason so many have problems with this entire idea is because the modern church in America has by and large rejected any idea that God can or would speak to anyone today. I wonder if we have been so conditioned to using our own reason and intellect to understand what God is telling us that the possibility of the supernatural breaking into our modern, ordered, well-thought-out lives is unthinkable. I wonder.

If that's true -- and I suspect it's close -- it's a sad day for the church.

I was giving a talk on Hebrew biblical literature (i.e., the Old Testament Writings) when I was reminded profoundly of a distinct difference between the ancient Jewish mind and our modern evangelical world. That is, they believed that God was present and active, fluid and in motion surrounding everything that happens and exists. Thus one can 'see' God and 'experience' God best not by having philosophical discussions about his abstract qualities but by looking at and experiencing the world. This made them profound storytellers and advanced theologians.

Our modern world has become content to segment our lives (this is work; this is play; this is spiritual; this is rest; etc.), a move that the biblical writers refused to do. Thus, we try to dissect experiences such as this as EITHER / OR in terms of spirituality and psychology. But would Scripture see this as BOTH / AND - if, indeed, everything is spiritual as they so easily accepted? If we truly believe that God speaks through our experience of the world then whatever this was, it contained the voice of God.

Having said that, there will be many who question the event, Pastor Nick, because it appears as though you have segmented your own life to see your work time, study time and now a moment of divine experience time. This does not invalidate what you believe to have happened, but rather presses the context in which you have decided to place this message. And that is fair. . .so long as what you claim is consistent with the message of the kingdom, it matters very little how you came to understand it.

First off, I'm glad you've been affected by this. My second thought is "why did it take you so long to have a heart to heart with G-d?"

Everyone thinks, 'Oh G-d, the big guy, he don't talk to us no more, he's said what had to say in the good book. Now the Spirit, he just leads us, prompts us, ain't no talk'n there."

Seriously, when did this false teaching ever get credence in the Church? G-d talks to me all the time, I guess I'm just wondering how it is that you're amazed by this one event.
Wait till he interrupts you when you think you've got things well handled and he tells you, "Seriously, you dropped the ball back there with that comment and that person is deeply offended by what you said. You need to go make things right with them."

I didn't know what I said was offensive, but I said okay, and told the person that a "friend told me you were offended by what I said, and so I'm here to apologize for that."

He said thank you, he was offended but that he's glad I came by to apologize for it. Then he explained to me why he felt what I said was offensive.

So hey, talk to G-d more often, drop the pretense and just say it with heart. Be respectful, but be honest with G-d. If you can't be honest with G-d, you'll never be honest with anyone else.

I don't know if this was a genuine encounter with God, time will no doubt shed more light on this. However, I'm really surprised that people think God doesn't speak to his children in addition to speaking through his word. That doesn't put this experience on the same level as scripture, but in addition to it and it will never contradict God's written word. God is all about relationship and He is interested in us. Don't people ever ask questions of God to which they expect to receive an answer? What about the living presence of God in us, you know, the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead now dwells in us, aren't you blown away by this? God used visions and dreams to speak to his people all the time, even Paul, who had a dream about the Macedonian, and concluded that the Holy Spirit was leading him to preach the gospel in that part of the world. Why would He no longer do this?

Well I think I will stick with God speaking to us through the Bible. The prophets are gone but thank God he had them leave us God's word written in a book!
Interesting stuff though... God bless.

Come visit us in Central Asia. Ask some people here how God meets them in dreams. You may find your vision is small, in more ways than one.

And about those prophets...are they really all gone? That may be a phenomenon of the U.S. church as well.

Maybe God does speak to some of us. In my opinion, God is very much silent, most of the time. He gives strength in heart and strength in mind to get his thoughts known to me.
I have heard pastors/speakers talk about their meetings with angels and how the Lord visited them to instruct, to grace.. with His presence, it doesn't matter to me, right now. To me, you must be close to God or else, pure in order to see Him.
And yet, God is so wonderful, that he doesn't have to "talk" to us. He is the creator who can use nature to signal to us. He can weave chances and opportunities for us to learn and repent. Best of all, He speaks through His spirit in the language of visions and dreams.
Such is our God who is full of amazement and awe.

Judging from the accounts given in Genesis and Job, we can see that God does speak like in conversation with us.
So, maybe it is our own view of it. If we can lift our hearts and believe/prefer/allow him to dine with us and talk to us, then He can work Himself into our lives.

Hello pastor.
I don't think it was God you were talking to.
Because, I had the same experience as you did.

And the voice which spoke to me wasn't God's.
Two distinct things. There are some more I could point out.
1. You became immobile.
2. You had this fear.

For your knowledge, you can delete this and reuse it if you want.

Jie Xuan

The fact that God can speak, and sometimes audibly, to people is shown in many various instances in the Bible. That's not the question.
Whether God is literally speaking in this instance is a different question.
Obviously, I can't speak on the authenticity of this event, or even if the the pastor is correct in believing he heard an audible voice. I don't question, though, that he did experience something.
However, the message, as recorded, raises questions that color how we perceive this event.
--Does God speak with hesitation and broken sentences?
--If the message is puzzling, why no clarification or added information (i..e, see the experiences of Daniel, Ezkiel, Mary, John, among others).
--Would God in this rare instance of verbal communication say nothing about the content, intent, or approval or disapproval of the prayer of repentence, but only offer what is just an editorial comment (i.e., "It is too long")?
The comment is trival, almost humorous. God certainly has a sense of humor, to put it in human terms, but--in a world with so much pain, grief, horror, anxiety, yearning, questioning and seeking--would God speak simply to say a prayer is too wordy? Also, God can reveal himself through natural processes, too--but in doing so, would he say something so inconsequential, as though bored or annoyed that a prayer isn't shorter?
--Finally, the context raises some questions, too. In awaking into an atmosphere of darkness and terror, where was the sense of awe and the "Fear Not" spoken in many instances in the Bible to various started, frightened recipients of a message from God?

The first time I heard the Lord speak to me, he said, "No."

I remember thinking "I should have asked him an open-ended question!"

I like the comment that whatever happened in this incident, it contained the voice of God.

We do well in every circumstance to pay attention, pray for the Lord's mind and heart to guide and direct our analysis, and come to conclusions only after refusing "to lean on our own understanding, acknowledging him in all our ways." Then the scripture promises us that we can have the assurance that He is making our paths straight before us -- Proverbs 3-5-6.

I believe God frequently speaks to us but often we are too busy "living" to hear Him. I KNOW he has spoken to me and when He does speak there is no question or doubt. He is and He does!

It saddens me when people attempt to intellectualize God and become so analytical and rational that they miss Him altogether.

I hope Pastor Nick will not depend on anyone else but God to validate this experience. Human wisdom is but folly in comparison to the omnipotence & omnipresence of our Creator.

Fortunately,I was a child when God spoke to me and my mother was present. We were in the midst of the greatest recorded earthquake on Good Friday in Alaska.

I am so grateful that God allowed me this experience. As an adult my faith has been challenged many times. However, when I recall this experience, I am renewed with an abundance of childlike faith. What a Blessing to KNOW that you know HIM!

Peace & Blessings to all!

I agree to checks and balances on apparent supernatural encouters, but modern science is not, in my opinion, one of them.

"Sleep paralysis" is simply a term used to describe a particular event or phenomena by scientists (who do not believe in supernatural events).

Why do we accept this answer as being more valid that a mystical or superantural one?
Who gave the high priests of western humanism the status of "all knowing" in such things?
What Scripture describes as "demon possession" can be explained today as epilepsy or A.D.D. or some other "natural" illness. Drugs may "control" the symptoms, but does that mean there is no demonic or spiritual influence?
If we begin with the assumption that the natural cannot be influenced by the supernatural, that assumption will control our conclusions. It is as much a belief system as any other, founded on faith in natural logic or wisdom.
To believe in the God of the Bible is to believe in a spiritual realm that is greater than and permeates the natural realm.
Who wants a God that can "disappear in a puff of logic"?

Thank you for sharing your experience with us. At times God will use different channel to "talk" to us and interesting to know that He has such a good sense of humour. I know we are always afraid to share our experience in our Spiritual experience with brothers and sisters wonder will we stumble others? or are we helping others to see God's different Characters? Thats why we have to pray for his discerning all the time. "We always only limit the Lord by only remembering what we have allowed Him to do for us in the past" - fm Oswald Chambers. Pray to God that your experenice will strenght your faith in Him.

I have had an experience with God in my living room and it started with Him asking me to look up a word in the dictionary. From that point He called me to new path in my life.
I also am a pastor but in my case instead of darkness, my living room became intensely bright at 11:00p.m. and I was "pressed" to my face.
I was both fearful and warmed - it was an experience of complete awe. God's presence is just too huge to able to endure without His grace. I respect you for sharing this.

I guess I'm more concerned for any pastor who has not had an experience like this with God than I am for those who have. I'm not sure how any pastor could get through the challenges and struggles of leading a church without those moments when God personally gives you the strength to press on. And when it happens, you'll know it was God because science and medicine won't have the answers to explain it.

Dark and spooky is not God's style. Darkness is the absence of light. He is light. He may use irony and few words, but he isn't trite and silly. Remembering the scripture verse afterwards doesn't mean anything. Satan can quote scripture, and anyway, it would remind anyone of that verse, no matter who said it. But for contrast, God didn't reject the 119 Psalm as being too long, though it's much longer than this prayer and quite repetitive. God tells us to listen to his voice, but also to test the spirits and be discerning, because there are counterfeiters. But if there is a counterfeit, it is because there is a reality to be counterfeited. God desperately wants to communicate with us, even tells us to ask him questions. (Jeremiah 33:3) When he communicates with a voice, usually (not always) it is a gentle and quiet voice (even when he says stern things) that we hear in our heads rather than in our ears, and he uses normal conversational tones, not something slow and spooky. This sounds more like a halloween prank pulled off by a supernatural prankster. Most people assume that anything supernatural has to be God, but the Bible tells us clearly that there are evil spirits and they target Christians. In my 30 years on the mission field, I have experienced satanic counterfeits up close and personal (and been fooled at times), as well as hearing what was undeniably the Lord's voice many times in various ways. In my confusion caused by the counterfeits, I found that God uses even our mistakes to his glory and our good. It is commendable that you didn't use this experience as leverage in your denominational discussions and that you've had the courage to place it honestly before the Christian public. May God bless you and your ministry and fill you with wisdom and discernment.

Wow! God does speak and sometimes out of darkness, not light. The question is not the atmosphere, but does it measure up to the standard.

My concern is people who do not believe God speaks today. Several years ago my daughter broke off a serious relationship because God told her to. It hurt her deeply and she struggled, so she went to the counseling pastor of her church. The counselor did not know what to do with my daughter's comment, "God told me..." So she asked, "How do you hear from God."

The answer is simple. By listening in the Spirit.

This was extremely blog-worthy. Thanks

The pastor at our church just used the illustration of the young child up high on the monkey bars whose father coaxes him down by saying, "Trust daddy, just let go and jump, Ill catch you." The child does so and the father catches him. The pastor went on and told another story about a father who did the same thing with his child standing on the deck of their house. He said, "Son jump down to the ground and I'll catch you." When the little boy jumped, though, the father stepped out of the way and his son fell hard on the ground. The father turned to his son with his index finger gesturing for significance, saying, "Let this be a lesson to you, trust no one!"

Unfortunately many of us have been burned time and again by charlatans, or even well meaning people with the lingering effects of last night's pepperoni still in their stomachs. They have told us, "God spoke to me last night and said . . . ." Does this mean that God doesn't speak through people? Not at all.

What's interesting though is that in Scripture most of the events that describe situations where God reveals Himself and a Message through (and to people) leave the intended receiver (i.e. Moses, Isaiah and John at Patmos) in a state of awe, humility (unworthiness)and repentance. Perhaps if we could discern this as being true of those individuals who claim to speak with God's voice there would be less scepticism.

when a dream or vision comes from God, it will be very peaceful and reassuring You will know deep down in your spirit that it is from God minus the fear factor Today we argue, debate, rationalise and compartmentalize yet I still believe that God still speak today We must have simple and believing faith to trust Him and He will surely speak to us Perhaps we are grown "too sophisticated" and seldom seem to hear from God for a long time hence listening from God is really a struggle. God is real He never change!