It was the first Sunday of the year and we were visiting a large church in our town. After the service an enthusiastic young man came up and told me, 'The Lord has shown me you are in full-time Christian ministry.'
(How did the Lord do that? Was it a miracle? Was it because I sat at the front with a big Bible open in front of me?) Then he said, 'I have a word from the Lord for you: you will go to the next level this year!' I can’t honestly say that prediction was false – presumably I did indeed go to the next level in something that year, even if it was only my favourite computer game – but it didn’t trouble me. Why not? Because I believe in the sufficiency of Scripture.
'Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.' (Jude 3)
Think about that phrase 'once for all'. This makes Jude 3 one of several New Testament verses that show us that God’s message to us is now complete: the Son has come, He taught His apostles and they wrote down what they received. Nothing more needs to be said. (Compare Hebrews 1:1-2, 2 Peter 1:19, 2 Timothy 3:16-17, 1 John 1:1-3, Revelation 22:18-19). Could He say more to us, in a dream, vision or word of knowledge? Yes of course - nothing is impossible with God. But we don’t need Him to do that for us. We have everything we need to know in order to please God and live with Him for ever. He has caused it to be written in the 66 books of the Bible.
In the words of the 18th century hymn 'How firm a foundation':
How firm a foundation you saints of the Lord
Is laid for your faith in His excellent word!
What more can He say that to you He has said.
To all who for refuge to Jesus have fled?
My young brother meant well and his message did no real harm. But far too many seriously damaging sentences have begun with those five words, 'the Lord has told me':
- your wife will be healed from cancer
- you have a spirit of unrepentance
- I should be a missionary
- you have a demon on you
- we are due a great blessing so we can borrow a big sum of money in advance
- she is cheating on her husband
- you are not committed
- you have been delivered from your addiction
- I need to get a divorce
- He will return your offering to you tenfold
- you lack faith to believe in His healing
- I don’t need my medication
- their child is the way he is because of their sin
No doubt many of these statements have been sincere and well-meant. As opinions or suggestions, some of them might have been helpful. As they stand, with that note of divine authority attached to them, they risk being massively misleading and harmful. There is a disturbing parallel here with the spiritual abusers of Jude’s day, who were also prone to claim extra-Biblical authority for themselves.
He will later describe them as 'these people - who claim authority from their dreams' (Jude 8, New Living Translation). It is a fact that some of the most harmful church leaders of our day have also skillfully weaponised this kind of talk, and brought great dishonour to the Lord in doing so. I wonder if it’s something best avoided altogether: 'Let the prophet who has a dream tell the dream, but let him who has my word speak my word faithfully. What has straw in common with wheat? declares the LORD.' (Jeremiah 23:28)
Meanwhile, the next time someone comes up to me saying, 'The Lord has told me…' maybe I’ll reply, 'Could we talk about Jude verse 3?'
