I discovered yet another “prophet” on the internet offering a master class in dreams, visions and angelic visitation. This one claims to be able to release people to see into the spiritual realm etc. He has authored at least one book on this topic. I will not identify this person since he is but one of many who say the same kinds of things. Identifying one person will not enable people to discern every other, so I want to show you why this is false teaching. There are many issues here, some of which I have written about elsewhere (http://cross-connect.net.au/hype-false-teaching-and-a-remnant/; http://cross-connect.net.au/new-testament-visions-and-the-gospel/; http://cross-connect.net.au/christian-spirituality-and-experience/). But today there is just one issue I want to discuss—human denial that God is good.
In the course of my recent Bible study, I have been overwhelmed by the sheer goodness of God. As our Father in heaven he is so astoundingly, outrageously generous towards us. The words of Jesus make this point over and over. “Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? … For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them” (Matt 6:26, 32). “If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (Luke 11:13). “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom” (Luke 12:32). The goodness and generosity of God is revealed in the Bible and yet we frequently fail to believe that God is good.
This has been true since the beginning. When Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden, they were surrounded by God’s goodness. But when it came to the test, they demonstrated that they really did not believe that God is good. The serpent tempted Eve with the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil that God had commanded the humans to not eat under pain of death (Gen 2:17). “‘You will not certainly die,’ the serpent said to the woman. ‘For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’ When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it” (Gen 3:4-6).
The lie of the devil was that God’s word about the tree was not true. He insinuated that God was holding something good back from Eve and Adam. The tree that God had told them not to eat because they would die was, according to the devil, actually good. Eve looked at it and saw that it was “good for food, pleasing to the eye and also desirable for gaining wisdom”. She decided that if God was truly good he would not have forbidden this obviously valuable tree. Adam passively agreed with this verdict. The conclusion of the first two people was that God is not really good. Humans have been assuming this ever since.
The one human who has fully believed in the goodness of God is of course Jesus Christ. Throughout his life he trusted in the goodness of the Father, saying only what the Father told him to say (John 12:5) and doing only what the Father told him to do (John 5:19). But it is the end of his life which most demonstrates that Jesus believed that God is good. Knowing that he must go to the cross, Jesus set his face to go to Jerusalem (Luke 9:51). Instead of choosing the path that seemed best from a human perspective, Jesus chose to do the will of the Father at great cost to his own person (Luke 22:42).
There is no doubt that crucifixion holds no pleasure within it. There is nothing appealing about the prospect of dying on a Roman cross. As first century Roman philosopher Seneca observed: “Can anyone be found who would prefer wasting away in pain dying limb by limb, or letting out his life drop by drop, rather than expiring once for all? Can any man be found willing to be fastened to the accursed tree, longing sickly, already deformed, swelling with ugly weals on shoulders and chest, and drawing the breath of life amid long-drawn-out agony? He would have many excuses for dying before mounting the cross.”[1]
Yet there was no doubt in the mind of Jesus that God is good and no doubt expressed in his actions. If the Father willed that he would die the dreadful death reserved for slaves and rebels then he would die that death believing that God is good, even though there was nothing evidently good about this event. Christ’s trust in God’s goodness was vindicated when the Father raised Jesus from the dead.
What does this have to do with a Masterclass? Christians are not immune from unbelief. Our actions betray us even when we insist that we are people of faith who believe that God is good. Since we fail to believe that God is good, we try repeatedly to have power over God so that he will give us what we need and want. We do not believe that God wills good for our lives; we believe that he must be coerced into doing what we want. So Christians formulate ways and means of gaining power over God. There are formulas for being successful at prayer, aka ways of making God answer us. There are formulas for becoming wealthy, aka ways of manipulating God into giving us material things. There are also, apparently, formulas for seeing into the spiritual world, aka ways of making God reveal things to us. The thing that they have in common is that these formulas do not depend on what God has done in Christ. They assume that God is not good and must be persuaded or manipulated into caring for us.
Instead of attending a Masterclass, it is time to repent of our unbelief. God is good. Let us believe him. Any other decision is a decision to trust in the lies of the devil, who delights in keeping us away from our good God.