Recently there have been a few posts at r/TrueChristian on Reddit asking if God speaks outside of Scripture, and a large number of responses are “No. He only speaks to us through Scripture.”
Yet the testimony of many, many Christians is “God has spoken to me.”
I want to share some of the ways that God has spoken to others outside of Scripture, plus give a testimony of how He has spoken to me, my wife, and others on our behalf.
I’m breaking this into two posts. The first one is the testimony of others, and the second is the testimony of my wife and me.
But, first, some guidelines:
- All we need to know regarding salvation and the character of God is found in Scripture. There is no new revelation in the sense of a Muhammed or Joseph Smith.
- Nothing God says outside of Scripture will contradict what is in Scripture. God will not tell you to divorce your spouse and marry someone else, etc. He will NOT tell you to kill anyone or blow up an abortion clinic, etc.
- God speaks all the time and in various ways.
- God speaks to people from all denominations and Christian beliefs.
There are no Scripture references below. This isn’t an argument or debate, but simply some testimonies of how God has spoken to people (including my wife, me and some of our friends) outside of Scripture.
From Isobel Kuhn’s By Searching.
Isobel was a missionary to China with the China Inland Mission (CIM). While studying at Moody Bible Institute her mother died, and a short time later, her father was injured in an accident. She received a telegram telling her to return home immediately.
But in 1923, Isobel had met her future boss, James O. Fraser. She told him about her call, and her mother’s reluctance. Fraser told her: “I have sensed Satan is opposing you…” and added, “It is even conceivable that after you go to Bible school, Satan will attempt to get you away. For instance, a telegram might come saying that your mother was very sick and urging you to return home immediately. Now, if that should happen…” And he gave her a plan of what to do. In 1925, she received the telegram about her father, remembered what Mr. Fraser told her, followed the instructions, was told her dad would be okay and to stay at the school.
Was Fraser’s warning a prophecy? Premonition? Wisdom? The only thing Fraser got wrong is that he said the telegram would be about her mom instead of her dad.
A few weeks later, she received a letter from a friend in China. Mrs. Whipple wrote regarding Isobel’s mom, who was against Isobel going to China, “On the day of (your mother’s) death I was so burdened to pray for her that I spent a long time in prayer and had assurance that she was at last yielded to God’s will in all things.”
She continued, “But now…I have another burden…It is for you and somehow connected to your father. I am much in prayer for you, dear, and for him. I do not know what is happening, but God has called me today to intercede for you both…”
This letter was written on the day Isobel received the telegram regarding her father’s accident. Isobel was in Chicago, her dad was in Vancouver, and Mrs. Whipple was in China.
I do not know if God specifically said “Pray for the Miller family,” but He made such an impression on Mrs. Whipple that she knew when to pray, was guided in praying, and had the assurances that her prayers were answered.
Rees Howells
Rees was a Welshman. If you read his biography, Rees Howells, Intercessor by Norman Grubb, there are many instances of God speaking to Rees. From the moment of his conversion (sometime before 1904), the Holy Spirit spoke to him. It’s worth reading his biography to see how God taught and led him.
In 1922, he was praying with others about starting a training college for missionaries, and God told him, “Be careful how you pray. I am going to build a college, and build it through you!” It surprised Rees, but he asked God to confirm it through His Word, and He did. After battling in prayer, and having God provide all the money, the College opened in 1924.
During WW2, the College became a hub of intercession. The people there said Rees Howells would come from his private time of intercession to the prayer meeting, and tell them what was happening in Europe before the radio or papers announced it.
In the Foreword, Norman Grubb relates the story of a young Christian asking Rees Howells how he knew God’s voice. Rees replied, “Can’t you tell your mother’s voice from any other?” “Yes, of course,” the young man answered. “Well, I know His voice just like that.”
Duncan Campbell
Duncan Campbell was a Scottish evangelist that God used in the Hebridean Revivals in the 1940s and 50s.
There’s one story of God telling him to go someplace to minister. He didn’t know anyone there, and didn’t announce his coming. When he got off the boat, he told a lad to go tell the elder of the church that he had arrived. The elder said, “We’ve been expecting you. You’re due to preach tonight.” Duncan asked, “How did you know that I was coming?” The elder replied, “How did you know to come?”
I believe the fuller story is told in Duncan’s account of the Lewis Revival (please correct me if these were two separate incidents).
Duncan was sitting on a platform in Bangor, Northern Ireland, due to give the closing address at a convention, when “I was suddenly gripped by the conviction that I had to leave the convention, and leave at once, and go this island” (Berneray in the Outer Hebrides of northern Scotland). It was agreed that he should leave the convention, and the next morning he took two airplanes, a car, and a ferry to reach Berneray.
He had never been on the island. Never invited to the island. And, “to my knowledge no one on the island had ever met me.” He asked a “young lad” for the nearest minister, but was told the island had no minister. So he asked for the nearest elder, and was pointed to a house. He asked the lad to go announce his arrival to the elder.
A few minutes later the lad returned, and said, “Hector McKennon was expecting you to arrive today. And you are to stay with his brother. And he asked me to tell you that he has initiated a meeting at the church at 9:00 tonight and he expects you to address it.”
The day that Duncan was sitting on the platform, that elder had been in prayer, burdened for his parish. Three times, his wife heard him pray, “God, I do not know where he is, but you know, and you send him.” At 10 pm, the elder felt God had heard his prayer, and that Duncan would be on the island on a particular day, and set up the 9 o’clock meeting.
Both men had heard from God, and acted in obedience.
The reason I chose Isobel Kuhn, Rees Howells, and Duncan Campbell is that none of them were Pentecostal or Charismatics. Isobel Kuhn and Duncan Campbell were Presbyterians, and I believe Rees Howells was Calvinistic Methodist, but I’m not sure.
