F4F | Do Prophets Need to Practice Hearing God's Voice?

Hearing the Voice of God vs. Forbidden Spiritual Practices

Welcome to another installment of Fighting for the Faith. My name is Chris Rosebro. I am your servant in Jesus Christ. This is the channel that compares what people are saying in the name of God to the Word of God.

Now have you ever been told that if you want to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit you need to practice hearing the voice of God. Yeah, if you've ever been told that go ahead and like the video hit the subscribe button down below.

Don't forget to ring the bell. You've been taught something false regarding God now. This is gonna be a long segment and the reason it's gonna be long is because I'm gonna throw in some some major Bible teaching into This installment of Fighting for the Faith if you've never heard the story of Balaam.

Yeah Balaam and you know his donkey that talked to him kind of an important thing and it has everything to do with what? We're gonna be taking a look at Here on this installment of Fighting for the Faith, so we're gonna start if you would in a crazy spot.

We're gonna start in a crazy spot and we're heading over to the Christian Post. Let me pull up my desktop and Back at the end of May. This is the article that was published and it says Vision Church of Atlanta adds psychic medium to ministerial staff.

Psychic medium that that's right. So, I mean, I I don't know if you've noticed this but scripture forbids these practices. Let me show you the text for that real quick and to kind of bear this out. I'm gonna duplicate my tab here because I'm like all over the place and making you know Ah, you know decisions on the fly as I am Recording this installment of Fighting for the Faith.

Of course, I spelled Deuteronomy wrong. All right. There we go Deuteronomy 18 and Listen to what the Lord says says when you come into the land that Yahweh your God is giving you you shall not learn to follow the Abominable practices of those nations so you'll note that God by his commentary makes you know Really up front what he thinks about these things.

These are abominable practices. There shall be no one among you who burns his son or daughter as an offering anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens or is a sorcerer or a charmer or a medium or a Necromancer or one who inquires of the dead all of these practices are Forboden and you'll note that even in the New Testament.

You know, there are people who practice these things and upon becoming Christians They they literally burned and got rid of all of their spell scrolls and things like that. That's in the book of Acts so these practices are forbidden and These would fall under the kind of the general category if we were to think about the Ten Commandments themselves.

Idolatry is in play. You shall have no other gods before me. But the other one is this thou shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain. And so the idea here is is that we are to go to scripture.

We are to go to those sources where we know God is speaking and not to sources where God has forbidden us to go to. To you know to look for good and answer questions and things like that that we might have.

Now you may not get the answer to your question but so the idea here is is that if you're lamenting and you're mourning the loss of one of your close relatives or somebody that you were very close to.

You do not go and you know inquire of the dead or spirits or mediums or necromancers or people like this. No, you you you limit everything to speaking to the one true God you were to look to him and him alone for good and.

And and and help in time of need not to dead spirits or anything like that all of that being said. Coming then back to this so vision Church of Atlanta adds a psychic medium to Ministerial staff and the story reads this way the vision Church of Atlanta, Georgia a progressive congregation.

You know, they're progressing all the way into the fires of hell. That's how progressive they are. They've added a psychic medium who claims to commune with the dead to their staff. Lakara Foster who holds a doctorate of ministry from the Interdenominational Theological Center is now a licensed minister at the vision Church of Atlanta.

Rolling out reported. She is the creator and and star of the YouTube series the gift. Which she argues God told her to do. And it follows her life as a medium minister and a spiritual teacher now. Here's we'll sample one of her YouTube.

You know videos where you know, she's practicing her craft. Shall we say as a medium and somebody who communes with the dead which Deuteronomy 18 forbids? But let's let's check in and see, you know what this woman's up to here.

Shall we?

My name is Lakara Foster and I am from New Orleans, Louisiana.

Yeah, a little bit of a note here. David Hogan said he grew up in Louisiana and that he didn't know anybody who practiced Witchcraft. Well, I would just point to Lakara here. See I told you there was strange stuff going on in, Louisiana.

You do. Wow you you must be extraordinary then don't call it anything but some people may refer to it as a psychic or a medium.

So she publicly and openly admits she's a psychic and a medium. This is obviously a self-produced YouTube series. She needs to get a good sound editor. Thing. So you've done other psychic readings before God.

So you never believed him but you spent the money for that. Why.

I'm just because that first little encounter kind of was real and unexpected and there are a couple of things that if she says if she touched on it then.

Yeah. All right. So we've set up some kind of internal test if she's mentioned those things and yeah. That that she must be real now a little bit of a note here. If you've ever watched like, you know people claiming to be psychics, you know.

They're they're on cable television all the time. There's a technique that they engage in in fact. Several people who claim to be prophets engage in these same techniques this cold reading idea and the best way I can put it.

It's like playing battleship. All right, so, you know there if you've ever played battleship, you know. You got the two things set up and you know. And so you're you know. Your opponent is hiding their ships somewhere in the seas on the grid on their thing and you're hiding your ships over here.

And so the idea here is this you call out, you know, you know, it's time for your attack and you say a six and your opponent goes miss and Then your your opponent cry, you know calls out see three miss and Then you know, it's your turn you go D D7 hit.

Ah. And see when you get a hit then you you kind of you want to fire back and so I got a hit on d7. I wonder if the next one is like at d6. So you go again now my next move d6 miss. Bummer, it's not that way.

It's the other way and so what what psychics are people who claim to be psychics do they are engaging in psychic battleship and You know, basically doing a cold reading is all about Scattering out all of this information and then paying real close attention to the feedback because when you get a hit.

Yeah, you get a hit then, you know. Well, then, you know, you know, you know that you know that you know. And then you can kind of drill down on that stuff. Whereas I would note that when you compare That to people who've actually heard from God and we'll take a look at a fellow in scripture Balaam.

We'll talk about that shortly, but not quite yet. This is a fellow who was a practicer of divination he's not a he's not even a believer and he heard the voice of God and he gave a very very specific prophecy and it it didn't involve any kind of Psychic battleship or anything like that, but we continue.

This is how her process works the spirit thing does. So when we leave these bodies we go back to being energy this is your theology woman. This has nothing to do with biblical theology at all.

Just become souls again. Three males that have departed.

All right, so now the psychic battleship has begun. Three males have come to my mind, you know regarding you. Three males and it's coming to me and on different levels. Uh-huh. Yeah. Did do you have a father or a grandfather figure.

Who doesn't and so you'll note then she's fishing here for a response and she'll get a hit now because like Everybody has a father figure or a grandfather figure. Yeah, hey listen Lee you're supposed to be the psychic.

Why don't you tell her. Why are you asking. You know my mother's. I don't.

It's weird. I don't know who my biological father is but my father raised me past. Okay so that's fine. He's your father figure. Okay. And then my mother's father is deceased. Where you close to him as well?

I was very young but yeah. So what they're showing me is that these three males are very protective over you and your girls.

Okay so yeah, well now that we've got confirmation because I asked questions rather than make statements now I'm going to tell you more about these and we're going to just engage in continued vagaries so you'll note then that this is the woman La 'Kara Foster who is now she claims to be a psychic and a medium and she's been added to the ministerial staff at the Vision Church of Atlanta despite the fact that scripture forbids this kind of nonsense.

Cold Reading, Psychic Battleship, and Bethel’s Prophetic Method

Now in the same vein here I want to point something out. We're heading over to the Facebook for Chris Vallotton of Bethel Church and Chris Vallotton is the prophet of Hogwarts also known as the Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry and I want you to consider the vagaries of this particular thing that he put out.

You may be prophetic if you may be prophetic if and listen to this, just watch the checklist. You tend to be more focused on the future than the past. Mmm ah, you sense things before they happen. This sounds like the same kind of list you can make for somebody who claims to be a psychic or a medium, right?

You love to pray for others and listen to what God has to say about the people you love and you have vivid dreams often filled with imagery and metaphoric symbols and you see patterns in life via numbers, symbols or colors that God uses to speak to you.

Now note, the same list could apply, you may be a psychic, you may have psychic powers and abilities. If these things are true, I mean there's nothing Christian about this at all and it's just kind of weird now since we're picking on Bethel let's throw Jen Johnson into the mix and I want you to consider what she has to say here and then we'll launch into our teaching regarding Balaam because you're going to note then, the people claiming to have these special abilities they're hearing from God, they're hearing from the Spirit.

They, well, they really have bad hearing you know, I mean really bad hearing and that's kind of the point because you have to engage in psychic battleship or you sense things, whatever that means and you kind of, sort of are hearing ish kind of stuff, but listen to what Jen Johnson says here.

Something super practical, like how do you get good at playing the guitar? By practicing, yeah.

How do you get good at anything? Same with a prophetic. No not at all, so the way you get good at the prophetic is by practicing. So here's the problem is that basically this presupposes that God is incapable of communicating to human beings and being heard.

This is nonsense. This is just gobbledygook consider it this way. There's God in the beginning. Bereshit bera in the beginning. God created the heavens and the earth and so what does it say? God said let there be light and it doesn't say and then creation went.

What? I haven't practiced hearing you, you want me to do what again? Could you repeat that God? I'm not sure God goes, I said let there be light. Oh ok, yeah, light. Yeah, we can do that. This is nonsense, when God speaks he is going to be heard regardless of whether or not the person has practiced, because that's how it works, by the way.

I mean, you parents out there, do your children have to practice hearing your voice. No, not at all and so you say to your child, child of mine whom I love it's time for you to take out the trash and your children don't sit there and go, I think I'm hearing something, I think I'm mom, was that you talking to me?

I need to practice hearing you more at that point I'm just saying that corporal punishment may or may not be involved but you get the, this is nonsense. Ok, since when is God communicating and people are unable to hear him unless they practice hearing him.

This is absurd on its face.

It's not going to be one day all of a sudden, just because you came out a newborn baby, and the five-fold gift of God on you is a prophet. You have to practice doing everything. That's why babies don't come out walking.

Yeah, no biblical text says this. This is just something that sounds reasonable to her, apparently.

Give yourself a break, stay in submitted community, and a really beautiful way to approach prophecy as you're practicing, is to say, I mean you can come in with the say of the Lord, but good Lord, it better be the Lord.

And I just don't recommend it. So she doesn't recommend that, no, so what do you recommend.

Instead, Jen? A beautiful approach to encouragement or prophecy of any kind is, I'm just practicing hearing. God, can I tell you what I feel like I'm getting what?

So this is Bethel's idea of prophecy. I'm practicing, so there you are. You're at Walmart you're over there in the aisle because you need to get some new shampoo or something like that. So you say, you know what?

I feel like I'm hearing the voice of God here, so there's some lady there, she's looking at the suave shampoo herself and trying to make a decision if she's going to get the lavender scented conditioner to go along with it.

And you say, you know, I feel like God's saying something to me about you. And I'm still practicing because I'm not really good at this prophecy thing yet, I've got to practice in order to get better.

So can I tell you what I feel that God might or may not be saying, because I'm really not that good yet.

This is nonsense and that just takes all the pressure off of God if it is or isn't and then if it is and it resignates then it'll just go.

It'll connect straight to God if it resignates, does that mean it surrenders and says uncle?

It takes that edge off, and so you can practice on people in the grocery store, you can practice on people in the church, but a simple, beautiful, humble approach is just say, hey, I'm practicing hearing the voice of God, could I tell you what I feel like I'm getting, and you know what, I've had people tell me no and I went, okay, have a great day you know, don't like shove it down their throat, you know.

But I think a beautiful, humble approach is just to say, hey, can I practice telling you.

What I feel like God's... Oh, it sounds so humble. A beautiful, humble approach would be to say I'm practicing hearing the voice of God again, this all presupposes that God communicates and is not able to be heard this is ridiculous on its face now, here's the part where we'll do a little bit of biblical work, we're going to take a look at some passages regarding Balaam, now you may have heard about this fellow because it's the famous story of Balaam and Balaam's donkey, but you need to know a little bit about this fellow, Balaam was a guy who practiced divination one of the forbidden practices so, he's not a prophet of God in the sense that he's a believer in Yahweh, he is trusting in Yahweh, in that he is going to join forces and become part of the community of Israel and worship and serve the one true God, no, not even close in fact, this guy is it's awful about this fellow, in fact, I'm kind of trying to figure out where I want to start with them, so we'll start in Jude, we'll start in Jude of all places, because there's several cross-references as it relates to Balaam, and I think kind of working this out will help us out here, so Jude writes, starting in verse 5, I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it that Jesus, who saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe, and the angels who did not stay with their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling he's kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day, just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire, yet in like manner, these people, these false teachers he's warning us about, relying on their dreams sounds a lot like Bethel to me, like the entire N .A .R., relying on their dreams, they defile the flesh, they reject authority yes, they do, they blaspheme the glorious ones, and then but, when the archangel Michael contending with the devil was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment but he said, the Lord rebuke you but these people blaspheme all that they do not understand, and they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively.

Now remember Jen Johnson's argument, well, you know so you're born a baby, but you've been given a five-fold gift of prophecy you've got to practice hearing the voice of God, this again is not based on any biblical text, this is just some weird thing that's based upon what she thinks is true it's kind of what she believes or understands instinctively, but it's not a biblical doctrine.

So Jude says, woe to them, they've walked in the way of Cain, Cain is held up then as an archetype of a false teacher, Cain is the fellow who goes through religious activities has no faith none whatsoever, so he just goes through the motions but he doesn't believe at all, and then abandon themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam's error, and perished in Korah's rebellion.

So our first instance then, we'll note that Balaam is held up for us as a fellow who is into money and we learn also that he was also into divination and let me close this up I'm going to close that one and here's what it says in the book of Joshua chapter 13 verse 22 it says, Balaam also, the son of Beor, the one who practiced divination was killed with the sword by the people of Israel among the rest of their slain and so here we again note that Balaam was a fellow who practiced divination you can't say he's regenerate you can't say he's a believer you can say this guy is like a psychic or a medium or a necromancer or someone who basically is in it for the money and he practices divination, so we learn a little bit more about his character from that text Peter writes in second Peter talking about the false teachers, he makes kind of the same point that Jude makes and here's what he says in second Peter 2 for if God did not spare angels when they sinned, he cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment, if he did not spare the ancient world but he preserved Noah who was a herald, you can say here we got you can say he was a preacher or herald of righteousness with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the earth of the ungodly, if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction making them an example of what's going to happen to the ungodly, and if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the central conduct of the wicked for as that righteous man lived among them day after day he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passions and despise authority.

Bold and willful these false prophets are they do not tremble as they blaspheme the glorious ones, whereas the angels though greater in might and power do not pronounce a blasphemous judgment against them before the Lord.

But these, like irrational animals creatures of instinct, born to be conned and destroyed, blaspheming about matters which they are ignorant will also be destroyed in their destruction suffering wrong as the wage for their wrongdoing.

They count it pleasure to revel in the daytime their blots and blemishes reveling in their deceptions while they feast with you they have eyes full of adultery insatiable for sin they entice unsteady souls.

They have hearts trained in greed. They are accursed children forsaking the right way they have gone astray. They have followed the way of Balaam the son of Baor who loved gain from wrongdoing but was rebuked for his own transgression.

A speechless donkey spoke with human voice and restrained the prophet's madness. So you get the idea we're doing a little foundation work. This guy is not a Christian. He never went to the Bethel school of supernatural ministry never had his prophetic gift activated by the apostle Ryan Lestrange after paying him $500 or anything of the sort.

So you'll note that we got a little bit of his credentials worked out here. But then Balaam is also mentioned by Christ himself. Now remember in the book of Revelation that there's a whole portion of the book of Revelation that is red letters.

These are the very words of Jesus and so they're every bit as much red letter as like what Jesus says in the gospels in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. So here's what it says here in Revelation 2 .12. We'll note we'll put another stake down here.

Learn a little bit more about them. And the authority here speaking about Balaam is Christ himself. So to the angel of the church of Pergamum write the words of him who has the sharp two-edged sword.

I know where you dwell where Satan's throne is. Yet you hold fast to my name. And you did not deny my faith even in the days of Antipas my faithful witness who was killed among you where Satan dwells.

But I have a few things against you. You have some there who hold to the teaching of Balaam who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel so that they might eat food sacrificed to idols and practice sexual immorality.

So also you have some who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans. Therefore repent. If not I will come to you soon and war against them with the sword of my mouth. So there's a little bit more to Balaam.

And that's where the follow-up comes. And this is where Christ helps us out here is that not only do we learn from Jude and from Peter that Balaam was a prophet for profit and that he practiced divination according to Joshua but also that he intentionally put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel so that they would eat food sacrificed to idols and practice sexual immorality.

And we'll talk about where and when that happens as we take a look at this text in the Old Testament. So we're now in Numbers chapter 22. Numbers 22 children of Israel just for a little bit of context they have almost completed their 40 years of wilderness wanderings.

They are approaching the promised land. They are to the area where Moab is. Moab is in the southern eastern portion of the Dead Sea. That's where the Moabites lived. So that kind of gives you the idea where they're at.

They're not quite up to where Jericho is. They've gone through Midian. But you kind of get the idea of what's going on there. So it says this in Numbers 22. The people of Israel set out camped in the plains of Moab beyond the Jordan at Jericho and Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites.

And Moab was in great dread of the people because they were many. Moab was overcome with fear fear of the people of Israel. And Moab said to the elders of Midian this horde will now lick up all that is all around us as the ock licks up the grass of the field.

So Balak the son of Zippor who was the king of Moab at that time sent messengers to Balaam the son of Baor at Pethor which is near the river in the land of the people of Ammah and to call him saying behold a people has come out of Egypt.

They cover the face of the earth. They are dwelling opposite me. Come now and curse this people before me since they are too mighty for me. Perhaps I shall be able to defeat them and drive them from the land.

For I know that he whom you bless is blessed and he whom you curse is cursed. So note what's going on here. We've got to curse these people who's up for the cursing. It's Balaam the son of Baor and we're going to learn that the means by which he does his cursing and he receives money for this for cursing and blessing is through divination.

Verse 7 then says so the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the fees for divination in their hand. Any question about what's going on here. This is a pagan. This is a pagan who's into divination.

He's being hired for the purpose of cursing the people of Israel. And the means by which he's going to do it is divination. And you got to pay him for the privilege. That's what's going on here. There's your context.

So they came to Balaam and gave him Balak's message and he said to them lodge here tonight and I'll bring back word to you. And here's the fun part he invokes the name of the God of Israel as Yahweh speaks to me.

So Balaam at this point is going to try to get Yahweh on the line. Maybe give him a phone call or something to that effect. He's going to do this through divination. And the weirdest thing happens. Yahweh's going to pick up the phone and Yahweh's going to talk to Balaam and he is going to be quite unhappy with the experience is the best way I could put it.

So the princes of Moab stayed with Balaam. And then God came to Balaam and said who are these men that are with you. And Balaam said to God Balak the son of Zippor king of Moab has sent me saying behold a people has come out of Egypt and it covers the face of the earth.

Now you've got to note here that Balaam has not practiced at all hearing the voice of God. No practice at all. And yet he's really good at it. Like immediately good at it. As soon as God spoke to him he heard him and God asked him a question right off the bat who are these men with you.

Balak the son of Zippor the king of Moab has sent me to you behold a people has come out of Egypt. Now come curse them for me. Perhaps I shall be able to fight against them and drive them out. God said to Balaam you shall not go with them.

You shall not curse the people for they are blessed. And note that Balaam has no problems whatsoever hearing God. None no practice at all. It's like I mean this guy is I mean he's a savant. I mean he's just when it comes to prophecy he clearly is so gifted he didn't even need to practice at all again I'm saying that in jest and sarcasm because you kind of get the point.

So Balaam rose in the morning and said to the princes of Balak go to your own land for Yahweh has refused to let me go with you. So the princes of Moab rose and went to Balak and said Balaam refuses to come with us.

And you're going to note here he's going to lose a lot of money potential fees if you would because God at this point is not going to allow him to engage in the cursing business via divination in order to curse the people of Israel.

So once again Balak sent princes more in number and more honorable than these. Maybe he thought that. So Balak is going man I shouldn't have sent the third string guys from my government. I'll send the second stringers instead.

So they came to Balaam and they said thus says Balak the son of Zippor let nothing hinder you from coming to me. For I will surely do you great honor. And whatever you say to me I will do come curse this people for me.

But Balaam answered and said to the servants of Balak though Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold. I could not go beyond the command of Yahweh my God to do less or more. Now here's the note here this first encounter with God has made him realize that Yahweh is actually God and so he's saying that he is his God.

But he's not really a penitent at this point. Satan can say that one true God that Yahweh is his God but that doesn't mean that Satan serves worships obeys trusts or anything like that in the one true God.

So don't think for a second that this is a statement of faith. It's more or less just a statement of fact. So you too please stay here tonight and that I might know what more Yahweh will say to me. So God came to Balaam at night and said to him if the men have come to call you rise and go with them but only do what I tell you.

And note Balaam's going but I've never practiced before. How am I supposed to know if you're really none of this stuff. He has no doubt whatsoever he's hearing from God. So Balaam rose in the morning saddled his donkey and went with the princes of Moab.

Now you're gonna know God's really putting Balaam into a very tight box. He doesn't want him going to the right or to the left. God doesn't trust this fellow as far as he can throw him and he can throw him all the way to the other end of the universe if he wanted to.

So God's anger then was kindled because he went and the angel of Yahweh took his stand in the way as his adversary. Now he was riding on the donkey and his two servants were with him and the donkey saw the angel of Yahweh standing in the road with a drawn sword in his hand and the donkey turned aside out of the road and went into the field and Balaam struck the donkey to turn her into the road.

Then the angel of Yahweh stood in a narrow path between the vineyards with a wall on either side. And when the donkey saw the angel of Yahweh she pushed against the wall and pressed Balaam's foot against the wall.

So he struck her again. Then the angel of Yahweh went ahead and stood in a narrow place where there was no way to turn either to the right or to the left. And when the donkey saw the angel of Yahweh she lay down under Balaam and Balaam's anger was kindled and he struck the donkey with his staff.

And then one of the more amazing things happens here. So Yahweh opened the mouth of the donkey and she said to Balaam what have I done to you that you've struck me these three times. And rather than saying wait a second donkeys aren't supposed to talk.

Watch what happens to Balaam. So Balaam said to the donkey well because you've made a fool of me. I wish that I had a sword in my hand for then I would kill you. So then the donkey said to Balaam am I not your donkey on which you have ridden all your life long to this day.

Is it my habit to treat you this way. And he said no. So then Yahweh opened the eyes of Balaam and he saw the angel of Yahweh standing in the way with his drawn sword and his hand and he bowed down and fell on his face.

And the angel of Yahweh said to him why have you struck your donkey these three times. Behold I have come out to oppose you because your way is perverse before me. So you want to know what God thinks of Balaam and his practices and his theology and all that divination stuff.

Yeah I'm going to come out here with a drawn sword and I'm going to oppose you. Because your ways are perverse before me God has said to him. And you'll note again with no practice whatsoever Balaam is communicating and having a conversation with God and there's no ambiguity as to what God is saying.