# Piper: This Morning I Heard the Voice of God



## BlackCalvinist (Mar 21, 2007)

The Introduction:

March 21, 2007

Let me tell you about a most wonderful experience I had early Monday morning, March 19, 2007, a little after six o’clock. God actually spoke to me. There is no doubt that it was God. I heard the words in my head just as clearly as when a memory of a conversation passes across your consciousness. The words were in English, but they had about them an absolutely self-authenticating ring of truth. I know beyond the shadow of a doubt that God still speaks today.

I couldn’t sleep for some reason. I was at Shalom House in northern Minnesota on a staff couples’ retreat. It was about five thirty in the morning. I lay there wondering if I should get up or wait till I got sleepy again. In his mercy, God moved me out of bed. It was mostly dark, but I managed to find my clothing, got dressed, grabbed my briefcase, and slipped out of the room without waking up Noël. In the main room below, it was totally quiet. No one else seemed to be up. So I sat down on a couch in the corner to pray.

As I prayed and mused, suddenly it happened. God said, “Come and see what I have done.” There was not the slightest doubt in my mind that these were the very words of God. In this very moment. At this very place in the twenty-first century, 2007, God was speaking to me with absolute authority and self-evidencing reality. I paused to let this sink in. There was a sweetness about it. Time seemed to matter little. God was near. He had me in his sights. He had something to say to me. When God draws near, hurry ceases. Time slows down.

I wondered what he meant by “come and see.” Would he take me somewhere, like he did Paul into heaven to see what can’t be spoken? Did “see” mean that I would have a vision of some great deed of God that no one has seen? I am not sure how much time elapsed between God’s initial word, “Come and see what I have done,” and his next words. It doesn’t matter. I was being enveloped in the love of his personal communication. The God of the universe was speaking to me.


PLEASE *DO NOT* stop here, but read the rest of this very VERY edifying article at:

http://www.desiringgod.org/Resource...07/2021_The_Morning_I_Heard_the_Voice_of_God/

SDG

Kerry


----------



## Richard King (Mar 21, 2007)

Thank you for sharing that.
I was really blessed by it.


----------



## Semper Fidelis (Mar 22, 2007)

Unfortunately, many people are so Biblically illiterate that they don't even recognize God's Word when they read it.


----------



## Contra_Mundum (Mar 22, 2007)

Psa 66:5 "Come and see what God has done!" (ESV)


----------



## blhowes (Mar 22, 2007)

BlackCalvinist said:


> PLEASE *DO NOT* stop here, but read the rest of this very VERY edifying article at:
> 
> http://www.desiringgod.org/Resource...07/2021_The_Morning_I_Heard_the_Voice_of_God/



 Good advice. Definitely worth continuing on. 

Thanks for the edifying post,
Bob


----------



## ChristopherPaul (Mar 22, 2007)

Now the question is, does God speak to us in paraphrases, thought by thought, or word for word translations?


----------



## Staphlobob (Mar 22, 2007)

BlackCalvinist said:


> The Introduction:
> 
> March 21, 2007
> 
> Let me tell you about a most wonderful experience I had early Monday morning, March 19, 2007, a little after six o’clock. God actually spoke to me. There is no doubt that it was God. I heard the words in my head just as clearly as when a memory of a conversation passes across your consciousness. The words were in English, but they had about them an absolutely self-authenticating ring of truth.



First thought for this guy: What kind of voice does God have? Male? Female? Does He have an accent? Or ... does He sound like YOUR own voice? Or perhaps your parent's voice? 

Second thought: Would thorazine help? I know it was very commonly used in the '70s, and maybe there's something better today, but I know there are things available to help put an end to audio hallucinations. They should speak with a doctor. (Unless the doctor also sounds like God. Then we also have a cultural/social problem to deal with.)


----------



## Staphlobob (Mar 22, 2007)

ChristopherPaul said:


> Now the question is, does God speak to us in paraphrases, thought by thought, or word for word translations?


----------



## Davidius (Mar 22, 2007)

Staphlobob said:


> First thought for this guy: What kind of voice does God have? Male? Female? Does He have an accent? Or ... does He sound like YOUR own voice? Or perhaps your parent's voice?
> 
> Second thought: Would thorazine help? I know it was very commonly used in the '70s, and maybe there's something better today, but I know there are things available to help put an end to audio hallucinations. They should speak with a doctor. (Unless the doctor also sounds like God. Then we also have a cultural/social problem to deal with.)



Kevin,

Did you read the entire article? Joel said to make sure not to stop reading where his quote ended.


----------



## panta dokimazete (Mar 22, 2007)

Excellent article!

Wait...I hear God now...He's telling me to be content and that He will never leave or forsake me!


----------



## Puritan Sailor (Mar 22, 2007)

Great article!


----------



## Blue Tick (Mar 22, 2007)

Great Article!

Thank you for sharing.


----------



## Me Died Blue (Mar 22, 2007)

Blue Tick said:


> Great Article!
> 
> Thank you for sharing.


----------



## BlackCalvinist (Mar 22, 2007)

Guys,

While I'm not trying to necessarily have a laugh at someone's expense, I posted this same thread (realizing along the way that it would serve as 'bait' for some people, but looking past them because there are others who would be blessed by the rest of the article...).

Enjoy the response. 

http://www.the5thquarter.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=32934

I'm waiting to see what happens when he reads the rest of the article and realizes what Piper is REALLY saying.


----------



## Chris (Mar 22, 2007)

That's awesome. 

I needed that. 


Thank you for posting that link - and thanks for the reminder (nay, rebuke) to read the whole thing. 

I'm quite shamed to have to say I considered stopping mid-read. By God's grace, I finished, and can say I have been edified today.


----------



## raekwon (Mar 22, 2007)

BlackCalvinist said:


> Guys,
> 
> While I'm not trying to necessarily have a laugh at someone's expense, I posted this same thread (realizing along the way that it would serve as 'bait' for some people, but looking past them because there are others who would be blessed by the rest of the article...).
> 
> ...



That's what you can call "reactionary" right there.


----------



## Staphlobob (Mar 22, 2007)

BlackCalvinist said:


> Guys,
> 
> While I'm not trying to necessarily have a laugh at someone's expense ...
> I'm waiting to see what happens when he reads the rest of the article and realizes what Piper is REALLY saying.



Okay. So I'm stupid. Laugh all you want. 

I read the whole article and it still looks like someone who's having delusions.


----------



## panicbird (Mar 22, 2007)

Kevin,

The basic gist of the article is that God speaks to His people through His word (in Piper's case that morning, Psalm 66:5-7), and that our souls should be satisfied with that wonder. Is it delusional to believe that God speaks to us through His word?


----------



## Blueridge Believer (Mar 22, 2007)

Good read. John had me going there for a bit.


----------



## Staphlobob (Mar 22, 2007)

panicbird said:


> Is it delusional to believe that God speaks to us through His word?



No, not at all. My precise point is just the opposite, that the only "voice" we will hear - or ever need to hear - is from God's written Word. My assumption has always been that Piper goes along with this. 

My concern now is that he (or whoever the professor is) claims to have actually heard God's voice telling him to give all his publishing money away to some student's fund. 

If I've misread the article, I apologize. 

However, even if it's been misread, that is still no reason to laugh at or ridicule someone.


----------



## Davidius (Mar 22, 2007)

Staphlobob said:


> However, even if it's been misread, that is still no reason to laugh at or ridicule someone.



I just want to say, for my own sake, that I was the first to reply to you and all I did was ask whether you had read the whole article.  You didn't respond to me, though.


----------



## Me Died Blue (Mar 22, 2007)

Staphlobob said:


> No, not at all. My precise point is just the opposite, that the only "voice" we will hear - or ever need to hear - is from God's written Word. My assumption has always been that Piper goes along with this.



Well, unfortunately, he is a non-cessationist, as shown by this article of his. Even so, I think that position of his barely comes out in the current article - and certainly not in any of the main points.

The only place in this article that does somewhat point back to his non-cessationism is when he says, "What makes me sad about the article is not that it isn’t true or didn’t happen." Referring the the _Christianity Today_ article, that comment could be interpreted as simply saying that the _main_ thing that's sad about the article isn't that the claims are false; but to me, the wording seems to be suggesting more than that, i.e. him saying that he's _not_ calling the claims false, which points back to his non-cessationism.

Either way, however, that is not a main point of the article - and in fact _the article's very thrust is (commendably) the sufficiency of Scripture_, even if statements of Piper's elsewhere are inconsistent with that doctrine.



Staphlobob said:


> My concern now is that he (or whoever the professor is) claims to have actually heard God's voice telling him to give all his publishing money away to some student's fund.
> 
> If I've misread the article, I apologize.



The person who claimed that was the anonymous author Piper referenced who had written in _Christianity Today_. Indeed, that was the very story Piper referred to as sad.


----------



## Staphlobob (Mar 22, 2007)

CarolinaCalvinist said:


> I just want to say, for my own sake, that I was the first to reply to you and all I did was ask whether you had read the whole article.  You didn't respond to me, though.




Sorry Dave. I must have somehow missed your article, or thought it something else. So please accept my apology.


----------



## Staphlobob (Mar 22, 2007)

Me Died Blue said:


> The person who claimed that was the anonymous author Piper referenced who had written in _Christianity Today_. Indeed, that was the very story Piper referred to as sad.



Obviously I misread the article. (I'm certainly not the brightest bulb in the chandelier. Just ask me to do some math and you'll see how true this is. ) 

However, I didn't know Piper was a non-cessasionist. I've got nothing but respect for him. But I didn't know he held to this (mistaken) point of view.


----------



## Davidius (Mar 22, 2007)

Staphlobob said:


> Sorry Dave. I must have somehow missed your article, or thought it something else. So please accept my apology.



Haha, no problem at all. _I'm_ for sounding offended in my post. I come across that way sometimes on here but I think it's just because I have a really bad sense of humor.


----------



## BlackCalvinist (Mar 23, 2007)

raekwon said:


> That's what you can call "reactionary" right there.



Oh it was.

But it *worked*. I got Ken (PhiSaxPhi) to realize that he'd been approaching these discussions wrong. 

I think he's a brother. The Lord's working on him slowly. 

Keep praying for this brother. He's a young pastor with no formal theological training, with an independent church. Charismatic background (apostolic, then pentecostal once he realized the Trinity was biblical). I pray that he leads his people rightly into truth.....


----------

