Experiencing God by Henry Blackaby burst onto the evangelical and especially the Southern Baptist scene in the mid-90s. It is still being taught in churches all over the world today. To say that it has been a publishing juggernaut would be quite the understatement.
In this study, Blackaby tells people how to hear God’s voice in the various ways He supposedly speaks. Is this, however, a doctrinally sound study? Are the hermeneutics employed reliable? Jim Osman and I discuss.
You hear from God through Scripture as Heb. 1:1-2 explains. You do not go beyond what is written. (1 Co. 4:6, Rev. 22:18). 2 Co. 13:1 says that “Every matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.” That’s why the apostles had to choose someone to replace Judas who had been a witness with them to the words and actions of Jesus the whole time of Jesus’s ministry. (Acts 1:21-22). So anyone who claims to hear something from God that is not confirmed in Scripture is not hearing from God. Paul said that he proclaimed the whole will of God. (Acts 20:26-27). Experiencing God is definitely receiving power from the Holy Spirit who opens our eyes to the light of the gospel causing us to believe and understand the simple words Jesus gave us. (2 Co. 1:13). But Scripture is our final authority for the truth, not humans in any form, whether it be, theologians, pastors, college graduates, or people proclaiming that God say things to him/her that nobody else hears.