SLAUGHTERING SACRED COWS: PART ONE

"God Told Me"
by Frank Viola
Copyright 2006 Present Testimony Ministry

In certain movements of the Christian faith, God’s people are taught by both precept and example to preface many of their decisions with the words "God told me."

"God told me to start attending this church."

"God told me to marry this person."

"God told me what my ministry is."

"God spoke to me and told me to rebuke my Aunt Harriet."

It’s central to the vocabulary of a number of Christian traditions.
In the 30 years that I’ve been a Christian, I’ve made a disturbing observation about this type of language. That at least in half the cases when I’ve heard a person use this phrase ("God told me"), what they said God told them to do later turned out to be what the person wanted to do. And God got the rap for it.

For further reading, see Rethinking the Will of God by Frank Viola.
The book contains a chapter on hearing the Lord subjectively.