Whose Will Is It?
Chapter 6
If Christians believe that God will give them a direct command for every detail of their life, then they don't have to think for themselves anymore. They just have to listen to God and jump when they get the order.
Recently I heard a head discipler remark that we didn't really have a choice of whether to eat pancakes or waffles for breakfast. If we are listening to God, he argued, He will tell us every move to make. This statement reflects a general belief in some destructive groups that God will tell you what to do in every area of your life if you are listening. Such an idea would seem to arise from the honest desire that one should do God's will and not one's own. But this statement was more extreme than any I had heard before. It is the kind of dangerous "black & white" thinking that is found in some discipleships. This kind of thinking may sometimes be based upon the false assumption that your desire and God's will are always opposed -- and that therefore if you desire a certain thing, it is certainly contrary to God's Will. ...
A former discipler, whom I'll call "Doug", explains how hard it was for him to navigate the waters of "hearing the voice of the Lord" ...
I had to distinguish which voice was of the Lord and which was my mind's or the devil's. Now that I learned in this new Christianity that God would always tell me what to do, I certainly was listening to all my thoughts. I'd hear, "Go to Pittsburgh" and I would think "That's crazy. I'm in school down here in Tennessee. Maybe it is God because I don't want to do it..."I felt forced into using the language of the others. Sarah (another member) would say that "The Lord had me visit John today or the Lord showed me this...". I used to say, "I am going to see Sarah." Now I always said that "The Lord had me visit Sarah today."
I also felt uncomfortable that everyone was saying what the Lord showed them. I couldn't be sure what the Lord showed me, and what was my own inclinations, so I felt it was best not to put everything on the Lord. After a while, I felt terrific pressure to think of something that the Lord was showing me. It may not have been the Lord but I felt so much pressure to find something that the Lord showed me that I did find something. Now I realize that in regular English language before this group, I would have said, "This is what I learned today." Now I always said, "The Lord showed me this or taught me that." Maybe it was the Lord or maybe it wasn't. Being away from it all now, I feel free and I'm not being pressured into figuring it all out.
Doug went on ...
I remember one time in college when my discipler made me feel very guilty. I was learning to cook, being away from home for the first time. I bought a ham for dinner. I put it on a few minutes before dinner not realizing that it would not be done for hours. When my discipler came over, he questioned me, "Doug, did the Lord tell you to do this?" I felt terrible hearing these words. It was now obvious (realizing how long this ham would actually need to cook), that I surely wasn't hearing from the Lord. It was times like these that made me so uncertain that I was hearing from the Lord that I would ask for more advice so I wouldn't be missing the Lord's will!
Chapter 6 Review
Manipulative Groups Might...
- cause you to believe that God will give you direct revelations for every detail of your life
- Issue lots of "black & white" statements
- Narrow your thinking with blanket statements
- Give simplistic answers to complex questions
- cause confusion by teaching that human reasoning is always contrary to God's will
- cause you to fear missing God's will
- influence you to make you expect God to almost always reveal why things happen to you
- cause you to think that God is telling you what to do, when it is only your imagination
- cause you to lose your assurance that you can hear God as well as your leadership does
- trick you into dying completely to your will so the group can unduly influence you
- trick you into believing that all your attitudes, ways and thinking are not of God
- cause you to believe that there is only one right way, as if God is a dictator.