Kris Vallotton is back with eight ways he believes God speaks to us...and in doing show reminds us he is unqualified to handle the Word of God.

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Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. -- Hebrews 1: 1-2 (ESV)

http://krisvallotton.com/8-ways-god-wants-to-speak-to-you/

Yes, Kris Vallotton is at it again beloved. The Senior Associate Pastor from Bill Johnson's cesspool known as Bethel Church, Vallotton has a new blog post linked above, which outlines eight ways he believes God speaks to us. Remember now, Bethel is ground zero for the false signs and lying wonders network of believers and churches. There is nothing to crazy that they will not endorse and no tall tale too tall to tell (say that five times fast!). Johnson himself has told fanciful yarns about being in a diner and having angel feathers just randomly start falling all around him. Bethel has always promoted the false gold dust manifestation, as well as gem stones and the latest fad -- glory clouds. Vallotton and Johnson promote the new age experiential Christianity over scriptural doctrine. Sure they pay the Bible some lip service, usually when they are strip mining it to find verse fragments to support their heresy, but overall they believe personal experience trumps theology. We have been over this before that when you allow your experience to trump doctrine what you are really saying is you will trust your heart over what God has already established.

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? - Jeremiah 17: 9 (ESV)

There is a reason why God says the human heart is wickedly deceitful above everything else beloved. Our hearts will always lie to us. The Word of God will never lie to us. A perfect example of this is found in the testimony of Kim Walker-Smith, of Jesus Culture. Smith is the primary worship leader of this rogue outfit that was birthed by Bethel. She claims to have had a waking visitation from Jesus who whisked her away to the throne room of God where she met the Father face to face"

Stop right there.

But," he said, "you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live." -- Exodus 33: 20 (ESV)

Once Kim Walker Smith told us her experience and it violates Scripture, we can know for sure that her experience is a lie. Maybe not to her. I will not doubt that she believes she had this experience but the Bible tells us that Satan's emissaries appear as angels of light. We know the Word does not change and is infallible and it says we cannot meet the Father face to face without dying. Kim Walker Smith is very much alive, therefore she is either willfully lying or was visited by demons and could not tell the difference, while her deceitful heart lied to her the entire time. I say this as the backdrop to the Vallotton blog post because there is so much super-spiritual gobbledygook in it designed to make you go ooh and ahh that one needs to be prepared and realize that Kris Vallotton has been taught so poorly that he actually believes this nonsense. Let us reason together beloved.

"And getting to know God's voice is key to deep intimacy with the One who knows you best, and stepping into active partnership with Him in your life." -- Kris Vallotton

The experiential Christian crowd always overemphasizes intimacy, even to the point of sexualizing Jesus. Just read some of the lyrics from Misty Edwards of IHOP. Note however the delineation made by Vallotton from that start. The truth is if we want to draw closer to God we need to know His Word; not this ethereal notion of His "voice." David spoke about hiding His Word in his heart. This is an objective measurement. Read the Scripture and trust that God is always right. Experiential Christianity does not believe in the objective truth of God's Word when they can instead cultivate the subjective experience we all have. Thus this is all couched in "getting to know God's voice." How subjective can you get! Perhaps the worst part however is the idea that we should be aspiring to an "active partnership" with the Creator of the entire universe. How ridiculously arrogant. When you think you are an active partner with God that is how you can be duped into thinking you are visiting His throne room and chilling out over a cafe' latte with the Alpha and Omega. Beloved, Jesus Christ must be our Lord and Savior. Those are His primary roles in our lives or He is not really in our lives. Stop singing Friend of God and get back into His Word.

"Visions - There are two types of visions. The first one is a Vision of the Mind, in which the Lord "projects" images and pictures onto the "screen" of our minds. Most often, this is how the Holy Spirit speaks to us. They often appear like hieroglyphics--pictures that require interpretation. So as the Holy Spirit speaks to us through these pictures and images of the mind, we must turn around and ask Him what the pictures mean." -- Kris Vallotton

Says no biblical text anywhere. Note how spiritual it sounds though. It is always couched in religious sound terminology and an apparent reliance on the Holy Spirit but realize the underlying assumption is that any picture that pops into your head is the result of the Holy Spirit trying to impart hidden knowledge to you as opposed to bad pizza the night before, the last scary movie you watched or you own wickedly deceitful heart. We see this all the time in Charismaniacal circles. "Visions" start popping up in our minds and we automatically assume it is from God. We then seek "confirmation" through all sorts of incidental and happenstance means. We pray for "discernment" and feel that because we have peace in our heart that the entire process was from God when it was our own flesh the entire time. I had friends who wanted to move to another state once who swore God gave them the vision. They started seeing license plates from that state everywhere they looked and took it as confirmation. They were gone in two months and fell right out of the church because of it. There is nothing in the Bible about visions being projected by God into some screen in our mind beloved. This is how Kim Walker-Smith so deceived herself into thinking she was dancing for God in His throne room when she was really being entertained and deceived by demons. Why in the world would God speak to us in hieroglyphics when He has already given us His entire revealed will in the Bible? Answer? He wouldn't. There are two New Testament stories about visions. Paul had one and Peter had the other. These are historical narrative -- not prescriptive texts we are to seek after or expect in our own lives. Can God speak to us in a vision? Sure. He is God. I would tend to think that is the extreme, even as it was in the New Testament, than commonplace, which is what Kris Vallotton is trying to make it to be.

"God's Still Small Voice - At times, the Lord speaks to us in a still small voice from within our spirit. This is not a booming, audible voice. This can be heard as a passing thought, sudden impression, or internal "sense" of something that God is saying. This still small voice is illustrated in the Book of First Kings. In this account, God is not in the strong wind or the earthquake, but rather He is in the gentle blowing (1 Kings 19:11-13)." -- Kris Vallotton

The irony here is staggering. Kris Vallotton chases the overly dramatic or supernatural manifestations of God to the point where he either makes them up or is deceived. He lives for the earthquake and tries to sell the strong wind. That is the shtick of the false signs and lying wonders folks. The fact that he cannot see the Scripture he references speaks directly against how he lives out his theology is spectacular in its ignorance. After defeating the prophets of Baal, Elijah runs into the wilderness to escape Jezebel. There he has a little pit party and collapses. God ministers to Him and then sends these loud manifestations of strong winds, earthquakes and fire but Elijah could not hear that the Lord was in any of them. Then, in a "still small voice", which essentially means a whisper, Elijah heard the voice of God. The point God is making is that divine silence does not mean God is not still working or on the throne. Everything does not have to be this grand production. There does not have to be a glory cloud or gold dust. God was speaking against the very thing that Vallotton promotes but he cannot see it. Why? Because he is too busy strip mining the Bible to prop up his false beliefs. Remember, he has been taught about this experiential Christianity that is focused on intimacy instead of doctrine. So he finds the one time in 6000 years that refers to a still small voice and blows it up to pretend it is a prescriptive mandate and that we must cultivate how to listen for this voice too. Note however that all he is really teaching is that we should give ourselves over to whatever passing thoughts, sudden whims, or internal sensations our lying heart might give us and blame them on God.

"Angels - Angels are another voice that speak to us from the heavenly realm. Throughout the New Testament angels spoke to people and gave them instruction for their lives. God sometimes sends angels to deliver messages to us." -- Kris Vallotton

Let me state up front that there are plenty of scriptural references regarding angels. Even still however, the amount of angel interaction with the world is pretty small compared to the scope of time covered in the Bible. Vallotton's statement that throughout the New Testament angels spoke to people sounds like an exaggeration. If one reads the New Testament and angels are what stands out, I would suggest reading it again and paying attention to the guy called Jesus. The Bible says we may entertain angels and be unaware and that they can protect or deliver messages. The Bible also however warns about being overly focused on angels. It warns about worshiping angels. It warns that demons are simply fallen angels who masquerade as angels of light, as we saw with Kim Walker-Smith. So the larger point for me here is the attempt by Vallotton to "normalize" the supernatural. It is all part of his theology and he needs all of it in order to sell any of it. The reality is the vast majority of the people in Scripture had no cognizant contact whatsoever with angels. This is presented to once again plant seeds of personal experience to become doctrine, even if it is more based on Scripture than the first two points.

"Creation - Creation itself is a voice from the Lord and speaks to us in many ways, especially by telling us about who God is. The mountains speak of His strength, the rivers of His provision and the flowers of His beauty (Psalm 19:1-2). Another way creation speaks to us is by God causing nature to do things that are actually prophetic acts. One year, every time Bethel church would meet to pray, a roadrunner would show up outside the glass door with a lizard in its mouth! This went on for months until we realized that the Lord was calling us to go out to the roads, the highways, and the byways and compel the lost to come in! One day the roadrunner managed to find his way inside the church. In a desperate attempt to get out of the building, he hit a window and died. The Lord showed us through this event that if we did not reach out to the lost that our church would die." -- Kris Vallotton

This is the end result of believing all of the super-spiritual nonsense that Kris Vallotton believes. Yes God does speak to us through His creation but that is a referent to understanding there is a Creator. One cannot claim to not know there was a designer when presented with the intricacies of what He has designed. That was the point. Not that God is secretly prophesying to us through nature. Notice however the Gnosticism inherent in his belief system. Everything is always something secret that is now being revealed. Like God forgot to include this in the Bible. We spoke earlier about silly confirmations and connections to "confirm" a point we want confirmed. Suddenly a roadrunner must be God saying to hit the road! I am not sure why the lost are represented by a lizard in this absurd analogy but the fact that the roadrunner died and the ensuing assumption of "what God was trying to say" brilliantly highlights the inane stupidity of this belief system. Perhaps God was saying that the church needed to slow down or they too might hit a wall; or glass door if you will. Perhaps God was trying to say that tomorrow is not promised to anyone and even though things look clear (the glass door), there can still be danger. I can do this all night. Perhaps this incident meant God wanted them to stop showing road runner cartoons in the nursery. Or just maybe; God was actually not saying anything at all. Maybe the roadrunner just ran into the door. But the conclusion that Vallotton reached is what he wanted confirmed. That they were called to go out into highways and byways to bring the lost into the cesspool known as Bethel Church. The blessed assurance they grasp so tightly to, that this is a divine assignment, does not come from a moving swath of Scripture. It is not derived from a 40 day fasting and prayer regimen. No. It is because a roadrunner ran into a glass door and died. It is things like this that convince me that God must have a terrific sense of humor.

Scriptures - The Lord can speak to us in our daily reading of the Bible. He can also highlight a verse or story that speaks to us about our circumstance. Sometimes, it may even seem as if God is taking a Scripture out of context. It is vital for us to have a basic knowledge of the context of the Scriptures so we understand the full counsel of God. God will never violate His Word, but He will often violate our understanding of His Word. The Holy Spirit may grant us fresh insight or application as we are reading through the Bible. If God gives us fresh insight or new understanding on a verse or portion of Scripture, it is important that it fits within the rest of the context of the Scriptures. It also cannot be in disagreement with the foundation of God's revealed nature and character (2 Timothy 3:16-17)." -- Kris Vallotton

Vallotton finally gets to the primary way God does speak to us and then proceeds to mangle it beyond recognition. First of all, God CAN speak to us in our daily Bible reading? No beloved. He does and He will. As for the next charge Kris makes let me be clear. God will not take a verse out of context. He will never violate His Word. Vallotton thinks He will because that is all he does! Once again the disconnect is frightening because Vallotton admits to this! It is a shame he had to say this bizarre thing about God taking verses out of context because the rest of this paragraph is pretty spot on. Except it should be the first point listed.

"Impressions - Many prophetic people experience discernment through impressions without even realizing it. Oftentimes we can sense an evil spirit on someone just by sitting down next to that person. The evil spirit that is troubling the person who is next to us will begin to trouble us in the same manner. For instance, if a spirit of fear troubles a person in a close geographic area, we can actually begin to feel fearful as well. If we do not realize our prophetic ability and discernment in this area, we can begin to feel very confused or think we are crazy (1 Corinthians 12:10)." -- Kris Vallotton

Yes. When you confuse biblical truth for your feelings it can lead you to think you are crazy. It can lead you to believe that you somehow absorb the spirit of fear through some sort of spiritual osmosis. Look, discernment is being able to distinguish between what is from God and what is not. Can we sense an "evil spirit?" Sure but what Vallotton is doing is trying to connect spiritual discernment to this overall false notion of "prophetic people." Prophecy is the Lord speaking to His people through an appointed vessel. Not some hocus pocus mumbo jumbo about prophetic people being able to tell the evil spirits floating around people. Again, it is to create this false overall supernatural realm that Kris think he lives in and can teach you to live in. But it is all subjective, experiential and listening to our deceptive hearts. It is all about our feelings and now apparently our impressions?

"Circumstances - God can speak to us and direct us through the circumstances of our lives. This dynamic occurs as God opens and closes the doors of opportunity. It is easy to misunderstand this principle and think that any time we come up against an obstacle in our lives that we are out of the will of God. However, keep in mind that often times when we are doing something for God, the enemy will oppose us! Even in times of opposition we must remember that in Revelation 3:8 it says, "I know your deeds. Behold, I have put before you an open door which no one can shut, because you have a little power, and have kept My word, and have not denied My name." -- Kris Vallotton

Do you know what is not in the Bible? God opening and closing spiritual doors of opportunity. This is yet another example of a spiritual sounding sentence that means absolutely nothing. It is this superstitious Christianity that is bred at places like Bethel by men like Kris Vallotton. The church as a whole falls for this too. Anything positive or even things we deem as positive are automatically credited to God. Remember my friends who moved to another state? They convinced themselves it was God. When the circumstances arose they assigned the ones they wanted to God and the ones they didn't want to Satan. This is what happens when you rely on your feelings, impressions and circumstances to inform your faith instead of the objective Word of God. Then to try and make his argument appear biblical, Vallotton again scours the Bible to find a verse fragment that appears to support him and wrests it painfully out of context. Revelation 3:8 is a very specific letter written by Jesus Himself to the Church at Philadelphia. We can learn lessons from it regarding how the church should behave but to pretend it has something to do with doors God opens and closes in our life is an exercise in missing the entire point.

"Spiritual Happenings - Spiritual happenings are another way God speaks to us. These are supernatural incidents that correlate with natural events. Some time ago, every time I entered a worship service, I noticed that my watch gained an hour. After purchasing three different watches, all of which gained an hour during worship, I finally asked the Lord what this could mean. He said, "It's later than you think." -- Kris Vallotton

It is only fitting that such an absurd article ends on such a moronic note. In the world of Kris Vallotton, God gets our attention by making the watches we buy defective. The truly sad thing that Kris cannot see is that he did not need this false supernatural story to get the point across that the hour is later than we might think. Do you know why beloved? Because the Bible already tells us this! Christ will return like a thief in the night. One need only glance at the love of most growing cold, the increase in the birth pains and all of the prophetic signs coming to pass to realize that the time is short. Even Revelation says the devil is stepping up his game because he knows the time is short. So keep your silly stories about broken watches and dead roadrunners. God does speak to us beloved but not in the eight ways Kris Vallotton distorted in this article and the primary way that remains unsullied by our lying deceitful hearts is His Word. It does not change. It does not compromise. It does not lie. Unlike Kris Vallotton and Bethel Church.

Reverend Anthony Wade -- April 22, 2017

Authors Bio:
Credentialed Minister of the Gospel for the Assemblies of God. Owner and founder of 828 ministries. Vice President for Goodwill Industries. Always remember that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.