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
