Kris Vallotton discusses 8 ways to hear God's voice. Guess where the word of God ranked?

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

https://krisvallotton.com/8-biblical-ways-to-hear-gods-voice

Kris Vallotton is the second in command at the biblical cesspool known as Bethel Church in Redding California. Under the leadership of mega-heretic Bill Johnson, Bethel traffics in nearly every possible false teaching today. Nothing is a heretical bridge too far for them. Grave sucking the anointing off of dead heretics? No problem! Dead raising team claiming 15 resurrections without a shred of proof? Bring it on! Remember this is the church that recently spent a week trying to resurrect a two-year old who had passed away only to finally give in and hold a memorial. Bethel believes in the false teachings of divine healing, prosperity gospel, false signs and lying wonders, and word faith. One of the more egregious teachings they are directly responsible for is the notion of experiential Christianity. This is the false belief system that places our personal experience on par if not higher than scripture. They falsely teach that everyone can be prophetic. Further, they teach people to "hear from God" by emptying their mind and through eastern mysticism techniques, listen for whatever pops into their head as being from God. Considering that the heart is the most wickedly deceitful thing ever made, this is a very dangerous teaching.

A perfect example comes from the head worship leader at Jesus Culture, which comes out of Bethel. Being taught this garbage has led Kim Walker-Smith to give a personal testimony of a waking visitation from Jesus who whisked her away to the throne room of God where she met the Father face to face. Father God then ripped out a piece of his own heart to mold a miniature version of Walker-Smith to dance and perform for Him, while He clapped maniacally. I kid you not. This is why God gave us His unchanging word. The key verse today assures us that either Kim Walker-Smith is a liar or so deranged spiritually she could not tell the difference between Jesus and a demonic servant of Satan. I am willing to give her the benefit of the doubt and assume the latter since she has been taught so poorly at Bethel. I say this as the backdrop to the article linked above from Vallotton about eight ways he feels we can hear from God. Considering what he has been taught as well, this should be a disaster.

"God is always speaking! Did you know that Jesus died on the Cross not just to forgive your sins, but ultimately to bring you into a relationship with Himself? Communication is probably the single greatest vehicle of any relationship. Although some people have a problem believing that God wants to talk to everybody, most believers understand that true prayer is not just petitioning Heaven with a list of requests, but it is communicating with our Father in Heaven as a true friend. Jesus said, "My sheep hear My voice"" (John 10:27). Prophecy, in its simplest form, is merely hearing from the Holy Spirit and repeating what He said. Paul put it this way, "For you can all prophesy one by one"" (1 Corinthians 14:31). "-- Kris Vallotton

Vallotton starts with the traditional sloppy agape teaching of relationship over religion. The truth is that nowhere does the bible state that Jesus died so we can be in relationship with Him. Unless you count the Lord-servant relationship but of course that is not what Vallotton believes. He views Jesus as his wingman. The John verse is when Jesus answers the Pharisees about whether He is the Christ. It was a mockery of sorts, to say that His sheep know His voice because they clearly did not believe Jesus. They wanted to kill Him and in fact tried to stone Him for this comment! It has nothing to do with this relationship theology Kris propagates. When believers read the word they recognize the voice of their Savior, whereas unbelievers view it as foolishness. The more disturbing usage is his reference to 1Corinthians 14, which is dealing with orderly worship in church, not this wildly false theology that everyone can prophesy. Vallotton gets this false teaching directly from Bill Johnson and Bethel because it is one of their core beliefs. Remember we talked about emptying ones mind and assigning whatever pops into our heads as having been sent there from God? This is that teaching. Yet if Kris had bothered to simply look at some commentaries on this verse he would learn his entire premise is wrong as usual:

"For ye may all prophesy one by one,.... Not every member of the church, but everyone that had the gift of prophecy" -- Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Prophecy is most assuredly NOT simply repeating whatever popped into our wickedly deceitful hearts and claiming it is from the Holy Spirit. Prophecy is hearing from God directly and in the New Covenant, that is generally only accomplished through His word, which is the final revealed will of God. The Lord did not assure all of the books in the canon of scripture only to forget something that He now wants to inform His church through the likes of Kris Vallotton. He now goes to great lengths to twist himself into a pretzel so his foundation of seeking to hear from God in at least eight different ways has been established. He builds it of course on poor scripture understanding and cobbling together unrelated verse fragments. At the end he concludes that if we have not heard from the Lord in the past 24 hours then we probably missed His voice. That of course is a silly conclusion reached by a silly man. Let us dive directly into his eight alleged ways to hear from God.

"1. Visions - Visions of the Mind occur when the Lord "projects" images and pictures onto the "screen" of our imagination. Most often, this is how the Holy Spirit speaks to us. Visions 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. (Acts 2:17-18)" -- Kris Vallotton

If this sounds absurd to you, then you have probably been taught correctly. This is the base argument for experiential Christianity. This notion of the Lord projecting something onto the screen of our imagination resides nowhere in scripture. We have the verity of scripture to rely upon! Why would the Lord resort to relying upon our imagination! The bible tells us in Genesis that the imagination of a man's heart is evil from his youth! Notice how this entire premise is subjective? All random thoughts now are assigned to the Holy Spirit? What Vallotton does here is to bring his wicked thoughts onto the same plane of truth as the holy word of God! After all if it is assigned to the Holy Spirit then God Himself said it! To further this insanity, Vallotton claims that those thoughts that cannot be understood are somehow hieroglyphic in nature and must be interpreted. Not by someone else, as Paul established with the gift of tongues, but rather by ourselves; I mean through the Holy Spirit; wink wink. So according to Kris Vallotton, God loves to randomly project images onto your brain but makes them unintelligible until you have a secondary conversation with the Holy Spirit. That is ridiculous.

"2. God's Still Small Voice - At times, the Lord speaks to us in a still small voice from within our spirit. We may underrate the power of God's whispers and even ignore these inklings when we expect to rather hear a booming, audible voice. God's still small voice can be heard as a passing thought, sudden impression, or internal "sense" of something that God is saying. We see this 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

Much like the first option, Kris is staying with experiential Christianity's theology. His primary ways of hearing form God are merely ways to hear from himself. This is not surprising since Kris Vallotton is his own god. The notion of a still small voice is a sacred Pentecostal cow that needs to be tipped over. It does stem from the life of Elijah as Kris references here but what Kris fails to realize is that he is not Elijah. This portion of scripture is what is known as historical narrative. It is a descriptive text designed to describe events that have occurred in history. It is not however a prescriptive text, where God is instructing everyone. Even Kris is forced to admit that maybe it is not exactly a voice but more of an inkling. Some kind of external feeling we must discern as coming from the Lord and not the pizza we ate the night before. Yet the story shows that Elijah HEARD the small voice. It was not external nor an inkling. God is not ambiguous yet Kris is forced to pretend that any random thought, impression, or internal sense of something can now be attributed to God. It is quite revealing that the top two ways Kris Vallotton believes God speaks to us is through two wildly unbiblical notions of projected visions and whispered inklings that are really just ways to hear our own still small voice and the desires of our wickedly deceitful hearts and then blame God for it.

"3. Angels - Angels are another avenue that God uses to communicate with us from the heavenly realm. Throughout the New Testament, angels spoke to people and gave them instructions for their lives (See Luke 1:26-38 for a famous example when the angel Gabriel visited Mary, the mother of Jesus). It's important to remember that while angels deliver messages, the source of the instruction is from God." -- Kris Vallotton

Another facet of the NAR false signs and lying wonders theology is an over-obsession with angels. Now let me be clear. Angels are real and the bible does speak about them. The scripture Vallotton references here is accurate. The problem is in taking what was a rare event and trivializing it to the level of hailing a taxi. The angel Gabriel only visited Mary to let her know that she would be miraculously pregnant with the Savior of the entire world! to take this miraculous event and say that it means that God speaks to us through angels so much that it is third on our list of means of godly communication is beyond abusive to the scriptures. God sent angels to Daniel, Zechariah, and still yet other instances. That does not mean that angels is a primary way God speaks to us beloved. Kris and Bethel trivialize angelic encounters to the point that they become meaningless. Bill Johnson claims he was just sitting in a diner when angel feathers stared falling all around him. He called them signs that make you wonder. I think he means signs that make you wonder if Bill Johnson remembered to take his meds.

"4. Creation - Creation itself is a voice from the Lord that speaks to us in many ways, specifically by echoing to us the truth 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 when God causes nature to do things that are actually prophetic acts. Here's a wild story for you...One year, every time we would meet at Bethel Church 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, to "go outside of our fall walls" so to speak, that our church and movement would die." -- Kris Vallotton

Uhm, ok. Seriously, this is what happens when you try to pretend everything is supernatural. The experiential, false signs and lying wonders church theology dumbs down the supernatural into a Jerry Springer show. Everything suddenly has "prophetic" meaning. There was a car in front of me with Pennsylvania license plates, I think God is confirming That He wants me to move there. Huh? This is a true story and that person did move! I tried to speak sense into the situation by pointing out that we lived in New York. Perhaps if you felt a draw to Nepal and suddenly there was a car in front of you with Nepalese plates -- THAT might be something! How in the world does a roadrunner with a lizard mean you need to go out to the highways and byways? Couldn't it have also meant that you had a lizard infestation problem? Or that the roadrunner would always be the best cartoon? Or how about it was pure happenstance? Therein lies the rub beloved because nothing is happenstance to false prophetic folks. Everything is a message from God that has to be figured out.

"5. Scriptures - The Lord can speak to us in our daily reading of the Bible by highlighting a verse or story that speaks to us about our present circumstances. Have you ever had a single word or specific verse jump off of the page at you or beckon for it to be read over and over again? The words come to life as you reflect, and suddenly, you have clarity, revelation or comfort for your life. Sometimes, it may even seem as if God is taking a Scripture verse 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 a new understanding of 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

Number five? Seriously? This is all you need to know about Kris Vallotton and Bethel. They have no respect for or use for the bible. The bible is actually the enemy of experiential Christianity. Sure, Johnson and Vallotton pay lip service to the word but ultimately they only abuse it to fit their own wicked narratives. The reality is that scripture is the PRIMARY way God communicates with us. The bible says that the Holy Spirit with lead us into all truth and that is referring to the scriptures; not some projection TV screen in our head. Then note the shade Kris throws at the bible. If it seems that God is taking a verse out of context you can be assured that is not God doing it. Kris however takes verses and violently tears them out of context, which is why he is trying to pretend he is merely imitating god. a fresh insight or application does not change to one correct interpretation or the surrounding context. What Kris is advocating for is what he did earlier with the notions of angels. He sees biblical stories about angelic encounters and wants them for himself. So he thinks he is merely applying them to his life but the reality is that he is ignoring the individual context that the angelic scriptures might occur in. We see his established criteria for ripping a verse out of context contains three qualifications. First of all your new usage must align with the generality of the entire canon of scripture. Secondly it cannot be in disagreement with God's revealed nature and thirdly -- His character. That sounds so piously right but remember it starts with mangling the verse out of the original context God placed it in!

"6. 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 a troubled person. The evil spirit that is harassing them 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 begin to feel fearful as well. If we do not realize our prophetic ability and discernment in this area, it's easy to feel very confused or think we are crazy (1 Corinthians 12:10). It's imperative to treat these impressions as information that the Lord is sharing with us instead of a burden we have to constantly live under the weight of. It's entirely possible, and I'd propose, healthy, to say in your spirit, "Message received" and then move on unless the Lord gives you further instruction on how to pray or act." -- Kris Vallotton

This is just nonsense. Discernment is being able to tell what is from God and what is from Satan. For example, when I hear someone teach that the primary way to hear from God is through visions while the word of God comes in fifth? Yeah I know that is from Satan. I discern that. Discernment is not prophetic. Developing proper discernment comes through spiritual disciplines. The more we read His word, the more likely we are to develop good discernment. So if we know the person sitting next to us on the train is demonic that is not a prophetic word from God but rather gleaned because we are so aligned with His written will.

'7. 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 oftentimes when we are doing something for God, the enemy will oppose us! Even in times of intense opposition, we must remember that Revelation 3:8 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

This is what Kris Vallotton and most false teachers do to scripture. They do not merely take things out of context. They violate the scripture. In Revelation Jesus is asking John to write down seven separate messages for seven different churches that were in operation that day. Now it is true that we can find comparisons to the church today but we do not pretend that John was writing these verses about us! These verses were written to the Church at Philadelphia, not Kris Vallotton. He has not kept His word and has denied His name. Now, God can speak to us through our circumstances. I knew someone once who was having an affair on his wife and eventually lost his job and had his utilities shut off. I told him I was not saying God did these things but perhaps He was trying to get his attention through them. ust be careful in over spiritualizing what should be common knowledge. The bible says thou shall not commit adultery so if you are and find your life falling apart in other areas that is merely God's word being true, not a direct download, per se.

"8. Spiritual Happenings - -These are supernatural incidents that correlate with natural events. Notice that in the Book of Numbers, Aaron's rod came alive after being dead, and bore blossoms and ripe almonds as a sign from God that he was anointed to be a leader of Israel (Numbers 17:2-8). 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." Today I want to encourage you to think back on your life and take stock of times when God has spoken to you in these ways. Often times, we miss the profound power of His voice because we're unconsciously ignorant of the manner in which He speaks. So how do you hear God's voice? In what ways would you like to grow in learning to hear from the Lord? I'd love to hear from you in the comments! If you're hungry to grow in hearing God's voice for your life, I want to invite you to join me at the Bethel Prophetic Conference this February 19-21 in Redding, California! The conference is almost sold out, but we still have availability in our overflow room"" -- Kris Vallotton

Kris makes it sound so commonplace and that is the true evil of his evil genius. He makes it sound like speaking to God is like speaking to your next-door neighbor. So I asked God what He thought about the Mets this year and He said, no bullpen. Seriously, this banter Kris offers up is just as banal and unlikely to have ever occurred. You watch gains an hour so you casually ask God what it means and He verbally tells you? As with Kim Walker-Smith, Vallotton is either purposefully lying or he is routinely conversing with demons unaware. For Vallotton I believe it just may be both. The only ignorance on display is his ignorance of scripture. Ever the huckster, he reveals this entire thing has been one long advertisement for his false prophecy conference. Transparently evil. Beloved, God does speak to us but if your list of ways does not start and end with the bible then it may not be God you are actively listening to.

Reverend Anthony Wade -- January 23, 2020

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.