1 John 4:1-6
What on earth is this guy talking about” I wondered? I was leading a Bible Study. Looking at spiritual gifts in 1st Corinthians 12. I was talking when a newcomer raised his hand. He said he doesn’t agree with all this spiritual gifts talk. He asked if he could address the group. I thought this was a strange request. We discussed as a group. But he was new so I let him talk. He started talking about a vision he’d had. He claimed Jesus appeared and told him that all churches were teaching falsehood. It was his job to go and inform all churches about this. He was there to do that with us. He started talking about other strange things. He seemed like he intended to talk for hours. So I interrupted him and said something like “we’re here to talk about 1st Corinthians. We can talk about what you have to say after our session is done.” So I finished the lesson and then talked with him. He was a little ticked that I hadn’t let him share the so called truth. But he wanted to become part of us so he kept coming. The more we got to know him, the more it became apparent that he did not talk for God but had some wild delusions about his own importance. Eventually, we had to restrict his involvement because he was so disruptive. Yet he claimed to be speaking for God.
A few years later, I pastored a smaller church in the Ottawa area. You can be more intimate and family like in a smaller church. We facilitated this by opening our services up each week for anyone to request prayer or praise the Lord. For the most part, that was a very special time in our services. But one Sunday, we had a unique visitor. When the time came for sharing, he got up to speak. He talked about a message he had from God. He was really excited to share it with everyone. He claimed he had proof about the true version of the Bible. He began to get real animated. Then he said something like “This is important stuff! Are you listening?” The people sitting near where he stood nodded furiously for fear of what he would do to them if they weren’t listening. I was about to step in when he sat down. So a deacon prayed. The service ended and in that church, we had Sunday School after the worship service. The adults would meet to discuss the message.
