Voices In Cornfields: Hearing God Speak?

You may recognize the reference in the title to the movie, Field of Dreams where a farmer, Ray Kinsella, hears a voice in his cornfield that says, “If you build it he will come.” He then takes the daring, risky, and completely illogical act of building a baseball field in his cornfield in Iowa. Later, Ray hears the voice again say, “Ease his pain” and this sets him off across country to find author Terrance Mann and take him to a game at Fenway Park where he soon discovers Terrance also saw a sign on the scoreboard that read, “Archibald 'Moonlight' Graham, Chisolm, Minn” and his major league stats: “One inning, zero at bats.” The voice says, “Go the distance” and Ray and Terrance go to Minnesota and discover “Doc Graham” died sixteen years earlier. On the way back to Iowa they pick up a young man looking to play baseball who happens to be Archie (Doc) Graham in his youth! I like the movie because I like baseball and the poignant theme of reconciliation to one's estranged father speaks powerfully to the father-son relationships of too many of us males! Yet, using its fictional genre, it promotes the concept of living by experiences - like listening to voices in cornfields and visions on scoreboards! Sadly, this actually appeals to many in our day who pursue the spiritual and mystical but not necessarily the God of Scripture.

Many Christians “live by experiences” and consider this the height of true spirituality and knowing God. As a new believer, I recall being interested in a young lady, who broke a bone in a basketball practice and that same evening around the same hour I suffered some pain. My young biblically illiterate mind considered a connection! So, I asked my Christian friend if he thought I may have suffered the pain “vicariously” or “in conjunction” with her! I'm sure he must have thought I was as crazy as the neighbors considered Ray Kinsella! He kindly said “no” and explained why he didn't think this was the proper interpretation of my experience. What a great lesson for me! It made me aware of the total subjectivity of “my interpretation” of my experience and our need to evaluate all experiences by biblical principles.

C J Mahaney in, Living The Cross Centered Life, in chapter two addresses the issue of “What You Feel vs. What Is Real” and makes many important observations but none more needed than, “Our feelings simply cannot be trusted.”i He writes, “It's a frightening experience to sit with individuals who actually insist that what they feel is ultimately more authoritative to them than what's written clearly in Scripture.”ii I sadly also have witnessed this in ministry. He reminds us that we either choose to live by listening to ourselves, that is, our constantly changing feelings about our circumstances, or we look outside ourselves to live by the objective, never-changing, completely true Word of God. We should have spiritual experiences and affections that arise from our relationship with Jesus but these should be the “inevitable effects of Scripture rightly understood and believed”iii and must never be allowed to take precedence over Scripture or be where we begin in our relationship with Christ.

So, you may ask, “What's the big deal?” The evangelical church is being inundated by a pursuit of “spiritual formation” courses, conferences, books etc that promote mysticism under the umbrella of “meditation or contemplation” as a means of drawing close to God and hearing God speak to oneself in “silence.” Well-known practices are “centering prayer” and “sacred reading” (lectio divina) and walking a labyrinth or prayer path. “Centering prayer” involves choosing a sacred word and silently focusing on the word as a means to draw God's presence into you for a period of about twenty minutes several times a day. This has obvious similarities to Transcendental Meditation!

“Sacred Reading” (lectio divina) is a slow meditative reading of Scripture that involves four stages of read/listen, meditate/reflect, pray/respond, and contemplate/rest. Sound good? Yet, P R Sterling notes, “The purpose of lectio divina is not to think about the meaning and application of a Bible verse or passage, but to gain an experience from it and even receive a personal word from God. There is a difference between reading the Bible to understand its meaning and apply it to our lives versus a method of focusing on a text to gain a mystical experience.”iv Many evangelicals promote mystic practices as a means to draw close to God including Rick Warren's The Purpose Driven Life, in chapter 11 where he encourages “breath prayers” and recommends Brother Lawrence a known Christian mystic writer. Mysticism promotes experience over Scripture in seeking to know God and can open one to spiritual deception, and produce physical, physiological and psychological symptoms.v

Have you ever witnessed to a Mormon? What makes it especially challenging is that Mormons place their experience above Scripture or logic when confronted with facts. Many evangelicals aren't much better and justify this with comments like, “I sense the Holy Spirit leading me.” Consider that people have argued that God “told them” to commit murder, a “logical” act if one's experience trumps Scripture's authority!vi There are only two references to being “led by the Spirit” (Rom 8:14, Gal 5:18) and when that is connected to a feeling, impression, prompting, or personal desire, the Holy Spirit is reduced from being a Person to a sensation.vii Paul isn't speaking of knowing God's will but rather of leading a godly life and of one's sanctification not God's “guidance.”

I was once told by a worship leader that God impressed upon that person that a certain song be sung and when I omitted it during the Sunday worship due to time factors I was queried whether God directed me to do so! Did I disobey God's will? I don't think so but this person was convinced God had indicated this song be sung!viii

Many popular authors promote experience in knowing God's will. Joyce Meyer says, “God delivers His word through signs, revelations, and internal confirmation. Ask God for the sensitivity to hear His voice.”ix K Hornok wisely asks, “If God’s revelation was cognitive, not emotive, then why should Christians think they can receive special revelation from God through their emotions or feelings today? Put another way, if God did not speak to Bible writers through their emotions before the completed Canon, why would He speak that way today when the Canon is complete? Therefore, in my opinion, since 'impressions' and 'inner promptings' cannot be proved as coming from God, it seems that they may be self-induced.”x We shouldn't put desires, impressions, promptings, and insights on an equal level with special revelation found in the Bible because our minds and motives are often flawed and affected by sin. Hornok cautions, “We are free to act on our impressions, ideas, or good desires if they do not violate Scripture. However, it must also be pointed out that we are never instructed or encouraged in the Bible to seek, listen to, or follow inner promptings or impressions" [his emphasis].xi

What is the biblical relationship between God's revelation in the Bible and our feelings and emotions? Hornok concurs with Mahaney that “Since all communication from God through the Bible is of a cognitive nature, it may well be that our feelings and emotions play a vital role in our response to that revelation. In other words, our intellect has the role of receiving and understanding revelation from God while our emotions have a role in responding to that revelation” [his emphasis].xii

Many either don't know, or ignore or don't understand the implication of Hebrews 4:12 “For the Word of God is living and active.” If we want to clearly hear God speak to us we need to listen to God speak to us through a proper understanding of the inspired, inerrant biblical texts. The writer of Hebrews teaches us that God continues to speak to mankind today, not in a cornfield but in the Bible! Are we listening?


Randy Mann

i (Colorado Springs: Multnomah Books, 2006), 33.
ii Mahaney, Cross Centered, 34.
iii Mahaney, Cross Centered, 36.
iv “Christian Leadership And Mentoring: Contemplative Theology's Trojan Horse” JOTGES 20:39 (Autumn 2007), 33-34.
v Sterling, Trojan, 27-28.
vi Ken Hornok, “Does God Give Subjective Revelation Today? The Place Of Mysticism In Christian Decision Making” JOTGES 20:38 (Spring 2007), 18.
vii Hornok, Subjective, 26.
viii One can listen to a two-part series on “Knowing God's Will” on our website [Resources (Aug 26, Sept 2 2007)].
ix How to Hear From God: Learn to Know His Voice and Make Right Decisions, (Nashville: FaithWords, 2003).
x Hornok, Subjective, 23.
xi Hornok, Subjective, 24
xii Hornok, Subjective, 25.