According to Wikipedia, Bill Hybels is “the founding and senior pastor of Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Illinois,” which has more than 15,000 members. Besides this achievement, he is also the author of some best-selling books. Like Rick Warren (The Purpose-Driven Life), Hybels was trained in Baptist theology, but neither of them has opted to use the name Baptist. Both men have been highly successful, as the religious world defines success. Both men are Calvinists and teach the “faith only” error.
Hybels has a new best-seller, The Power of a Whisper: Hearing God, Having the Guts to Respond. Does he really advocate that God whispers to people today? Unfortunately, he does, citing the first time God spoke to him as a child. Thanks, Bill, all that the religious community needs is more nuts who think that God is speaking to them personally (regardless of the amount of volume that He uses).
This congregation was visited two months ago on a Sunday evening by a woman who claimed that God spoke to her all the time. She thought she was full of the Spirit, but the rest of us determined that it was only malarkey. She spewed forth like a broken water pipe, and people had to interrupt just to get a word in edgewise. She affirmed that God had spoken to her just that evening during worship. When asked what He said, she responded, “I’d better not say. You’d think it was silly.” Certainly, that response was a possibility.
The question was put to her: “If God is speaking to you, how is that different than Him speaking to the apostles and prophets?” She admitted that there was no difference. “Then don’t you owe it to everyone to write all of those words down so that the whole world could have them?” She said that maybe she should. Eventually (after an hour or so) she ran out of steam but vowed to be back the following Wednesday evening for Bible study. We never saw her again.
How God Speaks
There is not a verse in the King James Version in which God is said to whisper to anyone. The only passage that comes close to it is the one in 1 Kings 19:11-12. Verse 13 is also included below.
Then He said, “Go out, and stand on the mountain before the LORD.” And behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice.
So it was, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave. Suddenly a voice came to him, and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
The Pulpit Commentary says of the phrase in question that the Hebrew expression literally means “a voice of gentle silence” and that it is the equivalent of our word dumb (5:1:461). Concerning the meaning of the verse, they add:
What was the object and meaning of this succession of signs? First, let us remember that Elijah was a prophet of deeds. He taught his contemporaries not by word but by act. He is here taught in turn by signs. There passes before him in the mountain hollow, in the black and dark night, a procession of natural terrors—of storm, earthquake, and fire. But none of these things move him; none speak to his soul and tell of a present God. It is the hushed voice, the awful stillness [that] overpowers and enchains him.
What words Elijah may have heard are not recorded, but when he went out and stood at the entrance to the cave, a more audible voice that spoke to him—not one of “gentle silence.” This one apparently spoke in normal fashion, as if God and Elijah were having a regular conversation. So 1 Kings 19:11-12 reveals the only time (unless something else is being overlooked) in the history of the world that God came close to whispering to someone. Yet Hybels would have people believe that He whispers to people all the time.
God has chosen a variety of ways to communicate in the past. As the Lord was rebuking Aaron and Miriam for their complaint against their brother, He told them:
“Hear now My words: If there is a prophet among you, I the Lord make Myself known to him in a vision, and I speak to him in a dream. Not so with My servant Moses; He is faithful in all My house. I speak with him face to face, even plainly, and not in dark sayings…” (Num. 12:6-8a).
Actually, God spoke in some peculiar ways in the Old Testament—not only in dreams and visions, but through the mouth of a donkey. Even with the establishment of the church, God used visions, dreams, prophecy (Acts 2:17-18), the word of wisdom, the word of knowledge, speaking in tongues, and interpretation of tongues (1 Cor. 12:8-10). All of these methods of communication, however, were to be done away when that which was perfect (the complete revelation of God’s Word) was come (1 Cor. 13).
In other words, God used some means of revelation prior to the Christian era that He no longer uses, such as the Urim and Thummim. The writer of Hebrews noted these differences at the very beginning of his epistle:
God, who in various times and in different ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son… (Heb. 1:1-2a, emph. added).
In the New Testament God continued to speak by inspiration in various ways—but only until He had given “us all things that pertain to life and godliness” (2 Peter 1:3). Once the faith was “once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3) and recorded in written form, the spiritual gifts, through which the revelation came, ceased. The church, in its infancy, had the Word of God proclaimed through inspiration—through the various gifts. They did not have the completed Word. We have the Word and need not the gifts which confirmed that the message was of God. The Word is both authoritative and sufficient, however, whether it is in spoken or written form. Paul charged Christians: “Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or our epistle” (2 Thess. 2:15, emph. added). Whether the Word was spoken orally or written down, it was inspired and valid.
What Are the Whispers?
If we have the complete revelation of God, as the Scriptures insist, then God has nothing new to say to us. In other words, if He gave us “all things,” then what did he omit? “Oops, I left some things out. I will give them to Joseph Smith in 1830.” “Oh, yes, and I have other things that I’ll give to Mary Baker Eddy.” “Oh, and for Bill Hybels I will have to whisper.” How absurd are all of these claims in light of the truth! In order to believe that God still speaks to man today, one must believe that He was not a careful planner and forgot to include certain critical information, which would be, in effect, to say that God is not omniscient.
Some advocate that today’s “whispers” are only informational and directional. By that they mean that God may “speak” to them in order to give them directions, as an angel of the Lord did to Philip (Acts 8:26). Occasionally, someone with these beliefs will approach another person about the gospel because the “Spirit” told them to, which actually happened to G. K. Wallace on one occasion. He was asked by a total strang-er: “Are you a Christian?” He inquired why the person questioned him in this manner and was told that the Holy Spirit had laid it upon his heart to do so. Wallace replied that his sins had been removed by the blood of Christ when he was baptized many years previously, and that the Holy Spirit knew that he was a Christian. He concluded by telling the deluded soul: “Some other spirit must be talking to you.”
Others say that the Holy Spirit brings to their remembrance His teaching (a verse of Scripture, perhaps) to keep them from sinning. How are these whispers, recollections, and nudges to be explained? They are not difficult to comprehend. We are the product of what we have been taught. Therefore, if we are about to do something wrong, it is not unusual that a Scripture we have learned should come to mind. An individual on the verge of committing adultery, for example, might think of the pain and sorrow that David experienced when he gave into that temptation. Or he might recall 1 Corinthians 6:18 or Hebrews 13:4. It is not the voice of the Holy Spirit speaking to him but the surfacing of principles that he has been taught.
As a youth, a denominational preacher was taught by his mother to despise cigarettes. She would throw one on the ground and make him stomp on it, saying, “No, no, no. Bad, bad, bad.” Years late, as a teenager, he was out with his “friends”; one of them gave him a cigarette and invited him to join them in a smoke. He immediately threw the cigarette on the ground and stomped on it, repeating, “No, no, no. Bad, bad, bad!” Needless to say, his friends looked at him in astonishment. It was not the Holy Spirit, however, who caused him to pulverize the cigarette while denouncing it. It was the training he had received. We teach children Bible verses with the idea that they will remember them in times of temptation, as Jesus did (Matt. 4:1-11). If they should give in to the temptation, we pray that their conscience will afterward smite them.
Speaking of conscience, it is that voice that speaks to each of us, saying, “You shouldn’t have done that.” We all have thoughts floating around in our minds (although in a few cases it is debatable); many of these are random and in search of coherence. How many millions of bits of memory are also stored there? How often do we find ourselves humming or singing a song that we haven’t thought of in years? Some things we have seen or heard we try to dismiss and would be happy if they never entered our consciousness again. Other things we repeat so that they will remain.
Those who have read the Bible and hear Christian principles taught regularly certainly know that God has moral principles that He expects us to abide by. If a child steals a candy bar from a store, he at first may be delighted, but then he hears that voice, saying, “You should not have done that; stealing is wrong.” God has not spoken to him directly—his conscience has spoken to him, which God gave him. On the other hand, we know that we ought to reach the lost with the gospel; so on occasion we may hear that conscientious voice telling us that we really ought to take advantage of a situation and speak to someone about his soul.
The Dangers of this Doctrine
These thoughts must not be attributed to God. In the first place, few, in the final analysis, believe that God has continued to speak since the final covenant was revealed by God in the first century. Where is the book that is accepted by everyone as inspired of God since that time? Does anyone have the volume, Second-Third Century Scriptures? How about God’s Holy Word in the Middle Ages? How about a cheap paperback, Inspired Epistles of the Twenty-First Century? Few, if any, have dared to publish anything because they know it would be scrutinized and found to be a pale imitation of the truly inspired Word of God.
Most people do not take Mormonism seriously because Doctrines and Covenants contradicts The Book of Mormon on the subject of polygamy. It was initially denounced but later widely practiced (before being condemned again when Utah wanted to become a state). The problem with man-originated “revelation” is that it eventually contradicts itself or the Bible and can be seen for what it is—a manmade invention.
To illustrate the great danger of this “whispering,” let us grant for a few moments that He is. In a gathering arranged for all who believe this doctrine, each group has an opportunity to speak. A Catholic bishop would insist that the pope is the head of the church and that God speaks through him. He would affirm that the pope’s word is on a par with the Scriptures and that he is infallible when he speaks ex cathedra. Bill Hybels is not going to accept the Catholic doctrine that the bread is literally the body of Christ or that the fruit of the vine is His actual blood. But Catholicism claims to be able to do miracles, which claim, they say, proves they are the true church—pope and all. How disturbing is this? We have only had one individual address the convention so far, and already we doubt his inspiration.
Next a Mormon apostle speaks and advocates that Joseph Smith was a true apostle of the Lord and that everyone must accept Mormon—not Catholic—doctrine. He reminds the audience that Mormons do miracles, too. A Pentecostal, moved by the “Spirit,” jumps up to deny that neither of the first two speakers is right. He can feel the Holy Spirit throughout his entire body, and knows that both groups are in error. Furthermore, he asserts that he has worked miracles himself.
Now, if you’re a poor, spiritually-uneducated schmo observing these antics, what are you supposed to believe? The reason that God gave us His objective Word is precisely to avoid all such nonsense. If God were inspiring all of these people, why is there no unity? The “evidence” for each is subjective. Truth could only depend on the last person who received a revelation. The chaos we see in the religious world currently, with all its division, would be even worse without the New Testament that God has once for all delivered. Those who know that God’s Word is authoritative need not be bothered by the latest claim of inspiration on the part of a self-appointed prophet.
If God Actually Whispered to Bill
If God had actually spoken to Bill Hybels, it would probably be more of a shout than a whisper. Here are some things He might have told him:
1. Salvation comes through My Holy Word (an objective standard)—not your subjective thoughts and feelings.
2. Salvation is not by “faith only.” Do you observe Peter telling the thousands on the Day of Pentecost to “just believe”? Read it again, Bill. He told them to repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of their sins (Acts 2:38). Remember Saul of Tarsus, who after three days of praying and fasting, was told to arise and be baptized and wash away his sins (Acts 22:16)? He was not saved by his faith and his praying. His sins were washed away in baptism after he repented.
3. Jesus is the head of the church; its only members are those who have been baptized in order to get forgiveness of their sins (Acts 2:41, 47). Is that your basis of membership, Bill?
4. About those elaborate musical programs you have there at Willow Creek, have you ever thought that nothing even similar was done like that in the New Testament? Christians just sang. They never used instrumental accompaniment. And the worship was directed at Me, Bill, not those in attendance.
5. By the way, you are not a pastor, as I defined it in the New Testament. Why don’t you study Acts 20:17ff and 1 Peter 5:1-4 to see who a pastor actually is?
Of course, God will not speak to Bill about these matters today because He already has—in the Bible. It is not up to God to tell us again what He already revealed; the responsibility is ours to study and learn the truth. Bill, do you have the guts to respond properly?