I thank God that when I address how God has spoken to me I am not talking about something that happened just yesterday.
In fact it is something that has followed me my entire life. There is not enough room in one article to cover it and even my book "An American Prophet and His Message' could not cover it in its entirety.
I still get questions and arguments from doubters among which are a good number of armchair theologians that have swallowed the teaching that says God has stopped speaking directly to men and women since the advent of the Bible. Not even the Bible supports that worn out idea and has no realistically supportable proof texts to bolster such a view.
It is obvious that anyone who believes the Bible cannot say God has spoken to them, if what he seems to be saying contradicts the prior revelation (the Bible) but if it does not then you had better take heed. God has never done two things which are in a nutshell, waste time and stop speaking.
The art and science of biblical interpretation (hermeneutics) is often stretched so far that those who misuse it are themselves creating what is equivalent to false prophecy. To emphasize implied teachings of the scripture over explicit teachings is a misuse of the bible and is no more than interpolation passing itself off as interpretation.
Hermeneutics is subject to rules. The first rule of interpretation is that you must never emphasize any biblical interpretation to the exclusion of other verses and passages that speak to the same subject.
The second rule is that scripture must not be used to support our view but only its own. Doing that is what creates factions, sects and to some degree even denominations. This is covered in the following admonition given by the Apostle Peter. "Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation." (2Pet 1: 20)
The third and supreme rule of hermeneutics is that no verses or passages no matter how loved they may be can circumvent or lessen in any way what is known as the sovereignty of God. The Bible has only one burning bush but God can show another one to someone if he chooses. This understands that God wants us to worship the God of the Bible and not the Bible of God.
God changes his dispensations but he himself is unchanging. He supplies us with different covenants but his actions among men remain constant. Thus we see the clear meaning of these words, "Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever." (Heb 13: 8)
That God gives prophets to the believers is both an Old Testament and New Testament promise. (1Cor 12: 28) The idea that prophets must cease after the scriptures are finally printed and circulated around the world is not even remotely implied and the proof text that is used to establish this mindless doctrinal error is fraught with problems.
The notion that prophecy will pass also speaks of knowledge passing. (1Cor 13: 8) If those who espouse this idea of the passing of prophecy were being totally intellectually honest then why hasn't knowledge passed as well? Why erect another Bible college, seminary or any schools at all? Why study, why quest for knowledge if it has passed? This is a prime example of breaking the first rule of honest hermeneutics.
A prime example of breaking the third and supreme rule of sound hermeneutics is discovered by simply applying the rule. The notion that God will no longer call prophets or use prophecy is in direct opposition to the scriptures.
If there will be no more prophecy after the scriptures come then how can God possibly fulfill the promise of Joel 2: 28? "And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:"
Wasn't God serious when he said "Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets." (Amos 3: 7) Will he cancel his warnings as we approach the turbulent times near his second coming because some people have ignored the rules of hermeneutics? God forbid.
How far will we go with bad interpretations? Perhaps we should never witness or share our faith with anyone ever again or send out another missionary to some remote area of the world because of this, "And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." (Rev 19: 10)
I have been tirelessly refuting such nonsense since God first spoke to me in dreams and visions and a few times in words of our English language some forty years ago. I have always been emboldened by the words of my former pastor who said "A man with an experience is never at the mercy of a man with an argument."
My first experience with what some call an extra biblical revelation came one night when I had three distinctly different dreams throughout the night. Pondering them all in complete confusion I uttered a simple prayer asking God to help me to understand what they meant if anything. Being a lover of Charles Dickens "Christmas Carol" I suddenly realized that I saw two dreams' at first that covered my distant past, then my present. The third dream was filled with the unknown and then it came to me as clear as a bell, it must be the future. Eight days later what I saw is what I got, to the letter.
After that I needed only one dream not three and I realized that first experience was only to acquaint me with the fact that God can and does speak to people if he chooses to. I have been blessed with a clarity in visions that with only rare exceptions requires any interpretation. I am on a "what you see is what you get" basis. It is like a full color preview of a movie not a confusing nightmarish, Freudian or Dalian kind of wispy wash of symbols and portents.
How many times did this happen? Thousands! Most of the time, the dreams were on a personal level, having only to do with the next day's events in my life or in the lives of the people around me. It took me years to realize that the daily dreams were only to show me of God's willingness to speak and to establish their complete accuracy. At times the events were so unusual that I concluded that they could not possibly be prophetic. Before the day ended they would happen just as I saw them regardless of how unusual. I learned not to doubt.
The major revelations came with angelic visitations like the one in which I saw the entire second coming of Christ and it is what started me on a forty year search of what is known as eschatology. Almost a quarter of the entire Bible speaks to the second coming of Christ. Many of the things I saw in that dream I had not even studied yet and when I saw them in the Bible I was relieved. Nothing I saw was antithetical or in opposition to the revealed word of God.
I was one who like so many others thought anyone who claimed to have dreams, visions or apparitions of God or angels was a certifiable quack or religious nut. But after God began to speak to me I changed my view effortlessly because they came with such accuracy, peace and clarity that it seemed as normal as talking with my biological father.
The only time I was a bit worried about it God led me to a passage of scripture that put my mind at ease for good. It was a verse that not only explained a lot but gave definition to my life. The passage is found in the fourth book in the Bible and says, "If there be a prophet among you, I the LORD will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream." (Nu 12: 6)
Rather than symbols and pictures sometimes God would actually speak in English. Here is where most people fall out because they cannot imagine such a thing happening at all. If they do it is usually some voice they think is conjured up by the person and is usually something dangerous. It is the kind of thing Hollywood uses to make movies about pathological crazies, and it is about all most people know about it.
The first time I heard a message in English it came with a fulfillment on the same day I heard it. After praying for weeks about finding new employment I would rise each morning and pause to see if I could remember being given a vision in the night that would lead me in some direction or another. None came. One night after praying myself to sleep I awoke only to be disappointed once again. I propped my head on my hand and watched the tropical birds eating some seed I placed on my window sill for them when I felt a powerful presence enter the room.
In a relatively quiet but firm voice I heard three distinct sentences spoken to me. First I heard the words "Michael, you are beloved of God." The second time I heard the voice came after a short pause and then I heard the words, "All your prayers have been heard." Finally after another short pause came a single word, "Weiss." The entire message was complete in about thirty seconds.
In less than hour after awaking I was in the French Quarter of New Orleans talking with a man about a job. We talked terms and pay and I was on my way as happy as I could be when I realized that I had not even asked my new employer his name. I returned to the shop where he was, popped my head in the door and said "By the way I forgot to ask you your name." He replied with, my name is Jules, Jules Weiss.
Perhaps the saddest and most deeply disturbing words I ever heard in the English language were those words that had to do with America. In a clear and concise manner I was told that in no uncertain terms that America was going to undergo a time of extreme poverty and scarcity. That message came during the boom times of Ronald Reagan's administration and I thought most people would laugh if I made such a prediction.
No one laughed but the entire message was not for that time. It most certainly is for this time and that was clearly made known to me as well. Along with this message came the promise that I would be telling the entire nation about this coming time of hardship. At the time I hadn't a single clue as to how that could be possible.
After six years of posting my articles to my site American Prophet.org and many other sites I have been able to calculate that less than one percent of those who read my articles across the internet click on my website. Even at that, the number of people who have read my 300 messages now totals ten million.
Does God still speak to people today? You can count on it.
http://www.americanprophet.org has since 2005 featured the articles of columnist Rev Michael Bresciani along with news and reviews that have earned this site the title of The Website for Insight. Millions have read his timely reports and articles in online journals and print publications across the nation and the globe.
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