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How does God speak to us today?  How do we know who God is and what He is really like?  Where does our sense of right and wrong come from?  God has graciously disclosed a great deal of information to us about these matters.

God informs us by several means.  These include (1) knowledge He has written directly on our hearts, (2) logical deductions we can make by studying the things He has made, (3) information given to us in ancient times by prophets, men who spoke the words God gave them to speak and (4) by His written Word as inspired by the Holy Ghost and recorded in Holy Scripture.

Here is a short list of brief affirmations concerning revelations God has made and continues to make to those who wish to know Him:

  1. God directly instills in all men an intrinsic sense of right and wrong.
  2. Our intrinsic sense of right and wrong, as given by God, is consistent with (but independent of) God’s written law.
  3. Without reading the Bible or being taught, everyone knows that lying, stealing and murdering are wrong.
  4. The built-in, God given warning system we call conscience tells us when we have violated God’s basic laws, the laws He has written on our hearts.
  5. The warning system called conscience is present in all men, regardless of their knowledge of Scripture.
  6. Chronic violations of God’s laws dull the conscience.  They weaken and corrupt it, rendering it less and less effective with each new transgression.
  7. Persistent wrongdoing can so dull the conscience as to render it virtually inoperative.
  8. Psychopaths and sociopaths lack effective, functional consciences.
  9. God directly instills in all men the knowledge of His existence.
  10. The knowledge God instills in all men may be thought of as instinctive, though we should remember that it is a supernaturally conveyed gift of God, not a naturally occurring or spontaneous phenomenon.
  11. Some men suppress their innate or instinctive knowledge of God, denying His existence in spite of this knowledge.
  12. Some men (atheists) bury their knowledge of God so deeply that they convince themselves He does not exist.
  13. Despite self-deception and denials of God’s existence, it is likely that all men still know deep within that there is a God and that they are accountable to Him.
  14. God reveals himself to mankind by two basic means.  These are general revelation and special revelation.
  15. General revelation comes to us in two essential forms, (1) the knowledge of himself that God instills in the hearts of all men and (2) observations of nature and the things He has made.
  16. Science can be thought of as the study of the things God has made.
  17. Valid science offers insight into the nature of God’s creation, providing information not found in the Bible while remaining consistent with what is found in the Bible.
  18. Valid science is in harmony with the Bible and does not contradict God or His Bible.
  19. Conflicts between science and the Bible are the result of bad science, misinterpretation of Scripture, or some combination of the two.
  20. Scientific theories change regularly, often dramatically, but the Bible and God’s revelations never change.
  21. Special revelation comes to us today only by way of His written Word, which is found exclusively in the Bible.
  22. Special revelation tells us more about God than can be learned from nature alone.
  23. Specific knowledge of God’s attributes is an example of information that can be found in special revelation, but not in general revelation.
  24. In former times, God spoke to men through people selected by Him called prophets.
  25. Prophets spoke for God as He moved them to speak, delivering messages from God to men.
  26. The messages conveyed by prophets from God to men were part of special revelation.
  27. God does not speak to us through prophets today.
  28. Today, anyone who claims to be a prophet of God, one through whom God speaks, is a fraud.  Such men are known as false prophets.
  29. God warns us to be wary of false prophets.
  30. False prophets are very dangerous and should be avoided.
  31. There is a difference between a false prophet and a Christian who honestly misunderstands some aspect of God’s Word.
  32. An honest and unintentional misunderstanding of God’s Word does not make a man a false prophet.
  33. The phenomenon called, “speaking in tongues” occurred for a limited time in some early Christian churches.  God does not communicate with us by this means today.
  34. Any messages conveyed today by “speaking in tongues” are not from God.
  35. No man today has the right to speak for God except by expounding upon His written word.
  36. Those who teach the Bible bear a special duty of care to interpret the Bible accurately and to avoid misinforming people about God.
  37. No man has the right to deliberately misconstrue the Bible or to misrepresent God to others.
  38. God will punish unbelievers who deliberately misinform others about Him and remain unrepentant until death.
  39. God does not view inadvertent error in the same light as deliberate deception, but error in teaching God’s Word is a serious matter to be carefully avoided.
  40. Church leaders and Bible teachers bear a heavy burden of responsibility to teach the Bible and God’s revelations faithfully.