One Minute Ministry

How one answers this question will usually depend on their view of scripture. Personally, I take the position of the apostle Paul who instructed Timothy in 2 Timothy 3 that “all scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.”

Scripture, says Paul, is all that is needed to be perfect or complete and furnished to do what God has called you to do. The puritan John Owen said, “If private revelations agree with scripture, they are needless, and if they disagree, they are false.” This is especially poignant when you realize there are several warnings in the Bible about adding or taking away from what God has revealed.

Private revelations are an attack against the faith once delivered to the saints, and once a person starts trusting in information outside scripture they stands on shaky ground, not the concrete foundation of the apostles and prophets. As Isaiah 40:8 says, “The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.”