UPDATE: Please pause the video at 3:10 or before. Some of the ads at the end (over which I have no control) may be offensive.

I sat in my car on the side of the road. My car was in park, my flashers were on, all my windows were down and my sweaty hands gripped the steering wheel at 10 and 2.

Finally, his door opened and he stepped out. I watched him in my rear-view mirror.

“Good morning, officer!” I thought to myself. That’s what I’d say when he got to my window. Try to be pleasant.

He walked directly to the back of my car. I heard something scraping against my bumper as he wobbled in my rear-view.

“Did he step in something? I thought.

Then I saw him talking into the radio mic on his shoulder.

Snow! There was snow covering my license plate and he had to scrape it off to read it. I whispered an oath as I finally exhaled. I could see my breath.

He walked backward a few steps toward his cruiser, never taking his eyes off of me.

“Smart man,” I thought, “and he doesn’t have any idea yet that I have a gun.”

He talked into his shoulder again and then paused to listen. I noticed his head jerk toward me just a little. He knew.

I could feel my heart thumping now. I tightened my grip on the wheel. My neck was hot and my fingers were cold. The gun felt like an anvil on my left hip.

He shifted his weight on his feet and took a lungful of cold Ohio air. I could see his breath too.

Now my ears were hot and my hands almost slipped off the wheel they were so cold and wet. I never noticed before how red the lines in my knuckles were. I glanced in my rear-view again and he was gone.

“Officer, I have a license to carry concealed and I am armed. What would you like me to do?”

“Where is the firearm?” His voice was like a rock.

“In a holster on my left hip, under my shirt.” I squeaked.

“That’s fine,” he said, “Keep your hands on the wheel unless I tell you to do otherwise.”

“Yes sir. My license is in my left back pocket.”

“Get it with your left hand only. Keep your other hand on the wheel.”

“Yes sir. I need to open the glove box too.”

“Go ahead.”

He stood slightly behind me outside my window, his body parallel to the side of my car. I never saw his right hand and figured it was resting on the butt of his pistol.

I leaned to my right, slowly opened the glove box and removed my insurance card and registration. Holding them between my thumb and forefinger, I returned my right hand to the wheel and reached with my left hand really, *really* slowly toward my left back pocket. I removed my wallet and brought both hands back to the wheel.

He moved closer and placed his right hand on the sill of my window.

I relaxed a little bit as I removed my licenses and handed everything over. “Here you go.” I managed.

He took them from me without a word, straightened up and walked toward the front of my car. He never turned more than halfway away from me as he walked around the front of my car and toward the side of the highway. He keyed his mic and called in my information.

I thought ice might be forming under my hands on the steering wheel. My heart wasn’t beating as fast, but now I could feel sweat running down the side of my head. For a misguided moment, I thought about unzipping my coat, and then thought better of it.

My grip tightened. The wheel would never be the same.

“Sir, do you know why I stopped you this morning?” he asked.

“No, sir.”

“You had snow covering your rear license plate. Are you aware that you have to keep it clear of obstructions?”

“I am now, sir!” I replied briskly, “I’m sorry about that.”

He held out my paperwork and said sternly, “And this isn’t what I asked you for, you know!”

My hands stayed on the wheel. I just looked at him, my mouth half open. I think I might have blinked.

“I asked you for your driver’s license, registration and proof of assurance.” He stressed the last word.

My hands stayed on the wheel. I just looked at him, my mouth half open. I think I might have blinked.

He grinned as he tucked my paperwork under the edge of the bible sitting on the passenger’s seat. “I noticed the cross you have hanging from your rear view mirror at the same time that my dispatcher said you had a license to carry concealed. Then I saw your bible just before I got to your window. I’m usually a little nervous approaching an armed citizen, but this time I felt pretty calm.”

I managed to close my mouth and take a short breath.

“I thought I’d have a little fun with you and see if you might hand me your bible as proof of assurance.” He said as he tapped the book on the seat.

“I never even caught it.” I replied as I tried to smile. “I thought you said insurance. I guess I didn’t expect to be pulled over by a Christian.”

“I’m a Christian and a cop; but I guess I’m not much of a comedian!”

“I’m sure I’ll laugh about it later” I said as I finally found the ability to smile.

“I’m sure we both will.” He replied as he straightened back up. “Make sure you keep your license plate clear of snow and have a blessed day, brother!”

“Yes, sir. Thank you, sir… brother. You too!”

UPDATE: This article is a work of fiction; a creative writing exercise focusing on dialog and descriptive realism. I welcome constructive criticism in comments or via email. Thanks for reading!

I’m talking about direct, personal communication from God.

Usually it takes the form of something like, “I’ve been praying to God that my son will stop stealing from me. This morning I woke up and God’s answer was in my head, ‘Be as patient with him as I’ve been with you.’” This is the “answered prayer” form of direct, personal revelation. It takes the position that God speaks directly to people in words, thoughts, dreams or visions.

But how do you know that word is really from God? Do you have Caller ID?

It might sound right, it might feel right, and it might even be effective, but that doesn’t mean that it is from God.

Maybe you should be patient with your son and not provoke him to anger (Ephesians 6:4). But then again, maybe you shouldn’t enable his sinful actions anymore by being patient. It could be time for you to apply the rod for a change (Proverbs 13:24, Proverbs 23:13-14).

This supposed ‘word from God’ has a tendency to encourage the non-discerning Christian to “Let go and let God.” It’s a pithy saying, but it lacks something that is rather important:

Infallible authority.

God has spoken. He has revealed his Word to us primarily, unerringly and unfailingly through His Son, Jesus (John 1:1, 14, Hebrews 1:1-2) and through His Word as written by the Prophets and Apostles. The Holy Bible, in its autographs, is inerrant and infallible (2 Tim. 3:16). Our faithful translations are the only reliable, sure and authoritative source for knowing the will of God.

Ideas that pop into your head, dreams and nightmares, an odd pressure in the pit of your stomach and feelings you ’sense,’ do not carry the same weight as the Word of God found in the Bible. Temper your liver shivers with a knowledge that is deeply rooted in God’s word if you want to avoid chaos and confusion.

I’m not saying that God never ‘speaks’ to people in this way. I don’t know if He does or not. What I do know is that the God of the Bible is not the God of confusion or contradiction (1 Cor. 14:33). If the ideas or words that you “hear” from God are clearly opposed to Holy Scripture, then they are not from God.

On the flip side, if the message you received from God really is from God, then it is infallible and should be in the Bible, right? And you must be a prophet that can say along with Moses, “Thus saith the LORD:_________.” Are you really comfortable with that?

Be discerning, know your Bible, talk to your pastor or a trusted elder about what the Bible says. Be sure to test the things you ‘hear’ (Acts 17:11) before you obey the voices in your head (1 John 4:1).

Updates:

Dan Phillips of the Pyromaniacs blog has more to say about this subject.

Tim Challies chimes in on the subject as well.

Dorothy has been thinking about this too.

I also highly recommend a short book I read this past summer if you want to learn more about finding God’s will. Just Do Something by Kevin DeYoung

Most of the sites are blogs and most are active. As far as I can tell, all these sites are written or maintained by theologically solid Orthodox Christians; no guarantees though.

May your faith be enriched and strengthened by reading them.

9Marks: http://www.9marks.org/blog

Alpha and Omega Ministries – http://www.aomin.org/aoblog/

Biblical Christianity: http://bibchr.blogspot.com/

Challies: http://www.challies.com/

Desiring God: http://www.desiringgod.org/blog

Eddie Eddings (Calvinistic Cartoons): http://calvinisticcartoons.blogspot.com/

Fighting for the Faith: http://www.fightingforthefaith.com/

Gospel Coalition: http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tgc/

Heartcry Missionary Society: http://www.heartcrymissionary.com/

Inverted Planet: http://www.invertedplanet.blogspot.com/

John MacArthur: http://www.gty.org/blog

Killer Robot Ninja: http://www.killerrobotninja.com/

Ligonier Ministries: http://www.ligonier.org/blog/

Mohler: http://www.albertmohler.com/category/blog/

New Demonstration: http://newdemonstration.com/

Ordinary Pastor: http://www.ordinarypastor.com/

Pyromanicacs: http://teampyro.blogspot.com/

Questions? http://www.gotquestions.org/

Red Meat for the Soul: http://www.solidfoodmedia.com/blog

Sovereign Grace: http://www.sovereigngraceministries.org/blogs/default.aspx

Truth for Life: http://www.truthforlife.org/

Underdog Theology: http://underdogtheology.blogspot.com/

Village Church: http://fm.thevillagechurch.net/blog/pastors/

White Horse Inn: http://www.whitehorseinn.org/blog/

X (Nathan W. Bingham): http://nwbingham.com/

Young, Todd : http://experiencingreformation.blogspot.com/

Take Your Vitamin Z: http://takeyourvitaminz.blogspot.com/

Jesus says in Matthew 7:21 that not everyone who calls him “Lord, Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven. Just a few verses earlier, in Matthew 7:14, Jesus says that few even find the gate to life eternal. This should give even the most religious Christian pause. What are the chances that everyone in your church is among the few who find the narrow gate? Could some of them be on the wide path, even though they think they’re not? Could you?

One of the things that might falsely convince you that you are on the narrow path is if you think you are just as good or better than other people in your life. The fact of the matter is that virtually everybody can find somebody more despicable than himself without looking too hard. In a church setting, all you have to do is find the busybody, the gossip or the world-pleaser and compare yourself. You’ll certainly measure up better in the eyes of God, right?

“…do not think more highly of yourself than you ought…” Romans 12:3

This is a deadly step toward self-deception. We must never minimize our own sinfulness by comparing ourselves to our sinful brothers or sisters. God doesn’t grade on a curve. We won’t be compared to the adulterer, the homosexual or the thief – we’ll be compared to Jesus, and we will be found wanting. Romans 3:23.

One of the dominant features of universal human fallenness is deception about one’s true condition. The sinner is unwilling to see himself in his true condition and is convinced of his own goodness. People deny they are sinners. They deny that there is evil in their lives because they are good – and they do not see the evil in their religion. They are self deceived. They may claim the name of Christ, but in reality they hate God. They may have some sentimental feelings for Him, but only for the parts of Him that they find acceptable. — John MacArthur

“Humble yourselves before the Lord and He will lift you up.” James 4:10

It is impossible to understand how holy God is until you have an inkling of how sinful and depraved mankind is. Start with yourself. Take a good hard look in the mirror and dig deep into the corners of your life where you would rather not go. Dig out that sticky sin. Pull it out into the open and thrust it into the light! Yes. It is going to hurt. Hold it up to God with tears and cry for forgiveness. Lay down that burden and NEVER pick it up again. Take comfort that God promises to all who trust him, forgiveness of sins and fullness of grace.

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” John 3:16