You Can Hear The Voice Of God: How God Speaks In Listening Prayer, by Steve Sampson

[Note: This book was provided by Chosen Books in exchange for an honest review.]

I once knew a person whose presumption that the Holy Spirit spoke to her trumped any concerns about what the Bible actually said. No clear and unambiguous citation or collection of citations or passage analysis could convince her in the slightest that she was mistaken because she believed God talked to her, and was so certain that she was privileged with special revelation that no one could say anything different to her. That is precisely the sentiment of this book, which speaks a lot about how God speaks to us (more on that shortly) with one giant and extremely common way that God speaks to us entirely missing, and that is God speaking to us through His word. In a book that purports to hearing the voice of God, apparently the Bible has little place in actually pointing out what is that God wants from us.

Rarely is a book so honest about its point. This is not a book that covers itself, or its inconsistencies. It is not a book that seeks to use complicated theological language. No, it is a book that talks out of all sides of its mouth equally bluntly and openly. The author calls his own works classics and calls himself gifted and effective, and then speaks of the importance of humility even as he continually brags about his spiritual insights. On one page he talks about the fact that we know we are at peace in God by our feelings and then he comments on the deceptiveness of our feelings, urging a sense of neutrality to understand God’s true will. He praises the God-given rational mind and insults the analytical mind as a threat to our spiritual health that rivals or excels the threat of Satan, depending on which page one reads. The author makes the usual concessions to salvation by faith alone and then says, rather sensibly, that we grow in closeness with God by obedience, but with obedience to what conveniently undefined. The book is also full of a great deal of distinctions in different ways the Holy Spirit speaks that are without discernible difference, and the author considers his own quotes on a par with scripture in introducing his chapters, which is rather cheeky at best.

That said, this book has a lot to offer on several levels. For one, it provides useful and practical information on how to recognize God’s subtle ways of communication. It also offers some sharply worded comments about performance-oriented religion and provides encouragement to those who wish not only to speak to God, but also to hear Him and to be appreciative for the communication. Above all, though, this book reveals honestly and without guile the contradictions that are inherent in Hellenistic Christianity, as well as the reason why the belief in the Trinity as a separate being is so essential for Hellenistic Christians, namely because it provides the warrant to contradict scripture with private revelation. So, for all of the things this book gets wrong, and all of the ways it makes its author look like a braggart, it is immensely useful in being practical and blunt in exposing its shortcomings, and its occasional virtues, for all to see. That is a worthy achievement, if not the achievement the author surely aimed at.