Strangeness of the Month Club
with your host, Kent B. True*

When God speaks, we should - of course - want to listen.  But how should we listen, if at all, when someone is strolling along and “hears the voice of God”?  This is the minefield into which our club goes walking this month as we examine . . .

Vocatively Strange
“My Conversation with God”
Anonymous, Christianity Today online, 3-7-2007

Remember that great old song of the faith, “How Firm A Foundation”?  Club members, let’s arrange ourselves into choir formation - quiet down you tenors! - and let’s sing:
How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,
Is laid for your faith in His excellent Word!
What more can He say than to you He hath said,
To you who for refuge to Jesus have fled?

After that beautiful rendition, I ask again, “What more could He say than to you He hath said?”  While you might think the obvious answer is: no more - hold on just a moment!  There are those who think the answer is not all that obvious.

For example, how about old “Anonymous” (which I always thought was the last name of “Alcoholics”) who, while he does not reveal his name, reveals enough about himself that I suppose we could try to figure out who he is if we really cared.  He states: “I'm a middle-aged professor of theology at a well-known Christian university.  I've written award-winning books.  My name is on Christianity Today's masthead.”

Intriguing, don’t you think?  After that brief introduction, Mr. Anonymous goes on to say:

“A year after hearing God's voice, I still can't talk or even think about my conversation with God without being overcome with emotion. That's one reason I know it was real; I'm not a person who shows emotion easily . . . I've even been known to criticize publicly what I consider to be overly experiential forms of Christianity. I suppose that makes this story especially ironic.”

Ironic?  As you will see as we proceed, that is putting it mildly.  (As the Arthur Spooner character on “King of Queens” once said, “I thought ‘ironic’ meant ‘made completely of iron.’”) Does “emotion” prove this is really the voice of God?  Let’s ponder that one.

To make this rather long story shorter, Mr. Anonymous met a young fellow who wanted to attend the university where he teaches, but couldn’t afford it - or so he thought.  For one morning, while on his frequent walk in the forest, Mr. Anonymous prayed to God, asking Him to make it possible for the young man to attend this university of his choice.

So far so good, but now the spooky stuff starts.  As Mr. Anonymous tells it

“The next week, I was at the same spot in my morning exercise when something amazing happened. Out of the blue, a book title came to me. It was so clever I knew two things instantly:  It wasn't mine, and it would sell . . . Then, in almost the same instant, the entire outline of the book was there in my mind. Every chapter and its title. No discursive thought preceded it. I immediately went home and began writing. As I wrote, I had the distinct feeling that this was not me. I had never written like this before. The words poured out. Two weeks later, a 200-page manuscript sat on my desk. I knew it was good.”

Not to nitpick, but I think he meant “this was not I.”  But he doesn’t claim that God superintended his report of all this, so on we go.

Our Anonymous author had no idea what to do with this manuscript, for even though he had written many books (another clue to his identity, perhaps) they had all been done under prior contract.  So he sat looking at the completed manuscript.  (I thought everyone composed at a keyboard these days, which shows how wrong I can be.)  And as he gazed, “the name of a well-known Christian book publisher suddenly came to mind . . . I felt directed to contact him.”

Lo and behold, “he wanted to read the manuscript. So I sent it to him. Within weeks, I had a contract; it required only a little tweaking of two or three brief portions of the manuscript.”

Now, as most of you have already guessed, I have some questions about all this.  And the fact that I would dare ask them in public will no doubt mark me as an evil, judgmental, beast of a person.  But that’s what the CRA pays me top dollar to be, so ask I must.

Mr. Anonymous all but says that God “gave” this book to him.  And yet “tweaking” of the manuscript was required?  Shouldn’t we expect God to be a better writer than that?  Perhaps Mr. Anonymous just garbled the transmission from the Almighty - and the Almighty didn’t bother to ungarble it for him.

But the point is that the book sold, and sold very well, making lots and lots of money.  As Mr. Anonymous once again went walking through his favorite forest, the really interesting stuff began.  As he was thinking how he might use this windfall to replace the worn-out roof on his house, this little exchange took place:

God: "It's not your money."
Mr. Anonymous:  "What do you mean it's not my money?"
God:  "It's not your money. It's his."
Mr. Anonymous:  "Whose?"
God:  "It's for him [name of the young man] to go to the university and study for the ministry."
Mr. Anonymous:  "All of it?"
God:  "That and the rest."  (Mr. Anonymous says he knew this meant further royalties.)
Mr. Anonymous:  "What about my roof?"
God:  "I'll take care of your roof, if you'll be obedient."
Mr. Anonymous:  "If you want to use me to help him go to the university, why not give me everything it will cost? Why this amount that will make a difference but not pay his whole way?"
God:  "Others have to be obedient, too."

In case we were wondering about just how all of this went down - and we were wondering - Mr. Anonymous informs us, “The voice inside my head was as real as if it were audible.”

Wow - no, make that double wow.  How does Mr. Anonymous know this voice inside his head was really God speaking?  His only words about this point are, “Does God still speak today? I know he does . . . What I know is that God spoke to me.”

In the end, the young man received enough money to attend the university, with the help of several grants plus the money from the book written by God via Mr. Anonymous.  His comment on this is, “It became apparent that God was working miracles through several people.”

What more could God say to Mr. Anonymous than He has already said?  Apparently quite a lot - and accompanied by “miracles” - which a good professor of theology should know are not really miracles at all in any Biblical sense.  There are hints, though, that Mr. Anonymous might not be such a good professor of theology.  He says of his young friend who wanted to attend his university, “Others in his church youth group had received prophetic messages about their future ministries.”  Prophetic messages?

Again, I know we are not allowed to ask questions about such matters.  But that is just another reason I must ask.  God spoke to Mr. Anonymous, let’s grant it for now.  Why shouldn’t these words be added to scripture?  When God speaks to someone, is that not revelation?

I know the standard answer here: this is personal revelation, to Mr. Anonymous only.  But in scripture, God often speaks to individuals in a way that has a broader application.  Mr. Anonymous even goes on to draw “lessons for life” from all this.  So, why shouldn’t it be added to scripture?  It could be the Book of Anonymous.

The Mr. Anonymous argument that “I know God spoke to me because God spoke to me” needs to be questioned.  It has floated around Christendom unchallenged far too long.  Benevolent circumstances might tug at the heart, but they prove nothing.  A “voice in the head” can have many origins, even if it is difficult to question sincere-sounding people about those origins.

We could sum up the lesson that Mr. Anonymous learned from his “conversation with God” in two words: be generous.  But guess what?  God has already said that!  What more could He say than to you He has said?  Even you, Mr. Anonymous.