The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? Jeremiah 17:9 

If you have been a Christian very long you are familiar with the passage quoted above from the prophet Jeremiah. Many preachers have used this text to warn against subjective spiritual experiences. I was part of a fellowship for twenty years that consistently warned against “experience-based faith.” The underlying presupposition was that all we needed for faith was the written Word of God and that spiritual experiences could be used by Satan to lead us astray. We were warned against seeking spiritual experiences, prophetic words, healings, chasing after miracles, or judging things based on what we felt in our hearts. It was if head-knowledge about God carefully derived from scripture was the only safe way to God. Jeremiah’s words were the proof text for staying away from experiential religion.

There is some truth to the warning, however, experiences are also crucial to our faith. An experience with God can be more faith building than the written word alone. Think of all the great stories in the Bible. Noah hearing from God that a great flood was on the way.. Abraham encountering God outside his tent with a promise that an impossible child was on the way. Jacob wrestling with an angel who represented God. Moses seeing a burning bush that was not devoured by the flame. David being supernaturally empowered to overcome the lion and the bear. Every person in the gospels who was given a miracle or who witnessed a miracle. Paul on the road to Damascus, etc.

Each of these stories was an example of a man or a woman who did not just read about God or hear about God but experienced God. The experience was transformative in their lives. The heart, if that equals emotionalism, can certainly lead us astray, but Jeremiah’s words were written before the Holy Spirit took up residence in God’s people. Paul wrote to the church at Ephesus, “I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts though faith” (Eph. 3:16-17). We are also to love the Lord with all of our heart. Remember the disciples who were walking on the road to Emma’s after the resurrection. They encountered Christ (unknown to them) who walked with them and opened up the scripture so that they understood the necessity of Messiah being crucified and raised on the third day. After they recognized him, he disappeared and they said, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road…” (Luke 24:32). In this instance, the heart confirmed the truth that was being shared with them.

In addition, Paul prayed for the church at Ephesus that, “the eyes of your heart might be may be enlightened in order that you may know the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people and his incomparably great power for us who believe” (Eph. 1:18-19). Although the unregenerated heart can easily be deceived, the heart enlightened by the Holy Spirit can also discern truth and the nature of God through experiences.

It is my personal experience and my observation that lives are transformed to a greater degree when people not only read the Word of God but experience God as those in the Bible experienced him. Whether a powerful answer to prayer, a moment of supernatural provision, a prophetic word that strikes home, his overpowering presence in a worship setting, a profound healing, the experience of tongues, a demon cast our after decades of torment, a still smallll voice in the darkness, or a rescue from an impossible situation. Could it be that scripture is not just to give us information about God but to also prepare us for encounters with him?

Spiritual gifts are another way we experience God. They are God working through us. These gifts were abused and misused in Corinth, but Paul did not forbid their exercise. He simply taught them how to use the gifts as God intended. Experiences are the same. I cannot seek God without experiencing him. I cannot fully know him without experiencing him.

Of course, experiences can lead us astray. Experiences must be weighed like prophetic words and tested like spirits to see if the experience lines up with the Word of God, reflects his nature and character, and bears fruit that glorifies God and points us to Jesus. My heart can be deceived but it can also be enlightened and made fit for Jesus to dwell there. Paul said that he wanted to “know Christ” (Phil. 3:10). The word he used means to know him experientially, not just intellectually. Our desire should be the same, Test and weigh your experiences with God, but do not fear them or avoid them. They are transformative.

I rarely walk on the weird side of spiritual warfare.  Weirdness tends to discredit the realities of the spiritual realm and our fight against unseen enemies. However,  I am going to cautiously put out to sea a little ways into some speculation because the devil is up to something and I feel like the Holy Spirit is highlighting these things for a reason.

Years ago, the Twilight Zone aired an episode entitled, “To Serve Man.”  The story was about aliens making their presence known on earth.  Imagine an impressive space craft landing on the White House lawn with emissaries from a planet in another galaxy descending the steps and declaring they have come in peace.  They declared they had come to share their knowledge and abundance with earth and to eliminate disease and war.  The earth, of course, was once again on the verge of destroying itself so, out of a sense of desperation, these alien emissaries were given the chance to demonstrate their good will.

In short order, they ended food shortages around the globe.  They provided cures for a huge number of devastating diseases.  They provided keys to eliminating natural disasters.  In short, they became the savior of mankind.  The world clamored for more.  In the process, there were skeptics who doubted their altruistic motives, but they brought so much good, who could doubt them.  Eventually, more ships came and they started taking men and women to their home planet for ten-year excursions.  One of the skeptics had secretly stolen a book from one of their ships and was trying to translate their difficult language.  The first breakthrough was the title, which read “To Serve Man.”  Those aware of the attempt to decipher the book were encouraged because that is why these aliens said they had come.  In the closing scene, the skeptic who was translating the book was feverishly trying to stop a friend from going on the interplanetary voyage to the aliens’ home planet.  He had finally broken the code and to his horror discovered that is was actually a cookbook and those leaving this planet were doomed to be feasted on when they arrive on this other world.  The scripture occurs to me that Satan appears as an angel of light.

The reason I’m bringing this up is because we are about to be inundated with news about alien visitors. Congressional hearings are opening the doors on secret files containing reams of reports about UFO’s going back to the “Roswell coverup” decades ago.  Notice, however, that the language has changed.  Now we are talking about non-human entities and interdimensional visitors.  When chased, these current UFO’s seem to disappear through some portal that closes. Non-human and interdimensional actually describe the demonic.  I have seen two reports on alien abductees.  Both reports claim no spirit-filled Christians have ever been abducted and those who were threatened sent the “travelers’ scurrying at the name of Jesus.  When aliens are revealed and interviewed on CNN, beware. They too may be interested in “serving man” and what power they would have to bring about a one world government and to endorse the “anti-Christ.”  Of course, AI can play a huge role in this as well as it becomes more and more difficult to discern the genuine from the computer generated.  

I know, this sounds like conspiracy theory gone wild, but if these kind of events begin to unfold, please be prayerful and discerning.  Only Jesus is the Savior of the World and his one world government will not be established until after he returns…and it won’t be on a flying saucer.  I won’t venture into these realms again unless compelled to do so, but sometimes we need to keep a closer eye on the enemy.  This possibility is not gospel so simply consider it and do with it as you will.