If you are a believer, can God instruct you through a person of another faith?

Question

Please indicate what religion you belong to and if you've had such an experience.

Answer 1

God can speak through any one, he once spoke to me threw a homeless drunk at a bus stop.

Answer 2

I am A Chiristan and no I have never had this kind of experience but I suppose that if God wanted to instruct me thru someone of another faith then why couldn't he

Answer 3

Faith comes by hearing. All people provide instruction. Some show us what to do and some show us what not to do. It just takes the Spirit of God to help you discern.

Answer 4

I am a strong Catholic
though I have never had a personal experience with it, I have heard stories about it. You don't have to believe to help God with His work. Everyone is His child, He loves them all and all are open to His work.

Answer 5

It's rare, but it does happen. I like the Nebuchadnezzar example. Sometimes God spoke to people of His judgment through people not part of the Israelites. God once spoke to Balaam through his donkey (in other words, through an animal).

I have learned a lot from scientific creationists, almost all of whom don't belong to my denomination. They are Christians, and they do research in a way that is in accord with the Bible. It's scientific, but it's not uncommon for a person to get an idea to investigate from the Bible in the first place. I once read that the Jews in Israel use the Bible to help them locate oil in Israel.

I had an experience once I thought was really interesting. A woman I barely knew got into a conversation with me. One thing led to another, and after she had read a couple of books I recommended, we went out into the desert in a beautiful spot, and we talked about the Christian faith. When it was time to leave, she told me she had been to the ashram, and the guru had told she would find the truth soon. That totally blew me away! I gave her a Bible and she went home and we didn't speak to each other for three weeks. Then she called me, and said, I have decided to become a Christian. I'm sure the guru did influence her. Later on, we became best friends, and she was such a blessing to me!

One of the things to be careful of is assuming that whatever someone tells you is in accord with the Bible. If it's not, it's not of God. Sometimes it's not easy to tell, so study the Bible so you can measure what people tell you against the Bible. It is the standard.

Here are some common situations that people sometimes think are God speaking to us through the person of another faith. For example, suppose someone "prophecies". I listen to what they have to say. If they say something that just sounds pleasant but has no real content, I just ignore it. Some people repeat things that are in the Bible. If they do that, I think to myself that what they said is superfluous because it's already in the Bible. If they say things that would change the meaning of something in the Bible, I know it's false. You have no way of knowing WHO spoke to a person who prophecies. It could be the devil, for that matter, or it could be a figment of the imagination. A major reason why God gave us the Bible is because it is objective, and we can study it and do research and verify what it has to say.

Occasionally, someone of another faith will have a useful insight, but again, weigh it against the Bible. Weigh the teachings of your own church against the Bible.

Study about cults. Learning what lies are out there can be helpful. Don't let the cult instruct you. That's dangerous. I think it says that God blesses those who do not sit at the feet (receive instruction from) of the ungodly. Some people think speaking in tongues is really important. I personally think that for the most part, that no longer happens, or if it does, it's not God's doing. Paul tells us in I Corinthians 13 that tongues will pass away when it is complete, and I think what he meant by that is the Bible. The Bible was complete, and then tongues pretty much stopped. I have heard of a couple of occasions when tongues seemed to happen and seemed to be genuine. One time, a pastor friend of mine told me that he was in Japan after WWII, and an evangelist he knew asked him to find an interpreter so he could talk to a meeting of Japanese people. So he did, and the meeting was held, but the interpreter didn't say a word. After awhile, the people in the audience started to nod their heads and make agreeable noises. After the meeting, the evangelist was angry with the interpreter for not interpreting. There was a small group of people there, and the interpreter said, I didn't have to say anything. You were speaking perfect Japanese. Some Koreans there said, No, he was speaking perfect Korean, and some Germans said, No, he was speaking perfect German. That's what speaking in tongues is REALLY all about. Nowadays, God gives the gift of learning languages easily, to missionaries. That is what speaking in tongues is really all about, and people who speak gibberish are really performing a counterfeit. And by the way, I personally observed members of a cult speaking in tongues, with interpretation! So it isn't confined to people who say they are Christians. In some denominations, they actually TEACH people to speak in tongues by telling them to say gibberish. Having listened to people speaking in tongues, I can tell you that what they are saying isn't complex enough to be a real language. How do I know? I read 15 languages, and so I have a pretty good feel for whether something is complex enough. The practice of speaking in tongues can also be spiritually abusive, because if you don't do it, people who do think you don't have the fullness of the Holy Spirit. There is no biblical basis for that.

Catholics will tell you that they pay attention to the Bible plus tradition. They will tell you that the Pope sometimes speaks infallibly. In my opinion, it should be the Bible alone. Having measured some of the things the Catholic church teaches people, I know that some are in accord with the Bible, but a lot is not. Again, use the Bible as your standard.

Take your information from the Bible. If someone of another faith says something that seems to resonate with you, check it against the Bible. That way, you can't go wrong.

Answer 6

God often instructs me through people of other faiths. Not being narrowed down to one path myself (or to people on a particular path) makes me open to all of them. Thus God can use all of them to teach me.

Answer 7

Yes, of course,,God can use anyone or anything to bring you to him....So can Satan....remember Jim Jones?

I am a Christian and have never experienced another faith,,unless you count Jewish,,which is the beginnings of our Christian faith.

Answer 8

Sure.
Remember Nebachanzer?
He was not Hebrew nor Israelite...yet God used him.
He wrote the 4th chapter of Daniel.

Answer 9

Can I just say to connie that the homeless drunk speaking with God's voice thing is priceless. I get pretty profound after hittin' the sauce myself...or so I've been told.

Answer 10

I'm a Christian. I've never had this experience that I can think of, but I know that God can use anyone for any purpose.