A prominent speaker in contemporary Adventism has recently alleged that the voice of a Holy Spirit-led conscience can not only guide the believer in matters not spelled out by the written Word, but that to violate the admonitions of that voice—just like violations of the Word itself—should rightly be called sin.

In this speaker’s view: “To go against God’s will, either as revealed in Scripture or through the convictions of our conscience, is sin” [1].

But should the violation of the Spirit’s perceived impressions be considered as spiritually egregious as the violation of the written counsel of God (Isa. 8:20; Acts 17:11). (For our purposes, the written counsel of God includes not only the Bible, but also the writings of Ellen G. White, often called the Spirit of Prophecy.) We will consider this question in a moment.

Examples Ancient and Modern

The speaker in question uses the following verse from the book of Acts relative to the travels of Paul and his missionary company, as evidence of the sort of Spirit-induced impressions he is talking about:

Now when they had gone throughout Phrygia and the region of Galatia, and were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia, after they were come to Mysia, they assayed to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit suffered them not (Acts 16:6-7).

The speaker in question states the obvious when he notes that while Scripture says nothing about when it might or might not be advisable to preach the gospel in one place or another, the Holy Spirit can certainly offer such guidance [2]. The speaker then compares the Holy Spirit’s impressions to Paul and his associates in this regard with people today who claim the Spirit has convicted them not to get vaccinated for COVID or perhaps other illnesses [3].

But here is the problem with this analogy. The New Testament apostles, such as Paul and Silas, were directly inspired by the Holy Spirit, like others throughout the Sacred Narrative who have been endowed with the prophetic gift. By contrast, those who claim the Holy Spirit has told them not to get vaccinated give neither claims nor evidence of such inspiration—verifiable evidence which would certainly be available if in fact the Spirit was instructing them with objective reliability. As in the case of Ellen White and the prophets of Scripture, specific Biblical tests are available to determine whether one claiming to be led of the Holy Spirit can in fact be trusted or not (e.g. Isa. 8:20; Jer. 28:9,15-17; Dan. 10:17; Matt. 7:16-20).

Can Impressions Be Trusted?

Inspired counsel offers some serious warnings against trusting impressions as a means of spiritual guidance:

Impressions alone are not a safe guide to duty. The enemy often persuades men to believe that it is God who is guiding them, when in reality they are following only human impulse [##4|Ellen G. White, Acts of the Apostles, p. 279.##].

It is unsafe to trust to feelings or impressions; these are unreliable guides. God’s law is the only correct standard of holiness. It is by this law that character is to be judged [##5|——Faith and Works, p. 52.##].

Self subdued will lead to the submission of thought, word, and action to Christ. The Word of God, not impulses, not impressions, must be your guide [##6|——Manuscript Releases, vol. 6, p. 187.##].

In the absence of direct instruction from the written Word, in the absence of any inspired promise that direct supernatural intervention—miracles, signs, impressions—will provide an answer to a given question, it is fair to assume that common sense and the process of reason must decide. Ellen White has written, “It is God’s purpose that the kingly power of sanctified reason, controlled by divine grace, shall bear sway in the lives of human beings” [##7|——Messages to Young People, p. 134.##].

But nowhere does Ellen White, or the Bible, ever give to either impressions or even the power of reason the same authority as the written Word. Indeed, only the written Word is able to determine whether one’s reason in a given setting is truly sanctified by divine grace. Unless an impression directs someone toward one or another Biblical teaching, or unless the one being impressed has received the gift of prophecy verified by the Bible’s specified tests, none can be certain that an impression comes from God.

Spiritual Impressions and the Commandments of Men

The danger of trusting to impressions and the conscience in the absence of explicit inspired commands has been witnessed of late in certain circles of conservative Christianity, even within Adventism. The so-called “no dating” approach to marriage preparation, significantly discredited of late by the apostasy from Christianity of its principal spokesman [8], based in large measure its approach to knowing God’s will on what can only be called mystical impressions.

One such experience was reported in the New York Times, during the heyday of the no-dating movement, featuring a father who was certain God had told him that a certain young man was destined to marry his daughter [##9|Laurie Goodstein, “New Christian Take on the Old Dating Ritual,” New York Times, Sept. 9, 2001, p. A38.##]. Another such tale closes Joshua Harris’s book I Kissed Dating Good-bye, in which Josh’s future mother—after meeting her future husband and Josh’s eventual father—prays, “Lord, if this guy is different from all the rest, if he really listens to you, then tell him not to call me” [##10|Joshua Harris, I Kissed Dating Good-bye (Sisters, OR: Multomah Publishers, 1997), p. 227.##]. On the other side of town, the future husband and father “[encounters] something different. He clearly sensed God speaking to him. ‘Gregg, don’t call her.’ God had spoken. My dad obeyed” [##11|——I Kissed Dating Good-bye, p. 227.##].

In the sequel to his bestselling attack on the democratization of romance, Harris described what can fairly be called an innocuous physical encounter between him and his fiancée just before their marriage, in which Harris argued against a voice he presumes to be that of his conscience over the rightness and wrongness of what he and his future wife were doing [##12|——Boy Meets Girl: Say Hello to Courtship (Sisters, OR: Multomah Publishers, 2000), pp. 141-142.##]. At one point his conscience retorts to him, “Don’t quote Scripture to me, Bucko!” [##13|——Boy Meets Girl, p. 142.##]. (For me, I would be more than a little nervous if my conscience took that tone with me!) The disembodied voice then proceeds to misconstrue Jesus’ words about lust into a prohibition against the admiration of his future mate’s physical beauty [##14|——Boy Meets Girl, p. 142.##], when in context our Lord’s counsel on this point addresses, not the anticipation of a honeymoon, but rather, the contemplation of an act forbidden in God’s Word (in this case, adultery) (Matt. 5:27-28).

Those interested in an in-depth discussion by the present writer of so-called “purity culture” and the no-dating movement can consult my article, “’Purity Culture’ and the Commandments of Men,” on the present website [15]. The negative consequences generated by this movement of allowing impressions and man-made rules to govern the search for a mate have, very likely, only begun to be felt [16].

Ellen White speaks of the danger of bad consciences in such passages as the following:

Now we read in the Bible of a good conscience, and there are not only good but bad consciences. There is a conscientiousness that will carry everything to extremes, and make Christian duties as burdensome as the Jews made the observance of the Sabbath [##17|White, Selected Messages, vol. 2, p. 319.##].

Speaking further of the Jews in Christ’s day, she writes:

With all their minute and burdensome injunctions, it was an impossibility to keep the law. Those who desired to serve God, and who tried to observe the rabbinical precepts, toiled under a heavy burden. They could find no rest from the accusings of a troubled conscience. Thus Satan worked to discourage the people, to lower their conception of the character of God, and to bring the faith of Israel into contempt. He hoped to establish the claim put forth when he rebelled in heaven—that the requirements of God were unjust, and could not be obeyed. Even Israel, he declared, did not keep the law [##18|——The Desire of Ages, p. 29.##].

Conclusion

The written counsel of God gives guidelines that can certainly be applied to issues like vaccinations and the choice of a marriage partner. But to assume, in the absence of a plain “thus saith the Lord,” that impressions received by the conscience come from the Lord, and that disregarding these impressions can thus be called sin, is dangerous for more than one reason. Where the Word of God is silent, common sense, objective evidence, and the kingly power of sanctified reason—unencumbered by cultural hang-ups, excessive meddling by authority figures, or unhinged conspiracy theories—should bear final sway. The cause of revival and reformation in God’s church needs no distraction from such forces.

REFERENCES

1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCoaY-OJVMQ&t=2811s

2. Ibid.

3. Ibid.

4. Ellen G. White, Acts of the Apostles, p. 279.

5. ----Faith and Works, p. 52.

6. ----Manuscript Releases, vol. 6, p. 187.

7. ----Messages to Young People, p. 134.

8. “Author Joshua Harris Kisses His Faith Goodbye: ‘I Am Not a Christian,’” CBN News, July 28, 2019 https://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/entertainment/2019/july/author-joshua-harris-kisses-his-faith-goodbye-i-am-not-a-christian.

9. Laurie Goodstein, “New Christian Take on the Old Dating Ritual,” New York Times, Sept. 9, 2001, p. A38.

10. Joshua Harris, I Kissed Dating Goodbye (Sisters, OR: Multnomah Publishers, 1997), p. 227.

11. Ibid.

12. ---- Boy Meets Girl: Say Hello to Courtship (Sisters, OR: Multnomah Publishers, 2000), pp. 141-142.

13. Ibid, p. 142.

14. Ibid.

15. Kevin D. Paulson, “’Purity Culture’ and the Commandments of Men,” ADvindicate, Sept. 20, 2019 https://advindicate.com/articles/2019/9/20/purity-culture-and-the-commandments-of-men

16. See Kassie West, “Worst ‘Christian Dating Advice’ I Ever Fell For,” Jan. 29, 2019 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvVEevPo_YQ; Anna Timmis, “Harris Returns: ‘I Kissed Dating Goodbye’ Survival Stories, April 11, 2019 http://hillsdalecollegian.com/2019/04/harris-returns-kissed-dating-goodbye-survival-stories/; Christine Emba, “The dramatic implosion of ‘I Kissed Dating Goodbye’ is a lesson—and a warning,” The Washington Post, Nov. 14, 2018 https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-dramatic-implosion-of-i-kissed-dating-goodbye-is-a-lesson--and-a-warning/2018/11/14/eeecd65c-e850-11e8-bbdb-72fdbf9d4fed_story.html

17. White, Selected Messages, vol. 2, p. 319.

18. ----The Desire of Ages, p. 29.