Direct revelation is a term used by some Christian churches to express their belief in a communication from

God In monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Oxford Companion to Philosophy'', Oxford University Press, 1995. God is typically ...

to a person, by words, impression, visions, dreams or actual appearance. Direct

revelation In religion and theology, revelation is the revealing or disclosing of some form of truth or knowledge through communication with a deity or other supernatural entity or entities. Background Inspiration – such as that bestowed by God on the ...

is believed to be an open communication between God and man, or the Holy Spirit and man, without any other exterior (secondary) means. Direct revelation from

evil spirits A demon is a malevolent supernatural entity. Historically, belief in demons, or stories about demons, occurs in religion, occultism, literature, fiction, mythology, and folklore; as well as in media such as comics, video games, movies, anime, ...

can also occur. Examples of this is seen in God communicating the

Ten Commandments The Ten Commandments (Biblical Hebrew עשרת הדברים \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדְּבָרִים, ''aséret ha-dvarím'', lit. The Decalogue, The Ten Words, cf. Mishnaic Hebrew עשרת הדיברות \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדִּבְ ...

to Moses on

Mount Sinai Mount Sinai ( he , הר סיני ''Har Sinai''; Aramaic: ܛܘܪܐ ܕܣܝܢܝ ''Ṭūrāʾ Dsyny''), traditionally known as Jabal Musa ( ar, جَبَل مُوسَىٰ, translation: Mount Moses), is a mountain on the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt. It is ...

(Exodus 34:4); or the devil communicating knowledge to Jesus Christ during his temptation in the wilderness (Luke 4:1-12) or the appearance of an

angel In various theistic religious traditions an angel is a supernatural spiritual being who serves God. Abrahamic religions often depict angels as benevolent celestial intermediaries between God (or Heaven) and humanity. Other roles inclu ...

Manoah's wife Manoah's wife (also referred to as Samson's mother) is an unnamed figure in the Book of Judges, the wife of Manoah. She is introduced in Judges 13:2 as a barren woman. The angel of the Lord appears to her and tells her she will have a son. She l ...

telling her that she shall bear

Samson Samson (; , '' he, Šīmšōn, label= none'', "man of the sun") was the last of the judges of the ancient Israelites mentioned in the Book of Judges (chapters 13 to 16) and one of the last leaders who "judged" Israel before the institution o ...

(Judges 13:2). Direct revelation is classified as

special revelation __NOTOC__ Special revelation is a Christian theological term that refers to the belief that knowledge of God and of spiritual matters can be discovered through supernatural means, such as miracles or the scriptures—a disclosure of God's tr ...

, but the word "direct" has come to make this type of revelation distinct.

Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity

Pentecostal Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestant Charismatic Christian movement

and

Charismatic Christianity Charismatic Christianity (also known as Spirit-filled Christianity by its supporters) is a form of Christianity that emphasizes the work of the Holy Spirit, spiritual gifts, and modern-day miracles as an everyday part of a believer's life. Pract ...

has always maintained that God directly speaks today through direct means such as

dream A dream is a succession of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that usually occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. Humans spend about two hours dreaming per night, and each dream lasts around 5 to 20 minutes, althou ...

s, visions, voices, impressions, and signs (or meaningful coincidences). While these Christians have emphasized speaking in tongues or even praying for

healing With physical trauma or disease suffered by an organism, healing involves the repairing of damaged tissue(s), organs and the biological system as a whole and resumption of (normal) functioning. Medicine includes the process by which the cells ...

, for the longest time Charismatics have shied away from expressing the gift of

prophecy In religion, a prophecy is a message that has been communicated to a person (typically called a '' prophet'') by a supernatural entity. Prophecies are a feature of many cultures and belief systems and usually contain divine will or law, or pr ...

which is the cause of these direct spiritual experiences. The reason for this is that Christian

prophet In religion, a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings from the s ...

s in history have often come into conflict with the pastors and religious authorities of the

church hierarchy The hierarchy of the Catholic Church consists of its bishops, priests, and deacons. In the ecclesiological sense of the term, "hierarchy" strictly means the "holy ordering" of the Church, the Body of Christ, so to respect the diversity of gif ...

. Throughout church history, Christian prophets have usually been mystics or people that practiced divine

contemplation In a religious context, the practice of contemplation seeks a direct awareness of the divine which transcends the intellect, often in accordance with prayer or meditation. Etymology The word ''contemplation'' is derived from the Latin word ' ...

or soaking prayer. Various Christian groups throughout church history could be labeled "prophetic", because they have welcomed the gift of prophecy in their church meetings and lives: the Montanists, the

Desert Fathers The Desert Fathers or Desert Monks were early Christian hermits and ascetics, who lived primarily in the Scetes desert of the Roman province of Egypt, beginning around the third century AD. The is a collection of the wisdom of some of the ea ...

, various orders of Catholic monasticism such as the Dominicans and the

Discalced Carmelites The Discalced Carmelites, known officially as the Order of the Discalced Carmelites of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel ( la, Ordo Fratrum Carmelitarum Discalceatorum Beatae Mariae Virginis de Monte Carmelo) or the Order of Discalced Carme ...

, the

Waldensians The Waldensians (also known as Waldenses (), Vallenses, Valdesi or Vaudois) are adherents of a church tradition that began as an ascetic movement within Western Christianity before the Reformation. Originally known as the "Poor Men of Lyon" in ...

, the

Anabaptists Anabaptism (from Neo-Latin , from the Greek : 're-' and 'baptism', german: Täufer, earlier also )Since the middle of the 20th century, the German-speaking world no longer uses the term (translation: "Re-baptizers"), considering it biased. ...

, the

Jansenists Jansenism was an Early modern period, early modern Christian theology, theological movement within Catholicism, primarily active in the Kingdom of France, that emphasized original sin, human Total depravity, depravity, the necessity of divine g ...

, the Quietists, the

Quakers Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belief in each human's abil ...

, the French prophets, various people in the Great Awakening and

Second Great Awakening The Second Great Awakening was a Protestant religious revival during the early 19th century in the United States. The Second Great Awakening, which spread religion through revivals and emotional preaching, sparked a number of reform movements. R ...

, the Irvingites, individuals in the Holiness movement, the early

Pentecostal movement Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestant Charismatic Christian movement

, the Latter Rain revival, the Charismatic movement, the

Jesus movement The Jesus movement was an evangelical Christian movement which began on the West Coast of the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s and primarily spread throughout North America, Europe, and Central America, before it subsided in the l ...

, the

Vineyard A vineyard (; also ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is known as viticulture. Vineya ...

; and especially the Kansas City prophets, the

Toronto Blessing The Toronto Blessing, a term coined by British newspapers, refers to the Christian revival and associated phenomena that began in January 1994 at the Toronto Airport Vineyard church (TAV), which was renamed in 1996 to Toronto Airport Christian ...

movement, and Bethel Church in Redding, California.

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

The

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a nontrinitarian Christian church that considers itself to be the restoration of the original church founded by Jesus Christ. The c ...

(LDS Church) teaches that God restored direct revelation as recently as the nineteenth century by way of

Joseph Smith Joseph Smith Jr. (December 23, 1805June 27, 1844) was an American religious leader and founder of Mormonism and the Latter Day Saint movement. When he was 24, Smith published the Book of Mormon. By the time of his death, 14 years later, ...

and the

First Vision The First Vision (also called the grove experience by members of the Community of Christ) refers to a theophany which Latter Day Saints believe Joseph Smith experienced in the early 1820s, in a wooded area in Manchester, New York, called the ...

. Since then, direct revelation has been the teaching and practice of the LDS Church. It is the belief of the Latter-day Saints that direct revelation is available to all mankind who diligently seek God with sincerity, and real intent. "Every devoted, obedient and righteous person on the earth has and does receive revelation from God." According to the LDS Church, there are two basic types of direct revelation, ''public'' and ''personal''. Public revelation refers to the revelation of God’s will to his chosen

prophets, seers, and revelators Prophet, seer, and revelator is an ecclesiastical title used in the Latter Day Saint movement. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) is the largest denomination of the movement, and it currently applies the terms to the membe ...

. These revelations are to guide the church, its functions, direction, and doctrinal stance. "These public revelations usually illuminate scriptural passages that are doctrinal rather than those that are descriptive or directive." Personal or private revelations pertains to that person's life. A person can receive personal revelation from God as would God's prophet, but the difference lies in its purpose. This revelation is to edify, enlighten and fill the soul of that person and assist them in their life, both in a general sense and a religious or spiritual sense. A person can receive private revelation for him/herself or for their immediate family, but will not receive this revelation for others outside their family or for the church. This revelation is considered an integral part of the life of the faithful. Sometimes personal revelation has an effect upon nations or the world, but in a more indirect manner. In this sense God inspires certain people in history to impart knowledge and moral truths. Basically, God "enlightens" the ''works'' of certain people that have influence or will have influence upon the world. God apparently enlightened "great religious leaders of the world such as Muhammad, Confucius, and the Reformers, as well as philosophers including Socrates, Plato, and others. This was to bring whole nations to a higher level of understanding."

Notes

References

* * *

External links

Scripture and general revelation
by Andrew S. Kulikovsky at the

Creation Ministries International Creation Ministries International (CMI) is a non-profit organisation that promotes the pseudoscience of young earth creationism. It has branches in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Singapore, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United Stat ...

website - a discussion of the

evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being " born again", in which an individual expe ...

notion of revelation in contrast to the common understanding. {{DEFAULTSORT:Direct Revelation Religious belief and doctrine Christian terminology Revelation Quaker theology

Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

See also

Notes

References

External links