CONDITIONS FOR BEING ABLE TO HEAR GOD’S VOICE
The ability to hear God’s voice does not come naturally to religious people who are accustomed and trained to seek out religious leaders for religious instruction. This tendency to listen to human mediators to learn about God instead of listening to God himself is a big problem for God who jealously holds onto his demand that his people love him with all their heart, mind soul and strength.

It easy for religious people to accept that God’s jealousy is aroused when his people follow other gods. What religious people do not understand, however, that the other gods to whom God is referring are those human mediators/teachers whom they seek out for teaching about God. These mediators/teachers are, in God’s eyes, other gods, idols and false prophets.

The best way to appreciate God’s attitude about his people taking instruction from other gods is to think in terms of human parents who would naturally expect that their children would obey them. They would naturally be angry if their children preferred to obey another person who is not the parent instead of obeying them, the ones who gave them life and provided for them. Predictably, parents of such disobedient, rebellious children would be jealous and angry with the child and with the other persons who willfully insert themselves between the parent and child. Such persons, in effect, become other parents when they function as the parent.

This is how God regards religious leaders who presume to teach God’s children about God and his ways. They are not other parents, but they are other gods. It is no wonder, therefore, that God, the real parent of spiritual children, is angry with both his children and the other Gods. It is no wonder, therefore, that God wants to destroy religion because religion is the social context in which this alternative parenting exists and is promoted. It is no wonder, therefore, that God commands that the locations where this alternative religion is practiced, be torn down.

The tearing down of religion is something that religious people must do. In fact, it is a command from God that they tear down idols, high places and altars where they personally worship. Because this is symbolic language, however, God is not instructing his people to physically tear down these physical places. Rather, he instructs his people to remove them from places of importance in their hearts. It is an application of the two masters principle. We either serve religion, or we serve God. We either learn the truth about God from God directly, or we open ourselves to deception from false prophets. It is a life or death decision that we choose.

In Biblical language, making the switch from serving other gods (i.e. religion) is called death in which we voluntarily quit being religious. The first step in this dying process is to stop seeking and receiving instruction about God from other gods and false prophets. It is also necessary to repent for having worshiped other gods by elevating them to places of importance above God by listening to them instead of listening to God. After that, we must suffer through the agonizing process of putting our Old/First Covenant religious life to death on the way to becoming New Covenant disciples. God calls the process death and resurrection.

After we realize that we must endure this process, the first thing we must do is to stop listening to human mediators. Consider this scripture as a warning:

Ezekiel 14:2-11: And the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 3 “Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their hearts and have put right before their faces the stumbling block of their iniquity. Should I be consulted by them at all ? 4 “Therefore speak to them and tell them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD, “Any man of the house of Israel who sets up his idols in his heart, puts right before his face the stumbling block of his iniquity, and then comes to the prophet, I the LORD will be brought to give him an answer in the matter in view of the multitude of his idols, 5 in order to lay hold of the hearts of the house of Israel who are estranged from Me through all their idols.”‘ 6 “Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD, “Repent and turn away from your idols and turn your faces away from all your abominations. 7 “For anyone of the house of Israel or of the immigrants who stay in Israel who separates himself from Me, sets up his idols in his heart, puts right before his face the stumbling block of his iniquity, and then comes to the prophet to inquire of Me for himself, I the LORD will be brought to answer him in My own person. 8 “I will set My face against that man and make him a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from among My people. So you will know that I am the LORD. 9 “But if the prophet is prevailed upon to speak a word, it is I, the LORD, who have prevailed upon that prophet, and I will stretch out My hand against him and destroy him from among My people Israel. 10 “They will bear the punishment of their iniquity ; as the iniquity of the inquirer is, so the iniquity of the prophet will be, 11 in order that the house of Israel may no longer stray from Me and no longer defile themselves with all their transgressions. Thus they will be My people, and I shall be their God,”‘ declares the Lord GOD.”

This scripture is a warning to everyone who has ever listened to a sermon or read a book by a religious leader. Whether that religious leader called himself or herself a prophet or not is immaterial. In God’s language, anyone who presumes to speak for God or teach about God, is a prophet.

Basically this scripture says that seeking instruction from a prophet (i.e. human mediator) is idolatry. And  we know how God feels about idolatry. So the first thing that anyone who desires to hear directly from God must do is stop listening to his or her idols. That means no more going to church or synagogue or reading books or any other of the common ways by which people presume to teach others about God.

God feels so strongly about idols that he will allow people to listen to them and suffer the consequences for their idolatry. He knows that sooner or later they will be forced to turn to him and repent, and he is willing to wait until they are ready to repent for their idolatry, change their ways, and listen to him.

AUTHORS’ NOTE: See Religion is Idolatry for more about idolatry.