Doug Tales 50: Who Are You Going to Listen To?

Doug Mendenhall argues that truth grounded in personal experience triumphs over theory, philosophy and conjecture every time in I See…Awake! (2015), pp. 26-27. Experiential truth is often the opposite of the credentials, pedigree, background, position, wealth, and appearances which are criteria used in our society to determine if someone has something worth listening to.

There are two books that stand out in my mind that answer the question “Who are you going to listen to?”

The first is John Pontius’ book Following the Light of Christ into His Presence. I devoured it. Receiving the Second Comforter has always intrigued me because it is true doctrine, it is the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I learned much from his book.

The second one was The Second Comforter by Denver Snuffer. That one I devoured in three days; I couldn’t put it down. When I finished the book, I realized that this book was not theory, as Pontius’ book was. It was experiential! Snuffer had the experience. Where Pontius’ book was well researched theory; Denver’s was a “how to” manual based on scripture.

Which one would I follow—theory or personal experience?

When I was told to write Conquering Spiritual Evil, Volume One my response to the Lord was, “Thanks, but no thanks.” I knew from the previous three books that we were not to write theory. Most of what was in the books was to be experiential, and I knew the next book would have to be the same. This one is basically the same thing, only the Lord has provided sighted, gifted people to fill in the gap—which makes this book both experiential and theoretical. They will explain what they have experienced or what He has showed them. This book’s contents are not some figment of my “over the top” imagination, but some of it will seem that way because it is “out of the traditional box.” New things, at first, seem strange.