Revelation, Guidance, and Miraculous Gifts

We affirm that God guides Christians through their careful study, accurate knowledge, and application of His Word which is contained in the Old and New Testaments. The primary means of discerning God’s providential guidance and direction is by the Holy Spirit through the careful study, accurate knowledge, and application of the Holy Scripture.

ACBC considers these sixty-six canonical books to be the sufficient and sole source needed for counseling a believer concerning all matters pertaining to life and godliness. We enthusiastically encourage persons who also affirm biblical sufficiency to apply for certification. We affirm the guidance of the Spirit for the NT believer—including guidance through a conscience informed by the Scripture—but realize that guidance primarily occurs through the application of the Scripture to the believer’s life.

We deny that prophetic words, revelations, spiritual experiences, or extra-biblical words of knowledge are to be sought and practiced in the counseling room. Furthermore, the prioritization of these means of guidance from God the Father or the Holy Spirit over Scripture is equally erroneous. While some may hold to varying perspectives of the miraculous sign gifts, the additional means of revelation, and additional means of guidance by the Spirit, ACBC affirms the sole and primary place of the Scripture in the counseling context.

ACBC affirms the miraculous working of God to reveal Himself and His ways to the world.

However, ACBC denies the miraculous sign gifts or the individual conscience as being equally authoritative or more authoritative than the Holy Scriptures.