Hearing the Voice of Christ

In chapters 20 & 21 (see here and here) I wrote against the Hardshell doctrinal innovation called "Direct Voice Speaking." Such a view was first promulgated by Elder Gilbert Beebe who insisted that the voice that a sinner hears in regeneration or new birth was the literal voice of Christ and not the Gospel.  When the Hardshells see passages that connect hearing the voice of Christ with regeneration (such as John 5 and John 10), they interpret this to mean that Christ personally speaks to the soul of a sinner, and that the voice cannot mean the same as hearing the words of Christ by a preacher. But, the following verse proves the Hardshell contention to be wrong.

"For they that dwell at Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they knew him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets which are read every sabbath day, they have fulfilled them in condemning him." (Acts 13: 27)

Notice that in hearing the words of the prophets read and proclaimed the people were hearing the "voices" of the prophets. The "voices" of the prophets were "read" each Sabbath. So, all the argumentation of the Hardshells that hearing the word of Christ is not the same as hearing the voice of Christ is false. To hear the word of Christ is to hear his voice just as to hear the word of the prophets was to hear their voices.

Further, in reading the Hardshell periodicals of the 1830s it is clear that the first Hardshells interpreted the voice of Christ to be the Gospel, just as did Dr. Gill. Beebe's view was an innovation.