Experience is a very slippery word.
Dr. J. I. Packer said, "Experience coming to imperfectly sanctified sinners cannot help but have dross mixed in with the gold. No experience just by happening can authenticate itself as sent by God to further His work of grace."
The mere fact that a Christian has an experience does not make it a Christian experience. As a matter of fact, the same phenomena that Christians claim to experience have also been experienced by non-Christians.
One of the interesting studies points out that there are people both inside and outside the Christian faith that have had out-of-body experiences. Lost people have the same experiences. Anthropologists know that among primitive, pagan tribes similar incidents have occurred...where folks spoke in unknown tongues, had visions, there were prophetic utterances...there were physical healings, there were casting out of contrary spirits...I mean these things happened among pagans in primitive tribes.
Now, this doesn't mean that all similar Christian experience is false. What it does mean is that such experience cannot authenticate itself. And this is extremely vital to understand. Experience cannot authenticate itself. You cannot say, "I've had this experience and that means it's authentic." You just can't do that. It has no basis because experience is a subjective part of our lives.
Then also in this matter of experience, there is the inclination to make our experience a standard for everyone else. Have you ever noticed that? If God healed me, that means God will heal you. If God made me wealthy, that means God wants all His children to be wealthy. Let God do something extraordinary for one person and we rush to declare that it's the ordinary experience for every Christian. But, it is not.
The sole and final authority must be the Word of God.
