Claim. Believers must climb a progressive ladder of spiritual experience — hints, dreams, revelations, direct visions — until faith is replaced by knowledge that is field-tested in daily life.
Elaboration. SMM outlines a developmental ladder: “During the first stage a hint or suggestion in your daily life will be given… If your spiritual level goes higher… You will start receiving revelations and directions… After the stage of revelations, you enter the stage where you have experiences such as those found in the Book of Revelation. In this stage you enter the spirit world and have various experiences all day long” (1.4. The course of spiritual experience, 76-125, 1975.2.2). The criterion of authenticity is application: “Unless your faith is based on such experiences, you cannot apply the resultant realm of God’s great will to the field or sphere of your daily life. Therefore, believers without such experiences cannot be trusted. Faith based on such experiences is important.” Faith without empirical spiritual contact is treated as unfinished or untrustworthy.
See also. csg-spirit-world-exists-clearly-as-our-destination