"Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world." 1 John 4:1 (NKJV)
At the risk of sounding like the proverbial broken record, I can't help feeling the urge to repeat a common theme of a number of my previous posts. I feel driven to repeat it especially in these last days when the continually changing circumstances around us may leave us searching for the low hanging fruit of easy comfort in words that may tend to soothe us, but lack the proper context that they were intended by God to be carried in..
What I say here is more intended toward those that have not exercised diligence in consuming for themselves what the Lord has given us in scripture, scripture that has the ability to bless us in so many ways when rendered as The Author intended. Not the least of these is the ability to spot inaccurate, and even boldly spoken, false teachings of the day. Keep in mind that the enemy of our souls knows the scriptures far better than we and has had millennia to perfect his craft of cunning. And if anyone desiring to follow Jesus were able to be misled, I would expect that it might be due to things that sounded like the truth and might even contain some measure of truth - designed specifically for the less diligent in their study and knowledge of scripture.
I think heretics and false teachers abound in part because some, lazily ignorant, give them audience and can't discern against heresy with the truth from God because the inerrant truth of God isn't in them as much as it should be. The twisted words of spiritual snake oil salesmen are poisonously corrupting and potentially cancerous to the unaware and unguarded. Those are only left unaware because they haven't consciously filled themselves with the truth that our gracious God's made available as a shield against it. Even some who would otherwise be true followers of Christ will fall prey to the sweet corruption that greets their ears from the mouths of some of today's modern false prophets. Some who seek the sweetness of what I call dessert teaching - teaching that's taken out of context to appeal to, or soothe their emotions, are being fed slow poison that if allowed to take hold could cause some serious misunderstandings and spiritual complications.
"But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work." 2 Timothy 3:13-17 (NKJV)
I don't claim to have a complete hold on, and understanding of, every portion of scripture, but my exposure to scripture began at an early age and my consumption and digestion of it since have become the sieve by which everything my eyes and ears take in is strained. It has helped me immensely! If what I hear is not in agreement with the scripture that our graceful God has provided as the absolute truth, then I do not allow it to change my understanding. If upon further exploration and study of what I hold up to scrutiny against what I find in scripture, trusted counsel, and the witness of the Holy Spirit, it can't be reconciled, then it's cast out with prejudice. I even sift the teaching of people that I've generally come to trust through God's word. That's how we use the shield that our Lord has provided to defend our own soul from poisonous traps and the potential of human mistakes. As always though, we cannot use what we do not have. And when it comes to life spiritual issues, there is no greater guide and defense provided to us than the scriptures of absolute truth as dictated by our God and the Spirit of The Living God inside us. I should mention also that those things which we consume from what God has truly made available, we must allow to settle deeply within us and make them solidly a part of who we are becoming in Christ.
Another caution here would be that the scripture relied on should not be that which has been "modernized" to accept things that God did not accept in earlier versions, or has been molested by man's own ideas and iterations. If it's been added to in a way that includes things not included in the King James version for example, or has been heavily modified to a point that it conflicts with the Spirit of God inside of you, run away from it!
"Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless; and consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation—as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures. You therefore, beloved, since you know this beforehand, beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked; but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." 2 Peter 3:14-18 (NKJV)
I know that I'm delivering a pocket full of cautions here, but only because I fear for some others that I know Jesus loves. I'm not considering myself to be above any other child of God - I have no cause to. I'm as much a child saved purely by the Lord's grace, as much as any other.
"He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?" Micah 6:8 (NKJ)
“And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the Lord and His statutes which I command you today for your good? Indeed heaven and the highest heavens belong to the Lord your God, also the earth with all that is in it." Deuteronomy 10:12-14 (NKJ)
Comments
Post a Comment