False teaching usually comes from the mouth of a gifted communicator, often someone engaging and entertaining. Their message will make you feel good, so you keep coming back for more. Don’t be surprised if they are selling lots of books and DVDs. They’re making a fortune off of it, and so is the publisher. The Bible warns us.
“For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.” 2 Timothy 4:3-4 NIV
I look back on the days when I followed the false teaching, Word of Faith. I was sincere. I was devoted. I was on fire for Christ! But, I wasn’t mature. I wish someone would have said, “Before you latch on to this teaching, study your Bible instead of the books written by the Word of Faith teachers.”
Eventually, I was able to discern the errors, because I was a student of the Bible. But my involvement in Word of Faith almost shipwrecked my faith. It’s devastating to realize you have been deceived. I blamed God for allowing it. It caused me to question everything I knew about God.
But God brought me through, and now I speak up against the dangers false teachers pose to the Body of Christ. So ask yourself, “Am I a mature Christian or do I lack discernment?”
How can you know? Ask God with a sincere heart. Love the Truth more than your own opinion. Be disciplined enough to read and study your Bible daily.
A mature Christian is someone who has walked with the Lord over the years, and by knowing and obeying God’s Word, they have learned to discern truth from error. To know God’s Word, we must study God’s Word.
It’s not necessarily a bad thing to be an immature Christian. After all, how could a new Christian be mature? They couldn’t. They have to learn and grow in Christ. Unfortunately, not everyone grows and matures. Evidence of this can be seen by the large numbers of Christians who unknowingly follow false teaching. Consider the following Scripture:
“So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers,to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built upuntil we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming.” Ephesians 4:11-14 NIV (emphasis mine)
I know the damage false teaching will eventually bring about in the lives of those who are ensnared in it. It’s not okay.
“But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.” Hebrews 5: 12-14 NIV (emphasis mine)
Beware of the false teaching from the Word of Faith, New age, and New Apostolic Reformation which is infiltrating the Church today. Your best protection is the Belt of Truth (God’s Word). The following links provide more information.
“The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever. The decrees of the Lord are firm, and all of them are righteous.
10 They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the honeycomb. 11 By them your servant is warned; in keeping them there is great reward.” Psalm 19:9-11 NIV Read full chapter
With Love, Cindy
Do you want to know more about Jesus? Read my page Who Is Jesus?
With discernment comes division. A person who seeks to be discerning must be willing to suffer the effects of this division. It will divide not only believer from unbeliever, but it may even divide a discerning believer from one who is undiscerning. It will separate the mature from the immature, the naïve from the prudent.” Tim Challies, TheDiscipline of Spiritual Discernment
With Love, Cindy
Do you want to know more about Jesus? Read my page Who Is Jesus?
“For the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous (those who are upright and in right standing with God), and His ears are attentive to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who practice evil [to oppose them, to frustrate, and defeat them].” 1 Peter 3:12 AMPC Read full chapter
With Love, Cindy
Do you want to know more about Jesus? Read my page Who Is Jesus?
Real Christian Women 