Tag: discernment

Christian, women

“THE CHOSEN” – Do I Dare Rock the Boat?

Cindy Dawson

Some say, let’s all just get along. We all worship the same Jesus.

That’s certainly the easy road. But is it the right road? If you say, I don’t want to rock the boat, then ask yourself this: “Who will?”

The Apostle Paul wasn’t afraid to rock the boat. He spoke out boldly for the truth.

“But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse!  As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse!” Galatians 1:8-9 NIV

Wow! Isn’t that a little harsh, Paul? No. It is not. It is our example. Consider this Scripture verse:

“ 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

You may be wondering, What is she going on about? OK. Fair enough. I am going to share some information with you about “The Chosen” that you may be unaware of.

Get Ready. I’m going to “ROCK THE BOAT”!

The link below provides the most thorough, thought-provoking coverage of The Chosen that I have seen. I hope you will read it.

My question to you is this: Would we rather live in ignorant bliss, or are we willing to examine the facts?

https://bcooper.wordpress.com/2022/01/10/the-chosen-why-doesnt-it-matter/

In His Love, Cindy

Do you want to know more about Jesus? See my page Who Is Jesus?

RealChristianWomen.blog  

Christian, God

Quote of the Week, 3/22/23

Cindy Dawson

God calls His children to study, understand and defend the truth because the truth does matter to God. Faith, in and of itself, is not what God is looking for. It’s not enough to be sincere or intense. Faith, in and of itself, has no magic power. It’s a faithful, reasonable trust in the truth that matters to God. Trust placed in the correct and true God of the universe is what matters to God. That’s why God is so particular about truth and calls us to have an accurate understanding of who He is. And that’s why God has called us to treat heresy very seriously.

J. Warner Wallace

This quote was taken from the article, How Should Christians Respond to Heresy?

In His Love, Cindy

Do you want to know more about Jesus? See my page Who Is Jesus?

Photo by Sixteen Miles Out on Unsplash

RealChristianWomen.blog  

Christian, God

Quote of the Week, 2/22/23

Cindy Dawson

Discernment is a discipline, and like other disciplines such as prayer and reading the Bible, it is one that all Christians should seek to practice deliberately… It is a discipline we must practice.”

Tim Challies, The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment

I highly recommend this book to all Christians who want to have spiritual discernment.

Love, Cindy

Do you want to know more about Jesus? See my page Who Is Jesus?

Photo by Rod Long on Unsplash

RealChristianWomen.blog  

Christian, God

Like a Roaring Lion

Cindy Dawson

“Be sober [well balanced and self-disciplined], be alert and cautious at all times. That enemy of yours, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion [fiercely hungry], seeking someone to devour.” 1 Peter 5:8 AMP

We know the enemy is actively working to deceive unbelievers, but he is also working to deceive the Church. It was true in the first century and it is true today. The Bible repeatedly warns us about Satan’s evil strategy to deceive “even the elect”.

“For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you ahead of time.” Matthew 24:24-25 NIV

The Bible strongly and clearly warns us that Satan will try to deceive us. We must be on our guard. We must be careful not to believe everything we hear, but instead to be like the Bereans who “examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.” (Acts 17:11)

Imagine that! The Apostle Paul was personally teaching them about Jesus, but still, they checked the Scriptures every day to see if what he said was true! We should be so wise!

 “I urge you, brothers and sisters, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them. For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of naive people … but I want you to be wise about what is good, and innocent about what is evil. The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.” Romans 16:17-20 NIV (emphasis mine)

The Amplified Bible says, “They deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting…” We like to think we aren’t naive but are we unsuspecting?

The Greek word translated as naive in the NIV is akakos. It means unsuspecting or innocent. Many Christians are led astray by false teaching. Sometimes it’s because they don’t know the Scripture. And sometimes it’s because they are innocent and unsuspecting. In fact, they are often enthusiastic and eager to learn! Remember, leading this assault on truth is Satan.

“But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ.” 2 Corinthians 11:3 NIV

The Apostle Paul is warning Christians that Satan will try to deceive them just as he deceived Eve.

I am astounded at the level of false teaching flooding the Church today. It was bad in Paul’s day, but it is even worse now. YouTube and Book Publishing have given the wolves in sheep’s clothing the ability to quickly make money and gather a following. Even good, Bible-believing churches are giving a nod to books and Bible studies that are not sound. Satan is behind all of this. He is a liar and there is no truth in him.

We must heed the Bible’s many warnings and carefully examine what is being taught, comparing it to Scripture.

Satan’s strongest defense against spiritual discernment, his ace in the hole, is to make the Christian think he can’t be deceived.

In His Love, Cindy

Do you want to know more about Jesus? See my page Who Is Jesus?

RealChristianWomen.blog  

Christian, God

Do We Want a Golden Calf?

Cindy Dawson

Today, Christians sometimes mix New Age practices with their faith in Christ. This is exactly what the Israelites did after their miraculous deliverance from slavery in Egypt.

We can learn a lot from the Scriptures about Moses, Aaron, and the Golden Calf. Aaron’s bull was a mixture of the true God and the pagan methods of worship that were borrowed from the people around them.

“When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, “Come, make us gods[a] who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.” Exodus 32:1 NIV

The people don’t like waiting, so they demand an idol who will fit their selfish desires. Aaron is pressured into giving the people the kind of god they want.

2 “Aaron answered them, “Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me.” 3 So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron. 4 He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, “These are your gods,[b] Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.” Exodus 32:2-4 NIV

5 “When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the calf and announced, “Tomorrow there will be a festival to the Lord.” 6 So the next day the people rose early and sacrificed burnt offerings and presented fellowship offerings. Afterward, they sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.” Exodus 32:5-6 NIV

Aaron calls this idol “the Lord”. Why? Because he isn’t giving them a new god. He is making God fit the image of God they want. This corruption leads to revelry.

“The Hebrew word rendered indulge in revelry … can refer to words that have sexual implications. Here it implies sexual acts done in the worship of pagan gods. Immorality often accompanies idolatry, even today.” David Jeremiah

“Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles. Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another.” Romans 1:22-24 NIV

7 “Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go down, because your people, whom you brought up out of Egypt, have become corrupt. 8 They have been quick to turn away from what I commanded them and have made themselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf. They have bowed down to it and sacrificed to it and have said, ‘These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.’” Exodus 32:7-8 NIV

Do we mold God into who we want Him to be, rather than seeking out who He truly is through His Word?

When God’s people create an image of God to fit what they want Him to be, (but still call that image “God”, even “Jesus”), are they worshipping the true Jesus, or a counterfeit Jesus? Paul warned Christians concerning false apostles who would preach about a Jesus who is not the real Jesus of the Bible.

“But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. 4 For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the Spirit you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough.” 2 Corinthians 11:3-4

“For the time will come when people will not tolerate sound doctrine and accurate instruction [that challenges them with God’s truth]; but wanting to have their ears tickled [with something pleasing], they will accumulate for themselves [many] teachers [one after another, chosen] to satisfy their own desires and to support the errors they hold” 2 Timothy 4:3 AMP

Not everything being taught in Christian circles today is “sound doctrine”. There is only one way to recognize false teaching when you hear it, and it is this: You must read and study the Bible for yourself. That means reading the Word of God every day. It means reading the Word of God more than you read books about the Word of God.

When you read a popular Christian author more than you read the Bible, you begin to interpret the Bible through their “lens”. If it is false, it can take years to “unlearn” what you have been taught. On the other hand, if you read and study the Bible for yourself, you will immediately recognize false teaching.

I know this to be true from experience. Having once been deceived myself by the Word of Faith teachers, it took many years for me to recover. Many of the Word of Faith teachings are rooted in New Age beliefs. I could refer you to numerous Bible teachers who can expound on this, but I would rather you recognize false teaching for yourself. That is the most powerful kind of discernment.

When listening to a Bible teacher, do you ever think, “Where is that in the Bible?” or even more importantly, “That’s not what the Bible says!”

Sometimes new Christians, in their excitement of knowing Christ as their Savior, read many books about the Bible. I believe the devil takes advantage of their hunger for God to lead them astray through false, yet entertaining, books that are so widely available today. This is what happened to me.

Lest you think, “I could never be deceived”, think about this:

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’” Matthew 7:21-23 NIV

The only real protection against this is to read and study the Bible for yourself, love the Truth, and follow Jesus. Jesus said,

“God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” John 4:24 NIV (Emphasis mine)

With Love, Cindy

Click this link to learn more about Jesus: Who Is Jesus?

realchristianwomen.blog  

Christian, God

What Are You Listening To?

Cindy Dawson

Someone I love claims to be an atheist. In our discussions about God, it is obvious to me that he is well-read in pro-atheist apologetics. It is clear where he looks for truth, and it isn’t in the Bible.

I would venture to say that one could find support for just about anything one wants to believe. (I considered listing all the crazy things people believe today, but you probably already know what many of them are.)

What you read and listen to (whether it is true or not) does have a tremendous influence on what you believe. That’s because human beings tend to go along with the crowd. Even science backs this up.

In his article, The Science Behind Why People Follow the Crowd, Henderson says, “One lesson from social psychology is the influence others have on us. Research shows we do not have as much control over our thoughts and behavior as we think.”

Research shows that people are greatly influenced by what those around them think and who they listen to.

But there is only one way to find truth and that is in God’s Word, the Bible. We don’t have to wonder if the beliefs put forth in our culture are true or not. God has given us His Word to teach us.

“Do not deceive yourselves. If any of you think you are wise by the standards of this age, you should become “fools” so that you may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight.” 1 Corinthians 3:18-19 NIV

I am thankful that God has given us His precious Word. The longer I live, the more I understand how important it is to life and godliness. Have you ever, in your lifetime, seen such rampant deception as we see today?

“The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron.” 1 Timothy 4:1-2 NIV

Reading and studying the Bible is a vital discipline for the follower of Christ. Do you consider yourself a mature Christian? Why? On what do you base your claim? One can only become a mature Christian by studying God’s Word. And that requires discipline. In other words, we have to discipline ourselves to study God’s Word.

The foremost of the disciplines is that involving the Word of God and constitutes the reading, study, memorization, and meditation of Scripture. If this discipline is neglected, no other effort to discipline ourselves will be successful because we simply do not have the power to overcome the resistance of the sin nature in which our new natures reside. Nor do we have the power to overcome the resistance of demonic influences whose aim is always to separate us from the only means of spiritual growth, the Word of God.“

GotQuestions.org (emphasis mine)

In these times, there is a great need for Christians to have discernment. Discernment comes from knowing God’s Word, the Bible. The more we study God’s Word, the more our ability to discern will grow and develop.

Love, Cindy

Do you want to know more about Jesus? See my page Who Is Jesus?

The Science Behind Why People Follow the Crowd, Rob Henderson

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash

RealChristianWomen.blog  

Christian

Quote of the Week, 10/26/22

Cindy Dawson

The Word of Faith movement is deceiving countless people, causing them to grasp after a way of life and faith that is not biblical. At its core is the same lie Satan has been telling since the Garden: “You shall be as God” (Genesis 3:5) … So, be wary of the Word of Faith movement and any church that aligns itself with Word of Faith teachings.”

GotQuestions.org – Is the Word of faith movement Biblical?

With Love, Cindy

Do you want to know more about Jesus? Read my page Who Is Jesus?

realchristianwomen.blog  

Christian

Quote of the Week, 10/19/22

Cindy Dawson

Practising Biblical discernment is not an optional choice for a follower of Jesus. We are repeatedly instructed throughout the Bible, to study God’s Word so that we are able to rightly divide God’s Word, and not be ashamed or unable to rightly handle the word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15).

Bruce Cooper, Investigating the New Apostolic Reformation

Bruce’s blog, Reasoned Cases for Christ, is a wonderful resource for many topics of interest and concern to Christians. I highly recommend it!

With Love, Cindy

Do you want to know more about Jesus? Read my page Who Is Jesus?

realchristianwomen.blog  

Christian

Why Do Christians Listen to False Teachers?

Cindy Dawson

3 minutes

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 up until 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.

New Apostolic Reformation (NAR)

New Age

Word of Faith

How Can I Recognize a False Teacher?

With Love, Cindy

Do you want to know more about Jesus? Read my page Who Is Jesus?

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash

realchristianwomen.blog  

Christian

Quote of the Week, 9/28/22

Cindy Dawson

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, The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment

With Love, Cindy

Do you want to know more about Jesus? Read my page Who Is Jesus?

Photo by madeleine ragsdale on Unsplash

realchristianwomen.blog