2009-05-08
Good Morning Dear Ones,
I am led by the Holy Spirit to go on comparing MT 7: 1-2, 6 with MT 7: 15-20. MT 7: 1-2, “Do not judge others, so that God will not judge you, for God will judge you in the same way you judge others…Do not give what is holy to dogs-they will turn and attack you. Do not throw your pearls in front of pigs-they will only trample them underfoot.” MT 7: 15-20 begins with a warning to “beware of wolves in sheep’s clothing…” and asserts that good trees only bear good fruit, and bad trees only bear bad fruit. (19-20), “And any tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So then, you will know the false prophets by what they do.”
There are some false prophets who will make you feel that you have no right to scrutinize their teaching or question it. This is what I experienced, that I didn’t realize until the end of the time, when I was in a cult. Their leadership didn’t accept that I was taught to examine things to better understand them. That made me a square peg in a round hole. The other ladies around me accepted what they were taught without such questions or examination. The organization of that church is highly patriarchal, to the point of making women quite absent from any decision-making processes in it, except as it applied to their own organization within the church. My dream of finding real acceptance and happiness was clearly defined as to its limits. That problem was the beginning of my waking up from the dream I had in the beginning and seeing that it would never come true as long as I remained in that church. By the end of that time, I had gained the maturity to keep my thoughts to myself and make a decision to leave quietly. Not every person did leave quietly. The net result for one such lady was a highly publicized case of a church court’s decision to excommunicate her. She had spoken out publicly about her objections to church practices. She was to be shunned for life from all members of the church, even her own husband and children.
Imagine my shock when I read 1 JN 4 :1, “My dear friends, do not believe all who claim have the Spirit, but test them to find out if the spirit they have comes from God. For many false prophets have gone out everywhere.” Here was John from the Bible telling me I was doing the right thing, the very thing that was leading me to decide to leave that cult! By no means are we left to wonder how to apply that test. 1 JN 4: 2-3, “This is how you will be able to know whether it is God’s Spirit: anyone who acknowledges that Jesus Christ came as a human being has the Spirit Who comes from God. But anyone who denies this about Jesus does not have the Spirit from God. The spirit that he has is from the enemy of Christ; you heard that it would come, and now it is here in the world already.” The concept of a part divine, part human Being defies the limits of human perspective. And yet, this is the truth as applied to Jesus Christ alone. We can’t seem to wrap our heads around the idea that Christ while appearing like a human, feeling the range of emotions that humans have, and capable of feeling pain is still able to be omniscient [all knowing] and move around as He did in the story of the walk to Emmaus [LK 24: 13-32]. Even those who actually saw Christ ascend into heaven [AC 1: 6-11] had to have had difficulty assimilating what had just happened and it full significance to them and all of us.
There is no question in my mind, as I recall that period in my life so many years ago when I left that church to become a Messianic Jewish true believer in the word of God. At that point, I was only beginning my almost 45 year and counting careful investigation of Scripture from both the OT and the NT. There were to be some stops along the way, ones the Lord designed for me to see human foibles and sinfulness that are adversary-driven and at times, legalistic. This has not been a journey without some pain and disappointments. But if my present relationship with the Lord is seen realistically, every one of them was a kick-start in the direction He wants me to travel. I often cite, 1 JN 4: 4, a gigantically important and not often enough stressed tidbit of information all believers need to know. “But you belong to God, my children, and have defeated the false prophets, because the Spirit Who is in you is more powerful than the spirit in those who belong to the world.” What this is saying is that Christ really has equipped us to have the discernment to deal with false prophets and the “dreck” [Yiddish word meaning rubbish] they are trying to make people believe. The interesting thing about all of this is victory over the devil in Christ’s name is a reality for all who understand this verse in all its ramifications and contexts. 1 JN 4: 5-6 help us to see this important truth as it ties in with 1 COR 2: 14-15, the passage that tells us about either having the Spirit or not having it, as it applies to what we understand. “Those false prophets speak about matters of the world, and the world listens to them because they belong to the world. But we belong to God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever does not belong to God does not listen to us. This, then, is how we can tell the difference between the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.” When we place these in context with MT 7: 6 and also with MT 7: 15-20, the parable of a tree and its fruit, now we can see the consistency of God’s teaching on these matters. I urge each person reading this devotion to place these verses and passages together on the same page and spend some time, beginning with prayer for understanding, meditating over them. Then, what I’m saying can really be appreciated.
PRAYER: O Lord, we live in an increasingly evil world, and yet, You have prepared us and given us your whole armor to deal with it [ref: EPH 6: 10-18]. Understanding Your word is one of the most powerful tools we have when faced with the myriad of false teachings around us. Much of this is packaged to make a person attracted to it. We must see the packaging as the “sheep’s clothing” [from MT 7: 15] housing a hidden wolf “ready to devour” [1 PET 5: 8] us. We stand grateful and try to be vigilant in the face of the lies presented. Politely, but directly, we make pairs of “missionaries” from cults unwelcome at our doors. We avoid invitations from churches that practice “snapping”-surrounding potential believers with attention which feeds their egos, then pressing them for an immediate decision about joining the church. We are turned off by canned fellowshipping methods, which are carried out step by step to bring us into the darkness of false prophecy. 2 COR 10: 3-5, “It is true that we live in the world, but we do not fight from worldly motives. The weapons we use in our fight are not the world’s weapons but God’s powerful weapons, which we use to destroy strongholds. We destroy false arguments; we pull down every proud obstacle that is raised against the knowledge of God; we take every thought captive and make it obey Christ.” For we, who are not omniscient and who might be inexperienced, we lean upon You, O Father, to lead us to where we can understand intangible truths from lies. And sometimes, You must allow us to have the set of circumstances where we must make these mistakes, feel the pain of them, and then are led to Your truthful conclusions. IS 53: 6, “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” With heads bowed and hearts full, we thank You and praise You that You gave us Your Son on the cross, so that we could live eternally by our faith in Him and come to know You better. In His mighty and holy name, Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.
Next week, after asking: is doctrine important?, we will look at some important verses and passages dealing with false prophecy. These will be viewed in the context of preparation to make wise judgments already presented in Christ’s Sermon on the Mount. It is fitting that I should cite IS 53: 5 here. “But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed.” These precious words are God’s acknowledgement that it was necessary, thanks to the serpent [evil one] seen in the Garden of Eden [GN 3: 1-6], that mankind should have their own Kinsman Redeemer. His amazing Son, Who by the sacrifice of His physical life after suffering and being hung on the cross, has opened the way for those who will listen]to the truth to be given the chance for eternal life [salvation]. What a miracle that He was so obedient as to do what He was told by the Father to do with such a faithful attitude [LK 22: 42]! Had we been in His position, would we have done the same??? As we mature in the faith, we can’t help but see the Father’s remarkable love in this. As we age and deal with our own immortality, we are forced to consider the blessings of the choice we make to be an obedient servant of Christ against the unthinkable alternative. Be consoled and comforted that our Lord Jesus and the Father love us that much. Praise be to Him!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn