Become A Fruit Inspector
Psalms 119:105
Thy word is a lamp
to my feet and a light to my path.
When I first
heard of computer viruses, I wasn’t really worried. How could a virus effect a computer badly
enough to cause much of a problem? Then
my PC caught one and I learned the true danger from viruses. Computer viruses are software programs
written by malicious people who do this to disrupt the programming on your
PC. They are often downloaded
stealthily, without our knowledge. They
suddenly wreak havoc with our computers and cause us to lose data and take a
lot of effort to fix the problems that result.
Neither wishing or good intentions help.
You need to actively guard your computer from attack.
In a similar
way, false teaching can come to your church and suddenly spring up and wreak
havoc in the congregation and make changes to the way people think and
believe. Sometimes brought in by people
who spread the false teaching among you, and sometimes an idea from an outside
source that is brought in by someone who has heard it and been deceived and now
is spreading the damage to others, false teaching is harmful for many reasons. The worst danger is that it leads people away
from the truth of the Gospel and often denies the Divinity of Christ. False teaching always keeps people from
living full Christian lives pleasing to God.
False witnesses may not be knowingly working for Satan but may just be
on a power trip looking for fame and fortune.
The saddest are those who are just deceived themselves.
The first best
defense is to be actively studying God’s Word for yourself and praying
earnestly for God’s grace. I take a “no
tolerance” position of false teaching. I
do not allow it in my hearing and do not study it and do not read any writings
supporting it and don’t argue those who believe it. Why allow their garbage into my head? A person with any knowledge of the dangers of
computer viruses would never log onto a hacker’s website and download a virus
“just to check it out.”
A story I was
told in my younger days was about people training to be bank tellers. They are taught about counterfeit money but
are not shown counterfeit bills but shown real currency. Why?
Because they become familiar with genuine money and when they get a
counterfeit bill they know it right away.
My prayer is that Christians become so familiar with the genuine Gospel
and the Holy Spirit that when a false message comes to them they realize right
away it’s fake.
I recently saw a
program where the people were showing store owners the danger of counterfeit
currency. One they showed is where real
currency, in this case a five dollar bill, was bleached and then reprinted to
look like a hundred dollar bill. This
trick works because people feel it and it feels real and because it is real
currency it will pass most tests as genuine.
But if you examine it closely you see the watermark shows Abe Lincoln
not Ben Franklin. It is only when you
look closely you see that it’s a fake.
Most false
beliefs are like that. They are based on
the Bible and have the right look and “feel” as genuine teaching. But when you look more closely you don’t see
Jesus in it. You might see a “watermark”
but you won’t see Jesus and if Jesus is not at its center it’s not
genuine.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 states, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful
for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the
man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” In Acts 17:11 we
read about the believers at Berea, “They
received the Word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find
out whether these things were so.”
They studied the Scriptures to be sure that what Paul was telling them
was true not counterfeit.
In Matthew 7:20 Jesus
tells us that we will know them by their fruits. When you encounter a preacher whose fruit is
bad you know their heart is not right with God.
If they are seeking money, power, or fame you know that they are not
preaching the true Gospel which puts Jesus first. John the Baptist set the standard in John
3:30 when he said, (about Jesus,) “He
must increase, but I must decrease.” This is the heart of the true preacher and
the test of his ministry.
Let the light of
God’s Word guide you and never hesitate to inspect the fruit you
encounter. You must guard your hearts
from deception and only the true Word will help you.
Stephen Cram October 27, 2013
Beware lest
any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, following the tradition
of men according to the rudiments of the world, and not in accordance with
Christ. Colossians 2:8
Visit my pastor’s blog at http://pastorjonrhinehart.blogspot.com/.
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