Be alert, be on the watch! Your enemy, the Devil, roams around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.1 Peter 5:8 GNBUK
The Bible enlightens us about the crafty nature of the devil, who possesses a knack for deceiving and misleading the world with various tactics. Despite his weaknesses, the devil is remarkably clever.
One of his cunning strategies involves presenting Christianity as false. You might have come across the argument that all religions are scams. Have you ever heard the saying that the biggest sinners can be found within the church? Or perhaps tales of deceitful church leaders who manipulate the masses for personal gain? Some people believe that religion is merely a tool for amassing wealth.
These accusations unfortunately hold some truth, and the devil has been relentless in making sure people focus on them. It’s become increasingly difficult to deny these arguments, particularly given the rise in the number of false prophets. The truth is thus hidden amongst a heap of lies kept elusive from people with the goal of driving them way from the Love of God which is in Jesus Christ.
However, fixating on these matters means we are directing our attention to the wrong issue. Jesus proclaimed that He came to save the lost, so having sinners in the church is not the crux of the matter. Moreover, we were duly forewarned about the prevalence of false prophets. Rather, the issue is blindly following a mere mortal as your sole intermediary with God.
The question then arises, How do you distinguish genuine from counterfeit?
While on earth, we have two indispensable guides in our path to God: The bible and the Holy Spirit.
1. The Bible
The Bible is our first reference to God and his nature. In Deuteronomy 17:18: we are told to keep a copy of the book of Law near us, to read it, and use it to honor God.
When he becomes king, he is to have a copy of the book of God’s laws and teachings made from the original copy kept by the levitical priests. He is to keep this book near him and read from it all his life, so that he will learn to honour the LORD and to obey faithfully everything that is commanded in it. Deuteronomy 17:18-19 GNBUK
As Christians, we are all called to use the Bible as our point of reference. Not another human. Pastors were anointed to help us grow our faith and knowledge of God. But they are not our mediators. When Jesus died, the curtain in the temple split into two, showing that the division between men and God was over. We no longer need priests to access God. We are anointed. So next time your pastor asks you to do something read the Bible,
Then we shall no longer be children, carried by the waves and blown about by every shifting wind of the teaching of deceitful people, who lead others into error by the tricks they invent. Ephesians 4:14 GNBUK
Rather we shall have experienced a renewal of our minds, to understand God’s concern.
The will of God — what is good and is pleasing to him and is perfect.Romans 12:2 GNBUK
2. The Holy Spirit
Other than the Bible, our greatest source of discernment is the Holy Spirit. Before his death, Jesus said he won’t leave us as orphans. But he will send the Holy Spirit. He is the Spirit who reveals the truth about God.
And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be[c] in you. 18 I will not leave you as orphans; John 14: 16-19
With his help, we will be able to discern the truth from the false prophets.
So let’s ask God for the gift of discernment. That we may know the difference.
My dear friends, do not believe all who claim to 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. 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. 1 John 4:1-2
Just like everybody else, we are humans, with our shortcomings and failures. We have fallen short of God’s glory time and time again. It’s stupid to follow what we say blindly, without questioning our views. As humans, we interpret the Bible based on our understanding. As a Christian, after hearing our perspective, you have another role. You need to read the Bible for yourself and confirm what we have said. Further, you need to ask the Holy Spirit to tell you the secrets of God’s kingdom hidden in his word. So that you read and understand and get God’s wisdom which will guide you.
