115 Sermon Illustrations on Discernment

The great cause of error is imperfect vision. One says, “It looks so to me,” and therefore he concludes that it is so. He acts as if it were so. And, if he is mistaken, it may be a fatal mistake. The color-blind engineer saw the red light, but it looked green to him. He thought it was a safety signal when it was a danger signal. He went on and wrecked the train. Was he to blame? Yes, for if he could not distinguish between red and green he had no business to run a locomotive. Like him is the man who, with his prismatic eye, sees certain dogmas in the Book which God has written. He has persuaded himself that this danger signal is not red, but green. He insists that it looks so to him. Is it so, therefore, and is he safe? When we hear men talk, as we often do, about how it looks to them, and what seems reasonable to them, we can not help thinking of that color-blind engineer who wrecked his train.

But what can we do with these “evil” prismatic eyes of ours? We can not change them into clear and perfect lenses by a wish, or by one earnest effort. It takes an optician a long time to shape and polish a lens. And we must be willing to work patiently and hard to undo the wrong we have done. If there is any suspicion in our hearts that our eyes are “evil,” we must not rest a moment. We must test the matter at once by a close and prayerful study of the truth.--_The Interior._

I had heard that nothing had been observed in ancient times which could be called by the name of glass--that there had been merely attempts to imitate it. I thought they had proved the proposition. They certainly had elaborated it. In Pompeii, a dozen miles south of Naples, which was covered with ashes by Vesuvius eighteen hundred years ago, they broke into a room full of glass; there was ground-glass, window-glass, cut-glass, and colored-glass of every variety. It was undoubtedly a glass-maker’s factory. So the lie and refutation came face to face. It was like a pamphlet printed in London, in 1836, by Dr. Lardner, which proved that a steamboat could not cross the ocean; and the book came to this country in the first steamboat that came across the Atlantic.

— WENDELL PHILLIPS

It requires experience and love of reality to avoid the deceptions of life.

“During the conflagration at the Crystal Palace in the winter of 1866–67, when the animals were destroyed by the fire, it was supposed that the chimpanzee had succeeded in escaping from his cage. Attracted to the roof, with this expectation in full force, men saw the unhappy animal holding on to it, and writhing in agony to get astride of one of the iron ribs. It need not be said that its struggles were watched by those below with breathless suspense, and, as the newspapers informed us, with sickening dread.” But there was no animal whatever there; and all this feeling was thrown away upon a tattered piece of blind, so torn as to resemble, to the eye of fancy, the body, arms, and legs of an ape!--EDWIN J. HOUSTON, “The Wonder Book of Light.”

Take the English proverb, “Tenderden steeple is the cause of Goodwin Sands.” We said, “How ignorant a population!” But, when we went deeper into the history, we found that the proverb was not meant for logic, but was meant for sarcasm. One of the bishops had £50,000 given to him to build a breakwater to save the Goodwin Sands from the advancing sea; but the good bishop, instead of building the breakwater to keep out the sea, simply built a steeple; and this proverb was sarcastic, and not logical, that “Tenderden steeple was the cause of the Goodwin Sands.” When you contemplate the motive, there was the closest and best-welded logic in the proverb. So I think a large share of our criticism of old legends and old statements will be found in the end to be the ignorance that overleaps its own saddle and falls on the other side.

— WENDELL PHILLIPS

Character has its signs, often accurately read by the simple-hearted man, as easily as farmers foretell the weather.

“I reckon we’ll have to stop hay-carting to-morrow,” said a laborer to me one splendid cloudless July day.

“Why?”

“’Cause I heerd one o’ them old woodpeckers hallerin’ fit to bust hisself while I was a-gettin’ my dinner.”

Next morning the daily paper spoke of settled fine weather, but the rustic was right--it rained heavily. He was a man utterly uneducated, who, without reference to any scientific instrument, could forecast the morrow’s weather with accuracy, when the meteorological office, with all its appliances, was at fault. “Hinery” was only a specimen of hundreds of his fellows who can predict to-morrow’s (and often longer) weather with unerring accuracy, merely from noticing common details of natural phenomena open to every one.--_Cassell’s Magazine._

Moral and spiritual search-lights are needed to warn and illuminate the soul, just as the search-lights noted here are used to help the mariner as he approaches land.

“It has been announced,” says _The Electrical Review_, “that one of the features of the Lewis & Clark exposition will be a large search-light surmounting Mount Hood. This will be used to good effect for illuminating the snow-capped mountain-peaks within one hundred miles of the light. It is also said that the beam thrown from this search-light will be visible to vessels one hundred miles off the coast. This statement suggests that the search-light might be used as a valuable aid in lighthouse service, for warning vessels when they are approaching land. The ordinary range of visibility of a lighthouse is about twenty or twenty-five miles. For a lightship it is somewhat less, as the light is lower. Now, a powerful search-light can throw a beam upward which will be seen thirty or forty miles, under favorable conditions. It is probable that a powerful ray thrown vertically upward from a lighthouse would be visible long before the direct rays of the lighthouse could be seen. A somewhat similar scheme has been tried on railroads, where a beam from the electric headlight of a locomotive was thrown upward as a warning to the engineers of other locomotives.”

Principles of spiritual warfare.

1. God's Goals.

a. We are to please our Commanding Officer.

b. We are enlisted not to destroy enemy soldiers, but to win them.

2. God's Methods.

a. We must depend on God for the power in battle.

b. We need to recognize who the real enemy is.

c. We need to equip ourselves with "the full armor of God".

"Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist."

"Stand firm.. with the breastplate of righteousness in place.

"Stand firm.. with your feet with readiness that comes from the gospel

of peace.

"Take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all flaming

arrows of the evil one.

"Take the helmet of salvation.

"Take the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.

"Pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and

requests.

”From the fact that God’s judgment threatens man it is often deduced that no man has the right to judge another, (Mt. 7:1f; Jm 4:11; Rom 4:4,10; 1 Cor 4:5.) This does not imply flabby indifference to the moral condition of others nor the blind renunciation of attempts at a true and serious appraisal of those with whom we have to live.

• What is unconditionally demanded is that such evaluations should be subject to the certainty that God’s judgment falls also on those who judge, so that superiority, hardness and blindness to one’s own faults are excluded, and a readiness to forgive and to intercede is safeguarded. The emphatic way in which Jesus extended the law of love in this direction has far-reaching consequences.

• It means that the Church cannot practice discipline with merciless severity (2 Cor 11:24). It means that the Church cannot take up a hard, contemptuous and supercilious attitude towards those whom it regards as sinners.

• It means that Church discipline must make predominant, if not exclusive, use of means which promote edification and pastoral care. Precisely the unreserved seriousness with which the community takes the concept of judgment in the Gospel is that which enables it to overcome a mere legalism in its religious and moral life.”

– (Buchsel) – [3:929]

On a plaque marking Abraham Lincoln’s birthplace near Hodgenville, Kentucky, is recorded this scrap of conversation: “Any news down t’ the village, Ezry?”

“Well, Squire McLains’s gon t’ Washington t’ see Madison swore in, and ol’ Spellman tells me this Bonaparte fella has captured most of Spain. What’s new out here, neighbor?”

“Nuthin’, nuthin’ a’tall ’cept fer a new baby born t’ Tom Lincoln’s. Nothin’ ever happens out here.”

Some events, whether birthdays in Hodgenville (or Bethlehem) or spiritual rebirth in a person's life, may not create much earthly splash, but those of lasting importance will eventually get the notice they deserve.

Spiritual warfare remained a normal part of the Church's life throughout its early history.

1. The ministry of exorcism.

2. The Devil in the desert.

3. Discerning Satan's hand.

Anthony (c. 251-356) provided a guideline for distinguishing God's gifts and messengers from the enemy's tricks: God's gifts, he noted, develop a godly character in us, and His messengers bring us a sense of peace and joy (once we get over the initial fright at their appearance). The devil, on the other hand, offers gifts that appeal to our vanity, greed, or lust, and his deceiving agents bring us confusion, doubt, and disturbance.

To be safe from demonic attack, said Anthony, we need a godly humility. That insight was born out by the experience of another monk, whose example we should keep in mind today whenever we're called to do battle with the forces of darkness. One night a demon appeared to the old man in his room, saying, "I am the angel Gabriel, and I have been sent to you." The monk responded humbly, "You must have the wrong room. I'm not worthy to have an angel visit me." Unable to tempt him to vanity, the demon vanished. The lesson? Our best armor in spiritual warfare may be a humble heart.

How to teach teenagers to be discerning when it comes to rock music.

1. Avoid things that make Satan or evil look attractive.

2. Avoid things that promote sin.

3. Avoid things that blaspheme or debase God.

4. Choose things that nurture your relationship with the Lord.

We have to train our children, and then let them make their own decisions.

Does God tell people to do strange things?

Six years ago the "Los Angeles Times" told the story of Bob Haifley. Spending 2,500 work hours over five years, Bob glued 65,000 toothpicks to build a life-sized Jesus. It hangs from a wire in his garage against a black backdrop, illuminated by a spotlight.

What made Haifley, a humble water-department supervisor and nonartist, start collecting toothpicks and inviting the ridicule of his neighbors by building California's answer to Noah's Ark?

"God told me to do it," he says.

According to Haifley, God not only commissioned the work one day while he was driving his pickup, but showed him how to do the spiky hair after years of indecision. Did God REALLY tell him all this?

“Therefore give to Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people, that I may discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?” 1 Kings 3:9

Discernment is an overlooked spiritual discipline in many churches. But in reality, spiritual discernment should be our first line of defense against deception. It’s that “buzzer” inside, warning you that something is wrong. For example, you visit someone’s home and everything appears in order. But you can cut the air with a knife. Even though nothing visible confirms it, your spirit detects that something is wrong in that home.

The first step to understanding discernment is to understand the motive which is essential for employing it. In 1 Kings 3:9, Israel’s king Solomon cried out to God for help. God answers: “Because you have asked this thing and have not asked for yourself long life, nor have asked riches for yourself, nor have you asked for the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself discernment to understand justice, behold, I have done according to your words. Behold, I have given you a wise and discerning heart” (verses 11, 12). The motive for true discernment is never to promote self, to amass personal gain, or to secure an advantage over another person — even an enemy.

The Greek word for discernment — diakrino — simply means to make a judgment or a distinction. Discernment has one primary function: to distinguish right from wrong. In 1 Corinthians 12:10 discernment is the divinely enabled ability to distinguish a good spirit from a bad spirit.

Discernment is not a function of the mind; it’s a function of the Holy Spirit which is in union with your soul/spirit. When the Spirit sounds a warning, your mind may not be able to perceive what’s wrong. Have the courage to acknowledge that something is wrong when your spirit is troubled. Share what you are sensing with others, and ask the Lord for wisdom.

[Original illustration at this number was a duplicate of HolwickID #10114]

A Deer hard pressed by hunters sought refuge in a cave belonging to a Lion. The Lion concealed himself on seeing his approach, but when he was safe within the cave, sprang upon him and tore him to pieces. “Woe is me,” exclaimed the Deer, “who have escaped from man, only to throw myself into the mouth of a wild beast?”

In avoiding one evil, Christians must be careful not to fall into another temptation or evil.

#10183

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Many Civil War scholars would consider the Battle of Gettysburg as the turning point - or certainly one of the turning points - of that bloody war. And Civil War buffs have discussed for decades what factors actually decided the outcome of the battle that may have decided the outcome of the war. One key factor happened before the real battle actually began those three days in July of 1863. Soldiers from both North and South were on the move as Lee's troops launched an invasion of Union territory. Union General Buford unintentionally encountered some of the advance Confederate forces. Well, sizing up the terrain around Gettysburg, he decided that the ground called Cemetery Ridge would be decisive high ground when the forces of Blue and Gray finally came to blows. He determined to keep the advance Southern troops from having that ground. And he succeeded. In so doing, he secured for the North ground that would indeed help decide the outcome of the Battle of Gettysburg.

Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “Choosing Your Battles.”

Throughout military history, victories have been won because someone knew which battle was worth fighting and which battleground was best to fight on. It might be an important part of whether or not you'll win in some of the battles you're fighting in right now - as a parent, in your work, in keeping people together, or in your church.

King David was a veteran warrior, and he understood that it was important to be sure that you're fighting the right battles. In 2 Samuel 5, beginning with verse 18, our word for today from the Word of God, the Bible says: “Now the Philistines had come and spread out in the Valley of Rephaim; so David inquired of the Lord, 'Shall I go and attack the Philistines?’ ... The Lord answered him, 'Go, for I will surely hand the Philistines over to you.’ So David went ... and he defeated them.”

Later, the Philistines invaded again. What does David do? “David inquired of the Lord, and He answered, 'Do not go straight up...'“ Now, notice - David did not undertake a battle until he had checked with God to see if it was a battle he should fight. That's a powerful model for you and me.

Some of us - as parents, as leaders - tend to make everything a battle. We just can't keep our mouth shut, we can't let anything pass. And even if you're fighting good battles, if you're always fighting, people become immune to you. And when you've got a really important issue to fight for, they'll just say, “Oh, here she goes again, here he goes again.” That's not good. Some of us parents so want our kids to do the right thing that we're all over them all of the time. And they eventually just turn us off. Same with any of us who are always fighting.

So don't make every issue a battleground. Don't make everything a battle. Fight for real issues, not over every incident. Don't try to settle issues based on an incident that's got everybody all inflamed right now - deal with it at a time when there's not an incident. Save your ammunition for the battles that really matter. And above all, always check with God to see if this is His battle; one He thinks is worth your fighting. Choosing your battles, choosing your battlegrounds - and sometimes holding your fire - those are keys to winning the battles that decide the war.

________________

Copyright © Ron Hutchcraft Ministries, Inc., PO Box 400, Harrison, AR 72602. Used by permission. Written by Ron Hutchcraft. "Practical Answers to Real Life Issues"

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[Original illustration at this number was a duplicate of HolwickID #4665]

Satan or Temptation or Discernment

The Pentagon recently lost a Global Hawk, the most sophisticated unmanned

aircraft in its fleet. The $45 million airplane, with a wingspan of 116 feet,

can fly for more than a day, scouring terrain and relaying video to a ground

station 3000 miles away. Last March ['99], a Hawk on a simulated mission

surprised its manned F-16 chaser plane by rolling onto its back at 400 mph,

diving, and smashing into the California desert.

The plane even prepared to die: an investigation found that it shut its engines

down, erased classified computer data and set its flaps in a death spiral just

before going down for the last time.

The investigation also found that at the same time, more than 100 miles

away, a second team of Air Force personnel were preparing to test a second

Global Hawk aircraft. Team number two implemented the system's

"flight-termination" command, and plane number one, 100 miles away, responded

obediently. It was incapable of distinguishing between the signals. That

failure to discern appropriate behavior led to disaster. [TIME Magazine,

1-24-2000, p. 18]

TS--Sometimes the enemy speaks our language and uses our frequency. We need

God's wisdom to carefully scrutinize any advice we're offered, commands we're

given, or temptations which confront us. Rather than flying on auto-pilot, we

must constantly stay alert to the devil's schemes. Submitted by Mark Jones,

Columbus IN

A danger exists in assuming that the majority is right. The majority, when against the Word of God, results in tragedy. Remember the people of Israel responding to the twelve spies. By far the vast majority sided with the ten spies. Only two from the entire nation sided with God. And only those two entered the land and received the blessings.

A little boy living in the country had never seen a traveling circus, and one was coming to his town on Saturday.

Saturday morning came. He asked his father for some money. His dad reached in his overalls and pulled out a dollar bill-the most money the boy had ever seen at one time.

Off the little wide-eyed fellow went. As he approached the town, he saw people lining the streets. Peering through the line at one point, he got his first glimpse of the parade. There were animals in cages and marching bands. Finally, a clown was seen bringing up the rear of the parade. The little boy was so excited that when the clown passed, he reached in his pocket and handed him the precious dollar bill.

Thinking he had seen the circus when he had only seen the parade, the little boy turned around and went home.

The tragedy of most of our lives isn't that we aspire too high and fail. It's rather that we settle for too little. We could have a greater influence, and yet, because of fear or ignorance, shame, or inertia, we take the precious dollar of our lives and settle for the parade instead of the real thing.

So many are like the traveler who came tired and exhausted to the door of a Christian and asked to stay overnight. When the Christian showed some unwillingness, the traveler started quoting Scripture and telling the Christian not to forget that he might have the opportunity of entertaining an angel unawares. "Yes," said the Christian, "but I don't believe that an angel from heaven would smell of liquor."

In the early days of the nineteenth century, men were following with bated breath the march of Napoleon and waiting with feverish impatience for the latest news of the wars. And all the while, in their own homes, babies were being born.

Just think of some of those babies. In one year, lying midway between Trafagar and Waterloo, there stole into the world a host of well-known men! During that year, 1809, Mr. Gladstone was born at Liverpool; Alfred Tennyson drew his first breath at the Somersby rectory; and Oliver Wendell Holmes made his initial appearance in Massachusetts. On the very self-same day of that self-same year, Abraham Lincoln made his debut in Old Kentucky. Music was enriched by the advent of Frederick Chopin at Warsaw and Felix Mendolssohn at Hamburg.

But, nobody thought of babies. Everybody was thinking of battles. Yet, viewing that age in the truer perspective which the years enable us to command, we may well ask ourselves which of the battles of 1809 mattered more than the babies of 1809. When a wrong wants righting, or a work wants doing, or a truth wants preaching, or a continent wants opening, God sends a baby into the world to do it. This is why, long, long ago, a Babe was born at Bethlehem.

It was at a wayside inn that God began making the world all over again. Momentous things were set in motion at that inn at Bethlehem.

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Another version, from Rev. Brett Blair, 12/16/01:

Take the year 1809. The international scene was tumultuous. Napoleon was sweeping through Austria; blood was flowing freely. Nobody then cared about babies. But the world was overlooking some terribly significant births.

For example, William Gladstone was born that year. He was destined to become one of England's finest statesman. That same year, Alfred Tennyson was born to an obscure minister and his wife. The child would one day greatly affect the literary world in a marked manner. On the American continent, Oliver Wendell Holmes was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts. And not far away in Boston, Edgar Allan Poe began his eventful, albeit tragic, life. It was also in that same year that a physician named Darwin and his wife named their child Charles Robert. And that same year produced the cries of a newborn infant in a rugged log cabin in Hardin County, Kentucky. The baby's name? Abraham Lincoln.

If there had been news broadcasts at that time, I'm certain these words would have been heard: "The destiny of the world is being shaped on an Austrian battlefield today." But history was actually being shaped in the cradles of England and America. Similarly, everyone thought taxation was the big news -- when Jesus was born. But a young Jewish woman cradled the biggest news of all: the birth of the Savior.

Adapted from Charles Swindoll

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A poet and an artist each examined a painting by Poussin representing the healing of the two blind men of Jericho. The artist asked, "What seems to you the most remarkable thing in this painting?" The poet replied, "Everything in the painting is excellently given - the form of Christ, the grouping of the individuals, the expression in the faces of the leading character, everything."

The artist seemed to find the most significant touch elsewhere. Pointing to the steps of a house in the corner of the picture, he said, "Do you see that discarded cane lying there?"

"Yes, but what does that signify?"

"Why, my friend, on those steps the blind man sat with the cane in his hand. But when he heard Christ had come, he was so sure that he would be healed that he let his cane lie there, since he would need it no more, and hastened to the Lord as if he could already see."

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[Holwick: you should be aware that Luke 18:40 says the man was brought to Jesus with the help of others. It fits nicely with Mark 10:50, however.]

"For the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart" (1 Samuel 16:7).

The story is told of an old lady who rented a cottage for the summer.

With the cottage was also a dog. The old lady liked a very comfortable armchair better than any other in the house. She always made for it the first thing. But, alas! she nearly always found the chair occupied by the dog. Being afraid of the dog, she never dared bid it harshly to get out of the chair, but instead she would go to the window and call "Cats!" Then the dog would rush to the window and bark, and the old lady would slip quietly into the vacant chair.

One day the dog entered the room and found the old lady in possession of the chair. He strolled over to the window, and looking out, appeared very much excited and set up a tremendous barking. The old lady arose and hastened to the window to see what was the matter, and the dog quietly climbed into the chair.

Deceits practiced on others will sooner or later be repaid against ourselves.

"Bread of a deceit is sweet to a man; but afterwards his mouth shall be filled with gravel" (Proverbs 20:17).

Satan labors with all his strength by false teachers, which are his messengers and ambassadors, to deceive, delude and forever destroy the precious souls of men (Matthew 7:15). These evil men... cry, “Peace, Peace” until souls fall into everlasting flames (see Proverbs 7). Now the best way to deliver poor souls from being deluded and destroyed by these messengers of Satan is to display them in their true colours, so that being known poor souls may shun them, and flee from them as hell itself. Now you may know a false teacher by the following distinguishing marks.

THEY ARE MEN-PLEASERS. They preach more to please the ear than to profit the heart. Isaiah 30:10, Jer. 5.30, 31. These men handle the holy things rather with wit and entertainment than with godly fear and reverence. Such smooth teachers are sweet soul-poisoners (Jeremiah 23:16,17).

THEY SPEW OUT THE DEVICES AND VISIONS OF THEIR OWN HEADS AND HEARTS. Jeremiah 14:14, 23:16. Are there not multitudes in this nation whose visions are but golden delusions, lying vanities, brain-sick fantasies?

THEY EASILY PASS OVER THE GREAT AND WEIGHTY THINGS BOTH OUT OF THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL, AND DWELL MOSTLY UPON THESE THINGS THAT ARE OF THE LEAST IMPORTANCE AND CONCERN TO THE SOULS OF MEN. I Timothy 1:5-7, Matthew 23:23. False teachers are meticulous in the lesser things of the law, and quite negligent in the greatest! I Timothy 6:3-5.

THEY CLEVERLY DISGUISE THEIR DANGEROUS PRINCIPLES AND SOUL-DECEIVING NOTIONS WITH VERY ATTRACTIVE SPEECHES AND GOLDEN EXPRESSIONS. Many in these days are bewitched and deceived by the magnificent words, lofty strains- and stately terms of deceivers. They know that sugared poison goes down sweetly: they wrap up their pernicious, soul-killing pills in gold.

THEY STRIVE MORE EARNESTLY TO WIN MEN OVER TO THEIR OPINIONS, THAN TO IMPROVE THEIR BEHAVIOUR. Matthew 23:15. They busy themselves, most about men's heads. Their work is not to better men's hearts and mend their lives.

THEY EXPLOIT THEIR FOLLOWERS THROUGH COVETOUSNESS. The Apostle Peter, nearing his own death (see 2 Peter 1:12-15), warned his followers: “...there shall be false teachers among you... And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you...” (2 Peter 2:1-3). They eye your goods more than your good; and care more for serving themselves, than the saving of your souls. So long as they have your possessions, they care not that Satan possess your souls (Revelation 18:11-13). False teachers are the great worshippers of the golden calf (Jer. 6:13). False teachers care not who they drown, so long as they may have their money.

NOW BY THESE DISTINGUISHING MARKS YOU MAY KNOW FALSE TEACHERS, SHUN THEM AND SO DELIVER YOUR SOULS OUT OF THEIR DANGEROUS SNARES.

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Thomas Brooks, 1608-1680

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George Muller (1805-1898) was a man of God and a man of prayer. Thousands of Christians throughout the years have been inspired by his example of faith and persistent prayer. He once outlined the general method he used to discern God's will. This is good counsel for Christians today in seeking to know God's will when making decisions.

1. I seek at the beginning to get my heart into such a state that it has no will of its own in a given matter. When you're ready to do the Lord's will, whatever it may be, nine-tenths of the difficulties are overcome.

2. Having done this, I don't leave the result to feeling or simply impression. If I do so, I leave myself liable to great delusion.

3. I seek the Will of the Spirit of God through, or in connection with, the Word of God. The Spirit and the Word must be combined. If I look to the Spirit alone without the Word, I lay myself open to great delusions also. If the Holy Ghost guides us at all, He will do it according to the Scriptures and never contrary to them.

4. Next I take into account providential circumstances. These often plainly indicate God's will in connection with His Word and Spirit.

5. I ask God in prayer to reveal His will to me aright.

6. Thus, through prayer, the study of the Word, and reflection, I come to a deliberate judgment, according to the best of my ability and knowledge. If my mind is thus at peace, and continues so after two or three more petitions, I proceed accordingly. I have found this method always effective in trivial or important issues.

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http://www.prayertower.net/GeoMueller.htm

In the days that we live in right now, it is essential for Christians to hone their discernment as much as possible. For the Bible clearly states that the Last Days are an age of deception. And the coming Revival can only survive if it is grounded in the wisdom and discernment of God.

What I am about to share with you is one of the most basic keys to discernment in existence. But so many Christians forget about it that we need to remind ourselves that it is there.

Did you know that even an unbeliever can often spot a ‘con-man’ or a snake-oil salesman? They get a kind-of “gut feeling” about such things. And they are often right! In fact, they are often less gullible than the Christians! I believe that God has placed within every human being at least a measure of an inner “warning system” to protect us from being easily deceived – just as He has given us all a conscience. It is something that He has built into every one of us, in His mercy.

But what I have found again and again with people who give themselves over to some form of deception is that they almost always “override” these alarm bells. They go against their ‘better judgement’. They ignore the little voice deep inside them that is telling them that there is something wrong. Christians do this all the time. That is how they get themselves involved in such foolish deceptions.

This may all sound very obvious, but I am telling you, this one basic area alone could wipe out half the deception in the church right now. If only people would listen to these internal ‘alarm bells’ and act with common sense, half of it would be gone overnight.

The Bible is very clear that the Last Days are a time of “seducing spirits” and great deception that would “deceive if possible the very elect”. It also shows that much of this deception must arise from within the church – luring believers with “itching ears”. Do we see evidence of this kind of thing taking place today? Certainly! In fact, from what I have seen recently in the Prophetic movement and sections of the Charismatic movement, the extent of deception is alarming indeed. Some of it is truly shocking. And yet it is all accepted as perfectly “normal” by many Christians.

One of the problems, of course, is that those who bring in these deceptions are ‘trusted’ by the congregation. They have a reputation and they put across some very convincing-sounding arguments and surround the whole thing with Biblical terminology. And thus the deception is harder to spot. (After all, if it were not “deceptive” then it would not be called ‘deception’!) People see spiritual power operating and assume that it “must be God”. But this is a very dangerous assumption to make in these days.

There is also a lot of “peer pressure” involved as well. For if everyone in the church is getting into something, then shouldn’t you just ignore those little ‘alarm bells’ and jump right in? This is what is happening all the time in the church right now. And some preachers are very good at making people feel that they are ‘hindering the Spirit’ if they do not get involved.

So how do you avoid being deceived in this way?

Very simply, you do not go along to these meetings in a “gullible” frame of mind. And you do not allow yourself to be carried along with the crowd. You listen carefully to the preaching and make sure that it truly is Biblical. Then you watch the ministry happening down the front of the meeting and discern whether it really is of God or not. You do not “override” any feelings of unease or any ‘alarm bells’ going off inside you. And you do not allow yourself to be swayed by ‘peer pressure’. Even if the whole church is getting into something, it does not mean that you have to. If you do not feel quite “right” about it then DO NOT GET INVOLVED. If you need to, make some excuse and get out of there! You do not have to get involved in things that do not feel spiritually “right” to you.

A lot of people today will go down the front to get something “imparted” to them by almost every visiting speaker – almost as a matter of course. I tell you, in today’s climate this can be a very dangerous thing to do. In fact, some of this ‘impartation’ business has very flimsy backing in Scripture. Who knows what on earth these preachers are imparting? And who knows where they picked it up? I tell you, there are a lot of preachers out there today whom I would not even allow to impart something into my pet cat, let alone a human being! Deceiving spirits are commonplace, and I believe they are being imparted to Christians on a large scale.

This should not surprise us, for it is exactly what the Scriptures declare will happen in the Last Days. All the way through the New Testament we are warned of these times – over and over again.

One of the problems is that God actually does do ‘strange and unusual’ things Himself. (-Especially in Revivals). So we cannot simply throw out everything “unusual”. Angelic visitations DO HAPPEN. Strange prophetic signs DO OCCUR. And being a strong Charismatic Christian myself, I expect to see believers speaking in tongues and moving in the gifts of the Holy Spirit as well. Now, there is no doubt that many of these things could be termed ‘unusual’ phenomena. So how do we tell the difference?

Well, God never goes against His own holy character. Or against Scripture. And as I often say, we may see Him do ‘unusual’ things but I believe we need to draw the line at “weird” or ugly. Some of the deception that is around right now has a ‘touchy-feely’ New Age sense about it. Remember that the New Age movement majors on “inner healing” and a lot of dangerous teaching on inner healing is infiltrating the Christian church today. I do not believe in ‘guided visualisation’ or anything of that kind. And neither am I very fond of the writings of Catholic mystics or the like.

However, I have personally found it very helpful to immerse myself in the writings of past Revivalists and the accounts of great moves of God. A lot of the men and women involved in these Revivals lived very close to God and knew Him intimately. They knew His holiness, they knew His glory, and they knew His love. And it is enormously helpful to one’s discernment to immerse oneself in these writings, I have found. I would recommend this to all Christians everywhere.

If you have been touched or involved in any way with manifestations or experiences that you think may not have been from God, then I urge you to utterly RENOUNCE (with your mouth, but also from the depths of your heart and soul) any links or involvement with that experience or ‘anointing’. Please do not put this off, my friends. Some of this stuff is extremely dangerous. RENOUNCE IT today.

I hope this article has been of some practical help.

God bless you all!