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June 06th, 2008 | Author: akagaga

I grew up in a family that did a lot of fishing. Every summer, we would spend a week at a cabin about four hours north of Montreal: dirt roads, wood cooking stove, outhouse, and a lake five miles long that we didn’t have to share with anyone. So I knew all about enticing minnows into a trap with bread, and trolling to entice lake trout or wall-eyed pike to gobble up a minnow that just happened to have a hook and line attached. Once they bit, we’d just reel them in.

I see satan using the same tactics today, enticing people to swallow something that has a hook inside. Whether it’s money, sex, drugs, or rock’n'roll, the ruler of the world has a lot of enticements at his command, and he knows how to use them.

The ones that really get my dander up, though, are the ones that claim to be from God, the ones that are dressed in Christian finery, and the ones that lead people who are looking for God right into the minnow trap. Having been caught in one of these traps before, by God’s grace I’ve learned a couple things about satan’s bait, and how to identify it before you get caught.

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Spiritual Discernment

May 25th, 2008 | Author: akagaga

[This is a message that I shared at my church on May 25, 2008.]

My first scripture this morning is 2 Corinthians 11:3:

But I am afraid, lest as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds should be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.[1]

This is also my fear, and I figure if Paul could admit to it, so can I. I’ve been talking for a while about God moving in Glen, sending His Holy Spirit in power, Christ using our hands to heal people, and our mouths to boldly proclaim His Truth.

So why am I afraid? Well, I lived through this process once before, and it wasn’t always a smooth road. I’m not an expert, by any means, but I did learn some things the hard way. I thought if I shared some of those today, perhaps the church in Glen could avoid some of the pitfalls.

The first big lesson I learned is this: not everything that is spiritual is from God. When the Holy Spirit moves, so does Satan. Now, we don’t like to talk about Satan, and some people think he doesn’t even exist. If you’re in that group, I have a little stat for you. In the New American Standard Version of the New Testament, the words devil or satan or demon or antichrist are used 146 times. Now I can’t believe God’s Word would talk about something that much if it didn’t exist, so I’m a believer. Satan is real.

He’s called by many names in the Bible. Jesus said he’s the father of lies.[3] He’s called a murderer, the evil one, the tempter, an unclean Spirit, the accuser, the adversary, the deceiver. He doesn’t show up with horns and a pitchfork. He disguises himself as an angel of light, all the better to deceive us.

“Well, so what?” you say. “I still don’t want to know about Satan. I’d rather hear about something uplifting.” Well, listen again to the words of our Lord:

Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; therefore be shrewd as serpents, and innocent as doves.[4]

Many other times the Bible tells us to seek wisdom and discernment. Here are a couple more:

(Proverbs 2:2-5) Make your ear attentive to wisdom, Incline your heart to understanding; For if you cry for discernment, Lift your voice for understanding; If you seek her as silver, And search for her as for hidden treasures; Then you will discern the fear of the LORD, And discover the knowledge of God.[5]

(Hebrews 5:14) But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.[6]

So in the spiritual realm, there is good and there is evil, and we’re instructed to learn the difference between the two. So how do we do that? How can we keep from being deceived by the father of lies?

Some people just say, “Well, God will protect me.” That’s true, of course, but is that what our response should be?

Many, many years ago, when I was being a bratty little kid, as I often was, my darling older brothers used to say to me, “Why don’t you go play in traffic?” Obviously, I didn’t take their advice. But what if I had? Would God have protected me when I was a 4-year-old? Maybe. But what if I ran out in traffic when I was 10 or 18? What if I did it today? Would God protect me? I wouldn’t want to test Him on it.

The point here is that God teaches us things, in the same way that our parents taught us not to play in traffic. We are supposed to become mature Christians. We are supposed to be transformed by the renewing of our minds, that we may prove what the will of God is.[7]

And when He’s taught us something, He expects us to walk in it. When Jesus says “Beware of the wolves,” He expects us to beware, to be cautious and alert and discerning. So I think throwing your hands up in the air and saying, “God will protect us” is a lot like running out to play in traffic.

Other people say discernment is simply a feeling they get, an inner witness of the Holy Spirit. In fact, that’s what I used to think, until I found out the hard way that it’s not always easy to tell my own feelings from the witness of the Holy Spirit.

When I was a new Christian, I was dying to self on a regular basis. Every Sunday morning like clockwork, our pastor would preach his sermon, I would be convicted, and find myself once again at the altar confessing to God and asking for forgiveness. There were 39 years of things I had to unlearn, and at the time, I didn’t think the process was very enjoyable. I got tired of continuous repentance. My knees were sore. After a few months of this, I prayed and asked God if His people weren’t allowed to have fun. I wanted to have some fun. God answered that prayer within a week. A Christian man at church came into my life, and we had a lot of fun together: going canoeing, going hiking, building a train set for Aaron. While we were having all this fun, he lied to me and to the whole church. It turns out he was still married to someone else. He lied to me about many other things, too — and I believed him.

More importantly, the exposure of his lies drove me back to my knees before the Lord.“God! Why did You allow this to happen? Why didn’t You protect me?” I was distraught, and it took quite a while for me to understand. After a tough lesson in forgiveness, though, I did finally understand. The bottom line? I was in rebellion against God. I didn’t want to repent any more. I was tired of looking at my faults. I wanted to have fun. Fun became an idol that was more important to me than following Jesus. I laid down my cross, and was deceived by another voice. This is the scripture that I applied, from John 15:4.

Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in Me.[8]

My heart was not abiding in the vine, so the fruit of discernment was missing. Only when I was abiding in the vine would I be able to discern.So I repented, again, and Jesus was once more on the throne in my heart. It wasn’t long after, that God brought Tom into my life … but that’s another story.

So let me summarize to this point:

- not everything spiritual is from God.
- When God moves, Satan moves.
- Mature Christians learn to discern the difference between good and evil.
- We need to apply the things God has taught us. Don’t play in traffic.
- We need to abide in the vine to have discernment. Rebellion leaves us exposed.

If that’s what not to do, where do we go from here? How do we keep from being deceived and led astray? Well, let’s see how our Lord and Savior did it.

(Matthew 4:1-4:11) Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He then became hungry. And the tempter came and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE, BUT ON EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GOD.’” Then the devil took Him into the holy city; and he had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God throw Yourself down; for it is written, ‘HE WILL GIVE HIS ANGELS CHARGE CONCERNING YOU’; and ‘ON their HANDS THEY WILL BEAR YOU UP, LEST YOU STRIKE YOUR FOOT AGAINST A STONE.’” Jesus said to him, “On the other hand, it is written, ‘YOU SHALL NOT PUT THE LORD YOUR GOD TO THE TEST.’” Again, the devil took Him to a very high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world, and their glory; and he said to Him, “All these things will I give You, if You fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Begone, Satan! For it is written, ‘YOU SHALL WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD, AND SERVE HIM ONLY.’” Then the devil left Him; and behold, angels came and began to minister to Him.

Jesus responded to the devil with scripture. If you remember nothing else that I say today, remember that. You might also note that in order to be able to respond with scripture, Jesus had to be familiar with scripture. You might want to remember that, too.

There are many other things in the Bible that I know God will gladly teach us about discernment if we ask, but I’m going to share just one more idea: seek God’s truth, love God’s truth, hold fast to God’s truth.

This isn’t a popular stand these days. It’s not politically correct to say that Jesus is the only way. We’re supposed to say instead that there are many roads to a higher power and spiritual enlightenment, and everybody should follow their own path. But Jesus said this:

I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me.[9]

If we believe anything that Jesus said, then we have to believe this.

There is good and there is evil. There is truth and there are lies. We must love the truth and cling to it, because 2 Thessalonians says that if we don’t receive a love for the truth, then God will send a deluding influence on us. Here’s the passage:

And then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming; that is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved And for this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they might believe what is false, in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness.[10]

Spiritual discernment is a big topic that we could study for years, so today is only a small introduction. But being familiar with the truth of God’s scriptures is a big part of discernment. Loving God’s truth above our own selfish desires is another big part. I encourage you to pick up your Bible this week and ask God to show you something you need to learn about discernment. He’s faithful. He’ll answer you.

—————————

Benediction: May we all seek God’s truth, and abide in the Vine that saved us on Calvary, and saves us still. Amen.

[1] 2 Corinthians 11:3
[2] 2 Corinthians 11:3
[3] John 8:44
[4] Matthew 10:16
[5] Proverbs 2″:2-5
[6] Hebrews 5:14
[7] Romans 12:2
[8] John 15:4
[9] John 14:6
[10] 2 Thessalonians 2:9-11

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Deception in the Church

March 15th, 2008 | Author: akagaga

My focus on deception in the church started when God let me walk through it myself. I was involved at a church that took a wrong turn, and I went part of the way down the road with them. At a certain point, though, the hunger in my heart for God’s truth won out over my desire to be part of that church. I then went through a long process of sorting out the truth from the lies and getting my head back on straight – well, sort of straight.

I thank God for all of it, though, because it left me with what I believe is a healthy skepticism in God-related matters. I take absolutely nothing for granted. I try very hard to make no assumptions. I weigh everything. I could listen to the most godly, awe-inspiring preacher I’ve ever heard, read a book by the most learned scholar – and I will STILL test everything he says. And, yes – I even argue with my husband.

I believe that our own fleshly desires, as well as evil spirits, can interfere with our ability to hear the Holy Spirit. So I listen, but then I pray, “Show me. Help me test this idea against the Bible.” And, you know what? God always answers that prayer – and it often involves changing a mindset that I’ve held forever. (Well, He doesn’t always answer when I think He should. If anybody knows what the angels have to do with head coverings in 1 Corinthians 11:10, please let me know. That verse makes me crazy.)

So that’s my personal experience, and hopefully explains my focus on deception, at least in part. But we can’t just go by our personal experience, and you should test everything I say, also, so here are some New Testament scriptures that warn about deception in the church – not deception in the world, which certainly exists, but sneaky looks-like-an-angel-of-light deception in the church. It’s a long list, folks, and God doesn’t warn us so many times just for the fun of it. If you still think I’m whacked out, maybe you’ll believe Him.

(Matthew 7:15) Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.

(Matthew 24:11) And many false prophets will arise, and will mislead many.

(Matthew 24:24) For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect.

(Romans 16:18) For such men are slaves, not of our Lord Christ but of their own appetites; and by their smooth and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting.

(2 Corinthians 11:3) But I am afraid, lest as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds should be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.

(2 Corinthians 11:13-15) For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their deeds.

(Galatians 2:4) But it was because of the false brethren who had sneaked in to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, in order to bring us into bondage.

(Ephesians 4:14-15) As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves, and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him, who is the head, even Christ,

(Ephesians 5:6) Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.

(Philippians 3:2) Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the false circumcision;

(Colossians 2:8) See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.

(Colossians 2:18-19) Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self-abasement and the worship of the angels, taking his stand on visions he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind, and not holding fast to the head, from whom the entire body, being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments, grows with a growth which is from God.

(2 Thessalonians 2:9-11) that is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. And for this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they might believe what is false,

(1 Timothy 1:3-7) As I urged you upon my departure for Macedonia, remain on at Ephesus, in order that you may instruct certain men not to teach strange doctrines, nor to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies, which give rise to mere speculation rather than furthering the administration of God which is by faith. But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. For some men, straying from these things, have turned aside to fruitless discussion, wanting to be teachers of the Law, even though they do not understand either what they are saying or the matters about which they make confident assertions.

(1 Timothy 4:1) But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons

(2 Timothy 3:13) But evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.

(Titus 1:10-11) For there are many rebellious men, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, who must be silenced because they are upsetting whole families, teaching things they should not teach, for the sake of sordid gain.

(Hebrews 3:13) But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called “Today,” lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

(2 Peter 2:1-3) But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned; and in their greed they will exploit you with false words;

(1 John 2:26) These things I have written to you concerning those who are trying to deceive you.

(1 John 4:1) Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

(2 John 1:7-8) For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist. Watch yourselves, that you might not lose what we have accomplished, but that you may receive a full reward.

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