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The bible says we will be guided. We all need a guide. When we go to places where we have never been, we need a guide to help us get there. Do they know the trail? Will they take the correct fork in the river? Do they have experience with the terrain?
In the bible there are blind guides. They lead their followers into a pit.
Leave them; they are blind guides. If the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit. (Matthew 15:14)
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary says
But God sends His Spirit to guide us into all truth.
When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. (John 16:13)
Gills Exposition again,
Yes, we do go astray, don't we. It is grace abounding that we have a guide. Though we are no longer blind, we do have eyesight problems. Though we are saved by grace we still dwell in our flesh. The flesh obscures the full vision of truth. Our desires, our sins, our temptations all cloud our vision. The Spirit is there to guide us into all truth. He sees perfectly and He knows the way. He illuminates the bible for us, Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. (Psalm 119:5)
Praise the Lord we have a guide who will draw us along the path, until finally, FINALLY, at the glorification, we can fully see. Our guide will be Jesus in the flesh, with us and never leaving us.
Until then, follow the bright, holy, pure Guide: The Spirit of Truth. His path leads upward. The paths of the blind guides only lead downward, into a pit.
In the bible there are blind guides. They lead their followers into a pit.
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| Janet Fong. Share alike |
Leave them; they are blind guides. If the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit. (Matthew 15:14)
Both teachers and taught are alike ignorant of the truth. The people had no spiritual light, and, applying to their appointed pastors, they learned nothing profitable from them; for these were as much in the dark as themselves. (Pulpit Commentary)
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary says
"Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch—Striking expression of the ruinous effects of erroneous teaching!"Those who guide this people mislead them, and those who are guided are led astray. And those who are guided by them are brought to confusion. (Isaiah 9:16)
But God sends His Spirit to guide us into all truth.
When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. (John 16:13)
Gills Exposition again,
He is as a guide, he goes before, leads the way, removes obstructions, opens the understanding, makes things plain and clear, teaches to profit, and leads in the way men should go, without turning to the right hand or left, which, without such a guide, they would be apt to do.
Yes, we do go astray, don't we. It is grace abounding that we have a guide. Though we are no longer blind, we do have eyesight problems. Though we are saved by grace we still dwell in our flesh. The flesh obscures the full vision of truth. Our desires, our sins, our temptations all cloud our vision. The Spirit is there to guide us into all truth. He sees perfectly and He knows the way. He illuminates the bible for us, Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. (Psalm 119:5)
Praise the Lord we have a guide who will draw us along the path, until finally, FINALLY, at the glorification, we can fully see. Our guide will be Jesus in the flesh, with us and never leaving us.
Until then, follow the bright, holy, pure Guide: The Spirit of Truth. His path leads upward. The paths of the blind guides only lead downward, into a pit.
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| The blind leading the blind. The pit awaits them and their followers |
You are not the condemner of people to the pit! For a woman who so articulate in her words and faith, it is heart wrenching to see you talk so poorly of these women!!!!
ReplyDeleteAnonymous, the bible says (and I quoted the verse above) that false teachers lead their followers into the pit. Both women are false teachers. Their followers are being led into a pit.
DeleteAs far as their articulateness, that is not the benchmark to determine if they are teaching truth. Most false teachers are glib. If they weren't, they wouldn't get many followers, would they? The world's most sinful false teacher, the coming antichrist, is prophesied to be a flatterer and gaining the kingdom through words. Daniel 11:21) It is through a mixture of false the true, throwing in a little bit appealing to the desires of the heart, that the false ones gain traction, followers, hearts...and money.
Peter write:
They count it pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions, while they feast with you. They have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts trained in greed. Accursed children!
(2 Peter 2:13-14)
Hi Elizabeth, good post using appropriate Scriptures and commentaries.
ReplyDelete"Gills Exposition again, He is as a guide, he goes before, leads the way, removes obstructions, opens the understanding, makes things plain and clear, teaches to profit, and leads in the way men should go, without turning to the right hand or left, which, without such a guide, they would be apt to do".
Of course, it´s easier to follow a guide if we are trekking on uncharted territory. But how can we trust 100% our guide. That´s when the Holy Spirit of truth comes into play as you well wrote. About guidance in the OT, I found this passage that had me perplexed for a while until I got it. “When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God with the Levitical priests carrying it, then you shall set out from your place and go after it. 4 However, there shall be between you and it a distance of about 2,000 [a]cubits by measure. Do not come near it,that you may know the way by which you shall go, for you have not passed this way before.” It seemed strange for if they had not passed that way before, how could they know the way?
They were following the presence of God of the tabernacle and relying on the guidance of the Holy Spirit revealing precise instructions to their leaders.
Now that the Christian is indwelt by the Holy Spirit, we have that inner compass that is even more accurate than the conscience that shows us the way if we remain connected to the vine. But when we stop being Bereans, checking what the leaders preach or teach against the written word of God illumined by the Holy Spirit, that´s when we are in danger of going astray.
I love the chapters teaching on the Holy Spirit. It always fills me with such a hope and renews my faith.
Grace and peace to you. Jean-Louis.
Dear Elisabeth. I know you have a heart to reveal truths from the bible. I can see that from your posts.
ReplyDeleteBut you are in no position to claim he or she to be a false teacher. I have read some posts from you proclaiming certain people to be false teachers. Maybe you should start by looking what a false teacher is.
If someone teach faith alone in Christ, is that false? No.
If someone teach grace and not law, is that false? No.
If someone teach that it is the grace of God that teaches us to say no to ungodliness, is that false? No.
If someone`s teachings is all about glorifying Jesus Christ, is that teaching false? No.
And do you know that most of those you proclaim to be false teachers, are actually proclaiming this?
I haven’t heard one single sermon from Joseph Prince where his goal has not been to lift the name of Jesus up.
Joyce Meyers teachings are all based on her experience in life, what Christ has done for her.
And I could go on and on.
Now, does it mean that all they preach are 100% correct? Probably not. Because none of us have the 100% right knowledge of the bible. So, if they do preach something you disagree with, they don’t necessarily have to be a false teacher. I disagree with your understanding in some biblical matters, but I do not go around calling you a false teacher.
False teachers pervert the gospel, leading people AWAY from Christ, and faith in Him alone. And even if you preach wrong, due to your understanding, you could repent(change your mind) about it when God grants you light on your understanding.
Jesus said that the world will understand that we are His disciples by the love we have for all the saints. We have one command, and that is to love one another. Be 100% sure if you want to say that someone is false, because it you are in a position where people read(and believe) what you say, you can be a reason someone falls because of your own misunderstanding.
I wish you the best and I hope you will reflect on this.
Thank you Anonymous for sharing what is in your heart. As you see from the time gap between when you wrote this and my response, I did reflect on your words.
DeleteI must gently disagree that I 'am in no position' to declare someone a false teacher. We ALL are in a position to do that, and in fact are commanded to. The Spirit has given us discernment to read and understand the word of God, and in His word are warnings & benchmarks to determine who is falsely teaching. Their leaven infects and destroys.
Your benchmarks are noted but are not the sole biblical benchmarks. For the one who teaches all about glorifying Jesus Christ, is that teaching false? Yes, it can be. The Pope teaches things that glorify Christ, and he’s false. Joyce Meyer teaches things that urge us to glorify Christ, and she’s false. Jehovah's Witnesses teach glory of Christ, and they’re false, Mormons teach all about the glory of Christ but they are false.
By your benchmark, the demon possessed slave girl in Acts 16 would be a genuine teacher, for she kept crying, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to you the way of salvation.” Was she saying anything false? No.
In your schema, the legion of demons who possessed the wild man in Gadara would not be false. "When the demon saw Jesus, he cried out and fell at his feet, shouting at the top of his voice, "What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, don't torture me!" Did he say anything different than other sinners who cried the same? No. Is that demon saved? No. (Luke 8:28)
Didn't Jesus say that there are some false practitioners of Christianity who even successfully cast out demons? Worked for Jesus by His name? Did works in His name? Are they saved? No. (Mt 7:22)
The key is not to blindly accept the ones who simply use Jesus' name as a sheep's clothing to camouflage their ravenousness, but to examine their works underneath. They will LOOK like sheep because they wear sheep's clothes. But inwardly they are ravening wolves.
They must preach "this same Jesus." They are not. You focus on the fact they say 'Jesus' but don’t notice he’s not the same. (Acts 1:11). They preach a different Gospel. (2 Corinthians 11:4). You focus on their 'gospel' and don’t notice it’s different.
Yes, I love the lost and I love my brethren too. I do not love the false ones' dark deeds that lead my brethren to destruction! Why would I love THAT? I love the brethren enough to warn them. You hate your brethren and allow the evil ones to lead them into a pit in the name of a false love, loving the false teachers more than the brothers in Christ or Christ Himself. You and I have a different definition of love.
You urge me to "Be 100% sure if you want to say that someone is false," and I agree. Do you think I post these things being only 50% sure? Only 70% sure? Only 20% sure? Is that what prompted your warning? Because you believe that I don't? :)
I can assure you that I do. I have mentioned that my process is to pray, read the bible, compare their teachings to the word as we are instructed, wait some more, research their own words, seek counsel, and then post. When I post I am 100% sure. It give me no joy to so and in fact, we will be called to account for every careless word we utter. (Mt 12:36). This weighs heavily on me- as your words should weigh heavily on you.
In your heartfelt concerns, I hope you go to the other bloggers who have preached some are false by name, and urge the same points of reflection. You could begin with Pastors such as Justin Peters or John MacArthur or Phil Johnson or Jim Murphy or Todd Friel or Brannon Howse and let them know they also need to be 100% sure when they declare someone a false teacher, because they have done also. I am not the only one by any means. Perhaps these mature men can offer you counsel that is deeper and more meaningful than I have done.
I wish you the best and I sincerely do hope you reflect on these verses I've shared
Oops, I come across this blog of yours and frankly speaking, I don't think it helps me spiritually to sort out who is the false teacher and who is not!
ReplyDeleteThat's too bad, because every New Testament book except Philemon speaks to the importance of this issue. We're given warnings, commands, and advice on how to grow in this area.
DeleteHeb 5:14- But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.
here is an article that may help you spiritually
https://www.ligonier.org/learn/devotionals/avoiding-false-teachers/
Avoiding False Teachers
“I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them.”
- Romans 16:17