Have you ever served on a jury or been a witness in the courtroom? Or perhaps you’ve seen court proceedings on television? The witnesses are sworn in before giving their testimony. The witness takes an oath to “tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help me God.” Anyone who is caught perjuring will be punished by the court.
As believers in Jesus Christ, we are witnesses to the world in God’s court. We are to testify to the truth of Jesus Christ. Those who believe in Jesus will be saved from God’s judgment of sin. There is no one without sin and all in need of a Savior. (Romans 3:23)
Perjurers are going to be among us to deceive many. Jesus warned us and told us to watch out for them.
Matthew 24:10-11 NIV
At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people.
These false prophets and teachers will slyly distort the truth. It may look good. These teachings may sound good. And it may even sound Christian complete with Christian-ese language. Peter also warned us about those.
2 Peter 2:1-2 NIV
But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute.
How do we know if what someone is teaching is false?
First we need to know the One who is the Truth.
John 14:6 NIV
Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
Once we know Jesus as our personal Savior and have a relationship with Him, we will know His voice.
John 10:27-28 NIV
My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand.
Then we are not to believe everything we hear, but to test it to see if it lines up with the Word of God.
1 John 4:1-3 NIV
Dear friends, 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. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.
Jesus is the only way to the Father, our God. There is no other way! Period. Recorded in the Scriptures are warnings that godlessness and wickedness will suppress the truth. (Romans 1:18) Beware of those teachings. Flee from them.
Let us also pray for those who are perjurers and those being deceived. Let's pray for them to see the real Light of Jesus Christ.Follow nothing but the Truth!
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9 gracious comments:
you do indeed speak Truth here.
Thank you for speaking and encouraging the truth. In a time when the truth is often watered down and/or twisted, it is good to hear you point to the Word of God.
In Him,
Nancy douglas
Convicting post
I can not say Amen enough!! These message really needs to be out there more often!! We as Christian really need to pray b/c Oprah is so lost and it's so sad God has bless her so much I can't help to think " blessed is he that belives and has never seen" the hands of Jesus.marina
For anyone else interested in this, I also wrote something on it in my blog a couple months ago entitled BE WARNED. There are some extra references and footnotes from the original email that I received. Thanks Shonda for putting this out again. It can't be said enough. One day every knee shall bow, every tongue confess, that JESUS CHRIST IS LORD!!
AMEN! 100% truth all the time..Our Father is truth...I love that Casting Crowns song..If HIS people pray..if you get a chance to listen to it, you will be pleasantly surprised at whose name pops up in it..as one people listen to other than God...love ya thanks for email!
Hey I just left a post and a link to your post on Truth/false prophets...hope that is okay, but I didn't want to repeat what you already said..you said it well! love you Princess! Darla
Amen!!
Shonda, this is so incredibly written! What a great post! Reading through it my mind was taking me back to times, that I know now, I was being duped by "fellow believers". It is a scary thing. One I'd rather not dapple in. I want to stay true to the True God and TRUTH!
Thank you so much for this!
Tam
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