Understanding and Truth vs Deception and False Doctrine
by M. Fortner
The reason for this article is to increase the level of your understanding, whether Charismatic or nonCharismatic, about the use of wisdom and understanding as it applies to God's Word.
No one with a true passion for God will reject what is truly from God, but they might believe something that is false because of their great hunger for anything that might be from God. This is the reason Charismatics tend to believe so much falsehood and accept so many false ministers. They eat-up anything that could be of God.
It is no accident that the present revival did not start with any of the big name preachers, and the churches of those preachers have remained untouched by the revival. There is much false teaching within the Charismatic movement. But nonCharismatics also teach doctrines that are false. If God only used people with 100% accurate doctrine, there would be no one he could use today.
We should not accept every teaching just because it comes from a big name preacher or from a big denomination. It is very dangerous to suppose that because someone can hear from God and is a respected big-name minister that he is above error. God does not give complete revelation concerning the whole of God's word to any one man or group. No minister is infallible. Therefore, God does indeed use men that are NOT 100% accurate in their teachings. This means, that your favorite big-name minister is has some teachings that are false; some ministers have a lot of false teachings. So just because a minister is used in a miraculous way, does not mean everything they teach is true; this goes double for denominations.
In fact, God will use anyone who preaches Jesus Christ -- Son of God, crucified and resurrected, whether Catholic or Protestant, regardless of all their additional doctrines which are only man's theology. God can even use false ministers-- those who are in the ministry only because they chose it over some other profession (those not truly called of God to be ministers). God will work through and within their doctrinal framework but it does not mean he approves of every word that comes from their mouths.
Therefore, you should not be surprised or upset to learn that your favorite minister is teaching some things that are false. Many ministers make the mistake of believing that God approves of their doctrines because they are successful big-name ministers. People may get healed of cancer and blind eyes open but that does not mean the preacher has accurate doctrine in all areas.
Too many lay people and local pastors look to big-name ministers as men who speak for God, and will therefore believe every word that they say without question. "If so-and-so teaches it, it must be true." Likewise, when God speaks to an unknown preacher or prophet people will say, "If that were true God would have told big-name preacher. Why would God tell you and not big-name preacher? Who do you think you are?! Where are your references?" As a result, big name ministers are seemingly above accountability, often teaching things that partly or totally false; while the people ignore the unknown teacher, especially if he contradicts their favorite minister.
Deception is rarely obviously false, if it were, it would not be deception. The very nature of deception is that it looks like truth, and is usually partly true. If Satan can mix just enough truth, with just enough false, and get you to believe it, he has blinded you to the real truth. The more knowledge and understanding you have the better able you are to discern truth from error. Notice that I said knowledge and understanding, there is a lot of knowledge being taught today but without understanding; in other words, false doctrine. So it is very important to have understanding, knowledge without understanding will not lead you to the truth. The New Age movement has knowledge, Hindus have knowledge, every false cult has knowledge but they lack understanding to discern what is true and what is false.
A computer can quote the whole Bible frontwards and backwards but it cannot understand what the Bible teaches. Many people are like that. Even having a Ph.D. will not give you understanding, understanding comes from the Holy Spirit and is actually a gift of the Holy Spirit which is called a Word of Wisdom, or word of understanding.
A word of knowledge is when you suddenly know something factual you did not know before, such as someone being in danger so you should pray for them, also when a preacher has a word that someone has cancer and that God is going to heal them. A word of wisdom is when you understand something in the Scriptures that you did not understand before.
As you grow in your Christian walk you can also grow in the overall amount of wisdom and understanding which you have. Jesus gave a parable in which a man gives some money (talents) to invest, to three different people.
The talent was a unit of money, but it applies to every area of our lives. Our modern usage of the word "talent" (as in artistic talent) came from this passage. Jesus said a man was given five talents and put the money to work and gained five more, another man was given two talents and gained two more, but the one who was given only one talent hid his talent in the ground and did not gain anymore.
"His master replied, 'You wicked, lazy servant! . . . Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents. For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.'" (Matthew 25:26,28-29)
Some people can only see wealth getting in this story. The point of the story is, when we use what God has given us, we will be given more, and when we do not use what God has given us, what he has given will be taken away and given to those who are using what God has given. This applies to every area of life, whether it be the work of our hands or artistic ability. It also applies to such areas as wisdom and understanding of the Scriptures. Those people that are willing to believe God and seek truth will be given more understanding of God's Word, but those who refuse to accept truth, but choose to believe that which is not true, what wisdom and understanding of the Scriptures they had will be taken away.
I have seen this principle at work in my own life and in the lives of others. I started out by studying Bible prophecy because I was called of God to do so, and in the process I continued to gain in wisdom and understanding. I did not foolishly say to myself that I knew it all and that there was no more to learn. I continued to study the Scriptures and I accepted that which the Holy Spirit revealed to me. As a result, God gave me understanding of many other passages of Scripture and doctrines, not just Bible prophecy.
I would come to a passage of Scripture and say to myself that I could not possibly understand it, "there is no way" I would think, but God would prompt me to study it so I would pray for the understanding and study it again. To my surprise I would understand it, it was the Holy Spirit, not my intellect.
Back in 1985 I heard a preacher on the radio talking about his success in life principles, so I got a pen and was going to write down his address to order the tapes; then he gave the price, about $100 for the 10 or 20 tapes. I immediately knew from the about of understanding I had at the time, that this fellow was a minister only in it for the money. Then in the early 90s I saw him on TV and immediately knew that not only was he in it for the money, but that he was a totally fake preacher. "How could anyone be taken in by him?" I wondered, because he was such a bad actor. It was not long when he was exposed as being a false minister by a network news program and lost his church.
Consider how the parable of the talents applies to churches and denominations today. God has given us his Holy Spirit and gifts, but those who were at one time Bible-believing, morally upright, and God fearing, have rejected the Holy Spirit and the gifts. As a result, many of these denominations have gradually become apostate by accepting homosexuality, adultery, and even mocking and making fun of the gifts of the Spirit.
This even includes many Baptist churches. Take for example the very large Wake Forest Baptist church in North Carolina. Fifty years ago, if you had prophesied to them that they would welcome practicing homosexuals and lesbians into their church they would have called you a false prophet and tried to stone you, but they have done that very thing. What they once had has been taken from them and is being given to those who believe and use the gifts. Charisma Magazine reported that the Pentecostals and Charismatics are growing fast while most other groups are declining in members, such that by the year 2030 50% of all Christians throughout the world will be in the Pentecostal/Charismatic category! But having the Holy Spirit in fullness is not enough, they must also accept accurate doctrines or they will find themselves in the same category as those that came before; what they have will be taken away.
There are still some Christians which do not believe in the gifts and have not become apostate but they are in danger and will become apostate if they continue to reject the move of the Spirit today. Don Basham said, "When Christians are faced with a choice between religious tradition and new spiritual experience, more times than not they choose the tradition over the new experience" (p.151). But since the Pentecostals and Charismatics are moving forward with the gifts and the move of the Spirit in the world today, they will be given more.
However, there are some Pentecostals who are strongly denominational, and therefore they do not accept many things which the non-denominational Charismatics believe, and because the denominations think they have all the truth and enforce their version of the truth upon the churches, they will be the ones among this group to reject the next move of God.
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