Discernment in Dark Times

In the past week, I’ve met three new people, all of whom I thought were Christians. Two, a man and his wife, own a store near me and our discussions were uplifting, and I sensed a connection with them that I often feel when I meet someone of like faith. The Bible tells us that our spirit bears witness with God’s Spirit that we are His children. It also tells us that we are Christ’s body and are unified or, in other words, one in Christ. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin and we recognize that in each other.

But not always.

The third person I met this week struck up a conversation with me as I was making a purchase at a local store. She admired my necklace, which is a symbol called “grafted in” which I got when we were in Israel in 2008. She began talking to me about learning Hebrew and Arabic and after ringing up my purchase, she began talking fast, telling me her story. At first I thought we shared the same faith, until she began to tell me that I had to believe something that I could not agree with biblically. When I dared to tell her I disagreed, she flat out told me I was wrong.

Hmm…

While I did not want to get into an argument with her, I also wanted to know what she believed about Jesus Christ because she was not focused on Him but on these other things that she was absolutely certain that I should believe. So yeah…I argued a bit. True confession – I’m strong-willed and probably too much so at times.

It’s not that I have Scripture completely figured out and understand everything about God. If I could do that, I would be God, and I am definitely NOT Him. But I do know that there are certain things that Jesus said that are irrefutable if you believe the Bible, which I do. We can disagree on when prophecy will be fulfilled, how long creation took after God spoke it into existence, and all sorts of things in Scripture that might not make sense–especially without deeper study.

But there are others, particularly about Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection, his virgin birth, the Trinity, and what Jesus said about Himself, that aren’t open for debate if we call ourselves Christians.

This woman didn’t say she was a Christian, just that she had been baptized with the Holy Spirit and could speak in all sorts of languages. Languages or “tongues” was her only focus, and I found myself silently praying for her to stop talking about tongues so that I could ask her what she believed about Jesus.

The thing about the Holy Spirit that we need to remember is that He doesn’t magnify Himself. He magnifies Jesus. He is equally God, but it’s almost as if He works incognito. He comforts, convicts, and prays for us when we don’t know what to say, among many other things. He also gives spiritual gifts to those who believe that Jesus is Lord.

It took the woman time to take a breath, but I did get a quick moment to quote this verse to see how she would respond. “If we confess with our mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in our hearts God raised Him from the dead, we will be saved.”

Her tone when I said the word “saved” was curious and perhaps a little telling. Honestly, I didn’t recognize it then, but the encounter troubled me for hours afterward. It was time to do a little research of my own.

The truth is, we live at a time in which we need to be aware and discerning. The enemy is a master deceiver and counterfeits everything and anything that is of God. The spirit of antichrist is real and in many places and if the evil one can imitate or counterfeit Christ, he can also counterfeit the Holy Spirit and His work, and he’ll even do it with “signs and wonders” to convince us.

The Scriptures say to test the spirits to see if they are of God. Don’t think that just because you hear something from a preacher or a Bible study or have an experience that seems to come from God that it does. If the experience is from God, it will stand the test of Scripture.

The apostle John said, “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.” (1 John 4:1-3)

I suppose this interaction should not have surprised me. We used to live near a pastor and his family. I thought they also were Christians until I had a conversation with his wife. They did not believe in the Trinity and tried to explain a “Oneness” doctrine to me. She was also big on speaking in tongues, but she kept telling me about this and that experience. I finally thought to ask if her faith was a works-based doctrine or by God’s grace alone. She admitted it was based on works.

All religions are based on works, and works do not save us from our sin. If someone tells me they are not a religious person, that’s actually nice to hear. Jesus wasn’t religious either. He came to restore our relationship with His Father by canceling our sins, the debts God had against us for breaking His commands.

The Bible puts it this way: “And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.”

Both of these women–the pastor’s wife and the clerk at the store–came at me insisting that they had the truth. But their spirit didn’t set well with mine, so I did what John tells us to do – asked a question that tested the spirit within them. Neither one of them spoke of Jesus as Lord and that His work on the cross is the only way to be made right with the Father.

We live in a time when we need to be wise and discerning. Pay attention to what people are saying. Don’t accept everything we hear and don’t be afraid to question. We might be canceled or shouted down, as I almost was in the store last week, but asking about Jesus was as much for her as it was for me.

Because in the end, when God comes to judge the world, He is going to ask us what we did with Jesus. What we believe matters. Who are we trusting in? There is a heaven and there is a hell. God wants everyone to be with Him in heaven. He intended hell for the devil and his angels/demons. But if a human being doesn’t want to spend eternity with God in heaven, and they choose hell, God is not going to force them to go against their will. He does give us that choice.

God and satan exist, though they are NOT equals. God is sovereign and one day will do away with satan and his demonic followers for good. But that time is not yet. We still live in an age where spiritual battles for the souls of humanity are going on beyond what our eyes can see. And the enemy of our souls is a great deceiver. So we need to be wise and aware.

I urge anyone reading this to search the Scriptures for yourself. Ask God for grace to understand, to see Jesus. He is everywhere in both testaments. Sixty-six books all point to Him. His story is the reason the Bible was given to us–so we could know Him.

Jeremiah 29:12-13 – “Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.”

May that be our goal.

~Selah