How Do You Know Whom to Trust?

Have you ever flipped through various Christian TV channels and felt confused by the maze of doctrines and theologies that are being proclaimed all over the air-waves, and you just weren’t sure who to believe? Some of your friends may have recommended one minister and bashed another, yet a different group you trust has a completely opposite viewpoint. How do you  make sense of it all? Whom do you trust, and whom do you need to avoid like the plague?

Jesus warned us to  “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them…” Matthew 7:15-16a NIV

Their fruit is  made obvious by the words that come out of their mouths. What they say will reveal who they truly are inside. Is their message Christ-centered or ME-centered? Is there a balance of truth, grace, and obedience? What is the apparent motive of their message? Who is being built up by their message?

For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart. Matthew 12:34b AMP

Unfortunately, if we are not steeped in Truth from God’s Word, we will easily be deceived or confused and could fall for just about anything. In Colossians 2, Paul warns the church at Colosse not to fall for “persuasive arguments.” In their culture, the tendency was to blend pieces of what they had learned from the popular philosophy of the culture around them with the bits of Gospel they had learned. That sounds familiar in today’s world; doesn’t it?

In this setting, Paul knew then what we are seeing now, and that is that is that our lack of Scriptural grounding will set the church up as prey for all the religious kooks out there, lurking from every corner to manipulate the hearts of believers for their own gain.

The large majority of modern Christians are at a crisis point in their spiritual lives because they have an extremely fragile foundation of Biblical Truth. Most do not even pick up their Bibles more than once per week, and some read Scripture even less often. The percentage of believers who base the entirety of their doctrinal beliefs merely on what they hear from popular teachers and preachers is alarming, and the danger is even greater when you add in the fact that most of them rarely verify through Scripture what they are being taught.

Too often, we hear messages about how fabulous we are and how we can be rich and successful, but we miss out on truly knowing God and having an intimate relationship with Him. We miss the awe, the depth, a life of trust and obedience, and growth of character through our trials. There is so much more to following Christ than having our wish lists filled.

Paul explained in 2 Timothy that there would come a time such as this:

For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.  2 Timothy 4:3-4 NIV

There will be many who will tickle the ears with nothing more than a “feel good message,” and they will lull people into a false sense of security that will actually veer them completely away from God. There will also be many teachers who will use the Gospel for manipulation, to pump their egos, to fuel their greed, to elevate their need for power, or to spew a mean-spirited version of legalism that is far from the true heart of the Father.

It’s a mess out there!

In 1 John 4, John instructs  us to “test the spirits” to see if they are from God. He explains that anyone who teaches the truth of Christ in the flesh is from God, and those who don’t teach Christ in the flesh are not from God. That is the basic litmus test, but unless you know the Truth about Christ, this will still be an impossible test.

Kay Arthur says in her inductive study of the book of Colossians: “The basic lie of all false religious systems has been to deny the deity of Christ or His sufficiency to save us. Many times this lie is made even more dangerous by the fact that the false teachers are within the church…

“Are there people in churches today whose teachings about Jesus Christ do not line up with what you have seen in His Word this week? Your only protection against believing a lie and being deluded by a persuasive argument is to know the Truth.”

Understand, however, that there is a difference between heresy and disagreement over opinions. Be very careful to recognize that just because a teacher differs from you in opinion, that does not make them a false prophet. According to John, the bottom line is what they teach about Jesus.

Here are some things I know about Jesus Christ just from Colossians 1. And, yes, there is much more! If the popular teacher you are listening to doesn’t teach this, turn him/her off!

• God is the Father of Jesus Christ (v. 3)
• Jesus is our Lord. (v. 3)
• We have been rescued from the dominion of darkness and brought into the Kingdom of His Son, Jesus. (v. 13)
• In Christ, we have redemption and the forgiveness of sins. (v. 14)
• Jesus is the image of the invisible God. (Like a mirror image, He is the exact representation of God.) (v. 15)
• He is the first born of all creation. (That does not mean that He is a created being, but that He is supreme over all creation. He existed before all of creation, and everything that was created was created by Him.) (v. 15)
• By Jesus Christ, ALL things were created – things in heaven and on earth, things visible and invisible, thrones, powers, rulers, and authorities – ALL things! (v. 16)
• All things were created BY Him and FOR Him. (v. 16)
• Christ is before ALL things. (v. 17)
• In Him, ALL things hold together. (v. 17)
• Jesus is the head of the body, the church. We are His body, and He has authority over all the church. (v. 18)
• Jesus is the beginning and the first born from among the dead, the first one to be raised from the dead and receive His glorified, eternal body. (v. 18)
• In everything, Christ is supreme! (v. 18)
• All of the fullness of God dwells in Christ. (v. 19)
• All of the fullness of God dwells through Christ to reconcile to Himself all things. (v. 20) Yes, it is through Christ that God has reconciled us to Himself!
• Christ made peace through His blood shed on the cross. (v. 20)
• We have been reconciled to God by Christ’s physical body through death. (v. 22)
• By Christ’s death, we are holy in God’s sight – without blemish and free from accusation. (v. 22)
• Christ was afflicted. (v. 24)
• The mystery of the Gospel that has been hidden for ages has finally been made known to us, the greatness of the riches of this mystery, that is “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (v. 26-27)

Let’s just add a few things from the Gospel of John 1 while we are at it too!

• Jesus is the Word. (v. 1)
• He was with God, and He is God. (v. 1)
• He was in the beginning with God. (v. 2)
• All things were made through Christ. As a matter of fact, without Christ, there is nothing in creation what was made. (v. 3)
• In Jesus is life. This life is the light of man. (v. 4)
• Jesus was fully God and fully man. Through Jesus, God became flesh and dwelt among us. (v. 14)
• We have seen the Father’s glory through Christ. (v. 14)
• Jesus Christ is full of grace and truth. (v. 14)
• From the fullness of Christ, we have received grace. (v. 16)
• Jesus is at the Father’s side. He is God with us who made God known to us. (v. 18)

Ephesians 1:18-23 tells us that Christ is seated at the right hand of God and is “far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.” This tells us that He is eternal, and all things are under His feet! If anyone diminishes the deity or authority of Christ, do not listen to their teaching.

Of course, there is so much more about Jesus! His grace, the fulfillment of the Law and the New Covenant, our supreme example and source of love, our brother and fellow heir, our best friend, our righteousness, our peace, and so much more!

The point I want to make in all of this is that we must get into the Word and know it fully. Know who Christ is and be fluent in the Truth of the Gospel. Then, we won’t be duped by the false religious hacks who stir confusion for the mere purpose of padding their own pockets and egos. Don’t fall for it!

Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica,for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. Acts 17:11 NIV

Let’s fall in love with the Word of God and be well-versed in the truth!