“Now I urge you, brethren, keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and hindrances contrary to the teaching which you learned, and turn away from them. For such men are slaves, not of our Lord Christ but of their own appetites; and by their smooth and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting. For the report of your obedience has reached to all; therefore I am rejoicing over you, but I want you to be wise in what is good and innocent in what is evil. The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.” (Romans 16:17-20 NASB1995)

Who are those today who cause dissensions and hindrances contrary to the teachings of the Scriptures? They are charlatans (impostors, swindlers) and “wolves in sheep’s clothing,” i.e. those who give off an outward appearance of being of genuine faith in Jesus Christ but who are actually malicious, deceitful, and dangerous people who hide their true nature behind a disguise of all goodness. They trick and deceive and manipulate, and they twist the Scriptures to their advantage to teach the lies, and to abolish the truth.

And many of them are people in positions of influence, power, rule, and authority within church denominations and Bible seminaries and universities, and within the gatherings of what are called “churches.” And they serve as pastors, elders, overseers, deacons, and Bible teachers. And some of them are very famous people, too, who are missionaries or evangelists or book authors and public speakers of notoriety. They have much persuasion over the people and are able to convince them to believe the lies they created.

And then the people who believe the lies they are being taught act upon those lies, sometimes going against those who are literally teaching the truth of God’s word. They do this because they have been sold the lies, and so they embrace the lies as though they are the truth while they reject the truth as though it is the lie. And so they may end up supporting God’s enemies while they hurt and injure and mistreat the Lord’s true servants and messengers. And all because they did not test what they were hearing.

And the way in which many of these “wolves in sheep’s clothing” have convinced so many people to believe the lies in rejection of the truth is that they teach the Scriptures out of context, and they twist God’s words to make them say what they do not say if taught in the correct biblical context. And they indoctrinate the people with the lies from birth on up to old age. And then we live in this fast paced world when so many people want everything short and quick and simple, which often opens the door to many lies.

So, we are to be people of God who keep our eye on those who cause hindrances to the Christian faith via teaching lies taught as truth. And the only way we can discern the lies from the truth is to be students of the Scriptures who study them in their appropriate biblical context, led by the Spirit, who test what we are hearing against the Scriptures taught in context so we know whether or not what we are hearing is the truth. For so many lies are taught from Scriptures taught outside of their true biblical context.

But those who make a practice of lying and deceiving can be very charming and manipulative and believable. They know exactly what “buttons to push” to get the responses that they desire. And they know how to “sweet talk” the people to get them to believe the lies. But just because it feels good and it sounds good doesn’t at all mean that it is good and right and just and kind. And this is why it is so critical that we are testing the spirits to see which ones are of God via studying the Scriptures in their biblical context.

(Matthew 7:15-23; Matthew 24:11-24; Luke 6:26; John 10:1-15; Romans 16:17-19; 2 Corinthians 11:3,13-15; Ephesians 4:11-16; Philippians 3:2; 2 Peter 2:1-22; 1 Thessalonians 5:19-22; 1 Timothy 1:3-7; 1 Timothy 6:3-10; 2 Timothy 3:1-9; 1 John 4:1-6; Jude 1:1-25)

For Jesus Christ taught that to come to him we must deny self, take up our cross daily (die daily to sin), and follow (obey) him. For if we hold on to living in sin and for self, we will lose our lives for eternity. But if we deny self, die daily to sin, by the Spirit, and we walk in obedience to our Lord and to his commands, in his power, then we have eternal life with God. For not everyone who calls him “Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one DOING (obeying) the will of God (see Luke 9:23-26; Matthew 7:21-23).

(Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 1:18-32; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 10:19-39; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22)

As the Deer

By Martin J. Nystrom
Based off Psalm 42:1

As the deer panteth for the water
So my soul longeth after You
You alone are my heart’s desire
And I long to worship You

You alone are my strength, my shield
To You alone may my spirit yield
You alone are my heart’s desire
And I long to worship You

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