The Gifts of Discernment & Wisdom

I know I talk a lot about people in the Church who are not truly Christians and they do not know about it. I decided to write this post to shed some light on the matter because the people that are just dabbling with Christianity and those that are in it for a little corner of heaven tend to feel offended when they hear certain comments. Granted the internet is full of people going on and on about Christ, and they are willing to condemn everyone even the real Christians. They usually hide behind the fact that they are doing it just to defend the faith.

In fact, I can think of someone who has been very popular on the internet for years now. While this person appears knowledgeable to others who are not spiritual, what they do not know about this guy is that he himself has not been saved yet. In fact that is why there is so much rage and zeal in him to accuse everyone of apostasy. While the word Jesus is found everywhere on his site and he uses the word love a lot in his writings you would think that he is working for the real God that we Christians know. But the reality is that he is not. I am aware of his site because I was impressed with him about twelve to thirteen years ago. I have now been a Christian for fifteen years and I can say without fear of repercussions from God that this guy is not a Christian, but he does not know it. Satan knows the Bible by heart and can have lengthy conversations about it too. Demons too, believe, and they have more fear of God in them than some so called Christians.

Throughout my book “Apprehended & Apprehending” I tried to help readers about the type of questions they should honestly be asking themselves in order to examine their walk with God. But for some, I know it will be useless simply because Satan’s bondage can be so blinding that you cannot see what is right under your nose. You cannot see what is obvious to everyone else, even unbelievers have radar to spot those who are not truly Christians. Christ did not quote Mathew 23:15 just to hear Himself talk. “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are.”

This crime Christ accused the Pharisees of, is also our crime today. We go around putting strenuous effort into getting people to come to know Jesus. We have not left one stone unturned just so we can find converts for our churches. Then instead of doing it for God’s glory we do it to satisfy our ego. (Just saying we are doing things for God's glory does not make it so) So we brag about the size of our Church, how it grew under our administration, we pad our resumes as if all these things make us real Christians. But, often what we fail to realize is that this is just the end result of running a business. At the end of the day, we fill the pews and pulpits with people who embrace our sects.

These people reject the true Gospel in favor of living out perverted doctrines. They have no idea what it means to ever be spiritually mature, you talk about things like brokenness, surrender, regeneration, holiness, the victorious life, Godly repentance and so on, they are totally in the dark. Some of the more educated one go about formulating some hypothesis on these subjects but never truly become real Christians. But, blessed be to God for scouting the Churches and single out His chosen ones.

So, when we are living a full Christian life, embracing the whole Bible as being God’s mercy, love and grace it is not difficult for us to decipher who is who. Through God’s grace, as you become Spirit filled mature Christian, you are like  a teacher standing in front of his class, he is able to tell which one knows the subject he is teaching, which one needs help which one is in the wrong class all together, and which one is completely out to lunch.

Sometimes we are able to see these things simply because of the gifts of the Holy Spirit which is discernment and/or wisdom. In my opinion, having those two gifts together is a little bit much for someone who is not in any kind of leadership position in Church business. It can be overwhelming, frustrating, sad, and so many emotions at the same time. These emotions seem to come from the fact that you feel so powerless with the information at your fingertips. But, like all the gifts we receive from the Holy Spirit, they grow with us, and we learn to use them better. Nevertheless, I find what does not go away is the need to sometimes be able to shut it all off and be “average” for a while.

Even if God has provided the gift of wisdom without the gift of discernment, I find with the gift of wisdom alone you can look at people and see right through them. You are able to let go of the shell on the outside and penetrate them deeper. To your mind, the outside looks like clear water. At first, I remember finding it a little bit like invading people’s privacy. But, I realized soon enough even if I close my eyes it does not change anything because you are dealing with the Spirit’s eyes. In fact this gift cannot even be contained by space. With your spiritual eyes, you are seeing with the mind of the Holy Spirit and you can be sure you are seeing what you are seeing for a good reason. I find that no matter how you turn it around, He shows you these things just so that you can see the need of the body of Christ.

I also find that sometimes God blocks Christians that He feels are not my business to see for now and sometimes He also blocks Christian leaders just because He wants to use this person in my life for a little while. Once it is done, it seems that He unblocks everything! The bottom line is that you would be surprised to see as you grow spiritually how the Holy Spirit is not stingy at all.

- IF YOU HAVE TIME -

THE REMAINING OF THIS POST IS ABOUT QUOTES RELATED TO THE POST THAT COULD BE USEFUL

Read what Oswald Chambers said:

A person who has not been born again by the Spirit of God will tell you that the teachings of Jesus are simple. But when he is baptized by the Holy Spirit, he finds that “clouds and darkness surround Him . . . .” When we come into close contact with the teachings of Jesus Christ we have our first realization of this. The only possible way to have full understanding of the teachings of Jesus is through the light of the Spirit of God shining inside us. If we have never had the experience of taking our casual, religious shoes off our casual, religious feet— getting rid of all the excessive informality with which we approach God— it is questionable whether we have ever stood in His presence. The people who are flippant and disrespectful in their approach to God are those who have never been introduced to Jesus Christ.”

Read what J.C Ryle said:

“I think there can be no question that there is an immense difference among those who profess and call themselves Christians. Beyond all dispute, there are always two classes in the outward Church—the class of those who are Christians in name and form only, and the class of those who are Christians in deed and in truth. All were not Israel who were called Israel, and all are not Christians who are called Christians. "In the visible Church," says an article of the Church of England, "the evil be ever mingled with the good."

Read what James Smith said in 1859:

There is much spurious religion in the world. Many pass for Christians—who are not. This fact places professors in solemn circumstances. When there is much counterfeit coin in circulation, people in trade are doubly cautious. They look at the proffered piece carefully, they rub it, ring it, weigh it, and test it in a variety of ways. No one will take base coin—if they know it. Nor will people take what is suspicious without examination.

Friends, have we any religion? If so, are we sure it is the genuine article? Many are deceived, and deceived to the last! The foolish virgins were. The multitudes referred to by Jesus were, when he said, "Many will say unto me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name, and in your name cast out devils, and in your name have done many wonderful works? Then I will profess unto them, I never knew you, depart from me you that work iniquity."

False Religion

Horatius Bonar died on 31 May, 1889. His words that I included in this post, were true then, they are still true today because God never changed.  Even us 'Christians', we can have our own little cults yet not being aware of it.  At the end of the day, false worship of the true God is also our personal little cults.  This is something God had to show me in my own life when he knocked religion out of me so that I could become spiritually real. Until then I was like a sponge absorbing all that I knew from my church. I was so proud thinking that I actually knew which religions were cults and I had no problem calling them on Him.

It was unthinkable to me that we too, in the mainstream Christianity could belong to the very same group we accuse with so much zeal. Like a dog with a bone, I joined all the training to know exactly what made me in mainstream Christianity, different from those we have designated as “cults”.  In my training we went through each one of these groups with a toothcomb to make sure we know how to answer them and put them right back in their places. After my training, I was pumped up and ready, I knew I belonged to the category of Christians that had their act together. I was so sure I had the truth on my side.

When God got hold of me in the wilderness process to teach me properly, during the time that He knocked religion out of me so that He could get me to the point where I became spiritually real, He took pleasure showing me my hypocritical heart, from His point of view.

What was sad, was the fact that I learned from the leaders of the Church. I was so sure it was the right thing to do. I was so sure I was in God’s will. I was so sure my training to spot false Christianity meant that I was growing, learning, and being equipped to help others. I had no idea the people I looked up to had meager understanding devoid of spirituality. I had no idea that God had a different point of view.  Suddenly I had such a spiritually healthy understanding of Matthew 7:3-5. God literally opened my spiritual eyes to see how while I consider myself qualified to talk about cults, through my training all I have learned to do is to notice the speck in my neighbor’s eyes while I have a log in mine yet, totally unaware of it.

Would you believe, this mild manner pastor who was in charge of teaching us in the Church went on to being a ‘big cheese’. He became one of the biggest guest speakers in mega conferences for his wealth of knowledge of the cults we consider counterfeit Christianity.   After he left our Church, when I saw his picture on colorful brochures as guest speaker, I knew he deserved to be there because after all, you just had to name the cult and he would tell you exactly where they went wrong and how to answer them with the Scriptures.

That is until He got hold of me, He had to teach me to get rid of those notions and take His. You see, the problem was not the fact that what this pastor was teaching was wrong. The problem was the fact that we had no idea that we too in the Church we left our first love and we are building Christianity with so much zeal, without Him. We live our Christianity through finding loopholes in His Word and we think we can get away with them. This mentality will not change until we learn to see Salvation and the Christian life from His point of view. Right now all that we have is our point of view that we bring to Him.

Do you have any idea how humiliating it is to think you are so sure of what you know and God get hold of you all of the sudden He is more concerned with the log in your eyes than what you thought was a priority? One of my big surprises was the fact that He did not care about these people who actually are living in cults.  As He moved in to help me get real, He told me my child you are in the same boat as far as I am concerned. But, it was not about them, it was about making me see my log first before I could be really useful to Him according to His will. Yet, I knew His goal was not to humiliate me, but to drill in my heart and soul that His thoughts are higher than my thoughts, and if I wanted the real McCoy, then I better stay close in the Spirit.

Happy Holidays!

 (Horatius Bonar, "False Religion and Its Doom")

"I will lay your corpses in front of your idols and 
 scatter your bones around your altars." Ezek. 6:5
There is such a thing as false religion.
It may be earnest and zealous, yet false.
No amount of sincerity or zeal will make 
that true, which is in itself false.
False religion is the worship of a false god, 
or the false worship of the true God.
We worship the true God untruly when we 
give him only half a heart, half a soul.
Do not think that the utterance of some true 
words, or the expression of a little sentimental 
devotion, is the true worship of the true God.

False religion is useless. 
It profits nothing and nobody, either here or hereafter. 
It is not acceptable to God. 
It will not be counted a substitute for the true. 
It does not satisfy the conscience. 
It does not make the man happy. 
It does not fill the heart. 
It does not remove burdens. 
It will not stand the fire. 
It is but wood, and hay, and stubble. 
The judgment will sweep it all away. 
It is useless both for time nor eternity, 
  both for earth nor heaven. 
It is irksome and unprofitable, only cheating 
the poor worshiper into the belief that he has 
felt or performed something good and worthy.

God abhors false religion. 
It has not one feature that is pleasing to Him. 
It is merely external. 
It is untrue. 
It is against His revelation. 
It is dishonoring to Him. 
It is self exalting. 
It is pure mockery. 
It is rottenness and death. 
It is a mouthful of words, a handful of dust and ashes. 
Therefore God abhors it.
"I will lay your corpses in front of your idols and 
 scatter your bones around your altars." Ezek. 6:5