NOTE FROM PASTOR “Wind & Waves”
Here in southern California, we’re no strangers to wind and waves. This is Santa Ana wind season: extremely dry, down-sloped winds that originate inland and affect coastal California. The power of wind and waves is deceptive, enjoyable but dangerous. So is spiritual error. The Church today is susceptible and vulnerable to falsehood. Why is this? It is because Christians lack discernment. Christians today more than ever are bombarded with spiritual instruction, books, magazines, seminars, internet teachers, television evangelists, pastors and Bible teachers…all who claim to offer sound biblical instruction, but who in reality do not. The entire Bible from beginning to end is chock full of calls to discern. Hosea warned Israel, “Whoever is wise, let him understand these things; whoever is discerning, let him know them. For the ways of the LORD are right, and the righteous will walk in them, but transgressors will stumble in them” (Hosea 14:9). It was said of the captive Jewish youth in Babylon that they were “showing intelligence in every branch of wisdom, endowed with understanding and discerning knowledge” (Daniel 1:4). Proverbs extols that “discernment is on the lips of the wise” (10:13). The sons of Issachar who came to help King David in his struggle against King Saul were to be men “who discerned the times, with knowledge of what Israel should do” (1 Chronicles 12:32). Jesus chided the people of Israel for not being able to “discern the signs of the times” (Matthew 16:3). And the Apostle Paul warned the Ephesians to “be very careful then how you live (walk), not as unwise but as wise” (Ephesians 5:16). God wants us to learn to distinguish between the genuine and the false. There has been too much uncritical lethargy in the Church, too much following after the crowd, and too much willingness to be deceived. We do this because it is easier. It is hard work to discern, for discernment is not distinguishing between right and wrong, but between right and almost-right. Jesus commanded us not only to pray, but to “watch and pray” (Matthew 26:41). The Church has fallen asleep in the light and it is time to awake from slumber! Biblical error doesn’t wear a flashing siren, it is subtle, deceptive, popular, mainstream, attractive and “shiny.” This is why the New Testament is replete with warnings to “beware!” of false teaching. False teaching masquerades as light, and that is as disguised as it can be! What exactly is spiritual discernment? Here is a good definition from Jay Adams’ book A Call to Discernment: “Discernment is the ability to distinguish God’s thoughts and ways from all others.” Satan will deceptively make error appear to be Truth and so we must know how to discern the good from the false, for not all that glitters is gold. I was listening to the Frank Sontag show on KKLA and he was speaking to this very issue of discernment. Frank was saved by Christ out of New Age paganism in 2010 and has a lot of insight. He took a call from a Christian young lady who took umbrage with him for calling her self-help seminar, with its affirmation cards and success imaging, Satanic-inspired error directly opposed to the Gospel. He asked her, “Where is Christ in all this?” She replied that she just “inserts Jesus into the spots that call for power and help.” This is the dangerous condition of the American Church today. It is a free-for-all, hodge-podge, Christianized secularism and paganism. Just throw Jesus into the mix, and presto, it’s Christian! Hebrews 5:14 says that “solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good from evil.” America has too few Christians feasting on solid food. Most people are gorging themselves with baby food. The Apostle Paul has told us that as Christians we “should no longer be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men in crafty, deceitful scheming, but grow up in Christ” (Ephesians 4:14-16). We will spend many weeks in this series, learning how to discern truth from almost-truth, and why it is important. May we desire to be like King Solomon, who when offered one thing from God chose the ability to have a “hearing heart so that he could judge the people well by being able to discern between good and evil” (1 Kings 3:9).
