Discerning the Truth from Lies

Psalms 143:9-10 ESV

“Deliver me from my enemies, O Lord!

    I have fled to you for refuge.

Teach me to do your will,

    for you are my God!

Let your good Spirit lead me

    on level ground!”

For those of us who are followers of Jesus Christ, who are our enemies? They aren’t just people who are mean and hateful and nasty to us and who do obvious evil to us in order to willfully cause us harm. Many are those who outwardly appear to be our friends, who seem “nice” and kind and caring and thoughtful, and who are friendly and charming and fun and engaging, and who know how to make us feel good about ourselves and how not to feel bad about ourselves. And so they are usually well liked people.

So, if they are so nice, why do I say they may be our enemies? Because “nice” is not necessarily telling the people the truth they need to hear, but often “nice” is lying to people by telling them what we know they want to hear, but that may send them straight to hell. For if someone is “nice,” they may be enjoyable, pleasant, amusing, polite, friendly, and acceptable (by worldly standards), but they may be charming, which can mean deceitful, manipulative, enticing, appealing, persuasive, seductive and bewitching.

So, just because someone appears “nice,” it doesn’t mean at all that he is our friend and not our enemy who is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. So we need to pray for much spiritual discernment to spot those who are our true enemies so that we do not fall prey to deceiving spirits and end up believing the lies that will send us to hell, and not the truth that will keep us out of the gates of hell and which will send us to heaven, provided we believe and we live the truth, which is then evident by what we do and say.

So we need to pray to be delivered from our enemies, but that also engages us in being spiritually discerning so that we do not fall into our enemies’ traps. And then we need to pray for the Lord to teach us to do his will and to lead us on level ground. But that is only going to take place in our lives if we are spiritually discerning and if we are students of the Scriptures who are getting our truth primarily and directly from the Scriptures, in context, and who are not relying heavily on external sources to tell us what is truth.

Mark 13:21-23 ESV

“And then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘Look, there he is!’ do not believe it. For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform signs and wonders, to lead astray, if possible, the elect. But be on guard; I have told you all things beforehand.”

Now, this doesn’t have to mean that they are saying, “Look, here is the Christ!,” meaning a literal person that they are calling “the Christ” who presently exists on this earth, though it appears that is what is intended. But they could be saying, “Look, here is the Christ!,” in the way in which they are describing Jesus Christ to us, as to his character and nature, as to his will for our lives, and as to his teachings and his promises and his warnings, etc. So, this could indeed also include mischaracterizations of both Jesus Christ and his gospel message, for this is HUGE today!

For a false christ doesn’t have to be a literal person living presently on this earth, but it could be that people are teaching “another Jesus” and a “different gospel” and a “different spirit” other than what the Scriptures teach (2 Corinthians 11:1-4). And via these lies and mischaracterizations of Christ and of his gospel message many people are being led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ to follow after this “another Jesus” who is not the true Jesus of the Scriptures, but it is a lie created by humans. For even “the elect” of God can be led astray by these charmers and their lies.

So, this brings me to something current that I have just discovered, and so I am just beginning to research this subject, and this is just another false teaching that you can add to the list of so many other false teachings that are out there which are leading many people away from the truth to follow after the lies. And this is called, “The Bible Project.” But as is the case with all deception, the lies are so cleverly blended in with the truth, and there is enough element of truth in what they say, that many people end up believing the lies, largely because they are not discerning the lies.

Now, on a surface level, “The Bible Project” may appear godly, and it is well done, for it is similar in nature to “Veggie Tales,” only not geared for children but for all people, although it is animated. But so much of it is a twisting of the Scriptures and of God’s divine nature and will for our lives, and of the divine character of Christ and the teachings of the gospel of Christ. But these videos take deception to another level, I believe, for now we are entering into what I believe is the rule of the beast and his one world religion where we all join hands across the globe and sing, “Kumbaya.” 

And “Kumbaya” typically refers to the act of joining hands together and singing “Kumbaya,” which usually means to ignore our differences and for all of us to just “get along” with one another. And this is the theme I was seeing throughout these videos which I watched, albeit I have only watched two of them. And then I watched another video discussing the wrongness of what “The Bible Project” is teaching in these animated videos – videos which are supposedly presenting the truth of the Scriptures. But from what I have seen so far, it is a very twisted truth (see video links below this devotion).

Okay, so what are my main objections so far? The first thing I noticed was that the author(s) of these videos does not teach the wrath of God but rather teaches against it. So when he presents the gospel message, the wrath of God is absent, and thus we are not saved from hell and eternal damnation at all, nor are we delivered from slavery to sin, it appears. But it seems, although it is not made really clear, that Jesus’ sacrifice for our sins was so that we could all get along together and have no more differences which divide us but so we can all live in harmony in a heaven on earth.

The whole thing to me spoke of the rule of the beast and his one world government and his one world religion with the rule of the antichrist and the suppression of truth, and the suppression of differences of beliefs where we are being forced to all get along with one another by destroying all which divides us. And this reminded me of when Obama was president of the USA, for this was one of his central messages, along with the pope, and they were “singing a duet,” so to speak. But this is where things are all headed. So we must be spiritually discerning people who separate truth from lies.

The Truth

[Matt 7:21-23; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14,24; Rom 12:1-2; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 15:1-2; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 1:5; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-17; 1 Pet 2:24; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 3:6,14-15; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15] 

My Sheep  

An Original Work / June 24, 2012  

Based off John 10:1-18 NIV

My sheep hear me. They know me.

They listen to my voice and obey.

I call them and lead them.

They know my voice, so they follow me.

They will never follow strangers.

They will run away from them.

The voice of a stranger they know not;

They do not follow him.

So, I tell you the truth that

I am the gate, so you enter in.

Whoever does enter

Will find forgiveness and will be saved.

Nonetheless whoever enters

Not by the gate; other way,

He is the thief and a robber.

Listen not, the sheep to him.

Oh, I am the Good Shepherd,

Who laid his own life down for the sheep.

I know them. They know me.

They will live with me eternally.

The thief only comes to steal and

Kill and to destroy the church.

I have come to give you life that

You may have it to the full… 

They know my voice, so they follow me.

https://vimeo.com/114938263 

The Bible Project

What’s Wrong with The Bible Project?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63b06756f7I 

The Significance of the City in the Bible (and God’s Plan for It)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yZLFmVHfaw 

How God Deals with Evil without Destroying Humanity

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_OlRWGLdnw