By Human Cunning

“And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.” (Ephesians 4:11-16 ESV)

“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.” (1 John 4:1 ESV)

Not everything is at it appears. And not everyone is who they profess to be. Lying is so commonplace today that you can begin to wonder if anyone tells the truth anymore. Most everything can be faked, and photoshopped, and altered in one way or another, and there is just so much deception and fakery in the gatherings of what is called “church,” and in the political realm, and in the media, including coming from newscasters, that it is hard to tell what is real anymore. It is hard to know who is telling the truth.

So, we, as the body of Christ, need to be speaking the truth in love, one to the other, because so many people are being lied to by trusted individuals, like pastors and famous authors and politicians and newscasters, etc. So much deception is being handed out via the media and social media, and social media memes, and “Christian” movies. And so much is being faked and orchestrated with hidden agendas, and so we can’t take everything at face value. So we are not to believe every spirit, but we are to test them.

For many people today, at least here in America, are being deceived by humans who are cunning, crafty, and deceitful in their scheming. And so many pastors and church congregations now are giving way to such craftiness by following marketing schemes and philosophies on how to grow their “churches,” i.e. businesses, which they are being taught to market to the people of the world. And so they have made many alterations to the church and to the Scriptures in order to attract the world to their gatherings.

So, the encouragement here is to not believe every spirit but to test them all against the truth of the Scriptures, in context. But if the lies are coming from people who are not supposedly teaching the Scriptures, or who are not giving out supposed biblical messages, but who are speaking on worldly things, such as politics or medicine or any subject, really, then we just need to pray for discernment and we need to do research, as God leads, and we need to see if what they say adds up. And God will give us wisdom if we are willing to follow the wisdom he gives us.

[Matthew 7:15-23; Matthew 24:11-14; John 10:1-15; 2 Peter 2:1-22; 1 Timothy 1:3-7; 1 Timothy 6:3-10; 1 John 4:1-6; Jude 1:3-23]

By Human Cunning

Video Talk

March 15, 2023

https://youtu.be/4G2SjOvHAM8

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For Our Nation  

An Original Work / September 11, 2012

Bombs are bursting. Night is falling.

Jesus Christ is gently calling

You to follow Him in all ways.

Trust Him with your life today.

Make Him your Lord and your Savior.

Turn from your sin. Follow Jesus.

He will forgive you of your sin;

Cleanse your heart, made new within.

Men betraying: Our trust fraying.

On our knees to God we’re praying,

Seeking God to give us answers

That are only found in Him.

God is sovereign over all things.

Nothing from His mind escaping.

He has all things under His command,

And will work all for good.

Jesus Christ is gently calling

You to follow Him in all ways.

Men deceiving: We’re believing

In our Lord, and interceding

For our nation and its people

To obey their God today.

He is our hope for our future.

For our wounds He offers suture.

He is all we need for this life.

Trust Him with your life today.

https://vimeo.com/379406352