Teach Me, O Lord
Depending on only one teacher or preacher to "hear God's voice" is not only unwise, but is dangerous also. It's dangerous because that person is also growing in Christ and is not yet perfected, and may even be in error. If you aren't a student of the Word yourself, and he/she quotes verses to make their points, which are misapplied, you wouldn't even know it. Another scenario might be that you are in active sin, and your own ability to discern truth would be impaired; or they may be, unbeknownst to you. If you believe, hands down, that what they are saying is true, than the discernment the Holy Spirit gives you will be discarded, and will set you up to possibly believe error, and then begin to walk in it.
Eloquence and even a charismatic personality, coupled with a good delivery or a great literary style and flair, is no reason to automatically believe that what a teacher or preacher writes or speaks about is true, according to the heart and mind of God. And to attach oneself to only one or two of them exclusively can lead you astray. For one thing it can cause you to substitute your own time with God, rather in the Word or in communion with Him, and cut off your own personal relationship. Subconsciously, you begin to think, as you watch TV or read a book, that you are spending time with Him, but in reality, you are just getting more attached to a particular person, and you begin believing everything they say as "gospel."
The Word says:
…15and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation; just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, 16as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction. 17You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness,…
According to this Scripture, one's favorite teacher or preacher could be unstable, untaught (by the Spirit), or unprincipled, and you wouldn't even know it because you don't know their daily lives If this is the case, and you are "eating from this one trough" you, too will be influenced wrongly, whether you intend to be or not.
So, God's voice speaks to us in many ways and through many people and things, and not exclusively through one. He gives us His Holy Spirit to identify "the way we should go" backed up by His Word which should be hidden in our hearts, by having read it ourselves. These are indicators God gives us to stay away from getting off and from being influenced by those in error.
Again, He says of some teachers:
Titus 1:11
They must be silenced, because they are disrupting whole households by teaching things they ought not to teach--and that for the sake of dishonest gain.
2 Peter 2:3
In their greed these teachers will exploit you with fabricated stories. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.
1 Timothy 6:4-6
Eloquence and even a charismatic personality, coupled with a good delivery or a great literary style and flair, is no reason to automatically believe that what a teacher or preacher writes or speaks about is true, according to the heart and mind of God. And to attach oneself to only one or two of them exclusively can lead you astray. For one thing it can cause you to substitute your own time with God, rather in the Word or in communion with Him, and cut off your own personal relationship. Subconsciously, you begin to think, as you watch TV or read a book, that you are spending time with Him, but in reality, you are just getting more attached to a particular person, and you begin believing everything they say as "gospel."
The Word says:
…15and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation; just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, 16as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction. 17You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness,…
According to this Scripture, one's favorite teacher or preacher could be unstable, untaught (by the Spirit), or unprincipled, and you wouldn't even know it because you don't know their daily lives If this is the case, and you are "eating from this one trough" you, too will be influenced wrongly, whether you intend to be or not.
So, God's voice speaks to us in many ways and through many people and things, and not exclusively through one. He gives us His Holy Spirit to identify "the way we should go" backed up by His Word which should be hidden in our hearts, by having read it ourselves. These are indicators God gives us to stay away from getting off and from being influenced by those in error.
Again, He says of some teachers:
Titus 1:11
They must be silenced, because they are disrupting whole households by teaching things they ought not to teach--and that for the sake of dishonest gain.
2 Peter 2:3
In their greed these teachers will exploit you with fabricated stories. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.
1 Timothy 6:4-6
4 they are conceited and understand nothing. They have an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions 5 and constant friction between people of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain.
6 But godliness with contentment is great gain.
These are just a few of the cautions in Scripture that speak of false teachers. We must not be attached to certain teachers exclusively. As we mature in the Lord, He will direct you concerning which ones are trustworthy, however. It's the soul attachments that are dangerous.
If you find yourself always talking about a particular person and their "teaching" or "preaching", instead of about God and what He does and is doing in your life, you may have a dangerous attachment, or soul tie, with them, making you subject to having false teaching, or untruth, infect you, and clouding your discernment as time goes on. Only by asking God about it, can you find out, repent, allow Him to sever that attachment, and turn back to Him, the One and Only True and Faithful One.
These are just a few of the cautions in Scripture that speak of false teachers. We must not be attached to certain teachers exclusively. As we mature in the Lord, He will direct you concerning which ones are trustworthy, however. It's the soul attachments that are dangerous.
If you find yourself always talking about a particular person and their "teaching" or "preaching", instead of about God and what He does and is doing in your life, you may have a dangerous attachment, or soul tie, with them, making you subject to having false teaching, or untruth, infect you, and clouding your discernment as time goes on. Only by asking God about it, can you find out, repent, allow Him to sever that attachment, and turn back to Him, the One and Only True and Faithful One.
posted by Patti Blount @ 6:57 AM
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