Post by Cindy on Dec 11, 2015 10:57:49 GMT -5
What should we say when we're told a false teacher has helped bring someone into God's family? I was asked how we should respond to something like that and think that's a great question and one we should all reflect on so that we can be prepared when it happens to us. When we're in the middle of a conversation and someone throws a curve ball like that at us, we don't have time to think, so we need to be prepared ahead of time.
Back to the question though: what if we're told that a person who they've never been able to get interested in the Bible or God, now that they're reading Jesus Calling, is loving that book....how do we respond to that? (you can replace "Jesus Calling" with any false teaching or book) There are a couple of ways to perceive this question. The questioner, obviously feels that their loved one is finally reaching out to God because of that book/false teaching, and are daring you to say that it's not good when it's clearly in their eyes helping someone become saved.
First, God cannot be put in a box. He is capable of using anything and everything to bring about His Will. In fact, the Bible tells us that He does use all things for our good, and that "all" includes false teaching. However, there's a condition in that promise. “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28) So, if the person in question is already saved, or if they will be saved at some point - because God knows who belongs to Him even before they're born - then, "all things will be worked for their good". We have no way of knowing if someone has been called or not, so all we can do is assume that they have been and remind the person that that is what we're doing. After all, if God can use a donkey and give that donkey human speech in order to get someone's attention, and that person was not saved, then He most certainly can use a false teacher or a book filled with false teaching to get someone's attention now. (Numbers 22:22–31) Note though that although God got his attention, he was never saved because of it. I'm not saying that can't happen, only that it did not in this instance.
I know many people who were raised Catholic but who found the real Jesus when reading their Bibles or through talking to someone and were saved. They all eventually left the catholic church because they realized it was full of false teaching and they wanted to know the Truth. So in many of those instances, God used false teaching in the catholic church, to get someone's attention so they would read His Word and be saved. I also know people in the same situation who simply decided it was all false and would have nothing at all to do with God because of the Catholic Church. They did not open their Bibles to see for themselves, instead they listened to their priests and teachers and came to that conclusion and were never saved. So we can see from this that while God CAN use false teaching to get a persons attention, that it's up to the person how they respond to Him at that point. If they truly want to know Him, they will listen to the Holy Spirit and pick up His Word and go from there.
Next, if they want to insist that this book or teaching is good because it's supposedly drawing people to God, we need to show them that's not true. First, we need to ask if the person in question is in love with the book "Jesus calling" or in love with Jesus. Most likely our questioner will reply that they're in love with Jesus. But how can we tell? We can tell whether or not that's true, by the person's actions. When someone is truly saved, or being called by God, the Holy Spirit draws them to His Word. Not just for a few minutes, or just a one time thing, but constantly and daily. If the person in question has been drawn by this book to pick up their bible (or buy one if they don't own one) and begin to devour that Book, then we can say that yes, God has used it to draw them to Himself. If the only book they're devouring is Jesus Calling or other books besides God's Word, then it's doubtful that they are being drawn to God - or at least doubtful that they're responding to His Call. Being drawn into His Word is one thing that God always does and one constant we can be sure of. Going to church and other things like that aren't necessarily characteristics of someone who's saved, because both the saved and unsaved do those things. On the other hand, only someone who is truly saved, has a love for His Word and is drawn to it daily. Even people who live in 3rd world countries that don't have bibles, are still drawn to His Word, even if the only way they can get it is to listen to a foreigner who can tell them about it, or if they've been saved through dreams or visions and have never heard of God other then that, they'll spend much time in prayer - communion with the great God who speaks life to them and get His Word that way.
Another thing we could bring up is the fact that our sin nature loves to hear about itself and hear how great we are, and most especially that we are in control of our lives. Our sin nature also causes us to be fascinated with having supernatural experiences and with how we feel. These things are of course directly opposite of God's Word. False teachings tend to make us more like God and God more like us. So if we're told that someone is being drawn to God because of reading a book full of false teaching, I'd have to ask which god they're being drawn to. We know that God never changes and that He never, ever contradicts His Word in any way. Therefore if the person in question has not been drawn to "fall in love with the Bible" but instead has fallen in love with "Jesus calling", then they've been drawn into a relationship with someone other then the One True God. If they have fallen in love with God's Word, they will soon spend more time in that then in "Jesus Calling" and eventually put it and other books away, while keeping themselves in His Word and growing in their new faith.
We need to really think about how we'd reply to something like this and perhaps enact different scenarios in our own minds to prepare ourselves, because this can be a very delicate matter. The questioner is going to view us as attacking them and or their loved one on top of attacking the false teacher/teaching if we're not very careful of how we word things. Honestly, no matter how careful we are, they may very well still take it like an attack. The best thing we can do is prepare in advance, pray about it even before preparing, asking the Lord's help, and when it happens, shoot off another quick prayer for help for us and to soften the others heart!
Lastly, I'd like to comment about the people who stand up for false teachings like the book Jesus Calling. If you're like me, you've probably sent them links or emails to great articles that show why it's false; that show specifically from the Bible what God says and compares it to what that false teachings says. It's been my experience that most of the people who say they love a certain false teacher/teaching will absolutely not read any article that says anything negative about it. I can say this from experience on our old board. There we had a program that showed who had viewed a thread and how long they'd viewed it, as well as who'd replied and how long it took for them to write their post. It also showed what other threads they'd viewed and when they'd viewed them and for how long etc. So it was quite easy to tell if someone had read an article or not. Obviously if they'd only viewed the thread for a matter of seconds, they didn't read it. Even if they replied to it, at the most they only skimmed it. Not only that, but of those who did reply, it was also obvious from their statements that they hadn't read it since they'd often say things that were covered in the article itself. It's very frustrating to say the least. But if that's true, then why bother to post or tell people at all. Well, for one reason, because God tells us to do so. Secondly, because there's always a few who DO read it, and of those there are a very few who actually are convicted by it and repent. They may not do so immediately, in fact most don't. But the seeds are planted and the Lord waters them and the person eventually does repent and comes out with even stronger faith then before. I was one of those who repented, so can say for sure that it does happen. I can remember being very angry with the people who were putting down the teacher I liked so much. Thankfully they were truly godly people and didn't reply to me with anger, but instead gently showed me what God's Word said in opposition to that teacher. I have to say that I was immediately convicted, but it took several days before I was able to overcome my flesh and my embarrassment and with God's help ask their forgiveness and for them to show me more.
I've known many others who were once in the same position of being snared by one or more false teachers/teachings and many come to repentance the same way I did. Some seeds the Lord had to water longer then others, and some took even less time, but all bore fruit for Him. There's one other thing I've noticed that those who've repented of false teachings have in common. We tend to become very discerning and very adamantly opposed to false teachings. None of us became discerning instantly or through some kind of supernatural happening. It came about just as God's Word says it does, through studying His Word with Him daily. We become adamantly opposed to them because we have personally experienced just how damaging they can be. Others can be indifferent, but those who've been snared by them in the past and rescued by the Lord, are very aware of just how dangerous they are. That is one way you could honestly say that God uses false teachers and false teachings for our good and His glory.
I'm sure there are other things we could bring up as well and would love to hear your thoughts on this too!
Back to the question though: what if we're told that a person who they've never been able to get interested in the Bible or God, now that they're reading Jesus Calling, is loving that book....how do we respond to that? (you can replace "Jesus Calling" with any false teaching or book) There are a couple of ways to perceive this question. The questioner, obviously feels that their loved one is finally reaching out to God because of that book/false teaching, and are daring you to say that it's not good when it's clearly in their eyes helping someone become saved.
First, God cannot be put in a box. He is capable of using anything and everything to bring about His Will. In fact, the Bible tells us that He does use all things for our good, and that "all" includes false teaching. However, there's a condition in that promise. “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28) So, if the person in question is already saved, or if they will be saved at some point - because God knows who belongs to Him even before they're born - then, "all things will be worked for their good". We have no way of knowing if someone has been called or not, so all we can do is assume that they have been and remind the person that that is what we're doing. After all, if God can use a donkey and give that donkey human speech in order to get someone's attention, and that person was not saved, then He most certainly can use a false teacher or a book filled with false teaching to get someone's attention now. (Numbers 22:22–31) Note though that although God got his attention, he was never saved because of it. I'm not saying that can't happen, only that it did not in this instance.
I know many people who were raised Catholic but who found the real Jesus when reading their Bibles or through talking to someone and were saved. They all eventually left the catholic church because they realized it was full of false teaching and they wanted to know the Truth. So in many of those instances, God used false teaching in the catholic church, to get someone's attention so they would read His Word and be saved. I also know people in the same situation who simply decided it was all false and would have nothing at all to do with God because of the Catholic Church. They did not open their Bibles to see for themselves, instead they listened to their priests and teachers and came to that conclusion and were never saved. So we can see from this that while God CAN use false teaching to get a persons attention, that it's up to the person how they respond to Him at that point. If they truly want to know Him, they will listen to the Holy Spirit and pick up His Word and go from there.
Next, if they want to insist that this book or teaching is good because it's supposedly drawing people to God, we need to show them that's not true. First, we need to ask if the person in question is in love with the book "Jesus calling" or in love with Jesus. Most likely our questioner will reply that they're in love with Jesus. But how can we tell? We can tell whether or not that's true, by the person's actions. When someone is truly saved, or being called by God, the Holy Spirit draws them to His Word. Not just for a few minutes, or just a one time thing, but constantly and daily. If the person in question has been drawn by this book to pick up their bible (or buy one if they don't own one) and begin to devour that Book, then we can say that yes, God has used it to draw them to Himself. If the only book they're devouring is Jesus Calling or other books besides God's Word, then it's doubtful that they are being drawn to God - or at least doubtful that they're responding to His Call. Being drawn into His Word is one thing that God always does and one constant we can be sure of. Going to church and other things like that aren't necessarily characteristics of someone who's saved, because both the saved and unsaved do those things. On the other hand, only someone who is truly saved, has a love for His Word and is drawn to it daily. Even people who live in 3rd world countries that don't have bibles, are still drawn to His Word, even if the only way they can get it is to listen to a foreigner who can tell them about it, or if they've been saved through dreams or visions and have never heard of God other then that, they'll spend much time in prayer - communion with the great God who speaks life to them and get His Word that way.
Another thing we could bring up is the fact that our sin nature loves to hear about itself and hear how great we are, and most especially that we are in control of our lives. Our sin nature also causes us to be fascinated with having supernatural experiences and with how we feel. These things are of course directly opposite of God's Word. False teachings tend to make us more like God and God more like us. So if we're told that someone is being drawn to God because of reading a book full of false teaching, I'd have to ask which god they're being drawn to. We know that God never changes and that He never, ever contradicts His Word in any way. Therefore if the person in question has not been drawn to "fall in love with the Bible" but instead has fallen in love with "Jesus calling", then they've been drawn into a relationship with someone other then the One True God. If they have fallen in love with God's Word, they will soon spend more time in that then in "Jesus Calling" and eventually put it and other books away, while keeping themselves in His Word and growing in their new faith.
We need to really think about how we'd reply to something like this and perhaps enact different scenarios in our own minds to prepare ourselves, because this can be a very delicate matter. The questioner is going to view us as attacking them and or their loved one on top of attacking the false teacher/teaching if we're not very careful of how we word things. Honestly, no matter how careful we are, they may very well still take it like an attack. The best thing we can do is prepare in advance, pray about it even before preparing, asking the Lord's help, and when it happens, shoot off another quick prayer for help for us and to soften the others heart!
Lastly, I'd like to comment about the people who stand up for false teachings like the book Jesus Calling. If you're like me, you've probably sent them links or emails to great articles that show why it's false; that show specifically from the Bible what God says and compares it to what that false teachings says. It's been my experience that most of the people who say they love a certain false teacher/teaching will absolutely not read any article that says anything negative about it. I can say this from experience on our old board. There we had a program that showed who had viewed a thread and how long they'd viewed it, as well as who'd replied and how long it took for them to write their post. It also showed what other threads they'd viewed and when they'd viewed them and for how long etc. So it was quite easy to tell if someone had read an article or not. Obviously if they'd only viewed the thread for a matter of seconds, they didn't read it. Even if they replied to it, at the most they only skimmed it. Not only that, but of those who did reply, it was also obvious from their statements that they hadn't read it since they'd often say things that were covered in the article itself. It's very frustrating to say the least. But if that's true, then why bother to post or tell people at all. Well, for one reason, because God tells us to do so. Secondly, because there's always a few who DO read it, and of those there are a very few who actually are convicted by it and repent. They may not do so immediately, in fact most don't. But the seeds are planted and the Lord waters them and the person eventually does repent and comes out with even stronger faith then before. I was one of those who repented, so can say for sure that it does happen. I can remember being very angry with the people who were putting down the teacher I liked so much. Thankfully they were truly godly people and didn't reply to me with anger, but instead gently showed me what God's Word said in opposition to that teacher. I have to say that I was immediately convicted, but it took several days before I was able to overcome my flesh and my embarrassment and with God's help ask their forgiveness and for them to show me more.
I've known many others who were once in the same position of being snared by one or more false teachers/teachings and many come to repentance the same way I did. Some seeds the Lord had to water longer then others, and some took even less time, but all bore fruit for Him. There's one other thing I've noticed that those who've repented of false teachings have in common. We tend to become very discerning and very adamantly opposed to false teachings. None of us became discerning instantly or through some kind of supernatural happening. It came about just as God's Word says it does, through studying His Word with Him daily. We become adamantly opposed to them because we have personally experienced just how damaging they can be. Others can be indifferent, but those who've been snared by them in the past and rescued by the Lord, are very aware of just how dangerous they are. That is one way you could honestly say that God uses false teachers and false teachings for our good and His glory.
I'm sure there are other things we could bring up as well and would love to hear your thoughts on this too!
!!
