Post by Cindy on Dec 13, 2015 11:01:07 GMT -5
I remember years ago when I first started the old Fresh Hope site, I felt overwhelmed with the task of trying to keep people informed about all the false teachers, churches, ministries and books that were available so that no one would fall prey to any of Satan's schemes on my watch. It was a daunting task to be sure. When I prayed though, the Lord showed me that the very best way of making sure that no one fell into false teaching was to show them the Truth. That thrilled me because reading about the false teachers made me feel sick but I loved talking about God and His Word! So that's exactly what I did. I still posted about the false teachers and teachings, just like I still do, but I no longer worried that I might miss some. That's a good thing too because even back then, 13 years ago, there was no way I could have posted about every single one of them as there were simply way to many.
And then there's now. It's amazing to me how the false teachers and teachings have proliferated. It seems like I can't turn around anymore without being confronted with a false teaching, with something that's against God and His Word, but called "Christian" or even simply called "normal and good" in secular society. So many "unusual" things have been happening in the world that even secular society knows something is up, so many are seeking to find something that will make sense of it all for them. Now there's tons of books and articles out about people dying and going to heaven, all of which go against God's Word, but no one cares about that. They just want to be told that "everything is going to be ok" and that they're going to go to Heaven, one way or another. There's also many New Age books about every subject you can think of being promoted even by Christians, again because most don't know any better and don't know that they're totally against God's Word. Worse, they also don't know how very dangerous they are.
Satan has made so many inroads into the church, through the back doors, the windows, the basement and even through the roof, that we're surrounded by false teaching and by things that are totally against what God tells us, but at the same time, we've been desensitized to most of them and made to think that these things are perfectly normal, and upright, that there's nothing at all wrong with a Christian using them. For example, in our world today, even most dedicated Christians even wouldn't think twice about doing whatever their doctor recommended, and therein lies part of the problem. There's very real danger in many of the things being recommended as ways people can help themselves, prevent disease, deal with pain, or deal with everything from memory problems to health issues. While many things today have warning labels on them, there is no warning label for the sincere Christian to read that says, "Warning: may include things that go against the Lord's Word."
These things are promoted on TV, radio, internet and newspapers and magazines, and of course by hollywood stars. Even other Christians who don't know any better promote them, not having any idea that there's anything at all wrong with them. To many it would be as silly as questioning your doctor when he says you need antibiotics. The problem is that as Christians, we should be allergic to those things that go against God's Word, yet most of us don't take the time to find out if the things being promoted that we're interested in trying are against His Word or not. It just doesn't occur to most and most have no idea of how very dangerous these things are.
Thankfully there are some who have taken the time to find out and who do warn us about these things. Many of them are people that did get sucked into one or more of these things and so knows the danger they present. Therefore they desperately try to warn their brothers and sisters about them. I've posted links of where we can go to find out if an author is a false teacher in Who's teaching the Truth? and in WHO'S WHO IN BIBLE PROPHECY where you can go to discover if the prophecy teacher, author, or pastor you like is teaching the truth or not. Here's I'd like to share some links of where you can go to discover if something you've heard about is something you should be involved in or not: It's called Christian Answers for the New Age
Let me share what the author, Marcia Montenegro, says about her site:
Christian Answers for the New Age is a ministry responding to alternative religions: to inform and educate others about New Age and occult beliefs; to respond to those involved in New Age/ occult/ Eastern belief systems with the love and truth of Christ (I Peter 3:15-16); and to serve as a resource on aspects of New Age/ occult thinking and practices such as astrology, psychic powers, meditation, witchcraft/ Wicca, alternative healing, magick, etc.
Here you'll find articles on things like: Christian Yoga, Chi, Universal Energy, Contemplative Prayer, The Harry Potter Books: Just Fantasy?, Horoscopes, Human Potential/ Motivational Training, Labyrinths, Mindfulness, Reiki, Kabbalah, Astrology, and much, much more. In fact, let me give you the link to their page that lists their articles for you: www.christiananswersforthenewage.org/Articles.html You can also check out their links page for other sites as well.
Another great place to check things out at is the Apologetics Index
Another is CINAM a website for Current Issues in Alternative Medicine run by Christian nurse Janice Lyons. See the Topics page for helpful articles.
It's sad, but today there is simply no area of our lives that hasn't been invaded by Satan and filled with all kinds of things that go against God's Word. We need to constantly be alert and check out everything before we read it, or take part in it.
And then there's now. It's amazing to me how the false teachers and teachings have proliferated. It seems like I can't turn around anymore without being confronted with a false teaching, with something that's against God and His Word, but called "Christian" or even simply called "normal and good" in secular society. So many "unusual" things have been happening in the world that even secular society knows something is up, so many are seeking to find something that will make sense of it all for them. Now there's tons of books and articles out about people dying and going to heaven, all of which go against God's Word, but no one cares about that. They just want to be told that "everything is going to be ok" and that they're going to go to Heaven, one way or another. There's also many New Age books about every subject you can think of being promoted even by Christians, again because most don't know any better and don't know that they're totally against God's Word. Worse, they also don't know how very dangerous they are.
Satan has made so many inroads into the church, through the back doors, the windows, the basement and even through the roof, that we're surrounded by false teaching and by things that are totally against what God tells us, but at the same time, we've been desensitized to most of them and made to think that these things are perfectly normal, and upright, that there's nothing at all wrong with a Christian using them. For example, in our world today, even most dedicated Christians even wouldn't think twice about doing whatever their doctor recommended, and therein lies part of the problem. There's very real danger in many of the things being recommended as ways people can help themselves, prevent disease, deal with pain, or deal with everything from memory problems to health issues. While many things today have warning labels on them, there is no warning label for the sincere Christian to read that says, "Warning: may include things that go against the Lord's Word."
These things are promoted on TV, radio, internet and newspapers and magazines, and of course by hollywood stars. Even other Christians who don't know any better promote them, not having any idea that there's anything at all wrong with them. To many it would be as silly as questioning your doctor when he says you need antibiotics. The problem is that as Christians, we should be allergic to those things that go against God's Word, yet most of us don't take the time to find out if the things being promoted that we're interested in trying are against His Word or not. It just doesn't occur to most and most have no idea of how very dangerous these things are.
Thankfully there are some who have taken the time to find out and who do warn us about these things. Many of them are people that did get sucked into one or more of these things and so knows the danger they present. Therefore they desperately try to warn their brothers and sisters about them. I've posted links of where we can go to find out if an author is a false teacher in Who's teaching the Truth? and in WHO'S WHO IN BIBLE PROPHECY where you can go to discover if the prophecy teacher, author, or pastor you like is teaching the truth or not. Here's I'd like to share some links of where you can go to discover if something you've heard about is something you should be involved in or not: It's called Christian Answers for the New Age
Let me share what the author, Marcia Montenegro, says about her site:
Christian Answers for the New Age is a ministry responding to alternative religions: to inform and educate others about New Age and occult beliefs; to respond to those involved in New Age/ occult/ Eastern belief systems with the love and truth of Christ (I Peter 3:15-16); and to serve as a resource on aspects of New Age/ occult thinking and practices such as astrology, psychic powers, meditation, witchcraft/ Wicca, alternative healing, magick, etc.
Here you'll find articles on things like: Christian Yoga, Chi, Universal Energy, Contemplative Prayer, The Harry Potter Books: Just Fantasy?, Horoscopes, Human Potential/ Motivational Training, Labyrinths, Mindfulness, Reiki, Kabbalah, Astrology, and much, much more. In fact, let me give you the link to their page that lists their articles for you: www.christiananswersforthenewage.org/Articles.html You can also check out their links page for other sites as well.
Another great place to check things out at is the Apologetics Index
Another is CINAM a website for Current Issues in Alternative Medicine run by Christian nurse Janice Lyons. See the Topics page for helpful articles.
It's sad, but today there is simply no area of our lives that hasn't been invaded by Satan and filled with all kinds of things that go against God's Word. We need to constantly be alert and check out everything before we read it, or take part in it.
!!
