I was listening to a preacher today and in the background you could hear this lady yelling out “AMEN!”, “Mmm Hmmmm!”, “Praise the Lord!”, “Hallelujah!”, “YES, YES YES!”. At one point the speaker said a string of untruthful statements in order to emphasize a truth he was leading up to. Throughout each untrue statement, the lady continued to shout and moan, saying “Yes! Yes!”. And she wasn’t the only one. Much of the crowd had joined in with her.
I was absolutely amazed. The crowd was so completely caught up in the speaker’s message that they were utterly incapable of discerning truth from lie. The sound of his voice appealed to their flesh and, in their flesh, they blindly affirmed the lie.
But being spiritual doesn’t mean turning your brain off. It doesn’t mean being drunk with emotion and out of control laughter. And it definitely doesn’t mean being carried away by a charismatic speaker. Let God be true and everyone else a liar!
Let us be like the noble Bereans of Acts 17 who searched the scriptures daily to make sure what they were receiving is the truth. Let us heed the warning of 1 John 4 and be careful not to believe every spirit but to test the spirit to be sure it is of God.
Don’t get me wrong. I have nothing against the Holy Spirit. He lives in me. He desires that I be filled with His presence – I live to be filled with His presence. But people seem to have a false idea of what being “spiritual” really means. It isn’t unguided emotionalism!
God calls us to be sober-minded and to grow up into all knowledge and Godly discernment. God doesn’t want us to held captive to empty philosophy and deceit. He warns us about false prophets that will arise and perform great signs and wonders and how we need need to be grounded in SOUND DOCTRINE and not be like children tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine!
When we unplug our brains in order to feed our emotions, we leave our brains vulnerable to attack. After all, Satan disguises himself as an angel of light and has his own “ministers of righteousness,” and if we are not careful, we might find ourselves members of the wrong congregation. We cannot afford to fall asleep. The enemy is waiting for us to let our guard down so he can pounce like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.
“Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 9 Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world..” — 1 Peter 5:8-9
Be blessed,
Jerry
