Daily Bible Reading - Judges 9, Acts 13, Jeremiah 22, Mark 8
A few women recommended a very popular book to me, saying it was written by a Christian woman and it was fantastic. After hearing about it continually, I finally checked it out from the library. As I began reading, I noticed a few red flags but I decided to keep an open mind and continue reading. It got worse.
Although this woman claims to be a Christian, I wondered if she was reading the same Bible I was. A righteous anger began stirring in me as I thought about all the people who think that is Christianity.
1 Timothy 4:6 tells us to “Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.”
The Bible refers to this as “a wolf in sheeps clothing.” Not everything that claims to be Christian, really is. We must be very careful to line everything up with the word of God, this is how we watch our doctrine closely.
When I first got saved, I went out to the bookstore and bought a book about God. My aunt and (now) husband both asked me the same question right away, “Is it a Christian book?” I didn’t understand why that was important, God is God, right? They knew that I needed to watch my doctrine, because if I didn’t I could be led astray by lies or half-truths. Even then, not everything that claims to be Christian is trustworthy and because they cared about me, they wanted to make sure what I was reading was truth.
There are even churches who claim to be Christian that are not following sound doctrine. A woman told me she was checking out another Christian church. Just the name of the Church was a red flag to me, so I told her to make sure and research it first. When she did, she was so relieved. That research spared her from a church that was worshipping people rather than God.
Mark 8: 27-29 “Now Jesus and His disciples went out to the towns of Caesarea Philippi; and on the road He asked His disciples, saying to them, “Who do men say that I am?” So they answered, “John the Baptist; but some say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered and said to Him, “You are the Christ.”
Jesus wanted to know who people were saying that he was. Some say he is a prophet, some have other theories, but Peter declared that Jesus was the Christ. Right answer, Peter.
When the Bible warns us about false prophets in the end times, I had a very distinct image in my mind of what I thought that would look like. A powerful preacher who claimed to be Christ or a prominent politician that began leading people into false doctrine. I never thought about false prophets or “wolves in sheeps clothing” coming in the form of books, movies and television shows, yet this is exactly what is happening in our generation.
It might be packaged nicely, written masterfully or have incredible cinematography but who does it say that Jesus is? Does that Jesus line up with the one you read about in the Bible? Or does that Jesus glamorize the acceptance of sin or point to other paths outside of the word of God?
A wolf in sheeps clothing looks nice, warm and gentle from the outside--but on the inside it is vicious and it’s only aim is to lead those other sheep away from the pack to devour them.
Watch your doctrine!
Mel Miller
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Monday, July 26, 2010
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1 comment:
Great blog Mel! It's so true I also was picking up a book recently that seemed Christian and was in the Christian book section and was recommended but I was relieved that instead of buying it I began to read the first chapter first and what I was reading didn't make sense so I put it down. Too many of us think that false prophets and teachers are literally self proclaimed prophets teachers and preachers and we are so busy watching out for those that we let the writers, directors and other social media slip in and begin to teach us false doctrine. I enjoyed reading this.
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