Time to examine the fundamentals and foundation of the need for discernment according to the Bible.

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So Jesus again said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. -- John 10:7-14 (ESV)

The bible likens the body of Christ to a cohesive body where all serve different purposes but work together for the common goal. That common goal is not ours but belongs to our God who does not wish to see any perish but all come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ and His glorious salvation. It seems today that the church will do anything to stay distracted and not work together for this common goal. A great portion of the church are blessing chasers, more concerned about what they can leverage from God instead of standing in awe of what He has already done. A huge chunk are dominionist at heart, worshipping this country and politics above all else. Pretending that God wants the church to be enamored in culture wars instead of saving people out from the culture that is consigning them to an eternity in hell. Still others chase false signs and lying wonders, try to usurp the power of God and do everything they can to recreate God in their own image. The result is the Christian haze we see throughout the American church today where sin is a forgotten concept and repentance is a dirty word. People in the church would rather see this country saved then their neighbor or even family members. The churched gather every week to have their ears scratched and to be assured that despite never changing their lives they are nonetheless heading on a shuttle to heaven.

This brings us to the key verses today which should seem familiar, albeit poorly exegeted usually. Jesus is making a direct comparison between Himself and false teachers. That is right beloved. The thief in these verses is NOT the devil. Jesus is the door to the sheepfold. The false teacher climbs over the fence to access the sheep because he wants to avoid Christ. There is only one Gospel and it belongs to the Good Shepherd. He entrusts it to the under-shepherds but if they alter it, water it down, sugar coat it or ignore it they have climbed the fence to the sheepfold and steal salvation from those who may be truly seeking God, destroying their hopes for eternal life and killing their very soul. That is where discernment comes in. Just another part of the body of Christ with its own unique functions, discernment is crucial in these end times as we await the return of our Lord and Savior amidst a world and a church that are falling away more each day. You see beloved, despite the revival pursuits of the NAR, the bible only promises a great end times falling away and we are in the middle of it. We are supposed to be in the business of redeeming the time:

See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. -- Ephesians 5:15-16 (NKJV)

The days are evil and they grow more evil with every passing day. That evil has permeated the church as well as we see false teaching after false teaching embraced as orthodoxy and we see a church catering to unsaved goats while sheep lie starving to death in the pews. Discernment says you do not have to die there. You do not have to continue in a church or under a set of beliefs that are false. You can come out from among them and back into the light of Jesus Christ but it requires discernment to leave churchianity. These verses from Ephesians guide us to not be foolish with what little time we have remaining. We must redeem that time beloved. Take it back from the devil that has manipulated the purpose driven apostate church. We have wasted enough time dancing in the smoke machines and signing Kumbaya while everyone around us is still bobsledding to hell. So when you see discernment ministries realize that they serve a purpose for the body of Christ. They serve as the watchmen on the wall. They stand in the gap of a thankless ministry because the only thing worse than not being saved is mistakenly believing that you are. Let us begin with some basic underpinnings of our faith:

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. -- Romans 1:16 (ESV)

The Romans verse establishes the fact that only the Gospel has the power of God unto the salvation of man. Translation? No one gets saved without hearing the Gospel. Fancy light shows cannot save you. Slick marketing of the new sermon series based on the hottest summer movies cannot save you. Faux prayers that gloss over your sins and the need to repent cannot save you. Only the Gospel can. Not just any gospel mind you but the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Many false teachers say Jesus is Lord but mangle His word beyond recognition. There are those that proclaim the sloppy agape gospel that says God is always love and never wrath. There is the greasy grace gospel of Joseph Prince that says we never have to worry about our sins and the laws of God. There is the smooth delivery of prosperity and blessing from the folksy Joel Osteen to the powerful TD Jakes. None of them preach the actual Gospel. Their words of eloquent wisdom actually empty the very cross of its power:

For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. -- 1Corinthians 1:17 (ESV)

Let us consider these words for a minute. The power beloved is in the Gospel as we saw in the verse from the Book of Romans. It alone has the power to save. God only needs us to proclaim it. He does not need us to market it. He does not need us to make it more attractive, palatable or relevant. The modern purpose driven church spends so much time changing the Gospel so that people who ordinarily would never come to church might but in the end they cannot be saved by the false gospel they responded to. Jesus actually rebuked the Pharisses for traveling the world to make a single convert but by doing so making them twice the son of hell that they were. The same rebuke lies on the heads of the modern apostate church. As Calvin once said, zeal without doctrine is like a sword in the hands of a lunatic. Note here what actually empties the cross of its power is words of eloquent wisdom, or speech craft. When the speaker insists on their gifts and abilities it distracts from the actual Gospel message. I remember one time a friend was raving about a sermon she had heard at my church that day. When I asked her what it was about she remembered the powerful illustrations but could not remember the message. Our words save no one. Now that we have a better understanding of the Gospel let us turn to the realities of heaven and the sinful state of man:

For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few. -- Matthew 7:14 (ESV)

Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. -- Luke 15:7 (ESV)

America has developed a mega church mentality. We hear fanciful tales from false pastors about thousands of people getting saved on a given day. What that really means is thousands of people were manipulated to raise their hands after hearing a compromised gospel that had no power to save them whatsoever. We believe it though because it sounds so good. That thousands upon thousands of people would all decide to lay down their sins and embrace Christ. Yet what does this verse from Matthew teach us? When it comes to eternal life narrow is the gate! Hard is the way that leads to it! Few are those that find it! Really let that settle in your spirit beloved. The notion that thousands of people en masse will give their lives to the Lord happened once in recorded Scripture -- so we know it can happen but that is the exception not the norm. The norm is that every soul is precious and worth fighting for. That is why the verse from Luke only amplifies the point. Heaven rejoices when one single sinner repents because that is how rare it is! The entire premise of the seeker friendly movement is that people are desperately seeking God when Romans teaches us that none seek after God. Do we want the unsaved to come to church? Absolutely because that is one of the only places they might hear the Gospel, which is the only thing with the power to save them. Now that we have a better understanding of what the Gospel is and the rarity of salvation let us turn to the reality of false teaching in the church:

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. - 1 John 4:1 (ESV)

I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them. - Romans 16:17 (ESV)

For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions - 2 Timothy 4:3 (ESV)

For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds. - 2 Corinthians 11:13-15 (ESV)

Beloved, I had literally dozens of more Scriptures to choose from. False teaching is one of the most talked about and warned about subjects in the bible. Those who minimize this fact do so at their own peril. The verse from 1John teaches us that we all are supposed to test the spirits because they are not all from God. The Romans verse is vital to understand because it shows that division is caused by those who teach falsely -- not by those who point it out! If Joel Osteen preaches that we can speak things into existence like God and I point out that the bible does not say that and he is a wolf it is not I who is dividing the body of Christ. Joel does that by teaching what is not in God's Word. The verse from 2Timothy reveals that it is the church itself that raises up a Joel Osteen. He is merely answering a need and demand from those who claim they want God but have intention of doing what He says. This verse teaches us that those in the apostate church will not even tolerate sound doctrine. They just want to hear what they want to hear. That they are fabulous. That God has super-duper plans for them. That God wants them rich beyond their greediest dreams of avarice. That they are little gods. That they too can be like God. To achieve this, they will gather around them whoever is willing scratch their ears just so. The Corinthians verses reveal that the devil and his emissaries disguise themselves as angels of light to deceive us. This war is spiritual beloved and the only true weapon listed in the armor of God is our sword; yet that is the first thing we lay down when we walk into church these days. Having addressed the dire nature of false teaching in the church it is time to deal with the consequences:

Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you--unless you believed in vain. -- 1Corinthians 15: 1-2

"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?' And then will I declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.' -- Matthew 7: 21-23 (ESV)

We hear the cries all the time of what is the big deal? Who cares if people like to feel better by listening to a Joel Osteen or feel more motivated by listening to a TD Jakes? What's the big deal? When you consider the backdrop and foundation laid out in this devotional and overlay these last two sets of Scriptures over them you should have no confusion why the bible says we are to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling. The verses from Corinthians teaches us that we can indeed believe in vain and if we have that we are not actually saved! Vain actually has two meanings that apply here. One is to believe in something useless. The gospel preached in the majority of churches today is absolutely useless. As we learned at the beginning, it cannot save anyone. The second definition hits closer to home as vain also means to be overly obsessed with ourselves. This more closely defines why we chase after false doctrine while thumbing our nose at the true Gospel. The first sin recorded is Lucifer desiring to be God. He then tempted Eve with the exact same sin -- your eyes will be open and you will be like God. When we toss aside what God has actually said for what we want to hear -- we are indeed partaking of the same sin beloved and it is nothing but pure vanity. Do you want to know a sure sign you are in a false church? If the preaching is about you instead of Christ. Vanity. You are not David slaying Goliath! David is actually a type of Christ in that story! You are not going from the pit to the palace of having your Ziklag moment! The bible is not about us. It is always all about Him.

This brings us to the final set of Scriptures for this discussion. The eternal consequence. Multitudes stand before Christ on the last day and say Lord Lord; did we not do this and that in your name? These people cast out demons and saw miracles! They are clearly "churched" people! He says away from me and depart for I never knew you. How profoundly sad. This is the end result of believing in vain. You must understand that true discernment ministries works with these verses in mind. I do not care about the wolves that are mauling the sheep of the Lord today. I have zero biblical instruction to play with them, pray for them, coddle them, or ask them to repent. My responsibility is to the Great Shepherd to watch His sheep. To tend to His sheep. God uses this imagery for a reason. As under-shepherds, we carry two instruments -- a crook and a rod. The crook is to guide the sheep who do not know the direction to go. The rod is used to fend off and beat unmercifully those that would try and harm the sheep. Both are the same weapon. It is the only weapon in our armor beloved. It is the Word of God. It provides the direction we all need and possesses the power to fend off the lies of the enemy that seek to ensnare us. All discernment seeks to do is hold up the bible to the teachings in the church and guide the sheep to safety while assailing the predators that are trying to devour them. We do so because we understand the way is narrow and few are those who find it. We do so because we understand the dire warnings from God almighty regarding false teaching in His church. We do so because we wish to see no one believe in the vanity of the human soul, serving in a compromised church for their entire lives only to stand before Christ crying "Lord Lord" only to hear that He never knew them. That beloved, is the case for discernment.

Reverend Anthony Wade -- October 17, 2018

Authors Bio:
Credentialed Minister of the Gospel for the Assemblies of God. Owner and founder of 828 ministries. Vice President for Goodwill Industries. Always remember that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.