“Are you so foolish that you believe you will not be deceived when the world turns around? You are badly mistaken. Some of you already follow doctrines that are marginal at best and sometimes have little resemblance to My Word. You swallow the doctrines of manipulative preachers who have set out to thrill you with their spirituality, rather than preach the truth of Christ and Him crucified. You don’t even care that I am offended. You are not founded in My Word enough to confront them about their folly. I need you to stop following every wind of doctrine that sounds powerful or creative.
"If every aspect of what is being said does not line up with what I have already said in My Word, I am not in it. Don’t go near it! You should be outraged that I am being associated with winds of foolishness, instead of tolerating them in your midst. I don’t like that! You need to come back to the basics with Me. You need to remember what is absolute truth. Learn from My Word and My lap. Refocus your beliefs on Jesus and what He has done. Repent of your sins. Go back to honoring Me and My Word. Hold it in high esteem. Guard your heart and guard against the misuse of My Word. I am about to expose those who don’t with zeal.”
Galatians 1:6-8 NIV
6) I am astounded that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel -
7) which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ.
8) But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned!
In the above verses, Paul was talking about the Law and a system of works. I want you to notice, however, the intensity with which he is portraying the heart of Father God. The Lord is saying through him that if any man, even an angel, distorts the Gospel, let him be eternally condemned. That is a pretty clear call.
Today, we lift up and even herald so many foolish ideas, movements, and doctrines simply because they are preached with gusto or make us feel good. We buy into anything that has the Name of Jesus attached to it, never even attempting to find out if God is really at the heart of it. We have whole church movements based on weak premises, single portions of the gospel, personal charisma, large reputations, and promises of something that allows us to remain in our sin and still look as if we are close to God. We don’t even question some incredibly ridiculous activities because they appear to have power that is claimed to be from the throne room, even though they are identical to the same kind of manifestations that come from hell.
God is calling for a holy, discerning people who have spent enough time in the Word and with the Lord to know the truth. He is calling for us to fall deeply in love with Jesus and be willing to run from anything that does not glorify Him.
Foolish is still foolish, no matter how it is presented. Truth is still absolute truth. God determines the difference. He has made it abundantly clear how He feels about both and about those who preach or, for that matter, embrace a gospel other than His. It would behoove us to learn His kind of truth and discard anything else - no matter who it comes from or how godly it sounds.
Teach me Your ways, Lord,
Jim Corbett