Proverbs 15:21 Folly is joy to him who is destitute of discernment, But a man of understanding walks uprightly.

I may have mentioned this in earlier blogs, but several years ago I purchased my home. I was told that patio door did not lock, so they used a rod to prevent the door from opening. Quite the hassle to always remove the rod, especially when you have a dog wanting to go out, but over the years I was used to it. I even installed a chain lock from the outside when I would walk my dog at night. Then as I was sitting in my office one day, I decided to inspect the lock portion on the door to see why this was not working. Upon discerning it further, I saw that whoever put the door together didn’t install the latch correctly. It was off by 1/4 inch is all. I moved the latch, and wallah! The door locked. Mind you again, I lived in the house for almost 13 years before this discovery. I dumbly just simply allowed the previous owner’s word to be the final word.

When we view God and the things of God, there is just one trustworthy source we can rely on and it is Scripture. The example I gave above of an analogy which happens often to many when it comes to religion. Mom and Dad believed a certain way, you were told things by your grandparents or a teacher or a friend, and you accepted their word as the final word. The problem come later when and if you did not inspect what was told to you by Scripture on Judgment Day. God won’t buy the excuse “well my parents told me so, they are to blame as to what I believe”. No! The blame always will be squarely on you for the lack of discernment.

As in my example with the door, it was my fault, not the person who told me the door was broke and there was nothing I could do. I simply didn’t look. Through the years, you will hear all sorts of things on what to believe or what not to believe. Some will also say “live and let live”. This won’t get you to the promised land. Your very eternal life is at stake, so trusting other fallen sinners is the risk of this life.

I do my very best to share the Gospel, to teach from Scripture as I am being guided by the Holy Spirit. But I always tell those I am teaching, “don’t just take my word for it, discern what I said by Scripture”. Always let the Bible have the final say, not society, not a politician, not your parents, not your spouse, and not even your great hearted well meaning pastor. Always discern a teaching by the end result of Scripture. If the teaching can test out clearly, you are good to go. If not, it must be either discarded or studied more. Let God be your guide, not fallen man.

Whenever I hear a person spouting off merely talking points from a world religion, I know they have not put in the time of discernment by Scripture. Or when I hear someone using fallacies or historical evidence of what they believe, that faith too is invalid. They have done done the work to discern the actual truth in Scripture whether they do not trust God or themselves. It is usually a disbelief in God, and a belief in man is what my experience has been after talking to many on this subject.

Lastly, God will teach ANYONE. You don’t need 10 years in a seminary or even one year for that matter. Never underestimate the power of God. Upon my own rebirth, God put me on a rather fast track. There was no time to waste. I am still learning things from Him to do this day. And the big lesson I learned is just how vast the amount of false teachings are out there. Some like Jim Jones and David Koresh duped their congregation and those congregants all sadly perished because they did not test these false teachers against the truth in Scripture. Don’t make that mistake! And the worst thing you could do is to ignore this warning no matter the case. The flamboyant cult leader to the on the surface great person should never be put ABOVE Scripture in authority.

Trust God always! He will show you things you have never understood before and at that time, you will know what is a bad teaching from a good one. What should be discarded and what is helpful, all by using Scripture as the end all ultimate source for the truth!