A
fellow Xangan wrote:
"Why is cancer so
hard to diagnose? Main thought is that the cancer cells look almost
exactly like the good cells. This is the same in Christianity,
deception is so difficult to spot..."
Something in front of me right now... John 15:18-27 and 16:1-4... Jesus
speaking of the world and how they will treat followers of Christ...
specifically 16:2-4.
'They (the world) will make you outcasts from the synagogue, but an
hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think that he is offering
service to God. These things they will do because they have not known
the Father or Me.'
Deception is difficult to spot, if we keep using our own eyes and mind,
but if we learn to listen and let God open our eyes, then we will be
able to see what is Love and what is not. We'll see what is Truth and
what is not. That is a place of spiritual maturity.
Comments (2)
You make an excellent point with your cancer cell analogy. So often we only look to the enemies of Christ being outside the walls of our church buildings.
But Jesus warned us in Matt 7:15 '"Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves." We think the false Christs, false prophets and false teachers will be on the outside looking in and obviously of the world ... but they will be and are amongst us. That is why Jesus taught believers to examine the fruit and Paul and John taught so often about testing against Scripture and by the Spirit.
So often we think the enemy will come at us dressed in black and menacingly. But he will come looking just like another sheep in the flock and he will subtly but nonetheless lead us astray. Matthew 7:21-23 reveals that people will be condemned within the religious institution who truly believe they have eternal life and should be rewarded.
Are we watching? Are we testing? More often than not, I think the answer is 'no' on both counts.
Your points are well made and valid. Thank you for reminding us all!
Bernie
Or this one: Matt 13:24-30; 36-43: Jesus says that the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who plants good seed in his field. While he's sleeping, his enemy sows weeds amongst the good seeds, so that when they grow up, the weeds grow with them. When the workers go to the master and say, "Do you want us to pull up the weeds?" the master says no, because the weeds look so much like the good seed, you may accidentally pull those up, too. This has been a passage very near and dear to me lately -- let's all pray that we not be weeds! :)