Are you interpreting Scripture with other Scripture – to the extreme point of even rejecting your thinking in order to stay faithful to all Scripture?
When your prophet is wrong
Are you pressured to say something like “God told me this”? “It’s okay to be wrong. Just say what comes to mind.” Beware: NAR charismatic churches have cancelled Old Testament warnings about misrepresenting God. But the truth is… God is still against those who “speak falsely”.
Words of Mere Men Are Not God’s Words
Mark 7:7 “They worship Me in vain [their worship is meaningless and worthless, a pretense], Teaching the precepts of men as doctrines [giving their traditions equal weight with the Scriptures].” You’d think it would be quite obvious, you think? When church leaders announce that they speak directly from God, they instantly become a bonafide false prophet if their words are later shown to be wrong. False prediction = False Prophet. Easy.
Pretending their word is God’s word
It’s crazy how so many have tried in the past, and are still doing it – “re-interpreting” or discovering some “personal or special” interpretation (2 Peter 1:19-21), attempting to legitimize a new creative way to have it their way. If that is happening in your church – don’t believe it. It is our “job”, our responsibility, as followers of Christ – to use the Bible to ascertain what is of God and what are “the words of a puny human” (we are all “puny humans”). Huge difference. I personally do not want to hear some puny opinions when I go to church. I want to hear God’s “word of truth”.
