Crosswalk.com--The Devotional

[Judy Harder]

A White Bread Faith
By Ryan Duncan, Croswalk.com Entertainment Editor

This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother.- 1 John 3:10

When I was still in high school my mother became a vegetarian. Now, I have nothing but respect for vegetarians, but as a guy who likes his steaks extra-rare, this created a few problems in our household. Suddenly our family was exploring what people called "organic" dishes. Tofu, quiche, we dined on whole-grain pastas sprinkled with nuts, strange cheeses, and enough broccoli to kill an entire fourth grade class. It wasn't all that bad actually; my mother was very gracious and still cooked meat for the carnivores in the house, but I suspect a soy based meat substitute found its way into our meals on more than one occasion.             

The worst part though, was the bread. My family went from using your typical sleeve of wheat bread to buying those thick, iron cast loaves so brown they were almost black. I can remember sitting in the cafeteria during lunch, watching my classmates as they flagrantly devoured their delicious, white-bread PB&J's, while I chewed the same bite of sandwich over and over for almost an hour because chunks of grain were still floating around in it. Back then, I would have given anything for a sandwich made from white, Wonder Bread.

The thing is though, ask any nutritionist and they'll tell you white bread barely counts as grain at all. It tastes good, but that's because it's been almost entirely drained of nutrients. All the beneficial vitamins and minerals have been lost, and in the end we are left with a food that really isn't as healthy as we'd like to think it is.           

How many of us Christians are looking for a "White Bread" relationship with God? We show up at Church on Sunday and pray before each meal, then tell ourselves that should be enough to help us grow in our faith. It's a sweet deal with all of the benefits and none of the drawbacks. Don't fool yourself; God wants to be so much more in our lives than our Sunday morning service. He is looking to make us lights of the world, to bring peace where there is strife, hope where there is despair, and grace where there is hate. You won't be very prepared for that if you just stick to the Sunday Sermons. Don't deny yourself a good, healthy, relationship with God. Read the Bible, get involved, and above all, be sure to make him a part of your daily life.

Intersecting Faith and Life: Find ways to get involved with you home church. Volunteer for events, or try mentoring some of the younger students. Parents, are your children involved in a youth group? Encourage them to give it a try.

Further Reading

Revelation 3:15-17

[Judy Harder]

Labeled
by John UpChurch, Senior Editor, BibleStudyTools.com

After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church—for we are members of his body. Ephesians 5:29-30

Early in their marriage, Kate* discovered her husband, Jim, had a pornography addiction. She confronted him about it; they prayed; and he promised to change. For several months, Jim seemed to be doing just that by throwing himself into his ministry position. Their marriage returned to normal.

But the façade soon collapsed. Kate began suspecting something when she discovered Jim had been to a questionable restaurant several times with some of the other members of the church staff. She searched his computer and found hundreds of porn sites in the browser history. She also came across personal items belonging to another woman in his car.

When confronted, Jim begged for forgiveness. Kate moved out but agreed to counseling—if Jim would be serious this time. But he wasn't. He was late when he did show up for the counseling sessions. Mostly, he just didn't come.

Kate filed for divorce—and picked up a label. Many members of the church where Jim worked couldn't believe he would do anything. So, they blamed the divorce on Kate. They knew she had her eye on someone else for months. They knew why she really wanted a divorce.

And that label went with Kate. Thanks to the power of the Internet, the certainty of Kate's actions spread to other friends and family members. Jim, for his part, did nothing to dissuade the rumors, and Kate refused to slander Jim to the church—even if he'd hurt her, even if it meant wearing the label.

Kate eventually moved back to her hometown, but even there, enough people knew her past to keep the stories and "certainties" churning. They knew who she was and what she'd done. Jim stepped down from the church staff, ostensibly because of the turmoil, but picked up his own label: poor, discarded husband.

Years later, Kate still wears her label. She remarried, but for many people, she's still the woman who ran out on her husband, who didn't fight hard enough, who really had ulterior motives for leaving him. Even after Jim left ministry and church altogether, the reason behind his apostasy fell at her feet. She'd been labeled, and that was enough.

Intersecting Faith and Life: Church can be a scary place because the process of living life together is messy. Husbands and wives cheat. Doubts bubble up. Irrational fears overcome. We're joined together at our most vulnerable point: trust.

We're all tempted to categorize events and people, especially when something goes wrong. Categorizing makes it all seem safer, so different from us. But the purpose of the church isn't just for when things are going well; it's for when things mess up. Once we categorize and label, we've made things seem tidier in our heads, but that tidiness rarely exists in real life.

For Kate, healing took years—all because those she trusted fit her neatly into the box where they wanted her to be. And for Jim, labeling meant he never dealt with his sin.

For Further Reading

John 8

*Names changed.

[Judy Harder]

Run for Your Life
Anna Kuta, ReligionToday.com Editor

"Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart" (2 Timothy 2:22).

Have you ever been at the beach in the summer and gotten in the ocean only to look up after a while and suddenly realize you've drifted way down from where you got in? It can be pretty scary sometimes, as you frantically try to find your way back to your spot amid crowds of people, umbrellas and towels that all seem to look the same. You thought you were just floating in the water, and it seemed like it, but the whole time the waves and the current were slowly carrying you down the shore.

You might have heard the saying that if you are not going forward in your Christian walk, you are going backwards – that if you are not actively progressing and growing, you are losing ground. It's similar to the way it works with the ocean. You might think you're staying in the same place, but you're losing ground without even realizing it.

Just as you have to continually keep swimming to keep the ocean from dragging you away from your place on the beach, growing in your faith and becoming more Christ-like is an active process, not a passive one. In 2 Timothy 2:22, Paul uses words with a connotation of intent and urgency to describe what we as Christians should do: flee youthful lusts, pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace. The word "flee" implies running as fast as you can away from something like you're afraid for your life, and that's exactly what Paul is saying we should do when confronted with "youthful lusts," or things that are not glorifying to God. Similarly, the word "pursue" implies following or chasing close behind something with the goal of catching it, like you're hot on its trail. This is the way God wants us to approach our relationship with Him – constantly striving to get to know Him more through His word, to follow His commands, to grow closer to Him, and to ultimately become more like Him.

The more we pursue godly desires and our relationship with Jesus, the faster we can flee those things that are not honoring to God. It is a one-or-the-other choice. I can't live a life that is glorifying to God if I'm continually dragged down by things that are detrimental to my spiritual growth. It's something that ultimately comes down to every little choice we make. With God's strength, though, we can deny wrong desires, and with His help, we can choose to do the right thing. Whatever you do, don't stand still – run for your life away from things that don't honor God and run equally fast toward Him.

Intersecting Faith & Life: Strive to learn more about Jesus through His word and grow closer to Him this year. Commit to pursuing your relationship with Him each day, and commit to asking Him to help you flee things in your life that are not glorifying to Him.

Further Reading

Jeremiah 29:13

Matthew 6:33

1 Timothy 6:11-12

Philippians 4:13

[Judy Harder]

Are You Reciting the Gospel by Yourself?
by Alex Crain, Editor, Christianity.com

"...with Him... Moses and Elijah, who, appearing in glory, were speaking
of His departure which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem."
Luke 9:30-31 NASB

It's good to see that the idea of 'preaching the gospel to yourself everyday' is becoming more popular. At least that's how it seems to me. Things that point to the gospel are popping up in all kinds of places and ways, not only in big and new movements but in short videos, articles and Twitter messages ("Gospel Tweets"). A caution in the way we think about the gospel was brought to my attention recently in chapter two of True Spirituality. If you're not following along in our weekly journey through this important and helpful work by Francis Schaeffer, I invite you to join us. 

In chapter two, Schaeffer mentions our Scripture passage today (above) where we see Moses and Elijah speaking with Jesus at the Mount of Transfiguration about His impending departure—His death.

It's subtle, but notice that they're not just making a passing mention of the fact. Rather, they were actively andcontinuously speaking about it. They were dwelling on the gospel; at least the substitutionary atonement part of it. And with the Object of their redemption (Christ) standing right there, no doubt there must have been more than just theological accuracy in their conversation. Probably more like amazement and deep gratitude. As they thought of all that Christ was about to endure for their sin, I'm sure they had correct thoughts about the gospel. But Christ's own presence energized their orthodox theology. 

At times, there can a detached, tearless way that we think about the gospel. When I have well-articulated and familiar facts about Christ's life/death/resurrection/ascension, and they are just empty echoes down the icy corridors of my thoughts, the diagnosis is simple: I have broken fellowship with Christ. It's evidence of unconfessed sin.

Schaeffer reminds us that when we rehearse the gospel, we must do so in the presence of the Living Christ; in humble worship of Him. He is not a distant figment of man's imagination. He is the God Who is there. Just as Moses and Elijah were "with Him"... in His presence, so we too must continuously rehearse the gospel while recognizing that we are in the presence of the God Who is there. The Christian life flows from the constant spring of dwelling on the gospel with the Redeemer Himself. 

Intersecting Faith & Life:     

Remember this paraphrase of John Piper: the gospel is like blood, it's supposed to course through your veins not be carried in a bucket.

John Owen, (a 1600s Puritan) often prayed, "Lord, may I commune with You in the doctrines I espouse." Make this your prayer and experience today. 

Further Reading

John 15

The Gospel in Six Minutes (John Piper, video)

"While all that borrows life from Thee is ever in Thy care;
And everywhere that man can be, Thou, God art present there."
From the hymn, "I Sing the Mighty Power of God" by Isaac Watts

[Judy Harder]

Seventy-Seven
by Ryan Duncan, Crosswalk.com Entertainment Editor

Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. – Romans 12: 17-18

In a perfect world, Christians would be people without any disagreements. Unfortunately this isn't a perfect world, it's a fallen one, and even the Church sees its share of conflict between members. Pastors argue, Churches split, and professed Christians hold grudges against their brothers and sisters. This last one is something I particularly struggle with. A few years ago I was in a really bad place; I was feeling hurt and angry because of something some other Christians had said to me.

When I finally confided this to one of my friends, I can remember saying,

"I just hate them so much."           

It wasn't until later that I learned the disciple Peter had been in a similar situation. Look at what Jesus said to him,       

Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?" Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times. – Matthew 18:21-22 

But Jesus didn't stop there, he continued by telling the parable of the Servant and the Master. It begins with a kind man who dismisses his servant's enormous debt,       

"But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. He grabbed him and began to choke him. 'Pay back what you owe me!' he demanded. "His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, 'Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.' "But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. When the other servants saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed and went and told their master everything that had happened. "Then the master called the servant in. 'You wicked servant,' he said, 'I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?' In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. "This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart." – Matthew 18:28-35

As Christians, we are commanded to forgive those who wrong us. Not just because God wants us to love one another, but because he first loved us.           

Intersecting Faith and Life: Is there anyone in your life you are struggling to forgive? Remember the parable of the King and his servant.

Further Reading

Luke 17:3

[Judy Harder]

Armor 'n Enemies
by Shawn McEvoy, Crosswalk.com Managing Editor

Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel.
Ephesians 6:13-19

Six pieces of armor. Five primarily defensive, one primarily offensive. And yet...

Have you ever used the chest-bumper of righteousness on someone? How about the head-butter of salvation? The bludgeoner of faith? The shin-kicker of readiness or the gut-puncher of holiness?

Even the sword of the spirit has its proper purpose - to fight our enemies. Which are?

Other Christians? Unbelievers? Mean people?

While we humans can be so hard on each other, no. One verse earlier, Paul tells us what we're fighting:

our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil (v. 12).

Quite convicting, really. Not only do I clearly go into many days without getting completely dressed, even when I do I'm mis-using my equipment, fighting in the dark, swinging blindly, or wounding with friendly fire.

I don't know about you, but for me, the elemental Bible verses I first learned as a youth (like today's verse) are the ones I need to continually reconsider, because they're the ones I tend to just believe without acting upon.

When times come - like these days we're in now - where there is fierce political thought and lines being drawn and opinions spouted as truth, including the opinion that there is no truth - it's just so easy to get drawn in before we remember to put on our armor or be trained in using it. When that happens, we tend to view our enemies as each other, and forget or deny that the war is still spiritual. And therefore more serious, more wearying, not less.

Intersecting Faith & Life: Get dressed this morning, and tomorrow morning. Once equipped, try emphasizing the defensive uses of most of the armor. Stand up for someone. Protect the reputation of another. Shelter someone in loving truth. Run quickly to someone in need. I pray you'll begin to survive your days much less scathed.

Further Reading

Romans 8:38
Fight or Flight? Weighing Your Instincts Against God's Word

[Judy Harder]

Batman and Big Brother
Alex Crain, Editor, Christianity.com

"And Jesus said to them, "Yes. Have you never read, 'Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have perfected praise'?" (Matthew 21:16 NKJV)

One of the blessings of being around children is the life lessons that they often teach us. Sometimes the lessons are about deep, spiritual truths. Like the lesson my two-year-old son, Henry, recently taught me about worship.

While at the playground area of a fast-food restaurant, Henry found himself surrounded by other kids his age whom he had never met. Suddenly, my wife heard him bragging to his little audience about his two heroes: Batman and big brother.

"Batman get bad guys," Henry said to one. Then very proudly to another, "My brudder hit bad guys ty-kon-do."

Now, his big brother never uses Tae Kwon Do... except in practice. But I suppose that, in Henry's imagination, those nine-year-old practice opponents must be bad guys. Whatever his motivation for saying these things, Henry couldn't help expressing praise for things that he thinks are great. It struck me that that's a big part of what worship is.

Yes, we'll need to continue teaching Henry about the goodness and greatness of God, just like we need continued teaching and reminding ourselves. But I don't think that the concept of worship is something that he, or anyone else, needs to be taught. What we need to do is un-learn some wrong-headed ideas about worship that we have picked up over the years.

C.S. Lewis points out one such wrong-headed idea when he admits that he used to mistakenly view the Bible's demands for praising God as no different than a conceited woman seeking compliments. Every time he heard the Psalms saying "praise the Lord," "praise God," or "praise Him," God sounded pathetically vain to him. In his book, Reflections on the Psalms(p. 93 ff.), Lewis explains how his perspective changed:

"...the most obvious fact about praise—whether of God or anything—strangely escaped me. I thought of it in terms of compliment, approval, or the giving of honor. I had never noticed that all enjoyment spontaneously overflows into praise unless shyness or the fear of boring others is deliberately brought in to check it."

"The world rings with praise—readers [praising] their favorite poet, walkers praising the countryside, players praising their favorite game... Just as men praise whatever they value, so they spontaneously urge us to join them in praising it: 'Isn't she lovely? Wasn't it glorious? Don't you think that magnificent?' The Psalmists, in telling everyone to praise God, are doing what all men do when they speak of what they care about."

"My difficulty about the praise of God depended on my absurdly denying to us what we delight to do, what indeed we can't help doing, about everything else we value. I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses, but completes the enjoyment."

Intersecting Faith and Life: If it's true that worship springs naturally from within a person and is expressed by praising that which he or she enjoys most, then what or whom do you find yourself praising?

Further Reading

Check out this helpful study on "worship" at BibleStudyTools.com.
Also, see Reflections on the Psalms, by C.S. Lewis

[Judy Harder]

What Has Fear to Do With Faith?

The LORD is my light and my salvation-- whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life-- of whom shall I be afraid? (Psalm 27:1).

Fear is something that creeps under the carpet and into our minds quietly, often unnoticed. When's the last time your church did a sermon series on the topic of Fear? Admittedly, Christians do talk about fear... sometimes. Kind of. We talk about certain types of fear, or certain things to fear. But often with one voice we denounce tendencies to fear certain things, while with more subtle whispers we encourage different kinds of fear.

From pulpits, books, and speakers we hear homilies on the fear of loneliness, singleness, disease, failure, and death. We circle up in small groups and admit to one another that we have a fear of commitment, or a fear or failing our children. "God is bigger than your fear!" we say to each other. "Trust him!"

But over here in Western Christianity, we have such a strange juxtaposition in the way our culture talks about fear. We say those encouraging things about having "freedom from fear" through Christ – but it's always in such a fluffy, abstract way. Do we understand why we have that freedom? Better yet, do we know what that freedom looks like?

And then on the opposite hand we actually foster fear of certain things. We cringe at government edicts, and spread the fear losing our freedoms. We encourage fear of said government, especially if the political persuasion of the house majority is different from our own. All throughout the ages children have grown up with a fear of bodies and a fear of sex, due to vague or hands-off instruction from parents mostly consisting of "DON"T DO IT!" We fear it when people have differing opinions. We fear persecution.

We fear messing up and getting our doctrine wrong. We fear sin. We even fear other people's sin.

Perhaps most tragically of all, I think we have a fear of giving too much grace. Or of giving grace but not giving enough truth.

It would appear we have a fear of looking weak and even a fear of our God looking weak. But does our Almighty God truly need us to defend his honor to the world? Jesus took on weakness in many ways. He came to shame the powerful by using the weak (1 Cor. 1:27) – and he started with himself. Jesus was serious about reminding people that choices have consequences (Matt. 23:12), but Jesus never picked up a sword and Jesus didn't fight back when he was beat upon (Luke 22:49-54). Jesus didn't invoke his God-given rights. Jesus died.

Shouldn't this biblical description speak loudly into how we fear? How we think about fear?

For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, ""Abba," Father" (Romans 8:15).

Intersecting Faith and Life: When you are tempted to let the evil of this world, the words of others, or the stirrings of your heart lead you into fear – remember that you have received the spirit of sonship through Christ! "What can mortal man do to me?" (Psalm 56:4)

Further Reading:

1 Peter 3:13-14

1 John 4:18

Mark 12:31

Isaiah 41:13

[Judy Harder]

Walking Your Faith
Ryan Duncan, Crosswalk.com Entertainment Editor

He replied, "Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you. "– Matthew 17:20

Recently CNN posted an article about a young man's spiritual pilgrimage. When Andrew Domini learned that a friend had recently been diagnosed with stage IV cancer, the 19-year-old college student had traveled 70 miles to pray at the shine of Catholic Saint, Theodore Guerin. Domini could have easily driven the 70 mile distance, but he wanted his journey to be a sacrifice, so he chose to walk instead. The journey took him two days. He arrived with feet blistered and bloody, but as he prayed over the remains of the Catholic Saint, Domini said he finally felt at peace.

Now here's the interesting part, Andrew Domini isn't Catholic, and when asked he admitted to mixed feelings about the Church. Reading this story, I couldn't help but be struck by the boy's similarity to the Roman centurion from Luke 7,                 

"When Jesus had finished saying all this in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum. There a centurion's servant, whom his master valued highly, was sick and about to die. The centurion heard of Jesus and sent some elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and heal his servant. When they came to Jesus, they pleaded earnestly with him, "This man deserves to have you do this, because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue." So Jesus went with them. He was not far from the house when the centurion sent friends to say to him: "Lord, don't trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. That is why I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you. But say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, 'Go,' and he goes; and that one, 'Come,' and he comes. I say to my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it." When Jesus heard this, he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd following him, he said, "I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel."- Luke 7:1-9

I have to admit, I felt pretty ashamed after reading that article. Here was a boy willing to make sacrifices in order to pray to a God he barley understood, while my prayer life consists of a few garbled words before falling asleep at night. Andrew Domini spent two days walking 70 miles to reach a place of worship, while I struggle to make the five minute drive to Church every Sunday. It is so easy to become complacent in our faith, to make it such a part of our daily ritual that we end up forgetting God. But God wants more from us than our hollow actions and lifeless obedience; he wants to be the center of our lives.

Being a true Christian means living with a passion for God, and a willingness to go the extra mile. It means living with vision, and not settling for the bear minimum your faith requires. It's seeking to know an unfathomable God, and realizing that He will always have something new He wants to teach you. 

Intersecting Faith and Life

When was the last time you sacrificed something for God?

Further Reading

Romans 3:28     

[Judy Harder]

Be on Your Guard
by Laura MacCorkle

Therefore, dear friends, since you already know this, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of lawless men and fall from your secure position. 2 Peter 3:17, NIV

Who of us doesn't remember a film, television show, book or play with some swordsman in chainmail declaring, "On guard!" before engaging in a duel with someone else?

In that type of adversarial situation, the warning is said to alert the other party that "I'm armed, so prepare to defend yourself." And in light of the current belief battles going on today within evangelical Christianity, that meaning has been front and center in my head and heart—especially after reading through today's verse in 2 Peter.

I did a little further study and found what I read in the New Testament portion of The Bible Knowledge Commentary to be quite helpful in understanding this passage:

If [Peter's] readers were not careful, they could be carried away by the error of lawless men ... The verb "carried away" emphasizes a group or corporate movement. False teachers are not satisfied with ambushing one or two, now and then, here and there; they want to sweep large groups of people away from the correct doctrine of Christ. Those who keep company with such people are in danger of being led astray.

I don't need or want to name prominent names or cite recent book titles or the like within the Christian bubble, as I'm sure that one or many have already come to your mind by this point in today's devotional. Sadly, false teaching is everywhere these days and only seems to be gaining momentum as we head further into the twenty-first century.

It's alarming, for sure, to hear those who are in pastoral, shepherding or leadership positions mishandle God's Word or imply that there is suddenly a new "change" in the meaning of scriptural doctrines that trained theologians and Bible scholars have agreed upon for centuries prior.

But Truth is supposedly relative in the world where we now live, isn't it? What's true for you may not be true for me and so forth. Right? So how do we arm ourselves and follow Peter's instruction to "be on your guard" as believers?

But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:18).

First, there's grace. Unmerited favor from God. How do we grow in that? By reminding ourselves continually of what God did for each and every one of us. If we don't understand grace, then we will never know who God is, what he stands for and what a right relationship with him looks like. "While we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Rom. 5:. When we get that, in turn, our lives will be lived from a place of humility and in testimony of what God has done through us.

And then there's knowledge. We will only grow spiritually and know God as much as we can in this life if we know the Word. And that doesn't begin and end only with what someone says the Bible says (which isn't bad in and of itself). But it means reading the Bible for yoursel fon a continuing basis, so that it will take root in your heart and inform your thinking and your actions. There is no better way to mature in the Lord and know Truth (and be corrected in your thinking, if it's "stinking") than to spend time getting to know God through the Word.

No one else can have your spiritual relationship for you. And anyone who leads you away from Truth is leading you away from a secure position. So be on your guard. And get in there, dig deep and know His unchanging truth.

Intersecting Faith & Life: Are you ready to confront false teaching and see through the devil's schemes to trick and deceive—even in Christian circles? Always consider the source and always measure what you hear or read against God's Word.

Further Reading:

Matthew 7:15-20, NIV
Ephesians 6:10-18, NIV
2 Timothy 3:16-17, NIV
1 John 4:1-6, NIV