Article - Test All Preachers!
Children and even adults are many times prone to believe something is true without examining the evidence, especially if they hear it from a respected authority figure such as a preacher or they read it in a book or paper. The preacher may write a long article, use big words, repeat his points over and over again and call himself by religious titles such as “Doctor, Pastor or Reverend,” but such does not prove that he is declaring “the whole counsel of God” or speaking “as the oracles of God” (Matthew 6:7; 23:8-11; Luke 20:46-47; Acts 20:27; 1 Peter 4:11). The apostle John warns, “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world” (1 John 4:1). We are to be like the Bereans and with the Scriptures “test all things” we hear or read and “hold fast what is good” (Acts 17:11; 1 Thessalonians 5:21). Once we have found and entered into the faith, we must fight for it (Jude 1:3). We must be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks us the reason for the hope that is in us (1 Peter 3:15). We must speak the truth in love and by sound doctrine debate, exhort and convict those who contradict (Acts 15:1-2; Ephesians 4:14-15; Titus 1:9). Today there are many modern-day scribes, Pharisees and hypocrites who, though they appear to be righteous and truthful as popular religious leaders, are shutting up the kingdom of heaven against men. They neither go in themselves nor allow those who are entering to go in (Matthew 23:13). They twist the Scriptures to their own destruction and are not willing to engage in public discussion for fear that they will be exposed (John 3:20). Beware and test all preachers, lest you are “led away with the error of the wicked” (2 Peter 3:16-17).
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