HOW TO DETECT
COUNTERFEITS IN RELIGIONfrom
CHEAP TALK VERSUS EXPENSIVE WALK
Maurice M Johnson
Radio Message
With all of the inventions for disseminating knowledge that we have today, printing press, telephone, radio, television, people's minds are being attacked as never before in human history, Therefore, as never before in human history, it is essential that we surely know how to detect the counterfeit, especially in religion.Some of us have lived long enough to have observed the decay of the older sects and denominations and the springing up of hundreds of newer and. in most cases, far less evangelical, isms and schisms, sects and denominations Preachers, isms, schisms, are attacking on all fronts, creeping into houses, precisely as Paul by divine inspiration said would characterize the last days. Read I Timothy 4 and Timothy 3, and Jude and 2 Peter 2 and so forth.
But how can we know who is right and who is wrong among the increasing voices that cry out,, "Lo here is Christ", "Lo there is Christ", "There He is out in the desert", "Here He is in the secret place", "This is a work of faith", "God has definitely led me to start a new crusade", "I feel, strongly led to start a new fellowship", or, or, or, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
Is it important that honest, God-fearing people he able to confidently obey Christ's clear command found in Matthew 7, "Beware of wolves in sheep's clothing"? Did the glorified head of the church which is His body have Paul warn against grievous wolves entering in among the flock, Acts 20, but leave no clear and perfectly practical method by which we may detect and avoid these subtle and sinister characters? as well as those like the apostle Peter and Barnabas who temporarily lapsed into hypocrisy and were causing ugly divisions among young Christians, as we read in Galatians 2?
Yes, thank God, the God-fearing apostle of the Gentiles, Paul, was given and faithfully declared the only safe and sure way by which we can and should know who is who and what is what as to evangelists, pastors and teachers, elders and deacons, and doctrines, "Mark them which walk", Philippians 3:17, And in Romans 16:17 he likewise warns against clever word mongers using good words and fair speeches but causing divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which the Christians at Rome had learned. The apostle Peter warns against false prophets coming along with feigned words. That means using words insincerely as enticing bait. See 2 Peter 2.