|
|
 |
|
 |
| |
In more than three decades of my Christian life, I have been blest by 2 types of Daily devos'
(matter not exceeding 500 words) in universal Christian literature. Not only those Devos'
which have a different theme everyday but also the ones which revolve around a certain
theme over a period of time, say a fortnight, have richly edified me. In fact, both
styles have their own inherent advantages. If the former style caters to the varying
spiritual needs of a christian from day-to-day, the latter aims 'to ground'
a child of God in a certain subject in order he derives the full benefits of the
deep insightful study of a certain topic, spread over a fixed span of time.
In my Daily devo page, I have consciously tried to go in for 'a blend of both the
styles' whereby within a constant theme, I would be aiming to focus on different
facets of it which admittedly is a closer imitation of the 'Constant theme' style
than the 'Varying topics' one.
As the month of December coincides with the Christmas season, in this month I intend to
dwell exclusively on all the topics revolving around Christmas using the visit of the
Wise man described in Matthew 2 as the base.
Let me wish you a happy and an edifying read… oh yes-MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL OF US!
Suresh Manoharan
|
|
|
December 23rd
Blindfolding people…full time
Thus says the Lord of hosts: Do not listen to the words of the [false]
prophets who prophesy to you. They teach you vanity (emptiness, falsity, and
futility) and fill you with vain hopes; they speak a vision of their own
minds and not from the mouth of the Lord. – Jeremiah 23:16
For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as
apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as
an angel of light. – II Cor 11:13-14
|
| |
| |
One of the sad paradoxes’ of Biblical history is just as there were sincere
full-timers’ like Prophet Isaiah or Jeremiah who gave their all sacrificially to God,
there were the wicked ones’ who in the name of God misled people full-time…till Divine comeuppance
caught-up with them
(Jeremiah 28:17).
Even as Bible warns us to be wary of them who blindfold us spiritually to lead us in
the pathways of hell
(Matt 7:15),
it also goes on to tell us about the ways of identifying them.
You will fully recognize them by their fruits. Do people pick grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles?
Even so, every healthy (sound) tree bears good fruit worthy of admiration], but the sickly
(decaying, worthless) tree bears bad (worthless) fruit.-
Matt 7:16-17
What when the selfish acts are very well disguised that distinguishing them from sacrificial acts
becomes difficult? Well, we need to simply pray for the discerning spirit, which again is a gift of God,
as the following scripture portion bears out
“…to another the ability to discern and distinguish between [the utterances of true] spirits
[and false ones], to another various kinds of [unknown] tongues, to another the ability to interpret
[such] tongues.” –
I Cor 12:10
Yet another defense mechanism against false teachers and their teachings would be sound
knowledge of the scriptures. Just as having good bodily resistance is a good safeguard against
infectious diseases, similarly being grounded well in the scriptures is a safety measure to detect
the counterfeits, as the saying goes ‘best way to detect a counterfeit is to know perfectly the original’.
Tomorrow, we shall look at one of the apostate teachings, which is bound to attract a mass following,
in order we are wary of them (apostates).
Prayer:
Father, you have warned us through your Word about the apostates, false
prophets and heretics. Enable us to be on guard in order, we are not led astray by them.
In Jesus’ name. Amen.
|
| |
Back
Next......
|
|
|
|
|
