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1) Believe That We, Or Our Pastor/Denomination/Spiritual Leader, Cannot Be Fooled
In spite of the fact that deception is one of the major themes of the New Testament all too often Christians are firmly of the opinion that neither they nor their pastor, mentor, spiritual leader, or denomination as a whole have been deceived. Many today seem to think that heresy is something that largely happens outside the church in spite of the fact that both Peter and Paul were very emphatic that wolves would arise from the flock itself.
2) Attribute Every Personal Testimony and “Sign” To Being Of Or From, God
There is absolutely no question that personal testimony can be very valuable but it has it's place, most often as encouragement to believers. Many members of cults like the Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses, etc. can and do give powerful testimonies of how their lives have changed. Numerous members of other religious groups can testify as to how they or someone else was healed by "the power of prayer", their "guru", or holy man.
One of the most dangerous mistakes made in the church is assuming supernatural manifestations or any kind of miracle or healing
means that God must be present.
3) Take Bible Verses Out of Context
No Biblical author simply strung together a number of lofty sounding phrases disconnected from one another. Since each verse is an integral part of a particular point the author was trying to make no one should read, much less base their beliefs on, stand alone verses. The reader can only be accurately informed by God's Word the way it is written - in its context. Understanding what the author meant comes not only from the words he wrote, but also by what the overall message of the chapter is intended to convey. But, since this takes a lot more time, and effort, most Christians are content with allowing a verse to be wrested from it's context, and used to convey whatever meaning the speaker/author wishes it to convey.. This, all too often is nothing but a corruption of Scriptures done (intentionally or unintentionally) to persuade men that whatsoever the false teacher says is based on Biblical truth.
4) Believe That We, As Christians Are Not To Judge Anything Or Anyone
Sadly this post modern idea has carried over into the church. Those who quote the 'judge not" statement perfectly illustrate the old saying "a little knowledge is a dangerous thing". What they do not realize is that that this is not a stand alone statement that Jesus pulled out of thin air then went off to try his hand at fishing for his lunch on the Sea of Tiberias, saying no more on the matter. In fact it has been terribly wrested from it's context. If we allow the Lord to complete His thought AND His sentence we will find that that Jesus wasn't saying, (or even implying) that we should never make judgments about anyone at any time, but was condemning a certain type of judging. In fact, discernment or "judging" is one of the gifts of the holy spirit
ALSO SEE RELATED ARTICLES
Why Christians Are Deceived
That deception is so rampant in the church can be primarily attributed to just one underlying fact - the vast majority of Christians today are Biblically illiterate.
Fraternizing With The Enemy
Few seem to realize that the Christians are commanded to separate themselves from
those who teach and practice false doctrine
True and False Unity
Although doctrine has often been allowed to divide people in disgraceful ways, division is not something that can be avoided. You could scour the Scriptures for the next ten years without finding a single word about being united at the expense of truth. Ignoring important areas in which we differ is simply a papering over of the rot in the walls
Theology and Doctrine
One commonly held belief in much of the modern church is that faith is based in the heart therefore all that is important will be "experienced". Thus all too many believers pay little or not attention to '"theology' and 'doctrine' believing that these have little or no relevance to their religious life. This has the advantage of presenting no challenges to their shallow 'easy Christianity' that requires no intellectual effort and allows them to coast along never being stretched or using their God given brains. In reality, both are crucial because you cannot know what is Biblically unsound unless you know what is Biblically sound. In other words, you have to know what the Scriptures teach (doctrine).
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