by

Voyle A.Glover

I'm sometimes amazed at the abundance of denominations and variations of Christianity in our world. I'm astounded at the differences that exist, some huge differences representing chasms that can never be bridged. But more than amazed, I am also puzzled. You see, I understand, from a purely logical perspective, that truth is not a variable, not a variant of life.

Truth is not negotiable. Indeed, speaking in a strictly logical sense of the word, truth cannot be distorted or changed. What is changed is the perception of an individual concerning a particular truth. It works something like this: First, the truth is there, lying in plain sight, able to be absorbed, tasted, discovered and used.

Ah, but then the individual, with perhaps some assistance (an "Interpreter of The Truth"), begins an alteration process. Distortions begin. Experience is sewn into the fabric of truth. Colors are woven into the fabric to make it more pleasant, more pleasing to the eye, more acceptable to the senses. And finally, the end product is no longer the original truth that was before the individual's senses, but rather is a created product containing bits and pieces of truth and lots of distortions, lies and clever rhetorical alterations (and aberrations).

That is truly amazing to me for a lot of reasons.

First of all, one would think that everyone would be zealous for truth, particularly for spiritual truth. You'd think everyone would want to have the pure, unvarnished truth about a spiritual matter, instead of a clever imitation. Interestingly, we want the pure, unvarnished truth in so many other parts of our lives.

For example, we want to know exactly where we are headed when we are on an trip. We spend lots of money to purchase maps to aid us in our destination and we would not accept a map that was inaccurate. Suppose, for example, one wanted to cross from Ohio to California and purchased a map. The map showed California to be in a northern direction. Would you be content with such a map? Would you accept such a map? Would you ever buy another map from that map maker?

We make a big to-do about truth in advertising. We want to know what is really in our food. We want the truth. And we spend billions to send our children to school to learn what? Lies? Fairy Tales? Nope. We send them to learn the truth. We want them to know the truth about every subject they take. We don't expect our children to go to school and be taught lies. We would be enraged if our child came home and told us that 2 plus 2 was seven "because that's what my teacher says it is." We'd demand truth from that teacher.

That's why it is so amazing to me that we, as a nation full of religious people, are seemingly content with not knowing the truth. People go to church not knowing whether they are hearing truth and not really caring. They, for the most part, are content that "probably" the person speaking to them is telling them the truth. But they really don't know. All they know is that it "sounds like the truth." Or it is pleasant to hear. Or "he is such an inspiring speaker." But they do not know if the words they hear are truth.

There is another class of people who are convinced they have the truth. They will aggressively affirm they have the truth. They will tell you how much they have studied. They can tell you how much they have prayed. They can tell you how much time they have spent "in the Word." But they don't know the truth, either. They only think they know the truth. They know what they've been told by other men.

But they don't know what God said.

Which brings a dilemma. Who has the truth?
How do we know who is telling us the truth? Who can we believe? One says, "Thus sayeth The Lord!" And another says, "Come and I will tell you the truth." And we hear teachers and preachers and a host of others babble at us in tongues purporting to be truth. But is it? How can we know which ones bring truth and which ones bring lies? And worse, how can we know the ones who bring mixtures of truth and lies? How can we distinguish the truth from the lie?

Follow along with me and I'll give you some insight into the problem for it is a problem we all face, daily and for the rest of our life.

I first came face to face with this dilemma at the spiritual age of one week. I did not have anyone to disciple me. I had not come into salvation with a great deal of understanding or knowledge. My mother had witnessed to me and a week later, I had an experience which convinced me of the truth of the things she'd said to me. I knew Jesus Christ was Savior. I knew God wanted my life. But I didn't know much more. I knew I was going to live for God...whatever that meant. I did not know what it meant besides turning away from my sins. I knew I had to forsake the life I was then leading. Conviction had set deep into my soul and although I did not completely understand surrender and did not know all my sinful condition, I knew much of it. Looking back, I must say that there was far more I didn't know about what had to change about me than what I knew.

But I did set about to change. I did change my ways, through the grace of God. I made a 180 degree course change. But I did not know doctrine. I knew absolutely nothing about the great doctrines of the Bible. My only exposure to the doctrines of the Bible that left an image in my mind had come from the movies. (Not the place to learn doctrine, I assure you.)

So within the first week, I found myself puzzling over where to find truth.

I wondered who to go to in order to find truth. I discovered that there were so many alleged truths, each a variant from the other, and some radically so, that I was confounded. I set out to determine who had the truth. I began by reading the Bible. This seemed to be the logical starting point. In conjunction, I prayed. I asked God to show me truth. It seemed to me also to be logical. (I did not know then that there was a very solid biblical foundation for such asking, e.g., James 1:5.) After all, I reasoned, God was truth. God had made it clear to me that He wanted my life. Thus, if He wanted my life, surely He wanted me to follow truth. So in child-like faith, I asked Him to lead me to truth, to give me understanding in the Bible. Before I would read, I would pray and ask God to give me understanding.

And He did. I was astounded. It was a feast. I devoured the Bible like a wolf in the dead of winter, feeding. It was all brand new. I'd never read a commentary. I'd never read a book explaining the Bible. As yet, I'd never heard one sermon explaining the Bible or the things of God. The only Bible truths I'd ever heard expounded was from my mother, and that was pretty limited, mostly about salvation. But as I read those holy words, I found myself comprehending truths that to this day, are part of the foundation laid in me in those early years.

But still I puzzled over who would guide me deeper. I knew I needed more. I read enough to know that there was such a wide divergence between the myriad of groups espousing Christianity that they could not all be right. Logic seemed to dictate that I follow a certain group. It was a very large and diverse group and I concluded, rather foolishly, that many people simply couldn't be wrong.

But I did not commit to any particular group or denomination. I read Christian Science material and found some very excellent articles on faith. And I carefully considered that group until I began reading things that did not match with the truths I was getting from God in the Bible. I began to see their error was too wide a chasm for me to leap. One day while reading my Bible, I read a verse that said there was but one mediator between man and God, and that was the man Christ Jesus. ["For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; 6. Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time." 1 Tim 2:5-6 ]

Instantly, God filled my heart with the understanding that another group I'd been leaning towards was in grave error because at the heart of their worship, they substitute a man as a mediator. Thus, whilst I'd been favorably disposed towards them, I quickly backed away. There was no mistaking the message I was getting from God.

But my problem still existed. By now, months had passed. I was living in San Diego in an apartment and was just twenty years of age. I was in the U.S. Navy stationed aboard a ship there. On my off days, I'd hole up in my apartment reading the Bible and praying. It was a good time for me. On Sundays, I'd go to church. I attended a large Methodist church. But I was growing very dissatisfied with it because I never heard anything about the Bible and little about God. It was very much a social institution that made much to do about local community events, events in the lives of church members, the ills of society and how to help people. So while many things were said that were no doubt important to some and helpful to some, there was nothing being said about God and absolutely no mention of the Bible. It wasn't read. It wasn't even discussed.

One Sunday I was returning to my apartment after church that morning when a lady stepped up to me and handed me something and very quickly invited me to come to church. I asked her where it was and she pointed down the street and told me it was the First Baptist Church of San Diego. I told her I would be there.

I prayed before I went there and asked God to show me where He wanted me to go and to let me know if this was where I should go (a prayer I had been praying). That evening, I entered the service and immediately felt comfortable. It had a completely different feel to it. And then came the astounding thing. I'd been pretty successful at reading the Bible and understanding things. When I'd stumble onto a difficult passage which puzzled me, I'd pray and it seemed like in seconds, I'd come to understand the passage. But one particular passage would not budge. I'd pray but still could not understand it. Days had gone by. This had never happened before. Always before, I'd pray and understanding would come. Not this time.

Guess what that Baptist preacher spoke on that night? Right. Directly on the subject and from the very passage with which I struggled. And he explained during the invitation about the need to be baptized. I'd never known that I needed to be baptized. So I went forward. I was baptized a week later. I began to listen to the messages in that church and began to learn doctrine as taught by the Baptists.

Over and over, I heard truths that God had already confirmed in my soul, being taught in that Baptist church. It was confirmation to me that here was truth. And so I stayed and learned.

Unfortunately, I did not stay long. I left the navy and returned home to Phoenix. There, I joined a Baptist church that my mother was now attending. And I learned more doctrine, more truths. And I also learned an important lesson. I learned that the Baptists did not always hold the truth perfectly. I learned that while they propounded truth more closely than any other group I had looked at, there were some areas in which they lacked. I also earned that not all Baptists believed the same things about doctrine and that the variants on the truths of the Bible were many amongst them.

But I now understood that I had a source, a learning center as it were. And I learned that I could reach out to other sources and take truth from them as well. Now I realize that my experience is somewhat different than the experiences of many Christians. Many are immediately immersed into a learning environment and grow in the doctrines of the Word. (Though far, far too many are immersed into error from the beginning and become bound with cords of lies mingled with truth such that they will never escape until they stand before Christ one day and realize how foolish they have been.). We are all colored by our experiences. The Apostle Paul became a different man because of an experience he had with the Lord. And he was further shaped by the intense discipling he underwent shortly thereafter. He learned many truths throughout his life. But those early years were foundational years in which he learned things about God which were so important in his understanding other truths that came to him later.

Which brings me to the heart of the matter.

I contend that it is impossible for any man or woman to know who is teaching truth or error unless and until that man or woman brings themselves under the direct tutelage of the Holy Spirit. That means a Christian must devote him or herself to prayer and to seeking truth from the Lord from within His Word. Not a commentary. Not a book about the Bible. From the Word of God alone. Now I do not say one cannot learn from helps. I use them. But you'd better know the Word of God first. You'd better study that first. You'd better learn some important things about God first, learn some vital principles about God and godliness, first. Only then can you have enough discernment to know whether an author is theologically sound or not. And you should make a rule: Once you find someone is in error on certain fundamental truths, read everything they write and hear everything they say with a degree of caution and suspicion. I do not say you cannot learn from them. But beware.

One of my favorite historical Christians is Charles Finney. I loved his biography. I believe God used him in a mighty way. But I also know that he was in error on many subjects. He may have been a great preacher and able to win many to Christ but he was not a great teacher for he did not spend his time learning doctrine in the proper fashion. If he had, he'd not have been in such error in certain things. I have many of his books. But I read them with a degree of care. I glean from them.

Christian, if you would know truth, seek God.

He is truth. If you would know truth, then be truthful. Be truthful with others, with yourself and with God. Ask God for truth. He cannot deny such a request. He is bound to honor such a request. Ask Him to open your mind. Ask Him to show you the error of another about whom you have questions. He will do that. GOD WILL LEAD YOU INTO TRUTH. He has promised and cannot lie. He cannot deny himself.

You may find yourself in a situation where there are lies propounded from the pulpit or from a teacher. It does not mean that God has led you into error. Indeed, the fact that you are able to discern the error means God has given you enough truth to keep you from being seduced by the lies. God will not always lead you into a church where there is absolute truth preached and taught. And you should not necessarily seek such a church. [Sigh. For those of you who take issue, a query: Where did God lead Jeremiah to serve? And were those people seekers and sowers of truth? Thank you.] And understand that I am talking about membership in a Bible believing, teaching, preaching church. If you are in a church such as I found myself in during my early years, where no truth is preached or taught, unless you have some very strong evidence and leading from the Lord (and you will not have such leading unless you are very, very grounded in the truths of God), then you must leave that church. But if you find yourself in a church that is in many, if not most respects, biblically oriented, but you find error in the church in some areas, perhaps even coming from time to time from leadership, it may be that God will leave you there as salt. Pay close attention to the leading of the Holy Spirit.

What you should seek is to know the truth. You see, by knowing the truth, you can be the salt in that church. You can influence others into truthful positions. You can propound truth. You may be one of the few in the church telling truth to others. Don't be proud about that nor become arrogant about it. Instead, be grateful that God has sought you out in order for you to be salt on the table in the midst of those people. And instead of trying to escape to a "pure" church where "only the truth is preached," salt those you find yourself amongst with truth. But do it with humility, with meekness, with quietness. Do not do it in an adversarial fashion. Just quietly teach the truth. Do not seek to contend with the leadership for this will have the following effects: (1) You will be branded as one who sows discord amongst the brethren; and (2) You will be stopped from giving some essential biblical truths to some of the people in that church. Because one propounds error, do not think you must always contend for the truth by confrontation.

Contending for the truth is a spiritual activity, not a rhetorical exercise.

It is not a time to show how smart you are, how gifted you are, how learned in the Bible you are, or how far on God's side you are. It is a spiritual battle for the minds of the people, to relieve blindness. And you will not win that war from the outside. If you habitually seek confrontation with the leadership, you will be as a certain missionary who thought to come into another culture and immediately ordered that they conform to the truths of the Bible and found himself thrust from the culture, forbidden to return.

How much truth could he teach? None. He could have stayed and, without compromise, quietly and gently taught the truth of the Bible, not contending with the leadership but rather, contending for the truth by preaching and teaching the truth. Now if you teach the truth and because of that teaching, contention arises from them and confrontation arises from them, this is different. They have chosen confrontation. They have reduced your options. And you are then entitled, according to Scripture, to contend for the truth by contending openly with them, by opposing their teachings openly, by condemning their teachings openly, by calling them by name or declaring to them and all, in public, that they are in error. And I must say that in all likelihood, your steadfast stand for truth, even if done quietly, meekly and with all humility, will probably place you into an adversarial relationship with the leadership one day.

Also, you must understand that these are general principles I am here propounding. There are exceptions to most rules and here, there are exceptions. Jesus in the temple with the money changers is a good example. But the biblical model is, I believe, as I've outlined above. There are those who would strongly disagree with me, but unless I see evidence otherwise from the Scriptures, I must maintain that our primary mission is to speak the truth, to bear truth, to expound truth and to deliver truth, always in love, sometimes in adversity, sometimes against a background of open hostility, and sometimes against a background of subdued error founded in ignorance. The essence of it all is: Be wise. Be wise.

And for those who would posit that since the error of the leadership is being propounded openly and must be dealt with openly, a la Paul's rebuke of Peter, let me say that virtually all error is propounded openly. False prophets are seldom shrinking violets. But to openly challenge such false prophets is not always wise. I do not say there is never a time and never a platform, but merely that God expects wisdom from His servants. There is a time and place for aggressive, all-out warfare. Be sure when you so move that you are so moved by God and not your own passion, pride and/or ignorance.

Realize that you can never do much contending for the truth unless you know the truth.

And you will never know truth unless you seek God with all your heart and beg for His wisdom. And you must study the Word of God prayerfully. God will lead you into truth. And THEN you can know who has truth and who has error. God will show you. Your mind is not capable of sorting it all out. But God can. He knows who is in error. He knows who is deceiving. He knows who has lies wrapped in gilded truth.

You can have the mind of Christ.

Are you willing? All it takes is faith. All it takes is your asking Him for wisdom (in faith). All it takes is your initiative. You see, it is an act of the will. It is a choice you make. It is a choice to know the truth. All of it. It is a choice to reject embraced lies, coveted distortions and proud pronouncements.

But sadly, most of you will be too proud. You will resist the truth. You will not be willing to admit you may be wrong in your doctrine. You will not be willing to admit that you have been deceived by Satan. After all, you know what you've seen in life and the miracles you've seen and experienced and the wonderful blessings you've experienced. How could you be deceived? You won't get passed the notion that lies often come wrapped in truth. 

And you'll not for a second believe that you may have been following a lie, a beautifully wrapped lie, layered with truth and scented with offerings to God.

Some of you have greatly underestimated the power and cunning of Satan. You have believed him to be a demon and not a beautiful creature of light. You have thought of Satan as a scary monster and never would you see him as a handsome, beautiful individual doing acts of kindness, and wearing the
garb of righteousness. You see, most of you do not believe the following verse:

"For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. 14. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. 15. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works."

-- 2 Cor 11:13-15.

Or if you believe it, you do not comprehend the significance of it. You fail to realize that the most successful campaigns of Satan against the Body of Christ are not the demonic attacks made by liberal, agnostic God-hating bigots who detest Christianity. The worst attacks, the most deadly attacks are not from those who promote pornography. Nor are the worst attacks from the non-Christian religions of the world.

The most insidious attacks on the Body of Christ are from those who mount the pulpits wearing the garb of righteousness, transforming themselves into preachers of righteousness, holding up a Bible in one hand, speaking words, yea, holy words, intoning words to us that sound as though they come from a righteous man, but words that are as sharp and as piercing as any hook set in a fish's jaw, lies wrapped in truth. [The Bible speaks of them as doctrines of devils. " Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;" -1 Tim 4:1]

The Christian world seems to think that if a man mounts a pulpit, opens a Bible, reads from it, speaks about it, and even entreats the hearer to obey the holy commandments found within its pages, that this person is a Christian minister to be heard, to be obeyed. The phrase "wolf in sheep's clothing" has no meaning to the average Christian, no substantive imagery. The average Christian's image of the "wolf in sheep's clothing" is akin to the image of the wolf in the tale of Little Red Riding Hood who, although in the garb of Grandmother, was clearly the wolf to those of us in the know. We could see his long snout. And we knew Grandma didn't have teeth like that. We knew it instantly.

But the truth is, Satan is subtle and cunning, wise in the ways of mankind. And he is not called the Deceiver for nothing. What better way to deceive than to wear the garb of a preacher? And what better way to deceive than to preach what a real preacher would preach: righteousness. Did you read that verse carefully? Did you see that it said "transformed as the ministers of righteousness"? What do you think a minister of righteousness would preach and teach? Well, if he is truly to be transformed in the minds of a Christian, especially one who has a passing knowledge of the Bible, he'd best be preaching and teaching righteousness.

Otherwise, the con isn't going to take.

But for some reason, Christians just don't want to believe that they could be had. They don't want to believe that those glorious, inspiring words came from a source other than God. They don't want to think that they were part of a big scheme of Satan to deceive. And in their pride, they cling fast to what they've come to believe as truth, unwilling to trade up, unwilling to even investigate, to see if they really have the truth. And in their error, they follow the Deceiver, even smiling, even in song, even rejoicing, content that they have truth, when in fact, they are being led astray by a Pied Piper playing his own rendition of "Send the Light," mouthing the words, but inside saying: "Bring the Night."

To those pastors/leaders who resent what I've said and who think my words might arouse suspicion in the minds of Christians towards leadership, I can only say this: Speak the Truth. If you stick to the truth, what fear have ye? If you do not deceive, why would you worry? Is not God able to use you? Isn't the Holy Spirit able to convince your congregation of the truth you bear? And if not, if God is not able to persuade them, why would you concern yourself about having the followship of such?

My words are to those who want truth and want to seek it. If some hear my words and become suspicious as to whether or not you have the truth, then they have three choices: (1) Do nothing but suspect your every word; or (2) Leave; or (3) Make diligent inquiry of God as to whether you preach and teach the truth, i.e., they seek to discover "whether those things be so" or not. In any event, if they are not convinced of your truth by the Holy Spirit and do not seek truth independently of you, then you have lost nothing. If they leave, then you have gained the loss of someone who refused to seek the truth, to find out whether or not you spoke the truth. And if they stay and inquire of God, then God will show them truth for He is faithful and you have gained an excellent disciple and a solid church member.

Christian, I know that you think you have the truth and your pastor is a bearer of precious seed. And it may be so. But you'd better be sure who you follow. You'd better make sure the one you accept as bearing precious seed is in fact, bearing true seed and not sowing tares instead. Are you sure? If so, how? Because someone told you so? Because you are happy? Because you just know truth when you hear it? I suggest to you that none of those answers are sufficient. You need to know because God has illuminated your own mind with His truth in a personal way, from personal study of the Bible and has brought holy conviction to you that comes from faith-filled prayer begging God to open your mind and fill it with truth.

God will show you truth, if you want it. I say again: GOD WILL SHOW YOU TRUTH, IF YOU WANT IT. Do you want it? Then ask for it. Ask God to confirm whether you are in His truth or not. Ask God to show you whether the man or woman you follow and believe is sent from God is in fact, from God. God will open your eyes. He has promised to do that in I John 5:14-15. Check it out. Read it. See if I speak the truth here. God will show you. BUT YOU MUST ASK. You must want to know the truth. You must seek the truth. You must take the initiative.

Will you do that?

You owe it to yourself to know the truth.

And you owe it to God.

The End

copyright 1997 Voyle Glover