While Cheryl and I were travelling, we booked a room with a hotel chain we frequently use.\u00a0 After checking in, she gave the room the once over while I began unloading the bag cart.\u00a0 I heard her say from the bathroom, \u201cThis is not good!\u201d\u00a0 The tub\/shower had a hair around the drain and walls.\u00a0 The floor and vanity were filthy.\u00a0 As we searched elsewhere, we pulled back the sheets and one bed had obviously been slept in and the sheets were not changed.\u00a0 Behind a padded chair we found a large black bug about an inch long.\u00a0 It was dead (Cheryl says, \u201cThank You, Jesus!).<\/p>\n
I called the manager who arrived minutes later with his housekeeper.\u00a0 We pointed out the issues, but he replied that he did not understand the problem.\u00a0 He asked his housekeeper to tell us about the procedures they use to clean the rooms.\u00a0 I informed him that I was not interested in those procedures, but only in a clean room.\u00a0 After a bit of back and forth he finally said that because of our fastidiousness, it was apparent that he was not going to be able to please us with another room. \u00a0My reply was, \u201cObviously not.\u201d<\/p>\n
That story illustrates the problem with discernment.\u00a0 It isn\u2019t that discernment is a problem in and of itself, but that it always uncovers what people either do not wish to see, or are unable to see.\u00a0 This is especially true in the case of heresy and heretics.\u00a0 Deception has severed them from the truth necessary to recognizing the heresy or heretic.\u00a0 Discernment had to be disarmed in order for that to occur.\u00a0 Our loving God knows that this is a problem with humanity, so He gave the gift of discernment to individuals in the Body.\u00a0 They are able to see by assistance of the Holy Spirit what has avoided discovery by other people.<\/p>\n
Deceived individuals do not wish to recognize the exposure for various reasons.\u00a0 However, all those reasons are rooted in the fact that they spiritually or physically attached to the object of discernment\u2019s focus. \u00a0They either enjoy it, are enamored by it, feel comfortable with it, it fits well with everything else in their lives, etcetera.<\/p>\n
Additionally, they are unable to recognize the expose\u2019 because they are immature, or unknowledgeable, or unstable, untaught, and, at the risk of sounding condescending, some are ignorant.<\/p>\n
I have advised, debated, and spent hours attempting to convince deceived people of deception.\u00a0 It is nearly impossible to convince them that they are deceived.\u00a0 In the case of a heretic, people are not easily convinced that the heretic is bad no matter how high one stacks evidence to the contrary.\u00a0 Prying them away is not usually an option, especially if they are an adult.<\/p>\n
There is one particular type of person that is just as that hotel manager. They live with error every day and have become so familiar with it that pointing it out to them is fruitless.\u00a0 What a discerning person may find wrong and even repulsive, they believe it is right and refreshing.\u00a0 They glory in their shame.\u00a0 Further, they are convinced that the problem is with you.\u00a0 You are a judgmental, harsh, critical, mean-spirited, possibly demonic, splinter hunter.\u00a0 They are convinced that the problem(s) would go away if you would go away.\u00a0 However, the hair is still in the tub, the vanity is filthy, and the bed is soiled.\u00a0 And the bug is still behind the chair.<\/p>\n
Here is a sticky note to folks who have accepted heretics and their heresy.\u00a0 People with the gift of discernment are not going away until Christ comes to get His Bride.\u00a0 The reason is because God is love.\u00a0 The prophet, as harsh as he may seem and as hated as he often is, is a product of God\u2019s love.\u00a0 The discerning Christian who dares to call out the heretic and his or her heresy is a manifestation of God\u2019s love.\u00a0 However, just as the child that has been disciplined by a parent cries out, \u201cYou hate me!\u201d the deceived views as hate God\u2019s loving attempt to set them free from the bondage of deception.\u00a0 Satan makes certain of that!<\/p>\n
God can no more stop warning them than He could stop loving them.\u00a0 And His people with the gift of discernment can no more stop speaking the truth than they can cease loving God and people.<\/p>\n
It would be cruel to know essential truth and withhold it because people were offended by it.\u00a0 In my opinion, it is a sin to watch someone drawn into deception, being led deeper into apostasy, and never speak or write a word of warning.\u00a0 There was a time when we all rejected God, did not recognize or accept His truth, and refused to believe that people who attempted to inform us had our best interests at heart.\u00a0 But God kept loving us, and He kept sending the truth.\u00a0 As long as someone says, \u201cHere am I, Lord, send me.\u201d He will not cease to lavish His truth upon the ones trapped in deception and darkness.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
While Cheryl and I were travelling, we booked a room with a hotel chain we frequently use.\u00a0 After checking in, she gave the room the once over while I began unloading the bag cart.\u00a0 I heard her say from the bathroom, \u201cThis is not good!\u201d\u00a0 The tub\/shower had a hair around the drain and walls.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-770","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","post-preview"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paIm2N-cq","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.truthkeepers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/770"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.truthkeepers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.truthkeepers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.truthkeepers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.truthkeepers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=770"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.truthkeepers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/770\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":771,"href":"https:\/\/www.truthkeepers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/770\/revisions\/771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.truthkeepers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.truthkeepers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.truthkeepers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}