Automatic Transcript Generated:
Speaker 1
How do we warn others of false revivals if the person or persons think they really are Holy Spirit led?
Speaker 2
Great question. There Gospel of John, and I guess my first natural inclination is to approach these things very cautiously. And Tina, you might have a different thought, but I think of Malial’s advice back in the book of Acts where think of the Jews. The Jews have the way of doing things and there’s certain expectations or certain beliefs, and then all of a sudden comes this new Christian revival out of the blue, and their inclination is, we got to shut this thing down. And so we see in Acts five that Gamaliel stands up and he cancels the Jews and he says, and I say to you, keep away from these men and let them alone. For it is this plan. For if this plan or this work is of men, it will come to nothing. But if it is of God, you cannot overthrow it lest you even be found to fight against God. And there are times too where the disciples would want to try to stop people from doing ministry work and doing things and Jesus would, no, no, leave them alone. And this is not to say you never have any interactions with somebody who might actually be doing something bad or you help somebody who has a totally false belief or engaging with demons.
Speaker 2
I’m not saying don’t do that, but I’m saying for sure, proceed with caution and really check your heart, really make sure that you’re really taking action that’s according to the Spirit’s plan. There’s more that I’ll cover with my next answer. But Tina, did you have anything you want to touch on here?
Speaker 3
Just really quick, because it’s hard to decide what is a true revival and a false revival because we have to be careful. And like you’re saying, check our hearts, make sure our hearts are in the right place and not make sure we’re approaching the other person in love. But I mean, are there false revivals? Of course there are. Jesus warned us in Matthew 24 there will be false teachers and they’re going to say all sorts of things, but Jesus gives us some really great advice. And so this is what I would say to approach somebody as you talk to them. Two verses, one is in the book of Matthew, chapter seven and verse 15 through 20, which says, beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing. In verse 16, Jesus says you will know them by their fruits. And so just saying what is the fruit of what they’re doing? Is it that they are just getting people excited and getting people to give away their money? That’s probably not a good fruit. Or getting people to do things that are not healthy, not safe. And also, obviously, we need to look at Isaiah chapter eight, verse 20, which says the law and to the testimony if they speak not according to this word, to the Bible, there is no light in them.
Speaker 3
And so just being a good Berean, just like we see in the Book of Axes, people went to their Bibles and saw if it was so. I would cautiously approach this person, ask them what are they teaching? Let’s look at the Bible, let’s see if it stands the test of the word of God. And if what they’re teaching holds up to that, then maybe that’s something you can safely trust is a leading of the Holy Spirit. But if it’s not in accordance to the word of God, if it goes against obvious points of scripture, then you have to say this can’t be of the Holy Spirit. This is a wolf in sheep’s clothing in essence.
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BibleAsk Team
