I have a friend who told me he was concerned about falling away
He said the Lord responded to him:
“If you follow Me and not a man, you will never fall away.”
While I know that is true,
we need to follow Jesus,
there was a part of what the Lord said to him
that was unclear to me
Since that was not a word from the Lord directly to me,
I was seeking the Lord about this idea and conversation
thinking of how it related to the Bible
because none of us wants to fall away or be deceived
especially as we see the Evil Day approaching
We know God’s word is truth,
the inspired Word of God
That’s where we find the truth
Where we can clarify the truth
and where we go when we need to rightly divide the truth
We also know many Christians have the truth in them
That does not mean they are perfect in the truth
None of us are, only God’s word is truth
I struggled with this statement about not following a man and only Jesus
and wanted further clarification and understanding
A thought came to me:
that we can follow ourselves
How can that be?
Be not wise in thine own eyes Proverbs 3:7a
We must be careful not to solidify our own doctrines and beliefs
and rest in them because then,
we can be following our own selves, our opinions, solidified in our minds
which can also lead us astray
We can build our own doctrine and trust in it
No, we cannot
We must remember that as we seek God,
the Holy Spirit reveals new treasures out of His word all the time,
He is constantly teaching us and opening up His word to us
When God shows you a truth, that does not mean that will change
His word is living and active
He is asking for our obedience
Always looking at our hearts
We need each other
The Word says:
Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching. Hebrews 10:25
As time goes on, there may be fewer people we can trust
We know that the love of many will grow cold
Some men and false teachers can twist the truth,
make the truth hard to find
They take scriptures out of context
and make it more difficult to hear the truth clearly
For false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect. Mark 13:22
Deception is truth with error
Every religion in the world has little bits of truth wrapped in falsities
Jesus needs to be at the center
Whether you are talking about a religion or even a religious teacher
Jesus must be The One Who is exalted and worshiped,
otherwise, it is false
I and my Father are one. John 10:30 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. John 14:6 And Jesus said, I am: and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven. Mark 14:62
Following a man’s teachings will lead you astray
if you completely trust those teachings to be your rock
you can’t
Jesus is your Rock
He is the only solid, perfect God we can trust,
Where we find the truth
I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. John 15:5
Sometimes you hear a preacher
and a lot of what he says is truth
and then you will hear something off,
that goes against what you know in the Word
that is contrary to the Word
Does that mean if you listen to the preacher that you are following a man?
Maybe
That is something to pray and seek God about
Without God, none of us is perfect in anything,
including the understanding of the Word
and loving the truth
It means that you are rightly dividing the word of truth if you are questioning and comparing what is said to the Word of God
Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. 2 Timothy 2:15
We can find the truth in others who proclaim to be Christians
we can also find error
Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. Matthew 7:20
For us to listen to their teachings,
they must bear good fruit
We must bear good fruit
The flesh can get in the way
Keeping your heart and mind stayed on Christ
and in His word, learning, growing, dying to self
and remaining humble before Him will help you greatly
But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. Galatians 1:8
I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.
John 16:12
Not all the things we believed years ago look the same years later
Following Him means being pliable, teachable and staying very close to Him, keeping your lamp filled with oil (Matthew 25:1-13)
Following yourself could in and of itself be bad and lead you astray
We are not to measure truth against what we believe or are taught,
but against the Word of God
It could be a way deception seeps in if we are trusting in our doctrines
the very teachings that we have built in our minds and hearts
In other words, you or I could be the very person that leads oneself astray
With that, the statement made more sense to me and satisfied my wondering
Here is the hope that we can be protected from deception
In order to please God and know the truth, we must love the truth:
Only fear the Lord, and serve Him in truth with all your heart: for consider how great things he hath done for you. 1 Samuel 12:24
We must seek after truth like it is hidden treasure
that is buried and covered over with much dross
For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. Isaiah 55:9