I have had experiences with individuals claiming to be Christian then doing things that were definitely NOT. It shook me badly. When I would go to the Lord about it over and over the scripture “ you shall know them by their fruits” would come to mind. Personally I would be terrified to claim Christ while following Satan if I were his enemy-but I do think that there are those who are truly misguided ( as well as intentionally misleading others either for money or power) The misguided can be any of us. Our Lord is perfect but we are not and sometimes we don’t recognize when we have been misled. This imho is why it is so important to study scripture and maintain a strong prayer life. A twist here a turn there it has happened to me. A pastor took a few verses out of context added a narrative and before I knew it I was lost in a doctrine that truly shook my walk and made me question everything. The Lord says we will know his voice. In my experience that was definitely true but I had a hard time “hearing” him for all the noise. Thankfully I had incredible support in the person of older believers who knew scripture and helped straighten out how the word was being misinterpreted. To the point of the tweet - fear was used in that case as well. We all know that to control people the first step must make them afraid.
Correct...it can be a blurry line at times because as you stated we its easy to fall into that trap of "well at least I'm not like that person" or it appears there is no fruit there. For that reason we have to be vigilant not to be led astray, but also to make sure we allow our other Christian brothers and sisters grace (for those that truly repent), just like Jesus extended to us.
Unfortunately many abuse grace, and use it as an excuse to live in the darkness. This is why it is so important to know His Word; the only source of truth so we may discern good from evil and truly understand the concept of judging them by their fruit and as Jesus said, we recognize His voice.
I have had experiences with individuals claiming to be Christian then doing things that were definitely NOT. It shook me badly. When I would go to the Lord about it over and over the scripture “ you shall know them by their fruits” would come to mind. Personally I would be terrified to claim Christ while following Satan if I were his enemy-but I do think that there are those who are truly misguided ( as well as intentionally misleading others either for money or power) The misguided can be any of us. Our Lord is perfect but we are not and sometimes we don’t recognize when we have been misled. This imho is why it is so important to study scripture and maintain a strong prayer life. A twist here a turn there it has happened to me. A pastor took a few verses out of context added a narrative and before I knew it I was lost in a doctrine that truly shook my walk and made me question everything. The Lord says we will know his voice. In my experience that was definitely true but I had a hard time “hearing” him for all the noise. Thankfully I had incredible support in the person of older believers who knew scripture and helped straighten out how the word was being misinterpreted. To the point of the tweet - fear was used in that case as well. We all know that to control people the first step must make them afraid.
Correct...it can be a blurry line at times because as you stated we its easy to fall into that trap of "well at least I'm not like that person" or it appears there is no fruit there. For that reason we have to be vigilant not to be led astray, but also to make sure we allow our other Christian brothers and sisters grace (for those that truly repent), just like Jesus extended to us.
Unfortunately many abuse grace, and use it as an excuse to live in the darkness. This is why it is so important to know His Word; the only source of truth so we may discern good from evil and truly understand the concept of judging them by their fruit and as Jesus said, we recognize His voice.