FALSE DISCERNMENT
There has appeared in our day a new spiritual gift! This gift has been given to many and they are operating in it with a passion. Strangely, this gift is NOT included in the description of the spiritual manifestations of I Corinthians 12 and yet this new gift is strongly defended by those who are dogmatic about the accuracy, authenticity, and authority of the Scriptures.
Many are being motivated by this gift to speak out boldly, attacking their enemies with a new-found vocal eloquence. Their spiritual eyes peer deeply in the hidden recesses of the hearts of men and they expose the works of darkness with mighty force.
What is this new spiritual gift? Actually, it is not really new at all. We have a dramatic example of this gift in action in the perhaps oldest of the Old Testament books, Job.
In the very first verse of this book we read that Job "...was blameless and upright, and one who feared God and shunned evil". Job was a kind and righteous man and full of integrity; not as righteous as Job thought himself to be but the Scripture itself tells us that he was indeed a godly man.
One day Job suffered a supernatural tragedy. He lost all of his property. In a weird series of events all of his livestock was stolen or destroyed. Also, his seven sons and three daughters were killed in a bizzare accident. Later, Job was struck with a terrible disease which produced boils all over his body. Job had no idea why these events had come upon him. He recognized the supernatural aspect of these tragedies and so he could only attribute them to God. However, he had no idea why "God" had attacked him.
When Job's three friends heard about the adversity that had come upon him they came to comfort Job. When they finally recognized him they tore their robes and sat down with him on the ground seven days and seven nights without saying anything because they saw that his grief was very great.
Finally Job's friends began to speak. A large part of the book of Job is a record of the speeches made by these three friends. They were very wise, aged men; godly and experienced. Each was a scholar.
Eliphaz, one of Job's friends, was the first to operate in this gift about which we are dealing. He boldly announced to all present that God had told him that there was pride in Job's heart. Furthermore, with his great spiritual gifting Eliphaz saw that Job had committed some terrible sin; probably incest or adultery. He could just imagine it all now! Sure enough, the sordid scene began to play itself out in full color in the mind of Job's friend. This was great! Eliphaz had never really been a tremendously spiritual man before; that is, never operating with this kind of anointing but the revelation was coming fast and heavy now.
Almost without any effort Eliphaz heard a long list of accusations roll off his tongue. Even he was a little surprised at all the wicked things Job was guilty of: oppressing the poor, molesting widows, tormenting the homeless, and teasing orphans. This was a new experience for Eliphaz; this uncovering a multitude of sins but, then, somebody has to be the defender of righteousness. Why not he?
Next, Bildad had a revelation: Job's sons were wicked and that is why God killed them. They were probably all homosexuals! Job needs to repent of raising such a brood of perverts.
The Zophar gets in on the anointing. Suddenly he sees into the spiritual dimension. The future is opened to him and he sees - Oh, no! He sees that MORE judgment is coming to poor Job. Yes, Job certainly needs to repent. Things are worse than anyone could guess.
These three men were aged and wise. They spoke as men who also walked with God. The things they spoke concerning the state of wicked men in general were accurate. If you read the book of Job you will see that these three had good and godly and perceptive things to say. There was just one small problem: Concerning this particular situation with Job they were completely, totally, absolutely and perfectly ALL WRONG!!
God Himself says to them, "My wrath is aroused against you (three)...for you have not spoken of Me what is right" (Job 42:7). What exactly was the problem? "...they had found NO ANSWER, and yet had condemned Job" (32:3).
It is shocking to read through the book of Job and then find out at the end that God says these three teachers were totally deceived. They built their lives, their philosophy, and their ministry on an error. And they claimed to be sent to point out the errors of others. It turns out that the one man they condemned was actually speaking correctly after all. Job did have some imperfections but God Himself says twice that Job's doctrine about God was correct and the three accusers were in error (Job 42:7,8).
Could it be that we are not the fountain of knowledge? Is it possible that we could be deceived also? How tragic to appear before the judgment seat of Christ only to discover that we based all our ministry on a lie. Worse yet - to discover that God Himself approves a brother that we thought was in error! What has opened the door for this false gift? We have everything we need in the Scripture of protect us from deception.
We have, to a great degree, traded the Word of God for a cheap christian humanism. That is, adapting a more or less righteous-sounding morality that comes from our own human judgement and substituting this moderately good philosophy for the real Christian life.
We see the same "spiritual" gift operating today as in Job's case. Its name is FALSE DISCERNMENT. Brother Smith has a demon. Pastor Johnson is into the occult. That evangelist is "new age". Says who? For the most part says those who intrude "into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind" (Col. 2:18).
We see it more and more. Men and women with proven ministries are being labeled as demonic by others who claim to be Christians. Every national and international-level minister has been called, and in many cases "documented" in books and publications as, new age. It seems that nobody is afraid to say these things against God's servants. Where is this abnormal boldness coming from?
Who appointed all these judges? Not God. "Who are you to judge another's servant? ... But why do you show contempt for your brother?" (Rom 14:4, 10) A man may have a problem with greed but he is probably not demonized. An evangelist has a pet doctrine but he is not a false prophet. A pastor has some personal difficulities but he is certainly not sacrificing animals and small children in the bird bath in the back yard at midnight. Wait a minute! Maybe this discernment IS a spiritual gift. But it is certainly is not from the HOLY Spirit! No brother or sister that loves Jesus and is faithful to the basics of the faith is New Age.
We know that false christs and false prophets will indeed come and will deceive many. Jesus told us it would be so. And some of these will be found in the church. But to claim to speak in the name of God and state that a brother is a false prophet WHEN GOD HAS REVEALED NO SUCH THING is a serious crime. "You shall not bear false witness" (Matt 19:18).
Like Job's three friends, many today think they have some insight or discernment concerning other ministers. Imagine for a moment: What if Jesus were ministering on the earth today? There are many who would call themselves servants of God who would picket His meetings carrying signs: "Glutton and Drunkard", "Friend of Prostitutes and Sinners".
I realize that no real Christian has done this intentionally. In our fear of being deceived (and our lack of real discernment) we are wary and are looking for Christ's warning about false prophets to be fulfilled. Also, many of us are walking in the influence of the Accuser of the brethren. However, when the Spirit of God, through the Scriptures, shows us our error we can easily turn from it - if we want to.
But there is something that we should judge. "For we shall all stand before the judgement seat of Christ" (Rom 14:10). We must judge ourselves. And what should we judge ourselves about? All judgement is according to law. And "all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself'" (Gal 5:14). We will be judged according to the law of love.
We have the opportunity now to judge ourselves, not our brother. We shall all stand before Christ someday soon and answer for ourselves why we dedicated our lives to seeing the faults in others. It will be a difficult day for many unless we let the Word cleanse us of this wickedness now. Let us determine not to walk in the unholy spirit.
"So then each of us shall give an account of himself to God. Therefore let us not judge one another anymore..." (Rom. 14:12-13).
David E. Stewart
March 6, 1997
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