A Failure To Discern

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=168 BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF" background="002a11c3.png"> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Home Page"><U>HOME</U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id4.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Book Page"><U>BOOKS   </U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id6.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Articles"><U>ARTICLES </U></A>  </div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id7.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Tapes"><U>TAPES</U></A>   </div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id8.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Spiritual Warfare/Occult "><U>SPIRITUAL WARFARE, OCCULT   </U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id77.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Sexual Abuse Issues"><U>SEXUAL ABUSE ISSUES</U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id11.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Exposing the Darkness Seminar"><U>***EXPOSING THE DARKNESS SEMINAR***</U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id5.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="guestbook"><U>GUESTBOOK</U></A><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#FFFFCC" FACE="Arial Rounded MT Bold" > </FONT></div> <div> <A HREF="mailto:greid@elp.rr.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mailto:greid@elp.rr.com"><U> <img src="HTMLobj-1078/aniGif.gif" border="0" align="bottom" width="67" height="50">  </U></A></div> </td> <td valign="top" BGCOLOR="#BBBBBB" TEXT="#080000"> <bR> <div> A Failure To Discern</div> <bR> <div> “I need to talk to you about your book,” a mother of one of the young people at the youth center I was involved with told me one night when I was busy losing to one of the kids on a videogame. My book, Nobody’s Angel, chronicled my involvement in the occult world before being delivered by Jesus.</div> <bR> <div> We got into a back part of the building where it was quiet. “Fire away,” I said, not knowing what to expect. “Talk to me about Edgar Cayce,” she asked. Now, there was someone I could discuss. Along with Bishop Albert Pike, Edgar Cayce was a man whom I followed, read all of his teachings and his writings had convinced me that being a Christian and a medium were not incompatible. Only after I became a Christian, learned the scriptures, and was delivered from the demonic forces that had deceived me, did I come to know Cayce was a false prophet. Nice, yes. Sincere, yes, but nevertheless a false prophet. False prophets rarely know that is what they are.</div> <bR> <div> “Edgar Cayce was an occultist,” I told my friend’s mom. “But he taught the Bible!” she exclaimed. I paused. “But, he was an OCCULTIST.” I restated. “But he HEALED people!” she said, with a look of desperation in her eyes. I paused again. “BUT HE WAS AN OCCULTIST,” I said very deliberately. “Oh dear God,” she said as her face turned ashen white. “I’m in big trouble.”</div> <bR> <div> She proceeded to tell me about attending a ladies’ Bible study at a good, solid church whose pastor I had known for years. The study was held by the wife of one of the oldest and most solid elders in that church.</div> <bR> <div> After a number of months, the elder’s wife invited my friend and a handpicked few other ladies to a more private, “deeper life” kind of group study. They went eagerly. But within a short while, she realized something wasn’t right. </div> <bR> <div> The teacher began to introduce Edgar Cayce’s teachings to them. She taught them that the Bible contained the words of God, but wasn’t perfect. Soon she was teaching reincarnation. In fact, she told them that she had been married to the High Priest Melchizidek over a million years ago on Jupiter.</div> <bR> <div> When I spoke truth to my friend, the terrifying reality of how deceived she had been hit her with full force. She immediately made plans to cut all ties with this woman and her “Bible Study” group.</div> <bR> <div> How did she end up in that place? One, her knowledge of the Bible’s clear teachings about reincarnation and the occult practices God forbids was nearly non-existent. It wasn’t really her fault; it isn’t taught in most churches, and hasn’t been for quite some time.</div> <bR> <div> But more importantly, she was ensnared because she trusted her teacher. The lady was well-respected, in her sixties, and she and her husband had a sterling reputation. And she was so sincere. And nice. Who was SHE to question someone with credentials and history, someone who had taught the Bible for decades? Maybe, she reasoned, it was just her problem, not her teacher’s. Maybe, she thought, she just wasn’t deep or mature enough to get these “greater truths.”</div> <bR> <div> This is how error and spiritual deception grows in the church unchecked.</div> <bR> <div> I have a rule with the youth I teach. If I am wrong, if I misquote, or if I am teaching a half- truth or a lie, I make it clear that they are responsible to CALL ME ON IT. It is their duty to do so, not just for them, but to protect others. I will not be like some who say, “Who are you to question me? The Bible says to 'touch not Mine Anointed.'” Truth supersedes my position, my power and my pride.</div> <bR> <div> I am glad my friend woke up and left her “teacher.” But what disturbed me most was that her teacher was a woman who was well-known in church circles throughout the entire city. She was deeply involved in the intercessory prayer movement. And she had laid hands on and prayed for nearly every pastor in our city! And yet, she had not been discerned, nor discovered, nor confronted, nor stopped.</div> <bR> <div> Where is our discernment? If we cannot discern and deal with such a blatant matter, how can we ever hope to deal with the little foxes, the little tampering with truth that are seeking even now to unravel the whole tapestry of truth within the church? And how then can we expose the bigger lies that even now are beginning to wrap their tendrils around the Body of Christ?</div> <bR> <div> Gregory R Reid</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>