Every age, or era of time, is often labeled by historians and sociologists that reflect the dominant and prevailing events that most influences culture and society. Our period has been known as the Post-modern and Information age. Where only 70 years ago, the means of communication and media was limited to the Telephone and radio, now it’s sheer scale is astounding. Through internet, mobile phones, Skype video calls, social media, 3D TV, Bluetooth, etc. media and communication has advanced dramatically.
While the advancement of technology and information has largely benefitted humanity, there are however, some negative impacts from the rise of the accessibility and scope of information. For example; there are so many forms of media that are filled with content and information that are not necessarily true. In fact you don’t have to travel far in cyberspace and Google to read varying opinions and views on any given subject. Blog pages for instance are becoming as numerous as websites themselves. Blogs are web pages owned by individuals or groups where they disseminate content subject to their own personal opinions. We even have one for our Church and myself.
One blog’s information will differ from the next and the next. There are so many different opinions out there. This has been the result and, in part, a contributor to the prevalent philosophy that there is no absolute truth and that one’s opinion is as valid as another’s, regardless of whether it is based upon truth or not.
This is why John warns us; Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. 1 John 4:1
‘The Message’ paraphrases this passage as; “My dear friends, don’t believe everything you hear. Carefully weigh and examine what people tell you.”
This is a message that we must adhere to in our day; to not believe everything you hear or read on the internet or any other form of media without first testing it’s validity. Something said or read may sound very convincing but it must be put to the litmus test, that is; Does it stand the test of scripture?
There are two questions we can ask in order to test whether a matter or idea is true:
“Does the Bible speak directly about it?” If it does, follow the Bible’s instructions.
“If the Bible does not say anything about a specific matter, does it contradict the principles of scripture?” If the answer is no, then it is worthy of further exploration.
If a matter contradicts scripture we must be mindful to reject it and to warn others. John further writes: 2 This is how we know if they have the Spirit of God: If a person claiming to be a prophet acknowledges that Jesus Christ came in a real body, that person has the Spirit of God. 3 But if someone claims to be a prophet and does not acknowledge the truth about Jesus, that person is not from God. Such a person has the spirit of the Antichrist, which you heard is coming into the world and indeed is already here. 1 John 4:2-3 (NLT)
A person may sound convincing and prophetic but if what he is saying is contrary to the Word of God, then they are not from God and may even have the Spirit of Antichrist particularly if they question the Deity and humanity of Christ. Don’t swallow every pill that’s given to you, don’t believe everything that you hear and read from the media to be true, but test it through the Word of God.
This is a blog post from Stanley Harvey, the Senior Pastor of the Pentecostals of Sydney.
While the western world celebrates this Easter holiday period as merely some token of what many may or may not believe as the crucifixion of Christ. There are those who do not believe that Jesus is the Lord or that he even existed at all. Then there are those who do believe that Jesus lived, walked the earth and died a cruel and agonizing death upon the Roman instrument of torture; the cross. I believe this to be true because there is overwhelming historical, documentary and even personal evidence to affirm this.
That the ministry of Jesus was marked with the miraculous and also the unpredictable is an understatement. Who would have expected; walking on water, or spit and mud for new eyeballs, or even cursing the fig tree? at least for the disciples anyway. What was more baffling for them was perhaps the incident of the death of Jesus’ friend Lazarus in John 11, where Jesus delayed his coming to Lazarus. He could have gotten to him in time before he died but he deliberately delayed his arrival. Not only that but when Jesus heard of the death of his friend, he said; “….
As a Church, that is what we’re called to do is to help one another remove those things that are restricting us. The value of spiritual fellowship and being part of God’s community, his Church is immeasurable. There are things that God does on his own and things that we must do for ourselves but there is something extremely valuable in our fellowship one with another.
