The Two-Hundred-Sixty-Fifth (Discernment)

Another week and we’re still here!  We’re going to talk about that and some other things related to it as a part of our topic this week.  We’re focusing on discernment and what it means to apply it in our lives, especially today with all the things happening lately.

As a forewarning, I want you to know that politics is going to be discussed during this topic, but we are going to focus on how to use discernment in that area rather than any specific policy or view.  I’m sure if you and I were to discuss political specifics long enough there would be something we disagreed on, but that disagreement has nothing to do with knowing how we should be using discernment in that area of our life.  We can disagree on a particular topic or aspect but overall agree on how we can use scripture to help us figure out what stance we should take on political things.

Another thing to mention before we get started is to once again stress how important it is for us to always use scripture to form our position or opinion on anything in our lives.  I used to be of the mind that there were the world things and then there were the scripture things, and the world things mostly had nothing to do with the scripture things so anything we couldn’t specifically find in scripture about them we basically had to decide on our own.  This is a deception that I believe has come from evil and infiltrated Christianity.

Christianity has in some ways developed into a “side quest” as churches grew and denominations multiplied.  Not only that, lies have been promulgated for centuries regarding certain aspects of how bodies like the Protestant churches were formed and the people behind that splinter.  Not to leave anyone out to suggest that one side is better than the other, the same is true on the Catholic side.  Based on these lies, people are more convinced that their denomination is the “right” one.

This may be a controversial statement, but there is no difference between the formation of the Jewish sects in the centuries leading up to Yeshua’s arrival and the formation of all the different “sects” of Christianity throughout the world.  Whether it’s man’s nature or it’s one of the multi-pronged efforts of evil, man tends to eventually galvanize himself to a certain person or their “novel” view/belief.  People hear this thing from this individual, it seems to make sense, and either based on the person’s credentials or position people latch on and it “grows legs.”  

I’ve mentioned before that I’m in a facebook group that discusses eschatology, and it never fails that there are certain individuals that pull up some quote from a church father or some “expert” theologian to “prove” their position.  It’s the same as when people believe something just because their pastor said so.  I’m not saying that you ignore those people, not at all.  I’m just saying that no matter who the person is you need to really study the scripture to test if the things they say are true.  I can find just as many theologians and pastors on one side of a certain view or belief as I can find on the other side, so throwing people’s statements into an argument or just believing what a person says is pretty foolish….unless it’s Yeshua, of course!

And I do mean test everything!  Not just these theological or eschatological views, but also what we see happening in the world, in our country, and in our local area.  I don’t mean to be dramatic or sensationalist when I say this, but I really do sense an exponential growth of spiritual activity lately, on both the good and evil sides.  When you have published articles almost pridefully stating that they called multiple witches to place curses on a prominent figure, in my opinion you’ve reached a new height in spiritual warfare.  But also on the other hand, I can see aspects of YHWH’s side mentioned as well.  Whether these people talking about Yeshua and mentioning God are, at their core, sincere and truthful about it, I think at a minimum more and more people are at least looking into joining the body of Yeshua as a result.

This uptick in spiritual activity requires us now, more than ever, to remain in the Word and use it and the guidance of the Holy Spirit to hone our discernment.  We’re not going to get into every specific thing you could come across in life and talk about how to discern it.  That would take far too much time and is much less useful than looking at the principles of discernment, which is what we’re going to do.

I’ve really been meditating lately on how I actually put into practice the things I’m learning from scripture.  Knowing that we are a part of YHWH’s people, who grew from the remnant of Israel present at Yeshua’s death and resurrection, is great, but how do I use that to live my life for Him?  How do I live in obedience to Him?  Discernment is another question as to how we implement it in our lives and I hope that after reading this you can have some concrete, easily understandable things that you can do to make sure you’re properly discerning things both in the world and even in your church, should you attend one.  

First, and foremost, we need to stop and take a step back from what it is we’re trying to discern.  One of the biggest, most manipulative things used is emotion, and we’ll get into that aspect in a moment, but the other huge thing is a dissonance, or conflict, in the words used for something versus what that thing clearly is when you look at it objectively.  Perhaps something called a memorial could include fireworks and merchandise sales, but at a minimum we need to stop and take a moment to decide if we should believe that is what the thing is.  Perhaps a certain religious “catch phrase” is what perfectly describes a certain view or belief, but we need to stop and compare whether or not the phrase and the belief match.

The technical term for this is cognitive dissonance, and to be honest, even to the most hardline person that’s completely concreted in their belief, view, or opinion, cognitive dissonance is quite effective.  You hear one thing, but see/hear/read another, and you have to decide if these two things are actually discordant or if you’re just wrong.  Maybe you’re misinterpreting it, or maybe there’s some aspect of it you don’t quite understand, which makes the two things harmonious.  The thing is, for whatever reason, the natural tendency is to assume that you are wrong, and to just accept the two things together as one.  It’s extremely manipulative, and in order to further convince a person that the things are harmonious, strong emotions are connected to those things.  The emotions are meant to keep you from questioning it, or simply prevent you from questioning it by making it a taboo subject to talk about.

That’s why we must absolutely be very careful about what we let drive us, motivate us, or control us emotionally.  Be extremely wary about any presented doctrine, situation, major event, or how things are talked about when it involves emotion.  Sometimes the emotion is not that obvious.  For example, perhaps a certain belief appeals to how we feel about YHWH and Yeshua and that feeling is necessary in order for you to read a certain verse, or verses, in a way that agrees with that belief.  

A perfect example of emotion being involved in manipulation is the account of the beheading of John the baptizer (Mark 6:17-28).  Herod’s wife wanted John dead because of what he was saying, and when her daughter’s dance “pleased” Herod on his birthday, she had her daughter ask for John’s head.  Herod had agreed to give her whatever she asked, and rather than go back on that word in front of all the guests, he agreed to give it to her.  Right there we have lust and what I would consider pride, since he didn’t want to say he made a mistake in offering her that.  So, he killed a man he knew to be righteous and holy due to emotional manipulation.  Oh, and while the scripture doesn’t specifically state it, I would be surprised if Herod’s wife hadn’t planned that whole thing from the beginning in order to get what she wanted.

Another great example is Jezebel and Ahab and the situation with the vineyard of Naboth (1 Kings 21:1-16).  In today’s terms, this event would be called a “false flag,” because Jezebel sent some infiltrators with a certain agenda into Naboth’s circle during an event that she coordinated by writing letters and signing King Ahab’s name, using his seal.  We certainly don’t have anything these days that can automatically sign a high-ranking official, or even the leader of the country’s, signature…do we…

Anyway, these infiltrators falsely accused Naboth of blaspheming YHWH and Ahab which emotionally charged everyone present to the point where they took him out and stoned him to death.  If you’ll notice, not only did they break the commandment of false testimony (Exodus 20:16), they made sure to follow the commandment of two or more witnesses being required to establish a thing (Deuteronomy 17:6, 19:15) so their accusation would achieve the desired result.  As you can see, not only has not much changed among men for thousands of years, we’re still doing the same things today as we did back then, emotions are a very powerful tool of manipulation.  

The people present with Naboth accepted what was happening based on the circumstances surrounding it and before they had a chance to stop and think, Naboth was dead.  Scripture doesn’t specify whether or not Naboth was a righteous man, but the situation suggests that he at least was respected by the people.  They respected him enough to think he was worthy of a fast and high honor among them.  He also was righteous enough to believe that YHWH would not be pleased if he were to give his land to a corrupt king such as Ahab.  For a righteous king, Ahab’s offer to Naboth for his vineyard was more than reasonable, but for a corrupt king it was inconceivable to accept.  

As alluded to earlier, emotion can affect how we respond to or accept scriptural things as well.  For example, I saw something the other day where a Christian was questioned about the commandments, specifically about not wearing clothing made of two different materials (Leviticus 19:19, Deuteronomy 22:9-11).  The question was presented as something to the effect of, “do you believe we should still be stoned to death for wearing clothing of two different materials?”  This immediately puts the respondent back on their heels, because the question includes a consequence of death for violating the commandment.  Death is an emotionally charged topic, so he or she feels the need to respond to that aspect of the question, or at least adjust their response based on it, without taking a moment to consider the fact that the commandment in question does not require the death of someone who violates it.  

This is why we need to stay calm, cool, and collected in whatever situation we’re in or whatever we’re presented with.  In this example, a simple question of, “can you show me where it’s written that a person is supposed to be stoned to death for breaking that commandment,” not only turns it back on the questioner to prove their claim, but it also brings the whole discussion back to the truth of what’s actually written in scripture.  Then, grounded in truth, a proper and fruitful discussion can be had.

Discernment is not just needed in a particular direct interaction we’re in, it also is required in ones we’re peripherally related to.  Additionally, it may even look as if those involved are of YHWH or Yeshua because what they’re saying is actually true.  One situation that Paul was in is a great example of this, and it’s one that has always intrigued me because some details left out of scripture prevent me from forming a complete picture of the situation.  

If you recall, Paul was with other apostles in Philippi and there was a “fortune-telling” girl following them around stating that they are of YHWH and proclaiming salvation (Acts 16:16-24).  Paul casts out the demon giving her what to say and he ends up being thrown in prison for it, which is another example of a crowd being controlled emotionally, but what’s left out is how Paul knew it was a demonic spirit.  Perhaps they saw her in a fortune telling booth, or perhaps they asked around as to who the girl was once she started following them around, but it’s not exactly clear how they came to the realization that she was demonized.

How many Christians today would welcome this girl, demon and all, into their church because she was speaking the truth and it had to do with YHWH and the gospel?  Would you?  Today, Christianity has become dominated by an attitude of, “bring everyone in and let YHWH sort them out later,” and let me tell you, demons are perfectly fine being in a church if they think they can achieve their goals by it.  Whether that’s spreading false doctrines, creating divisions in Yeshua’s body, or bringing down faithful and righteous leaders by compromising their morals, they will absolutely sit in a pew and work their craft.

That’s why discernment is required no matter where you are and who’s involved.  You may think you’ve found a trustworthy news source, politician, or religious leader, but that doesn’t mean you can let your guard down and stop using discernment.  Sometimes, it’s less about what’s being said and more about what patterns you can see.  Just like YHWH using patterns to execute His plan, evil uses patterns to execute their plans.

Maybe there is truth being spoken, but we need to stop and think about what the purpose is behind it being revealed.  If it’s being revealed by those who you know do not have good intentions, or have shown they don’t have good intentions, why did they start providing some truth when they were previously being deceitful?  Did they have a change of heart, repent, and turn to YHWH?  Or did they appeal to your hope, as a believer, that they would do those things, started talking more about YHWH and Yeshua, and then used that in an attempt to gain your trust?

Listen, this may sound cynical, conspiratorial, or depressing, but the fact of the matter is that right now both good and evil are ramping up efforts spiritually and we cannot trust our feelings or lean on hope when it comes to discerning what’s happening or what we’re being told.  The first step to making sure we’re staying on the narrow path and not being led astray is to stop and question.  

This does not mean accepting every off-the-wall conspiracy theory.  Don’t misunderstand that.  Evil and its deception has many, many of what some would call “lines of effort.”  Getting sucked down a never-ending rabbit trail is one of those lines.  It becomes an obsession that dominates your time and pulls you away from studying scripture and being in a relationship with YHWH and Yeshua.  

On the other end of the spectrum, it also does not mean getting sucked into what I would call biblical conspiracy theories.  You’ll spend hours upon hours trying to figure out what’s the next thing that absolutely must be the mark of the beast.  Or, you’ll be all-in on thinking you’re getting raptured before the end of the week, as I alluded to at the beginning of this week’s topic.  That’s another way we get pulled away from a relationship with YHWH and Yeshua.  We’re deceived into thinking that because we’re studying scripture we’re doing the right thing, but in the end we don’t even know who YHWH and Yeshua are, let alone have the intimate relationship with them that They desire and so should we.

There are many tools in the “discernment toolbox,” including the “pause and question” and “look at the emotion” methods we just discussed as well as the “gut feeling” we, as believers, sometimes focus on when it comes to discernment.  The other, very important and very foundational tool is something that we’ve been using throughout this discussion: scripture.  As we’ve seen, there are examples we can use in scripture to help us figure out truth from lie, fact from fiction, and patterns in a given situation or scenario.  

There are also specific aspects of scripture, irrefutable facts, that we can use to determine whether or not what we’re seeing, hearing, or being told is from YHWH or Satan.  Scripture states that if you deny Yeshua you do not have YHWH (1 John 2:23), meaning those that deny Yeshua are not of YHWH.  The only way to get to YHWH is through His Son, Yeshua (John 14:6), so there’s no way that whatever someone is doing is YHWH-ordained if they do not have Yeshua or even acknowledge Him.  If you do not honor Yeshua, you do not honor YHWH (John 5:23), so there’s no way that what you’re doing is honoring YHWH if you are not honoring Yeshua.  No matter who you are!  There is no exception based on people group or lineage.

We typically look at all these verses through the eyes of being a believer and how we should live our lives, but they should also be used to determine who we should be agreeing with or supporting in the world and what we should stand for.  What we are called, or what labels we give ourselves, better not be determining what we believe or accept, but they also better not be influencing our discernment.  That’s also where we can get into a situation of cognitive dissonance and end up “towing the party line.”

This is already a pretty long one, but the last things we’ll leave with is a recognition of two fundamental goals which motivate evil’s multiple lines of effort and an answer to what action we can take in our lives given that many of us are not in a position of worldly power to effect worldly change.  Evil’s goals are to 1) Draw you away from YHWH and Yeshua, and 2) Destroy man.  Anything that involves a time suck, like those mentioned earlier, a separation from scripture/prayer, a trusting in man vice YHWH and Yeshua (whether it’s trusting in change or in answers), or creating other things for you to worship/put above YHWH, is a part of evil’s lines of effort.

Anything that destroys, mutilates, or otherwise corrupts you, or man in general, is a part of evil’s lines of effort.  Whether it’s gender mutilation, murder, suicide, or corruptions like adultery, fornication, prostitution, addiction, sorcery, witchcraft, horoscopes, psychics, and many more, Satan counts these things as a “win” because of man’s status of being made in YHWH’s image.  It’s as near as Satan can get to actually corrupting YHWH, which when it comes down to it has always been his singular purpose.  Use both of these goals of evil to help your discernment.

But what can we do as “mere” believers?  I’m not a high ranking politician or the president.  I’m not a leader of a massive following.  How can I really effect change and fight against the lines of effort that evil is working?  It may seem colloquial, but the answer is prayer.  We too easily focus on ourselves or our family in prayer, and we need to make a conscious effort to also pray about the world around us.  I have personally seen prayer work, beyond a shadow of a doubt, to make some major things happen, so I know it works.  If you don’t know something specific to pray, just ask that YHWH’s will be done on earth, kinda like the one prayer Yeshua taught….:)

You can become a politician or a world leader, and we see them all the time campaigning and crying out about things, but what actually changes?  The truth is that even the president is limited in what he can do.  Prayer, though, that’s unlimited in what it can do.  Imagine how much change believers could make if we all were united in a certain thing and prayed about it.  

Shabbat shalom and YHWH bless you!

-Rob and Sara Gene