How do you Identify Wolves in Sheep's Clothing?

[Guest]

1 hour ago, OneLight said:

I ban for personal attacks.  If someone personally attacked you, and I saw it, they would be banned from the thread.  When I see a personal attack, I will take action.

Then why did you ban me from the OP whereas the title was confusing and misleading and I responded that it draws out the wolves? How is that a personal attack?  Why didnt you ask me to clarify?

The guy admitted to it being a trick question. You are quick to ban some where you are not with others. Are you going to tell me you never make mistakes? I know that isnt true. None of us are 100% correct all the time

[enoob57]

I believe proper operational ethics with our board servants is to discuss in private these issues ...as by doings so public is stirring up strife

James 3:16 (KJV)

[16] For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.

 

[enoob57]

It is most important to identify from where it leads... if of this life then the one who has present control of; if of the life to come then so then The One Who controls that.
It is really that simple... satan will not lead you to God's Kingdom.

[AlexDofTX]

7 hours ago, GandalfTheWise said:

This is a good question Alex.  (I edited down the OP purely for space reasons.)

I distinguish different groups of people to watch out for.  They each have their own characteristics.

1. People who don't believe in God or Jesus Christ that want to use the trappings of Christianity for their warm emotional content and symbolism.  These are people who like to use words like "faith" as meaning some type of warm fuzzy experience and "prayer" as some type of meditation or chant or practice or "God" as meaning some higher power that helps you sleep better at night.  It is a completely subjective base that complete leaves God out of it.  These are sincere people but have no clear idea what they believe.  Most of these people will be relatively honest about what they think, if you know what to ask.  These are the ones likely to be tied up in occult stuff.

2. Con-men/Thieves/Destroyers who are looking to gain something or do something by pretending to be something they are not.  I'd put many cult leaders into this category.  It's about gaining followers to fleece people of their money, take things from them, or to abuse them in some way.  There are basically the same people who'd commit various crimes like robbery or fraud under other conditions.  These are dishonest people that will lie to your face and try to convince you that they believe all the right things.  You are dealing with criminals here.

3. Deluded wannabes that think they are specially chosen by God to do something special.  Many cult leaders fit this category.  They are often very gifted, talented, and charismatic individuals that easily develop a following.  I think that there are both non-Christians and deluded Christians in this category.  It becomes about the individual person and what they are teaching.  These people probably truly believe that they are there to help you.  You are dealing with someone who is a bit off their rocker but quite sincere.  If you push things, it will become clear that it is all about them and their special call.

4. Highly sectarian Christians that think they have a monopoly on Truth.  These are people who are indeed Christians but place such a high premium on being "correct" that they produce litmus test after litmus test to distinguish "real" Christians from "fake" Christians.  It basically means that they think that their opinions about what the Bible teaches are so close to God's Truth so that anyone who disagrees to any degree is either not a Christian or a very deceived Christian.  They truly love you and are convinced that either your eternal destination or eternal rewards are in jeopardy.  You are dealing with a fellow believer who has your best interest at heart and is fully convinced that you either need to become like them or be shunned for the good of other believers.

Here are the things I look for in people.

1. Are they a believer in Jesus?  Are they a Christian? (By which I mean that they are indeed a believer and have the Holy Spirit dwelling within.)  What is their testimony and witness about what God has done in their life?  Do they hold to the core set of beliefs that all Christians hold (such as the Apostle's creed or similar)? Or do they deny something fundamental such as the Trinity or incarnation?  Do they hold to scripture as God inspired and authoritative?

2. What type of life do they live?  Is the fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, self-control, etc.) obvious in their life?  Are they servants or do they lord it over people?  How is their family life?  How do they treat other people?

3. Are they highly legalistic and authoritarian?  Is it my way or the highway with them?  Do they lay down a lot of expectations and rules for Christians to follow?  Do they create a strong us versus them environment within the Body of Christ? (By which I mean they make a strong distinction between good Christians who are for us and deceived Christians who are against us.)  How do they react when someone questions them or disagrees?  Do they dialog patiently and honestly? Or do they immediately question that person's motives or walk with God?

4. Do they encourage and empower Christians to grow?  or do they create dependence?  Do they teach Christians to study the Bible? or indoctrinate them as to the proper way to interpret every verse?

5. Do they clearly teach and encourage the transforming work of God in our lives as Christians?  or do they make Christianity into a set of rules to be followed?  Is their main teaching basically to resist sinning through our own efforts (willpower and trying harder)?  Or is their main teaching about being transformed by God's power and learning to walk more closely with Him?

6. What are they gaining out of various situations?  Are they manipulative?  How controlling are they?  How docile and accommodating are their followers?  For what purpose do they want people to follow them?

7. A subjective sense of spiritual discernment.   Do I simply have this bad sense of something out of place?  Is this a person that I would feel comfortable to have pray for me?

The reason it is important to me to look at the entire package of things is that I want to know what I can do to point people toward Christ.  It's a much different thing to deal with a non-Christian than a fellow believer.  It's much different dealing with a criminal than a spiritually deluded person in occult practices.  It's much different dealing with someone who believes that they are specially anointed for some task compared to someone that is just strongly opinionated.  I want to figure out what the real problem is so as to be able to clearly address that.

Anyway, these are just some of the types of things I consider when trying to discern how I should react to different people.  I just tossed this together as a rough idea of the type of process I run through and the type of questions I try to honestly answer about particular people or groups.

 

 

Thank you for a comprehensive answer.  Of course as you indicate, not all these people are wolves in sheep's clothing.  However, it is an extremely practical summation on dealing with believers and non-believers alike with the intent of turning them towards Jesus.

By the way, I updated my avatar.  I took a selfy and used a graphics program to place my eyes, nose and mouth over the artwork of Polycarp.  I have not been on this site for a while since CF let me back on their site.  But anytime you speak, where ever it may be, I will read what you write, because what you say is always that good.  Thanks friend.

 

PS I copied what you had to say so I could save it to my files.  Great points!

Edited October 1, 2017 by AlexDofTX
Let Gandalf know I saved his comments

[OneLight]

12 hours ago, Blueyedjewel said:

Then why did you ban me from the OP whereas the title was confusing and misleading and I responded that it draws out the wolves? How is that a personal attack?  Why didnt you ask me to clarify?

The guy admitted to it being a trick question. You are quick to ban some where you are not with others. Are you going to tell me you never make mistakes? I know that isnt true. None of us are 100% correct all the time

Which thread was this?  I do know that I have banned more than one person in the same thread lately, all for personal attacks.  That is how I moderate.  I suggest that if you have an issue with how I moderate, do start a PM with George, Steve, Omega and myself.  Voice your concerns and let them decide if your actions were right or wrong.

[Neighbor]

On 8/22/2017 at 12:57 PM, missmuffet said:

And yet:

God uses that which is evil for His good! So I suggest though  some including myself may be revulsed by the antics of many pictured above, God can and in my experience does use every one of them  in the journey He has many of us walk,  preparing us for our own repentance, and enlightening many of us in our own sanctification.

Praise God!

 

 

[JohnD]

 Thessalonians 5:21

1 John 4:1

Acts 17:11

2 Timothy 3:16-17

Everyone and everything is suspect. Including ourselves.

Matthew 16:13-23 (observe Peter and the contrast Jesus made between the things of God and the things of man ultimately attributing the latter to the devil which he named when he called Peter "Satan."

To a certain degree everybody can be a wolf in sheeps clothing in this life in this world. And for those who do not have the Spirit of God living in them, they do not have the option NOT to be one. We do, but we have to make the choices and to test all things...

[Guest]

2 hours ago, Neighbor said:

And yet:

God uses that which is evil for His good! So I suggest though  some including myself may be revulsed by the antics of many pictured above, God can and in my experience does use every one of them  in the journey He has many of us walk,  preparing us for our own repentance, and enlightening many of us in our own sanctification.

Praise God!

 

 

Great visual! I think it contains many many of the wolves but certainly not all of them.

[Neighbor]

33 minutes ago, Blueyedjewel said:

Great visual! I think it contains many many of the wolves but certainly not all of them.

Of course the visual is not mine. I did not present it another here did. Nor do I endorse it as necessarily being accurate. What I personally emphasize is that God is sovereign and all powerful. He uses that which may  have been intended for evil  for good for those that do believe on him, and I also believe He uses it to call many to Him.  Sorry that  I misled in any way. It was not my intent.

God has used within my own life so many that I would concur are at least quite errant teachers. I thank God for it, as He has piqued my interest and my conviction  in the faith of Jesus through it all. My personal sanctification continues.

 As reference I have found good men of God good teachers also have their bad days, and they too can fall far from their elevated perches of high responsibility and privilege. I think Christians need hold each other close, so that the falls come with softer landing, and with compassion for the sufferers of such terrible plights.

As I have noted in the past, I saw a good church fall shatter and scatter, when the pastor failed in his personal life- the lesson to me is we of the local body of Christ were following a man our talented pastor,  and were not rallying in Jesus when one of us fell.

Edited October 1, 2017 by Neighbor

[Guest]

1 minute ago, Neighbor said:

God has used within my own life so many that I would concur are at least quite errant teachers. I thank God for it, as He has piqued my interestand my conviction  in the faith of jesus through it all. My personal sanctification continues.

I walked through  the errors of some the wolves as well. I was a baby and because I am my Fathers daughter; he brought me through it. God is faithful. He never let me go because I was fervently seeking. I was doing so because he is the author and finisher of my faith. Praise the LORD! He is so good

5 minutes ago, Neighbor said:

 As reference I have found good men of God good teachers also have their bad days, and they too can fall far from their elevated perches of high responsibility and privilege. I think we need hold each other so that the falls come with softer landing, and with compassion for the sufferers of such terrible plights.

These men and women portrayed in the pic  are not having bad days! They are clearly teaching that which adds to or takes away from scripture.

Exposing and rebuking the false teachers is what we are taught to do. Then we have nothing to do with them after they have not repented.

We who know better need to continue to expose the wolves so that many others coming into the fold do not stumble as we did.  Together we are the family of God. Iron sharpens iron.