How do you Identify Wolves in Sheep's Clothing?

[OneLight]

11 minutes ago, Reinitin said:

23 minutes ago, Blueyedjewel said:

No one is above being used. No one is infallible. NO ONE!

 

Romans 12:3 ³For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.

Jesus is.. you should trust him.

Just how did you get not trusting in Jesus from what was posted?  It is easy for me to see that Blueeyedjewel was referring to humans, and that she is  correct, just as you were when you claimed Jesus is perfect.  What I fail to understand why you felt it necessary to imply that she does not trust in Him to the point that you had to tell her to trust Him?

[Fidei Defensor]

One way to is this: "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already." (1 John 4:1-3). 

[Guest]

59 minutes ago, Reinitin said:

Jesus is.. you should trust him.

Are you implying that I dont?

[frienduff thaylorde]

3 minutes ago, Blueyedjewel said:

Are you implying that I dont?

Jewels just let it go.    Let it go.   PRAISE THE LORD and let it go.    but if ye have bitter strife in your hearts........beware lest ye be consumed one of the other.

At this point you could say JESUS is Lord and it would get attacked and it wont matter what reitin says  , it will be just striving against each other.

I Learned by grace many moons ago , if people wont heed , I move on .   I see anger hate and resentment now.  SO it just wont matter who says what at this point.

 

[Guest]

I get warned and banned for things deemed insulting and others get away for it.  Thats fair isnt it (sarcasm)?

Which btw, I see her comment as intent to insult me.  Im not letting her get away with talking to me in a haughty manner. It is not bitter strife. It is holding her accountable for her hypocritical behavior

[Guest]

1 hour ago, OneLight said:

Just how did you get not trusting in Jesus from what was posted?  It is easy for me to see that Blueeyedjewel was referring to humans, and that she is  correct, just as you were when you claimed Jesus is perfect.  What I fail to understand why you felt it necessary to imply that she does not trust in Him to the point that you had to tell her to trust Him?

You banned me from a thread just last week for stating my opinion on an OP in general.  If you had asked me clarify I would have but you didnt give me the opportunity!!!!

But yet you just comment on her insult to me and dont ban her or warn her?

Perhaps I need to point some things out to George

 

[frienduff thaylorde]

5 minutes ago, Blueyedjewel said:

I get warned and banned for things deemed insulting and others get away for it.  Thats fair isnt it (sarcasm)?

Which btw, I see her comment as intent to insult me.  Im not letting her get away with talking to me in a haughty manner. It is not bitter strife. It is holding her accountable for her hypocritical behavior

I

 

6 minutes ago, Blueyedjewel said:

I get warned and banned for things deemed insulting and others get away for it.  Thats fair isnt it (sarcasm)?

Which btw, I see her comment as intent to insult me.  Im not letting her get away with talking to me in a haughty manner. It is not bitter strife. It is holding her accountable for her hypocritical behavior

I got banned twice on another site, just for preaching the gospel . not one ounce of fighting , even when called names

I got banned not them.   I by grace just prayed the forgiveness of both.    The truth has to get out and can no man steal my joy in the Lord,

well, unless I focus on the negative and let it .    You are loved jewels , you are .   Let ONE LIGHT know if it bothers you.   In the meanwhile

whoever calls me whatever, LORD forgive them.   And yes we must correct .   but when I perceive in the SPIRIT that one just wants to be mean and not hear.

I just exit .     and pray their forgivness.     What peace their is in Christ , what joy their is in Him, and HAPPY is the one who keeps His sayings and what peace of mind they have.

SING IT SISTER JEWELS SING IT .   

[Reinitin]

1 hour ago, OneLight said:

Just how did you get not trusting in Jesus from what was posted?  It is easy for me to see that Blueeyedjewel was referring to humans, and that she is  correct, just as you were when you claimed Jesus is perfect.  What I fail to understand why you felt it necessary to imply that she does not trust in Him to the point that you had to tell her to trust Him?

well it did say it in a negative I said it as an affirmation. your mind must be flipping it. 

The source of you should trust in the Lord came to me from the scripture.

 

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make straight your paths.

As in "Trust in him"? Now Is there some imagined offence in encouraging a believer to trust in him?

[OneLight]

17 minutes ago, Blueyedjewel said:

You banned me from a thread just last week for stating my opinion on an OP in general.  If you had asked me clarify I would have but you didnt give me the opportunity!!!!

But yet you just comment on her insult to me and dont ban her or warn her?

Perhaps I need to point some things out to George

 

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.

[GandalfTheWise]

On 8/20/2017 at 11:10 AM, AlexDofTX said:

This is spiritual discernment and I  believe every serious follower of Christ should have it. So help understand what clues will demonstrate a wolf in sheep's clothing. Your feed back is greatly appreciated.

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.