by Terry Wane Benton<\/p>\n
The Lord allows the false teachers to test your heart. Have you ever thought about it that way? Maybe you are supposed to love the Lord your God enough to check behind every teacher and preacher to see if they are telling the truth, and your job is to have enough faith and love for God to reject error and hold firmly to God’s revealed truth. If they say we are saved by “faith only”, it is a test. God is looking to see what you will do with what they said. Perhaps God expects you to tell that teacher, writer, or speaker what God said in James 2:14ff. You are being tested as to whether you truly love the Lord.<\/p>\n
“You shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the LORD your God is testing you to know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. You shall walk after the LORD your God and fear Him, and keep His commandments and obey His voice; you shall serve Him and hold fast to Him. But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has spoken in order to turn you away from the LORD your God<\/em>” (Deuteronomy 13:3-5 NKJV).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The noble and loving thing to do is to address the matter, test it, and see if it is so. “These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so<\/em>” (Acts 17:11 NKJV).<\/p>\n
This is what God is looking for when you read and hear anything represented as coming from God. You are being tested on whether you truly love the Lord your God with all your heart. God does not appreciate being misrepresented. That is why we are to “test the spirits<\/em>“(I John 4:1-3).<\/p>\n
Those who truly love God will know that this is very important, and those who do not truly love God will be content to let everything go and all religious claims to be equal.<\/p>\n
Are you passing God’s tests?<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Terry Wane Benton The Lord allows the false teachers to test your heart. Have you ever thought about it that way? Maybe you are supposed to love the Lord your God enough to check behind every teacher and preacher to see if they are telling the truth, and your job is to have enough…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[890,188],"class_list":["post-85441","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-testing","tag-trials"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":41149,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/you-shouldnt-call-people-false-prophets\/","url_meta":{"origin":85441,"position":0},"title":"You shouldn’t call people false prophets","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 2, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Thank you for\u00a0the information about Mr. Clement. I do, though, have a comment to make, not necessarily about Kim or really whether he's right or wrong but generally speaking. I just don't know of him well enough to speak out about him since I work long hours and time\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":21669,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-we-trusting-god-or-testing-god\/","url_meta":{"origin":85441,"position":1},"title":"Are We Trusting God or Testing God?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 19, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"\"Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, \u201cIf you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, \u2018He will command his angels concerning you,\u2019 and \u2018On their hands they will bear\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/IMG012-2-300x297.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":24680,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-could-the-spirit-paul-cast-out-be-not-from-god-when-it-told-the-truth\/","url_meta":{"origin":85441,"position":2},"title":"How could the spirit Paul cast out be not from God when it told the truth?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 13, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: The Bible teaches how to recognize the spirits. It says that every spirit who denies Jesus Christ isn't from God. But what about Acts 16:16-18? The spirit in this girl wasn't from God, and it still said that Paul was saying the truth about salvation. Answer: \"Beloved, do not\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3257,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/who-are-the-false-prophets-among-us-today\/","url_meta":{"origin":85441,"position":3},"title":"Who are the false prophets among us today?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 23, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Who are the false prophets among us today? Answer: If you are looking for names of specific people, I'm afraid the list would be too large and ever-changing to appropriately answer. The Bible warns us that there will always be false prophets. \"Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":18737,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-there-a-conflict-over-whether-god-tries-men\/","url_meta":{"origin":85441,"position":4},"title":"Is there a conflict over whether God tries men?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 24, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: The Bible says God tries men in Hebrews 11:17, but James 1:13 says God does not tempt us. Is there a contradiction? Answer: \"By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son\" (Hebrews 11:17). \"Let\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13504,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/which-one-are-you-in-the-revelations-of-saint-bridget-of-sweden\/","url_meta":{"origin":85441,"position":5},"title":"Which one are you in The Revelations of Saint Bridget of Sweden?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 31, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: [I received this solicitation to view a web site. I decided to clip a few statements from the beginning to illustrate some points about false prophecies. Grammar errors were not corrected.] He who reads these Revelations which Saint Bridget\u00a0received inspired in the Holy Spirit\u00a0from Christ, learns to Fear God\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85441","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85441"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85441\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}