Spiritual Hearsay

The first four words spoken by the serpent to Eve are the same four words he uses today.

“Has God indeed said…”

When he asks that question of you, do you know the answer? And if you know the answer, how confident are you God said it? Do you know because you heard your pastor, teacher, or a another believer say it? Or do you know because you went directly to the source.

Hearsay is defined as “unverified, unofficial information gained or acquired from another and not part of one’s direct knowledge.” Synonyms include rumor, disinformation, and gossip.

I’ve often been critical of Christians who believe everything they’re told, and rarely verify what they’ve heard God actually said. Many are led astray because they put too much trust in men, not following the lead of the Bereans to verify. Until you see for yourself, in the written Word of God, how can you have full assurance?

“Has God indeed said?”

Here are a few things you may have heard over the years, but the Bible does not say.

1. Money is the root of all evil
2. This too shall pass
3. Cleanliness is next to godliness
4. God works in mysterious ways
5. God will not give you more than you can handle
6. God helps those who help themselves

We live in a time when people are maliciously misquoted every day. Nightly news is filled with misquotes, misrepresentations, and outright lies. They’ll take a 7 second soundbite, or in some cases one word given in a 45 minute speech and build their own false narrative. Why?

Because it works.

Welcome to politics 101.

It works because the vast majority of people are drawn to believe what they want to believe. They don’t go to the source for verification. They don’t in part because they want it to be true.

There are those who claim to be fact checkers, and the name implies they can somehow be trusted. That’s not always a fact, I’ve checked.

Go to the source.

Always.

I see this dynamic in the church far too often. Many who come on Sundays hear the message, but are they fact checking the speaker? Are they verifying that is “indeed what God hath said?” And not only is that what God said, but in the context of scripture, is that was God meant?

In Galatians 1:8, Paul issues a strong warning to those who would misrepresent the gospel, and includes himself in the judgment. “But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed.”

I don’t care who they are, how they dress, or what their title may be. I don’t care what the name is over the church door, or what denomination they represent.

Go to the source.

I’ve been around long enough to hear things like “you can’t question authority,” or “you can’t touch God’s anointed.” If that’s where you are, you’re not in a church, you’re in a cult.

There’s no substitute for personal study in the Word of God. No amount of church services, conferences, or note taking is going to give you the assurance of knowing what “God hath indeed said.” If you want to stand in the day of temptation, engage in spiritual warfare, and move on to spiritual maturity.

Go to the source.

Always.