Staying Spiritually Balanced in Truth
By J. Lee Grady
In desperation a friend contacted me one day, worried that his son might be under the influence of a Christian ministry with questionable doctrines. The leader of the ministry preaches that any church that doesn’t experience regular healings isn’t following the true Jesus. This leader also claims that only his small congregation has an inside track with God.
We’re thankful that my friend’s son finally discerned something was off track. Jesus warned that even His followers would be vulnerable to deception. In describing the last days, He said, “False messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect” (Matt. 24:24). The apostle Paul issued a similar warning, saying that even Christians “will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths” (2 Tim. 4:4).
So how do we guard ourselves against false teaching and false spirituality? This is especially important for those of us who are intercessors. Prayer is a wonderful gift, but those who engage in intercession can also be vulnerable to spiritual attack. God tells us to be watchful so we won’t fall into spiritual pride or deception.
Clear Deception Signs
In my years of ministry I’ve identified several clear signs that a ministry has veered away from the truth. Here are the most obvious:
1. Lack of spiritual accountability. Healthy leaders know they need to surround themselves with mentors and advisers who can question them if they step out of line. Proverbs 11:14 says, “In an abundance of counselors there is safety” (ESV). But if you are following teachers, pastors, prophets, or apostles who have not submitted themselves to any form of accountability, you are asking for trouble. Never align yourself with a Lone Ranger, no matter how fiery those sermons are.
The same principle applies to all of us: Never, ever run a ministry without the solid counsel and accountability of godly advisors. “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall” (Prov. 16:18).
2. Overemphasis on money. You would think we would have learned this by now, after so many charlatans have conned people out of their life savings to build their mansions. But the Church today is still vulnerable to the extremes of financial shenanigans. Godly leaders always call people to fund the work of the church and gospel outreach.
Unhealthy leaders, to the contrary, manipulate people in order to line their own pockets. Don’t be charmed when preachers make outlandish promises about good things that will happen if you give to them.
3. An elitist attitude. All believers in Jesus are part of the Body of Christ. Yet Christians who experience certain gifts or manifestations of the Holy Spirit are sometimes tempted to think they are superior. If they aren’t careful, this subtle spiritual pride can morph into a dangerous elitism. Suddenly they believe they are God’s favorites, with special access to revelation that no one else knows and authority no one else has.
Some ministries today claim to have inside information about end-times prophecy and the return of Jesus. In some cases they convince people to store up food and even guns to prepare for Armageddon. Back in the 1980s, a preacher named Charles Meade convinced many people to follow him to Florida, where his church taught that only those who aligned themselves with Meade’s group would survive the last days. Don’t let anyone suck you into this kind of cultic mindset.
4. A spirit of control among followers. A mature leader knows the members of his church don’t belong to him. But some insecure and untrained pastors use manipulation and threats to keep their members loyal. True pastors don’t have to constantly teach on spiritual authority to win the support of their flocks. A controlling leader constantly emphasizes that he is in charge, and he demands total submission. This mindset can lead to serious spiritual abuse.
5. Constant talk of miracles with no documentation. There is a great hunger today in the Body of Christ for the miraculous. But in the rush to see God’s power displayed, some people fall into the trap of hyping, sensationalizing, or even faking miracles to get attention. This never bears good fruit.
In 2008, thousands of people traveled to Lakeland, FL, to witness a “revival” that was supposedly marked by nightly miracles. Yet many of the healings that were announced from the pulpit were never verified. And the whole thing abruptly ended when the evangelist leading those meetings admitted to adultery.
6. Strange revelations that lack biblical basis. The apostle Paul warned us that waves of deception would affect the church. “The time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine . . . . They will turn their ears away from the truth” (2 Tim. 4:3–4). Never follow preachers who claim “inside information” from God that no one else knows. Don’t be mesmerized by their teachings—even if they claim they received those teachings in a supernatural vision. The test of truth is not how spooky-spiritual something sounds, but whether it is in line with God’s Word. Many false prophets can say, “God showed me this,” but they are lying if their message contradicts Scripture. If something sounds really off when you hear it, don’t ignore your gut feelings. God gives discernment, and we must learn to use this important spiritual gift.
Getting Back to the Basics
The Bible promises that God will guide us. But many Christians find it difficult to hear God’s voice. And in some churches we complicate things when we try to make guidance mystical or weird—as if you have to hear an audible voice from heaven about what color shirt to wear.
When the world—and the church—go crazy, we must go back to the basics and learn to hear God’s voice with clarity. Years ago I learned from author Henry Blackaby about four distinct ways we receive divine guidance:
1. We can hear God’s voice by reading the Bible. Friends have sometimes complained to me, “I just never hear God speaking.” Yet when I ask if they read the Bible regularly, they say they’re too busy. God supernaturally inspired 40 authors over a period of 1,600 years to compile His love letter to us. After the Bible was written in Hebrew and Greek, many people were martyred because they translated it into a modern language. God went to a lot of trouble to compile the Bible. Yet today Bibles are collecting dust in the homes of people who are too busy to read God’s most direct message!
When we read Scripture with a prayerful heart, God can cause a verse to jump off the page as a direct message to us. British preacher Charles Spurgeon recognized this years ago when he wrote, “When I have been in trouble, I have read the Bible until a text has seemed to stand out of the Book and salute me, saying, ‘I was written specially for you.’”1 Expect God to speak directly to you from Scripture.
When I was in my 20s I was praying about whether I should enroll in graduate school. Then one morning in my devotional time I came to Psalm 32:8 and it seemed to be flashing like a neon sign. It said: “I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go” (NASB, emphasis added).
The Holy Spirit was showing me that God would teach me and that I didn’t need additional schooling. That’s not to say graduate school is wrong for everyone else; it was just not God’s plan for me at that time. God used a Scripture to clearly show me what path I should take.
2. We can hear God’s voice through the supernatural inspiration of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is not an eerie presence that just hangs around. He lives in every born-again Christian, and He comforts us and actively speaks to us. He can do this in many ways: through dreams, visions, warnings, a sense of conviction, or—most often—through what we know as the “still, small voice” (1 Kings 19:12, KJV) of the Spirit.
I have had prophetic dreams and visions over the years, but the most common way the Spirit speaks to me is through a deep sense of inward knowing. I will never forget a time in 1985 when God spoke to me while I was driving my car in Florida. A message came to me, not audibly but in my spirit: “You will move to Washington, D.C.” It seemed to come out of the blue, and I knew it did not originate with me. Four years later I was offered a job in the D.C. area, and I worked there for three years.
The ability to hear the Spirit’s voice is developed over years as we grow in Christ. If we really want to hear Him, we will ask God to fill us with His Spirit. As we allow more of the Spirit’s presence and power in our lives, we will set aside our selfish agendas and sinful habits so God can communicate without any hindrance.
3. We can hear God’s voice through people. God never intended for us to live in isolation. We will hear God better when we are in fellowship with His people. God can speak to us through a pastor’s sermon, a friend’s wise counsel, a mother’s rebuke, a mentor’s phone call, or a prophetic word given to us by one of God’s Spirit-filled servants. God uses the gift of prophecy, but we should never chase after prophecies. I know Christians who will travel across the country to attend a prophetic conference to get a word from God, yet they have not read the Bible in months or sat still long enough to hear from God on their own. Never treat the holy gift of prophecy like fortune-telling. When God needs to speak to us in an unusual way, He has faithful messengers who will deliver it to us at the exact time we need it.
4. We can hear God’s voice through circumstances. God is sovereign. He has power over nature, government leaders, and all the details of our lives. He opens doors that no man can shut. If you have been praying about getting a job at one company and suddenly you get an offer at a different company, this may be God’s sign that He has a better place for you.
My oldest daughter wanted to attend a college in Tennessee, and we were praying about her decision. Right after we prayed I got a call from the president of a college in Georgia. He was inviting me to speak at the school, but in our conversation I learned that this school was willing to offer my daughter a scholarship. She ended up enrolling in that school, meeting her future husband there, and graduating four years later. God was totally involved in that phone call from Georgia!
Truth or Error
Do you want God to give you discernment to avoid falling into the kind of error my friend’s son nearly did?
Ask God to tune your ears to His voice in a fresh way. Guidance is not complicated when you sincerely want to hear Him speak.
Don’t be deceived. If you are a follower of Christ, God has equipped you with an internal alarm system to warn you about any unhealthy teaching or ministry. Listen to the Holy Spirit, who is called the Spirit of truth (John 16:13). He can give you the discernment to know the difference between truth and error.
1 C.H. Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students.
J. LEE GRADY is director of The Mordecai Project, a ministry that is confronting the abuse of women and girls globally. He is also the author of six books including Set My Heart on Fire, a Bible study on the ministry of the Holy Spirit. You can learn more about his ministry at themordecaiproject.org.
