Verifying What You Hear!

Pastor J. R. Wilhite, author   Close Window

If this is not the most important study you will get from us, it is one of the top 2 most important.

Why is it important to verify what you hear?

Because man is fallible, so if man can be wrong, and so often is, then if you are listening to man and man only, chances are you have been misled more than once and especially in the word of God. Jesus told us to listen to and follow God, not man.

John 14

26. But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.

1 John 2

27. But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.

Christ is a Greek word meaning the anointing of God's (Luke 4:18) Spirit on those who are of Christ. Some call it the infilling of the Spirit. To be anointed with God's Spirit is like being a dry sponge in a bowl of water. The sponge is you, the water is God. Understanding this, you need to understand that Jesus would not tell us to follow God instead of man if He meant for us to follow man. Don't get me wrong; it is okay to listen to man, and even to some degree follow man. Only as long as you verify all you hear and see with God. Oh yes, you need to verify and test the spirit you are hearing from.

1 John 4:

1 Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.

2. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:

3. And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.

When you know that whom you are hearing from is God, then you ask about what you have heard and learned from man.

Why not just go to God in the first place?

In most cases this would take too long and since most people work and do not have the 5-20 hours it takes for the word to come from the Lord in its original form versus the 20 minutes to 2 hours it takes to read, understand, verify, and digest the study you were given.

So as you can see it helps those who do not have 40, 50, or more hours a week to spend listening to the Lord and then digest, verify what was said, write it, verify that what was written (is what was said), and that it is accurate before being put out for others to grow by reading or hearing it.

I challenge each and every one of you to state that when you have questioned a study or a teaching based on what you have learned from either another person or on your own studying of the word it was correct.

I have had people email me wishing to get into some long email debate trying to get me to change to their way of thinking, or to join a BBS, or some chat room to do the same.

Let's say for sake of argument you read a study on a site and know it is wrong because it goes against what you have been taught or even came to believe on your own. So you try all you can to get the author of this study to see it your way.

Now imagine this person is tired of arguing and figures it really will not hurt anything to change a little and then that person figures they can get more done because they will be challenged less.

Now imagine they get to heaven and God asks why they changed their teaching and the person says, "Well, it really did not hurt anyone; for the sake of time and offense I thought it was better to give in." Then God points out people who had believed as this person and then saw the change and were confused. Never having been taught to ask God they then fell away and in time more and more were affected because those whom these would have helped were not being helped the same way as if things had not changed.

When you get to heaven and God shows you what your ways had done to others. Would you really want this on your account with God?

I agree it may not be this drastic, but then again it may even be more drastic. The point is, before you go pushing your beliefs down anyone else's throat, make sure you are right. Because if you are wrong it might affect a lot of people all the way to their salvation, and you really do not want to be responsible for that. DO you?

Well neither do I and that is why I spend so many hours with God getting the study right before I ever write it, and then I again verify it with God to make sure before it goes to Sherrye and then again when it comes back after she edits it, so that is a minimum of 3 times verifying the study before it is posted on the net or emailed to anyone.

That is why neither you nor anyone else will change my mind on what I have posted on line or sent out.

Remember, we are fallible and for that reason you need to verify any response you send to anyone before you do with God.

The reason I no longer get into email debates, answer responses, go to BBS, or chat rooms is because my time is much better served listening to God and getting it from Him than from people who may or may not have it right based on what they have been taught by another man, or woman.

Don't get me wrong, I am not judging anyone, and I am not putting this out because someone recently sent me a response I did not like. This has been in works a lot longer than you can imagine, and is in response to everyone who reads it for their growth.

Now here is what you do.

1. Listen to and follow God and God alone. This is why Jesus died for us, so we could have the relationship with the Father that we had lost due to sin.
2. If you do not have 40 or more hours a week to spend with God getting it first hand, then be careful who you choose, but choose someone to grow from.
3. Always verify every word you read no matter whether or not you agree with what is said. Just because you agree with it, does not make it right, and I do not care if you have read 1,000 Bible studies from a person and if each and everyone was 100% right. It could be when you stop verifying that they are wrong.
4. Like with any restaurant you eat at, you would not eat there if there was any doubt about the quality or if there were rodent droppings in the food or poison in it. Not only would you not eat there, you would not even consider it again or tell anyone about it other than warn them, right? Well when dealing with the spirit, which is more important than the body, why would you not verify the food for your spirit before you ever even allowed a morsel to enter your spirit? So verify the place you are being fed spiritually.
5. As with any good meal you get at a restaurant, you pay for the meal. So when you are fed spiritually, shouldn't you pay for that meal as well? I promise the Spirit is more important than the body. If the body dies you live on, but if you spirit is damaged, well eternity in torment is not worth cutting corners.

So what have we learned?

A. To always be careful about what you allow in your spirit.

B. To always verify every word you hear or read with God.

C. To pay for (offerings) the time the person spent preparing this meal.

D. To always verify what you are going to respond with to anyone else.

I would say the best thing is this, find a person(s) that you can trust; that you know over all is accurate. Stay with them for your growth; do not bounce around from one to another. Use your time wisely, instead of chat rooms, BBS, and email debates use that time to verify with God what you learned for the week. Then always bless those who bless you. Let them know they have helped you. To me, one of the most important things, the thing that motivates me almost as much as God does, is email from people telling me they have been blessed. If you cannot afford to make an offering, then pray a little extra for the person(s) growth and life with God. To me this can match money any day of the week.

I am not stating this to get you to change your ways, to solicit offerings, prayers, or emails for me or anyone else at godsgifttoyou.com. I do this to help you grow, as in the body there is need for exercise, good food, and a balanced diet, so is there for the Spirit. For that reason I have to make sure I am covering all of the bases in your spiritual growth. This was one God got on me about a while back, but it has taken longer than most.

Also I am not doing this to toot my own horn and say hey I am right and those of you who think you need to change me are wrong.

I am doing this partly to help you understand what process I go through before posting or sending a study that I go through to make 110% sure that it is accurate in all areas.

The one thing I have learned in my almost 30 years in the kingdom is change can be the hardest thing for us to accept, especially when it deals with what we have been taught by those we are sure are Christians and that are knowledgeable, because of what they have taught us, the years they spent training and studying, and they are our elders in all areas.

I am going to let you in on a little secret that may shock some of you.

Did you know that a lot of the denominational and some of the non denominational schools for pastors, teachers and so on deal only 25% at the very most with the word? The rest of the schooling is in how to handle money, social amenities like how to counsel a teen or a bad marriage. These are not always word based or that much different than the regular schools.

In 1989 I heard one of the heads of the Missouri Synod (Lutheran's) in the state of Texas state that all who had gone through one of their seminaries needed to be totally retrained. They had gotten so little of the word and of what mattered for a true pastor of God that some teens could do a better job. I can tell you from what I experienced in the mid 70's with the Methodist they are not any better in some areas. After counseling many, and I mean many (at least 1000 if not much more) pastors, wives, and children of pastors I really wonder where the word of God rates today for most ministries.

Would you believe I have known and know pastors who base their whole message on getting it done in 17 minutes so they do not put anyone to sleep?

As I stated, in the past I have been shocked and even sick to find people I thought were giants in the word and had listened to and believed as if it were Jesus tslking, just to find out they were not always sure about what they preached. Some did not believe in the spirit, at least not for today.

How many of the people in chat rooms, BBS or even by email are really able to say without any doubt what they believe is 100% accurate and true. I mean if you had the lasso of truth that Wonder Woman had and placed on them, how many would really state they were absolutely sure. Yes, I am sure some would say that without any outside help, and some that did not really believe what they say, but if you could get them to really do some real serious soul searching they would also state they were not sure.
So based on this, why would anyone want to change anyone else.

I ask you to please take some time and seriously consider what you know, and how you know it, and before you try to change someone else, make sure (and I mean 110% sure) you are right. Would you really want to face God to find out you were not right and that what you did hurt a lot of people.

You see I fought God for a year about being a pastor again and I almost fought Him again about teaching on the net. The reason was I did not want to be responsible for misleading anyone. So God made me a promise, if I came to Him and asked Him He would always show me and tell me the truth.

Remember God had to use a mule once to get the attention of one of His own. In hell the rich man asked Moses to send Lazarus back to his brothers so they would believe. Moses said they have the law, and prophets, if they do not believe them, they will not believe a dead man.

So it is vital that you are sure about what you learn and as I have said before if you find a person wrong do the following.

1. Email once and only once about where they are wrong. Do not get into an on going debate; all this will do is waste time and maybe confuse the issue.
2. Pray for them and ask others to pray for them, always pray for their guidance from God.
3. If they have not changed at this point run; do not walk but run away from them. You have done all you can.
4. Do not spread rumors or gossip about them. Do not judge them, but judge their teachings, and always be forgiving. Because of these Satan will jump on the first area you do not do and use it against you.
5. Find a new teacher.

Again I state why you need a teacher in most cases is due to a lack of time on your end.

So with this said, I pray each and everyone of you are hearing and following God and God alone, weather it be direct or with help of a man/woman.

If you are not hearing from God, start now, how can you know if you are saved or not if you do not hear? (Romans 8:16)

My prayer for you is:

3 John 1
2. Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth

Remember to show faith when you pray, then praise and give thanks.

God Bless You as you hear His words and follow His leading.

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