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God can and does use all things in this world for His purposes and plan, but we can get confused and follow what looks like it’s of God instead of letting God lead.
People, events, circumstances, problems, mistakes, words, actions, nature, writings, entertainment and more. God can use it all.
There are no coincidences.
He uses all people no matter their background or beliefs. He uses business, secular society, entertainment, governments, political institutions, events, education and everything in between.
He draws people to Himself. He opens doors for opportunities. He makes ways where there are no ways. He shows Himself and His character and attributes. He witnesses to the world.
Our Perspective
When God chooses to use someone or something for His Kingdom purpose, we may see and realize what is happening. As we walk with God and grow in Him we will learn to see His Work in us and others and the world around us.
But what we see and how we understand it can become a stumbling block.
We can misunderstand and misinterpret what God is doing.
Our view can be tainted if we let our thoughts, emotions and experiences filter what we see.
God’s Word is the standard and measure for everything. His Spirit is our guide to truth.
Our Confusion
We like to relate and use our understanding and experience to interpret what we see in front of us. In other words we try to understand what we see through our own mind instead of through the eyes of God.
Our View
We can perceive that if God is using this person or thing that it means what they or it stands for, the actions or content, must be okay. We think God must approve of it or He wouldn’t use it, would He? We like to follow others, trends, practices and ideas around us. We are drawn to that as human beings. God placed in us a need to worship, to follow someone or something. But it was meant for Him, not the world we see around us.
Our Mistake
We may filter these untruths into our Christian beliefs. We may start to follow whatever God uses instead of following Him. We might embrace the actions, choices, standards, practices, principles and values of what God chooses to use. We loose sight of God’s view and values by not comparing to what He says in His Word and listening to His guidance through His Spirit.
Our Nature
As human, we like to follow and latch onto others. We may even lead others. We were meant to fellowship and worship, but as fellow Christians with God leading. We have a desire to worship something, someone, an entity or group, but that is misguided. We were meant to worship God, to follow and attach ourselves to Him. His Spirit comes to live in us when we believe to guide us into all truth. He is our helper and leader. God never lies. (John 16:13)
We Must Test
The words we hear, the values we are told, the actions we see must be tested by God’s Word through His Spirit. Just because someone represents themselves as Christian or speaks or sings or preaches, everything must be tested. Just because a show promotes God or Godly themes or Biblical principles, just because an entertainer shares God through music, art or media, all things we take in must be tested. Even what is written, what we read or listen to, should be put up against God’s Word. His Spirit will always lead us in alignment with His Word and Will.
We must test and evaluate everything. (1 John 4:1, 1 Thessalonians 5:21)
We must not follow.
Christ is our only leader. His Word is true and solid. It will never contradict itself or His Spirit. God will never lead us wrong.
What God Uses
When God is mentioned in the secular environment it doesn’t necessarily mean it is of God. It doesn’t mean God approves of it or them or their way of life. We are not to assume God approves and just follow if He chooses to use something for His kingdom purpose.
Even if the person, organization, church or group are believers and followers of Christ we still need to test everything. We are to be led by Christ, His Word, His Spirit, not by others or entities.
God will never contradict Himself. Humans and entities which are comprised and run by humans have faults and a sin nature.
God is perfect and will never lead us astray.
The Deception of Following
Throughout the ages Christians have fallen and been deceived by the world and its systems. When we go along with another human being or group or entity we run the risk of becoming victims of the Devil’s lies. Our beliefs can change, our witness can be damaged, and our life can even be affected.
Small beliefs or actions that don’t align with God’s Word can seem insignificant at the time, but small steps can lead to big moves in the wrong direction.
We can quickly or gradually find ourselves on the wrong path. The small subtle things can make the biggest impact. The Devil knows this. He prowls around like a lion, but also as an angel of light. If he can lead a Christian in the wrong direction, he will. (1 Peter 5:8, 5:9, 2 Corinthians 11:14, 11:15)
The more we adopt and follow the more the Devil can influence us without us knowing until damage is done.
Choose God. His Word. His Spirit.
Let Christ lead in every aspect and area of your life and mind.
Examples – Israelites Story in the Bible
There are many examples in the Israelite story. These are written in the Bible to be examples for us. To teach us caution in our walk with God. The Israelites walked with God, but many times lost their way, by taking their eyes off God and following traditions, teachings and the ways of man. Over time their hearts became hardened to the true message from God.
Aaron & the Golden Calf
Moses went up Mount Sinai to meet with God. He was there for 40 days and received the Ten Commandments written by God. But the Israelites became impatient and started to grumble. They said maybe Moses wasn’t coming back. They decided in their hearts that they needed another leader. They chose a Gold Calf idol. They made Aaron, Moses’s brother, make the idol. Aaron went along with it. He made the idol and then proclaimed a feast to the Lord. He mixed God and human thinking. (Exodus 32:5)
Aaron being Moses’s brother was a leader and example to the Israelites. When he gave in to their demands, he compromised God’s way, principles and the righteousness of God that Aaron should have embodied. If Moses’s brother accepted it, he made it more okay to the rest of the people. He justified it. He was the spiritual leader and instead allowed persuasion to take him away from God’s ways. Leaders have a great responsibility and are accountable. They have great influence on their followers.
The Israelites combined God with the worship of idols in Egypt, where they had left. They incorporated pagan ways into God’s ways. It led them into idolatry and sin against God.
God is not fooled. He condemned what they did. (Exodus 32:8)
A King & Golden Calves
Jeroboam became king over the northern tribes of Israel. He created golden calves at either end of the northern kingdom and convinced the people to worship them. He didn’t outlaw worship of God, but created an alternative way of worship. It seemed religious and spiritual. Again a leader chose a way different than the Lord’s and took the people of Israel into sin with him. (1 Kings 12:28)
Scripture calls it “the sin of Jeroboam” and says he “made Israel sin”. Subsequent kings after Jeroboam went further into sin, dragging the people along deeper and farther away from God. (1 Kings 12:30, 15:34, 22:52, 2 Kings 3:3, 10:29, 10:31, 13:2, 13:6, 13:11, 14:24, 15:9, 15:18, 15:24, 15:28 and more)
This is what can happen. A small slip can lead to a big fall. Small steps turn into big leaps. We become immersed and desensitized to sin. God’s Spirit and our conscience are numbed. (2 Kings 17:22-23)
Micah’s Idol & a Levite
There was a time in Israel’s history that everyone did as they thought was right. God’s law existed. They had Moses’s writings from God, but there was no real organization of worship. So everyone did what was right in their own eyes. This was the time of Judges in Israel’s history. It was before Israel had kings. The Levites were the tribe God had chosen to establish and lead worship. They were to lead and guide the people of Israel in God’s ways. They were to instruct them using the Books of Moses which were God’s laws given to Moses and written down by him. (Judges 17:6)
There was a man named Micah, who had built a shrine and made an idol in his home as his way of worship. He even hired a Levite to be his priest. His reasoning was that this was a Levite, a person of the tribe chosen by God to be priests to Israel. So having that connection was to Micah a connection to God. He thought that because he had a Levite in his house, God would bless him. (Judges 17:5, 17:7-8, 17:9-10, 17:13)
Even the Idol he built was a mix of God and sinful idol worship. There were 1,100 pieces of silver that Micah’s family had. He stole it but then gave it back to his mother. His mother told him the Lord would bless him for returning it. That was fine, but then she decided to take the silver and get it made and shaped into idols for her son, Micah to have in his home. (Judges 17:1-2, 17:3)
Later the tribe of Dan, while looking for land to settle in, stole the priest and idols for themselves. They continued the way Micah and his family had set up. (Judges 18:30-31)
Just because someone or something looks or seems right, Biblical, or spiritual doesn’t make it good. God’s Word is our guide and measure. A person, even a Christian, is no replacement for God’s teachings. Being spiritual or religious is no replacement for knowing and believing in God. It’s not a replacement for salvation.
The Man of God & the Old Prophet
There was a man of God that was sent by God to confront King Jeroboam. God gave him specific instructions. He was not to eat or drink anything when he went to see King Jeroboam and was to return by the same road he went. He obeyed but was tricked on his way home. Another old prophet claimed to also have a message from God for the man of God. He said he should come with him and eat at his place. But he was lying. The man of God believed the old prophet and went with him. (1 Kings 13:14-15, , 13:16-17, 13:18-19)
In the middle of feasting at the old prophet’s home, the old prophet confronted the man of God. This time he did speak from God. He asked him why he disobeyed God and pronounced God’s judgment. The man of God was killed on his way home by a lion. When the old prophet heard about it, he went and found the body and buried it in his grave. (1 Kings 13:20-21, 13:23-24, 13:29-30)
Just because a message comes from a Christian or preacher or pastor or worship leader, doesn’t make it from God. We must be careful about what we listen to and hear. We must compare it to God’s Word and let His Spirit guide us in truth.
When God through His Spirit tells us something, teaches us, guides us, gives us instructions – we need to take it seriously and heed God. Disobeying can bring serious consequences. Disobeying can make our witness null and void. It can push people away from God. It can break relationships. It can make another believer fall. It can bring doubt and skepticism about God. It has ramifications we may never see or know.
God knows best. He cares for us and looks out for us. He knows the future. He sees everything. He knows today, tomorrow, next month, and year after year. His love is what guides his ways. He is only trying to guide, teach and help us grow in him. Only He knows the best way to do that.
400 Lying Prophets
King Ahab of Israel decided to go on a military conquest with the King of Judah. First though he asked all the prophets, 400 of them, if the Lord would help him conquer. They all said “yes, go ahead, God will give them to you.“ The king of Judah was not satisfied so he asked if there was another prophet in the land that they could ask. King Ahab confirmed there was a prophet, though he didn’t like him because of what he would tell him in previous prophecies. That prophet told him the truth, that he would not succeed, in fact King Ahab would die in battle. (1 Kings 22:1-2, 22:3-4, 22:5-6, 22:7-8, 22:17-18, 22:19, 22:20, 22:21, 22:22, 22:23)
King Ahab did not listen. (1 Kings 22:29)
The king chose the message of the 400 lying prophets.
He died in battle, just as the lone prophet, prophesied. (1 Kings 22:34, 22:35)
The voices we choose to listen to matter. Whether voices of the world or of God, or spirits of darkness. Especially when other Christians speak – pastors, spiritual leaders, ministers, church clergy, and leaders in the church and faith. We must be cautious about what we hear. God’s Word tells us to test everything we hear. To not believe every spirit, but to test to see if it is actually from God. Compare what we are told or read to what God’s Word says. (1 John 4:1)
False Prophets Among Israel
There were many prophets in those times. Some did not speak for the lord and God called them out. He contrasted their supposed message from God, with His truth, His Word, the real message from God. (Jeremiah 23:13, 23:14, 23:15, 23:16, 13:17, 23:18, 23:21, 23:25, 23:26)
Again we must test everything no matter the source. It doesn’t matter about a persons authority or status. People can and do lie, even those we may trust. God is the one we should have our trust fully in and seek Him in everything. Through God’s Spirit in us, we can discern what is really truth.
Spiritual Leader Balaam
King Balak summoned Balaam, a known spiritual leader in the land of Moab when the Israelites were traveling to the promised land. The king asked Balaam to curse the Israelites. (Numbers 22:6)
God turned it around and told Balaam to bless the Israelites instead. (Numbers 23:5)
Balaam obeyed, reluctantly at first. God sent an angel to confront him and reiterate that he must only say what the Lord told him. (Numbers 22:34, 22:35)
Balaam blessed the Israelites. (Numbers 23:7-9, 23:20)
Not once but 3 times, he blessed them through the Lord against the protests of king Balak. (Numbers 23:15-16, 23:18-19, 23:20-21, 23:22-23, 23:24, 24:1-2, 24:3-4)
Later, however, Balaam was involved in a situation that causes the Israelites to sin against God. They had relations with women of a pagan nation. In the sight of the Lord, they committed a great sin. So God sent a plague against them. (Numbers 31:16)
Somehow through the counsel of Balaam, the Israelites turned and did what was wicked in the sight of the Lord. Whether it was through Balaam’s words, actions, attitude or something else, the Israelites followed into sin.
This again shows that just because someone is a leader in ministry, we must be careful to test everything. Our human nature makes us flawed and prone to sin.
Only God is perfect and will never lead us astray.
Warning About Balaam’s Error
A person can accurately speak something from God at one point and still become a dangerous spiritual influence later.
The New Testament explicitly uses Balaam as a warning:
2 Peter 2:15-16
By forsaking the right path they have gone astray, because they followed the way of Balaam son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness, yet was rebuked for his own transgression (a dumb donkey, speaking with a human voice, restrained the prophet’s madness).
Jude 1:11
Woe to them! For they have traveled down Cain’s path, and because of greed have abandoned themselves to Balaam’s error; hence, they will certainly perish in Korah’s rebellion.
Revelation 2:14
But I have a few things against you: You have some people there who follow the teaching of Balaam, who instructed Balak to put a stumbling block before the people of Israel so they would eat food sacrificed to idols and commit sexual immorality.
This is a warning to all. We must be careful. Study God’s Word and seek Him always.
Human Frailty
People will always show their faults at times. Some have wrong motives, others are sincere but still fall at times. We all do.
We must not follow each other, but only God. His Word and His Spirit.
And if we stray away from God, and find ourselves in things or believing things that are not of God, we can at any point turn back to Him and seek Him again. He is always there with open arms. If we sin God is faithful to forgive us and cleanse us of our unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)
Follow God
Choose God only. Check your motivation and reasoning. Talk to God and listen to His Spirit. Read and know God’s Word.
The Bible doesn’t teach Israel to determine whether something is from God simply by asking:
“Does this person look religious?”
or
“Does this person have a position of spiritual authority?”
or even
“Does this person say that God told them?”
Instead, God’s people are repeatedly told to test what they hear against what God has already revealed.
For example:
Deuteronomy 13:1-4
Suppose a prophet or one who foretells by dreams should appear among you and show you a sign or wonder, and the sign or wonder should come to pass concerning what he said to you, namely, “Let us follow other gods”—gods whom you have not previously known—“and let us serve them.” You must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer, for the LORD your God will be testing you to see if you love him with all your mind and being. You must follow the LORD your God and revere only him; and you must observe his commandments, obey him, serve him, and remain loyal to him.
Isaiah 8:20
Then you must recall the LORD’s instructions and the prophetic testimony of what would happen. Certainly they say such things because their minds are spiritually darkened.
The New Testament carries the same principle forward:
1 Thessalonians 5:21
But examine all things; hold fast to what is good.
Don’t automatically accept something simply because it is presented as being from God; examine it and hold onto what is true.
Even what is written here. Test it, see if it aligns with God’s Word.
