Day 1 – Introductory Thoughts
I am beginning a journey through Brad Jersak’s book, A More Christlike Word. How do I feel about it? Mostly ticked. I see Brad Jersak as someone I have already tested and concluded is a false teacher. The expression, “you have been weighed in the balances and found wanting”[1] comes to mind. I don't like wading through resources I've already concluded are counterfeit.
However, when new friends-in-the-faith started posting
things on social media that directly denounced what I have been teaching for
years, they explained that this author and this book would summarize their
views. Sigh. Okay. I trust that God will make this worthwhile. People before problems.
I’m writing this as a journal-journey because I want to be honest with myself about what I’m learning along the way while also watching for how these puzzle pieces fit with whatever else God is teaching me through his word and through my church fellowship. This way I should be able to maintain an objective view of what I read (I hate the kinds of discernment-mongers who misrepresent their targets and then tear to shreds their strawman version of the person they are criticizing). At the same time, I want to be able to admit where I need to adjust my subjective responses with anything new I learn that confirms or denies my suspicions.
And so, the journey begins. The reviews are daunting.
They cause me to consider whether all these people have received something good
from this author that I missed when I heard him in person. They also make me
wonder if they fit Jesus’ description of “many false prophets will arise and
lead many astray”,[2]
and Paul’s prophecy of how “evil people and impostors will go on from bad to
worse, deceiving and being deceived.”[3]
I’m all for discovering things in God’s word I have never seen before, but
I’m always watchful with the concern Paul spoke about when he said, “But I
am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will
be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.”[4] After
all, “the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but
having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their
own passions”.[5]
My question to myself is, am I embarking on a journey
through the scriptures like the Bereans who were excited to search the
scriptures to see if what Paul was telling them was true,[6] or
does Jesus’ warning to the Pergamum church apply where he rebuked them for
holding to the teaching of Balaam and the Nicolations.[7]
As Jesus quoted from the Old Testament when he answered Satan with, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God’”,[8] I want to journey through this book in a totally honest way so that the measure I use to test this teaching is the same one I use to test mine.
And I head out on this new trail quite certain that it will be for God’s glory and the good of others.
© 2024
Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8
Email: in2freedom@gmail.com
Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the
English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text
Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of
Good News Publishers.)
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