I pray this letter finds you walking in the joy of the Lord and in the power of His might.
Today I want to talk to you about something that will be very important in these last days: "Recognizing Error" and being able to refute it (show to be false or erroneous) confidently. One Saturday I was visiting one of my brothers in the Lord when a van pulled up to his house and two Jehovah's Witnesses got out. He groaned. He had taken a pamphlet from the same woman earlier in the week in an effort to be polite and she, believing she had an eager pupil, returned with reinforcements to drive her doctrine home. Since my brother seemed a little panicked, I asked him to let me speak with them. As they approached, they pretty much ignored me and directed their comments specifically to him. I kept quiet until after reading a scripture aloud from her "Bible", I heard her make what I knew to be an erroneous statement about what she'd just read. I refuted it. I told her that she had just made an assumption that was incorrect. She argued that she assumed nothing and what she had stated was fact. I asked her to show me in her Bible proof that what she had said was true. She said she'd have to research it and get back with me. I then showed her other scripture that contradicted the statement she had made. This scripture did not agree with their church's doctrine, and only moments later they were saying they needed to be going.
Matthew 24:24 says that if it were possible in these last days, the very elect of God would be deceived. That's you and I. That's why it is imperative that we are able to recognize error when we hear it and refute it confidently. So how does one do that?
I worked for four years as a teller in a bank. We were trained to recognize counterfeit money should it ever pass over our counter. How were we able to recognize the counterfeits? By becoming so familiar with the real thing: the way it looks, feels, smells, the security features, the shades of color, the texture, size and proportion of numbers, letters and pictures, that anything different became obvious as soon as we came across it. The same is true with the Word of God. God wants us to become so familiar with His Word: the scriptures themselves, the history of His people, the love, grace and character of God, the working of the Holy Spirit, the tactics of the enemy, all the wisdom contained in its pages, the knowledge of the truth, that whenever we hear error, we would immediately recognize it. Upon recognizing error, we are then to show the error by revealing the truth.
All of this comes by being in the Word, setting aside time to read the Bible, asking God to explain the things we don't understand, asking Him to reveal Himself and His truth to us. If we are faithful to read the Word, Jesus promises in John 14:26, "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you." You don't have to memorize scripture. If you put it in, God will be faithful to bring it back out when it is needed. That is how I had the scripture handy to correct the woman I spoke with that Saturday.
The more time you spend getting to know the Lord and His Word, the more confidence you will have in your ability to recognize error and refute it and the less likely you are to be deceived. I challenge you to start your day with just a chapter or two every morning - making time for God before everything else - and I guarantee He will bless your time for everything else you need to do and will prepare you to be able to recognize error when you hear it and refute it with confidence.
Know the truth, beloved ones, and it will set you free. Love in Christ, Raelynn
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