Test ALL Things

1 Thessalonians 5:21-22 (NKJV)

"Test all things; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil."

True believers in Christ will take the time to test all things. Half stepping believers will be gullible and refuse to test ALL things.

Why?

Because of being told that they were wrong all along. Their ego is so big.

They refuse to give up the error of their ways because of pride.

You could always hear where believers stand when they open their mouths and you have a conversation with them. Some people will not receive correction, so like the Lord Jesus said "Leave them alone."

At first, they sound spiritually impressive but they lack a basic understanding of the Scriptures within context. Then when you bring the correction, you're an enemy.

Galatians 4:16 (HCSB)

"Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth?"

All you're trying to do is to help them have the correct understanding of the Scripture so they wouldn't misapply them.

So when you put their understanding of the Scripture to the test, some of them will adjust.

Others will continue to mix their error with the correction to make it seem as if they've changed and like a leopard, the spots remain the same. Nothing's changed.

Jeremiah 13:23 (NKJV)

"Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard its spots?

Then may you also do good who are accustomed to do evil."

Listen to the HBSB translation. Jeremiah 13:23 (HCSB)

"Can the Cushite change his skin,

or a leopard his spots?

If so, you might be able to do what is good,

you who are instructed in evil."

So when I hear the wild outlandish spiritual sounding statements, I simply compare what they've said with the Word of God and discovered that a person's commentary runs afoul of the text.

The Scripture didn't say that is my response and then I ask them "Did you test that against the Scriptures and then applied it to real world situations?"

When you hear them talk about signs, wonders, and miracles, you don't argue with them.

Just ask them "Does it work in real conditions?

If they're honest, and chances are, they're not, they would go right outside to the tough places and prove that it works. We should see a replication of what was taught, 100% of the time.

And when it's not replicated, then what?

It wasn't God. Plain and simple. We should never deter a person from correctly asking for God's intervention. Prayer is important and we should ask God for His divine intervention.

However, the power to heal belongs only to the Lord, not to people.

We see it most of the time that they sit in these places of Healing School or similar places and they're told that it must happen. It supposed to happen just like the Scripture said it would happen.

Some of them diliberately test the Scriptures and that's a good thing.

I've sat in service after service, believing the same thing. I've tried to replicate what they were teaching and in some cases, it was hit and miss.

I've had a lot of failures but very few successes.

In some cases, it does happen where people would be healed, but there's other times when it doesn't happen and we wonder, "what went wrong?"

First of all, we're not God. We don't see everything as He does.

I was watching Little House On The Prairie.

There was an episode called "The Faith Healer."

An out of town itinerant preacher was riding from town to town, preaching about the love of God, healing and miracles. (Sounds familiar?)

The itinerant preacher came to Walnut Grove, pitched his tent and in an evening "service," he preached about salvation, mixed with miracles.

A lady was in a wheel chair, and man was on crutches, and a woman was blind. Led around with the help of a man.

The preacher said "Who wants to be healed?"

The lady in the wheel chair was rolled up and the preacher healed her. The man in crutches and the blind lady were healed as well.

The crowd was amazed.

But the Walnut Grove pastor and town doctor weren't impressed.

Amazed, but they knew that something was off.

A man brought his son to the town doctor because the son had a pain on his side and the town doctor correctly diagnosed the illness. Acute appendicitis. The town doctor told his father to go to a specialist that knew how to perform the surgery to save his son's life.

Instead, the father took his son to the "faith healer." The preacher made a spectacle of the situation and suddenly, the son, after prayer, felt that the pain went way. The people were so amazed that the people abandoned the town pastor.

The town pastor had faithfully taught the Word of God each week to help people grow in their faith in Christ. Most of the congregation left him for the "faith healer."

The next Sunday, only a few people showed up for service at the Walnut Grove church/school while the "faith healer" had a packed house in the tent.

The town pastor was abandoned.

In a private conversation between the faith healer and the pastor, the town pastor told the faith healer that he will not share the pulpit with him.

The next day, the son cried out in pain. The pain returned to his son and the father cried out for the town doctor who was standing a few feet away.

The town doctor, laid on the boy to check to see if he was breathing and pronounced the son dead of the disease that he was "healed" of.

The father picked up his dead son and went to the tent during one of the "faith healer's" crusade, and made a complaint to the faith healer during service. The faith healer took the son from his father and declared that God took him home but asked the people to "still believe."

The father knelt down and instead of being angry, he "believed." The next day, they all went to the cemetary to bury the boy. The Walnut Grove pastor was standing off to the side, observing the burial service performed by the "faith healer."

The obvious jealousy was burning within him. It was more like righteous indignation.

The "faith healer" got into his horse and buggy to arrive at the next town but Charles Ingalls went to the new town and observed the same lady in the wheel chair, the man in crutches, and the blind lady.

They all got "healed".......again.

Then, the "faith healer" went to another town. The same lady in a wheel chair, the man in crutches, and blind lady all got healed again but this time, Charles did a "Toto" like in the movie "The Wizard of Oz."

He pulled the curtain back in the faith healer's service and revealed what this "faith healer" had done in the two previous towns. Charles brought some of the Walnut Grove settlers with him as witnesses. (Out of the mouth of two or three witnesses, shall every word be established).

By the truth of what Charles observed, he proved that the wheel chair lady, the man in crutches, and the blind lady were the same people that were healed in the last two towns. It was like a travelling service circus to deceive the people.

The one thing that the show left out was the offerings received in each service, because put two and two together.

How are they getting paid to travel from town to town?

The people that came to that service had all left but while everyone was leaving, "the faith healer" said to them that the reason why he used the wheel chair lady, the man in crutches, and the blind woman was to help people get faith in God to heal.

But think about it.

Why would you lie about it?

Tricking the people to think that God was healing when 3 healthy persons went along with the charade.

The fake money grabbing preacher was committing all sorts of evil.

In the end, the people that abandoned the Walnut Grove pastor came back and the congregation surrounded him and hugged him.

Yes, it's just a show. Little House On The Prairie, but we see the same thing today in some places.

Does God heal today. Absolutely.

It doesn't take a charade to get people to pray in faith like James tells us to do.

James 5:14-16 (HCSB) "Is anyone among you sick? He should call for the elders of the church, and they should pray over him after anointing him with olive oil in the name of the Lord.

The prayer of faith will save the sick person, and the Lord will restore him to health; if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.

Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The urgent request of a righteous person is very powerful in its effect."

What if the person dies?

Hebrews 9:27 was in play. It was their appointed time.

That's why above everything else, make sure that you preach the gospel to them because you never know when people will make a turn for the worst.

Healing, if it happens, only postpones the inevitable.

The "faith healer" was put to the test in real conditions, and failed miserably.

Why did he fail?

He was a huckster, a peddler, and a liar.

He wasn't there to help people but to take advantage of them for money.

2 Peter 2:1-3 (NKJV) "But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction.

And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed.

By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber."

The same is true today.

Same game but different actors.

But always pray and seek the Lord, making your requests known to God.

Not demand, command, declare and decree, in Jesus' name.

Test ALL things.