Watchout For WOLVES: Keys To Discerning Authentic Ministries & Evaluating Doctrinal Trends

What are Current Trends?

In order to talk about current trends, we need to define our concepts from the beginning. T he word “trend” means “an inclination in a particular direction, a general direction or a bent toward something.” Some to the synonyms in our culture for this word include the following:

Fashion

• • • • • • • • •

Drift

Direction Tendency

Leaning

Inclination Propensity Proclivity

Impulse

Trends can be applied to almost any area of life. The reason why this is true is because all of life is in a constant state of change. Change is, in fact, one of the marks of something that is alive. Plato said as early as 399 B.C., “The seen is changing, the unseen is t he unchanging.” Paul said it this way in 2 Corinthians 4:18 (NIV), So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. In other words, we might say that the only things that is constant is change. Every aspect of our world seems to be subject to constant change including the world of nature, the world of science, the world of technology, the world of fashion, and the world of politics. You name it, everything is in a constant state of flux.

Trends also affect the world of the Church. If the church is indeed a “living organism” it automatically changes. One of

102