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

6. Leaders must balance the ability to incorporate the truth contained in a current trend without losing perspective relative to the other truths of the Scripture. We will be coming back to these dilemmas in the later chapters, but for now it is easy to see why we need to be in tune with the Holy Spirit and the wisdom that comes down from on high if we are going to navigate the winds. There are two primary premises about “change” that will serve as a basis for our further study of current trends. These premises will guide us as we go forward. Premise 1 – We are living in a world of change and, therefore, we must have an ability to adapt to that change if we are going to touch the present generation for God. A.W. Tozer (1897- 1963) said, “The immutability of God appears in its most perfect beauty when viewed against the mutability of man. In God no change is possible; in man change is impossible to escape. Neither the man is fixed nor his world, and he and it are in constant change.” Alfred Whitehead commented on the church in a 1927 journal, Science and the Modern World saying, “Re ligion will not regain its old power until it can face change in the same spirit as does science. Its principles may be eternal, but the expression of those principles require continual development.” Abraham Lincoln (1809- 1865) stated, “The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise to the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew.” Two Primary Premises

This premise has two parts. The first part of this premise acknowledges that we are living in the world of change. In our

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