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

People get bored with the old. And yet when it comes to doctrine, it is dangerous to always be looking for a new doctrine or a new revelation. Sometimes the “new” things are the equivalent of “fables.” Fables are fictional inventions of people. The word of God has power because it is God’s word and has not been invented for the purpose of gaining a following. Contrast the Berean believers in Acts 17:11 and the Athenians in Acts 17:21. The Bereans listened with an open skepticism that was willing to search out what was being taught to ensure that it was indeed scriptural. The Athenians treated the exposition of doctrine like a sport and were only looking for something new or novel that they could enjoy. Then the brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea. When they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. These were more fair minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so. Therefore many of them believed, and also not a few of the Greeks, prominent women as well as men. Acts 17:10-12 And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, sayi ng, “May we know what thi s new doctrine is of which you speak? For you are bringing some strange things to our ears. Therefore we want to know what these things mean.” For all the Athenians and the foreigners who were there spent their time in nothing else but either to tell them or to hear some new thing. Acts 17:19-21 The third characteristic of God’s people as s heep is that they love private, mysterious or secret interpretation , revelation or experience (Mt. 24:26-27; 2 Pet.1:20; 2:1).

Then if anyon e says to you, “Look, here is the Christ!” or “There!” do not believe it. 24 For false christs and

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