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

If we are going to be effective watchmen, we must be willing to test ministries that are making an impact on our sheep. This means that we cannot be intimidated by the signs and wonders that we see. This means that at times we need to be a little skeptical of the new and exotic (Pro. 15:15). It also means that we must be fruit inspectors (Mt. 7:16). Having a big building, a TV ministry or books in print does not authenticate a ministry. As watchmen we must be willing to test doctrines and even judge prophecy. We must be willing to prove all things and hold fast to that which is good. In the next chapters of this book we will be taking more about evaluating winds of doctrine and discerning true and false doctrine or teaching.

In the appendix to this chapter I have given you some guidelines for judging prophecy. ( See Appendix)

Maintaining First Love

Perhaps the most important thing for all of us to do, leaders included, is to work to maintain a first-love relationship with the Lord (Rev. 2:4-5). In other words, “Stay in love with Jesus.” The closer we walk with Jesus in a daily life of submission and obedience the more we will be able to separate the true from the false (John 7:16-17, NLT). So Jesus told them, “I’m not teaching my own ideas, but those of God who sent me. Anyone who wants to do the will of God will know whether my teaching is from God or is merely my own.”

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