SOLID GROUND

"On Christ the solid rock I stand

All other ground is sinking sand,

All other ground is sinking sand."

I once had a dream, a long time ago, when I was going through spiritual turmoil and confusion.  There were different doctrines being taught around me, books being passed around the church, people saying you have to listen to this person!  He has true victory for your life!  But something was strange about it.  Yet something about it seemed Biblical and drew me.  Always, in my inner being, there was a voice of warning, what many would call a "red flag."  Yet I was new in the Lord.  I didn't yet know how to discern, and I didn't yet know my Bible well enough.  I knew one thing. I loved the Lord and wanted all He had for me.  And I knew His Word gave me that, if only I understood it correctly.  I knew whatever He had for me, it had to be in line with His Word.  Somehow early on in my life, even before I became a Christian, I knew the Bible, God's Word, was the truth, and all truth was to be found in it, and anything that went against it was a lie and to be turned away. 

Matthew 7:24-27
(24) "Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.
(25) And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.
(26) And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.
(27) And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it."

So back to my dream.  I was in a cloud, my feet were slipping and there was no solid ground under them. I was desperately trying to find my way through it but all I could see was the fog and darkness.  Every step I took I would fall a little further down and find nothing to put my feet on to hold me.  I cried out, "Oh Lord!  I feel like I'm falling!" Suddenly God's hands appeared to me through the fog reaching out to me.  I heard His voice saying, "Here, take my hand."  I grasped His hand and He held my hand tightly and though I still could not see through the fog, I was no longer afraid, and I felt secure.  I knew even if I could not see through the darkness and fog, that He had my hand and would lead me Himself, because He could see the way clearly.  When I woke up I immediately knew that God had spoken to me to trust Him to guide me through it all, through the subtle deceptions to what was truth and what was not.  If only I leaned on His sure Word, it was my solid place to put my feet down.  Feelings, men's teachings, what appeared right to the senses, what appeared right according to human reasoning, and even what appeared spiritually good, was all nothing but fog.  My own understanding was nothing but fog.  But God's Word, understood and trusted in, was a strong hand to lead me through the fog of this world.  I wrote a song out of that dream and experience which came from this Scripture that the Lord gave me to cling to.

Psalms 27:13-14
(13) I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.
(14) Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.
　

The song was entitled "I Am Still Confident."  The chorus said, "I am still confident in this, that I will see the goodness of the Lord."  I knew if I trusted His Word, His hand, and waited on Him, I would see His goodness in the end.  And I did.  There were many temptations, struggles, and decisions I was forced to make, yet the Lord showed the way through them, and always brought me back to His Word.  There were many false teachers, prophets and deceivers whose path the Lord brought me under, yet through each one He showed me the contrast of them with His Word.  I had to choose each time.  Would I listen to them, or God's sure Word...His solid ground.  There was one sure footing through all, that brought me through all...His Word. 

Many today try to do away with that Word, saying they don't need it because they have His Spirit.  But His Spirit is the One Who leads us to that Word where we learn of Him.  His Spirit is not a subjective voice or spiritual experience that leads us to neglect or deny it.  His Spirit and His Word are one.  Jesus is the living Word, and His written Word was given to us by His Spirit.  They are all one.  To deny one is to deny all.  To neglect one is to neglect all.  To put the word of a prophet, pastor, or teacher above His written Word is idolatry. 

In today's world, which I believe is the last of the last days that we are in, deception abounds, and if we don't have something solid to anchor us then we will be deceived.  If we rely on our own ability to discern or understand, we will be deceived.  Many times I was sure I was listening to the truth, and it seemed Biblical, but when the Lord drew me to His Word, true discernment and light came, the fog cleared and He exposed the deception.  It is the most humbling experience to find out you were deceived.  At one point I even felt hurt by God.  I felt as though God Himself deceived me, as I was sincerely praying for His revival and for His power in my life.  When finally He led me out of it, I saw it for what it was, and prayed, "Lord, I was seeking you sincerely, why did You let me be deceived?"  He led me to this verse in His Word...

Deuteronomy 13:1-4
(1) "If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder,
(2) and the sign or wonder that he tells you comes to pass, and if he says, 'Let us go after other gods,' which you have not known, 'and let us serve them,'
(3) you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams. For the LORD your God is testing you, to know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
(4) You shall walk after the LORD your God and fear him and keep his commandments and obey his voice, and you shall serve him and hold fast to him.
　
There are many "prophets" and "dreamers" today, showing signs and wonders, and claiming to have a new revelation from God, that we don't need the Bible anymore because we have their word, or the subjective inner voice of God's Spirit, which they claim can replace God's written Word and is to be more relied upon.  They don't say the words, "let us go after other gods," but they say the same as they draw people away from the God of the Bible to a false made up god in their own dreams and visions, telling people to trust in them instead of going to the Word to examine their dreams and visions and holding fast to His sure written Word that proves all things true or false.  When someone with discernment from that written Word by the Holy Spirit (the true Holy Spirit) confronts their error, those who try to correct are defamed and demonized before the church, and the church is told not to listen to them, and that they are of the devil, that they are "touching God's anointed."  They may even use portions of Scripture taken out of context or twisted to do this. But the Bible tells us to discern, to judge from His Word right from wrong, to uphold His Word, and nobody is above that...not even the apostle Paul thought himself to be above that...

Galatians 1:6-10
(6) I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—
(7) not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.
(8) But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.
(9) As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.
(10) For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.

Are these teachers/prophets/apostles/dreamers seeking the approval of man, or God?  If God, then they would not be afraid to stand before His Word to have their word examined and proved true or false.  They would love God's Word and hold to it and be appalled and repentant to find themselves in error, and allow themselves to be corrected, rather taking the shame than to dishonor God and His Word.  When a person truly loves God, their defenses come down, and they would rather be humiliated than fail to please God.  If God is first, then they don't care what it costs them personally, but look to glorify God at their own expense.  Yet these deceivers build up a kingdom for themselves, drawing men to themselves, selling books, making thousands on gullible people, and all the while truly living for themselves, their own indulgences and pleasures and satisfying their own egos. They are self-deceived sociopaths.  And people allow themselves to be sucked in and deceived and brainwashed. 

There is one solid ground, one anchor of the soul to stand on, one place of surety and refuge, even though many times it means standing alone.  That is God's sure Word spoken by His true prophets, as they were inspired by His Spirit, which has been proved tried and true.  It never fails.  God always upholds His Word.  He will never fail it.  Even if a man has been a trustworthy teacher of the Word, he must be held accountable to that Word, for his own sake, to keep him on the right path, for the sake of the body of Christ, so they will not be led astray, and most of all for the honor and glory of God, and not man. 

We don't realize in our day how gullible we all are really.  I hear people parroting their favorite political leaders.  I wish they could hear themselves. It's as though they had a recording placed in their brains and all they do is parrot what they have been listening to, regardless of how false the information is.  They become pawns in the hands of manipulators and unwilling participators in their evil. They don't check out facts.  They don't listen critically to check to see if their sayings are true or false.  They aren't aware of the subtle strategies these people have learned in how to manipulate a crowd.  They are experts at it.  If you listen to one-sided propaganda, not comparing to what is actual facts, not looking at history, or records, but only their spin on what the other side is saying, you will not have the ability to discern or reason.  You are only allowing yourself to be brainwashed into a one-sided worldview. You are being convinced of a lie, and inoculated against any argument of facts or truth that will refute it.  You've been taught not to discern, but to let yourself be led.

There is our anchor, our solid ground, even with what is being said, politically, and that is God's Word.  It is how we test all things, with what is pleasing to Him or what is not.  Satan's tactics are to deceive by twisting truth, turning it backwards, calling good evil and evil good.  If we don't have a solid foundation for what we believe, we will be made to believe anything.  How do we know what is good?  In God's Word He tells us, clearly.  In His whole Word, not portions twisted to make them fit with humanistic goals. If we don't learn to systematically study His Word, understand it as a whole and with our hearts yielded to Him, we will be deceived in this age of deception.  Humanism is simply man's own worship of himself in rebellion to God.  Humanistic teachings sound reasonable to people who rebel against God, and live for their own selfisms.  These selfisms are even taught in the church, as the "gospel" of psychology, which is replacing the true Gospel of Jesus Christ and is opposed to it. When they are blended together, they turn the Gospel into a false gospel that is no gospel at all, but in fact annuls it.

Learn to recognize tactics and phrases that are often used over and over.  Teach yourselves to be alert to common arguments and analyze them carefully. Is the basis of their argument legitimate, or are they setting up a straw man argument?  Check out their premiss.

Check out these Scriptures in this regard.  We must understand and learn to recognize the wiles of the devil in order to not be deceived by them.

Ephesians 4:14, Mark 13:22; 2 Corinthians 2:11, 2 Corinthians 4:4, 2 Corinthians 11:3, 2 Corinthians 11:13-15; 2 Thessalonians 2:9-11; 1 Peter 5:8; 2 Peter 2:1-3;

Jesus Himself, used the Word to rebuke the devil when He was tempted in the wilderness.  Though the devil tried to use the Word himself to tempt Jesus, he used it wrongly, as he always does, twisting its meaning to try to get Jesus to bow down to him and worship Him.  But Jesus knew the Word and its true meaning and used it rightly to discern and rebuke the enemy.  We must do the same, whether that false word is coming to us in our own minds or through men or women.  We must first discern the Word rightly in order to discern their false words and send them away. 

John 10:4-5
(4) When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.
(5) A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.

If we are not in His Word, familiar with it, understanding it, submitting to it, we will not recognize His voice, and we will end up following a stranger, whose voice may sound similar in our minds, yet it is not our Shepherd's voice at all. In fact it is the voice of the thief, disguised as the Shepherd.

John 10:10-11
(10) The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly

(11) I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

Father, draw us to Your Word, Your true and living Word, that gives life, that glorifies You, that reveals Your heart, Your will, Your promises, Your hope and salvation!  Convict those who have strayed from it, and open their eyes to Your truth.  I ask for a revival of love for Your Word, dear Lord.  I ask for it in Jesus name, amen.