The Two Causes of Wrong Testimonies
Following on the heels of my articles simply entitled Wrong Testimonies:
There are two main causes for a wrong testimony of Christian salvation:
1. It is spoken out of ignorance of the right gospel
2. It is spoken with the intent to hide the gospel of salvation
Let's take a closer look at each of these causes:
1. The testimony is spoken out of ignorance of the right gospel
A wrong testimony spoken out of ignorance of the right gospel could be spoken by someone who is genuinely saved but does not know how to convey her testimony in line with the true gospel of salvation.
If she is, indeed, saved then she has definitely heard the true gospel (Romans 10:17 "Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God"), believed in it and trusted in the finished work of Christ on the cross which took her sin problem out of the way and through Christ's resurrection gave her free righteousness on Christ's behalf through faith. Nothing more neede from her and nothing less received.
Her main focus now should be to renew her mind by reading Paul's epistles so that she gets her doctrinal understanding straight and can be a good ambassador for Jesus Christ here on earth.
We are instructed to do that in 2 Timothy 2:15 "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."
However, there are many people that, even though they have been saved, drift or turn away from the true gospel, do not read and study the Bible on their own and are lead into misunderstanding and outright deception by people who are knowingly or unknowingly sharing a false gospel, whether it be a church Pastor, a YouTube ministry, a teacher, or even a well meaning Christian friend. They have become a victim of a confused evangelical system that has successfully hidden the true gospel from them so that they cannot articulate it in their own salvation testimony and, instead share a wrong testimony of salvation, speaking out of ignorance.
2 Corinthians 4:4 - "In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them."
The good news is that this can be corrected. Ignorance is curable in people who are genuinely saved. It is cured by them hearing the right gospel (Romans 10:17) understanding it and adjusting their testimony of salvation accordingly so it is doctrinally sound and they can be certain they are sharing their testimony in line with the true gospel with others. This is how it happened and this is how they need to share it.
The other possibility with regards to a testimony being spoken out of ignorance is that the person is not saved. He has not heard, believed and trusted in the true gospel and could very well have been influenced into believing he is saved because he has listened to and been influenced by the wrong testimonies of others.
Until this person is saved his testimony will be useless, misleading and deceptive to others. Unfortunately I have seen MANY testimonies on YouTube that fit into this "useless, misleading and deceptive" category.
This is precisely why I have published this article and this one on Wrong Testimonies and caution people to listen carefully to what a person is saying in his or her testimonyto be able to separate the right ones from the wrong ones.
2. It is spoken with the intent to hide the gospel of salvation
If indeed someone is sharing a wrong testimony with the intent to hide the gospel of salvation from others, well... to put it bluntly we are dealing with evil here.
2 Corinthians 4:4 - "In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them."
This is the work of someone who has fallen under the influence of the enemy and is doing Satan's work. This is the work of a deceiver trying to keep salvation from others. This is what false teachers do.
When you are listening to testimonies on YouTube you do not know what you are going to get. There are many false teachers on social media and running so called YouTube ministries.
We read in scripture about this:
2 Corinthians 11:13 - "For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ."
Galatians 2:4 - "And that because of false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage"
2 Corinthians 4:3 - "But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost"
Contrary to what a lot of people seeking information about Christianity through the internet and social media might believe, it is not God who steers things here, it is Satan. The internet, YouTube and social media are in Satan's realm. He uses it to deceive, obfuscate and try to obliterate the true gospel of salvation.
As long as you are going to use these channels as your go to resource you will almost always be assured that you will be falsely lead and under deception. Until, that is, you have grown in your discernment to the point where you can begin to identify deception and be able to avail yourself of true teachers and pass by the false teachers. Your discernment grows by studying the Word of God.
Yes, there are some good teachers on YouTube but they usually have very small channels becuase they are not picked up by YouTube algorithms the way the false teaching channels are and therefore they have far less subscribers and views than many of the false YouTube ministries. That's the way Satan wants it. It might be a good sign if you come across a teaching channel with a small following check them out and see how doctrinally sound they are. You might have found a good one!
Do not depend soley on others no matter who they might be. Study God's word on your own. God speaks directly to you in his word. Get into the Bible, pray to God for him to grant you the spirit of wisdom and revelation, and allow him teach you, directly from the Bible which is the Holy Spirit.
We are all susceptible to potential deception especially when we put our faith in others and don't remain focused on God's word.
In this article I share my own falling into wrong doctrine shortly after I was saved, and how I came out of that deception.
I hope this article is helpful. Don't hesitate to contact me here if you have any questions or would like me to pray for you.
God bless,
Clare
There are two main causes for a wrong testimony of Christian salvation:
1. It is spoken out of ignorance of the right gospel
2. It is spoken with the intent to hide the gospel of salvation
Let's take a closer look at each of these causes:
1. The testimony is spoken out of ignorance of the right gospel
A wrong testimony spoken out of ignorance of the right gospel could be spoken by someone who is genuinely saved but does not know how to convey her testimony in line with the true gospel of salvation.
If she is, indeed, saved then she has definitely heard the true gospel (Romans 10:17 "Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God"), believed in it and trusted in the finished work of Christ on the cross which took her sin problem out of the way and through Christ's resurrection gave her free righteousness on Christ's behalf through faith. Nothing more neede from her and nothing less received.
Her main focus now should be to renew her mind by reading Paul's epistles so that she gets her doctrinal understanding straight and can be a good ambassador for Jesus Christ here on earth.
We are instructed to do that in 2 Timothy 2:15 "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."
However, there are many people that, even though they have been saved, drift or turn away from the true gospel, do not read and study the Bible on their own and are lead into misunderstanding and outright deception by people who are knowingly or unknowingly sharing a false gospel, whether it be a church Pastor, a YouTube ministry, a teacher, or even a well meaning Christian friend. They have become a victim of a confused evangelical system that has successfully hidden the true gospel from them so that they cannot articulate it in their own salvation testimony and, instead share a wrong testimony of salvation, speaking out of ignorance.
2 Corinthians 4:4 - "In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them."
The good news is that this can be corrected. Ignorance is curable in people who are genuinely saved. It is cured by them hearing the right gospel (Romans 10:17) understanding it and adjusting their testimony of salvation accordingly so it is doctrinally sound and they can be certain they are sharing their testimony in line with the true gospel with others. This is how it happened and this is how they need to share it.
The other possibility with regards to a testimony being spoken out of ignorance is that the person is not saved. He has not heard, believed and trusted in the true gospel and could very well have been influenced into believing he is saved because he has listened to and been influenced by the wrong testimonies of others.
Until this person is saved his testimony will be useless, misleading and deceptive to others. Unfortunately I have seen MANY testimonies on YouTube that fit into this "useless, misleading and deceptive" category.
This is precisely why I have published this article and this one on Wrong Testimonies and caution people to listen carefully to what a person is saying in his or her testimonyto be able to separate the right ones from the wrong ones.
2. It is spoken with the intent to hide the gospel of salvation
If indeed someone is sharing a wrong testimony with the intent to hide the gospel of salvation from others, well... to put it bluntly we are dealing with evil here.
2 Corinthians 4:4 - "In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them."
This is the work of someone who has fallen under the influence of the enemy and is doing Satan's work. This is the work of a deceiver trying to keep salvation from others. This is what false teachers do.
When you are listening to testimonies on YouTube you do not know what you are going to get. There are many false teachers on social media and running so called YouTube ministries.
We read in scripture about this:
2 Corinthians 11:13 - "For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ."
Galatians 2:4 - "And that because of false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage"
2 Corinthians 4:3 - "But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost"
Contrary to what a lot of people seeking information about Christianity through the internet and social media might believe, it is not God who steers things here, it is Satan. The internet, YouTube and social media are in Satan's realm. He uses it to deceive, obfuscate and try to obliterate the true gospel of salvation.
As long as you are going to use these channels as your go to resource you will almost always be assured that you will be falsely lead and under deception. Until, that is, you have grown in your discernment to the point where you can begin to identify deception and be able to avail yourself of true teachers and pass by the false teachers. Your discernment grows by studying the Word of God.
Yes, there are some good teachers on YouTube but they usually have very small channels becuase they are not picked up by YouTube algorithms the way the false teaching channels are and therefore they have far less subscribers and views than many of the false YouTube ministries. That's the way Satan wants it. It might be a good sign if you come across a teaching channel with a small following check them out and see how doctrinally sound they are. You might have found a good one!
Do not depend soley on others no matter who they might be. Study God's word on your own. God speaks directly to you in his word. Get into the Bible, pray to God for him to grant you the spirit of wisdom and revelation, and allow him teach you, directly from the Bible which is the Holy Spirit.
We are all susceptible to potential deception especially when we put our faith in others and don't remain focused on God's word.
In this article I share my own falling into wrong doctrine shortly after I was saved, and how I came out of that deception.
I hope this article is helpful. Don't hesitate to contact me here if you have any questions or would like me to pray for you.
God bless,
Clare