Greetings to you my name is Rodgers Atwebembeire from the Africa Centre For Apologetics Research.
Our mission is to equip God's people for discernment, for the defence of the faith and for
cult evangelism. Now you notice one of the key things is discernment in our mission statement.
But what is discernment really? And why is it very important especially for believers like you and
me today? Well, I can quickly tell you that the antidote to deception is discernment. In an era
like ours where great deception abounds with false teachers, and false prophets, and false pastors,
and false apostles, and false teaching of various kinds the solution to deception
is discernment. And that is why it is important for us to understand what discernment is, what
the bible says about it and why you and I need it. So, by means of definition what is discernment?
One cult researcher Robert Bowman has written a book entitled 'Orthodox and Heresy' and he defines
discernment as a means to identify the true nature of a spirit, or doctrine, practice, or a group,
to distinguish between truth and error. Extreme error from slight error, the divine from
the human, and sometimes the demonic. Discernment really is the skill of understanding and applying
God's word with the purpose of separating truth from error, separating right from wrong.
And this is from Tim Challies another author who has written on discernment - 'The Discipline
of Spiritual Discernment.' He says that it relates both to the knowledge one has about God
and one's way of behaviour and life as modelled by what one knows about God.
John MacArthur also a very famous pastor has also commented saying that, "Discernment is the process
of making careful distinctions in our thinking about truth." In other words, the ability to think
with discernment is synonymous with the ability to think biblically. That discernment has to do with
what we believe and why we believe what we believe. It is not just a question of saying,
'I am a Christian. But why are you a Christian? Could you have been something else?
And now that you are a Christian, so what? And how does that translate in your day-to-day life?
But Charles Spurgeon has even taken it much further by saying that discernment is not a
matter of simply telling the difference between what is right and what is wrong.
That the difference between what is right and almost right is what usually discernment is about.
You see, right and wrong are obvious. Black and white are very clear for everyone to notice.
But what about the grey areas that are neither white nor black - that's what Charles Spurgeon is saying.
That in most cases false teaching does not come to us obviously - it comes looking like, almost like,
but really not. And that's why discernment becomes extremely important. The whole Bible
and especially the New Testament points out the need and the urgency of practicing discernment
in light of the deception that surrounds us. There are so many Bible passages that not only warn us
about the reality and danger of false teachings but call believers to practice discernment. It's
like Jesus and the Apostles are saying that the medicine for deception is for believers
to practice biblical discernment. You will see for instance in Matthew 7 Jesus warns and says
watch out for false prophets. In 1 John 4 - John says, "Do not believe every spirit but test them."
The ability to test is what we call discernment. That ability to watch out, to be diligent,
to be on guard is what the Bible calls discernment. In Acts chapter 20, in Paul's final address
to the Ephesian elders, not only does he remind them of the gospel he preached, and the fact that
savage wolves are coming to divide the flock, and that even men within their own congregation
will be deceivers and draw men away from the truth, but he says, "Be on guard, stand on guard,
watch out!" So, there is no doubt whatsoever that discernment is a necessary discipline
especially in the face of deception today. False teachers are not going to make it easy for us.
They will not knock on our doors and tell us that they have formed a new cultic group
that is loving but really can end us in hell and then they invite us in. A false teacher is
not going to say, "Hey friends! Would you come and we sacrifice some chickens or goats to the devil?"
They will not be that obvious. They come secretly. They try to blend in. They tiptoe.
They take advantage of the unsuspecting. But those with discernment will not only be able
to identify error but they will also be able to expose it. And that's what discernment really is
about. Believers grounded in truth or discipled. Believers able to distinguish, to differentiate
between what is right and what almost looks right but actually is not. And discerning, discipled
believers, who are able and in a position to defend their faith from deception, that always
almost looks like, but actually is not. And that's what the biblical discernment is really about.