Posts with the tag “discernment”

Ralph Waldo Emerson identified the rarest of human capacities: the ability to be surrounded by opinion, pressure, and consensus and still know your own mind. He called it keeping the independence of solitude in the midst of the crowd. Twelve spies saw the same land. Ten came back saying it cannot be done. Two came back saying we will surely overcome it. The crowd followed the ten. It always follows the ten. Scripture says the final generation before the return of Jesus will be characterized by many being misled and most people's love growing cold. The crowd, in the last days, will include many who call themselves believers. Which means the independence of solitude is not a personality trait. It is a prophetic necessity. Read the full post.  Read More

There is a gap between the authority we have declared and the authority we have actually handed over. We say Jesus. But the voice that wakes us up at two in the morning belongs to someone else. This week, notice the voices. Not to fight them. Just to name them. Because you cannot submit to the authority of Jesus in a room where you cannot hear Him over everyone else.  Read More

Every few years a story surfaces that follows the same basic pattern. A charismatic leader. An intense community. Sacrifice and devotion. And then the collapse. The secular world draws the obvious conclusion: the problem is religion. The problem is authority. But that misses the actual diagnosis. The problem is never that people submitted to authority. The problem is that they submitted to the wrong one. Jesus walked into a synagogue and the people immediately knew something was different. He taught as one who had authority, not as someone who had borrowed it from someone else. In the last days, Scripture says the counterfeits will be convincing enough to mislead even the elect. Which means discernment has never mattered more. Read the full post.  Read More