Derek Prince - This Is How Deception Gets Into Church
This is an excerpt from: The Headship of Jesus - Part 2
And then one more safeguard. Check against Scripture. Whatever you believe to be the revelation or the leading of God, check it against your Bible. Because, all Scripture is given by inspiration of God. If it's the Holy Spirit who wrote Scripture, His leading will never disagree with Scripture. You see that? Let me give those quickly again. Recognize your need. Present your body. Align with God's purpose, which is the coming of His kingdom. Submit your will to His will. Make friends with the Holy Spirit. And, check everything with Scripture.
Now... What are some common hindrances? And this is just a few. First of all, I would say our human arrogance. I think that's the greatest problem. There was a period in my ministry where I believed I was directed out of the will of God. I came into a situation filled with problems. When I look back and I ask myself how did that happen, I think the root cause was arrogance in me. Basically, I think all deception in the body of Christ has one lever to get in and that's pride. If we're not proud we'll never be deceived. And so, I think the great hindrance to hearing from God is our arrogance. The Bible calls it the pride of life. A desire to be independent of God.
See, when Jesus was tempted to throw himself from a pinnacle of the temple, He refused. He could have done it, but He would never do something to demonstrate His power independently of the Father. Then there are other common barriers, I'll just mention them, you can ponder them. The barrier of habit or tradition. Really, tradition is collective habit. Now, not all habits are bad, not all traditions are bad, but basically when we simply follow tradition we'll miss God. I think tradition was the greatest single barrier that kept the Jewish people in Jesus' day from receiving His teaching. Another common barrier is fear. And there are certain kinds of fear. Fear of man. What will people say?
I think a regrettable number of Christians are more influenced by the opinions of people than they are by the opinion of God. Secondly, fear of the unfamiliar. Well, we've never done it this way before. You mean, we don't have a program? We don't have a bulletin? How do we know what to do? Just let it happen and see what happens. And then fear of being dependent. I think that is perhaps the strongest. We really don't like to have to depend on God. I want to point something out to you in this connection. The essence of sin is not the desire to do evil, it's the desire to be independent of God.
See, the original motivation in the garden of Eden was all right, be like God. Know the difference between good and evil. That's good, that's not bad. What was wrong was they wanted it independently of God. And wherever there is that desire in us to be independent of God, we are not really free from the domination of sin.
So, let me just recapitulate. And as I do it, maybe you need to do a little interior checking. What are the common hindrances? Arrogance, pride of life. Second, habit, tradition. I really believe most things that we do in church are not done because God said we should do them, they're done because that's what we always have been doing. I have checked on this. It takes about five years to start a religious tradition. I've been with groups that started in the power of the Spirit, in five years they were bound by tradition. It didn't take long. And then the fear of man, the fear of the unfamiliar and the fear of being dependent on God. We have to overcome these things. But I would say it's worth taking a risk.