Facts of Our Faith (Edited with ChatGPT)

 

People once believed the earth was flat — until better facts came along to correct that assumption of common sense. In the same way, our biblical understanding of faith can grow when we encounter deeper truths. When people preach, I always listen for those hidden or novel facts, because they give me a firmer foundation to understand the Bible. Those who can dig out the precious metals buried in Scripture are themselves precious to me. They don’t try to make me their follower — they help me grow. So here are some biblical facts that may help others grow in the knowledge of God and in spirit.

 

The first fact of our faith is that we grow — both in spirit and in the knowledge of God and His Word. I used to enjoy listening to word-of-faith preachers. Not because I believed everything they said, but because I was drinking their milk while unknowingly spitting out the bones. I couldn’t yet understand the depth of their heresy, because my biblical knowledge was still shallow. It wasn’t that I only listened to what I wanted — rather, I could only hear what I was spiritually able to hear. There were wavelengths I could receive, and many others I could not.

 

Just as the human eye can’t see ultraviolet or gamma rays but only visible light, I couldn’t yet perceive the deeper truths. It wasn’t that I searched only for what I wanted — it was that my spiritual senses couldn’t yet digest solid food. I could only take in milk. Some of their words — the milk — blended with me because my heart was ready for it. But the bones — the deeper errors — were left for the birds of the air to carry away.

 

This is often how it goes when we first read the Bible. At first, it seems boring. We love certain parts, hate others, and misunderstand most of it. But over time, we begin to see deeper — like perceiving gamma rays, X-rays, and ultraviolet waves. This is spiritual growth. The same thing happens in preaching. If you listen carefully when someone preaches, God can speak to you through them. He can load a single word with a million messages. The preacher might be saying one thing — but the Spirit reveals something entirely different to you.

 

You may have had a fight with your boss and feel angry because you believe you’re right. Then you hear a preacher speak about how humility comes before honor and pride before a fall. He adds that we must overcome hatred with love and pray for those who persecute us. On the surface, it sounds like a general message for the faithful — but for you, it’s a personal word. The Bible is a mirror. Through it, God shows us how beautiful we could become — if we live by His Word. So let us grow into the Word, and live by it, as soldiers of God.

 

Imagine building a road. If you pour all the dirt and water at once, you get mud — not a road. But if you add a little dirt, then water, press it, and let it dry — then repeat the process — you slowly form a solid path. Later, you can lay asphalt to make it stronger. But first, it must be built step by step. Growth in complexity is always gradual. You build something, let it solidify, and then build upon it. The same is true for a house: first you lay a few rows of bricks, give them time to dry, and then build more. That’s how lasting things are made.

 

That’s how God builds us too. If someone was promiscuous and God changes their heart, that change needs time to take root. If you test it too soon, it may fail and revert. But if you give it time, the change in the spirit will slowly reshape the mind. Eventually, the mind will begin to hate adultery, and no test will undo it. Then God builds the next layer of character on top of that. Life is a growth process — step by step — until we become like Jesus. Which means: the process never really ends.

 

That’s why, when the Holy Spirit begins to transform your life, you must also change your environment — at least until the change matures within you. If you were once drunk and then saved, don’t rush back to the bar to preach. Otherwise, the beer may end up preaching to you. God knew the Israelites would fall into idolatry, but He also knew that His disciples would one day turn others away from abominations. The Israelites in the Exodus were like a heavenly army that couldn’t defeat even insects, while the disciples were true soldiers of God who conquered the devil in his own territory. Before you try to change the world, let the Spirit change you. First, remove the plank from your own eye before addressing the dust in someone else’s.

 

In this journey of spiritual growth, the devil and his messengers often infiltrate the community of believers — especially among leaders. Jesus said that while people sleep, the enemy comes and plants his own seed. So both good seed and bad grow together until the difference becomes clear. Today, we can see the evil within the word-of-faith and prosperity gospel movements — but there is also wheat among the weeds. Don’t focus only on the weeds — look for the wheat. Our role is to separate, not to burn the whole field.

 

Whether we like it or not, the best of God and the worst of the enemy often exist side by side — even within the same movement. The wheat of God is mixed with the weeds of the devil. And yes, there are people who truly belong to the enemy within it. But how do we tell them apart? Not by mistakes or false prophecies — that’s not the biblical standard. Under the new covenant, the system is different: we know them by their fruit. What they produce matters far more than the failures they’ve had.

 

Why does fruit matter most? Because when Jesus came, He brought a sword — the Spirit and the Word of God — and He lit the fire of the Holy Spirit on earth. He prepared the way and fulfilled it. But when the devil tried to undo that work, the Protestant movement no longer started from heaven, but from earth. Now faith itself must grow in the Spirit, step by step, until Paul, Peter, John — and finally Jesus — are fully formed in our minds.

 

That’s why even Luther — despite his great work — was still a heretic in some ways. He cleaned a lot, but he was still standing in dirt. We face the same issues today. We lie, we wage war, we’re selfish — and often, we justify it all for “holy reasons.” There are things we now accept as normal that Paul would never tolerate. If God tried to change all of that at once, it would destroy us. So He leads us out of this mess step by step — toward the holiness lived by Paul, Peter, John, and above all, the Lord Jesus Christ. Luther cleaned enough for his time, but the faith keeps growing by cleaning more. To the modern-day heretics of Jesus — those who are truly faithful — know that your obsession with purity might just reflect how shallow your understanding really is.

 

As God leads His people from Egypt to the promised land of the gospel — according to Jesus and His disciples — the work of the Holy Spirit becomes more visible. But this is a dangerous step. People now have to discern spirits, while their biblical knowledge is still shallow. One of the worst things about many spiritual movements is that they ignore the Bible, and the result is often spiritual garbage. Yes, there are people planted by the devil who spread deception — but there are also true children of Jesus who drank from the wrong river and walked with the wrong crowd. We need to help wash these children of God from the filth of the devil — not throw them out, because they still belong to God.

 

That’s why we can’t obsess over theological purity — because who is truly pure? Some are better than others, yes, but all theology is heresy to some degree. It’s not a matter of pure or impure, but how far from truth we are. If you think otherwise, it’s because you’re still spiritually immature. A little knowledge is dangerous. If you believe you already know enough, then you need to be made ignorant so you can learn again. We learn and unlearn forever. Anyone who thinks they’ve “arrived” is simply foolish. Only Jesus had perfect theology. I’m not even sure Paul did. The Holy Spirit speaking through Paul and John the Baptist was perfect — but I doubt either of them had perfect understanding themselves. So who are we to think we do?

 

Yes, we have a solid foundation of faith — solid enough to judge even angels, let alone the world. But that doesn’t mean we should box God into the limits of our ignorance. Now, about prophecy: I’ve seen the best prophet in this land — he’s incredibly gifted, no one else comes close. But it’s also clear that he doesn’t carry the Spirit of God. His teaching isn’t heresy — it’s just foolishness. Not doctrinal error, just spiritual stupidity. I know the kind of spirit that speaks to him and his spiritual mentor. They are not from God. The only reason such a man can attract followers is because God has given him prophetic gifts — to test the people. As Jesus said, you will know them by their fruit. And the fruit speaks for itself.

 

The true measure is always fruit. What kind of disciples are they producing? What kind of life do they live? Do they show the fruit of the Spirit and raise up true disciples of Jesus? If the teacher is impure, the students will often carry that same impurity. That’s why we need to help cleanse them — not cast them out. If their spirit is right, you’ll see it: they’re like oceans of holiness drinking from dirty rivers. You’ll see Jesus in their life, in their preaching, in their work — though the weeds are still present. Let us focus on removing the weeds with love, not burning down the entire field of God.

 

And yes — there are those who truly belong to the devil. Some people are led entirely by a demonic spirit. But let me be clear: even some of God’s own, when they drift far from Him, may be left with a false spirit they mistake for God. Many born-again believers end up talking nonsense with the devil, thinking it’s the Holy Spirit. But the devil talks too much — and Jesus is not like that. Some people go on speaking garbage with demonic spirits for hours, days, even years. That’s not Jesus. God remains in control, but — like with King Saul — He sometimes allows people to be handed over to deception because of their disobedience.

 

We know Jesus — and we know His character. Four gospels have been written about Him. We know how He speaks, how He gets angry, and how deep His words are. So we must ask: if the voice talking with us all day long is rambling on about worthless things, could that really be Jesus? Of course not. We need to grow up before we’re ready to talk with God. It’s not that we’re spiritually dead — we just need deliverance, a strong foundation, discipleship, and spiritual maturity. God is looking for people who live up to His standard. But often, we try to pull Him down to our foolish level. And when we persist in disrespecting the God we know, He may leave us to false spirits who satisfy our impulses.

 

Still, there are those who do not belong to God at all — they belong to the devil. These people are tools of the enemy, and they are the ones who mix the weeds with the wheat in God’s field. They may look like faithful believers, but they are wolves in sheep’s clothing. I’m not saying they occasionally fail — they are the failure. I’m not saying they stumble — they are the stumbling block. Yet even with these people, it’s better to attack their false theology, their corrupt religion, and their sinful ways — rather than attack them personally. It’s better to speak against the sin of Scientology than attack Tom Cruise.

 

Jesus did judge the prostitute — but He didn’t condemn her. He told her not to sin again, and that was judgment. But He did not pick up a stone. It’s holy to say that prostitution is sin — but it’s unholy to stone the prostitute. Let’s speak the truth: sin is sin, and holiness is holiness. But let’s stop throwing stones and start praying. Who knows — God may change their heart. And if not, He has every right and every means to judge them Himself.