Looking at all the information about Kathryn Krick that is circulating these days has been like watching a train wreck. I don’t know if she is deceived or evil, but I know her followers are deceived. Considering the history of Krick along with her “spiritual father” who has be accused of being involved in witchcraft, I wonder how anyone could be deceived by her. But many are.

What’s even worse is that Krick is not the only one deceiving believers. Many other people from famous online megachurch leaders to obscure pastors in small towns,  even a person’s closest friends or family members, can lead others knowingly or unknowingly into deception. Sad to say, even I have been guilty at that.

The Bible says that evil people and imposters will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived (2 Timothy 3:13) and that false prophets and false teachers will arise even from within the body of believers and bring in destructive heresies (2 Peter 2:1).

It makes sense that non-Christians and new Christians would be caught up into the deceptions; They don’t know the Bible very well so they don’t have the knowledge to counter the lies and half-truths. But even older Christians are being deceived. How can this be when they have been reading the Bible for years?

I think all Christians would agree that we want to please God and we want to go to heaven. To do this – to navigate the spiritual world – we need a guide. Everyone would agree that that would be the Bible. But that’s where the agreement stops. Leaders disagree on what the Bible says. Each one can point to Scriptures that back what they believe even when those beliefs are contrary to each other.

If you had asked me a year ago about my beliefs, I would have said they were all biblical. They were taught to me by people I trusted or things I came to believe by reading the Bible. I have read the whole Bible, cover to cover, several times. I would have told you that I knew what the Bible said, and that I was sharing the truth.

But then God directed me to start backing up everything I said or wrote with Scriptures and to be careful not to take any scripture out of context. I had to look at the entire passage, sometimes the entire book, to identify who God was talking to and why. I also had to compare what He said in one area of the Bible to what He said concerning the same topic in other areas of the Bible. I had to consider the original words and their meanings, the culture and setting, and who He was speaking to or about. The more I did this, the more concerned I got. Although I usually got the main message from God correct, there were many details I got wrong. The Scriptures I used, if I used any at all, were taken out of context. These scriptures, trusted and treasured for years, were not truth. I had been deceived by other deceived Christians and by my own biased interpretations. I chose to believe what I wanted the Bible to say, not necessarily what it did say. I was not following God’s Word. I was following man’s interpretations of His Word. Two very different things.

So, how are we supposed to know who or what to believe?

Are we following what we want the Bible to tell us whether through our own reading or through self-confident pastors and teachers? Does people’s popularity influence the trust we put in them? Do we readily accept the scriptures they use to prove their points because it’s scriptures? Do we put our faith in people who seem to walk powerfully in the gifts of the Spirit and do miraculous signs?

If so, we are in danger of having already been deceived and of being deceived in the future as evil goes from bad to worse. People both inside and outside the church cherry pick verses to support whatever they are preaching about. People use the verses that make them feel good to support the life style they want to live. Cults rephrase and/or isolate text, sometimes adding new “inspired” information, to make the Bible say what they want to prove their teachings. New age and new thought followers use Biblical words but change their definitions. The devil himself is confusing the truth by whispering to us, “Did God really say…?” and by combining a little truth with his lies.

 The only way to avoid deception is to know God and His Word for ourselves. We need to study the Bible, not just scan through it. We need to know all of it, not just our favorite parts. We need to recognize the voice of our Shepherd by continually praying and listening for the voice of the Spirit.

We need to check out everything we hear by going to the Bible like the Bereans did (Acts 17:11). We need to look at everything that we are told, including finding and reading relevant scriptures in context and in the light of other related scriptures. And then we need to cling to what is true and let go of what is not (1 Thessalonians 5:21).

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Scriptures:

while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. 2 Timothy 3:13

But false prophets also arose among the people, just as th ere will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. 2 Peter 2:1-3a

For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions. 2 Timothy 4:3

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and fro training in righteousness that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:16-17

Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so. Acts 7:11

Do not despise prophecies but test everything; hold fast what is good. 1 Thessalonians 5:20-21

They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error. 1 John 4:5-6

They have lyre and harp, tambourine and flute and wine at their feasts, but they do not regard the deeds of the LORD, or see the work of his hands. Therefore my people go into exile for lack of knowledge; their honored men go hungry, and their multitude is parched with thirst. Isaiah 5:12-13

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; Hosea 4:6

Praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints. Ephesians 6:18

Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving Colossians 4:2