From the prophecies concerning the last days in Scripture, we know that discerning truth will be one of the most crucial issues of the times. This of course has always been important, but the end of the age will bring the ultimate conflict between light and darkness, truth and deception. For this reason, as we are told in Hebrews 5:14, “But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.” This is why we are not just addressing what we can expect to come upon the world, but how we can be prepared for it by having our senses trained to discern good and evil.

As we have stated, many people, even many Christians, have their beliefs shaped more by their experiences than by the clear teachings of Scripture. It also seems that most people are far more prone to let the bad experiences shape their views than the good ones. It is for this reason that cynicism has grown so dramatically in the last few decades.

Frequently, I meet people who reject the whole church because of their bad experience with a church or even just hearing about someone else’s bad experience. I know many people who claim that they will never trust another pastor because of their bad experience with a pastor. It gets worse—there are women who will never trust another man and men who claim that they will never trust another woman because of their bad experiences with the opposite sex. I know black people who say they will never trust another white person and white people who say they will never trust another black person. Such overgeneralizing is a major source of deception. We may think that this mindset protects us, but it is the source of some of the strongest bondage that we can ever be shackled with.

The overwhelming majority of pastors are trustworthy, as are the majority of men and women, black and white people, etc. We must not allow our wounds to determine our beliefs or the way we relate to other people. One of the most devastating deceptions now blinding mankind and much of the church is our tendency to judge other people, groups, or even things by their most extreme elements, whether good or bad. So how do we discern between good and evil?

First, there is some good in the worst of people and some evil in the best of them. Many have heard the story of the successful businessman from Dallas who told about one of the worst days of his life. He was broke and hungry, wandering the streets of Dallas, when a man saw his condition and took out his wallet and gave him all the money that he had. This one act of generosity turned this man’s life around. It was not until years later, when he was watching a documentary on the assassination of John Kennedy that this man realized his benefactor was Lee Harvey Oswald, who had done this kind deed just the day before he shot Kennedy.

I was recently watching “Hitler and Stalin” on the History Channel and I put the theory to the test by asking the Lord to show me something good about either one of these men, who I consider two of the most evil men in history. I am not a very emotional person, but I confess that in just a few minutes I was so overcome with compassion for these men that I was close to shedding tears for them.

Both Hitler and Stalin had at one time actually wanted to become priests, which was the only way they knew at the time to give their lives to the service of the Lord. Yet they ended up two of the most ruthless, selfish men who have ever lived and were rabidly anti-God. How did this happen?

Both of these men grew up with cruel and abusive fathers. They were extremely wounded by this. Yet the church they went to for help did not heal their wounds, but instead judged them by their wounds and rejected them. In their wounded perception, the rejection of the church was the same as what they had experienced from their fathers and they began to hate the church like they did their fathers. This led to even further hatred in their hearts, especially toward those that they considered God might actually have chosen.

History may have been changed if both of these men sought their purpose in the church and found those who could help them get healed instead of just rejecting them for their manifest problems.

It is also noteworthy that the man who planned the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the man who led that attack were both educated at Harvard University. Both came to America with one of their top goals to make some American friends. Both were rejected and ostracized while in America. How could history have been changed if they had made American friends instead?

I do not want to judge the churches that Hitler and Stalin approached or Harvard too critically either. We often get approached by very wounded people who seem to always come with some very distorted teachings or practices, and at the same time demand a place of authority and influence in the church that we cannot give to them in their present condition. When we do not give them what they demand, they take it as rejection. Our ministry has a large group of disgruntled people around the fringes that are embittered against us for this reason. We would like to help them but really cannot until they become open to what they really need, which is not the authority and influence they seek, but to forgive everyone who has hurt them in any way.

I am not claiming by this that we are perfect either. I am sure we have made mistakes in dealing with people too. Some we know about, but most we probably are not even aware. For this reason we must all trust the Lord to make up what we are lacking. Trying to be all things to all people is the first step toward a burnout or a fall. Even so, the path to all true healing begins with forgiveness. The eyes through which all truth will be discerned will be love as we are told in Philippians 1:9-11:

It takes love to have “real knowledge and all discernment.” For this reason we will not have a true knowledge of our enemies or even be able to discern them until we love them, which is what the Lord commanded us to do. Because they neglect this basic truth, many who consider themselves watchmen for the body of Christ are driven by such a fear of people who they perceive to be from the enemy, that they become like the very ones they try to warn others about. They sow such fear and paranoia in the church that the divisions caused by this have probably done far more damage to the church than all of the cults combined.

As Paul wrote in the verses quoted above, love is the only basis for true knowledge and real discernment. Anything not seen through the eyes of love will be distorted and is therefore a deception. If we want to grow in truth and not be deceived by the things that are coming upon the world, we have no choice but to grow in love.