He Fell Off His Donkey

He Fell Off His Donkey Chapter 1

The following event was relayed to me by my niece and I thought it would be a good illustration. Here is what she said:

ok..I was telling my testimony at church and was telling the congregation how it was like how the Apostle Paul fell of his donkey and...

'he did what?' my Pastor asked...

'when he fell of his donkey... and...'

'wait wait....when who fell off what?' my Pastor asked

I noticed some of the members in the church were giggling thinking I was joking with them. but I wasn’t...I truly believed what people had told me and didn’t check it out myself.
'when the Apostle Paul...who was Saul....fell of his donkey? Is that not right? I asked.

'where exactly does it say that in the bible, my Pastor asked?'

I looked at everyone blank.

He said in the kindest voice with a little snicker,

because I know he loves me,..."The Word says that Saul/Paul fell, but it doesn’t say he was riding a donkey."
I was so shocked! I said really??????

I laughed a little and finished my testimony. it was
Defiantly a good lesson learned. People always hear stories about the bible but never really look for themselves. S.C.

We may chuckle as we read that story, I know I did when she first told it to me, but we have all done the same thing at one time or another.
If we do not check out what we hear, read and see, against what the Bible says - we have fallen off our donkey. I can not say this enough, Bible Study is important, Bible Study is important, Bible Study is important! If we do not stand on the Word of God, we will fall for anything.

A lot of people believe that we are in the last days, but at the same time they also believe that we are in a great revival. The Bible tells us that in the last days there will be a falling away, not a revival.

“Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;” 2 Thessalonians 2:3

“Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;” 1 Timothy 4:1

Many today, are deceived and have fallen away from God and His Word. They seem to believe that they are experiencing a new closeness and new insights, but they have been deceived by false prophets that teach things foreign to the Bible. These masses of “Christian” sheep fail to check out these false prophets against God’s word and try to explain away someone’s objections to their new found heroes. Those who would point out the unbiblical teachings of the false Prophets are labeled as those who sow discord and cause division. It is amazing what the sheep will refuse to see, rather than to admit that their hero has been a false prophet. Again, checking things out against what the Bible states, solves the problem. God does not argue with Himself, If the messenger’s message does not line up with God’s Word, then that messenger is not of God. Christians need to learn to use discernment. At: http://www.apologeticsindex.org/618-discernment-2
I found the following definition of discernment.

“Discernment is the act or process of exhibiting keen insight and good judgment.
In Christianity, to discern is

[t]o identify the true nature of a spirit, doctrine, practice, or group; to distinguish truth from error, extreme error from slight error, the divine from the human and the demonic.- Source: Robert M. Bowman, Jr., Orthodoxy and Heresy , Baker Book House, 1992, Page 115.

The two main Greek words translated as “discernment” are anakrino, meaning to examine or judge closely, and diakrino, to separate out, to investigate, to examine.”

Few take the time to examine, judge closely and investigate. Few bother to check their Bibles. Without checking, we may assume a lot of things.

One sad example of the condition of today’s church is as follows: Several Christian Ladies were reading some popular books, known as “Christian Fiction”. I did a little research on the books, and found that the author was not even a Christian and had graduated from a college that was of another religion. When I told the Ladies, about what I had learned and that the books that they were reading would probably be influenced by the other religious opinions of the author, they just told me that the information was interesting, and they went back to reading their books. I cautioned them to be careful what they feed their minds and they did not respond. What I had told them went in one ear and out the other. It is frustrating when you can not get people to open their eyes and use a little discernment. It is amazing what people will call Christian, that does not come even close to what God’s Word teaches.

Another ”Christian Fiction” book, that has been praised in many “Christian” circles, has God as a woman. The author’s bio tells of all the important things in his life. He tells of having parents that were missionaries for a while. He told of living with the pagan people and being accepted by them. The told of going to a Bible College. What he did not say was that he had ever came to a saving knowledge of Christ and accepted Jesus Christ as his Saviour. Some will assume that he was saved, but if you are listing the important events of your life and leave out Salvation, perhaps it never happened.

As you can tell, I am not a big fan of “Christian Fiction”. The Bible Book Stores are full of it and much of what they have, that is not marked “Fiction” should be. You cannot destroy Salt, but you can make it useless by diluting it or mixing in sand.

Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. (Matthew 5:13)

The average person today, that calls themselves “Christian”, is spending much more time feeding their minds things that are not true or even remotely line up with the Bible than they do reading the Bible. For many, the only Bible reading that they do is to follow along with the preacher when he reads a verse from the Bible. We can not be spiritually feed that way and expect to grow. What if the only time we ate food was when we were with the preacher and we just had a bite of what he had. dI think that you can see the point. Yes, here I go again, pushing Bible Study, it freally is that important. If we spend our time reading things that are not Bibical and true, how can that not effect how we think and believe.

Are we to just mind our own business and not point these things out to people? No, we have been told that this would happen.

“Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;” 1 Timothy 4:1

“I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord
Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the
dead at his appearing and his kingdom; Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine”. 2 Timothy 4:1-2

Just because some are giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils, does not mean it is alright for us to look the other way and leave them in error. We are to “reprove, rebuke, and exhort”. We need to try and restore them in love. It is true that we can not make them heed our advice, but we still should tell them.

Friends do not let their friends fall off their donkey.
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