TheoThoughts

Well, this is kind of a cap off post from this week’s activities and final thoughts on Shai Linne’s Fal$e Teacher$. If you don’t know about it, Shai is a Christian hip hop artist who is unashamedly Reformed. He blasted what has been labeled prosperity teaching (though there is actually a mix of positions represented)  in this single cut from his album, which was released April 9, 2013. I wrote a couple of articles over at Parchment and Pen here.

On Shai Linne and Judging False Teachers

Does Prosperity Teaching Deny the Gospel?

Having come out of those circles of the teaching represented by those on his list, I expected full well the backlash that many would have against the song. Primarily, I expected it because of a type of discernment that would be employed according to ‘what I feel in my spirit’.  It is a subjective reliance on intuition that in many cases does not submit to an objective criteria. It’s not that this type of discernment ignores the bible but that the bible itself is not the criteria for evaluation.

Of course, those that have embraced the teaching represented on that list and use this type of discernment will have problems with Shai Linne and his song. He is challenging the very thing that that leads to acceptance of the teaching in the first place. Now I’m not saying it is the only reason for opposition, but if this the basis for which his song is evaluated than naturally there are issues.

Greg Koukl has written a good article on the subject – Discernment: Head or Heart? He makes a solid case for the fact that scriptural support for discernment as something we ‘feel in our Spirit’ is almost non-existent. Rather, when the Bible speaks of discernment there is an objective criteria which has been established by the complete message of Scripture.

Here’s my point. Is it true that Koukl is too much into his head, using his reason to assess spiritual things, and is not into the Spirit enough? Only if the Bible teaches that we must balance the two. But when I asked the question, “Where does the Bible teach such a thing?” I found no such teaching. I was unable to produce any scriptural support except for I Corinthians 12:10 about the distinguishing of spirits, which is a spiritual gift I have not been given, apparently, and which only a few have.

The point is, when the Bible talks about discernment – when it talks about assessing spiritual things – it’s talking about a rational assessment based on objective criterion. You can’t be “too much in your head” when it comes to spiritual discernment. Using your head is spiritual discernment, if you’re using the truth properly

To use Scripture as the basis for evaluation is actually the most spiritual thing we can do. God has given us his very revelation so that we don’t buy into anything passing itself off as Christianity. There is a complete message that all 66 books convey with interlocking themes centered in the lordship of Christ. I can only pray that the opposers of the song will be like the Bereans and search the scriptures every day to see if these things are true (Acts 17:11).