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When researching the word “adultery” in the scriptures a person will normally see that the word is associated with sex outside the union of marriage. Other scriptures that do not specifically refer to adultery against marriage, speak in a more general sense as to the nature of some people, as the reference, “adulterous people”, such as what is found in Jeremiah 9:2 and Mosiah 1:13. In reading these references, one wonders if God speaks of these people as all having sexual affairs. Since that does not show a sensible application of the word “adulterous”, then God must be applying that word to mean something else. So what does he mean?

We know that sexual adultery corrupts marriages and in turn, families. It is the affect of the act carried into a marriage or relationship that causes the corruption. As easily as the children suffer the sins of the parents without having committed the sin themselves, so shall the sin of adultery bear onto the members of the family in the same way.

What then can be the definition of adultery in order to understand its application in life and spirit?

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It is unfortunate that so many preachers and teachers of the scriptures exist today, where almost all of them are false, having none of God within them and none of God’s Spirit with them, teaching doctrines favoured by men. Test the spirits of those who speak is crucial to protecting faith. There is no justification to allow false teachings to take hold within your mind and heart, not for any reason, because false teachings are sinful. False teachings are contrived by the carnal mind and the carnal mind will always be an enmity to God. False teachings or false doctrines are not of faith,  and this means that anything not of faith is sin. This is how serious false doctrines and teachings are to true faith.

When faced with the countless preachers and teachers out there that profess belief systems and doctrines, how can you ensure that your faith is protected and not infected by these falsehoods? The answer is to test the spirit of those words.

Testing the spirit is not solely by comparing word for word in the Bible, as so many other Christians profess to do. This is not the way Paul the Apostle taught. He made it clear that the letter of the word killeth, only the spirit gives life. This says that to compare the letter of the word for the letter of the word will get nothing in return but darkness and misunderstanding, but to compare the spirit of the word, which words are spirit and they are life, will get truth. This means to learn and exercise spiritual discernment, just as Paul the Apostle teaches. When a person learns the gospel by the revelation of Jesus Christ, he will learn the spiritual meaning and application. Then and only then can a person test the spirits because then it is comparing spiritual with spiritual.

When a person is able to compare rightly, then he/she is “rightly dividing the word“, which gives the power to  test the spirits of others and their words, to spiritually discern if they speak God’s word or not. If not, what is said is rejected or treated as “of the world”.

Until that time that you learn to rightly divide the word and spiritually discern, keep one’s faith a distance from preachers, teachers or presenters (famous or not). Staying at a spiritual distance until you work out with God what is true. Never give any person’s words justification, such as “they are just giving provoking thought, or trying to progress, or they are just beginners in a beginner church, etc. Such justifications in your heart and mind weaken faith because sin is justified and God cannot accept sin in any degree. A good Christian, a good Saint speaks respectfully to false speakers, but at no time accepts falsehoods or false doctrines and stands strong in the faith, which can only occur when living the true doctrines of the gospel.

(Note, the words in italics are words matching scriptural passages in the King James Bible)

There are some who believe and feel within the Christian communities that we are not to judge other beliefs or faith. When something is said about someone’s beliefs or faith, the retort given is “we cannot judge them”. This can be especially disconcerting when the matter at hand has to do with determining the value or truth of another person’s faith or beliefs. It seems by this, that nothing can be said or determined in order to avert false beliefs and false faiths, that we would then, by this restriction of not judging another, would likely have to accept false beliefs or faiths.

It is true, in the Bible, that we are to be careful about judging one another, as per Romans 2:1, but this passage does not prohibit judgement, it clarifies bad judgment. In Romans 2:1, Paul is speaking to the Romans and as anyone should see, the context which Paul is addressing are bad judgments from wicked people. In another part of the Bible, John 7:24, we are to make righteous judgment. So what of this concern by some that we are not to judge the faith or beliefs of another? In particular, if these faiths or beliefs are subject of condemnation?

The idea or philosophy that we are not to judge others because that belongs to God, goes against the Bible itself. The dilemma occurs when a person fails to understand the scriptures and what God has really done in what he has revealed to us. Poor interpretation, poor understanding, abiding in false doctrines or personal philosophies cannot and will not allow that person to properly understand the word of God, his gospel and what God has given as his will through revelation.

This shortcoming of many, both in and out of the Church, causes many to falter and fall from faith and even fail a good relationship with God. Failing in a good relationship with God occurs when a person falls to false beliefs, doctrines or personal philosophies that are of the world and because of these things, a relationship of God is affected and diminished (John 8:47), all because that person is not able to exercise God’s judgments against false beliefs, doctrines, philosophies and ideas!

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I am sure you have heard this cry before from many Christians, that to enter the Kingdom of God, his salvation is for free, meaning there is no work that can be done to obtain it because it is a free gift from God.

How can I determine if that claim is true? After all, there are so many Christian denominations, over 38,000 of them across the world and all of them have different claims about salvation. So how can I test this claim? Well, other Christians say that by comparing it to the Bible, a person can “try the spirit” of something and determine if it is biblical. In all fairness then, I will do the same to determine if salvation is truly a free gift.

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Not long ago, I was in conversation with a fellow who quit the Seventh Day Adventist church because he was against it’s membership in the World Counsel of churches (WCC). He claimed that he believes in Jesus Christ, yet he quit his chosen church which preached salvation by the Bible. This saying that he quit what he believed was his chosen church and his means of salvation because of his personal disagreement with his church. 

Our conversation began about the false traditions of other Christians where he spoke of his short findings about the WCC, but when he asked me if I belonged to a church and I told him, his tune quickly changed, hypocrisy and ignorance began to rear it’s ugly head. 

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Usually it is the simplest thing that eludes our perceptions such that, what we think we see or understand is actually not the truth.

Life holds many such experiences, yet people take these experiences and facts of life (in mortality) for granted. Not realizing that these simple things have profound affects on our minds and hearts.

One such event came into my life years ago when I was beginning my membership into the Church. At that time I had no experience with the gospel, but had my own ideas and beliefs about spirituality and life. Of course, these personal ideas and beliefs were born of the world.

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Over the years attending this Church, I have seen and heard some people volley strange ideas and precepts. Some I recognized were created by what the world calls “New Age” and others are simply a wild idea that got out of hand. I wondered why these people, who attend this Church which provides the doctrine of God, having prophets write and speak on many subjects, still run off with some wild ideas? 

I saw that this is not an unusual thing. When this Church began with the prophet Joseph Smith, the same thing happened. People began to expound all sorts of unusual beliefs and doctrines that did not come from the Lord. Some, who did not have the authority from God, believed that they can receive revelation for the Church. This occurred in the early Christian Church as well, so this phenomenon is something that is expected.

When a person shares a true inspiration from the Lord, what he/she says carries the spirit of truth in it. Those that are open to this spirit will receive it with feelings and thoughts of, “Umm, never thought of it that way”, spurring contemplation or deeper thought. These pearls seem to be infrequent, but what is more prevalent are ideas and precepts that are way out of line.

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