Why does influence matter? Do you ever ask yourself this question? I have come to realize that influence does matter – it matters a lot! Have you ever wondered how strong, biblically sound Believer’s end up veering off the narrow way into a very wide ditch? I have asked God this question more times than I can remember and you know what He has shown me – INFLUENCE. Just because someone starts out solid in their Christian faith does not mean they will end that way if the people they allow to influence them are not sound, it will eventually have a negative impact on them as well. 1 Corinthians 15:33 “Be not deceived; Evil company corrupts good habits.” or “Do not be misled: Bad company corrupts good character.” This is about influence. It matters! I have been thinking about some of the people who have influenced me as a Believer over the years, and you know what I have realized? Many of them have allowed some sort of unbiblical thinking or practice into their “Christianity” most likely because of someone who has had a spiritual influence on them. Some of these are pastors or ministry leaders and yet someone has had enough influence over them that now they are not completely inline with sound doctrine, and they teach that to those under their authority. Have they forgotten that pastors and leaders are held to a higher standard of accountability before the Lord? I don’t know, but it shouldn’t be taken lightly.

Our influence as Believer’s in Jesus Christ carries a great amount of responsibility. Why are so many so easily or willing to accept teaching that contains error? Why do we need to learn from those who teach a mix of truth and error? A little error makes it all error! Gal. 5:9. The Bible says that we are to have nothing to do with those who teach false teaching or promote false teaching.

2 John 7 “Many deceivers have gone out into the world; they do not confess the coming of Jesus in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the anti-Christ.” 2 John 9 “Anyone who does not remain in Christ’s teaching, but goes beyond it does not have God.”

Yet, there are people all over the place being influenced by such teaching right now – today!!! The Bible says that such people are to be accursed – under a curse. That’s intense! There is weight and responsibility to who is influencing us and how we are influencing others. The Lord brought the title for this blog to mind about a week ago. I wasn’t really sure where He was going with it so I have been praying asking Him, “What are you getting at?” He gave me real life flesh and blood answers! In the course of a few days this is how He answered – I had a CCM artist pop up in my social media news feed and she was joyfully promoting a new book she was just getting started on written by a Progressive Christian pastors wife. A post prior to that one showed this same person demonstrating contemplative prayer. This CCM artist is followed by thousands of women and now her influence to these women has done two things: 1. gave a thumbs up to Christian women regarding this progressive Christian as someone good to read and follow. 2. She introduced a spiritual practice to these women that is not of God and not biblical, so now all these women see that “it’s all good”…No it’s not. Then another day, a church connected to a friend of a friend, shared a book by a contemplative spiritualist on their social media for those in their church to find after a pastor had apparently promoted it. WHY??? This stuff is not biblical!

So, as I have thought on and prayed about “the weight of influence” this is where the Lord has brought me. Pastor’s, leaders, mentors, etc. who is influencing you? Do you take the time to research the people you are listening to, watching, quoting, studying? Do you know that most of the “leaders” that impact pastor’s and leaders today are not biblically sound? How can I say that? Research…lots of it.

So again, do you know who is influencing you? Do they use basic Christian lingo (Jesus, gospel, discipleship etc.) but on a deeper level believe and promote the social justice gospel/cultural marxism? Do they believe and promote universalism and ecumenicalism? Do they believe and promote contemplative spirituality/spiritual formation/mysticism? Do they believe and promote the idea of being missional or incarnational? Do they believe and promote the story of God narrative over the Biblical gospel? Do they believe and promote relational evangelism (cultural Christianity) over Biblical evangelism? Do they believe and promote a prosperity gospel/WOF? Do they believe and promote the idea that the Church is to dominate all major areas of society and change the culture? There is so much more…but if you are saying yes to any of these, you are being influenced by false teachers. Why? The Bible doesn’t tell us to filter out the false teaching, it tells us to reject it. If we cannot find solid, sound, Biblical resources to learn from, then perhaps it is time to focus on the Word of God rather than elevating the thinking and concepts of men above it. There is weight in influence. That’s it. StraightUp!