Brain Stopper No. 4: 'God Won't Let You Be Deceived'

[This post is No. 4 in a series about "Brain Stoppers." Brain stoppers is my term for a variety of tactics NAR apostles and prophets use to get their followers to shut off their minds so they don't critically evaluate NAR teachings. See No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3].Leaders in the New Apostolic Reformation movement like to downplay the threat of false prophets.In my last post I pointed out one way they do this: They claim that the number of false prophets operating in churches is actually very few.That's not what the apostle John or Jesus said about the number of false prophets-- hint: they said there would be "many." But I digress.Yet there is another way NAR leaders like to downplay the threat of false prophets. To dispel people's fears of being deceived by false prophets, they often recite a popular NAR catch phrase: "You should trust God's ability to protect you from being deceived more than you trust Satan's ability to deceive you."In other words, you don't need to worry about being deceived because God can keep you from being deceived.This statement sounds biblical. I don't think any Christian would disagree that God is able to protect us from being deceived. Of course, He is able.The problem is not that God is unable. The problem is that we have a responsibility to use the tools He has given us to protect ourselves from false prophets. These tools include Scripture, sound teaching, and the use of our intellect.God is able to protect you from deception. But are you doing your part?Read "Brain Stopper No. 5: Bill Johnson's Book Ban."