Mistake #1. Never look up any man or any preacher.
Well, this sums it up nicely and, though I hesitate to use such a word, perfectly.
Hero worship is HUGE nowadays. This is why megachurches exist. They go to worship the speaker, not worship the Living God. I was guilty of hero worship in the form of looking up to my Pastor long ago to the point that he was able to warp the Communion experience and taint the body of Christ with cultic mentalities. I have been set free from this, because God is good.
Those pastors and book writers and speakers and leaders are first human and secondly spiritual. It would be amazing if we could be spiritual first and always, but alas, we have our flesh and filters to contend with. Every Scripture read and then preached is done so through the filters of the preacher/teacher/speaker. Then, when it is heard, it is heard through the filter of the listener and then regurgitated to others through their filter of understanding, which is then heard by those listeners through their filters and so on and so forth.
So, simply put, test every thing spoken and approved of against one source: the word of God. That's it. Yes, there are preachers/teachers/speakers out there that I love to listen to, but I always return to the source. I always go to God's word and to Jesus Christ in prayer for clarity. I, personally, really like Billy Graham. His messages were always simple: Jesus loves you, Jesus died for you, Jesus rose again, get saved, be born again. No fancy dancing. No fancy lights and sounds and illustrations. Just the simplicity of the Gospel.
If only we could all do likewise.
The only one ever correct 100 percent of the time is Jesus Christ. Us mortal vessels are prone to error and pride and listening to our filters, rather than Holy Spirit.
