Test

 you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams. For the Lord your God is testing you, to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
Deuteronomy 13:3 ESV
https://bible.com/bible/59/deu.13.3.ESV

It's not enough for someone to talk the talk. They need to walk the walk too. Balaam for example said all the right things as God directed him. He might have blessed God's people, but at heart, he wanted to curse them.

If someone says all the right things yet fails to back it up with their lives, they're a false teacher. If I was an English teacher who didn't read, that would be hypocritical. How much worse is a Bible teacher who doesn't live what he preaches!

Balaam used the allure of pagan woman to lead God's people astray. Even today, false teachers delude Christians that 'love is love'- it doesn't matter who you lust after. Jesus's teaching is rather more austere.

Jesus would tell us to cut our right hand off if it caused us to sin. Clearly He's not advocating mutilation! Yet we need to be so far from sinning against Him that we might have to at least seriously curtail our Internet access, which might feel like chopping a hand off!

'O Lord our God, may we take the warnings of Your word seriously, and to worship You alone. In Christ's name we pray, amen'

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