What Makes you truly believe and trust in another who claims to be a Christian? The main gauge I personally used for many years, was looking at the fruit of their lives. I don’t think it’s right to judge others, but to be able to trust and believe in what someone else is saying, is important if you have a friendship or relationship to build upon. I’ve now realized, trusting in someone based solely on what they say is the fruit of their lives, is not wise, as there are other factors to consider.

Matthew 7:21

The Bible addresses this very clearly here in Matthew 7:21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. ²²Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ ²³Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’”

Some people are genuinely living for God and some people are having spiritual experiences that may amaze others. You may encounter someone in your life who may have had some spiritual experiences – and you may think to yourself, “Why would someone make that up?” Unfortunately, I believe we’re living in a time where people are doing strange things for unexplainable motives and as a Christian, you need to be cautious. Are there real miracles happening today? Yes, I believe so. But, are there people making things up and pretending as well? Unfortunately, yes – this does happen and you need to have the eyes to know what to look out for.

But, what about the Fruit?

Personal story: I found an amazing Bible-based website online that had numerous useful articles. I felt drawn in by them – and e-mailed the webmaster to thank him. He e-mailed me back and gave me several compliments and we wrote back and forth. He gained my trust quickly, which is very rare in my life. He seemed very stable and legitimately close to God – so involved in God’s Word and aware of the scriptures like no one I have ever met before. At that time, he slowly opened up to me about his experiences with God – always telling me about the “fruit” of his website and how so many lives were being changed for the better and people were being saved. He went so far to prove it to me, that he would e-mail me messages that people sent him about being saved. He seemed so proud of that – almost too proud of what “he” was doing.

He often referred to what was happening – as saying that people who get involved in him would often have life-altering new-found experiences with God. He said that once he gets deeper into his friendships, that the person almost always dives right into “heavy supernatural encounters with God.” I see now, as looking back, that it was a bit of “power of suggestion” going on to get me expectant to have the same. I truly based my total trust in opening up to him, on the fact that I thought he had all this “fruit” of lives being changed from his website. I was deceived. The more I got to know this guy, the more I found out that he was involved in being way overboard in the “signs and wonders movement” – on his own and would tell me he could “fall into the Holy Spirit” and feel God anytime by “tapping into Him.” He later told me he was “getting a Word on me” from God and specifically sent messages from God the Father about me. I was so lured in, and so wanted to believe these good things he was saying, that I almost fell for it all. It escalated to some insane things that he would say were happening, and I told him I would have nothing more to do with him in any way. I told him bluntly that I believed it was not of God – and he disagreed. Since that time, he still e-mails me almost everyday (it’s been over a year) and still believes fully in what he is doing. He will write to me saying God gave him a sign or word on me – last one was something about how he was typing something to me and his hand started bleeding from his finger. That was some type of sign. I realized later that my major mistake in opening up to him was that I trusted him based on what he claimed to be the “fruit.”

Dangers in Involvement with Certain People

If you personally have concerns or doubts about someone you’re involved with or something you are doing – then pray about it real hard. From my experiences, God works in His own time and in His own ways. Whenever I have had any spiritual or supernatural experiences, they were not induced by something I had done or others had done to me – but in completely unexpected times. No one can make God do something – and if something is happening that is brought on by another – that is dangerous. In the Bible, it tells us to be very cautious about who we let into our lives and homes. I let that man from the Bible website into my life and trusted him greatly. Thinking back, I realized that many of my horrible demonic attacks and dreams happened when I was involved with him. Since that involvement has ceased, I’ve had It no demonic attacks or evil dreams. It bothers me to this day that I know he is even praying for me – because he is so involved in mysticism that I don’t believe he is praying to God. He may be deceived and praying to other spirits that are creating strange manifestations. To this day that guy will e-mail me and tell me that I have a demon on me and he knows he was sent to rid me of it. But honestly, I think it is the other way around.

Basically, Don’t Let Yourself Be Deceived

The bottom line is – try to stay vigilant and avoid investing yourself in someone or something that you feel unsure about. Stay focused on God, in prayer and in the Bible. Pray for discernment and stay strong! I know my post was jumping around a little bit, but I read that passage in the Bible last night and it really stood out to me. It can be frightening to discover that you were going down the wrong path or trusting in the wrong person – but it’s never too late to turn away from that and focus on God for true guidance. It’s good to trust in others and to love and have hope in people, but truthfully we are living in the world – and are not to be of the world. Many people, even those who claim to be living for God, may sadly be deceiving themselves. Don’t become one of those people – I nearly fell for all of it myself. There’s a fine line that you need to learn to balance on when living for God.