In March of 2016 JD Hall wrote a blog post entitled “No More Discernment. Seriously.” In it he shared that he is tired. Tired of what? For one thing he’s “tired of seeing the flock of God ripped apart lamb by lamb and limb by limb and be left in a bloody pile of wool for their pastors to find on Sunday morning.” As I read his graphic description I thought to myself, “Gee, I wish I had said that.” Oh wait! I have. For close to twenty years I’ve reported on, among other things, false teaching in the Church. I’ve detailed how apostates wormed their way in via magical mystical practices such as contemplative prayer…lectio divina…prayer circles…yoga. Likewise, New Age/New Thought, the cults, the occult and even far-left political ideology (cultural Marxism). My [former] partner at Berean Research, Amy Spreeman, has been involved in discernment work for over six years. Are we tired? You betcha! Will we throw in the towel? Nope. We’ll continue sounding the alarm as long as the Lord allows.
Discernment is not for the feint of heart, as you will see in JD’s piece. I urge you to read it in its entirety. And then pray for those of us in ODM — that’s shorthand for “online discernment ministry” a term coined by Emergent Church leaders “and once it’s been slapped upon a given website, it then becomes one of the new lepers,” said the late Ken Silva who was a pioneer in online apologetics and discernment work.