I want to tell you about my recipe for Cheesy Grits, but I have to wait. Why? Because the Noah movie comes out today. There’s already been a lot of controversy. Should we see it? In just a few weeks, the movie Heaven is for Real comes out and will bring a lot of controversy with it. Should we see it? We can’t wait any longer to talk about how to discern if words are full of life or death.

Sometimes words of life and death sound very much the same.

Words, words, words

There are more words produced now than any other time of history. There is NO denying that in Western cultures, many productions are commercially driven. Bottom line: for productions like this Noah movie, it’s about the money. Like it or not, we encounter a multitude of words in hard copy, digitally, and audibly every day. The trend doesn’t look likely to run out of power any time soon. In a spring when a host of spiritually themed movies are showing, people wonder what to watch. What’s a message of life and what could be a message of deception?

All words are not created equal. Some words bring life, and some words bring death.

The First Chance to Discern

Eve ran into this problem long before word searches or cross referencing. With a single question, “Has God indeed said …?” the course of mankind was hurled down the path of sin. John MacArthur says, “It was not overt rebellion against God, but seduction and deception to make her believe her act was the right thing to do.”

Satan didn’t need to use words clearly smelling of death; he only had to use words that deceive.

The Danger of not Discerning

Paul wrote to followers of Jesus living in the worldly city of Corinth, addressing confusing messages surrounding them. They needed to know how to discern words of life from words of death. I can relate! Their pastor-friend said, “But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ” (2 Corinthians 11:3).

The truth of Christ has been given to us simply and in complete form through God’s word.

Unlike Eve and the believers of Corinth, Christians today have the benefit of both Old and New Testaments to help us know God’s ways. We have the Holy Spirit to instruct us in understanding. We do not have to live in confusion.

We can discern the words of today by comparing them to God’s timeless truth.

Discerning words of life or death & the Noah movie

If you answer YES to these, it’s life.

• Do these words agree with God’s word?
• Do these words teach the same as God’s word?
• Do these words respect the authority of God’s word?
• Do these words reinforce what God’s word teaches?

If you answer YES to these, it’s death.

• Do these words suggest doubt about God’s word?
• Do these words stir up doubt about God’s nature?
• Do these words ask you to go against God’s commands?
• Do these words add to God’s word & claim to be equal to it?

“For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. ” (Hebrews 4:12)

God’s word is able to divide truth from lies and life from death.

There is no shortage of words today. Some will find a place on the web, others on printed pages, and still others through ear buds and iPhones and movie screens. Listen carefully and compare the words to God’s holy Word if you want to know what you’re hearing.