©2011-2026, David E. Robinson: At the Gates of Yerushalayim Ministries
Lessons
from the Wilderness, Volume 73
Covenant
Reality and Apostolic Leadership, Part One
Answers to the Questions Yet Asked:
The
Path Forward [i] [ii] [iii] [iv]
3 qAre we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, ras some do, sletters of recommendation to you, or from you? 2 tYou yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on our1 hearts, to be known and read by all. 3 And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of uthe living God, not on vtablets of stone but on wtablets of xhuman hearts.2
4 ySuch is the confidence that we have through Christ
toward God. 5 zNot that we are
sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but aour sufficiency is from
God, 6 who has made
us sufficient to be bministers
of ca new covenant, not of dthe letter but of the
Spirit. For the letter kills, but ethe
Spirit gives life. [v]
Part One: The Crisis of Authority and Discernment
Ecclesiastes 3:1 [KJV]
“…To everything there is a season, and a time to every
purpose under the heaven…”
Looking back on the prior study just concluded on my blog [vi], I began to wonder, where do we go from here? It left a nagging, nay, a persistent question upon my heart, of did I miss something? The answer came not as a result of missing something, but of the leaving off of a question not asked or not specified. That question is not only one of discretion and distinction, of how the Pulpit and the Laity work together, but a far deeper question that goes to the very heart of the matter:
In a world in which everyone is speaking, how does a disciple learn to hear the voice of God
And after having heard, choose to obey?
In my study on false teachers and the Titus tension, I attempted to show how pastors and teachers can learn to trust the Laity to want to hear and study the righteous meat of Scripture and to be fed truth and for all to hear the voice of YHVH and Yeshua as they speak in one accord. I did not know it then, as I finished, that this would lead to another multiple part study, one that I didn’t even have a name or direction for: all I had was a question that not only needed to be asked but needed to be explored.
First, I had to take another look and see what it was that needed to be said. Looking back to Part One [see at https://davidseedofabraham.blogspot.com/2026/08/2011-2026-david-e.html ], I saw the clue I was looking for, there in the opening text. Our opening scripture was Matthew 7:15-29. I won’t recap it here, but I didn’t stop at verse 20 “…Thus you will recognize them by their fruits…”, I continued on and it was in verses 24 through 27 that I saw my answer: “…Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them…”, which Yeshua contrasted this with what happens to the one who hears and does not do them. Look back at the question I posed at the beginning:
“ In a world in which everyone is speaking, how does a disciple learn to hear the voice of God,
and after having heard, choose to obey?”
This question is more profound and foundational than what I was addressing concerning false teachings. False teaching is a symptom, a manifestation, of an even deeper predicament: the crisis of authority and discernment.
Lets just look at the contemporary evidence. Pew Research’s latest large “Religious Landscape Study” found that 62% of American adults identify as Christian, down from 78% in 2007. More shocking is that 29% are religiously unaffiliated. This is not just a simple story of people becoming atheists: more than half of the religiously unaffiliated still believe in God or some type of universal spirit.[vii]
Even Scripture itself occupies an increasingly complicated place. The American Bible Society's 2026 State of the Bible found that the hopeful increase in Scripture engagement seen in 2025 largely receded toward 2024 levels. Its church-specific research also reports that 43% of church attenders do not consistently interact with Scripture in a way that shapes their choices and relationships—even though many wish they did. [viii]
- Practicing Christians express majority-level trust in AI across most domains of personal flourishing—and nearly half (48%) say they would trust AI with their spiritual growth. Pastors, by contrast, express far lower trust across all the same domains.
- Trust has a ceiling: 83 percent of practicing Christians worry about AI misinterpreting scripture, and 72 percent worry about AI replacing the role of pastors or spiritual leaders.
- Even so, one in three U.S. adults say AI’s spiritual guidance is as trustworthy as a pastor’s—a share that climbs among younger adults, approaching two in five among Gen Z (39%) and nearly half among Millennials (44%). [ix]
Now, I will not lie to you; I use AI[x]as an aggregate data source.[xi] Logos® Bible Software, the software I use when studying and writing these epistles, has an AI built into it – this is how I can access related data on Biblical subjects from a library of 22,673 books that I have accumulated since 2011. I also use it to help me locate various scholarly papers and dissertations to use as I prepare my studies. What used to take me several hours a day accumulating the research for a study like this now takes a lessor amount to gather; I still have to read the material and pull out the information, but AI has allowed me more time to prepare my writings and less time looking for the correct information to pass onto you.
For sure, AI can make mistakes, if one uses it to make decisions for you; as a collector of data though, it has a place in academia (and blog writers). But, when one looks at the data from places like the Barna Group, if 83% of those that use AI for interpreting Scripture do not trust it, this becomes another issue at large, and I emphasize this: the issue isn't whether technology is intrinsically good or bad. It is where does the authority reside. Let us ponder on this for a moment: think about the environment that confronts a disciple now: we have Scripture, pastors, denominations, political identities, social media, algorithms, influencers, podcasts, scholars, traditions, Christian Middle Earth, charismatic personalities, AI—and one's own desires. The problem isn't lack of information. It becomes an overabundance of competing voices and authorities.
When we take this new information back to the previous study on false teachers, we find that maybe we were led astray not because of arriving at a destination – be it a website, a church, an influential personality – but instead, we opened a doorway that leads to trouble. The series on false teachers was essentially asking us this basic question:
How do we recognize a voice that should not be
followed?
This leads us to a deeper, more somber question:
How do we recognize the One who should be listened to and followed?
Now, here is where a remarkable amount of Scripture helps to answer that question for us
- Deuteronomy 6:4–5: Hear, O Israel.
- Deuteronomy 8:3: humanity lives by what proceeds from God's mouth.
- 1 Samuel 3:10: “Speak, for your servant hears.”
- 1 Kings 18:21: “How long will you go limping between two different opinions?”
- Psalm 95:7–8: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.”
- Isaiah 6:9–10: hearing without understanding.
- Jeremiah 6:16–17: “We will not walk in it... We will not listen.”
- Matthew 4:4: Yeshua returns to Deuteronomy 8:3.
- Matthew 7:24: “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them...”
- John 10:27: “My sheep hear my voice... and they follow me.”
- John 18:37: “Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.”
- James 1:22: don't merely hear—do.
- Revelation repeatedly: “He who has an ear, let him hear.”
So, I want to approach today’s issues without sounding like I have an axe to grind, or I am creating a catalog of cultural grievances. This series we are embarking on must address misinformation[xii] without becoming a series on misinformation. While politics dominate much of what we hear, see, and read, this series will dip into politics without becoming a series on politics. I have introduced it, the phenomenon of AI, but this series needs to address it without turning into a technological polemic. I could turn this series into a discussion on deconstruction[xiii], biblical literacy[xiv], celebrity teachers and denominational traditions[xv], conspiracy theories, social media, individualism[xvi], or even a return to false teachers (again). [Note: Please see the endnotes for a broader rendering of these issues.] I could go off on these different tacts, but truly, underneath every one of them lies the same ancient question:
“Who told you that?”
Whose voice are you listening too? Is it God’s, or is it the one who sought to destroy YHVH’s “very good” creation? Behind all the noise, the distractions, the celebrities, the so-called “prophets” that litter the internet, is the one who came unto Eve and Adam in Eden. That sly serpent's strategy wasn’t initially “There is no God.”
It was simply:
“Did God actually say…”
Those four words are at the heart of the matter, humankinds downfall. The first great human crisis in the biblical narrative is therefore partly an epistemological crisis [xvii]: Whose account of reality will the humans trust?
Therefore, as we progress, this series will NOT be a do-it-yourself instruction manual on “How to hear God”. No, it has to be something more. In my last series on false teachers, we had to examine them and see what a false prophet or teacher actually is. This series has to turn inward then, toward us, you and me. Who do we listen to? A greater question remains though. Not only about who we listen to, but the why:
“Why am I susceptible to that voice in the first place?”
It no longer becomes about the teacher, but why we listen to that voice on the internet, the TV, the radio, the pulpit. This is a much harder question. Because Scripture repeatedly presents deception not simply as an intellectual problem but as a problem involving desire, sometimes we believe something because the surface evidence persuaded us. Sometimes we believe it because we wanted it to be true. James speaks of desire; Paul warns about teachers accumulated to suit people's passions; the prophets repeatedly confront people who prefer reassuring words. This tendency to act upon our inner “wants” brings the Yetzer Tov / Yetzer HaRa discussion into play as well—not simplistically as two little voices sitting on someone's shoulders, but as a Jewish vocabulary for the moral dimension of human inclination. Therefor, it is not just only the question of “How can a believer recognize truth?” Maybe it is more subtle, more profound, more about authority than source: perhaps it is simply “When God speaks, do we still want to hear Him?”. In the greater scheme of things, I think the great challenge facing believers isn't simply secularism, false doctrine, political polarization, AI, declining church attendance, biblical illiteracy, or cultural hostility. Those are measurable phenomena and important subjects. But beneath them sits an older biblical problem:
There have always been many voices.
God has always called His people to hear His. The largest premise that confronts today is in understanding what the Bible, the Scriptures, are really about: the Bible is not primarily the story of people learning how to hear God; it is the story of God patiently revealing why He is worth being listened to and then followed.
Are we still listening?
We will begin to look into these questions more in Part Two of our study and begin to lay out the path forward.
Till then, may the Lord bless you and keep you, my beloved,
Amein.
[i] FAIR USE
DISCLAIMER: This blog site may contain content that is not authorized for use
by its owner. All such material will be cited back to its original source. According to Section
107 of the Copyright Act: “…the fair use of a copyrighted work […] for purposes
such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies
for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of
copyright…” I have made and will continue to make every effort to stay within
all ethical and moral guidelines in the use of material presented here, and the
use of these materials is solely intended for educational purposes only, and
all efforts to obtain or sustain fair use of non-owned material will be made.
[ii] Author’s note: This site is for education only and is not affiliated with any institution, organization, or religious group. It is the sole production of its editor/author. Use of information from Jewish-themed websites (or any other source material) should not be construed as these sites endorsing or confirming any thesis introduced by the author of this epistle. I present the information from their respective sites for instructional purposes only and/or to aid in the readers understanding of the subjects discussed.
[iii] Author’s note: Throughout these studies, I will be using the NET Bible® and the NET Notes®: within the notes you will see symbols like this: ( א B Ψ 892* 2427 sys). These are abbreviations used by the NET Bible® for identifying the principal manuscript evidence that they (authors and translators of the NET Bible®) used in translating the New Testament. Please go to https://bible.org/netbible/ and see their section labeled “NET Bible Principals of Translation” for a more complete explanation on these symbols and other items pertinent to the way the NET Bible uses them. This is not to say that the NET® Bible will be our only source of God’s word but will be used as seen fit.
[iv] Author’s Note: In these studies, I have used the notes that come along with the passages I cite from the sources that I cite: these need a bit of a disclaimer though. As in all things, not everything that is footnoted is something that I necessarily agree with, especially if it contradicts what I believe pertains to any matters of the Torah or the commandments of God. I give you the notes as they are written by the authors of the material I cite from, so that you can see the information contained within them. It truly is not my place to edit them; if they state anything that is in opposition to what I teach, then so be it. I will address these issues if requested. That is not to say I should not challenge something I believe, in my humble opinion, might contradict the truth of God’s word; that I will do in the main body of my epistles for that is where my gentle dissent belongs. Most (but not all) of the differences will come when I quote from a source that displays a decidedly Western/Greek mindset, as opposed to a Hebraic perspective. I must be intellectually honest – I am biased toward the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and His son, Yeshua the Messiah. I pray then we all can find common ground as we study the Scriptures. Also, some may be put off by the length or depth of the notes; not everyone has access to the references I do, therefore I try to include the notes that come with the material I use, so each can see for themselves the information the originator has pointedly gleaned. I hope you avail yourselves to these inclusions – they help us to understand how the material in scripture is laid out – the thought process of the original writer.
q ch. 5:12; 10:12; 12:11
r
[ch. 11:4]
s
[Acts 18:27; 1 Cor. 16:3]
t [1
Cor. 9:2]
1
Some manuscripts your
u See
Matt. 16:16
v Ex.
24:12
w
Prov. 3:3; 7:3; Jer. 17:1
x
Ezek. 11:19; 36:26; [Jer. 31:33; Heb. 8:10]
2
Greek fleshly hearts
y
Eph. 3:12
z
[Eph. 2:8]
a See
1 Cor. 15:10
b
Eph. 3:7; Col. 1:23, 25; [ch. 4:1; 5:18; 1 Tim. 1:12]
c
Jer. 31:31; Luke 22:20; 1 Cor. 11:25; Heb. 8:8, 13; [ver. 14; Heb. 9:15]
d See
Rom. 2:27
e
[John 6:63; Rom. 8:2]
[v] The Holy Bible:
English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2025), 2
Co 3:1-6.
[xi] An aggregate
data source is a platform, database, or repository that gathers raw,
individual-level (atomic) data from multiple disparate origins and compiles it
into high-level summary statistics, metrics, or consolidated records.
[xii] Biblical misinformation refers to false, distorted, or misunderstood claims about the Bible, its teachings, or its historical context—whether spread accidentally or on purpose. In a religious and theological framework, it encompasses several distinct concepts:
1. Misinterpreted Scriptures (Misuse of Verses)
2. Cultural Myths vs. Textual Reality
3.
Translation Limitations
4.
False Teachers and Deception
5.
Weaponized Scriptural Narratives:
Scholars and believers can combat it by doing the following:
6.
Contextual Study
7.
Discernment and Testing
See the following links for a clearer understanding of each topic:
1.
https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/trevin-wax/the-most-misused-verses-in-the-bible/
2.
https://www.ucg.ca/bible-study-lessons/the-word-of-god-the-foundation-of-knowledge/misinformation-and-disinformation-about-god-bible
; https://www.americanbible.org/engage/bible-blog/articles/fake-news-and-the-bible/
3.
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskBibleScholars/comments/1doe5cr/misinformation_in_the_bible/
4.
https://www.cgg.org/index.cfm/library/verses/id/4783/misinformation-verses.htm
5.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5s0ZG-GDNE&t=222s
6.
Contextual Study is the process
of examining the original audience, genre, and historical setting of a
passage rather than reading it in isolation. One prominent scholar, the late
Dr. Michael S. Heiser describes it as reading and interpreting the Bible
strictly through the worldview, culture, history, and literary intent of its
original ancient authors, rather than filtering it through modern, Western,
or denominational lenses. See the following:
https://drmsh.com/a-brief-note-on-contextualizing-the-bible-especially-ot/
; Next link is Part One of an eight-part series of videos; follow the links to
see all eight. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUougW84SWM
7.
https://ratiochristi.org/discerning-truth-in-a-world-of-fake-news-and-false-views/
[xiii] “Deconstruction” in a biblical or religious sense the process of critically examining, pulling apart, and questioning deeply held religious beliefs, upbringing, and institutional traditions. Deconstruction is a spiritual journey during which a believer of Messiah examines his or her faith to release what’s contrary to God’s heart and embrace what’s true. See https://www.harperchristianresources.com/blog/2025/02/18/the-power-of-scars/ .
[xiv] Biblical
literacy is the ability to read, comprehend, and faithfully interpret the
Bible’s overarching story, themes, characters, and historical contexts rather
than merely memorizing isolated verses or trivia. See: https://www.logos.com/grow/biblical-literacy/;
https://women.lifeway.com/2022/07/07/the-reference-desk-unpacking-biblical-literacy/
; https://youthministry360.com/blogs/all/cultivating-biblical-literacy-in-student-ministry
[xv] Celebrity bible teachers and rigid denominational traditions can hinder deep Bible understanding by placing human authority, cultural trends, and institutional biases above the text itself. While both can offer helpful insights, they often create blind spots that distort the original meaning of Scripture. Here is a breakdown of how both dynamics can negatively affect biblical literacy.
How Celebrity Bible Teachers Hurt Understanding
The rise of high-profile pastors, podcasters, and social media
influencers has shifted how many people engage with the Bible.
·
Cult of Personality: Believers
often become followers of a specific teacher rather than student of the text.
·
Eisegesis (Reading into the Text): To maintain
large audiences, celebrity teachers may lean into topical, self-help, or highly
controversial messages. They pull verses out of context to support a
pre-determined point, rather than practicing exegesis).
·
Theological Echo Chambers: Algorithms and
media branding encourage people to consume content exclusively from teachers
who share the exact same style or worldview. This prevents believers from
engaging with different, historically grounded perspectives that could
challenge and sharpen their understanding.
·
Lack of Local Accountability: A screen
cannot replace a local community; a
celebrity teacher often leaves the listener with a consumer-driven, rather than
community-driven, faith.
How Denominational Traditions Hurt Understanding
Denominations provide helpful historical roots, but a rigid adherence to tradition can lock readers into pre-packaged conclusions.
·
Sectarian Lenses: Every
denomination has a specific theological framework (e.g., Reformed, Arminian,
Dispensational, Covenant). When people read the Bible only through their
denomination's lens, they automatically force difficult verses to fit their
system, rather than letting the verse speak for itself.
·
Elevating Tradition to Scripture: Over time,
human traditions, church creeds, or denominational catchphrases can carry the
same weight as the Bible. When tradition contradicts or adds to Scripture, it
obscures the clear meaning of the text.
·
Anachronistic Reading: Denominational
traditions often project modern or medieval theological debates backward into
ancient texts. This causes readers to miss what the biblical authors were
actually addressing in their ancient Near Eastern or Greco-Roman contexts.
·
Discouraging Honest Questions: In highly
rigid traditions, questioning a standard denominational interpretation is often
treated as a lack of faith or rebellion. This fear stifles genuine study and
prevents people from wrestling honestly with complex passages.
Healthy Alternative: Contextual Study
To protect against these pitfalls, biblical scholars recommend
prioritizing the historical, grammatical, and literary context of a
passage before consulting any modern teacher or denominational commentary.
Reading widely across different church eras and traditions can also help point
out personal blind spots.
1. Key Sources on "Celebrity Bible Teachers" and Modern
Persona Culture
Several books and essays analyze how the rise of global platforms,
media metrics, and high-profile teachers can bypass the local church and warp
individual Bible study.
·
Celebrities
for Jesus: How Personas, Platforms, and Profits Are Hurting the Church by Katelyn
Beaty (2022) See: https://www.pastortheologians.com/book-reviews-archive/2022/02/14/celebrities-for-jesus
; https://thesamaritansong.com/2023/02/11/book-review-celebrities-for-jesus-how-personas-platforms-and-profits-are-hurting-the-church/
·
The
Dangers of the Celebrity Pastor Syndrome (GARBC /
General Association of Regular Baptist Churches): It notes that
when a believer idolizes a well-known teacher, that person’s word—rather than
Scripture itself—becomes the final measure of orthodoxy. See https://www.garbc.org/commentary/the-dangers-of-the-celebrity-pastor-syndrome/
·
Carl Trueman's Cultural Commentary: As referenced
in theological circles, historian Carl
Trueman has written extensively on how modern expressive individualism
interacts with evangelicalism. Read of it at: https://theaquilareport.com/unduly-influenced-by-celebrity-culture/
2. Key Perspectives on "Denominational Traditions" Over
Scripture
The tension between church tradition and the clear text of
Scripture is a historic conversation, but modern thinkers still heavily address
how "theological tribalism" blinds readers.
·
Why are there so many
different Christian interpretations? This analysis
highlights that when a denomination's tradition conflicts with the
straightforward teaching of the Bible, the tradition is often given precedence.
This effectively grants supreme authority to institutional frameworks or
systemized theology over the context of the text itself. https://www.gotquestions.org/interpretations-Christian.html
·
Michael Horton and the Critique of
"Theological Tribalism": Theologians like Michael
Horton frequently write about how Christians often inherit pre-packaged,
denominational "clichés" rather than a robust biblical literacy.
See: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/tribe-without-tribalism
/ ;
https://biblehub.com/q/how_do_denominations_view_the_bible.htm
[xvi] Biblical Individualism: Centers on God, where the individual is an accountable image-bearer called to sacrifice self, serve others, and unite with the church community (1 Corinthians 12:27). This butts up against expressive individualism which centers on the self, treating inner feelings, personal identity, and self-actualization as the ultimate authority, often discarding moral standards, family commitments, or church ties if they restrict personal desires. The Bible rejects both extreme radical individualism (which ignores social responsibility) and extreme collectivism (which erases personal conscience).
For a more complete treatment, see https://truthandtidings.com/2018/02/a-christian-worldview-individualism/
; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbMGmEZD-ss&t=5s
; https://www.vianations.org/students/articles/understanding-the-challenge-of-expressive-individualism-part-1
[follow link to part 2]; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k87pnMA67Ds&t=79s
and https://biblehub.com/q/what_defines_individualism.htm
.
[xvii] An epistemic crisis (also called an epistemological crisis) is a breakdown in a society's shared systems, rules, and institutions for deciding what is true. For more, see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0qh3ppYVyA ; or read here: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08913811.2023.2221502 or here: https://aeon.co/essays/our-epistemic-crisis-is-essentially-ethical-and-so-are-its-solutions .
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