How to Discern Error

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Dec 2, 1897

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 23, No. 47.

How to Discern Error.

The only true way to discern error is to know the truth. "My sheep hear my voice," says Jesus, "and I know them, and they follow me." John 10:27. "A stranger will they not follow; . . . for they know not the voice of strangers." Verse 5. The sheep do not spend their time in endeavoring to learn the voice of every stranger or any stranger. It is enough for them that they know the one voice; all others are discerned as strangers because they know the one. The only sure way to discern truth is, not to know a theory or a system or a church, but to know God, and Jesus Christ, whom he has sent. If the princes of this world had known God "they would not have crucified the Lord of glory." 1 Cor. 2:8. And Jesus declares that those who persecute his followers do so "because they have not known the Father, nor me." John 16:1-3. Knowing God, knowing his voice, which uttered his holy and immutable law, knowing and having (for we know it not unless we have it) the life of Jesus Christ, we will in God's wisdom and by his power be preserved from damning and delusive error. "Thy Word," says the psalmist, "have I had in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee."