Tag Archives: misinformation

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The Most Dangerous Source Of Misinformation For A Christian Business Leader

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In my last couple of posts, we have been looking at sources of misinformation for a Christian business owner or leader. We have looked at worldly wisdom and fleshly lusts, both of which are dangerous sources of misinformation. Today we will look at the one source that may be the most dangerous of all – Satan’s deception.

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Intentional Misinformation

Before I go any further, let me make sure I differentiate this misinformation from the two prior categories. When discussing worldly wisdom and fleshly lusts, I am assuming no direct influence from the enemy. I am only considering the kind of misinformation that we either create ourselves or receive from someone else. This misinformation is neutral in its intent. There is no malice in this misinformation.

On the other hand, misinformation that falls under this third category – Satan’s deception – clearly has malicious intent. Based on what Scripture says, there is no doubt at all that Satan is out to destroy us and our witness. Take a look at the following Scriptures:

    The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. – John 10:10
    Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. – 1 Peter 5:8
    Our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. – Ephesians 6:12

If you are not convinced by these verses, then you may as well skip the rest of this post and come back on another day. No offense taken. Just know that you do it at your own risk!

Satan’s Opposition

Hopefully you are still reading. If so, please know that Satan is real and he is in total opposition to anything and everything we want to do to glorify God. If there is any part of our business that is having an impact for eternity, then he is going to come against it. This is a very intentional enemy.

Okay, maybe you agree that Satan is against us, but does he really actively deceive us? Is he intent on, or even capable of, giving us misinformation? In response to those questions, consider some more Scripture:

    You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. – John 8:44
    But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ.
    – 2 Corinthians 11:3

Hopefully, you are now convinced that Satan is fully and completely against us, using deception and lies as misinformation in an effort to destroy our eternal impact. While we know he cannot take us from God’s hands and steal our soul at this point, he can prevent us from influencing anyone else to turn back to God. He can ruin our witness to the point that we are completely ineffective in our ministry efforts.

What Are You To Do?

Since you know all of this to be true, what are you to do about it? How in the world are we supposed to fight against an enemy that we cannot see? How do we defend ourselves from the one who is out to destroy us?

I am glad you asked! While I cannot give you a 100% money-back guarantee that my advice is fool-proof, I can tell you that it will work to the extent that you are committed to it. This advice is only as good as you make it by how far you take it!

Rather than giving you a 5-point plan on how to defend against the misinformation of Satan, I am going to make it very simple for you. I am going to base all of my advice on one idea. That should be easy enough, right?

Well, I actually said “simple,” not “easy.”

Simple (Not Easy) Solution

The idea I am referring to is found in John 10:1-5, 27-29. In this passage, Jesus is describing how His followers are like sheep that follow Him because they listen to and know His voice. These sheep, Jesus says, will never follow a stranger because they do not know the stranger’s voice.

Folks, we are these sheep. We are the followers of Jesus and we are supposed to listen to His voice. We are supposed to know His voice. We are supposed to know it so well that we can discern it from a stranger’s voice.

This is a HUGE idea! Please do not miss this point. Read it again if you have to.

Dark Room Illustration

Imagine yourself in a dark room. Imagine you are not at all familiar with the layout of the room and it is full of dangerous items. You are charged with crossing this room in pitch black darkness without getting hurt. Oh yeah, there is someone else in the room trying to hurt you!

Now imagine you hear a voice telling you to follow. Do you? How do you know if it is friend or foe? If you were to clearly and without hesitation recognize the voice as a friend, would you then follow? What if it was not a voice you recognized at all?

This may be a poor analogy of this life, but it fits. We are moving through this life as if in a dark room, unaware of the dangers we are facing from all sides. Our only hope is to have a Friend lead us. It is that voice of Jesus that we want to hear when we are facing such danger. It is His ability to see what we cannot that we want to trust.

What About You?

So here is the $50,000 question.

Do you recognize His voice?

Do you have such regular and intimate conversations with Him that any other voice would stand out as a stranger? Do you know His voice so well that you could easily recognize it above the other voices of misinformation being cast your way?

If so, good for you! If you are confident in this, then you are in great shape to make wise and effective decisions. You are much less likely to fall victim to misinformation from Satan’s deception.

Why Not?

If not, why not? Why are you not so familiar with His voice that it calms your every fear and silences your every doubt?

If this is you, I am fairly certain I know why. You are not familiar with His voice because you do not talk to Him very much. Or maybe it is because you ONLY talk to Jesus, but never listen.

Another possibility is that you are not reading, studying, and memorizing His Word. To know His voice, you have to know His heart. Often, other voices may sound similar, but the message is off. If the message does not match His Word, then it is not His voice.

The bottom line is that we MUST be students of His Word and regularly listen to Him in prayer. We cannot expect to recognize His voice at a critical time if we rarely hear it. That just won’t work.

What are your thoughts about this source of misinformation?

Are you familiar with this?

Are you one that recognizes His voice?

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Another Dangerous Source Of Misinformation For A Christian Business Leader

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Have you ever faced a decision or an opportunity that seemed right at the time, but later proved to be completely wrong? At the time, there were so many facets of the opportunity that appeared to fit. The more you thought about it, the more right it felt! Later, nothing fit and you were amazed at how different it looked. This is how it often goes when misinformation is clouding your vision.

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Fleshly Lusts

In my last post, I described how misinformation can make already difficult Christian business challenges even more troublesome. In that post, I went into detail on worldly wisdom, the first of three sources of misinformation that we can face in Christian business. Today I want to talk about the second source of misinformation – fleshly lusts.

Real-Life Example

Years ago, my father had an opportunity to purchase a particular dealership. At the time, he was in a growth mode in his business and was looking for deals. This dealership was much further away than he thought was ideal. It was also much pricier than he originally had decided he could handle. In fact, its purchase would likely have stretched his resources.

He went to his father and described the deal to him and asked for his advice. As more and more questions were thrown his way, the truth came out. My father was most interested in this dealership because it included a Porsche franchise! He had always had a love for Porsche’s and now he had the opportunity to have a dealership full of them! This would allow him to drive his dream car as part of his job!

Blinded

This is an example of allowing a fleshly lust to serve as misinformation and drive a risky decision. Looking back at this decision later, my father could clearly see the danger, but at the time he was blinded. At the time, he saw Candy-Apple Red (his favorite color Porsche!) rather than a clear picture of business pros and cons.

This may be an extreme example and a large decision, but the danger is just as big in the little decisions we make every day. Our fleshly lusts can be sources of misinformation across a variety of categories.

Many Lusts

Obviously, the first lust most people think of is sexual lust. Certainly, that is a deadly one. But there are many more kinds of lust that can bring misinformation into our decision-making process.

How often do people make poor decisions because of the lust after a get-rich-quick scenario? What about lust after a prominent job title or house on the golf course? Even something as simple as the lust for respect in the community?

Immunity?

We are not immune to any of these! And all of these can serve as misinformation that can cause us to make poor decisions. If we do not work to avoid them, we will end up being ruled by them!

As I said in my previous post, I am quick to say that I do not have this source of misinformation defeated. I am a victim of fleshly lusts as much as anyone else. I fight it, but it is a deceptive pitfall. Just when you think you have it beat, it sneaks in another door!

Misinformation Awareness Is Key

All I can tell you is that awareness of this misinformation and the damage it can do is the beginning of the battle. I am not sure we can ever get to the point where it is not a danger, but we can certainly fight it with the power of the Holy Spirit.

God says we will not be tempted beyond what we can handle and He will always provide a way out (1 Corinthians 10:13). We have to trust Him in this truth and make sure we are putting up defenses where we know we are especially weak (Ephesians 6:11-17).

By the way, I need to finish my story about my father’s dealership opportunity. He did not purchase the store. In fact, he followed his father’s advice. His father told him he was crazy – it would be much cheaper to just buy a Porsche car than it would be to buy the whole dealership!

Have you been blinded by a fleshly lust in business?

What defenses do you use for avoiding this?

Do you see how an accountability partner can help identify misinformation?

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3 Dangerous Sources Of Misinformation For A Christian Business Leader

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Have you ever been given the wrong directions to an important meeting? If you are like me, you were likely already running on a tight schedule and could not afford delays! I can feel the frustration in my throat just thinking about it. Well, running a Christian business can be the same way. It is hard enough to do on a normal day, but having to deal with misinformation can make it especially difficult – maybe even near impossible.

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Business Is Challenging Enough!

Business in general can be very challenging these days. When you consider all that is going on – healthcare reform, tax law changes, economic uncertainty, etc. – it can be very difficult to make decisions and navigate to a profitable outcome. When you are trying to use this business as a platform for ministry with an eternal impact, you can further complicate it!

While it makes sense that it should be as simple as just following God’s lead in all you do, this is often very difficult to do. Maybe I am alone in this, but I find this to be a huge challenge. To make it even more difficult, consider the illustration about getting wrong directions…this happens in a Christian business as well!

3 Sources Of Misinformation

As I have thought about it, I have come up with three sources of misinformation that can create significant obstacles for a Christian business leader. These sources of misinformation are distinctly different from each other. However, they are often not the exclusive cause of trouble in a Christian business. There are certainly times where two – even all three – can combine for an especially challenging situation.

I will address the first of these sources of misinformation today. I will save the other two for my next posts.

Worldly Wisdom

The first source of misinformation for a Christian business leader is worldly wisdom. I will define worldly wisdom as being based on any knowledge, experience, or expertise that is not from God. I know you are probably thinking that this is a huge category. Well, you are right.

Not only is worldly wisdom a huge category, it is also very dangerous because it is not always ugly or even obviously immoral, illegal, or unethical. In fact it most often disguises itself as very good advice – even common sense.

Folks, this is probably what makes worldly wisdom the most common form of misinformation for a Christian business leader! As a result, it very well may be the most dangerous.

Examples Of Worldly Wisdom

Let me give you some common examples of worldly wisdom.

Let’s say you are out on your own now as a Christian business owner or leader. You run into an issue that throws you for a loop. Remembering that your former boss offered to help you anytime you needed it, you pick up the phone and make the call. He gives you an answer that makes sense and you run with it.

In another situation, you run into a difficult situation with an employee and you remember how you had faced a similar situation years before. You wince as you think about the trouble that came as a result of the decision you made then. You quickly decide to go in a different direction.

Finally, you are reading through the latest business book by a well-known industry guru. As you read, the author addresses a very similar situation to the one you are currently facing. You are floored! His solution is unconventional, but it seems to make perfect sense so you begin plans to implement it immediately.

Harmful Or Not?

You are probably thinking that none of these situations seem harmful. Maybe, maybe not. I am not telling you that all of these examples are going to get you in trouble. What I am telling you is that without prayer and comparison to Scripture, there is no advice that you should follow based on its own merits.

Quite simply, as Christian business leaders we will avoid being misled by misinformation if we always and only follow advice that has been vetted by prayer and comparison to God’s word. This includes our own experience and expertise. It includes anything that we might rely on other than God.

How Does It Work?

So, you might want to know how this works. How in the world are we supposed to pray about every single decision we face during the day, BEFORE we make it? Are we really expected to search through Scripture and compare our every advice, hunch, and decision before we move forward? That’s crazy!

Well, yes and no. Yes, I think this is the expectation. No, it is not crazy.

Scriptural Support

First of all, we are not of this world (Colossians 2:20). We are now part of God’s family (John 1:12) and we are to follow his lead (Galatians 5:25), not the wisdom of the world (1 Corinthians 3:19). While just trying to imagine stopping twenty times a day to pray and search through the Bible may give you a headache, work with me here.

Instead, picture a mindset of continuous prayer, conversation with God (1 Thess. 5:16-18). Imagine a quick pause before responding to situations requiring a decision (Nehemiah 2:4-5) and see if that looks better.

Imagine The Possibilities!

Now think about the possibility of Scripture actually popping into your head the moment you face a decision. Consider the reality that you could be so versed in God’s Word that you did not have to search it for the decision. Maybe it comes to you instinctively instead.

Folks, if we are spending the daily time in God’s word and in continuous prayer, then this is a reality that is not far off! Rather than risking the common misinformation that surrounds us every day, we could actually be drawing on the knowledge, experience, and expertise of the very Creator of the universe!

Continuous Improvement

I will quickly confess that I am not living this reality. I struggle with this just like you do. However, I am determined I am not going to be in the very same place of dependence upon worldly wisdom (and likely misinformation) a year from now. I am committing to continuous effort and improvement in this area. I challenge you to do the same!

What are your thoughts?

Do you currently rely on worldly wisdom?

Are you familiar with the dangers of misinformation?