Last Updated on September 27, 2011 by pastor.rocklyn

In “Hill Street Blues“, Steven Bochco’s 1981 television series about an urban police precinct, there was character named Sgt. Phil Esterhaus (played by actor Michael Conrad) who was the desk sergeant. Sgt. Esterhaus would typically wrap up his daily message to the patrol officers with the words: “Be careful out there!”

In 1 John 4:1 the Apostle John warns us:

Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

Ever since Jesus established it, the Church has faced competition from false prophets preaching strange gospels. Like the owner’s servants in Matthew 13:24-30 who found weeds growing up right next to the wheat, we believers face the challenge of distinguishing between truth and error in the “field” of modern Christianity. Since I became a believer in 1979 I, like many of you, have come across various problems and failures in Christian ministry. You have probably noticed however that things are different today. Ministry failures and excesses that would once have circulated mainly as rumors are now recorded as video and viewable by anyone on the internet. Of course the internet doesn’t just facilitate viewing of ministry failures. It also provides a platform for the bloggers who want to comment on it and I want to share some of their comments with you. Of course I don’t agree with all of the posts on these blogs, but I have found a number of them to be helpful:

Charismania

Charismania is a blog written by a woman who left a charismatic church after gradually realizing that there was a big gap between the Bible and what her former church actually taught and practiced. Here is a quote from the blog’s About Page:

No condemnation – and no names named. Aside from nationally known “celebrity televangelists” and attached links, all names are pseudonyms. We’re here to work through the problems that come from being in “Charismania” – and what it’s like to leave.

Here are some noteworthy blog posts:

• You might be a Charismanic if …
• The Privilege of Washing “Anointed” Toilets?

End Times Prophetic, Prophecy, Visions, Dreams, Revelation, Christian Blog

This blog doesn’t have much by way of description, but it contains a large number of posts about various Christian ministry excesses – especially of people associated with the New Apostolic Reformation.

Here are a few noteworthy posts:

• WARNING to THE “APOSTLES”
• Index to all articles on Todd Bentley, Lakeland Outpouring Florida Revival

Herescope

Herescope is a blog sponsored by Discernment-Ministries, Inc.. It seems to be dedicated to refuting numerous modern examples of heresy.

Here are a few noteworthy posts:

• C. Peter Wagner Spins the NAR
• Spiritual Warfarers Battle Real Mountain

Disclaimer

As I said earlier, I don’t agree with everything that these bloggers write, but I certainly believe that they are making a number of very important observations. Check out these blogs and form your own opinions and remember:

Be careful out there!