Gift of Discernment

Gift of Discernments are classified by those who hates this gift as "heresy hunters" for very good reason. To avoid truth to come out. Heresy is this: More reasonings and less scriptural.... when that happens, its heresy !!

Harper’s Bible Dictionary Heresy, a term derived from the Greek word hairesis, originally an opinion or way of thinking. It was used as a designation of a sect, party, or philosophical school. It is used in this sense of the Sadducees and Pharisees in Acts 5:17 and 15:5. Later Christian usage (from late second century a.d.) understood ‘heresy’ to indicate deviation from the accepted teaching or practice of the dominant Christian community. Something of this sense may be found in the treatment of Christians as a ‘sect of the Nazarenes’ in Acts 24:5, 14 and 28:22, where Christianity is opposed by Jewish religious authorities. Paul used the word for an internal faction within the Christian community (Gal. 5:20; 1 Cor. 11:19). Heresies have discussed in the past 2,000 years.

ANYWAY, back to GIFT of DISCERNMENT: Discernment may be simply defined as the ability to biblically decide between right and wrong, between truth and error, between good and evil.

References:
1 Corinthians 14:29
Philippians 1:10
1 Thessalonians 5:21
1 John 4:1

Christians are responsible to exercise caution and discernment, especially in temporal and spiritual matters.

Pros of using gift of discernment:
To identify false prophets - Deuteronomy 18:21–22; Jeremiah 23:25-30
To identify the heart motives of others- Luke 6:8; John 2:24-25
To distinguish our heart motives - Job 38:36; Proverbs 21:2
To lead one in the ways of the Lord - Hosea 14:9
To empathize with weak and strong - Romans 14:1–8.
To distinguish right from wrong doctrine - 2 Peter 3:15–18
To identify false spirits / apostles - 1 John 4:1–6; Revelation 2:2

What would happen if a church do not use the gift of discernment?
Leads to a nations fall - Deuteronomy 32:28.
Leads to spiritual dullness - Matthew 12:1–8
Leads to misinterpretation - Mark 14:58
Leads to rejecting Jesus - Mark 15:29–30; 14:58
Leads to confusion - Luke 9:7–9.
Leads to foolishness - 1 Corinthians 3:18–20

Discernment (of spirits) (diakriseis pneumaton), is a gift to judge or evaluate the spirits so as to distinguish whether something is from God or from an evil source. Basically means to clearly distinguish truth from error by judging whether the behavior or teaching is from God, Satan, human error, or human power.

The basic Greek root for discern, diakrino, means "to judge through, to see through to the truth, to truly evaluate something." Diakrino ( Strong's #1252). This word means "to separate, discriminate"; and "to learn by discriminating, to determine, decide."So, discerning spirits is simply to evaluate the spirit -- whether it is God, or a spirit other than the Holy Spirit.

The one YOU referred to in this gift of discernment (1 Cor. 12:10) is a supernatural ability to distinguish between the spirit of truth and the spirit of error, between holiness and evil. We live in a world in which there is a great spiritual battle raging (Ephesians 6:10-18).

There is another aspect of our lives that makes this gift of discernment necessary. As human beings we do not always know whether or not our thoughts, words and deeds are from God. Discernment is the means God uses to literally divide light from darkness, truth from falsehood, right motive from wrong motive, selflessness from selfishness.

Another, in Hebrews 5:14 we are told that discernment comes with spiritual maturity that the Spirit works in us (diakrisis - Strong's #1253).

The next greek word is anakrino (Strong's #350) and literally means, "to distinguish, or separate out so as to investigate (krino) by looking throughout (ana, intensive) objects or particulars," hence signifies "to examine, scrutinize, question, to hold a preliminary judicial examination preceding the trial proper." This word was used of Pilate's examination of Jesus (Luke 23:14). It is also the word used of the Bereans who "searched" the Scriptures (Acts 17:11).

The necessity of being born again of the Holy Spirit in order to be able to have discernment is stated by Paul to the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 2:14). The last Greek word translated "discern" is dokimazo (Strong's #1381) which means "to test, prove, scrutinize." This term conveys the thought of "to decide." It is translated "discern" in the King James Version of Luke 12:56.