EVERYONE READING, PLEASE HELP! We will each be held responsible, if we let one more species of God's creation go extinct. Loggers in Washington have finally gone one step too far, but if we all band together we can reverse this travesty! One of the most fascinating endangered species in the United States is the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus. It is a valuable part of the rainforest there. Please consider doing your part...even one dollar can help save them from extinction. Please pass this on to everyone you know!Convinced? Well don't worry, you can put your wallet away. This phony website, has been around for awhile, but was recently used in a study by a University of Connecticut professor and highlighted on CNN. It was presented as a hoax to test how/if internet "facts" would be readily believed without critical evaluation by elementary school children doing a research project. Many students, even after hearing that the tree octopus was a fraud, still said they believed in it. In the counseling profession, we are constantly challenged to know, and guide our clients to discover truth. Many presenting problems, stem from our faulty beliefs in something that is not true about ourselves or God.
In the book The Bondage Breaker by Neil Anderson, we see that the devil is the ultimate deceiver. He perfectly packages lies, and we buy them for the truth all the time, often without much critical evaluation. I can look back, even earlier today, and see moments in my life where I believed a lie over the truth of God's word, and ended up in bondage. How many times have we believed them? We live in an age of overwhelming media: television, newspapers, radio, and the literal world wide web of "facts" and fraud that can tangle us up! I'm sick of being deceived, and desire to be a person and future counselor who is a critical consumer and evaluator in each circumstance big or small! Through this process, I need the Holy Spirit to guide me into all truth, and in turn I know that the truth can set me and many others free...even from losing money saving the Tree Octopus.
Wow, this is crazy to think how quick we are to believe things. I have recognized how I too have been so quick to believe the things that Christians preach. I am in the process of owning my own walk and faith and it is very difficult in today's world to know what to believe. Even in Christianity there is always someone trying to tell you what is right and what is wrong. I think this article is a wake up call to all Christians to not believe everything we hear, read, and see, but to always pray for discernment to know what is truth and what is a lie.
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