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Destroyed Through
Deception
There are many dangers within the ‘Christian
circle’. There are individuals that appear as sent by God, but they
are out to deceive and mislead with just enough mistruth added to
the truth to keep their hearers’ ears away from the Lord. They have
the appearance of innocence but in reality they are dangerous and
destructive. Matthew 7:15 – Christ speaking, "Beware of the false
prophets [also implies teachers, 2 Peter 2:1] who come to you
in sheep’s clothing [appearing as a Christian, a member of the
flock or body of Christ], but inwardly are ravenous wolves."
Paul repeats this warning, "I know that after
my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the
flock; and from among your own selves men will arise,
speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them"
(Acts 20:29-30; emphasis added). These wolves do not attack
from the outside, appearing as some dark and diabolical man or
being. They arise from within . . . developing a trust and familiarity
with those they will be entrapping. They attempt to remove the flags
of caution: proclaiming peace, unity and love, and do not
judge . . . conditioning us to remove the safeguards that our Protector
encourages us to place within our hearts; and within the church to
shield His body from the predatory nature of the great deceiver.
Paul makes another disturbing statement that we
must heed with great diligence:
And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled
to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world
[Satan, and through his fallen angels] has blinded the minds of
the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel
of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. (2
Corinthians 4:3-4)
We must be on our guard at all times, for the
great deceiver is in the midst of the true church of God; looking
like he is one of them, but is there only to deceive and destroy.
Visually he would look like you or me . . . we may know him personally and
call him friend . . . he may be any that we would normally give trust and
confidence to . . .
a
pastor or religious leader. Both Christ and Paul state emphatically
that he is, not may be, but IS in our midst!
Peter describes false teachers in detail in 2
Peter chapter two, as does Jude in his epistle, so that Christians
would always recognize their characteristics and methods. The
greatest sin of Christ-rejecters and the most damning work of Satan
is misrepresentation of the truth and its consequent deception.
Nothing is more wicked than for someone to claim to speak for God to
the salvation of souls when in reality he speaks for Satan to the
damnation of the deceived. Satan has always endeavored to infiltrate
groups of believers with the deceptions of false teachers. The false
teachers parade themselves as Christian pastors, teachers, and
evangelists (Jude 4), secretly bringing (2 Peter 2:1) destructive
heresies.
This is why it is so tragic when a church makes
virtue out of toleration of unscriptural teachings and ideologies in
the name of love and unity. It is a disgrace to our God, and it is
inexcusable.
To
Discern,
To Judge
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, these things
that I write to you need to be verified via research in Scripture,
to be sure that I am speaking the word of God (Acts 17:11). Even I
could be a pawn of the great deceiver . . . if I were not of God. But if
I speak the Word of Truth, the Word of God, then it is up to you to
respond as you are led . . . to accept, or reject.
The one who says, ‘I have come to know Him,’
and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is
not in him ; but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of
God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him:
the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the
same manner as He walked. (1 John 2:4-6)
This is evidence of a true Believer, a genuine
Christian. This is being what is called Christlike
. . . being one who is looking upward towards
a vertical relationship with the Christ; as opposed to a horizontal
one in which the approval in the eyes of man is the goal. We are to
perform not for those in and of the world, but for an audience of
One, the Creator of all that is, the God who always was, and always
is, and will always be.
With all my heart, I pray that it does matter to
each of you, at some point in your Christian walk, what others
choose for their lives . . .
not as stated in A.M.’s letter and as so many in the
churches believe today, "It shouldn’t matter as a Christian if you
agree with the choices others make for their life."
Caring enough about another to make it matter not
only shows genuine love for those individuals, as Christ says it
does, but is what much of Scripture is about. We see much solid,
biblical evidence for why we should and must be concerned about the
choices others make. These choices may be evidence that they not
only do not have Christ in their life, but that they are condemned
to the horrendous judgment of the Great White Throne Judgment and
the second death described in Revelation 20, 21:8, and elsewhere.
It is true that neither I nor you were placed
here to judge, if it is inferred that to judge is ‘to pass sentence’
upon another. This authority has been given only to Him from the
Father (John 5:22). Nor does the Christian faith allow man to
condemn; again, if the passing of a ‘sentence’ is the intended
definition for condemn. Judgment and condemnation, in the context of
passing sentence, are reserved specifically for Christ; which He
will direct towards all men and women that do not come to Him as He
desires and instructs in His word.
Josh McDowell, a Christian apologist, who has
worked many years in apologetics and with youth, made a strong
statement some time back. He stated that the most well know and most
quoted verse, John 3:16, "For God so loved the world, that He
gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not
perish, but have eternal life"; has been replaced with what is
now the most well known and quoted verse, particularly among young
people, "Judge not, that ye be not judged" (Matt 7:1 KJV).
His observation I would agree with without hesitation.
In looking at Matthew 7:1, plus the four ensuing verses, it would
appear we should not look at the sin or wrong doing of another. We
should not evaluate actions or motives of others, as it will bring
judgment upon our own head. But in holding strictly to this limited
understanding we immediately see conflict with many, many other
verses in Scripture, even within this same chapter of Matthew.
Matthew 7:6 states, "Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not
throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under
their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces." And in verse 15 we
are warned to beware of false prophets, and verse 20, "you will
know them by their fruits." I won’t give an exposition of these
three verses, but one can readily see that discernment and
evaluation . . . the judging of the actions of others is mandated in
warnings to the Christian. We are to discern those that are dogs. We
are to discern, to judge those that wallow in the mud and filth of
practicing sin and decadence.
On and on throughout Scripture we are mandated to
use discernment, discretion, evaluation, and judgment to protect and
prevent the Christian from being drawn into sin; or from allowing
sin to infiltrate the church. Scripture is replete with similar
directives and warnings to those that choose not to heed such
admonitions.
If it is true that we are to ‘discern’ or ‘judge’
the actions and words (Acts 17:11) of others, how does this balance
with Matthew 7:1? Romans 1:28 – 2:29, more specifically Romans
2:1-3, gives us an understanding of this judgment referred to in
Matthew 7:1.
Therefore you have no excuse, everyone of you
who passes judgment, for in that which you judge another, you
condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things. And
we know that the judgment of God rightly falls upon those who
practice such things. But do you suppose this, O man, when you
pass judgment on those who practice such things and do the same
yourself, that you will escape the judgment of God? (Romans
2:1-3)
We can acquire an understanding of this form of
negative judgment by seeing what takes place in our world today. We
often hear that if a person has a weak area in their life, one that
he struggles with, that he in turn will often be harder, more
critical of those that bear similar shortcomings.
Paul, in his letter to the Romans, is referring
to those that judge and are practitioners of sin; they practice sin
similar to what they are judging in another. Because God shows no
partiality (Romans 2:11), both will be judged with like judgments,
for ‘sin is sin’.
But, sin of
the practitioner of sin, is that sin which is repeated, that sin
which controls the individual.
We all will sin, the saved as well as the unsaved
(Romans 3:23, 1 John 1:10). The difference being that sin controls
the unsaved, and the saved will move from being a practitioner of
sin to one of repentance . . . repentance meaning the changing or moving from one’s
sinful life-styles towards one of righteousness, one that is godly.
Repentance is a moving from practicing sin, to one of obedience to
Christ.
Do not become discouraged if immediate successes
come slowly. Repentance is a process . . . it is running your race on
the track laid out before you by our God. It is not a single event,
but a course, a path; moving from worldly influences and self
orientation to righteousness: that is to be Christ oriented.
This judgment of Matthew 7:1 is referring only to
those that are genuine, born again believers, not to the unsaved as
we will see shortly. (There are other aspects of Matthew 7:1 that
have not been considered here. Lack of forgiveness, pride, anger,
jealousy, lack of love etc. are all negative attributes of this
judgmental heart being portrayed.)
Paul, in speaking to the church of Corinth,
instructs us to:
Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a
new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened… [the body, the
church, is to be cleaned of those that contaminate it.] I wrote
you in my letter not to associate with immoral people; I did not
at all mean with the immoral people of this world, or with the
covetous and swindlers, or with idolaters, for then you
would have to go out of the world.
But actually, I wrote to
you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an
immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a
drunkard, or a swindler – not even to eat with such a one. For
what have I to do with judging outsiders? Do you not judge those
who are within the church? But those who are outside, God judges.
REMOVE THE WICKED MAN
FROM AMONG YOURSELVES.
(1 Corinthians 5:7, 9-13;
Emphasis added)
Through biblical discernment, we are to protect
the church. Those outside the church
"ha[ve] been judged already"
(John 3:18), and they that "disbelieved shall be
condemned" (Mark 16:16).
Paul warns us that:
. . . there are many rebellious men, empty
talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, who
must be silenced because they are upsetting whole families,
teaching things they should not teach for the sake of sordid gain
. . . .This testimony is true, for this reason reprove them
severely so that they may be sound in the faith.
(Titus
1:10-11, 13)
We are to "reject a factious man after a first
and second warning" (Titus 3:10). Such a man or
woman is not of God, but is doing the work of the deceiver and is
deceived. Such a person seeks not to change, to repent of his ways,
but to incite disunity within the body.
We must do all that we can to protect God’s
truth, our faith, and our families. If we fail to stand on
convictions, then the concessions will lull us into a position of
apathy, standing for nothing. Those that would see us would see no
evidence of our witness for Christ, no evidence of the love and
light we are to emanate. There would be no evidence of the Life we
carry within. We would look and sound just like them, the lost, dead
and worldly. (I would encourage you to study what Christ says to the
churches of Sardis and Laodicea in Chapter 3 of Revelation.)
Through this article on faith and judgment, I
pray you may have a better understanding that discernment,
discipline, and yes, biblical judgment are evidences of love for our
Christ . . . the Saviour to all that believe and bear fruit of obedience
to His word.
We must love others with a deeper love than I
could ever express with words alone. We must love with a sacrificial
love; that being that you and I would do all that we are capable of
doing to bring those we know, those we love, to a full and rich
relationship with Christ . . . not one that the world teaches, as God hates the
world as discussed earlier, but one of sharing the glorious riches
that He offers to those that are His.
We must pray that our relationship with Christ is
more than a religion, more than programs, church attendance, and
prayers before meals . . . but one that He requires of those that desire
to come to Him. Only He, through His word with the guidance of the
Holy Spirit, can lead you into this type of relationship. Not I,
your pastor, your family or any other can do this for you except in
sharing of His truth, through prayer, and defending the evidences
and teachings of Scripture.
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