False Apostles Deceitful Workers
- They will come posing as legitimate religious teachers. In 2 Corinthians 11:13 Paul identified these people as false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. Continuing, Paul stated that these people who appeared as ministers of righteousness were simply following Satans example of presenting himself as an angel of light .
This false teaching, which Paul called the mystery of lawlessness, had already begun in the first century and continues today.
Paul grieved at the thought of such deceitful savage wolves leading people astray. He told the Ephesian elders, For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves .
How can we know who is a legitimate minister of God? God, through the prophet Isaiah, said, To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them . True ministers of Jesus Christ will teach what Jesus taught!
What Is The Danger Of Self
False claims about ones abilities can be harmful when they are found to be untrue. By evaluating our thinking objectively and honestly before acting on it, we are less likely to end up stuck in situations that may lead to us losing what we have and to put ourselves in situations that may keep us stuck.
Does God Care About What We Do In The Privacy Of Our Bedrooms
Sex is Gods invention. He is the mastermind behind itand His creation is worth far more to Him than it is to us. This beautiful expression of love was created out of His own heart, as a gift to be experienced between a husband and wife. It is only in marriage that this manifestation of intimacy can be fully enjoyed in the depth for which it was created.
The more beautiful and unique something is , the more power it holds over our lives, either for good or bad influence. That is why it is so easy for the devil to corrupt the most precious of Gods gifts. When we become more in love with the gifts than the One who endowed them, the things that were designed to bless us begin to destroy us instead. Yes, God cares about what we do with our bodies, in public or in private. He doesnt want us to abuse ourselves in any way.
In fact, an older definition of masturbation is self-abuse. Although more modern dictionaries may no longer carry this definition, they are still linked together under self-abuse:
Self-abuse,noun
1. Abuse of oneself or ones abilities.
2. Masturbation.
1 Corinthians 6:18 further confirms this, saying that unlawful sexual relations defile our own bodies: Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body.
Isnt it still better to masturbate than to commit fornication?
I agree with all the theory, but living it out on a day to day level is another story.
End Notes:
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The Deceptive Potential Of Molecular Manufacturing
In earlier writings, weve examined the enormous power of molecular manufacturing . This technology will effectively provide humanity with total control over all matter in the physical world. Able to break and create chemical bonds with atomic precision, molecular manufacturing will provide humanity with unprecedented power.
If the Antichrist were to administer the worlds molecular manufacturing capability, he could easily rule the entire world. And the abilities of this revolutionary technology would provide him with a powerful means for deceiving its people.
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Do Not Be Deceived God Cannot Be Mocked Kjv
God cannot be mocked, so dont be fooled. A man reaps what he sows when he sows. A person who sows to please his sinful nature will be destroyed, and a person who sows to please the Spirit will be eternal life. I offer peace and mercy to all who follow this rule, even to the people of Gods country.
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D Avoid People And Influences Known To Lie Or Deceive
Often we end up telling lies because we associate with liars, we listen to their lies, and we learn to imitate their evil.
Proverbs 17:4 An evildoer gives heed to false lips A liar listens eagerly to a spiteful tongue. When we listen to other peoples falsehoods, we are tempted to speak them ourselves.
Psalms 101:7 He who works deceit shall not dwell within my house He who tells lies shall not continue in my presence.
If we are to keep truth in our hearts and avoid falsehood, we must take care whose speech we listen to. Yes, we should help liars repent and be forgiven. But if they refuse to repent and continue to speak lies, we must limit our association in order to keep our own hearts pure.
Lesson 1: Avoiding Spiritual Deception Part 2
Last year I heard John MacArthur say that when he began in the ministry, he never dreamed that he would have to spend a major portion of his time and energy defending the gospel among those in the evangelical camp. But it has been so.
As you probably know, he has written several books to defend the gospel against those who deny that saving faith inherently requires submission to Christs lordship. He also has written and preached against those who are calling for evangelicals to set aside justification by faith alone, so that we can be reconciled with the Catholic Church. He is speaking out against the seeker churches, which dodge the issues of sin and judgment so as not to offend seekers. He recently edited Fools Gold , which deals with the theme of discernment. It has a chapter by Phil Johnson defending the gospel against a relatively new error that is called, the new perspective on Paul.
Since the days of the early church, Satan has actively opposed the truth of Gods Word, especially with regard to the gospel. Repeatedly he has raised up false teachers within the church in attempts to deceive Gods people. The apostle Paul warned the Ephesian elders that from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them . And so a major theme throughout the entire New Testament, including Johns epistles, is that Gods people need to develop discernment so that they can avoid spiritual deception.
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To Avoid Spiritual Deception Develop Discernment By Abiding In The Word Especially With Regard To The Gospel
If you are paying attention to the text, you may be thinking, I dont see any mention of the Word or the gospel in these verses. Where are you getting that? Im getting it from Johns repetition of the phrase, what you heard from the beginning . What these believers had heard from the beginning was the teaching of the apostles, especially their teaching on the core issue of the gospel. John begins this letter with the words, What was from the beginning, which refers to Jesus Christ Himself. The person and work of Jesus Christ is the gospel.
When John tells us to abide in what we heard from the beginning, he does not necessarily mean that you should never change the beliefs that you have held since childhood. To do so would only perpetuate error if your parents had been wrong! Rather, he means, if you began with the gospel and with the sound doctrine of the apostles, whose teaching is the foundation of the church , why depart from these sure truths for the religious speculations of these false teachers? We have the apostles teaching in the New Testament. John is telling us to abide in these certainties.
John makes four points about the gospel here. Then we can draw two applications.
A. The gospel comes to us only through Gods Word.
B. The gospel introduces you to a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ.
C. The gospel centers on Gods promise of eternal life.
D. Satan relentlessly promotes confusion about the gospel.
All of this leads to two applications:
Why Are People Self
They Do Not Examine ThemselvesThe apostle follows his warning to help the Galatians guard against presumption with this direction, Let every man prove his own work . Search yourselves much using Gods standard. Some are unwilling to examine themselves because it will discourage them others are unwilling because they have already come to the conclusion. Why do I need to search? Am I not certain that Christ is mine? But we can never be too sure He is ours.
They Do Not Exercise FaithSome do not exercise spiritual faith. Faith will help a Christian exceedingly in humbly walking with God .
They Boast of What They HavePaul, reproves those who boasted of the things they had received as though they had not received them . If you are conscious of that, it will keep you humble.
They Are Ignorant of their Corrupt NatureThis is the mother of pride and presumption. When Paul speaks about original sin in Romans 11:25 he warns them of presumption.
They Do Not Consider What They Ought to BeIf someone compared their attainments with what they ought to be, it would crush presumption. If we think we knows anything, we know nothing as we ought to know.
They Compare Themselves With Those Who Are WorseSome judge themselves by the lives of those who are worse as the Pharisee did .
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C Lying Leads To Loss Of Respect And Confidence
Who can trust someone who is known to tell lies?
Psalm 40:4 – Those who love God do not respect those who turn aside to lies. People want friends they can trust and rely on. If you want good people to respect and trust you, don’t lie.
Psalms 101:7 – He who works deceit shall not dwell within my house He who tells lies shall not continue in my presence. Good people cannot afford to continue to associate with liars, and surely cannot tolerate it in their own homes.
Jeremiah 9:4,5 – People could not trust even their own brother because they would lie and deceive. A liar is not trustworthy. You never know when he’s lying.
Young people need to learn this lesson early. If you lie to your parents about where you go or what you do, it ruins your relationship. Some complain, “Why don’t you trust me?” “I only told one lie.” That’s all it takes to destroy trust. After that they never know when we are lying.
Have you ruined other people’s trust in you by telling lies?
Analysis Of The Assault Our Children Are Facing
The god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ who is the image of God.
Notice what we are being told here: There is a particular work of Satan, referred to as the god of this world in the verse, to bring blindness to human minds.
Satan is always doing this, and the reason hes doing it is that the good news of the glory of Christ is like a bright light. Jesus says, I am the light of the world and Satan has to pull every trick in the book to keep people from seeing his glory. How does he do this?
Jesus says, Satan is a liar and the father of lies . All lies ultimately have their origin in him. Lies are his strategy for blinding the minds of each generation to the glory of Christ. The lies take different forms in each generation, but the overarching strategies have been essentially the same since the Garden of Eden.
Psalm 12 points to three brands of deception, all of which Satan uses to keep people from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ. The three varieties of deception are: Vanity, flattery, and blasphemy.
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B Fill Your Heart With Truth
Matthew 12:34,35 – For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things. We speak according to what is in our hearts, so we need to harbor only truth in our hearts.
Philippians 4:8 – Finally, brethren, whatever things are true … meditate on these things.
Psalms 15:2 – The one who abides in God’s tabernacle is he who speaks the truth in his heart. In order to speak truth with our mouths, we must speak truth in our hearts.
Psalms 51:6 – You desire truth in the inward parts, And in the hidden partYou will make me to know wisdom.
To be speakers of truth, we must fill our hearts with truth, especially with God’s word.
If The Most Dangerous Form Of Deception Is Self
We do not want people to be always questioning the reality of Gods grace when it is really there. We want the freeness and fulness of the grace of the gospel to be embraced and enjoyed. But there is also the real danger of a reckless false assurance. Some think that they can make a profession with their mouth while their lives are professing something very different. Others take comfort from all their activity in the life of the Church or how much they know. Surely this means they are the real thing?
We need to address this urgent question. God knows their/my heart is too easy a reflex response to avoiding seriously searching questions. Are we blurring the distinction between a real and an empty profession? Andrew Gray sounds a warning note from Galatians 6:3 in this updated extract.
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To Avoid Spiritual Deception Develop Discernment By Abiding In The Spirit
John has three purposes in verse 27: to explain, to comfort, and to warn the flock . He explains that the reason they have remained in the truth is not due to anything in them, but rather it is due to Gods gracious gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit. Thus they should ascribe all glory to Him and not boast in their own intellect or grasp of doctrine. John also wrote to comfort them in the face of many of their friends leaving the church for this new, heretical teaching. He tells them that the anointing they had received would abide with them and teach them all things, so that they would not fall into these errors. John also wanted to warn them to continue in vigilance. Comfort should never cause us to let down our guard.
We must interpret verse 27 in its context and in light of the entire New Testament. John is not saying that the church does not need godly teachers to instruct the flock. If that were his meaning, he would invalidate this entire letter, which contains a lot of teaching! He would also contradict the apostle Paul, who taught that God gives gifted teachers to the church to help believers grow to maturity .
Two applications:
The Spirit always works in conjunction with the Word.
The Spirit abides in you, but you also must abide in the Spirit.
What Is A Deceiving Person
Adding a share to a list that is deceitful. What kind of stories do you like to tell?? Then you are deceitful someone who is dishonest, twofaced, or untrustworthy. A person who is called deceitful is not a compliment: deceitful words are misleading and deceitful people tend to lie or deceive others.
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Danger Of Being Deceived By Men: Deception Of End Times
And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ and shall deceive many. Matthew 24:3-5
In Matthew 24, Jesus responded to the questions that the disciples asked of Him pertaining to what would be the sign of his coming and the end of the world with a warning that deception would be prevalent in the earth, especially religious deception. His words warned us of the danger of being deceived by men. This being the case, we need to understand what to look for and also we should be aware of how we can be deceived.
Jesus told us to be on guard and to be careful so that no man would deceive us and he tells us that much of the deception would come from people who would be using His name and even some people would be so deceived they would literally claim to be Christ, Himself. Jesus, said deception would come from two sources:
Matthew 7:20:Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. What are these fruits?
Copyright 2013 Christ Unlimited Ministries
Fake Signs Of The End Times
Naturally, the dragon takes advantage of this curiosity. A great many articles offered by apostate writers go by the title of End Times Signs or something similarly worded.
Those articles offer the reader not Biblical truths, but the same-old same-old manufactured signs from the Modern American Prophecy Industry
One such article, after claiming to reveal five signs of the end times, offered forest fires and bird flu and starving sea lions
One popular sign popular in the churches: the great falling away. The apostate churches claim that falling church attendance is evidence of 2 Thessalonians 2:3.
Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition
Set aside the fact that falling church attendance may be nothing more than people seeing the apostate churches for what they really are: Satans own little network of bored-certified, certificate-wielding, gospel-abhoring, antichrist Christian counterfeits.
The word translated as falling away is apostasia. Mass media concordances NOW show that this word means apostasy, defection or revolt.
But apostasia carries heavy overtones of revolt. In fact, many standard dictionaries will reveal that the meaning of the Greek word, apostasia, IS revolt.
Middle English apostasie, from Late Latin apostasia, from Greek, literally, revolt, from aphistasthai to revolt
As stated, it will all LOOK like Christianity.
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