Emerging Deceptions.
Matt S, June 2017, Part 1.
Of late I have been concerned about some ideas, ideologies, theologies that have been quietly creeping into the Christian “mindset”. I know that I’m not alone in this, as I have heard a few of my Christian friends express similar concerns. Just odd little things really, not entirely noticeable. A little scattering of sayings or new ideas here and there. Do you ever get that situation where someone says something and you get a little check in your thinking, or in your spirit?
You might be chatting to someone at Church or you read a Christian commentary/article, or you see something written in a comments section online. You might hear something from the pulpit in a sermon, and it seems to sound a little off, or watch a movie that is supposedly Christian, and it just seems to be lacking in something, or just not right. Maybe it’s hard to put your finger on it exactly because it has liberal sprinklings of good theology around it.
You might be thinking that there have always been odd ideas/heresies, perversions of Biblical truth, and you would be right. Jesus, Paul, Peter and James all warned about watching for false teaching, quite a bit actually. It’s no wonder we have to watch out for crazy false ideas, when you have a psychotic fallen angel that excels in deception, running amok out there.
What concerns me with these ideas that are quietly creeping in, is that they seem to be coming from folk who “should know better”.
So what do you mean by “folk who should know better” Matt?
Well it’s like this. I’m trying hard not to sound critical or condemning here. Why? Because I have been there. I was raised in a Church where there are plenty of heretical ideas that needed to be stripped away from me when I came out of it (and sometimes that is a painful thing). Sometimes we pick up falsehoods unwittingly, we fail to examine an idea or theology closely to see if it matches with “THE WORD OF GOD”, and those things can be such small things. A little poison mixed with a lot of truth.
A small amount of poison (concentrated and toxic) mixed in with a whole lot of good and healthy stuff is disguised by the good and healthy stuff, so you don’t notice it. People in days gone by, (prior to being able to lab test for heavy metals) could murder someone by slipping small amounts of arsenic into food or drink and the person would eventually die from what appeared to be natural causes. Cyanide will kill pretty much instantly. Small amounts of concentrated highly radioactive materials injected into the body will quickly do damage and then gradually kill the person. So enough of the poisoning talk!! I think you get my point. One rotten apple in a barrel so to speak?
So where am I going with all this?
If you are a regular visitor to “Aminutetomidnite”, it is likely you will have some appreciation that we are in some part of the “end of this age”, or “end days, end times” described in Matthew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21. A hallmark of these times is deception, heresy, doctrines of demons and a great apostasy or falling away. To put it plainly it would seem that a whole bunch of people are going to be deceived in this time, and some people, maybe even God’s finest folk (the very elect) could be deceived also Matthew 24:24. So how is it that knowing what time we are in, and knowing that Jesus warns us about being deceived in this time, so many Christians just don’t have a clue?!! We should be having our heresy/false teaching radars on full power and going 24/7. Why? Because Jesus says so, Matthew 24:4.
I believe one of the reasons Christians aren’t seeing this stuff is because “they don’t read their Bibles”. So how do you know heresy or false doctrine when you come across it? By knowing and handling the truth! In other words “read your bible often”. If you are regularly handling the “TRUTH” in the form of God’s word to us, you will learn to spot the deception.
In this day and age of the internet and multiple forms of media, Christians seem to be content to have others do all the spiritual work for them. Don’t get me wrong, I believe the internet and multiple forms of media are very useful for Christians. Here I am using one…. BUT!! there is the danger that we will allow others to do our thinking for us. That we will become complacent and honour men rather than God. I often hear from people “so and so says this, and so and so says that”. I don’t hear them saying whether it lines up with God’s word or not.
I am now beginning to sense the presence of several fairly large 900lb gorillas in the room. Gorillas that people don’t want to talk about. Won’t talk about!! Just in case it offends someone. Those gorillas could potentially end up costing many people their salvation, because they chose to listen to a man, and not God.
In the weeks and months to come I am going to write a series of articles that will be expose some of these ideologies, false gospels, heresies. They will not be long academic studies, they will be mostly shortish articles that I hope will be thought provoking, and most of all get you thinking and doing your own study and research. I hope that you will learn to read your bible regularly in order to spot the deception.
What is disturbing, is reading 2 Thessalonians 2. There is going to be an apostasy or great falling away from the faith. In short, a lawless one will come with lying signs and wonders and will deceive many. Things will get so bad God will send a delusion so strong that people will be compelled to believe the lies. I would not want to be in that camp!!
Until next time, God bless you and protect you and keep you safe.
Here is my gmail address, if anyone has a question or a comment they can send it to me. I am not on Face Book; I struggle to keep up with emails at times as I work full time. If you do send me an email I will do my best to respond to you however it may not be quick response. My gmail address is as follows; mattsamtm@gmail.com