It is very easy for Christians who consider themselves “Defenders of the Faith” to identify falsehood outside of Christianity. World religions, cults, psychology, science, corruption, and even “professing” Christian movements such as Mormonism, Jehovah Witnesses, Seventh-Day Adventist, and Catholicism, etc. is usually first on their list to dissect and discern. But the one thing we fail to realize is Satan is not interested in those outside of Christianity he wants to destroy those “inside”…this is why Paul said to the church of Corinth: “For what have I to do with judging outsiders?… But those who are outside, God judges.” (1 Corinthians 5:12,13)
Satan’s primary objective is to destroy the souls of everyone sitting in the pews as well as those behind the pulpits. He wants to rob all of us from our eternal salvation and will use any means to do so, even if it means manipulating and distorting the Word of God through the very people we trust to teach us; the Christian friends we have; the people we support; and the books we read.
Some may think this “Christian Paranoia” towards other professing Christians is not the trusting spirit Christians should have, that in order to love everyone we must trust what they say, what they do, and support who they support. Oh how we are deceived and how our ears grown used to being tickled by Satan’s lies!
Have we forgotten the words of John who said: “Little children, make sure no one deceives you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous; the one who practices sin (or falsehood) is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning.” (1 John 3:7,8)? Did Paul’s instruction to: “Examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good, abstain from all evil” (1 Thess. 5:21-22) depart from our memories? And have we truly grown dull from hearing Jesus’ own prophetic warnings of the End of the Age when He declared: “Take heed that no one DECEIVES YOU For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and WILL DECEIVE MANY” (Matt. 24:4) !?!
Although the duty of our Pastor and Overseer is to feed us the infallible uncompromising Word of God, being deceived is not a fault that lies entirely with them, for we too are equally at fault when we refuse to search the scriptures ourselves. When Paul said to young Timothy: “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (1 Timothy 2:15) was this meant for Timothy alone? Far from it, rather it is a solemn instruction for everyone who follows Christ.
John Charles Ryle [1816-1900] summed it up best when he said:
What is the best safe-guard against false teaching? Beyond all doubt the regular study of the word of God, with prayer for the teaching of the Holy Spirit. The Bible was given to be a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. (Psalm. 119:105.) The man who reads it aright will never be allowed greatly to err. It is neglect of the Bible which makes so many a prey to the first false teacher whom they hear. They would have us believe that “they are not learned, and do not pretend to have decided opinions.” The plain truth is that they are lazy and idle about reading the Bible, and do not like the trouble of thinking for themselves. Nothing supplies false prophets with followers so much as spiritual sloth under a cloak of humility.
Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Matthew, [Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1986], 68, 69.
Looking for falsehood outside of our Church doors is sort of like saying, let me walk into a bar and find a drunkard, cruise the seedy streets to find a prostitute, or let me walk into a drug lab and find a drug user. It doesn’t take much skill to detect sin and falsehood in a world of sinners and charlatans, however it takes diligent study of God’s word to identify falsehood within the church. This is why Paul said: “…Do you not judge those who are within the church?…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” (see: 1 Cor. 5:9-13, Matt 18: 15-18)
Remember we don’t have to be mean-spirited or extremely debatable about discerning our brethren, for if we truly study God’s word we’ll find that to Restore and Correct has always been done in the Spirit of Gentleness and Kindness (cf: Galatians 6:1, 2 Timothy 2:25) However, if they refuse to listen and reason through the scriptures and continue to teach and support falsehood that is when Satan has become victorious over their souls, and if they are not removed from the pulpit then you should remove yourself from that assembly. As Paul reminds us: “…withdraw from all appearance of evil.” (1 Thess 5:22)
Think About It.
In Christ,
Marc
1 Thess. 5:21 