Church: Beware of teaching of demons! (1)

Ref: (1 TIM 4 v 1): Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; (2 PET 2 v 1-3): But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not. (ROM 16 v 17): Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them. (2 JN 9-11): Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds. It is very important to emphasise that the biggest threat to the church today is the subject of false teachers and their teaching. It is so alarmingly true that the Bible even confirm that they will succeed in deceiving the elects! The purpose of this post is to reach out to three classes of people in the light of JUDE 22 v 23 because of compassion and the love of Christ. Sincere doubters, who are Christians but weak in their faith and are easily swayed by false teachings. Lazy Christians, who find it difficult to search the scriptures for themselves like the Barean Christians. Defiled and impenitent sinning believers who have developed itching ears. The poisonous teachings of these false teachers are polluting the spirit of the naïve and the gullible. It is my duty and yours as custodians of the true gospel to expose these false teaching and the false teachers. Gnosticism is here again This is one of the philosophies that troubled the early church. It is here again. The word Gnostic is a Greek word which means knowledge and it is a belief system that promotes the idea of a secret knowledge reserved for insiders! This belief is not far from the belief of the illuminati – cult, a group who claim that they have received special religious or spiritual enlightenment. They boast of so many presidents and celebrities in their membership. Gnostics claim that they have special knowledge that undercut the good news of Jesus. Gnostic gives their members license to sin by emphasising a spirituality that diminishes the importance of what we do with our bodies. Gnostic sees Christ more as an angel than a member of the God Head. One of the famous books of the Gnostic is the Da Vinci code. Features of their false teachings When you discern the teachings of these false teachers in the light of scriptures and with the help of the Holy Spirit you we discover the following: • Their teaching will always promote rebellion against the commandments of God, either directly or indirectly. • The teachings of the false prophets are mostly a combination of half-truth and half lies which equals error, or at other times, it is simply half-truth, of course you know that all these is error. Ab initio, their teachings are always clothed in deception; their intention is to mislead you. • When a false teacher opens his or her mouth to teach, know it that the teaching is meant to satisfy the cravings of the flesh and lustful desires. • When they preach and teach, they seek to turn the grace of God into lewdness. See JUDE 4: “For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.” • Don’t be deceived, whenever the false teachers begin to teach, the underlining reason is to fleece the sheep or violate the sheep. The teaching are full of irreverent babbles and contradictions see 2 TIM 2 v 16: But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness. • They always claim to have special revelations that have no sound scriptural backings, yet they attempt to force down their philosophies into the throat of those who are gullible and lazy to search scriptures for themselves. Please note that, there is no special revelation or knowledge that has superiority over the pure wisdom of God which is the Bible. • Their false teachings are full of terrible spiritual poisons meant to contaminate your spirit and dawn your souls in hell fire. In their numerous teachings check out what they tell you and begin to judge it in the light of God’s word. What they tell you • They tell you that they are the Christ but see MATT 24 v 4-5: “And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceives you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.” • They tell you “Once saved forever saved” but the Bible says a different thing. REV 3 v 16-18: “So then, because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. To be continued next Sunday