| SPIRIT, ACCORDING
TO SCRIPTURE
Section
6 - Metaphysical Beings ( II )
The Adversary
The chief opponent of God
and mankind is a metaphysical being who is introduced to us at the beginning
of Scripture as "the serpent". He is a very powerful being among the celestials.
Jude 9,10
Now when Michael, the chief messenger, doubting the Adversary,
argued concerning the body
of Moses, he dares not bring on a calumniating judging,
but said, "May the Lord
rebuke you!'
His strategy lies in deception,
subtle or bold as it may need to be. The very first temptation faced by
humanity was engineered in the garden in Eden when this chief of adversaries
successfully enticed Eve and Adam to disobey God:
Gen.3:1-5
And the serpent comes to be the craftiest of all field life
which was made by Yahweh
Elohim. And saying is the serpent to the woman,
"Indeed! Then the Elohim
says, 'Not eat shall you from any tree of the garden'?"
And saying is the woman
to the serpent,
"From the fruit of the trees
of the garden we are eating,
yet from the fruit of the
tree which is in the midst of the garden, the Elohim says,
`Not eat of it shall you,
and not touch it shall you, lest you be dying.'"
And saying is the serpent
to the woman, "Not to die shall you be dying,
for the Elohim knows that,
in the day you eat of it, unclosed shall be your eyes,
and you become as the Elohim,
knowing good and evil."
Gen.3:13-15
And saying is Yahweh Elohim to the woman, "What is this you do?"
And saying is the woman,
"The serpent lured me and I am eating."
And saying is Yahweh Elohim
to the serpent,
"As you do this, most cursed
are you of every beast, and of all field life.
On your torso shall you
go, and soil shall you eat all the days of your lives.
"And enmity am I setting
between you and the woman,
and between your seed and
her seed. He shall hurt your head and you shall hurt his heel."
2Cor.11:3 Yet
I fear lest somehow, as the serpent deludes Eve by its craftiness,
your
apprehensions should be
corrupted from the singleness and pureness which is in Christ.
This cunning foe is known by
other names as well, names that show his character and attitude.
Rev.12:9
And the great dragon was cast out,
the ancient serpent
called Adversary and Satan,…
His deception is two-pronged.
In the first, he has made some believe that he does not even exist, that
he is the figment of the imagination of ‘religious’ circles. With this
method he can carry out his strategies unsuspected and undetected.
In the second, he has deceived
the world into accepting that he had been ‘the highest among the angels’,
and a messenger of light - even inveigling the name Lucifer, meaning
‘Bringer of Light’, into some (erroneous) translations of a passage of
Scripture (viz. Isa,14:12 KJV, Duoay, etc). In his 'fall from glory',
however, he is expected to be ugly and repulsive, with goat-horns, spear-tipped
tail, scaly skin, bat-like wings, etc. This is the picture of the master-deceiver
that Christianity has accepted and propagates to this very day.
Scripture, however, paints
an entirely different picture.
2Cor.11:13-15
For such are false apostles, fraudulent workers,
being transfigured into
apostles of Christ. And no marvel,
for Satan himself is being
transfigured
into a messenger of light.
It is no great thing, then,
if his servants also are being transfigured
as dispensers of righteousness--whose
consummation shall be according to their acts.
So, Satan has succeeded exceedingly
well in this camouflage. And his servants, whether they realise that they
are his servants or not, participate in this same subterfuge. And believers,
not making themselves aware of this devious strategy through Scripture,
have been taken for a ride, and a spiritually costly one at that (1Cor.3:10-15).
To combat such anticipated
tactics of Satan, Scripture urges us to verify what we hear being preached,
that it is the word of God correctly used (2Tim.2:15; 3:14,15) as
did the Bereans (Act.17:10-12). In this perilous era, we must respect Scripture
as the written word of God and to increasingly appreciate an accurate,
consistent and concordant translation which dutifully transmits God’s message
to us.
Christ Jesus, our Lord Himself,
referred to the written word, relevant to the case and properly applied,
when being confronted by Satan’s insidious tactics of misapplication (Mt.4:4,7,10).
John’s selection of incidents in Christ’s life on earth was written ‘that
you should be believing that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God’ (Jn.20:31).
We know for sure that Israel cannot believe for now - for it is
written that God gives them a spirit of stupor to this very day
(Rom.11:8). Paul’s writings abound with ‘according as it is written’ as
verification and basis for his statements.
The world has become convinced,
by Satan, that God cannot bear the sight of him and that he has already
been banished from heaven. We are supposed to believe that he is now consigned
to the fiery furnaces of an existing (fictitious) hell from which there
is no escape or reprieve, while at the same time (?) creating evil on the
earth among humans.
Scripture, in the book of
Job, reveals an entirely different situation. The Adversary appears to
present himself before God at certain intervals - and God even initiates
a
conversation with him!
Job.1:6-12
There was a day when the sons of Elohim would come
to station themselves before
Yahweh, and the Adversary came also in their midst.
Yahweh said to the Adversary,
From where are you coming?
Then the Adversary answered
Yahweh and said,
From going to and fro in
the earth and fromwalking about in it….
Hence Yahweh said to the
Adversary, Behold, all that he has is in your hand,
but you must not put forth
your hand upon himself.
Then the Adversary went
forth from Yahweh's presence.
Job.2:1-7 The
day came around again when the sons of Elohim came to station themselves
before Yahweh, and the Adversary came also in their midst
to station himself before
Yahweh. Yahweh said to the Adversary,
From where are you coming?
Then the Adversary answered Yahweh, saying,
From going to and fro in
the earth and from walking about in it….
Hence Yahweh said to the
Adversary, Behold him in your hand; only keep his soul alive.
Then the Adversary went
forth from Yahweh's presence, and he smote Job with….
The book of Revelation, recording
and describing events in the still future Day of the Lord (see Rev.1:10),
shows that the Adversary’s ejection out of heaven is still to come
and that that event will trigger his terrible fury during the great Tribulation.
Rev.12:7-17
And a battle occurred in heaven. Michael and his messengers
battle with the dragon,
and the dragon battles, and its messengers.
And they are not strong
enough for him, neither was their place still found in heaven.
And the great dragon was
cast
out, the ancient serpent called Adversary and Satan,
who is deceiving the whole
inhabited earth. It was cast into the earth,
and its messengers were
cast with it.
And I hear a loud voice
in heaven saying,
"Just now came the
salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God,
and the authority of His
Christ, for the accuser of our brethren was cast out,
who was accusing them before
our God day and night.
Therefore, make merry, ye
heavens, and those tabernacling in them!
Woe to the land and the
sea, for the Adversary descended to you having great fury,
being aware that brief
is the season that he has."
And when the dragon perceived
that it was cast into the earth,
it persecutes the woman
who brought forth the male.
And given to the woman were
the two wings of a large vulture,
that she may be flying into
the wilderness into her place,
there where she is nourished
a season, and seasons, and half a season,
from the face of the serpent.
And the serpent casts water as a river out of its mouth
after the woman, that she
should be carried away by its current
And the earth helps the
woman, and the earth opens its mouth and swallowed the river
which the dragon casts out
of its mouth. And the dragon is angry with the woman,
and came away to do battle
with the rest of her seed,
who are keeping the precepts
of God and who have the testimony of Jesus.
At this juncture, powerful and
influential spirits will convince the various nations to muster their armies
at Armageddon for battle against the returned Christ.
Rev.16:12-16
…I perceived, out of the mouth of the dragon,
and out of the mouth of
the wildbeast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet,
three unclean spirits, as
if frogs (for they are spirits of demons, doing signs),
which are going out to the
kings of the whole inhabited earth,
to be mobilising them
for the battle of the great day of God Almighty.
…And they mobilised them
at the place called, in Hebrew, "Armageddon."
At the end of the Tribulation,
after Christ has come down and defeated the forces of the wild beast and
the false prophet (Rev.19:11-21) Satan is laid hold of and imprisoned -
not in a fiery hell, but in the submerged chaos, or abyss, or bottomless
pit.
Rev.20:1-3
And I perceived a messenger descending out of heaven,
having the key of the submerged
chaos and a large chain in his hand.
And he lays hold of the
dragon, the ancient serpent, who is the Adversary and Satan,
and binds him a thousand
years.
And he casts him into the
submerged chaos and locks it, and seals it over him
(lest he should still be
deceiving the nations) until the thousand years should be finished.
After these things he must
be loosed a little time.
It is interesting to note here
that though Satan is to be bound for a thousand years, he must be let loose
for a little time. It is not that he escapes. He is let loose!
Satan is to do what God wants him to do! Satan was created a liar and a
deceiver, and he acts true to form at every opportunity that comes his
way. It is only after Satan completes this final deception that he will
be cast into the lake of fire.
Rev.20:7-10
…whenever the thousand years should be finished,
Satan will be loosed out
of his jail.
And he will be coming out
to deceive all the nations
which are in the four corners
of the earth, Gog and Magog,
to be mobilizing them for
battle, their number being as the sand of the sea.
And they went up over the
breadth of the earth,
and surround the citadel
of the saints and the beloved city.
And fire descended from
God out of heaven and devoured them.
And the Adversary who is
deceiving them was cast into the lake of fire and sulphur,…
This prepares the setting for
the Great White Throne judgement (Rev.20:12-15) and for the creation of
the glorious new heavens and new earth (Rev.21)!
Because God wanted Job to
have a deeper and clearer understanding of Him, He set Satan onto him to
give him the experience of evils through very rigorous trials that would
eventually enhance his appreciation of God’s graciousness (Job.42:1-6,12)!
Of course, the Adversary failed in his endeavours to cause Job to turn
against God. But God did not fail to work everything out to His ends and
purposes (Rom.8:28)!
God used Satan to afflict
Paul with a disability to keep him humble and to develop in him a reliance
on God’s power rather than on his own efforts. As always, the results were
highly successful. There was happiness and enjoyment for Paul in the realisation
of God’s operations!
2Cor.12:7-10
Wherefore also, lest I should be lifted up by the transcendence
of the revelations, there was given to me a splinter in the flesh, a messenger
of Satan,
that he may be buffeting
me, lest I may be lifted up.
For this I entreat the Lord
thrice, that it should withdraw from me.
And He has protested to
me,
"Sufficient for you is My
grace, for My power in infirmity is being perfected."
With the greatest relish,
then, will I rather be glorying in my infirmities,
that the power of Christ
should be tabernacling over me.
Wherefore I delight in infirmities,
in outrages, in necessities, in persecutions,
in distresses, for Christ's
sake, for, whenever I may be weak, then I am powerful.
Satan was, and is, merely a
tool in His hands! A tool designed and created for a specific purpose by
God! He can do no more and no less than what God intends!
We must keep this fact before
us always. Satan is limited; God is not!
Satan can submit his claims
on people; God can summarily reject them (Lk.22:31,32). After his assaults
on Job, which were obviously God-initiated, the Adversary does not come
into the picture again in the account except in allusions to his creation
by God (as the fugitive serpent Job.26:13. He is identified as the dragon,
the fugitive serpent and the tortuous serpent in Isa.27:1).
God works out all things
for His Own ends and these goals always result in blessings for all concerned
at the proper time. Trials, suffering and discomfort are used by God to
teach
His people to rely on Him in all things.
Scripture states that Jesus
was led by the spirit into the wilderness to be tried by the Adversary.
It was an appointment to be kept! And when the ‘encounter’ was over, Satan
had to leave Jesus alone until an appointed time!
Lk.4:13 And, concluding every trial, the Adversary withdrew
from Him until an appointed time.
Not only did he attempt to
side-track Jesus from His mission, he laid claim on the apostles (Lk.22:31-34),
and he even entered into Judas to force the betrayal and crucifixion of
Christ (Lk.22:2-5). Little did he realise that, in so doing, he was actually
carrying out God’s intention and preparing the way for his own ultimate
defeat (Mt.26:54; Act.2:23; Col.1:20).
It is only when God’s purpose
for creating him is fulfilled that Satan will be kept out of circulation
in the lake of fire and brimstone. Though he may suffer the terrible frustration
of seeing all his works and schemes come to naught, he cannot suffer from
the fire - a spirit does not have the faculties (flesh and blood) to experience
physical pain. Paul speaks of a re-thinking and spiritual anguish and a
stimulated conscience as ‘embers of fire’ (Rom.12:20). This may be the
type of suffering Satan will experience.
Meanwhile, Satan has been
able to successfully foist on an unenlightened world that he became a sinner
by his own choice, of his very own free will, through allowing pride
to creep into his make up, outside of God’s deliberate design and intention,
and that God will not, and is not able to, remedy this alleged oversight
in the creation of him. He insinuates that there is a flaw in God’s design
and its implementation. But Scripture throws down the gauntlet and calls
his lie; calls him a liar to his face! It reveals that the Adversary is
a
sinner from the beginning, created a sinner by God, and that
the Son of God will annul his acts.
1Jn.3:8
…from the beginning is the Adversary sinning….
Jn.8:44 …the
Adversary,…He was a man-killer from the beginning,
and does not stand in the
truth, for truth is not in him.
Whenever he may be speaking
a lie, he is speaking of his own,
for he is a liar, and the
father of it.
2Cor.4:3,4 Now,
if our evangel is covered, also, it is covered in those who are perishing,
in whom the god of this
eon blinds the apprehensions of the unbelieving so that the illumination
of the evangel of the glory of Christ, Who is the Image of the invisible
God, does not irradiate them.
The whole world is under
Satan
After His baptism by John,
Jesus was led into the wilderness where He underwent trials by the Adversary
for forty days. In one of the culminating trials (subsequent to those of
the forty days - Lk.4:1-13), the Adversary claimed that he has been given
authority and glory over all the kingdoms of the world and that he has
the power to bestow that authority on whoever he chooses. It is interesting
to note that Jesus does not dispute this point at all. Scripture shows
that the Adversary will exercise this very authority to empower the ‘wild
beast’ during the Tribulation (Rev.13:4). It is a scriptural fact that
Satan is even NOW operating his devious schemes on an unsuspecting and
captive world.
Lk.4:5-8 And, leading Him up into a high mountain,
the Adversary shows Him all the kingdoms of the inhabited earth in a second
of time.
And the Adversary said to Him, "To you shall I be giving all this authority
and the glory of them, for it has been given up to me,
and to whomsoever I may will, I am giving it.
If you, then, should ever be worshiping before me, it will all be yours."
And answering, Jesus said to Him, "Go away behind Me, Satan!
It is written, The Lord your God shall you be worshiping,
and to Him only shall you be offering divine service."
Eph.2:2,3 in which once you walked, in accord with the eon
of this world,
in accord with the chief of the jurisdiction of the air,
the spirit now operating in the sons of stubbornness
(among whom we also all behaved ourselves once in the lusts of our flesh,
doing the will of the flesh and of the comprehension,
and were, in our nature, children of indignation, even as the rest),
1Jn.5:19
We are aware that we are of God,
and the whole world
is lying in the wicked one.
As members of the body of Christ,
we are told who our chief enemy is and the type of opposition we must face
in our warfare. Knowing our enemy and the tactics he employs against us
should prepare us for his assaults. Scripture identifies the powerful unseen
forces that are arrayed against us.
Eph.6:10-12
For the rest, brethren mine,
be invigorated in the Lord
and in the might of His strength. Put on the panoply of God,
to enable you to stand up
to the stratagems of the Adversary,
for it is not ours to wrestle
with blood and flesh, but
with the sovereignties,
with the authorities,
with the world-mights
of this darkness,
with the spiritual forces
of wickedness among the celestials.
While believers may be quite
complacent about their spiritual development and may be blithely unaware
of the real situation, the Adversary is very alert and busy.
1Pet.5:8 Be sober! Watch! For your plaintiff, the Adversary,
is walking about as a roaring lion, seeking someone to swallow up;
Satan respects no one, and
will use anyone he can, to interfere with God’s operation. He entered into
Judas to effect full control. He will give full authority to the ‘wild
beast’ to empower him for world dominion. He instigated Ananias and Sapphira
to embezzle and lie to the spirit.
Jn.13:25-27 That one, then, leaning back thus on the chest
of Jesus, is saying to Him,
"Lord, who is it?" Jesus, then, is answering and saying,
"He it is to whom I, dipping in the morsel, shall be handing it."
Dipping in the morsel, then, He is taking it and giving it to Judas, son
of Simon Iscariot.
And after the morsel, then, Satan entered into that man.
Jesus, then, is saying to him, "What you are doing, do more quickly."
Lk.22:2-6 ...the chief priests and the scribes sought how
they may be assassinating Him,
for they feared the people.
Yet Satan entered into Judas, called Iscariot, being of the number
of the twelve.
And, coming away, he confers with the chief priests and officers
how he may be giving Him up to them.
And they rejoiced, and they agreed to give him silver.
And he acquiesces, and sought an opportunity to give Him up to them minus
a throng.
Rev.13:2-4 And the wild beast which I perceived was like
a leopardess,
and its feet were as a bear's, and its mouth as the mouth of a lion.
And the dragon gives it its power and its throne and great authority.
And I perceived one of its heads as if it had been slain to death,
and its death blow was cured, and the whole earth marvels after the wild
beast.
And they worship the dragon, seeing that it gives authority to the wild
beast.
And they worship the wild beast, saying, "Who is like the wild beast?"
and "Who is able to battle with it?"
2Thes.2:1-12 And now you are aware what is detaining,
for him to be unveiled in his own era. For the secret of lawlessness is
already operating.
Only when the present detainer may be coming to be out of the midst,
then will be unveiled the lawless one (whom the Lord Jesus
will despatch with the spirit of His mouth and will discard by the advent
of His presence),
whose presence is in accord with the operation of Satan, with all
power and signs
and false miracles and with every seduction of injustice among those who
are perishing,
because they do not receive the love of the truth for their salvation.
And therefore God will be sending them an operation of deception, for them
to believe the
falsehood, that all may be judged who do not believe the truth, but delight
in injustice.
Act.5:3,4 Now Peter said, "Ananias, wherefore does Satan
fill your heart
for you to falsify to the holy spirit and to embezzle from the price of
the freehold?
Did it not, while remaining, remain yours? And, being disposed of,
it belonged to you by right. Why is it that you placed this matter in your
heart?
You do not lie to men, but to God."
He will make use of any weakness,
of any flaw in our defence, to strike at us and disrupt our continued development.
2Cor.2:11 lest we may be overreached by Satan,
for we are not ignorant of the things he apprehends.
Eph.4:26,27 Are you indignant, and not sinning?
Do not let the sun be sinking on your vexation, nor yet be giving place
to the Adversary.
1Cor.7:4,5 The wife has not the jurisdiction of her own body,
but the husband,
yet likewise the husband also has not the jurisdiction of his own body,
but the wife.
Do not deprive one another, except sometime it should be by agreement for
a period,
that you should have leisure for prayer, and you may be the same again,
lest Satan may be trying you because of your incontinence.
1Tim.3:1-7 The supervisor, then, must be… no novice,
lest, being conceited, he should be falling into the judgment of the
Adversary.
Yet he must have an ideal testimony also from those outside,
that he should not be falling into the reproach and trap of the Adversary.
Whenever he is able to, Satan
hinders the work of believers - especially in the propagation of the evangel,
God's good news.
1Thes.2:18 we want to come to you, indeed, I, Paul, once--even
twice--
and Satan hinders us.
Satan will attack us in any
way he can. He distracts us from our continued spiritual growth when he
succeeds in enticing us to dissipate our precious limited time and energy
in mundane pursuits and in areas of no spiritual consequence. But, above
all, his success lies in the distortion of truth. Whether the method is
blatant or subtle, it is the truth that is meant for us, members of the
body, that will be his target for destruction.
2Tim.4:3,4 For the era will be when they will not tolerate
sound teaching,
but, their hearing being tickled,
they will heap up for themselves teachers in accord with their own desires,
and, indeed, theywill be turning their hearing away from the truth,
yet will be turned aside to myths.
In this era which claims
an ‘explosion in information and knowledge’ and which inculcates an environment
of ‘personal improvement’ and ‘self-determination’, many are being side-tracked
from the truth. On the surface, such programmes and courses that are being
attractively offered and enticingly advertised, seem very good or, at least,
harmless to enterprising Christians. But the principles and tenets taught
at these high-sounding ‘seminars’ and ‘workshops’ are in contradiction
to Scripture. Attractively, it is proposed that people may be variously
categorised into two groups - those who lead and those who are led, or
those who make things happen and those who allow things to happen - and
that we should always be in the ‘driver’s seat’. But these are merely worldly
principles of 'one-up’manship.
Where in God’s word do we
find Him saying that we are ‘Architects of our own Future’, and ‘Captains
of our own Destiny’, that we must all be leaders and that we should choose
to move mainly with people who are ‘progressive’ and who are ‘achievers’?
We are disciples of God and of His Christ and we are to love and care for
one another. The word disciple describes someone who follows another
in order to learn - and not someone who does his own thing for his own
benefit, with scant regard for the well-being of others.
Little do these people, misled
through an appeal to their pride into thinking that they are ‘better’ than
their fellows, realise that they cannot truly improve themselves or correctly
determine things of spiritual consequence without the guidance of holy
spirit through Scripture (1Cor.2:14-16; Phil.1:9,10)!
Satan is an adept in his
strategy of infiltrating the ranks and fellowship of believers. He works
his deception among believers through false teachers who may not even know
that they are being made use of by Satan. Scripture tells us that they
have been snared by the Adversary and are inadvertently carrying out his
schemes.
1Jn.4:1-3 Beloved, do not believe every spirit,
but test the spirits to see if they are of God,
for many false prophets have come out into the world.
In this you know the spirit of God:
every spirit which is avowing Jesus Christ, having come in flesh, is of
God,
and every spirit which is not avowing Jesus the Lord having come in flesh
in not of God.
And this is that of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is
coming,
and is now already in the world.
2Cor.11:3,4 Yet I fear lest somehow, as the serpent deludes
Eve by its craftiness, your
apprehensions should be corrupted from the singleness and pureness which
is in Christ.
For if, indeed, he who is coming is heralding another Jesus whom
we do not herald,
or you are obtaining a different spirit, which you did not obtain,
or a different evangel, which you do not receive, you are bearing
with him ideally.
Mk.8:31-33 And He begins to teach them that the Son
of Mankind
must be suffering much and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests
and the scribes,
and be killed and after three days rise. And with boldness spoke
He the word.
And, taking Him to him, Peter begins to rebuke Him.
Now Jesus, being turned about and perceiving His disciples, rebukes Peter
and is saying,
"Go behind Me, satan! for you are not disposed to that which is
of God
but that which is of men." (see also Mt.16:22,23)
Lk.22:31,32 Now the Lord said,
"Simon, Simon, lo! Satan claims you men, to sift you as grain.
Yet I besought concerning you, that your faith may not be defaulting.
2Tim.2:25,26 with meekness training those who are antagonizing,……
into a realization of the truth, and they will be sobering up out of
the trap of the Adversary,
having been caught alive by him, for that one's will.
2Tim.3:6-9 These, also, shun. For of these are those
who are slipping into homes and are leading into captivity little women,
heaped with sins, being led by various lusts and gratifications,
always learning and yet not at any time able to come into a realization
of the truth.
Now, by the method by which Jannes and Jambres withstand Moses,
thus these also are withstanding the truth,
men of a depraved mind, disqualified as to the faith.
2Cor.11:13-15 For such are false apostles, fraudulent workers,
being transfigured into apostles of Christ. And no marvel,
for Satan himself is being transfigured into a messenger of light.
It is no great thing, then,
if his servants also are being transfigured as dispensers of righteousness
1Tim.4:1,2 Now the spirit is saying explicitly,
that in subsequent eras some will be withdrawing from the faith,
giving heed to deceiving spirits and the teachings of demons,
in the hypocrisy of false expressions, their own conscience having
been cauterised;
Act.20:29,30 Now I am aware that, after I am out of reach,
burdensome wolves will be entering among you, not sparing the flocklet.
And from among yourselves will arise men,
speaking perverse things to pull away disciples after themselves.
Jesus Christ forewarns His
followers about such a situation that will come about.
Mt.7:15 Take heed of those false prophets
who are coming to you in the apparel of sheep,
yet inside they are rapacious wolves.
Mt.7:21-23 "Not everyone saying to Me `Lord! Lord!'
will be entering into the kingdom of the heavens,
but he who is doing the will of My Father Who is in the heavens.
Many will be declaring to Me in that day, `Lord! Lord!
Was it not in Your name that we prophesy,
and in Your name cast out demons,
and in Your name do many powerful deeds?'
And then shall I be avowing to them that
`I never knew you! Depart from Me, workers of lawlessness!'
Mk.7:6-9 Yet He, answering, said to them that
"Ideally prophesies Isaiah concerning you hypocrites, as it is written,
that
This people with their lips is honoring Me,
Yet their heart is away at a distance from Me.
Yet in vain are they revering Me,
Teaching for teachings the directions of men….
And He said to them, "Ideally are you repudiating the precept of God,
that you should be keeping your tradition.
Peter warns those under his
responsibility of dangers from such false teachers, too.
2Pet.2:1-3 Yet there came to be false prophets also among
the people,
as among you also there will be false teachers
who will be smuggling in destructive sects, even
disowning the Owner Who buys them, bringing on themselves swift destruction.
And many will be following out their wantonness,
because of whom the glory of the truth will be calumniated,
and in greed, with suave words, they will traffic in you,
whose judgment of old is not idling, and their destruction is not nodding.
It is foretold that within
the body of believers there will be allowed to grow a complacency, a non-critical
approach, to truth. Error will be condoned and even encouraged in an environment
of novelty and self-gratification.
2Tim.4:3,4 For the era will be when they will not tolerate
sound teaching,
but, their hearing being tickled,
they will heap up for themselves teachers in accord with their own desires,
and, indeed, they will be turning their hearing away from the truth,
yet will be turned aside to myths.
Scripture warns us that in
‘subsequent eras’ (1Tim.4:1), in these perilous ‘last days’ (2Tim.3:1),
it is the majority of teachers that will be propagating error (2Cor.2:17).
Among these are those:
who peddle the word of God (2Cor.2:17)
whose god is their bowels - their well-being and comfort (Phil.3:19; Rom.16:18)
who use flattery and pretence for gain, to satisfy their greed (1Thes.2:5)
who prefer themselves and their own gratification rather than God (2Tim.3:4)
who are imposters teaching error for sordid gain (Tit.1:10,11)
who adulterate the word of God (2Cor.4:2)
who beguile believers with persuasive words (Col.2:4)
who, through compliments and adulation, are deluding the innocent (Rom.16:18)
who use philosophy and seduction in accord with human tradition (Col.2:8)
who seduce believers with empty words and meaningless catch phrases (Eph.5:6)
who distort the word of God (Gal.1:6-8)
who preach a different evangel from that taught by Paul for the body (2Cor.11:4)
who herald another Jesus, who may not fulfil his job of saving all (2Cor.11:4)
who teach deceptive demonic doctrines through un-scriptural terms (1Tim.4:1)
who use craftiness with a view to the systematising of the deception (Eph.4:14)
who twist the word of God (2Pet.3:15,16)
who, through their teaching, are enemies of the cross of Christ ((Phil.3:18)
who prefer their own prestige to persecution for the cross of Christ (Gal.6:12)
who exhibit a form of godliness, yet deny its power (2Tim.3:5)
How are we to distinguish
truth from all these false teachings? How are we to defend ourselves against
the Adversary’s spiritual onslaughts and counter his cunning tactics? God
does not leave us in the dark in this matter. Scripture outlines a battle-plan
which we will do well to adopt.
Eph.6:10,11 For the rest, brethren mine,
be invigorated in the Lord and in the might of His strength.
Put on the panoply of God,
to enable you to stand up to the stratagems of the Adversary,
Eph.6:13-17 Therefore take up the panoply of God
that you may be enabled to withstand in the wicked day, and having effected
all, to stand.
Stand, then, girded about your loins with truth,
with the cuirass of righteousness put on
and your feet sandaled with the readiness of the evangel of peace;
with all taking up the large shield of faith,
by which you will be able to extinguish all the fiery arrows of the wicked
one.
And receive the helmet of salvation
and the sword of the spirit, which is a declaration of God.
2Tim.3:16,17 All scripture is inspired by God, and is beneficial
for teaching,
for exposure,
for correction,
for discipline in righteousness,
that the man of God may be equipped, fitted out for every good act.
Heb.4:12 For the word of God is living and operative,
and keen above any two-edged sword,
and penetrating up to the parting of soul and spirit,…
2Tim.2:15 Endeavor to present yourself to God qualified,
an unashamed worker,
correctly cutting the word of truth.
Isa.28:10 For instruction is added to instruction, instruction
to instruction,
expectation to expectation, expectation to expectation,
a bit there, a bit there.
2Tim.1:13 Have a pattern of sound words, which you
hear from me,
2Tim.4:2 Herald the word.
Stand by it, opportunely, inopportunely,
expose, rebuke, entreat, with all patience and teaching.
Tit.1:9 upholding the faithful word according to
the teaching,
that he may be able to entreat with sound teaching
as well as to expose those who contradict
Tit,1:13,14,16 ….be exposing them severely, that they may
be sound in the faith,
not heeding Jewish myths and precepts of men who are turning from the truth….
They are avowing an acquaintance with God, yet by their acts are denying
it,
being abominable and stubborn, and disqualified for every good act.
Tit.2:1 Now you be speaking what is becoming
to sound teaching.
Tit.2:7,8 tendering yourself a model of ideal acts,
in teaching with uncorruptness, gravity, with words sound, uncensurable,
that the contrary one may be abashed, having nothing bad to say concerning
us.
1Tim.4:6 …. you should be an ideal servant of Christ Jesus,
fostering with the words of faith and of the ideal teaching which you have
fully followed.
2Tim.3:14,15 Now you be remaining in what you learned and verified,
being aware from whom you learned it,
and that from a babe you are acquainted with the sacred scriptures
which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in
Christ Jesus
1Tim.4:12-16 …become a model for the believers,
in word, in behavior, in love, in faith, in purity.
Till I come, give heed to reading, to entreaty, to teaching…. On these
things meditate. …
Attend to yourself and to the teaching. Be persisting in them,
for in doing this you will save yourself as well as those hearing you.
2Cor.10:3-5 For, walking in flesh, we are not warring according
to the flesh.
For the weapons of our warfare are not fleshly,
but powerful to God toward the pulling down of bulwarks;
pulling down reckonings
and every height elevating itself against the knowledge of God,
and leading into captivity every apprehension
into the obedience of Christ,…
Eph.4:12-14 … the upbuilding of the body of Christ,
unto the end that we should all attain to the unity of the faith
and of the realization of the son of God,
to a mature man,
to the measure of the stature of the complement of the Christ,
that we may by no means still be minors,
surging hither and thither and being carried about
by every wind of teaching,
by human caprice,
by craftiness with a view to the systematizing of the deception.
Victory over
Satan
Christ Jesus our Lord has
already defeated Satan, preferring an ignominious death in complete obedience
to His Father’s will, to accepting the Adversary’s enticing offer of glory
without the suffering.
Act.10:38 Jesus from Nazareth, as God anoints Him with holy
spirit and power,
Who passed through as a benefactor and healer
of all those who are tyrannized over by the Adversary, for God was with
Him.
Heb.2:14,15 that, through death, He should be discarding
him who has the might of death,
that is, the Adversary, and should be clearing those whoever,
in fear of death, were through their entire life liable to slavery.
1Cor.15:25,26 For He must be reigning
until He should be placing all His enemies under His feet.
The last enemy is being abolished: death.
Rom.8:21 that the creation itself, also, shall be freed from
the slavery of corruption
into the glorious freedom of the children of God.
1Jn.3:8 ….For this was the Son of God manifested,
that He should be annulling the acts of the Adversary.
A Glorious Destiny
Mankind, created in the image
and likeness of its Creator, is destined to represent Him in ruling the
rest of creation, both that in the heavens and that on the earth. It has
not been appointed that the earth should be given to spirits to rule over.
Rom.8:20,21 For to vanity was the creation subjected,
not voluntarily, but because of Him Who subjects it,
in expectation that the creation itself, also,
shall be freed from the slavery of corruption
into the glorious freedom of the children of God.
Heb.2:5-8 For not to messengers does He subject the impending
inhabited earth,
concerning which we are speaking……
Thou makest him some bit inferior to messengers,
With glory and honor Thou wreathest him,
Anddost place him over the works of Thy hands.
All dost Thou subject underneath his feet."
For in the subjection of all to him, He leaves nothing unsubject to him.
Yet now we are not as yet seeing all subject to him.
It is God Who assures us
through His word and guidance of holy spirit that we, the members of the
ecclesia which is the body of Christ, have a special destiny, a special
purpose for being, in His plan for creation. The heavens, so vast that
human efforts have not really begun to observe its expanse and extent,
is our real ‘home’ and will be our sphere of operation in His plan of reconciliation
of all.
Phil.3:20 For our realm is inherent in the heavens,
out of which we are awaiting a Saviour also, the Lord, Jesus Christ,
1Cor.6:3 Are you not aware that we shall be judging messengers,
...
Rom.16:20 Now the God of peace will be crushing Satan under
your feet swiftly.
June 2001
Back to:
....Main
menu of articles
....Section
1 - Introduction
God Himself
....Section
2 - The Power of Life
....Section
3 - The Power in God's Operations
I
....Section
4 - The Power in God's Operations
II
....Section
5 - Metaphysical Beings I
Proceed to:
....Section
7 - Conclusion
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