By: Dale Weckbacher
1 Timothy 4:1
Now the Holy Spirit
tells us clearly that in the last times some will turn away from what we
believe; they will follow lying spirits and teachings that come from demons.
NLT
The horrific terrorist attack in Nice France using of all
things a semi-truck is unimaginable to most of us. Most individuals have some level of morals
telling them that senselessly murdering and injuring hundreds of innocent
people participating in a holiday celebration is not acceptable. However, some in our times have fallen for a
false religion that justifies this level of butchery in the name of their
god. Granted, most Christians would
never fall for the deception of radical Islam and begin murdering those not
adopting our belief, but we can still fall for deceptive teaching.
1 Timothy 4:3 lists two false teachings that were prevalent
in the time of Paul,
1)
Wrong to be married – The forbidding of marriage
is rooted in the teaching of the Essenes.
The Essenes were a Jewish sect who aspired to ideal purity. (1) One of the means promoted by this sect was
the belief that abstaining from marriage would result in a life of increased
devotion to God. (2) However, 1 Timothy 3:2 tells us that one
aspiring to the position of elder, a high position within the church, is to be
faithful to his wife. Of course one must
have a wife in order to be faithful to his wife so abstinence from marriage is
not a requirement for a position in church leadership. In fact in 1 Corinthians 7:1-2 Paul addresses
this issue by at first agreeing that living a life of celibacy is good, but due
to sexual immorality’s prevalence in society, marriage is good for those
susceptible to giving in to temptation.
Paul reinforces this point in 1 Corinthians 7:5 teaching that total
abstinence opens us up to temptation due to the lack of self-control or the lusts
of the flesh. He goes in 1 Corinthians7:6 to teach that celibacy is only a suggestion and not intended to be an
absolute rule.
2)
Wrong to eat certain foods – Even today Jews
continue to have dietary restrictions.
However, in the vision of Peter recorded in Acts 10:9-13, God tells
Peter that all foods are acceptable therefore lifting the dietary restrictions
of the Old Covenant. However, Judaizers
in the time of Paul insisted that new converts to Christianity adopt the Law of
Moses. (3) The Council at Jerusalem recorded in Acts 15
is a result of the disagreement between the Judaizers and Paul and
Barnabas. The result of this council was
a letter written to Gentile believers only telling them to abstain from food
specifically offered up as a sacrifice to idols.
In today’s church marriage for church leaders is permissible
with the exception of the Roman Catholic Church and there are no dietary
restrictions in Christianity. However,
this does not mean there is an absence of false teaching that can deceive us as
Christians. However, unlike the
believers in the time of Paul who did not possess the completed canon of
scripture as we do today, we have no excuse for not understanding the truth and
falling prey to false teaching.
Therefore, those of us engaged in spiritual battle must dedicate
ourselves to
1)
Study of the Word of God – We can best discern
falsehood with a vast knowledge of truth.
Once we recognize what truth looks like, falsehood will be obvious. Truth comes from hearing the Word of God
(Romans 10:17). I have the privilege of
engaging in the study of the Word when preparing these postings, which is why I
provide links to the scriptural references I use so you too can engage in a
deeper study of God’s Word.
2)
Prayer – Communication is a two-way street with
the Word of God being God communicating with us and prayer being our
communicating with God. No army can
achieve victory without communicating in both directions with its leadership,
including the army of God engaged in spiritual warfare.
3)
Regular church attendance – Spiritual battle,
like military battle, can be tiring, and demoralizing. In order to maintain high morale, we
therefore must regularly meet with those engaged in the same spiritual battle
in order to receive encouragement. When
attending church we also have an opportunity to corporately worship God and
receive teaching from our leaders in spiritual battle. Let us not become weak in battle by ignoring
the importance of these regular meetings.
As the return of Christ approaches, and every day that
passes means we are one day closer to that return, we will see an increase in
false teaching as Satan attempts to cause many to fall away from truth. Today’s church is being asked to condone and
even perform gay weddings, which violate biblical marriage as outlined in the
Word of God. We see churches supporting
homosexuality by electing openly gay individuals to church leadership. (4)
It is being asked to accommodate
transgendered individuals by providing non-gender bathrooms providing a green
light for sexual perverts to perform their acts of perversion in churches. Churches are also being asked to soften their
pro-life values in the interest of political correctness.
We must not allow these false teachings to creep into our
churches and must stand strong with the truth for this increasingly dangerous
world needs Christians standing strong on the truth and not Christians
compromising on that truth in order to be socially acceptable.
Next Wednesday we will look at how to be a good servant of
Jesus Christ.
1. Biblestudytools.com. Essenes. www.biblestudytools.com.
[Online] [Cited: July 16, 2016.]
www.biblestudytools.com/dictionary/essenes/.
2. www.godvine.com.
1 Timothy 4:3. www.godvine.com. [Online] [Cited: July 16, 2016.]
www.godvine.com/bible/1-timothy/4-3.
3. A Study of
Denominations. the "Judiazers". www.astudyof
denominations.com. [Online] [Cited: December 8, 2013.]
http://www.astudyofdenominations.com/history/judaizers/.
4. Associated Press.
Methodists Elect 1st Openly Gay Bishop in Defiance of Ban. www.foxnews.com. [Online]
Fox News, July 16, 2016. [Cited: July 17, 2016.]
www.foxnews.com/us/2016/07/16/methodists-elect-1st-openly-gay-bishop-in-defiance-ban.html.
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