Worldly Philosophies and Deceit

Worldly philosophies and deceit are nothing new to the Church in our era of time. The Apostle Paul had to deal with them as he traveled from place to place and planted churches. As he went back to these places, he often discovered that Judaizers had come in behind him and added certain doctrines or false requirements to the gospel message which he had preached. The requirement of circumcision, for example, was one of those.

Parts of the Church today are filled with doctrinal messages and requirements which are man made philosophies. Self proclaiming prophets who declare they only need to be 50%-65% correct on their futuristic predictions concerning the Church or the lives of those in the Church is absolutely anti-Biblical. But these men have convinced their followers that it is true because they say it is true and they have the same authority as God Himself! Here's the problem with all of that; I can't find it anywhere in the Bible. Actually, I believe it tells us whatever a prophet says has to be 100% true and comes to pass.

   You may say in your heart, ‘How will we know the word which the Lord has not spoken?’ When a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the thing does not come about or come true, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.  DT 18:21-22

I find no place in God's word that says a prophet can be close. People are buying into this nonsense in churches across this country. This is pure deceit and a way of putting blinders on the people who believe these lies. It is very difficult to convince them that they are being lied to. I have had the opportunity to talk with some of them and they are sold out to these lies. It takes a lot of time and prayer with them and a close study (with them) of the truth of what God's word says.

One of the biggest problems within the Church in this country is the result of the church growth movement of the 1990s and early 2000s. What might have been the intention of a sincerely honest concept of bringing unchurched and unsaved people into the Church turned into a full blown marketing scheme. Local churches were using all kinds of worldly marketing techniques to put people in the empty seats of their sanctuaries. So, what's wrong with that, you may ask. I'm all for getting people into church but for the right reasons.

If I talk to someone in the park about Jesus and invite them to church on Sunday morning, it will be so they can hear more about Jesus. If I am going door to door with flyers for a local church, in an attempt to get as many people into church on Sunday morning, and they hear nothing about Jesus, I have failed. If I'm the pastor of that church and I'm preaching a message which does not talk about the love and forgiveness of Jesus but instead talks about how to feel good about yourself, I have failed. I have given them a worldly philosophy in an attempt not to offend them so they will return the following week.

This has happened week after week for the last 25 years or so. People flock into the big church down the street or on the edge of the neighborhood to hear a feel good message or a watered down version of the gospel. Many have not even heard a watered down version. People are being deceived into believing they are good to go and are OK with God. Some have never understood what it means to be truly saved and believe their church attendance on Sunday morning and whatever money they leave behind has them in good standing with God. I heard a pastor say this past week, "I don't ever want anyone who sits under my preaching to be able to say they never heard who Jesus is, what He has done for us and what we must do to be saved." That's the way it should be.

It's not about the numbers or the size of the building, it's about God's presence in the building and the people hearing the truth of His word. And that is something which is also going by the way side in some ministries. Some, recently, have proclaimed that Jesus is not the only way to salvation. A pastor in a mega church in Brooklyn NY has made this claim to his congregation. The word of God is extremely clear on this.

 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.  JN 14:6

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.  JN 3:16

I sometimes wonder if some of these people just decide to wing it off of the top of their head to draw all the attention to themselves. Years ago, Benny Hinn told his congregation at the end of his sermon that there were not three persons in the Godhead but nine because each of the three had three persons. Where would he get that far fetched idea from? Why would anyone even make a statement like that? The big question is, how many people in that sanctuary went out believing him and never did their homework to discover if it was really true? That was just plain and simple deceit.

Christians in this country are taught all kinds of unbelievable nonsense every week and they never pick up a Bible to find out if it's true or not. Christians get involved in all kinds of worldly practices and entertainment without even questioning if it's detrimental to their spiritual well being. We have to understand that not everything in the world is good for us or for our spiritual growth in Jesus. In reading the gospels, how much worldly stuff did Jesus get involved in? How did He occupy His time while He was here? If I'm correct and I think I am, He spent His time doing what the Father wanted Him to do and that didn't include playing with the world.

He spent His time teaching, preaching and praying. He healed the sick, raised the dead and talked about the kingdom of heaven. Now, I know we are not all preachers and Bible teachers but He set the example for us and we are to be working every day to be more and more like Him. So, how do we do it? Read and study His word, pray and be in fellowship with other Christians. Be about His business of working to spread the gospel news and build His kingdom. We need to be witnesses for Him, telling the lost how to know Him as their savior.

There are far too many Christians and others who fall into the trap of believing whatever they hear on a Sunday morning or from a TV preacher. They have fallen prey to the worldly philosophy and deceit of these self centered hucksters. So many of them are only concerned with the amount of money they can bring in or the power they can command as a result or their false messages.

There are a great number of Christians in this country who need a wake up call. They are involved with the ways of the world and it has weakened their faith. Many will not think anything of skipping a Sunday service to plays sports or so their children can participate in a sporting activity. As a disclaimer, I'm a big sports fan but it has its place and it is not on Sunday morning. Many are hooked on various types of entertainment which goes against what God is all about. When I hear about some of the TV programs which some Christians watch, I have to wonder why. And I won't even get started with video games and social media. God doesn't expect us to all be Amish; we can be entertained and have fun without the garbage of this world.

Finally, it is so easy for any of us to get sidetracked from time to time and lose sight of where we should be in our walk with Jesus. But we need to be able to catch ourselves and move back where we need to be. If we are in regular church fellowship or in Bible studies with others, we will have a sense of accountability. As a result of living a life which draws us closer to Jesus, we will be less and less likely to be sidetracked and drawn away by a worldly philosophy. Deceit is subtle and doesn't attack over night. It happens in a slow and steady manner and before we know it, we've been sucked in.

Reading the Bible every day (you have to set the time aside and be disciplined about it), praying and being in fellowship with other Christians is the key to a healthy Christian life. The Christian who is committed to these practices will be less likely to be deceived by the world or and its philosophies or the deceit of a false teacher. There is a verse in Colossians 2:8 which warns us about all of this,

See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.