Showing posts with label deceivers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label deceivers. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Another Gospel

By A.W. Pink

Satan is not an initiator but an imitator. God has an only begotten Son—the Lord Jesus, so has Satan—“the son of Perdition” (2 Thess 2:3). There is a Holy Trinity, and there is likewise a Trinity of Evil (Rev 20:10). Do we read of the “children of God,” so also we read of “the children of the wicked one” (Matt 13:38). Does God work in the former both to will and to do of His good pleasure, then we are told that Satan is “the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience” (Eph 2:2). Is there a “mystery of godliness” (1 Tim 3:16), so also is there a “mystery of iniquity” (2 Thess 2:7). Are we told that God by His angels “seals” His servants in their foreheads (Rev 7:3), so also we learn that Satan by his agents sets a mark in the foreheads of his devotees (Rev 13:16). Are we told that “the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God” (1 Cor 2:10), then Satan also provides his “deep things” (Greek\Rev 2:24). Did Christ perform miracles, so also can Satan (2 Thess 2:9). Is Christ seated upon a throne, so is Satan (Greek\Rev 2:13). Has Christ a Church, then Satan has his “synagogue” (Rev 2:9). Is Christ the Light of the world, then so is Satan himself “transformed into an angel of light” (2 Cor 11:14). Did Christ appoint “apostles,” then Satan has his apostles, too (2 Cor 11:13). And this leads us to consider: “The Gospel of Satan.”

Satan is the arch-counterfeiter. The Devil is now busy at work in the same field in which the Lord sowed the good seed. He is seeking to prevent the growth of the wheat by another plant, the tares, which closely resembles the wheat in appearance. In a word, by a process of imitation he is aiming to neutralize the Work of Christ. Therefore, as Christ has a Gospel, Satan has a gospel too; the latter being a clever counterfeit of the former. So closely does the gospel of Satan resemble that which it parodies, multitudes of the unsaved are deceived by it. It is to this gospel of Satan the apostle refers when he says to the Galatians, “I marvel that ye are so soon removed from Him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: which is not another, but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the Gospel of Christ” (Gal 1:6,7). This false gospel was being heralded even in the days of the apostle, and a most awful curse was called down upon those who preached it. The apostle continues, “But though we, or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.” By the help of God we shall now endeavor to expound, or rather, expose this false gospel.

The gospel of Satan is not a system of revolutionary principles, nor yet a program of anarchy. It does not promote strife and war, but aims at peace and unity. It seeks not to set the mother against her daughter nor the father against his son, but fosters the fraternal spirit whereby the human race is regarded as one great “brotherhood.” It does not seek to drag down the natural man, but to improve and uplift him. It advocates education and cultivation and appeals to “the best that is within us.” It aims to make this world such a comfortable and congenial habitat that Christ’s absence from it will not be felt and God will not be needed. It endeavors to occupy man so much with this world that he has no time or inclination to think of the world to
come. It propagates the principles of self-sacrifice, charity and benevolence, and teaches us to live for the good of others, and to be kind to all. It appeals strongly to the carnal mind and is popular with the masses, because it ignores the solemn facts that by nature man is a fallen creature, alienated from the life of God, and dead in trespasses and sins, and that his only hope lies in being born again.

Read more -->HERE.

Monday, December 27, 2010

Day 349

XVIII The Writings of John - A.D. 67 - C 100 ~ cont.
C. Book of 1 John - A.D. 95 (R) C A.D. 41 (K) ~ cont.
2. Overcoming the world - 1 John 4:1-21; 5:1-21
D. Book of 2 John
1. Walk in truth - 2 John 1:1-6
2. Recognize deceivers - 2 John 1:7-13
E. Book of 3 John
1. Diotrephes rejects elders and asserts power - 3 John 1:1-10
2. Faithful Demetrius is encouraged - 3 John 1:1-14

Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.  (1 John 4:1)

beloved - G27 - agapētos - ag-ap-ay-tos' - From G25; beloved.

believe - G4100 - pisteuō - pist-yoo'-o - From G4102; to have faith (in, upon, or with respect to, a person or thing), that is, credit; by implication to entrust (especially one’s spiritual well being to Christ).

try - G1381 - dokimazō - dok-im-ad'-zo - From G1384; to test (literally or figuratively); by implication to approve.

false prophets - G5578 - pseudoprophētēs - psyoo-dop-rof-ay'-tace - From G5571 and G4396; a spurious prophet, that is, pretended foreteller or religious impostor.

world - G2889 - kosmos - kos'-mos - Probably from the base of G2865; orderly arrangement, that is, decoration; by implication the world (in a wide or narrow sense, including its inhabitants, literally or figuratively [morally]).

This puts me in mind of the passage in Acts:  17:11  These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.

One can not test or judge those who are speaking, teaching, etc. unless one is studying the Word, notice the Bereans were doing so daily.

For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.  (1 John 5:7)

I highlighted this passage to remind myself that the Word of God shows that there are 3 in 1.  I can not remember when or where I have heard some dispute the trinity, and while the position that the word trinity is not found in the Bible is accurate...this passage clearly illustrates that there is a triune God.  God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit.  Though I actually like Father, Word, Holy Ghost much better!