January 6

Written by Bill Grandi on January 6th, 2022

As I read 2 Corinthians 11 this morning I highlighted a couple of verses.

“But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his trickery, your minds will be led astray from sincere and pure devotion to Christ.” (v.3)

Then I read these two verses:

“For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.” (verses 13-14)

I drew a line connecting them. According to verse 4, the Corinthians were good at welcoming false teachers. They were not very discerning. The word we would use is they were “tolerant” of false teachers.

On one hand that is easy to see. Someone comes in and very subtly teaches something which sounds good but really isn’t. The undiscerning don’t catch it. They accept it as “gospel.” What makes it hard is more often than not it isn’t the big things which cause the slip-the deity of Jesus, the reliability of the Scriptures, that Jesus was fully God and fully man, etc. What I would call the “biggies.” It’s often the small things, say like a grab for power over time that cogs the wheel and gums up the engine. Or even legalism which sneaks in as “this is how a follower of Christ lives.”

I certainly am not dismissing having a discerning eye toward whacky things, like those pushed by Bethel and those of their ilk.  Ideas like calling themselves apostles, gold dust falling from the ceiling, and other non-biblical ideas. We need to be aware of cults like that, of those who sneak in putting our faith at risk. Given the infamy of today’s date, I’d even go so far as to say those who believe politics should be preached from the pulpit need to be examined more closely.

“Father, help me to keep my eyes and heart open to Your truth. Help me to be discerning to recognize what is not truth.”

LOVE GOD DEEPER…WORSHIP HIM MORE

 

2 Comments so far ↓

  1. Ryan S says:

    When I first started attending church on a regular basis in my early 20’s, the pastors of our local congregation spoke about how “absolute truth” was going by the wayside. Not that it should, but that was how the world was beginning to view things. I understood what they were talking about then… but today, the world has flipped this on it’s head.
    You can’t even speak of truth today without being called intolerant. You can’t call an apple and apple today without being branded with a label of hate. It is crazy to see how things have changed in 20+ years. It concerns me a great deal that the their are various denominations and those who proclaim to be followers of the Truth so quickly toss truth aside for the sake of so called “relevancy” and “inclusion”.

    • Bill Grandi says:

      You are speaking my language Ryan! I guess I consider this a mission of mine. Not that I have all truth and know all that is right but I don’t want to fall into the progressive/liberal/emergent group. Thanks for understanding the battle and “getting it.”