DECEITFUL SPIRITS, DEMONIC TEACHING, AND HYPOCRITICAL LIARS, OH, MY!!! ~ EXPOSING HYPOCRISY ~ Part 5

 

Ostentatious or pretentious…or both? When I was thinking of one word that would characterize religious hypocrites who are obvious, I first thought of the word ostentatious. The definition I found was “to be characterized by vulgar or pretentious display; designed to impress or attract notice.” Pretentious is “characterized by assumption of dignity or importance, especially when exaggerated or undeserved. It is to make an exaggerated outward show; ostentatious, full of pretense; having no factual basis; false.” Then there is the word pompous that means excessively elevated or ornate, having or exhibiting self-importance, arrogant, relating to or suggestive of pomp or splendor.

 

It would cut deep if someone were to call me a religious hypocrite. I would do a soul-searching examination before the Lord that hopefully would lead to repentance if the Lord exposed my heart as hypocritical. I might consider the source of the accusation to discern whether the name-caller knows what a real religious hypocrite looks like. But what would you do if it was Jesus, Himself, who called you a religious hypocrite? Think of someone whom you would deem a mature Christian—not perfect but striving to live a life that honors and pleases Christ. Now think of a person whom the world deems as holy, someone who is among the religious elite. What is different about them? What is the same? We will get to focusing on two passages of Scripture in these last blog posts: The scathing rebuke of the Pharisees by Jesus in Matthew 23 and the story of the rich, young ruler in Mark 10. Both narratives have characters whom the world would consider ‘religious’. However, the way Jesus deals with the young man is completely contrary to how He deals with the Pharisees in Matthew 23. Why?

The questions we need to be asking through this series of blog posts are: What is religious hypocrisy? Where is it found and what does it looks like today? What does all false religion have in common? How did Jesus deal with religious hypocrisy? Jesus made it clear that we are to have discernment when it comes to recognizing good fruit versus bad fruit in those who profess to follow Him. He continually made a distinction between true religion and false religion. The reason this is important is because behind every false religion are demons, and the deeds of demons are evil. Before I dive into Matthew 23, I want to develop this understanding a bit further.

 

I had a friend ask me a whopper of a question just the other day. She was sincere when she asked: “Why is doctrine so important?” We touched on the answer for two hours, but much more could be said. Scripture warns us repeatedly about false doctrine. The simple answer is this: Sound doctrine is important in order that we would not be swayed and carried away by false doctrine.

 

1 Timothy 4:1-2 says: But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and teaching of demons, by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron. The KJV uses the word seducing spirits rather than deceitful spirits. If we understood how strong our flesh is, we would also understand that the intensity of seduction with which demons can entice our flesh is no match for us apart from the Spirit of God who works in our hearts through our knowledge of the Word of Truth. One cannot stand firmly in this world upon anything other than a solid foundation of sound doctrine. It is that same Spirit who warns us (explicitly says=very clearly says, does not beat around the bush) that in the later times (any time after the first coming of Christ and waxing worse as time goes on) some will fall away (apostatize, depart, draw away, withdraw self) from the faith. How will they fall away from the faith? They will pay attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons. One who is already deceived might say, “This is ludicrous. There are no deceitful spirits and demons walking around in this world today.” Doctrine is teaching. Demons are evil spirits or the messengers and ministers of the devil. The doctrines of demons are things that demons teach. Why is doctrine important? Because the Spirit of God tells us that some of those who pay attention to, give heed to, or turn their minds to the doctrines of demons will fall away from the faith. To turn toward doctrine of demons is to turn away or depart from the truth of Christ’s gospel. Light and darkness cannot coexist together.

 

How do demons promote their doctrines? Through hypocritical liars whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. These are human teachers who teach false doctrine. The Bible label them as false teachers. 2 Peter 2:1-3 warns: But false prophets also appeared among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. Many will follow their indecent behavior, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned; and in their greed they will exploit you with false words; their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep. False teachers are hypocritical liars. We have already seen that these are those whose lives don’t match what they profess (they live in and for the flesh). They may put on an appearance of holiness, but their lives don’t match up with that outward appearance. Their profession is false. They spew out falsehood that leads others away from faith in the truth of God. Something is off about the lives they live. Putting what they speak (or their message) up against the Word of God exposes the lies of their deception.

 

Often, when exposed to the wicked actions of people in political leadership roles in the world, we say things like, “I don’t know how they sleep at night.” Those who are controlled by Satan are beyond the reach of their consciences. They have rationalized and justified the lies they teach so often that their hard hearts can no longer be convicted by what is right. One might say, “How do these people get away with it?” They appeal to the flesh of those who need to have their ears tickled, their senses aroused, and their egos stroked. They are usually very charming, likable people, charismatic in the sense that they can be extremely persuasive. The bottom line is that their teaching does not come from the Spirit of God but an antichrist spirit.

 

How many times have I called out a false teacher to someone only to have them respond, “I just don’t understand! This person is so nice. He talks about Jesus all the time. He says he is a Christian.” I have also had many people say to me years later, “You were right. I should have listened to you. I’m so confused.” It is not unloving and judgmental to call out a false religion or false teachers. In fact, the most loving thing a person can do for you is to keep you focused on the truth and to call you away from Satanic lies.  1 John 4:1-3 says: Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming, and now it is already in the world. We are not to believe every spirit, but to test the spirits. How do we test the spirits but by bringing their teaching and their lives up against the Word of truth. Who do they say Jesus is? Does their teaching line up with the Word of God?

 

There are demons behind every false religion. For those who believe that we all worship the same God and that there are many ways to God, this is a lie from Satan propagated by the demons behind false teachers. Christianity is exclusive. The following is written in my Bible, but I am sorry to say I don’t remember my source: “All false religion is doctrines of demons and virulently hostile to the true God. Christianity is incompatible with every form of false religion.”

 

Paul pointed out a couple of doctrines of demons to Timothy. We may be quick to pass over them at first believing they do not pertain to us. But the evil agenda behind these teachings is obviously antichrist.  1 Timothy 4:3-5 says these hypocrites were those: who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods which God has created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth. For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with gratitude; for it is sanctified by means of the word of God and prayer. What’s the big deal? Glad you asked. My mother always used to tell me, “Karla, rat poison is 99% nutritious food and 1% poison, but it’s that 1% that will kill you!” I don’t know if those percentages are true, but I got what she meant. You see a couple morsels of truth here that those who are naïve or new converts might recognize; the problem is when they swallow all the other teaching just because their ears heard one or two nuggets of truth. Scripture does commend singleness and fasting to us as good. However, and I cannot stress this enough—all false religion focuses on human works as a means of salvation and holiness. This is THE LIE of all lies. Whether one remains single, eats a certain diet, or DOES anything else in the name of religion for the purpose of salvation or holiness is meaningless.  All our works (to merit right standing with God) are as filthy rags in His sight.

 

The doctrines of demons are as old as time. We can now look back at what happened in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve (living in a perfect environment in a created state that God had declared was good) fell into sin plunging the whole human race into the depravity of a lost spiritual condition. One simple question caused her to doubt God. Eve was asked: “Did God really say…” Doctrines of demons question the teaching of God. Satan is crafty and subtle in his deception, and he’s been using the same manipulative tactics for a very long time. He is rightly called the father of lies and a murderer from the beginning (John 8:44).

 

Why is doctrine important? It’s not if you want to end up in hell. I know that’s blunt, but it’s the truth. Satan disguises himself or masquerades as an angel of light. The greatest of all hypocrites, he wears a mask to deceive. He comes with flowery words of love and light and uses them to intentionally deceive us and lead us straight into hell. He portrays himself as goodness, truthfulness, full of love and spiritual power. These words, however, only describe God Himself. Another shocking statement that is no less true is that most people in this world are drawn to darkness rather than light. These are those Satan draws to himself in order that they might believe his lies. Darkness and light are two very different paths that lead to two very different kingdoms. You and I are on one or the other path right this very moment. Psalm 119 says that God’s word (sound doctrine) is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. His Word, alone, is the spotlight that points us to the right path and keeps us there as it enlightens our way leading us on our journey through this world.

 

Most people today would readily agree that there are those trying to feed us a false narrative in the world. The problem is that both sides are pointing to the other as the one propagating the lies. God’s Word is the truth that helps us clearly see everything around us for what it is. When it comes to spiritual things, many say things like: “Surely my age-old religion with all its dogmas and tradition can’t be wrong. Can it?” I would challenge everyone reading this blog to know what they believe and why they believe it. Eternity is too long to end up in hell just because those who have gone before you believed what they were taught and taught the same to you. Many want to say, “We were the first church. We’re right.” Okay. How does what you believe, what you have been taught, line up with Scripture, with God’s Word? When you stand before Him, what will you say was the authority for your belief system?

 

Doctrine does divide. We ought to be thankful that it does. It makes a clear divide between the light and the dark. Doctrine is not just important. It is vital, crucial, literally the difference between eternal life and death. We are at a point in history when it is essential that we be diligent to find out the answers to our questions and to apply that discernment to our daily lives in edifying the body of Christ and in evangelizing a lost world. This message is not just for those who need to be awakened to the light of the truth of Scripture. It is for those who need to promote the kingdom of light by brightly shining forth their lights in this dark world.