Be careful what you wish for

Imagine a group of people being led into a room to look at some plastic flowers. The owner asks if they’re real. The group views the flowers, and everyone agrees that they’re fake. The owner then takes them into a room containing fresh flowers, and the group decides they’re genuine.

Finally, they reach a third room. This time, the group isn’t so sure. Some say they’re plastic, some say they’re real. The man then lets them in on a secret – some of the flowers are real, some are fake.

Spiritual deception, I think, works rather like that.

If a preacher spoke total nonsense, no-one would believe him. But if he began by quoting directly from the Bible, then gradually added his own ideas and interpretations, people might just fall for it.

Like yeast subtly permeating a whole batch of dough, it’s particularly dangerous when preaching sometimes uses God’s Word in context, and at other times doesn’t.

As Banquo tells Shakespeare’s Macbeth, “Oftentimes, to win us to our harm, the instruments of darkness tell us truths, win us with honest trifles, to betray us in deepest consequence.”

In other words, small truths can trick us into believing big lies.

Proper use of Scripture is vital. Unless we understand and apply it correctly, we’ll be tossed back and forth by the waves, blown here and there by every wind of teaching (Ephesians 4:14).

Our faith may even ‘suffer shipwreck’ (1 Timothy 1:19).

But who wants to go overboard, when the iceberg of unbiblical preaching is in danger of penetrating the hull of an unsuspecting Titanic?

No one wants to question a minister’s motives but, as 2 Timothy 4:3-4 warns us, ‘The time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.’

Sadly, some people are taken in by false teaching because it’s something they subconsciously want to believe. As a writer once cautioned, “Be careful what you wish for, you may receive it.”

We may want to be rich, but it’s usually only the prosperity preachers who achieve this. If something sounds too good to be true, it probably isn’t!

Others fall for erroneous ideas because that’s what the speaker wants them to do, whether it’s an unscrupulous salesman, conman, clairvoyant, cult leader or someone peddling the Word of God for profit (2 Corinthians 2:17).

In a world where science, ‘truth’, facts and statistics can be open to a baffling array of interpretations, and where ‘fake news’ and deception abound, we should be on our guard against spiritual scammers trying to deceive us.

Or someone who may have gone off the rails or is abusing his position – or flock –while posing as a loving shepherd?

No wonder epistles such as 1 & 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 & 2 Thessalonians, and James encourage Christians to stand firm. None of us is immune to getting things wrong. Returning to the Titanic image I mentioned earlier, there are times when I’m writing articles that recall some of my past blunders and mistakes, I sometimes feel like the person whose life supposedly flashes before their eyes before drowning!

As we remember the errors of the past and revisit the warnings of Scripture, my hope is that we’ll make sure we know our Bibles well. With Christ as our strength, and wearing the full armour of God, His (life)belt of truth will keep us from going under and falling victim to deception.

We live in a fallen world, which is why Scripture constantly warns against false prophets, teachers, preachers and apostles. If it happened in New Testament times, it can happen now!

Jimmy Swaggart and Jim Bakker aren’t the only ministers to have been embroiled in scandal, and there remains much that is currently being taught that should carry a spiritual health warning.

In 2 Corinthians 11:4, Paul warns believers about going astray. ‘For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the Spirit you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough.’

The apostle points out that, because Satan is a deceiver – masquerading as an angel of light – it isn’t surprising that ‘his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness’ (2 Corinthians 11:13-15).

Is it possible that someone visiting your church or speaking on YouTube, TV or at a Christian event may not necessarily be a servant of righteousness? Could they be someone who’s theologically flawed or deluded, deceiving and being deceived (2 Timothy 3:13)?

Gary Clayton is married to Julie, the father of Christopher (19) and Emma (16) and works for Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF). To learn how MAF aircraft enable people in over 25 African and Asia-Pacific countries to translate the Bible and strengthen the Church, visit www.maf-uk.org

BY MARCIA DIXON MBE