This week we continue to answer the following question: How does God’s enemy come after His people and His leaders for the sole purpose of distracting, disrupting and derailing them from being involved in God's great mission?
As we survey Pauline literature we will discover fourteen tactical strategies that the enemy will use to come after God's people along with specific antidotes in addressing that problem. See the introduction to this series to receive an overview of this subject.
13. False Teachers
“No man is exempted from the subtle deception of doctrinal drift – the man of God expects this temptation.” – Gary Rohrmayer
Text: 1Timothy 4:1-2 – “The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron.”
Problem: “Satan uses demons to influence teachers to give false doctrines that appeal to people. They are actually described as seducing spirits, hypocritical liars with no conscience.” J. Robert Clinton
Antidote: “A Bible centered leader like Timothy should teach the truth about these evil doctrines countering these heresies.” J. Robert Clinton
Reflective Questions:
- Where could the enemy attack your personal theological convictions?
- Where could the enemy subtly influence your churches theological framework?
- What is Paul’s strategy in protecting the church from false teachers? See I Timothy 4:4-16
- What is Paul’s strategy in combating personal doctrinal drift? See I Timothy 4:4-16
- How does theology drift potentially affect missional drift?
Prayer: Holy Father, Beautiful Savior, God of all truth, we seek your light and your love to protect our lives from the delusions of the enemy. Help us to cherish and nourish the deep truths of the faith. Fill our lives with good teaching that ignites passion for God and missional hunger. May we be leaders who watch our lives and doctrine closely; who live what we teach and set examples in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity. Teach us how to preserve the truth for ourselves, for our hearers and for the Glory of God. In Jesus' Name, Amen.
Next Post: Blinding People
View the entire series of posts on Spiritual Warfare
