EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/6/2025 9:24 PM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-2 “A Reason to Test”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: 1 John 4:1b
Message of the verse: “but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.”
I begin by writing about the reason for the urgency
of John’s command as it resides in the fact that not a few but many, many false
prophets have gone out into the world.
It is not only that Satan wants to oppose the church, but he wants to
deceive the church. Now in keeping with
his fraudulent schemes, his minions have infiltrated denominations, churches,
and other Christians schools, institutions and also organizations which results
in compromise and error. “For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were
long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the
grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus
Christ” (Jude 4).
Now I will quote from MacArthur’s
commentary as he writes more about Satan.
“Satan not only develops lies that directly deny biblical truth, but is
also subtle, often sabotaging the truth by mixing it with error. Truth mixed with error is usually far more
effective and far more destructive than a straightforward contradiction of the
truth. Those who trust everything they
read from the Christian bookstore or hear on Christian radio and television are
prime targets for doctrinal deception.
After all, as Paul wrote, ‘Satan disguises himself as an angel of
light. Therefore it is not surprising if
his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness’ (2 Cor.
11:14b-15a).’
“So Satan masquerades his lies as truth. He does not
always wage war openly against the gospel. He is much more likely to attack the
church by infiltrating her walls with subtle error. He uses the Trojan horse stratagem by placing
his false teachers in the church, where they can ‘secretly introduce
destructive heresies’ (2 Peter 2:1). He puts his
lies in the mouth of someone who claims to speak for Jesus Christ (Matt. 4:6;
Acts 20:30). In this way, the Devil
disguises falsehood as truth, making that which is evil look like that which is
good.
“For this reason, Jesus Himself warned of false prophets:
15 "Beware of the false prophets, who come
to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 16 “You will know
them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs
from thistles, are they? 17 “So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad
tree bears bad fruit” (Matt. 7:15-17; cf. Mark 13:21-23; 2 Peter 2:1-2).
Now the truth is that Christians who ignore the Lord’s
warning do so to their own harm, and you really do not want to harm
yourself. There are many voices
clamoring for attention within the church.
Because of this it is imperative that believers practice biblical discernment. Now here are some verses that go along with
that statement: (1 Cor. 2:12-13; Eph.
6:17; 2 Tim. 1:13; 3:15-17). MacArthur
concludes “It is especially mandated for pastors, who
“as God’s steward, not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not
addicted to wine, not pugnacious, not fond of sordid gain, 8 but hospitable, loving what is good, sensible,
just, devout, self-controlled, 9 holding
fast the faithful word which is in accordance with the teaching, so that he
will be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who
contradict. 10 For there
are many rebellious men, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the
circumcision, 11 who must be silenced because they are upsetting whole
families, teaching things they should not teach for the sake of sordid
gain” (Titus 1:7b-11).
2/6/2025 9:47 PM
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