SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/26/2025 8:10 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-2 “Charlatans of Religion”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference:
2 Timothy 3:5
Message of the verse: “holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; and avoid such men as these.”
I mentioned in my last SD that I have decided to go
back to where I left off from John MacArthur’s commentary to finish looking at
this 3rd chapter of 2 Timothy.
I really enjoy looking at Dr. Wiersbe’s comments for as I mentioned Dr.
Wiersbe puts the cookies on the shelf where we can reach them.
John MacArthur writes “The deception of such false
leaders is seen in their denying the true, gracious, life-giving power of the
true gospel. Although it is presented in
many persuasive ways, theirs is an empty, worthless, damning message that keeps
its adherents out of the kingdom.
Ungodly leaders have no love for God and no love for His Word or for His
people, only love for themselves.” This
statement is very true, for I believe that people that MacArthur is describing
here go into the “ministry” in order to make money, and that is not a valid
reason to go into the ministry.
“True believers are given a standing order to avoid such
men as these and reject the false doctrines they teach and the false standards
they live by. And because the verb apotreo (avoid) is here in the middle
voice, the idea is to make yourself turn
away. Regardless of how convincing a
false idea may appear of how sincere a false teacher may seem to be, we are to
take ourselves by the scruff of the neck, as it were, and make ourselves avoid
such men as these. We should avoid and
keep on avoiding such men, whenever, wherever, and however they may confront
us. Whether their heresy is sacramental,
rationalism, ecumenism, subjectivism, experientialism, mysticism, pragmatism, or
any of countless others, both they and their ungodly ideas are to be
rejected. As with counterfeit money, it
is not necessary to understand every false detail of a teaching but only
necessary to recognize that it does not match the real thing, namely, God’s
Word. Whether a counterfeit is a
well-done fraud or a shoddy fake, it is equally worthless.” I have read that when a bank teller gets
their training that they learn everything that can be known about the real
bills, from the 1 dollar all the way up to the thousand dollar bills in order
to be able to spot a false one. As
believers we are to know the Word of God so well that when something false is
said that we will recognize it as being a false statement, and then we could
confront the person, and if that person is a true believer they will be happy
that you pointed something out to them which was wrong, but if a person is not
a true believer then they will probably
reject the truth that you are giving them and then perhaps you will know that that
person is not a true believer, but someone who is peddling poison.
Lord willing I will finish this section in tomorrow’s
SD. I have mentioned that my wife has
been disorganized with cancer about a month ago and will have surgery this up-coming
Tuesday. We both covet your prayers for
her as this is a serious form of cancer and after the surgery we both need
wisdom in order to find the right people to make sure this does not come back
again.
4/26/2025 8:38 AM
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