As we begin to talk about false prophets / teachers that are throughout the church, it is important to ask the question what if God meant what He said, Deuteronomy 28:1 “If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. 2 All these blessings will come on you and accompany you if you obey the Lord your God: 15 However, if you do not obey the Lord your God and do not carefully follow all his commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come on you and overtake you.” (Read Deuteronomy 28 and Leviticus 26.) Scripture makes it very clear what happens when God’s people rebel against His word. False teachers are telling you God does not mean what He says.
We see how satan operates right from the beginning, but his presence is not always highlighted throughout scripture, but he is there always deceiving God’s people to rebel against God. Because many Christians have listened to satan’s deceptions and have rebelled against God’s word, the words of Jesus are clear to the church. Matthew 24:22 “If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive.” We are told that satan is a deceiver. Revelation 12:9 “The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.” We see this deception at the very beginning when satan Genesis 3:1 “said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” This tells how he leads the whole world astray and continues to do so. satan deceives God’s people into questioning the word of God. Here we see Eve answer correctly. 2 “The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’” Then satan continues the deception. 4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” At this point Eve should have asked herself what if God actually meant what He said, but she did not and listened to satan’s deception. 6 “When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.” Adam never asked the question either but found out the God meant what He said. Everyone who followed should have learned from this, but as we see throughout history and presently, most did not.
In the book of Job, again we see how satan works, but we also see how God will let satan work. The first two chapters of Job are specifically about satan trying to get Job to curse God and die. Job lost everything, including his children and satan even used Job’s wife against him. Job 2:9 “His wife said to him, “Are you still maintaining your integrity? Curse God and die!” 10 He replied, “You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.” Even though satan is not specifically mentioned, he is present throughout the rest of the book of Job. Most of the chapters are about Job’s friends trying to persuade Job that he had sinned against God, but at the end we see God say, Job 42:7 “I am angry with you and your two friends, because you have not spoken the truth about me, as my servant Job has. 8 So now take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and sacrifice a burnt offering for yourselves. My servant Job will pray for you, and I will accept his prayer and not deal with you according to your folly. You have not spoken the truth about me, as my servant Job has.” It is important to notice that the young and arrogant Elihu was not prayed for. God had stopped Elihu and said to Job, Job 38:2 “Who is this that obscures my plans with words without knowledge?” Elihu had said, Job 36:2 “Bear with me a little longer and I will show you that there is more to be said in God’s behalf. 3 I get my knowledge from afar; I will ascribe justice to my Maker. 4 Be assured that my words are not false; one who has perfect knowledge is with you.” Earlier Elihu said to Job, Job 32:17 “I too will have my say; I too will tell what I know. 18 For I am full of words, and the spirit within me compels me.” Job 33:1 “But now, Job, listen to my words; pay attention to everything I say. 2 I am about to open my mouth; my words are on the tip of my tongue. 3 My words come from an upright heart; my lips sincerely speak what I know. 4 The Spirit of God has made me; the breath of the Almighty gives me life. 5 Answer me then, if you can; stand up and argue your case before me. 6 I am the same as you in God’s sight.” If Job had listened to his wife, friends, Elihu, he would have cursed God and died.
This is why it is so important to test the spirits. 1 John 4:1 “Dear friends, 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.” On the surface Job’s friends and Elihu sounded knowledgeable, but God said who is this who obscures my plans without knowledge. Elihu even said, Job 34:34 “Men of understanding declare, wise men who hear me say to me, 35 ‘Job speaks without knowledge; his words lack insight.’ 36 Oh, that Job might be tested to the utmost for answering like a wicked man! 37 To his sin he adds rebellion; scornfully he claps his hands among us and multiplies his words against God.” They were all wrong, including Elihu.
Paul talks to Timothy about people teaching false doctrines and said, 1 Timothy 1:6 “Some have departed from these and have turned to meaningless talk. 7 They want to be teachers of the law, but they do not know what they are talking about or what they so confidently affirm.” Paul also said 2 Corinthians 11:12 “And I will keep on doing what I am doing in order to cut the ground from under those who want an opportunity to be considered equal with us in the things they boast about. 13 For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ. 14 And no wonder, for satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. 15 It is not surprising, then, if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.” In the same chapter Paul said, 2 Corinthians 11:3 “But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. 4 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.” When talking about forgiveness, Paul said 2 Corinthians 2:11 “in order that satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes.” satan is always scheming. When Paul was called by God he was told, Acts 26:17 “I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them 18 to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’”
So we see how satan works and his main objective is to get you to curse God and die, but not only die but to spend eternity with him. As we saw when satan tried to tempt Jesus, satan uses scripture but distorts it. He will use those close to you like Job’s wife and friends. He will use teachers, preachers, prophets, evangelists and apostles. The reason he does this is God’s plan for the church was Ephesians 4:11 “So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. 14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. 15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. 16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.”
The deceitful scheming of satan is always at work but the good news is 1 John 3:8 “The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.” satan did not disappear after Jesus rose from the dead but he was defeated and would continue to be defeated, at least for a while. Sadly, the church rebelled against God’s word, even during the life of Paul and the church would lose that power to continue defeating satan and the church itself would be defeated instead. Here we see that satan is still present. Matthew 8:28 “When he arrived at the other side in the region of the Gadarenes, two demon-possessed men coming from the tombs met him. They were so violent that no one could pass that way. 29 “What do you want with us, Son of God?” they shouted. “Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time?” 30 Some distance from them a large herd of pigs was feeding. 31 The demons begged Jesus, “If you drive us out, send us into the herd of pigs.” 32 He said to them, “Go!” So they came out and went into the pigs, and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and died in the water. 33 Those tending the pigs ran off, went into the town and reported all this, including what had happened to the demon-possessed men. 34 Then the whole town went out to meet Jesus. And when they saw him, they pleaded with him to leave their region.” Above this passage, Matthew 8:16 “When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick. 17 This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: “He took up our infirmities and bore our diseases.” The church was supposed to continue that work.
At Pentecost, the church was given this power and authority to continue destroying the devil’s work and for a short time, the church would do that, that is until the church started following other gospels and a different Jesus. Acts 5:16 “Crowds gathered also from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those tormented by impure spirits, and all of them were healed.” After Stephen was murdered, Acts 8:1 “On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. 2 Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him. 3 But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison. 4 Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went. 5 Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Messiah there. 6 When the crowds heard Philip and saw the signs he performed, they all paid close attention to what he said. 7 For with shrieks, impure spirits came out of many, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed. 8 So there was great joy in that city.”
When Jesus cast the demons into the pigs and they all drowned, they ignored that these two-demon possessed men were healed, but due to the loss of their pigs, they wanted Jesus to leave. We see the same attitude when Jesus healed the crippled woman bound by satan. Luke 13:10 “On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues, 11 and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all. 12 When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, “Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.” 13 Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God. 14 Indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, the synagogue leader said to the people, “There are six days for work. So come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath. 15 The Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Doesn’t each of you on the Sabbath untie your ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water? 16 Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?” 17 When he said this, all his opponents were humiliated, but the people were delighted with all the wonderful things he was doing.”
Today people are still bound by satan, yet people are still wanting the real Jesus to go away and continue serving a different Jesus. They are not even asking what if satan is lying to them. Most have believed the false prophets who distort the word of God and bring the way of truth into disrepute. They are not even looking for the true Jesus, the true gospel, nor are they looking for the power and authority the church was given at Pentecost. People are content with the false teaching in the church and are not asking what if what we read ins scripture should be happening, even though most say it should not be. If it should be happening, and it should be happening because nowhere does the bible say it should not be, therefore the church is being cursed and not blessed. Most have chosen to believe satan when he said did God really say? This rebellion continues to allow satan to decimate the powerless church. Throughout scripture we see God’s people rebel just like the church has and everything God said would happen did happen all because their disobedience, the church included.
The church today is so deceived that most think that God will not do as He says, so it is important to ask yourself what if God actually means what he says? Scripture tells us the answer is yes, He does mean what He says and like Eve said, yes He did say that. Luke 13:22 “Then Jesus went through the towns and villages, teaching as he made his way to Jerusalem. 23 Someone asked him, “Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?” He said to them, 24 “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. 25 Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, ‘Sir, open the door for us.’ “But he will answer, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from.’ 26 “Then you will say, ‘We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.’ 27 “But he will reply, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers!’” False teachers will tell you God is love and that would never happen. God is a God of love but some will not see eternal life even though they think they will. John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.” Matthew 25:41 “‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” Be diligent and test the spirits. Your eternal destination depends on it.
