I get emails
almost daily from those who say something like: “I used to
believe in the pre-trib rapture. But, now, after much study
and prayer, I no longer believe that way. I
know now that I was just following the teachings of others,
and not searching out these things myself.”
This is a
pattern of email that comes from a template of sorts. These
who have “seen the light” are, in fact, listening to and
reading those who make hatred against pre-trib rapture
doctrine their specialty. These who parrot their
teachers’ diatribes against the belief that Jesus
will take His own out of the “time of testing” (Rev. 3:10)
always follow up with something like: “You are leading
people to accept Antichrist, because they won’t recognize
him when he appears.” Then they point me to links where I
must go in order to get my thinking corrected.
My request to
those who want to correct my theology on such matters:
Please don’t send me any more of these. My truth on the
things involved come from the words of the apostles Paul and
Peter–from the Lord Jesus, himself. I don’t care to hear how
the gurus of preterism, or some other erroneous teachers in
the area of Bible prophecy, have the answers. The Holy
Spirit is my guide; I’ll stick with Him.
Doctrines Not of God
This
generation is living through many issues and events that are
observably stage-setting for fulfillment of Bible prophecy.
Therefore, it doesn’t surprise that one of the end-times
signals we see on the scene today is manifestation of
“doctrines of devils": “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly,
that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith,
giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils” (1
Tim. 4:1).
Heart
of Evil Doctrine
To get to the
very beginning of doctrines of devils, we go back to the
first time Lucifer perpetrated such a doctrine upon the
first woman of God’s creation called man. Like all doctrines
from the serpent, it mocked God and set the woman, her
husband, Adam, and ultimately the rest of us on a course
directly in opposition to the Creator’s truth:
“Now the
serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field
which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman,
Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of
the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may
eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the
fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden,
God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye
touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the
woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that
in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be
opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil”
(Gen. 3:1-5).
Satan’s
hissing words of deception and lies come at us like they
came at Eve. He twists and obfuscates God’s promises,
warnings, and commandments. “Did God really say that?"
is the appeal to the so-called reason, the rationale, of
mankind.
“Can God
be trusted?”
The
chief “doctrine” of the “doctrines of devils” is the
question with which Satan continues to plague human beings.
Now, the devil’s slyly questioning end-times assaults gush
over the born again. The troubling truth is that the
majority of the Church is falling for the serpent’s doctrine
of evil.
Doctrines of
devils primarily concentrate on two things. First, they try
to convince that God’s Word isn’t really truth. It is
subject to interpretation, thus a person can make it fit his
or her generation and personal situation in ways that do not
condemn his or her actions. This theology/philosophy
advocates for situational ethics (no absolute truth instead
if it’s more convenient–if the situation warrants--it’s okay
to do it).
Satan’s
deluding methodology in foisting this deception is to give
his teachers the Antichrist instrumentalities of
spiritualizing, allegorizing, and symbolizing truth that is
meant to be presented as literal.
Secondly,
doctrines of devils tell the sinner that there is no
consequence for sin. The serpent used both of these
seductive lies on Eve, and has been using the same deluding
doctrine ever since.
Some
Examples
Several key
samples of doctrines of devils are intertwined within issues
on the scene today. While getting the truth to the unsaved
world is important, telling those who have unregenerate
minds (minds that are unable to understand spiritual truth)
is a different mission than that of telling those saved
about the doctrines of devils that confront God’s children
each and every moment. The only truth we should put before
the unsaved from God’s Word is: “Ye must be
born again,” the message Jesus proclaimed (John 3:3).
These examples
are based in doctrines of devils, and those who have Christ
indwelling them (God the Holy Spirit), if they are obedient
and not determined to exert their own will, can know the
good vs. evil wrapped up in the issues involved--i.e., those
who are truly Christians can know the right and wrong of
these examples that follow. As a matter of fact, Christians
are commanded by the Lord to understand. For
those who do not have regenerate minds that Christ brings to
believers, the only hope for helping them with understanding
the right and wrong of such matters is to appeal to their
reason and to their sense of conscience. Trying to appeal to
the fallen mind is almost always a losing proposition.
On the other
hand, the Christian’s only excuse might be to some slight
extent that he or she is not getting truth from the pulpits
and church classrooms. The excuse is almost non-existent,
however, because Christians in America are exposed
constantly to the truth, due to the ubiquitous means of
communications in this nation. More to the point, Christians
have the written Word of God–the Bible—to study.
The fact, of
course, is that Christians are so wrapped up in the cares of
this world that the majority spends no time in private study
of the Holy Scriptures. This is why the doctrines of devils
are so effective in leading the Church, as a whole, down the
primrose path to apostasy. Most cannot, or choose not to,
discern right from wrong in the key moral issues of our
time.
Abortion
Despite the
fact that men and women of God such as Jerry Falwell, James
Dobson, Tim and Beverly LaHaye, and many Christian
organizations, have for decades appealed
to the family of God–Christians—to stand up in opposition to
the abortionists, who have now seen to it that nearly 50
million babies have been slaughtered since Roe vs. Wade in
1973, the Church remains asleep, for all practical purposes.
The people of
God act more like the people of their father, the devil,
falling for the deluding doctrine that it is the woman’s
right to choose whether her child lives or dies. Satan still
whispers in the ears of the willfully ignorant: “Yea, hath
God said?”
Even the
believers in Christ for salvation are held captive under the
luciferian lie that human beings have the God-like right to
choose on such matters as life and death. Christians
continue to wallow in that ignorance, despite the fact that
murdering babies by the millions have brought horrendous
consequences. Mothers are torn asunder physically, mentally,
and spiritually. America suffers the complete reversal of
its God-blessed early years, as families are ripped to
shreds and morality is turned upside-down.
Homosexuality
A most
abominable doctrine of devils, according to God’s Holy Word,
homosexuality is in process of bringing America to the final
stages of her being a dominant nation-state force on the
world scene. The turning upside-down of even Christians'
thinking on this sin that the Lord finds most egregious is
thrown in God’s face laughingly, mockingly, by the great
deceiver. We have come to call this death-style a “gay"
lifestyle. The Body of Christ scarcely gives a glance at
this blasphemous sin, except for a collective raised eyebrow
upon hearing of the Catholic
priests or the occasional Christian ministers who get caught
in scandal involving homosexuality.
Doctrines of Devils--Prophetic Application
Satan’s
modus operandi is the same, then. He continues to
whisper, sometimes shout, through the militancy of pro
abortionists and pro homosexual protesters that there are no
consequences for these things, which aren’t even sins. God’s
Word is suspect, is the luciferian whisper. The Bible is
neither inerrant nor the final Word on how humankind should
conduct life. The Bible is merely a good book that can be
viewed any way the reader sees fit, as is most convenient.
This brings us
to the matter of God’s promises. Satan’s lies are meant to
convince that God’s promises are no good. God
doesn’t–isn’t--even capable of keeping His promises.
Therefore, if He does exist, God is no more meaningful or
important than the individual human being. So, just do what
is right in your own eyes.
The deception
goes further. Jesus didn’t resurrect. He isn’t coming back,
literally. If anything, He left us with the Christ-spirit,
which teaches us how to live happy, peaceful lives--free of
guilt. God will not judge sin, if indeed there is such a
thing. The only part of the Bible that can be trusted is
that part that says God is love. If He loves people, He
could never condemn them–could never judge them with wrath.
Revelation–the book of God’s wrath and judgment on
sin—therefore has no place in the canon of Scripture. This
lie that there is not judgment and wrath coming to a world
of rebels is the chief doctrine of devils for these days
that look like the end of the Age of Grace.
Devil’s Hatred of Rapture Teaching
The chief
“doctrine of devils” is that God’s Word isn’t the final
Word. The Bible can be picked and chosen over in order to
come to one’s own conclusion of what it says. Just like in
the Garden of Eden, Satan proposes that we look at God’s
Word with an extremely skeptical eye.
This
“doctrine” has been foisted upon and accepted by much of
Christianity today. The most observable manifestations of
this acceptance is, as has been pointed out earlier, the
mega-church movement, with its chief movers and shakers
often joining in ecumenical efforts to
save the world through social programs.
These
accept the lie that God’s Word isn’t to be taken
literally in all cases. This is especially true
in the case of the Bible putting forth Christ as the one and
only Way to salvation. It isn’t hard to see, then, that
these false teachers would be scoffers at the notion that
Jesus would come in the rapture for His Church.
It is
interesting to note, too, that these same preachers and
teachers who are caught up in the religiosity of the times
do not see the nation Israel as being God’s chosen people.
They, for the most part, believe modern Israel–the Jewish
people—is no longer inheritor of God’s promises. God, they
believe, has abandoned Israel, and modern Israel isn’t in
any way a part of God’s future plan. All prophecy, in fact,
is subject to man’s own response to doing social good. Man
can change prophecy by doing good. Prophecy is in the Bible,
so most of their thinking goes, only as a warning of how
things might turn out if people refuse to do good works such
as save the hungry, stop doing things to cause global
warming, eliminate nuclear weapons, etc.
The chief
doctrine of devils tells us to ignore prophecy, so far as
taking it literally. Rick Warren, for example, says in his
Purpose-Driven Life that Jesus always diverted the
attention of His disciples from thinking about prophecy.
Jesus, He implied, just didn’t want to talk about thing to
come.
An appropriate
question to ask him and others of his viewpoint is: What
about the Olivet Discourse? It is recorded in three of the
Gospels. It is in-depth, and gives specific things that will
be in view while the end of human history nears, just before
His second advent. The Lord tells His disciples throughout
the centuries to watch for these things (Mark 13:37).
Paul the
apostle and Jesus himself give specific prophecies that
promise the Christians will be personally taken to Heaven by
Jesus. Some will be alive when they are suddenly taken from
this world after being instantly changed into immortal
bodies. Those who are dead in Christ (have died believers in
Christ) will be resurrected and given immortal bodies, and
will join with all believers of the Church Age with Jesus in
the atmosphere above Planet Earth.
The chief
doctrine of devils, which calls God a liar, denies that
Israel is God’s chosen people, and that the Church is
destined to instantly go to be with the Lord. Many
Christians in these apostate times believe this doctrine
from the father of lies so strongly that, as stated in the
beginning of this article, they incessantly, and more often
than not with scoffing, angry invective, assault our belief
that God’s Word is to be taken literally in the matter of
God’s prophetic promises.
They refuse to
see that the Lord of Heaven has determined two prophetic
programs that dovetail into one. Israel and the Church will
ultimately fulfill God’s plan for bringing out of His
creation called man a people that will love Him
unconditionally. His family will one eternal day be
complete. His Word will be proven absolutely, literally true
in every aspect of His promises to those who love Him.
