By Pastor Dr. Aggrey Soyekwo
1 Tim 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." - NIV
To any sensitive, discerning and informed student of God’s word, the signs of our times are no surprise. Paul mentions some of these in his letter to Timothy. Among these are departure from the faith by some, and following demonically orchestrated teachings. They thus become hypocritical liars, with dead consciences, agents of the devil, and yet continue teaching others! Jesus had said false prophets will arise.
A conscience is the check within a person that helps discern right from wrong. When it is alive and God guided, one is enabled to do what is right. But when it is dead, one does what is wrong without any remorseful feelings. The hypocitic teachers Paul talked about were once in the faith, but abandoned it for deceptive demonic leading and teachings. They ignored the Holy Spirit, Who convicts and leads into the truth. As a result, the conscience dies because the Holy Spirit Who awakens the conscience has been grieved away. Such are truly dangerous and mislead many!
Our responsibility is to watch out for such teachers lest we get deceived (Matt 24:4), and to watch ourselves and our doctrine as we teach others. We already see such perversions of truth all around us. The bible instructs us not to blindly follow anything, but to test the spirits behind what we see or hear, whether they are from God or not. We don’t use our feelings, emotions and worldly knowledge to test, but God’s word. This requires that we are first knowledgeable and grounded in God’s word. In this way, we are safe.
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."
1 Timothy 4:16 "Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers."
Shalom children of God.