Beware of a Corrupted Faith
by David A. DePra
And this I say, lest any man
should beguile you with enticing words.
For though I be absent in the
flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit, joying and beholding your order, and the
stedfastness of your faith in Christ.
As ye have therefore received
Christ Jesus the Lord,
[so]
walk ye in him:
Rooted and built up in him,
and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with
thanksgiving.
Beware lest any man spoil you
through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the
rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.
For
in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.
(Col. 2:4-9)
In this passage, Paul is
drawing a contrast -- and attaching a warning.
But first take note that he is writing to
believers – not to pagans.
Thus, the context to which he is speaking is
Christianity.
He is addressing people whom he says have
received Christ, but need to be warned about false teaching that would lead them
into, “another gospel,” and a false Christianity.
He says BEWARE.
That ought to get our attention – it is in the
inspired Word of God.
Then he tells us what it is that we ought to
beware of:
Being spoiled -- that is, of having our faith
corrupted by any philosophy which is vain deceit.
Philosophy which is vain deceit is any
Christian tradition, line of reasoning and argument, doctrinal construct, or
version of Christianity that we might embrace INSTEAD of the Person of Jesus
Christ.
It is possible to embrace a
Christianized philosophy that begins to alter the mind and understanding to
where it not only makes sense, but which a person begins to read INTO the Bible.
It might even be contrary to scripture.
But once a person becomes, “spoiled,” through
such teaching, they will begin to read the Bible in a way that agrees with false
teaching – even though the Bible is contrary to that false teaching.
Every cult, every false
movement, every false teacher, and every form of, “another gospel,” points to
scripture to support their errors.
ALL of them do.
Even the Roman Catholics – who openly admit
that they believe that their church tradition is equal to scripture – they also
point to the Bible as their authority for elevating their tradition to the level
of scripture.
Calvinists have what they claim is an air-tight
doctrinal construct for the heresy they teach – and have had 500 plus years
creating their cut and paste answers to what they know are objections to what
they teach.
Televangelists spew heresy with a Bible in
their hand to back it up.
And today we have abominations like
homosexuality, same sex marriage, and open adultery being celebrated in churches
– and in most cases supported by twisting scripture.
And needless to say, there is disagreement
among professing Christians about almost every single foundational doctrine of
the Bible – including even the issue of salvation itself.
Why has this happened, and how does it
continue?
Every single false church,
denomination, cult, or false movement, has their highly educated teachers and
ministers.
They have all studied the Bible – usually by
going to a seminary, or sitting under the teaching, of the particular false
church to which they belong.
They get doctorates.
They perhaps have a large following and
ministry.
Many are nice people; sincere people; seem to
project the love of God.
They are able to present philosophical
arguments through the use of scripture that they have learned to present – and
to many, what they present makes sense.
There is a great appeal in that.
Do we realize that in order for
the lies and deception of the enemy to work that there must be a certain
framework of Truth?
Sure.
For example, there will be teaching that Jesus
Christ is Lord.
Or that God is sovereign.
Or that Jesus died for sin.
Or
that God has a great plan of Redemption.
Few would argue with any of those statements
because they are the Truth – they are what they Bible SAYS.
But anyone can read the Bible and tell you what
it SAYS.
The question is what the Bible MEANS by what it says –
and it is here that the falsehoods are introduced.
For example, the Bible says, “God desire for
all men to be saved and come into the knowledge of the Truth.”
Calvinism agrees that the Bible says this, but
then they explain what they demand it MEANS:
That God desires for all KINDS of men to be
saved.
They have to make this verse MEAN this because they
must maintain their traditional doctrine of LIMITED atonement and unconditional
election.
Thus, Calvinists use the same Bible as everyone
else to, “prove,” what is a false Christianity and another gospel.
It is possible to, “prove,”
almost any false doctrine by bringing TO the Bible a mind that has already been
impacted or corrupted by religious philosophy.
Every false doctrine has it’s experts and
representatives who speak with authority and passion.
The average person cannot imagine that someone
who is that highly educated, and that sincere, and that certain, and is able to
present what they believe with such eloquence – the average person cannot
imagine that such a one could be totally deceived.
But they can be, and many are.
The reason is that they have NOT come into a
real experience and knowledge of the Person of Jesus Christ.
The Mormons are great examples.
They are nice people.
They focus on the family and therefore most
have wonderful families.
But they believe horrible error.
They believe that Jesus Christ was originally
the angel brother of Lucifer.
They believe we are to become gods as God is
God – and create our own planet and do as God is doing.
But if you do not know Jesus Christ you could
have a vulnerability to this kind of heresy – and begin to be corrupted by it.
You might begin to find “proof” in the Bible
for these errors.
I once sat and listened to a
supposed Christian minister teach that believers must keep the law of God, not
only to be saved, but to continue to be saved.
He taught this error by going through the
epistle of Paul to the Galatians.
Almost every verse in that epistle was contrary
to what he was teaching – but because of the error that was in him, and because
his mind had been corrupted, he was able to read into Galatians and make it mean
what he already believed.
He was a nice guy.
He was practically a walking encyclopedia of
the Bible – the Bible as it was made to mean by his tradition and false
concepts.
But there he was, fully convinced -- but fully
deceived.
There is only ONE TRUTH.
The Bible is the written Truth.
But Jesus is the Living Truth.
Therefore, the two will always agree.
God wants to reveal to us His Son – and as He
does so this will always agree with the Bible.
But this brings us to what is
perhaps the greatest harm of all when it comes to heresy and another gospel.
That harm is not merely a wrong interpretation
of scripture.
The real harm is a false knowledge of God.
A false knowledge of God is deception.
Indeed, a false knowledge of God is often the
reason why people read into the Bible their error.
Every doctrine you might
mention says something about the nature and character of God.
It says something about His attitude and
intentions towards humanity.
For example, a Jesus who died for ALL is not
the same Jesus who died only for SOME.
The God who elected some to heaven,, but many
to hell before they were born, is not the same God who sent His Son that
WHOSOEVER would believe might be saved.
We are talking about a false gospel and a false
Christianity – but that is because we are talking about a false God.
Likewise, the God who commands that you tithe
under the promise of financial blessing and under the threat of financial curse
is not the God of all grace revealed in the Bible.
That is ANOTHER God.
The God who promises healing, salvation or a
loved one, and financial prosperity, if you send a check into a TV evangelist is
not the true God.
The God of Mormonism, of Jehovah Witnesses, of
Christian Science – this is not the true God.
Does it matter?
Jesus said, “God must be worshipped in spirit
and in Truth.”
Knowing the Truth sets us free – and Jesus is
the Truth.
If Truth sets us free then what does error do?
The answer ought to be obvious.
Truth matters because Truth reveals the God and
the Christ in Whom we put our faith – and what we believe about God will
determine how we live, how we think, and impact all that we are.
It will impact relationships.
And most of all, what we believe will
ultimately greatly impact what we BECOME.
Each believer must decide if
Truth matters to them.
Do we care?
I ask that because in this day and age Truth
has more and more been buried beneath an avalanche of tradition, philosophy,
emotional experiences, and in many cases, utter nonsense.
What Paul warned against is pretty much ignored
– to our own peril.
Well, as noted, if there is one
common thread among ALL churches – and certainly this is the case with false
churches – it is that they ALL claim to follow the Bible.
They ALL do.
In fact, most people in cults know what they
Bible says better than people in mainstream churches.
Many can express what they believe much better.
But it is all deception.
What is the problem here?
Are people just stupid?
No.
And as noted, they are NOT ignorant of what the
Bible says.
Do they lack sincerity?
No.
Some people have died for heresy.
The problem is exactly what Paul said it was:
People have become deceived by Christianized
philosophy which has appealed to their vulnerabilities.
But this has been made possible because those
folks have not experienced and come into a realization of Christ.
Christian unity is not possible
if everyone is simply left to their brain power, upbringing, religious training,
and personal bias to figure out the Bible.
You cannot become born from above on the basis
of any of those things – let alone achieve Christian unity.
Christian unity is the result of many who
personally and individually know Christ – and have experienced Him.
They all know the SAME Christ.
Thus, the doctrines and teachings that emerge
will agree and will proclaim the Truth about Him.
Note Paul’s emphasis upon the
Person of Christ.
He warns against being spoiled by that which
is, “not after Christ.”
In contrast to philosophy and religious
tradition, Paul declares that IN CHRIST – the Person – dwell all of the fullness
of DIETY.
In other words, Christ is God, and in Christ is
all of the Truth.
It is only through knowing Christ that the mind
is renewed according to the Truth.
Many have always taught that it
is through the scripture that our minds are renewed.
But again – ALL false teachers read scripture.
Most false Christianity exalts scripture.
And they do not know the Truth – indeed, they
disagree with each other.
The Mormons disagree with the Jehovah
Witnesses; the Calvinists disagree with the charismatics; the Roman Catholics
disagree with the Protestants – and on and on it goes.
Is the solution to debate?
Has that ever solved anything?
Is the solution to set up more seminaries for
our particular version of the gospel?
Has that ever solved anything?
Is the solution to study harder, preach louder,
and grow bigger churches?
Nope.
All that has been done, is being done, and will
continue to be done.
It is all vain deceit.
The only solution is to personally know Christ
– to come into what the Bible calls an inward realization of Him.
(this is the meaning of the Greek word
translated, “formed,” in Gal.4:19)
But you see, the visible
Christian church has been so corrupted by tradition, philosophy, money, the
desire for prestige, supposed growth, and intellectual pride – so corrupted that
for the most part we do not even know what it means to come to realize or know
Christ.
We think it is about knowing doctrines.
Or about knowing the Bible.
But again – if we bring to the Bible a mind
that has already been spoiled by philosophy and tradition we are likely going to
find what we bring IN the Bible.
Something has to break this pattern.
Something has to shatter it.
And only a personal encounter with Christ can
do that – which will include the work of the personal Cross.
And of course, this is exactly what the Bible
itself states.
It is exactly what Paul is exhorting the church
to do.
Where do we get started in this
matter?
How do we come into a personal experience of Christ?
Well, we do what the Bible tells us to do:
Lose ourselves to Him.
We can begin to lose ourselves to Him by asking
Him to do whatever it takes to bring us into this personal experience of His
Son.
Then when God does do whatever it takes, we do
whatever it takes to continue to lose ourselves to Him.
There is nothing new about this.
It is the unconditional surrender of faith.
This should be standard teaching for the
believer.
Come into a realization and revelation of Christ, Who is the Living Truth, and
the Bible will come alive -- for it is the SAME Truth in written form. And the
Biblical Truth you believe will be affirmed and enlarged. And any errors will be
corrected.
The reason we believe error is because of the error in us -- because of the
ignorance in us. Thus, we must not only know Christ, but lose ourselves to Him.
We lose our lives to find Him as our life, and in His life is the LIGHT. (Jn.
1:4) If we lose our lives by picking up our cross daily the error in us will be
exposed and we will be set free into a relationship with Christ that is Truth.