1 Timothy 4:1a
1 Now [de] the Spirit [pneuma] speaketh
[lego] expressly, [rhetos] that [hoti] in [en] the latter [husteros] times [kairos] some [tis] shall depart from [aphistemi] the faith, [pistis] giving
heed [prosecho] to
seducing [planos]
spirits, [pneuma] and
[kai] doctrines [didaskalia] of devils; [daimonion] KJV-Interlinear
4 But
the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the
faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, NASB
In chapter one, Paul dealt
with the many false teachers that would come along to distort true teaching,
and cause people to fall away, or to be deceived away from doctrine.
Without exception, all
false teaching is self centered and desires only to serve the ego of the false
teacher, at the expense of the student or hearer of their message.
False teaching is the epitome
of evil.
And although we might think
of false teaching as coming only from organized sources, in fact most false
teaching comes from individuals who may mean well, but tend to promote their
one word or one phrase, or their concept view of the world and of God, in such
a way that it results in distracting people away from their first obligation, which
is to study and learn and grow up in a systematic learning environment, and not
be distracted away by gimmick or emotion driven agendas.
Paul countered the
false teachers by laying out the very basics of Christian behavior and
expectations, even as to the respective roles of the man and woman in Christ,
in their simplest form, as well as the expectations of the fundamental
Christian requirements for leadership and service, which applies to us all in
one form or another.
And though we have seen
in the last two chapters that these requirements are extremely simple, and that
even the most inept person can understand them, there will always exist those who will unfortunately number as the vast majority
of those who will reject these basic principles.
Principles and
guidelines that are not intended to cause anyone to become less than anyone
else, or greater than anyone else, but to aid in bringing everyone to spiritual
maturity and the winner circle of champions for all of eternity, and the most phenomenal
life beyond imagination.
Gods objective for your life is not your humiliation,
but your completion to the maximum.God
simply gives us all the framework of this life, within which we can grow to our
fullest potential.In the next life, all
of this framework (no male, no female, no jew,
no gentile, stereotypes, etc. etc.), goes away.
And so Paul continues
in this chapter to describe that apostasy will abound, even in the end times,
which we in our dispensation, identify ourselves.
From the date of the beginning
of our dispensation, at the Feast of Pentecost, which occurred fifty days
following the Crucifixion, at the Feast of Passover, until now, our
dispensation, which we call the Church Age, has been functioning as the end
times.
During our dispensation
we have seen knowledge increase, first in the completion of the Bible in the
few decades following the Cross and completed in 96 A.D., when John wrote
Revelation.And then throughout
the centuries following to our present day, as human knowledge has increased
with increasing speed in recent decades, then so too, doctrine has not changed,
nor the fundamental principles of Christian obligation or behavior.
And yet with all of the
increases in perspective knowledge that surrounds us all, apostasy still
outweighs truth in the minds of most people.
And this apostasy is
not in the form of people struggling with the understanding of Christian
principles, but in the form of people struggling with which opposing view to
pursue, rather than truth.
Apostasy, in these end
days (a narrower time frame, not end times which is a broader time frame), but
in these end days, when our dispensation is nearing its end, Paul has already
written and we have already studied, the great apostasy, which will consume
society across the planet.
Apostasy is a rejection
of truth and a replacement of it with something false, or a substituted false
view of life in all of its aspects.
And rejection of all of
the aspects of truth, begins with the rejection of the
very basics of truth, starting with the roles of men and women, as well as the basic
roles of Christians in general, in life.
And
apostasy in tantamount to the worship of idols.Idols are
anything that is false and upon which you establish your beliefs. All things false are from Satan. All false things are backed by demons. Behind all false things are demons, promoted
by Satan who is the master of disguise, 2 Cor. 11:14.
Anyone who pursues
false beliefs is in effect worshipping the demons behind those false beliefs,
Lev. 17:7, Deu. 32:17, Psa. 106:36-37, 1 Cor. 10:20.
Paul draws the battle lines
in chapter four, between false doctrines, all of which come from no source other
than Satan, and Bible doctrine, which God has magnified above His very own
essence, Psa. 138:2.
And once again, I am
going to make this study a part of the Revelation study as well, because we are
entering into the area of apostate views, which will have a huge impact on life
now, and in the future to come, and of which it is extremely important that you
understand, so that you will not become a part of it.
Because
in any apostate pursuit in life, there it is accompanied by severe and tremendous
judgment and loss of blessing. Both of which you do not want to be a part.
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