The False and the True

The signs are everywhere. Posted outside of residences and businesses alike are announcements that a security service protects the premises. One of the unfortunate realities of our world is rising lawlessness, which makes people desperate for safety from the outside world. Yet the one place where they should be safe — God’s house — is not always the case.

Jesus said, “I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy” (John 10:9-10).

Spiritual thieves masquerading as Christians are happy to rob you of your faith, steal your liberty in Christ, and lie about it in the process. Unfortunately, most of us will be taken advantage of at least once in our lifetime, but no deception is more dangerous or hurtful than when it’s directed at spiritual things and empowered by Satan.

The last several chapters have focused primarily on the spiritual charlatans associated with the last days. We’ve seen how the dynamics of spiritual truths and falsehoods are played out in the physical realm. Yet, because we traffic in the material world, we quickly forget how connected we are with the spiritual battle between darkness and light.

We would do well to remember three areas vulnerable to demonic attack. The first is religion. Satan loves to infiltrate religious settings in his quest to deceive. But if someone isn’t interested in religion, that’s okay. He has another line of attack — politics. Globally, nations are cracking under the strain of recent events, and in response, leaders are ushering in ideologies promising a collective utopia that human nature renders impossible. Yet citizens looking to replace God with government as the provider of every need are falling for this deception wholesale. And then there are the dark powers present in the realm of business.

Satan makes it a point to move among the movers and shakers of the business world. If you have any doubts, look at companies like Google, Microsoft, and Amazon. Dig into the extent of their individual holdings, some of which might surprise you. Those three giants are hard at work to provide everything required for a community or nation to function — making other options unnecessary. For example, Jeff Bezos envisions Amazon becoming embedded in a customer’s lifestyle. His goal is making Amazon a daily habit. Small and mid-sized businesses are closing at breakneck speed because they can’t compete with these types of global conglomerates. All of which fits into a last-days scenario.

Why is this happening? Control. A famous quote taken from a letter that English historian Lord Acton wrote to Bishop Creighton in 1887 sums it up perfectly. Acton believed the same moral standards should be applied to all men — political and religious leaders alike — because “power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Power and corruption often go hand in hand, and Satan knows this. 

The advances of satanic influence in government and industry are indisputable, but the devil’s most virulent attacks are aimed at weakening the church. In writing to the believers in Corinth, the apostle Paul warned, False apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works (2 Corinthians 11:13-15).

False apostles, doing false ministry, in what are no doubt false churches, are those who promise much but offer nothing. These types of leaders are “wells without water, clouds carried by a tempest” (2 Peter 2:17). To the early Christians, this language was graphic.

For us to grasp the full meaning today, we need to dig a little deeper (pun intended). The necessity of a well implies thirst. For most of us, this is hard to relate to because quenching our thirst usually involves grabbing a glass and turning on the kitchen tap to fill it with water. But imagine traveling through the United States’s driest place, California’s Death Valley, and running out of water. If that happened, you would go hunting for a well, and when you found one, you’d drop a rock down the well and listen. What would you listen for? A splash. The sound you don’t want to hear is the tell-tale sign of an empty well — silence; the same response people looking for refreshment from false teachers get. When you hang around those types of waterless wells long enough, you will begin to think that they define what a well should be — dry with nothing in it except a sandy bottom, incapable of offering refreshment. But without spiritual water there is no vitality, which equals dead Christianity.

So, the well is dry, and you are still thirsty. Now what do you hope for? Rain. But Jude 1:12 tells us that these false teachers can’t supply that either because they are like clouds driven by the wind — they’re just passing through.

Clouds are amazing, and I happen to love them. I can name the various types, what is happening inside them, which ones are safe to fly through, and those to avoid. But the contrast between a well and a cloud is striking. A well can quickly run out of water because it is only a hole dug into stony ground. But a cloud consists of water.

Meteorologists say that depending on the size and type, a cloud can hold tons of water — water that is meant to replenish and refresh.

The sight of clouds assumes a blessing is in store — water is on the way. Nothing is worse than watching a cloud pass overhead during a drought, only for it to give nothing. Likewise, you can be thirsty and go looking for hope from a church or ministry, but if the message it proclaims lacks spiritual truth and substance, there is no watering of your soul. You’ll walk out the door just as parched as when you entered and worse off because you are less hopeful for the experience. And herein is a warning: False teachers are like wind-driven storm clouds that withhold refreshment. They know the truth, but they refuse to dispense it. Believer beware!

This article was originally published by RealClearReligion and made available via RealClearWire.